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Made of Common Clay	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 10987 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Chapter Sixteen—Some Orient Dawn
“I want to know what’s going on.”
Auror Winnifred Londer’s voice is low, and she’s staring into his eyes as if she can compel him to answer just with that. Harry bows his head slightly in recognition. She lost a child. He has to honor her, especially since she wants to fight instead of giving up, and she was smart enough to remember that he’s identified himself as the leader of the only effective resistance.
“Come in, please, Auror Londer.”
“I don’t want a cup of tea or anything like that.” Londer paces slowly across his drawing room as Harry closes the door behind her. “I just want revenge.”
“You have to understand that it’ll be a long time in coming if you work with me. There’s something that can happen right away that might be satisfying, but if the only thing that will soothe your thirst is blood…”
“I can put up with other things to get the ultimate revenge. That’s the kind of vengeance Corin would have wanted me to take. What kind of immediate satisfaction do you offer?”
“Humiliation of the one who sent those assassins after me and didn’t care who they killed to get to me. She was also the one who told them how to brew the potion that created the gas. Interested?”
Londer is a petite woman with brown hair and placid blue eyes that Harry has hardly ever seen angry. They’re blazing now. “Is she a pure-blood? One of the haughty ones? One who’s in that Sun Chamber you joined?”
“Yes. Pansy Parkinson.”
For a moment, he does wonder if he should have told the Auror her name. Londer’s hand tightens on her wand to the point that it spasms and the wand almost spins out of her grasp. Then Londer relaxes and leans against his large mantel. “Yes, for a chance to see her finally crawling and sobbing on the ground, I can put up with slow revenge.”
“Good. This is what I’d like you to do, and here’s what I’d like to explain to you first…”
*
“I am ashamed of my actions!”
There are enough people turning to stare at Parkinson as she stands and declaims in the middle of Diagon Alley that Harry doesn’t think they need to worry about the news spreading. Already there are some people who have the wide eyes and busy mouths of potential gossips. Harry makes sure to stay quiet back in his hiding place in Knockturn Alley. He’ll intervene in a minute.
Next to him, Londer sighs. “It’s a beginning.”
“More will come.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I doubted that.”
Harry shuts up then, and makes a gesture for Londer to do the same, as a woman with two children behind her approaches Parkinson. “Um, what do you mean, Lady Parkinson?” she asks. She licks her lips a second later and looks around for support that isn’t coming.
“I mean that I did something stupid in pursuit of a private grudge.” Parkinson tosses her hair back. She looks almost perfect, Harry thinks as he watches her wide, quivering eyes and lips. He’s the only one who knows the true cause of the tears at the corners of her eyes. “It meant the death of a young wizard.”
“Really, Lady Parkinson. Don’t you want to come away and lie down?”
“Oh, don’t spoil the fun, Mariah. Tell us what you did then, dear.”
Londer’s hand tightens on Harry’s wrist. “Are you sure that she’s going to do exactly what you tell her?”
“Blood-based Imperius,” Harry reminds her, and then Parkinson is bending down until she gets almost in the face of the teenage witch who asked the question.
“I hired two assassins who promised they could do the work of killing Harry Potter. I told them to make the death messy and public. So they went after him at the Ministry, using a potion that I also told them how to make. The potion created a highly poisonous gas, and it managed to scar the lungs of a young wizard, Corin Londer, until he died.”
“Hey, I knew Corin!”
Parkinson goes on as though ignoring the crowd’s gathering restlessness. “I’m ashamed of that. I let my grudge against a fellow member of the Sun Chamber consume me, instead of resorting to a duel the way I should have, if I was so afraid of what would happen to me when I accused him. I’m here to atone for my decisions. To give up everything that makes me someone who could commit such a horrible crime.” For an instant, she raises a hand, and makes as if to rip at her hair, but Harry thinks his will at her, and makes her put it down. Too-dramatic gestures aren’t part of this. “Judge me as you will. A public crime deserves a public punishment.”
There are a few people melting off the back of the crowd. Harry watches them in interest. He isn’t sure if they’re going to report to the Sun Chamber or if they’re simply embarrassed to be witnessing a public spectacle like this, but either way, it’s doing the right kind of work. They’ll spread word when people ask them what they’re embarrassed about even if they aren’t spies.
“What’s the punishment going to be, then?”
“I am going to make amends from my own personal vault,” Parkinson answers, and waves her wand. The piles of Galleons that melt into existence around her were actually suspended from an invisible net above her head, but the appearance makes the crowd gasp anyway. “Take as much as you want.”
Auror Londer grabs Harry’s arm and holds as the crowd begins to move cautiously forwards, some of them muttering about legends of fairy gold and the like. “How did you do that?”
“Brought out some Galleons and put them in a net above her head under the Disillusionment Charm.”
“But—there’s nothing there to connect a net to.”
Harry passes his wand over Auror Londer’s eyes for a second, granting her the ability to see the Disillusioned poles that stand over Parkinson holding the net. Then he reverses the charm, and Londer shakes her head slowly as she watches eager hands snatching the coins. And maybe even more as she watches the small quiver to Parkinson’s lips and the corners of her eyes, where her real self struggles against Harry’s control.
“Are you going to get in trouble for this?”
“How should I get in trouble for a decision that Lady Parkinson made of her own free will?”
Londer looks from him to Parkinson and back a few times, then sighs out gustily. “It is satisfying. Not enough payment for Corin’s death, but more satisfying than I dreamed.”
“I know it’s not. It’ll go on, though.” Harry ignores the way she stares at him. What he speaks is the truth, and it isn’t his fault if she doesn’t believe him. He watches as people finally believe Parkinson is giving money away and practically stumble over themselves to scoop up the coins and drop them into their pockets.
“What is the meaning of this.”
Harry is a bit impressed. He knows how hard it is to make a statement like that without the question mark. He watches as Shafiq steps forwards from the edge of the crowd, her robes billowing around her in a way that would make Snape proud.
“My lady.” Parkinson executes the precise bow that she would give to someone older and senior to her in the Sun Chamber. Harry loves the blood-based Imperius. He can still have Parkinson make some of her natural gestures and thus convince everyone even more that she’s acting under her own power. “I am ashamed—”
“Yes, I heard that, and you should be, Lady Parkinson. How does that translate into giving your wealth away?”
“It was the wealth I used to hire my assassins and contribute to the potion that, in turn, meant the death of a young Auror. Children are precious to their parents. The only thing I can do is give up what’s most precious to me in return, to show that I mean it.”
Shafiq stares at Parkinson with her brow furrowed. Harry sees the neat motion of her wand, hears the murmur that accompanies it. She’s trying a powerful Finite that ought to end any Imperius Curse influencing Parkinson’s actions. Her face almost droops when Parkinson continues to stare back at her with shining, earnest eyes.
Well, shining ones, anyway. And if some of the shine comes from tears, who’s going to know?
“A Lady should not be acting like this,” Shafiq says, and takes Parkinson’s arm to lead her away. Harry beams a little. Really, he couldn’t have planned this better if Shafiq was somehow really allied to him.
Parkinson plants her feet. “But why not, Lady Shafiq? We care about other people! We’re the noble ones! If we do something like this by accident, how are we going to live with ourselves? We can’t!”
The crowd is murmuring in interest. Shafiq is squinting as if someone started talking to her in a mixture of Latin and English. “Surely you do not think the right thing to do is debase yourself in front of a crowd.”
“I think the right thing to do is make up for what I’ve done. And the murder was public, so this has to be public, too.”
Shafiq stares. Then she says, “The Aurors might arrest you for this.”
“They said something about not having any resources to investigate the mystery.” Parkinson spreads her arms and widens her eyes as if she embraces the angry murmurs rising around her. “I think I’ll be all right.”
Londer tenses. Harry knows what’s going to happen, and grabs her arm before she can move, expertly turning to the side and using the weight to spin her back towards the building they’re crouching next to. “You go out there and confront her, and what do you think will happen?” he whispers harshly. “You anger Shafiq and you might alert her to what’s really going on.”
“Why do you think that?” Londer hasn’t stopped struggling.
“Shafiq isn’t stupid, and she’s probably going to think that it’s no coincidence that you’re here. Listen, do you want revenge for your son or not?”
That at least makes Londer stop struggling, but the expression on her face is foreboding. Harry ignores that and faces the scene where Shafiq is reaching out her hand for Parkinson’s shoulder, certainly to Apparate with her.
“I think you need a lie-down and a cool drink, Pansy,” Shafiq murmurs. “Then you can see how silly it is to say that you had anything to do with the boy’s unfortunate death.”
Harry makes Parkinson move back a little and shake her head. “This is part of the process of atonement. Haven’t you ever felt anything that you needed to atone for, Lady Shafiq?”
The expression on Shafiq’s face gives the answer as clearly as words. But she steps away and Apparates without Parkinson, who turns back to the humiliating speech that Harry is inventing as he goes.
Londer breathes harshly next to him, but she’s calmed down when Harry glances at her. “Yes, all right. It’s better for her to literally pay for Corin’s death. But—if she’s not going to be arrested, then what is the end result of all this going to be?”
Harry smiles and tilts his head as he hears a crack of Apparition. “The solution to that problem is on her way in.”
Weston swaggers up with a slow stride, and shakes her head when Parkinson stretches out appealing arms to her. “Hello there, Lady. Someone said that you were standing in public and proclaiming your complicity in this murder, but I honestly didn’t believe it until I saw it for myself.”
“Who are you?”
“An Auror with the Ministry who couldn’t commit any resources to the investigation, but did think she should do something when you showed up and just started talking in the middle of Diagon Alley. Come on, Lady.”
Parkinson stares and blinks while Weston conjures a rope and loops it around her wrists. Harry releases her a little from his control as they get ready to leave the Alley, and Parkinson abruptly writhes and shouts, “Wait!”
“What?”
“You can’t—you can’t arrest me. I freely confessed. That means that you can’t arrest me.”
“I’m fascinated by this example of logic, but not seeing the point at the moment,” Weston says in a polite voice. “Would you like to tell me more? Perhaps in a holding cell at the Ministry, where you can also explain to some other people?”
“Yes—I mean no!”
But it’s too late. Weston Disapparates with Parkinson. Harry chuckles to himself. Parkinson is going to help him more caged than free, honestly. She can confess all the information that he wants her to pass on to the Ministry officials that way, and pay for Corin Londer’s death, and also stay out of the way, so he doesn’t have to “accidentally” kill her. She also has already told him everything useful.
“There’s going to be more.”
Harry nods to Londer and leads her towards the Apparition point they used to come to Diagon Alley. People are still gathering up Galleons behind them. Harry wishes them joy of it. It will serve, a little, to repay some of what Parkinson has taken from them, and what her family has done in the past. “Of course there is. That was only the first installment.”
“Auror Potter…”
Harry glances at Londer. Her eyes are alight in a way that he’s only seen in the mirror.
“It’s going to be a pleasure to work with you.”
*
Harry Apparates to where Shafiq told him to meet her, a clearing surrounded by black, dead trees on the outskirts of her estate. He’s alert for a trap, of course, but he’s also pleased. He went to check on the Elder Wand and its position in one of the complicated spells they’re doing, and everything is proceeding exactly according to plan.
“You’ve probably heard the bad news already.”
Harry turns around with a faint smile as Shafiq walks towards him. “Someone who was supportive of the plan to make me a king was arrested?”
“No—as far as I know, Lady Parkinson probably doesn’t support you after the way you killed her father.” Shafiq stops and pulls at her robe collar. “But it means that they might start arresting other Lords and Ladies soon.”
I hope they do. Harry holds it back and only tilts his head. “Why? Is anyone else going to do something as stupid as she did?”
“It wasn’t stupid.”
“To do it and then admit it in public? Of course it was.”
Shafiq actually wilts a little under his stare, the first time Harry can remember something like that happening. “Oh—very well. Yes, it was a little stupid. I still don’t know what she was thinking.”
“Then no one else has anything to worry about,” Harry says, and shrugs. “Is there something you wanted to talk to me about besides Parkinson’s arrest?”
“Yes.” Shafiq sets her feet and holds his gaze in a way that tells Harry he’s not going to like what comes next. Then again, he doesn’t like most of what she says. “The others don’t seem to have considered this, but I have. Your Mu—Muggleborn friend. You’re going to have to give her up when you become king.”
It’s to the point that it almost amuses Harry to see people deriding Hermione, because it means that her disguise as a fairly ordinary witch is working. He shakes his head. “But why? She’s powerful. She could be a help.”
“But she’s very democratic,” Shafiq says, pronouncing that word as if it’s an embarrassing venereal disease. “There’s no way that she’ll understand what you’re doing.”
“Hermione always grasps what I’m doing.”
“I know that perhaps she’s offered you her understanding in the past, Lord Potter, but with all due respect, the world we’re creating has no place for Muggleborns. Why would she consent to being pushed out of the world she loves?”
“She wouldn’t.”
Shafiq relaxes. “Then you’ll get onto the project of disabusing her of her part in this?”
“But why would I do that? Why not keep silent until it’s irreversible, and only then tell her? Because she would become an opponent now, when our project is weak. We might as well let her work for me until the point comes when we have to naturally part our ways.”
Shafiq’s lips part. She gives a slow nod, as if her face is imprisoned in treacle tart. “That makes a great deal of sense, Lord Potter.”
I know it does. It’s the lie Hermione encouraged me to use.
“If you think she would ignore rumors about you trying to become a king…”
“She’s ignored more ridiculous rumors than that.” Though not many of them. The one where I was dating a frog probably counts, though.
“Very well, Lord Potter.” Shafiq bows her head. “I shall allow myself to be guided by my future king. I think you are smarter and more devious than anyone has guessed.”
There’s a tone in her voice that’s not entirely approval. Harry grins at her. “I know that it’s shocking to contemplate, but I do have power. And I want power, you know. I welcomed my ascension to the Sun Chamber. It’ll allow me to accomplish my goals more easily.”
“I find myself resting easier in my mind, Lord Potter. I see we understand each other.”
“We do, Lady.”
For you, the understanding only goes one way, but that’s all right. Let it do that. Just let me be there to see the look on your face when you realize the truth.
*
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