Hadriana Potter and Mother Magic: Betrayals Chapter 1

Chapter 13

Agluk dissolved into vicious, emphatic swearing when he saw the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet. He angrily crumpled it into a ball and lit it afire, glowering at the flickering flames. Hadriana poisoned and in St Mungo's, Amelia Bones’ case stalled. Who the hell could have done such a thing, who would?

Scowling mutinously, Agluk stood and promptly exited his office. He made his way absently through the confusingly twisted, cavernous sub-level hallways of the bank where only the goblins themselves and certain goblin friends could enter. He stepped into his apartment and slammed the door, grumbling under his breath.

“Agluk?” his wife asked, brow raised imperiously, “Did you just slam the door?”

Agluk smiled as innocently as possible, “Sorry, my beloved. I was distracted,” he said, spying the Daily Prophet on the coffee table in the den. He scowled at it mutinously, “Have you read that?”

Enxa nodded, expression hardening, “Whomever did such a thing to a wee child should be tortured,”

Agluk grunted in agreement and sat on the sofa next to his wife, sighing. She leaned against him, knowing he needed comfort. He had told her plainly what he had been through, how Hadriana Potter-Black had brought him along with Severus Snape, Tom Riddle, and herself from the future. Enxa had been horrified to learn of the future that would have undoubtedly come to pass all because of one power hungry man. She had ranted and raved about what Hadriana had gone through, too, and ‘poor Tom.’

Agluk wouldn’t call the Dark Lord ‘poor Tom,’ to his face, but he did chuckle about it to himself sometimes. Enxa had suffered from empty nesting since their youngest had moved out and gone off to become one of the best Wardsmith’s in Eastern Europe, and hearing of the plight of two young humans had made her maternal instincts rise ferociously.

“I hope they catch the bastard who did this,” Enxa said sternly, sitting up to grab the paper. She rustled it, glaring, “The poor child,”

“Bones is one of the best,” Agluk assured his wife, rubbing her back soothingly, “And the world at large won’t stand for their Saviour being poisoned,”

Enxa turned and eyed him, a smirk on her face at the sour note in Agluk's voice, “You are very fond of her,”

Agluk frowned, “If not for her discovering what Dumbledore did in our previous lives, she would have been murdered by a woman she believed she loved, Enxa. The girl has been through hell and back and still she decided to save the world, save us,”

Enxa smiled, “You’re getting soft in your old age, my love,”

Agluk feigned indignation, “Who are you calling old? You’re ten years older than me!”

Enxa laughed, tossing away the paper. Agluk sighed as she shifted back into his arms, his gaze drawn to the stack of papers and folders on his desk across the room; the information from Hadriana's vaults. The state of them were terrible, money taken without authorisation, artefacts and books and family heirlooms stolen.

Agluk sighed again, planting a kiss to Enxa's temple, before standing and shuffling toward the stack. Time to get to work.

***

Amelia sat hunched over her desk as she poured over the Restricted Potions Ingredients order list from Alerie's Apothecary in Diagon Alley; all deadly and dangerous ingredients were closely moderated and sold only to those with potions masteries or strict permission from the Minister. Aconite, more commonly known as wolfsbane, was one such ingredient.

The only problem was that over three thousand witches and wizards had purchased it in the last year alone.

Amelia sat back and rubbed at her stinging eyes, sighing softly, “Gods damn it,” she uttered, feeling a sense of hopelessness. She had her best Aurors on the case, but they were themselves rifling through lists from surrounding countries, as it was highly likely the attempted murderer had bought the wolfsbane from another country in order to not get caught.