It\'s So Difficult to be Mature

Chapter 5: M.A.T.D.A.

The six adults were in turmoil. Elizabeth had been sent home and Lisa and Hermione continued to sob. Harry and Ron were pacing back and forth across the room. Only Ginny and Draco managed to stay calm, but they were gripping each other’s hands tightly.

"I don’t get it," Harry said finally. He was holding the rose Lisa found in a magical container to preserve any traces of evidence. "This doesn’t seem like Voldemort and this rose, this can’t be from him."

Lisa looked up at her husband through her tears. "Harry? Do you think that maybe we should go to M.A.T.D.A.? If anyone could help us find our children, they can."

"What’s M.A.T.D.A.?" Ginny asked softly.

"It stands for Magic Against The Dark Arts. It’s a small organization that’s devoted to stopping the Voldemort and his followers. They know everything that goes on in the Black side of magic. Dumbledore himself is a member," Harry said. "Lisa’s right. If we want to find our children then we should ask them."

"What are we waiting for then?" Draco demanded.

"We’ll have to take Floo powder. No one is permitted to Apparate in, even their own members," Harry appealed to Ron. He missed the look that passed between Ron and Hermione.

"I’ll go get it," Ron said.

"Hurry."

The remaining five adults sat in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione was still crying, but Lisa had stopped once she was past the initial shock. She put her arm around Hermione and tried to comfort her, but Hermione refused to be comforted.

"I am a terrible mother."

Lisa shook her head. "Hermione, this is not your fault, this isn’t my fault or the boys’ fault. You are not a terrible mother. If you love your children then you are a good mother."

Ginny voiced an opinion. "We will get them back, Herm. I promise."

Harry couldn’t take it any longer. "Where’s Ron? Our children are out there somewhere and they could be in danger!"

"Harry!" Lisa said sharply. "Sit down, this isn’t helping."

Harry turned to her and stared at her with a look Lisa had never seen before.

"For once in your life stop acting like a nurse! Aren’t you even upset? These are your children too, damn it! Am I the only one who cares that they’ve been kidnapped by an evil wizard and are now God knows where? Damn it, Lisa, don’t tell me to sit down!"

The others in the room watched the scene unfold with a tremor of fear. Hermione couldn’t remember the last time that Harry and Lisa had fought. Ginny had one hand over her mouth and Draco watched Lisa intently for a reaction.

"Harry," Lisa said fiercely. "I love my children, I always have and I always will! I can’t believe you think I am that heartless! I have to act like this because if for one moment I stop, then I will break down and I don’t know if I can pull myself together!" She practically screamed the last part at Harry. Then she trembled and stuttered. "I, I, I can’t do this, Harry. I need my children, I want my children, I..." Lisa started to cry and Harry moved towards her, taking her in his arms.

"Lisa, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I said those things. I love you."

But Lisa pulled away from his embrace. "No!" she screamed. "Stay away from me. Don’t touch me, I don’t deserve to be loved!"

In any other situation, out of any other mouth, that statement would have been funny. Coming from Lisa however it was disturbing and Harry was shocked. He watched in a daze as Lisa sank, sobbing, onto the sofa next to Hermione, her head buried in the pillows. Ron chose that moment to reenter the livingroom.

"I have it," Ron said. He paused as he caught sight of Harry, standing in the middle of the room with shock on his face, and Lisa saturating the sofa cushions with her tears. "What happened?"

Hermione shook her head at him as she stroked Lisa’s hair. "Not now, Ron. Do you have the Floo powder?"

"Yes," Ron said, distracted. "It’s right here."

"Good. Harry, lead the way."

Harry was still preoccupied with the fact that his wife had refused to let him apologize. How could he have said those things? He loved her, and they rarely fought. Harry and Lisa had a wonderful marriage. Like he had told Hermione before, they had their share of arguments, but he always remembered the girl he ran into that day six years ago, right before he had to face Voldemort in that terrible battle. She had made life worth fighting for, and when they had Lily, Harry finally understood why people had families. They made living worthwhile. Now his children were missing and his wife was hurt and upset. What could he do to change that? Would anything ever be right again?

Harry James Potter was bored. On top of that he was hungry and tired. He had just come from a long day of training and it had taken it’s toll on him. All he wanted was to go into the Leaky Cauldron, get something to eat and drink, and then go home. Ron and Hermione were having another one of their ‘anniversary’ dinners, so Harry was on his own that night. What they were celebrating this time, Harry didn’t know. It always seemed to be the anniversary of something with those two.

Harry came out of Diagon Alley into the now familiar courtyard of The Leaky Cauldron. Pushing open the back door, Harry made his way through to the front of the pub. He plopped himself down onto one of the stools and spoke to the old bartender who had worked at the Cauldron for as long as Harry could remember.

"A butterbeer, Tom, and a corned beef sandwich."

"I’m sorry, Harry," It had taken a lot of convincing to get Tom to call him Harry, "but the Cauldron is closed right now. Business has been rather slow, what with You-Know-Who lurking ever closer."

Harry understood, but it didn’t make him any less disappointed. "I understand, Tom. I suppose I can go to a Muggle restaurant. There’s just nothing like a butterbeer on a dull afternoon."

"I’m sorry, Harry. I’ll see you soon."

Harry nodded, pulled his coat tighter around his lean frame, and started for the door. As he stepped outside onto the streets of London, he collided with someone. He stood up and started making apologies.

"I’m terribly sorry, I suppose I wasn’t looking where I was going. My name is Harry–" Harry stopped when he got a good look at the person he bumped into. It was a woman who looked about his age. She had long, straight brown hair and thin wire frame glasses that were slipping down her nose. Her most striking features, however, were her eyes. They were bright blue and seemed to pierce through his entire body, making Harry feel as though she could see right through him. She looked familiar, too. When she noticed his stare, the girl gave him a friendly smile.

"I’m terribly sorry as well. I think it’s these confounded glasses. I’m only supposed to wear them for reading, but then I forget to take them off and..." She waved her hand as she trailed off. "I’m sorry, you must think me a complete nitwit! My name’s Lisa Turpin, what’s yours?" Lisa stuck out her hand for him to shake which he did.

"I’m Harry Potter." By now Harry was so used to having people gasp at his name that he decided to say it clearly and get the staring over with. To his surprise, Lisa neither gasped nor stared.

"Harry Potter, now where have I heard that name before?" she mused as she perched her glasses atop her head. "Oh! Of course, we went to school together. Hogwarts! Dear old Hogwarts."

Now that she had named it, Harry remembered seeing her before too. Lisa had been a Ravenclaw in his year. He really hadn’t known her, but she had been friends with Cho Chang who he had dated for awhile.

"Right, now I remember you, Lisa. You were in Ravenclaw."

The corners of Lisa’s mouth curved up in a smile. "That’s correct, and you, of course, were in Gryffindor. I’m surprised you remember me at all, we didn’t exactly run in the same circles. Well, it has been nice running into you, Harry, but I really must be going. I’m late for a class."

It wasn’t until then that Harry realized that Lisa had been carrying books when he had collided with her. He bent down to pick them up for her and noticed that all of the titles had something to do with magic medicine.

"Are you studying to become a doctor?" Harry asked.

Lisa blushed slightly. "No, I’m going to become a nurse. I’m almost finished with my training. What do you do, Harry?"

"I’m training to become an Auror. Um, I was wondering, this may seem kind of sudden, but would you like to maybe have lunch sometime? It’s not often I meet someone who doesn’t pre-idolize me, it’s rather refreshing."

Lisa smiled. "Actually, I would like too. Listen, I’m already late for my class, so I might as well miss the rest. Why don’t we go get some dinner and I can find out what the famous Harry Potter has been up to the past three years."

Harry agreed and they went to a small little restaurant in London. They had a very nice time and the rest was history.

Harry stepped towards the fire with Floo powder in his hand. He threw it on the magical fire and the flames turned emerald green. He would have to talk to Lisa later, the most important thing was finding the children. Entering the flames, Harry called out:

"M.A.T.D.A.!"

* * *

When the six adults traveled through the flames, they found themselves in a large white room. The fireplace made of green glass melted away as soon as Draco stepped through and joined the others. They took a look around and were confused by their surroundings.

The Potters, Weasleys, and Malfoys had stepped into a room the size of a football field. It was entirely white; the floor, walls, and ceiling were indistinguishable from one another. In fact, the room seemed to stretch on forever in all directions. In the distance they could see a green dot signifying that some object was there, though it was too far away to know what.

"This is it?" Ginny asked with disappointment clearly in her voice. "This is M.A.T.D.A.?"

"No," Harry answered. "This is just the waiting room. You don’t think they’d let just anyone into M.A.T.D.A. do you? No, the Floo network takes you here and then the secretary will determine whether or not we are allowed in."

"Well, where’s this secretary?" Draco asked impatiently.

"You see that green dot down there?" Everyone except Lisa nodded. "That’s her desk. Let’s go."

They trooped down towards the little green dot which grew steadily larger as they approached. The dot turned out to be a receptionist’s desk made out of glowing green glass. It stretched across the middle of the room, but still didn’t touch the walls. Sitting behind the desk was the secretary, a tiny woman with her hair in a ridiculously dated beehive hairstyle. She was chomping away on some gum as she talked on a telephone headset, and to judge by the bluebell colored bubbles floating around she was chomping on some Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum.

She didn’t look up as they approached and Harry had to rap on the desk with his knuckles to grab her attention. She looked up in surprise, but then she seemed to recognize who she was looking at.

"Why, Mr. Potter! How are ya?" the receptionist exclaimed. "Is that your wife I see?"

Harry didn’t smile, but he responded. "I’m fine, Shirley. Could you please let the Chancellors know that Harry Potter, Lisa Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and Ginny Malfoy are here? We have urgent business."

It wasn’t until Harry introduced them that Shirley noticed the rest of the solemn entourage that had accompanied him. She took one look at the suffering that was plainly etched on Lisa’s face and knew that something was really wrong. She made the call and cast the spell.

"Chancellors? Harry Potter is here, along with–" She didn’t finish. "Uh huh, yes, that’s right. Okay. Will do!" Shirley waved her wand and whatever spell she had cast disappeared. "Okay, Mr. Potter, you may go in."

"Um," Ginny hesitated, "exactly how would we do that?"

Shirley smacked her head in mock-confusion. "Silly me! Everyone please take a step back." The six adults stepped backwards, though they didn’t see what good it would do. "Okay, please enjoy your time here at M.A.T.D.A.." She lifted her wand and waved it over them. Before any of them could utter a word, a green bubble had encased them and the floor gave way beneath them. They floated down into another room, but they were decelerating quickly. When they landed the bubble disappeared and they found themselves in what appeared to be an ordinary conference room. It was sparsely furnished, with a long oval table and twelve cushy chairs which surrounded it.

"Take a seat," Harry said in a monotone. "They should be in soon."

"Harry, who’s they?" Hermione speaking for the first time since they left her house.

"The Chancellors of M.A.T.D.A.. I think you’ll recognize them, they’re good friends."

The six adults sat and waited. Then they waited some more. Hermione had her face buried in Ron’s shoulder and he put his arm around her, Ginny and Draco were sitting side by side, holding each others hand so tightly Harry was sure that they were going to pop a blood vessel. Lisa had opted to sit on the other end of the table and stared at the floor. Harry stood up and began to pace again. He was relieved when he heard the door creak open.

"Well, look who we have here, Padfoot!"

"Sirius, Professor Lupin?" Ginny asked incredulously. "You two are the Chancellors?"

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin hadn’t changed much in the past ten years. The only evidence of their aging was their slightly greying hair. Remus looked tired as usual and everyone assumed he had just recovered from a full moon. Sirius’ eyes sparkled and Remus had a warm and friendly smile on his face. No one could tell by looking at them that they were in their mid-forties; once a Marauder, always a Marauder and it added a youthful countenance to their features.

Remus Lupin turned to his friend from their school days. "Why is it that they can call you Sirius, but they can’t call me Remus?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don’t know, Moony." Sirius turned to look at the six adults. "What are you lot doing here? Not that we’re not pleased to see you," he added quickly.

Remus looked around the room and his eyes fell on Draco Malfoy who shrank away from his gaze.

"Harry, would you like to explain his presence?" Remus asked quietly.

Before Harry could answer, Ginny spoke. "He’s my husband, and I assure you, Profess–er–Remus, he is not working for Voldemort. He has renounced the Dark Arts."

Both Sirius and Remus looked to Harry for confirmation. He nodded and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, I was worried that you had breached protocol," Sirius said. "Now, I know you, Harry, and I know that you wouldn’t waste our valuable time with chitchat, so what are you doing here?"

Harry breathed deeply and began his story. "Our children have been kidnapped."

Harry went on to explain everything that had occurred, from Draco’s disappearance to the rose that Lisa had found. When he finished, he pulled the rose in it’s container out of his robes and gave it to Remus. Remus examined it and then handed it to Sirius who gave it a once-over himself. Then they glanced at each other. It looked like they were debating amongst themselves whether or not to explain.

"Well? Do you know who took our children?" Lisa asked, speaking for the first time since her breakdown at the Weasley’s.

Sirius looked at Remus. "What do you think, Moony? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?"

"I think so, Padfoot."

"Who the bloody hell took our children, already!" Harry shouted unable to control himself.

"Should we tell them?" Remus asked Sirius.

"I think so. It’s their children who were kidnapped."

Remus and Sirius turned towards the others who were straining with anticipation. They sighed collectively.

"Well, tell us already!" Ron shouted. "Who took our children?"

Remus and Sirius looked Harry and Ron in the eyes. "Lucretia."

"Who’s Lucretia?" Hermione asked while at the same time Lisa asked, "You mean, Voldemort didn’t take our children?"

"No, Voldemort doesn’t have your children and Lucretia is, well..." Sirius trailed off.

"This is serious, Padfoot. If Lucretia is now kidnaping children, who knows what she’s doing with them. Maybe we’d better call in Mills and Levine," Remus said.

"Do we have to?" Sirius asked. If Harry hadn’t known better he would have said that Sirius whined.

"Who are Mills and Levine?" Ginny queried.

"They’re Lucretia specialists," Remus replied. "They also happen to be in love with our friend Sirius here."

"Lucretia specialists?" Harry repeated while Draco snickered at the thought of two women in love with Sirius.

"Yes. They know everything that is possible to know about her. She’s their specialty. If anyone can help you find your children, they can. Come on, Padfoot, you know it’s for the best."

"Well," Sirius thought for a moment, "just give me time to get away."

Remus nodded and Sirius said goodbye to everyone. He handed the rose back to Harry on his way out. When he left Remus opened a panel on the wall revealing a map of M.A.T.D.A.. It appeared to have the name of everyone who worked there along with a dot on it and the dots were moving around. It reminded Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the Marauder’s Map and remembering who the Chancellors were, they figured that it was probably very similar to the Marauder’s Map. Remus pulled out his wand and tapped two dots labeled J. Mills and M. Levine. They were summoned to the conference room.

They arrived shortly and Remus opened the door for them to enter. Remus introduced them to the rest of the group.

"Everyone, I’d like you to meet Dr. Jeanette Mills and Inspector Meredith Levine, our Lucretia specialists. Ladies, this is Lisa Potter, Hermione Weasley, Ron Weasley, Ginny Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter."

As soon as Remus announced his name, both women turned to stare at him. Harry, being used to this, sighed and hoped they would be done soon. Neither of them spoke but they exchanged a glance.

"Harry Potter," Dr. Mills said softly. "We’ve heard so much about you."

Harry smiled, relieved that they weren’t asking questions. They went around the table shaking hands which gave Harry time to study the two mysterious women. They seemed to be about Sirius and Remus’ age, but it was difficult to tell. They were both of average height, about the same size as Hermione which was considerably shorter than Ron and even shorter than Harry who had grown a lot since his Hogwarts days. That was where the resemblance between them ended.

Inspector Levine had dark brown shoulder-length hair which she was currently wearing down. Her eyes were also dark brown and she had medium-tan skin. She was wearing purple robes and appeared to have a peace sign around her neck along with some colorful beads. She wasn’t wearing a badge that Harry could see.

Dr. Mills had honey-brown hair that was slightly graying up in a pony-tail and held back with a couple of clips. She had hazel colored eyes and a friendly smile. She was wearing blue robes and a necklace with a dolphin charm. Over her blue robes she was wearing a white lab coat which gave her a very ‘doctorish’ look.

They looked normal enough for women who were supposedly in love with Sirius. Harry assumed that Remus had exaggerated.

"Okay, Chief, what’s wrong?" Inspector Levine asked Remus.

"I’ll let them tell you," Remus said gesturing to the others.

Harry was the designated leader for the others so he told the two women what had happened. When he finished they exchanged another glance.

"So," Harry pressed, "who is this Lucretia woman and what do we have to do to get our children back? Inspector Levine? Dr. Mills?"

Inspector Levine responded first with a smile. "Please Harry, you needn’t be so formal. Call me Meredith."

"And you may call me Jeanette. Well, Meredith, where shall we begin?"

Meredith took a deep breath before launching into her narrative. "Lucretia is the nom de guerre of one of the most evil dark witches to ever exist. I know that you have heard of many dark wizards who existed over the past centuries, but few dark witches. There is a reason for this."

"Women don’t have what it takes to be truly evil?" Draco suggested.

Jeanette fixed him with a cold stare. "If you keep up that attitude, Draco, was it? If you keep up that attitude, Draco, I guarantee you will find yourself very dead. There are many dangerous witches out there and that is our specialty. Meredith and I run the Department of Dark Witches Study here at M.A.T.D.A.. Currently we are focusing our energy on the woman known as Lucretia."

"As I was saying before," Meredith continued, "there are few evil witches known, though there have been many in existence. The reason for this is that in the History books, women slip through the cracks. Lucretia is an exception. Following her trail of activities, we have reason to believe that she will soon be as well known as Voldemort and will rival his power."

"But who is she?" Hermione persisted.

Jeanette took over. "Let me give you her background, such as we know it. This is everything about her and her modus operandi that we know so far. Lucretia is a pseudonym, we are unaware of her real name. We believe that she took that particular name because of the Italian poisoner Lucretia Borgia. Our Lucretia is a poisoner as well; that is her main form of killing. Unlike Voldemort she refuses to use Avada Kedavra. She prefers to see her victims, or at least know that her victims are, suffering until the end rather than receiving a swift and painless death. In that respect, she is more ruthless than Voldemort."

Meredith continued. "This is what we know about her background: when she was younger and Voldemort was at the height of his power, about five years before his ‘downfall’, Lucretia fell in love with him. She had known him when they were children and had tried to join his ranks as a Death Eater. The problem was that Voldemort didn’t let many women into his inner circle. From what we have learned from spies, Lucretia was the closest thing to love that Voldemort ever had. However when it became apparent that she only wanted him for his power, he cast her aside. Lucretia was outraged and vowed revenge. She spent many years learning the Dark Arts and used spells and enchantments she stole from him to build her power. She has been biding her time for she is a patient woman, but recently she has started to kill more and more."

"She must be quite old then," Ron said, "to have been in school with Voldemort."

Jeanette nodded. "True, but like Voldemort, whom she stole power from, she cannot be killed easily. She has also enacted spells that retain her youthful beauty so that her appearance is misleading. Probably the most damning of all is that she spends most of her time in an alternate universe in which time does not flow the same as it does here. There, she is protected even more because that is where her power is located. There are only two ways to stop her, or at least hinder her. One, destroy her power core, but for that you would have to get into the other universe and find it. Or two, defeat her here where she is somewhat weaker."

"We don’t know for sure that it is Lucretia that has our children though," Lisa said. "Remus and Sirius just think that she does."

Meredith looked thoughtful. "I heard you mention a red rose in your story. Do you have it?"

Harry took it out of his robes and handed it to her. She looked at it and passed to Jeanette who gave it back to Harry. Meredith spoke quietly and thoughtfully.

"A single blood-red rose. That, everyone, is her mark. Everywhere she kills or causes destruction she leaves a red rose behind. It’s sort of her Dark Mark. I’m not exactly sure how that came to be her symbol, but her followers are called the Followers of the Fleur Rouge or the Red Flower. It’s a society mostly for women interested in the Dark Arts that weren’t allowed into Voldemort’s group, but there are quite a few men, too."

Jeanette had been staring off into space, but she snapped her head suddenly to look at the six adults.

"Did any of you touch the rose?" she asked sharply.

"I put it in the container after Lisa brought it down," Harry said.

All eyes turned to Lisa. She paled and stuttered slightly. "I picked it up when I found it, yes. What else was I to do? I wasn’t really thinking straight."

"Well, think carefully now, Lisa. Did you prick yourself on any of the thorns?" Jeanette asked with a worried expression.

Lisa thought. "I think I did, they were rather sharp and long. Why? What’s wrong?"

Jeanette shook her head. "This isn’t good. This is definitely not good. Assuming this rose was from Lucretia, it was most likely poisoned. Others have been found with a rare form of nightshade in their blood, the same poison on a flower that was found wherever she killed. Wizards know it as Ephemeralia, meaning short-lived. It’s a rare magical poison that is untraceable to Muggles, they can’t find it. Lucretia uses it on her roses when she leaves them as a symbol. Her flower of death. If Lisa pricked herself on those thorns then she probably absorbed it through her skin."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked, a shiver of fear running down his spine.

"It means," Jeanette said with a sigh, "that if Lisa did absorb it, and we should do some tests right away, she has approximately forty-eight hours to live."

The room was silent. So silent that you could hear a pin drop. Lisa immediately stood up and walked towards Jeanette.

"Let’s have the tests done and then I want you to tell me everything you know about this poison."

Jeanette nodded and they left the room. Harry stood up and tried to follow them, but Remus blocked his path.

"Harry, we have excellent facilities here for this type of thing. I assure you, Jeanette is one of the best medi-magic doctors I have ever seen. Lisa will be perfectly safe with her. Right now your main priority had to be with finding your children before Lucretia can harm them. Now, do you have any idea what she wants?"

Harry struggled for a moment, but then shrugged half-heartedly. "I dunno. Me?"

"Awfully conceited of you, eh, Potter?" Draco said with a smirk. Ginny slapped him.

Meredith interrupted. "Listen, we have to find Lucretia. She’s not a fool, it’s not going to be easy. We have tracked her to her last known hideaway, but that was a few days ago and I doubt that she’s still there. However, she might have left a clue as to her next whereabouts. We should leave immediately."

Harry sat down with a heavy thud in the nearest chair just as the others stood up. "You go on ahead. I’ll wait with Lisa."

Ron was about to argue, but Hermione stopped him. "If that’s what you want, Harry," she said quietly.

"Yes, go on. I’ll be fine."

They were about to go when the door creaked open. Harry hoped that it was Lisa and that she was alright, but he realized that it was too soon. Instead, Sirius waltzed through the door.

"Is the coast clear, Moony?" he asked cheerfully before he caught sight of Meredith. "Oops. I’ll be going now."

"Nonsense, Sirius!" Meredith exclaimed. "You must come with us and find the children."

"Uh, well, you see, I--" Sirius babbled.

Remus cut him off. "He can’t, Meredith. He has to stay here with Harry. Right, Sirius?"

Sirius gladly took this way out. "Uh, right!"

"Come on all, let’s go." Remus herded them out of the conference room. Meredith cast one last look at Sirius and waved goodbye before the door closed. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief and sat down next to Harry.

"See what I mean? They’re absolutely raving mad about me! I’m lucky Jeanette wasn’t here. Where was she anyway? And where’s Lisa? Harry, what’s wrong?"

To his surprise Harry started to cry and threw himself on his godfather. "Oh, Sirius!"

Sirius was startled, but he just sat there and patted Harry awkwardly on the back until Harry was ready to talk.