Trinity

Katling

Story Summary:
Harry now knows what he has to do - find and destroy the Horcruxes and Voldemort. Ron and Hermione refuse to leave his side and they choose to become something that the Dark Lord will fear...the Trinity.

Chapter 23

Chapter Summary:
The trio along with Tonks interview the three former orphans who were directly affected by Tom Riddle when he lived at the orphanage. The results are intriguing.....and disturbing.
Posted:
10/28/2005
Hits:
1,918


Chapter 23

They had little time in the next week for sneaking down to Hogsmeade as their classes and duties as Head Boy and Girl and Prefect took up nearly all of their time. They found this frustrating but under the circumstances they felt it was important that they been seen to be taking their schooling seriously. The situation at Hogwarts was still very tense and while some of the missing students had returned, the numbers in the school were still below what they should be.

Finally just over a week after their attempt to capture Snape and Draco, Harry received an owl from Tonks at breakfast asking them to meet her in Moody's office after classes finished for the day. They found it a little hard to concentrate on their classes that day. This was probably the message they had been waiting for. Tonks had been in charge of the search for the former orphans who had known Tom Riddle.

They finally walked out of their last class for the day with a sigh of relief and immediately made their way up to Moody's office. Tonks was already there and waiting for them.

"Wotcher, Harry!" she said cheerfully, her hair a rather vibrant shade of purple. "Hey, Ron, Hermione!"

"Hi, Tonks," the three friends chorused.

"What have you got for us?" Harry asked.

"We found 'em," Tonks said, handing Harry a piece of parchment. "They're not young but they're all still alive. We've made arrangements for you three to be able to see them without raising any suspicions."

"When?" Harry asked eagerly.

"This weekend," Tonks replied. "I'll come and get you on Saturday morning. Just after breakfast?"

Harry glanced at his friends then nodded at Tonks. "We're supposed to be able to sleep in on weekends," he said with good humour.

"Hah, you wanted to take charge of this, now you find the down side of it," Tonks replied with a grin. "Responsibility requires early hours."

"I want to be irresponsible," Ron groaned.

Moody chuckled. "Too late, Weasley."

"Ah, well," Ron said with a theatrical shrug of his shoulders then he looked at Harry. "So should we dress up in our Trinity robes for this?"

Harry shook his head. "Uh no, Ron. These are Muggles we're going to talk to. If we turned up in robes we'd just have them doubting our sanity. Muggle clothes would be best."

"Oh, okay," Ron said as Hermione smothered a smile.

"Well, that's all I needed to tell you," Tonks said, leaping to her feet and beaming widely. "I have to go. I'm meeting Remus. We're having dinner in Hogsmeade."

Harry grinned. "Have fun."

Tonks waved a hand at him as she practically bounced out of the room, stumbling over the trio's bags on her way out. Harry, Ron and Hermione watched her go then grinned at each other.

Moody had been watching them closely during the whole time they had been in his office and now he cleared his throat.

"What's going on that I need to know about?" he barked.

The trio jumped and swallowed hard at the sudden, unexpected question. "Er, what do you mean?" Harry asked

Moody's eyes narrowed at that reaction. "What do you three have planned that you're not telling us about?"

Harry relaxed slightly as he realised that Moody simply thought they were planning an expedition of some kind and not hiding information. He conjured up a sheepish smile and shot a quick glance at Ron and Hermione.

"Er, it's nothing like that," he said with exaggerated innocence. "We just...well, Fred and George gave me some stuff for my birthday and Ron and I thought we might have some fun with it."

"Er, yeah," Ron said hastily. "I mean, the place has been pretty serious this year. We thought maybe people could do with a laugh."

"I told you someone would figure out what you two were up to," Hermione chided, catching on to what they were doing. "You're hardly the stealthiest people around."

"We weren't going to do anything dangerous," Harry grumbled. "It was just a bit of fun."

Moody growled a laugh. "Don't let me stop you."

"Ah, it'll be no fun now that you've found out," Ron grumped. "Half the point was to surprise the teachers."

"We'll have to come up with something else now," Harry said with a grin.

"Well, do it somewhere else," Moody said and the trio grabbed their bags and got out of the room in a hurry.

They scurried along the corridors until they got to their private common room. The moment they got inside, they shut the door and Harry quickly put up all their usual spells.

"That was way too close," Ron said as he dropped into a chair.

"We're going to have to be a lot more careful around Moody," Harry added as joined Ron in a chair in front of the fireplace.

Hermione sat down as well. "You don't want to tell him?"

"We can't," Harry pointed out. "It's not our secret to tell. We found out by accident. If Prof...er, Twinkle wanted anyone else to know, they probably already would know."

"I suppose you're right," Hermione said reluctantly and with a small smile at Harry's nickname for Dumbledore.

"They can't know," Harry said firmly. "We still need his greasiness right where he is."

Hermione shuddered and nodded. Harry took the spells down and the trio settled in to do their homework.

****************************************************************************

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Harry and his friends gathered in the Entrance Hall where Tonks was chatting happily with Remus. The bubbly metamorphmagus waved to them as they walked over and joined her.

"You lot ready?" she asked and the trio nodded.

"You will be careful, won't you?" Remus asked.

"We're going to interview Muggles," Harry said patiently. "And elderly muggles at that. I don't think they're suddenly going to spring up and attack us."

"Voldemort might have anticipated this," Remus pointed out.

Harry paused for a moment then shook his head. "I doubt it, Remus. He hated that orphanage. I doubt he ever thought about the people he knew there once he left."

"Still, be careful," Remus said firmly.

Harry smiled and nodded. "Always."

Tonks threw her arms around Remus in an enthusiastic hug which he returned with embarrassed delight then she pressed a brief kiss against his lips before bounding towards the door. Harry grinned at the sheepish expression on Remus' face then he and his friends hurried off to join Tonks.

"I take it everything's going well with you two," Harry said innocently as they walked down towards the gates.

Tonks beamed and blushed at the same time and her hair flickered from purple to pink to an iridescent lime green before settling back to purple. "Everything's just fine," she said in a heartfelt tone.

"Good," Harry said, swallowing a snicker, something that Ron didn't succeed at. Tonks shot them both amused looks as Hermione rolled her eyes.

Once they got out of the gates, Tonks turned towards them. "Okay, if you all apparate to the Leaky Cauldron, we'll be portkeying from there."

The trio nodded and a second later all four were gone. They reappeared in the back yard of the Leaky Cauldron where there was a rather nondescript man leaning against the brick wall.

"Here's your portkeys, Tonks," he said abruptly, handing three engraved metal plates to the Auror and then glancing at Harry. "We've got people in place to set the spells when you get there. Oh, and the Minister wants to speak to you when you're finished."

With that the nondescript man apparated out and Tonks rolled her eyes.

"Are you in trouble for doing this?" Harry asked urgently.

Tonks shook her head. "No, I spoke to the Minister about this and he approved it. He might not be too pleased with some of things you've said and done, Harry, but he's not going to actively stand in your way. He knows how important you are to this whole thing. He just wishes you were a little more...well, friendly to the Ministry."

Harry snorted. "I'll think about it...when he gives me a good reason to."

Tonks chuckled. "That's the spirit," she said cheerfully before glancing down at the portkeys. She tucked two in her pocket and held on out to the trio. "Here we go."

Harry and his friends reached out and placed a finger on the metal plate then Tonks said, "Activate primary."

They felt the sudden drag of the portkey spell activating then they were staggering against each other in a small laneway filled with bins and rubbish bags. Tonks quickly looked around as she tucked the portkey into her pocket.

"So where exactly are we?" Harry asked.

"Oxford," Tonks replied as she led them out of the laneway, only tripping over one bin on the way. "Billy Stubbs or Professor William Stubbs as he's known now is a Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Oxford University. He took the least amount of...er, special help in persuading him to see you. He thinks you're doing some research into family history and that you think Tom Riddle might be related."

Harry shuddered. "Now that's a thought that's going to fester. Tom Riddle a relative!"

Hermione and Ron laughed as Tonks led them down the street. They turned right at the intersection and then Tonks was nodding to a small man who was leaning against a pole and reading a paper. Harry was relieved to see that the man, whom he assumed was a wizard, was dressed properly and was actually reading the Times. The man nodded back and Tonks walked up to the front door of the house behind where the man was leaning. She knocked on the door as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked up to join her. There was a longish pause and then the door was opened by an elderly though still quite spritely man.

"Ah, Miss...Tonks, wasn't it?" he said with a pleasant smile. "And these must be the young people you were telling me about."

Tonks smiled broadly in response. "Yes, Professor Stubbs. This is Harry Potter and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. There doing a school project on genealogy and Harry's trying to work out of the Tom Riddle you knew at the orphanage is the same Tom Riddle that's cropped up in his family tree."

"Well, come in then," the Professor said, standing back and allowing them in. He then led them into a small sitting room and gestured for them to sit down. "Now, can I offer you some tea or perhaps a cold drink?"

They all agreed on tea and the old man headed off for the kitchen. He was back in fairly short order and once they were all sorted out with their tea, he sat down in what looked like his normal chair and eyed Harry curiously.

"When your teacher here came round asking about Tom Riddle it quite took me back," he said musingly. "I can honestly say I haven't thought about Tom Riddle since I was about seventeen."

"Did you know him well?" Harry asked.

"No, I don't think anyone did," Professor Stubbs said with a shake of his head. "He didn't much care for the rest of us at the orphanage. Thought he was so much better than us. I didn't much care for him myself."

"Why was that, sir?" Harry asked.

"Our rooms were next to each other for a while before I asked to be shifted," the Professor explained. He frowned and shivered a bit. "Tom Riddle was one of the coldest people I've ever met and I've worked in academia for nearly fifty years. And he could be very nasty as well. I had a pet rabbit when I was a boy and he killed it. Never did figure how he managed it but I know it was him."

"What did he do?" Hermione asked.

"Hung it from one of the rafters," Professor Stubbs said bluntly. "Be damned if I know how he got up there. The ceiling was enormous in that place and the ladders didn't reach that far. He never admitted it, of course, but you could see it in his eyes. There was always a sort of smug maliciousness present whenever the subject came up. We'd argued, you see. Just a few days before my rabbit died. I stayed away from him after that. And I really kept my distance after the trouble with Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop. He did...something to them on that trip we took to the beach."

The Professor gave them a troubled look. "Do you really think he's related to you?"

Harry looked thoughtful. "I don't know. The description I have from the family records is of a very pleasant man, handsome and cheerful."

The Professor relaxed a little at that. "Might not be the same one. I suppose Riddle isn't an uncommon surname. And Tom's a common enough first name."

"Did your Tom Riddle have any places he liked to disappear to?" Harry asked with an air of someone checking details off in his mind.

The Professor leaned back in his chair and thought for a while. "Well, I did often see the Matron hauling him up from the basement so he might have had a hidey hole down there. Mine was in the attic but Tom seemed to like the basement."

Harry pretended to consider that then he shook his head. "No, doesn't seem like your Tom Riddle and my Tom Riddle are the same person. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

"Count yourself lucky then," Professor Stubbs said as they all rose to their feet. He chuckled ruefully as he walked them to the door. "And I'm an old, retired man, Mr Potter. I enjoy having my time wasted. Gives me something to do."

They shook hands with the elderly Professor then Tonks led them back to the laneway they had arrived in. She pulled another of the metal portkeys out of her pocket and glanced down at it.

"Amy Benson," she said as she held it out to the trio. "She's in a nursing home in Essex. This one took a little more trickery to get you in. They only let family and registered friends in to see her."

"Really? Why?" Hermione asked with surprise.

"She's...a little odd from what they say," Tonks replied. "Activate secondary."

Once more they were yanked along by the portkey and deposited in a secluded alleyway. Tonks led them out and along the street before signalling to a middle-aged woman who was reading a map. The woman nodded and looked around almost furtively before pulling out her wand. She pointed it at the door of a large elegant mansion and muttered a few words. The walls of the mansion glowed for a second then the woman nodded to Tonks.

"Come on," Tonks said urgently and she strode over to the door of the mansion, tripping only once. "We've only got about half an hour before that spell wears off."

"What does it do?" Harry asked as the trio followed Tonks through the nursing home almost at a run.

"Just makes everyone ignore us and not remember anything unusual," Tonks replied as she strode along the corridor, checking names on doors.

The room they were after was at the very end of the corridor and Harry saw the name Amy Bishop on a small bronze plaque before Tonks opened the door. They walked in to find a large airy room with the woman they were looking for sitting in a chair at a small table playing solitaire. She looked over when they walked in and gave them a wide but slightly disconnected smile. The expression in her eyes was vague and drifty and Harry wondered if they were going to get anything useful out of her.

Tonks closed the door carefully behind them and whispered to Harry, "Go gently. From what we've been able to discover she's never been quite right since whatever Riddle did to her."

Harry nodded then he walked over to the table, flanked by Ron and Hermione.

"Hello, Miss Benson," he said gently. "My name's Harry. These are my friends Ron and Hermione."

The elderly woman beamed at them then smiled even wider at Hermione. "That's a very pretty name," she said in a soft, whispery voice. "I had a sister named Hermione. She died in a car crash with my parents. Your eyes are so much like hers, so full of life."

Harry nudged Hermione and the bushy haired girl stepped forward and smiled at Amy Benson.

"Thank you, Miss Benson," she said calmly. "I'm sorry that your family died."

"It was terrible," Amy Benson said, her eyes widening in a child-like manner. "I had no other relatives. I was sent to an orphanage."

Hermione gingerly sat down in the other chair at the table. "Did you like it at the orphanage?"

Amy smiled gently. "Mostly. Most of the other children were very nice. And I got adopted when I was thirteen."

"Was there anyone who was not nice?" Hermione asked carefully.

Amy's eyes filled with tears. "Ooh, there was that horrible Tommy Riddle. He was mean." She leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial manner. "He hurt me. Me and Denny."

Hermione gave a worried glance at her friends then looked back at Miss Benson. "What did he do?"

"We were at the beach," Amy said with a happy smile. "Tommy said he'd found something interesting and did Denny and I want to see it. We went up to a cave." She frowned and tilted her head to one side. "Then Tommy did something strange. I'm not supposed to talk abut it. Everyone gets angry at me and tells me I'm crazy. I don't think I'm crazy. I know what I saw."

Hermione reached out and took one of the elderly woman's hands. "I'll believe you, Miss Benson," she said firmly. "I don't think you're crazy at all."

Amy Benson beamed at her, an expression that brought back the remnants of her youthful beauty. Then she leaned forward and spoke eagerly.

"Tommy took us into the cave," she began. "It wasn't much of a cave but he said there was something interesting at the back. We went with him and he pointed at the wall of the cave. He said there was an entrance there. Denny and I thought he was being silly then Tommy did something horrible! He cut his hand on a rock and wiped it on the rock. He said he'd found this by accident when we went to the beach last year and he wanted to show us."

Her eyed widened with excitement. "You'll never believe what happened! The wall faded away! And there was another cave behind it. One with a big lake. Tommy took us in there."

"What happened then?" Hermione asked gently.

Amy frowned. "I...don't really remember. I remember Tommy grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the lake. He said something to me and trying something. Then my head hurt and I don't remember anything else." The frown faded and she giggled. "I remember the Matron saying to someone much later that I wasn't quite right anymore. I didn't know what she meant but it didn't stop my new Mum and Dad from adopting me."

"That's good," Hermione said warmly. "Did you know Tommy well?"

"Oh, no," Amy said with a smile. "No one did. Tommy kept to himself mostly. He was a very private boy. Used to spend a lot of his time down in the basement." She giggled again. "Oh, the Matron used to get so annoyed with him for that. She was always having to go down there and drag him back up."

Hermione smiled and squeezed the elderly woman's hand gently. "Thank you so much, Miss Benson. You've been a great help."

"I have?" Amy said with surprised pleasure. "Oh, that's wonderful. Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I'm afraid we have to," Hermione said as she stood.

"Oh, that is a shame," Amy said with clear disappointment. "I've had such a lovely time talking to you, Hermione. That is a very pretty name."

"Thank you," Hermione replied then the four of them slowly left the room.

Harry looked back as he closed the door. The elderly woman had gone back to her card game and was humming happily to herself. The group was silent as they hurried out of the nursing home and Tonks nodded soberly to the middle-aged woman when they finally got back onto the street.

"Why do I get the feeling I really don't want to know what Riddle did to her in that cave?" Ron muttered, looking very uneasy.

"Because he's a sick bastard," Tonks said shortly as she stumbled over a rough part of the sidewalk. "And nothing you could think up would probably come close to the truth. It's kind of creepy finding out he was like that as a child."

They walked back into the alleyway they'd arrived in and Tonks pulled out the last portkey. She held it out to them and they wordlessly put their fingers on it.

Tonks drew in a deep breath and said, "Activate tertiary."

This time they arrived in the backyard of an abandoned house. Tonks pushed the rusty gate open and they walked down a street bordered by dingy, dilapidated houses. They soon arrived at another nursing home though this one was markedly different from the one in which Amy Bishop lived. This nursing home was a dingy as the rest of the houses in the area and the disreputable man leaning against the front fence did not look out of place at all. The man nodded to Tonks then in a slightly underhanded manner, pointed his wand at the nursing home and muttered under his breath. The walls of the nursing home glowed and they walked up the stairs and into the building.

The inside of the nursing home wasn't that much different from the outside except that it was dilapidated and clean rather than dilapidated and dingy. They walked through the water-stained corridors until they found the room where Dennis Bishop resided. They walked in to find the elderly man sitting in an armchair with a rug wrapped around his legs and staring into space.

"Mr Bishop?" Harry said hesitantly.

There was no reaction from the old man and Harry slowly walked around to face him. Dennis Bishop didn't even seem to see him and Harry frowned.

"Mr Bishop?" he said again. "We've come to ask you about Tom Riddle."

Life flickered in the old man's eyes and the finally focused on Harry.

"Stay away from him," the old man whispered in a hollow tone. "Stay away."

Harry hesitated. "What did he do to you?"

"Took something," Dennis whispered, his eyes starting to become unfocused again.. "Took something, never got it back. Never been right."

"Did he do the same thing to Amy Benson?" Harry asked.

The old man was silent, his eyes distant again and Harry slowly began to turn away. Clearly whatever sense Riddle's name had summoned had disappeared again. Harry shook his head sadly at his friends and Tonks opened the door. Just as Harry was about to walk out of the room the old man looked over at him.

"Took something from Amy," Dennis whispered hollowly. "Don't know why. Stay away from Tom."

Harry stared at the old man with a sad apprehension. "Thank you, Mr Bishop," he said quietly then he closed the door.

They quickly walked out of the nursing home, hardly noticing the nondescript man still waiting outside. They hurried back to the yard and Tonks swallowed hard before speaking.

"You three apparate back to Hogwarts," she said uneasily. "I have to go and report in to Minister Scrimgeour."

Harry and his friends nodded silently then disappeared with three loud cracks. Tonks shivered at the memory of the old man then she too disappeared with a crack.


Author notes: Thanks for all the reviews.

JJG Potter, Hemmers - Oh, come now. I wouldn't do anything to Ginny......I think! *grins*

Nonya - Heh, Hermione would do homework if the castle was crumbling around her! *grins*

LucyD - Definately not JKR! *grins* I just wish I was....but don't we all? I've yet to redeem Draco in any of my fics - I like him all whiny and evil. He's much more fun that way. So I suppose that might give indication of the most likely outcome...