Adrian Pucey: Gringotts Curse-Breaker

12th July 1996

The end of my first week at work. It didn't go too badly. I'm going to be working for a chap named Harun, who seems like he knows his way around ancient sites, although his injuries made me a little nervous and he's got an odd way of teaching. Tomorrow I'm seeing Millicent, and I can't wait to see her again. She should have her exam results. If she hasn't got a decent grade in Defence Against the Dark Arts, she's in for the tickling of a lifetime!

Adrian Pucey approached the enormous wooden doors of Gringotts Wizarding Bank with trepidation. He'd been quietly proud of being accepted as an apprentice curse-breaker, but was more nervous now he was about to start work. He was glad he'd had Professor Moody to teach him for a year while at Hogwarts; having had three terms of Moody slapping hexes on people in class and seven years of Professor Snape threatening to poison him, he felt he had a little experience of facing danger, albeit controlled danger.

With a deep breath, Adrian entered the bank. Without taking any time to admire the gleaming marble and lofty ceiling he walked to the reception desk and asked the goblin there to contact Mr. Harun Sayeed. As an apprentice, Adrian wouldn't have much to do with his goblin bosses. Instead, he'd work directly for Mr. Sayeed until the older curse-breaker decided he was ready to become independent. At his last careers meeting with Professor Snape, his house master had warned him that some apprentices took years to qualify - and that one apprentice who'd been in Hufflepuff had been forced to retire along with his master after five decades of failing to reach a high enough standard. Adrian was determined to qualify and go it alone as soon as he could.

As Adrian waited, a vision passed in front of him. Of course he remembered her: Fleur Delacour, Beaubatons' champion during the Triwizard Tournament. There was barely a male who'd been at Hogwarts then who wouldn't remember her, Adrian was prepared to wager. While it had been said by many Slytherins that she should have been banned from taking part as she wasn't completely human and part-humans were obviously inferior to wizards, it hadn't stopped them all gazing at her whenever she passed their table at mealtimes.

As he stared, a golden-skinned, dark-haired and bearded man in his early thirties, who Adrian assumed must be Mr Sayeed, appeared from a back room. He beamed at Adrian. "Come on," he beckoned. "Don't stand around here - I'll show you the office."

Adrian trotted along behind him, feeling out of his depth and embarrassed at having been caught looking at the beautiful French girl, even though plenty of other people had been doing the same thing. "Do we have our own office, Mr Sayeed?"

"Call me Harun." He pronounced it Haroon. "We've all got our own offices here. We all have our own ways of working - and a curse-breaker's secrets and methods are his own, and we all keep them that way."

A tall, handsome man with red hair passed them in the corridor. "Morning, Bill," Harun said cheerfully.

"Hi Harun," Bill said, smiling.

When they were out of earshot, Harun said to Adrian, "He's an Egypt specialist, one of the best. Why they allowed him to take a desk job here I'll never know."

"Are we going to go to Egypt?" Adrian asked eagerly. He had been fascinated by the stories about living mummies and talking animal statues that the Gringotts' recruiter had told him.

Harun laughed. "No way! It's a great place for a holiday, but their curses are not my style. I specialise in Central and South America."

Adrian stared at his new boss in awe. The Americas weren't as rich as Egypt, but neither were they as well known, which gave them a mysterious allure. Harun was exciting. Bill had been really cool too. I've got to get some new clothes, Adrian decided. If I'm going to be like these guys, I'm going to have to smarten up a bit.

**

Harun's office - and now Adrian's office too - was a smallish space made cramped by being full of fascinating things Harun had kept from his travels. Many of them would be useful in helping him to train Adrian, although the new apprentice wasn't aware of that when he first set eyes on them. "Chuck me that dagger, will you?" Harun said idly, waving his hand at a tumi, a sacrificial knife with a semicircular blade and a stylised human figure for a handle, which sat atop a filing cabinet near Adrian. Without thinking Adrian grabbed it to pass it to him and yelped as it sank its fangs into his fingers. He flapped his hand around but the knife only bit harder. Blood started to trickle out around its sharp gold teeth.

Harun tapped the tumi with his wand and muttered something, and the knife let go of Adrian. The little figure that formed the tumi's handle licked its lips and then became motionless. The wounds on Adrian's fingers were quite deep and bleeding badly.

"Well," Harun said, "can you fix that?"

Adrian hadn't played Quidditch at Hogwarts without learning elementary first aid, and so he cleaned up his fingers and healed the wounds. He watched Harun warily. His new teacher didn't seem to care much about safety in the workplace.

Harun held his own hands up to Adrian. On his left hand, the top joints on his ring and little fingers were missing. "I lost these when I first went independent and moved into the South American side of things. I'd trained in Africa, and hadn't encountered certain Aztec traps at that point. With the Egyptians, getting to the treasure is the skill. They go for large, elaborate traps. You can tell a good curse-breaker for Egypt and the Middle East easily enough - they're strategic thinkers, able to think many moves ahead and to think laterally. The really good ones get to have a stab at China and the Far East. Dr. Jones is Gringotts' only current China specialist, although he reckons he knows a girl called Lara who could be ready to start training within a few years. You won't see Jones, though. He's based in the United States. South America's different to the Middle East and Asia. The strategy of their curses is simple - they want your blood, as much as possible, as quickly as possible."

Adrian was intrigued. Harun sat at his desk. "Sit down, Adrian. I wanted to take you on because you're a Quidditch player. I wanted someone with a bit of physical speed and agility, and someone who's prepared to take risks."

Adrian looked behind Harun to the elaborate red-and-gold tapestry on the wall. "Were you a Gryffindor?" he asked.

"You can read Arabic?" Harun looked astonished, and then laughed. "No, of course not, it's the colours that give it away. 'More secure than the nose of a lion', it says. It's an old proverb, and my sister's idea of a joke, because I'm forever sticking my nose in to well-guarded places, and yes, I was in Gryffindor."

"From what you've said, it sounds as though your job takes bravery rather than planning."

Harun shrugged. "Bill was a Gryffindor, but he's got a quick mind for schemes and plots and worked in Egypt. You're a Slytherin, but I reckon you'll do for the Americas."

Harun brought a bag out from his desk drawer, and laid out seven statuettes on his desk. They all had similar eyes and carved clothes, so Adrian assumed the same people must have made them, although each one was different. Five had open mouths, one was bald, three had their arms folded and two were cross-legged. "Three of these are clean. One has a beneficial spell laid on it. The final three are cursed. I want you to identify which is which, preferably without getting cursed yourself."

"How?" Adrian asked.

"However you can," Harun answered. "I want to see how well you can do."

"How long do I have?"

"As long as it takes," came the simple reply.

Adrian went home that night nursing swollen fingers. He'd used a simple revealing spell, Aparecium, on the first statuette, and it had fired back a hex at him. It had taken him all afternoon to make his wand arm work properly again - Harun had told him the incantation to break the hex, but made him do it himself as he'd have to manage more than that by himself one day. After that, Adrian had decided not to try the same revealing spell on any of the other statuettes, although he had at least identified one of the cursed ones.

He'd decided that Harun was more than slightly deranged, but not as mad as Alastor Moody. He's a sort of middle-ranking nutter, Adrian told himself, but very cool despite that. I hope his lessons don't get any harder.

He sat up reading his old school textbooks until midnight, determined to pass Harun's test.

The next morning, Adrian went in to work armed with a ruler, a bezoar and a potted plant. Harun was poring over a map when he entered the office, so Adrian sat down and looked at the six remaining statuettes. He grated a little of the bezoar over each one, hoping that any surface poisons would result in a reaction. Nothing happened. So much for the bezoar.

The plant began to reach out its leaves for one of the statuettes. Harun, interested, looked up. Adrian snatched up the stone figurine triumphantly. "The good one," he said.

"Where did you get the plant from?" Harun asked, with interest.

"I borrowed it from my aunt," Adrian admitted. "She works at the botanical gardens. It'd die if I had it for any length of time - I've got to take it back this evening."

Harun stroked the leaves. "Interesting. Not practical in the jungle, but interesting."

"It's from Cambodia," Adrian said. "It grows in lucky places. It'd probably be useful there."

Harun nodded. "Very well. Three plain and two cursed statuettes remain."

With occasional glances from his master, Adrian the apprentice spent the rest of the day carefully measuring the statuettes without actually touching them, trying to work out whether there was some way of using Arithmancy to find out which ones had any magical properties.

On Wednesday, Adrian bumped into the charismatic Bill in the canteen. He hadn't been surprised to find out that Bill's surname was Weasley. The vivid orange hair was a dead giveaway. As Adrian munched away on his shepherd's pie, Bill joined him. Adrian wondered where Bill had got his leather jacket, and looked around for Fleur Delacour. Perhaps she eats in the canteen sometimes. Perhaps she'd like to have lunch with me, Adrian thought. I'm not being unfaithful to Millicent, he told himself. I'm just thinking of having lunch with someone close to my own age. There's nothing wrong in that...

"How's life with Harun?" Bill asked, interrupting Adrian's musing.

"He likes to test me," Adrian said reservedly. He wasn't sure whether Bill was talking to him as another test. "I've got these seven statuettes to analyse."

"Oh, fun," Bill replied with enthusiasm. After so long in Egypt, discussing other cultures felt like a holiday to him. "Where are they from?"

"South America."

"I know that - but where exactly? What culture made them? If they're Moche, you want to be really careful."

Adrian could have kicked himself. He'd spent all this time thinking he could assess the statues using his British magic. He hadn't even taken culture and geography into account. There was clearly more to this curse-breaking lark than he'd anticipated.

As soon as he'd finished his lunch, he returned to the office and began reading one of Harun's books on the ancient cultures of South America. He didn't even glance at the statuettes. Harun smiled to himself, and carried on scrutinising a map of Mexico. He needed Adrian to get up to speed quickly, because he'd heard Hiroshi, a Gringotts employee from Japan, was also planning to raid a particular Aztec site. Both Hiroshi and Harun had been lone workers and it would take two curse-breakers to work the site. Harun was determined to be the one to get the treasure. He needed an equally determined apprentice, so had looked for a suitable Slytherin.

**

Adrian used Floo to reach Millicent Bulstrode's house on Saturday morning. She was waiting in the little cloakroom for him, and they hugged one another as soon as he stepped out of the fireplace. "Hey, Millicent," he said softly after kissing her. "How's my best girl?"

"I'd better be your only girl," she laughed, giving him a warning squeeze. "How's my curse-breaker?"

"Struggling," he admitted when she released him. "I don't know if it's Harun, who I'm apprentice to, or Gringotts in general, but curse-breaking is a mad job. I've spent most of the week trying to work out which of seven statuettes are cursed, preferably without bits of me swelling up, burning or bleeding."

Millicent looked concerned, and led Adrian out to the garden. The unseasonably damp weather meant they needed to wear their cloaks. Usually the small Bulstrode garden was crammed with flowers in summer, but the lack of sun had made them small and miserable and the moist atmosphere had resulted in higher numbers of slugs than usual. As they sat at the little iron table, Millicent poured a glass of fresh, homemade lemonade for Adrian and said, "How many statuettes have you got left to identify?"

"Three," Adrian said triumphantly, "although I think Bill Weasley taught me the lesson Harun meant the statuettes to teach me. Really, I just need to cram my head with as much history, geography and politics as possible. Not to mention South American languages. Honestly, I don't know why they don't limit curse-breaking to Ravenclaws. It's going to be a lot of work." Millicent smiled proudly at him as he said this. She had confidence in him. Adrian noticed a parchment sticking out of her wand pocket. "Oh, I nearly forgot - how did you do in your exams?"

Millicent looked even happier, but as she was about to speak a voice inside the house called, "Millie? Millie, are you in?"

"Pansy?" Adrian was confused. "I thought she wasn't speaking to you."

"She isn't," Millicent replied, looking equally bewildered.

"She wants something," Adrian said cynically. "She wants it badly, too, if she's swallowed her pride and come here. You really should get some sort of lock put on your fireplace, especially with the Death Eaters active again."

Millicent shook her head. "We've got one. Father says even now mother's passed away it might still be dangerous for us. I haven't locked my old friends out, though."

Pansy, dressed in crisp white robes of broderie anglais and pretty little white high-heeled boots, looked as summery and dainty as could be, although she had goosebumps from the cold air. Pansy wasn't going to let a bit of mist stop her from wearing new clothes. "There you are!" she said in exasperation. "Oh, hello Pucey."

"Pansy," Adrian nodded curtly. Pansy seemed to recall that Adrian was Millicent's boyfriend and favoured him with a small smile. She sat down and picked up the other glass of lemonade, which Adrian supposed Millicent had planned to drink herself.

"I thought I'd drop by and see how your exams went," she said airily to Millicent before knocking back the drink. "I did fairly well, although I only managed an Acceptable in Divination, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. What could I expect, given our teachers?"

"I failed Potions and Ancient Runes," Millicent admitted ruefully. "A D in both. Father was pretty upset about the Potions. I got a couple of Os, though, so it balances out."

"Well, you've always been good with animals," Pansy said. "One was in Care of Magical Creatures, wasn't it? What was the other?"

Please let it be Defence! Adrian thought. He knew Millicent had knocked over her cauldron in her Potions exam and made a faulty brew at the end of it all. They'd both optimistically hoped she'd passed, but clearly the mistakes were too large.

"Divination," Millicent said with a blush. Adrian and Pansy stared.

"Oh, you fibber," Pansy squeaked. "No one gets top grades in Divination."

Millicent pulled the parchment from her pocket. "Ds for Potions and Ancient Runes. I got As for History and Astronomy, Es for Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology, and for Defence Against the Dark Arts too. I worked really hard on the basics because I need them to get the job I want. And there, see? Os for Creatures and Divination."

Pansy bit her lip. "You're a seer, are you?"

Millicent snorted. "Don't be daft! How long have you known me?"

Pansy said nothing. The events of their last term had suggested to Pansy that there was far more to Millicent than she'd ever bothered to notice. "Long enough to know you help people who need you," she said softly.

"Oh, here it comes," Adrian butted in. "I know you weren't here out of friendship."

"I'm not here for myself!" Pansy blazed. "Not that you would know anything about doing things for other people. And I am here because of friendship." She turned to Millicent. "Last term you said you'd help us as much as you were able to. Help Draco, Millie. He likes you."

"Does Draco need help?" Millicent asked, looking worried.

Pansy rubbed a few traitorous tears from her eyes. "My parents didn't want me to spend the summer at Malfoy Manor. I owled Draco, and my father came home from work the next day and told me to go. He didn't even give me time to pack my trunk. He didn't say why. I mentioned it to Draco, and he was angry and said we'd got what we wanted, so what did it matter why my father let me go? Now my own parents won't talk to me!"

She stood up and paced around the little table. "I'm going mad, I swear. We go to the shops, and when I come back there's perfume in the air, but it's not Narcissa's. There's someone visiting her whenever I'm be out of the way, and only Draco could arrange that. I went out for the day to see Daphne - well, I had to see someone, it gets boring being stuck at the manor all day - and when I came back, Draco was quiet. He keeps having these quiet periods when he hardly speaks. His mother cries all the time, and looks at him like he's got some sort of sickness."

"His father's in prison," Millicent reminded Pansy. "It could be to do with that."

"It's not!" Pansy said angrily. "It's more than that! I just can't pin it down."

"Bellatrix?" Adrian asked.

Pansy nodded. "I can't prove it, but I think it might be..."

"You should tell the Aurors," Millicent said. While she was prepared to concede Draco and Narcissa had unpleasant connections, she still had faith in them to do the right thing.

"They wouldn't catch her," Pansy replied. "They'd take Narcissa and Draco away, and they haven't done anything. They'd take them because they couldn't get Bellatrix."

Millicent considered this. Pansy was right. She'd already started seeing small signs that the Ministry was taking what it saw as a sterner stance against possible Death Eaters and what she saw as indiscriminate bullying and bluster. Her own father was being watched carefully at work, and some other pure-bloods were under even more suspicion. Narcissa Malfoy didn't deserve to be imprisoned. "I'll talk to Draco," she said finally. "I could come round for tea tomorrow."

Pansy smiled in relief. Adrian was annoyed. "Don't do this for her," he told his girlfriend, not caring that Pansy could hear. "She'd have ignored you for the rest of your life if she hadn't needed you." The look on Millicent's face told him her mind was made up. "Oh, nuts to it!" Adrian snapped. "Why listen to me?"

"Adrian!" Millicent pleaded.

"I'd better go," Pansy said, walking back towards the house.

"Yes, go!" Adrian called. "Leave now you've dragged her back into your mess!"

"She's not making me do anything," Millicent said softly.

Adrian looked at her. Millicent had always been noticeable - large, ungainly, plain - but over the previous year she'd acquired self-confidence and real presence. "I don't want you to get into trouble," he said. "I won't be there to defend you next year, and you've lost your old friends..."

"I'm a big girl," Millicent told him, with a wry smile. "I can look after myself. You know, I think father's got some books on South America in the library, and it's getting even colder out here. Why don't we go inside and do some research?

Adrian learned a lot about Millicent that day, but not very much from books. They only just had time to rearrange their robes and look studious when Mr. Bulstrode arrived home after work.