Matryoshka Vignettes
Into the Abyss
By Jeconais
Author Notes:
Adam Sage - March 1st 1998, 1:02pm
Adam Sage looked over his desk at the young couple in front of him.
His tactic was an old one, designed to make them nervous by not actually saying anything to them.
The problem was neither of them seemed to be bothered in the slightest by it. They didn’t even look at each other for support; they both simply looked back at him, meeting his gaze evenly, as if they were merely here to amuse themselves, and not because they had been arrested.
And, if the stories he’d heard had any grain of truth to them, they probably were.
The looks they were directing at him were very different. Hers was cold, very cold, as if he, and by extension anyone with him, was not really worth her time.
His was warm and curious, as if he had experienced a freedom that couldn’t be explained by anyone other than those who had reached the abyss, and stepped back.
She was, simply put, gorgeous. The sort of girl that da Vinci would have spent hours painting, trying to get her nose right. Her long dark hair redefined the term lustrous, and the outfit she was wearing spoke of taste and money — not to mention great legs.
He was more informal, in a pair of khaki shorts and a matching t-shirt. His hair was spiked up a little, in a way that left nothing to detract from his piercing green eyes. From his records, he knew that the male was wearing contacts, and he kind of wished he wasn’t. Maybe glasses would have muted the effect those eyes were having on him.
"Okay," he sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to make them uncomfortable. "Why don’t you tell me just why you felt it necessary to Obliviate a group of Muggles three times?"
"Well," the male, Harry, started cheerfully.
"Why don’t you let me tell him?" the female, Daphne, interrupted.
"But…"
"No, dear," and for the first time, he saw the person under the ice. "It’s part of the deal; you get to see me naked, and I get to tell your embarrassing stories, in the hope that you won’t do them again."
That seemed like a pretty damn good deal to Adam. He’d willingly confess everything for a chance to see her naked. Although, judging by her husband, he didn’t think that offer would be met with success. A slightly plump forty-year-old Auror probably wouldn’t be a match for a seventeen-year-old Dark Lord defeater.
It was also obvious, through the hand she had placed on Harry’s arm that she was teasing him gently, in a way that said that if it was truly embarrassing, she would never tell anyone.
The young man smiled at her, and Adam felt like he was intruding on something he had no right to be near.
"Okay," Harry sighed, his eyes dancing merrily. "You tell him."
She turned to look at him, fixing her eyes on him. The look she had given Harry was gone, and her original coldness was back in place. It was almost like she was two people. One warm and caring, the other cold and hostile. And the way she could change, was, frankly, scary.
"We were married four weeks ago," she said, her voice as smooth as silk. "And some friends of ours decided to send us on holiday to Bora Bora, in the Caribbean."
"Bora Bora isn’t in the Caribbean," Adam pointed out.
"I know," she said, in a way that quite firmly told him not to interrupt again, if he fancied getting out of the room with his testicles intact.
"Like most wizards," she continued calmly, "they have no idea of geography. But we really liked the place. We thought about buying an island there, but decided we wanted to see more of the world first."
He tried hard not to blink in surprise. It was such a different lifestyle to even be able to say those words so casually, as if buying an island was somehow analogous to buying a loaf of bread.
He was really out of his depth here, and wished his boss hadn’t taken one look at the report and gone for a long lunch.
"So we decided to do a bit of a world tour," she continued. "New Zealand was our first stop. We rented a small place for a few weeks, and arranged for Dobby to come over."
"Dobby is your house-elf, right?"
"No," and this time it was Harry who was cold. "Dobby is an employee and friend of mine, with all the rights and benefits that entails."
He nodded reflexively; he hadn’t actually heard of house-elves that were employees before, but he didn’t think it was relevant at the moment.
"So we had a good look around the country," Daphne continued, "and were enjoying ourselves. Then we made the mistake of going to Kawarau."
He nodded. That was where they had been arrested.
"As we got there, we saw all these Muggles jumping off a bridge with some ropes tied to their legs."
"Bungee jumping?" Adam asked.
"Yes. Well, my darling hero here couldn’t let such a challenge pass him by. He spent a good thirty minutes trying to persuade me to join him. I refused — while I like to fly, I prefer it to be under my own control, with a good broom."
Adam nodded.
"But I allowed him to take part, and promised to take pictures. We paid the money, and waited our turn. They explained everything to Harry, as normal, and attached that Bungee thing to his legs."
Adam nodded again.
"And, on the count of three, he jumped."
"And?"
Her lips twitched. "Dobby appeared in mid-air, caught him, and transported him back to the top."
"It wasn’t his fault," Harry protested playfully. "He thought I was in danger, and he was just rescuing me."
Adam hid his smile as he made some notes. That was another thing he didn’t know about house-elves. He had never heard of an elf transporting another person — or one risking his own life to save someone who wasn’t his master in the normal sense. And even then, the reports of elves saving masters generally were few and far between.
"So," she continued. "Harry had to Obliviate them, as seeing a human appear again once they had dropped was a little unexpected for them."
Their story made sense so far, and the Obliviating was definitely for the right reasons, and they could hardly be blamed for it.
"Harry then climbed on to the ledge again, and jumped. This time he managed to get nearly a third of the way down."
"And?"
Harry and Daphne exchanged an amused look.
"A phoenix appeared and grabbed Harry by the cord, and carried him back to the top."
Adam blinked. He shook his head. He wished he had some alcohol he could drink. "I’m sorry. Did you say a phoenix?"
She nodded regally.
"Fawkes is an old friend," Harry explained helpfully. "He didn’t realise that it was just for fun, he was just trying to help out."
He wrote it down. "So again, you had to Obliviate them?"
She nodded once more. "The appearance of a mystical creature confused the Muggles. Harry had to talk very quickly to Fawkes to stop him crying."
A headache was slowly forming behind Adam’s right eye. There was no way that they could be blamed for Obliviating this time, either.
"And the third time?"
"This time, Harry jumped, and neither Dobby nor Fawkes appeared. Unfortunately, Fawkes had damaged the cord, and as soon as some tension was applied to it, it broke."
Adam gasped. "What happened then?"
"I did the only thing I could," Harry interrupted, shaking his head. "I cast the first charm I could think of, and survived. We then had to Obliviate the Muggles one last time, and that was when the Aurors arrived."
Adam started to write that down, when she said, "Oh no, no, no, Harry, why don’t you tell him just what charm you used?"
Adam paused and looked up hopefully.
Harry winced and looked away.
Adam turned to Daphne.
She smiled at Harry, and then turned back to him. "He didn’t have his wand on him, so he tried to Banish the river.
"He used a little too much power though, and while you can’t move the earth, he tried hard enough. The backlash threw him into the air, and he somersaulted and twisted as he flew up, and landed back on the platform. The Muggles gaped at him, and I looked down over the side of the bridge."
"What did you see?" he asked eagerly.
"The canyon had a new floor, another two hundred feet down, and there was now a new waterfall half a mile up the stream.
"So Harry took back his wand, fixed the canyon and Obliviated the Muggles again, and gave up on the silly idea of jumping off the bridge."
"Let me get this straight," Adam said slowly. "After an elf and a bloody phoenix try and rescue you, the bungee cord broke, and in saving yourself, you managed to create a hole in solid stone that’s been there since the dawn of time, and blast yourself back on to the bridge."
They both nodded in unison.
He sighed and tore up the paperwork dramatically. No judge on the planet was going to prosecute them.
"Well," Adam continued, "as you’re both here, we were wondering if you’d be able to help us with a little problem."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
Adam looked at him, ignoring, as much as he could, Daphne’s glare.
"We have a small Death Eater issue," Adam confessed. "A few people over here don’t believe that Voldemort is really dead. And, well, with the person who killed him in front of us, we hoped you could help us capture them. We’ve tried, but, well, we’re not used to fighting that way."
"If we do it," Daphne said, her tone was sharp and decisive, "you will ensure that no one will ever reveal that Harry is alive."
He nodded in agreement. "And of course, we would pay you."
They both snorted — her with disgust, him with amusement.
"My darling hero is a Gryffindor, he a) wouldn’t accept your money, and b) had agreed to help as soon as you mentioned Death Eaters. Which is why I tend to do the negotiations for our services. The offer of money is largely irrelevant," she continued. "However, we would both like New Zealand citizenship."
"That can be arranged," he said in surprise. It was a lot less than they had expected to pay.
"Okay," Harry said, and leant forward, somehow managing to take charge with the simple movement. "What have you got on them?"
"If you’ll come with me," he said, a little intimidated, "I’ll show you what we have."
Harry nodded, already on his feet, and offering an arm to Daphne.
Adam climbed to his feet and followed them out of the room. A room with a door that unlocked itself with a casual wave of Harry’s hand, reinforcing the point that if they had decided to leave earlier, they could and would have.
"To the left," Adam directed them, and trailed after them. He tried to remind himself that he was the second highest ranking Auror in the country, that he had years of experience, and that they should be following him.
It didn’t work.
Harry entered the room with a burst of power that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with personality.
"Don’t worry," Daphne said softly, appearing next to him. "He’s been very good on our honeymoon, and not done any training at all, so he’s got a little too much energy at the moment."
Adam nodded. "Thanks," he whispered, but she was already gone.
"Daph," Harry called. "What do you think of this?"
"Amateurs," she sniffed as she looked down at the map on the table.
The map was something they were proud of. It magically showed the location of the Death Eaters, and all the traps they had set up to defend themselves.
She looked at her watch. "If we hurry, we should still be able to make the restaurant."
"Err, what restaurant?" Adam asked, suddenly feeling lost. It was a feeling that the rest of the room seemed to be experiencing as well, judging by their expressions.
"We have a table booked tonight in Wellington," Harry explained. "In three hours and fifteen minutes to be precise. Daph was just saying that if we didn’t hang around, we can still make it."
"What do you mean by not hanging around?" Adam asked. Surely the initial planning would take more than three hours, but they could always reconvene in the morning.
"Capturing the Death Eaters," Harry said cheerfully.
Adam gaped. "What?" he managed to squeak out.
"Daph and I will Apparate to here," he indicated the driveway on the map. "Walk into the house, arrest everyone we can."
"Kill those we can’t," Daphne continued coldly. "And be finished in time to get changed for dinner."
"But… but…" Adam stuttered.
"Have we missed something?" Harry asked politely.
"But you can’t just walk in and do that!" he almost shouted.
"Why not?" Daphne inquired.
"What about backup, weapons, tactics, training?"
"You’ve got your wand, haven’t you, Daph?"
She nodded and pulled it out of the side of her skirt.
"I’ve got mine. That’s the weapons dealt with. Backup, there’s six Aurors here and you, that’ll be plenty, you’ll only be doing the paperwork anyway. Tactics. We walk in and start casting spells, stop when we’re done, and training…." Harry paused.
"Wait for our signal," Daphne said to the Aurors. "Do not come in beforehand, or we might hit you by accident."
"Thank you," Harry said cheerfully. "There, we’re done."
The headache was now approaching migraine strength. "Err, sir," Dave, one of his Aurors said. "We should let them do it, while the Death Eaters are all in one place."
"Okay," Adam sighed. "Let’s go for it."
"We’ll see you there," Harry grinned, as he wrapped an arm around Daphne and vanished.
"Sir," Dave said. "Just who the hell are they?"
Adam looked up. "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you."
"Is that why they got through our Anti-Apparition wards?"
Adam nodded again. He’d known for some time that the wards needed updating, but even then, he hadn’t thought anyone would get through them so damn casually. "Well, what are you standing around for? Get to the Armoury, get the shields and weapons, and form up at the Apparition point."
It took them thirty minutes before they were ready, and Adam was already fortifying himself for the disappointed glare he just knew that Daphne was going to give him. A quick trip to the medi-wizard had dealt with his headache, and he had been given a warning to take some time off, advice he was going to be happy to take.
He arrived and looked around. Harry was to the left, sat on the ground, leaning against a tree. Daphne was leaning against his chest, his arms were around her, and they looked like a couple of teenagers in love.
Harry whispered something to Daphne, and for the second time, he got the feeling he was intruding on something special, and he turned away — to find that his Aurors were as well.
"Now that’s love," one of them muttered.
"Tell me about it, mate," another one said. "I can almost bloody taste it."
"So," Harry said as he and Daphne joined them. "Are we ready?"
The Aurors nodded, and Adam felt a burst of pride. His Aurors, despite not being used to this sort of thing, looked determined to go ahead with it.
"Wait here," Daphne said flatly. "Oh, and we set up anti-Apparating wards thirty minutes ago, so once you are on the property, do not try to Apparate; you won’t like what happens."
The two of them took out their wands. Daphne went first, and cast what looked like an extremely powerful cutting curse at the security gates.
Harry cast the same spell immediately afterward, but his spell seemed to merge with hers, changing its colour.
The spell hit the gates, and rather than cutting a small hole in it, or bouncing off, as was expected, it destroyed the gates, and continued in a straight line, busting a hole in the side of the house.
Adam gaped again, and then made a firm mental note to try and find out how on earth you could merge spells like that.
Harry and Daphne walked through the destroyed gates, both of them moving smoothly, their wands at the ready.
Dave sighed, and then took a seat against a tree.
"What are you doing?" Adam asked.
"Taking it easy," Dave replied. "There’s nothing else for us to do."
Adam went to protest, but then realised that Dave was right. He couldn’t see anything from the house; there was a lot of shouting and the sound of things breaking though.
They had been given some rather explicit instructions, so he sat down himself.
"Harry Potter, right?" Dave asked casually.
"Yeah," Adam sighed. "But that’s top secret."
"I thought he was dead," one of the others said.
"I’m guessing he faked it to get out of the U.K. You know what their Ministry is like."
The Aurors snorted in near unison. "Makes ours look immaculate."
"Exactly," Adam agreed. "They’re married as well."
"I can’t decide which one is luckier," Dave grinned. "How much are we paying them for their help?"
"Cash-wise, nothing," Adam grunted. "Daphne just wanted citizenship."
"Why?"
"No idea. I didn’t exactly question her."
The sound of fighting stopped abruptly, and all the Aurors got to their feet and started to walk down the driveway.
Harry and Daphne, walking hand in hand, appeared in the doorway and strolled towards them.
"Two dead, seven captured, and one who will never have children," Harry said cheerfully. "Have fun."
"Wait," Adam called after the retreating Harry and Daphne.
They turned and looked at him quizzically.
"Thank you," he said seriously. "On behalf of a grateful New Zealand."
"No problem." Harry shrugged with an easy smile.
"One more thing," Dave called. "What did the Death Eater who will never have children do?"
Daphne smiled in a chilling fashion. "He grabbed me and tried to use me to distract Harry."
Harry shook his head and winced in an exaggerated fashion. "And let that be a lesson, that when Daph says 'No’, she really means it."
She laughed softly, and the two walked off down the road.
Adam laughed to himself and entered the mansion. They found the Death Eaters, still in their robes but unmasked, stuck to the floors, walls and ceiling.
"They’ve been Obliviated," Dave said, looking up from one of them.
Adam nodded. That made sense; after all, it wouldn’t be good if prisoners started to talk about being captured by a dead man.
"Well," he said cheerfully. "Let’s get them out of here." He walked over to the Death Eater who was still on the floor, curled up in a foetal position. "Lucas Rajai," he whispered. "On behalf of all of those Muggles you raped and killed, I’m awarding Daphne Greengrass the highest honour we have for teaching you a lesson that you will remember while you spend the rest of your life as the bitch of the nastiest Muggle prisoner I can find."
Adam whistled to himself cheerfully as he looked through some paperwork. His job was so much easier with the Death Eater cell being wiped out so effectively. Rumours of a new squad of crack Aurors had circulated through the criminal underground, causing an unprecedented drop in crime.
"Sir," his secretary said. "I’ve got a visitor for you."
"Send them in," he said.
The door opened, and the world-wide familiar figure of Albus Dumbledore strolled in.
"Can I help you?" Adam asked.
"I was wondering if you could help me locate some students who have run away from school," Albus said. "I believe they are in New Zealand at the moment."
Adam looked surprised. "You’ve lost some students. That’s a little careless. What are their names?"
"Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter," Dumbledore admitted.
He raised his eyebrows. "I thought Harry Potter was dead," he said in surprise.
"I’m afraid not," Dumbledore said. "I have reason to believe that he is very much alive."
"Well, that does change things," Adam said. He opened a book and placed it in front of Dumbledore. "This is a list of every foreign national in the country. No one can get in or out without showing up in here."
Albus scanned the list eagerly, and then sighed. "Are you sure this is accurate?"
Adam pointed to Albus’ name in the list, which had the time of entry to the country underneath.
"Well thank you," Albus said, looking disappointed. "I won’t take any more of your time."
"No problem," Adam said, standing. "Was there anything else?"
"Just one thing," Dumbledore said, and whipped out his wand. "Obliviate! You will forget that Harry Potter was ever alive. The only person I asked about was Greengrass." The Headmaster turned and walked out of the office, leaving Adam to settle back into his chair.
His damn headache was back now. Blocking an Obliviation was always painful, but Harry had warned him that Dumbledore would do it, when Adam had told Harry that Albus had arrived in the country.
Still, Daphne’s request was now making sense, as he hadn’t had to lie to Dumbledore at all. Harry and Daphne Potter were no longer foreign nationals, and would no doubt enjoy the rest of their time in New Zealand, as the personal guests of the Prime Minister.