Never Let Go by majestic_ginny
Chapter Notes:
Firstly, must apologise for that long, long wait. I've been away on vacation, as some of you might know, and after I came back I've had writer''s block.Now that I'm back in writer's mode, I've decided to go on a writing binge and the end product is here. I've also written half the next chapter too, so you might expect an update in the next week or so.
Aywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And I am not, and never will be JKR.
6. High level of toxalbumin found in blood.
Toxalbumin.
His legs weakened. Clutching for the chair, he sat down.
She had been poisoned.
"She was being given small doses for a very long time," Harry said, looking down at his desk.
Chronic poisoning. He'd known it would be something of that sort. The implications were very severe -- it was either a person from Hogwarts or their relatives. No one else had been in contact with her for more than a few days, after all, and certainly not anyone inside the Ministry. Lucy herself had been the target.
And then came the big question: what was the motive? Personal hatred? Jealousy?
"Do you think it could have been suicide?" Harry voiced aloud. "I know Ginny disagrees, but we can't rule it out."
Teddy looked up, frowning. "What makes you think that?"
"She was pregnant," Harry said quietly. "She was sixteen, Teddy, do you -?"
"But James said --"
"James didn't even know about the child," Harry pointed out. "It came as a shock to him too, remember? Do you think Lucy felt so scared about this ordeal that she'd opt for the easy way out?"
Teddy sighed, remembering what Victoire had told him earlier. "They were in love, Harry. Did you know they were together for the past two years?"
Harry looked taken aback. "Really?"
Teddy nodded. "Victoire told me about it. She might have been hesitant to tell James, but I don't think she'd have killed herself. She loved James and must have trusted him enough to know he wouldn't leave her. She never got around telling him, in the end though."
Harry sighed, and Teddy realized what was going on inside his head. "It was your grandchild," he said softly.
Harry gave him a wistful smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. In a few minutes, he looked like he'd aged a hundred years. "I can't believe James would have been a father. Seems like yesterday that he was learning to walk himself."
Teddy managed a small, humourless chuckle.
"You're right," Harry said, shifting the topic. "I'm ruling out suicide."
"What do you suggest, then?"
"I have some other theories, but I'm waiting for more reports before I make any decisions. The potioneers are trying to determine the ingredients of the poison now. It could give us an idea."
"I want to go to Hogwarts to get some leads," Teddy said. "Once the holidays are over. I'm sure something would pop up."
Harry nodded, and added, "Tomorrow we'll head over to Percy's for some proper questioning. I don't want to do it so early, but it's necessary." Standing up, he grabbed his cloak from the back of his chair. "Go home now and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."
Teddy got to his feet and headed to the fireplace. "Okay. See you, Harry." He reached for a jar of Floo Powder and grabbed a fistful before sighing and turning around to look at Harry. Then with a nod, he threw the powder into the flames.
"Teddy?"
Teddy paused, one foot in mid air. "Yeah?"
"Take care."
Teddy looked into Harry's eyes and look of understanding passed between them. For a second Teddy felt like the little child who used to snuggle into his godfather's side after a very frightening nightmare. Harry had always taken care of him like a son, and even now, in a situation that was no better than a nightmare, Harry was there for him.
"Thank you, Harry," he replied, smiling. "You too. We'll get through this. All of us."
And this time Harry truly smiled, and even without saying anything, Teddy knew what he was thinking. Taking a last look at his godfather, Teddy turned around and vanished in a swirl of green flames.
–Have you found anything yet?â€
Teddy was greeted by the question the moment he stepped out of the fireplace in Percy’s house the next morning.
The house seemed so dark and quiet, and despite the posh furniture, it seemed like a set of a Muggle horror movie. Chairs from the previous night were scattered all over the living room. There was a heaviness in the air Teddy couldn’t describe, but it was suffocating him. He’d experienced it often in other crime scenes, though this was probably the worst of them all.
Crime scene.
Shaking the dust and soot off his robes, he shook his head to answer Percy's question. He immediately felt guilty for lying to Percy as the older man slumped back in his seat, disappointment and helplessness etched on his face. Teddy couldn't tell him anything yet - not until everything had been confirmed. The less Percy knew, the better right now.
"We're trying to do everything we can, Percy," Teddy said earnestly, walking over to him and sitting down beside him. "Harry and I are working on a few… leads - we can't tell you yet, at least," he hastily added, as Percy sat up with a demanding look. "Not until we're fully sure ourselves." Truth was, he didn't want to tell Percy yet that his oldest daughter had been poisoned to death.
Percy nodded slowly. Teddy was glad to see that he was holding himself a lot better that day. He grasped Percy's shoulder in support. Percy smiled at him gratefully, patting the hand on his shoulder.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Teddy asked.
"Not much," Percy admitted. He looked haunted. "I kept on seeing her face in my dreams."
Teddy didn't know what to say to that. How were you supposed to comfort a man who had lost a child? After a few moments of heavy silence, he spoke again. "How's Audrey?"
"Still in Lucy's room," he croaked. "She's just sitting there on the floor, clutching Lu's favourite bear. We tried our best to get her to eat something, but she won't budge.
Teddy sighed. "She can't go on like this. She's gonna fall ill if she doesn't have any food."
"She's lost the strength to go on." Percy's voice was weak, no more than a soft whisper. He closed his eyes, his lips pursed tightly. "We all have."
"Percy, you can't go on like this," Teddy pleaded. The family was falling apart, and the way Teddy saw it, Audrey would soon be on her way to St Mungo's and they didn't need that at all. To cap it all off, if Percy didn't pull himself together, how would he do his job as the Minister? They needed him the most. "You have to be strong for all of us, for the family, and for the Wizarding population. Lucy wouldn't have wanted --"
"We won't know what she would have wanted thanks to them," Percy snarled, clenching his fists. His kind eyes were full of anger and hatred. "Because she's gone now."
Teddy mentally smacked himself for that careless slip. "We'll get them," he offered weakly.
Percy nodded, his fist still clenched. A moment passed in silence.
"Percy," Teddy began cautiously. "I need to ask you a few questions."
Teddy gauged his reaction. Percy's jaw slackened, his eyes softening a bit. After a second he nodded. Teddy thought it was safe to go on.
"Was… Lucy under any medication?"
"Medicines?"
"Yes. Long-term ones, to be precise."
Percy frowned. "Not many, as far as I know. She's only been taking her daily potion for her haemoglobin issues. Why?"
"Can I see it?"
Puzzled, Percy repeated, "Why?"
"I can't tell you yet," Teddy said apologetically. "Please, Percy, we need to see it."
Slowly, he nodded. Standing up, he said, "Wait here, I'll go get it."
He shuffled out of the large living room, leaving Teddy to his thoughts.
Medicines. He'd have to take the potion in for testing whether the contents matched with the poison found in Lucy's blood. A long term potion was just the perfect thing to disguise a chronic poison in, he realized. Lucy would never have realized anything was amiss, and with her pregnancy, any sickness or irritation would be considered normal. A genius ploy.
Percy returned after a few minutes, a vial of potion in his hand. He handed it to Teddy, who peered into the vial. The liquid inside swirled ominously.
"Thank you," Teddy said. "I'll have to keep this; we need to test for a few things."
Percy nodded.
Teddy smiled and headed to the fireplace, the vial clutched tightly in his hand. Taking a pinch of Floo-powder from the jar, he threw it into the flames, immediately turning them bright green.
"Teddy?"
Teddy turned back, recalling the conversation with Harry the previous night. "Yes, Percy?"
Percy had a hard look on his face. "Catch those bastards who killed my daughter."
He nodded solemnly. "Yes, Sir." Giving Percy a small salute, Teddy stepped into the swirling flames and disappeared.
–You were right, the poison was in there.â€
Teddy looked up. Harry strode into his office, rather dishevelled, but looking like he'd accomplished something big. There was a strange gleam in his eye and his lips formed a knowing smile, a smile that only appeared on his face when they found new and promising leads. For a second Teddy felt relieved and hopeful; he and Harry were one step closer to catching whoever had killed his cousin.
"Did they find out what it was?" Teddy asked, his voice betraying his attempt to sound calm.
Harry shook his head. "Not yet. The potioneers took one whiff and realized something was off, though - apparently that's not how the Ferrosophoric Potion smells." Harry took off his cloak and draped it carelessly over the back of his chair before sitting down himself. "They said they need a couple of hours before they can determine what poison it was."
"Can't they do it sooner?"
Harry chuckled. "I asked them that. The head potioneer nearly bit my head off - he thought I was implying that he wasn't doing his job. He said, yelled as a matter of fact, that matching the symptoms on her body with the ingredients, breaking some things down, letting things simmer and all that potioning tosh took time."
Teddy nodded, smiling slightly. Two hours and they'd know what poison killed her.
"Do you think many people knew?"
"About what, all that Potions details? I didn't, after all, I never paid any -"
"No, no," Teddy cut across, shaking his head. "I meant about the Ferrosophoric Potion she took."
"Oh," Harry looked sheepish, but then the look was replaced by a somber one. "I doubt it. Not many, surely, except those close to her."
Teddy let out a sigh. There it was again, the sign that told him that it was someone close. If not many knew about it, surely…?
"I can't believe this happened to us."
Teddy looked at Harry. He held his head in his hands, and his elbows rested on the table. His voice sounded muffled. "Harry, what…"
Harry looked up, and Teddy saw that the gleam had vanished, replaced by a deeply haunted look. "One of our children are dead, Teddy. This wasn't supposed to happen anymore."
"There's nothing we can do now, Harry," Teddy sighed.
We thought we'd stopped it, we worked so hard for freedom so that our children wouldn't die." Harry looked into the fireplace, a faraway look in his eyes, and Teddy understood that he was recalling the days of the battle of Hogwarts. "So many died for us, for a victory. Fred died, Moody died… your parents gave up their lives to save ours." Teddy closed his eyes at the mention of his parents. He was so proud of them. They had died for his future, but despite that there was a gaping hole in his chest. They were not with him anymore. They had fought for him, but at what cost? They had died, left him alone in the world.
"I became an Auror so I could keep them all safe," Harry continued. "This wasn't supposed to happen. They were all supposed to live happy, carefree lives. It's not a war anymore, so why did she die? How could this have happened?"
"You and I became Aurors just for this," Teddy answered, his throat dry. "To try and stop the crimes before they happen. But if we can't, we'll just track down the criminals and put them behind bars so the bastards can't do it again." Teddy put his strongest face he could. That's the reason he had joined the task force - to finish what his parents started, to keep his generation safe. "Lucy's killer won't go unpunished."
Harry looked up, his jaw set. "We will find them."
Teddy nodded, relieved that he'd gotten through to Harry. If Harry had lost hope, Teddy wouldn't have been able to go on alone. Harry was Teddy's rock, his guide. He was always there to handle him.
Two hours later, as they sipped cups of strong tea while discussing Lucy's case along with various others, the door opened and a pink memo flew in and landed in front of Harry. Setting his cup down on the saucer, Harry straightened his glasses and unfolded the paper.
He paled.
"What is it?" Teddy asked apprehensively, not failing to notice the colour drain out of Harry.
"The… the results. Take a look."
Teddy almost snatched the paper from his hand in his haste to read it.
He looked at it.
And then… he looked at it again.
Chapter Endnotes:
I hope you don't want to kill me now, haha. Review please!
--Nadia