Miscalculation - Chapter 3

Auror James Potter stared down at the corpse on the floor. More specifically, his gaze was on the tattoo on the left arm. One of his best friends, Peter Pettigrew, was a marked Death Eater. There were quite a few that served You-Know-Who that had not earned the mark. It took foul deeds to get one. Wormtail had the Dark Mark.

James and Lily had Peter over for dinner earlier this week. The sick bastard hadn't shown any signs that something was wrong. How long had he had the mark? It couldn't be added after death. The Unspeakables had studied it enough to know that it had to be taken when alive. Something in the process required active surrender to the magic.

How was he going to tell Lily? How was he going to tell Moony and Padfoot? A stone settled in his stomach. They were losing this war, everyone knew it, and suspicions were starting to rise. Someone among their number had to be working for the other side. As much as James hated to admit it, he had suspected Moony. You-Know-Who was promising a better place in society for all sorts of dark creatures such as werewolves, giants, and vampires.

"Alright there, Potter?" Auror Amelia Bones called from the other side of the corpse.

When they had heard the call for an explosion in Hogsmeade neither thought it would be the Shrieking Shack. It hadn't been in use since Moony had graduated. Seeing the hole blown in the wall had been a shock since they had been magically reinforced to contain a werewolf. It would take a bunch of power to break through. Seeing Peter dead had been a shock, it had only got worse when they saw the Dark Mark.

"Pettigrew was one of your crew back in school, right?" Amelia asked.

James nodded.

"And one of Dumbledore's secret soldiers." Amelia stated.

James nodded again. The Order of the Phoenix was not much of a secret among the Aurors. Dumbledore, or one of the others, had probably approached at some point.

"Any idea he was a Death Eater?" Amelia's voice was stone.

"I would have killed him myself if I knew." James snapped to look at her.

Amelia let out a single, dry laugh. She crouched down by the body and cast some diagnostic spells. It glowed red to reveal it was a dark curse. Dark was a word thrown around a lot that most people used incorrectly. For a spell, charm, or enchantment to be dark, it needed to be fueled with the sole intent to harm or kill. An overpowered stunner cast with killing intent technically was a dark, but as a stunner it would hit harder, not suddenly cause a person to explode.

"I don't recognize the spell that killed him." Amelia muttered. "Signs of multiple Confundus. Not sure if he was aware when he died."

"I hope he was." James growled as he headed across the room to the secret passage.

"What are you doing?" Amelia asked.

"There's a passage into Hogwarts over here." James answered. "I want to make sure it's secure."

"There is an unprotected passage into Hogwarts?" Amelia yelled.

"How else do you think we smuggled in butterbeer and fire whiskey?" James gave her a sad smile.

"We're in the middle of a war, Potter!" Amelia stomped over to him. "How many are there? We need to seal them now."

"Agreed." James opened the secret door.

He hopped down into the passage and collapsed it in the distance. With that done he took a step back and collapsed it again. He climbed out of the tunnel then transfigured a few slats of wood to cover the entry before closing the trap door.

"I'll send a message to Dumbledore for Sirius and me to close the other passages." James said.

"The spell is dark. No idea where it came from. " Amelia turned her attention back to the body. "We'll bag the body and have the experts look over it. Maybe they can figure it out."

James transfigured some of the rubble into a tarp to cover the body. It tightened to collect both pieces into a bundle. Amelia raised the body into the air before she stepped outside.

"Are you going to fix the hole?" Amelia asked.

"No." James turned back to the shack.

He unleashed a strong blasting curse at the ceiling. It collapsed into a heap of rubble.

"That was dramatic." Amelia rolled her eyes.

James didn't reply. His specialty wasn't spell identification, but he did have a knack for tracking. It probably had something to do with being an animagus. Regardless, he was good at identifying Port Keys and Apparation residue. James slowly swept his wand around the area. A small spiral tunnel sparked into view. He took a step closer to the spot. There was a trick to reading them. It curved up into the sky, which meant it was the first of a string. A single Apparation appeared as a straight line.

"String Apparation." James stated. "Whoever did this knew how to hide their tracks."

They popped away without another word. It was time for James to bring the option of the Fidelius Charm up to Lily again. James would suggest Moony for the Keeper. Lily hadn't stopped trusting Remus. He couldn't imagine what could have happened if they had gone with his idea and chosen Pettigrew.

~§~

Harry jolted upright at the sound of an alarm. He scanned the room, desperate to find the source. Blocky, red numbers pulsed and grew larger each passing moment.

06:03 AM

"Finite." Harry growled.

The alarm stopped the moment the numbers disappeared. He hadn't thought to check if the wand had a preset spell. No wonder it was in the magical equivalent of the lost and found. Someone had decided they had enough of it. It took a lot of willpower not to chuck the piece of wood across the room. The only thing stopping him was that he didn't have the money to replace it yet.

He was awake now. Nothing like panic and anger to get the day started. Hopefully Madam Rosmerta served breakfast early.

A metallic 'clink' caught his attention as he shifted the wand to his other hand. He opened his fingers to see the ring that Death had given him. The sigil for the Hallows was clearly displayed, yet no one had commented on it. At this point in time, people would most likely associate it with the last Dark Lord, yet no one had so much as glanced at it. He knew from experience that a Lordship ring could be hidden at will, but he hadn't given it any thought until just now.

Harry concentrated on the ring to make it invisible. A trio of visions flashed before his eyes. The first was of Dumbledore in his office, the outline of the Elder Wand shone brightly from inside the sleeve of his robes. The second was of a shimmery, folded cloak that he recognized immediately. His view shifted to show it was currently in an enchanted chest. Finally, the ring. He knew the Gaunt shack the moment he saw it.

The visions faded once he stopped concentrating. Harry glanced at the ring. It showed him the location of the Hallows, but he wasn't sure what else it could do. He closed his eyes and concentrated on summoning the Resurrection Stone. The vision of the Gaunt shack appeared once more, then the view shifted to a broader scene. He could make out the nearby town. After another moment it zoomed out even more to the point it looked like he was viewing a globe. Buildings, roads, and the landscape were present but lacked detail. However, there were two bright points of light. A line began to form from one to the other. It didn't take much thought to figure out that it was a map to the location of the stone. The same process took place when he focused on the cloak and the wand.

He took another shower and used a couple of spells to clean his clothes. It was amazing the things that popped into his mind when under running water. 

Harry didn't think he could claim the Peverell lordship. He wasn't sure when the last person with a valid claim died and would prefer to avoid any issues. That left him with a few options to gather funds. He couldn't walk around in the same borrowed clothes and a mismatched wand. Plus, he'd need somewhere to sleep.

He gathered everything that he could recall about this era. Voldemort had set a Taboo on his name, which was why people stopped saying his name. He could use that to summon Death Eaters. That could work in the short-term, but it would be easy to simply send more people. While he was curious how many Death Eaters he could take before he got overpowered, he wasn't going to waste everything for that.

It also wouldn't help his financial situation at all. He doubted the well-off Purebloods carried around loads of gold. Moleskin pouches weren't a new invention by any means. Hunting down bounties would bring too much attention. From what he could see his options for income came down to getting a job or stealing it. There were artifacts that he could recover and sell, but they would only complicate matters even more.

One of the many treaties with the Goblins meant they were the sole banking option in the magical world. Unofficially, Purebloods and the rich families had their own system. They weren't a bank, closer to loan sharks and money lenders, which meant that a lot of them had their own stash of gold. There were certain things he had always wanted to do but never had the chance to do due to time or circumstance. Robbing Malfoy Manor was one of those. The family had lost a considerable chunk of their riches by the time he had the chance. He hadn’t been able to take advantage of it, but Draco had taken him on a thorough tour of the grounds.  Malfoy had been hoping to sell it to distance himself from the memory of everything his father had done. The cleaned-out vault was one of the first stops to assure any potential buyers that there was plenty of space for their own riches. It also showed people that he didn't have the fabled Malfoy Fortune anymore.

Riddle had decided to stay at Malfoy Manor in the future. Harry was pretty sure the reason was to torture Lucius. The place was constructed to look fancy, not to be comfortable. Personally, Harry would have chosen somewhere less ostentatious.

He only had a change of clothes to pack which meant leaving was a rapid event. Part of him wanted to go back to the Room of Requirement to look through everything. There had to be at least a few things that were worth a decent amount. For some reason it just didn't feel right. Breaking into a Manor and stealing everything he could, perfectly fine. Scavenging the Lost and Found, uncomfortable.

Harry stomped downstairs to find Madam Rosmerta and one other person. Most of the chairs were still put up on the tables. The blonde bombshell flashed him a smile as he got into the dining area.

"Good morning, Just Harry." Rosmerta teased. "Why are you up so early?"

"I forgot to turn off my alarm." Harry chuckled. "Is there breakfast?"

"Toast and eggs with your choice of tea, pumpkin juice, or spiced milk." She replied.

"Spiced milk?" Harry asked.

"Imports are moving slow these days." Rosmerta sighed.

"Spiced milk it is." Harry took a seat. "Any chance you have the Daily Prophet yet?"

"Just delivered." Rosmerta placed it on the table before she headed back into the kitchen.

Peter Pettigrew -Marked Death Eater- Found Dead in Hogsmeade

Harry scanned through the article. He wasn't sure how long it would take to be discovered. Blasting a hole in the wall was anything but subtle. Still, it was the Shrieking Shack, which was on the edge of town and considered haunted. The article focused on Pettigrew's life, his recent activities, and recommendations for anyone who encountered him in the last month to check for compulsions. They had no suspects and didn't seem to be all that interested in finding who did it.

He couldn't let the Death Eaters push back. A quick glance at the other articles in the paper showed him that the Ministry had practically given up. They were focused on survival and had all but accepted defeat. No wonder he had been hailed as the Chosen One when Voldemort died.

"Here you go, Just Harry." Rosmerta placed the meal in front of him.

"Would you like to join me?" Harry asked.

"Sure." Rosmerta shrugged and took a spot across from him. "It will be a few more hours before business picks up."

"I'm new to the area." Harry offered. "Mind if I ask you some questions?"

"New to the area?" Rosmerta arched a manicured eyebrow. "You do know we're at war?"

"I didn't have a choice." Harry shrugged.

Rosmerta studied him for a moment.

"Fine." She leaned back and subtly pushed her chest out to accentuate her already impressive bust. "Mysterious stranger works for you. Ask your questions."

"How often are there attacks?" Harry asked.

"It varies." Rosmerta sighed. "Sometimes it's every day of the week, then they don't appear for days. Muggle born, Half-Bloods, and 'blood traitors' are leaving if they can."

"Why don't you?" Harry asked.

"I put everything I have into this place." Madam Rosmerta smiled as she looked around the inn. "I'm not going to let them chase me off."

Harry smiled back at her. He let his mind wonder a little bit as he started to eat. It wasn't lost on him that the food was lacking. He had seen how the second war had impacted the economy. The international community were playing it safe, waiting to see how things ended. That brought something to mind.

"Any international help?" He asked.

"France sent some support early on." Rosmerta shook her head. "Their corpses were put on display in Diagon Alley a few hours after they arrived. That sent a message."

"The Death Eaters have infiltrated the Ministry, and any help would be wasted." Harry muttered.

"That's one way to take it." Rosmerta gave him a sad smile. "You should keep your voice low. Never know who is listening and you might be the next to disappear. I'd hate to see that, Just Harry."

Their conversation stopped as another couple of people came down the stairs. Madam Rosmerta stood to take care of the others. Harry winked at her as he left. He strolled down the way over to the edge of town to get a look at the Shrieking Shack to find it was in a worse state than he had left it. There were a few other people milling around due to the newspaper. The only loss was the secret passage into Hogwarts.

He turned away from the scene and headed to an arranged Apparation area. It was a general 'landing zone' for people to use to prevent witches and wizards from popping in at random places. Something in the magic prevented overlap with other travelers but it didn't protect against moving objects like carriages. Harry chuckled to himself. Enchanters and Artificers could create carriages that were basically palaces on the inside twice a day but couldn't figure out how to consistently alter a car to be even slightly more comfortable than normal.

Harry concentrated on a spot outside of the Malfoy Manor wards and disappeared.