Albus Potter and the Prophesied Year

Ch 2 Searching for the Kidnapped

Thursday morning Harry walked into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to find the whole department in an uproar. On Mary Lou's desk and the desks of her two helpers were piles of parchment and papers. Paper airplanes were circling her desk. Telephones were ringing. Mary Lou and her helpers had just arrived, and were looking in dismay at the mess.

"Help," Mary Lou told Harry. "It looks like these are all people who may have some idea where Cleo and Scorpius are." Harry just shook his head, he knew most of the people who had responded were just after the reward, but he was sure, there were a few who genuinely wanted to help find the pair.

Just then Cho Chang spotted Harry. She pointed to his office with an urgency that indicated that this may be the first thing he needed to attend to. "Contact Hermione, Mary Lou," Harry told his long suffering Administrative Assistant. "She may be able to help organize this mess. I need to speak with Cho."

Harry went into his office with Cho, closed the door and darkened the windows, checked for Rita Skeeter and made sure that the Muffalto spell was working on the door. He sat down at his desk, and Cho stood by the door across the desk from Harry.

"I am working tonight, starting in the evening and not leaving until tomorrow morning," Cho started. "Sometimes during the night I am going to be meeting with Willimena Van Lente."

"I would guess that I don't want to know any more about what will happen, Cho," Harry replied, holding up his hand to stop her speaking.

"I understand," Cho replied, nodding her agreement.

Harry and Cho left Harry's office, and Cho immediately left.

Hermione was staring at the piles of documents, a pile that seemed to grow with a new document every minute or two. Hermione finally conjured up a large open file. In front of the file she had a section that said, 'Everything except documents concerning the kidnapping.' About two dozen documents went into that section, almost all from overnight. She then set up sections for England and for outside of England, and then proceeded to further divide the file.

Harry shook his head at the amount of paperwork the DMLE generated as plenty of new documents, many not concerning the kidnapping, started to come in.

"I would expect that there are many Magi worldwide that want to collect the reward," Mary Lou observed. "How do we even begin to sort through this?"

Hermione looked at Harry, exasperation and frustration expressed in the way she glared at him. He motioned for her to come into his office, and again closed the door and darkened the windows.

"This cannot continue!" Hermione all but yelled. "You cannot keep Scorpius and Cleopatra hidden for another week!" Harry was glad there was a silencing charm on his office.

"Willimena Van Lente is going to be here meeting with Cho sometime tonight," Harry told Hermione. "She didn't say why, and I didn't ask, but I am assuming that a pair of our problems will not be at the ministry tomorrow morning."

"I will spend today trying to sort out this mess, then," Hermione replied. "I can make it clear that Scorpius is Rose's boyfriend, and I'm rather frantic to have him rescued. You come up with something."

The two longtime friends left Harry's office. By this time Arthur Weasley and Dennis Creevey were looking at the gradually expanding file.

"Dad, Dennis, I would suggest that you try and take care of the urgent matters that have nothing to do with the kidnapping," Harry announced. "Hermione and I have consulted, and she is going to spend today helping the Auror Department that is free to see what if anything we can find out from these leads. If the DMLE can spare any help it would be appreciated."

"I can get a little help from some of the other departments as well," Hermione volunteered. "I would guess that we could dismiss over ninety percent of these by just a quick read, but someone has to read each one."