DPASW BOOK FOUR:The Gray's Secret

The Gray's Secret - Chapter 12

Very few people knew that Magical Britain’s Department of Mysteries had a family magic of its very own. Not the head of the DMLE. Nor family affairs. Nor the judiciary. The minister did know and, oh boy had the revelation freaked him out when Department Head ‘Croaker’ told him.

Croaker—or sometimes ‘The’ Croaker—was the only ministry department head that wasn’t appointed by the minister and approved by the Wizengamot. Promotion to the top job in the Department of Mysteries always came from within. Something that annoyed Fudge no end.

Croaker was a man who lived in shadows — his efforts bent to a purpose that few outside The Department knew or understood, and even then, they didn’t possess the full picture. The man had at his disposal more secret gadgets, artefacts, and tomes on forbidden or dangerous magics than any ancient family by a large margin. He commanded agents capable of feats that would leave the common wizard on the street breathless. And over the years, it had been he who’d been responsible for some of the Wizarding World’s most notorious ‘incidents,’ not just in Britain, but all over the world.

Even the Voldemort of the previous timeline hadn’t sought to replace him when he finally took over the ministry and conquered Magical Britain, before turning his attention onto Europe. He’d been far too useful. That of course, proved a mistake, as the unspeakables, led by Croaker, played a crucial role in ferrying Harry from Azkaban to the Veil of Death, facilitating his return to the past to wreak utter havoc on what might have been.

In short, Croaker was not the sort of man who was used to being on the back foot when it came to intelligence or knowing things. He also wasn’t used to mistakes or botched missions on the part of his agents. But it seemed that ever since Lord Slytherin had arrived on the scene, both his knowledge of what the hell was going on, as well as the reliability of the people under him, had taken a serious hit.

“You got the Merlin-damn wrong boy!” Croaker growled, staring down the sheepish-looking agent in front of him.

The agent shifted uncomfortably. “Sorry, my lord. You said to grab Heir Potter and we thought—”

“—yes, yes I know,” Croaker interrupted him rather testily. “That was my mistake, I suppose.”

“If it’s any help, the boy-who-lived seems far from a poor substitute. We’ve run all sorts of tests, with his approval of course, and John displays over top 99.999% performance in basically every magical test we put him through. He literally shifts the bell curve all by himself.”

“Of course he does!” Croaker scoffed. “He went toe-to-toe with the entire Ravenclaw Duelling Team and won! Not even Dumbledore managed that.”

There was a pause as Croaker shook his head and stared down a random spot of wall with an intensity that suggested he was trying to melt the stone with his gaze.

“Sooo… we can use John?” the agent eventually hazarded.

Croaker’s expression contorted before he groaned. “I wanted the damn Chimera! There’s so much we could do with a legendary form like that.”

“My lord, we could try a more forceful approach?”

“No, we bloody well do not. We’re on thin ice enough approaching a Hogwarts Student this young as it is. Besides, you saw what happened to Chuffney. Not a great look for his first real field mission.”

“So, what is it you want us to do? Not push him through the veil, presumably. I don’t think we could get away with that. …Besides, my Mum would never let me hear the end of it if she ever learned I disappeared the boy-who-lived,” he finished with an awkward laugh.

Croaker glared at nothing again. “He is his brother’s twin,” he finally said. “Maybe there is actually a way to get what we need…”

— DPaSW: TGS —