Arundel Granville and the Cursed Crown

10 Co-op Funerals

Arrun took Freya's arm and side along disapperated them to a Cooperative funeral parlour. The pink and white sign was faded, sun bleached and coated in soot from the road. The windows showed a sign for budget funeral care, an old photo of a muggle singer called Elvis and a particularly dusty looking coffin. Moody opened the door and went to the counter, "I'll have the deluxe package, and I want a carriage drawn by five black horses."

"Right you are," a thin man squeaked back. "Come to room six for fittings." He turned and lead them down a dingy corridor and he pulled a key from his neck and let them through a white door with a large brass 6. Something heavy clunked, there was the sound of some whorling movement and then the door clicked open. When Moody pushed the door open they saw a long dark tunnel lit with gas lamps. The walls and floor were highly polished black tiles that reminded Arun of the Ministry of Magic courtrooms. Freya's feet squeeked as her shoes met the floor and after a while of walking Moody turned round and cast a silencing charm on them, muttering as he did.

At the end of the corridor a set of wide doors opened into a long room lit with a number of glowing orbs. A man with a lot of manic hair and a long twisted face sat reading Transfiguration Today as he chewed on a sandwich. "You are early," his voice was precise deep but with a nasal quality that made Arundel's hair stand on end. His voice sounded like his breath smelled.

"No point in delaying Rodger. Have you set the body out for us to view?"

"Yes," he continued to chew. "I have told you everything you need to know Moody. The rapid ageing was caused by the curse that drained the victim of its life force. The curse released the corpse once it was drained completely. There isn't much left to study."

"You didn't say what the curse was though, you couldn't identify how to reverse it."

"I doubt anybody could, it is not like any curse I have seen before, as you well know already. What is the true purpose of coming here? why are you questioning my findings, it is an insult to have my work moderated by children."

Moody cracked into a wide grin, "Aie, Rodger. We're looking for something you would not have been looking for, that's all, leave us be will you?"

"That, I can not do," Rodger put the sandwich down and his drooping eyes took them all in. "I am the official Ministry appointed Coroner and I will not allow you to-" His eyes glazed over and he fell silent.

Moody turned to Arundel with a frown "I'd rather you didn't use-" he looked at the children and he fell quiet. "Get next door," he growled at the children and when they moved into the next room Moody turned on Arundel. "Let's get one thing straight missy- an unforgivable curse is an unforgivable curse."

"Are you going to tell the ministry everything you find out about the Black Spot Moody?" Arundel asked. "You know better than to trust them."

He sniffed and shoved the door open, Arundel caught a glimpse of a withered corpse on a table before she followed.

The young hiker looked like he had been mummified thousands of years ago. His skin was dry as parchment and stretched as bleached leather. His teeth were yellow and his lips had gone. There wasn't a single muscle left in his body, just bone and sinew with thin yellowing skin stretched across, and the smell of old dusty decay was so strong it threatened to turn Arundels stomach.

"Tell me what you see?" she asked the children. Freya opened her mouth and closed it again looking distinctly shaken, but Jacob raised his wand and started to chant a number of revealing spells. After a moment he frowned and shook his head. "If I didn't know a curse had killed him I wouldn't have said magic was involved at all."

Moody's magical eye focused on Jacob and stayed fixed on him for a number of seconds.

"Except for the contact site," Freya pointed out his hand, which was withered and black. She too got out her wand and tried a number of Revello spell variations. When she cast Revello Maxamus she paused and a frown appeared between her eyebrows. "There's something here," she said and she leaned closer. Arundel's hand shot out and pulled her back.