Chapter 240

She bent down and pulled him into a hug. Harry, not knowing what to do, awkwardly patted her back, trying to keep himself from saying 'there-there' out loud.

"Oh, and just like Esther said," she said after she pulled back, "You can come along down to the archives anytime you want and take those pictures back. For now, you'll have to excuse me though. I have to go."

And with that, she left, hurriedly walking away as she dissolved into the hustling and bustling crowd.

"Grandpa Nefario? Really Harry?" Nicholas asked from beside him.

"You are a really old man who has a secret identity and collects porn magazines as a hobby. It fits."

"…They aren't always porn."

"Yes, they are," Harry corrected before he turned and looked up at Nicholas, who was standing with his hands folded behind his back, "Can I go down to the archives and get those photos of my parents?"

Nicholas looked at him weirdly for a second, before he pulled out his wand and tapped his head, casting what knew to be a small disguise onto him to hide his scar.

"Just remember to Floo back soon. Molly Weasley has invited us over for dinner," he said, and upon getting a nod back, turned and headed out towards the Floos outside the Atrium, leaving Harry to his own devices.

Harry watched him go for a second before he made a beeline to the small door towards the side with 'Stairs' marked on it.

Fuck the elevators.

Contrary to the last time he had been here, the stairwell up to Level Three actually had people in it. A man was using a brush and a bucket of Stickly Stickler's Sticky Superglue to plaster posters onto the walls.

'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN!' blared the large headline, with warnings like 'APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION' and 'DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ENGAGE THIS MAN' written in bold underneath it, followed by notes written in smaller font like 'Any information shall be duly rewarded' and 'Notify Ministry of Magic immediately'.

Harry made his way up the stairwell to where the worker was pasting the poster, he paused to look at the man's face in the photo, peering at the shadowed eyes. The man had beyond the pale skin and looked more like a rabid animal than anything else in the photo with his matted hair and filthy clothes.

This, according to the morning's newspaper, was the man that was rumored to be Voldemort's right-hand man and had murdered thirteen people with a single curse, and this was the man who had gone to school with his father.

What had happened? How had someone his father used to be friends with ended up like this?

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Harry headed up the stairs to Level Three, where the Library and archives were located. Pushing open the stairwell door, Harry let himself into the floor before entering the library doors.

In the librarian's desk sat the familiar Esther McGoogly, whose face lit up as soon as she saw Harry enter. Apparently, Nicholas's simple disguise didn't fool the aging lady.

"Harry!" she said as she waved him over, "Come to take the photographs have you?"

"If it's alright with you ma'am,"

"Of course, of course," She said, waving away his concerns, "Just head over into the archives section will you? Everything is ordered by date in there, and you'll have no trouble finding the files yourself. I'm afraid you're going to have to show yourself around lad. I can't really spare anyone right now."

"That's no problem at all. I'll find my way," Harry assured her and headed into the archives section.

The archives sections were split into five wall-sized shelves, with all the cases arranged chronologically. Something that was recent could be found in the first shelf, but something from a long time past like Harry's case would be placed in one of the other four shelves depending on how much time had passed since the case's closing.

Harry made his way straight to the third shelf, which had a sign with '1980-1990' on top of it.

There were a couple of Aurors in there, looking through case files. Harry weaved his way through them, trying to remain quiet and unnoticed as he headed to the back part of the shelf.

The 1991 section was the thickest section in the entire shelf, probably due to all the trials that had happened after the first Wizarding War. But Harry had no trouble at all finding the file he was looking for. There it was, in a red cover contrary to the plain ones that contained the other files, making it fairly easy to pick out.

When he reached to pull it out, Harry was surprised to see that his hands were trembling a bit. He had heard stories of his parent's life before…he had used them to meticulously handcraft this perfect little image of them in his head as they were in life. Seeking memories of his parents that he never really had.

But this…this was real. This was their death. Something Harry always tried to avoid thinking about.

Trying to keep the apprehensive feeling out of his gut, Harry pulled out the file, and with still trembling hands, opened the cover.

Thankfully, the first thing wasn't a picture of his parents' bodies as he had feared it would be. Instead, what greeted him was a small stack of about six pictures, all of which were of him and his parents. There was one of them standing proudly, holding something that looked like a deflated football in their hands.

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