Debrief

Rose took a few days off work to help Scorpius recover. Grandma Weasley had left them plenty of food, which Rose appreciated. But she also knew that everyone was needed in the office to help clear up this mess, so after three days of leave Scorpius came with her to the Ministry, rather than staying at home alone. The first thing that greeted them was an inter-departmental meeting/debriefing of the events of the last few days. She usually found these meetings rather dull, but this should be a good one.

Scorpius hoped he wouldn't be expected to contribute much, but at the same time, it could help him understand how all of this had happened, how they had found the island and perhaps even the motives behind kidnapping him in the first place. 

Hermione opened by introducing everyone present and explaining the purpose of the meeting. Rose had gotten used to seeing this more formal version of her mother, and her respect for her had only increased. She never seemed bored, though she must have meetings like this every day. Hermione first let the Healer from St. Mungo's give an update on everyone that had been checked out. 

"Almost everyone that was brought in that night showed various signs of mind manipulation having been done to them," the Healer said. "The worst case is the one of Miss Edgecombe. Her condition is not good and her chance at full recovery is unfortunately low. We have informed her next-of-kin and they reluctantly agreed that the best thing for her is a stay in our Janus Thickey Ward to see if her condition will improve when she is kept away from the source of her mind issues. As for the other women, they all show signs of Confunding but few of them will have any lasting effects. They have all been dismissed back to their own residences, same as Mr. Malfoy here. Then there is the issue of Mr. Crickey. He has not been subjected to the same extreme level of Confunding as Miss Edgecombe, but he has all the signs of a man being subjected to a Persuasion Charm that has since been removed. There is no way to prove that, unfortunately."

"A Persuasion Charm?" Harry asked. "I didn't know such a thing existed."

"It is a Healer term, Mr. Potter, for a form of mild mind control. Instead of the complete control one would get with the Imperius Curse or Confunding, this merely makes the subject of the charm open to the caster's suggestion. Afterwards, the person often cannot truly explain why they agreed with the suggestion, but it felt right at the time. This type of spell is a recent discovery, thus detection of it is also only in the beginning stages."

Harry nodded. That made sense, with how Sam had found himself agreeing to do this job despite being sceptical about it.

"As for Miss Vane, her condition is puzzling. She refuses to talk to any of us, only demands to see Mr. Potter. At other times it is as if she thinks she is at work, issuing orders or saying things I suspect would be appropriate for the person she pretended to be. How long has she been impersonating your Auror?"

"At least three months. We are working on establishing an exact date. Mr. Crickey reported that he was called in to work on what he assumed was a covert test project about the same time."

"Three months," the Healer mused. "That can explain it. Has Miss Vane appeared as herself during this time, or has she fully lived as Dawson? That last may explain why she has trouble distinguishing the two roles now."

"We have one or two confirmed visits by Miss Vane to her friends during the last few months, but other than that, no one seems to have known where she was. She quit her job about five months ago, that was probably when she started preparing for this. That was also when she started to retrieve large amounts of gold from her vault at Gringotts." Hermione said. She usually didn't do interviews with witnesses, but she had wanted to be involved here. And since she knew most of the women, it made it easier for her to get the information they needed.

"What will happen to her now?" Albus wanted to know. 

"She is in no fit state to be out and about. Normally I would recommend placing her in the Janus Thickey ward as well, but one of the few concrete things we have got out of her is that she feels that Miss Edgecombe betrayed her, even more than her other friends. I would not recommend keeping the two of them in the same ward."

"Could it be an option to keep her in a prison where she is seen by a Healer regularly? It sounds like it isn't Spell damage that has caused her mental demise, so it is not a Healer issue," Harry said. 

"That can be an option. For now, though, we keep her in an isolated secure room. Even if she has the ability to perform wandless magic, she will not easily escape from it."

"I appreciate that, but I will still have my guards posted outside her room. The other Aurors were none too pleased when they heard what she had done to Dawson, and to Malfoy. I will not deny them that right, though I will remind them that she is not to be harmed or approached unless she tries to escape."

The Healer sighed. Scorpius had a feeling they had already had this argument several times in the last few days. He was also surprised and a little touched that the Aurors cared what happened to him. But that may just be because of Rose. 

"Would it help if Harry went and talked to her?" Hermione wanted to know.

"I wouldn't recommend that at the moment. She is obsessed with Mr. Potter, as I've mentioned, but she doesn't see him as a person, more like a price to be won or a construct. If you came to see her, like she asks, she would think you agree with her view." 

Harry nodded. "I don't want to see her anyway," he said. "I just wish she would tell us why she did what she did. Especially what she did to Malfoy. Why go after him first, instead of my wife, if she meant for her to replace Ginny?"

"I don't think you would get a rational answer from her," the Healer said. "You tried asking her that when you first captured her, correct?"

"Yes," Harry said with a sigh. "I suppose we'll only have to guess."

"I have an idea," Albus said. "She asks for Potter, right? What if I went to talk to her?"

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked. 

"I want answers just as much as you do. If it is just me there and I ask what she has done to my friend, my brother, and my mother, maybe she will reveal some of her reasons? It is worth a try."

Harry sighed but nodded. "If you think it is worth a try, go ahead. Just make sure to keep a distance. And if she does open up, try asking where Tom Crickey is. We still haven't found him either, there is no sign he has ever been in Azkaban like she claimed."

The rest of the meeting was spent going over details about the remaining interviews, what more needed to be done etc. As the meeting wrapped up, Harry indicated to Rose and Scorpius that they should remain. Scorpius thought he knew what this was about.