Chapter 300: Lines in the Sand

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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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29 November 1994, Durmstrang

This was a fucking mess…

That was exactly what David Roche thought to himself as he watched the boy in front of him who had an unconcerned look in his eyes as if he didn't care that David's superiors wanted to screw the kid…

He hadn't wanted to do it, but he couldn't exactly refuse, not without disappearing after being reassigned somewhere on the other side of the world…

David was one of the ICW's main investigators. It had been a relatively easy job… He didn't have to risk his life on the frontlines and just handled crime scenes and interviews, where he barely had to cast a few forensic spells to get the job done. Well, sometimes it was frustrating, especially the fact that he could get easily transferred to another branch of the ICW at a moment's notice, but he was comfortable, nonetheless.

There were also gruesome affairs, like the ones in front of him… David had seen a lot of fucked up shit in his life, but this had to take the cake. The local authorities had received an alert from their department of magical transportation about mass teleportation… They sent a handful of Aurors to investigate, only to find nothing there. At least, that was until five fucking dragons fell from the sky in the next town over and hundreds of splattered dead bodies spread all over the town. They had to obliviate an entire traumatised muggle village for that… That's not to mention the dragons.

It was a miracle that they had survived their fall, but the ICW obliviators had worked overtime to cover that up. It was the first time he had to investigate a crime scene with dragons involved. He didn't think dragons could even be controlled as an attack force.

The main question remained was that why anyone would try to use so many resources to attack a school delegation of all things. It wasn't hard to narrow down the list of targets. It had to be someone who couldn't be attacked easily elsewhere, so no easy access to their homes and the hosting schools… It had to be someone who warranted such a force… If he had to guess, there were three possibilities, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, and Minerva McGonagall.

The first two were evident, one was a celebrity who happened to be a symbol against Britain's traditionalist faction, and the other had pissed off a lot of people with his antics during the tournament and was an extremely talented mage, probably a powerhouse in the making…

McGonagall was the more surprising option… Attacking Hogwarts' ride, especially with her being the only staff member, meant that she couldn't move well. She had to remain in her place trying to avoid their method of transportation from crashing and killing all of her students. She was some easy prey… And a good way to eliminate Hogwarts' headmistress, whether wanting to give the position to someone else or wanting to hurt the institution for some other reason…

It was all so convoluted, and it didn't help that all the attackers were dead, something that David's superiors wanted to blame the Potter boy for…

Speaking of the young Potter, he was giving him a very unimpressed look as he hummed some song, unconcerned with the allegations against him. They were sitting in a classroom in Durmstrang, a particularly cold one at that, hoping to make the boy as uncomfortable as possible.

It hadn't worked.

The fortress was massive and daunting. Its stone walls seemed to swallow any bit of warmth, leaving the air always chilly. Heavy wooden beams crisscrossed the high ceilings, covered in ancient runes that whispered of the school's long and mysterious past. Despite the intimidating surroundings, Potter seemed completely unfazed, lounging in his chair with a relaxed air. His easygoing attitude was almost infuriating to those who had hoped to scare him, making the whole attempt feel like a pointless exercise.

He would have rather done this in some office instead of Durmstrang. Unfortunately, the school wasn't technically part of any country… He wasn't exactly an expert on the matter, but it somehow needed a certain path to get to the fortress, which changed up somewhere near the Baltic Sea… To be fair, most of the mages in Eastern Europe were invited to go to Durmstrang, so it would be fair that the school not favour any country specifically… Still, it was a shame since that limited the number of businesses that could grow in their specific tasks in the tournament, but also the number of spectators… For some reason, Albus Dumbledore was working overtime, trying to get as many people as possible to watch the task… Considering that it was probably going to be one of the more dangerous ones, he wouldn't be surprised if this would have been the factor that would get most people to come spectate.

Nevertheless, David had to return to the issue at hand, "Harry Potter…"

The boy tilted his head, "That's me…"

"My name is David Roche and I work with the ICW. We're investigating the attack on your delegation, which happened this morning…"

Potter nodded, "Sure, what do you want to know."

"What would you say, in your words, happened? Start from the beginning."

"Alright… We were on our ride, as usual, but then it started shaking. People were blasting their way into the Express… McGonagall must have held the entire animation, transfiguration, and air pressure regulation charms to avoid us getting sucked out. She probably handled the temperature difference as well, now that I think about it. It was very impressive…"

"And what did you do to the attackers?"

"Well, nothing really. We stunned them. Our main goal was to make sure that everyone was alright and to regroup, nothing more… We did just that."

"You only stunned them?" Roche asked, with a questioning look.

The boy shrugged, "They were sending some pretty tame magic at us… So, stunning them was a safe bet, which was the right decision since I now know that they were under the Imperius curse."

"Your teammates told me that you made that connection… My question is how? Do you have any experience with such Dark Magic?"

"Oh, Merlin no. Of course, I don't practice Dark Magic… It's just that, if you're going to attack a place, you would not get people to cast common jinxes… You'd hire professionals. No matter how powerful the Imperius Curse is, its victims' skills are their own. If someone was put under the Imperius and told to defeat Gellert Grindelwald, they would still die…"

Hmm, that was actually a very good answer. It would have been far easier for the boy to slip up and get himself arrested for using Dark Magic. The night was still young, and the boy was surprisingly willing to talk, "Alright, tell me what happened next."

Potter simply shrugged, "We got to the front of the Express, and I put down some wards to stop any hidden stragglers from getting there. After I made sure that everyone was there, I tasked them to protect themselves and I got out with Granger to see who was attacking. That's when the trouble really started. We knew that they were probably the people controlling the attackers and we fought them… They kept sending killing curses at us, but they ordered their forces to attack us instead and apparated away."

"Did they say who they worked for or anything?"

"Nothing really… Just that it was for 'their Lord' whoever this is… I didn't really care, since, you know, the whole being attacked by over a hundred wizards and five dragons."

David pushed on that, "So, a hundred wizards, they must have looked terrifying. Did you think that they were also under the Imperius…"

"I didn't really care about the mages. Reinforcing the wards and a few innovative runes could easily turn this into a siege and since we only had to wait for reinforcements, it wasn't exactly a long time to hold on… No, my main issue was the Dragons."

"Which you stunned…"

The last Potter looked unconcerned, "Well, you saw what I did against the Leviathan. Why would a dragon be any different?"

Well, David had to admit that the boy had a point. He had been there when Potter somehow knocked a Leviathan unconscious with a single spell. The research and development department had worked for weeks, trying to see how that happened, only to find nothing. The boy's spell had somehow ignored the creature's magical resistance.

Still, he had to pry, "And how did you achieve that result, exactly?"

"I'm afraid that it's to do with my family crest. Then again, you wouldn't have been here without having examined my wand… So, assuming that you'll have found nothing, you'll have no choice but to agree with me… And you know as much as anyone else on this continent that family crests are off-limits."

He wasn't exactly wrong with that statement, which was even more infuriating… He had analysed Potter's last spells… They were just some banishing charms, a few stunners, and a couple of transfigurations, nothing really alarming. Unfortunately, everyone knew that the boy could easily kill people without casting a single spell, especially considering his skills with Runes that he showcased in the first task… Unfortunately, there were no carved runes anywhere…

David decided to change his angle once more, "What about the hundred dead bodies that were found… Tell me how that happened…"

"I only attacked the dragons, but they were in a formation with them. A falling dragon, especially an unexpected one, took a lot of wizards with them. The rest just apparated away…"

"Hmm, for some reason, I don't believe you. You mean to tell me that by just stunning the dragons, they took the rest of the forces with them…"

The boy shook his head, "Well, it wasn't exactly stunning. Dragons are a lot more magically resistant than expected… It was more like they were violently put to sleep. And since it wasn't immediate, they lashed out."

"Son, you know that if I have enough reason, I could make you drink Veritaserum…"

He had wanted to scare the boy, but he just gave David a pitying glance, "The use of Veritaserum was banned by the ICW outside of war times, which can only be declared by a country explicitly. And even then, it could only be used on prisoners of war or suspicion of treason… The fact that you're threatening me with this, especially after having taken my wand, is very disturbing… I wonder what everyone else is going to say when they realize how the ICW handles the questioning of a minor…"

"You're joking, right? You just killed a hundred people and you're trying to take the high road."

"I didn't kill anyone, Mr. Roche. I just put five dragons to sleep, the rest was just an unfortunate consequence. Although I can't help but wonder why you care so much about the mercenaries' lives… You haven't even tried to ask who sent them. Unless you already know that… Hmm… Perhaps it was the ICW that was responsible for the attack. It would explain why the ICW is actively trying to pin anything on me instead of looking for who is responsible… Now, wouldn't that be a bad look; you're either attacking children for no reason or you're protecting the attackers. Now, what would anyone who knew that the ICW doesn't like him do? Perhaps contact the press discreetly and tell them that they're being framed by the big bad evil ICW for winning their tournament, that they wanted him dead, especially the big bad investigator David Roche, who's targeting the poor minor instead of doing his job… Sure, the ICW would censor a lot, but eventually, someone is going to print it, and people do love their scandals…"

"You little shit…"

The boy grinned, "Now, now, Mr. Roche… There's no need for such hostility… I'm sure you didn't mean to accuse me of anything and that this is just a big misunderstanding."

"You could be bluffing," Roche commented.

"Sure, but we both know I'm not. I did prove to you again and again just how prepared I could be. I'm sure the Black Widow is a very good example of that… Now, think of it, inspector, you're risking your entire career and your reputation to blame me for something that you know I didn't do. And all of it, for what? What has the ICW done for you recently? You didn't want to take this case, did you? And they want you to compromise your ethics for some nutjobs who tried to kill children, nutjobs who were probably not under the Imperius like the ones who broke in at first…"

 "How do you know that they weren't under the Imperius?" David tried as a last measure. Admitting publicly that he knew more than he told would have been a good way to hold him. Still, he was right about this. Every single body that they found belonged to a mercenary, some of whom were wanted for several serious crimes, mostly murder and assassinations, all around Europe. They were scum and David did not mourn their deaths… Unfortunately, the presence of that many bodies was also very convenient to use against Potter.

"Because you didn't shout it at me when you accused me?" Potter replied as if it was the most obvious thing, "Anyway, you have two choices. Either try to pin anything on me, and you'll be crucified in public… You'll have condemned a minor to defend themselves without any proof and everyone will know it… Or you could focus on the most important part, trying to find out the people who escaped… The people who were willing to send killing curses at children. You'll be hailed a hero when you do, and you'll have my personal support during the investigation, and any expense you would need…"

There was still something niggling at the back of David's mind, "Why do this? You could have just stayed silent and got your guardian to sort things out for you?"

It was actually part of his superior's plan. Arcturus Black would have needed at least a day to arrive and considering that the boy's absence would be noticed, it would have been like an admission of guilt… Sure, it would have settled eventually, but it would have stopped the boy's momentum and stopped his rise of popularity in Europe, one that the ICW was very concerned about…

"Sure, I could have. Honestly, I could have just gotten someone to wear an illusion as me during the feast and wait for Arcturus to come… But then, you'd have been screwed with my guardian leading the charge and you'd have had nothing to show for it. Your superiors would have thrown you out to dry, and that would have been the end of your cosy career. So, why would I make an enemy of you, when you'd be such a useful friend instead. And I'm always willing to make new friends… Now, why don't we go to the feast. I know that it's still in progress but I'm starving…"

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AN: Wrote this chapter because I thought that there was no way the ICW would let something like this go... I don't know if I pulled it off exactly like I wanted it to, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.