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SIYE Time:13:58 on 29th March 2024
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Hollow Ash
By FloreatCastellum

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Category: Post-Hogwarts
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Neville Longbottom, Other
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 131
Summary: When a mysterious woman comes to the Auror office claiming to be the victim of a terrible crime, Theia and Harry want to do everything they can to help her. The problem is, she has no memory of what has happened. As they piece together the sinister events, their own troubles and traumas rise to the surface, causing them to question who they really are. Sequel to The Aurors.
Hitcount: Story Total: 41503; Chapter Total: 1901
Awards: View Trophy Room






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He knew that she was irritated with him, and he also knew that she was not yet brave enough to call him up on what was bothering her. She would be wondering, no doubt, why he had avoided asking Alma about the sinister incident with the sheep, but he had his own ideas quietly brewing in the back of his mind. He supposed she thought her fear of the old woman was unfounded or silly. It wasn’t, but rather than waste time trying to put his vague, unconnected hunch into words, he simply allowed Theia to walk sullenly beside him in silence as they went to the next interview.

They peered through a window into one office where some junior Aurors were sitting awkwardly with a crying toddler and squirming baby. One of them looked hopefully up at Harry, expecting to be relieved of her babysitting duties, but he moved on, feeling a stab of guilt as he saw the toddler refusing to be distracted by toys and instead calling for his mother.

They bumped into Proudfoot in the corridor, who informed them that a lawyer had been found for Osman. ‘But he says he needs time to speak to his client and understand the case,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure you’ll have time to go back today.’

‘That’s fine,’ said Harry, still a little distracted as he looked back at the office with children. ‘I don’t think he needs to stay here, but go and see Susan about getting approval for the seizure of his wand and establishing his house arrest. Send one of the law enforcement team home with him too just in case.’

‘Send him home?’ asked Proudfoot blankly.

‘He’s got a dog we forgot about,’ Harry said absent-mindedly as he walked off.

‘Are you sure?’ asked Theia, hurrying to catch up. ‘Osman is still a suspect.’

‘Yeah, he is, but-’ he turned suddenly, and shouted at Proudfoot’s back. ‘Try and subtly mention it was me who said he could go home!’ Without turning, Proudfoot raised a hand and gave him a thumbs up. He turned back to Theia. ‘We’ll need to talk to him again, but he’ll be more use somewhere he’s comfortable, I think.’

‘If you say so,’ she said. ‘You better not send that creepy old woman home though.’

‘No,’ he assured her.

Theia opened the door to the interview room. Like her mother and Osman, Ornella had declined the offer of legal representation, but she had none of the their calmness. She paced, up and down, her shaking hands wringing and jumping to tug at her own wild reddish-brown hair.

‘I want to see my sons,’ she said immediately as they entered. ‘You can’t keep me from them, it’s wrong, totally wrong-’

‘Miss Swindlehurst-’

‘This is ridiculous, you’re corrupt, you-’

‘St down,’ said Harry firmly, taking his own seat. Beside him, Theia set up the quill and paper. Ornella glanced at it, her hands still gripping her hair madly, then pursed her lips and stormed towards them. She pulled her chair out aggressively and slumped into it, holding one clenched hand in front of her mouth as though trying to restrain herself from crying.

‘Your children are fine, they’re well taken care of and hopefully we can get this over with quickly,’ said Harry.’ He hesitated. ‘I should remind you that covering for others, no matter how much you love them, is a crime. Your best chance of going home with them and staying there is by cooperating fully.’

‘Yes,’ she said shakily. ‘I understand.’ She was blinking rapidly, her leg bouncing nervously.

Harry gave a great sigh as he pulled out the manilla file. He was quickly growing tired of seeing the photos. When he closed his eyes he was sure they were burned into his retinas.

‘God,’ Ornella said, looking away sharply.

‘I’m going to cut to the chase, Ornella,’ he said. ‘Because honestly, I’m tired, and I’ve heard enough. Something weird has happened and this is the result.’

Ornella stole a glance at the photos and looked away again.

‘I…’ Harry sighed again. He could feel impatience rising in him. ‘I have talked to your mother. Your grandmother. Mr Osman. A colleague of mine is interviewing your uncle because I don’t have time. Quite frankly I think all of you are shifty bastards, and all of you are hiding something.’

‘We’re just-’

‘Don’t give me that privacy bollocks, I’m sick of it,’ he snapped. He felt Theia’s shocked stare. Ornella faltered. The silence stewed. ‘You never liked Marcy, did you?’ he prompted.

Her expression changed. Softer, more vacant. Some long ago memory was surely stirring behind her eyes. ‘No,’ she said calmly. ‘No I didn’t.’

‘Why not?’ asked Harry. ‘You had everything. You had a loving family, you had magic. She had nothing but abuse, indifference at the very best. No place in either world. A complete outsider.’

‘I wouldn’t say I had a loving family,’ said Ornella, with a sardonic smile. ‘Why do you think I pushed so hard to go to Hogwarts?’

‘Who wouldn’t want to go to Hogwarts?’

‘Plenty of people wouldn’t,’ she replied calmly. ‘I had some wonderful years there, but my place is in the Loney. I was always going to go back.’

‘What for?’ asked Theia. ‘There’s nothing there. If it wasn’t a loving family why would you stay?’

Ornella rolled her eyes, and turned back to Harry. ‘I hated Marcy because at least she had a purpose for my family to keep her there.’ She looked back down at the photos and swallowed as though summoning courage. ‘I…’ She looked back up at him. ‘If I cooperate, I can go home?’

‘It would certainly help.’

She ran her hand through her hair anxiously again, her eyes gazing down at the photos. ‘They’ll kill me if I say.’

‘We can offer you protection,’ said Theia urgently. ‘There’s no need to be afraid.’

She gave a whimper and buried her face in her hands. ‘It was Uncle Oeric,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t see it. I have no evidence. But I’m telling you. This is his doing.’

She looked back at them through trembling fingers. Harry yawned. ‘Sorry,’ he said, ignoring Theia’s horrified face. ‘I’m not being rude, I’m just shattered.’ He pulled the photos back and scratched his head, yawning again. ‘So, why do you say that, Ornella.’

‘He’s a violent man. Nasty man. We all know that he’s the father of Marcy’s baby.’

‘He abused her?’ asked Theia.

‘He abused every woman he could get his hands on,’ said Ornella. ‘I was protected by Mum, of course, but she always warned me never to be alone with him.’

‘Seems like she could have just moved you away,’ said Harry. ‘Or made sure he went to prison for a long time rather than drifting in and out. As I understand it she often appeared as his defence.’

‘He’s her brother, of course she did,’ said Ornella. ‘Look, the fact is, he was always nasty to Marcy, and he ended up getting her pregnant. He doesn’t want kids, so he killed the baby and I suppose Marcy has memory loss from the trauma. I suppose that skeleton was a woman, was it? I can’t say I know who it is, but there were always rumours he’d killed a girl before.’
Beside him, he spotted Theia trying to stifle a yawn behind her hand. ‘I see,’ he said. ‘But you didn’t see any of this?’

‘Well, no,’ she said, looking surprised. ‘Why would I have done?’

‘Your children,’ he said suddenly. ‘I’ve asked you before, but you didn’t give me a clear answer. Who’s their father?’

‘I told you, some Muggle in the village. I can give you his address if you like, but he doesn’t even know I’m a witch.’

‘Did you use a love potion on him?’

Her expression was frozen, and then slowly she smiled. ‘I haven’t ever had much success with men,’ she said sweetly. ‘Not from lack of trying.’ She leaned forward, the same sultry expression she had used when he had first met her. ‘I told you about your father, didn’t I? Year above me. Quite the Quidditch player.’

‘I’d have thought you’d have been more interested in his friend,’ said Harry smoothly. He yawned again, mumbling ‘excuse me,’ as he did. She ignored it.

‘Sirius, wasn’t it? Oh, god, no, he was too intimidating. Good eye candy but always seemed a bit surly, you know. James Potter was charismatic. I like funny men.’

‘I take after my mum in personality, I’m told,’ said Harry. ‘I’m afraid I’m not funny at all.’

She laughed. ‘Yes, she was always dry too. No, ultimately I found I couldn’t charm James Potter, and nor could I charm any of the other men I took a fancy to. For some of us, love potions are the only way to go.’

‘Why?’ asked Theia. ‘You’re an attractive woman. You seem easy to talk to.’

‘I’m very smart you know,’ she said loftily. ‘I know I don’t look it, I’m just a mum, but I could have done so much more. That intimidates men, you know. So I suppose you could say it’s my personality.’

‘Why didn’t you?’ asked Harry. ‘Do more? Why did you come home to the Loney to the family you don’t believe loves you and the uncle you can’t be left alone with, only to bewitch a muggle and have his children? It’s quite a lifestyle choice.’

‘Yes, I suppose when you put it like that, it is,’ she said. ‘But you’ll never understand the Loney. It’s a different world to the one you know.’

‘We will be doing paternity tests on your children,’ said Theia. ‘Samples have already been taken.’

‘Don’t you need my permission for that?’ she asked.

‘Would you like to withdraw permission?’

‘No, it’s fine. I told you, it’s a Muggle in the village. Do you know, I don’t even know his surname. But I’ll give you his address.’

‘Why not use a love potion on another wizard?’ asked Theia.

‘This Muggle was attractive and I wanted attractive children,’ she said simply. She frowned. ‘What does this have to do with anything?’

‘When we first met you,’ said Harry slowly. ‘You said that your youngest, Ascelin, was only young and didn’t come into it.’

‘Yes, he’s just a few months old,’ she said.

‘Come into what, though, Ornella?’ he asked. ‘It’s such an odd thing to say. Does your oldest come into it then? Raffi?’

She laughed. ‘Oh come on. Really? I don’t know, it’s just awkward phrasing.’

‘I don’t think it is,’ said Theia quietly. Ornella looked coldly at her. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently, and I came across Ascelin’s name. Tell me, Ornella, what does his name mean?’

The cold expression didn’t shift. ‘I don’t know, it’s just a nice name.’

‘It means ash tree,’ said Theia.

There, again, was that silence, icy and hard.

‘I’m sure you understand why we find that quite a coincidence, Ornella,’ sad Harry.

‘No, not really,’ she snapped. ‘What does my son’s name have to do with anything?’

‘Well, for a while we wondered if your son was actually Marcy’s son. Whether you had stolen him from her. But the ages didn’t seem to match up, and it didn’t quite fit properly. But it was still odd, what you said, and how you avoided letting us see him.’

‘He was sleeping,’ she said fiercely. ‘When your wife finally pops your kid out, you’ll understand why I didn’t want to let strangers parade in and look at him.’

‘But this name,’ continued Harry. ‘It’s a bit weird considering we then found Marcy’s baby hidden inside the hollow of an ash tree.’

‘It is a weird coincidence, but that’s all it is,’ she insisted. ‘I clearly named my son well before Marcy lost her baby, so I really don’t see the relevance of any of this.’

‘But why would you pick that name?’ asked Theia. ‘And why would Marcy also choose a name for her baby that was connected to ash trees?’

‘Because she always wanted to be me,’ she snapped. ‘The stupid girl has never had an original thought in her life. I love that ash tree. There’s something deeply magical about it. Bowtruckles used to live there, and I sent the wood of it off to Gregorovitch to have a wand made when I turned eleven. And now it turns out Oeric buried one of his conquests there and Marcy left her dead baby in it and they’ve desecrated it,’ she spat. ‘It’s ruined forever.’

‘When you had the baby,’ began Harry, ‘was he-?’

The door opened, and, irritated, Harry turned to see Dawlish in the doorframe. ‘What?’ he demanded grumpily. ‘I’m busy.’

‘You need to come and speak to him,’ said Dawlish.

‘I gave you that job because you insisted, I’m busy-’

‘You need to come now,’ Dawlish growled.

Harry sighed. ‘Interview suspended,’ he muttered at the quill. ‘Miss Swindlehurst, please stay here, I’ll be back in a moment.’

They rose, and followed Dawlish out of the interview room. ‘This better be worth it,’ he said as soon as they were out of earshot.

‘Oh, yes it is,’ said Dawlish smugly. ‘I’ve solved your case for you.’

‘Eh?’

Dawlish opened the door to his own interview room, where a tearful, unshaven Oeric Swindlehurst blinked up at him. ‘I would like… to confess,’ he sobbed. ‘It were me. I done it. I killed that girl, an’ I left that baby in the tree. It were already dead though,’ he added desperately.

Harry sat, slowly, his eyes fixed on the pathetic man in front of him. ‘Go on, Oeric,’ he said gently. ‘Tell me what happened.’

…………………………….

‘Harry!’ A flash of turquoise pelted towards him, and Teddy wrapped himself around Harry’s leg. ‘Do the thing!’ he squealed. ‘Do the thing where you walk!’

‘Hey!’ said Harry, grinning down at him, and he obediently took a large step, swinging his leg out as Teddy clung on like a koala and shrieked with delight.

Ginny was smiling warmly as she watched from her seat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea resting on her bump, and Ben looked up from the potatoes he was peeling.

‘All right?’ Harry said to both of them as he limped over, Teddy still squealing.

‘You’re back earlier than I was expecting,’ said Ginny.

‘Yes, well- Teddy, that’s enough now, off you get - we had an eventful day at work.’

‘We made shortbread biscuits,’ said Teddy.

‘That’s wonderful. Ted, why don’t you go and tidy your room?’

Teddy’s face fell. ‘It’s not that messy.’

‘I’ll give you a galleon when it’s done.’

Teddy’s sudden enthusiasm at this massive advance in pocket money was enough to get him swiftly out of the kitchen; Harry supposed his bribery would give them at least twenty minutes.’

‘So what’s the news?’ Ben asked.

‘Oeric Swindlehurst has confessed to the murder of Connie, and to hiding the body of the baby, but he says it was born dead.’

‘Blimey,’ said Ginny, her eyebrows raised.

‘Why would he hide it then?’ Ben asked. ‘If it was born like that?’

Harry sat with a sigh. ‘He made a full confession. Said he attacked and accidentally killed Connie years ago when she visited the Loney, and buried her by the tree. He also says that he tried to help Marcy when she was in labour, but when the baby was born dead she “went mad”, he panicked and thought people would think he did it, so he hid him in the tree.’

‘Went mad in what way?’ asked Ginny.

He hesitated. ‘Well.. He claims that he thinks the baby might have been his, and that Marcy started saying it was his fault the baby died because he didn’t take her to a hospital, and that as she got more and more distraught started saying that he killed him.’

There was a silence at the table, broken only by the quiet, steady ticking of the clock on the wall.

‘So what happens now?’ asked Ben. ‘You won’t need me anymore, do I go home?’

‘Not yet, I’m afraid,’ said Harry apologetically. ‘We still need to gather evidence for the prosecution, and so I would still like to talk to that little boy. We definitely can’t speak to him and his mum before Monday?’

‘It’s half term,’ Ben replied. ‘She took him on holiday and the flight doesn’t get back til Sunday evening.’

‘I understand,’ said Harry. ‘But I’m afraid that means you’ll have to join us for a family gathering on Sunday, as I can’t leave you on your own.’

‘Well that sounds lovely,’ said Ben.

‘My family’s a lot to deal with,’ said Ginny quickly. ‘And they’ll be very excited to meet a Muggle. But they won’t mean any harm.’

‘Do you really think little Simon will be useful?’ Ben asked. ‘It was Osman that had his bike, wasn’t it?’

‘I think he may have seen Oeric hiding the body, or maybe arguing with Marcy. He certainly saw something that caused him to leave his bike out there. Once we’ve finished chatting with him we can just drop you straight home.’

‘All right,’ said Ben, nodding sagely. He gestured to Ginny. ‘Your lovely wife has explained I can’t tell anyone about all of this. I won’t. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.’

‘That makes it a lot easier, thank you,’ said Harry. There was a creak behind them, and Teddy’s face appeared at the crack in the doorway.

‘I did most of it…’ came his small voice.

‘Hmm, all right then,’ said Harry, with a playfully warning voice. ‘Come collect your wages, and we’ll get the dinner on.’

………………………...

Later that evening as they lay in bed, Ginny furiously rearranging a mound of pillows to get comfortable, she gave him an inquisitive look and said, ‘come on then, out with it.’

‘What?’

‘You don’t think the confession is right, do you? I can tell. You’re not gathering evidence for the prosecution, you’re still investigating.’

He couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You know me too well.’ She looked at him expectantly. ‘All right, I think his confession is a bit convenient and there are still lots of loose ends. I’m not sure who he’s protecting, or why, but there’s more going on.’

‘Because of the creepy old lady?’

‘Yes, her, and Pauline and Osman are both suspicious too. But…’ he considered her for a moment. ‘If I yawn, what do you do?’

‘Eh?’

‘When someone yawns.’

‘Politely ignore it? And they’re contagious too, aren’t they, I always end up-’ she broke off into a yawn, and he laughed again.

‘See? Even talking about it or thinking about it too long you end up yawning too.’

‘So?’

‘Theia left a bunch of Muggle psychology textbooks in the office and I’ve been reading them in downtime. One of them talked about how yawning is linked to empathy. Well I interviewed Ornella and thought she was being a bit… Dramatic.’

‘Dramatic? What d’you mean?’

‘Well, she was acting absolutely terrified and frantic about seeing her children. But she’d only been separated from them for ten minutes, and she knew they were just down the corridor. It had been explained to her that she’d go back to that room with them after the interview.’

‘Perhaps she was worried about going to prison and not seeing them at all?’

‘Yeah, maybe. Or maybe she was just acting how she thought a worried mother should act. I yawned a few times in the interview. Theia caught it, and tried to hide it, but Ornella looked me dead in the eyes and there was just… nothing.’

‘So, what, you think she’s a psychopath?’

‘I think she lacks in empathy and was lying about her emotional state at the very least,’ said Harry. ‘Although…’ he rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. ‘Theia told me off for yawning, thought I was being rude. I explained the idea behind it, and she just said I should stop with the armchair psychology. That it didn’t really mean anything and it doesn’t count as evidence of anything.’

Now Ginny laughed. ‘I think she’s getting a bit big for her boots! You’re her boss!’

‘I know, who’d have ever thought she’d stand up to me, eh?’ He stretched, the warm sleepiness of being in bed beginning to take hold. ‘I just think this case is going to be one of those ones where tiny little details matter. It’s so complex.’

‘My god,’ said Ginny seriously. He looked at her, concerned. ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’

He grinned at her. ‘A little bit. Not what actually happened, obviously, but figuring this one out is going to be satisfying… Is that sick?’

She grinned back. ‘Totally sick. I think you’re the psychopath.’

‘I prefer mysterious.’

‘No, just psychotic.’

‘Mysterious,’ he insisted, leaning over her and kissing her giggling face. ‘And handsome and clever.’

‘Armchair psychologist.’

‘Right,’ he growled, and Ginny laughed as she teased him and he kissed her, their playful fighting moving into something else, his happiness unending.

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