Never A Memory

“Judas said Hitler was nothing but a "big mouth" and had "no real say" in Hell.” ~What in God’s Name? An article on the life and death of Anneliese Michel

"Aurora, watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose-filled halls; the Stars took flight, in marshaled order set by Lucifer, who left his station last." ~Metamorphoses by Ovid


~The Exorcist of Anneliese Michel~

Bavaria, Germany…
***

“Why are we so far east?” Ron asked, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder. “Trisha said that Griphook was last sighted in Emmendingen. That’s in Baden-Württemburg, one state west of here.”

Harry and Ron stood at a crossroads in rural Southern Germany looking every inch the traveling tourists. Harry’s sloppy black hair hid his eyes as he peered at a map, glancing up at the road signs every few seconds or so and then back down at the map. He had insisted they take the train to Bavaria after the Dover Calais, claiming they could pay a cabbie to take them East when the time came.

Of course, none of this made any sense whatsoever to Ron. Why not go directly to Emmendingen?

“Harry, I’m telling you, we need to go back and hop on that train before it leaves again.” Ron glanced back down the road they had just hiked a bit mournfully.

“Train only comes once a day, Ron,” Harry muttered from behind his map. “It’s left already.”

“Well, this is brilliant.” Ron re-shouldered his backpack irritably. “WHY did you make us get off the train, Harry?”

Harry lowered his map and gazed blandly back at his partner. “We’re here for the Exorcist. Why else would we be in Bavaria?”

Ron gaped at him. “Exorcist? Since when were we collecting a Muggle priest?”

Harry rolled his eyes and peered back at his map. “One day, Ron, I hope you’ll start actually reading your mission assignments.” Harry folded his map and pointed down one road. “Klingenberg am Main is this way.”

Ron fumbled with his backpack in an attempt to retrieve his mission statement as they began walking. Finally grasping the folder, Ron pulled it out and flipped it open. Truthfully, Ron hadn’t gotten past his alias in the statement, not thinking there was anything else to know. Honestly, since when did the Ministry need exorcists anyway? That was a Muggle thing. It was a way for Muggle religions to do deal with the magical phenomenon they didn’t understand. And, it was ridiculous.

Ron found a red page that read ATTENTION at the top. Ron laughed. How he missed this was a mystery to even him. “They were to locate and retrieve a Muggle-Born by the name of Father Ernst Alt. Ron blinked. “He’s a Wizard?”

Ahead of him, Harry nodded. “Alt was raised under heavy religious influence and burned his invitation to Durmstrang because he thought it was the work of the devil.”

“An untrained Wizard working for the Catholic Church? Wow, that’s really somethin’.”

Harry paused and waited for Ron to catch up. “More specifically, an untrained Wizard who worked as an exorcist.”

“Worked?”

“After being persecuted for the death of Anneliese Michel, Alt sort of drifted off the map,” Harry said, pointing at Ron’s file and tapping it with his finger. “It’s all there, Ron.”

Ron was silent as he read, their brisk steps the only mundane sound over the chirp of nearby birds and the humming of insects. “Harry, do you think he caused the death of this Muggle?”

Harry didn’t answer right away. “I think the terms of the ritual imposed by the Muggle Church were too extreme for the conditioning of the Muggle Michel.” Harry glanced at his partner, who was studiously reading the file on Alt. “The Muggles persecuted Father Alt, Father Josef Stangl, and Michel’s parents for negligence to dissuade further incidences like that one. I don’t believe it was wholly irrational of the Muggle court system…but it must have torn Alt apart to be blamed for her death.”

“Says here that he really believed Michel to be possessed by demons,” Ron said, pointing.

Harry shrugged. “He also believed that Durmstrang was of the devil. Faith does strange things to people.”

“Maybe he’s right,” Ron joked, thinking of Viktor Krum. “So, why are getting this guy if he’s a total crapshute?”

Harry frowned at Ron. “He’s not a crapshute, Ron. He’s depressed. Besides, what we want to do with Draco is a roundabout exorcism. The Ministry thought it might be prudent to have a professional on board.”

Ron wrinkled his nose. “A professional who was found guilty of negligent homicide?”

Harry’s green eyes took on a distant look. “Draco’s not crazy, nor is he epileptic. Michel was psychologically unstable.” Harry’s eyes darkened. “And we won’t starve him to death. There would be no reason to.”

“What if this guy goes all religious on us?”

Harry shrugged. “Our job is to bring him back to the Ministry with the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. After that…I don’t know.”

“You don’t like the idea of him tagging along either, do you, mate?”

A muscle in Harry’s jaw twitched. “No, I don’t. I don’t think a convicted negligent exorcist should be tampering with Draco’s case.”

Ron laid a hand on Harry’s arm, stopping him. “We could just say we couldn’t find him, Harry.”

Harry gave his partner a pained look. “But, then, I’d be lying.”

“It’s not like you haven’t lied before.”

“I can’t lie in this case.”

“Why the hell not?”

Harry opened his mouth to speak, looking a bit like an islanded fish, and seemed to freeze.

Ron gave him a curious look. “What?”

Harry closed his mouth and shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he muttered as he began walking again.

“Harry—“

“Save your breath,” Harry said tightly. “It’s a long hike into town.”

~*~

They couldn’t locate him in Klingenberg, but found him in a small church right outside of town. He was an old man, nearing seventy—if he wasn’t already—and sat in a pew a couple rows back from the alter. He wasn’t quite praying; simply staring at the crucifix that hung at the far end of the church in all its gory glory.

Harry held up a hand to Ron and motioned for him to wait. Harry approached the priest quietly. One broken man recognizes another.

Father Alt did not look at him when Harry stopped to stand beside him.

“Father Ernst Alt?” Harry inquired softly.

“Who are you?” Alt demanded, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m a Wizard,” Harry said quietly, “an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. I’m here to collect you.”

Father Alt’s mouth curved slightly, the ghost of a smile. “Have your people finally come to charge me with the murder of a Muggle?”

“If that were the case,” Harry murmured, sitting, uninvited, next to the priest, “you would have been arrested thirty years ago when it happened. The Ministry wants your expert opinion on a certain matter.”

“I do not perform exorcisms anymore.”

“We won’t ask you to perform anything, Father.”

Alt looked at him then. “What do you want me for?”

“Just to talk,” Harry said, spreading his hands. “Words, no more, no less.”

The ghost of a smile was back. Many things can amuse broken men. “I do not talk much either,” Father Alt said in halting English.

“It is enough,” Harry replied.

“Hmm.” Father Alt turned back to the gaze-worthy crucifix. “He died for our sins, you know. Even yours.”

“There is a man who died for all our sins again, only a few years ago,” Harry said, glancing up at the bleeding man fixed to the cross. “He, too, was resurrected. He, too, needs your help.”

“Ahh,” Father Alt rubbed at his beard. “The boy who defeated the Dark One. I have heard of him.”

“Will you go peacefully?”

“This one is not holy,” Father Alt said, frowning into his beard.

“He is to me,” Harry retorted, a little bite to his words. “Will I have to force you?”

“No, young magician,” Father Alt replied, looking the Auror up and down with tired eyes. “I will go.”

“Good.”

Father Alt stood. “God’s love is cruel and just.”

Harry regarded the priest, the words hitting a strange part of him as familiar. ‘Tell me, Harry. Is he cruel?’ “Perhaps.”

“No.” Father Alt turned to face Harry as the young man stood as well. “It is.”

Harry nodded when their gazes met. They had a strange sense of understanding pass between them. “Isn’t love always cruel and just?”

Father Alt smiled his ghostly, tired smile. “Yes, young magician. It is. You begin to understand.”

~*~

They made good time returning to town to find a cabbie. Father Alt insisted on keeping his face hidden under a hood, claiming that some of the townsfolk could still recognize him. Harry and Ron didn’t argue with him, glad enough that their side trip was easier than it could have been. Religious Muggles were the worst kind.

It took them an hour to find someone willing to take them into Baden-Württemburg. Lucky for them, the old woman they would be traveling with said she could take them all the way to the Elz River that would lead into the town of Emmendingen. From the river, they would hike.

Well and so, Trisha said Griphook would most likely be hiding in the woods of outside of Hochburg, the neighboring castle the old woman claimed to be riddled with ghosts. The Black Forest was where they would search for Griphook, the elusive Goblin.

Eight hours later, the triumvirate was dropped off at the river and was forced to make camp immediately. The sun had all but set and soon it would be too dark to see. The two Aurors were careful about how they used their magic to light the campfire and set up the tents. Whatever Father Alt may have seen was nothing compared to what he would definitely see when they returned to the Ministry. They were more concerned with nearby Muggles who could be spying on the ‘tourists’ and exercised a great deal of caution on that account.

Father Alt retired early and curled up in his meager tent on the outskirts of the campsite, leaving the two Aurors alone by the fire.

“Quiet fellow,” Ron murmured, huddled in his Muggle jacket. “I feel bad for calling him a crapshute.”

Harry smiled, gazing at the flames. His thoughts were ever on Draco, worried at why the area where his scar used to be prickled so often these days and why his spine had hurt so badly a few days prior. It had ached so terribly that Harry had even considered turning back.

“Earth to Harry Potter!” Ron exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front of Harry’s face. “Hello?”

“I’m sorry, Ron,” Harry murmured, turning to look at his partner. “I was thinking.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Ron replied. “Freaks me out sometimes when you get all spacey.”

Harry looked apologetic but couldn’t find any words to say.

“This case is really wearing on you, isn’t it?”

Harry nodded, not being able to trust his voice.

“Maybe…maybe it wouldn’t be so awful that you and I were switched to minor Aurors on this case and gave someone else the head position,” Ron said hesitantly.

“No,” Harry said flatly, looking back into the fire.

Ron frowned. “It just…It seems too much for you sometimes. I mean, you’ve always been a bit…I don’t know, tortured? I know that sounds bad, but you got to admit—“

“Ron.”

“Okay, okay, what I’m trying to say is that after those weeks alone with Malfoy, you seem more…obsessed with this case. It doesn’t seem healthy. You don’t eat, you barely sleep—“

“Ron—“

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” Ron snapped abruptly. “This case is not healthy for you. And now you’re keeping things from me.”

Harry glanced quickly up at Ron.

“Don’t think I forgot that you were supposed to tell me something,” Ron said glumly. “A certain something ‘Mione apparently already knows, I might add.”

Harry chewed on the inside of his cheek before answering. “You’re right; I do need to tell you something. You might not like it.”

Ron narrowed his eyes. “Well, out with it then.”

“There’s no good way to say this—“

“Out with it,” Ron repeated, beginning to get grumpy.

“I…” Harry hesitated. “I slept with Draco.”

Ron’s jaw fell open and the silence that ensued with thick and heavy.

“You, WHAT?”

“I—“

“I heard you the first time!” Ron stood, crossing his arms and glaring into the fire. “Merlin, Harry…”

“I think I’ve fallen for him.”

Ron hissed through his teeth, his eyes blazing. “All those blokes is one thing…but how can you go from my SISTER to Draco Malfoy?!”

“Your sister didn’t want anything to do with me—“

“You broke her heart!”

“Did you want me to place her in the line of fire?”

“That’s beside the point!”

“What is your point, Ron?”

“It’s disgusting!” Ron shrieked. “Malfoy?!! Are you kidding me?!!!”

Disgruntled, Harry looked defensive as he gazed up at his furious partner. “It’s not disgusting.”

“Anything with Malfoy is disgusting.”

“He’s worth protecting, isn’t he?”

“Only because he saved your life,” Ron grated, jabbing a finger into Harry’s chest. “That’s the only reason I have ever gone along with helping him out. Because he saved your life! And now you’re shagging him?! What the fuck, Harry?!”

Harry scowled up into his partner’s enraged face. “He’s not so terrible as we once thought.”

“Bullshit.”

“It is not bullshit—“

“It is! Merlin, I should have seen this coming! Harry, I can’t believe—do you realize the magnitude—first I get punished for Wisconsin and now—Harry, we’re both GOING TO LOSE OUR JOBS FOR THIS!” Ron’s face was positively distorted with the ferocity of his temper.

“WE won’t,” Harry retorted. “I might, but not you.”

“We’re partners, Harry! We fly together, we die together, AND,” Ron exclaimed, jabbing his finger again, “we get FIRED together!”

“Ron—“

“I cannot—“

“I’M SORRY!”

Ron stopped his charade at Harry’s outburst.

“I’m sorry, Ron. I am. I’m sorry I pulled you into my mistakes. I’m sorry I’m such a fucking burden. But, Ron, I am not sorry for having feelings for Draco. I can’t be sorry. I just…I just can’t be. Just like how you won’t apologize for how you feel about Hermione.”

Ron ran his hands through his hair, trying to reign in his temper. “Hermione Granger is my fiancée, Harry. Draco Malfoy is the snobby git that bullied not only you, but myself and said fiancée for years! And, more than that, he’s our case, Harry! We’re sworn to protect this asshole! You have no business shagging him! It’s…its inappropriate!”

“It is inappropriate,” Harry agreed. “But I make no apologies for how I feel about him.”

Ron shook his head disparagingly. “I don’t know you,” he said, disgusted. “You are not the Harry Potter I know.”

“Ron—“

Ron raised a hand to silence his partner. “Don’t. I need…I need to mull this over. You’re really killing me, you know that?” Then Ron retired to his tent, leaving Harry to stare grievously into the dancing, mocking flames of the fire.

~*~

In the morning, Harry was shaken awake by Ron. He had dozed off where he sat, staring into the campfire. Harry blinked away his sleepiness and looked questioningly at Ron.

Ron shrugged, holding out his hand and helping Harry to his feet. “We fly together, we die together,” Ron said.

Harry gripped Ron’s hand tighter. “Thank you, Ron.” Harry knew that Ron disapproved, but his partner would still support him. It was more than he could hope for.

Nothing was lost on their priest, who looked between them with his world-weary gaze. “Love is cruel and just,” Father Alt whispered under his breath.

Yes. It was.

And always would be.

They packed up their campsite, shouldered their backpacks, and headed into the forest.

~*~


A/N: I'm working on the next one as I'm responding to reviews. Perhaps I'll get it out today too. Geez, they're coming out quickly, eh? See me lay down the law, huh?! I am the law giver! *Laughs maniacally*

Lilith: Interesting, indeed. Peculiar, also. Ha ha. That was from a movie. Couldn't resist. Thank you for your review and I hope you enjoy the update!



thrnbrooke: Because he knows its not enough. *sly grin* Thank you for your review and I hope you enjoyed the update!



genxster: Thank you! Wow, I'm glad you liked Martha! I really like to give flair to even the smallest characters, and I really enjoyed writing her. In fact, I had to cut alot of what I wrote when I was editing. I may just slide her in again somewhere. She was as much fun to write as Pandora was. I love Blaise. I mostly love fandom Blaise because there is not much to go on in the Books. "The Loft" has THE BEST Blaise I have ever read. I'm not sure if that story was ever finished, but it's a great story nevertheless. Go check it out. It's a Harry/Draco fic by...(looking)...OH DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN! I FINALLY found it. I had to searcg, Christ, 58, 59 pages? Good lordie. Here's the link http://hp.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=544214907

I've totally lost where I was going that. I hope it wasn't important. My brain is soooo fried. Ugh.

Anyhoo, thank you for your marvelous review and I hope you enjoyed the update!



Mangacat: I fell in love with Hochburg. I don't know why, but it felt so right to me. It helped that it's in Southern Germany where I wanted them to pick up Alt. Now, if I'm mistaken on the Enz river and its corrilation with the Black Forest, correct me immediately. It was sort of tricky, trying to map out their route and everything with the slim info that wikipedia gave me. Your help has been astounding, thank you!

Yes, Blaise. I wanted to wrap up the first mystery because we hadn't touched on it in a while. I thought that would get a good gasp out of a few people. Lucius once said, "The answer lies within slytherin." The Aurors didn't look close enough. Question is: Will Blaise turn himself in? Or keep quiet about it?

Thanks for your review and I hope you enjoy the update!



Leentje: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the update!