章 17: How!!!

Keepling looked intensely at Ronald Weasley.

He was alive. But he won't hang there for long. Keepling had never seen any such curse before. He has seen worse, he has seen different types. But this one, never.

Shacklebolt had also checked Weasley. But he too was no more enlightened than Keepling. Both the learned men looked at each other but none could speak out loud that this was a complete mess. The magic was definitely forbidden but who on earth would be able to conjure something that bizarre? The dark curse was choking Weasley from within cutting air supply to the lungs. In every 90 secs the Healers were making special efforts to pump in oxygen to his system but they all knew, this was no way of saving the man.

Nobody knew what to do about the situation.

Shacklebolt looked nervously at the greater picture.His deputy lay there motionless while the Auror Supremo paced up and down the hall. How long will it be before some pesty reporter get an air of this? Moreover, Ronald's in law's connection made him uncomfortable. The Austrian Ministry won't take this situation lightly.

To make things worse, Harry refused to open his mouth. Shacklebolt needed to know what happened. Without an alibi to keep British Ministry clean, this situation may trigger rivalry between Countries, but, Potter being Potter refused to utter a word about what in Merlin's name happened. Shacklebolt had his own suspicion that the two friends were sneaking out on some unauthorized mission when the calamity happened. But what exactly were they chasing? A possibility remained that they were chasing someone from DARKMOD, a new rebellious group hell bent to abolish existing Ministry structures and establish some Democratic rule following the Muggle pathways. They had been creating enough nuisance for the past couple of years but did they really have people that talented? Were they even capable of using something this dark? Or was it something not yet listed as "threat" by the Ministry? But whoever it was, he or she was a powerful one. And Shacklebolt was not okay with the situation.

The Marriage Law enforcement was already creating so much havoc everywhere. Emergence of some new anti government group would do no favor to the Ministry.

Shacklebolt needed Potter to speak.

He was the only person who could clear things out.But he refused to utter a single word.

What a difficult and arrogant man!!

Things had been kept under wraps for the last two hours but Shacklebolt knew, he wouldn't be able to keep things under wraps for eternity. Specially not with so many prominent people rushing to Mungro's to check upon a nearly lifeless Deputy Minister of Magic.

Ebony Skeeter, Reeta Skeeter's younger sister was surpassing her elder sister these days when it came to speading all nonsense things. And Shacklebolt didn't want her to get an air about the mess here.

The very thought made Shacklebolt uneasy. He quickly glanced around.... Nope, no Skeeter, no reporter. Atleast not yet.

To add cherry on the top of this massive shit of a cake, since Jewel Weasley arrived half an hour back , all hell has broken loose. That Austian heiress was difficult to converse with. She was a menace. Totally logic less. She had been crying, throwing tantrums and sending random patronuses here and there. It was unbelievable but she was actually capable of conjuring them. From the number of patronuses sent, Shacklebolt was sure, half of Europe knew about the situation by now. Small patronous Eagles flew here and there and Shacklebolt dreaded half her family would arrive in no time. But one thing caught his attention even amidst the distress. How could she produce so many patronuses without exhausting herself? That spell needed skill and it drained people using them. It really needed a different level of skill set to produce so many of them. And entire Britain knew, Jewel was just a pretty face with no brains or skills. All she had was money, money and more money. That's all.

Anyways, that was a thing to ponder upon later. Shacklebolt's focus was totally at some place else now. The people whom she was sending those patronuses. The last thing he needed now was the interference of Austrian Royalty in the matters of British Ministry of Magic.

Thankfully, none of the five Aurors who rushed to help Potter opened their mouths. The condition in which Potter and Weasley were found in Potter's office was enough questionable. Did they use floo network to get in there? But was Harry's chimney even connected to the Floo Network? Then?

Shacklebolt was busy pondering upon the whereabouts of Weasley and Potter when

Hermione Granger blasted in.

She was on leave but Keepling personally sent her a patronus and here she was, looking like she would tear down anyone who dares to cross her. Malfoy tagged behind. They both looked tired and disheveled, God knows what they were doing when the patronus was received... but from whatever Shacklebolt knew, Granger was probably whipping Malfoy's ass over some work . This woman had no life other than her work. But it was a surprise that she had a daughter with Malfoy. The Malfoy heir had quite a reputation with ladies in his earlier life but in the past decade he simply stayed under the radar. He didn't have a life either, other than work, just like Granger. Shacklebolt has heard from Lovegood that the child was a Test Tube baby, conceived by Hermionie in an attempt to give Narscissa Malfoy a grandchild.

Shacklebolt had seen Granger turning from the sweet chatty girl to a fearsome unparallel Alpha witch over the decade and he knew well romance was not a card in her deck. But still, he liked to see Granger and Malfoy together. Very unlikely couple yet, he wanted to believe, that they were exactly what Fairy Tales talked about. A damsel in need and a Prince in rescue.... Just that, Granger was no feeble female. She herself was Distress personified.

Hermionie nodded at Shacklebolt and straight headed for Keepling. No courtesy for either Jewel or Potter. That was strange. Not even for Potter!!! Then Shacklebolt realized that her fiance was closely following her. May be she did what she needed to do. After all Draco was a Malfoy man, God knows how authoritative he was behind the closed doors.

Granger and Keepling were discussing something in a hushed and urgent voice when Draco stepped closer to them.

Shacklebolt felt amused.

This would be fun, watching Malfoy getting blasted onto pieces by Keepling.

That old man had zero tolerance towards everyone, er, almost everyone. He was sure, Malfoy would be shown his place within no time.

But to his irritation, Granger asked Malfoy to handover something and he drew a small box from the thin airs.

Show off, muttered Shacklebolt , disapprovingly.

Granger and Malfoy attached a small instrument to the nose of Weasley and another small instrument to the pulse point on his left hand. Keepling nodded approvingly to some inaudible explanations and then turned to face Shacklebolt and the rest of the people looking keenly at the procedure.

As you can see, Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger has put Ronald Weasley on an artificial Oxygen infuser . This is a new device used in ANGEL while performing surgeries in Muggle ways and Mr. Malfoy has been kind enough to bring in a sample to give temporary relief to the situation. The Healers won't need to do the manual job every 90 seconds and Weasley's body won't perish from choking right away. However, the dynamic duo has something to tell regarding the time we have to figure out the anti curse.

Keepling licked his lips nervously while every head turned towards Hermionie Granger to hear what she had to say. To everyone's surprise it was Malfoy who took a step forward and faced the people. Everyone was surprised but considering the situation, the silence remained intact.

Malfoy didn't exactly look up.

He stared somewhere at a wall as he spoke uneasily,

The Oxymometer may give some temporary relief but the cause of the choking comes from the curse and not from any physical injury. We estimate the device to keep the body healthy for 5 to 7 days tops. But if some effective counter curse is not found by then, it will be difficult to say whether Weasley will make through the situation or not. I know , everyone present here has good contacts, so kindly reach out to all potion masters, herbeologists and even such witches and wizards who are dealing with boundary less Magic. It is not only about Mr. Weasley but about us all. Whoever gave the curse was someone adept in Dark Magic and we don't know where the person is now. If we have to face this person again, we should try and understand the root Magic for such a weird curse. We will all go down if more victims emerge with such strange curses being hurled at them.

Everyone in the room nodded in unison.

Except one.

Harry Potter.

Hermionie narrowed her eyes at Harry. And he started straight back at her. In a moment of impulse Hermione lowered her mental barrier to reach out for Harry. She instantaneously reached a void. A big void. No wall. No memory. No present. No past.

Hermione looked at him curiously.

And then he felt his presence within her own partially exposed mental space.

I was the one hitting him with the curse Mione. But I don't know what it was or how to reverse it. Help me.

Hermione pulled back instantaneously and looked away.

Malfoy concluded his address but Hermione's mind was no where near the speech.

She was horrified at Harry's revelation. She knew the signature curse and she knew what may give the solution. But Harry!!! Harry Potter.

How could it be?

This was her own signature magic.

How could Harry access it?