บท 49: Facing the truth
Hermione arrived in Norway unannounced. Harry met her at the predetermined destination, the large gothic-style cathedral. He gave her a quick update about the letter. Hermione wished Rose hadn't sent it but agreed that it may work to their advantage.
Harry led her straight to Lagasete's office. He had already alerted the Norwegian Minister for Magic, and he came right behind them. Lagasete looked up as they entered, surprised. Then a flicker of uncertainty went over his face as he recognised Hermione. Maybe he suspected what they were here for.
"Lagasete, you may recognise her, but allow me to introduce you. This is Hermione Granger, the British Minister for magic, and the mother of Rose Malfoy."
Lagasete only nodded. It seemed he didn't even have room for pleasantries. The Norwegian Minister took over instead.
"A pleasure to meet you, Madam Minister. We have not been alerted of your arrival, or we would surely have gone to meet you properly. But what brings you here today?"
"What else but my daughter, Minister?" she replied with a smile. "I have stayed away because I believed that my presence was unwanted. I fully understand that my presence in this case would be difficult when my own daughter was involved. However, I was surprised and disappointed when I discovered that you have not shown the same restraint when it comes to personal involvement."
The Minister seemed genuinely surprised. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
"I had a chat with Draco Malfoy a few days ago that was most enlightening." Hermione said. "We have of course kept him informed, as he is Rose's father-in-law. He was very surprised when he heard who the interrogator in this case was."
Harry looked coldly over at Lagasete. "You have not been honest with me. I didn't understand why you seemed to be extra hostile towards Rose Malfoy. Why you refused to believe her side of the story, the one that sounded far more likely and matched our own reports from Azkaban but stuck to your own story."
"Draco told us about the Norwegian branch of the family that murdered so many people here all those years ago." Hermione continued. "I am truly sorry to hear that Voldemort's influence reached all the way over here. I had no knowledge of this case."
"If you had been honest about this from the start, Lagasete, many things could have been avoided. Not the least, the problematic diplomatic relations between our two countries." Harry said.
Lagasete had not said a word, but that made him find his voice again. "Diplomatic relations? As if you care! All you care about is to get your niece out of trouble. Again. You have been hiding Dark Wizards in Britain ever since the war and you have done nothing!"
"You mean the Malfoy's that tried to reach Britain in 1998? Have you ever sent an official request to have them found? I thought that you, as the head of Magical Law Enforcement would be ideally placed to make such a request. I have checked, and no such request has ever been noted from you, or anyone else in the Norwegian government, after the fall of Voldemort."
Lagasete stared at them with an open mouth. "I… I have never… Ever since I heard that you pardoned the Malfoys, I have never seen a point in sending such a request. It is clear that you are unwilling to bring them to justice."
"I see. If you had looked closer, we did not give a general pardon to all Malfoys. We pardoned three of them. Draco Malfoy for his clear reluctance in joining the Dark Side during the Battle of Hogwarts and for his attempts at deflecting attention away from Harry Potter during an encounter at Malfoy Manor, and Narcissa Malfoy for saving the life of Harry Potter and being crucial in the resulting downfall of Voldemort. Apart from those two, there was only one other Malfoy in Britain at the time and he turned on his fellow Death Eaters for a plea deal. None of the Norwegians ever made it there, though they were heading that way as they fled."
"So, you have always claimed!" Lagasete screamed, no longer able to control himself. "But you are lying! They are hiding there! I know it!"
"How do you know? Have you been there yourself to check? You have not sent a request for aid to the Ministry, as we have already established."
"I… Where else would they be?"
"See, that would be the correct question to ask, and one we could perhaps have answered many years ago, if you had asked."
That pulled Lagasete up short. "You… You mean you know where they are?"
"Maybe. Once this story was made known to me, I had a look through our archives. The year when Voldemort was de facto in charge of the Ministry was a strange year, but in this case, it was a good thing. It allowed me to find a written document that showed that this group of Norwegians were indeed offered refuge in Britain. However, they never arrived there. They were presumed drowned, but they sent boats out to look for wreckage or any sign of them. None were found. There was, however, one document that mentioned their boat being sighted near the coast of Iceland. However, around the same time, Voldemort's government fell, and this information was never followed up on, as it was of no relevance for us. If you had let us know how much this meant to you, we could have provided this information. As it was, this was not of importance for anyone in the new government in Britain." Hermione let those words sink in. Lagasete seemed more and more uncomfortable. Neither Hermione nor Harry said another word. They simply looked at Lagasete. The power in the room had clearly shifted and he didn't like it. But he wasn't prepared to say anything yet. Harry decided it was time for the next step even without prompting.
"As I said, I was deeply saddened when I heard of your story and background. But it saddened me more when I realised that this history was the reason you refused to listen to reason regarding Rose Malfoy. I have always heard that Norwegians value integrity and objectivity. It seems I was mistaken."
That certainly got the attention of the Minister. "Is this true, Lagasete? Have you dragged out this process simply because of your history with the Malfoy family?"
"No, I have not," Lagasete protested. "It is they that refuse to see that she could have done something wrong. Just because she is your family does not make her a saint! She attacked us. She led the battle that caused 18 of our men to die. And now she is on the run, afraid that she may actually have to face the consequences of her actions for once!"
"How could she attack you without a wand?" Harry asked. "She was their captive. You saw the room they had prepared for her. She was a shield between them and us. She was pushed forward. If she was their leader, that was an illogical action to do. She had her hands in the air at the moment she was Stunned, with Lestrange chasing her.
And, as we have already explained, she was not taken from Azkaban because of who she was, they only discovered that later. Even Lestrange, whom you now claim says that Rose was their leader, said so at first. I wonder, what made him change his story?" Harry wanted to say all the thoughts he had about Lagasete's poor handling of the situation in general, but this was not the place.
Lagasete did not reply to this. The Norwegian Minister, however, had grown increasingly angry the more he heard.
"Arvid!" he said. Harry and Hermione looked at him confused, before they realised that that was Lagasete's first name. A furious exchange in Norwegian between the two men ensued. Lagasete was clearly still unwilling to yield, but the Minister was convinced. He then turned to Hermione again.
"I must apologise. I had no idea that this was happening. Had I known of Lagasete's personal issues in this matter, I would have been more involved in this myself. Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of this."
He did not say anything about punishment for Lagasete, Harry noted. But for now, this was enough.
"I appreciate that, Minister. In the meantime, however, my niece is still out of reach for all of us. I suspect the main reason she ran was because she believed that she would not be fairly treated here. I would like for you to take that into consideration when you look into this matter." Harry said.
The Minister assured him that this would be done. Lagasete was quiet. He seemed to be stunned by this latest development.
"Now, there is one more matter that we need to discuss." Hermione said to her Norwegian counterpart. "You see, I have just come from Iceland. It seems that there is a clan of Malfoys there that have been causing trouble for over 20 years. Two of them have been arrested for murder, but the rest have gone underground. I have a team of my best Aurors ready to take them down, but I have a problem. These people are not wanted in Britain, nor in Iceland. Though the Icelandic government has tried to make a case against them for years, they have so far avoided detection of any wrongdoing. But I presume they are still wanted for murder here in Norway?"
Lagasete looked up, stunned. Hermione tried to not look too arrogant and smug. That could undermine her plan, even now.
"They certainly are, Minister. I would be more than willing to take them here. Whatever you need to make that happen, name it." the Norwegian Minister replied after a stunned silence.
He thought she would ask for him to clear Rose's name. And he would do it, if she asked. But Hermione didn't want to give them that option. She wanted them to clear her name on their own. Since Rose wasn't actually here, she could afford to wait for them to fez up to their mistake.
"Well, as I said, I already have a team of Aurors ready to take them down, but to ensure a smooth transfer, it would be better if there were Norwegian forces also involved in that operation. The Icelandic government has already approved your involvement. We need to move rather quickly, before someone realises what we are about to do and alert the Malfoys. I'll give you half an hour to assemble a team, if you wish" she said with a smile. The Minister looked surprised. And a little ashamed. Good. One last barb should do it. "I'll leave it up to you whether Lagasete here should be one of them. If he is able to keep a cool head and follow orders given by Potter or myself. I will meet you or your chosen team out on the front gate in half an hour."
And with that, she and Harry left the room. They managed to make it all the way to Harry's office before they both burst out laughing. It took several minutes before they were able to stop.
When they managed to collect themselves, Hermione quickly started making preparations. Harry sent a short update to the family, though there was little news he could tell them.
"You know, even with all this, we are still left with the exact same question I had when I got here." Harry said. Hermione nodded. "Yes. Where is Rose? Though I am less worried about her now than I was a week ago."
"I honestly don't know whether I want Lagasete to come with us on this or not. I mean, in a way, no one deserves to be part of this more than him. On the other hand…" Harry said with a sigh.
"On the other hand, he has really made a mess of a seemingly very simple situation. I am glad that we were able to figure this all out. Now we just need to figure out where my daughter and the others are."
"Well, we need to finish this first. Wherever she is, she is safe, and probably happier than she has been for weeks. She is with Albus and Scorpius after all"
"And Draco, most likely."
"Yes. Strange how that doesn't bother me at all. I am glad that he was able to help them in a situation where I could not. Well, it is off to Iceland then. I have never been there before; it is said to be a beautiful country."
"It is beautiful. And from what I hear, we are going to get to see inside the volcanic caves."
"Sounds wonderful. Not dangerous at all" Harry said sarcastically.
"They're not erupting at the moment" Hermione replied in an exasperated tone. "But that is where the Malfoys have most likely hidden themselves. The Icelandic government has tried to keep close tabs on them."
"It sounds like we are doing them a favour too."
"We are, in a way. They have been wanting these people off their island for some time, but they didn't know where they came from, nor could they tie any crime specifically to them."
"Yes, Malfoys are good at toeing the line. You know, their bad reputation is not unwarranted."
"I know," Hermione said with a sigh. "And I know Scorpius tried to warn Rose about that. This was a tough way to learn it. Anyway, it has been nearly 20 minutes, time to go meet whoever the Minister has managed to scramble together on such a short notice."
They went out to the front gate and waited. Precisely half an hour after they had left Lagasete's office, a delegation of 10 people came walking towards them. Harry recognised most of them from the battle at Selja. Lagasete was not amongst them. Harry decided not to comment on that.
"Is this all of you?" he simply asked instead. When they nodded, he indicated to the old boot that Hermione was holding. A Portkey. They all quickly gathered around it and then it was off to Iceland.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง