Chapter Ten: Party at the Bachelor Flat—Ehm—Joke Shop
"Where did you find him?" Voldemort was asking Harish. He had a hand on his chin, calmly surveying Jugson, who was still unconscious and now tied to a chair in the secret backroom of the joke shop. The twins had left the two heirs of Slytherin alone, deciding not to witness Jugson's interrogation.
"We found him in a warehouse that was above another bunker."
"One like—?"
"The one you found me in ten years ago? Yes."
"Hmm," Voldemort mused. He walked forward and pointed his wand at Jugson, muttering, "Rennervate."
Jugson coughed and slowly lifted his eyes to the two men that were standing before him. Before, he had been scared of Harish. Now he visibly quaked at the sight of his old master.
"My lord," he rasped. "Please…"
"Silence!" Voldemort thundered. "If I had my way, I would torture you until you were a mass of pathetic, snivelling, shell of a creature…Unfortunately, you are currently needed for other means."
He stressed the word "currently", making it clear to both Harish and Jugson, that once the man had fulfilled his use Voldemort would have no hesitation in carrying out his revenge.
"You will have to go ahead and kill me," Jugson growled. "I am not telling either of you anything."
"You have a surprising amount of stubbornness for a coward," Harish spat. "You cannot fight to save your life, but can you stand torture?"
Voldemort relished in the screams that, had they not put silencing wards on the room, would have been echoing throughout the whole of Diagon Alley.
Hours later, Jugson still hadn't told them the identity of his employer. Deciding to take a break, Harish led his father upstairs to the study and conjured him a glass of water. He then sat at his desk and watched as his father pulled up a chair out of thin air across from him.
"Won't someone notice that Jugson is missing if we keep him here?" Harish asked.
"Oh, someone definitely will," Voldemort replied, taking a sip of water.
"Isn't that a bad thing?" Harish prompted.
"Not necessarily," Voldemort replied, setting his drink down and pressing his fingertips together. "There is no way someone will trace him back here. I have a feeling whoever is behind all of this sees their minions as dispensable," Voldemort added, leaving the rest of his sentence unspoken. 'Much like myself…'
Voldemort finished the rest of his drink swiftly and stood.
"I must be off," he told his son. "Interrogate him more as you see fit. Be sure to keep note of every single thing he says—anything could be used to narrow down who we're looking for."
"Like the gender of his employer," Harish muttered.
"What was that?" Voldemort asked, pausing in the doorframe.
"Earlier—when he attacked me in my sixth year—he let slip that his employer was a 'she' and had the audacity to get angry at me when I probed him further."
Voldemort chuckled and left. Harish heard the flare of their fireplace seconds later, confirming that the Dark Lord had flooed back to Slytherin Manor.
Three days later, Harish found the joke shop closed and full of guests. He found it mildly amusing that the DA had been invited over, despite the fact that they had a man trapped in their back room. He and the twins, in the days between the 21st and the 24th, had decided to invite over any friend of theirs that hadn't stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. Of course, they had nowhere to hold the party and ended up pushing all of the shelves and merchandise to the corners of the room and conjuring couches to place in front of them.
The members of the DA that had made it were Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, Hermione, Draco, Ginny, Daphne, Cho Chang, Roger Davies, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, and Neville. Katie Bell was still in St. Mungo's and both Hufflepuff girls were spending their holidays elsewhere. Then, Harish and the twins were there, of course, because it was their shop.
The teenagers munched on food that the older trio had set out for them, and they sat on the couches talking a bit. The party passed uneventfully. In fact, it was so boring that Harish escaped towards the end of it into their flat above the shop and sat in the windowsill.
"Where's Harish?" Daphne asked one of the twins. "I thought I saw him earlier…"
"Most likely upstairs," George replied.
"Harish does not enjoy feeling cooped up with a bunch of people," Fred explained.
"I don't think he enjoys being cooped up period," Hermione, who had been istening to their conversation, chimed.
"It all comes from being raised by a Dark Lord, I guess," Daphne agreed quietly.
"Speaking of," Hermione muttered. "Do these lot know which side of the war they are fighting for?"
"I expect most of them don't," George replied.
"I don't think Harish has told them," Fred added.
"He seems to want them to figure it out," both finished.
"Though I expect Dean knows already," Hermione mused.
"And perhaps Luna," Ginny added.
"Have you been here this whole time?" Fred asked in annoyance.
"No," Ginny replied, "but I heard enough."
"What is up with people and eavesdropping?" George muttered.
Ginny shrugged.
"We can't help it," she replied. "You lot always have the most interesting conversations."
Both twins shook their heads in defeat.
"So when are they going to find out?" Ginny asked, bringing the rest back onto the topic they had previously been discussing.
They turned and watched a pair of Hufflepuffs chatting happily on a couch.
"I dunno," Fred said.
"But I expect they will be fighting loyally with Harish—"
"No matter what side he's on."
After that day, the rest of the holidays passed quickly. Al of the others returned to their respective homes and the twins experimented with Harish a good bit. Harish went in to interrogate Jugson at least once a day. That was not going well. Jugson still refused to divulge any information on his employer, though he was more than happy to accidentally let slip information on the coworkers he knew. But no matter how stubborn Jugson was, Harish was even more stubborn, and he was determined to figure out who the third party in the war was and how big of a threat they would be.
But soon Harish found it was time to reopen the shop.