Order Only: Little Hangleton

[alt_hermione]

Draco and I went to Little Hangleton on Tuesday. We're only just reporting about it now because--well, we didn't find much.

We went to the village first, and tested our identities. No one gave us a second glance. But then again, there weren't many people there. What was that odd wizard's name, Draco? I couldn't quite catch whether he said 'Bernard' or 'Herman' and I really didn't want to ask him to say it again. He was so strange. But anyway, he told us that there weren't any important magical artefacts anywhere in the region, so he thought we'd be wasting our time, but he mentioned that there used to be a big house up on the hill, but it wasn't there anymore.

That sounded like someone had set up a Fidelius, so we went to look. We saw the graveyard from your memory, Harry, but right next to it there was a large crater. Like someone had set off a humongous explosion. Which must be why the house isn't there anymore.

And then not too far away there was this shack. It was sort of off in the woods, but not in a clearing the way you'd expect, it was all tangled up in the trees. Someone had been there and torn up the floorboards, so if there had been anything valuable there, it's gone.

It was all filthy and simply covered in grimy dust. Whoever lived there must have been really poor. It looked like no one had cooked a proper meal in years even before they all left or died or whatever. There were three beds, though, so we looked under and around them just to be sure that the robbers hadn't missed anything. On one of them there was a handkerchief embroidered with the initials T.R., and then someone had added (in much, much worse embroidery), M.R. Does anyone know who M.R. was? We think T.R. must have been Tom Riddle but why anyone would have added M.R. above Voldemort's initials is a mystery.

Oh, and we did find a letter, it's really hard to read now, all faded and the parchment's falling apart, but it was pinned inside a cupboard. It looked like no one had ever moved it because the pin was all rusty and nothing in the cupboard had been disturbed in decades.

Anyway, we've been deciphering the letter for a while, all of us here at Grimmauld. Only not tonight because they're celebrating Tonks's birthday, so it's just me and Draco working on it right now, and we realised we hadn't actually reported to everyone else yet.

Comments

[alt_draco]

"Bernard" and "Herman" sound the same when you say them through a toothless mouth, apparently. But Hermione's right, he was peculiar. Actually, everyone we saw (all four of them) was peculiar. They took us for fancy New Londoners and weren't altogether friendly.

Funny, but if there was actually something of value in the shack no one bothered to cast any spells or wards to protect it. Maybe the person who tore up the floor was just hoping for a stash of galleons but didn't find anything other than spiders.

You don't reckon this M.R. was someone who was sweet on Tom Riddle, do you? Ugh. I've heard that the Lord Protector was a handsome youth, but someone would have to be mad to fancy him - just like my good old Auntie.

Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

You mean someone other than Hydra? Because she did fancy him--well, diary him, anyway. I think.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_draco]

Can an eleven year old girl truly fancy someone? Or an eleven year old boy, for that matter? I fancied Lavender Brown when I was eleven, and just look how much my taste has improved since then.

I suppose M.R. might've been someone he manipulated, like Hydra.

Or have you a better theory? I'm all ears. Or eyes, as it were.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

Actually, I think M.R. wrote the letter, too. But it doesn't make much sense. Voldemort couldn't possibly have any children, could he have? I mean, that are really his, not stolen like Harry was.

But if he did have, then M.R. could have been--his wife.

Ew.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_draco]

Or a relative, another Riddle. Peculiar thing for a sibling or cousin to do, mind, but you never know.

Though, here's the thing: the handkerchief is high quality. Old, yes, but I can tell it was made of really fine linen, and someone poor enough to live in a shack is just going to use a bit of flannel rather than hand-embroidered linen.

And besides that, Voldemort really doesn't strike me as the marrying type.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_hermione]

Yes, and the other thing about that is that whoever embroidered the M.R. wasn't very good. And this letter, I think it's so hard to decipher partly because the person could barely write.

Well, anyway. I guess we can try again in the morning. I think there's an emulsion that might make the ink reappear but I'm too tired to test it tonight.

Re: Private Message to Draco

[alt_draco]

Alright, see you in the morning.




And Happy Birthday.

[alt_ron]

Well, since it's not B.B. on the handkerchief, I reckon it's not her.

It doesn't just mean Mr T. R., does it? Don't know why anyone'd bother adding that, though.

Have you sorted out what the letter says, then?

[alt_draco]

The handkerchief is also made of linen - too posh for someone living in a shack. Hermione also reckons that whoever did the embroidery also wrote the letter, and perhaps couldn't even write very well. So if we can restore the letter then we may discover who M.R. is. But so far it's still illegible. We'll try an emulsion tomorrow.

[alt_ron]

Wonder if there's a way to find out whose shack it is. Or was. Maybe there're records somewhere, y'know, about property ownership. Or assessments or whatever. Bill would know, I reckon, but I'm not sure that sort of thing's kept at the Ministry or out in local offices.

But if it's really something that belonged to the LP, then it's important enough to dig around a bit.

Did it look like the place was burgled a long time ago? The dust would've given you a clue if it'd been cleared away recently. I dunno. Maybe it wouldn't be clear if it happened a decade or two ago and that was a decade or three after the place was abandoned.

Yeah, I got nothing. Sorry.

Sounds more interesting than most of what we're doing here, though.

Where are you going next?

[alt_draco]

No, actually, I think it was burgled recently. That doesn't mean it wasn't in the past, either, but the area where the floorboards were removed wasn't very dusty or grown over at all. So that bit, at least, is recent.

It would have been helpful if we could have asked the villagers about the Riddle family, but that's not the sort of name one wants to go throwing around. Very few people know that was Voldemort's name, but even so - can you imagine what he'd do if he somehow got word that people were going around using the name "Riddle?"

Not sure where we'll be off to next. I'll leave that to Hermione since she's been doing the most research so far.

But it's been rather snitch, yeah. Bit like being that detective bloke, Sherlock Holmes. Have you read any of those books? They were written by a muggle, but I found some stashed away in 12G.

[alt_alice]

It certainly does raise several more questions, yes, especially as you say it's been disturbed recently.

I'd bet a knut the explosion and the robbery happened around the same time, too.

I'd also bet several galleons that anyone who would've known anything about the name Riddle has had their memories altered, except for the fact that whoever dug up the floorboards seems a little careless, as if he or she did not expect anyone else would bother coming along after.

[alt_terry]

If it's been burgled recently, do you think it might be worthwhile for Sirius or I to go back to the shack to see if either of us can identify any scents in our animagus forms?

Private message to Hermione Granger

[alt_terry]

Happy birthday, Hermione, by the way.

Re: Private message to Hermione Granger

[alt_hermione]

Thanks. You know, if Tonks' birthday weren't the day before mine, I might have forgot. It's hard to keep track of days. Do you ever find that?

[alt_draco]

Recently as in some months ago. Do scents linger for that long? I would think that mine and Hermione's would overwhelm any others from before.

[alt_terry]

Several months, that would make it more difficult, yeah. Or if the walls and roof weren't intact so that outside weather blew in to wash away any traces. And that's probably true about your and Hermione's scents, too.

I dunno; maybe Sirius would be better at this sort of thing than I would.

[alt_ron]

Are they anything like the Inspector Dallworthy books? I read a few of those. Does it make a difference that he's a muggle detective, then? Dallworthy always figured things out from runes or spell residue or caught someone out lying about what they'd seen in a duel or what curses they'd cast by the way they described them under interrogation. He never used Veritaserum, though, or Imperius.

Never put anyone under duress, either, for that matter.

Reckon that shows when they were written, doesn't it?

Anywiz. You liked the Sherlock Holmes ones? What's special about him?

[alt_draco]

I never read Inspector Dallworthy, but yeah, Holmes is a muggle so he doesn't use spells, but he will analyze the scene of a crime the same way. Just without magic.

I wasn't sure it'd be interesting to read about solving mysteries without magic, but it was. It seems loads harder, that's for sure, but Sherlock Holmes is a massive swot and knows everything about muggle subjects like chemistry (similar to potions) and botany (herbology). He also just notices everything and treats it as a potential clue, and then he "reasons backwards" to arrive at the correct solution to the mystery.

So yeah, it's just him and his brain. Mad, eh?

[alt_bill]

I can have sources that can try to find out--cautiously, that is. I'm afraid that things related to the LP's history in official records is likely to be either buried deep, destroyed, or have booby traps to alert them if anyone's snooping about it. But property records might be innocent enough, especially if the place is long abandoned. There might be clues that are safer to pursue in records about adjoining properties, since owners are sometimes identified in notes about borders. Anyway, I'll see what we can dig up.

[alt_frank]

let me know if you need an extra set of eyes on that letter. I've got a few old tricks that might help.

[alt_sally_anne]

Many happy returns, Hermione.