Next to him Gordon approached the other two. "Ah, Russell, good to see you," he said conversationally. "You too, Elisabeth."
"Good to see you as well, Gordon," replied Russell as he and Elisabeth handed over their badges in a well-practiced manner. "Keeping well?"
"Oh, can't complain," said Gordon as he examined their badges.
Finally Robert declared "Everything seems to be in order" and handed Griselda her badge back.
"Excellent," said Mrs Brydon. "Now, if you could sign here, Madam Marchbanks…"
She turned and saw that the receptionist was holding an inked quill above a thick book which was open to about the middle. Each page was broken up into is columns, each one with a different heading. In order they were Date, Name, Time in, Signature, Time Out and Signature.
"Standard procedure, Madam Marchbanks," explained Mrs Brydon upon noticing her puzzled look. "All guests have to be signed in when they arrive and signed out again when they leave."
Griselda nodded and took the quill. Guests did have to report in at the Security Desk at the Ministry, after all, so why shouldn't a school have something similar? As she signed her name, she made a mental note to arrange for this sort of thing to be implemented at Hogwarts when it reopened.
"Wonderful," said Mrs Brydon, taking the quill from her and handing it to Russell before picking up something else from her desk. "Now if you could just pop this on…"
"What is it?" asked Griselda.
"It's a lanyard," the receptionist replied. "All of our staff keeps an eye out for unknown visitors. This simply lets them know that you have reported to reception and been given a security check.
The lanyard was a long loop of braided leather with a small thin, rectangular piece of wood, about half the size of a postcard, tied to it. On that piece of wood was a blue piece of parchment with Griselda's name written on it, along with the reason for her visit.
She looked over at her co-workers and noticed that they had both hung their respective lanyards around their necks without batting an eyelid. Griselda mirrored their actions and noticed as she did so that Mrs Brydon was wearing one as well, though her piece of wood had green parchment on it.
"Colour coded?" she asked.
"Yes. Blue is for guests, green is for support staff, the Professors have white and all of our students have yellow ones. Now then, Russell I believe that you know the way to the Headmistress' office?"
"Of course," said Russell and led the way out of the room.
Griselda Marchbanks left the reception office with her mind buzzing. Her first official visit to Waxwings had already given her a lot to think about, and she hadn't even had her meeting with the Headmistress yet!
Edward Abbott returned with the photograph that his wife had asked for and Sarah immediately showed it to Harry.
"There you go. That's me there, and there's your mum."
Harry stared down at the photograph, not knowing what to think. It showed five girls about his age standing together on Hogwarts grounds with the Black Lake a short way behind them. They wall laughing and waving at the camera. Two of them Harry did not recognise, but the other three…
Looking at one of them was almost like looking at a female Neville Longbottom with a different nose and mouth. Harry had never seen her before, but she had to be Neville's mother, Alice. The second, standing in the middle, had long, dark red hair and Harry's own eyes… his mother Lily. And as for the third…
The third was standing right next to him, offering to give him help that he wasn't certain he needed.
In the photograph she was standing right next to Harry's mother, each with an arm slung around the other's shoulders. They were quite clearly friends, possibly even best friends. And if that didn't earn her a chance with Harry, then what did?
Harry decided that this was enough evidence for him and finally he looked up and addressed the Healers in the room. "Show me when I met her over the summer."
The Healers jumped at the chance. There were nearly fifty glass ampoules on a table in the corner, each one labelled according to the memory contained within. One of the healers quickly found the memory asked for and poured it gently into the pensieve as one of the other healers helped Harry to get out of his bed and walk over to the pensieve.
Harry gazed down into the pensieve as the silvery contents swirled about. Somewhat nervously he glanced back over his shoulder. Sarah gave him an encouraging nod which steeled his resolve. If she truly was his mother's friend, and if she was telling the truth, then he had to know…
He leaned forwards and was drawn into the memory.
"I need a drink," muttered Scrimgeour as he pulled out the bottom drawer of his desk and fished out a bottle of brandy and two glasses.
"Bit early for that, isn't it?" asked Amelia as she accepted the glass he pushed her way.
"It must be after five somewhere in the world," he replied before downing his glass and pouring himself another.
It had taken then nearly an hour to subdue the rioting crowd in the atrium, but finally, following twenty six arrests and more than three times that number being dragged off to St Mungo's for treatment the crowd had, at long last, dispersed, grumbling but content in the knowledge that any further information pertaining to the crisis at Hogwarts would be announced over the Wizarding Wireless Network once decisions had been made.
Another four hours later and all those arrested in the atrium had been questioned and released on bail.
After smacking his lips, Scrimgeour asked "So when do we resume questioning Dumbledore's little Order?"
"Not until tomorrow," replied Amelia after taking a sip from her brandy. "I think that we're all too tired to be asking questions now and tiredness leads to mistakes, something that we cannot afford. Everyone needs to go home, get a good night's rest and we can begin again nice and refreshed first thing tomorrow morning."
"I'll drink to that," agreed Scrimgeour before draining his second glass.
Amelia mirrored him.
.....
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