Post by GIOVANNA ELISABETA NERO on Dec 30, 2023 16:55:04 GMT -5
Giovanna found herself in London once more, but not where her parents' house was, which was likely on close watch by the Ministry. They probably knew she wouldn't go back there at this point, but likely still had it on watch just in case.
This time, she was going to a poorer area of London. Of course, it was not poor by any means. More like middle class, but compared to her parents' manor, it was definitely a worse area. There were various townhouses quite close together, though it was rather nice inside. Not that Giovanna cared about that, though.
She was wearing her robes, not even trying to mask her appearance at all, nor the fact that she was wearing wizarding garments.
She walked up to one of the townhouses and rung the doorbell. After a few moments, someone answered the door.
"Hi, Mr. Cunningham, is it?" Giovanna glanced to the mailbox that had their surname on it.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"I hope so! I'm looking for the Fairviews... I thought they lived here but I might have the number wrong. Can you tell me where they are? I'm supposed to be attending lunch there, but I'm afraid I've gotten ever so mixed up." Giovanna tried to feign stupidity and acted like she really needed help. Of course, she knew exactly where the Fairviews were.
"Oh yes, they actually live just next door. To the right. Well, my right. Just over there." Frank pointed to the right of his house to show Giovanna where they were.
"Oh thank you so much! You're a real help." Giovanna smiled brightly, which was extremely off for her. Even Frank Cunningham felt its strangeness, though he didn't know why. Maybe she was just too excited about getting the right house.
"You're welcome," he said simply before closing the door.
Giovanna didn't ring the doorbell at the place beside the Cunninghams. She unlocked the door with her wand and strode right in, holding a locket in her other hand. "Hello, Mr Fairfax, how do you do?"
"Excuse me but I don't know who you are. How did you even get in? You can't just walk into people's houses, missy."
"Missy? You're not much older than I am. But then again, you are a muggle... you frail so easily." Giovanna eyed him up and down like she was a wolf and he was her prey.
"What are you doing? Get out this instant before I call the police!"
"Oh, that does sound scary... Whatever will I do?" Giovanna mocked. She flicked her wand and a gash appeared on Mr Fairfax's face.
He put his hand on his cheek to feel what happened. "How did you-- What... Wh-what do you want with me?"
"Oh, it's not you, actually. It's the Cunninghams, really. But I did rather want to make them afraid first. It's just far more delicious to make them afraid first." Giovanna saw the horror on the man's face. "No, I'm not going to eat them." She also looked disgusted at his conclusion. "But after seeing what happened to you... Oh, they will be afraid."
"Ha-ha-happened?"
"Yes. You will be important, though. A bit of security of mine, really," she said as she dangled the locket in front of her eyeline. "With your help, I'll be safe. Even if I'm a little split up." Giovanna lowered the locket then, but still held on, and raised her wand. "Avada Kedavra!" She wasn't done yet, though. It took more than that to make a horcrux.
Two days later, Eliza received an urgent letter from the Ministry to go to the Ministry in London.
She arrived and found her parents there, very shaken up. They were muggles, of course, so their time in the Ministry would be wiped. They wouldn't be there at all if they weren't the parents of the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
They were all sitting in the Auror office.
"It has been concluded that the neighbour of your parents was killed by magic. They don't have any ties to the wizarding world so it is no doubt in your mind that it was a mistake. They probably meant to attack your parents instead. We wanted to contact you so you can decide if you want to protect them or use the resources of the Ministry."
"I don't think it was a mistake, though..." Frank said solemnly, a lot quieter than he usually spoke. His head was down.
"What is it, dad?" Eliza asked.
"Hush, Frank. You're just shooken up is all," Eliza's mum said.
"No, I need to say this. Earlier that day, a woman around your age came and asked for the Fairfaxes. Where they lived. And.. I should have realized. She was wearing clothes like you lot do. You know, with the robes. But she acted normal, like nothing was out of the ordinary. She said she had a luncheon with the Fairfaxes. So I told her where they were..." Frank hung his head back down again.
"Can you describe this woman?" the Auror asked.
Frank looked up again. "Erm, black hair, blue eyes, a little darker complexion like... maybe she was Italian or something?"
Eliza and the Auror exchanged a wide-eyed look.
"What? What is it?" Frank asked, looking between the two of them.
"That was a great help, dad."
"She knew where they were," pondered the Auror.
"Probably wanted to scare them," Eliza said. "Okay." She let out a deep breath before turning to her parents again. "I think it would be a great idea if you stayed with me for a little while. Just until we sort this all out."
Looked like Eliza wasn't done with visiting the village any chance she got. She would have get Ava to look out for them, and put every enchantment known to wizardkind on her apartment, but she could do it. She didn't want to entrust it to the Ministry. Who knows what contacts Giovanna still had in the government.
Her parents were headed to the door and Eliza hung back to talk to the Auror briefly. "Don't worry, they won't remember being here. Just hearing about what happened to their neighbours according to the muggles and wanting to come to stay with me for a while."
The Auror nodded and saw them out. Having muggles in the only fully magical village in Britain and Scotland wasn't ideal but it was the best they could do under the circumstances. Unfortunately Eliza had no idea how long this would take, though, so she thought she might need to look at getting a bigger place once Blaise was out of school.
[Closed.]
