Harry Potter Squib Tales Chapter 99: Curing the Mind (Patreon)

Chapter 99: Curing the Mind

“That’s not good,” I muttered. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Remus said, his expression grim in the magic mirror. “Both Snape and Karkaroff reacted as if their arms were suddenly in pain an hour or so after the Choosing Ceremony. Both immediately fled, though the former went to Dumbledore shortly after.”

“Their marks hurt them, which means their master summoned them,” Sirius growled out furiously.

It was a little bit before midnight when Remus called us up on his magic mirror, and the news he had given was unpleasant. Oh, sure, hearing that Harry was fine was wonderful, but it meant that things were now different. I couldn’t fully rely on my meta-knowledge much longer.

“Voldemort is back, and much sooner than we expected,” I said, nodding at Sirius’ words. “Seems he abandoned his plan to use Harry or the Tri-Wizard Tournament when he found his base burnt to the ground and his Horcrux gone.”

“This is a major change to the future you saw,” Remus said, to which I could only bob my head.

“I always expected something like this to happen, honestly. Butterfly Effect is a bitch,” I huffed.

“What do we do?” Sirius demanded, getting up and pacing.

“We keep an eye on the Death Eaters who are free, see who goes missing in the next couple of days,” I suggested. “And then, we make plans to… eliminate them.”

“I like it,” Sirius growled, a vicious grin on his face.

“And… it may be time to move our plans for the Malfoys forward,” I added. Delilah, at least, would be glad to hear that.

“Yes. The Malfoys were the major financiers of Voldemort’s actions in the last war. Eliminating them will cut the flow of gold to him,” Sirius agreed. “Just…”

“I know,” I told him. “We’ll spare them. Narcissa and Draco can live. Lucius, however…”

Sirius sagged a little at that. He might hate his family and the Malfoys, but he didn’t want his cousin to die, or to have to kill a kid. And while Draco’s potential future self was one I’d be happy to throw off a cliff, he hadn’t done anything yet.

So, they’d survive the coup we had planned. It was Sirius’ one request, and I’d gladly grant it. Delilah, too, didn’t mind. It wasn’t them she had beef with.

“Best warn Amelia too,” I said to Remus. “She can keep watch on this better than we can.”

“I’ll get right on it,” the werewolf vowed.

“Oh! And make sure Karkaroff doesn’t run off,” I added, an idea popping into my head.

“I doubt he will, Hogwarts is the safest place for him right now, but I’ll keep a close eye on him,” Remus promised.

“Why do you wanna watch that scum?” Sirius asked.

“Because I want to study his Mark,” I explained. “Man’s a coward, and he sold them out, so he won’t rejoin the Death Eaters. But he still has uses. And, when I’m done researching his Mark, we can use him as a bargaining chip. Maybe use him to slip a spy into the Death Eaters.”

“Huh, yeah, have somebody offering Karkaroff up to Voldy would be a good way to get an ‘in’ with them,” he muttered. “And we can’t rely on Snape, so having our own line of information would be useful.”

“I will make arrangements to have him ‘disappear’ before Durmstrang leaves,” Remus declared, and I nodded back at him.

I let out a sigh as he hung up, leaving me and Sirius as the only ones on the mirror-call. “Well. That’s… interesting.”

“I’m just glad Harry isn’t being thrown into that damn deathtrap of a tournament!” the animagus huffed, before giving me a curious look. “So. What now?”

“I’ve got work in the morning, so I’m going to hit the hay,” I yawned.

“Ugh. Sleep. I wish we didn’t need it,” Sirius grumbled.

“I just wish I had a Time Turner. With it, I could sleep as long as I wanted while still being able to get to work on time,” I replied.

“Huh… that’s not a bad idea…” he muttered.

“Sirius… please don’t steal a Time Turner just to be able to sleep in late and still do things,” I pleaded.

“You’re not the boss of me!” the dog-man said cheerfully before hanging up.

I stared at my reflection in the enchanted mirrored before shaking my head. “He’s going to end up in Azkaban again at this rate,” I huffed. “Reckless old man.”

Deciding that it was better to pretend I didn’t know what he was up to in order to have some plausible deniability, I shuffled off to bed.

111 &&& 111

“What wild weather, huh?” I commented idly as I stepped inside the potion research lab, brushing some snow off of my coat.

It wasn’t halfway through November and yet the clouds were already starting to dust the streets of London with white powder.

“Yes, it’s quite cold outside,” Merula agreed, greeting me at the entrance of the ‘secret’ workshop. “Thank Merlin I get to stand over a nice, hot cauldron on days like this!”

“Has Auror Kipper shown up yet?” I asked her, and she nodded.

“Smarmy bastard popped in yesterday for his monthly ‘safety inspection,’” she drawled while doing air quotes. “When can we shut him down, boss?”

“Not any time soon,” I replied. “He’s useful for keeping people’s eyes away from us.”

“He’s a creep,” Merula huffed.

“He is. If he tries anything with you, feel free to hit him with a Boil Potion or something,” I told her. “We can ditch him after that.”

“Heh, looking forward to it,” my head of the Potions Department grinned, rubbing her hands together.

“Have our guests finally arrived?” I inquired, switching topics, and she nodded.

“Yup. Waiting for you in my office.” Merula then frowned. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I know we’ve done a lot of good work, but this feels… unwise.”

“It’s a risk, but we ran the tests, and everything shows that your Memory Restoration Potion is working better than we even thought,” I told her, trying to assuage her worries.

“We’ve done experiments on the downlow, yes, it does seem the effects are beyond what we expected, but bringing these two in is very risky!”

“I get where you are coming from,” I admitted. “But think of it this way: if it works, we’ll have another layer of defense against discovery. And a reason to get rid of Kipper at long last.”

“Ugh,” Merula groaned, before nodding. “Whatever.”

She led me to her office, and upon opening the door I smiled at the two people sitting within.

“Madam Longbottom. Healer Tonks. It’s a pleasure to see you. I am glad you agreed to meet with me on such short notice.”

“Feh,” the old matriarch of House Longbottom huffed. “You claimed it would be worth my while. So forget the niceties and get on with it!”

“Yes, you claimed that St. Mungos would be interested in purchasing a new product, so I am here to examine what you have,” Andromeda Tonks said.

I chuckled as I took a seat across from them at Merula’s desk, my potion mistress taking up a spot beside the chair.

Andromeda was here because she was my ‘contact’ in the magical healing community, and she knew enough about my operations not to be surprised by them. Another Healer would have asked too many questions. As for Neville’s grandmother, she was here as an investor. Or at least a potential one.

“Of course. Straight to business.” Merula handed me a vial of a silver colored liquid, which I handed to Andromeda. “What you are holding is a Memory Restoration Potion. It is a brand-new product we’ve been working on for a while, and finally finished. When imbibed, it restores the long and short term memories of a person that may have degraded for one reason or another.”

“A potion that restores memories? So, it not just another type of Memory Potion that sharpens ones wits or makes it easier to recall things?” Andromeda asked, using her wand to examine the contents of the vial.

“Correct. It’s a bit more than that. The potion outright repairs the neurons and grey matter of the patient, fixing the brain and restoring damaged pathways,” I explained. “Mental degradation due to age or disease is outright erased and even reversed in some ways, and even damage from magical issues, such as Obliviation can be undone.”

“That is quite the claim,” Andromeda muttered. “Undoing Obliviation might have some people worried about what it might mean for the Statute of Secrecy, though.”

“Are you implying that this potion would be used on Muggles?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“No. But Obliviation isn’t just used on Muggles,” Andromeda retorted.

“If I’m not mistaken, it is illegal to use that spell on an unwilling witch or wizard. And anyone who has had a willing Obliviation would have such a thing noted on their medical forms,” I replied. “So, there should be no issues with using this potion at all.”

Both Andromeda and Augustus Longbottom snorted, because though it was illegal, it didn’t stop certain people from doing so. The spell was technically a restricted one, taught only to Aurors and the Obliviator squads, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been learned by criminals in the past.

“I will present it to the Board,” Andromeda replied. “Is there anything else you want me to know about this potion?”

“Yes. I mentioned it could undo mental damage from magical means, yes? Well, I’ve tested it on coma patients, and they’ve woken up, and I’ve also used it on people who suffered severe brain damage from less common sources, such as major head injuries or birth defects. They’ve also fully recovered, entire missing portions of their brain have regenerated with no loss of memories.”

And this was with a few doses of the weakened form of the potion! Using the fully magical potion, which Andromeda was currently examining, cured people instantly with a single dose!

This wasn’t just a cure for Alzheimer’s or concussions, but Down Syndrome, brain injuries from gunshot wounds, and even comas! It was a damned mental panacea, and worth its weight in platinum!

Hearing this, Madam Longbottom tensed up. “Are you implying what I think you are?” she demanded sharply.

“Yes, Madam Longbottom. I strongly believe that this potion can be used to heal your son and daughter-in-law of their… condition,” I said softly, giving her a nod.

Her hands curled around her robe, and she stared at me intently. “Why am I here, then?”

“Having the Longbottoms supply me with hard-to-get resources and ingredients is, of course, the main reason I contacted you,” I informed her. “If my potion can do what I claim, then I hope we can work out a deal for purchasing supplies from your House.”

I waved a hand. “Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I consider Harry a brother, and he sees Neville as a close friend. I wouldn’t wish what happened to his parents on anyone. So, if my potion can help them, then that is just a wonderful bonus.”

The old woman squinted at me suspiciously, the stuffed vulture on her hat seemingly scrutinizing me as well.

“You want business ties with my family, is that right?” she inquired.

“Correct. I have close ties with the Greengrasses, but my company needs a lot of ingredients right now. More than they can currently supply. It is an issue they are working on, but for the next few months, possibly up to a year, it won’t be enough, and I still have orders to fill. So, I need access to the vast garden-fields of the Longbottoms.”

I held nothing back, revealing the reason I wanted her assistance, and was willing to bribe her with a potential cure for her family.

Then, I turned to Andromeda. “I know that St. Mungo doesn’t really accept things from an untested potion workshop like my own, which is why I’m hoping to have Madam Longbottom lean on your bosses to get them to do some tests of their own.”

“Based on a preliminary scan and examination, it does seem like this potion would do as you claim,” the former daughter of House Black said slowly. “But I need more data. Which means actual tests of my own.”

“I can show you the data Merula and my team gathered, as well as meeting the subjects they tested the potion on,” I promised. She nodded curtly, still staring intently at the silvery liquid.

“If this works,” Madam Longbottom said slowly, “then you will have my support – and my business.”

“Wonderful,” I said happily.

“But! If it doesn’t? Not even young Cyrus will be able to protect you,” she warned, and I resisted the urge to gulp nervously. I couldn’t stop a bead of sweat from rolling down my cheek, though.

She stood up and stalked out of the office once her threat was delivered, and Andromeda followed a moment afterwards.

Once they were gone, and the wards confirmed they’d left the area completely, I let out a breath, sagging as the tension in my shoulders left me all at once. Beside me, Merula slumped a little as well.

“Merlin, boss! If this deal goes through…”

“We’ll be rich,” I said, unable to hide my excitement even as I rubbed my forehead.

Despite my ability to create Philosopher’s Stone solving some supply issues, I still needed to build up stockpiles of ingredients before the alchemical artifact could show its use. Not to mention I had a lot of other projects I needed this miraculous red stone for.

The Longbottoms and their greenhouses were going to be vital for expanding the resources Cauldron Remedy needed, especially once the MHRA got done with their own tests of the Memory Restoration Potion and we could begin producing it for commercial sale.

It wasn’t called that, of course. To the mundane people testing my potion, it had the very science-y name of “Alihexomine,” after the main active ingredient, Alihotsy leaves.

Thanks to Sir Briar’s influence, I was able to push through a lot of the rigorous testing and avoid revealing how much of the potion’s ingredients were magical. But I still had to wait a while.

Sure, Merula and I had done experiments on our own, but those were highly illegal and couldn’t be used as proof of how effective the potion was to the mundane authorities.

‘Though we did come away with a lot of very happy – and very loyal – employees,’ I thought as I got up from the desk.

We’d tested the potion on family members of workers employed by my various businesses. An NDA with Oath Binding Ink ensured nobody could reveal anything, and we got to test on a bunch of different brain-related issues. 

I was still shocked by how effective it was. Seeing all of what it could fix, from missing chunks of grey matter to genetic issues, made me honestly very excited for the future. Nobody wanted to loose their mind, or have their loved ones slip into dementia, but now I could help them, as well as so many others.

The money was going to be great, sure, but the goodwill Cauldron Remedies and Avalon Industries would accrue was not to be understated.

“Well, before all of that, we have work to do,” I said, leaving my daydreams behind.

Merula nodded, ready to get back to brewing potions, and I left her to do that. I, on the other hand, had to prepare for a rather big event that was coming up later in the month.

111 &&& 111

“Sir Briar! You look good!”

“Ah, young Edward! Your wrinkle cream does good work,” the elderly man chuckled, accepting my handshake with a fond look.

Ever since drugging the man all those months ago back in April, he had warmed up to me, still obeying the compulsions embedded deep within his mind. Sir Briar welcomed me into his Inner Circle, treating me as the son he’d lost in the war, teaching me everything he knew.

Sometimes, there were flashes of clarity. Like he realized what I had done, and what was happening. Yet he did not try anything. He couldn’t. Sometimes, I liked to think that Sir Briar was impressed and approving of how ruthless I’d been in taking over his life. But it was likely just a daydream of mine, conceived by my own desires for acknowledgement from a fatherly figure.

And now, here I was, attending his 90th birthday on November 23rd.

“Stand beside me,” Sir Briar instructed.

“You just want somebody to deflect all of this false praise and flattery onto. Pain shared is pain halved, after all,” I chuckled, even as I took up my spot standing right next to his wheelchair.

Sir Briar let out a wheezing cackle at my response. “True, true,” he muttered. “Now, look alive, we have important guests to greet.”

Indeed we did. I’d arrived at the party venue a little bit earlier than anyone else – by his request – and we were going to present a unified front as master and apprentice in front of the other attendees.

The servants made a bit of a fuss as they got everything ready for the big event, even going so far as to roll a lint roller over my suit. Which was very rude, because I know Inky had made sure my outfit for the evening was cleaner than humanly possible.

Sir Briar seemed to see my less than amused expression at being ‘cleaned up’ and snickered, to which I merely rolled my eyes.

Soon enough though the organizers had done all they could do, and they let the doors open. People began to trickle in, coming up to wish Sir Briar a happy birthday.

“…and I must say, there is nothing quite like meeting a man who has held on this long,” some guy said, which I had to resist rolling my eyes at.

‘Couldn’t he have tried harder to hide his barbed words? It’s insulting clear to me that he’s saying he wished the old man had kicked the bucket already,’ I thought, making note of the man’s attire.

“One can only hope you will be able to live as long as I,” Sir Briar replied dryly.

As the guest moved on, I whispered, “That man will be lucky to live past sixty with all the cigars he smokes.”

“Quite. I could smell the smoke on his suit,” Sir Briar sniffed haughtily. “Now look alive, Rose. We have important company to entertain.”

I stood up straight when a trumpet blast heralded the arrival of somebody very important indeed. After all, only people with titles had earned the right to get a proper trumpeting.

“You seem in much better spirits this year, Sir Briar,” an elderly woman in a pink gown and glittering crown commented, approaching the wheelchair-bound mogul with easy steps despite her own age.

“Your Majesty,” Sir Briar said, bowing his head, an action I mimicked more deeply.

Queen Elizabeth II, Monarch of England, waved her hand politely, urging us to raise our heads.

“Come, come, now, Jonah, there is no need to worry about standing on ceremony here. It’s not every day one of our subjects manages to reach such a ripe old age, after all,” she replied, her voice confident even as she used the Royal ‘We’ in her speech.

“A most generous Queen we have. And just as lovely as ever,” Sir Briar said, and for once, there were no hidden barbs. He genuinely liked Queen Elizabeth, which was something of a surprise to me.

Queen Elizabeth wasn’t alone. She had come with several members of her protective detail, the burly men watching me and the surroundings with eyes hidden behind sunglasses. She’d also brought a couple other members of her family, including Prince Andrew (her favorite child) and Prince Charles and his wife, Princess Diana.

‘Note to self: protect Princess Diana from her car crash,’ I thought to myself.

I’d have Sirius assign a magic-capable werewolf or two from Crucible Security to shadow the member of the royal family. Her death in my old world was a tragedy, but in the world of magic that I currently found myself in, Princess Diana’s death was very likely to be the act of a Death Eater.

Considering the car accident occurred during a period when Voldemort and his goons were active, at least in the series’ canon, then it was entirely possible her death in that world hadn’t really been an accident. Sure, it took place in Paris, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.

That was a matter for 1997, though. For now, I had to shake hands with royalty and play the role of the perfect British citizen.

“I have heard you are working on a medicine to try and help people with mental illnesses?” Princess Diana inquired politely, the first time any of the royals had paid attention to me, and I nodded.

“That is correct, your highness.”

“Please, call me ‘Diana,’” she requested with a pretty smile.

“Of course, Princess Diana,” I said, and she laughed a little, while the Queen smirked a little.

“How does this medicine work, exactly?” Prince Andrew wondered curiously. “What will it be able to cure?”

“Alihexomine is a drug that targets the neurons in the brain, improving and repairing pathways that allow the mind to work, specifically in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and other sections dedicated to memory,” I explained. “It is my hope that in this way, Alihexomine will be able to ease symptoms of things such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s, as well as other illnesses such as Schizophrenia, injuries like concussions, and more.”

“Ambitious,” Queen Elizabeth commented. “How likely is it that this will work as you intend?”

“Very, your Majesty,” I replied, bobbing my head a bit towards her. “Of course, there are still a battery of tests to be done, and working out production and supply lines, but I have faith that this will be a major boon for not just the United Kingdom, but all of the world.”

She gave a nod my way and that was that. She and her family moved off, allowing other guests to come up and give their greetings.

One of these was the Finch-Fletchleys, and Josephine smiled widely upon seeing me standing beside Sir Briar.

“My, it seems you are moving up in the world,” she said in a teasing tone. “From my son’s tutor to being tutored by one of London’s most successful businessmen.”

“I am very lucky to have Sir Briar’s patronage,” I said politely.

“As lucky as he is to make it to ninety, I’m sure,” Mr. Finch-Fletchley replied, and his wife swatted his arm for that.

“As blunt as ever,” Sir Briar said dryly.

Another surprise? Sir Briar didn’t seem all that offended by Justin’s dad. In fact, he seemed to respect the fellow military man’s candor.

Delilah and her family showed up as well, near the middle of the whole thing. Trying to be ‘fashionably late’ or something. Even Mr. Hunt, who utterly despised Sir Briar (for reasons I still wasn’t entirely sure about other than being business rivals) had shown up. It would have been socially unacceptable not to.

Sadly, Delilah and I couldn’t spend much time together, as I still had to accompany Sir Briar during the party. Once the last of the guests had arrived, I wheeled the old man around, letting him go from group to group to speak with different people.

Veiled threats were made, deals were struck, and support pledged. It was honestly quite impressive watching the man work his magic on the guests, establishing his dominance over the upper echelons of British society.

“You certainly showed Mr. Marshwood who’s the boss around here,” I chuckled as we left another knot of people with connections to Gladstone Financial.

“He’s gotten rather uppity recently, thinking he’s a bigshot after securing that contract with Philipson’s company,” Sir Briar huffed. “Forgetting that he was only able to speak with Philipson because of my connections. He needs to remember his place.”

“Well, he won’t be forgetting that anytime soon,” I commented.

“Hmph. Having to remind him at all is bothersome,” Sir Briar grumbled.

“What can you do?” I shrugged. “Power can cause people to get inflated heads. Sometimes you just have to deflate them.”

My mentor snorted at that but didn’t disagree, and he soon found something else to complain about. I just nodded along, agreeing here and there to keep him engaged. The more time he spent talking to me, the less he spent it bother other people. This earned me grateful looks from the rest of the partygoers.

“You’ve got big dreams, don’t ya?” Sir Briar suddenly commented out of the blue. He then pierced me with an intense stare.

“Sir Briar?” I inquired, perturbed by his gaze.

“You better succeed in whatever you’re doing, kid,” he ordered me.

“I don’t plan on failing,” I informed Sir Briar.

“Good. Good,” he muttered. “Now it’s about time for the cake to be cut, yeah?”

“Seems like it,” I replied. “You’ll get a nice, big slice, don’t worry.”

“Heheheh, my doctors will be very upset with me if I do,” Sir Briar replied, though he didn’t say ‘no.’

“You only live once. Enjoy what you like before you can’t,” I said, and he cackled at my words.

“True, true! One slice won’t kill me. And if it did? What a way to go!” Sir Briar declared.

Wheeling him over to the table where the giant cake was kept, I wondered how Harry was doing. Was he enjoying the Tri-Wizard Tournament? If I wasn’t mistaken, the first trial was tomorrow.

‘I’ll have to ask him how it went,’ I thought to myself.

First things first, though! Serving slices of cake to Sir Briar and the queen! A truly important duty as a British gentleman!

111 &&& 111

Harry POV

Watching the first event of the Tri-Wizard had been quite crazy. Seriously, who thought dragons was a good idea?!

Thankfully, the stands had been far away from the dragons themselves, and enchanted mirrors were set up to broadcast the task from a couple different angles. It was certainly an odd choice, since the Ministry had claimed they were trying to make the events safer.

‘Then again, when has the Ministry done anything smart?’ Harry wondered to himself. The lack of common sense amongst the upper echelons of magical society was honestly rather worrying.

The three competitors had all done decently enough against the fire-breathing lizards, though it was clear there was some considerable bias on behalf of certain judges. Karkaroff had given Victor a 10 despite the Seeker getting burnt, and had refused to award Fleur anything above a 4 despite the fact she was the only one to get the golden egg without a single injury.

Still, despite the Durmstrang Headmaster’s lack of integrity, Fleur came out on top, winning the first task with a decent amount of points. 39 in total, with Victor getting 35, and Cedric just one point behind at 34.

‘Shame about Cedric Diggory only getting 3rd place,’ Harry thought as he returned to the castle with the rest of the audience. Hogwarts’ pride was a bit bruised by that, but nothing a good showing in the next task couldn’t fix.

Honestly, though, Harry’s mind was not on the Tri-Wizard tournament at all. Rather, it was the first Quidditch pick-up game next week. The captains had pulled off a minor miracle, and they were going to have the inter-school matches they all wanted.

The thought of playing a round against his penpal was exciting, and even though Harry knew Victor was better, he couldn’t wait for the chance to challenge him. He wouldn’t get better without pushing!

‘I should also congratulate them both,’ Harry thought to himself. ‘Both Fleur and Victor… and maybe Cedric, too.’

So far, things were going well at Hogwarts! He really hoped things would keep up that way going forward.