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"The Exchequer is a mercenary organisation selling their services to various Dark Lords and other ambitious witches and wizards worldwide. Officially, no ICW-affiliated country or individual with morals will hire them or recognise their existence. For the common wizard and witch, they simply don't exist. They are a group of shadows, impossible to track or to identify. Unofficially...desperate leaders and outlaws with deep pockets are their meeting grounds."
"Their price?" The voice of Nigel was back to his hesitant-self, like in the former situation of trouble they had faced. The retort from the owner of the Order of Merlin Third Class was not endearing either.
"If you manage to find out how and where to contact them, you can probably afford their services." There was not a trace of the smile having won several awards and beauty contests when Lockhart paused. The look he sent Alexandra had nothing warm in it. "How you are even aware of this name, I can't imagine..."
Well, fair was fair. The fake fraud had answered her question after all. Neither Alexandra nor Nigel had any Veritaserum in their pockets, so these were the best revelations they were going to get. Assuming this was not a pack of lies of course. Granted, this did not contradict what their little group had discovered...
But we knew next to nothing so it's not exactly a big achievement. On the other hand...
"One of their agents was here last year," revealed the twelve-year old witch.
"I see."The reply of Gilderoy Lockhart was almost...meditative. "I won't ask what you did to be involved in this mess, but I would advise to stay far away from this organisation. The Exchequer's goals are certainly to target Dumbledore."
"How so?" Not that Alexandra had a problem with them targeting the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but as there was currently no living Dark Lord in Britain, she didn't see why an intervention against the leader of the Wizengamot would be asked.
"Will you swear an Oath of Silence?"
Alexandra sighed. She understood the precautions of the Magical World, but at the rhythm she swore oaths this year, there were going to be contradictory issues by the time she celebrated her fifteenth birthday.
"Yes."
"By the titbits of news I was given...there is conclusive evidence that the Dark Lord Grindelwald was a close associate of their organisation."
Grindelwald. Of course it always came back to him. That was a name Alexandra heard far too often when past crimes and monstrous experiments were discussed. The worst Dark Lord of the century, a master of darkness ten times more destructive and vicious than Voldemort and his Death Eaters and now she learned he had links with the Exchequer. Why had life to be so complicated?
"He is imprisoned at Nurmengard. Sentenced to the hell he himself created."
Lockhart shortly nodded.
"The Exchequer perhaps abandoned him or decided to cut their losses and retreat back to the shadows. Difficult to say when nobody outside their organisation truly knows their goals and their resources."
"Which make us come back to my first question. Who are you working for, Professor Lockhart? Assuming it's your real name, of course."
After seeing Polyjuice in action with the Gryffindors, Alexandra wasn't ready to take anything for granted when it came with the weirdness of the DADA teachers.
"I am Gilderoy Lockhart. Ravenclaw alumni, I received seven OLWS and four NEWTS during my Hogwarts scholarship from 1975 to 1982."
The green-eyed witch snorted.
"Reading the Hogwarts archives told me the same information. For all we know the real Gilderoy Lockhart is dead and you took his place."
"Fine." The blue eyes of Lockhart were a bit miffed at not being taken at his word. "Your mother saved me in October 1976 from a gang of bullies led by Evan Rosier."
That was new Alexandra figured, and indeed had not been available on any record or piece of paper.
"I won't pretend I knew her at all," said the DADA teacher, apologising in advance. "I was a Ravenclaw of the younger years and she was a Gryffindor on her way to becoming Head Girl. But I remember the eyes, the same green eyes..."
"The eyes I have." It was a familiar refrain repeated by a lot of wizards and witches she met.
"Yes. Your eyes. She was also widely recognised as one of the brightest witches having come to Hogwarts. I think she took seven NEWTS in her final exams and achieved 'Outstanding' in all of them. Her talent and intelligence were a massive slap in the face to the pure-blood snobs of Slytherin."
For an instant, Gilderoy Lockhart appeared lost in the midst of his past, before reintegrating the unpleasant present where he was tied to his chair.
"So few wizards and witches remember her today. What a pity."
Nigel opened his mouth to open a new question just as the magically boosted voice of the Head of Gryffindor echoed throughout Hogwarts.
"All students are to return to their dormitories at once. All teachers are to return to their staff room. Immediately, please."
The adult and the two students in the Defence office cursed rather violently after that declaration.
"A new attack."
"We all knew it was coming, Nigel." The auburn-haired boy's grimace was all the confession that he had expected their worst-case scenarios to be pessimistic and alarmist.
"Free me," affirmed Lockhart all a sudden.
"Why? For you to flee the castle as soon as we have our backs turned?" asked derisively his Ravenclaw student. If as a spy Lockhart wanted to continue his cover of hero-fraud, this was the time to take his legs and run towards the Hogwarts gates.
"You expect me to run?"
Alexandra and Nigel could not find a decent answer to this in mere words, but the Potter Heiress hoped that the two glares they sent at the fake-fraud was sufficiently intimidating to convey the message.
"And in your educated opinion, what would be the correct course of action?"
"Go to the staff room and explain to Professor McGonagall what you have learnt." The blonde-haired wizard was visibly trying his best to sound convincing in his tied position. "You certainly look like you have a plan to deal with the Monster of Salazar Slytherin."
"We have," confirmed Alexandra. "But I also know that our dear acting-Headmistress has committed a huge strategic error. You don't announce your intentions to the enemy."
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