42 Nott Manor

With a sideway glance I quickly looked over my colleague. He seemed fine, whatever had hit him hadn't left any obvious damage, truly confusing considering the circumstances. I would have thought that at least a stunner, if not some dark curse from the Nott's private library had hit him. 

"Are you sure you're okay, Vance?" I asked, my concern evident.

Vance, though a bit shaken, nodded. "Yeah, just caught me off guard. It felt more like being pushed by an invisible force than a spell."

I exchanged a wary glance with Elena, she seemed to be as baffled as I was. The unexpected and seemingly non-magical assault had caught us off guard, a death sentence in most situations of our work. Luckily it wasn't, but that didn't mean that wouldn't change. We couldn't afford to be sloppy, especially in the heart of the Nott manor. The silence persisted, amplifying the eeriness that surrounded us.

"Keep your guard up. Something's not right here," I muttered, scanning the surroundings for any signs of enemies or traps, nothing had triggered our artifacts, yet. 

We moved deeper with our wands ready, until we eventually reached the place where I had heard the sound. What we saw was as surprising as it was gruesome.

A bloody house elf fiercely tried to get out of the invisible ropes binding her, even though she had already broken both her arms and every action only let the bindings cut deeper into her flesh. 

Vance winced at the sight, making his youth and inexperience with such scenes apparent. He hadn't seen enough crime scenes to be desensitized towards this level of gore, but what chilled even me was the look in her eyes.

She was fearing for her live.

But we weren't the ones she was afraid of.

The pain didn't face her at all, as she continued to struggle with all her might.

"Somnus," Elena cast a sleeping charm, but it wasn't enough. The elf continued thrashing violently. "Dormitum Somnum," she cast the advanced version, finally putting the elf to sleep. I canceled my binding spell, and Elena quickly began administering first aid as a literal pool of blood had already began forming under the elf.

'We will need to question her later.'

With the house elf temporarily stabilized, I cast a silencing barrier around us. "Under no circumstances seperate. I don't know what happened to this house elf, but if one actually tries to kill you, pray that you are faster than it. Elena you weren't around during the war, but believe me a house elf is one of the worst enemies you could run into, the same goes for you Vance. I want you both, to look after each other's back. If you simply think you heard, smelt or saw something cast a protego. I would rather waste time and give up finding any evidence than carry your liveless body out of here, is this clear?"

Both hadn't seen me this serious since they started. They swallowed hard and glanced at each other shortly, before determinately nodding.

"But what about you?" Elena asked.

"Don't worry about me, I am a Lord after all." I reassured them as I grabbed all of my protectively enchanted trinkets out of an enlarged pouch. It was a necessity, I had no one to look after my back. With rings on all fingers, another set of robes over the ones I was wearing and three sets of necklaces around my neck I gave them a last warning, "I really mean it, don't play around. I will tell you more once we are out of here."

I cancelled the silencing barrier and lead my team further into the mansion. Even if outwards I looked calm and knew what I was doing, I was worried. A lot.

'Why was she different?'

More questions were popping up than answers. Where was the rest of the residents? What could have caused the house elf's fear? Why didn't she cast any magic to protect herself? Or why did she do nothing except struggle once she was bound?

House elves were not restricted by wands, yet this paritcularly one didn't even try to do defend the house or herself, which was what they normally would do. It was different to how they acted during the war and totally different to the ones that madman had turned into killing machines. Everyone I know avoided facing those particular ones alone at all cost. If they hadn't been so few and had needed that bastard to live, they might have had been able to slaughter half the ministry alone. Thinking back to that time sent shivers down my spine.

Eventually we came across a locked door, every single one up to here had been opened and had led to an empty room. 'It looks like someone cleared the house earlier. But why?'

The artifact under my robe silently vibrated once, signalling that a magically locked door was close by. I waited for any other vibrations, triggered by additional traps, but nothing came.

Cautiously, I cast a silent 'Alohomora,' not opening the door, simply unlocking it. Instead I pulled out a small plank of wood and transforming it to resemble me after enlarging it. Safety came first.

With the decoy ready I commanded it to open the door, which only moved slightly, before it was forcefully blown apart. Wooden shards nailed my doppelganger to the wall opposite of the door.

Next came a table flying, crushing my already damaged replica and denting the wall. Afterwards came the chairs and anything else not nailed down. Weirdly some healing potions were mixed in there.

Eventually only the same shockwave that had hit my colleague remained. The decoy was long gone, too damaged to keep up the transfiguration, not that it mattered to the ones, most likely more house elves, inside the room. They fired like there was no tomorrow.

In the meantime Vance started dismantling the protective wards on the walls, if we couldn't get through the door, we would make one. The periodic thunder-like sound wasn't the most pleasant, but we would make due.

Eventually a panting Vance gave us the signal to get into position. Elena and I had approximated the enemies positions by their spells trajectory, luckily for us they hadn't moved since they had started. With another signal and a loud "Reducto" he reduced the wall's area, which he had worked on, to ashes and we entered.

Both of us were already aiming our wands towards the two house elves still shooting at the door and cast our prepared overpowered stunning spells. The house elves flew backwards and hit the wall hard, before dropping down unconscious. 

Now inside the room a macabre sight greeted us. The air hung heavy with the metallic scent of blood. Bodies, both wizard and house elf, were strewn across the floor. It didn't take long for me to find the origin of the bloody scent.

A disheveled and limbless man was chained to the floor. His shoulders and both sides of his hip were transfixed in place by metal hooks, forcing him to kneel on the floor. His robes in the front were cut open, while his innards hung out.

He was dead.

"Blerrrghhhh!" Vance threw up.

I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he struggled with the gruesome scene before us, he had to endure it, it was too dangerous to send him out alone. I covered the body with a transfigured blanket while doing so. Elena, though visibly disturbed as well, maintained her composure, her eyes scanning the room for any signs of what had happened here.

After Vance calmed down a bit I joined her. Four people in the middle of the room were dead, as well as two younger ones farther away. Of the three older wizards remaining, no one had any visible signs of injuries or spells except the tortured one. No one had a wand in hand. 'It looks like they just dropped dead.'

Out of safety we bound everyone still alive with an incarcerous spell and took away their wands.

"Elena, begin examining the room for magical traces. Vance, stay by her side, I will look for any clues further inside." I declared, my voice steady despite the gravity of the situation.

As Elena and Vance began their respective tasks, I moved deeper into the room, there was one door leading from here deeper into the manor, if the Notts were fine with doing whatever they were doing in here, then this adjacent one might have some damning documents stored. If not, then we would need to keep looking. This manor was huge after all.

It was another locked door, so I did the same thing I did with the last one, but this time there was no resistance, which didn't surprise me once I looked inside. It was an empty study room, an office if you will.

Even after using every detection spell I knew, nothing came up. 'Bastards! They couldn't have made it this easy, could they?'

Crestfallen I returned to my team.

"Elena, what are we working with?" I inquired.

She looked up from her examination, her expression troubled. "Nothing."

"..."

"What do you mean nothing. Obviously something happened here." I was exasperated, my frustration evident in my voice. The lack of evidence in the study room had me already in a bad mood, but now this as well.

Elena sighed, her brow furrowed with concern. "I mean there are no residual magical traces, no lingering spells, curses, or enchantments, apart from the ones on that poor fella. It's as if whatever transpired here wasn't magical in nature. But that contradicts everything we've encountered so far."

Vance chimed in. "Could it be some kind of dark magic that doesn't leave traces? I mean, isn't that a thing?"

I nodded thoughtfully. "Indeed, there are forms of dark magic that can be difficult to trace, but the scale of what happened here should make it impossible to conceal."

Elena resumed her examination, focusing on the walls, floor, and any hidden compartments, maybe she had overlooked something, as unlikely as it was. Vance remained by her side, ready to assist.

In all my years working in this branch, I had never heard of this kind of magic. There had to be at least some kind of trace left behind, a wizard doesn't just die, even more unlikely so many and at the same time. I eventually settled on the thought that this was beyond us.

"We need more expertise on this matter. Elena, Vance, I will call for support," I let them know, a sense of reluctant determination in my voice.

Vance hesitated, glancing down at the bodies. "But won't that alert Lord Nott? He will defiently cover this up and interfere in the investigation."

I nodded, fully knowing that that was an inevitability. "It's a risk we have to take. We can only hop that Ms. Bones is faster."

I don't know why Lord Nott hadn't already come here, but if he got wind that we were here, then whatever kept him away wouldn't do so any longer.

With clear frustration, I conjured up a wooden owl, in which I engraved my message, before sending it towards the Auror Department.

The weight of the situation pressed on me as I awaited assistance, knowing that each passing moment brought the risk of Lord Nott discovering our intrusion. To calm my nerves a little I moved the other house elf here as well.

Vance and I maintained our vigilance in the gruesome room, our wands at the ready and our senses heightened. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the occasional shuffling or murmured incantations from Elena as she refused to give up.

As the minutes stretched on, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were standing on the precipice of something dark and sinister. The inexplicable deaths, the absence of magical traces, and the chilling atmosphere in the Nott manor added layers of complexity to our mission.

Soon, the sound of approaching footsteps reached our ears, echoing through the empty halls of the manor. I turned towards the source, my wand raised in anticipation. A tall figure emerged from the shadows, clad in Auror robes, as well as some more.

The first one was Ms. Amelia Bones, her eyes immediately scanning the room and its grim contents. "Give me the details."

I quickly briefed her on the bizarre and disturbing events that had unfolded up till now. I spared no details, explaining the seemingly non-magical assault on Vance, the house elf in distress, and the gruesome scene we discovered in this room. Amelia listened attentively, her expression growing more serious with each piece of information.