The Forbidden Paper Trail (Continued) ------------------------------------------------------- I shook my head, trying to rattle the hissing sound out of my ears. "Never mind," I whispered, though my heart was still thumping like a trapped bird. "I'm just jumpy from the heist. Let’s... let’s just get back to this letter." Jackie looked at me with concern but turned her attention back to the parchment. "If Dumbledore or this M.D.O. office signed off on this, they used a very specific charm to hide the trail. See this shimmer?" She pointed to the edge of the paper. "It’s a Trace-Blocking Hex. It prevents anyone from using a 'Point Me' spell to find the original file." "So someone really did want me to be a 'shadow,'" I said, my Southern accent getting a bit sharper with my rising anger. "They wanted Harry to be the big hero and me to just... disappear. Like I was a piece of luggage they lost at the airport." Emily traced the purple ink note with her finger. "The 'Greater Good' is a dangerous excuse, Maddie. In Slytherin, we’re taught that everyone has a motive. If they separated you, it’s because you were a threat to their plan. Two Potters are harder to control than one. I looked at the drawing I’d done earlier in my sketchbook—a quick charcoal of the woman from my flashback. "That woman who took me... the one Snape had a photo of... if she was from this M.D.O. office, she might still be alive. She might be the only one who can tell me why I was sent to the South instead of a magical family." "We need to find out who she is," Jackie said firmly, grabbing a quill to take notes. "Emily, you look through the Slytherin archives for anyone named 'E. Vance' or connected to that department. I’ll check the library for the staff lists of the M.D.O." I looked at the folder again, then at my best friends. "Thank y'all. Truly. I don't know what I'd do if I had to carry this secret by my lonesome." "You're never alone, Maddie," Emily said, her Slytherin mask softening for a second. "Names like Potter and Riddle... they carry weight. But we’re the ones who decide what we do with it." As we packed up the papers to hide them back in the Room of Requirement, the hissing in the walls faded to a faint whisper, leaving me with a cold, sinking feeling that the mystery of my past was only just beginning.
