Scorpius had to use his alias Lehrer to do something more hands-on than what he usually did. But this situation with the Knocker had spiralled out of control. He had captured an Auror! And had now held him hostage in an unknown location for well over two weeks. Scorpius hoped he wasn't kept in a hole in the ground. But the one picture they had been able to find didn't look like it was underground, it looked like a warehouse. Unfortunately, the Technology Department hadn't been able to find out which warehouse it was from the video, or even a rough area of where it could be from.
They needed to find the man's secret warehouse. But he had become extra careful after capturing Yang. Trying to ambush the man during a sale hadn't been successful at all. He seemed to know exactly when enemies had arrived and all they had found was the potential buyer. Harry hadn't been kind to the man, but unfortunately, since the sale hadn't happened, they couldn't punish the man for anything. Having to let that man go had made Harry even more determined to find the Knocker. The places he started ordering raids became more and more random.
Scorpius had, after much sneaking around, managed to find a way to buy one of the man's creatures. A Porlock. He learnt more than he bargained for. The man boasted about his unbreakable chains, even claiming that he had tamed a dragon with them. Scorpius had risked, as he was about to leave with his purchase, to mention the rumours that he had an Auror. The Knocker had confirmed it straight away. And claimed that the chain was what kept him controlled as well.
When Scorpius came back to the Ministry to make his report, people were understandably horrified. Harry called for experts on Magical Creatures and when they couldn't find a way to remove the chain, he also called in experts in various kinds of spells and charms. Soon, everyone from the Minister to Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries were swarming the poor Porlock. It didn't even seem to react to the shocks that sent the people flying. The fact that it was used to such treatment made Scorpius angry all over again.
"That's enough!" Hermione finally said after yet another attempt at removing the chain had three spell-breakers on the floor from the shock.
"I don't think we will get any further on this today. And I don't want to submit this poor creature to any more shocks until we are more certain about what we are dealing with. You may all return to your departments to continue working with what we have learnt here. This is a priority, as we have proof of several other creatures being controlled by these chains. We need to find a way to remove them." Neither of them saw the need to mention that Yang may have one of these as well. They hadn't said anything in public about one of their own being taken hostage, though Scorpius and several others thought they should do so. From what Scorpius had heard, most people knew parts of it already anyway, he didn't see the point in keeping it a secret. But he didn't dare to go against Harry when he was as stressed as he was right now. It probably wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway, or so he tried to tell himself.
One by one, the people reluctantly left. Some of them would probably have continued testing all night, if Hermione hadn't stopped them.
"We weren't able to follow your Tracker," Harry said as the others left. "As we suspected, wherever he is hiding is either Unplottable or under the Fidelius Charm. So, all we really managed today was to save one Porlock."
"What's going to happen to it now?" Scorpius asked. They couldn't just let it go, not before removing the chain, but he also didn't want to use that to control it. If he had his way, the Porlock would never feel that shock again! He knew that the people here had only tried to help, but they had still hurt it.
"I don't know. We have a pen for Porlocks here at the Ministry, but I don't know if the chain would give it a disadvantage with the rest of the Porlocks there. One of them is quite aggressive. But we cannot safely leave it anywhere else either. It also shouldn't be seen by anyone outside the Ministry, since Lehrer was the one who bought it."
"Can I just take it home? What does a Porlock need?"
"Normally, I would say no, since a Porlock needs open fields and a place to run. But this one seems eerily calm. You could probably have it in your garden, and it won't run away."
In the end, no one could think of anywhere else to keep the Porlock, so for now, Scorpius got to take it home. He hoped it would like the lawn grass in his garden.