The Smell of Fear case - BT1 973

The Smell of Fear case

Event information

Location

• Ministry of Magic, London
• Leaky Cauldron, London
• St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, London
• Alps, Austria

Participant(s)

• Mathilda Grimblehawk
• Mathilda Grimblehawk's partner
• Cerberus Langarm
• Sage Bragnam
• Omar Abasi
• Myra Curio
• Gethsemane Prickle
• Leaky Cauldron bartender
• Percival Shacklehorn
• Laura Thorn

Description

After the Leaky Cauldron is devastated by an unknown beast, the Ministry is tasked with the search for, and relocation of, the creature.

Case Overview

The The Smell of Fear case was an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Magic after an unknown beast that no one was able to see caused great devastation at the Leaky Cauldron, in London.

What had transpired was that wizard Percival Shacklehorn had travelled to the Austrian Alps with the intention of illegally catching a wild Graphorn. During this expedition, a mountain troll found its way into Shacklehorn's magically-expanded tent, and was rendered invisible when it broke a bottle of Invisibility Potion; similarly, Muggle monster hunter Laura Thorn, in the Alps at the same time searching for a Yeti, also wandered into Shacklehorn's tent. When Shacklehorn returned to London, he accidentally transported them both inside the tent: during his stop-over at the Leaky Cauldron, the invisible troll left the tent and wreaked havoc, later escaping to Muggle London.

The Ministry investigators from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures then devised a trap to catch the troll and relocated him back to the Alps; the Muggle was duly Obliviated, and Shacklehorn was severely fined.

Case Notes

Part 1

Mathilda Grimblehawk: "What happened here?"

Bartender: "It were chaos! Some great force came out of nowhere and smashed the place up! A jar of pickled eels hit me in the face! That's when me tooth popped out. I didn't see much after that. Whatever did this must've escaped into the streets! Oh, I knew today'd be awful. Only one boring customer all day long — that old wizard with all the camping gear. I hate camping!"

— Mathilda Grimblehawk and the Leaky Cauldron bartender

The Ministry had just received an owl from the Leaky Cauldron detailing how "something went through there like a whirlwind".

Percival Shacklehorn

Arriving there, the Ministry investigators gathered from the destruction (door smashed clean off its hinges, very scattered damage) that it was indeed caused by an angry beast on the loose. They discovered a gold tooth underneath a puddle of spilled pickled eels and some pieces of broken metal — the tooth belonged to the bartender, whose tooth had popped out when a jar of pickled eels hit her in the face during the creature's rampage, knocking her out cold; the broken metal was all that was left of the Leaky Cauldron's floating teapot that, according to Sage Bragnam's analysis, only an exceptionally large and powerful creature could have smashed.

The bartender confided that she had only had one customer all day long, an old wizard with camping gear. The wizard, by the name of Percival Shacklehorn, told them he had only just returned from an expedition and that, just as he arrived, something had barged out of his charmed tent and hit him on the head: as a result, he could not remember much of what had happened.

The interior of Percival Shacklehorn's tent

Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner then surveyed the interior of Shacklehorn's tent: they found that it had also been subject to the beast's destruction, and collected a smashed device and a big track of mud and ice. Buried in the mud, they found a feather that Sage Bragnam identified as belonging to an ordinary golden eagle — meaning Shacklehorn had been camping in a mountainous area, where golden eagles nest all year round. The device proved to be a broken Sneakoscope that, once Mended, immediately lit up, warning that someone untrustworthy was nearby: who it was soon became apparent when a young girl, Laura Thorn came out of a grandfather clock inside the tent, where she had been hiding for hours, and it became clear that she was a Muggle.

Part 2

"So, an invisible beast smashed up the Leaky Cauldron. It came from the Alps, and was carried here in Shacklehorn's charmed tent. Laura Thorn, a Muggle monster hunter also sneaked into the tent. Shacklehorn is either lazy, or just plain suspicious…"

—Mathilda Grimblehawk

As the Muggle's presence was possibly in breach of the International Statute of Secrecy, the Ministry investigators had to find out what she had seen and notify Shacklehorn for reglecting to protect his tent withMuggle-Repelling Charms. The Muggle, Laura Thorn introduced herself as a "professional monster hunter" who had been in the Austrian Alps chasing down a Yeti sighting; she followed tracks leading into the tent and, when "something" started tearing the place apart, hid inside a grandfather clock.

Calling Healer Omar Abasi to check up on Laura Thorn, he made sure she was in good health beforewiping her memory. He would later note she kept talking about a very distinct smell, which "is very closely bound to memory".

Mathilda Grimblehawk in the Alps

Following Laura Thorn's lead, Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner travelled to the Alps, to the place the monster hunter had described. There, they found some broken glass, which they Mended to reveal a large bottle labelled "EXTREME CAUTION": their potions expert, Gethsemane Pricklediscovered it contained traces of a potent invisibility potion, and they correctly deduced that, as nobody had seen the beast that destroyed the Leaky Cauldron, then it probably had become invisible when it smashed this bottle. Still in the Alps, Grimblehawk and her partner discovered a locked rucksack, which they identified as belonged to Laura Thorn: inside, among climbing gear and Muggle books about famous monsters, they spotted camera lenses, which led them to search Shacklehorn's tent for the actual camera. Myra Curio, of the Muggle Liaison Office, had trouble recovering the film left inside, as the camera had also been smashed by the beast, all she could save was a close-up photo of some grey skin.

Percival Shacklehorn's bottle ofinvisibility potion

Confronting Percival Shacklehorn about why he had needed an invisibility potion for a camping holiday, he told them his expedition was to see the majestic Graphorn up-close, for which the potion was great help.

Meanwhile, the Leaky Cauldron bartender informed the Ministry investigators that Laura Thorn was on Charing Cross Road telling people about a "big grey monster" stalking the streets.

Part 3

Mathilda Grimblehawk: "Mr Shacklehorn, there you are. We have a suitcase of yours. And some socks. Please, please take them back!"

Percival Shacklehorn: "Marvellous! I do apologise. My socks become a bit potent with all the effort of hunting— … I mean, observing the noble Graphorn."

Mathilda Grimblehawk: "Observing, was it?… Anything else you want to tell us?"

Percival Shacklehorn: "Just that the smell of these socks is oddly familiar in a way. Reminds me of a cave I passed up in the mountains!"

— Mathilda Grimblehawk and Percival Shacklehorn

Wondering why Omar Abasi's Memory Charm did not work, Mathilda Grimblehawk brought Laura into theLeaky Cauldron and off the street before she caused a panic. Abasi attributed the unsuccessful Memory Charm to something Laura had smelled, as smells are strongly linked to memory, and, when questioned, she mentioned getting a whiff of a strange smell last time she was in the pub.^[4]

Abasi then had Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner gather a few odorous objects so that he could set up a smell test: they returned with a bottle of Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, a bottle ofpumpkin juice, and a pair of smelly socks that they retrieved from a suitcase in Shacklehorn's tent. While gathereing these, they also found a painting of Ulick Gamp (it had been hit with a Confundus Charm cast by the Leaky Cauldron bartender when the beast came out of the tent — Mathilda speculated that those spells probably just made the creature even more upset).^[4]

The goat skeleton retrieved in the cave in the Alps

During the smell test, Laura Thorn responded to the Shacklehorn's smelly socks. She remembered the beast had a foul smell, not unlike the socks. While Mathilda and her partner were giving the socks back to Shacklehorn, he accidentally slipped up that he intended to hunt Graphorns instead of merely observing them; he however, immediately backtracked, and pointed out the smell of the socks reminded him of a cave he had passed up in the mountains. Travelling again to the Alps, the investigators found the cave, empty save for a pile of bones that they assembled to reveal a whole goat skeleton. The skeleton was sent to the Ministry of Magic, where Gethsemane Prickle analysed the damage to the bones to conclude that the beast had killed it with brute force and eaten it raw.

At this point, the investigators had gathered enough information to identify the beast: grey skin, huge size and strength, a foul odour, eats raw flesh, and lives up mountains — it was a mountain troll.

Part 4

Sage Bragnam: "Good work, team. The troll seems to be in a stable condition and the potion has, um, left his system. Don't worry, I mopped up. He's gained a few bumps and bruises from his adventure in London, though. I'd like to heal him up before we release him."

Mathilda Grimblehawk: "It's the least we could do. I think London got off lightly!"

— Sage Bragnam and Mathilda Grimblehawk

The Ministry now had to capture the troll, that was angry from being struck with spells, and was concealed by a potent invisibility potion, and was on the loose in Muggle London. Myra Curio was hunting for the troll overnight, though she only found a phone box with a huge, fist-shaped dent, and a Muggle talking about an awful stench. She noted, however, that the troll had gone mostly unnoticed that far, because "it was Friday night in London".

Gethsemane Prickle offered to brew a Draught of Living Death, but left it to Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner to find a way to administer it. Meanwhile, Laura Thorn disappeared once again whilst Omar Abasiwas brewing another Calming Draught.

Percival Shacklehorn's hunting net

Mathilda Grimblehawk's partner found the Muggle back in Shacklehorn's tent, where she was trying to find the troll — her memory was promptly modified and she was allowed to go. The investigators also found a rather large net inside the tent at this time: they questioned Percival Shacklehornfurther, and pressured him into confessing he had been in the Alps to capture a Graphorn — he was, as a result, severely fined by the Ministry, and his net was confiscated.

Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner then devised an elaborate troll trap using Shacklehorn's net and one large chunk of meat from the Leaky Cauldron larder doused in Draught of Living Death. It did not take long for the troll to be caught, and right in time as the invisibility potion was starting to wear off. Before releasing the troll back in the Alps, they took the opportunity that it was fast asleep to heal its "bumps and bruises from his adventure in London" with some Dittany.