Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

3. The Liquor of Jacmel

Tuesday, 7^th July 1994

Tonks Apparated into the Ministry the following morning at a more normal hour. After getting the first day out of the way, her nerves had settled back close to their usual level, and this time round she managed to avoid flattening anyone on her way to the lifts.

She picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet from a newsstand in the foyer, and skimmed through it as she rode up to the second level. The front page headline screamed "SIRIUS BLACK EVADES AURORS AGAIN!" and underneath that, 'special correspondent' Rita Skeeter had written a polemic editorial. Since she clearly had no information beyond the initial report, it was short on facts but long on rhetoric, taking the entire Department to task for failing to catch him the day before despite reports that he'd been spotted practically under their noses in London.

Tonks shivered. Thirteen years before, it had been hard to believe that her cousin - her uncle, for all practical purposes - would have betrayed his best friend and tried to kill his baby son. The recent reports that he'd tried to kill him again now the child was - what, about fourteen? - were like an old, half-forgotten wound that had suddenly reopened.

Not that this latest headline actually means much, she thought. They've spotted him somewhere every day for the past month since he escaped from Hogwarts.

Cassius was nowhere in sight when she arrived at her cubicle, but he had left a note:

"Dear Tonks

Here are the notes that I promised you. My apologies for forgetting to bring them in yesterday. You should read the Ministry's briefing on the Liquor of Jacmel first, and then my memo to Claymore. The other reports are for background information if you need it.

Good luck!

Yours faithfully,

Cassius."

Tonks picked up the stack of parchment, most of which looked slightly tatty, and had apparently been roughly produced with a Duplication Charm. She lifted the top sheet off the pile and began to read carefully:

MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Department of Magical Law Enforcement

Hall of Records

LIQUOR OF JACMEL

The Liquor of Jacmel, sometimes known as Aqua Jacmelis or in the vernacular as the 'Poor Wizard's Imperius', is a traditional potion recorded as brewed around the town of that name in Haiti for at least two hundred years. It is rarely encountered in this country, as it is not only illegal in all civilised wizarding communities, but the precise ingredients and method of manufacture have always been kept a close secret by those Haitian dark wizards and witches skilled in its production.

Analysis has shown it to contain the venom of the puffer fish, and it appears to require extracts of certain magical plants that are found only on the island of Hispaniola. The brewing procedure is completely unknown; although experiments attempting to reproduce it have been officially sanctioned by various Ministries of Magic from time to time, none have been noticeably successful.

Tonks wasn't particularly surprised at that. At school the Potions master had repeatedly drilled it into his NEWT class that potion-making was a supremely skilled art, and that it usually took many years of patient research to develop new ones from scratch, even if you were sure that you had all the right ingredients. (She'd once landed herself in detention by remarking - in an insufficiently soft voice - that clearly no-one had ever bothered to develop a potion to clean greasy hair.)

She'd never been to Jacmel itself, but she did remember visiting Port-au-Prince during her travels, and she could easily believe that the recipe for the potion wouldn't be known to outsiders. The local wizarding community had been a close-mouthed lot, barely willing to give you the time of day let alone their secret recipes.

As the common name suggests, the effects of the potion are very similar to those of the Imperius curse. However, while casting an Imperius curse successfully requires considerable magical ability, strength of purpose, and usually a lengthy period of training, the Liquor of Jacmel requires no skill at all to use. It is merely necessary for the user to dissolve a physical fragment taken from their body in the potion - a few drops of blood are considered most powerful and effective, but a nail clipping or some hairs will suffice - and persuade the victim to drink it. As the final potion is pale in colour with only a slight sweetish taste, and experiments have shown that it may be diluted up to seventeen times without losing its effectiveness, this can easily be accomplished by slipping a dose into a glass or cup of some conventional beverage.

Tonks raised her eyebrows. Another thing she'd learnt from NEWT class was that physical fragment potions were very often classified as Dark Magic because of their powerful effects - even Polyjuice was borderline - and this one seemed particularly high up the darkness scale.

As the potion has no effect when drunk unless it contains someone else's physical fragment, merely drinking from the same cup or bottle offers no safety against a Jacmel attack. Aurors who have to frequent establishments of a questionable nature should not of course fall victim to such an attack, as they should always practice constant vigilance against any attempts to poison or otherwise incapacitate them. It may be advisable to avoid actually consuming drinks served to them in such a situation - the more advanced Transfiguration techniques can be of great assistance here.

Tonks snorted. As advice went, this was right up there with 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon' under the heading of 'Blindingly Obvious'.

A witch or wizard who has consumed a dose of Aqua Jacmelis will start to suffer the effects within approximately fifteen minutes to half an hour. They will initially feel light-headed and disoriented, and this may easily be confused with the onset of ordinary alcoholic intoxication. In this state, however, they will be extremely suggestible to the person whose physical fragment was added to the potion, and will normally obey any instructions that this person gives to them. The effect lasts approximately twenty-four to forty-eight hours, depending on the victim and on the strength of the potion, and so Dark wizards who intend to keep their victim controlled for an extended period will normally order them to consume a fresh dose every day.

Those who have taken the potion will go about their business as usual if instructed to do so, but with a generally unfocused air, and will usually appear forgetful and distracted. When the potion has worn off, their recollections of what they have done while under the influence of the potion will generally at best be no more than vague, dreamlike impressions, and not uncommonly they will be unable to remember anything at all that has occurred from the time that they first took the potion.

That all rang a faint bell. Tonks' Muggle lore was a lot sketchier than it should be, but she had a hazy recollection that they had a name for it. She kept reading.

The mental state is similar to that of the Imperius curse, and it is possible for the victim to fight it in the same way. In fact, in many cases the effects are somewhat easier to successfully overcome than an Imperius curse, as these can be very strong, and do not wear off within a short space of time. Idiosyncratic reactions vary, however, and experiments have shown that some wizards can resist Imperio more successfully. On the other hand, Imperius curses when identified can be lifted by a skilled Healer, while no actual antidote to the Liquor of Jacmel has yet been discovered; although the consumption of salt or meat has been found to be of some minor assistance in helping the victim throw off the effects. If the victim is nevertheless unable to do this, they must be kept under restraint until the potion wears off.

Victims of the potion are commonly known among local Muggles as 'zombies', and a number of fanciful legends about their nature exist, which are naturally encouraged by the Haitian herbologists who make the potion. The concept of the 'zombie' has spread in corrupted form to general Muggle culture outside of the island, in which victims are frequently portrayed as belonging to the undead (although they bear no relation to vampires or ghosts), and attempting to attack or consume the living. This view of 'zombies' is very similar to the corpses reanimated by Dark Magic that wizards know as Inferi, and it is therefore unwise to use the term without specifying precisely what is being referred to.

That was it. Zombies. Now that she thought about it, Tonks realised that she'd actually seen stuff like that. Her father was Muggleborn and a great fan of the - movers, wasn't it? No, movies. When she was a child he'd often watched them on the television set; he brought home these little black boxes which he then plugged into what was apparently the latest Muggle gadget. She'd liked the television set. It had always been quite impressive to see Muggle moving pictures.

She'd been allowed to watch some of them with him; but he'd always refused to let her watch the 'horror films', even when (as kids do) she'd insisted vehemently that she wasn't scared. Of course, he never realised that she'd sneaked some of them out of the box and watched while he was away at work.

Both she and her father had been partially right. The films had been frightening, and she'd ended up watching some of them from behind the sofa through the fingers pressed over her eyes. But compared to what You-Know-Who and his crowd were doing at the time - where the walking corpses had once been real people - they hadn't caused her anywhere near as many nightmares.

Extended exposure to the potion can be highly dangerous. Victims who have been under control for several months can develop serious mental illnesses, including an inability to recognise those they know, loss of coherent speech, and extreme general lassitude. In some cases the effects can be fatal.

Liquor of Jacmel is defined as a Class A Non-Tradeable Good under British wizarding law (Regulation of Dangerous Substances Act 1932). The maximum sentences laid down by the Wizengamot are twelve months imprisonment for its possession, ten years for its sale, and life for its use. (It is considered notionally equivalent to the use of an Unforgivable Curse, although the penalties above are not mandatory, and sentences in previous cases have largely depended on what the victim of the potion has been forced to do.) A sentence of twenty years imprisonment for its manufacture is also on the books, but no-one has ever been prosecuted on this charge for obvious reasons.

No kidding, thought Tonks. And Cassius wants me to go looking for this stuff? Not exactly starting me off small, are they? What a first case! Not that she was complaining; she could have been assigned to something a lot less interesting.

It is seldom available on the general wizarding black market in European countries, although a small-scale but continuous trade exists to the United States. The Haitian Département de Magie reports that the wizards who brew the potion tend to be suspicious of outsiders, and exports are seldom arranged unless they have developed a good personal relationship with the buyer. Where found, street prices tend to be high, averaging 20 Galleons a dose.

Tonks raised her eyebrows at this. Not cheap, then. She picked up the bottom piece of parchment, which was the report from Cassius that he'd mentioned in his note. Apparently the Department's verbose crib sheet was in need of revision:

As requested, I have investigated the possible use of Aqua Jacmelis in several crimes reported recently. Five cases have now been identified in which I feel that there is a strong possibility that it was employed. A common feature of these reports is that the victims have no recollection of what they were doing for a period of some 24 hours, but were definitely not under an Imperius curse when interviewed.

I have examined all the potential witnesses that I could find, but none can remember an opportunity when such a curse could have been cast on or lifted from the victims without being seen - in four of the cases, there seems to have been no-one else present when the mental fog lifted. In any case, there are relatively few wizards with the ability to use the Imperius curse effectively, as training in its use is not generally available.

In all these cases, however, the victims had recently attended a party or other social event at which it would have been easy to poison their cup unnoticed. Unfortunately, there appear to be no witnesses to this either.

She silently cursed at this. It would have been optimistic to ask, but witnesses would certainly have helped. Then again, if there had been any, the case might have been wrapped up before she ever joined the Department.

In the first identified case, some four months ago, the victim was told to remove the wards protecting a rare and valuable 18^th century Flemish enchanted harpsichord which had been charmed to play compositions in the styles of the leading performers of its day, thus allowing it to be removed from the premises (it has yet to be recovered).

In two further cases within the last month the potion was used to force people to empty their vaults at Gringotts, the perpetrators getting away with over five thousand Galleons in each case.

The remaining two uses were more worrying still. In one case, it seems that it may have been used to allow a witch to be taken advantage of. I have been unable to interview her as she decided to leave the country in the aftermath of this incident to stay with relatives in New Zealand.

In the final and most recent case, the use of the potion took an even darker turn. The victim was apparently ordered to kill someone - presumably an enemy of the user of the potion - and only narrowly failed in their attempt when an Auror who happened to be present intervened.

Tonks shivered slightly. Obviously, Cassius hadn't been joking when he expressed concern about her being thrown in at the deep end. From what she'd read so far, she couldn't see why the Department didn't have a whole task force on the case.

The last of the cases above is especially significant as the man concerned - a Mr Benjamin Farley of Manchester - fell into Auror hands for investigation before there was any possibility of the criminal taking action to conceal what they had done.

Mr Farley attacked one Mackenzie Ashford, a successful wizarding merchant, with a knife when the latter was making his way home across Clapham Common. Fortunately, the area where Mr Ashford lives is home to a number of wizards. Auror Donnacha O'Gregan happened to be visiting a friend who lived nearby, heard the commotion, and was able to prevent Mr Farley from succeeding with his murder attempt.

When the assigned case wizards - O'Gregan and Auror Arnold Cornworthy - noticed the general state of Mr Farley, who seemed to have difficulty concentrating even when it was pointed out to him that the penalty for attempted murder was a long sentence in Azkaban, they handed him over to the departmental curse breakers.

As you will see from their report -

She flicked through the sheets of parchment again when she read this, and found a long and technical-looking document she hadn't noticed before. She put it aside to read later.

- when the normal methods proved unable to lift a curse, they hypothesised the use of a potion and carried out the appropriate tests. Their conclusion is that it is at least 95% likely that the active substance affecting Mr Farley was Liquor of Jacmel.

Mr Farley recovered within the next few hours and claimed to have no recollection of what he had done. Subsequent investigations have shown that although he has a fairly extensive criminal record for trading in stolen goods, he has no discernable connection with Mr Ashford.

Given the unusual circumstances of the case, case wizards Aurors O'Gregan and Cornworthy have applied to the Wizengamot for a Veritaserum warrant, with the consent of Farley's legal adviser. They will inform me if any progress is made.

Tonks raised her eyebrows again at this. Although the Auror candidates had been trained in the use of Veritaserum, she'd never been present at a 'live' interrogation. That wasn't too surprising; the trainers had informed them that warrants were frequently hard to get.

It seems clear to me that over the last few months, the availability of Liquor of Jacmel in Britain may have increased sharply. Five cases in a few months is far above the normal rate (only four other cases have been reported since 1981). Although I have as yet been unable to track down anyone involved in the trade, inquiries among the Department's informants reveal that there are some rumours in criminal circles to the effect that a potion of this kind may be available. None of them admit to knowing any more about this, but all concur that there have been no hints of foreign dark wizards attempting to expand their criminal activities.

Although the number of possible uses actually recorded is still small, this is a worrying development, as the cases mentioned above could be just the tip of the iceberg. The potion is much easier to use than an Imperius Curse, and its nature makes cases difficult to prove.

I feel strongly that this case should be given a higher priority, and request additional full-time assistance. If possible, it should be someone with strong skills in Concealment and Disguise, as it seems that 'undercover' work is the best, indeed even the only viable, option that we have.

Auror Cassius Scrimgeour

Department of Magical Law Enforcement

Central Division

Tonks smiled at the rather Edwardian rash of underlining that had broken out in Cassius' last few paragraphs (presumably old habits died hard when he was rushing to finish a report) and picked up the remaining documents to glance through. The Farley case was represented by a summary report of the events of the night in question from O'Gregan, and a transcript of Farley's claims, which basically boiled down to 'I don't know nothin'!' She deduced from this that the warrant probably hadn't been granted yet.

She read through the papers several times, including the technical reports, then sat back and whistled quietly. It was clear from Cassius' final request exactly why Claymore had assigned her to the investigation. It was scary, but it was one hell of a case - and one hell of an opportunity - to be starting her career with. She'd expected to be doing something much simpler for the first few months, like guard duty, or casting security spells on Ministry property, or providing backup for the Werewolf Capture Unit.

She looked around the room for Cassius, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. On a sudden inspiration she picked up her phone again and called him.

"Hello, Tonks." The mirror hadn't opened out this time, and she shook the phone a couple of times before realising with embarrassment that the voice was coming from behind her. She turned to see him looking over at her from the other side of the cubicle partitions with an amused expression on his face. Of course, O'Gregan and Cornworthy work over there, he must have been discussing the warrant with them. Idiot. "Would I be right to assume you're ready to start work then?"

"Er ... as ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"Excellent! This afternoon, we'll discuss things we can do while waiting on the Wizengamot. I've just been talking things over with Donnacha and Arnold, and they'll keep us informed of any developments at their end. But first I have to introduce you to a vital part of Auror work they won't have taught you about in training."

"What's that?"

"Lunch. It's your first real day on the job, so it's my treat."

***

Lunch proved to be rather entertaining - Cassius Scrimgeour had a vast number of past cases to tell stories about, and Tonks listened in fascination. Unfortunately, the afternoon discussion about things they could do didn't go entirely according to her hopes and expectations. Despite the fact that he'd asked for Tonks' kind of help, it quickly became clear that he wasn't at all happy about asking her to stick out her neck so soon.

"Er ... what's the problem, Cassius?" she said, puzzled and slightly exasperated, as he shook his head at one of her suggestions for the third or fourth time.

"It's a big risk, Tonks," he said. "We don't usually send people into the firing line on their first week in the job. Well, we didn't in my day, anyway. Claymore has his own ideas, of course, but that doesn't mean I always agree with them."

"It's not too bad an idea though, is it?" said Tonks, hopefully. "Just morph myself into somebody anonymous-looking, ask around the Knockturn Alley part of town without being too obvious about it, and hope to ask the right question of the right person."

"That's always a risk," he said sternly. "You might ask the wrong question of the wrong person, and there are lots of little nooks and crannies along the street where people could hide and hit you with a Stunner from behind before you even know they're there. Aurors always have to use great caution when they wander down there. I haven't done it on this case so far, and even I wouldn't want to chance it without having backup nearby, just in case."

"But ..."

"No, no buts, Tonks. It's a dangerous place for inexperienced people. For that matter, it can be a dangerous place for experienced people under the wrong circumstances. I want to emphasise that as much as I possibly can."

Tonks sat back slightly and looked at him, trying to decide on her next argument. "But I won't ever get that experience if I don't try, will I?" she said reasonably. "I can understand you're not enthusiastic about sending a ... well, a neophyte alone into Dark Wizard Central. I'm a bit nervous about the idea myself, to be honest. But I've no intention of sticking my hand up in the middle of Knockturn Alley and shouting 'Hey, anyone know where I can buy Liquor of Jacmel?'. I mean, give me some credit."

He looked at her with obvious misgivings. "Very true, very true. But ... you are new, Tonks, let's face it, and you don't have the contacts to fall back on yet. You'd be going in cold. And it can be very slow and frustrating work when you're starting from scratch."

"Hey, I can handle slow and frustrating," she said, grinning. "And ... to be honest mate, it's do this sort of thing or resign, isn't it?"

He hesitated. "I must admit, I was actually hoping they'd assign me one of the wizards I worked with first time around. People who've done undercover work before and have the right kind of experience."

"Wizards?" she asked gently. To do him credit, she got the impression that his objections were more to do with her newness on the job than her gender, although she privately thought he must have been taught to be protective of the womenfolk in that Edwardian upbringing of his. At any rate, he looked chagrined and slightly annoyed with himself when she said it

"Or witches. I don't ... " He threw up his hands in resignation. "Oh, I suppose ... I've just got out the habit of sending people into danger, Tonks. I had to do far too much of that during the war." He hesitated, then seemed to come to a decision and looked her straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry, all right? My problem, not yours, and I have to buck my ideas up now I'm back." He grinned. "I did want somebody more experienced, yes, but it doesn't look like Claymore's ever going to give me that anyway, so welcome to the team. Will you accept my apology?"

Tonks grinned back at him, breathing a silent sigh of relief. "Of course, mate. And" - here she hesitated, but she knew this was going to be as good a time as any to say what she had to say - "well, I have done a little bit of this sort of thing before. When I did my time out travelling I'm afraid I was just bluffing my way around the world a lot of the time. Nothing too bad, obviously," she added hastily, "but I'm glad Claymore didn't ask me questions about some of the scrapes I got into."

"Oh, I see." Scrimgeour looked as if he was undecided whether to be alarmed or relieved at this news, and settled on relieved. He smiled. "So, what's our plan then?"

Tonks looked at him thoughtfully. "Well, I did have one idea, to sort of start us off. Tell me if it's complete rubbish and would never work in practice, but ..."