Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

14. Have A Drink On Me

Going into work on Monday morning was actually a relief for Tonks after a quiet Sunday, the first part of which had been spent fighting down nausea and avoiding bright lights. She'd also avoided her mirror, which tended to make tut-tutting remarks like "look at the state of you!" on these occasions. On the other hand, she supposed, she ought to be pleased to have somehow managed to make it back to her own flat. (That had been easier said than done; she had a confused recollection of dropping off a semi-conscious Rhiannon at a highly amused O'Gregan's house.)

Kingsley Shacklebolt was leaving the office as she came in, and nodded to her with a slight smile as he passed by. She strolled over towards her desk and then stopped dead, looking back over her shoulder: hang on, what was that about? Since when did he acknowledge me politely? She gazed after him warily; she wasn't sure if Shacklebolt smiling at her was actually a good or a bad sign. With any luck it was the former. Maybe Cassius has had a word with him?

The partner in question arrived shortly afterwards and Tonks gave him an embarrassed little smile. "Er, hi, mate," she said tentatively. "About Saturday night, I'm not quite sure what I said when I rang, but, ..."

"I rather gathered that," he replied amiably. "Where were you calling from?"

"Er, ..." That was a good question. "Must have been ... the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade? Please don't ask me how we got up there. I'm a bit hazy about anything that happened by that point."

"I won't," he said, inspecting her carefully. He continued in a worried voice. "But you know, if you were in a public place like that, you shouldn't have been shouting confidential information over the mirrors to me where anyone could have heard."

She gaped at him. "W - what did I say?"

He gave her a very serious look. "Well, you weren't especially complimentary about our esteemed leader Mr Claymore, I think the phrase you used was something like 'officious old git with a face like a Hippogriff's backside'. And you really shouldn't have been discussing what you heard at the Toad in public. Even if the chap in question wasn't likely to be there, a friend of his might have been. And you said something about what was under Montgomery Hallendale's robes that frankly, I don't like to repeat."

Tonks paled and made an odd squeaky noise. "But ... I ... I only rung you for a minute? I don't remember saying all that!"

His eyebrows rose. "You don't remember ringing me back later either, then?"

"I did?"

"Around quarter to midnight. I think it was just about throwing-out time. It certainly sounded as if there were a lot of people about." He looked at her sternly. "You mean to say you don't remember anything about this?"

"No." Tonks buried her head in her hands on her desk, and whimpered in something close to panic. "Oh, Merlin. How could I have been so stupid? I don't believe I did that."

His mouth twitched. "Well, that's good, because of course I was making it all up."

She froze, then looked up at a grinning Cassius. "You were WHAT?"

"Got you," he said sitting back in his chair and chuckling merrily. "Hook, line, and sinker. You're not the only one round here who can tell the tale, you know ..."

"You git." She looked at him for a moment, then caught his mood and started to laugh too. "You complete git. Did I ever tell you you're an evil, lying, no-good toe-rag who shouldn't be allowed to talk to poor innocent young Aurors?"

"I am? Thank you."

She shook her head and looked at him in wonderment. "OK, mate, you really got me there. How did you manage to keep such a straight face?"

"It's much easier to tease people when they don't see it coming. Serves you right for being out of your tree." He said this deadpan, and then they both started to giggle helplessly.

"Such hilarity in the office, now?" said someone from behind them in an Irish accent. "I suppose you're recovered then? You were really in the numbs Saturday night. Leading my young lady into bad habits, so you were."

Tonks swallowed the last giggle and turned. "Hi, Don. Hi, Arnie. And I didn't! She started it."

"Now, that's mature of you." O'Gregan grabbed a couple of chairs from nearby cubicles for himself and Cornworthy. "Right then, Cassius here tells me you may have some suspects for us? We're all ears."

Cassius briefly outlined what they'd discovered about the Blackstocks, and handed out duplicated copies of the information that he'd prepared. The other Aurors glanced at each other, but forbore to comment immediately.

"Most interesting, Cassius old mate," said O'Gregan with a whistle when he'd finished. "So our young honey is real then? And her daddy's on Ellie's little list? Do we have any idea what she might have been doing so far from base that night? Does she go to the Toad often?"

Tonks glanced through the sheets of parchment for the section concerning Portia Blackstock. The immediately obvious problem was that there just wasn't very much information about her on file. As far as the records went, she was simply a girl from a wealthy family who spent most of her time on the wizarding social circuit, no more and no less. There were certainly no reported sightings of her in dodgy London pubs.

She cursed and threw the sheets on to her desk. "Not according to this. Doesn't the wretched girl do anything but go to parties and give herself beauty treatments?"

Cornworthy looked up with amusement. "Well, you can't deny they seem to work, Tonks."

"Yeah, but what a boring life!" Seeing the raised eyebrows of the others, she blushed and amplified her comment. "I mean, come on, I love a good time - er, obviously - but I want to do other things with my life as well! This job, for a start."

Cassius held up his hands. "No argument from me. Just a moment," he said, looking at his notes again, "she's only a couple of years younger than you are. Do you remember her from school?"

Tonks shrugged. "Don't think so. You don't really pay much attention to younger students at that age, do you? Not even the ones in your own house, most of the time."

"I did," said Cassius. "Different era, though. And I suppose as a prefect I had to. You can't remember anything about her?"

Tonks closed her eyes in order to examine her memories. "Not that I'm sure of," she said eventually, with some hesitation. "I can remember during my final year there was this group of kids we all joked about. They'd have been about her age. Used to doll themselves up, sit in the courtyard, and make eyes at the older boys as they went by." She sniggered. "Don't know if it ever got them more than laughed at, mind you. Bow I think about it, though, one of them was a blonde girl who might have been her. If it is, she's definitely ... um, filled out since then. I can't remember seeing her at the Chess Club or the Potions Guild or anything. She doesn't sound like the type, really, does she? And she can't have been a troublemaker then or people would have known her by reputation."

"Well, anyway," said O'Gregan impatiently, "does it matter if she was a good girl when she was at school? Looks like she isn't now. Why don't we just bring her in and give her the treatment?"

Cassius coughed. "Did you read the bit about her father, Donnacha?"

"No. What about him?"

Cassius tapped the parchment to indicate where he should look. "It seems that he's been putting the contents of the family vault to good use to make friends and influence people," he explained. "He donates generously, and arranges a lot of special events - it turns out he's actually on the committee of the charity where I saw them at the dinner now. According to this, he's on first-name terms with several members of the Wizengamot, and he even managed to persuade Minister Fudge to be the guest of honour at one of his dinners."

Sounds like some other people I know, thought Tonks, but she kept it to herself. She didn't want her colleagues to think she had a bee in her bonnet about her relatives. Especially as she did.

O'Gregan looked at him with disgust. "Are you saying we can't go near them because the bloody Wizened Lot wouldn't like it?"

He shrugged. "No, but I would say we need to be cautious. I don't like it any more than you do, Donnacha, but it's always been a fact of life around here, hasn't it? We simply have to tread carefully with anybody who has friends in high places. If we bring them in and work them over and then can't get anything out of them immediately, we could have the investigation snuffed out before you can say Nox. And we certainly can't hope to get a warrant for coercive methods without something concrete."

"An eyewitness?" said Tonks. "How much more concrete can you get?"

Cassius smiled sadly. "Those Muggle movies you watched with your father must have confused you, Tonks. Even they recognise that identification evidence is often unreliable - and let's face it, in our world, it's not conclusive by itself given the various ways it can be faked. At least, that's the official legal view of things." Tonks resolved once again to look up her wizarding law textbooks. "Of course in practice it's solid evidence most of the time, but we need something more in this case. A motive, for example, or at least a connection. Oh yes, and our eyewitness was not only under Veritaserum when he told us about it, but claiming mind control as a defence," he said as an afterthought. "That adds another couple of layers of potential challenge, unfortunately."

"But what if she tries again?" said O'Gregan irritably. "We can't just let her keep taking pot-shots at Ashford until she gets lucky, can we?"

"Actually, Don, ..." put in Cornworthy deprecatingly, "it probably isn't that urgent. Ashford has been very careful since it happened, hasn't he?"

"Well yes, he's not stupid," snorted O'Gregan. He mostly works from home now, and he's hired a couple of bodyguards - good fellows, ex-Law Enforcement Patrol - and he definitely doesn't go strolling over the Common late at night."

"And that was quite an elaborate scheme to come up with," pressed Cornworthy. "Must have taken a while to set up. I wouldn't bet on them having worked out a Plan B yet."

"I suppose so," he said, slightly mollified.

"And if she's got any sense she won't be trying again for a while, will she?" pointed out Tonks. "She must know that we've got a witness, and that she's bound to be under suspicion sooner or later. OK, we don't know what she had against him, but the way this was set up it doesn't look like she - oh, all right Cassius, whoever - was willing to take a lot of risks."

"I dunno, Tonks," said the Irishman. "That's been worrying me. Suppose it was her and not some impersonator. She was only OK as long as she wasn't seen with Farley. That's a big risk. I suppose she may have been betting on them not knowing her at the Toad, and not wanting to tell us if they did ..."

"Yeah, but if she's smart enough to plan all this," persisted Tonks, "she must have realised that even if she was spotted with him, her family connections would keep the heat off her long enough to hide any other evidence there might be - you know, something like find who sold her the potion and Obliviate them, if she hasn't done that already?"

Seeing that her colleague looked unconvinced, she continued thinking out loud: "There was a whole day between the time she was seen with Farley and the attack, right? It must have been timed to happen towards the end of the effect span of the potion. So there was only a narrow window where she'd be taking a risk - after Farley came out of it, she would have been perfectly safe, because he wouldn't remember what happened, couldn't prove he'd been under the influence of Jacmel even if we worked it out, and he's not a particularly credible witness anyway. And we still don't know the connection between her and Ashford, and I'll bet it's not obvious. There's a lot of things to link up before we can ever pin anything on her, yeah?"

O'Gregan spread his hands. "All right, all right. We're just guessing here. We need more information. Like Cassius said, we don't have a motive either."

"Who's your other possible?" asked Cornworthy.

"Eh? Oh, that Arkwright bloke, but sorry, Arnie, I haven't had time to go into that," said Tonks apologetically.

"Actually ..." put in Cassius with a pleased look, as the others turned to him, "I took your hint from Saturday night and had a word with a friend of mine in the Magical Creatures department. Apparently the case is common gossip over there. When Arkwright lost that zoo of his, he certainly swore vengeance on the people he felt were responsible for it. They just never took him seriously enough to put it in the records."

"Idiots," said O'Gregan with a snort. "Do you mean he thought Ashford was at fault?"

"Well, he sold him the cages, and by the sound of it, he must have told him they were better than they were. They weren't nearly as strong as they needed to be for the kind of things Arkwright was trying to keep in them. Most of them were starting to come unstuck, and apparently, given another month or two, we could have had a major problem on our hands. The way he described it was 'would have made the Ilfracombe Incident look like a case of failing to dock a Crup's tail'."

Tonks winced. "Serves him right then."

"You're correct, of course, but he didn't see it that way. He looked on it as those nasty Ministry people taking his 'pets' away. My friend said they looked on it as preventing a few dozen people being eaten, and a cataclysmic breach of the Statute of Secrecy. He was lucky to stay out of Azkaban - connections again, Donnacha, I'm afraid."

"Bah."

"Exactly. Anyway, you can imagine he would have a grudge against Ashford."

"Were those connections the same ones as Blackstock?" asked Cornworthy shrewdly. "Mutual friends?"

Cassius looked taken aback. "I hadn't thought to ask," he said. "We'll have to inquire."

"Right, Cassius," said O'Gregan firmly. "What are we going to do? Anything? I've got a week off as from Saturday for the World Cup, remember, so we need to get something going before then."

"So have I," pointed out Tonks. "Well, OK, technically I'm on secondment to the security team, but I'm away from the office for a while."

"Me too," added Cassius. He added, in response to their surprised looks, "You're not the only one who's got tickets for the Final, you know."

They all looked at Cornworthy, who looked back dolefully. "Well, I haven't, so it's down to me to keep the cauldron boiling, I suppose," he said. "Perhaps we should just arrange to have them shadowed, see if they go anywhere we wouldn't expect? There must be a few spare Law Enforcement people we can call on to help out."

"That'll do for the time being," agreed O'Gregan. "Arkwright doesn't go out much any more, and I imagine the Blackstocks will be going to the Final themselves, you'd think, if they're so keen to make a good social impression?" He looked at the others for confirmation.

"Deal," said Tonks, and Cassius nodded. O'Gregan clapped his hands.

"Well, that's settled then. We'll sort it out and let you know what's happening. Anyway, if it pans out for young Tonks here tonight, we may learn a lot from that. Do you think the fellow is going to tell us anything?"

They turned to Tonks, who shrugged. "I don't know. Even if he is selling the stuff, I don't suppose people tell him what they want to do with it - well, apart from Beatrice Easton, that is, but I don't really think she's got the makings of a criminal mastermind. In fact, from his point of view, he could just be planning ... oh, maybe making a quick profit by selling her some rubbish, and spinning her a yarn about it being this wonderful mind control potion? She couldn't exactly complain to Magical Trading Standards, could she?"

"No. So we might solve your case tonight and not ours."

Tonks nodded. "Sorry, Don."

"Ah well. It's still our best chance of a quick result. And we can see how he likes being fed mind-affecting potions."

"I don't like the idea of handing over 150 Galleons to him, to be honest, but I suppose if it gets that far we can arrest him straight after and take it back."

O'Gregan chuckled. "Trust in the Emerald Isle, Tonks my dear." At her bemused look, he explained, "They'll give you leprechaun gold for this sort of situation, just in case it gets out of control. Vanishes a few hours later, more's the pity."

"Oh right." She brightened. "Listen, we may need some backup, yeah? Could you two be available if we need you? Link you in to a couple of those panic buttons?"

"No worries," said O'Gregan airily, waving a hand. "I'm sure you can cope, young lady, but we'd be glad to help you out if the boy tries to get rough. One good turn deserves another."

"Great." She turned to Cassius. "Partner - let's work on our plan."

*****

At quarter to nine that evening Tonks was heading for the Transfigured Toad once more, for what she sincerely hoped might be the last time for a while. She was already changed into Beatrice Easton's appearance and dressed in her clothes. Cassius had gone on ahead; he would be waiting in the pub in case Tonks needed immediate backup. O'Gregan and Cornworthy were off home but could Apparate to her aid at a moment's notice if necessary. There were many things that could potentially go wrong, of course, but they'd brainstormed as many as possible and formulated strategies to deal with them.

Tonks entered the pub, acquired another goblet of the juice concoction from the barman, and took a seat well away from Cassius, who was nursing a Butterbeer (to the scorn of some people at nearby tables). She looked around, as nervous as she'd ever been since she started on the job. The pub was full tonight, and between the dim light and the haze of smoke, it was hard to make faces out. It struck her that this must have been what it was like the night Farley went to the going-away party for - Wells, wasn't it? - and got more than he'd bargained for. Looking around, she could see that anonymity could easily be possible here. So there, Don.

She tensed as an unshaven man in baggy robes, who appeared to have had too much to drink already, came and sat down next to her. "Hey, beautiful, haven't seen you in here before," he said with a leer (a remark which confirmed for Tonks that he'd definitely had too much to drink). She drew herself up to her full height, as far as that was possible while sitting, and looked away haughtily, all the while cursing her luck. The last things she wanted at this point were to draw attention to herself, or risk having to behave out of character.

"Ooh, hoity-toity," he said, scowling. "Bit too low class for the Ministry Miss, eh? Me not quite what you had in mind when you came in slumming it?"

"I'm waiting for someone," she said shortly.

"Aren't we all, dear." He chortled at his own joke and breathed stale Firewhiskey fumes over her, making her grit her teeth and bite off a most un-Eastonlike remark. She glanced around the room; fortunately, no-one seemed to be looking their way yet (except a mildly concerned Cassius, watching them out of the corner of his eye). She breathed a silent sigh of relief and wondered idly if she could somehow Stun him without it being obvious. She almost missed the door swinging open, but when she looked up she was actually relieved to see her contact coming in (she'd never expected to think that).

He strolled over to her at a brisk pace and said, in the mocking tone that he routinely seemed to use, "Well, well, picked someone up already, have you? Are you sure you need my help?"

"Yes, quite sure," said Tonks, getting up from the table with haste. His voice sounded slightly different, and she recalled Beatrice Easton mentioning that it seemed to shift every time she met him. Probably a simple accent-alteration charm, of course. He seemed to take care to conceal his true identity. With a bit of luck, we'll find out who you really are tonight, mate, she thought unkindly as she followed him to an alcove. Fortunately, the first one they went to was free; she couldn't help wondering if you could actually book the things if you knew the landlord.

She sat down across from him and studied of the parts of his face not covered by the usual scarf, taking careful note of the bone structure and the shape and colour of the eyes. Inwardly, she shrugged; what she could see of his features wasn't very much, and given the stated weakness of identification evidence, it probably wouldn't have sounded convincing in court; but she felt sure that this was the same man she'd met before, regardless of the voice. Quite apart from her Auror observation training, she'd long had the habit of studying faces very carefully, in order to decide how best to mimic them.

"Well then," he said affably. "I take it we still have a deal?"

"Yes," said Tonks. Remembering to sound nervous - well, even more nervous than she actually was - she said carefully, "Er, this ... this potion I'm buying gives complete control of someone, correct?" For the record, mate. Just so I can swear at trial that you knew what you were selling.

"Oh it does, it does," he said with merriment. "But more importantly - do you have the money?"

"Yes," said Tonks hesitantly. "Can ... can I see it first?"

"Certainly." He reached into his robes and brought out a bottle of a pale yellowish liquid that unquestionably fitted the description of Liquor of Jacmel. "There should be a month's supply there. Now let me see the money."

"OK. Yes. OK." She reached into her handbag slowly, making sure as she did so that her wand was accessible at a moment's notice in case he attempted to just take the money and go. It was up the sleeve of her robes, fixed in place in a holder originally intended for keeping wands concealed while dressed in Muggle clothes (one of the inventions of the Portia Blackstock's grandfather, she'd been amused to note). She lifted out the bag of evanescent "Galleons" and placed it on the table, where it made a satisfactory clink.

"Good." He tipped the fake money onto the table and counted it quickly, stacking the coins in piles. It obviously came to the right total, because he smiled, swept them back into the bag, and looked at her. "All here." He took the bottle and pushed it casually across the table at her. "Go on, take it then. You're paying for it."

There was something about the way he said this that Tonks didn't like, She braced herself and cautiously picked up the bottle.

Nothing happened. With relief, she hid it away in her handbag and prepared to get up and leave. As soon as they were out of the pub, she could arrest him, create a Portkey, and be on the way back to the Ministry for what promised to be quite an enjoyable interrogation. She paused for a moment and looked across the table at him thoughtfully. Actually, it would be nice to get him to talk before they got him back to the holding cells. She got the strong impression that he might well just clam up and force them to wait for a Veritaserum warrant.

"Er, ... thank you," she said tentatively. "I hope I haven't taken your whole supply or anything."

"Oh, don't worry your little head about that," said the wizard mockingly. "I should be restocking soon. Right, then, a little drink to seal the deal, I think!" Ignoring Tonks' yelp of protest, he tapped with his wand on the table and the alcove curtains slid open. The landlord walked over to them with an inquiring look.

"Two glasses of that fine Firewhiskey I managed to, ah, obtain for you, Finley, I think," he said, winking at him. "My treat. This little lady and I have just completed a very satisfactory business arrangement."

"Certainly, sir." His lip curled at this, but he pointed his wand at the bar and Summoned a bottle and a couple of glasses over to them, pouring out generous measures. Tonks looked at this with concern, attempting to gauge her chances of arresting the wizard straight away while they were still in the pub. They didn't look good. She didn't know much about the patrons in tonight, but she was willing to bet that they included several people he knew, who would surely come to his assistance in any confrontation with an Auror. Well, an outnumbered one at any rate.

"I'm sorry, Mr, er ..." she said in a prim and hesitant manner, "but I never drink alcohol." Fortunately, Beatrice Easton didn't, which made this statement rather more believable.

"Oh, just this once won't hurt you will it?" he said amiably. Tonks wasn't so sure. She had seen the bottle opened, but ... she didn't really want to be drinking large Firewhiskies in this place, especially in the character of a woman who would probably be completely wrecked by one.

At this point, an argument broke out across the floor, which Tonks regarded as a welcome interruption. She glanced over to see what it was all about, and quickly realised that it wasn't welcome after all. She could hear the sound carry even from the alcove; things were suddenly starting to go wrong with this evening.

"Well, if it isn't Mr Cassius Scrimgeour," said someone aggressively. "What are you doing in here? Seeing the sights? Slumming it now you're retired?" With the use of that phrase, she recognised the voice as that of her erstwhile companion with the Firewhiskey breath.

"Actually, I'm back in harness, now, young man. Who might you be?" said Cassius equably. She could hear him speak now, as the noise level in the pub had dropped dramatically as people paused their conversations to listen in on the potential confrontation taking place. She took a moment to wonder at the description young man but supposed that to Cassius, he probably was.

"Never you mind, Auror." The man snarled these words at him. The noise level dropped still further as a rather ugly silence developed. The landlord strolled casually over to Cassius' table, but Tonks could see that his hand was gripped tightly around his wand.

"Good evening, gentlemen, do we have a problem here?" he said smoothly.

"You're letting some undesirables into your pub, Finley," said the man viciously. Tonks heard the wizard beside her make a disapproving noise.

"So, Mr ... Scrimgeour, is it? Are you here on official business, then?" asked the landlord. Tonks could see Cassius hesitate for a moment. Of course he was, but there was no way he could admit to it.

"Just dropping by to have a drink and absorb the atmosphere, Mr McAllister," he said calmly. "I'm allowed to do that, I believe?"

The landlord's lip curled again. "Oh, indeed you are," he said. "As it happens, though, I'm allowed to turn out anyone I think might be causing trouble in my pub. Now I'm sure you're perfectly well-meaning, but unfortunately some of my other customers seem to take objection to you. I think you'd better leave now."

Tonks could see Cassius look at him, obviously calculating what his best move would be, and cursed silently. She was sure he would want to remain in the pub, but now attention had been drawn to him he couldn't do much good by staying. "Well, I'm sure I wouldn't wish to cause trouble," he replied in an even tone, getting up from his chair. "I'll take myself off - but of course, I'll always be around if anyone wishes to talk to me." Tonks, muttering under her breath, read that as an agreed hint that he would attempt to lurk around outside somewhere should she need him when she came out, although at this point she was only listening with half her attention. She had no idea whether anyone would follow him out and try to start something, or what she could do about it if they did.

The wizard in the alcove turned away abruptly from the scene around Cassius to see Tonks holding her glass in her lap, and touching the end of the poison detector on the 'knife' K had given her into the contents. She flushed as he sniggered at her. She put the drink back on the table and glanced at the end of the tester; it hadn't turned red.

"I actually didn't poison that drink, you know," he said with amusement as he caught her eye. "Drink up. You might like what it does, you know."

Tonks hesitated for a moment, then raised the glass to her lips and swallowed the contents, remembering to cough and splutter as if she hadn't done this recently. The wizard opposite did the same - without the coughing and spluttering, he obviously had done this recently. She looked at him sharply but the scarf didn't move away from his face far enough for her to get a look at it. "Bottoms up," he said. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but I suppose we both have things to do now? After you."

Tonks left the alcove and headed towards the door at an even pace, taking great care for once to avoid tripping over anything, but ready to take action at a moment's notice should there be any trouble. She'd be on her own for a few crucial moments if anybody was planning anything, regardless of panic buttons, as (like most wizarding businesses) the pub had anti-Apparation wards. Fortunately, there wasn't any trouble, and she made it to the door and stepped outside without incident.

She strolled a little way down the street, then staggered slightly, leaning against a wall for support. She shook her head as if to clear it, tapping her forehead a couple of times. She stood there, apparently waiting for something or someone, until an arm took hers and led her away down the street.. She turned and stared at her companion with an unfocused look. It was the wizard she'd just met in the pub.

"Well, now, Mrs Easton - or Little Miss Clumsy, or whoever it is you really are," he said conversationally, but with an undercurrent of slight threat, "perhaps we should take a little walk? Those little poison testers are quite handy, but they don't react to things that aren't poisons. Like the stuff in that special bottle of Firewhiskey I told Finley to serve if I asked him to. I reckon it should just be starting to work round about ... now. Let's go this way, shall we?"

Tonks shuddered slightly, half-resisted the pull on her arm, but then continued to accompany him docilely as they strolled away down the street. Her eyes as she looked at him were glazed. He laughed at her, quietly but exuberantly, as they walked along Diagon Alley away from the pub.