Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

16. I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Tonks managed to wake herself up enough to arrive at her desk half an hour later, dressed in an old T-shirt and jeans. Cassius was already there, looking positively fresh. She seriously considered the possibility of hating him. "OK, Cassius," she said wearily. "What do I do?"

"You follow me," he said composedly, getting up from his chair and taking a large folded piece of parchment off his desk. "We'll need an nice large open space, and I'd think the combat hall will be free at this early hour, wouldn't you?"

Tonks didn't argue. She followed him down the corridor, trying to shake herself fully awake. Bright morning sunshine was coming in through the enchanted windows, which helped a little. She wondered if that meant the Magical Maintenance staff must have finally got their pay rise. Well, bully for them, she thought sourly.

The combat hall was indeed empty, and when they entered Cassius began to behave in a very strange way.

First he spread the piece of parchment he was carrying out on the floor. He then retreated to the edge of the room and pointed his wand at it, muttering incantations: "Iaceo" - the creases of the parchment snapped out and it lay perfectly flat; "Engorgio" - that was familiar, it grew and grew until it filled most of the available space; "Cartographia orientum aquilo" - it spun round through about a quarter turn; "Depacto" - another familiar one, a Fixing Spell to hold it in place. None of this made much sense to Tonks, though, whose brain was still working sluggishly.

She thought about trying to seem intelligent by looking as she understood what all this was for, but abandoned the idea as impracticable under the circumstances. "Um, Cassius, what are you doing exactly?"

He grinned. "Take a closer look at the parchment."

Tonks did. It turned out to be a map of Great Britain, and greatly expanded as it now was, she could see that it was no ordinary Muggle map. It was extremely detailed. It appeared to show almost every significantly sized road in the country, and all the major magical buildings were highlighted as red blocks. When she looked more closely still, she could see that place-names hovered over most concentrations of streets. There were occasional flashes of movement which suggested that minor things were being updated as she looked.

"Where did you get this from, mate?" she asked curiously.

"I borrowed it from K's department when I came in," he said cheerfully. "It's enchanted, obviously; it automatically updates itself to match major changes in the physical world. You know, like the security maps the Ministry watchwizards have."

"Oh, those?" said Tonks, fogged. "Right."

His eyes twinkled. "Or at least, they're supposed to watch them - I suspect they spend most of their time reading the paper and talking about next week's Quidditch matches!"

"You mean this will show the bloke I hit?" asked Tonks with disbelief.

"Not as such," said Cassius with obvious regret. "This one doesn't show people. It does fill in more detail as you enlarge it, which is nice, but you can't enchant a single piece of parchment too far, can you? It just catches fire." He shrugged at Tonks' disappointed look. "Unfortunately, if you want to show people you're normally limited to something like a single building - maybe a very small village at a pinch. But this is an up to date scale map of the country. Are you getting my drift now?"

Tonks thought she was, but didn't want to make herself look any sillier than she already did after the events of the previous day. "Er - maybe you'd better continue snowing," she said in an attempt at a joke.

"Right," he said, smiling patiently. "I've turned it so north on the map lines up exactly with geographical north. So if you place your wand at the point on the map that corresponds to where you're standing right now, and do the tracking spell incantation ..."

"... it will show what's along the line of search? Narrow it down? Excellent!" said Tonks in sudden realisation. "How did you think of that?"

"Another old Auror trick. One of the advantages of being an old Auror." His occasional See-I--know-things-you-young-whippersnappers-don't smirk was back on his face again. "I understand why they don't emphasise Tracking Spells much nowadays, because they're not always terribly helpful when somebody moves via some method of long-distance travel. But we always used to find this a good way to get around that, even if it is a trifle inconvenient. Now, then, tap the map with your wand and say Ubi sum."

Tonks did. A small golden dot appeared in the middle of the dense concentration of roadways that marked London on the map. She looked closer. It was placed over the street that lay above the Ministry of Magic. The red block denoting the Ministry showed underneath it.

Cassius waved his wand and the lights in the room dimmed slightly. "Very good, that's where you currently are. Now then, shoes off. Put your wand on the dot and do the Tracking Spell. Light your wand first. Narrow beam."

Tonks placed the wand over the golden dot and muttered "Lumos. Find my quarry." Her wand spun round once under her finger and pointed across the map. It was still cold - wherever the wizard she'd hit was, he wasn't anywhere close at hand - but the path of light from its tip now showed in which direction he might be found.

Cassius, moving gently, walked across the map, following the beam, which was pointing towards the south coast. "Now, if your wand is absolutely cold, he can't be closer than about fifteen miles," he said. "Are you sure there isn't even a slight tingle?"

Tonks felt the wand very carefully, but couldn't detect any change from the normal temperature. "'Fraid not."

"Right. That takes him out of London then. We'll assume for the moment that he isn't camped out in the middle of a road or a field, either. In which case ... well now, that's interesting ..."

"What is?" said Tonks curiously.

"We may just be in luck, because that beam doesn't cross anywhere much until it gets to the coast. It passes through a few places on the map - Smallfield, Balcombe, Burgess Hill - but until it hits Brighton, none of them are really that big. Remember I said that you get a fair few wizards along the south coast?" He looked up. "I'd say we make that our first port of call - there's an Apparition point at the back of Wizard's Row - then move back to try these villages if we don't have any luck. Does that seem fair?"

It did. Tonks suddenly felt a lot more cheerful at the prospect of being able to make up for her earlier mistakes. "Sounds good to me, mate. Let's go!"

Cassius smiled. "Just a moment." He traced his wand along the line of light on the map, and it drew a pale line showing the path of the light-beam. He glanced up at Tonks again with a grin. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

*****

Wizard's Row in Brighton turned out to be a number of undistinguished-looking small shops along a back street, although Tonks, used as she was to hidden magical areas, didn't fail to spot the disguised entrances in the walled and enclosed back alley behind the shops that served as the main Brighton Apparition point. She guessed that once you got inside each shop was probably a lot bigger and more impressive than its drab exterior. That was the way it usually worked.

There was a slight early morning breeze off the sea that chilled the air, and she shivered slightly as she took the opportunity afforded by being hidden from Muggle sight to mutter the Tracking Spell test again. When she did, she forgot all about the weather. The day might be cold - but this time, the wand in her hand was definitely warm.

She looked at Cassius with shining eyes. "It's there," she said, whispering to prevent her words being overheard by the one or two people already in the shops who were looking out at them suspiciously. "He's not too close, but he's in town. Can we get a map?"

Cassius raised his eyebrows and produced K's map, now shrunk back to its original size. "We've already got one, remember?" he said, opening it up and placing his wand on the parchment. "Well, at least until K asks for it back. But he usually has a few tricks up his sleeve - like this, for example. Ubi sum. Focus." A golden dot appeared, marking the place where Cassius was standing; on this occasion though, the map shifted around it, showing the streets of Brighton in much more detail than before.

"Cool," said Tonks, impressed.

They squinted at the map; the trace mark Cassius had made showed up on the map as a broad stripe, and indicated that their target was probably on the other side of Brighton from Wizards' Row. Tonks didn't mind too much. A brisk morning walk sounded like just the ticket to wake her up.

As they stepped out of the alley through a small gateway, Cassius indicated a main road that ran in the approximate direction her wand had pointed. They walked along it casually, stopping every now and again to consult the map and try the spell again. It got steadily harder to do this without being seen by any of the people arriving for work as the time drew closer to nine o'clock, and Tonks concentrated hard to make sure she knew where they were going..

Her wand became steadily warmer as they passed through the centre of Brighton and out into a residential district. Cassius was puffing a bit at the long walk, but still seemed fit enough not to worry. Once they were away from the main shopping areas, places to stop and check were easier to find, and the wand gradually led them into a housing estate where (apart from a few curious looks from children playing in the street) no-one paid them much attention.

"I think it's close now," she muttered as the wand swung yet again, towards the next street along. She hastily concealed it as a boy on a bicycle glanced at them as he rode by. "It's starting to get uncomfortably warm, in fact. Doesn't it glow when you get within fifty yards or so?"

"As I remember," said Cassius. Seeing Tonks' look of surprise, he said defensively, "Well, I haven't used this spell for a while!"

"Great. Now you tell me." Actually. she wasn't too worried. If Cassius remembered it that way, then that was probably how it was. She was starting to realise just how much she had come to respect his judgment.

They strolled casually down the new road and stopped about half way along, where there was a convenient bus shelter to hide behind. Tonks tried the wand again, not expecting anything out of the ordinary, and almost dropped it as it pulsed with a bright yellow light, pointing at a house just across the street.

"Ow!" She shook her hand with annoyance. "That's too hot!"

"Ssh!" Cassius looked over the road cautiously. There didn't seem to be any signs of activity in the house. "If he's there, I think we just grab him and go. Ah, Tonks ... are you fully aware of the standard procedures for arresting suspects living in Muggle-inhabited areas?"

"Er ... I think so," said Tonks, crossing her fingers surreptitiously, and trying to recite the list she'd had to learn. "Quietly block all forms of magical exit, seal or cover the physical exits, cast Muggle-repelling spells around the place to discourage anyone from taking an interest, keep wands hidden as far as possible until you're inside the house. Does that sound right?"

"Good enough." Cassius said. "Very well, first things first; I'll contact the Floo office, you secure the rest of the place." He pulled out his mirror phone to call the monitoring liaison again, motioning to her to approach the house.

Tonks looked around cautiously, crossed the road and let the end of her wand drift into her hand, just far enough to use but with not enough showing to be easily spotted. (It was half-concealed in her sleeve holder again - she grinned to herself as she thought about the source of that gadget. Whatever the current generations of Blackstocks might be up to, at least the source of their fortune had come up with something genuinely useful.)

She pointed it at the house and garden and concentrated hard again, muttering "Remansionis edificium e hortus". She waved her arm around a few times, muttering the Muggle-repelling spells, and hoping that she merely looked like a woman doing a few stretching exercises while waiting for her grandfather to finish his phone call.

There was no sign of anything happening inside the house, nothing to indicate that the wizard inside had noticed her. She didn't dare try the Tracking Spell again so close to the windows, but she did make doubly sure to check for the presence of a wizard with K's locator compass. It pointed straight at the building, which she took as a good sign. She remembered then that the knife gadget he'd given her had a feature for testing if you could Apparate into a building. After a little experimentation, she remembered which one of the numerous attachments it was, and tried it. The end glowed slightly, indicating that the house was protected against incursions from outside from anyone who hadn't been given specific permission to enter. She shrugged. It wasn't an unexpected security precaution - most wizard dwellings had it in some form - but it was still a little annoying.

She looked over at Cassius, who had finished with the Floo regulators and gave her a quick thumbs-up as he crossed the street to confer. Tonks, looking around, noticed a short alleyway between two houses a few doors along the street, which appeared to lead to a lane running along the back gardens of the houses. She pointed it out to Cassius, who looked pleased.

"Good!" he said. "We can get round to the rear of the premises without having to risk wandering through his garden. Or anybody else's. I take it we can't just Apparate inside?" Tonks shook her had and Cassius gazed casually around, taking in the terrain while formulating a strategy. He looked back at her.

"The main thing we need to watch for is to make absolutely sure he can't get away," he said sternly. Tonks gave him a meek sort of nod; she wasn't really in any position to argue.

"We can't really break in without tipping him off, so one of us will have to try to get him to the front door, and the other stand guard out the back in case he makes a run for it.. If he spots us, he'll probably try to Disapparate first if he knows how, so it'll put him on his guard when he finds he can't." He looked at her thoughtfully. "Or he may try to blast his way out, in which case we have no choice to fight back and hope no Muggles are watching - if we get into too much trouble, we'll just have to call in the Obliviators."

"What do you reckon would be a good approach?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps I'd better take the fr ..." He trailed off. "Uh-oh, the Muggle post is just arriving. Let's keep out of the way till he's gone."

The two Aurors leant against the wall of the next house along the street, chatting casually about the weather as the postman worked his way along the row of houses, pushing letters through the doors. He surprised them by stopping to deliver a handful of envelopes at their quarry's house, too, which evidently gave Cassius an idea.

"Do you think you could mimic that fellow?" he asked in an undertone. "I'm sure we could temporarily Transfigure your clothes into something that looks like his uniform."

Tonks blinked, and studied the man carefully as he passed by. "I could, more or less," she replied, equally quietly, "but what for? Won't it look suspicious if I knock on the door? Their postmen aren't like owls, are they? They don't wait for replies, they just put the letters through those holes in the door and go."

"Sometimes they stop, Tonks, if there's a charge to pay or something to sign for," Cassius informed her, apparently slightly surprised that she hadn't known more of the workings of the Muggle post. She blushed. She got very few letters that weren't delivered by owl, and she'd never bothered to take Muggle Studies at school beyond her OWL. She'd always assumed that she could find out anything she really needed to know by asking her Muggle-born father.

As she watched the postman continue his round, it suddenly struck her that her dad had spent most of his life - and all of his adult life - in the wizarding world, and despite his enthusiasm for films and football, his knowledge was probably almost as rusty as hers was. Obviously the workings of the postal service was something she'd overlooked, and she made yet another mental note to look them up. It struck her briefly that that irritating Brickell woman at her first interview had turned out to have a point. She really did need to have a better knowledge of the Muggle world to do her job efficiently.

"So what do I do?" she asked, anxious not to make any more mistakes.

"Knock on the door and say there's a letter for him with money to pay," he said. "You're supposed to pay in advance, you know?" Tonks nodded. "If he sees who it is, with a bit of luck he'll 'recognise' you, and even if he isn't he should be reasonably unsuspicious. As soon as he opens the door ... well, if he makes any hint of an offensive move, Stun him and get him inside. Don't take any chances, Tonks. I don't want to get you hurt. I'll go and cover the rear."

Tonks wasn't too sure about this plan, but after the previous night's debacle she wasn't prepared to offer up any alternatives. At any rate, she slipped down the alleyway between the houses to transform herself and her clothes away from the gaze of any watching locals, Conjured a bag and threw it over her shoulder, and strolled insouciantly up the path, whistling an indistinguishable tune. Cassius, who had carefully sealed all the windows and doors, was now somewhere round the back, presumably with wand at the ready.

She knocked on the door with a lot more apparent confidence than she really had and waited. And continued to wait. There was no response from within the house.

She checked her watch; it was now well past nine o'clock. He should really have been up by now. Maybe he was expecting a call from the law after the previous night's escapades and was lying low? Maybe he was watching her cautiously from inside, trying to decide if she was really who she seemed to be? Or maybe he's slept late and didn't hear me knock, she thought as she suddenly spotted a doorbell. She pressed it a few times impatiently, as if annoyed at being delayed while waiting for a tardy householder to answer. This finally produced results; someone could be heard stumbling down the stairs and approaching the front door.

Tonks glanced around nervously. When she'd tried arrest at wandpoint last night, it hadn't been too successful. Still, this time she couldn't see anyone around who might interfere.

"Who is it?" came a rough voice from inside, heavy with sleep. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Postman," she called as casually as possible. "You've got money to pay on a letter, sir."

"Mug - er, how much money?" came the voice again, sounding irritated. There were sounds of things being moved around inside, and Tonks gripped her wand tightly inside its holder. He was probably just making sure that there were no telltale signs of wizardry in view before opening the door to a Muggle - but he might also be preparing an attack. She couldn't risk being caught unawares again. She suddenly realised that she had no idea how much money a postman might be requesting in this situation, and was forced to take a wild guess.

"Seven pounds twenty, sir," she said brightly, but with crossed fingers.

"HOW much? Bloody hell!" The door was yanked open with no further pause for deliberation on the part of the houseowner, and Tonks gave a huge grin as she saw who it was. Before he had a chance to react, she'd raised her wand and fired a Stunner at him. Bad luck, mate. I'm not taking any chances this time.

He collapsed backwards into the hall, and Tonks, moving around to hide the events from view in case any passing Muggle managed to resist the Repelling Charms, followed and slammed the door. "Cassius! I've got him!" she called. She checked one last time with the Tracking Spell. Her wand turned to point straight at him and glowed with light and heat.

Cassius came in through the back door, and also grinned widely as he looked at the unconscious wizard on the floor in front of them.

"Well, well," he said with a touch of amusement. "If it isn't the fellow who didn't like me slumming it at the Toad last night. I almost feel sorry for him, having to have such an undesirable in his house uninvited."

He caught Tonks' eye and chuckled. She laughed along with him, a laugh they also contained a considerable amount of relief. At last something had gone right.

*****

The interview, however, went much as expected.

That is, he refused to say anything helpful.

Tonks and Cassius searched the house quickly while their suspect was knocked out. Technically, she knew, they should have had a warrant - at least if they expected to use what they found in court - but Cassius was sure that if they found anything, one would be granted retrospectively for a 'repeat search' to legitimise anything they came up with. Unfortunately, although they found plenty of evidence of minor criminal activity, there was nothing to suggest any particular connection to illegal potion pushers.

The search did reveal his name - the rather grandiloquent Sylvester Ballantyne - and from that, they had obtained his Ministry record. There were several convictions for trading in stolen goods, and one for cursing somebody into St Mungo's during a fight, but nothing major. It reminded Tonks of Benjamin Farley. When she mentioned this to Cassius, he just shrugged sadly and said that these petty criminals often had very similar records.

Once they had him back to the Ministry for interview, they naturally demanded to know whether he had any connection to Farley, or to the Blackstocks, or Arkwright ... or for that matter to anyone else they could think of who was vaguely connected to the case. He flatly denied everything.

It was frustrating for Tonks, but Cassius seemed to take it calmly, as if it were only to be expected. Probably it is, she thought privately as . After all, best thing they can do when we don't have specific evidence is stonewall.

They were on surer ground with the assault charges on the Aurors, and here they did seem to have Ballantyne rather worried. After all, blanket denial clearly wasn't going to get him anywhere when they all knew they had solid evidence against him. But the questioning did seem to Tonks to be going round in circles.

"... So why did you attack me?"

"It was self-defence."

"Right. You ran into that courtyard firing Stunners before I even saw you. How is that self-defence?"

"Well, you were holding someone at wandpoint. You might have been mugging them. Can't be too careful, can you?"

"But why follow me in the first place?"

"Didn't like the look of you. You went out the pub with a bloke I knew - only by sight though - and I thought I'd better keep an eye out and watch his back."

"And did you Stun my partner here from behind?"

"Don't know who did that. Lots of rough people about, aren't there? You need to be more careful."

"And why did you bring along two mates?"

"You always want to have backup. They were just ... doing their civic duty like me."

"So if you were just 'doing your civic duty' why did you run away when the other Aurors arrived?"

"Because you were all attacking me. It was self-defence ..."

After the fourth or fifth round of this, Cassius caught Tonks' eye and motioned to her to step out of the interview room. He pointed the way back to their desks, where he looked at her with slight amusement. She had been scowling ever more obviously for the past quarter of an hour, and gave him a frustrated glance.

"We're not getting anywhere at all with him, are we?" she said in exasperation.

"Not really."

"Do you know him? He seemed to know you back at the pub."

"I can't remember him. But it's happened before - I was quite well known among the criminal fraternity by the time I retired. I'd been in the job so long, I suppose. And I've seen so many crooks over the years ... I don't remember them unless they stand out in some way. And our Mr Ballantyne doesn't seem the standing out type, I'm afraid."

He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "But you know, I don't think it's sunk in with him yet quite how much trouble he's in? Assaulting an Auror is a serious charge, and he's never had to face one of those - nothing that could ever carry a sentence in Azkaban, anyway." An expression of distaste passed across his face. "He seems to think this 'self-defence' defence will work, but frankly if he tries that in front of the court, they'll not be inclined to take him seriously once they've been shown his record. It's not as if you really looked that threatening dressed up as Beatrice Easton."

"Maybe someone should tell him that. We don't have to let him see a legal representative until we actually charge him with something, do we?"

"Not unless we hold him more than three days." He paused, obviously thinking hard. "And maybe we shouldn't yet - he may not know what the sentencing possibilities are. We may be able to put the wind up him a bit."

Tonks stifled a groan. Another thing to add to my ever-growing list of Things I'm Supposed To Know And Really Will Have To Look Up Sometime. "So what are the sentencing possibilities then?"

"Assault on an Auror? Up to a year in Azkaban technically, although in cases like this where there was no real damage done, probably just a big fine or a sentence in the normal cells. But he doesn't necessarily have to know that. And if it appears that he was helping out a serious criminal - and I think our Jacmel seller qualifies as that - he's looking at the Rock for a while again. That should give us some leverage."

Tonks looked at Cassius curiously. Evidently there was a genuine Auror hardness beneath the friendly exterior. It was quite a contrast ... but as she'd had cause to realise before, it was one she'd have to develop in herself as quickly as possible. She found herself hoping that she wasn't going to change and harden too much. Cassius seemed to have struck a reasonable balance, but she didn't want to end up like ... well, Claymore for example.

She shuddered. That was another interview she wasn't looking forward to without something to show for their exertions.. "What about the report on that sample?" she asked. "If it was really Jacmel in that Firewhiskey, won't that be good leverage?"

"Could be. Do we have it yet?"

He rummaged around in the in-tray and found a memo, which he read with a grin on his face. "Well now, young lady, we have a catch. The potions chappies are sure, 100%, definite, no doubt in their minds that there was a good solid dose of the Liquor of Jacmel in that drink, and if you hadn't Transfigured your way out of it, you'd have been in every bit as much trouble as that fellow thought you were."

He stood up quickly and waved the parchment at her. "Let's see what we can do with this."

*****

Tonks was quite happy to let Cassius fly with the Quaffle on this one. It was quite impressive to watch him cheerfully explain to Ballantyne about all the horrible penalties involved in cases of this kind, and the terrors of the Dementors of Azkaban. She was observing him closely, and there seemed to be a definite distaste behind the enthusiasm when he talked about them, but she was sure Ballantyne wouldn't see it, and he was getting increasingly alarmed. The boy's definitely a pro.

Cassius sat back with a smile; his body language that reminded Tonks of a cat who has played a mouse for a while and now prepares to close in for the kill. "Now then, old chap," he said in a friendly tone, "of course it doesn't have to be like this."

"No?" said the wizard warily. Cassius smiled again. Tonks concentrated on looking stern while she waited for the outcome.

"No. You can of course carry on with this 'it was all self-defence' story, but I don't think the court will find your explanation for why you were there and fighting too convincing. Especially when you say you don't know who this man was. Not very plausible really, is it? It's the sort of thing that annoys them. Gets them to throw the book at you on the charges we do have - and let's face it, on the assault charges we do have you, er, 'bang to rights' is the phrase I believe? But of course if you were to help us find him - well, we might overlook quite a lot in that case. Something to think about, isn't it?"

The man's eyes looked shifty. "Suppose I did know him, Scrimgeour - which I don't. Why would I rat him out to you?"

"That would be self-defence." Tonks surprised herself by butting in. She realised she was using the Bad Auror tone that she'd used on Easton and grimaced slightly. Cassius smiled pleasantly again.

"I think my colleague here is right. I couldn't have put it better myself."

Ballantyne stared at them. His face had a trapped look. "I need to see a legal wizard," he said abruptly

Cassius raised his eyebrows. "But we haven't charged you with anything yet, Mr Ballantyne." When this produced no response except a sullen look, he smiled again. "Look, why don't we leave you to think about it for a bit?" That's also in the Auror manuals, thought Tonks. In interrogations, pressure must be continuous - but to persuade, you have to give them time out to reason with themselves and consider telling you what you want to know.

They got up and motioned to the guards to take Ballantyne back to the holding cell. He looked at them sourly as he left the room.

"Do you think he'll decide to talk?" she asked Cassius abruptly as they sat down back at their desks again to write up the interview report.

"Can't tell," said Cassius thoughtfully. "It depends how strong his ties really are. Give him time to chew it over ... sad to say, a lot of people in custody do rat out their friends unless they're too scared to do so. Even sadder, a lot of them don't."

"Right." A memo flew into Tonks' in-tray; its colour was bright red as opposed to the usual pale violet, which meant urgent summons. She picked it up, read it, and blanched.

"Bad news?" asked Cassius.

"Claymore," she said tersely. "He wants to see me right away."