Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

23. A Significant Development In The Case

The other Aurors stared at her blankly, although after a few seconds a look of dawning comprehension on Cassius' face showed that he, at least, had remembered exactly which books she'd brought back from Lore of Yore a few weeks previously.

"What Lucretia Borgia Never Knew: A Guide to Slow Poisons," he said carefully, almost reverently. "What did you do with that book, Tonks? Did you send it to the Hall of Records in the end?"

"Actually, I never got round to filling in the claim form. It's still on my desk as far as I can remember ..."

"Go and get it. Don't touch it more than you have to. Just in case."

"OK." Tonks blinked slightly at this; surely the book itself couldn't be dangerous? She half-walked, half-ran back to her desk, found the volume she was looking for buried under a pile of memos, and eased it out with a "Locomotor book." Ignoring the curious stares from the occupants of the other cubicles and the people she passed in the hallway, she guided the book down the corridor with her wand and into the meeting room. The others hastily snatched their mugs of tea and coffee out of the way to prevent a disaster as it slid to a halt on the table.

Cassius carefully opened the book at its index with his wand and scanned it, then smiled at Tonks. "You were right, young lady," he said quietly, flicking his wand a few more times to turn the leaves. "Page forty-eight, aqua cordis debilitatio. Let's see ... hmm, most of the ingredients should be reasonably readily available, although the powdered Graphorn claws and oil of Firepine won't have been easy to get. Looks very difficult to brew, though, like most of these advanced potions ... I doubt there are many books left with the recipe. Rather odd that one should have suddenly turned up in an unregistered bookshop with an extensive Dark Arts section a few weeks before the potion was used, isn't it?" He looked up at his team. "So I suppose the question is, how likely is it that this copy is the one our criminal found the information in?"

Tonks felt her jaw drop. "You think it might be? Why would they have got rid of it in that case?"

"Wouldn't you have?" said Rhiannon, staring at the old text with great interest. "Think about it, Tonks. If you kept the actual book and somebody did a search of your house, it would be a dead giveaway, wouldn't it? Even if you'd Transfigured it to hide it ... no, especially if you'd Transfigured it to hide it. For myself, I'd just copy all the interesting recipes down in some sort of personal code and then get rid of the evidence ..."

"... by trading it to a bookshop owner whose policy is to sell anything as long as it's old and obscure," finished Cassius. "And where the thing might very well have been bought in the first place. I think it's time we had another word with our Miss Orevel."

"I don't suppose Magical Analysis will be able to get any aura traces off it after all this time?" said Cornworthy in a resigned voice.

"I doubt it," replied Cassius with a shrug. "But we may as well try, so we'd better be careful how we handle this."

"I don't suppose we can get, erm," - Tonks racked her brains for the right word - "finger printings off the book? Like the Muggle police do?"

O'Gregan sniggered. "Been watching old films with your dad again, Tonks? Since when have we ever used fingerprints?"

"From about 1930 to 1937, if I remember correctly." Cassius turned a bemused look on his colleagues who were all staring at him open-mouthed. "What's the matter? Didn't they teach you about that during training?"

Tonks exchanged amused glances with Rhiannon. Don't you just hate it when this happens? "No, mate, they didn't actually."

"Oh." He shrugged. "Well, we did try it for a few years, although the Department took some convincing to experiment with a Muggle technique." He shook his head. "The trouble was, it turned out to be too easy for wizarding criminals to get around it with magic once they realised what we were doing. Transfigure their fingertips, that sort of thing. Some bright spark even came up with a variation on Scourgify for removing just the prints. So the idea rather fell out of use."

"If it fell out of use, does that mean people don't take precautions any more?" asked Tonks hopefully.

"I suppose it does," said Cassius with thoughtful look. "I'd never really considered that, you know. Not that it would help us much, we don't keep records any more. There were too many jokers who left false prints. Come to think of it, I believe the Wizengamot introduced a policy of refusing to allow them as evidence because of that. It's probably still in force, I should think - I don't suppose anyone's thought about the matter long enough to consider changing the rules for the last fifty years. I mean, it was getting too embarrassing - if we'd believed all the prints we found, the Minister for Magic would have been convicted of half the crimes we investigated."

"It might be useful as an indication, though?" pressed Tonks. O'Gregan nodded thoughtfully. He seemed quite taken with the idea too now.

"If we can get anything to compare with, I suppose ..." answered Cassius. He contemplated the book pensively. "Once Magical Analysis have finished with this I'll take it down to K's chaps. They may still have some ways to get information from it, although as far as I remember prints don't last very long. But I will get them to have a go at that card. You never know."

He sat up and said in a brisk voice, "Anyone got any more to say? No? Ver ..."

"What other recipes have they got in that book?" interrupted Rhiannon. "Is there anything else we're likely to come up against?"

"Ah, good point." He flicked through it. "Hmm. Most of these poisons sound exceedingly unpleasant. Let's see ... Suffocation Solution, for example, gradually cuts off the ability to breathe. Victim asphyxiates within twenty-four hours unless they take the antidote. Which apparently requires a week to brew, oh dear ... Blood Blend, a contact poison, makes the victim slowly waste away. Can be made much more powerful by adding some of your own blood as an ingredient, but will then only affect close relatives. From what I hear, I imagine Lady Borgia could have made excellent use of that one ... The Putrefaction Potion, causes the body of the victim to rot from the extremities inwards ..."

"Charming," said O'Gregan. He put down his mug of coffee with a somewhat nauseated expression on his face.

"Indeed. But from our killer's point of view, most of them look as if they would be rather too obvious, don't you think? The poison they actually chose would have been undetectable once out of Ashford's system even to modern methods of magical analysis. You almost have to admire their planning skills."

"Almost," said O'Gregan with a disgusted look.

"Exactly. Now, if there's nothing else ..."

"Arkwright?" interrupted Tonks. "Might as well check on him, just in case. Sounded odd that he's suddenly mellowed so far as Ashford is concerned, didn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if he had a potions lab left over from his zoo."

"We could ask Will Poppleford if he could do us a favour and arrange for a visit from his department?" offered Rhiannon.

"Yeah, they might let us tag along and poke around a bit," said Tonks hopefully.

Cassius nodded. "Very well, then. Rhiannon, good idea of yours, you see what you can do with the Magical Creature regulators. I'll take this for analysis and go and apply for those warrants. Tonks, you go and tell Dawlish what your cousin said, and find out what they're doing about the World Cup fiasco - I need to know if any of us are going to be called on to investigate that. Donnacha, Arnold, can you go back over the records on the Blackstocks and see if there's anything we mis ... ... er, yes, Donnacha?"

"We'll do that, but can we do something a little more direct, now? Track these fine people around for a few days under an Invisibility Cloak maybe, see where they go and who they talk to?"

Cassius shrugged. "Well, the Law Enforcement Patrol are supposed to be keeping an eye on them, but I suppose they'll be called on to help with the World Cup investigations, so ... yes, all right then. Work it out with them. Anything else?" He looked around. "All right. Let's get to work."

Tonks hung back for a moment as they filed out. "Arnie, can I borrow that image projector thing you had?"

*****

"Malfoy, eh?" said Dawlish when Tonks reported what Draco had said to her. "Not the first to tell me that. Heard much the same from Arthur Weasley."

"You did?" said Tonks in disappointment.

"Yes. His son found young Draco watching the riot like it was an entertainment laid on for his benefit. Probably was. Seemed pretty sure he'd expected it. Kid didn't actually tell him so in as many words though, unfortunately."

"Still, that's two reports," said Tonks hopefully. "Can you do anything with it?" Dawlish gave a short laugh.

"No chance. Lucius Malfoy's always under suspicion for something. Never pinned one on him yet. And he's got the Minister in his pocket."

Tonks scowled. She wasn't happy about this reaction, but it wasn't entirely unexpected either. "OK. One other thing I ought to report. One of the people in the Death Eater pack rang a bell with me - I think I might have seen him before. Take a look at this." She put Cornworthy's Image Projector on the desk and tapped it with her wand. Dawlish raised his eyebrows.

"Where did you see him before?"

Tonks brightened slightly; at least that suggested Dawlish recognised the man whose image was being projected. "Knockturn Alley, about a month ago. The older one was striding along like he was on his way to an important meeting. Nearly knocked me over, that's why I remembered him. The boy was tagging along looking as if he'd rather be somewhere else more interesting. Do you know him?"

"Think so. Looks like a man called Nott. Another old suspect, never managed to get anything on him either. Can you make a positive identification?"

Tonks hesitated. "No," she said reluctantly. "I'm fairly confident it's him, but I couldn't actually see his face at the campsite. It was just his body shape, and his hands, and the way he walked. I've spent so much time observing things like that for practice that it's probably become second nature."

"Practice? Oh yes, you shape-shift, don't you? That's why you got top marks for observation in training, then?"

"I suppose so. This isn't going to be much use, is it?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that." He gave her a slight smile. "Might be able to work on him. He doesn't have the same connections. Call it an anonymous tip-off or something. Don't hold your breath though."

Tonks shrugged. Oh well. I did try. "How are we doing on this? Have we caught anyone yet?"

"Got a few identifications. The stupid ones who joined in without masks. Probably just freeloaders, though, not part of the main group. Wouldn't bet they'll help us find who planned it."

Why doesn't that surprise me? "Er ... sir?" she said tentatively. "Do we have any ideas on who that might be?"

He gave her a shrewd look that she didn't like much. "Other than your uncle, you mean? Who else did you have in mind?"

She hesitated, but there didn't seem much point in not saying what she'd planned to say. Dawlish seemed to know what it was anyway. "Well, there's always Sirius Black," she said. "My cousin, as I'm sure you know. He's still on the loose ..."

"Hardly turn up on the campsite, would he?" interrupted Dawlish. "Wouldn't want to do anything with all the security there. May be crazy, but he's not supposed to be stupid."

"If he was hiding in the woods, though, he might have cast the Dark Mark ..."

"Right next to the boy he was after, Auror Tonks? What for? Could have killed all three of them before they even had time to lift a wand. And it was Potter's wand, too. We did consider the possibility of Black. Can't see it myself."

"Oh. Right." She wasn't sure whether to be deflated or pleased. "How did whoever it was get Harry Potter's wand, anyway?"

Dawlish shrugged. "Kid thought he dropped it on the way into the wood. Never noticed. No sense, these kids nowadays. Far too casual. Still, wouldn't matter much if he had lost it. Kid's rich enough to buy himself a dozen wands if he wants, from what I hear. Fame and money at that age? Probably gone to his head."

"Er, yes, it could do, I suppose," said Tonks, nonplussed. It was unusual to find anyone being critical when the subject of Harry Potter cropped up (which it frequently did whenever talk turned to anything related to the war). "So does Claymore need us for anything?" She crossed her fingers behind her back. Not that it wouldn't give her great pleasure to arrest some of the marchers, but she didn't really want to have to abandon their other case just when they'd found a new lead.

"Not yet." He gave her one of his twisted smiles. "Got something else on, haven't you? Can tell by the look on old Cassius' face. You go and do that. Know where to find you all if we need you."

*****

"There's an owl here for you, Tonks," said Rhiannon testily when she got back.

"An owl?" asked Tonks, surprised. "I thought we didn't use them?"

"We don't. It must have made its way in here somehow. Just take the letter from the blasted thing, look you? I've had to Vanish the droppings twice already."

Tonks took the envelope from the bird's beak. It preened itself and nudged her hand with its head, pointing her towards her quill. "Must have followed me from my flat," she said curiously. "And it's obviously been told to wait for a reply." She ripped the envelope open, read the letter, and broke out in a fit of giggles that rapidly developed into uncontrollable laughter.

Rhiannon looked at her as if she'd suddenly morphed herself into a house-elf (she supposed she could probably actually do that with a bit of effort, come to think of it). "What's so funny?"

Tonks handed her the letter. She scanned it and broke out into giggles of her own. Cassius poked his head around the edge of his cubicle and watched them in polite bemusement.

"What's so funny?"

"This." Rhiannon waved the neatly-written parchment at him, stifling the last few giggles. "Your lady friend's son has chosen to write a formal letter to ask our girl out for dinner."

"My lady friend?" asked Cassius with a puzzled frown.

"Mrs Hallendale," explained Tonks with a chuckle. Cassius looked at her reprovingly, but she ignored him. She clicked her fingers again. "You know, I thought Montgomery Hallendale wanted to ask me something when I ran into them at the World Cup? I suppose it would have been pretty bad timing to talk about dinner then, seeing as how I'd just sort of threatened to arrest them both."

"Arrest them?" said Cassius in alarm.

"Well, I didn't mean it really ... But he was apparently planning to circumvent the Muggle-Repelling charms on the stadium all by himself, to let your Angie watch the match. So I had to act the heavy a bit. "

"She isn't 'my Angie'," said Cassius with a frown. "I merely spent some time talking to her."

"Whatever you say, Cassius," said Tonks, grinning. "Didn't know Monty had it in him to break rules like that. It made me warm to him a bit, actually," she finished.

"So are you going to take him up on the offer, then?" said Rhiannon, waggling her eyebrows. "Shame to waste such a sweet letter, isn't it?" It was Tonks' turn to look reproving.

"I said warm to him, not get the hots for him. Anyway, I already arranged a date with Ches."

"Ches? Chesney Thompson, you mean? When did that happen?"

"Well, OK, we haven't actually fixed anything up yet, but at least he deserves a chance. He's quite sweet really."

"No harm in having more than one string to your bow, though," pointed out Cassius, who was obviously trying to keep a straight face, and almost succeeding.

"Or for that matter, more than one beau to your string," added Rhiannon with a wicked grin, obviously not trying at all.

"Shut up, Rhi," said Tonks tartly. "I mean, asking me by letter? A bit pompous, don't you think?"

"Not in my day," said Cassius with dignity. "It was the accepted way to ask a young lady to meet you. In fact, if you really wanted to do things properly, you had to write to her father first to get his permission to even ask."

"Oh good, much simpler now then," said Rhiannon, ignoring his look of annoyance. "Although I'm sure the arranged-marriage crowd can still do worse. I'm so glad my lot were never into that. Anyway, Tonks," she said, pointing at the owl which was clicking its beak impatiently and looking generally annoyed, "aren't you going to write something and let this poor creature do its job?"

Tonks picked up a quill, hesitated, then shrugged and scribbled a note telling Montgomery to suggest a time: 'I'll see how I'm fixed if I don't have any case work on'. She knew she was procrastinating, but it was easier than trying to compose a letter that said 'no' politely, and a great deal quicker. She tied it to the leg of the owl, which gazed at her as if expecting an Owl Treat. She held out her hands apologetically to show it that she didn't have any. With a look of reproach it flew off, to the accompaniment of chuckles from the other Aurors as it tried to negotiate the exit doors. Bad luck, mate, she thought. We're not set up for owls here. Go and complain to your boss.

She turned back to her colleagues. "Any luck with Will then, Rhi?"

"He'll 'see what he can do', he said. Best we're going to get, I think. How was Dawlish? Have they made any progress since that meeting with Claymore?"

"Nothing really. Sounds like we're OK to work on this though. Any suggestions, Cassius?"

Cassius considered this. "Can't hurt to re-examine all the possible approaches. Rhiannon, would you be so kind as to have a word with Eleanor Finchley and check if she has any new information on our musical instrument thieves? Tonks, I think it's time that we visited Sylvester Ballantyne again. The Wizengamot have set a trial date on the assault charge now. Let's find out if that's made him more willing to talk about his potion-pushing friend."

*****

After lunch, Tonks and Cassius Apparated into Wizard's Row in Brighton again. It looked far more inviting than on their previous early morning visit, with several witches and wizards examining merchandise and chatting amiably to each other. Tonks looked back curiously as they stepped out into the Muggle street on the other side of the exit; although there was a fairly high wall around it, it didn't look nearly high enough to prevent the Row from being seen from the higher windows on the other side of the street.

"It's shielded from view with Distortion Charms and Muggle-Repellers," muttered Cassius, noticing her interest. "Probably has anti-climbing enchantments on the wall as well. Quite safe."

"Interesting," said Tonks, equally quietly. "I've never really spent much time in these little bitty magical areas. You'd think people would just go up to Diagon Alley, wouldn't you?"

"It's nice to have a local place to meet, though, isn't it?" said Cassius. "Well, relatively local. I suppose this place serves as a magical centre for several counties."

"True." Tonks looked around and sighed. "Remind me again why we couldn't just Apparate straight there?"

Cassius looked at her in mild exasperation. "You know the rules as well as I do, Tonks. Stick to designated Apparation Points if you don't know exactly where to aim for. We can't risk appearing out of thin air in the middle of a Muggle neighbourhood. And I certainly can't remember the lie of the land around his house well enough to know where it would be safe to pop up without being seen. Can you?"

"That little alleyway down the side?" Tonks said hopefully as they walked out onto the main road.

"Which must get used all the time, so no."

"So, how do we get out to where Ballantyne lives? Walk again?"

He winced. "I'd rather not. How much Muggle money do you have on you?

Tonks opened her Muggle-style handbag, extracted a purse and flicked through it. "Not much, mate. Just a few coins."

Cassius examined the contents of his pockets with vexation. "Neither have I. Can't take one of their taxis then. It'll have to be the bus." He grinned suddenly. "You know, I haven't ridden on one of those in ages? It'll be quite nostalgic."

"OK." Tonks stuck out her arm as a bus appeared around the corner, and watched with indignation as it sped by. "Hey! Aren't they supposed to stop?"

Cassius carefully hid a smile as he pointed towards a small covered enclosure about a hundred yards away. "Only at the designated bus stops. It's not like the Knight Bus, you know."

"Oh." A disgruntled Tonks followed him down the street to the stop.

The driver of the first bus to turn up stared at them in disbelief when they asked for a ticket to the housing estate where Ballantyne lived. After a few minutes of mutual incomprehension, and a number of impatient glares from the passengers on the bus, it turned out that the journey couldn't be done directly, and involved a change of buses en route. Tonks and Cassius bought tickets to the station, found themselves seats half-way down the bus, and dropped into them in embarrassment.

"Now I bet you wish we'd risked just Apparating straight there," she muttered under her breath.

"Oh shut up," he replied, equally quietly. After a moment, he added, "When we get there, look around for a good spot we can use next time." She grinned; for once she'd got the better of an argument with him.

"Has Ballantyne done anything so far that we know of?" she asked.

"No. The Patrol were keeping an eye on him when they could, but they've been busy, obviously."

"You'd have thought that he would have said something by now if he's ever going to crack. When did the Wizengamot set a trial date, anyway?"

"Just before the World Cup. I nearly went to see him then, but I thought it might be better to leave him to stew for a few more days. That often helps - it allows him the opportunity to panic a little. I had hoped he might contact someone."

"How would we know?" asked Tonks curiously. "I didn't think we had enough people for a full-time watch on the house."

Cassius smiled. "We don't. But he doesn't necessarily have to be informed of that. And we dp actually have a fairly good idea. He can't Apparate anywhere with that anti-Disapparation bracelet on, and another thing he doesn't know is that it tracks his whereabouts. Unfortunately I'm told that he hasn't done more than go to the shops. And he should still be in, according to this." He reached into his pocket and waved a small gadget. "I borrowed it from the chap keeping an eye on him."

"Do we have tracer wards around his house as well?"

"Oh yes, and a watch on his Floo connection. Nothing of great interest to report there, unless the postman is secretly a dark wizard. We can't do much to track incoming Apparition unfortunately, at least not without tipping him off. But those Apparition-blocking spells he put on his house come in quite handy for us, too, because they stop most visitors ..."

"Here, are you doing some kind of RPG or summat? You look a bit old for it."

Tonks and Cassius jumped. The speaker was a spotty teenage boy in the seat behind them. "I beg your pardon?" said Cassius politely, but with a trace of alarm in his voice.

"All that talk about wizards and spells and stuff. I thought maybe you were into some sort of fantasy role-play thing, like?" He looked almost indecently enthusiastic.

"Oh, well ..." said Tonks, floundering. She cast a panicked look at Cassius - Now what do we do? - and wasn't reassured to see that he looked just as uncertain as she felt. She cursed her own stupidity - apparently they'd allowed their voices to return to something approaching normal volumes.

"What made you think that?" said Cassius, obviously sparring for time while he tried to work out the best way to handle the situation. Tonks thought wistfully of a Memory Charm, but there was no way she could cast one on the bus without risking more people noticing that something was amiss.

"Well, I play D&D, but that sounded like a modern game, not a dungeon thing. Is this like a game of your own, like? Where do you play? Didn't know people as old as you were into this sort of stuff. Er, no offence, like, mate."

"None taken," said Cassius with a smile, which broadened slightly as an idea seemed to occur to him. "Actually, my granddaughter here is a bit of a, er, fantasist? It amuses me to indulge her. It's a sort of private game we play."

Cheers mate. "Yeah - we sort of, er, pretend we're magical, er, police?" The boy seemed to find this explanation plausible, and Tonks perked up slightly as she realised that his idea wasn't quite as stupid as it had looked at first sight, and might even actually work. "You know, er, pretend we're on an, er, case and work out how we'd catch villains?"

The boy looked half curious, half disappointed. "Oh, right. That sounds like it might be fun. Not D&D then?"

"Definitely not." Whatever the hell that might be. "Just something we, er, make up as we go along. Just the two of us," she added hastily. She didn't want to give the Muggle boy any ideas. She smiled brightly at him. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy your B&B - er, D&D. Sounds fun."

The boy didn't look convinced, but fortunately the bus pulled into the station at that point, and although he seemed inclined to probe further they managed to lose him in the early afternoon crowds. With some relief they found the right bay for the bus they had to catch and lined up.

"Remind me to keep my big mouth shut in future," murmured Tonks as they queued. And also remind me to get you back for that. "Or really call for the Knight Bus."

"Really? Personally I think I'd rather travel by these," said Cassius as they reached the front of the queue. "They might not be as quick, but at least they have careful drivers. And they know where to go. Yes, two tickets please," he said. "One, er, OAP?" Tonks sniggered and he looked at her reprovingly, but the driver apparently saw nothing out of the ordinary. He also proved to be quite amenable to dropping Tonks and Cassius off as close as possible to Ballantyne's house.

"Did you see what I saw?" asked Cassius lightly as they alighted just around the corner from their destination. This time around, the street was quiet and apparently deserted in the mid-afternoon late summer sunshine.

"A nice thick patch of trees, suitable for Apparating into?" said Tonks with chagrin. "Pity we didn't notice that last time. Anyway, how do you want to play this?" she asked as they walked around the corner. "Are we worried about tipping Ballantyne off that we're here?"

"Oh no, not this time, Tonks. This is definitely an official visit. We just go right up to his front door and knock."

Cassius made sure that his Auror badge was clearly visible on the front of his clothes, then suited the action to his words. Tonks dropped back a couple of steps and looked around, keeping her fingers on the tip of the wand concealed in her sleeve just in case of trouble. Cassius knocked on the door again. Nothing happened.

They waited. Nothing continued to happen for the next couple of minutes.

"Do you think he's deliberately ignoring us?" asked Tonks softly.

"Not if he has any sense," said Cassius with a frown.

"He hasn't got any sense, or he wouldn't have got himself in this situation in the first place," Tonks pointed out. Cassius hammered on the door again, much harder this time. There was still no reply.

"He couldn't have left the house without us knowing, could he?" said Tonks, sounding worried.

Cassius shook his head, looking puzzled. "We'd know if he Flooed out, there's a Portkey watch as well, and we've stopped him from Apparating. Even if he had left the house we'd know where he'd gone, as long as he had that bracelet on. And if he can break the spells that stop him removing that without an alarm going off, he's a far more powerful Dark Wizard than I'd ever have given him credit for."

They looked around again. The house, and the street around it, were still quiet.

"I'll go and take a look round the back," said Tonks eventually. "I suppose he could just be out in the back garden? If he isn't, do I try to take a look inside?"

"Well ... yes, all right, perhaps you'd better," said Cassius slowly. "Be careful though, Tonks. I don't like the look of this."

"Way ahead of you, mate." She slipped down the little lane next to the house and looked over the fence into the garden. Ballantyne wasn't there. She hesitated for a moment, then carefully adjusted her own clothes to ensure that her Auror badge was easily visible to anyone who might be in the house contemplating an attack on non-official visitors. She quietly slipped in through the back gate and crossed to the kitchen door.

She listened carefully; she could faintly hear Cassius knocking again on the front door, but there were no other sounds. She paused for a moment, then tried the door. It was locked.

Tonks checked that none of Ballantyne's Muggle neighbours were out in their gardens where they might see her, then pointed her wand at the door and muttered Alohomora. It remained locked. She pursed her lips. Rendering the Unlocking Charm ineffective wasn't an especially advanced bit of charmwork, but it was definitely annoying.

She smiled to herself ruefully as she suddenly remembered K's 'knife', and took it from her handbag. She ran it around the edge of the door frame, and this time the door clicked open. She opened it as quietly as possible and moved very slowly into the kitchen. This did not seem like a good time to risk carelessly tripping over something and drawing attention to herself..

There was nothing obviously out of the ordinary in the kitchen. Tonks slipped her wand out of its concealing holder and gripped it tightly, then opened the door to the hallway.

It was empty.

The door to the lounge was open, and she crept up to it, then swiftly moved round into the open space with her wand held ready for immediate use. Then she stopped and stared.

"Cassius?" she yelled.

"Yes?" His voice from outside was muffled but clearly audible.

"Get in here now. Use your knife thingy if you have to."

He appeared at her side very quickly, and she moved aside to let him see what was in the room. He froze for a moment.

"Oh ... bugger."

"My sentiments exactly, mate."

Ballantyne had not left the house; and now he never would. What remained of him was lying on the lounge floor with most of the back of the head missing and his blood splattered across the room.