Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

28. Together Alone

Tonks hung back slightly as Cassius knocked on Angelica Hallendale's front door. After a moment or two, it opened and she greeted him with a smile.

"Cassius!" she said, with what appeared to be genuine pleasure. "Hello again ... oh I see, and Miss Tonks, too? Do come in then, won't you?"

Tonks followed them in and looked around with frank curiosity. The house seemed thoroughly Muggle as far as she could tell - although as they passed the door to the lounge she caught sight of some sort of large glass object that had been displayed on a table, and which looked as if it might have had some magical assistance - but she supposed that it wouldn't be surprising if there were a few enchanted items discreetly hidden about the house. There almost always were in the homes of Muggle family members of wizards and witches. Her dad had presented her grandparents with a fair few of them over the years, after all.

"Er, I was just about to make a cup of coffee," said their hostess, seeming slightly flustered. "But I suppose you prefer tea, don't you? It's one thing I still haven't quite got used to ..."

"Coffee will be perfectly all right for me," said Cassius hastily. Tonks nodded.

"Oh, good ..." Angelica said, gazing around distractedly. "What brings you here, then, Cassius? Not just a friendly visit then, I suppose?"

"Official business, I'm afraid, Mrs Hallendale," said Tonks. "We wanted to ask if you were familiar with Sylvester Ballantyne."

"Sylvester?" Her voice was surprisingly sad, and she turned to give Tonks an appraising glance over her shoulder as she made the coffee. "Yes, I knew him. I guess all of the ... community in these parts knew him. I heard what happened, of course. Poor guy, but I always did think he moved in dangerous circles."

"Would you know who they were Ang ... ah, Mrs Hallendale?" asked Cassius quietly.

She handed him a cup with an arch look. "I told you, Cassius, it's Angelica. There's no need to be so formal. And no, I don't know who they were. Hank" - she swallowed, then carried on as if there had never been a pause - "might have, but then he never was too fussy who he bought things from. Oh dear, I shouldn't tell you that, should I?"

"Too late to arrest him now," said Tonks cheerfully, before immediately kicking herself very hard mentally at the realisation that this wasn't the most tactful thing she could have said. She too carried on regardless. "We just wanted to know if anyone knew who Ballantyne talked to or did business with. No-one seems to want to say. And I'm sure anything you did wouldn't have been an Auror matter, anyway."

Angelica examined her carefully again. "I'm sure some of the things we did might have been Auror matters, you know," she said with a smile. "But not since we moved here. We were quite the pair when we were young, though."

"What did you do?" asked Tonks with interest.

She smiled reminiscently. "When we left Cuba? Travelled all around that part of the world - magical and Muggle - living off our wits, getting into scrapes, and meeting all sorts of odd people. And having tremendous fun, of course. We even got legally wed ... well eventually, anyway." She glanced at Cassius and bit her lip, an action that couldn't quite conceal her amusement. "Oh dear, I think I've shocked your partner, Miss Tonks. I'm sure he'll consider me a loose woman now."

"Not at all," said Cassius, blushing. "Things were very different for you in those days and that ... in that culture, I'm sure."

"You didn't behave like that when you were a young blade?" she said teasingly.

"Well ..." He had a trapped look, as if hoping for a sudden attack from a rogue dragon that might let him avoid answering the question. When nothing of the sort materialised, he said with great care, "Whatever I say to that risks giving myself a reputation I'm not sure I want, wouldn't you agree? So I think I'm not going to say a word."

"Are you sure?" asked Tonks, grinning. "Hang on, where's your coffee, I think I brought a bottle of Veritaserum with me ..."

"I think perhaps I'll just wipe my memory to be on the safe side," he said with dignity. Both women laughed, although Mrs Hallendale seemed slightly uneasy.

"How did you cope with running away?" asked Tonks. Mrs Hallendale had always piqued her curiosity. "The wizarding world must have been really odd for you, mustn't it?"

"Oh yes, it was. Hank was Muggle-born, of course, so he knew how to fit in easily in both worlds, although I didn't, not at first. But then I was far too innocent and naïve at sixteen even to know what I was doing in the world I grew up in - although that changed pretty quick once I left!" She giggled. "I'm sure we broke those International Secrecy laws on numerous occasions, but somehow in those days that sort of thing just didn't seem to matter much, to us or anyone else."

"Very lax place, the Caribbean," said Cassius, nodding.

"It is?" said Tonks with surprise. "It seemed fairly well-organised when I passed through."

"Ah, but the magical governments out there were always rather weak until about ... oh, twenty years or so ago. I think the war breaking out over here scared them, and finally got them to stop bickering and band together for protection. There's a Caribbean Magical Federation now. In a way, you were lucky to know it in the, uh, wild days, Mrs Hallen ... oh all right, Angelica. I remember when I came across Jacmel before, when I was on liaison in America, it was an absolute nightmare trying to get anything from the records of all the little Ministries. They've got things in much better shape now."

"I didn't know all that, Cassius," said Tonks, looking at him with surprise.

"Well, you're here to learn," he said, smiling at her.

"What was that ... thing you mentioned?" asked Angelica in a puzzled tone of voice. "Pacbell? Is that something to do with Sylvester?"

"Liquor of Jacmel," said Cassius with a scowl. "A very nasty little potion from out that way. And we're not doing anything with it, happily. We are however trying to stop someone who is, and Mr Ballantyne seemed to know someone who sold it. Unfortunately, it's very possible that person was the one who took exception to the idea that he might tell us about it."

"Oh." There was a catch in her voice. "I hope not ... Poor Sylvester. I remember there were some very strange and dangerous people out there. He ... he never seemed like he would be involved in something as bad as that."

"What did you think he was involved in?" asked Tonks sharply.

Angelica flushed. "He was ... around. You saw him talking to people from time to time. People said he 'knew how to get things'. He'd help out if you wanted odd jobs done. Frankly, they didn't always have to be strictly legal. I never actually trusted him very much, but he had his niche, I guess. I don't suppose many other people trusted him either. I know the Eastons didn't."

"You know them?"

"Of course I know them!" said Angelica, raising her eyebrows at Tonks. "There have only ever been three magical families in the entire area around Worthing in all the time I've lived here. And one of them moved away years ago. Naturally we know each other."

"How come you both know Ballantyne then?"

"Because Brighton is the nearest thing to a local centre," she said wearily. "Wizard's Row isn't much, but it's a place to talk, and buy potion ingredients and things like that."

"Potion ingredients? What do you want them for?" asked Tonks. She winced a little; she hadn't really meant to fire her questions out in such a sharp and accusatory manner. Even Cassius looked slightly embarrassed by it.

"Even Muggles can buy the ingredients for potions, you know, Miss Tonks," replied Angelica, defensively but with just a trace of asperity. "My sons don't often brew them, true, but they don't have the leisure to go shopping. And everything's labelled, after all."

Cassius nodded again. "Exactly. I've seen it done many a time. It's only a shopping list, just like the supermarket. Except that they don't sell dragon's liver or Trembleweed extract or fairy eggs in Muggle supermarkets."

Angelica laughed nervously. "Yes, I used to help Hank brew potions occasionally. Chop the ingredients up, hand him the right disgusting thing at the right time so he could concentrate on stirring. Of course I never had the theoretical training he or my sons did, so for me it was always a case of 'follow the recipe carefully'. Just like cooking." She giggled again. "Of course, I never had any training in that, either. We had servants to do it all for us. But fortunately - as it turned out when I left - when I got bored with lessons as a child, I used to sneak down to the kitchens to chat to the maids. So I got to know what you were supposed to do with pots and pans."

"Fair enough," said Tonks, smiling. "Didn't help me much, though. I used to watch Mum cook, but I've never been good at anything complicated, I'm dead clumsy. I only got high marks in Potions because I worked so hard on the theory. Lucky Auror training is mostly theory, otherwise I'd have been done for. I don't usually buy any ingredients now. Come to think of it, how do you get into Wizards' Row anyway? I thought the whole place was shielded with Muggle-Repelling charms?"

"The people who work there know me by now," replied Angelica coolly. "I knock when I want to be let in. Er, perhaps those charms don't work very well on people who already know there's something there? Wizards do seem very fond of their Muggle-Repelling Charms, don't they? I'm not surprised they don't know how the normal world works." She snorted. "Not to mention very fond of Memory Curses - as I think of them."

"We don't use them all the time," said Tonks defensively.

"Damned often, though. Ugh. I know they can be useful, but I've never liked them. I remember Hank wanted to use one on my father when we ran away to make him forget he'd been there!" Her laugh was bitter. "Even I would have hexed him for that if I'd known how! I hate the idea of my family losing bits of themselves so casually. You'd need a very good reason to actually want one cast on you, wouldn't you?"

"You don't seem too enamoured with the wizarding world any more, Angelica," put in Cassius in a gentle voice.

She smiled at him rather sadly. "I kind of figure I'm not, Cassius. Not any more. I used to love it while Hank was here, but ... the war burnt it out of me, I suppose. Magic started by being this really wonderful thing in my life, and ended up as something horrible. And although I can't help but be involved - well, because of my sons, you know - I'm still ... disillusioned with it. You might say these days I'm just wishing I could leave it all behind me and go back to my roots. Isn't that silly? I've always felt as if I was living some sort of strange double life, I guess, and I get so tired of it sometimes."

Cassius eventually broke the rather strained silence that followed this statement. "You do find some uses for us, though?" he said with a small smile, indicating the coffee cups. "These are Glazer's Self-Cleaning Crockery, aren't they? I recognise the pattern. I have some at home."

Angelica smiled briefly. "Well all right, there are some benefits."

"What do you do all day then?" asked Tonks curiously.

"I garden. I watch films. I love films. I even named my sons after actors. I never had much chance to see them as a kid, and when you're involved in wizard society hardly anybody takes an interest in them. And I read. All those old Golden Age Spanish classics my father and my tutors insisted on - Cervantes, Lope, Calderón - but I'm actually enjoying them this time. And I listen to music, of course. You don't get much music worth listening to in the wizarding world either."

"No kidding," said Tonks, remembering the pub band.

"You'd think that with all the things that can be done to enchant instruments - I've seen some amazing old piano things that play themselves, really beautifully made - it would be so much better, wouldn't you?" said Angelica, who had been growing increasingly animated during the conversation. "But there just aren't any magical musicians I like as much as Mozart, or Tchaikovsky, or even ... oh I don't know, Elvis Presley!"

"It's a much smaller talent pool, of course," said Cassius, stepping in with haste, evidently to head Tonks off from asking who Elvis Presley was. She glared at him. I'll have you know my dad's a big fan! The Weird Sisters are better though.

"But you're right, actually," he continued, looking thoughtful. "Charms do often substitute for artistic creativity. Maybe it all comes too easy to us? Or perhaps the woman in that bookshop was right - we learn so much technical detail by rote, our other senses don't have the chance to develop. My wife felt the same way, as a matter of fact," he finished bleakly. It stopped Angelica Hallendale's enthusiastic nodding in mid-nod, and she looked at him with real compassion.

"She was obviously a sensible woman," she told him, with a sympathetic smile.

"Yes, she was," agreed Cassius. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "Well, with the possible exception of agreeing to marry me, of course. That was probably a very foolish thing for her to do, but when she said yes, I certainly wasn't going to talk her out of it."

"I should think not!" Mrs Hallendale looked at him uncomfortably. "You still miss her very badly, Cassius?"

"Only every hour of every day. Your husband?"

"The same," she answered quietly. "You couldn't help but miss him when he wasn't around. I've never got over losing him - and never will, I guess. I don't think my boys have, either, although you men never say, do you?"

"What was he like?" asked Tonks. She was pleased, and somewhat relieved, that she managed to ask the question tactfully for once.

"Charming. Energetic. Oh, and very handsome, of course." She exchanged knowing glances with Tonks. "Fiercely loyal to me, and his family, and his friends. Probably cut a swathe through the women before he met me, mind you, but once I'd learned enough about men to realise he'd got that out of his system, I decided never to ask. Often terribly irresponsible, but you couldn't help but forgive him."

"I suppose ... yeah, it would have been hard not to," said Tonks soberly. She was uncomfortably aware that Hank Hallendale reminded her of a certain cousin who had been on her mind a lot recently. Or at least, he reminded her of what she'd thought that cousin had been. Over the previous couple of weeks, her attitude towards him had continually veered between one extreme and the other. Forgiveness, though, was still something she couldn't quite yet manage, even while knowing that the possibility was there.

"He always was a bit of a chancer, my Hank," continued Angelica, unaware of Tonks' own memories. "Getting himself all sorts of odd jobs, doing different things he wasn't really qualified to do, always prepared to bluff his way through life. That's how he ended up at my father's house in the first place ... Oh dear, I'm telling you Aurors things I shouldn't, aren't I? You probably think he was a terrible man now."

Cassius quickly shook his head. "No, he doesn't sound like the kind of villains Aurors are interested in. I met enough really bad people during the war to know what their crimes were like ..." He broke off in sudden embarrassment. Tonks stared at them, puzzled, as Angelica tensed up and Cassius looked away. "I'm sorry, Angelica. My fault. I know you don't like talking about the war."

"Can you blame me?" she said explosively. "Back then, it was a ... a nightmare for people like us. When we came to England, we decided ... or rather, we thought ..." She paused to regain her composure, looking thoroughly annoyed with herself. "Let's just say we didn't realise how dangerous it would be when we happily introduced ourselves to people as a wizard married to a Muggle. It wasn't a problem in the ... well, all right, it was a problem out there, but only a social one, and only for some people. Once we realised what was happening we just tried to keep our heads down, pretend we weren't here, not do anything that would cross them or bring us to their attention. We didn't even dare leave."

"Why not?" asked Tonks.

"Because that might have been the thing that brought them after us!" She stopped and swallowed. "They had a reputation for finding you. And we had children by then. And although I don't suppose we were important enough to be a target ... well, Hank still ran into a crossfire, didn't he?" She didn't seem to notice that a tear was trickling down her cheek. "I sometimes wish ... well, I wish that we'd left regardless, taken our chances, just grabbed everything we could and ran for cover, gone back to doing things the way we used to when we were young. But we didn't. We made excuses ... well, I made excuses and Hank went along with them. Money tied down here, kids in school, stupid, stupid reasons like that. I was so scared I couldn't think straight sometimes."

"You had Muggle businesses, did you?" asked Cassius gently.

"Yes. My 'inheritance' - what was left of it. Nothing left in Cuba or even America by then. Hank, poor love, was a wonderful salesman but frankly not really a very good businessman. Montgomery built them back up. He must get it from my father." She moved over to the window and looked out. "I'm sorry, Cassius. It's nice talking to you, but the conversation always seems to keep heading onto topics I really don't want to talk about. I'm sorry."

Cassius took a step towards her, as if intending to make some comforting gesture, but hesitated. Tonks held back. She hadn't really anticipated the conversation taking this kind of turn, and wasn't especially comfortable that it had done so.

"Don't be sorry, Angelica," she said awkwardly. "We maybe shouldn't be doing this." She looked past her out of the window at the garden, which was beautifully ordered, the lawn in particular seeming as if it had been manicured. "You like to garden, you said - you seem to be pretty keen?" she said brightly, trying to find some neutral topic to break up the mood. "It looks terrific, anyway."

Angelica smiled briefly, wiping the tear from her cheek. "Yes, isn't it? I won a prize for it last year, believe it or not."

"Won a what?" said Tonks, surprised.

She smiled more broadly this time. "The letter's in a frame on the mantelpiece in the lounge. Come and take a look. It's not like winning the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Draw, I suppose, but it's nice to be recognised, isn't it?"

They followed her into a perfectly normal Muggle lounge; the only thing that stood out was the elaborate piece of glasswork she'd noticed earlier. There was a small loose rug in front of the table it stood on, in prime position for being tripped over, and she carefully sidled away to the other side of the room.

Fortunately, this was where Angelica Hallendale kept the letter in question, so she was able to make it look as if she'd intended to do that all along. She read it with interest. "You have prizes for the Best Kept Suburban Lawn?"

"Oh yes," said Angelica, obviously surprised. "Why? Is it important?"

"Not really, I suppose," said Tonks, thoughtfully, "but every time I see Muggle things I don't know about and should have, I try to read up on them so I don't make a slip in conversation or anything." She turned to Cassius. "Like when I realised I wasn't sure how the postal service worked? You never know if these things might come in handy someday."

"Indeed," said Cassius, who was over by the window inspecting the Suburban Lawn in question more closely. He turned to their hostess with a twinkle in his eye. "You know, that lawn does look very well kept. It wouldn't have had a little ... help, perhaps?"

Angelica looked at him, slightly taken aback, but her own eyes quickly matched the twinkle. "Well ... ah ... perhaps Montgomery may have done the teensiest little charm or two on it. He's very good to me. Did I show you my vase?"

"Oh yes ..." said Cassius, looking puzzled at the apparent change of subject.

"Which vase?" asked Tonks. Angelica Hallendale rolled her eyes in disbelief, and as she realised she said, "Oh, the glass thing? I wondered about that. Is it wizarding?"

"Not exactly ... it's Hamburghalle glasswork," said Angelica with pride. "Now this really is artistic wizardry. I'm told they use some special trade secret charms to work the glass that they never reveal to anyone, but the effect comes mostly from the skill with which they use them." Cassius was nodding in a way which suggested that this information was well known, which rather annoyed Tonks. What, I'm supposed to be an art connoisseur now? Mrs Hallendale smiled at it with fondness. "Very expensive - must have set Montgomery back quite a fair few Galleons - but it does impress visitors."

"Oh definitely," said Tonks. She had taken a few steps towards the table to look, and now took a precautionary couple of steps back. Unfortunately, this caused her to bump into a sideboard, which jarred a number of photo-frames enough to make them fall over.

"Oh, sorry!" She quickly righted the pictures, then picked them up to look over as a face caught her eye. "This is Monty, isn't it? He looks familiar, and the other one, too, is that Clark, or your husband when he was younger, I'm not sure which of you they take after the most ..." She realised she was babbling with minor embarrassment, and hastily stopped.

"Those are the men in my life, yes," said Angelica. She moved past Tonks and quickly removed the framed photographs from her hands, adjusting their positions on the sideboard carefully. She turned and smiled mischievously. "You know, I did get the impression at that campsite that Montgomery might have had the idea he'd like to be the man in your life too? Not that he tells his poor mother about things like that, of course."

"Ah, right." Tonks' embarrassment deepened; she quickly decided it wouldn't be a good idea to mention Montgomery's note in front of his mother. Or for that matter, this entire conversation in front of Rhiannon Davies. "Well, er, I do have a sort of boyfriend at the moment, I'm sorry to say - er, I don't mean I'm sorry about that, I mean I'm sorry that if Monty's thinking like that, it wouldn't be fair for me to, er would it?" Brilliant. Clear as a vat of Polyjuice Potion. Get a grip, girl.

"Only sort of?" said Angelica, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, early days yet? He's a nice enough bloke."

Angelica turned to Cassius with an expression of mock despair. "'A nice enough bloke,' she says. Not 'a dashing young hero come to carry me away on his white charger' like the girls wished for in my day. Hardly a ringing declaration of true love, is it?"

"That's what the young women wanted in my day too," said Cassius with a grin. "Or at least, that's what they told me. They might just have wanted to see me make a fool of myself, of course."

"I'm not exactly looking for a young hero," said Tonks with a rather fixed smile. She knew she was having fun gently poked at her, but it was hard not to bite. "Especially one who wants to carry me away on a white charger. I don't know that I'm looking for anything in particular. I imagine I'll just know it if and when I see it."

"Ooh, think of the possibilities!" cried Angelica teasingly, wringing her hands in a dramatic manner. Cassius was clearly desperately fighting not to laugh. "Perhaps if it's not a young hero it'll be a ... curse breaker perhaps, or a dragon tamer, or a werewolf ..."

"Or maybe not, since I don't know any of the above and can't see why you should insist on pairing me off with them?" said Tonks tetchily. She shook herself; she'd taken the mickey out of others often enough, after all, so couldn't really complain at getting the same treatment. "Are we finished here, Cassius?"

He suppressed a final smile and nodded. "I think so. We'd better be going, Angelica. You're sure you can't think of anything about Sylvester Ballantyne that would help us?"

"I'm afraid not, Cassius. Sorry I couldn't make your trip worthwhile."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. These last few minutes have certainly been rather entertaining." They exchanged grins; even Tonks managed to smile rather sheepishly. "You'll let us know if you hear anything useful?"

"Of course."

"Right then. Um, yes. Bye."

*****

Tonks tactfully waited until they were back at the office before asking the obvious question.

"Cassius?"

"Mm?" He was scribbling a report on a piece of parchment; Tonks wasn't quite sure why he rarely used an auto-dictation quill, but perhaps they were a little too modern.

"How many times exactly have you been to visit chez Hallendale?"

"What?" He looked up, startled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you went round to warn her off from discussing our movements after Bobby Easton said his piece, but I did get the impression today it wasn't the only time you'd called there ..."

He blushed a little. "Oh. Well, no, it wasn't. I've dropped by another couple of times, just in passing, you know."

"Worthing? In passing?"

He shrugged. "When you're Apparating, it doesn't make any difference, does it? One place is as close as another. Anyway, does it matter?"

"I just wondered why? She's not that important to any of our cases, is she?"

"No, but I just ..." He looked at her in exasperation. "Oh you know why I went, Tonks. I find it interesting to talk to her. Her personality. Some of the same experiences as I have. It's pure loneliness on both our parts, I suppose."

"Oh." Tonks felt a little guilty. "We're rather neglecting you again, aren't we?" she said quietly.

"Don't be silly, Tonks. You've all got your own lives to lead. You shouldn't be worrying about an old codger like me ..."

"Don't be daft," she said, cutting him off before he could hit his stride. She hesitated; what she wanted to say next was going to be awkward. "We're all rather fond of you, you know? Even Don, when he isn't in a world of his own. You're still one of the gang - I suppose maybe we haven't been sure whether you wanted to be, now you're in charge of the case and everything. You seemed to be enjoying that, and we were all quite happy to go along because it was working well ... oh sod it, I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"You're making enough." He had a rueful look, but he was smiling. "Work's work, Tonks. It's good to be running an investigation again, I won't deny that. But it's nice to do something away from work occasionally. That's why I called round there. A lonely old man's weakness, I suppose."

Tonks cuffed him lightly. "Hey, you're entitled. Don't mind me. I'm just the poor novice who keeps putting her foot in it. Literally." She gazed at him thoughtfully. "You know, we should make some time for another evening out at the pub? We don't have to bring along the others if you don't want to. You can tell me some more of those scurrilous stories about the people in the department, and I can try to remember them this time in case I ever need good blackmail material!"

Cassius actually laughed out loud at this. "You're sure your young man won't get jealous?"

"He's just ..." Tonks began before she realised that Cassius was teasing her again. "Oh shut up. I'll take the chance, OK?"

*****

Friday 18^th September

Over the next week, Tonks attempted to keep an unobtrusive eye on Cassius and bring him into conversations wherever possible, although she suspected from the occasional small smile on his face that he had a pretty good idea of what she was up to.

She even got together a number of Aurors for an after-work social at the Leaky Cauldron one Thursday evening, and insisted that he join them, which he did with only a token show of protest. Although Donnacha and Rhiannon pleaded a prior engagement at an expensive restaurant, Cornworthy was more than happy to come along ("gets me out from under my wife's feet for a while," he explained), as was Williamson (never one to turn down an evening at the pub if he could help it). They even persuaded Cassius, after a few rounds, to tell them some tales of Ministries past - including a number of anecdotes about Fudge's Senior Undersecretary that made Tonks' hair stand on end (she returned it to normal as soon as she realised that she'd been unconsciously doing this).

She was feeling rather pleased with herself for organising the evening out as she was working in the office the following afternoon, skimming through a report from K's office on the testing of a pre-production version of Archibald Blackstock's latest invention (a wand holder with an Invisibility Spell for use in Muggle areas, a sample of which had been obtained through back channels).

At that point, her mirror phone rang. To her surprise, it was O'Gregan; who as far as she knew was still doggedly trailing Blackstock's daughter.

"How was the dinner?" she asked jokingly.

"Fine, fine," he said hurriedly. "Look, Tonks, will you do me a favour? I'm in the Magical Market in Birmingham and I need a bit of help quickly, so I do. Can you come up here kitted out as Mabel?"

"Who's ... oh, you mean 'Mavis'?"

"Yeah, whoever. Your anonymous look. Can you do that?"

Tonks glanced around. There was nothing requiring her immediate attention as far as she could see. "Oh all right then. Expect me there in about ten minutes, OK?"

She concentrated hard for a moment, changing her face and figure into her Mrs Anonymous appearance, then worked on her robes for a couple of minutes, Transfiguring them into a less modern style and adding a charm or two for good measure to make them seem dowdier. She then quickly made her way down to the Ministry foyer - a little too quickly as it happened, as she managed to nearly knock someone over as she came out of the lift.

She looked up to see who it was and groaned inwardly as she recognised Barty Crouch again. It took her a moment to realise, with considerable relief, that at least he wouldn't be able to recognise her this time. In fact, he barely paid her any attention at all, and pushed past into the lift with an odd expression on his face that she couldn't quite place; it seemed to be a sort of strained blankness, if that was possible.

Shrugging her shoulders at this - none of my business, I suppose - she went out into the main foyer, Apparated into the middle of the Market, and looked around. O'Gregan was nowhere to be seen.

Oh yeah, Invisibility Cloak. Great. She glanced into a few shop windows with some irritation, just in case he might be inside (and visible), then jumped slightly at she felt a tap on the shoulder from someone who apparently wasn't there.

"Don!" she hissed. "Do you have to wear that thing?"

"Sorry," he muttered quietly. "Come over here." He pulled very gently on the sleeve of her robes, leading her over to a small gap between two stores out of sight of the crowds, then slipped off the Cloak he'd been wearing.

"Right, Don," she said with resignation. "Let me guess. This is to do with Portia Blackstock again, is it? What am I supposed to do, follow her into the Ladies or something?"

"No, no," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. "But young Portia went into that beauty shop thing again. I need someone to go in and listen in on the conversation. I thought you girls told things to your hairdressers and all?"

Tonks sighed. "Haven't you given up on this yet?"

"No!"

"Oh all right. Why didn't you just call for Rhiannon? I thought she usually humoured you on this, and as far as I know she hasn't got anything on right now."

O'Gregan blanched. "I could not send my sweet girl into that place all alone. It would be far too dangerous."

"What?" spluttered Tonks. "Why? You don't seem to mind me going in there!"

"Sorry, but ..."

"What's in there anyway? A rampaging manticore or something?"

"Worse ..."

"Worse?"

"Far worse. It's my wife."