Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

42. The Things We Do For Love

Wednesday 11^th November 1994

Tonks had the foreign information she wanted in her hands by mid-morning Wednesday, Gogol - or at any rate, the charms that assisted him - having proved to be surprisingly efficient. At any rate, it was a surprise to her; the portrait himself was rather affronted when she said so, and it took her a good five minutes cajoling to mollify him enough to go and find the World Cup files for her without sulking.

She smiled sweetly as he went off to wherever they were stored in his little painted world, then scowled at the now empty frame as soon as he was out of view. She'd had more than her fill of obstreperous portraits over the last few months. With any luck, I won't have to encounter any more of them for at least a couple of years ...She hoisted the smile back on her face as he returned. "Are the records still there?"

"Indeed they are." He waved his wand and the document she'd asked for appeared in the scroll at the side of his picture. She read through it to the end and then back again, double- and triple-checking, and nodded to herself.

"Did you see what you were looking for, miss?"

"No, I didn't." As his face fell, she added hastily, "And that's exactly what I thought I might find. Thank you, Mr Gogol."

She wasn't sure where Cassius might be - he'd spent most of the previous day interrogating the Patrol guards on duty outside Clark Hallendale's room, and getting absolutely nowhere - but fortunately, he was back at his desk.

"Any luck, Cassius?"

He looked up and shook his head in frustration. "None whatsoever. All of them swear blind that none of his associates came anywhere near the place - except for Harris, of course."

Tonks considered this. "Does he have a record for doing this sort of thing?"

"I haven't been able to find one. Of course, he's represented clients who have denied knowledge of crimes under interrogation, but none who have so obviously been Obliviated." He threw up his hands. "I don't know whether to suspect him or not. I'm sure he had some inkling that it had been done, but I can't see how he could have done it himself through a closed door. And to be honest, I can't think why he would take the risk."

Tonks didn't feel that Harris was the answer, but it couldn't hurt to check. "Does he have the skill? Or does he know any dodgy ex-Obliviators for hire?"

Cassius snorted. "Probably. It wasn't a perfect job, though, as you saw - it was what I would call a solid amateur Obliviation. A quick wipe of everything to do with the subject, but missing a few things round the edges - and that made it obvious what had been done. It certainly kept him from incriminating anyone under Veritaserum, but he was left with a lot of gaps in his memory. He's been in a bad way because of that."

Tonks nodded: "You're positive that it's a case of Obliviation to beat Veritaserum, not amnesia?" she asked, wanting to make sure all the goal hoops were covered. "And done after the accident, not before?"

"Don't you think so?"

"Well, yes, I do. But you're got more experience of this than I have."

"Well, it's not common, Tonks, but I've seen the symptoms before, yes. And as for why I think it had to be afterwards - well, Clark didn't know for sure that we were on to him until we turned up at his brother's office. He'd have had to work fast and take big risks to arrange it between then and the time we arrived at his hideout. More pertinently, when you and Bentley were trying to distract him during the fight, what he shouted back at you quite clearly showed knowledge of the night he tried to kidnap you using Jacmel. But when we interrogated him, that memory had gone."

"What's your theory?"

He sighed. "I'm seriously beginning to wonder if Montgomery could have sneaked in disguised as a Healer. I know it's a wild theory, but nothing else seems to make sense."

"Monty as a Healer?" It wasn't quite the theory she had in mind, but she was glad he'd at least contemplated it. She had a nasty suspicion that his guilt-trips were causing him to go easy on Angelica Hallendale and her family.

"I hope it isn't," he said, with obvious resignation. "The problem is that everything we heard about the 'Butler' suggested he was a lone wolf. Who else but his brother would want to help him? On the other hand," he added hopefully, "if Clark was really the agent for someone else and he went to them for help after we came after him, this could be the perfect way to set him up."

"You think so?" Tonks groaned inwardly. Maybe I spoke too soon. Thought too soon. Whatever. This isn't good.

"It could be. Then again," he said gloomily, "In that case, we're back in the position of looking for leads on the people he associated with."

"I suppose so. If we can find someone who'll tell us." She hesitated, then added, as casually as possible, "Have you told his mother about his current situation?"

The sadness on his face spoke volumes. "No. And she hasn't tried to contact me again. But then, I don't imagine she wants to, so that's probably for the best."

"So ... suppose we go and tell her?" When he hesitated, she tilted her head and gave him a pointed look. "Convince her that Clark's not the blue eyed boy she thinks he is, maybe? Ask her who his friends were?"

His reluctance was obvious. "Well, I don't think there's much chance of that. But perhaps we ought to really ..."

"That's the spirit. Come on then." She jumped up and started for the door before he could change his mind.

*****

The Floo station was the most convenient Apparition point in Worthing, which meant a walk to Angelica Hallendale's home, taken in gloomy silence. Both Aurors hesitated as they approached the door, and Tonks seized her chance to ask, "Do you think you could go in first?"

He blinked at her. "I suppose so - why?"

"Well ... it might help if you gave her a bit of warning that I was coming?" she said, shuffling her feet and trying not to trip over them. "You know - make sure there's nothing breakable, give her time to get used to the idea, eh? She didn't seem to like me much last time I was here."

He chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."

He knocked on the door while Tonks hung back by the gate, out of sight of the house. Whatever it was he'd said, it seemed to have worked; at any rate, when Tonks cautiously knocked on the door and entered some ten minutes later, Angelica didn't seem unduly alarmed by her presence.

"I've explained what the current medical situation is, Tonks," said Cassius, with just a suggestion of reassurance.

"Good - you must be rather upset about Clark losing his memory, Mrs Hallendale?"

Angelica winced. "Indeed. Although Cassius tells me he could be in even worse trouble." She eyed them sharply. "All right, now you've told me his current medical condition. What about his legal condition?"

Cassius took a deep breath. "I'm afraid he's going to spend time in Azkaban for the attempted murder of an Auror, Mrs Hallendale. The court may be lenient if they believe he didn't actually mean to kill ..."

"And we're going to do everything we can to make sure he goes down for the murder of Sylvester Ballantyne too, Mrs Hallendale," added Tonks, her voice harsh. "We may not have Veritaserum evidence, but we can work around that."

Cassius flashed her a sharp, almost panic-stricken look, but she ignored it. Angelica's lips were set in a tight line. "Well, in that case I ... I'm glad that he's lost his memory," she snapped. "Traumatic amnesia, no doubt. I hear it happens a lot in accidents."

"A very specific trauma, don't you think? More like an Obliviation, really."

"Really?" she said coldly. "Well, if so, I'm afraid I'd have to thank whoever did it if it helps him, Miss Tonks. I'd have done it myself if I could."

Tonks' smile was positively feral. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Cassius' concerned look. "You did have the perfect opportunity, Mrs Hallendale. You were hovering over him for quite a while when we let you in to see him."

She didn't expect that to go down well, and it didn't - Angelica's reply was laden with sarcasm. "Except for the fact that I'm what you people call a Muggle, Miss Tonks. Am I supposed to have been channelling someone?"

Cassius finally seemed to have realised that Tonks had something definite in mind. He looked, and sounded, devastated. "Wait a minute, Tonks. Are you suggesting that it was someone else disguised as Angelica that day, using Polyjuice? But who else would care about Clark that much ... oh no ..."

"I see. Don't tell me, let me guess," said Angelica in a biting voice, sounding rather shaken. "You're accusing my other son now? I'll have you know Monty was in a meeting all afternoon when I went to see Clark. His secretary will tell you that if you ask her."

"I've no doubt she will," said Tonks. "Let's try it, shall we? What's the number of his office?"

She fished in her pocket, took out her mirror phone, and held it out to a surprised Angelica, who took it after a moment's hesitation and pressed some buttons. Cassius was staring at Tonks as if he thought she'd completely lost the plot. There were a few moments' silence, and then a voice from the phone saying "Hello?"

Angelica gave a surprised squeak, and Tonks knew that she hadn't expected the mirror to pop out. She plucked the phone from her hands. "I'm sorry, wrong number." She broke the contact and rummaged through her pockets again, eventually bringing out her hand with something clasped in it. "Handy little gadgets our people came up with."

"Yes. Another thing we Muggles came up with first," replied Angelica snidely. "I'm surprised you could even get it to work."

Tonks smiled at her. "Yeah. You know something? So am I. That's the thing, you see. It shouldn't work. In fact when I tripped over your carpet on my last visit, it fell out of my pocket then, and I seem to remember that you picked it up and threw it at me."

She snorted. "So what? Are your magical 'phones' so fragile that they can't take a little rough treatment?"

Tonks noted that Cassius had gone very still. "Oh, they're quite capable of taking that," she told her. "But they're charmed to stop working if a Muggle touches them. They have to be reset. I never thought of it at the time, with everything else that was going on, but guess what? I've never had this reset since then, and as you've seen, it still works perfectly. Even for you. Funny thing that, isn't it?"

By the time she'd finished speaking, Angelica Hallendale was as still as Cassius. "So? Perhaps your people, er ... charmed it wrong."

"I don't think so. It's not the first time I've dropped it. But let's find out, shall we?" Tonks could hear the strain in her own voice; she knew she had to say everything she wanted to right away, because she might lose her nerve otherwise. It really wasn't that much fun playing the Bad Auror. "Cassius, step back over there by the window a moment, that's right." He did so, staring as she opened her hand to reveal her wizard detector compass and took out her wand. "This is something else they gave me when I started. Detects the nearest wizard or witch - I never thought it would come in handy, but you never know, do you?"

She tapped it with her wand, and the needle immediately swung to point to Angelica Hallendale. "Well, well," she said in a flat voice. "Look who's been hiding her light under a bushel, then."

There was frozen silence from both of the other people in the room. Angelica was the first to respond. "I'm not going to stand for this rubbish!" she cried. She spun on her heel, and then froze again.

"I did wonder if you would know how to Apparate, Mrs Hallendale," said Tonks to her back, almost apologetically. "That's why I made sure to go round the house putting Anti-Disapparation Jinxes on it before I came in. Just to be on the safe side."

Angelica crossed her arms and appeared to be hugging herself.

"Angelica ..." said Cassius, his voice cracking.

He didn't get very far before she whirled round on them, brandishing a wand. "Stupe ..."

"Expelliarmus!" cried Tonks, who had been expecting this. The wand flew out of Angelica Hallendale's hand, and the loose material on her sleeve that had concealed it flapped as she blindly turned and ran for the door.

Tonks raised her wand again, but Cassius shocked her by casting a voiceless Stunning Spell that hit Angelica in the small of the back as she reached the doorway. She fell through and collapsed onto the hall floor.

There was a very long pause while Tonks stared at Cassius and he stared back, and then he said quietly, "The mirror phone. I didn't notice. I never even thought about that." It was evident that the words were being forced out.

She moved over and put a hand on his arm. "I didn't either. If I had, we'd have had a better case."

"I refused to believe she was involved in any of this. I should have known th ..."

She interrupted before he could begin the self-flagellation at which he'd demonstrated such prowess over the previous week and a half. "So should I. It was my mirror phone, after all. It was just that ... well, first we had that stand up row, then we got the unexpected tip-off from those lads in the pub, and then we were rushing around to get things set up, and after that ... well, it was chaos, wasn't it?" She gave him a rueful smile. "Not surprised we overlooked it, really. Right pair, aren't we?"

Cassius was staring fixedly at the inert form of Angelica Hallendale like a man who couldn't quite accept what he was seeing. "How were you sure she'd handled it?"

Tonks tried to sound sympathetic. "I fiddled about with Arnie's Image Projector until I convinced myself I'd remembered it the right way. It's like a limited Pensieve, after all. And then, all sorts of little things clicked into place - how young-looking she was for her age, how familiar with magic, the fact that we saw her use ordinary Floo powder to get Clark away from us after the Halloween Ball, not that special enhanced kind that works for Muggles too."

"That's still nebulous," he argued. He still didn't seem as if he'd quite taken in the recent developments.

"Yeah, but once I'd got that far I realised there were things I could check," she told him. At his mute look of inquiry, she tried to explain her reasoning. "It made sense of why she wasn't bothered by the Muggle-Repelling Charms at the World Cup - she didn't need Monty to counteract them, they didn't affect her in the first place. She was supposed to have gone through the proper procedure at the security tent after I told her off, but I checked the records this morning, and she didn't bother - of course, if she had, somebody might have noticed she was a witch."

"I see."

She put a hand on his arm tentatively. "Then I remembered how you said the magical Caribbean used to be chaotic, but the governments were a lot more organised now. Arnie had no trouble getting Wells' Floo travel records. So I played a long shot and asked Gogol for school records, and it came off. Turns out that some place called the Blue Mountains Institute of Spellcraft is the only decent magic school in the whole Caribbean, and they sent her an invite when she turned eleven. They never got a reply, and their policy at the time was not to bother chasing up Muggle-borns from islands that weren't English-speaking. But when they set up the Caribbean Magical Federation, the school records were transferred centrally. The letter was still there in their files."

Cassius lifted his eyes from Angelica and turned to stare at Tonks instead. She felt sure that she'd seen utter betrayal in his expression while he looked at his former lady friend. "Pretty solid Auror work, young lady," he said eventually.

"To make up for my earlier mistakes, you mean?" she said with an uneasy chuckle.

"You found something - well, suggestive, even if it wasn't actually proof, I suppose."

"That was the trouble. But I reckoned I could startle her into doing something daft if I sprung it on her out of the blue, and - well, it worked." There was a touch of regret in her voice as she contemplated Angelica Hallendale, who was just beginning to stir.

"Why would she conceal the fact that she was a witch all these years?" he asked, sounding like a man being strangled by Devil's Snare. "Do you think she was in on all this from the beginning, or just protecting her sons?"

"I don't know why she did it," she told him gently. "We'll ask her. She might well have known more than she let on, though." She hesitated, the added, "For what it's worth, I think she really did like you."

"I don't suppose it really matters now, does it?" he said, with a stiff look and an even stiffer voice. "Let's get her in to the Department. Don't forget to pick up her wand."

*****

It took them a little over three hours to complete the routine arrest procedures, and then gather the other members of their little team and explain the situation. Tonks would have laughed in glee at the looks of sheer dumbfounded surprise on their faces if it hadn't been for Cassius' obvious unhappiness - the last thing she wanted was to give him the idea she was laughing at him. In actual fact, she'd rarely felt more sorry for the man who'd been partner, boss, and friend to her.

They interviewed Angelica immediately afterwards, in a very different atmosphere from the previous occasion they'd all been in an interview room together. Angelica looked exhausted, Cassius looked bitter, and Tonks herself just looked between the two of them, feeling sad. She wasn't sure how Cassius wanted to handle the situation, or if he even could.

He began in a businesslike manner, albeit one that seemed more than a little artificial. "Mrs Hallendale, you have been brought here to be interviewed and to receive notice of the actions to be taken against you. You will be charged with concealing evidence of a crime by means of spellwork, and with attempted assault on an Auror. Further charges ...

"Cassius ..." began Angelica miserably.

He carried on as if she hadn't spoken. "... may be brought against you as a result of a review of evidence that we develop. You will be given a trial before such members of the Wizengamot as may be assigned ..."

"I'm sorry, Cassius. I didn't want it to come to this ..."

"... to hear the case and pass sentence if convicted." He paused. "You should know that I have applied for a warrant for further interrogation under Veritaserum, so if you have anything to confess it may encourage the court towards clemency if you do so now."

They stared at each other in silence. Tonks, hugely embarrassed, decided that she'd better take the lead to get their prisoner talking. "Angelica, let's try something easy, something that isn't actually a crime. Why have you been hiding the fact that you're a witch for all these years?"

She hesitated; then with a half smile and an odd touch of pride, said "Habit, would you believe? I never actually learned magic till I met Hank. I started so late, and our life was such a ... a scramble for the first few years, it took me a long time to get the hang of it. So we just didn't tell anyone I was a witch, in case they got the wrong idea about how much I could do."

"How long did it take Hank to realise what you were, then? It was a bit of a coincidence that a wizard turned up at your house, wasn't it?"

Angelica snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. My family always knew strange things happened around me - it was one reason my father kept me in the house so much, he was scared someone might see." There was slight bitterness in her voice now. "Do you know he never even told me when I was offered a place in that Jamaican school? He didn't trust these mad people who wanted to take me away to some British island, and teach me something he didn't understand. But by the time I was sixteen, the accidental magic had gotten so frequent he had to tell me what I was before I lost my mind. He agreed to get me a private tutor instead, and that's where Hank came in. He applied for the job." She had a reminiscent smile. "Poor Hank, he wasn't that good at teaching really, but he was good at talking his way into things."

Tonks glanced sideways at Cassius, but he seemed content to let her fly with the Quaffle. "But what good did it do you?"

"People underestimated me, of course," she said smugly. "Just like you did for all these months. It got us out of many a scrape when we were young, so when we came here we saw no reason not to keep up the story."

"In that political climate?" put in Cassius with incredulity.

"We'd never cared much about you pure-bloods looking down on us," she snapped, and he winced. "It wasn't such a problem out there. But by the time we realised that we could be in danger here with the -" she shuddered "- Death Eater types as a Muggle married to a wizard, it was too late to change. A Muggle-born was just as bad or worse to them anyway, especially one who'd acted like a Muggle. So we kept up the old routine. Kept our heads down, kept them sweet if we could. Hid what I could do - even if it wasn't all that much really, just the most important spells."

"'Kept them sweet', Angelica?" asked Tonks softly. "Used Hank's contacts to obtain things they might want, you mean? I thought you didn't know what he was up to?"

She flushed. "I didn't. Not ... really. I knew the general sorts of things he was involved in. I didn't ask him the details."

Cassius spoke up. "It'll all come out under Veritaserum anyway, Mrs Hallen ... oh forget it, Angelica." He sounded both bitter and weary. "And Hank's dead. It can't hurt him if you tell us, but it might help you. Oh, of course," he added as she remained silent. "Your sons took over the business. That's why you won't talk. Well, we'll discuss this with Monty too."

"Montgomery never had anything to do with that side of things!" she cried, then paused with a grimace. "Oh."

"So Clark did?" he said. Angelica stayed tight-lipped.

"Why did you let Clark meet you after the Ball?" asked Tonks in tones of genuine bemusement. "You must have known the risk that he might run into someone who could identify him - me, or Beatrice Easton, or anyone else he'd dealt with."

"Of course I knew!" she shrieked. "I told him he shouldn't do it! I always warned him not to come near either of you! Why do you think I tried to stop you looking at his photographs when you called? But he -" a tear trickled down her cheek "- never listens to me when I tell him things like that. When I told him who you -" she nodded at Tonks "- were he realised he shouldn't have done it, but it was too late then, wasn't it?"

"And he asked Montgomery to hide him in that little back room where he keeps wizarding records?"

"Yes. He didn't say why, but he knew his own brother wouldn't say no to him, however much they argued." More tears fell as she looked at them in mute appeal. "Clark was just furious at the idea I was there with you, Cassius. The enemy, as he saw it. An Auror. The Auror who was investigating him. He never saw that ... well ..."

"There was a tactical advantage to getting that Auror's friendship?" he said coldly.

"Not quite that ..."

He interrupted her again. "Let's discuss what happened at the hospital." When she tensed visibly, he added, "Magical Analysis have already tested your wand for spell echoes, and can show that it was used to Obliviate Clark. Tell us about it."

She shrugged. "You know what happened, then. I went and bought one of those new invisible holders, like Miss Tonks here had at the Ball. I had the wand concealed in it, and you never thought to check. I finally -" her voice broke "- managed to work myself up to cast the curse."

"Curse?" said Tonks.

"Charm, curse, whatever," she said bitterly. "To wipe the memories! I always hated using that spell, but as I learned - well, sometimes you don't have a choice. I never thought I'd have to ... to ... to cast it on my own son " She teared up.

"What did you try to Obliviate?"

"Anything to do with his business," she said, sniffling. "I didn't want him telling you about that under Veritaserum. And anything he knew about Sylvester of course."

"You were even willing to cover up for him for a murder," said Cassius in a disgusted voice.

She raised her chin defiantly. "Yes I was. He's my son. I told you, I'd do anything to keep him out of Azkaban if I could. Even this. Wouldn't you if it was your child?" Cassius looked slightly discomfited, but he didn't answer.

Tonks contemplated the older woman sadly. What she was about to say would hurt - but they needed to jolt her into talking freely, and she wasn't about to mention any possible caveats. She adopted her blunt persona once more. "Angelica - it won't help him. What you don't know, because we made sure the information didn't leak out, is what happened when we went to arrest him. He used a Killing Curse in the fight. That in itself makes him liable to life imprisonment in Azkaban, whether we can get a conviction on the other charges or not. You didn't keep him out of there by doing what you did, Angelica - you just put yourself in."

Angelica half-rose from the chair in shock and stared at Tonks for a few moments, then broke down completely in hysterics, babbling incoherently as tears streamed down her face. "Oh no, oh no, what have I done my poor Clark oh no oh no oh no no no no NO! ..."

Tonks glanced at Cassius, who was watching this performance stony-faced - although she suspected that he was fighting hard to maintain it. She interrupted after a minute or two as the sobbing began to run down. "Tell us, Angelica! If you give us information now, before anyone knows you've been arrested, we might be able to use it in time to do us some good. And -" she was uncertain whether such a promise would be accepted by the Auror Office, but it couldn't hurt to try "- I suppose we might be able to do a deal." She looked at Cassius for confirmation, and got a very slight, stiff nod. "At the very least, we can keep Monty out of it if he hasn't done anything serious."

"All right," she said, not bothering to raise her head. She sounded both exhausted and defeated.

"How much did you know about what Clark was up to?"

"About as much as I did with Hank," she mumbled. "I knew what sort of business he was doing. I didn't want to know the details. I didn't ask who he saw or what deals he made with them. Sometimes I told him about contacts Hank had when he asked. There was someone out in the Caribbean he wanted to know about a few months ago, some old friend of Hank's that he remembered being told about as a kid."

"Where in the Caribbean?" put in Cassius sharply.

"Port-au-Prince," she said, still listless after her previous hysteria. "Does it matter?"

Cassius exchanged glances with Tonks, who felt her jaw drop in surprise. "If you can give us the name and contact information, it might matter a very great deal to you," he said.

"If you say so ..."

Tonks marvelled that Angelica's resistance had now completely collapsed, as a positive stream of information about the activities of her husband and son poured from the despairing woman in response to their questions. She had a suspicion that very little would actually prove relevant, but still, there were occasional titbits of personal interest. She finally realised how Clark had become suspicious of the 'Beatrice Easton' who'd ordered Liquor of Jacmel from him - Angelica had told him that they were investigating her, and also let slip that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus. After that, even Clark had put two and two together.

She was shaken out of these contemplations by Cassius standing up, turning off the Auto-Dictation Quill that had been recording everything said, and gathering up his papers. As she scrambled to her feet Angelica looked up at them. "Cassius? I ... I ... I want you to know that I wasn't just trying to find out what you knew. I really did like you, honestly ..."

She crumpled into her chair as he swept out without a word. Tonks nodded to her, not unsympathetically, and followed him.

*****

Tonks dotted the last 'i' on her report, let the parchment roll up again and stuck her quill back on the inkstand. "Finished!" Cassius nodded, then frowned as his eyes shifted to Claymore's office door. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not looking forward to explaining to Egbert how I let someone Memory Charm a prisoner right under my nose," he replied. "Not after the warehouse incident."

"I was there too, remember? It never occurred to me that she was a witch, either. And, well - I'm not going to drop either of us in it by mentioning that incident with the mirror phone, unless he finds out about it from her. I left that bit out of the reports."

"Good. Egbert will want to see them first before he turns us into hamsters, but ... ah, hello, Arnold. Something to tell me?"

"I don't think he will want to see them, Cassius," said Cornworthy in a low voice as he seated himself.

"Why ever not?" he asked, taken aback.

Cornworthy glanced around cautiously. "Because he won't be the boss here much longer."

"What?" cried Tonks. "How come?"

"Ssh! You've noticed what a bad mood he's been in ever since he didn't get control of the World Cup investigation, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but he's not still throwing a strop over that, is he? It's been done and dusted for months!"

Cornworthy gave her partner an appraising glance. "Except that Cassius' nephew has gone one step further now, and convinced old Boney and the Minister - well, Fudge, anyway - that the Auror Office - and I quote - 'isn't big enough for regional divisions to be efficient'."

"I see ..." said Cassius slowly. "Well - he does have a point, especially as Central Division is so much bigger than the others. What's he proposing?"

"He's proposing that everything ought to be under a single Head of the Auror Office and their deputy. And guess who he suggested would be good for those roles?"

"Oh dear. Himself as Head, Egbert as Deputy?"

"Right in one."

Cassius shook his head. "I can't see Egbert being happy with that," he said dubiously.

"Neither can I. Now then -" he lowered his voice still further "- I'm only passing along gossip from Bentley Williamson here, but the rumour is there's a job opening up as Boney's assistant, and Claymore's planning to apply for it an outflanking manoeuvre. He'd have the senior role he reckons he deserves then, even if he wouldn't have day-to-day control."

Cassius whistled. "I see. Thank you for telling us, Arnold."

"Who, me?" He got up and tapped his nose. "Not me. A little owl told you, eh?"

Tonks stared after him as he left. "Whew! That'll put the cat among the pixies. It'll be a bit awkward for you both, won't it, having to report to your nephew?"

"Great-nephew actually," he said, looking thoughtfully at Claymore's office door. "It's not that close a relationship. But yes, it will indeed."

*****

Thursday 12^th November 1994

Tonks kept the following day free of commitments in the expectation of a summons from her bosses - although it seemed even money whether she and Cassius would be hauled over the coals about the final results in the Jacmel case, or merely asked to explain and then reassigned elsewhere. With Lewis, Horrigan, and both Hallendales in custody there wasn't much else they could do. She wondered vaguely if they might be assigned to help the Haitians track down the original Liquor of Jacmel supplier Angelica had named, but it seemed unlikely. Quite apart from the fact that the local wizardry would probably want to handle it themselves, she had a suspicion that first-year Aurors who'd stumbled their way through their initial case didn't usually get free trips to the Caribbean as assignments.

The summons to the office didn't come, however - indeed, no-one had seen Claymore all day, which in itself was an ominous sign and strongly suggested that Williamson had been right about the current political manoeuvrings in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She made a conscientious effort to catch up on her routine paperwork, but by mid-afternoon boredom had set in and she was reduced to exchanging flirtatious memos with Chesney by paper aeroplane.

She couldn't resist sending one to remind him of his promise to meet her parents the following evening, let alone miss the opportunity to tease him by repeating her libellous statement about the possible parental reaction to her boyfriends. The reply was light in tone, but she wouldn't have been surprised if his hands had been shaking when he wrote it. She had no sooner launched the next one when Rhiannon Davies approached her, and she greeted the diversion with relief.

"Hi, Rhi!"

"Hi yourself," she said, dropping into a chair. Her skin was still pale, and there was a dark circle around her visible eye, but she looked determined, albeit nervous. "Where's Cassius?"

"Off chasing up warrants. And as a side benefit, avoiding talking to Claymore, although no-one's heard a peep out of him all day. Or Ruf ... er, anyone else. Do you need to talk to him?"

"Not really ... I wanted to find out what you'll be doing next. You're pretty much finished on the Jacmel cases now, right? No major loose ends?"

Tonks considered it. "Don't think so. If we get a warrant to interrogate Angelica Hallendale under Truth Potion we might get something we didn't have before, but honestly I'm not bothered either way. She was pretty much broken already, I don't think she held anything important back."

"So what's lined up for you? Any orders from Claymore - or Rufus Scrimgeour, whichever one of them's minding the shop now? Yes, I know about that," she added as Tonks hesitated. "I keep an ear out for the rumours as well."

"Right. Well then, I've had no news of an assignment so far. Why?"

Rhiannon smiled ruefully. "Because however much I insist I'm well enough to be back at work, I'm not exactly on top form at the moment. I'm weak, I'm not sleeping well, and I can still only just barely see straight. I'm going to need some help following up that Fiordano lead, and I thought you might appreciate being part of it? It could just end up as something you do in between other stuff they dump on you, but if you want in, I'll ask for you to be assigned to me. You found me the clue, it's the least I can do."

Tonks demurred. "I'm not sure, Rhi ... Cassius might want my help in whatever he gets next, and - well, I reckon he could do with a bit of support right now."

"Has he had another case assigned to him then?" asked Rhiannon keenly. "He said he didn't have anything lined up when I talked to him earlier on."

"That's correct." Neither of them had noticed him come in, and they both jumped.

"Hi, Cassius!" said Tonks, recovering quickly. "How's the warrant?"

"They're considering it. I laid it on thick about Memory Charms having been used to thwart an earlier warrant - that might annoy them enough to grant it." He turned abruptly to her companion. "So, Rhiannon, you'll be requesting Tonks' help in hunting your killer? That's good. It'll give her valuable experience on a slow-burning case."

"I don't want to split up a good team, Cassius," she said awkwardly. "But if you don't need her ..."

"I don't think I do," he said, rather to Tonks' disappointment. "I'd like a word or two with her, actually." As Rhiannon nodded, he added, "Er, in private?"

"Ah. All right. Be seeing you then." She got up and headed back towards her own cubicle, moving somewhat gingerly.

"What's up, Cassius?" asked Tonks curiously. "I was hoping to help with whatever you're doing next."

That got a slight smile from him. "You're leaving the Department too? They'll be a bit short-staffed, then."

"Leaving? No, of course I'm not ..." She trailed off. "Cassius? Now just wait a minute! You can't ..."

He held up an envelope addressed to Amelia Bones. "Yes, I can," he said softly. "I thought you had the right to be the first to know. I'll certainly help you finish tidying up any loose ends on the Jacmel case, but then - it's about time I left." She watched in disbelief as he rose. "I'll see you in a minute, Tonks - I just need to go and hand this in first."

He set off across the office; Tonks stared at his retreating back for a moment or two, then scowled and picked up her wand. "Accio letter!"

He looked round in surprise as the letter was plucked from his hand by the spell and shot across the room towards her. "Tonks ..."

"Incendio!" she said, holding her wand to the letter and giving him a defiant stare, although her gesture rather lost its dramatic effect as the flames singed her hand. "Ouch!" She dropped it into a wastebasket, where the scrap parchment it contained promptly caught fire too. "Oh bugger ... Aguamenti!"

She waited until the fire was out then looked up at him sheepishly, sucking her sore fingers, and they both fell about laughing as a twirl of smoke rose from the wastebasket. Cassius shook his head, came back and sat down. "I can always write it out again, you know, Tonks. Unless you plan to set the Ministry on fire to stop me going?"

"Hey, if that's what it takes ..." She became serious for a moment. "Why, Cassius? What on earth do you want to resign for?"

His smile this time was rather sad. "Because this last week or so has shown me just how bad my judgement has become. I should have seen the signs with Angelica Hallendale long ago, but I let my guilt over Hank ..."

"Oh, rubbish," she said impatiently. "I didn't see them either, and you didn't find out about Hank until a few days ago. That's a pile of dragon dung and you know it. What's really behind this, Cassius? Is Claymore objecting to how you handled the case - well, more than he always does?"

"Not so far ..."

"There you are then! Look, Cassius ... one mistake doesn't mean you should leave! You told me yourself, none of us go very long as an Auror without messing something up, and we have to get used to it, right? I've only been here six months and I think I've got that lesson down pat! And you told me an Auror needed to have confidence in their own ability. You're bloody good, mate. However much you think you've forgotten, I'll bet you still know more than most of us put together."

"There's more to it than that, Tonks."

"Well what, exactly? Come on, Cassius, you can't just walk out. You owe me that much, yeah?"

He gave her a long look, followed by a sigh and a nod. "Very well. For a start, it doesn't actually matter what Claymore thinks. He wouldn't be my direct boss, Rufus would, and that would be increasingly embarrassing for both of us."

"Are you sure? It was only a rumour ..."

"I'm sure. They're merely waiting for a suitable time to make the announcement. I asked him and he told me," he explained when she looked sceptical. "We are family, after all. Keep it under your hat for the time being, though."

"Well, yes, but ..."

"But that's not the main problem. There's always the possibility that World Cup riot will turn out to be more than an isolated incident, especially with Rufus stirring things up. I don't know if I can handle another situation like that, Tonks. Recent events have brought that point home to me rather hard."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I might let people down if it comes to a fight, Tonks. Don't you see, the thought of getting someone killed because of an old man's mistakes terrifies me? Ever since you were nearly kidnapped, because I let myself get Stunned and left you without someone watching your back, I've been trying to hold that fear down. But when Angelica inadvertently reminded me of the Jugson case - and I realised how what I might have done there had affected people I knew - and then not forty-eight hours later, I thought I'd lost one of my team in that warehouse - well, it became clear to me that I wasn't succeeding very well at holding it down." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "I'm not sure I can cope with risking a colleague any more, Tonks, and I'm definitely not sure I can be ruthless towards criminals when it's needed. And as an Auror, if you can't do either one of those things ... well, you're a liability to your colleagues, not an asset."

"I was scared about losing you and Rhiannon, you know," she said gently. "And I got my broom in a tailspin when Ballantyne managed to get himself murdered after my screw-up. Don't you think I can do the job then, because I worry about people I care about getting hurt?"

"No, I didn't mean that!" he said, horrified. "You managed to get through it ..."

"Well, give yourself more credit for being able to do it then. That's what you tell me, isn't it?"

His sad smile was back. "Except you've been lucky enough not to actually lose a colleague yet, so you don't really know what that feels like. I do, and that's why I know I've got a problem. In this job there's always a chance of it, and always a chance that you'll think of something you might have been able to do to prevent it. And I'm aware you tend to take these things to heart too, young lady. A word of advice from a man who knows - if it happens, whether you can get through it and still function as an Auror despite your feelings will go a long way to showing you whether or not you can handle the job in the long term." His expression was extremely sombre. "And in my case, I don't think I can any more."

"Maybe it won't happen. Maybe you're just a bit emotionally fragile at the moment, eh? We all want you here ..."

"Really?" he said with a half smile. "You do, perhaps, but then we've worked together ever since you arrived. I'm not sure the others are really so comfortable with me. Even Rhiannon was trying to get you reassigned to her, wasn't she?"

"Well ..."

"I'm old, Tonks." He held up a hand to forestall any remark she might have made. "Maybe not exceptionally old for a wizard, but I'm old for an Auror. It's a young person's game, really."

"You don't seem too old to me."

"As I said, you're used to me, and even you were shocked by it the other day. It's just the little things, Tonks. I didn't notice it so much before I retired, but after a decade or so off the broom ... most of the Aurors don't know me that well, even if they remember me, and they evidently feel awkward around me." When Tonks looks unconvinced, he added, "I mean, no-one even seems to feel comfortable telling me the latest jokes. I never did hear the one about the troll, the hag, and the leprechaun, and it's been making the rounds since summer."

"You're kidding!"

He gave her a wry look. "Actually, no, I'm not. See what I mean?"

"Well, we can fix that," she said after staring open mouthed for a moment. "You see, a troll, a hag and a leprechaun all go into a bar, and after a few drinks, they all start boasting about the things they're best at. 'I'm the strongest creature in the world!' claims the troll, 'There's no one on this planet who could beat me in a battle, and I can crumble a mountain into pieces with the palm of my hand!'

"'Oh yeah?' says the hag. 'I'm the ugliest creature in the world! After being exposed to my horrific face, people will beat themselves to death rather than live with the memory of it! I can shatter mirrors just by glancing at them, and even Medusa herself tore out her eyes rather than gaze at me!'

"'Really?' says the leprechaun, 'But I am the luckiest creature in the world, now! Last week I sat down on a rock, only to realise that it was actually a pot full of gold, diamonds, rubies and all the treasures one could ever imagine! I never fall ill, even the smallest accidents avoid me like the plague, and I always win every contest I take part in!'" She stopped for a moment and blushed at the realisation that she was actually acting out the joke with gestures.

"Go on," he said, grinning at her.

"Well of course none of them believe each other, so they decide to visit a Seer to find out if any of them were telling the truth, right? Luckily, there's one just down the road so they nip round and go in one by one. The troll goes first, and a few minutes later he comes out with a big grin and tells the other two that the Seer told him he was right. The leprechaun's next - he gets the same answer, and comes out singing and dancing. Finally, in goes the hag. A minute later she comes out looking extremely upset, and yells at them, 'Who in the name of Merlin's armpits is Dolores Umbridge?'"

Cassius stared at her for a moment or two, and then suddenly roared with laughter. After a moment or two Tonks couldn't help but join in.

"Perhaps they thought she was a friend of mine or something," he said eventually, still chuckling.

"She's not, is she?" asked Tonks, alarmed.

"Good heavens, no. Awful woman. I've known her since she was a junior assistant and I never could stand her." He got up. "Thank you for that. But I'm serious, Tonks. Honestly. The Department stretched a point to let me back anyway - I had to call in favours and use a little emotional blackmail - and until the Jacmel cases came along, they didn't really know what to do with me. I've had a last hurrah now. It's about time I stopped clinging to the past, and the memories, and did something else while I'm still active enough to do it."

"Will you at least think about staying on?" asked Tonks. "For me?" She wasn't above trying a little emotional blackmail herself.

He opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again, looking at her with exasperation. She waggled her eyebrows at him in as comedic a manner as she could manage. "Oh, all right," he said ruefully. "I'll think about it. No promises though."

"OK." She hesitated. "I feel like I let you down. As if I didn't make you feel wanted or something."

He shook his head emphatically. "Believe me, Tonks, you've exceeded my expectations. In fact, I might even consider giving you an 'O'! And as for not making me feel wanted ... far from it, you did something wonderful for me."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did. Quite often when we were working together, you helped me feel young again. Believe me, there are few greater gifts that you can give to someone who no longer is."

He smiled at her and walked out the door of the Auror Office. As she turned back to her paperwork, she was mildly annoyed to find that her eyes seemed rather moist.

*****

Friday 13^th November 1994

"Ready, Ches?"

Tonks glanced at her boyfriend in amusement. He was hanging back by the gate of her parents' house, and didn't look at all ready to face them.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, following her slowly down the path to the front door.

She had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. "It's only my mum and dad, Ches. They don't actually attack on sight. And we can't back out now, can we?"

He gave her the ghost of a smile. "I don't know. Are you absolutely sure it's not too late for me to Transfigure my appearance, grab a Portkey to Outer Mongolia and hide in a cave?"

She squeezed his hand in encouragement and rang the bell. "Come on Ches. You faced Death Eaters with me once. This can't be so bad."

"Is that an available alternative? You know, I'd consider that ..."

"Ha ha," she said, elbowing him in the ribs. The door opened as she did so. "Oh, hi Mum! This is Chesney. Ches, this is my mother - Andromeda Tonks."

Chesney swallowed and hitched a nervous smile on his face. "Good evening, Mrs Tonks."

Her mother smiled back politely and looked him up and down in obvious assessment, but without giving any indication of what conclusions she might have come to. "Good evening, Chesney. I've been hoping to meet you for a while now - Nymphadora has really told us very little about you, other than the fact that you've been seeing each other. I've been wondering what you were like."

Tonks cringed inwardly, for the first time unsure whether this was such a good idea after all. I've been busy! When I come round here for Sunday lunch, I want to relax, not be interrogated about my new boyfriend! "Mum, listen ..."

"Do come in," said Andromeda, cutting her daughter off and stepping back to allow them in. Tonks grabbed his hand and led him into the living room, where her father was waiting; he shook Chesney's hand, but also (to his alarm) gave him a brief critical examination. He indicated that Chesney should take the settee, and she made a point of sitting down next to him. He flashed her an appreciative glance at the display of solidarity.

"So you're Chesney, eh?" said Ted, evidently trying to be as friendly as possible. Chesney gave him a tight nod; Tonks had attempted to tell him that her dad had long ago learnt that it was useless being overprotective with a child whose ambition was to be an Auror, but she wasn't sure that the message had sunk in. "We knew our girl here had a new young man, but she hasn't told us much about you yet."

"Oh?" He looked at Tonks in mute appeal, clearly a little hurt.

She gave him a bright smile back to say sorry, I'll make it up to you, all right? "I'm sure you don't want to hear everything about my love life, Dad, now do you?"

"Well, you rarely tell us anything, Nymphadora," said her mother in mild complaint. Chesney grinned at the use of her daughter's first name and Tonks flashed him a don't you dare look. "We didn't know how serious things had got between you and Chesney."

Neither of them could suppress their slight blushes quickly enough; Andromeda Tonks raised her eyebrows and said a soft "oh," which made them blush even more.

Ted rushed in to rescue them. "What is it you do then, Chesney?"

"Ah ... I work with the Committee on Experimental Charms."

" I see. Interesting job?"

"Yeah, quite a lot of variety," he said, sounding relieved. "More interesting than being stuck behind a desk in Gringotts or something, anyway!" Her parents' expressions froze in polite smiles, as Tonks tried unsuccessfully to shake her head without making it obvious that she was doing so. Chesney flashed her a look that clearly said why didn't you bloody TELL me what your dad did then?

She jumped into the conversation to try to smooth over the unexpected hitch, now thinking that this definitely hadn't been such a smart plan. "Yeah, he was working on this Triwizard thing, weren't you Ches?"

"Bit of a blast from the past that, isn't it?" said her father quickly, picking up on the idea and helping her out. She could have hugged him. "Annie here tells me it was a big thing at one time."

"Oh ... yes indeed, it's rather a legend," she said. "Back in history, of course. I remember my grandfather talking about how his grandfather had been disappointed when the last attempt to revive it failed. Apparently the old man complained that modern society wanted to mollycoddle his students, instead of allowing them to take their chance to show merit despite the risks." She glanced up at the books on the shelves with a most unexpected wicked smile. "In fact, I think half of Fifi LaFolle's heroes are steely-eyed ex-Triwizard Champions, you know ..."

"Mum ..." said Tonks, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, pish, Nymphadora. I notice you haven't brought back that copy of The Heart's Plenty you borrowed from me. But then Comte Richard de la Marelais, the Pride of Beauxbatons, is an especially dashing hero ..."

"Mum!" she cried, horrified, as Chesney turned to her with a delighted grin. She reddened again. This habit of leaving books lying around and then forgetting to deal with them is going to get me into trouble. At least, unless Fifi LaFolle's semi-historical tripe somehow involves the Comte catching a mad Italian mass murderer ...

"Did any of the Blacks ever take part in it, Annie?" asked her father with interest.

"One or two, I think. I'm not sure they survived, mind you, but they were probably chosen."

Chesney's eyes widened, as it had clearly dawned on him for the first time who his girlfriend's family really were. "Blacks? Wow. You're from quite a ... prominent line, then?" he said, turning to her.

Tonks saw her mother's lips tighten, and cringed inwardly. Once more it was her father who hastily stepped in to cover the awkward situation. "Of course she is. She's a Tonks," he said with a grin. "But I'm sure the Thompsons are too, in their own way. So how did you two lovebirds meet each other, then? World Cup security, wasn't it?

"Yeah, we were assigned to the same team," said Tonks with relief. "Patrolled the campsite together, told people off for doing magical things in public, tried to stop the mascots having a go at each other, that sort of thing." She didn't think it would be tactful to add fighting nutters in masks at this point.

"Got into rows with friends and relations," added Chesney, attempting bonhomie. "She told off my friends, I told off her rela ... er ..."

Tonks jumped in quickly. "Er ... I forgot to tell you, mum, we ran into Aunt Narcissa's boy on the campsite ..."

"Draco? I didn't know you'd ever met him! What happened?"

"Erm ... well, he was being rather offensive ... er, uncomplimentary about Tonks' parents ... ah, that is, you," said Chesney, cringing slightly. "I'm sure it was just one of those family things ..."

"What did you do?" asked Ted.

"Well, he was doing the pure-blood speech kind of thing, I kind of pretended I could arrest him for causing trouble and ticked him off ..."

"You ticked off my nephew for insulting us?" said Andromeda. When he nodded unhappily, she finally broke out into a broad smile. "You know, Chesney, I think you and I are going to get along very well indeed ..."

*****

Tonks found herself breathing a huge sigh of relief as her parents finally let them out of the house at the end of the evening. Once all parties were past the initial awkwardness, they'd been getting along quite well, and she thought - or at least hoped - that Chesney had made a good impression. She'd never exactly been one to appreciate interference from her parents in her choice of boyfriends, but after seeing what had happened with the Hallendales she felt very grateful for her own family.

As they reached the end of the path, her mother gave a brief squeal before flushing in embarrassment. Tonks followed her gaze, and to her surprise saw a large black dog trotting up to them.

"Hello boy, where did you come from, then?" said Ted, patting him. He barked and wagged his tail.

"Hang on a minute - I've seen this dog before," said Tonks, doing a double take.

Her mother nodded. "So have I. He was hanging around the house a few months ago. Scared me half to death then, as well," she added ruefully. The dog's tail ceased its thumping on the floor.

"He's hardly a Grim, mum," she said, laughing and tickling him behind the ears, which started the tail wagging again. "But I'm sure I saw him when I went to visit -" she stopped and thought better of saying exactly where in present company "- er, a suspect a long way from here. If it's the same one of course ..." She contemplated the dog uncertainly; it certainly looked like the same one she'd seen in Leeds, but if he'd been hanging round Islington ...

"I don't suppose it can be then," said her father, voicing her thought. "Unless its owner has moved down here?"

"The one I saw before was a stray," she said doubtfully. "I suppose it must be a different dog. Bit of a coincidence, though. It really looks like him." She went to scratch the dog behind the ear again, but as she did he slipped his head to one side and made a great show of sniffing at her hand as if to fix the scent in his mind. Then, to their surprise, he suddenly barked with loud enthusiasm and began to gambol around them.

"Well, he seems to like you, Nymphadora, anyway," said her mother. Tonks dropped on her haunches to pat him, and he licked her face briefly.

"Shouldn't I be doing that?" said Chesney jokingly.

The dog gave him a very dirty look, although Tonks felt quite pleased that he'd actually been confident enough to make such a remark in front of her parents. "What do you want, boy?" she said. "What's so special about us, then?"

The dog sat down and looked around their group very carefully, almost seriously. His gaze rested first on Tonks' face, then on her mother, briefly on Ted, and then returned to Tonks. She watched this performance in puzzlement; it looked almost as if the dog was trying to decide on something, and when he climbed back onto all fours again she felt sure she was about to find out what. Then he looked up at Chesney, contemplated him for a long moment, and sat back with a plaintive whimper, his ears drooping.

"Cheer up, dog. We won't hurt you," she told him. The dog barked, puts his paws up on her shoulders for a moment and gave her another lick on the cheek, then as he dropped to the floor again suddenly turned tail and ran off into the night.

They exchanged baffled glances at this bizarre canine behaviour. "Well, that was curious," said Chesney.

Ted Tonks burst out laughing. "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time, eh?" The laugh faded as he realised that nobody else there understood him, and he shook his head pityingly. "It was a key clue? Oh, forget it.."

"Never mind, Dad," Tonks told him. "I'm sure it isn't anything I need to pay attention to as a detective!" She glanced thoughtfully at the shadows into which the dog had vanished. It was curious that the dog had been so similar to the one visiting Lupin, even if she couldn't think of an obvious connection for the moment.

She kissed her parents goodnight and walked the short distance home to her flat with Chesney. The dog could wait. One to think about later. Maybe.

---------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:

Well, you'll be glad to know that that's it, apart from a shortish epilogue to round things off and point to what Tonks & Co will be doing next, which I'll post in a few days time - but no more plot twists, I promise!

For what it's worth, Angelica as a witch has been in the works right from the beginning - when pttrfanatic betaed the first few chapters, he asked reasonably why Angelica, in the prologue, needed to think of her romance with Hank as an Abelard and Heloise love story instead of something better known like Romeo and Juliet. Well, although obviously not all the details match(!), it was meant as a weak sort of meta-clue - in that their affair was a result of Abelard coming to live in Heloise's house as her teacher, and why else would Angelica need a wizard teacher if not to learn magic?

Rhiannon's 'serial killer' case was, as you might guess, intended as setup for a possible sequel in which she and Tonks take on that case and Tonks gravitates towards the Order, ending at about the same time GoF does. Although that's looking unlikely, it's something I might have a go at eventually, so I left it in just in case. If I do try it though, I'll make sure it's complete (in draft form at least) before I start posting!

Many thanks to Door at FictionAlley Park for suggesting a joke that could be adapted to the troll, the hag, and the leprechaun who all went into a bar. With that punchline it seemed both clean enough that Dumbledore could consider telling it to the whole school, and dubious enough that McGonagall would warn him off. :)

Ted's 'dog in the night-time' reference is to the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

At some point I'm intending to do a sort of 'DVD extras' rundown of the 'story of the story' which one or two people have expressed an interest in - that will be on my livejournal, but if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them on the review thread and I'll do my best to answer them!