Dumbledore's Secret

Chapter 9

Kingsley sipped his coffee and sighed. "The Germans really know how to make this stuff."

He sat with Tonks in a small muggle café just outside Munich. He felt slightly uncomfortable in his khaki slacks and polo shirt. He didn't think the preppy muggle look went well with his shiny bald head and gold hoop earring, but Tonks had assured him that he looked quite suave. His fashion advisor sat across from him, looking almost demure with her long blonde hair in a stylish ponytail. She had dressed perfectly for the late July weather; her shirt wassleeveless and her shorts showed off most of her long legs. If he didn't bat for the other side, so to speak, he might have found her quite attractive.

Tonks wrinkled her nose. "I can't stand coffee. Too bitter. I'll stick with tea and milk any day."

Kingsley grinned but kept his eyes on the door of the café. "You're such a kid sometimes." A man in a dark suit entered the establishment, but he went immediately to the counter and ordered a drink.

"Our man?" Tonks whispered. Her back was to the door, but she did not turn. Instead she pretended to look at the paper spread across their small table.

"Nope." He then glanced down at the paper. "How good's your German?"

She shrugged. "Good enough to read the paper, not good enough to understand Nietzsche."

His eyes were back on the door. "I can't understand Nietzsche in English, much less German. You'll have to act as translator since we can't use a translation charm in front of muggles. At least, you'll need to translate when I need to say something to him. I can understand the language enough to get by, but I can't speak it worth a damn. I always did poorly at languages."

"And I thought you brought me along for my stealth."

Kingsley snorted into his coffee. "You are the clumsiest ..." He stopped. A short man with wire rimmed glasses and a tweed jacket was looking around the café expectantly. Kingsley met his eyes, then nodded slowly. The man went to the front and spoke to the cashier.

"Okay, we're good to go. He's in a tweed jacket," Kingsley said quietly.

Tonks got up without a word and went to the counter. "Herr Koppelhagen? Is that you?" she said in German, or at leastthat's what Kingsley thought she said. His German really was quite horrible.

The man turned around and looked at her in surprise.

"I'm Bianaka Färber ... we met at Peter Zimmerman's party last week?"

"Oh, of course!"

Kingsley looked around. The other people in the café di't seem to be paying Tonks and Koppelhagen any attention. He felt pretty confident about this meeting; his contact in the German bureau was a trustworthy sort of fellow. Still, one could never be too careful.

"Please, come sit with my friend and me, if you're not meeting someone else!" Tonks pointed over at their table. Kingsley gave a friendly wave.

After Koppelhagen had ordered his coffee, he followed Tonks to the table. Kingsley could see sweat glistening on the man's balding head.

"Tell him we're perfectly safe," Kingsley said quietly to Tonks in English. She translated, but Koppelhagen gave a frantic shake of his head.

"I think I'm being watched," the man whispered in German.

"What gives you that idea?" Tonks asked.

"How do I know you're trying to help Radu?" Koppelhagen asked.

Kingsley glanced quickly around the café. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, and they weren't attracting any attention. "Here," he said, pulling out his badge. &lquo;Tonks, show him yours, too."

She pulled out her badge and said quietly, "Zimmerman is our mutual friend. Surely you trust him?"

Koppelhagen glanced quickly at the badges, then whispered, "I don't know. Why wouldn't he let me contact your Ministry, if things were on the up and up?"

Tonks gave Kingsley a questioning look.

"Tell him that we are from the ministry; those badges prove it."

She translated, and the German said, "I want to talk to someone higher. Radu is a very important man."

"Look, why do you think we're not trustworthy? You went to Zimmerman and asked about Radu. We're the only ones who can help. What can we do to prove ourselves?" Tonks asked.

The man's beady eyes shifted behind his glasses. "I told you, I think I'm being followed. Well, maybe. I haven't seen anyone, but my wife swears she met a strange man in the street the other night. She said he was English, and he had bright red hair. Then she saw him again in the wizarding section of Munich when we were doing some shopping. She said she saw him again outside out living room window. She's not usually the paranoid type."

Tonks exchanged an anxious glance with Kingsley, but he responded calmly, "Tell him he can get up and leave if he's afraid."

After Tonks translated, Koppelhagen gave Kingsley a searching look. The auror kept his face blank, but his mind was frantic. This was the first lead on Radu they had received in over a month, ever since the last Order meeting. If this fell through, he doubted he'd find out anything at all about the Romanian potions master.

Koppelhagen looked around the café, then sighed. "Okay, I guess I trust you. I mean, I have no choice. I'm desperate to fnd Radu."

"When's the last time you saw him?" Tonks asked.

"I haven't seen him since late April."

"Is that unusual, to go this long without talking to him?"

Koppelhagen shook his head. "Actually, no. But I would have thought after our last discussion... Don't get me wrong. Radu and I weren't close. I actually didn't like the man very much, and he didn't like me. Once, a long time ago, I had dreams of being a potions master myself, and so I apprenticed myself to him. He was a slave driver! But he put up with me, and I with him. I have a good bit of money, you see, and I think he always knew I might come in handy. He had brilliance, and I appreciated that. Anyway, after I realized I had not much talent for potions, I went on my way, but we kept in touch. He told me, generally, what he was working on, and I sent him little donations to help his research along. I never lost my interest in potions advances, even if I'd lost my desire to become a master myself. Well, about 5 years ago, he left Durmstrang ... that's where he'd been when I was his apprentice. He told me he had found an extremely wealthy backer who was setting up a research lab, just for him."

"Did he mention any names?" Tonks asked.

Koppelhagen nodded. "It was French, I think. Something with an M. Malle, Malre, Malfe..."

"Malfoy?" Kingsley suggested.

Koppelhagen nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that's it! Anyway, after this Malfoy backer came into the picture, Radu dropped me. I didn't hear from him again until last spring. I was surprised, but pleased. You see, I own a chain of apothecaries ... perhaps you've heard of us in England? We supply some of the best ingredients all around the ..."

"Why did Radu contact you?" Tonks cut in.

"He didn't explain completely, but it sounded like this Malfoy character was putting some major pressure on him to finish a project. I think he was looking to get out from underneath this guy because he asked me for a large sum of money to keep his labs going. I asked him what he was working on, and he told me ..." Koppelhagen lowered his voice and leaned across the table. "He told me that he was on the verge of figuring out Salazar Slytherin's Power Potion."

Kingsley asked Tonks, "Did I understand that correctly? Power potion?"

Tonks shrugged. "I don't know that we're following you," she told Koppelhagen.

His small eyes grew wide behind his glasses. "You don't know about Slytherin's Power Potion?"

The two aurors shook their heads.

"It's the most famous mystery in all of potions making! In one of Slytherin's journals, he mentions a potion, one that he calls the most powerful substance on all the earth. But he only mentions two ingredients: mandrake and ginger. Mandrake and ginger! Two of the most common elements in the world! Scholars have tried everything - they've mixed the ingredients with all other plants and substances they can think of, but the stuff is useless. No one knows what to make of it. Some scholars claim that Slytherin was out of his mind, or that he didn't know what he was talking about. But it's every potions master's dream to figure out the riddle. And when Radu told me he might have the answer ... just think of the sales in our apothecary!"

"So you gave him some money?" Tonks asked.

"Actually, no. If I had done that, I would have tried to find him much sooner. I told him I would give him money, as soon as I freed up some cash. But then I didn't hear from him. I thought maybe he'd dropped me again. Then, in late May, I got a strange letter by owl. All it said was, The key is in my lab. I figured it was from Radu ... he's been known to write stuff like that, and so I went to his labs outside Berlin. The place was a mess. It was as if someone had broken every piece of glassware he owned. But I didn't find anything of use. I wrote to Durmstrang, but they didn't know what happened to him. So, that's when I asked around our Enforcement Bureau and was directed to you. But you don't know any more than I do, do you?"

Tonks and Kingsley exchanged a look. "Tell him that we have some ideas," Kingsley said.

"Bah! Ideas! I need answers! My fall marketing campaign is in the works right now, and I need to know ..."

"Listen," Tonks cut in. "We'll contact you immediately if we hear anything, okay? Thanks so much for your help."

She got up and held out a hand. Koppelhagen seemed to understand that the meeting was over. He rose out of his seat and grimaced. "I hope you find him. I thought you were going to help me here, but I feel like I'm the one with all the information!"

Kingsley tried hard not to roll his eyes. "Tell him that I heard his apothecary chain was the lousiest in Europe."

Tonks frowned at him, and Koppelhagen asked, "What did he say?"

"He said that it was very nice to meet you," Tonks said in German.

Koppelhagen looked skeptical, but Kingsley gave him a charming smile, and the German man nodded politely.

"Well, have a good ..." but before Koppelhagen could finish, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"What the ..." Tonks began. At the entrance stood four men, all wearing dark robes and white, skull-like masks.

Kingsley rose from his seat, immediately pulling out his wand. The 10 or 12 muggles in the café began to scream and duck under tables as sudden bursts of light shot out from the direction of the doorway. "Protego!" Kingsley shouted as he dodged a flash of red light. "Tonks, get these muggles out of here!"

"I can't leave you ..." She dove beneath a table as a series of hexes flew in her direction.

"Get them out! I'll be right behind you!" Kingsley said as he lifted one of the chairs to use as a shield. "I'll grab Koppelhagen. Just go!"

Tonks suddenly had short black hair and was wearing a muggle police uniform. "Everyone! Out through the fire exit!" she yelled in German.

Kingsley ran toward the front of the room, trying to head off the Death Eaters, who were laughing as they fired random hexes as the panicked muggles. "Impedimenta!" Kingsley called out as one of the Death Eaters started moving toward the escaping muggles.

The four death eaters quickly turned on him, and Kingsley began to concentrate on creating a strong shield charm. But to his surprise, they did nothing as one of the masked men held up a hand to halt the others.

"I think we have you outnumbered," the man said with a sneer. Kingsley glanced around quickly and saw that the only other person left was the unconscious Koppelhagen. "Shacklebolt, isn't it?" the Death Eater asked in heavily accented English.

Kingsley stared and said nothing.

"Don't you remember me? We had a little fun together in your Ministry last month?" the man lifted his mask slightly, and Kingsley found himself staring at Anton Dolohov.

"You're supposed to be in..." Kingsley began.

"What, you think that pitiful prison of yours could keep a powerful man like me locked up?" He sniggered. "The Dark Lord always provides for his faithful servants." The other three men murmured in agreement.

Kingsley scanned the room quickly. How the hell was he going to get himself and Koppelhagen out of here? He could apparate outside, if he could somehow grab onto Koppelhagen without attracting attention.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" One of the other death eaters had moved behind the serving counter and was dragging the young cashier by her long brown hair.

She began to scream and Dolohov said, "A muggle? How delightful."

Kingsley acted before he could think. Raising his wand, he cried, "Stupify!" The death eater fell limply to the ground. As the young woman ran toward the back exit, Kingsley jumped into the path of the other death eaters before they could stun her. Just managing to produce a shielding charm before the spells hit him, he turned and raced toward Koppelhagen. But before he could reach him, Kingsley felt his body stiffen under Dolohov's Impediment jinx. As he fell to the ground, another of the death eaters yelled, "Expelliarmus!" and his wand flew out of his hands. He tried to push himself off the ground, a heavy boot slammed against his back and pinned him to the floor.

"You would risk your own life for that muggle scum? See, this is why our wizarding world is dying, because weak fools like this are letting the muggles take over," Dolohov said. "Avada ..."

Time seemed to slow down, and Kingsley felt his entire body pulse with fear. With a surge of adrenaline that only near death could have created, he was able to roll over and drive his foot into the death eater's groin. Dolohov doubled over with a moan, and Kingsley managed to pull himself off the ground. Kingsley threw a swift punch to Dolohov's stomach, and as the death eater toppled backward, the Auror slammed his other fist into the masked man's face. Dolohov crashed to the floor, out cold.

The other two death eaters aimed their wands at Kingsley, and the shorter one said to the other, "Go on, Percy, this can be your initiation!"

"Percy?" Kingsley said. "Percy Weasley?"

The other death eater froze at the sound of his name. Then he began to shake, almost violently.

Kingsley said quietly, "Percy, you don't have to do this. Your parents, your siblings, they want you to come back home, they ..."

The death eater reached up and pulled off his mask. Kingsley stared with astonishment at the sight of his red hair and young, freckled face. His blue eyes were shining behind his spectacles. He raised his wand and said, "I am the only true Weasley left. Avada Kedavra!"

Kingsley ducked, but he knew he wasn't fast enough. He was going to die ...

"Nothing happened!" Percy shouted. "Nothing happened!"

"You're too inexperienced, you fool!" the shorter death eater said. "The killing curse is only for the most powerful wizards."

Kingsley quickly got to his feet and yelled, "Accio wand!" But, Percy cried out, "Expelliarmus!" just as the wand touched Kingsley's fingers. Percy caught the wand, gripping it tightly. Kingsley noticed that Percy's hand trembled as he shoved the extra wand into his robe.

"Percy, I know you don't want to do this, I can see that you're not really ..." Kingsley began, and the other death eater laughed.

"Percy, are you really going to let this fool tell you that you're weak?"

Percy pointed his wand at Kingsley and called out, "Conicio*!"

Kingsley flew backwards, hitting his head on the front counter. He crumpled to the ground but managed to stay conscious. Trying to stand up, he said, "Percy, please, you don't have to ..."

"Cruento**!" And Kingsley fell back to the ground, his mouth suddenly full of blood. The blood was pouring from his nose and his eyes and his ears, and Kingsley thought he was going to drown. Still, he managed, "Please, Percy ..."

"Crucio!"

And Kingsley's world went dark.