Blood of Mud, Wing of Bat

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Chapter 33: You-Know-Who's You-Know-Whats

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O Great One,

We have followed your orders faithfully, and send you now the report of what we have seen.

Upon leaving last night's post-raid analysis session, your servant used the Portkey you provided to go home. He spent approximately one hour there getting cleaned up and giving his house-elves their orders for the day, then had his coachman bring him down to the village where he caught a public portkey.

At this point he picked up an Auror Covert Operations Aerial Reconnaissance tail. This tail was in the form of a gray pigeon with white wings. The tail was careful to stay out of sight and there is no evidence that our subject even knew he was being followed. He had no communications with the tail that we observed. From there he made his way to London via a circuitous route. He asked several witches and wizards for assistance in negotiating the Public Portkey system but at no time did conversation stray onto other topics. (See transcripts attached) His final destination appeared to be the Department of Domestic Disturbances overnight cooldown facility, from which he freed Hermione Weasley by paying her bail in gold. Weasley was being staked out by Cov Ops Urban Ground Reconnaissance. The agent was in the form of a tabby cat. Again, no evidence that he spotted her tail or was approached by her tail in any way.

Once she was released, they had a brief argument about whether the bail money constituted a loan or a gift. (See transcript attached) Weasley threw the receipt in the gutter. We put a tracer on it so if you care to retrieve it for your purposes that can be arranged. Afterward, she entered Ernie's Café situated directly across the street. Our subject had an additional conversation with a pair of Portkey patrons (see attached transcript) which appears to have been of no import.

After this is where the first suspicious episode occurred. He waited approximately twenty minutes and then followed Weasley into Ernie's Café. Upon re-examining the transcript and scry records we were unable to detect any signal that may have passed between them setting this up, but regardless of whether it was pre-planned or spontaneous we feel that it is unusual behavior for the subject to allow himself to be seen in such a setting.

Fortunately we had no difficulty scrying him in that location and were able to obtain a full transcript of his conversations with Hermione Weasley and with two of the Ernie's staff. As you can see the conversations with the staff were relatively innocuous but he made several dangerous statements to Hermione Weasley, including one that cast his own loyalty to You in a negative light. (see highlighted passages).

After they left Ernie's, she Apparated him to St. Mungo's. There they encountered a large group of reporters and became separated in the crowd.

Here is where the second suspicious episode occurred. Hermione Weasley Apparated away from approximately three and a half meters inside St. Mungo's Apparition wards. Our friend at Apparition Enforcement has verified that there is no record of that Apparition. This bears closer examination. It is unknown whether our subject even knew the trick Apparition occurred, however given his own predilections in that area it's entirely likely he had something to do with it.

We were able to obtain a full transcript of his interaction with the reporters. (See attached). Nothing untoward was said, that we were able to detect.

Similarly his interaction with the witch at St. Mungo's Inquiry Desk was seemingly routine. (See attached).

At this time, the St. Mungo's lobby was being staked out by the same Covert Operations Urban Ground Reconnaissance tail as had been following Hermione Weasley a short time before, as well as an Aerial Reconnaissance agent disguised as a post-owl. It is unknown whether this was the same agent as had been disguised as a pigeon to follow our subject before.

After speaking to the Inquiry witch he entered the waiting area and seated himself very near to the Urban Recon agent, giving every appearance of not realizing her identity. However, within minutes he spotted the Aerial Recon agent and asked a witch sitting near him how long the owl had been watching him. (See complete transcript attached)

This is there the third and perhaps most suspicious episode occurred.

Upon determining that the owl was definitely watching him, he appeared to contrive a fake letter for the "post-owl" to carry. He claimed it was because he believed the owl staring at him would bring him bad luck. The letter rid the place of the post-owl quickly enough, however, we were unable to trace the "owl" after it left St. Mungo's. Therefore the content of that letter is unknown at this time. We feel that it is extremely important to determine what was in that letter and whether it ever reached its addressee. He could easily have used the entire incident as a means to pass a message to Covert Operations.

After the owl was gone, he proceeded to listen to an extremely long and tedious story told by the same witch sitting next to him. It is unclear what the point to the story is, but his comments and questions, as well as the story's content, seem innocuous enough. (See transcript attached and we recommend a good stiff drink or two before reading it.)

During that, a contingent arrived to pick up Malfoy for his meeting with the Healers. The meeting was held within St. Mungo's Heart's inner wards and therefore we were unable to scry further. So far as we have been able to determine, he is still there now.

We swear to you that everything we have reported in this letter is true and complete. We await your further bidding, Great One.

Signed,
(Unsigned)

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O Lord,

I have read the scry report you forwarded to me and I agree that the "bad luck" episode seems highly suspicious. While it is well established that he holds that belief about staring animals (remember the time he was arrested for disturbing the peace after trying to blast that rat in Diagon Alley?) the fact that it was a disguised Cov Op and he did give it correspondence is not good. Let me know what you'd like me to do.

Sincerely,
(unsigned)

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Lord,

Our North American friend has confirmed that there is no such address in Peoria, Illinois, United States, either Magical or Muggle.

Yours in unsurmounted loyalty,
(unsigned)

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Most Great and Terrible Leader,

I have examined the transcripts of the Ernie's Café incident and do not find them to be suspicious. Malfoy did not say anything Weasley couldn't have figured out on her own by talking to her own friends and family. His revelations seemed calculated to engender sympathy or at least muddy the issue, while allowing nothing to slip. Of course, any action taken on this matter is entirely up to you.

Your Servant,
(unsigned)

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Master,

After several hours of attempts we have been unable to determine whether the "post-owl" bearing Malfoy's letter ever arrived back at the Cov Ops' Hive. It seems unlikely that the agent would have actually gone ahead and delivered the letter as addressed; although if he did not know the address was fake he might have handed it off to a real post-owl? Do we have someone waiting to intercept on the other end, just in case?

Your Most Loyal Follower,
(unsigned)

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O Most Powerful of Leaders,

I humbly submit that there is one thing which has been overlooked, and that is Malfoy's remaining within St. Mungo's Heart even now.

I must most respectfully and cautiously remind You that our spies cannot scry him there, nor do the heart-wards allow his Memoralias charm to work precisely as designed. Therefore, should he choose to meet with or pass communications to any ally which You would not approve of, we would have no way of knowing he'd done it.

It also bears remembering that Penrose St. James, the Healer in charge of Salazar Malfoy's case, is the same Healer who handled those Muggle "gun" holes Malfoy took a couple of years ago. They have been in communication on several occasions since. Do we know anything about St. James' loyalties and politics? Perhaps we should be finding out.

Just a thought.

Signed,
(Unsigned)

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O Master,

I have read the letter you forwarded to me and I agree its author has a point. He could be doing anything or meeting anyone there and we would have no way of knowing.

Furthermore, St. Mungo's Heart is not the only place we cannot track Malfoy's activities. He also cannot be followed into, or recorded in, the high security block at Azkaban, a place he has been visiting weekly for going on ten years now. Neither can he be tracked in the Auror Special Operations interrogation chamber, a location where he has not been in a couple of months but which he is likely to be brought to again when this upcoming raid on his house goes down. If he has any allies among Special Ops, that would be when he'd be able to talk to them. And - for completeness' sake - let us not forget that he is still on the board of Governors at Hogwarts school, another location in which he cannot always be tracked. And, I needn't remind You, base of operations of one of Your deadliest enemies.

All in all, Malfoy's time spent in these locations should perhaps be curtailed. Or at least, looked at long and hard.

Everlastingly Loyal,
(Unsigned)

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To Whom it May Concern,

Am I the only one who is paranoid about this whole Hermione Weasley business?

Signed,
(unsigned)

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Walden,

No.

Sincerely,
(unsigned)

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