[NTLJ] 25. Flushing the Game

[snorkfics]

Chapter Summary: In which Tonks and Cassius have a disagreement and chase down a new suspect.
Length: 11,200 words



25. Flushing the Game

Monday 2nd November 1994

For the rest of that Sunday, Tonks spent as much time examining her memory as she could spare from ... well, pressing personal matters. Try as she might, she was unable to come to comfortable conclusions.

Cassius was in his cubicle when she arrived on Monday morning, although he didn't look up as she passed. He seemed to be trying to write a report, scratching out a sentence or two, then breaking off to stare into space. She grimaced and made her way over to Cornworthy's cubicle. Fortunately, he wasn't busy, merely chatting to O'Gregan in a desultory fashion about Ministry politics.

"Arnie, can I borrow the Image Projector again?".

He nodded and reached into the cubbyhole under his desk. "Of course you can. What for this time?"

"Just an idea I had. I'll tell you if it makes sense once I've had a play around." She nodded in the general direction of Cassius, who looked distracted even from a distance. "What's up with him?"

Cornworthy shrugged. "Beats me. He's been like that ever since we came in. Barely reacted when I asked him when he wanted our report on the Carrack and Ashford interrogations."

"Somethin' to do with that row on Saturday night, so it is," added O'Gregan sententiously. "Don't suppose his lady friend was too happy with him."

"Probably," replied Tonks, with a sinking feeling. She tucked the Image Projector under her arm and took a quick trip to Level Four, then found a vacant interview room in which to experiment. She had no intention of letting anyone know what she had in mind until she'd had a chance to see if it made sense. Half an hour later, she had a series of projections of eyes and upper faces in front of her, and could see that it did.

Her heart sank, but she couldn't honestly tell herself she was surprised. She sighed, picked up the Projector and went to find Cassius, who was still making slow progress on his report.

"Cassius, can I have a word?"

He jumped. "Yes, of course," he said, shaking himself. "What is it?"

"You're really not going to like this, but ... it's about what happened on Saturday night."

He nodded sadly. "I haven't said anything yet. I'm not sure if I can look her in the eye ever again. How's the case going?"

Tonks winced at his choice of words. She picked up the Image Projector with a heavy heart, and adjusted it to display the memories she'd pieced together. "Take a gander at these. Tell me which ones you think look alike."

He took the Projector in confusion and examined the memories of eyes and foreheads, flipping back and forth until he was sure. "Right, number two, number six, and number nine. They appear to be three views of our Butler friend, two with the scarf, one without." He perked up. "Do you mean you have an identification?"

"You definitely think they're the same person?"

He checked again, looking very closely. "Well ... yes. What are you saying?"

Tonks summoned all her nerve, and managed to keep her voice steady. "Number six is the Butler, it's my recollection from the night I met him in the Toad. I made it at the time when it was still fresh in my mind. Number nine is also the Butler, I got it from Beatrice this morning -- she's still so worried by the whole thing the Projector was able to pick up a clear memory. Number two ... that's a memory from Saturday night when I was staring into somebody else's eyes ... "

He gaped. "What? Tonks ... You don't mean your ..." He trailed off.

Tonks realised what he meant and flushed. "What? Don't be silly!"

"But then ..."

"I had him at wandpoint on Saturday. Cassius? It's Clark Hallendale."

*****

Cassius stared blankly at her for quite a while. Finally he broke the silence, speaking in a low voice. "No."

"I'm afraid so ... I knew something rang a bell when I saw his picture at Angelica's, then again on Saturday night, except I was a bit --" she coughed "-- distracted when I got out the lift. But then I did a bit of experimentation with the Projector ..."

"I said NO!" He interrupted with a shout, and emphasised the point with a fist slammed onto the desk, both of which drew odd looks from the other Aurors.

"Cassius, you said yourself it's the same person," she pointed out, as gently as possible.

"No." His voice was firm, but there was an almost pleading look in his eyes. "How could it be?"

"Well ..." She had a nasty feeling she might get her head bitten off, but had little choice. "He's a bit of a dodgy character. I looked up his record on the WEB Access, and no-one actually knows how he makes his money. People seem to think his brother and mother help him out, but we don't know that, do we? He fits the general physical type of the 'Butler'. His lack of magical skill fits the profile too -- he's definitely the sort of person who would have to resort to a simple blasting spell to kill. Remember, he's got a record for getting into fights and losing them. And the man I met didn't do anything much when I fought him -- one spell put him out of action, and it wasn't even a proper hex, just a Banishing Charm."

"But where would he get Liquor of Jacmel from? Enough of it to supply to others? It doesn't grow on trees!"

"I was thinking about that," she said sadly. "Remember what Barry Lewis said - he reckoned the Butler took over the 'business' from someone who used to be in the trade, with contacts out in the Caribbean?"

"But who would that be ..." He closed his eyes. "I see," he said in a strangled voice. "Hank Hallendale, you mean?"

"Sorry Cassius, but it would fit, wouldn't it?" She spoke quickly, determined to make her point before he could raise objections. "Angelica said they spent years flitting round out there getting into scrapes, and she admitted that a lot of what they did was shady. What if it was more than just shady? What if Hank was in touch with the really dangerous people out there, the ones who know how to brew Jacmel? In fact, what if he even knowingly went to meet with those Death Eaters that night to talk to them about buying the stuff?"

Cassius looked at her, tormented. "And Angelica? Do you think she's involved too? If she was, why would she even risk talking to me, an Auror, let alone spending time with me, or discussing the incident where Hank was killed? How long have you thought this?"

"Only since yesterday morning," she said, upset. "It sort of fitted into place then, but it must have been building up subconsciously for a while. I just had too many other things going on to realise. I like Angelica, but ... I haven't really been sure about you seeing her, have I? I mean, she even said she never asked her husband about his past, that she knew what he got up to was a bit dubious."

"Dubious, yes, but not Dark Magic!"

"Well ... to be honest, I think she'd have looked the other way whatever Hank did, just so long as they had enough to get by. She seems to have been besotted with him, you can tell by the way she talks about him. And you've seen what she's like about her kids -- I reckon she'd shut her eyes to anything they might have done, up to and including murder. Just like Ashford with his nephew and nieces." The thought just like me with Uncle Sirius? flashed through her mind, but she shook it off.

"Go on," he said wearily as she hesitated. "Finish it, now you've started."

"I don't know as much about them as you do, but I got the impression on Saturday night that Clark idolised his dad. Want to bet he'd stay in the same line of business? And that briefing paper on Liquor of Jacmel said the people who actually make the stuff out in Haiti are suspicious of outsiders, and it's very hard to buy some unless you have some link with them. Hank was a charmer by all accounts, though, he might have won their trust. And I should think that if you were the son of a former customer, they'd be a lot more inclined to do business with you. It's the way those things work out there, isn't it?"

"And your theory is what, that he might do the same as his father? Sell the potion to the remnants of the Death Eaters, if they intend to start making trouble again?" He didn't even seem to be trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Tonks shrugged. "I've no idea what he might be planning to do. But can we afford to take the risk? They can't all have been able to do Imperius Curses, but they could certainly slip a potion into someone's drink. And if they've decided it's time for a replay, we need to put a stop to this Jacmel trade right now before it causes us real trouble. You said so yourself." She paused, willing him to accept what she was saying as reasonable. "Look, mate, it's all speculation apart from the Image Projection, and I'll admit that could be challenged, but ... it would fit. We've got to investigate it at least, haven't we? We can't just let it go, now we've thought of it!"

"No, I suppose we can't," he said, the expression on his face so bleak it left Tonks herself feeling miserable. "I should have known this was too good to be true. Let's go and talk to him, then." He rose and began to gather his things together, then stopped dead. A peculiar noise, half way between a whimper and a sob, escaped from his throat.

Tonks looked up, startled. "Cassius?" When he didn't say anything, she repeated, "Cassius! Are you OK?"

"Yes. Or rather no. I've just thought of another little bit of information that would fit Clark. That damned nickname. The Butler."

"Why?" asked Tonks, bemused. "Was he in the butlering trade at some time?"

Cassius sighed heavily. "No. Angelica's fond of the 'movies'. She told us she named her sons after Muggle film stars, remember? Or maybe you don't. They got their names from Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable." Seeing Tonks' blank expression, he added in irritation, "Whose most famous role was Rhett Butler. Remember Lewis said the 'Butler' seemed to think the nickname was a great joke? From what I've heard about Clark, it's exactly the sort of thing that would amuse him."

He hung his head. Tonks bit her lip. "Oh Cassius. I'm sorry." She reached out awkwardly to pat his arm.

"It doesn't matter," he said, shrugging it off. "Let's go."

*****

Neither of them were especially surprised to discover that Clark Hallendale was not at home to visitors. After a brief consultation, they took a slight risk by magically opening the door to investigate -- but he didn't appear to have been there for a few days, insofar as it was possible to tell from the congealed remains of an old meal on the kitchen table.

None of his neighbours seemed to know him well -- although this was expected for a wizard -- but one mentioned that she thought he sometimes went to Worthing -- no surprises there -- or to visit his brother. "Owns some big company in London," she said vaguely. "Don't know the name, though."

A brief call to ask Cornworthy to look up the details proved fruitless, as neither Montgomery nor his company had ever been listed in Auror records. Fortunately, Tonks recalled the Hallowe'en Ball and decided to try the International Magical Trading Standards Body. Even two days later, Montgomery's disgruntled date was still seething, and when she recognised Tonks and Cassius treated them to a long diatribe. "I bet he only asked me out to get information about our reaction if he imported magical things via his stupid Muggle shipping company," she concluded. "Well, he won't get permission if I've got anything to do with it!"

"Who decides?" asked Cassius.

"The boss -- Mr Crouch. Though mind you," she added bitterly, "he's getting so erratic he might just sign the form without looking at it. Poor sod's been cracking up ever since the World Cup ..."

"What's the company name?" interrupted Tonks. She didn't think the troubles of Barty Crouch, however entertaining, were anything the Auror Office needed to take an interest in. Unless of course Monty Hallendale had decided to use Liquor of Jacmel on him to get his form signed, which seemed a little extreme even if his brother really was the source of the stuff.

"The 'Greater Antilles Mercantile and Shipping Corporation'," she said, referring to a piece of parchment in the file. "They move stuff between Britain and some of those islands out in the Caribbean."

"Which ones?" asked Tonks, as the woman copied the address onto a spare memo pad.

She shrugged. "Mostly the big ones, according to this. Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hispaniola." At the last two names Tonks flashed a significant look at Cassius, who nodded in resigned agreement.

"Very well. Thank you for your time. I think we need to pay Mr Hallendale a visit."

"Are you going to arrest him?" she asked hopefully.

Cassius winced. "Ah ... we'll let you know."

*****

The headquarters of the Greater Antilles Mercantile and Shipping Corporation proved to be a modest suite of rooms on the fourteenth floor of a London office block. They were met by a snooty secretary who attempted to rebuff them by claiming that Montgomery Hallendale was busy, but her resistance crumbled into panic as soon as Tonks waved Transfigured 'police identification' at her, and she started gabbling into the intercom.

Montgomery was sitting at his desk, looking flustered, when they strode into the office. He jumped up and shooed out the secretary, who was now bobbing anxiously in the doorway, and cast a privacy charm on the office as soon as she was out of sight. Then he sat down again and looked at the Aurors with considerable irritation. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, that's nice," said Tonks equably. "We wanted to talk to you about your brother."

"Why? What's he done?"

"Did we say he'd done anything?" countered Tonks.

Montgomery sighed. "Every time someone from the Ministry asks me about Clark, it's because he's supposed to have done something, Miss Tonks. It isn't usually Aurors, I'll admit."

"Look, can you just tell us where he might be?"

He sat back and looked at her thoughtfully: "I'm not inclined to point you in his direction without a good reason, no."

"We want to ask him questions concerning a murder inquiry. That good enough for you?" She flashed a quick glance at Cassius, who seemed perfectly willing to let Tonks take on the 'Bad Auror' role again.

"Murder?" he spluttered. "Clark? Don't be bloody ridiculous. Murder who? Ask him what questions?"

"I don't think we have to specify that."

"Well, unless you do I don't know that I have to help you, or have any reason to suppose Clark has anything to do with the matter you're referring to, do I?"

Tonks exchanged glances with Cassius, who shrugged listlessly. "We also want to talk to him about the sale of an illegal and very dangerous potion. And we have a definite identification of him in that case, so ..."

There was a sudden sound like a pistol shot. It seemed to come from the other side of the wall behind Montgomery.

"... what was that?"

She darted over to the wall, where a few quick spells revealed a hidden door. Cassius had at least perked up enough to follow her, so she nodded to him and flung the door open, throwing up a Shield Charm to protect them. He fired a Stunner into the small room behind it, but the precautions proved unnecessary -- there was no-one there.

They ignored the scowling Montgomery Hallendale and made a full inspection. The only furniture was a small desk, a chair, and a set of filing cabinets, which proved to contain wizarding paperwork relating to the business. Some of it looked a bit dubious to her inexpert eye, suggesting that Montgomery had been using spells to preserve cargoes and enhance the speed of his transports, but Tonks was quite happy to leave consideration of that to the International Magical Trading Standards Body (who, she suspected, might have an employee interested in examining the paperwork more closely for signs of illegality).

She turned to Montgomery and snapped, "Right then. Who was that? Clark?"

"Who was who?" he asked urbanely.

"Don't play games with us, Monty! Was that noise your brother Disapparating?"

"Might have been. If so, I wasn't in the room to see. What if it was?"

"What if it was ... We told you he was wanted for questioning! You deliberately concealed his presence here!"

He smiled. It was quite clearly meant to irritate her, and it succeeded. "Actually, I didn't. I merely said I wasn't inclined to tell you without further information. Which I wasn't, and which I didn't get, incidentally."

"We could arrest you for that!" she spat. "We told you he was under suspicion for murder! You deliberately stalled us and gave him time to get away!"

The smile became a smirk. "No, I merely said I didn't know that I had to help you. Of course, I'm not a legal wizard, but I do believe you need good cause before I have to answer questions. You hadn't given me one yet ..."

"He's within his rights, Tonks," said Cassius tiredly before Tonks could explode. He turned to Montgomery. "I'm sure you knew he was there, and I imagine you knew he could hear and would Disapparate at the first sign that we'd hit too close to home. I don't suppose you're going to tell us where you think he might have gone, are you?"

"No, and I've no idea where he would go anyway. I doubt it would be anywhere he's told me about."

"And you're happy that a murderer gets away, even if he is your brother?" snapped Tonks, as they made their way back into the main office.

He dropped into his chair and looked up at her. "No, I'm not happy. But I refuse to believe he is a murderer merely on your say-so, without seeing some damn good evidence. And even if that is the case --" he sighed heavily "-- well, as you say, he's still my brother. I wouldn't turn him away if he came to me for help, and I definitely wouldn't hand him over to be sent to Azkaban."

"I suppose your ships have been bringing in little packages for him, have they?"

"Do you really want to throw accusations like that around without proof, Miss Tonks?"

"No, but we could get ..."

Cassius tapped her on the arm. "Come on, Tonks, we're not going to get anything else here. At least we have reason to believe he's on the run now, so we can alert the Department. I would say thank you for your time, Montgomery, but ..."

"Not really appropriate, is it, Smethwyck?"

As they turned to leave, Tonks said to him sarcastically, "I suppose you only asked me out because you were hoping to find out what I knew about your brother, then?"

He looked surprised. "Well ... yes."

"What?" She hadn't been expecting him to agree, and the fact that he did definitely hurt her pride. "I thought you fancied me or something!"

"Don't flatter yourself," he said tartly, then unbent slightly. "Well, all right, you're not bad-looking, I suppose. But that shape-shifting thing is just ... creepy."

"Thank you, Montgomery. That will be all," said Cassius. He took a firm grip on the arm of a disgruntled Tonks and led her out of the office.

*****

"Very well, Donnacha. Let us know if anything turns up. We'll deal with things at this end."

Cassius tucked his mirror phone back into his pocket and turned back to Tonks, who had perched herself on the little table in the Worthing Floo station and public Apparition point while he contacted the office. She couldn't help but remember that they'd first met Angelica Hallendale in this very room.

"What are they doing for us?"

"Tracer spells round any locations they think he might visit. We've got enough to do that on suspicion, as with Beatrice at the Transfigured Toad."

"Right." Not to mention with me and Mum, when they thought my cousin might turn up. The memory made her uneasy, but she wasn't in a good position to complain. "Now what?"

Cassius didn't meet her eye. "You know what. I'm not exactly looking forward to this." He stared at nothing for a moment or two, then shook himself. "Well, come on. We're here now, we may as well get it over with. I don't suppose she'll want to talk to us either, but we have to try. She'll know we're coming. Even if Montgomery didn't just Apparate straight there, he will undoubtedly have telephoned."

"Are you OK to go and see her?" she asked, as they stepped out into the street. "Cassius, before we go ... be honest now, just how much do you feel for her?"

His lips tightened as if biting back a tart reply. "Friendship. Affection. A lot of fellow feeling. I'm going to really hate doing this. But no, I'm not in love with her if that's what you're asking."

"Right. Good." She didn't say any more as they walked the short distance to Angelica's house, but really hoped Cassius was being honest with himself. As chat-up lines went, "I want to lock up your firstborn son in an island fortress guarded by soul-sucking fiends, and by the way I may have accidentally killed the love of your life" didn't really sound like a winner.

When they arrived, Tonks kept watch while Cassius busied himself with setting up the tracer spells. Angelica opened the door promptly at their knock; when her reddened eyes saw who it was, she turned and went back in without a word, although fortunately this left the door open behind her. Tonks exchanged looks of trepidation with Cassius and followed her into the lounge.

The room appeared much as it had done on her previous visit, with the Hamburghalle glasswork vase that had been Monty's gift still perched on its table, and the Best Kept Suburban Lawn visible through the window, as well-kept as ever, The only difference was the framed photographs of Angelica's sons and husband perched on the sideboard; Tonks realised that the pictures of Clark had been moved to the front, almost in challenge. She was reminded that Angelica had distracted her from looking at them closely the first time around, and wondered just how much she had suspected about her son's activities.

Their hostess stood in front of the window with a far from welcoming expression. "I don't suppose I need to ask why you're here, Mr Smethwyck?"

Tonks noted that she didn't call him 'Cassius' and stole a glance to see how he would take that. He'd evidently noticed too, and it seemed to be causing him pain. She hastened to take the pressure off him. "Has Montgomery talked to you, Angelica?"

"That's 'Mrs Hallendale' to you," she said coldly. The contrast with her tone on Saturday night was quite shocking, although Tonks could tell from both voice and body language that she was hurting. "Yes, he's talked to me. No, I don't believe Clark had anything to do with what happened to Sylvester. No, I don't know where he would be at the moment, he doesn't tell his mother about his business affairs. And no, you don't really suppose I'd tell you even if I did know, do you?"

"I suppose not, Ang ..." began Cassius.

She interrupted, he voice icy. "Mrs Hallendale."

He hung his head for a moment. "Yes, I'm sorry. Look, we do realise this is a difficult thing to ask of you --" Angelica raised her eyebrows as if to say no kidding "-- but if Clark has got himself into something really bad, we have to try to get him out of it ..."

"Oh don't lie to me like that!" she snapped. "Montgomery told me about the murder inquiry."

"He fled from the office when he wanted to interrogate him," said Tonks. "That was very suspicious ..."

"I'm not surprised," said Angelica impatiently. "He never trusted your people, and I can't say I blame him. And what's this potion you want to talk to him about?"

"Liquor of Jacmel. Very dangerous."

"Yes, I know. You talked about it before when you were asking me about Sylvester. Don't pretend you don't remember, Miss Tonks!"

She hesitated. "Ang ... er, Mrs Hallendale ... if your son really is the one involved in these cases, you must see that he could be dangerous to others. The man we're looking for tried to use Jacmel to kidnap me once." Angelica looked momentarily sick, but managed to keep up her defiant stare. "And we're bound to track him down eventually --" she knew this was stretching a bit, but it was worth a shot "-- unless he gets into the hands of some really Dark wizards, and then I don't think he would stand much chance of survival unless he did much worse things."

"Clark's only possible chance is to give the Ministry information that he can use to bargain his sentence down," put in Cassius quietly.

Angelica scowled. "No, Mr Smethwyck! His only possible chance is to stay out of your hands completely. If you had any real evidence connecting him with these things, you'd have arrested him before now. So I don't see why he should let you force him to take truth drugs, just in case you can turn up evidence of something he might have done. Delving into his mind is the only way you're going to actually get anything, isn't it?" Tonks looked to Cassius for confirmation; he seemed both startled and ashamed, which left her with a sinking feeling that the shot might have hit home. "I don't know where he might be, and if you think I'm going to tell you anything about him, you've got another think coming! He's my son. I'd do anything it took to keep him off that island, whatever he might or might not have done."

Cassius sighed. "You do know we've had to cast tracer spells around your house in case he turns up? And the same for Montgomery, of course."

"I dare say. We can't stop you, can we? Is there anything else?"

"No. No, I suppose not. Let's go, Tonks."

"Right." She couldn't resist a glance back at a stony-faced Angelica as she left, and that little inattention caused the disaster when she forgot about the loose rug. She caught her foot on it and was propelled forward into the table, ending up on the floor with a sudden thump that knocked the breath from her. Everything in her pockets flew out onto the carpet -- wand, mirror phone, wizard detector, K's 'knife', a depressingly small number of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts -- and then the table and the glass vase displayed on it came crashing down on top, the latter shattering into a thousand pieces on impact

There was complete silence for a moment or two, and then Angelica screamed at her. The sound made Tonks shudder, a mixture of anguish, disbelief, loathing, and loss.

"Get out!"

Tonks, aghast, clambered to her feet, crunching more glass in the process. She began trying to pick out a few of the larger fragments from the debris. "I'm sorry ..." she said in a very small voice. Even as she said it, she felt it utterly inadequate to cover the situation, and it didn't surprise her that Angelica Hallendale felt the same way.

"Sorry?" she cried, still screaming. In a kind of fury, she picked up all the bits and pieces that had fallen from Tonks' pockets, and practically threw them at her. "Get out! Go! I never want to see either of you again! GO!"

Cassius had been watching with a frozen expression. As Tonks stumbled away, putting her stuff back, he seemed to come to life. With a shaky hand he pointed his wand at the fragments of the vase and said "Reparo!" They flew back together, the resulting vase looking -- as far as an immensely relieved Tonks could tell -- pretty much as good as new. There was a short silence.

"Well thank you, Mr Smethwyck," said Angelica, in a very soft, very deadly voice. "Most considerate of you to mend my vase. Can you do the same thing to a broken heart?"

He shook his head.

"Then I guess we don't have anything more to say to each other." She suddenly seemed on the verge of tears. "Just go. I'm sure you've got things to do."

*****

The front door slammed behind them as they left. Tonks glanced at Cassius to see how he was taking it, and received another unpleasant shock as he strode away looking as if he was about to explode. He moved with surprising speed for a man of his age as he stormed in the general direction of the local Floo station; Tonks almost had to run to keep up with his longer stride.

"Cassius ..." she said tentatively as they passed into the main street and she finally caught up. He ignored her. "Cassius!" There was no reply as he marched on. "CASSIUS!" She caught his sleeve and pulled him to a halt. "Talk to me, mate!"

"What do you want me to say, Tonks?" he snapped. "Do you want me to tell you I don't care this has happened?"

"No, but ..."

"Oh I see. Do you want to tell me I should be professional, not let it affect me, you can't let yourself get emotionally involved on the job?" He was actually beginning to rage at her, a development that left her truly startled. "I learnt that lesson a long time ago! I was doing this job for decades before you were even born, young woman!"

Tonks bit her tongue. She had in fact meant to say something very much along those lines, but confronted with this unexpectedly furious Cassius, thought better of it. "You don't normally storm off like this ..." she began.

"I don't normally have reason! You think I like tormenting a woman who is not just a friend but a Muggle and has already stopped trusting wizards?" Tonks was becoming nervous; they were attracting strange looks from passers-by, and she didn't want to have to resort to mass Memory Charms, let alone write the inevitable reports and suffer the consequent chewing out from Scrimgeour. "She's right, you know! I can't just wave my wand and make it all go away for her!"

"Cassius ..." she muttered, jerking her head at their audience in an attempt to warn him off.

"What do I do, cast an extra-strength Cheering Charm on her? It's not going to make any difference to her family situation, is it?"

"Cassius!" she hissed. "We're being watched, you pillock!"

"And you don't help matters by constantly tripping over your own two feet! We still have to bring in Clark now and ... what?" The last word was, mercifully, spoken more quietly, as he realised what was going on around him. Several people were staring, and some were pointing and giggling.

Tonks made a desperate survey of her surroundings, and to her relief spotted a pub about fifty yards down the road. She seized Cassius' arm and began to move him in that direction. "Come on mate, let's have a drink and calm down eh? I've never seen you like this before." She practically dragged him through the door, found an empty table near the bar and sat him down. His silence throughout wasn't encouraging, but at least he didn't resist.

She grimaced and crossed to the bar, where the barmaid was watching them open-mouthed. "Two pints of lager," she snapped, then added, "Granddad's a bit of a handful sometimes," in a less aggressive tone, albeit one that didn't encourage questions. The barmaid shrugged and began to pull the pints. Tonks checked Cassius out of the corner of her eye; he was just sitting there, taking deep breaths. His expression was stony, but at least he seemed to have calmed down a little.

She fumbled in her pockets and thanked her stars when she found a Muggle ten-pound note to pay for the drinks. She plonked one of them on the table in front of her partner and sat down opposite, looking at him helplessly. "So," she said eventually, when the silence had become awkward. "You want to talk about this, Cassius?"

He took a long drink from his pint and breathed heavily a few times. "Not especially, as it happens, Tonks."

She sighed. "Well okay, not right now, maybe, but we're going to have to discuss this at some point, yeah?"

He didn't reply, but merely finished the drink and half-rose to go to the bar. She jumped up quickly to forestall him. "No, let me."

Unfortunately, while the barmaid was pulling the pint, her situation acquired another complication; a couple of likely lads approached her. "You all right, love?" said the cockier-looking of the two, with a nod at Cassius.

"Oh yes, erm ..." she said, still feeling slightly flustered.

The other man grinned at her. "We heard him mouthing off outside. Are you sure he's safe?"

"I think I can handle him," she said coolly. "He's ... my granddad." The last thing she wanted at the moment was to get into a conversation with the locals, but then she didn't want to draw attention to herself by telling them to sod off, either. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror behind the bar and sighed; her hair was currently long and in her favourite pink, which didn't offer much hope of remaining anonymous.

"Yeah, they can go a bit doo-lally at their age, can't they?" said the first man as Tonks paid for the drink, taking great care not to let them see her wand hidden up her sleeve, or indeed the many other suspicious things in her pockets. They followed her over to the table with studied casualness. "What was that magic stuff he was on about? Does he think he's some kind of wizard or something?"

Tonks spluttered and nearly dropped the pint. She looked at the young man suspiciously, but he didn't seem to know how close to home his question was, and the blond streaks in his hair certainly looked as if they had been achieved with dye, not magic. "Well, he's done a bit of, er, conjuring in his time ..." She handed the glass to Cassius and flashed him a warning look.

"Hiya, Mr ... er, your girl here didn't tell us your name."

Tonks groaned inwardly as she recognised the symptoms of two lads on the pull. It really wasn't a good time. "Tonks," she said, at the same time as Cassius said "Smethwyck."

"He's my mum's dad, you see ..." she added quickly, trailing off as she noticed them trying to hide grins. "What?"

"Nothing -- oh sorry love," said the man with blond streaks, laughing, "it's just that Tonks is a bit of a funny name, isn't it? What's your first name?"

Tonks gritted her teeth and sent another quick glare at Cassius, daring him to comment. "Katie."

"That's better. I'm Vinny, this here's Dave."

"Hi Vinny. Hi Dave." She decided to play for time; with any luck, the distraction might help calm Cassius down. He nodded at them briefly.

"So mate," said Vinny, who seemed to be the designated conversationalist of the two. "Katie here tells us you fancy yourself as a bit of a wizard then? You don't want to go shouting about it in the street, mate, sounds right strange!"

It was Cassius' turn to splutter over his pint, and look at Tonks in mute query. "Well ..."

She grinned slightly at the perfect opportunity of revenge for what Cassius had once said on a Brighton bus. "Granddad here likes to pretend he's a real wizard, it's ... sort of a little game we play."

He looked furious for a moment, but then hitched a smile onto his face. "Yes, ah, sometimes I get a little carried away. I don't really think I can do magic."

Vinny and Dave exchanged looks which clearly said they thought he was lying. Fortunately, they had no way of knowing he was lying because he really could do magic, not just because he thought he could. "So Katie, what brings you to our neck of the woods then?" asked Vinny breezily. "You stand out a bit round here."

"We were looking for someone we ... met once," she said, caught on the hop for a moment. "We know his mum. He used to live round here."

"Who's that then? We might know him. Lived here all our lives."

Tonks shrugged. Don't suppose they will, but it can't hurt to ask ... "Bloke called Clark Hallendale."

She jumped as Dave chuckled unexpectedly. "Old Clarkie? There's a blast from the past."

Her head turned so quickly that she nearly cricked her neck. "What?"

"Went to primary school with him," he said, looking flattered that he now had her undivided attention. "Bit of an odd one -- well, his whole family were really ..."

Vinny turned to his pal. "Did he have an older brother called Monty?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"He was in my year! They sent him off to a posh boarding school up in Scotland when he was eleven. Must have worked, he's some kind of company director up in the Smoke now."

"Yeah? Probably the same one Clark went to. Wouldn't have thought they had that kind of money." He turned to Tonks. "Hey Katie, you've got us going down memory lane here. They weren't at Prince Charlie's old place, were they?"

Tonks had no idea what he was talking about, but fortunately Cassius must have seen the baffled expression on her face and jumped in. "Er, no, I don't think his mother sent him there ..."

"Funny bugger, old Clarkie, isn't he?" asked Dave reflectively. "Always a bit dodgy, never saying much."

"I suppose not." said Tonks, and then, as Dave's use of the present tense registered with her, "Hang on, have you seen him recently?"

"Not for a year or two --" Tonks felt her face fall "-- but come to think of it, Vinny, Pete Webster told me he saw him out by one of those warehouses on the ring road a couple of weeks ago."

"Yeah?" asked Vinny, interested.

"Yeah. Said he was driving by, minding his own business, and suddenly saw Clarkie through the fence. It was like he'd appeared out of thin air or something." Tonks raised her eyebrows. A lack of concern for basic Apparition security fitted perfectly with everything she'd ever heard about Clark Hallendale. "You could go out there and ask at the offices maybe? They might know him."

She exchanged significant glances with Cassius. "Thanks, Dave. I think we might just do that."

*****

Tonks shivered and stared across at the warehouse, which seemed to loom larger as the daylight faded. Once they'd pumped Vinny and Dave for information it hadn't been hard to find, and the traces of magic around it were easily detectable.

"Bit daft of him to keep the same hideout, wasn't it?" she asked.

"I don't think Clark is always the most cunning of thinkers," replied Cassius heavily.

"No, I suppose not."

An uneasy pause followed this exchange, just one of many that day.

A few calls to Auror headquarters revealed that the warehouse wasn't on the Ministry's register of wizard-owned properties, which wasn't really a surprise. What was mildly surprising was that the departmental specialist in locating and examining Muggle records had quickly managed to find out that Clark rented it, and that it had previously been rented by Hank Hallendale many years before. All in all, it looked like a handy hideout and storage location for contraband, wizarding or otherwise. Which was how she and Cassius came to be standing on a patch of exposed and chilly waste ground at the rear of the building, at the top of a ridge backing onto a steepish slope leading down to the main ring road, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Even the November weather wasn't as chilly as the atmosphere between her and Cassius since that morning. Every time she'd tried to engage him in conversation not strictly related to the case at hand, he'd brushed her off. It had made for a rather uncomfortable day.

A rocket streaked across the sky and she jumped, remembering after a second or two that Muggles always let off fireworks at this time of year, for reasons her father had tried to explain but which she'd never quite understood. Whatever day the celebrations were actually supposed to be, the kids always seemed to treat it as a suggestion rather than a fixed point.

She shivered again at a particularly icy gust of wind and racked her brains for a decent warming charm that wouldn't risk setting her clothes on fire.

"Tonks ..."

She turned to Cassius to find him staring fixedly at his shoes. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry," he said, so quietly she could barely hear.

"Yeah, well ... bad time for you, eh?" she told him, caught unawares by the sudden apology, and not knowing quite what to say.

"No, I mean it." His voice was getting slightly stronger. "I had no right to shout at you like that just because of my own hurt feelings ..."

"Don't worry about it." She definitely wanted to discuss the subject with him at some point, but not right in the middle of an operation. And he'd always been tolerant of her own outbursts, after all ... She held up a hand to forestall any protest. "No, I mean it. Everyone's entitled to blow their top occasionally." When he looked uncertain, she added, "Just don't cut me off, Cassius, all right? When you want to talk about it, I'm listening."

"And if I don't particularly want to talk about it?" He said it with a wry grin, which was promising.

"You will. If you can't tell your own partner, who can you tell, eh?" That sounded so cheerily forced it made her wince, and she hastily added, "Anyway, let's call it bygones for now, shall we? Who are we waiting for?"

Cassius seized the opportunity to move onto another topic. "I got Rhiannon when I contacted Headquarters -- she's going to bring anyone she can rope in at short notice. I want to have as many wands as possible to reduce the chances of something going wrong." He gave her a pointed look, as if defying her to mention Jugson, but she had no intention of doing so.

"If he is in there, do you think he'll have noticed us sneaking round blocking off his exits?" she asked after a moment or two.

"I hope not. We want to achieve surprise."

"No Floo connection in the place?"

"Not according to Mary Edgecombe ..."

They were interrupted by a popping sound as two colleagues appeared next to them. Tonks did a quick double-take; Rhiannon Davies was accompanied by Bentley Williamson, not the expected O'Gregan or Cornworthy.

"Rhiannon? Is this everyone?" asked Cassius, sounding rather alarmed. "Why aren't Donnacha and Arnold with you?"

She grimaced. "Scrimgeour called them into his office for a full discussion of the Carrack case. Apparently he saw the reports, and wasn't entirely satisfied it had no connection with the World Cup fracas that he still hasn't caught anybody for. Didn't think their report was thorough enough."

Cassius groaned. "That sounds like Rufus, I'm afraid. Damn! I wanted as much cover here as possible."

"Well, don't mind me, I'm just along for the ride," said Williamson, gazing into space in a pointed manner. "Out of the goodness of my heart I agree to help out a fellow Auror when I could be sitting in the pub ..."

"Ah." Even in the fading light Tonks could see Cassius blush slightly. "My apologies, Bentley. Well ... I suppose four of us should be plenty to stop him getting away from the building."

"How many exits are there?" asked Rhiannon.

"Several, including a set of large sliding doors at the front, but we've sealed them all off except for the one we'll be using." He pointed to a double door in the back wall of the warehouse. "It's a good thing that ridge keeps us out of sight of the main road."

"Magical means of exit?"

"I placed Anti-Disapparation Jinxes on the building," put in Tonks.

"And I reinforced the windows as well. So if he has a broom in there, he won't be able to smash a window and fly out, at least not before we can get to him."

"Fair enough," agreed Williamson. "What do you want us to do?"

"I'll go in with Tonks. One of you can come with us, but I need the other to remain out here to cut off the escape route if he sneaks past us."

"I can do that," said Rhiannon. "Hex on sight?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Hard or soft entry?" asked Williamson. When Tonks looked at him in puzzlement, he amplified, "Blast down the door or sneak in?"

Cassius hesitated. "Soft, I think," he said eventually. "We've checked the building -- it has a few basic security charms on it, which we've neutralised, but nothing major that might draw attention. It seems to be completely dark inside, so if he is there, I think we can get in, put the lights on and have a few seconds surprise."

"The lights? Do we know the layout of the place?"

"We had a look inside a couple of the other warehouses, Ben," explained Tonks. "They all seem to be built the same way. We picked this door because there should be a light switch on its left hand side. Inside it's basically one big open space except for a couple of offices in the corners at either end, on this side of the building."

"Open space. Right. Unless it's full of stuff, of course, in which case it could be a maze. Is this bloke any good in a fight?"

Cassius shrugged. "Tonks here put him out of action with one spell, and the only way he could think of to commit his murder was to use a Reductor Curse at point-blank range. So no, not really. On the other hand, he'll know the layout and where he can hide, so both of you be careful."

"I always am, Cassius, You know me. And needlessly violent of course. Don't forget that." He grinned.

"Yes ... You have your knife, Tonks?" At her nod, he continued, "Very well. Silencing spell on the door, then unlock it. Bentley, you slip in and put the lights on, it'll be brighter than a spell. Jinx anyone you see. Rhiannon, if you hear any trouble inside, get ready to hex him if he tries to escape." His voice was brisk and businesslike, but even so, Tonks could detect the note of regret. "All right. Everyone knows what they have to do? Good. Over to you then, Tonks."

Tonks ran the unlocking gadget around the doorframe, and the lock clicked open without trouble. She nodded at Cassius, then waved her wand once to open the door. Bentley Williamson was already moving with impressive smoothness; he slipped in and hit the light switch; the other two following quickly with wands drawn.

Unfortunately, there was no-one in sight. Tonks' heart sank when she saw the many boxes, clothing racks, containers and other assorted junk piled high inside, all of which provided an ample number of hiding places. The Aurors exchanged quick glances and spread out through the building, moving cautiously. Tonks went right, in which direction a series of large pallets had been stacked in such a way as to form a sort of improvised passageway around the edge of the building. By taking advantage of this and staying close to the wall, she soon reached one of the offices, and peered cautiously through the window. All she could see were boxes of fireworks strewn over the floor -- nicked ones, I wouldn't be surprised -- with no sign of Clark Hallendale. She swore under her breath and continued at a slow pace along the wall.

She'd almost reached the far corner of the warehouse when there was a sudden loud bang. A curse flew from somewhere in the middle of the room and blasted the main strip lights, plunging the room back into darkness.

"Lumos!" cried Williamson. "Argh ... Nox!" He ducked and swore loudly as the bright light brought a curse flying his way. Tonks could hear someone running and hesitantly pointed her wand in what seemed to be the general direction, but in the big echoey room it was hard to tell exactly where the sound was coming from.

Cassius' voice rang out impatiently. "Omnilumens!"

The magical light that illuminated the room was dim compared to the fluorescent lights, but did at least provide enough visibility to see what was happening, and show her where she could put her feet without falling over anything. She could just spot Clark Hallendale through a small gap in the containers, caught in the middle of running for the main doors on the front of the building. He froze for a moment, then dived for cover behind some junk.

As Cassius and Williamson began to move in his direction, he fired off a wild spell. It never stood much chance of hitting them, but as luck would have it the spell ricocheted off a container and hit a teetering pile of miscellaneous bric-a-brac, which wobbled for a moment or two and then came crashing down on top of the Aurors. Tonks heart leapt to her mouth, but after a moment she heard muffled cursing from Cassius and not-so-muffled cursing from Williamson. It sounded as if they'd become en tangled in rolls of material, and it dawned on her that for the next minute or two she was the only one in a position to do something about Clark

She raced to head him off, finally catching sight of him attempting to blast the main doors open with a Reductor Curse. Luckily, the reinforcement they'd put on the building held, and although the doors buckled very slightly they stayed in one piece. She fired a Stunner as she stumbled round the corner off-balance, but missed. His return spell was easily blocked, but unfortunately as it bounced off her shield it sent more junk crashing to the ground, and he used the diversion to scoot off into a gap, heading back in the direction of the door the Aurors had entered by.

Gritting her teeth, she gave chase, coming out into relatively open space just in time to see him dodge a spell cast by Williamson from the other side of the warehouse, hurdle a low box, and disappear behind the very set of containers in front of the office that she'd just used for concealment.

Both she and Williamson had started to turn the air blue when Cassius appeared behind them, out of Clark Hallendale's line of sight. He placed a finger on his lips before they could start talking.

"What do we do? Try to Vanish the stuff he's hiding behind?" she mouthed at him.

He shook his head. "Too big. Too much of it," he mouthed back, then pointed first at himself and then at the ad hoc passageway that Tonks had followed to get there. They nodded to show that they understood he would try to outflank Clark, and he gave a quick thumbs-up and slipped out of sight, moving excruciatingly slowly to keep silent.

Tonks exchanged uneasy glances with Williamson. "Oi, you behind the boxes!" the ponytailed Auror yelled suddenly. "Are you going to stop buggering around and come out of there nice and quiet?" Tonks felt her jaw drop, then realised that the more they could keep him talking, the less attention he'd be able to spare for what Cassius was doing. Williamson's sally didn't result in anything but a short reply telling him exactly what he could do.

"Game's up, Clark!" cried Tonks, joining in. This produced a strangled sound from behind the containers, and she continued gleefully, "Yeah, I know who you are now! This time we've got four against one!"

Clark Hallendale swore again, then added in a bitter voice, "I should have let Sylvester pick you up like he wanted to."

"Pity you killed him then, wasn't it?" taunted Williamson.

"Think you're so bleeding clever, don't you, Auror?" he snarled. "I know all about you. You're that poncy long-haired git who was trying to crowd Finlay. There's a laugh. And I know all about her, too. She's the slag who works with that old fart Smethwyck."

"Yeah, that's me!" she yelled, stung. "The slag that's going to bring you in! You really shouldn't have shown your face in the Ministry Saturday night, Clark, I'd never have realised who you were otherwise!"

It took a second or two for him to find a reply to this piece of information. "Well you'll have to kill me to get me out of here!" If he was trying to sound tough he didn't quite achieve it, she could hear a quaver in his voice. "And if you try, I'll ..."

"What, use a Reductor Curse on us?" She could just hear Cassius making his way round the wall, and the closer he got, the harder it would be to sneak up on Clark Hallendale. She shouted even louder to cover up the noise. "Yeah, that'd work, Clark! If we head-butted your wand first, maybe. Just to let you get the range!"

Williamson got the idea quickly. "Hang on. Is this the loser you told me about who couldn't even think of a decent lethal curse? What a bloody wimp!"

"That's not the only curse I know ..." he spat. They could hear him moving, and Tonks suddenly realised he was using the same tactic they were, in an attempt to sneak away. He was evidently close to the end of the bank of containers now, and might be able to run for it.

"Yeah it is, laddie," replied Williamson, taking aim. "If you knew anything decent you'd have used it by now. Nah, you use a Killing Curse like --" as Clark poked his head out -- "this! Avada Ked ..." There was a choked sound and the head was hastily pulled back behind the containers.

"Williamson, you stupid git!" hissed Tonks, shocked. "What the frigging hell was that?"

"Just trying to put the wind up him a bit," he muttered defensively. "Wasn't going to say the whole curse, was I? Remember how old Robards always used to pat himself on the back for that bit of bluff in training?" Tonks wasn't at all sure that Clark had realised that the curse had been stopped half-way through, and it didn't help when Williamson raised his voice to shout, "Not that little Clarkie here could do one of those anyway, could you, eh?"

She huffed at him -- don't scare him too much Ben, a desperate man might try desperate measures -- but let it go at noises that strongly suggested Clark was moving rapidly back the other way, in Cassius' direction. They were already exchanging semi-satisfied glances when, to their surprise, they could hear the sound of a door opening.

It took Tonks a couple of seconds to realise that it must be the door of the little office she'd previously checked, a couple more seconds to remember what was in that office, and the further couple of seconds it took her to react was just too long.

As she opened her mouth and shouted a warning there was a sinister wheeeeee sound that drowned it out -- then all hell broke loose as a volley of charmed fireworks shot out all around them.

She had about half a second to react this time and for a miracle hit on the right answer, the one she'd used in their first fight, making the same long sweeping motion with her wand that Transfigured a clothes rack into a wall around herself and Williamson, which bore the brunt of the explosions that happened a second later. As it collapsed around them, they shook their heads to clear the ringing in their ears and turned towards the door, only to find they had a new problem: the fireworks had started at least half a dozen fires burning.

"Shit!" cried Williamson, who was unfortunate enough to be nearest. "Aguamenti!"

Tonks let him get on with it as she stumbled, coughing, towards the back door. Her heart sank as she saw that Clark Hallendale had already blasted it open and was running towards it full-tilt, and then to her enormous relief she saw Rhiannon Davies appear in the doorway.

Clark skidded to a halt, raised his wand and yelled "Stupefy!"

Rhiannon casually blocked the curse, looking at Clark with a mocking grin on her face. Tonks continued to pick her way towards them through the parts of the warehouse that weren't on fire.

"Impedimenta! Reducto!" Her sudden appearance just when he thought he was about to get away had obviously induced panic. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Rhiannon, still grinning, blocked the spells easily with wordless Shield Charms.

Tonks finally found a position from where she had a clear shot, got her balance and took aim. It wasn't until she looked back at the events that followed that it became clear they had only spanned a few seconds. But at the time, they appeared to take place in slow motion.

Rhiannon raised her wand, preparatory to firing a hex of her own.

Clark Hallendale lost it completely and waved his wand in her general direction, yelling "Avada Kedavra!"

An aghast Rhiannon threw herself backwards as a bright green flash erupted from the wand.

Tonks realised that there wasn't enough room for her to get out of the way a split-second before the curse struck her colleague in the face .

Rhiannon was blasted back against the doorframe and crumpled to the floor, where she lay unmoving.

*****

Tonks froze. So did Clark Hallendale.

He turned towards her with mute appeal on his face. She could read his thoughts perfectly without needing any skill in Legilimency: "I didn't think that would happen, oh Mother, NOW what have I done?"

The tableau could not have lasted more than a split-second before he whirled and ran for the door, and Tonks realised she had only one chance to stop him before he got outside and Disapparated. Later, her unoriginal but accurate reflection would be that it was bloody strange what flashed through your mind at a time like that.

The thing that did was her apology to Cassius many months before: I hope I'm not the sort of person who'd kill for revenge. Not even if ... I don't know, a friend was killed in front of me. She'd been talking about her willingness to kill her escaped cousin on sight. A man she now believed innocent. Unlike Clark Hallendale ...

She shook off the memory, raised her wand and aimed at the fleeing Clark. The only thing that made sense to her at that precise moment was to stop him getting away.

"Remansio!"

She saw him stumble as he crossed the threshold and exited the building, and felt a brief flash of satisfaction at her sudden intuition; wide-angle spell, make sure I get him ...As she followed him out she saw him twist on the spot, and some strangely detached part of her mind noted with satisfaction that the way he froze when the attempt failed looked exactly the same as the Gringotts thief. So did the way he whirled round on her in horror.

He fired off a curse and she hastily ducked out of the way, but the streak of light this time was red not green, and failed to make much of an impression on the reinforced window behind her. He turned again and ran.

Trying to control her jumpy nerves, she gave chase, although a couple of curses fired on the run just missed. He was using his head start to make for the little ridge that led to the main road, and as they ran a sudden horrible realisation hit her; if he made it as far as the road itself, he might be able to hijack a car. And as they were both now in sight of that road, if she tried anything spectacular she would probably land in the middle of a serious Statute of Secrecy breach -- it would be seen by half-a-dozen motorists, who would be out of reach down the road before she had any chance to Memory Charm them ...

Maybe your safety-first option wasn't such a smart idea, idiot! Half-panicking herself now, and needing to use something that looked natural, she aimed very carefully and threw a Trip Jinx at him. She almost cheered when his feet jerked up and he went stumbling over the ridge, but then as she followed she realised with horror that it had worked too well. Clark lurched headlong down the hill and out onto the main road, just as a speeding lorry emerged from the curve of the roundabout.

The driver braked hard, but he hadn't a hope of stopping in time. The side of the cab slammed into Clark Hallendale and sent him flying.

*****

Tonks stood frozen for a moment as she struggled to take in this latest cock-up. Then she hastily tucked away her wand and made her way down to the roadside as quickly as she could, ending up more or less sliding on her bum for most of the way.

Clark Hallendale had been thrown back on to the grass verge and was lying very still. She checked for a pulse, and wasn't quite sure to be relieved or not when she found one, albeit weak. She'd known vaguely from watching Quidditch that wizards had more resilience against heavy impacts, but it had never really sunk in at a gut level before. She heard a noise behind her, and looked up to see the white-faced lorry driver coming over to them.

"Is he all right? He came out of nowhere -- I couldn't even hit the brakes in time!"

Tonks nodded somewhat shakily. "Not your fault, mate. I saw it all, don't worry." She made a brief critical examination of Clark Hallendale. "I think a Healer can patch him up, if I can get him there in time ..."

"A Healer?" said the driver, staring at her goggle eyed. "Bloody crystals and stuff? No way! He needs an ambulance!" Tonks closed her eyes for a moment and tried not to scream as he fished a mobile phone from his pocket and began pressing buttons. Luckily for her state of mind, they were interrupted by a sudden noise, and both turned to see Williamson scrambling down the hill

"I saw what happened, I'm a doctor," he said to the driver, who sagged in relief. "Let me look at him." Tonks swore under her breath. Doctor! Should have remembered that. With a scowl on his face he gave his 'patient' a brief and none too gentle once-over, then stood up, searched the bank for a moment or two and found an empty bottle that had presumably been tossed out of a car window. He handed it to Tonks and gave her a surreptitious wink. "We can all cling to this. You know what to do, you've seen it done, right?"

He turned to the bewildered driver and pulled out his wand. "Sorry about this, mate. Obliviate!"

The driver's eyes slid out of focus, and Tonks seized the opportunity to tap the bottle with her wand, focus hard on St Mungo's, and mutter "Portus".

The blue light had only just faded by the time the driver was shaking his head as if to clear it. "What happened?" he said, staring at Clark Hallendale in amazement.

"He was hit by ... a car. Driver didn't stop," said Tonks quickly.

"Decent of you to help out by phoning for an ambulance, mate," added Williamson, "but you'd better get going before the Mugg ... the police get here. You've obviously had a bit of a shock, they might stop you driving."

His eyes widened. "Bugger! Fair point. See you!" He ran off back to his lorry, and as he did Tonks moved to hide Williamson from view. As the lorry pulled away he cast a few emergency first aid charms over their captive, and a Muggle-Repelling Charm around them to discourage observation by passing motorists.

"That'll hold him till we get him to St Mungo's." He looked up and met Tonks' eye, and his expression was ugly. "Not sure why we're bothering though ..."

"Rhiannon?" asked Tonks. Tears began to form in her eyes when he didn't reply; shock was beginning to set in. "Oh God, Ben, who's going to tell Don?"

"Haven't a clue," he said, his face set and bleak. "I came straight after you and this little scumbag, and left old Cassius to put out the fires and deal with her. At least he'll be a bit more sensitive than I could manage. Poor bastard. Poor Rhiannon. He wasn't supposed to know how to do that."

"Why did you have to do that stupid pretend Killing Curse?" she raged, the tears spilling down her cheeks now. "You complete prick, Ben, you gave him the idea!"

"I know." Williamson was obviously trying very hard not to shed tears of his own; virtually all his usual cockiness had deserted him. "Look ... I suppose we have to bring chummy in. Let's go. We're in deep shit whatever we do, let's not make it any worse."

"Yeah. Right." She blinked the moisture away from her eyes and wiped her face, trying not to snap at him. She wrapped one of Clark Hallendale's limp hands round the neck of the bottle, took the other end in her hand, and nodded to Williamson. "Are you ready? It activates when we all touch it."

Without a word he placed a finger on the bottle and the side of the dual carriageway was suddenly empty again.

24. Let's Face the Music and Dance
Table of Contents
26. An Auror's Lot is Not a Happy One