Chapter Two
Ben's Dilemma
It had started out a bad morning, and it only got worse. An influential client had somehow managed to get a virus on his computer after clicking on a "How to lose weight in ten minutes while sitting at your desk eating popcorn" link, and the entire office was put to the task of plugging the security leak. Amongst the grumbles and groans it was hard to get anything done at all, especially with his boss storming around the office reminding them that if all people made 'backups,' most of them would be out of work.
It had been a grueling task; one team was put on restoring the lost business data while Ben's team was busy searching for any and all loopholes they could find in the code, and all under the ultimatum that it had to be done by midnight.
Just about the time that his boss was telling them there would be no lunch breaks out of the office that day, Ben heard his sons crying and looked over in surprise to see his nanny standing there in a floppy witch hat and frumpy black dress. In each arm was Jay and Rus, both crying with strange neon orange polka dots all over their arms and faces.
"It's the Tangerine Spots for certain, Mr. Clemmons," Mrs. Mention said worriedly when Ben hurried over and took Rus from her. "I tried to contact the missus first, but the Ministry says she hasn't been in all day."
"She tends to move about these days," Ben sighed.
"What is going on over here? And isn't a bit early for Halloween?" Ben's boss said, eyeing Mrs. Mention warily. The nanny raised her chin indignantly.
"Mr. Clemmons' children are ill, sir," Mrs. Mention declared.
"Ill? It looks more like someone had a bit of fun with some colored markers."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Barks, but I really should get them home before someone here catches anything and everyone in the office is sick. I can finish this from home as easily as here, and as you can see from their crying, they really aren't feeling well," Ben said.
"Perhaps it's just from eating too much candy or something," Barks said, eyeing the eccentric nanny.
"Not in my house," the nanny said hotly.
"Actually, it's worse than that. I think they have Swine Flu," Ben improvised.
After that, Mr. Barks couldn't get them out of the office fast enough. Ben grabbed his jump drive and coat and soon he and the nanny were carrying them both out to the car, both of them still whimpering and crying unhappily.
"Do you always fib in front of your children like that, Mr. Clemmons?" the nanny tsked when they got out the door. "Swine Flu indeed… and you know as well as I that Muggles don't get Tangerine Spots."
"It got me out of that office, and right now that's all that matters," Ben said.
Cordially the nanny helped him get the two children into the car, despite the fact that she refused to have anything to do with getting in the contraption herself. So Ben soon found he had to fend for himself; from the ride to St. Mungo's, to the tedious wait with two unhappy children in the waiting room, to the long ride home.
The boys were crying all the way up to the door, which curiously didn't want to open for him. Putting the screaming boys down long enough to struggle with the key to get in, Ben finally pushed the door open and picked them back up, all while carrying a bag of potions between his teeth. Somehow he managed to get to the parlor, dropping the bag of potions on the couch.
"Mercy! We're home early!" Ben called out, but got no reply.
Dumping both the boys into the pen in the front room, he got his first look around the house and felt an unexplainable chill in the air. There was also a terrible banging noise coming from the basement. Ben quickly went into the hall and found himself staring at a bronze beak sticking out of the reinforced basement door.
"What in blazes? Descartes!" Ben shouted, looking for a doorknob that didn't seem to be there at the moment. "How in the world did you get stuck in there?" he asked. The beak retreated back out of the hole and Descartes began crying out. It was followed by a loud, yawning noise that could only be a very irritated Rasputin. "You must have gotten in Mercy's way again. Hang on… Mercy!" Ben shouted again, walking back into the living room and opening the bag to read the labels on the potion bottles. He walked into the kitchen, but nothing seemed to be moving.
"Darcy!" Ben called out, and immediately a House Elf popped into view.
"Yes, Master Benjamin?" Darcy said.
"Could you let Descartes out of the basement? He seems to have been magicked inside," Ben said, grabbing a pair of spoons out of the drawer. "The boys are sick, so I could use a bit of help. Did Mercy go to the market?"
"No, sir. It's laundry day. She has been changing the linens in the master bedroom, sir," Darcy explained before walking into the hall to let Descartes out. "Shall I fix the door as well, sir?"
"Yeah, thanks," Ben said, somehow managing to get a spoonful of the foul-smelling potion in each of the boy's mouths.
"I want Mummy!" Jay shouted in a tantrum after he recovered from the taste.
"I'm working on it!" Ben protested, grabbing his cell phone and pressing the speed dial. He waited a moment, plugging his other ear so he could hear the automatic message being played on the other end. "Out of service area?" he wondered out loud, and then heard a loud crash. "Now what?" Ben sighed, running out into the hall.
The door of the bedroom had been torn off its hinges from Descartes' effort to get inside of it. He then stood just inside the room, cawing out a cry of alarm. After several failed attempts at getting the bird to calm down, Ben shouted at Darcy to lock him back in the basement again.
"All right, what was he going on about? Mercy, are you in here? Darcy, was anyone with her?" Ben asked, turning up the gaslights.
"No, sir. None of the other House Elves have permission to go in there, sir," Darcy explained from where he stood outside the doorway. Ben edged inside the door, no more comfortable about being in there than Darcy was, but nothing in the sitting area seemed out of place. Reluctantly he stepped in further but then stopped in confusion when he saw that the bed had half its covers torn away and the sheets were still partially on the bed.
"That's not like her," Ben said with a frown. He glanced around the rest of the room, but nothing else seemed out of place. "Mercy?" he called out desperately. He heard only the two boys sobbing and Descartes complaining about being locked in the basement again.
"God, I hope I'm not overreacting," Ben said to himself. As he turned to walk out, he found Rasputin lying on the busted door and eyeing the room warily. "You don't think I am overreacting, do you? Neither of you do," he said. Rasputin kept gazing at him with his glass eye. "Either way, I could really use some help over here. Darcy, could you go ask Aurelius to drop by? Then I need you to go see if you can find out where Mercy went."
"Yes, Master Benjamin," Darcy said, quickly disappearing.
It was only ten minutes later that Aurelius arrived, and after taking one look at the two boys he sent a flame to Ginger.
"How long has Mercy been missing?" Aurelius asked.
"She served us breakfast this morning, but I haven't seen her since. Darcy said something about her going down to change the linens…"
"All House Elves report immediately!" Aurelius snapped. Immediately the front room was full of them, and Aurelius quickly scanned them, but Mercy wasn't among them. "Wait, there are ten of you here. I thought there were only eight of you counting Mercy? Oh, wait… Francie is here, from the castle."
"I followed Master Severus, sir. There is no one to cook for during the summer holiday, sir," Francie explained.
"Well, who are the other two?" Aurelius asked.
"My daughter came of age to serve, sir, Ellie, sir, and her friend Mopps," Francie said.
"He followed me home, sir," Ellie giggled.
"Well, as long as Mum knows about it," Aurelius said. "We can't be picking up stray House Elves from everywhere."
"I would have chucked him had he not been right for the household, sir," Francie said indignantly.
"Never mind. Anyone know where Mercy went?" Aurelius asked.
"She went down to do the linens in the Master Bedroom, sir," Ellie said.
"And where were you?" Aurelius asked.
"We were doing the other bedrooms, sir," Ellie said.
"What time did you last see her?" Aurelius asked.
"After we started, sir, perhaps an hour after Master Benjamin and the young masters left," Ellie said.
There was a brisk knock before Ginger let herself in, giving the House Elves only a cursory glance before walking over to where Ben sat on the couch with the boys, taking Jay into her arms.
"Thanks, it's been crazy today," Ben said. "And I haven't been able to get a hold of Alex."
"Let's get these two into some jams and settled. Rel can take care of that," Ginger said.
"Thanks, although if Mercy just went to the store or something, I am going to be deeply embarrassed," Ben said, getting up.
"I doubt Descartes would have broken down the door if she had just gone to the store," Aurelius said, stepping into the hall. Immediately he heard a challenging hiss and walked over to find Rasputin still lying on top of the dislodged door.
"What happened, Rasputin?" Aurelius hissed.
"Bird broke door," Rasputin explained.
"I can see that. Why?" Aurelius asked.
"To get to the smelly Elf," Rasputin explained.
"Mercy?" Aurelius hissed with a frown. Rasputin lay there for a moment, thinking.
"Smellier," Rasputin hissed at last.
"Was the smelly Elf in this room?" Aurelius asked.
"Bird thinks so. I was in basement. I am not allowed in here." Rasputin hissed, laying his head back down on the door.
"Basement?" Aurelius murmured with a frown and opened the basement door. Descartes started cawing out loudly and enthusiastically.
Aurelius moved out of the way to see if he went back to the bedroom, but Descartes didn't seem to be agitated any longer. Instead, he walked down the corridor and up to his perch in the library. After studying the bird's behavior, Aurelius went to the basement to have a look around. Dissipating a cloud of fumes that had developed, he inspected the broken glass and bottles around the floor and sighed, glancing at the supply shelf.
"Rel?" Ginger called out, coming halfway down the stairs and taking a quick glance around. "The boys are settled and I gave Ben some advice on what to do if they start to turn purple. Need any help down here? Was anything taken?"
"Hard to say. From the looks of it, Descartes probably bumped the shelf in attempts to get at the intruding Elf," Aurelius said, carefully stepping back over to the stairs. "I think I'll come up and check the bedroom. See if you can get a hold of Alicia, she might be able to get a lead on where Mercy went."
"Maybe she can figure out where Alex went to as well," Ginger suggested, stepping back up the stairs ahead of him.
"I can guess where Alex went," Aurelius said, shaking his head. He then ended up running into Ginger, who had frozen at the top of the stairs in confusion. "What?"
"The door," Ginger said. Aurelius came up the stairs and peered down the hall to see that it was fixed. "Do you suppose one of the House Elves fixed it?"
"I'm not sure," Aurelius said, going over to the door, inspecting it for a moment before opening it. The first thing he noticed was Rasputin lying on the rug, quite content and apparently not at all put out for shirking his guard duty chore. "How did the door get fixed?" he hissed.
"The Elf fixed it," Rasputin explained. "Can I have a mouse?"
"Which Elf?" Aurelius demanded.
"The not-as-smelly Elf. The Elf that cleans my box," Rasputin said.
"How would I know which Elf cleans your box?" Aurelius hissed.
"Is my box clean yet?" Rasputin asked.
"Did you find out anything?" Ginger asked from the doorway.
"He said the Elf that cleans his box fixed the door. How would I know which one that is?" Aurelius asked.
"Well, there's been a House Elf in here for certain. Ben said that he realized Mercy was missing because the bed was left in a state, and yet now it looks as if it is made up, clean sheets and all," Ginger said.
"Wait a minute… Mercy is the only one allowed in these rooms…" Aurelius said with alarm.
"Did someone need me?" said a voice from somewhere around them.
"Mercy! Where have you been?" Aurelius asked with exasperation.
"Cleaning the linens, Master Aurelius. It's laundry day. Did I miss something?" Mercy asked as she appeared. Rasputin hissed. "Yes, your bed is clean too," Mercy agreed, and Rasputin slowly worked his way out of the room.
"All right, Mercy, so you were doing laundry. Where were you before that?" Aurelius asked.
"In the kitchen with Francie, making breakfast…"
"No, I mean after that. Where did you go when you got interrupted?" Aurelius said. Mercy gazed back at him unsurely.
"You mean now when you called me, sir?" she asked.
"No, before that…"
"Did Mercy do something wrong?" Mercy fretted. Suddenly another House Elf appeared out of nowhere. Darcy took Mercy's arm triumphantly.
"I found her!" he declared. "She is right here!"
"Thanks," Aurelius said sarcastically.
"You are not allowed in this room!" Mercy snapped at him. Gasping, Darcy disappeared again.
"Mercy, where did you go when you left the house?" Aurelius asked.
"When I left the house? You mean yesterday?" Mercy asked, puzzled.
"Not yesterday, today. Just a few minutes ago," Aurelius said impatiently.
"I didn't leave. I was doing laundry, Master Aurelius," Mercy said. "Did you need anything washed?"
"Then why didn't you come when I called?" Aurelius asked. Mercy's eyes went wide.
"Mercy did come when you called. Mercy always comes!" Mercy protested.
"Rel, you're upsetting her," Ginger murmured. Aurelius sighed.
"Sorry, Mercy, we'll let you get back to work, I suppose," Aurelius said.
"I'll make you some tea, sir," Mercy offered immediately and disappeared.
"That was really odd," Aurelius said, glancing over at Ginger.
"It's as if she didn't even remember leaving," Ginger said. Aurelius squinted.
"But can memory charms even affect them?" Aurelius asked.
"I'm not sure about spells, but it might be possible to modify fairy nip to do something like that. Think I should try a blood sample?" Ginger asked.
"Yes, let's take care of that now while we know where she is," Aurelius said, pulling a mirror out of his pocket. He gazed at his own expression grimly for a moment before finally concentrating on his father's image. Ginger went into the kitchen and got out small kit out of her work jacket, then managed to convince Mercy to sit down long enough for her to draw a small phial of blood.
"This will only hurt for a second, Mercy," Ginger said when she noticed Mercy's soulful gaze.
"What did Mercy do wrong?" she asked with a frown.
"Mumsy left the house when she was supposed to be doing the linens, Mumsy," Francie explained concernedly. Mercy's eyes widened.
"Mercy did not leave the house! Mercy was doing the Master Bedroom and the basement, Mrs. Snape! Mercy would never leave the family before her work is finished!" Mercy protested.
"Mumsy did leave. Mumsy was lost," said Francie solemnly.
"No Mercy wasn't, Mercy was downstairs," Mercy said, shaking her head. "Mercy would not leave her family when Mercy is supposed to be here."
"We know that, Mercy, it's not your fault," Ginger reassured her. "It's okay, you can go back to work now." She looked up helplessly towards Aurelius he walked back in. By the time she looked back, both House Elves had disappeared.
"How is she?" Aurelius asked.
"Confused," Ginger admitted. "She didn't believe me and I don't even think she believed her daughter when we explained she had been gone."
"I got in touch with Father and he'll be coming back as soon as he can. Looks like Mum is going to get an extended holiday, though. Tangerine Spots would be dangerous at Quintin's age, and no one is certain if Leu has had them," Aurelius said. "I just checked on Ben; the boys are sleeping at the moment, so now would probably be a good time to head back to the Ministry. I have some inquiries of my own to make."
"You have some ideas on what this is all about?" Ginger asked curiously, carefully putting the phial in her kit.
"Yes," Aurelius said. "And none of them are good."
Aurelius wasted no time, dropping in at his grandfather's office before he went over to Harry's, spending several minutes in the back room with him discussing the matter. Laura Lupin watched them enter Harry's office with interest and then drummed her fingers on the desk until the door opened again and the two of them walked out together.
"Sorry, Laura, I'll be back in a few. If anything interesting happens on the flag board, you know what to do, right?" Harry said.
"Yes," Laura said dully, and then slumped in resignation when they left. She found herself alone with her dark wizard monitoring task, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was a real part of the job or something they came up with to bore new recruits to death.
"So do you think it might be him?" Aurelius asked in a low voice as they entered the hall.
"You obviously do," Harry observed.
"No, but I'm afraid it might be. He's gotten a lot bolder since Nelson started digging his claws in…"
"I don't think Longbottom's gotten bolder, Rel, he's a train wreck waiting to happen. Nelson is just playing it for all it's worth," Harry said.
"We seriously need to find a way to get him committed. Did you see his new girlfriend? If you can call her that, considering where he found her," Aurelius said. Harry nodded somberly. "He's trying to pass her off as a secretary these days to help hide what he's been paying her."
"It would have been hard to nail him with anyway. He could have passed the payment off as 'personal gifting' or something…"
"Not with my testifying, it wouldn't," Rel said.
"And he'd get a slap on the hand and a fine he wouldn't sneeze at and be back home tomorrow," Harry said bluntly.
"You're right. I'd rather he be put away in a more permanent fashion," Aurelius said darkly. "What happened to me?" he asked with frustration, and Harry raised a brow at him. "The main reason I wanted to become an Auror was to prevent people like Malfoy with getting away with murder so long. And here I find myself shackled with the same rules, regulations and morality codes that they must've gotten caught up in back when I was a kid…"
"Well, you can always go rogue like your grandfather did and start taking them out on your own," Harry ventured.
"And look at where he is these days… he's behind the desk being one of those making all these regulations…"
"True, Rel, but at the same time, he has done more for justice reform than anyone else, you know…"
"I know," Aurelius sighed. "But we need to find a better way to get these people behind bars than what we're doing, Harry. Right now playing by the rules is a disadvantage, and they're completely using it against us. It's not easy to think outside the box like Moody always taught us when we're bogged down with regulations."
"I think you're looking at it the wrong way, Rel," Harry said calmly. "In fact, it almost sounds like you're looking at it like a Gryffindor." Aurelius stopped short.
"What?" Aurelius snapped.
"I mean it's time you started thinking like a Slytherin again, Rel… to be honest, you're more benefit to me and the department if you did. You're right, you know, that we haven't been able to get anything on Amadeus and that Thomas has had similar luck trying to get his hands around Nelson's throat, and it is because we have restraints that they don't and we've placed them on ourselves," Harry said. "It's time we took those bureaucratic shackles off, and not just because of Longbottom, either," he added, tapping his shoulder for good measure. "If we're going to get those two, we need to start fighting fire with fire, and stop letting ourselves get stopped by technicalities. Justice first, remember? And we'd better act fast if someone is harassing your parents again."
"I agree. We've got to find out what happened to Mercy as quickly as possible, regulations or no regulations," Aurelius said.
"That sounds more like the Rel I know," Harry said with a smile as the two of them turned into the main corridor. Just then, they heard a pair of dragon roars that stopped them both in their tracks. "Speak of the devil… I wonder what he's doing here?"
"I don't know and I don't care. Let's find out where he is so I can eyeball him about what happened to Mercy," Aurelius said, and rolled up his sleeve, glancing at the dragon on his arm. "That way, towards the LE department." The two of them hurried down the corridor.
"I suppose it'd be too much to ask for him to be here to turn himself in," Harry said.
"Even he's not that stupid," Aurelius said, another snarl erupting from the dragon tattoos as the two of them closed in.
"I don't care how unlikely it is! I want you to look into it!" came the voice of Amadeus through Thomas Craw's open door. "This was an intentional assault, and there has to be some sort of special charge for this other than a 'criminal potioning' charge!"
"Technically that is what it was," Thomas said calmly.
"It was more than that!" Amadeus snapped. "It has changed my life forever!"
"Mr. Longbottom, most criminal acts against any witch or wizards changes their lives forever… like yours changed my daughter's life, for example," he added coolly.
"So that's it," Amadeus said angrily, clutching his cane. "That is why you won't do anything about this."
"Mr. Longbottom, whether or not I would personally prefer to clean the floor with you rather than look at you or not is beside the point. The doctor's report states that whoever potioned you must have done it at some earlier date, and I have absolutely nothing to go on other than the fact that someone seems to have taken exception to the idea of you ever having any children," Thomas said.
Aurelius and Harry glanced at each other and turned to leave when Adler Bosworth walked in, nearly bumping into them as he was looking over a scroll in his hands.
"Oh, good afternoon, Harry. Aurelius, I believe your wife is looking for you. She said she had some tests done in the lab for you to look over," Adler said distractedly.
"We'll head there now, then," Harry said.
"Harry? Is that you skulking about outside my door? Come in here for a moment," Thomas barked. Reluctantly, the two of them walked into the office with stoic looks on their faces, while Amadeus was eying both Thomas and Amadeus warily. The low growling noise became persistent, almost like a hum, but if Thomas noticed it, he made no sign. "Mr. Longbottom came to see me over a dire matter, it would seem. He brought a report from his doctor because he is now sterile from an apparent potioning incident."
"Oh. Sorry," Harry said solemnly.
"You are?" Thomas asked in surprise
"Well, no, but I always try to be polite to everyone when I'm here in the office. Of course, out in the field it's another story," Harry said evenly.
"Don't waste your efforts on politeness, Potter. It's better spent just getting the job done," Thomas advised. "Anyway, we have no evidence, no idea when this could have happened, no idea of what container it was in, and definitely no potion sample. There is nothing that shows anything happened, other than the fact that the doctor states that Longbottom received an 'effective' dose of Oat's Scythe at some point. For all we know, he could have simply taken it himself and forgot about it," he said acidly. Amadeus gazed back at him stonily.
"That isn't the sort of thing one normally forgets," Adler ventured.
"Stranger things have happened," Thomas said icily, but then seemed to shrug it off. "We may not be in a position to do anything about it, but I'm willing to put in some preliminary work just in case whoever did it is fool enough to give himself away somehow. Adler, why don't you comprise a list of everyone who may have a reason to render our 'esteemed' Mr. Longbottom impotent… make sure I'm on there… and we'll go down the list and see if who the likeliest suspects are. Once you have it, get with Aurelius. You don't mind a bit of cross department work, do you? I want to eyeball everyone on the list and see if you can't pick anything up."
"Sure," Aurelius said.
"Fine. Adler, get to work. Longbottom, get out of my office before I have to have it fumigated," Thomas said with distaste.
"Before you go, Amadeus," Aurelius said, taking a step in front of the door. "You wouldn't happen to know what might have happened to our family's House Elf? She was waylaid this morning and came back with a strange memory lapse." Amadeus stared at him.
"First off, I was at the doctor's office all morning, and even if I wasn't, what would I care one way or another about a waylaid House Elf? Furthermore, I am sick of you and your family dogging me about something that I served my time for when I have gone out of my way to avoid your family ever since. Not once have I ever crossed the restraining order or had anything to do with your family in any way other than situations like these where it's unavoidable. Back off, Snape, or I swear your department will be dealing with a defamation lawsuit," Amadeus said.
"Let him go, Rel, he's not worth the trouble. He's lucky I'm concerned enough about this potioning incident to have Adler look into it," Thomas said tiredly.
"All the same, I think I'll pay a visit to Minister Malfoy to make sure he knows about it in case any of you…"
"Forgets?" Harry finished evenly. Scowling at him, Amadeus stormed out of the room. Adler sighed and followed him out.
"I take it from your restraint that he didn't know anything about Mercy," Thomas said.
"No, he didn't know what we were talking about. He was simply angry about his personal situation and having to deal with people he didn't like," Aurelius said.
"Such is life. I deal with people I don't like every day," Thomas shrugged. "Never mind Longbottom, you both have enough to deal with. Adler can handle him, that's what I pay him for. Just find out what happened to Mercy."
"We'll go check and see if Ginger has any news for us," Aurelius said. Thomas simply nodded before returning to his paperwork as a sign of dismissal.
When they arrived at the lab, Ginger was casually chatting with her lab assistant from where she was leaning on a cabinet on the far side of the room. The conversation broke off when Aurelius and Harry came in, and the assistant quickly began to clean up some of the lab equipment.
"There you are. What took you so long?" Ginger asked.
"We ran into an old friend," Harry said dryly.
"Amadeus was in the building. Don't worry, he's gone now," Aurelius said, when he saw Ginger's expression. "Find anything?"
"Oh… yes, but just a trace… a bit of tainted fairy nip, as I expected, only something fast acting…"
"Fast acting?" Harry asked.
"Meaning, it wasn't any sort of imbibed potion; it had to have been inhaled. It would have caused a quick affect but also wouldn't have lasted long," Ginger said.
"How long?" Aurelius asked.
"Long enough to knock her out for a few minutes for sure and leave her disoriented, and fast enough to work its way through her system just as quickly. In fact, if I hadn't suspected it was some sort of tampered nip from the start, I probably would have missed it," Ginger admitted.
"So whatever happened to her must have happened just before Ben got home," Aurelius concluded.
"Whoever sent that other elf probably expected the house to be empty," Harry said. "Considering that typically Ben would have been gone for hours, and everyone else is abroad. Had it happened any other day they might have gotten away with it."
"Yes, but gotten away with what? What were they looking for?" Aurelius asked.
"And did they succeed in getting it?" Harry asked in return.
Ben looked up forlornly from where he sat by the computer in an attempt to get some work done with Rus passed out in one arm and Jay hanging on his leg, pouting and blubbering to try to coax his father to pick him up as well. Aurelius stepped into the room with Ginger not far behind.
"Any luck?" Ben asked anxiously.
"I've left messages at both the International Department office and Muggle Affairs, she's bound to get one of them," Aurelius said, while Ginger moved around him and took Janus over to the couch to settle him. "I'm going to head down to the basement and have a closer look around."
"Your father is already down there," Ben said, attempting to scroll through his work without waking Rus.
Sure enough, when Aurelius went downstairs he found Severus meticulously going through a testing tray of broken phials and bottles that he had carefully removed from the floor and was busy inspecting the pieces with a gloved hand. He was intent on his work despite the fact that Descartes had made a perch on his shoulder and had refused to budge off of it, regardless of the direction in which Severus moved.
"Isn't that painful?" Aurelius commented.
"Yes," Severus said curtly. "But I have a few spells going to keep things under control. Was anything moved down here?"
"I think Mercy cleaned Rasputin's box before she realized that anything had happened," Aurelius said, glancing over at the floor the stove. He couldn't see the box itself for Rasputin was lying on top of it, crunching away at something contentedly. "Humoring him too?"
"They have had a trying morning," Severus said defensively. "None so trying as Mercy's morning, not that I have had much luck of convincing her of that. I was able to convince her to help me look for anything odd in the bedroom, but neither of us have found anything missing. Nothing was touched in the library, and as you can see, I am in the process of going through this room, but it is going to take some time to figure out if anything is missing in here between the broken bottles and the fact that I haven't taken summer inventory yet."
"I didn't know you kept anything rare in here," Aurelius said.
"I don't, although I am concerned that someone might have been looking for something specific, so I also have Hermione going through the school. So far the Elves, ghosts and security paintings have nothing unusual to report. I'm going to go and check some things at Hogwarts myself once I've finished here. I'm also going to have Sirius drop by and double-check security and find out why that House Elf got through," Severus said.
"It's not like it's the first one. When I counted the House Elves when this all started, it looks like you picked up a stray or two," Aurelius said.
"Jennifer did say something about one of our House Elves finding a mate, and that does happen from time to time, but the security is designed to allow for that. That said, I highly doubt that any of our elves would invite one into the house was in any way malevolent, they are nothing if not loyal," Severus said.
"Unless somehow she was tricked into letting the other elf in somehow," Aurelius pointed out.
"Possibly, although it would be unlike Mercy to do so," Severus said. "I do know that whatever they were after that they will probably not try that route again now that we are on our guard. But it would be a lot easier to anticipate their next move if we had some idea of just what it was that they were looking for."
Alexandria arrived quite late that night carrying a large bag, pausing in the doorway to gaze questioningly at Ben. He was sitting by the computer with his head propped up in his hand in complete resignation, staring at the screen without really looking at it.
"I'm here! I came as soon as I got the message… what is with you? Don't tell me they turned purple or something!" Alex said.
"No. I missed a work deadline," Ben said tiredly.
"Oh, is that all?" Alex said, rolling her eyes. "Where are my babies?"
"In the pen, but please don't wake them, Alex, I've had a hard time getting them asleep…"
"You make them sound like they're an inconvenience," Alex scowled at him, leaning down and putting a hand on them to check on them.
"It is an inconvenience at one in the morning," Ben said grumpily. "And where have you been that you just now checked in? I tried everything from Owl, office, cell phone and email at some point today."
"Out working, of course…"
"Somewhere that cell phones don't work?"
"Obviously," Alex said.
"Until this hour?"
"Look, I know you have had a bad day, but I'm not going to let you use that as an excuse to interrogate me about every little thing I do when I'm working. It isn't my fault that I'm not here, you know…"
"I never said it was," Ben said with a sigh.
"Then stop it, you'll wake the boys up," Alex said, gently tucking Janus in. "I brought them some toys and things to help them feel better."
"Well, that's great, Alex, but nothing is going to make them feel better like seeing you when they wake up tomorrow," Ben said with a smile. Alex turned around in surprise.
"You mean you want me to stay?" Alex asked.
"Of course I want you to stay…"
"But it's the middle of the week!" Alex protested.
"I don't think that's going to matter for a couple of days, do you, Alex? I need you here. I've got to go try to straighten things out with my boss tomorrow, and their nanny won't be able to take them when they're sick. Besides, it's late. You'd be better off staying," Ben coaxed.
"Yes but… well, if you must know, I wasn't planning on it. I rushed straight over here the moment I got your message and left a lot of things hanging at the office that I really need to get back to…"
"It's almost two in the morning, Alex," Ben said flatly.
"Yes, I know. I'm really tired too. Look, let me square things away tonight, especially if you need me to watch the boys tomorrow, that way I'll be free to come stay. Really, Ben, you know I plan things around the weekend…"
"Obviously."
"Well, it isn't like I can actually do anything right now by staying, is it? The boys are sick whether I'm here or not," Alex argued, giving him a brisk kiss. "I'll be back first thing in the morning."
"Good night," Ben said with a sigh.
"Don't worry, I won't be late this time," Alex promised as she went out the door. Ben waited until he heard the door close before he slumped into his computer chair, watching his boys sleep while too tired and depressed to do so himself.