VI
"Ms. Murray!" said a loud voice near her. Charlotte jumped in her chair and noticed, peering with quite visible annoyance above her cubicle wall, Ethan Cooper said, "Mr. Crouch send for you, didn't you hear? Or are you planning a take over the department?" And he disappeared with the same sour look on his face.
Charlotte cringed gazing with fury the wall that separated her from the flush-faced Ethan Cooper. She got up slowly peering over the cubicles' walls and noticed the one belonging to Thomas was empty. The dreadful feeling of imminent catastrophe whirled within her as she walked towards the office of the head of the department.
A couple of days had passed since Thomas and her had had their last conversation; in the office they would rarely even glance at each other and everyone else around them noticed the tension. To her surprise, each day had gone as normal, no formal investigation, no Aurors at her doorstep to search her house. Charlotte couldn't be sure if Thomas hadn't already spoken to Mr. Crouch about his newest discovery; and neither her boss nor her colleagues had shown her any hint of mistrust and curiosity, nor had there been any gossip around the office.
Once she opened the office's door, she searched through the room rapidly but didn't find Thomas inside, only Mr. Crouch, sitting in his sofa turned in his seat to see her and another huge man sitting in front of him. She felt punched in the stomach as she looked, for the third time in the same week, at Mr. Hall's face. Again, he beamed at her his drunken grin and again, his shrewd eyes remained watchfully fixed in her face.
"Ms. Murray, please, come in and sit with us." said Mr. Crouch.
Charlotte lowered her eyes as to deliberately avoid looking directly into Mr. Hall's face, and so she managed to tolerate the satisfied expression she knew she would see on it.
"So, Ms. Murray, I introduce to you, Mr. Finlay Hall, whom you had briefly met, I am sure you remember, a few days ago."
Charlotte remembered well their first encounter, and she remembered even better their second one when she had thrown him against the wall in the Leaky Cauldron. She felt uneasy, wondering if Mr. Hall had informed Mr. Crouch of their clash and so she was here to be punished. In a moment of sudden anger she recalled that it had been Mr. Hall that had pushed her into cursing him, but she remained silent and stretched her hand, finally facing the man and looking him in the eyes,
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hall."
For a slight moment she saw his eyes warm up to her as he engulfed her hand in his and gave her a sturdy shake. Her hand felt throbbing after that, but she did her best to ignore it returning her hand to her side on the sofa.
Mr Crouch coughed sounding a bit annoyed, and turned to her "I am not sure if you are aware Ms. Murray, but Mr. Hall works in Level Two as an Auror. A few moments ago, Mr Hall here barged into my office and as it appears, he seems to be under the impression - and how he came to that conclusion I am not exactly sure - that you, Ms. Murray are on the wrong line of profession."
"Excuse me?" said Charlotte looking at Mr Crouch, her eyes wide with puzzlement.
"I am not under the impression Mr. Crouch. She is the example of talent wasting away inside those boxes." he said, nodding at the door.
Mr Crouch fidgeted in his seat, obviously upset with Mr Hall's conduct, but sat straight with an air of authority and looked directly at him.
"Ms Murray is already extremely successful in the work she does in our department; the work and career that she chose, as I may add. I am quite aware of her curriculum" Mr Crouch continued heatedly stopping Mr Hall from intervening "As I am sure you are, evidently. But it is not for me, and certainly it is not for you to demand that she change her career so suddenly based only on your opinion, as well intended as it may be. Ms Murray is the most accomplished internee we had in her year, even being rewarded for her hard work with a promo..."
"You promoted her because Blackboon told you to." spitted Mr Hall leaving Mr Crouch frozen in his seat, his mouth half opened.
"How dare you, say... she is a very accomplished employee." screeched Mr Crouch.
"Well, if he didn't tell you, he told someone else, and I'm sure she's very good at her work, but look" and he was no longer speaking to Mr Crouch and leaned forward looking again into Charlotte's face, she was starting to fear how easily he could catch her attention "you know you don't belong here, right?
"I've seen what you can do and this is a waste of your skills. Our department and everyone else, would just gain from having someone talented as you working there as an Auror."
Charlotte answered cautiously, "I did think of becoming an Auror but I must have decided against it because I am here and I love it."
But he roared at her, exasperated, "That is the most outrageous lie I've ever heard." he leaned even more in his seat getting so close to her that she could hear him whisper, "I can help you, there's nothing that cannot be done, I promise."
Charlotte considered silently staring into his blue eyes, but slightly shook her head unable to answer him using words.
"There is your answer, Mr Hall." said Mr Crouch beaming. "She is International Relations after all."
"Well then, maybe, or maybe not." he said with a small threatening tone to his voice and left hurriedly not even bothering to shut the door.
Charlotte remained seated, feeling stunned, until Mr. Crouch himself rose from the sofa and, turning to her, said, "Do excuse Mr. Hall, he had always been one to have, well, peculiar ideas." He laughed nervously, "Who would suspect that you even..."
The abrupt sound of a commotion and loud rapping and knocking came to them from outside the room. Mr. Crouch, looking graver than Charlotte had ever seen him, pulled his wand from his robe's pocket. Within a second, he was at the door and she heard more people shouting and followed him, moving fast along the corridor.
The room was in disarray; all the desks had been crammed against the wall with the window so only few rays of sunlight were visible through them. People that had managed to flee from their cubicles in time were trying to move the desks away and were pulling the ones that hadn't been as lucky.
She saw a few of her colleagues who were bleeding profusely being removed to a corner of the room; everyone was looking anxiously at the pair of wizards standing in front of her. Mr. Hall was the first one she recognized. He was standing rigid and still with a feral look on his face; his wand pointed at another wizard who had been knocked unconscious against the wall.
Charlotte didn't recognize him. He was lying motionless with his head lolled to the side; blood was dripping from his forehead and his glazed eyes were open. She felt a shiver ran to her neck.
"Mr. Hall" croaked Mr. Crouch slowly walking towards him. The room fell suddenly very silent. "What has happened here?"
"He's not dead" said Mr. Hall without moving an inch. He didn't answer the question and let silence fall again.
"Will someone, please, explain the meaning of this?" said Mr. Crouch looking exasperated. "You, Mr. Cooper, what happened here?"
However, Ethan Cooper didn't have time to answer, for Mr. Hall decided to speak again in a low, rasping voice that to Charlotte sounded very unnatural coming from his usual drunken self.
"I'm sorry" he said "but I couldn't do anything."
Charlotte glanced at Mr. Crouch expecting him to find meaning in those words but he looked as oblivious as she felt. Mr. Hall finally shifted in his place. He turned towards her; his face had a look of weariness. He budged as if he meant to say something to her. However, he just lowered his wand and moved aside.
As he walked by, Charlotte heard him repeat again, "I'm sorry, about your friend" but it seemed to come from so far away. It was as if an endless distance had been placed between her consciousness and the ground where she stood. For a second, Charlotte felt numb.
Thomas' lifeless body was lying a few feet away from her. His face was touching the cold marble of the ground. A slight expression of surprise had fallen on his features. His open eyes were glazed too, and empty.
She noticed people moving closer to his body. Mr. Crouch had stopped, quietly, in his place. A second later, he darted to his office. The fluttering of the flying purple memos soon filled the space behind her, near the lift.
The moment the door open, however, voices echoed in the silence and what seemed like a lift packed full of wizard was emptied into the room. Quick steps passed by her on their way to seize the motionless body of the unknown wizard. An auburn hair girl had knelt down by Thomas' body, her hand removing the hair that had fallen to his face. His eyes were still open.
Someone was talking to her in a very slow but indistinct voice. She saw pink locks of hair in the corner of her eye. She felt an arm surrounding her shoulders. Someone should have closed his eyes. His body had been covered by someone's cloak. The girl with the auburn hair had tears in her eyes and was moving away. His eyes were still open under the dark cloak.
Charlotte heard someone groan quietly on her right. Two wizards carried on their shoulders another wizard that was awaking. She felt the arm clasping her tighter and pulling her the other direction.
Someone should have closed his eyes.
Before she could realize, Charlotte was taking the wand out of her cloak's pocket, moving swiftly away from the embrace. She heard a shout coming from behind her. With a flick of her arm, she pushed the two wizards away from the nameless assassin. He was clutching his throat, grasping for air, and his eyes fixed on her in desperation. His feet trying frantically to find the ground as she made her wand rise higher.
Charlotte felt a sharp pain explode on her left shoulder and was thrown with force against a wall. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.