Chapter 8

The Industrial Estate

Maldue and Percy left the room through a door that appeared beside Ron, he followed them, leaving the two Auror's, who were eyeing Tony suspiciously, having heard Maldue's comments. Adam held his arm out and smiled at Tony. He clasped his arm and the room was replaced by the dingy industrial estate, looking very different in the daylight. They walked in silence along the dirty bare street, wary but certain they were alone. They found the entrance to the building Adam had entered the other night. He remembered the burning sensation that covered his whole body after whoever it was fired their wand at him while he was lying on the floor. Tony slipped through the door and exited a moment later, gesturing along the road to the next building. They kept this up checking each building out until they found the one that matched the memories they had seen.

Inside the layout was identical to the memories, even down to the cushions, which were grubby and dirty and had seen many years' service, not at all like the memory. Adam assumed that they had used magic to make the placed more liveable. Tony was moving systematically across the room, his wand being waved around looking a little like he was using a metal detector. Adam turned the cushions over finding nothing of interest. The large room had all the hallmarks of a place being used as a squat, piles of empty wrappers sat in one corner in a cardboard box, a few mattresses in the other corner was the sleeping area. He wondered why he could not see any fireplace where they had cooked food. Tony moved through a door at the rear into another room. Adam followed finding empty boxes piled up as if someone had tried to create order. Tony swept his wand across the room and the boxes moved en masse to the other side, tumbling as they went. This revealed another doorway, this one locked.

Adam stepped up to the door and tried the handle. Even though the place was a mess, the door was solid and locked. He put his shoulder to it, once, and stood back rubbing his shoulder.

"It's magically locked," Tony said bringing his wand up and pointing it at the door. He heard the lock click a couple of times and the door opened freely. Inside they found a windowless room, dark until Tony fired a small ball of light into it. The room was around five meters square and empty, the floor swept bare.

"Nothing magical in here." He said crossing his arms, looking annoyed that they had found nothing.

"Could the door being magically locked be a trick to make us look the wrong way?"

"Probably." He replied.

"What about the roof?" He disappeared and reappeared on the roof parapet.

The street, some distance below on his right, the left, old corrugated sheeting, which would probably not hold his weight. He walked along the parapet, feeling a couple of the stones move under his feet. He came to the corner of the building, about to turn when a voice broke his concentration, making him drop and grab the stone, his heart thumping in his chest.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" He asked looking towards the voice, finding a strange old man staring at him. His hair was unwashed, long and sticking up, his clothes were equally dirty and threadbare in places. His eyes shone with a strange intensity as they watched Tony regain his balance, standing up. Tony stared at him, his beard was just as dirty as the rest of him, flakes of something stuck to it.

"Looking for something." He replied after a moment.

"I guessed that. What are you looking for? I might be able to help."

"Who are you and why are you up here?" He asked back, realising the man had a strong lisp, other than that the man spoke suggesting he was well educated.

"I'm up here because I keep out the way of them down there and I'm nobody of importance."

"Any idea how long them down there have been here?"

"They came here just before that weird market turned up, one of them went to it, but the others didn't."

"You saw the market?"

"I see lots of things; recently they have been very odd."

"Like what?"

"Like someone disappearing into thin air right in front of my eyes, throwing fire around like it was going out of fashion and people getting hurt."

"When was this?"

"Why are you asking me, it was you throwing the fire around and your friend downstairs that got hurt?" The man smiled at him, showing that most of his front teeth were missing, the reason for the lisp.

"Do you have a name?"

"Not when I'm hungry I don't." He replied calmly. Tony let his wand slip down into his hand, a quick wave and a large Leaky Cauldron sandwich appeared on the parapet next to the man. He watched him take it and tentatively open it. He looked up and gave him a bigger smile than before. Tony stuck his legs out over the side and sat down opposite the man as he took a bite of the sandwich with relish.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" Tony asked after a moment. The man shook his head.

"Not until I've eaten this. I don't want you taking it back when you have what you want." Tony laughed and flicked the wand again and a large hot drink appeared where the sandwich had sat.

"Hello, Arnie." Came a voice from below. They both looked over the edge and found Adam looking up from a fire escape ladder attached to the other building.

"Hello Mr Croft, haven't seen you for years?" He replied just before he took another bite.

"Been busy, isn't it time you got yourself into a shelter?"

"Done that, didn't like it. I like the outside too much. Except for the winter that's when I use the shelters." He frowned for a moment at Adam. "It wasn't you that was hurt the other day, was it?" He asked concern in his voice.

"Yes it was, but my friend here sorted me out."

"He's a bit of an odd one in he." He said looking back up at Tony.

"Adam, your friend here could see the market." He said as Adam continued onto the platform, sitting beside Tony.

"How can you see the market Arnie?"

"Didn't know I wasn't supposed to." He replied between mouthfuls of sandwich and drink. It was clear he was very hungry and thirsty.

"How come you're living out here?" Tony asked.

"I've never known anything else. Actually, that's a lie. I remember having a house, my parents that is. They were both killed and I ran away, too scared to tell anyone. I found a little niche for myself and stayed there."

"When were they killed?"

"Oh, back in 98, I was about six years old. I remember many people dying back then, and then it all went away. Funny that isn't it."

Tony took his wand out and waved it over the man. "What you playing at, those things are bloody dangerous." He replied angrily.

"Did your parents have one of these?"

"They might have done, I don't really remember much about them. It was a long time ago."

"Did you ever go to school?"

"Not after my parents went."

"Can you read?"

"Yes, I met some nice people over the years; they all helped me from time to time, people like Mr Croft. He always used to buy me a meal when he saw me, always told me to go to the shelter as well."

"What's your real name?"

"Whatever my name was, I've long forgotten it." He tipped up the drink and finished it.

Tony looked over at Adam, who, as usual, was interrogating his tablet.

"I have the strangest feeling that your old friend Arnie, is an untrained wizard." He whispered.

"What makes you think that?"

"He has some form of magical talent and from what he's told me, I think his parents were killed in the wizarding wars in 1998."

"Surely you have records?"

"We did, but the Death Eaters took over the Ministry and used those records to find people they wanted. You get to hear snippets of stories from time to time, which defy the imagination. Some things that went on were horrific."

"Can you explain?"

"They used the records to find people were like me, had Muggle parents, or people sympathetic to muggles. They then sent out teams to murder them."

"This went on with none of us muggles knowing?"

"No, everyone in your world knew about it, after it was over, the Auror's and Obliviator's were in great demand putting everything right and making sure that the muggle world forgot all about it." He paused and looked down for a moment. "You realise that if Voldemort and his Death Eaters had won, this world would be a very different place." He looked down again. "According to the things I have read and heard, after the war, the Ministry was in disarray, which is putting it mildly. Half of the Ministry that survived, were out looking for missing people; the other half was trying to get everything back under control. Many people went missing, never seen again. They fell through the gaps. A lot of stories got told and no one is entirely sure what was real and what wasn't. They still don't."

"Chinese whispers, the stories change slightly with every telling."

"I can think of loads, the order of the Phoenix, the cornered four, the Ministries final flight, the Death Eater daughter, the list is endless and it continues to grow to this day, and I suspect we have just found another story here."

"What are you going to do?" He nodded towards Arnie, who was watching them intently.

"I have no idea. I suppose I should tell someone at the Ministry and let them decided."

"Arnie." He looked up and smiled at them both. "How have you survived out here on your own for all these years? I remember you from when I was a probationer, and that is a lot of years ago?"

"Some people I know who live like me, have a habit of dying during the winter. I've lost many friends over the years. I've never had a problem, I never feel the cold."

"What about things you need?"

"Never had a problem there either. Like today, I was hungry and something told me to be here. Low and behold, you two turn up and I get a hot meal and a little company."

"Did you go into the market?"

"I go every year. A guy called Mog has a stall, sells some weird things, always gives me a meal and a drink. Decent guy." Adam looked at Tony.

"I don't know anyone called Mog. I've only been to the Moon Market a few times."

"Which one of them below, did you see going to the market?" Asked Tony.

"Little blond haired one, bossy little cow." He gave them another of his deep looks. "You still haven't told me what you were looking for?"

Adam laughed. "Did you ever see any of them trying to hide anything or do strange things?" A big smile broke out on his face.

"She used one of those stick things, you've got." He gestured at Tony before pointing downwards to the bottom of the building. "The bossy girl used to go a brick in the wall below me, about knee high. She used the stick and a single brick slid out. She put something inside then put the brick back. I didn't know how she did it, but I can't shift the brick and I've tried several times." Tony stood up and moved to the stairs, Adam giving him some room.

At the bottom of the stairs, he had his wand out and walked down the little alleyway.

"Other side," Arnie yelled. Tony moved across and a single brick glowed. Arnie had jumped across the gap between the buildings and sat beside Adam watching Tony as he produced a collection of spells, none of which had any effect on the wall. Tony then produced a string of expletives.

"He sounds just like you when you're pissed off." Said Arnie chuckling.

"I think he may have learnt them from me."

There was a loud thump from below that was felt through the building. Several pigeons on nearby buildings leapt into the air, their flapping wings echoing from the old buildings. Tony came back up the ladder with a small roll of paper in his hand; which he held them out to Adam. He searched through his own pockets until he found a worn piece of paper. He continued to search his pockets until Adam held a pen out to him. He wrote a message on it before rolling it up. After handed the pen back he climbed back down the ladder. They watched him put the paper back in the hole, followed by the brick, sealing it up again. Back up the stairs he stood at the top while Adam leafed through the papers from the wall.

"What did you do?" He asked looking up.

"I left a note with my name on it, just in case someone comes looking for those." He pointed at the papers. "Also, I put a trace on it, so if someone comes here, I will know, and they will know I know."

Tony took a coin from his pocket and pointed his wand at it, a bluish glow enveloping it. He tossed the coin towards Arnie who deftly caught it.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked inspecting it suspiciously.

"Nothing, but if you get into some real trouble, or you're ill, take I out, hold it in your left hand and squeeze it tightly and say, Tony, help me. I'll hear it and I will be here as quickly as I can."

"Why would you do that?"

"We wizards should stick together." He reached down and touched Adam's shoulder and a moment's disorientation later, they were standing in Aunt Matilda.

Adam split the parchments into two piles, dropping them beside the drinks on the low table in the sunroom.

"Start reading, it won't take long." He said taking his seat with one pile.

Several minutes later, they both dropped them back on the table.

"Are any of them making any sense to you?"

"Not really, they seem a little disjointed somehow, but that's the nature of prophecies."

"Have they been fixed to make them unreadable?"

"No, it's unlikely, I think its how you read them, and these are translations from the original language."

"Not very good translations. However, your mentioned a couple of times, along with a huge upheaval in human society, sometime in the middle years of the twenty-first century."

"That's mentioned on a couple of these, along with your name."

Adam sat up and took his tablet out and took pictures of each parchment.

"Won't they end up on the cloud?" Tony asked, concerned.

"No, if you check your phone's memory, you'll find a large section of it put aside for personal use." He showed him how to access this.

"So anything in this section doesn't end up in the cloud?"

"No, unless you have a link to your own personal cloud, which we all do, except you don't." He paused and thought. "I'll set you up a cloud space account, you can store anything personal on it. Be careful though, the force will check it, so make sure you never put work related information on it. They get pissed at you for doing that."

Tony went to his desk and pulled a bound notebook out. The notebook had seen better days and had pages slipped into it, torn edges, the cover, worn and damaged. He dropped it on the table before flicking through. He found the pages he wanted, which was a list of ingredients and instructions, neatly hand written.

"You baking a cake?" Asked Adam looking down as he took a photo.

"This is the hangover cure I learnt at Durmstrang. I always have to come and get this book as I can never remember all the ingredients, especially if I find a shop selling the right things. If I can photograph it onto to this, I will always have the recipe with me. Plus there are a couple of others I could do with keeping close."

"Until you have to give the phone back." Adam watched Tony deflate. "As long as you have your personal cloud account, the photos you save will accessible to you and only you. You'll need to buy your own phone after you give that one back."

"So I could use any phone without them breaking?"

"Good point. The forces phones are hardened, so." Adam went quiet for a moment before smiling. "There is a sale every couple of months of old refurbished stock, I might be able to wrangle you an old one. It won't have the software or the access this one has, but it should suit your needs and you could give Edlyn Balsom a call."

Tony's head came up, looking aghast at Adam. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"You really have problems with that woman, don't you?"

Tony ignored the comment as Adam continued to take photographs, taking the second pile from Tony and doing likewise.

"Right, we have twenty prophecies here and now I have copies, we can hand them back to the Ministry."

"They will not be to thrilled with young Dulcie."

"Nor her father. You ready to go back and see if they are ready?"

Tony did not wait, he merely grabbed the detectives arm as he stood and they were back in the Ministry room. The two Auror's jumped to attention for a moment, then relaxed as Tony grinned at them.