A/N: See. I told you I was busy.
Two other things. First, how's this for exciting? This Saturday, guys, I auditioned for 'America's Got Talent', so wish me luck!
And second, if you don't know the reference in the title, that 'Too Much Information'.
And as always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: OC mine. Harry Potter Series Rowling.
CHAPTER TEN: T.M.I.
PART ONE
Thomas wasn't sure what to expect when he was called back into Loudmen's office, so he kept as alert as he could.
"Have a seat, Thomas." Loudmen said, indicating the chair before his desk where Thomas had sat before.
"Now what?" Thomas ask. "Are you going to go and arrest her?"
Loudmen leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him, shaking his head. "This is a matter that has to be handled very carefully, Thomas." The man informed him. "The first step was to make sure what you were telling me was the truth. So Patterson and Tedler here ran a check on you."
Thomas turned to glance at the two men behind him before turning a heated stare back to the man before him. "You think I'm lying?" He ask.
Loudmen met the statement with a calm, level voice. "The people involved here, Thomas, have reputations. Strong ones. I can't act on any of this without being sure you aren't just a teenager trying to get out of a foster home you're unhappy at."
"If I was just unhappy, I'd just leave." Thomas ground out between his teeth. "I was trying to help you by coming here."
"And we appreciate your actions, Thomas." Loudmen replied with a small smile. "And since your information has shown itself to have a high probability of being true, we are now going to move forward."
"So you're going to come back to the house and arrest her?"
The man behind the desk gave a small chuckle. "That's not how we do things, Thomas." He explained. "You have to understand something here, son." He added, leaning forward on the desk. "If this woman does turn out to be a Deatheater, she is a very dangerous woman. Make no mistake about that. She is living in the house of an top ranking Unspeakable, she is his wife, and she has managed to hold her cover for years. Taking her is not going to be a matter of walking up to the house, knocking on the door, and asking her if she would please accompany us to Azkaban. This woman is going to come out fighting the second she knows something isn't right. Which is where you come in."
"Me?" Thomas asked.
Loudmen nodded. "What I need you to do, son, is to help us keep this woman from knowing what's going on. Not let her get suspicious that we may be onto her and her accomplice. Where exactly do they think you are right now?"
"Katlin went shopping with the others." Thomas explained. "Mr. Black went to work. I suppose the house elf is suppose to be watching me."
"Not perfect, but better than nothing." Loudmen replied. "Thomas, I need you to go back to that house and act like nothing has happened. Don't let any one in that house know that you came to see us today or that you told us any of this. The element of surprise is the best weapon we have right now."
"I'm not afraid to go back." Thomas stated. "But exactly how long are you going to wait? She's already suspicious."
Loudmen sat back up in his chair. "How so?"
"The man...her husband...I heard him tell her that he thinks I suspect the dog isn't just a dog."
"And how did she respond to that?"
Thomas shrugged. "She sort of brushed it off. Told him he was imagining things."
Loudmen turned to the other two Aurors. "We may have a compromised situation already." He quickly turned back to the teenager before him. "All right, Thomas. You have a slightly harder role to play here then. I need you to keep a very close watch on the Deatheaters. See if anything about them...about their routines...changes. Anything that may indicate they're getting ready to take any sort of action. If so, you get word to me right away."
"That's easier said then done." Thomas replied.
"Meaning?"
"I don't have an owl. The Floo Powder I have is just enough to get me back to the house, and Mr. Black took my wand."
"He took your wand?" Loudmen ask, raising his eyebrows. "Why did he do that?"
"Because I defended my brothers and sisters with it against him."
"Black attacked you?"
Thomas sulked back in the chair. "Not exactly...and it's a long story."
Loudmen waved the incident aside. "No matter." He stated. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a long, thin stick and laid it on his desk top. "Do you know what this is, Thomas?" He ask.
It took Thomas a second to realize the object was, in fact, a wand. A dark pine one with several markings carved into the handle and stem.
"It's a wand, sir." He stated simply, still looking the thing over. It certainly wasn't like any wand he'd ever seen.
"It's not just a wand, son." Loudmen explained. "It's an unregistered wand. They're almost impossible to get and they're magical signatures are practically untraceable. My department is the only one that has these little beauties...legally. This one...," he added, moving it across the desk until it rested at the edge in front of Thomas, "...I am giving to you."
Thomas slowly reached out and picked the wand up, staring at it in fascination. "You mean I could use this wand...and no one could ever prove it was me that had done the spell?"
Loudmen nodded. "But it's not for fun and games, Thomas." The man cautioned him. "Unregistered wands out of the hands of the Ministry is something they would take very seriously. You are only to use that if you have no other choice, is that understood?"
Thomas nodded as he quickly stuffed the wand into his pocket.
"The only other use I want you to have for it is to contact us if it becomes necessary. No communication sent by that wand can be traced back to either party. So we'll be able to send you messages as well. If the wand gives a low hum, you'll know we're trying to contact you. Get to a private place as soon as you can and conjure a small fire. We'll do the rest from our end."
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When Thomas arrived back at the house moments later, everything seemed to be going his way for a change. No dog and no house elf.
He took a careful look around the room just in case, not sure what he would say if he actually found either of them hiding behind the couch or so, but he also didn't want to walk around for the next few days wondering if he had been seen returning to the house via the fireplace.
But not seeing anything unusual, he quickly left the room and headed for the stairs.
As soon as the teenager walked out the door, a tower of dark robes appeared in the darkest corner of the room. Once more a soft sigh slightly ruffled the cloth in front of the boggart's face.
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Three hours later Katlin returned with the other four children. Despite how much she wanted to show Thomas they did trust him, she tempered that want with a bit of common sense, telling herself that leaving any teenager alone for too long was not a good idea.
By four that afternoon Orion returned home, dropping his briefcase in the front foyer as he went to hang up his coat.
Almost as soon as the case hit the floor a tower of dark robes appeared, and levitating it off the floor, had it open and was rummaging through it before Orion had the time to turn around.
"Bo." He stated in an annoyed tone, handing his coat in the closet. "What are you doing?"
The boggart made a quick gesture in the air and went back to his task of what appeared to be emptying Orion's briefcase onto the floor one file page at a time.
"Well, it's not in there, is it?" He stated.
The boggart stopped his search and the case instantly hit the floor.
"And if that's what you want, why aren't you doing your dog impersonation? What if one of the kids sees you?" He added, pointing a finger at the errant boggart. "We'd have a pile of explaining to do then, wouldn't we?"
The boggart instantly made a series of quick gestures, then fell to standing perfectly still, waiting for a response.
Orion frowned at the statement. "What do you mean you 'have something to tell' me? Bo, nothing good ever comes out of you saying you 'have something to tell' me."
The boggart made a new series of gestures.
"All right." Orion crossed his arms over his chest. "Hit me."
Bo flew into a series of gestures so rapidly delivered that Orion doubted the average person could have followed them. A usual occurrence when the boggart was very agitated or very excited. Only years of experience, and being the originator of their manner of communication, had made it possible for Orion to be able to keep up at such times.
As he followed the information, a deep frown etched itself across his brow. "What do you mean 'he left'?" Orion ask. "How did he leave?"
Bo gestured quickly in the air.
"There was no Floo Powder. I confiscated it this morning for this very reason."
The boggart stood for a moment, as though assessing the information, then gestured again.
Orion waved it off. "All right, all right. Never mind. He found some somewhere. Let's move on to the million knut question. 'Where' did he go?"
The boggart stood motionless.
Orion waited, then drew a small circle in the air in front of him. "No, no. This is the part where you give me an answer, Bo. Not just stand there like a pile of laundry in desperate need of washing."
Bo made another quick gesture.
Orion's eyebrows shot up. "You don't know?" He asked in disbelief. "How can you not know?"
Bo gave a short series of gestures.
Orion sighed and shook his head before turning back to the boggart. "Bo, when I said 'watch him', that was not to imply only while he was in the house, or to watch him leave and then come back. If he left, I wanted to know where he went."
The boggart shrugged then quickly shifted to the large black dog, happily wagging it's tail across the foyer floor as it sat expectantly in front of him.
Orion sighed as he dug into his pocket. "You shouldn't really be getting anything, you four legged snooze alarm. But you did at least know he left, and that's a start, so here."
A large brown dog biscuit flew through the air, which the dog deftly caught in his teeth, then turned and happily marched off with towards the kitchen.
Orion sighed as he shook his head and headed off after him. So not only had Thomas disobeyed him, but he had made solid plans before hand in order to do it by stealing some of the Floo Powder. That suggested the teenager had had a set agenda. Somewhere he had to get to and he wasn't going to be stopped.
But where?
Poking his head into the kitchen showed that Katlin was not there, which, if the last few days were anything to go by, generally meant she was upstairs with someone, solving some current problem.
The night before it had been Vincent unable to find a favorite stuffed animal that he swore he had brought with him and he was terrified he had left at the place they were before coming to his house.
Thankfully, said stuffed toy was successfully located and everyone had a peaceful night.
Such was not the case when the same misfortune had befallen Katy the night before, and the errant object was not located until several hours later.
With a small smile Orion turned and headed back to the foyer. If he had ever had his doubts about their decision, Katlin had quickly routed them with her calm, unwavering dedication to the five orphans they had taken in. With little experience to draw on in her own life, Orion felt his wife personified the adage that some woman were just natural mothers. In ages from one to fourteen and everything inbetween, she somehow simply managed to keep everything running smoothly. And despite the trauma the five had been through, she seemed to be helping all five settle into their new environment. Which was a good thing, since even though it had been only a short time since the children had come to live with them, Orion was already having a very hard time imagining what life would be like without them anymore.
But currently he had two pressing problems of his own to sort out. One, where had Thomas gone that afternoon?
And two, who was making dinner?
(PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ELEVEN FOR PART TWO.)