The usual disclaimers apply.
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Chapter 11: Deal
When I left she was still spinning. She had been completely unaware of me as I picked up the 'heavy' vial she had left on the coffee table and replaced it with the light one. After a moment of thought, I placed a protean-charmed card under the vial. I had the mate of it in my pocket. If they decided to contact me, it would better be directly, rather than through Skeez.
I didn't try to hide my movements. I even plucked a stray hair from her without suspicion, which I tucked away carefully. It was very unlikely that she would remember anything at all after taking the dose, aside from her flight and a few confused images.
I didn't have much from her aside from confused images myself. However the alternative, to overpower her, legilimens and then obliviate her, even if I were entirely successful, would have left tell-tale gaps in her memory. As it was, I did have a hope that she would pass on my offer, and that it would be well-received. I had to rely on that, I didn't have very much to go on for the location of the model house and the warehouse.
All I had was a memory of a gravel road and that it was somewhere in Canada. It must be, if they were relying on the house elves being easy to handle because they were bound into service. It was also probable that it was located at not too great a distance from the model house, since it seemed that they dove between the two.
And why drive? If they were transporting something bulky it would be inconvenient to apparate. Perhaps that was it. I apparated home, by way of the tunnel. All I could do now was hope that Lee would make contact. I decided to prepare as if I were certain that he would. I was counting on it, and if he did, I wanted to be ready.
The rest of the afternoon and evening I spent in brewing another light batch. I had a few hours to sleep during the infusion, then a few more when the batch was done. I woke in the late morning, felling better rested than I had in days.
I was bottling and weighing the batch when Kob returned. I caught sight of him bowing at me out of the corner of my eye as I wiped off the lid of a jar. How long had he been there? He straightened when he saw that I knew he was there.
"You have found them?" He was almost bouncing with eagerness.
"Possibly. You tell me," I replied. I took the jar of six eyes from the store cupboard and put it on the counter. He stared at the jar in silence.
"Oh no, oh no, you weren't supposed to… oh no, oh no, oh no," he repeated like some kind of litany in a low voice. He had taken a step back. I felt an instant hot rage building.
"You think I did this? I did this? Why would you think that?" He shook his head at me dumbly.
"I didn't do this, I never laid a hand on… you told me to find them, this is what I found!" My voice was rising. I slammed my fist against the counter. "Is it them, do you recognize them?"
I had never seen quite that color on an elf before. He was clutching his tea towel in his hands. Ears back he stared at me and shook his head. "Look at them!" His eyes dropped to the floor.
"Oh no, it's not going to be like this, not ever again!" I snarled at him. "You told me to find them. I had to look at them; I had to work for them! Now you have to look at them!" I hit my fist against the counter again with my last words. It was all I could do to keep from grabbing the tea towel and forcing his head up.
"Don't you dare think you can just tell me to dirty my hands so you can keep yours clean." My voice was shaking at the end of it. I forced myself to push away from the counter and head up the stairs without looking back.
I went directly out the back door and down the few steps into the long grass. I kicked ineffectually at the turf. Damn him, hadn't he thought, hadn't he at least considered that something could have happened to them? Why even come to me if he hadn't thought that? Why should he be shocked?
I had looked at the eyes… I didn't go into some… state. They were just dead things now, like so much else. Did he think he was so pure… he could go through life without looking at something dead? If I had to… I kicked at the grass again. It was getting too long. Damn. I would have to do a trade with the neighbors again, get them to bring the goats over to eat everything down. As if I didn't have enough to deal with.
It was fairly calm except for a small breeze coming in from the west with the smell of the ocean on it knocking drops off the bare branches. It was too cold to stay out, and I didn't feel like casting a warming charm. I went back inside.
I put the kettle on, and was rinsing out the pot when it started to whistle. The rising noise was cut off abruptly, and I turned to see Kob taking the kettle off the flame.
"Leave it, just leave it," I said shortly.
He set it on the counter and stood quietly for a moment before taking a seat at the table. His color still wasn't good, but he looked a bit contrite as well.
"I look at them. I think it is not them, I think the color is wrong." He paused, then continued reluctantly, "is this a good thing?"
I sighed. "I doubt they are still alive."
"Who does this?" He asked. He was starting to sound like my kettle again.
"A young couple is luring house elves to work for them in Canada. After they bind themselves into service they are delivered to a group who runs a warehouse. It seems that the group is processing the elves for parts and selling them on the Dark Market." He made a small high-pitched sound and put his head down on top of his hands flat on the table. I wasn't going to wait for him to listen. I went on.
"I haven't yet met the rest of the organization, but I suspect it's not very large." I filled the teapot and set it on the table. He had pulled his head up a few inches, but he still wasn't looking at me. I took a seat at the table.
"Perhaps," he ventured, "perhaps they keep some to serve? Perhaps they do not kill them all?"
I shrugged. "What reason would they have?"
"To serve! It's possible!"
"You're delusional." He ignored my comment.
"How do you get these -" he waved his hand at the cellar stairs.
"I made a deal with them for a potion."
"You don't deal with them, no!" He jumped off his chair again.
"Of course I deal with them! How the hell else would I get close to them? How could I get them to trust me?"
"But then they… then they kill them for you! They kill them for you!"
Not this again! I could feel my anger surging; I had to keep it under control.
"Now you listen to me. They are dealers, dealers, do you understand? So I had to be a buyer. Obviously they've been in business for at least three months and probably longer. I have done business with them for four days." I punctuated the words by slapping my hand on the table. "If they didn't have other buyers they would have been out of business long ago! Those three weren't killed for me; they were killed for a buyer, any buyer. If they weren't killed last week, they would have been killed next week. It doesn't matter."
"It matters! It matters to them! Every day matters to them!" The little idiot was too upset to listen to reason.
"Very well. I will cut all ties with them. If they should contact me I will not respond."
"They contact you? Why?"
"I have a possible deal with them…" I began.
"No, you must not! There must be no deals! They will kill more!"
"I already said I will not respond. You would do well to listen. I agree. I'm done."
"What?" Now he was listening to me again.
"Since you wish me to cut off all contact with them, I'm quite happy to do so. I think that concludes our business." I poured myself some tea.
"No! You must find them, you agreed!" No matter what I said, he wasn't happy with it.
"I agreed to cut off all contact. Do try to keep up. I'm sure you can see that it's quite impossible for me to proceed if I burn my one lead." I drank. He sputtered for a moment, then gathered and drew himself up.
"You will continue without contacting them, you will find some way to do it… or we will say your name!" he declared in triumph. After all this, after all I did for him, he thought he could threaten me? I leaned forward.
"If you reveal my name, I will make sure they know it. They'll go so far underground that you'll never find them." He paled in shock at my words.
"But you must find them, you must," he said desperately.
"Then I must deal with them. It is the only link I have with them, the only possibility of gaining their trust and getting closer to the warehouse location."
"Make some other deal…" As he began I felt a small movement in my breast pocket. I slapped my hand against it, then remembered; the protean card I had left with Jody. I pulled it out. Words were appearing across the surface one by one: My house, today, 2:00 pm. Kob was watching me watching the card. I looked up at the clock. It read 1:12.
"What is that?" he asked suspiciously.
"An appointment. I'm leaving now." I got up and started for the cellar stairs. I would want to have some sample vials along.
"It is them," he said shrewdly, "you are trying to do a deal with them."
I rounded on him. "You have to decide now. Am I to continue to deal with them or do I cut off all contact? It can't be both."
He hesitated, gripping the edge of the table. He took a long breath. "Yes, you deal," he finally said reluctantly. "If there is a chance they live, and if it is the only way they will talk to you… it must be this way." He spoke deliberately, as if he were trying to convince himself. I nodded.
After I retrieved my sample vials and returned upstairs, I was surprised to see that he was still there. "I haven't dealt with the boy before; I don't know how long it will take. There will probably be no news for a few days."
"I am coming," he asserted.
"What?" I couldn't believe the little idiot.
"I come with you now."
"No, you will not. I will meet him alone. It would be more than a little suspicious if I were to arrive with a house elf in tow. It would be very dangerous for both of us. You are nothing more than a product to them!"
"I will not be seen."
"You will not be there at all, do you understand?" He dropped his head and nodded, chastened. "If you are so anxious you can remain here, but I warn you; there will likely be no news." He nodded again. I sighed; finally he was listening to me.
It only took a few moments to change from my glasses to contacts and yank on my sweatshirt. I was mostly dressed as Mark already. I packed my pockets with my usual gear of shrunken broom, emergency potions, magic marker. A few more minutes and I was up in the mountains.
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A/N: Please let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!
