Chapter 37- Guilty Demeanor

Two Aurors died in the ambush. Gwendoline Loggs and Jeremy Anderson. Gwendoline had been a quiet worker who didn't talk to Laura much. She and Jeremy had been partners for five years and were the first ones to apparate at the scene.

And now they were gone.

Tina and Carneirus brought Logan back to MACUSA, while Laura accompanied Favila, Hinton brought Grogan, and Minali brought in Lorne.

The cells in MACUSA were fuller than they had been in some time and everyone was thrilled with the result.

Laura found herself at her desk, holding her wand hand beneath her desk and flexing it furiously. She was in so much pain. Once the adrenaline of the day had passed, a burning pain settled in her hand. She squeezed her eyes shut as she flexed her hand, praying to whatever God would listen to let the pain pass. She didn't need this now.

Laura had to question Logan.

And then she would take him to where he belonged: Azkaban.

"Laura?" Tina's voice floated apprehensively above Laura's head.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at Tina. The younger woman was staring at Laura in concern.

"Sorry, Teen. What can I do for you?" Laura forced a smile, but she knew it wasn't going to fool anyone. Her hand hurt so badly, her brain was screaming.

"Mr. Graves is ready for you downstairs in interrogation," she said, her eyes narrowed in concern.

Laura nodded. "On my way, yeah?"

Tina didn't move for a moment, staring at Laura in concern, but she finally nodded, acquiescing and left Laura to her pain. She had to get it under control before she stepped into a room with Logan or she wouldn't stand a chance.

Laura wasn't sure she'd get much out of Logan anyways, but she might be able to get something out of him if she could just concentrate.

She stood up from her chair and clutching her fist at her side, Laura left the Aurors office and headed to the clinic upstairs. Graves had once suggested she see Healer Patricia Claymore after Laura returned from San Francisco the first time. She had seen the Healer on a few occasions and the woman was familiar with Laura's hand injury.

Hopefully, she would be able to help and quickly.

The clinic was busy when Laura walked through the day. MACUSA kept a few healers in the building just in case something popped up. Most of the cases the healers handled involved spells gone wrong and artifacts that had hidden spells. The Aurors that had been seriously injured were taken to the hospital downtown, but the healers in the clinic were dealing with minor injuries caused by Wylda Grogan getting out of her handcuffs and causing havoc in the cells.

Laura was glad she hadn't been there for that.

The front desk was empty when Laura walked in. She stood awkwardly by the desk, peering down the hallway as people rushed around. Laura stood there for a few minutes before she spotted Patricia in the hallway. The woman noticed Laura immediately and headed for her, a deep frown on her face.

"Hand?" she questioned simply.

Laura nodded.

"Well, come on then, dear. I don't have all day. And neither do you, I hear," she said as she waved Laura to the hallway.

She followed the healer quickly, still holding her fist at her side. Patricia took Laura into an empty exam room and shut the door behind Laura.

"What happened?" Patricia asked as Laura took a seat on the exam table, holding her closed fist out for the healer.

"Got hit with an Expelliarmus, had to do loads of magic with my hand, yeah? Feels like its burning from the inside out," Laura explained.

Patricia tutted as she waved her wand over Laura's hand, watching it carefully. "Unclench, will you?"

Laura slowly let her fist relax, feeling the burn rip through her fingers. She cringed, but resisted the urge to flex her hand again. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wished this pain would go away.

"I can see a bit more of that original curse than I did the last time I saw you, Laura."

Her heart sunk. This was what she had been afraid of. The curse was never going to go away and it could be brought back. She was never going to be whole again.

"You need to go home and rest," Patricia ordered, giving Laura a stern look.

Laura shook her head. "I have to interrogate Logan. I can't leave. I have a job to do, Patricia." Laura hated that she could hear the whining in her voice, but she had to do this. She had to question Logan and then take him to Azkaban. She had to make sure this time.

Patricia frowned, but the Healer knew better than to argue with an Auror. "I can help the pain, but you know it won't last long." The older woman sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping. "Mercy Lewis, you need to be careful, dear. We don't know what we're dealing with, not really. Be careful."

The Auror sat silently, gritting her teeth as Patricia used the one spell she knew would help with the pain. Laura wanted nothing more than to run home and hide until the pain passed, but Logan couldn't wait and Merlin help her if he escaped the Auror's again.

What would Graves say when he learned her pain was back? Would he make her take time off? She had the awful feeling he wouldn't let her question Logan or take him to Azkaban.

This had to be a secret, just for now.

Just until Logan was locked away in Azkaban to be watched and tormented by the Dementors.

After Patricia had done what she could, she disappeared to find a potion for Laura. Laura stayed where she was, flexing her hand slowly as the pain slowly began to ease away, though not nearly enough.

She knew she needed to get her head in the game. Logan was a not a master manipulator, but he was so good at pushing the right buttons while avoiding answering questions. Laura needed to get something out of him. If he could even give her just one piece of information, it would be a solid win.

Patricia returned, potion in hand, the stern look still on her face. "I mean it, Laura. Don't push yourself too hard; you'll just make it worse."

Laura nodded as she took the potion. "I know. I just need to get one thing out of him and then I'm done, I promise." She downed the bland potion in one go, hoping it would kick in by the time she reached interrogation. Laura stood up from her chair and gave Patricia a soft smile. "Thank you."

The older woman smiled back at her. "Be smart, you'll live longer."

She could only chuckle. Laura pushed the empty potion bottle into Patricia's hand and hurried from the room. She knew Graves would be cross with her for being late; she could only help that he hadn't started the interrogation without her.

Laura jogged quickly through MACUSA, ignoring the looks of bemused employees around her. She hurried down the stairs into the far depths of the Woolworth Building. Laura hadn't quite gotten used to how dark and depressing the cells, interrogation rooms, and death chambers of MACUSA were. The Ministry didn't even have death chambers. A stark difference between the English and Americans.

When she finally hit the floor she was looking for, Laura slowed down, catching her breath and smoothing down her hair.

She had no need for files that told her what she already knew. Everything she needed to know about Logan was in her head.

Laura turned down a hallway and breathed a sigh of relief to see Graves, Picquery, Hinton, and Limus standing in the hallway. She kept her face blank as she walked up to them, ignoring Limus' look of fury at her lateness.

"Well?" Picquery asked, pushing for Laura's excuse.

Laura bit back a snarky reply. "I'm ready," she said, looking to Graves.

Graves, as she suspected, didn't look too happy with her, but he looked to Limus. "Bring him."

Graves and Picquery turned, heading for the room next to the interrogation cell where they could watch. It reminded Laura of a day almost two years ago, June 1923. The day she interrogated Cassidy Cruxmore. The day she learned just how much Graves had detested her.

And now look at them.

Laura took her seat at the interrogation table, Hinton standing behind her with his wand out and ready. She stared at the door, waiting for it to open; waiting to be reunited with Logan.

After what seemed like ages, the door began to move and Laura sat up straight in her chair, her breath caught in her throat. The heavy black door swung open to reveal a slightly disheveled Logan Crabbe being led by two guards with their wands at his throat.

Laura couldn't help but smile. "Hello Logan."

He grunted in reply as the guards forced him into his seat across the table. He glared at her, his emerald green eyes burning brightly. Sitting this close to him for the first time in years, Laura was distressed to notice how similar his eye color was to the jewels on Graves' scorpion tie pins.

She shook the thought.

"How are you doing, love?" she asked, gently prodding.

"Better than you, I imagine."

She chuckled lightly as she rested her hands on the table in front of her, her hand at a manageable pain so it was no longer shaking. "Then you must be doing so well. Tell me, Logan, how was it to be bested by me, yet again?"

He growled, nostrils flaring. "You didn't best anybody, Ellen."

"You know, the lot of you keep using that name like a slur, as if it means something. It means nothing. Not to me. You're going to have to do better."

"Do they know?" he asked, nodding at the hidden room where Limus, Graves, and Picquery were watching. "Do they know who you are?"

"Who am I?" Laura asked. She didn't particularly want to go down this road, but she needed to butter him up, get him talking. Bitching about her was the easiest way, Laura figured.

"Ellen Goyle. Legendary failure of a daughter. You had such potential. Top of your class; great at every subject. Oh, but we should have seen, shouldn't we? Dumbledore adored you. How on earth did he convince the Ministry to let you apply to be an Auror? Surely the Minister would be smarter than that. You come from such a dubious background." Logan spoke in a sweet voice as he gave his brief overview of her life, seemingly amusing himself as he talked.

"The Minister was very hard to convince, I'm told. But Ridge was impressed by my scores at Hogwarts. Who wouldn't? I've earned my place as an Auror by putting away people like you."

Logan scoffed. "I didn't get very close to Azkaban, did I? Not that you were around. Too busy in hospital, I hear. Always injured, aren't you? Never around at the crucial times." He looked up at Hinton over Laura's shoulder. "Drops the ball when needed."

Laura shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "It's okay, Logan. You'll be joining my mother fairly soon. But first, you need to give me something."

He looked back at her, glaring. "I'd give you a fat lip if you'd let me," he said as he held up his shackled wrists, the cuffs clanging together as he moved.

One of the guards moved, grabbing Logan's wrists and pushing them back down. Logan grunted, but kept his hands on his lap as the guard moved back.

She smirked. "How's Temperance? Talked to her lately?"

Logan's eyes widened slightly. "You damn well know Temperance don't got nothing to do with this, yeah."

Ah, Laura thought. So he does care about someone.

"No, but I'm sure Everett and Hugh look to you, want to follow your lead. How old is Hugh now? 21? 22?"

"Old enough to do what needs to be done to make wizards great again."

Laura knew she shouldn't be surprised. The younger two Crabbe brothers were so much like Logan, yet it still hit her that they were following in his footsteps. Would she have to duel them one day too?

"A shame. So much wasted talent. So much wasted potential. Hugh is smart; he could have had a good career."

Logan shrugged. "He's going to do just fine for himself, don't you worry, love. But you…you should worry about yourself." He leaned back in his chair, relaxed. "Awfully lonely in such a big city, innit?"

Cocking her head to the side, Laura thought back to the stalker. Was it Logan? One of his goons? The thought was more than unsettling. "I'm unkillable, yeah? You lunatics keep trying and yet," Laura spread her arms wide, smiling, "here I am. My father should have given you better spells." She put her hands back on the table.

Logan frowned, the anger seeping in. "You have such a habit of showing up unwanted and ruining things. The bookstore…if you hadn't saved your handsome little Director…, the club…that pretty little girl would have been buried alive. You are such a little bitch."

She couldn't help but smirk. "How is my father, by the by? He doing well without mommy dearest around?"

"Still experimenting. He's making some fancy curses just…for…you."

A chill crept up her spine, but she kept the smirk on her face, fighting the growing panic in her chest. "Too bad you'll be in Azkaban, nobody to tell you what he hits me with next." Laura leaned forward, pressing her hands into the table. "You've never been to Azkaban have you? Never seen a Dementor? Never felt the chill…the depressing gloom that slowly settles over you…no, of course you haven't."

Logan leaned back, fear growing in his face. There wasn't a sane person alive that wasn't afraid of a Dementor. Laura had been around them a couple of times when she took wizards to Azkaban. Even just a few minutes in their presence was too long.

"I'm going to take you to Azkaban myself this time, Logan. I'm going to hand deliver you to the Dementors. And then I'm going to walk away and we'll never see each other again. And don't worry, Logan, darling, I'm going to deliver Gray to you soon. Perhaps if you'll lucky, Everett and Hugh will join you one day too. I'll make sure, Logan, that you'll always have company," she threatened him in a low voice, staring him down.

"Gray's going to come for you. And your friends. He'll torture them. Just to get to you," Logan tried to threaten her, but between the fear in his eyes and the slight tremble in his voice, Laura wasn't worried.

She chuckled. "In all my life, when have you ever known me to have friends?"

Silence filled the room as Logan contemplated what Laura had said. He believed her. And why wouldn't he? Laura had never had friends at Hogwarts. Temperance was the closest she came.

"But you care about these people, don't you? Graves? This joker?" He nodded towards Hinton. "That little lady Tina? Her blonde sister? Probably even your boss, just a little. Gray will come for them."

"He can try," Hinton growled.

"We're Aurors, Logan. We all know what we signed up for. We all know how our lives may end. We're not worried about Gray." Laura sighed and looked back at Hinton and gave him a wink that Logan couldn't see. She looked back at Logan, frowning. "You'll go back to your cell and you'll wait. When the Director gives me my orders, I'm taking you to Azkaban. Make whatever peace you can before then, Logan."

His nose flared as his shoulders slumped. "You're all going to die."

Laura pushed up from her chair and motioned to the guards. As they grabbed Logan and hauled him to his feet, she regarded him one last time. "Everyone dies in the end, Logan. It just matters how we live."