Tamblin pointed his wand up the central shaft. "Accio lift." He felt a slight tug at his wand that suggested the magic had connected. Immediately he pointed the wand back at Digdon. So far Digdon had made no threatening move. Tamblin meant to keep it that way.
"So Dumbledore gets what he wanted," Digdon said, his voice dripping with bitterness. "Better late than never, I suppose."
Tamblin tried to watch the man and the passage they'd come through both.
"You have the memories?" Tamblin asked.
"I have them. I took them, stole them and kept them safe. I was in your place." Digdon laughed. "You'll be in mine someday."
There was a scream that echoed down the corridor they had come from. The sound was horrible.
"That's the kiss. They only make that sound at the kiss." Digdon ran a hand through his hair. "They'll be coming soon."
Tamblin squinted up into the central shaft and he could see the oval of the lift platform but not nearly close enough as far as Tamblin was concerned.
"I need those memories."
Digdon seemed unnaturally calm. "Plenty of time on the way up."
"Why were you expecting me?" Tamblin asked and looked up again to see how near the lift was. He snapped his head back to the hallway as a second scream sounded followed seconds later by a third.
"I had a lot of time to think," Digdon said with no sign that he heard the screams or cared what they meant. "What I took had value once, and now again."
"What do you mean?" Tamblin said. He heard a swishing sound from the corridor, or had he imagined it? How far was it from the distraction to the central shaft. He tried to calculate the distance and how fast the dementors might move when suspicious. He refused to think about the screams or what they meant.
"Dumbledore fed me clues to get me on the trail. But things didn't turn out quite right."
"You killed two Aurors trying to break into the Wizengamot," Tamblin said.
"I was rather anxious to discuss a few matters with the chief warlock. I ended up here, with the memories. But then You-Know-Who disappeared. Our ride's here," he said as the lift platform dropped suddenly past them to rest at floor level.
Tamblin gestured for Digdon to go first and then followed.
"Ascendio," he said and the platform began rising again.
