1 March 1970

"Any news?" asked Philip when Alfred entered the study.

"It's definitely Francis Avery all right," replied Alfred. "That said, we've no idea if he's acting voluntarily of his own accord, if he's under the Imperius Curse, or someone's using Polyjuice Potion or Transfiguration to impersonate him. I also Floo-called Moody and asked if he could help find out whether or not Avery is back in Britain, and if he's not back there, to find out when he was last seen back in Britain."

"Aren't you a private citizen now, and not an Auror?" asked Philip.

"You're right," agreed Alfred, "but officially, it was Bradley who approached Moody."

Philip raised an eyebrow. "Clever."

"So what have you been up to?" asked Alfred.

"Making contact with the company's partners here. Some of them have figured out that Martha's abductors want a ransom, and are willing to pool in some on the family's behalf."

"That's...that's really thoughtful of them," remarked Alfred sincerely.

"I'm also thinking of letting my parents know," added Philip. "What's happened in the past few days has made realise I should have told them earlier."

"I assume that you're referring to the 'can't-have-children', sterility issue that you've thought of using to make sure they can't write Martha out of the will if they found out the truth of all this, correct?" asked Alfred.

Philip nodded. "Aye, there's the rub. I ought to have told them earlier. For all I know they're rewriting the will right now."

"Do they do it often?" asked Alfred, now leaning against the wall.

Philip shook his head. "Mother hasn't written a new will in 10 years, and Father hasn't rewritten his since 1954 when his brother died. When do you think it would be a good time to let them in on it?"

"The next time you meet them," was Alfred's answer. "Maybe they're coming over to confront us over everything, what with Thomas and Martha being in absentia."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," admitted Philip with a grimace.

"I'm on the same page as you are with that, but we shouldn't take any more chances," said Alfred. "We need to be more proactive in finding them, not just wait for their captors to do everything while we twiddle our thumbs."

"That's a good point there," conceded Philip. "By the way, Mr. Todd's still here working on the enchantments."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. I'd almost forgotten about him."

Philip nodded. "Yes. He's doing quite well, actually. At the rate he's been working, he should be finished by the end of the month."

"And by then, Thomas and Martha will be here, and hopefully the bastards who took them will be caught," added Alfred.

"And you're certain about that?" asked Philip.

Alfred nodded. "We are going to find Martha and Thomas, Philip. I'd swear an Unbreakable Vow to make that happen."

"Don't, please," requested Philip, before he asked another question.

"What about the Muggle police? Aren't they involved in this investigation?"

"As far as myself and Bradley know, they're not actually overexerting themselves too much," replied Alfred. "Then again, the police in Gotham don't really have the best reputation in the world for efficiency or honesty, so it should not be that much of a surprise to learn that they're living up to it again."

"Ah, right, of course, it's the Gotham police department we're talking about," remarked Philip. "Efficiency, honesty and ethics are not things they're known for."

"While I have no doubt that there are some people working for the GCPD who are genuinely good people, from the perspective I'm looking at them with, many of the officers in the upper ranks aren't particularly concerned with actually enforcing the law and protecting the public."

"Hopefully, should the local newspapers keep raking them over the coals for their current inaction, perhaps then they could start trying?" suggested Philip. "On the chance that the Commissioner and the Mayor give a damn about publicity. Is there anyone in MACUSA with links to the GCPD?"

"Bradley's the one," answered Alfred. "I imagine that's why he's been assigned to this case in the first place."

"How long do you think it will take to find them?" Philip then asked.

"Martha and Thomas, you mean?" Alfred asked back.

Philip nodded. "Yes."

"Hopefully, by the end of the month at the latest," replied Alfred with optimism. "If we can't find them, then we'll have little choice but to go along with their captors' wishes."

"Pay the ransom, you mean."

Alfred nodded. "Yes, yes. And we have no idea-as usual with these cases-when that will happen unless their abductors let us know. And God knows how long that will be."

He brought his hand to his chin, as if in thought.

"But...suppose we were to use a tracking spell?" he said aloud. "Or try to turn the inevitable ransom letter into a tracking device? So long as they forget to charm the letter against it happening, we should be able to find Thomas and Martha?"

"And you didn't think of this before because...?"

"I was too focused on Karkaroff and Avery, like an idiot," replied Alfred. "I did have the idea nagging at me in my head, but as I said, the idea only works if they've forgotten to charm the letter they give us about the ransom/terms and conditions for securing Thomas and Martha's release against such a possibility happening. So if they've remembered to do that, then we're buggered and won't have much choice but to do what they want."

"Did you think of keeping the idea open?"

"A little bit, but with skepticism," replied Alfred. "This is Igor Karkaroff we're talking about, and he has his reputation for a reason. If we do carry this out, then we'll need to tread carefully or else."

"Avery? Francis Avery, you mean?"

Moody nodded, answering Scrimgeour's question. "Yes, sir. While I agree a Pensieve memory mightn't be the best piece of testimony for us to rely on, it's still a piece of testimony that must be investigated, just in case."

Scrimgeour nodded. "I don't doubt you there, Moody. Could you run everything Alfred told you past me?"

Moody did as the Deputy Head Auror asked, explaining everything that Alfred had relayed to him through the Floo Call. Scrimgeour listened intently, his fingers lightly drumming against his desk.

"Well, sir?" asked Moody after a brief pause that followed.

Scrimgeour brought a hand to his chin, lightly nodding his head. "Thank you for informing me of this, Moody."

Moody gave a nod. "I'm aware that it's all short notice, sir, but at least we have some information now that we can mull over and focus on."

"And I wouldn't be surprised if Alfred being the one to relay this information was kept out of the official records. It'd look quite foolish for MACUSA if they needed help from someone who's effectively a civilian, wouldn't it?"

Moody nodded in agreement. "What would you like me to do, sir?"

Scrimgeour lightly tapped his chest, and leaned his elbows onto his desk. "What I would like you to do, Auror Moody, is for you to investigate this matter further. Go to Avery's wife. Go to everyone who is close to him, and dig up what you can. I'm not surprised that Igor Karkaroff's involved-given his reputation, I would be a fool not to suspect him-but Avery? Oh, he is a very different kettle of fish. A very different one indeed."

"How so, sir?" asked Moody.

"Because Karkaroff has a reputation, a list of people in different governments who want him to face justice, and a shrinking circle, especially after Shastri," replied Scrimgeour. "If he's lucky, he'll spend the rest of his life being sent around the world to be tried in every country that wants his head. Avery, on the other hand, has connections, friends in society and the Ministry-not to mention his reputation. It could make things difficult for us to bring him in if he is involved."

"Any advice, then?"

Scrimgeour's response was dead-serious. "Be careful."

The meeting with Scrimgeour was still fresh in Moody's mind as he walked over to the front door of Avery's firm. It was as good a place to start as any, in his mind. He knew that he probably wouldn't catch Avery there, but if he could get enough information out of his employees or colleagues, then he'd be off to a good start, especially since he only had a few days before Scrimgeour and his team headed off for America.

"Excuse me," he said to the first person he saw walking out of the door-a freckle-faced woman in her late 20s with blonde hair. "Do you, by any chance, work here, Ma'am?"

"Do I work for Mr. Avery?" she asked him back. "Yes, I do. I'm his secretary. Why?"

"I'm Auror Alastor Moody," replied Moody. "Francis Avery is a person of interest in a case we're currently investigating-"

"Oh, Merlin," muttered Avery's secretary.

"-and I'd like to know if he's available for questioning," finished Moody, acting like he had no idea that Avery was gone.

Avery's secretary shook her head. "I'm sorry, Auror Moody. But he's gone."

"Gone? Gone where, exactly?"

Avery's secretary shrugged. "I'm not sure. All he said was that he was going away for a while on a holiday."

"I see," murmured Moody. "When was this?"

"About a month ago," replied the secretary. "He didn't say where he was going."

"Hmm. Interesting," muttered Moody. "I would've thought I'd've heard it by now."

"I can still answer whatever questions you have if that's alright," the secretary continued. "I don't live too far from here anyway."

Moody nodded. "Alright," he said.

AN: I own none of the characters. You know who does.

Sorry for the gap between chapters. I was recovering from dental surgery for several weeks in June, decided to just take a break from the story, and threw out nearly everything I'd written earlier when I came back to this.