Chapter 12

The front bar was full when they arrived. The oak benches and cubicles were packed. For some reason the society appeared to be having a fancy dress event. There were an embarrassing number of Merlins, Severus was almost sure he had glimsped at least one Dumbledore. There were several Dark Lords although maybe that was just how a lot of people imagined wizards.

Severus strode swiftly through the crowds to the bar on his way he spotted a couple of Harry's aurir colleagues ordering drinks. The bartender caught his eye and tilted his head towards the back room. Severus nodded and headed towards the door he had been escorted though on his previous visit. He hoped Harry was managing to keep up. He paused when he reached the door pretending to readjust his robe to give Harry a change to catch up.

"Still with me Potter?" he muttered.

"Of course, I'm an expert at this after all these years."

"Come."

Fudge and Crassus were already seated by the fire in the snug when Severus arrived.

"Ah, good to see you again Sebastian. I see your first visit did not put you off," Fudge gestured towards an empty seat at the fire. A pale and anxious looking Crassus said nothing but nodded politely in Severus' direction. Severus returned the gesture.

"I trust you have been well since our last meeting," remarked Severus formally. Fudge would believe him unware of recent events.

Fudge hesitated, "I have known calmer times."

"Nothing too challenging I hope?" Severus inquired.

Crassus gave what could be best described as a whimper. Fudge scowled at him.

"A few problems at work," replied Fudge.

Ladestock was the next to arrive shortly followed much to Severus surprise by Fabula and Coactor. Luck was with them. This was followed by a plethora of polite inquires, the removing of outer robes and ordering of drinks. Severus hoped Harry has found himself somewhere safe to perch.

Fudge gave them ten minute to settle down before clapping his hands. "A working day for all of us, so we had best get started. The door opened and Calista swept in.

Fudge scowled.

"Do take that look of your face Fredrick. It has, as you are only too well aware been a tiresome week."

Fudge nodded. "Do get a drink Calista dear so we can get started." He lifted a set of notes out of his bag. "I thought today I would give a short talk on the wand myths and legends associated with the Incas of South America."

Calista gave a derisive laugh, "You think we really want to hear about the Incas at a time like this? Why do you think Fabula and Coactor have put in a rare appearance?"

Fudge scowled again.

"What is this?" inquired Ladestock.

"Surely you have heard about Trank my dear, " said Calista smoothly.

"Trank, what about him? I notice he is not here tonight. Is he ill?"

Crassus gave a peculiar laugh the other Berlin professors grimaced.

"He is not ill. He's dead Ladestock," laughed Calista.

"Dead !" repeated Ladestock slowly.

"Professor Trank has met with an unfortunate accident," said Fudge tightly.

"Unfortunate accident!" repeated Calista incredulously.

Fabula spluttered unintelligibly.

"Let's call a spade a spade Fredrick, Trank was murdered," said Calista bluntly.

"Murdered?" repeated Ladestock softly.

"A burglary at the university" said Fudge swiftly.

"Fredrick stop talking tripe. You are the only one who believes that ridiculous story," Calista turned towards Ladestock. "He was murdered by person or persons unknown."

"Good gracious," gasped Ladestock. "Are the aurors investigating? Who are the key suspects?"

"Us," snapped Fabula.

"Good gracious!" repeated Ladestock. "Are the aurors any good? "

"Unfortunately yes. We appear to be stuck with the top team."

"Top team?"

"Unbelievably," said Coactor. "The team is being led by Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter !" said Ladestock.

"Yes ," admitted Fudge shortly. "As luck would have it, he is on secondment to Gottingen from London."

"Are they making progress?" asked Ladestock faintly.

"We'd be the last people they'd tell, "said Coactor.

"Look," interjected Fudge. "It has been an incredibly stressful week. I for one want to think and talk about something else for a while, so if you are all quite ready I am going to talk about wands and the Incas."

"Anything to distract us from reality," observed Calista drily.

Fudge glared at her.

"Oh don't mind me Fredrick, distract away."

Had Severus been in the mood, Fredrick's talk would have ranked as mildly interesting. Certainly some of the challenges the Incas faced and overcame related to the channelling of power and wand control struck Severus as worth pursing when he had time. But most of his attention was focused covertly on the Berlin professors. Crassus seemed to have sunk into a stupor. Fudge appeared to have shaken off his concerns sufficiently to give a credible performance as key speaker and even adequately answered a couple of Ladestock's questions about wand materials. Calista spent the time studying her nails. Coactor seemed lost in thought, whilst Fabula was plainly thinking about his dinner.

Mindful of his promise to Harry, Severus made his excuses shortly after Fudge had finished.

"I have an early start. Meeting with my lawyer to discuss a new business venture," he explained as he took his leave.

Fudge lifted his hand to arrest his departure "I hope the distressing news about Trank will not prevent your joining us another evening. "

Severus shook his head "On the contrary, it has been a most stimulating night." He moved swiftly thorugh the door. When he reached the entrance to the front bar he found Calista waiting for him.

"Had enough of the Incas for one evening?" she asked drily.

"Not really, my area of expertise. You?"

"Frankly I could put not put up with another hour or so of Fudge pretending it is just another evening."

Severus paused. She was clearly not planning to return to the meeting so Harry would glean nothing further from her. Perhaps he should try to get her to loosen up.

"Difficult week?" he inquired with a smile.

"You have no idea, "she said.

Actually he did.

"Why don't you let me buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it." Blimey he was out of practice. That remark left lame in the rear view mirror.

"Not here," she said quickly.

"Agreed," confirmed Severus "Where do you recommend?"

"I know a bistro with fine French wine and good food."

The rushed tea with Harry seemed a long time ago. "Sounds perfect "said Severus gesturing towards the door.

The bistro was a 5 minute walk away, tucked between a bakers and another pub. It was small and quite busy but given it was a Wednesday they found a table easily enough and settled down near the kitchen.

"Muggle, I'm afraid" said Calista apologetically handing him a menu.

"Most of the best restaurants are, "said Severus with a slight smile.

"You are not what I expected," she commented.

His eyes flicked up from the menu.

"In what way?" he asked easily.

"When you attended the first session a couple of weeks ago, you reminded me of a distant cousin of mine."

"Really, "said Severus wondering whether he could risk the steak.

"He's English. He's having a few problems at the moment , he was on losing side of the war over there."

Severus was careful to be unconcerned. "Really?" he repeated.

"Lucius Malfoy. Have you heard of him?"

Severus cursed his subconscious.

"I may have, I led an isolated life in Scotland but the name rings a bell. Were you close?"

Calista shook her head. "No, I have only met him a few times. Too arrogant for my taste, good looking though."

Severus bit back a snide comment and nodded neutrally.

"Have you worked at Berlin University long?" he inquired, partly as a way of changing the subject.

"About five years. I was in Munich before that."

"Fudge mentioned that you teach Ancient magical languages?"

"That's right. I also teach Latin and Greek to the muggles."

"Do you enjoy it?"

"I do. Berlin is a good university and it leaves me plenty of time for research"

"You have amiable colleagues?" Severus put a hint of a question into his voice.

Calista pulled a face. "They're alright. My research partner, Fabula is quite sharp and we will produce some interesting work. Fudge is a pendant but I have met worse Registrars."

"And the poor chap who died recently?"

"Trank?"

"Yes, "said Severus. "I only met him the once of course."

"He was alright. Well I thought he was. Turns out he loved money and what it could buy a little too much."

"Ah," said Severus. "And they believe that was why he was killed?"

"I'm not sure what they think. We are all prime suspects of course. Ridiculous really they aren't following up any obvious leads. Part of the problem is that Fudge is not being as open as he should be."

"Really?" said Severus preventing too much interest entering his voice.

"Yes, he was clearly involved in some dodgy business. Fudge told me he had been buying wands from Schimt in Munich."

"Ah, " said Severus.

"Well Fudge must know he's dodgy. He's a wandlore specialist. I remember the transfiguration Professor in Munich warning me about him. He said his curios were too good to be true."

She paused as the waiter appeared.

"What do you recommend?" asked Severus returning his attention to the menu.

"You should try the veal, it is exquisite."

"Perfect," said Severus.

"Two Veal please, with side salad."

"Would you like wine?"

"How about a bottle of house white?" she suggested.

"By all means," agreed Severus expansively. He had a breakfast meeting at the Dolce's with the lawyer but he could always take a sobering up potion. A few glasses of wine would encourage her to open up.

"The service is normally pretty quick here," she noted as the waiter headed back to the kitchen.

"It is an interesting find. I am tempted to bring my clients here."

"What exactly is it that you do?"

Severus launched into a relatively accurate description of his business, even telling her about the proposed deal with Kiwi of whom she had heard.

"But that's a really big deal isn't it?" she said clearly impressed.

Severus who had barely had time to absorb the development himself because of the investigation felt his excitement stir.

"It is a big opportunity certainly."

He nodded politely at the wine waiter as he showed him the label.

"You will be a very rich man if it comes off," said Calista pretending to bat her eyes.

Severus laughed. "You think I will need to be careful?"

"Very," she said seriously. "Unless there is someone special already. In which case she will probably need to put you under lock and key," she observed with hint of a question in her voice.

Severus looked at her carefully "No, there is no-one special, at least not anymore."

It was nearly midnight when Severus got back to the apartment. Harry was still not back so he decanted the memory of his dinner with Calista into the make shift Pensieve and made himself a coffee, reminding himself that Harry had been of age for sometime.

It was almost midnight by the time Harry staggered in and flopped onto the sofa.

"They went on and on," he moaned "And I couldn't get out."

"Useful?" inquired Severus.

Harry opened his eyes. "I guess. They spent a lot of time talking about different types of wands. The most interesting information emerged shortly after you left."

"Yes?"

"Yeah. Fabula made a joke about Calista being a fast worker. Implying she was trying to hook up with you."

"Interesting," said Severus sitting up. "She was waiting for me at the entrance to the front bar."

"That's not the interesting bit. Coactor said she had always been a quick worker and that she had even managed to hook up with the "Auror chap who had come to interview them.""

Severus sat up straight, Fantastic this would get him off the hook about that security file he shouldn't have seen. "She had a relationship with Lubricus?"

"That's what they were implying."

"The station had no inkling of that?" Severus inquired with mixed feelings.

"I don't think so, I will have to check. But interesting don't you think?"

"Definitely" agreed Severus.

"So what happened after you left? Did you have a chat with Calista given she was waiting for you?"

"A bit more than a chat," admitted Severus. "We went out to dinner."

"You had a second dinner?" said Harry "You're not still channelling Ron are you?"

Severus grimaced. "I have decanted the memory. There are one or two points we should perhaps discuss."

"Sure," said Harry who had apparently regained his second wind. "Is it the bowl?"

Severus nodded, "You can review it in the morning."

"Hey, no time like the present," said Harry jumping off the sofa.

Harry looked thoughtful when he withdrew from the memories. He went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. Severus could tell he was buying time.

"Well, what did you think, Mr Auror in charge of the investigation?" Severus quipped.

Harry put his glass down and turned round.

"She likes you Dad," he pointed out.

Severus shrugged.

"And you seemed to like her."

"She is entertaining" he admitted. "It was an amusing dinner."

Harry nodded, "Yeah it looked it."

"What's wrong Harry?"

"It's just if she really did have an affair with Lubricus, she could be a real suspect in this case."

"Harry, Harry, It was one dinner!"

"Yeah I know, but I've been thinking you must be pretty lonely here and it would be nice of you had a friend."

"Harry, I have been on my own for many years. Do not concern yourself. Let's focus on the investigation."

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. So from that perceptive, what did you think of my conversation with her?"

"That bit about the curio seller in Munich was interesting and we should check him out again. The initial investigation by the office did suggest he was a bit dodgy but no serious red flags. I mean Trank did make a lot of payments to him but …"

"Yes. That's the problem," agreed Severus. "Traders, even those who sell items associated with the Dark Arts, don't usually kill good customers. It tends to be bad for business."

Harry nodded, "We haven't found any evidence that Lubricus was interested in the Munich trader. "

Severus "Agreed. But as you said he's worth checking out given the absence of other leads."

"One other thing, " said Harry pulling himself off the sofa."I saw a couple of people from the office in the audience."

Severus nodded, "Yes I had noticed that."

"Explains the tipoff that turned up in internal mail."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on in those boots they stuck out this a sore thumb, Trank would have spotted them a mile off."

"You are suggesting he used them to deliver the tipoff"

Harry nodded "Quick disillusionment spell and followed one of them into headquarters, after your first evening at the wand society. Explians why the tip off just said the Industrial Estate and not a specific warehouse."

"He planted the note before he planted the body," concluded Severus.

Harry nodded.

"A significant risk to take," observed Severus.

Harry grinned, "We both taken more dangerous ones."