Chapter Thirty-Four

Ashes

Laura wandered in ten minutes late for her appointment and straight over to the billiards table. Conner watched her thoughtfully for a moment as she grabbed a ball rack off the hooks.

"Good morning," Conner said, unsurprising when she didn't respond. "That table has been getting quite the workout lately. One of my new clients does exactly the same thing when he comes in. Your cue is over there, by the way," he added, pointing out one that was hanging away from the rest.

"I didn't know I had my own cue," Laura admitted.

"That's the one you broke the last time you used the table," Conner reminded her. "I had it repaired."

"Oh," Laura said, changing her sticks before filling the rack.

"I don't suppose you want to talk about it today," Conner observed.

"I am required to come here for work. As far as I know, I'm not required to talk if I don't feel like it, so I'll spend the half hour anyway I like," Laura said firmly.

"Fair enough," Conner said. "Mind if I make tea? Thanks for coming, by the way."

"I came because Harry said that you told him I was skipping," Laura snapped.

"It wasn't anything like that. You make it sound like I went out of my way to tell him," Conner replied. "Harry was helping me get a new client settled and happened to ask. Since it's a work requirement that you attend, I answered. I can only tell him whether you're going or not, you know," he added. "So as long as you show up, I don't have to tell him anything... even if you spend your entire session playing pool."

"Good," Laura said, then turned her attention to how the balls lined up, pretending he wasn't there.

With tea in one hand and his propped up head in the other, Conner simply watched her play, noting the agitation in her movements and her lack of focus in her shots, despite the obvious determination she had in her attempts to ignore him. Was it simply because she was angry at him for saying anything? Or was there something else? With Laura, it was probably both, Conner mused. Finishing his tea, he got up and chose a cue, deciding to see how things played out.

Laura walked out of the office the moment the clock chimed and went back to her flat to change, then to Aviation Park long enough to practice some forms before work. It wasn't helping with her focus, she mused, but she did feel less irritable and physically more limber, so she decided she was ready to head to work. Tonks was on duty on the flag board again, and was making the best of it by filling up the wall shelf with coffee and biscuits and was entertaining herself by throwing darts.

"Since when do we have a dart board?" Laura asked.

"It's mine. I brought it in for the duration of the interviews," Tonks explained.

"You should come along on our investigation tonight," Laura chuckled. "To get out of this room if nothing else."

"Yeah, I should. But who'll take over the board, then?" Tonks said.

"Maybe you could get Jamie to come in early," Laura suggested.

"Maybe, but she always wants a bribe," Tonks explained, holding out a couple of darts.

"You could take her Wednesday shift. She's been trying to get out of it anyway," Laura said.

"Oh?" Tonks asked curiously.

"Yeah, Lucky wanted to invite her to that private charm school she attends as a bridal shower present so that Jamie won't offend Lady Moor every single time she visits the manor," Laura explained, chortling softly. "Personally, I think Lady Moor will find something to pick at no matter how much etiquette she learns."

"It always pays to get along with the mother-in-law, Laura, trust me," Tonks said with a grin. "Or father-in-law for that matter, depending on who you end up with. In-laws can be trying at times, even if you get lucky and get good ones. You'll see."

"I doubt it. I'm not planning to ever get married. Besides, who would marry an Auror anyway? It's crazy," Laura said.

"Hey, I'm married. So is Rel... and Harry... and soon to be Jamie... and I think Garvan and Natalie are planning on getting married before they start training. It seems to me that you and Mike are in the minority, doesn't it? Wow, how things have changed!" Tonks said, amazed at the realization.

"Then I guess I'll stay in the minority," Laura said firmly. She was glad when Harry walked in, hoping that he'd break up the conversation.

"Hey, Harry, do you remember when Moody used to call getting married a liability?" Tonks continued, dashing Laura's hopes.

"Oh, yeah, especially when you tried to apply it to him," Harry chuckled.

"And yet most of us are married now! What do you suppose he'd think of that?" Tonks mused.

"He'd probably think the department is going to hell," Harry decided. "But it just goes to show you how things have changed over time. Funny, you mention it, though, considering Severus recently brought up the fact that before Dumbledore took over, hardly anyone at Hogwarts was married. Back in the day, they used to think it'd hurt the school's reputation."

"Yeah, I remember that, and I remember Dumbledore sticking his neck out so Severus could have a public wedding. But why was he bringing it up?" Tonks asked with interest.

"Apparently Jennifer is out of sorts about him working extra on the Eclipse investigation, so he was enlisting Aurelius to help him take more time off during the holidays to make up for it all," Harry explained.

"Does that mean he's finally going to be done playing Auror then?" Laura asked.

"He'd better not! He's already volunteered to assist me on the Don Coventry investigation," Tonks protested.

"He's not playing at it, Laura. And of course he's still assisting, Tonks. But do you really want Jennifer to be angry at us because of it?"

"Oh, hell no," Tonks said immediately.

"Rel will help fill in, especially since he won't have to do the Auror Club at Hogwarts again until January," Harry said.

"Speaking of filling in, I'm getting a bit stir crazy here. Mind if I tag along tonight if I can get Jamie to switch her Wednesday shift with me?" Tonks suggested.

"Sure if you can arrange it quickly. I could use an extra wand tonight," Harry agreed.

"I'm on it," Tonks said, hurrying out.

"She'll do anything to get out of watching the board," Laura commented.

"Yeah, she will," Harry agreed with a chuckle. "Keep an eye on it a moment til she gets back, I should file this paperwork before we go."

"Can I make tea?"

"Fine, but just one cup," Harry warned, walking into his office.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Aurors don't need to be distracted by bodily functions," Laura repeated boredly.

"Moody used to make us fast for four hours before a capture, you know. But every time he did that, I found myself distracted by being hungry or thirsty, that's why I don't go that far," Harry said from the next room.

"Except the twenty-four hour one during training," Laura said, pulling out the tea service

"Yeah, that's different," Harry acknowledged. "That's an endurance thing." He came back out of the office and accepted a cup, then glanced at the board. "Looks like Dregs is at the Poisoned Lion, doesn't it?"

"Dregs? That's Diggory, right?"

"Yeah, the oldest. Maybe they're there for a meet up, and if so, we should be able to pin them down quick, since that tavern is in a Wizard only neighborhood near Wych Cross."

"I've been to the tavern on another capture... just before they nailed the chairs down," Laura added dryly.

"Trust me, nailing down the chairs didn't help. The last time I was there, chairs were still flying, but this time they had sharp, bent nails sticking out of the bottom," Harry warned.

"Lovely," Laura said, and Tonks swept in with Jamie right behind.

"What's lovely?" Tonks asked.

"Oh, the Poisoned Lion."

"Is that where we're going? Has everyone had a tetanus potion lately?" Tonks inquired.

"For once, I'm glad I'm not going," Jamie decided.

"Jeff Grimshaw's flag seems to have moved to the Poisoned Lion too, Harry," Laura reported.

"With any luck, the other brother will show up as well. I'll bring Farynor to keep watch so we don't caught unawares while we're in there," Harry decided. "Just remember, we're there to bring them in for questioning, so try not to escalate the situation. Let them make the first wrong move, and keep it in perspective if they do."

"Playing nice won't be easy considering where we're going," Tonk snorted. "Maybe Laura should go in first. I'm known there, and you're known everywhere. Maybe if we time our entrances right, we can put them off their guard."

"Let's try it," Laura agreed.

"Good luck," Jamie said, waving as they left, taking more interest in the fact that the tea had been left out than she did at surveying the flag board.

When Laura walked into the Poisoned Lion, several catcalls immediately surrounded her from different tables around the pub, so Laura calmly took her wand out of her sleeve and put it in her belt. In actuality, she was much faster taking it out of her sleeve than her belt; but it did cause the crowd to immediately quiet down and most of those involved in the catcalling pretended that they hadn't.

"There's a brave witch, coming in all by herself with no escort," the bartender said as she walked up. "Best you sit at the bar where I can keep an eye on things."

"I am capable of looking after myself, but I do have two mates from work joining me momentarily," Laura assured him, taking a bench. Two seats down, the drunken wizard took immediate interest, sizing her up.

"Here now is a fit bird, eh? Why'na pass the time you're waitin' buyin' me a drink?" the wizard suggested. He was easily twice her age, and might have been good looking at one point, but at the moment, he very much reminded Laura of her Uncle Sirius at Christmas.

"Shouldn't you be buying me a drink?" Laura challenged him flatly.

"If I had the ships I would, but they 'aven't come in yet," he explained.

"I doubt any of these drinks cost galleons," Laura pointed out.

"Don't bother with him, fair witch, he's pissed enough already," the bartender intervened. "Let her be, Jeff."

"Is my brother makin' trouble again?" said a dark-robed wizard who had come out of a side door.

"A mite," the bartender admitted.

"Says 'im. 'Ey, Dregs, loan me a ship so I can buy this witch a drink..."

Dregs grabbed onto his brother's shoulder and pulled him off the bar stool, taking his place.

"Didn't you have enough carousin' last night?" Dregs scolded him. Jeff slowly got up and crawled onto the barstool on the other side of him.

"Well, it's nice to have a willin' one once in a while," Jeff said. Laura squinted.

"She don't look none willin'," Dregs informed him.

"Oh. Well, it's not to have a none willin' one once in a while..."

"Ignore my brother, he's pissed," Dregs told them, pushing him off the stool again to shut him up. "Don't give him any more, Fisherman."

"Aye," the bartender agreed, pulling some abandoned glasses off the bar. He then glanced up to see what had made several of his patrons leave in such a hurry. "Ah, Tonks Dalance. Scaring away my customers again?"

"Sorry, sorry," Tonks said cheerfully. "I was just coming in to look for my mate, here," she explained, sitting down by Laura.

"Is she an Auror or an ex-convict then?" the bartender asked. Jeff and Dregs glanced over at them, as did the handful of others who hadn't managed to slip out yet.

"What? I have more friends than that now," Tonks protested with a laugh.

"True enough, but your other friends aren't the sort you'd bring in here," Fisherman pointed out. "What are you two drinking, anyway?"

"Two ginger beers," Tonks said cheerfully. Laura heard some chair shuffling behind them as a couple more wizards slipped out the door.

"I take it you're workin', then," Fisherman said with a stern glance between them. "You're not going to start a table brawl in here, are ya? You'll have to pay for it if ya do."

"Calm down, we're not here for a capture. We're just here to ask some folks a few questions about a case is all," Tonks assured him. "So how about it, boys? Do you mind coming back to the office with us for a few questions? It won't take long," she said, looking directly at Jeff and Diggory, who in turn were staring at her.

With only a quick glance at each other, the two of them scrambled out, deciding that was a safer course of action than trying to pull wands on Aurors. Tossing a galleon on the bar, Tonks and Laura chased after them, leaving Fisherman to look glumly around the empty pub, filled with abandoned tankards and glasses.

It didn't take long for Tonks to grab home of Dregs, pulling him aside just outside the building. But somehow, even in his drunken state, Jeff managed to get around the corner, running into a woodland area behind the pub. Outside, Harry already had caught up with the third brother, who looked quite glum about being caught without even having a brew yet.

"I'll get him," Laura immediately said and changed into her Cu Sith form, bounding into the woods. It didn't matter how fast he was; in her dog form she was twice as fast, and as long as he didn't cast a quickness spell, she would have no trouble catching up. He might cast a camouflage spell, she mused as she ran, but she'd be able to smell him. His only other option was to turn and fight, so she intended to come out of her form with her wand firmly in her hand.

Much to her surprise, she found him in a tiny clearing among a copse of trees, littered with empty bottles and some of them with wizard labels. He was holding his wand with both hands and staring at it, even shaking it as if it didn't work. He jumped when she transfigured herself back, staring at her with wide, bleary eyes.

"If you were trying to cast a transportation spell, it wouldn't have worked," Laura said, pointing her wand at him and wondering if he could cast straight even if he did turn on her. "We Earthbound you when we entered the pub. I'm guessing you were too far gone to notice. Do you mind putting that wand down? You're only being brought in for questioning, so you may as well calm down and let me escort you to the Ministry."

"Righ', like I believe that," he said, clumsily pointing a wand at her. She sighed.

"I think if you were in your right mind right now, you'd realize that a possible burglary charge isn't worth going up against an Auror for. Drop the wand," Laura ordered again. Jeff blinked.

"Burglary? Is that all you think we've done?" Jeff asked in surprise, letting out a short laugh. "Tell ya what. You make sure that Truth Seeker don't ask us questions and I'll put down my wand."

"Sorry, I can't promise that. You are allowed to have a counselor present when you're being questioned, of course," Laura informed him.

"That's all right then. There's plenty of them that owes us favors, and won't be too kindly to find out you've dragged us in," Jeff boasted confidently. "After all, there's still a labor shortage, isn't there?"

"Hang on," Laura said, her face getting pale as she recalled his words from earlier. "You're human traffickers?"

"Wull, I wouldn't go as far as to say human. They're only Muggles," Jeff said. "Now, don't look at me like that, we're just the delivery boys, we don't do the 'knapping. We just make sure they get to the right clients that are needin' a domestic."

"And in between deliveries you take advantage of them," Laura accused him, feeling a heat building up inside.

"Eh, only the fit ones. I got m'standards. 'Sallright, honey, they don't go to our clients traumatized. I make sure as to Obliviate 'em before I sends them along," he slurred.

Laura felt the heat that had been building inside her became a boiling rage. She began getting flashbacks from the rescue on Demon's Hill and the tragic condition of the Fae they had rescued, playing over in her head. Finally it boiled over, barely hearing her own intonation as she cast at the vile wizard in front of her.

A burst of intense fire knocked her back, causing her to fall and drop her wand. She groaned from the burning on her face and hands but she managed to retrieve her wand, looking for a second assailant. Instead, she saw that her quarry had also fell back with burns as she had, while between them sat a Phoenix chick, flapping and chirping as if scolding her.

"Oh, no," she whispered out loud, shakily trying to get to her feet to see how Jeff was. But before she could pull herself up, she heard the sound of someone running through the fallen leaves. Instantly realizing the danger, she forced herself to stand just as Harry charge through the brush with his wand pointed at Jeff's head.

"Get up!" Harry snapped at him, forcing him into wizard cuffs. "You're under arrest! What did you cast at her?"

"It wasn't him!" Laura shouted, more than a little surprised with how rough Harry was being. Harry froze in his tracks, staring at her in shock. "It wasn't him, and he doesn't have anything to do with the burglaries. They're part of a Muggle trafficking ring."

"Am not! I said that under duress," Jeff stammered, evidently a lot more afraid of Harry Potter than he was of Laura.

"He was not under any sort of duress. He was bragging about it," Laura snapped.

"And I'm pissed," Jeff added.

"I can see that... and smell it," Harry said, taking a moment to scoop up Farynor and put him in his cloak pocket. Farynor poked his head out and scolded them as best he could. "I'll take him to the Tower so he can sober up before we question him. Go to my office and wait for me there."

"Am I going to be sacked?" Laura asked shakily, realizing just how far over the line she had gone.

"What do you think?" Harry snapped at her, pulling out his Tower portkey.

Slumping in acknowledgment, Laura went to the Ministry, her eyes burning as she walked through the halls, not even looking at Jamie as she marched to Harry's office and shut the door behind herself. Only then did she let the tears fall.