DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling.

A/N - I sorry if there is any grammatical mistake from this time on...no more beta reader (snif).

14: Finding the smoking gun

A week later, Sylvia was still reeling from the shock of the sudden evolution in her relationship with Sirius. The fight was but a blur in her memory, unlike the following very hot two hours. She never saw that coming, to say the truth. Oh! She knew he liked her, that much was clear in the emotions and imageries of her she had caught on the link. After all, there is not much one could hide from the other with that mode of communication, nevertheless, she never would have guess the depth of his liking! What a man of extremes he was; he had not left much of his emotions leaked from his iron fist control before, but now…it was like a torrent of deep, tumultuous feelings crashing on her from the link since that first incredible kiss. It still took some getting used to, sometimes she had trouble distinguishing her emotions from Sirius'. To top it all, it appears that the link was no linger cut off when they fell asleep. Last night, she had a very disturbing nightmare about a strange prison with scary ghost like creatures crowding around her. She had wake up screaming and Sirius had to make a distinct effort to break the link. It had taking her hours to find sleep again, not because of the bad dream, but because shutting down the Arcanus Loqui made her down right uncomfortable and put a distance between the two of them that she didn't like one bit. She was uneasy to discover how comfortable she was now with Sirius presence inside her and how much dependence has grown out of the regular use of the spell. She had felt lost and incomplete without it, like an important part of her was suddenly missing. When Sirius had finally reestablish it the next morning, she could feel, and see in his face, a relief and an unease that mirrored her own. That worried her a lot. What if one of them died? After all it was a definitive possibility right now. What if one or the other had a change of heart? Could the link become permanent? Could the deprivation of it eventually be unbearable, like drug withdrawal? She knew that her partner shared her concern, but for the moment answers were just not available: Dumbledore was unreachable and Remus seemed out of his depth on this particular problem. She could tell he was worried though, and that did not bode well.

On the other hand, things were going smoothly with their spying. The virtual vase was in place, the camera rolling and the V.C.R. taping it all. They had two television set with video integrated, a DVD writer and a very good software to study the data frame by frame. Keeping watch in front of her screen was tedious but had an unexpected positive effect on her uncontrolled emotions concerning everything linked with her past. Seeing Tim study from a safe distance and in monotonous circumstances has alleviated her fear. Tim himself has come and gone again in another mission or so Sirius told her since it happened on one of his watch, one thing she was very grateful for. She could now face her screen without trembling, or without Sirius assistance. As first, they had taking turns, witch enabled her to keep her emotions under control, then she was able to take longer and longer watch until finally she felt strong enough to take the day shift, leaving Sirius alone with the screen all of last night. That organization did not leave them a lot of time to fool around, but they managed. Good thing to have a laptop that can be move around to the bedroom! Sirius was also much more relaxed and his mischievous side was coming out more and more often. She giggled as she remembered how just yesterday he had gotten her naked in a blink of an eye with a wicked grin and a nonchalant "Accio clothes." The clothes had floated away out of her reach, twirling near the ceiling, until she was so lost in their shared pleasure that she had lost track of her wandering clothing. She had also never laugh as hard as when he had greeted Remus with nothing on but his jeans, a Stetson and a cigar, giving a cracking imitation of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, which they had seen the night before.

She was still smiling at the memory when a sudden distortion on her screen caught her wandering attention. The distortion cleared and…YES! A little folded white piece of paper and a bag had indeed appeared right in the middle of Tim's desk. She sent a silent call full of jubilation to Sirius, urging him to wake up and come see this. She was already replacing the tape by a new one and rewinding the other one on the second television. There it was.

"Watch this." she said to her lover when he appeared behind her, still groggy from sleep and grumbling that it had better be important. She felt him tense when the screen showed the distortion, then the paper and the bag appear on the desk.

"Can you play that again, more slowly?" he asked very intently, all though of sleep and love wiped out of his mind. That was one of the things she loved in him, he was so focused it was almost scary.

"Sure." She put the tape right back at the start and pushed the frame by frame dial on the remote. He said nothing until he had saw it three time at different speed. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"I was afraid of this." He said dejectedly.

"What? What is it?" she could feel his weariness.

"This spell," he said with a wave at the screen, "is a variation of the portkey. The object transport itself to a specific place, at a specified time, it does not need to be touched to be activated. It is also pretty much untraceable. We can study that note and bag for years without finding out where it came from or who sent it."

She pondered that for a while. "Does it have a range?"

"No. It can be sent from half way around the globe."

"Hmm. Well, maybe magic can't trace it, but what about ordinary investigation techniques?" At his bland look, she explained patiently, "I mean fingerprints, the kind of paper, of ink, the smell of it…anything that can give us some clue. The money bag could be invaluable by itself. If it is muggle money, it can be trace by the numbers on them."

Sirius grinned at her and gave her an enthusiastic and warm kiss. "I always forget that you're a Muggle and that you have other ways to do things. You're right, of course. I'm a moron. I'll go there as fast as I can to snatch the evidence and have a good sniff at it!"

He was already at the door when she called, "Be careful, will you!"

He answered with a warm mental caress and was out.

She discovered almost immediately that she could feel his progress through the link effortlessly. She even got distorted images flash of the street he was in. Then, without warning, the smell of chocolate ice scream suddenly overwhelmed her.

"What was that?" she sent him.

"What was what?" he answered shortly.

"That chocolate ice cream smell of course."

"You smelled that! Well, it was a child with a cone that passed me by. He shoved his hand in my face to pet me and it was full of melted chocolate. It was pretty good, but my fur is now all sticky."

"Poor little doggy! Who's gonna take a good long bath when he comes home, hmm? It's our good lilt' pooochy…"

"Stop it, please! Do you know what I sound like when I start laughing in this form? It's like a hiccup mixed with a hyena, or a asthmatic grandfather affected with a stammer! It's undignified!"

None of them wanted to underline the fact that the bond between them was growing stronger, there was nothing they could do about it, none of them wanted the connection to end and they needed it to much in their present work. Bantering was a good way to cast away the uncertainty.

She caught a glimpse from Sirius of the back entrance to Tim's building and a few minutes later he appeared on her monitor. He was still in dog form and went straight to the desk. She saw him sniff the note cautiously, without actually touching it.

"I can smell…humidity…and…Goblins!" He sent.

"Goblins! YES, the money! They changed their money into Muggle one in Gringotts! Can the Goblins know from the serial numbers on the bills to whom they changed it for?"

"Maybe…but there is also an underground market operated by rebellious Goblins who resent wizard interference in their business. It's more than probable that the Death Eaters works with them."

"Oh! Well, it's still worth checking."

"I agree"

Sylvia saw on her screen, Sirius change back into human form, "What are you doing?."

"I want to check these things for charms and I need my wand to do that. I would also be great if I could duplicate the note and examine the bag more closely."

She looked at him on the screen, waving his wand like an overgrown kid playing wizard, it looked ridiculous to see him in a perfectly ordinary flat doing magic with such a serious face. She almost giggle, but it was stopped short when she suddenly felt all the airs on her arms starting to stand up as a wave of very weird feelings washed trough her whole body.

She instinctively threw herself away from her screen and Sirius, almost ending up on her bottom as she bumped her chair back. The feeling was growing stronger, the hairs on her head started to react too and she hastily closed herself off as much as she could from the link. The situation was too volatile too cut herself off completely, beside, she was not certain she was strong enough to do it. After all it had took Sirius tremendous effort last night and she was far from being has used to it as he was. It worked. She had guessed right, the feeling was coming trough the link and immediately her body calmed itself even though she could still feel a tiny bit of it, but even that stopped when Sirius suddenly aware of the change in the link looked up at her from the monitor and sent her way a huge anxious call that almost toppled her protections.

"I'm all right" she sent down to him in a closely guarded and focus band "I'll explain everything later, just do whatever you have too, I'll try to help as much as I can in the circumstances"

He nodded once on her screen and went back to work, she immediately felt the strange feeling again and tried as much as she could to screen herself from it.

On the screen the note started to glow.

"We have something here." She faintly heard Sirius, but it was clear enough that she understood him correctly. " There is a binding in the paper…blood I guess. It'is there to make sure the portkey appears at the right place, there is another trace of the same blood in the wood of the desk so that only the proper person can get the note. Only Timothy can touch it, if anyone else tries, the note would self destruct."

"That's clever, but doesn't help us much, if we can't touch or take it we can't study it. And you obviously can stay there indefinitely! Wait, how come I was able to touch and take the other notes then?"

"Because Tim had already touched and read them, The Death Eaters had probably surmised he would burn them once read and did not put more arcane protections on them, but Tim kept them…a pretty big mistake. I thought we was more intelligent then that."

"It's not that. He just doesn't trust anyone. He probably kept them to make sure he is not double-crossed. He believed his secret drawer a thoroughly safe place. His failing was more to underestimate woman, one in particular…Can the blood be traced to the one who sent it?."

He took his time with the question, pondering. "Maybe…there might be a way to discover who the person is but he probably made himself unplottable and unscryable. Maybe Dumbledore can find a way though but I would not count on it"

"Well, that's something anyway. What if you duplicate it, would that trigger the self-destruct? Would the Death Eaters be aware that someone is playing with it?"

She saw him shrug. "There is only one way to find out, really."

Before she could stop him , he raised his wand again and she felt the curious feeling seeping through the small space she have left open to communicate with Sirus. He gestures once, briefly and in no time at all another little square of white paper appeared near the first. She saw Sirius stiffen as he prepared himself for what might come, from the apparition of dozens of furious Death Eaters to an explosion. She was almost out of her mind with tension herself, but after a while they both relaxed as nothing was happening.

"It seems all right." He sent to her and approached an hesitant hand to take the new folded paper. As soon as his hand touched it, he started to scream and dropped in a heap on the floor. Throwing all caution to the four winds she opened herself to him shouting his name and received the full force of his searing pain. She was halfway to the door when his jumbled reassuring words reached her, "I'm ok, don't panic, love. I'm in one piece."

She came back in front of her screen in time to see Sirius getting back to his feet. In spite of the fear that was still coursing trough her, the sweet name still sent a shiver up her spine. God knows she was not used to hear those and they both avoided using them since they have never talked in any way about their feeling to each other. The situation was much to complicated as it was. She could tell he had felt her shiver of pleasure through her now fully opened end when he grinned mischievously.

He continued, "What's more, I know now who has sent the note."

"What! Really? Who is it, then? Do you know where that person is?"

His grin disappeared, "No, but I swear I'll find out. Sylvia it's him. It's Wormtail."

"Oh!"

"Yeah. The blood taint is fainter in the duplicate but there is no disguising it, as soon as I touched it, it showed. His oathbreaking of the Fidelius is in his very blood as is his fear of me. He broke a very old piece of magic and knows I'm looking for him with a vengeance. It's a bond between us. That is what happened to me a minute ago. I hope that with Dumbledore's help we can boost the blood signal from the duplicate. It's not as strong as in the original note but it might be enough to use that bond to find him. A thing like that is older and stronger magic than scrying or plotting."

Sylvia felt her lover retreat from her on the link, not really cutting her off but more like putting a veil of intimacy beyond which she could not reach him. She knew that his feeling for his former friend were dark and unforgiving. She had felt more than once the darker parts of his soul where his hatred has plowed deep and strong. She knew that he both feared and needed this immense anger that made it possible for him to survive in Azkaban, but that part of him really scared her. She had had enough of one man who's anger almost destroyed her, she did not need another one. Sometimes the resemblance between Tim and Sirius was almost to much to bear, she could only pray that her instincts were good and that Sirius would never, ever let that part of him take control. Not that her instinct has been any good where Tim was concerned, but for the moment she could not see anything else to do but wait and see. She guessed that he knew of her unease and that was the reasons he kept it hidden from her as much as possible, but like many other things, they have never talked about it. She also knew that the only way for him to get the anger out of his system would be by confronting Wormtail. But that might not be enough, sometimes when you have been angry for as long as Sirius has been, it just becomes a part of you you can't do without. Then, when the primary source of your anger is not there anymore you just find another target for it. Sylvia felt that she could very easily become the next best available target if she stays with Sirius. And what if he can trace down Wormtail and trap him? Would he become a real murderer this time?

She shook her head. She knew she was falling in love hard and that everything about it was so complex she could not fathom where it would all lead them.

Sirius cut into her musing by opening up to her again, he visibly was now in control of his inner demons once more.

"I was just checking the money bag, it is one that is sold in a shop in Diagon Alley: Bag End. We can look it up, maybe they keep some records and can tell us to whom they have sold this one."

Sylvia was so happy to see him back to himself that she took the hint and continued the conversation as if nothing amiss had happened.

"Good, so we have a few lines of inquiry. With a little bit of chance to back us, we might be able to put all the pieces together and hit the jackpot."

"Huh?" Sirius perplexity at some Muggle expressions was her favorite form of entertainment these days and this time was just as fun. She laughed at his expression.

"It means we might get lucky." she explained.

She saw him pocket the duplicate of the note then disappeared from the monitor screen. She felt him change back into a dog and start running all his senses on alert.

"Oh! You mean it is like saying "we might snatch the prize from under the mummy's boots"?"

Still laughing she replied, "I guess, or saying " we might get the winning number.""

"That's even weirder, muggles are crazy. Personally, I prefer "we might witness the bear smile.""

They went on like that, letting off some steam by bantering and comparing notes on their favorites expressions. With everything happening so fast, they could barely get used to one thing before something else came rocking their world, and with so many unsaid things between them, they both felt like they better catch a time for laughter as it come by, because they might not get so lucky next time.

Sylvia guessed this could be called a war meeting. Dumbledore, Remus, an older woman called McGonnagall, a scowling greasy man named Snape and a weird, but beautiful raven hair women with a white streak in it who was presented to her as Tonks were all crammed into their little apartment to discuss the new developments.

Dumbledore had boosted the blood signal and Sirius had a good idea where the bad guys were holed up, near the Thame it seemed, which accounted for the humidity detected on the note, in a old, deserted warehouse.

"What is wrong about storming the place and taking them all captive?" said a belligerent Tonks

"It would tell them that we have a way to spy on them, that's what wrong with it." snapped a weary MacGonnagall.

The same arguments were used all over again, everyone was tired and nothing new was proposed, only bickering.

Dumbledore who had barely said a word since the arguments had begun, stated calmly in a lull in the squabble, "We have now a tactical advantage, by duplicating the notes without their knowing, we can learn what the Death Eaters are planning, when it comes to Muggles at least. We can warn the right people and prevent some deaths, like we can do this time, thanks to Sirius and Sylvia. Not only that, we can watch the warehouse and know their coming and going. We might even be able to learn where their main hideout is. Then maybe we can make a raid when we are sure the important ones are inside. It would do nothing to capture some petty underlings, and would only warn the big fishes that we are after them."

Sylvia cleared her voice, making half the room start, she had gone unnoticed since the beginning, seen by all as just their host and Sirius love interest. Only Remus and Dumbledore had given any inkling as been interested in what she could add to the discussion.

"Yes, Sylvia? You want to say something?" said the old man with one of his shinning smile.

She took a deep breath, " Well, only that I could help with the spying, the same way we have been spying on Timothy. If someone can go inside the warehouse and find the place where the note is sent, then we can put an invisible virtual camera and tape it all. That's all." She shrugged, it did not feel like much to add, but at least she had reminded them of the possibility.

"All this planning is almost certainly for naught", intervened Snape with a snort. "After all, it could very well be only the place where that Wormtail goes to write to his Muggle friend. It's probably not even a place of meeting for petty underlings." He added, his words dripping sarcasm.

That man was a mystery to her, he seemed so, well, mean, but Dumbledore and even McGonnagall was treating him with respect, visibly disregarding his little piques and barely disguised attack in Sirius direction. On the other hands Sirius, Remus and Tonks were looking his way with various expression of disgust, contempt or in Sirius' case, open dislike. She could tell that they let him be only for Dumbledore' sake and could feel tons of emotional currents that she could not begin to understand going around the room. What was indisputable was the high intelligence of the man and his loyalty to Dumbledore, even though Sirius, maybe blinded by an old hatred could not recognize the later.

"Well, we won't find out by just discussing it. I will go and plant the camera." That was Sirius, of course, tired of talks, he was ready for action.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius, they can recognize you now." placated Tonks, "You will come with me to show me the way, I will do the rest. They will not look for a women, after all. And I can be whoever I want." And to Sylvia utter amazement, she slowly changed completely until she looked like a nondescript old woman. Only her clothes stayed the same. "Besides, I'm kind of curious to see what a, a…what did you called it? A camera, is and can do." The old woman smiled at Sylvia in an easy way that was so friendly that Sylvia felt herself tentatively reacting to it.

"All right, that's what we'll do, for now. Sylvia, Sirius, Tonks, be careful and keep us posted. In the meantime, I will put someone to continue monitoring Tim's apartment to duplicate and steal the notes when they arrive. That part of the mission is finished for you two." He nodded to Sylvia and Sirius, before getting to his feet to address the whole group, "Thank you all for your input." With those simple word, he looked at every one of them individually before disappearing with a small "plot", quickly followed by the others, leaving only Remus and Tonks behind.

Sylvia had a little surprise up her sleeve for Sirius though, before he went straight to the docks to get himself killed. It was time to test the shield and the illusions Remus and her have worked on so hard. While on duty looking at the monitor these last days, she had used the time to create the 3d form of a beautiful Dalmatian dog a little bigger than Skif. She wanted to know if they could use it to hide Skif in it. As long as he kept himself behaving without abrupt movements she thought he should be able to stay well within the illusion. The shield spell of Remus would give him a good idea of the space available to him since he would not see the texture from the inside of the virtual dog.

He was not keen on using it and she had to make doggy eyes at him and a little bit of pouting too before he agreed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling to underscore his reluctance. Silvia could see Remus and Tonks trying to suppress their smiles at seeing the big dangerous Sirius Black subdued by a little Muggle woman.

She attached the invisible virtual camera to the head of the fake Dalmatian. They made extensive and thorough testing and corrections to make sure it worked, well into the night, wanting to be ready for their foray in the afternoon.

Finally, the next morning they felt ready and Tonks and Sirius went out in the docks direction.

Remus stayed with her anxiously looking over her shoulder at the screen showing the images from the camera. For the time being, all was going well. Tonks and Sirius were on the Tube, sitting.

"Sylvia, we're about to need to go out, the next stop is ours…as soon as you see Tonks standing up, start counting so I can get up too. "

"Right , got you." she said aloud so Remus could know what was going on.

She saw Tonks on the screen preparing to get her old form up and started; "In five, four, three, two, one, NOW!" And she hit the series of keys on her keyboard bringing the Dalmatian up on its virtual four paws, knowing Sirius inside the image would replicate the movement as closely as possible. Tonks was keeping a close eye on it and would smile or frown depending on the success and smoothness of the moves. They didn't had too much time to practice and there was bound to have some glitch going on, but so long no one as started screaming or goggling at the strange dog. After all, people usually don't look twice at dogs and don't look for strangeness in one. People see what they expect to see and usually shrug off anything else as dust in the eye or a bad reflection in the window. In this particular moment, that short view of things was saving them.

On the monitor, the train stopped and the old woman that was Tonks stepped in front of the doors, a leash to her dog in her hands. The door started to open.

"Prepare yourself, walking phase in five, four, three two, one, NOW" Sylvia hit the button and Skif started to walk, making Tonks hurriedly follow him.

They were almost there, the docks were two streets down to the right. Dumbledore had told them, the blood signature came from an abandoned warehouse in the oldest portion of the docks. Not a place for an old woman, or so visibly Tonks thought, because she used the darkness under a bridge to change herself into a punk teen drugged to the teeth searching for a place to bunk for the night.

"Can you make me go faster?" She could feel Sirius getting frustrated. "This is not normal dog behaviour. I should be looking everywhere, trying to run, not keeping to this stupid walk without moving anything else"

"Sorry, one speed fits all. Didn't had time enough for more. It works anyway and at least no Death Eather is going to jump you. In this case slower may well be faster." And safer, she added for herself.

"I know, I know, it just not my nature to hide from a good fight." She could hear the long suffering sigh in his mental voice and had to smile.

"What's going on?" asked Remus

She raised her brow at him her eyes never leaving the screen. "Why are you asking?"

"I can tell when you are talking to Sirius now, there is a look in your eyes when you do, like your seeing something that no one else can. So what is he saying?"

She grinned at him. "He is having problem with the speed of things. He can't wait for some action. You know how he gets under pressure…" She shook her head ruefully.

"Ah, yes, I know." He waited a little bit hesitantly, before continuing, "How are things going between you two? Does Dumbledore have an idea about, you know, the possible problem with the Arcanus Loqui?"

"If he have, he did not tell me. Does it worry you so much Remus?"

"There something not right going on, Sylvia. I don't like it, and I can tell Sirius is worried too. He told me you had a nightmare about Azkaban, HIS nightmare. That never happened when we were using the spell at Hogwarts and we used it pretty often and for long periods. I just hoped Dumbledore would have a solution, but with everything going on…" He let his voice trail into silence before continuing.

"I asked him, you know. He just looked at me and smile his enigmatic smile and said he was looking into it. He didn't seemed too worried to say the truth. Even though you can never be sure with Dumbledore. I wish he would said something more helpful though." Remus gnawed at lower lip before going on.

"Sirius also told me something happened to you while he was at Tim's the other day, he said he felt your fear but that you dismissed it afterward as nothing. If you want to talk about it…"

She did wanted to talk about it, just didn't want to disturb Sirius with yet another thing to worry about. She made up her mind. "Remus…While Sirius was doing magic in there…I felt something. I think that I can feel the magic working through the link…I don't know what it means. If I shield myself, it gets weaker so it have to be something coming through the link. Looking back, I think I have felt it before but never that strong. "

Remus looked at her a stunned expression on his face. " Merlin! I don't know what to tell you…I have never heard of anything like this before. I will talk to Dumbledore again as soon as I can and I will do anything to have an answer out of him this time." He looked so determined that Sylvia felt her mouth twitch in a short living smile.

" Well, there's nothing we can do about it, right now. We need the link too much." She felt like a drug addict trying to convince herself that she had everything under control while knowing deep down that she was lying to herself. The news that Dumbledore was taking it lightly was both irritating and reassuring. Maybe there was nothing wrong about it, but then maybe Dumbledore was just too involves with a hundred other things to really worry about it. There was nothing else to do but wait and see. That seemed to her the same as with all her problems these days.

She got back to reality when she saw on her screen, Tonks and Sirius approaching a street corner.

"Sylvia, we need to turn right here, are you ready?" On the screen, she could see the corner coming closer.

"We'll try it while your walking, there doesn't seem to be anyone nearby. Don't change your speed and when I tell you, turn your nose a little bit to the right, and them let the rest of your body follow. Okay, three, two, one, NOW." Remus came closer, looking hard at the screen as if his will only could make all the difference.

She made the move as smoothly as she could on the computer and could see Tonks smile as she looked behind her and saw Skif following without problem. Sylvia let her breath escape and smiled too. They were getting better at this.

Their destination now in plain view, Sylvia felt Sirius impatience grow and her heart speed along with his. Their entered the building without hiding, counting on their disguise to protect them. Once inside, Sylvia discarded the virtual dog, but kept the camera rolling.

"Thanks, I was just going to suggest you do just that." She could feel his relief in his mental voice.

Now was time for more discretion and Sirius turned back into a man, before disappearing under the invisibility cloak that Dumbledore has provided Tonks with.

Making the invisible camera follow Tonks was easy and she could give most of her attention to their surrounding and to Sirius thoughts. He was both scared and excited too be so close to his old enemy, Sylvia knew she would have to be careful with him, in his present state he could do something stupid and dangerous. They were here to plant another camera, not to jump Death Eaters. She hoped she would be able, with Tonks help, to restrain him. She hoped no one was going to be there…

TBC…