Tipping Point
November was nearly over, and Claudia and Sirius arrived a little late to the latest gathering of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore kept changing the location of the meeting every time and the latest one, an abandoned cottage in the middle of nowhere in Herefordshire, was nearly impossible to find.
"I'm so very glad to see you all safe," Dumbledore said the moment they stepped over the threshold of the room where the meeting was taking place. "It was an intelligence failure of the greatest magnitude. We are exceptionally lucky that there are no consequences."
Claudia glanced at Moody who was sitting by the fireplace with his shoes off. He must have been drying his socks. Moody raised his eyebrow at Claudia and gave her the slightest shake of the head. Now was not the time to discuss the potentially disastrous consequences for Linda. Not in front of the whole Order.
"Speak for yourself, old man," Sirius uttered under his breath.
"Now," Dumbledore spoke again, seemingly unaware of Sirius' complaining. "We were just about to discuss the upcoming meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards in Geneva. I spoke to the Minister the other week and he's hoping to use it to rally international support to fight Voldemort."
"Is the Minister going himself?" someone asked.
Dumbledore shook his head.
"Who's he sending?" Fabian inquired before Dumbledore got a chance to reply properly. "The official sources are being unusually tight-lipped about this."
"You didn't hear it here," Dumbledore replied. "But Alvin Anderson is heading up the delegation."
"Really?" Fabian exclaimed. "Why him of all people? Isn't he the Under-Secretary responsible for election matters, or whatever?"
"The Confederation are electing a new chairman and he's overseeing it," Dumbledore explained. "I think it's good news. He's well-respected. He'll have sway."
"My dad is going with Anderson," Alice added. "He's heading up the protection team."
"I don't want to be negative about this," Claudia said. "But I'm not sure that plan – to get support to fight Voldemort - is going to work, especially if my father is organising it." There was stunned silence around the room. She never spoke about her father at an Order meeting. In fact, she rarely ever expressed her true opinions. But it finally felt like she was not the kid in the room anymore. She knew things and was not going to pretend otherwise.
"What do you think he might do?" Dumbledore asked. "To scupper Anderson's efforts?"
"The best way to undermine the cause would be to make the British delegation look like fools."
"How would he make them look like fools?" Gideon piped up.
"I don't know." Claudia said and paused to think about the things she would have done if in her father's position. "I'd draft a fake memo to say the threat is not all that bad, but we should use the international sympathy to get money pouring in. Or spread rumours that the Minister is just doing it to increase his grip of the country, and fancies himself a dictator.
"I know I might just be a humble healer," Gideon said sceptically. "Do you really think that would work?"
Claudia shrugged. "Just throwing in ideas."
"I don't think-" Gideon began.
But he was interrupted by Marlene's boss, Edgar Bones. "It's perfectly plausible. The Minister is not exactly popular among his counterparts, and they will be looking for any sort of excuse to say no to him." He turned to Marlene. "Let's see what we can dig out about Avery's exact role in that trip."
Dumbledore nodded and moved the meeting on. Fabian spoke about the continued sour mood in the Daily Prophet, Benjy gave a summary of the latest intelligence so vague it was basically meaningless, and Emmeline Vance promised to look into any unusual transactions coming in or out from the know Death Eaters' Gringotts accounts. After that, Dumbledore brought the meeting to a close and sent them all home.
Claudia wanted to go and speak to Moody about Linda, as it was safer than doing it at work, but her path was blocked by Edgar Bones.
"I was impressed," he said and shook Claudia's hand. "You have a good head for this."
"Thank you," Claudia mumbled.
"And if you ever get bored of the Auror Office-"
Claudia caught a sight of Sirius standing in the corner of the room. Lily and Remus were with him and gesturing wildly. He had his arms folded and a slight frown on this face. If she did not know better, it looked like he was getting a telling off.
"What do you say?" Mr Bones interrupted. "Interested?"
"Sorry," Claudia mumbled. "I didn't hear you too well with all this noise." She gestured vaguely around the room. "What am I supposed to be interested in?"
"I said that if you ever got bored of the Auror Office, you should let me know." Mr Bones repeated with a smiled. "I'm sure we could make something happen in my Department."
But even at the second try, Claudia did not get to answer the question.
"Bones!" Moody roared. Claudia turned in his direction and saw him walking across the room, still in his socks. His big toe was poking through a rather large hole. "Stop trying to pinch my staff!"
"Alastor," Bones said with a little laugh. "You do need to stop being so paranoid."
"I think this time he has a reason," Claudia smirked. "Excuse me," she added and made her way towards Sirius, leaving the two seasoned Ministry officials to glare at each other in the middle of the room.
"It's ok to grieve," Lily said to Sirius, just as Claudia joined their little group.
"I know it's ok to grieve," Sirius barked. "I just don't feel like it. I don't give a shit that he's dead. And I hope my mother joins him soon."
"Don't say stuff like that," Remus said little harsher than there were all used to. "Not in front of people who don't have their mums anymore…"
"Well, neither of you had my mother." Sirius was clearly not letting this go, so Claudia grabbed his hand and squeezed it in an attempt to calm him down. But it did not help. "So stop trying to tell me how I should be feeling," Sirius continued.
"I know you're hurt-" Lily began, her voice breaking slightly.
But Sirius was not listening. He leaned towards Claudia and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Can we please go home?"
"Are you-?" she tried asking whether he was sure.
"Are you going to bug me too?" he mumbled and let go of her hand. "I'm going to get the bike ready. You don't have to come with me." With those words, he strode out of the sitting room.
Before either Lily or Remus could speak, Claudia gestured for them to keep calm. "I'm handling this. Please, just try not to make a big deal out of it, okay?"
"I don't know whether this is the right call." Lily began. "I did just lose my parents and it was so helpful to talk it through-"
"Lily, I'm sorry," Claudia said as delicately as she could. "But this is different. You don't know half the stuff that's happened to him when he was a kid-"
"But he should talk about-" Lily tried her luck again.
"Trust me on this, please." Claudia interrupted her and glanced over her shoulder. Someone had started a motorbike engine outside. "I have to go."
She run out of the door and jumped on the back of Sirius' motorbike. They barely said a word to each other during the journey home. And by the time Claudia brushed her teeth, Sirius was asleep – or pretending to be.
For the next few days, Claudia felt like she was walking on eggshells, and overanalysed everything in an attempt to find any sign that Sirius' mental state was changing. But he continued to be in a weird limbo, where she would either find him staring glumly into the fire, calling half the Order stupid, or angrily barking insults at anyone in his path.
When she had to go to work, Claudia did not like leaving Sirius at home, but neither did she feel like asking any of their friends to spend time with him would help. On the Friday after the Order meeting, she was even more apprehensive because she was on a night shift. For an auror trainee like Claudia, a nightshift happened every few weeks. She did not spend it with her usual colleagues, but in a special room attached to Head Auror office. It was called the Operations Room and was used in emergencies, or for night shifts. There was usually one auror from each team on duty, in case something happens, or they were needed on a raid.
On her way up to the Operations Room, Claudia bumped into Oscar.
"My source we went to see few weeks back got in touch. He wants to talk about Mulciber." He was practically beaming.
Claudia returned his smile. "Should we go now?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"I can go now," she insisted. "This is more important than a night shift."
"You'll need to wait till tomorrow, he's away."
Claudia rolled her eyes. "Fine."
"Enjoy the night shift. And don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"Drink myself under the desk, you mean?" Claudia smirked.
Oscar grinned at her and playfully punched the top of her arm. "Good night."
"Night."
The moment Claudia stepped into the Operations Room, she came face to face with the most impressive piece of kit she had ever seen at the Ministry. Every time she saw it, she could not help but to stare at it in awe. It was a big metal wall covering the entire side of the large room, with a hundred slots on it, each had its own number in golden letters.
Each one of the slots corresponded to a medallion that aurors took overseas, or places that were too far to apparate from. They could record a message in the medallion, and it would pop out of the slot on a piece of parchment.
Claudia picked one of the free desks and sat down, her two-way notebook carefully hidden under the pile of reports and forms she had with her. Often, the night shifts were quiet, and she could catch up on paperwork.
"Everything alright?" she messaged Sirius just as the clock struck nine, hoping to relieve some of her anxiety, and waited for a response. But none came, which made her feel even worse.
"I'm bored," one of the other aurors on the night shift sighed. "Two galleon to anyone who can guess the next number that will spit out a message."
"Be glad this is boring," the duty inspector reprimanded them, and everyone else turned their eyes to whatever reports they were working on.
Fifteen minutes later and Sirius still had not written.
"I bumped into Oscar earlier," Claudia wrote again in an attempt to elicit some kind of a response from her boyfriend. "We might have a bit of a breakthrough on the Ted case."
Just as she finished writing that message, the duty inspector got out of her chair and left the Operations Room.
"Thirty-two," someone said. Claudia did not even see who. But it did prompt a response from all the other aurors.
"Fifteen."
"Ninety-two."
It went on.
Claudia did not want to feel left out. "Forty-six," she mumbled.
And they did not have to wait long to see if anyone won those two galleons.
At about eleven o'clock, slot number forty-eight lit up.
"So close," Claudia sighed.
"You were the closest, Avery," the instigator of the game quipped. "You go pick it up."
"If I do," Claudia with a cheeky smile. "Do I still get my two galleons?" She walked over to the board and picked up the message.
The smile was wiped from her face the moment she glanced at the message.
"Anderson struck down dead. Adler too. Multiple perpetrators. Dark Mark above the scene."
Claudia stood there, frozen. The parchment was shaking in front of her eyes and was becoming blurrier and blurrier.
"What's the message?" someone barked.
Claudia could not even say. Adler was dead. For a split second, she thought it meant Alice. But it could not have been, she took Frank's name. It was her dad. He was the one who was dead.
She did not even notice the duty inspector coming back to the room until she snatched the message out of Claudia's hands.
"Right," she barked the moment she skimmed it. "Gosling, wake up Crouch's private secretary and get them and Crouch here. Spindle, same with the Head Auror. Avery, get in touch with the rest of your team, Alastor should be on this."
Claudia wiped her eyes, nodded and run to the Ministry's owlery to send messages to Moody, Barraclough, Oscar and Ewan.
"Extreme emergency. The Operations Room, now."
Claudia just about had time to come back from the Owlery when everyone started arriving.
"Do we know what exactly happened?" Crouch was the first one to get there. He was wearing a dark cloak, but you could see a distinct stripey pyjamas pattern underneath.
"This is all we have," the duty inspector replied and handed him the message.
"This is an international incident," Crouch mumbled. "We need to notify the Head of International Cooperation, and the Minister himself."
"I did a placement in the Minister's office." Claudia piped up. "I know the emergency protocols. I can get them to get a message to the Minister."
"Good," Crouch mumbled. "The rest of you, find me a way to speak to someone in Geneva. We need to start piecing together what happened." He paused and scratched his head. "Anyone been in touch with their next of kins?"
Claudia set off for the Minister's office.
"Onto it," she just about heard on her way out.
Claudia ran towards the lifts. She remembered there would always be one private secretary on duty, who would be able to get a message to the Minister within minutes. And she remembered right.
It did not even take ten minutes, and the Minister of Magic stepped out of the fireplace.
"Everyone is in the Operations Room, Minister," Claudia said.
"What happened?"
"Mr Crouch is there, he should be the one-"
"If you know what's going on, tell me now," the Minister interrupted her.
"We had a message from Geneva." Claudia began. "Someone had murdered Mr Anderson and his protection team."
Any remaining colour in the Minister's face had washed out. "Murdered?"
"There was Dark Mark above the scene."
The Minister took a deep breath. The air of authority he usually emitted was gone and he looked just like any other tired old man. "We know it was coming, and here it is. Another high-ranking muggleborn… They made their first big move."
The Minister walked swiftly through the corridors to the Operations Room, and Claudia followed him.
"Should I know you?" he asked her as they stood in the lift.
"I did a summer internship in your office few years back," Claudia said with a meek smile.
"Oh, yes," the Minister nodded. "Avery, right?"
Claudia nodded and nearly blushed. This was the Minister of Magic, remembering who she was.
"So we didn't scare you off?" The Minister said. "You came back to the Ministry?"
"I'm a trainee auror now," Claudia said.
With those words, the lift arrived at their destination, and they rushed to the Operations Room.
Moody and the rest of the team were already there, huddled in the corner.
"Right," Moody mumbled when Claudia joined them. "I need all of you to clear everything else you're doing. Park what you can park and reassign what you can't. Crouch just put us in charge of this investigation."
"What about Mulciber?" Oscar asked in a whisper.
"We cannot park that," Moody sighed. "And I really don't want to reassign it either." He looked around his team. They all watched him intently, waiting for a verdict. "Avery, Mulciber is all yours."
"What does that mean?" Claudia said with a slight frown.
"Go home-"
"I don't want to go home!" she interrupted, perhaps louder than their huddle required. "This is Alice's dad we're talking about. I want to stay."
Moody growled and elbowed Barraclough in the arm. "You deal with this. I need to speak to Crouch."
Claudia could feel her temper rising. How dare Moody just dismisses her like this? But Barraclough did not give her a chance to retaliate, grabbed her by the arm and nudged her into the corridor.
"Please talk to him," Claudia pleaded with him. "Alice is my best friend. This is the biggest case in months-" she frowned. "Even bloody Tracey is going to be working on it. And she barely got here!"
Barraclough sighed. "Do you know how many second-year trainees get to run their own case? A murder investigation, nonetheless?" But he answered his own question before Claudia could speak. "None. You should be gripping this with both arms."
"But the Minister is here…"
"Trust me, Slytherin to Slytherin…" he said and put his hand on Claudia's shoulder. "A trainee on a case like this will get to make the coffee. Too many high-ranking people involved. I'll be lucky if I get a look in. But your own investigation…"
Claudia took a deep breath. Maybe Barraclough was right. "Fine."
"I'll tell Oscar to leave the contact for his informant in your in-tray tomorrow." Barraclough let go of Claudia's shoulder and took a step back towards the Operations Room. "Go get some rest, you'll need it."
Claudia hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed. "What if I mess it up?" she whispered.
Barraclough gave her a fleeting smile. "Don't."
"Thanks for the encouragement," she uttered and looked to her feet. All the confidence she felt earlier after speaking to the Minister suddenly drained out of her.
"The boss wouldn't have suggested it if he didn't think you could do it."
"Thanks… I guess."
Barraclough gave her one more smile and then walked back into the Operations Room. Claudia started at the now empty doorframe. Maybe he was right, maybe this was going to be good for her.
She should go home and get ready. She took one step towards the lifts and then froze.
"Shit," she mumbled. "Alice."
Alice was probably her dad's next of kin, Claudia thought, given the state Mrs Adler was in. A wave of guilt washed over her. She should have gone to speak to Alice, not worry about her career. She should have been the one to tell her what happened, not let the duty inspector do it.
Somewhat frantic, Claudia went to get her notebook to tell Sirius she was going to be late. But when she opened it, she saw his handwriting.
"Everything alright. I really hope you catch that bastard who tried to kill Ted."
Claudia's stomach unclenched a little. At least he was alright. She kept reading.
"How is it going? Bored again?"
"I guess you aren't bored then… Stay safe."
The last message must have been written after Claudia did not reply to the initial ones. She quickly picked up a quill from her desk.
"Got some bad news. Alice's dad's died on duty. I'm going to see her before heading back home."
She shoved the notebook into her bag and legged it to the atrium to apparate to Alice's flat. She knocked on the door, but there was no response. She knocked again. Still nothing.
Eventually, she realised they were probably at Alice's mum. It was little far to apparate but Claudia had to risk it. There was no time to go to the Leaky Cauldron, and she did not even remember the name of the place where Alice's parents lived. She gripped her wand and focused her mind on the faint memory of their front garden. The last time she was there must have been nearly five years ago.
"Ouch," she hissed when she landed there and reached for her upper arm. The sleeve of her jacket was nearly torn off, and her skin was grazed. It was little too far to apparate after all. But luckily, she got away with it. Just.
Claudia ignored her injury and knocked on the door.
Frank opened it.
"How did you get here? Did you take the Floo?"
"Apparated."
"But it's too far!"
"Tell me about it," Claudia said and gestured towards her shoulder. "Is Alice here?"
"Come in," Frank sighed and showed Claudia into the sitting room.
Alice was sitting on the sofa, with her face in her hands. She lifted her head a little when Claudia entered the room. Her eyes were full of tears, and her face all puffy.
"I'm so sorry," Claudia mumbled, sat down on the sofa next to her and gave her a hug.
Alice did say a few words but none of them were comprehensible. She gave up and dropped her head on Claudia's injured shoulder. Claudia gritted her teeth and held Alice even tighter. It hurt as hell.
"I've heard Moody's got the case," Frank whispered and sat down on the coffee table. It was the only place he could sit now and still reach for Alice's hand. The mention of Moody made Alice raise her head again.
"I'm not going to work on it though," Claudia sighed. "He gave me something else." Before either Frank or Alice could say anything, tears forced themselves into Claudia's eyes. "I wanted to be on the case. I wanted to help, I swear."
The three of them sat in an awkward silence, with Claudia fighting back the tears.
"I'm going to make some tea," Frank whispered after a while, squeezed Alice's hand and shuffled into the kitchen.
Claudia did not know what to do or what to say. Seeing Alice like this was a lot harder than she was expecting. "Where is your mum?" she finally mumbled.
"Frank gave her the sleeping drought, she's not well," Alice managed to say with difficulty.
"I'm sorry." That was it. That was all Claudia had. And it made her feel foolish. She wanted to reassure her friend but could not find the words.
She looked around the living room for some kind of inspiration about what to say next. But all she noticed was her two-way notebook, that had half fallen out of her bag. It was covered in leaves, which meant there was a new message. She excused herself and opened it.
"I'm just at their flat, but you aren't here. Where are you all?"
Claudia heart jumped a little. This would not have been the reason she would have chosen to get him out of the flat. But it made her mood little brighter regardless.
"Can I borrow a quill?" she asked. "Sirius' at your flat."
"You can ask him here. He can take Floo. It's Adler's Cottage, Box."
"Thank you," Claudia said and picked up the quill.
"We're at their mum's in Box. Adler's Cottage, Box is the Floo connection."
Within seconds, Sirius replied. "I'll take Floo from the Leaky Cauldron."
Claudia shut the notebook and looked back at Alice. "I want to say it's going to be ok, but-"
"But it's not." Alice wiped her eyes. "It's never going to be ok. My dad's dead."
"In a weird way… I owe your dad everything. He was the one who made me realise what my father was. That dinner we had over Christmas."
The tiniest of smiles appeared on Alice's face. "He was always telling me more than he should have-" she trailed off and burst into tears.
As Claudia was reaching for Alice's shoulder to comfort her, something occurred to her. What if… She bit her lip in disgust. What if it was her own father who was responsible for Mr Adler's death. He was bound to have known the plans for the Geneva trip. He could have easily been behind it. In fact, no other Death Eater was in a better position to orchestrate the attack.
Frank was now back with the teas.
Claudia picked up the hot mug and squeezed it between her fingers. It hurt but she paid little attention. The thought of her father being responsible for killing her best friend's dad was too much. The pain from the hot tea helped numb that.
"Your aunt sent an owl, sweetheart," Frank said and sat back down at the coffee table. "She'll come by tomorrow. She said she'll help with the funeral arrangements."
Claudia hissed and put down the tea. Finally, the pain got too much. "I can help with the wake."
Just at that moment, the fireplace flashed green, and Sirius emerged out of the flames.
He gave Alice and Frank a hug and then he came to sit next to Claudia and briefly squeezed her in his arms. She flinched, told him about her splinched shoulder and he healed it with one flick of his wand.
They sat and talked for a while, but Claudia was taking little of it in. She could not stop wondering about her father's role in Mr Adler's death, about what was happening in the office…
She was glad to have her own case, she really was, but she also wanted to contribute to the Geneva investigation. She would have been lot more useful there than she was here. Here, she felt completely and utterly useless.
"I'm hungry," Alice finally mumbled.
"I'll make something," Frank replied softly.
"No," Sirius jumped in. "You both go try to get some rest. We'll make you something. Alright?"
"I could use a shower," Alice added and slowly got up.
Claudia and Sirius watched her go up the stairs. She moved like a broken, old woman.
The moment they were alone in the kitchen, Sirius grabbed Claudia in his arms and hugged her. "This sucks," he whispered.
"I feel so-" she paused. "Useless, you know?"
"You aren't useless."
"I don't know what to say, I don't know whether to touch her." Claudia sighed. "It's impossible. I feel like- I can't relate to what she's going through."
Sirius pressed Claudia's head against his chest. "You underestimate yourself." He kissed the top of her head. "You're here for her. You're here to listen once she wants you to. Once she is ready to talk about this properly…"
Claudia got the distinct impression they were not talking about Alice anymore. "Are you ready? To talk about what happened?"
Sirius shook his head slightly, and tears forced their way into Claudia's eyes again.
Sirius saw this and brushed her hair. "But I will be. You'll get sick of me talk about how I feel, I promise you."
That made Claudia smile a little. "I can't wait for Italy. Just one more week before we can get away from this all."
"We were planning on doing much talking in Italy?" Sirius smirked and planted a gentle kiss on Claudia's lips. A kiss that lingered just long enough to make it abundantly clear what would be stopping them from doing a lot of talking on their holiday.
Claudia let out the tiniest of chuckles. "Get cutting those onions, and stop distracting us both," she whispered and nudged Sirius towards the kitchen counter and started to prep the other vegetables for their soup.
Claudia woke up the following morning on Alice's and Frank's sofa. The first thing she saw was Sirius' sleeping face. For the first time in weeks, he looked like he was dreaming about something pleasant. He was breathing softly and nearly smiling. It gave her a little hope seeing him like that again.
She glanced at the clock. It was nearly seven. She needed to get to work and find out what instructions Oscar left for her. Gently, she moved Sirius' arm away from her body as not to wake him and got up.
Her jacket was still torn after last night, but there was no time to go home and change. She must have had some spare clothes in the office, or at least she hoped she did.
With her tattered jacket on, and a warm mug of strong coffee and a piece of toast in her stomach, she kneeled in front of the sofa, tenderly shook Sirius' shoulder, and waited for him to open his eyes.
"I have to go to work," she whispered. "Can you please tell Frank and Alice, and tell them that if they need anything, all they need to do is ask."
Sirius scrunched his eyes and yawned. "Please be careful."
"Promise," she said and kissed him.
Claudia took the Floo to the Ministry of Magic. Being in the office all alone was strange. The others must have still been in the Operations Room, and it was likely they were going to stay there for some time. On a case like this, the Head Auror would want to keep them close. She needed to get used to the solitude.
She found a short note on her desk. "I'll come down at eight to tell you where to go. Not a good idea to write it down. O."
Claudia sat down on her chair, put her feet on the desk and picked up Mulciber's old file. She better memorise everything in it.
Very soon the door to the office creaked open, but Claudia found herself disappointed. It was just Tracey.
"Oh, I didn't know you were here. I'm just fetching some things for the boss," the younger trainee spoke first. "I thought we were all in the Operations Room now."
Claudia frowned and dropped her feet from the desk. All the resentment she felt last night was back. "I'm not on the case."
"I'm sure that's just a mistake. Moody said we were all on it."
"Well, it's not a mistake," Claudia growled. "You get to work on the most exciting case the Auror Office ever had, while I rot here by myself."
It was Tracey's turn to frown now. "How can you call it exciting when so many people died?"
"Don't you dare lecture me. My best friend's dad died there!"
"I'm so sorry," Tracey whispered, her tone suddenly tender. She took a few steps and opened her arms as if to give Claudia a hug.
"Don't touch me," Claudia barked. "Take what you came for and go."
Tracey' froze and her frown was back. "My sister said you were a piece of work."
"I thought you said you didn't get on with your sister."
"My sister and I are starting to find a common ground."
Claudia did not get a chance to respond, as Tracy rapidly crossed the office and slammed the door behind her.
She just about cooled down following her interaction with Tracey, when the wizard bringing the post threw the Daily Prophet into her in-tray. It was just before eight. She did not even need to unwrap to read the headline on the front page.
"You-Know-Who Strikes at the Heart of the Ministry."
Claudia sighed. Well, she was wrong about the tactics her father might adopt at the meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards. They did not try to make the UK delegation look like fools; they chose to put the fear into anyone who would even contemplate supporting the Minister.
Ten past eight, Oscar finally emerged through the door. "Sorry, I'm late."
"I suspect you're too busy working on the most high-profile murder in a decade." The jealousy was dripping from Claudia's tone of voice.
"Oh, stop sulking!" Oscar said dismissively.
"I'm not sulking."
"Right…" he smirked. "And I'm not afraid of commitment."
Claudia rolled her eyes. "What do I need to do?"
"Same road we met him last time but a different pub. It's called 'The Rose'. He'll be there at ten."
"Fine."
"Please be careful, alright?"
"Sure…" Claudia mumbled and returned to stare at Mulciber's file.
"I'm going back upstairs," Oscar said and began to walk away.
"Oscar, wait," Claudia exclaimed as he was nearly out of earshot. "Anything we know about the attack, if you're allowed to tell me?" she asked when he turned around and took few steps back inside the office.
His usually mischievous mood turned instantly. "We know very little, I'm sorry."
Claudia looked to the floor. "Would you tell me if it looked like my father had anything to do with it?"
Oscar took a deep breath. "I keep forgetting about that…"
"About what?"
"That he's your father."
"I wish I could forget…"
"I promise I'll tell you, alright?"
"Even if the boss tells you not to?"
"Even if the boss tells me not to…" Oscar smiled. "But now I really have to go. Good luck."
With those words, Claudia was left alone in the office again and then at nine-thirty, she set off for East London.
The pub was not as empty as last time, but it still did not take Claudia long to find Oscar's Death Eater. He was sitting in a corner sipping from a small glass.
"Where's your boss?" he barked the moment he laid his eyes on her.
"He's not my boss," Claudia said and sat down.
"I am not talking to you." He folded his arms across his chest.
"Yes, you are."
"Or what?"
Claudia sighed and observed him. There was a half-pint of shandy, the cheapest drink on the menu, in front of him, his fingernails were dirty, and the edge of his shirt collar was tattered and yellow. "Because otherwise you aren't getting paid. That's why you're here, right?"
The Death Eater mumbled something under his breath and took another sip of his shandy. "I want fifty galleons upfront this time… It's big news."
"You'll get fifteen and we split it as usual."
He laughed. "Come back when you're serious, girl."
"Fine, twenty." She said through gritted teeth. The word girl still ringing unpleasantly in her ears.
"I know where Mulciber is. And if you want to know too, you'll take this more seriously," he smirked.
"I'm not letting you blackmail me," Claudia said and stood up. "Twenty galleons is my final offer. If – and I mean if – he gets convicted, you get another fifteen."
The Death Eater hesitated for a moment. "Fine."
Claudia reached into her pocket and took out a small bag full of galleons. She carefully counted out ten coins and slid them across the table. "You get the rest once you tell me where he is."
"Glasgow."
"Not good enough."
"He's renting a room at 91 Corsock Street, in Haghill." The Death Eater spoke quickly and quietly. "Is that good enough?"
Claudia took out a small piece of parchment from her pocket and a portable quill and wrote down the address. "How do you know that?"
"My cousin does some business in the area."
Claudia sighed and reached into the money bag again. "If I ever find out you lied to me, you will regret it for the rest of your miserable life," she said and slid the money across the table.
"Your boss is nicer."
"For the last time, he isn't my boss…"
For the entirety of her journey back to the Ministry, Claudia was dying to tell the others that they got a lucky break, but her heart sank just a little when she stepped into the office and realised it was still empty. However, this news was important enough to go and interrupt Moody and the others in the Operations Room.
She went up there and it took her good five minutes to find Barraclough in the crowd.
"How did it go?" he asked, dark circles under his eyes. It must have been a long time since he slept.
"I've got his address," Claudia replied. "In Glasgow. I'm going to go and check it out."
Barraclough took a deep breath. "Normally, we would send someone with you," he paused. "But we're so stretched. I can ask someone from another team, but it might be another trainee-"
"I rather go by myself."
Barraclough scratched his head. "I'm not sure."
"I could take someone from the O-" she stopped abruptly. She has slept only for about three hours and momentarily forgot that Moody was the only one from her team who was in the Order.
"No," Barraclough shook his head, taking Claudia's indiscretion in his stride. "If there was ever a trial and it transpired that they were conducting official Ministry business, the case would fall." He paused again to scratch his head. "I know. You go to Glasgow, confirm he's there and track him." He walked over the wall with the communication medallions. "But you'll send a message before you engage him and we'll send reinforcements, understood?"
"Understood," Claudia replied and gripped the medallion between her fingers. For the first time, she felt like a real auror.
"Go home, get some sleep and set off tomorrow."
"Alright."
"And use that," he pointed at the medallion, "to send us a message every six hours. We want to know you're alright."
"Understood."
"And good luck."
Claudia gave Barraclough a brief smile and, clutching the medallion, left the Operations Room behind.
She dreaded telling Sirius what she had to do. Ever since Regulus' death, his overprotective instincts were out of control. She was not going to forget in a hurry that he jumped in front of the killing curse just a few weeks ago.