Chapter Five
The Currier
1
"Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked up and found Augustus Schmitt peering around his office door. The younger man seemed a bit more nervous than usual but Harry couldn't see any misgivings on his face that might be a sign of trouble.
"Schmitt, you here to apply as my assistant?" Harry joked.
"Sir?" said Gus.
"Nothing," Harry said, waving off his own joke. "Come on in. What do you need?"
"Actually, Mr. Potter, I w-was wondering if perhaps you and Agape would join me for a drink?" The lanky man stepped a few paces into the office and stood with his arms hanging awkwardly at his sides, though his eyes were focused meaningfully on Harry.
The Auror raised an eyebrow at him, but got the gist. "Love to. What time and where?"
"Right now," Schmitt answered very quickly, "at Boivin's Pub. T-that is, if you possibly can."
Harry took one look at the mass of paper still congesting the surface of his desk and said, "Well, I'm definitely free. But I think Agape is in class."
"Oh, yes. Well, it would be lovely if she could make it." He put emphasis on the word "lovely" and started backing out of the door again. "I'll be there, please come."
Then he was gone, leaving Harry wondering what was going on and whether or not it was important enough to get Agape.
2
"So, how's life?" asked Agape's dueling partner, Quinlan Lupin as they raised their wands for the hundredth time that morning.
That day's class was a practical lesson on strengthening grip, so basically they were just trying to expel each other's wands.
"What life?" Agape replied flatly, a half smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.
"Ha. Yeah, I guess you're right," Quin admitted. "Expelliarmus."
Agape's wand slipped from her fingers once more and thumped against the tiled floor. She stooped and retrieved it before speaking again.
"It's been stressful," she replied as she put her long black hair back in a hair band to keep it out of the way. "Expelliarmus!"
A smug smile crossed over her lips as she watched Quin's wand pop out of his grasp as if it were smeared with soap. He had already proven many, many times that he could hold onto his wand quite tightly, but every so often she could surprise him.
As he bent down to get his wand from the floor, Quin uttered a short laugh at her comment as if to suggest "stressful" was a huge understatement. "I know what you mean. Defense Against Dark Arts was one of my strongest classes – but this training makes all that look like a joke. Well, maybe not today's lesson."
"Hmmh." The noise of acknowledgement was the only reply she could think of. It had been eleven years since her Defense classes at Hogwarts and she honestly couldn't remember much of what she had learned there.
A loud tapping rang through the room and suddenly everyone's attention focused on the small window set in the classroom door. Harry stood outside banging on the glass with the back of his knuckles, his wedding ring making the tapping noise. He stopped once he'd caught Agape's eye and started motioning her to come outside.
The woman frowned at him and shook her head.
Harry gave her a meaningful look.
"What's his deal?" Quin asked with an amused eyebrow raised.
Agape sighed, "I have no idea. I better see what he wants. Expelliarmus!"
"Hey!" Quin laughed as his wand zoomed from his fingers again and Agape walked away.
She shuffled over to the door under the critical eye and displeased sneer of her instructor. She yanked open the door and stepped outside to answer Harry.
"What is it?" she snapped.
"Meet me at Boivin's Pub as soon as you can," he told her brightly. "Gus wants to talk to us."
"But…"
"It's up to you, Agape. I can't make you leave your class and they can't make you stay," Harry told her, shrugging. "But you wanted me to keep you posted, so here I am."
She glanced back through the small window in the door and saw that her teacher was growing impatient. "But…"
Harry had already spun around and was striding away. "Maybe I'll see you at the pub," he called over his shoulder as he waved goodbye.
Agape stared after him, rather shocked and filled with indecision. "Uuugh!" she fumed, clenching her fists at her sides and stomping one high heeled pump against the floor.
She turned back into the classroom and apologized to her instructor.
3
It was still early in the day and the lunch rush hadn't hit Boivin's yet. Despite there only being a handful of occupied tables and bar stools, Harry couldn't find Schmitt. He asked the scruffy faced bar tender about him and was directed to a separate room in back of the house.
The private room was small and the broad-striped wallpaper was bubbled in some places – in fact, nothing in the pub was very well put together. The table was marred with cigarette or candle scorches and all the chairs had pockmarked legs. Everything looked antique, just not in a stylish way.
Two men sat at the shabby table: Schmitt and Luciano.
Schmitt's clean, pressed appearance stood out in the shabby place, but Luciano looked the part. His hair was uncombed and his unshaven face was unmistakably deprived of sleep. He was nursing a beer as he slouched over the tabletop and gave Harry a dark look when he entered.
"Ah. Now I understand all the secrecy," Harry said, as he sat down opposite them, recalling how Agape had told him about Luciano's going underground to start the search. "So, What's up?"
"Roman has some news," Gus offered excitedly. "He says he's found out something very important."
Harry waited expectantly as Roman sighed and leaned back in his chair. This was one of his least favorite Blood Traitors, but since he couldn't put his finger one why that was, he tried not to act too frigid toward him.
"Agape couldn't come with you?" asked Roman.
The Auror rolled his eyes. "Come on, you prat! I'm honestly not that bad – just say what you came to say. I'd really like to know."
"Alright," he relented at last. "Well, I'm sure Agape told you everything from our last meeting, so I'll skip the explanations. The good news is I've found the currier we need."
Gus banged the table with his palm. "Brilliant! Have you spoken to her?"
Roman then locked eyes with Harry, giving him a thoroughly unhappy look as he answered Gus: "No. I haven't spoken to her. Thank's to Mr. Potter, I may never get to. He arrested her three days ago."
Gus looked severely disappointed. "Oh my. That certainly complicates things."
Indeed, it did. However, Harry wasn't going to feel sorry for doing his job. "What's her name?" Harry asked. "I'll talk to her if you'd like."
"She'll never talk to you –" Roman began, but Harry cut him off.
"You'd be surprised what we Aurors can do, Luciano. What do you need to ask her?"
"You don't get it, Potter," said the younger man as he leaned forward over the table. He started counting off with his fingers as he continued. "First of all, she'll never talk to you because she's a currier. Optimates curriers never give up information easily – no bargaining or potion is going to cut it. And what's worse: this woman isn't just a messenger. She's high ranking, which means I have no power over her. Then – even worse than that – they've heard she's been arrested, so they'll be able to trace exactly who said what if we suddenly know something we shouldn't. But worst of all, even if she would talk to me, I can't get anywhere near Azkaban without ending up back in a cell!"
"Okay, calm down- "
"Fix it, and then I'll calm down!"
"Alright! Shut up," Harry snapped. "Look, there has to be something we can do. Is there no one else you can talk to who isn't in prison?"
"No," Roman replied sourly.
"Well, what's her bloody name?"
"Jett."
Harry frowned at him and shook his head. "What's her real name?"
"How should I know? That's the reason we all have codenames."
"What does she look like?" Gus asked calmly, trying to help.
"Sorry I'm late!"
They all looked toward the doorway as Agape came in and shut the door behind her. "I got lost trying to find this place."
"I thought you had gone back to class," Harry said.
"Only to tell my instructor I was leaving," said the tall woman, taking the last chair around the table. "He was livid… But go on – what were you talking about?"
"Roman was just telling Mr. Potter and me that the currier he needs to talk to was arrested," Gus informed her politely before looking back to his friend. "So what does she look like?"
"I only know she has a scar over her eye and dark eyebrows. Apparently no one has ever seen her without her mask," Roman replied.
"Hmm. That sounds similar to the woman I arrested the other day," Agape pondered out loud.
Then Harry let out a single bursting laugh: "Ha! So I'm not the bad guy after all!"
"What?" inquired the woman.
"Agape, the currier was arrested three days ago by our group and yours was the only one of them with a scar on their face. She is the woman you arrested," Harry explained.
Agape looked distraught for a moment as realization sunk in. Then hope suddenly struck her eyes and she urgently grabbed Harry's wrist. "It's not too late!"
Roman perked up some. "What do you mean?"
"Tonks gave me an update on her just this morning. She said she hasn't gone on trial so she's not official!"
Harry was confused. "It's been three days and she's not official yet?"
"She refuses to speak – at all. Tonks said she hasn't uttered a single sound since she was brought in. They don't even know her name. So they've put off her trial until somebody has time to find out who she is."
"That's impossible," Gus proclaimed. "Couldn't they check her wand records?"
"She doesn't have one," Agape told them happily. "Must have lost it in the rubble when that loft collapsed. If we talk to her now- "
"-We can offer her a bargain she won't want to refuse," Harry finished for her, a grin spreading over his face too. "No records, no trial – For now she's safe to say whatever, because there's no hard proof she was one of the ones arrested."
"And we can take her out of Azkaban for questioning without much fuss," Agape added brightly. "We could do it today and we can ask her what we need to know."
Roman seized her hand and kissed it. "That's the first good news I've heard in days, Agape. Thank you!"
Agape blushed faintly.
"I'll talk to Tonks," Harry said, immediately standing and reaching for the door. "Luciano, tell Agape what you need to know from this woman. And if you want to be there when we do the interrogation, you'd better wait in my office with her." He addressed Gus, "I'm sure your boss is missing you, Schmitt, but I'll contact you when we start. Oh, and someone should tell Bireley what's going on."
As Agape had been the one who had wanted him to let the Blood Traitors get more involved with the case, he glanced back at her before leaving. "Are they included enough?" he asked with a look.
She responded with an appreciative smile and he left the room.
4
It was evening before they're plan finally started working out. Harry had argued with Tonks for at least an hour before she told him to talk to their boss, Kingsley Shacklebolt. That had taken two more hours. When at last they both agreed, Harry informed the warden of Azkaban to locate the unnamed prisoner and bring her to the Ministry. It was now six o'clock and the scarred woman was in the interrogation room (a.k.a. the viewing box) at last.
Like a police station's questioning room, the viewing box had a side where the interrogation could be observed by someone without the other party being able to see them. The only difference was that the entire wall was transparent to the watcher but just looked like a wall to the one being questioned and the viewing room was completely sound proof. This way, those watching could hear and see everything perfectly but their presence was undetectable. And as the viewing box was virtually unknown outside of the Auror Headquarters, most people never worried they were being watched.
The scarred, brunet prisoner sat in one of the only two chairs in the room with her legs crossed and one hand in her lap. The other was up near her mouth as she chewed a hangnail absently. She didn't appear to mind the blank walls, or the lowered temperature of the room. She was completely calm in the uncomfortable chair – which usually meant bad news for the interrogator.
However, Harry was intrepid. He stared through the transparent wall at his target with a gleam of determination in his green eyes that Agape was very familiar with in the workplace.
Schmitt and Luciano were in the viewing box as well. Gus had come to meet them only ten minutes before, having completed all of his work for the day, thus leaving no reason for his boss to call him back. Roman had stayed in Harry's office with Agape since their meeting at the pub, and had only grown more anxious and taciturn with each hour that passed.
Someone knocked on the door, and Harry nodded for Agape to answer it. She only opened it enough to peer out and see who was knocking at first, but when she saw a short man with red hair and dragon hide cloth hanging around his neck, she let him in.
Drake slid inside.
"Why aren't you wearing your mask, Drake?" Harry inquired, gesturing to the cloth around the man's neck.
"What is it with you," Alton retorted, smirking. "First you think I'm an Optimus when I wear it, then you want to know why it's not on when I'm walking through a building full of Aurors." He pulled his mask up over his mouth and nose before continuing. "You Ministry people ask too many questions and I didn't want to be noticed."
Harry looked Drake up and down briefly, saying as he turned back toward the prisoner: "Like you said, you're in a building full of Aurors. They noticed you."
"Where's Logan?" Agape inquired of the red haired man.
"I dunno," Alton said. "I tried ringing him, but he never answered. I'm here in his place though. Hi, Rome."
"Hello," said Roman. "How's everyone?"
"Fine."
There was some tension in the air between them, but nothing that wouldn't fade with conversation. Agape chose to speak again:
"So, should we get started?"
Harry nodded and in the next moment left the room only to enter the one where the woman sat waiting a second later. Agape and the three Blood Traitors watched intently.
She saw that after the prisoner looked at his face she examined the scar on his forehead, as if to confirm his identity. And that was all. She never shifted uncomfortably or gave any sign that she was discontent or nervous. In fact, she looked more like she was taking a comfy break and merely needed a book to read for entertainment.
"Please state your name," Harry requested, not uncivilly.
She made no response but to watch him as he stood expectantly before her.
"Any name would suffice," he added to no avail. Her mouth never moved.
"I was told you refused to speak," he commented almost to himself. Ignoring the extra chair, he crossed his arms over his chest and began leisurely pacing the room. "You won't say your name and you conveniently lost your wand. I'm surprised they haven't found any other record on you. You must be foreign. Either that or you've been underground for so long that the Ministry figured you died."
"Wish they would figure I died," Roman mused next to Agape. "Then they'd leave me alone."
"Perhaps if you had made some better choices, they wouldn't assume you betrayed them," Gus commented on the other side of the Italian.
The look Roman gave him was not amused. "See if I ever have a drink with you again."
"Hmm. I can't have that," Gus replied. "Then we'd both be drinking alone, and I don't want to take on any more of your bad habits."
Agape shushed them, Harry was talking again. He paused in front of the prisoner and let his head tilt at an angle as he regarded her.
"You know, it wouldn't be hard to find your name – it's just no one's had the time, so they're leaving you for last. I already know you're a currier. I also know you delivered a message to Odin recently; a message concerning the kidnapping of Liberty Kimber. That would be enough information for me to put you in Azkaban for the rest of your life."
Apparently she didn't care much. She merely blinked placidly at him.
Harry started his slow march again, turning his head to keep an eye on her as he did so. "You can do one of two things," he persisted to his unresponsive prisoner. "You can continue not talking and I'll just search for your name myself – then you can have your trial and be put back in your cell to rot."
The woman kept peering blankly at him with her amber colored eyes, taking him in – perhaps sizing him up behind her perfect poker face.
After another brief pause in which he reached the wall and turned back on his heel, Harry continued, "Your other option is to simply tell me who you are and answer my questions. Doing that alone will keep you from spending life in prison, but if it turns out you have more use than that – say, information on Liberty Kimber's kidnapping, or even better, her whereabouts – I may be able to get you out of here without ever writing your name in a file or convicting you of anything."
Harry halted his speech again to let this information sink in. However, the woman was dauntlessly indifferent. She acted as if she hadn't heard a word he just said and was still awaiting his first move.
"So, what will it be?" Harry asked, stopping the pace and propping one shoulder against a wall in wait with his arms still languidly crossed.
Only more silence followed in both rooms.
"You won't have this opportunity again," he reminded her. "The other Neos would never have to know you were here."
"Except the ones who were arrested with her," Roman pointed out.
"They're all going to Azkaban," Agape countered. "They won't have anymore contact with the others."
"Yeah, because I certainly lost all contact with the other Optimates when I was in there," he retorted. "I don't know if this is going to work after all."
"Give it a chance," Alton said. "Your case was a little different than hers. They broke you out of Azkaban before your trial because that was their plan."
"Another bad choice," Gus pointed out.
"I will hit you, you know."
"Shhh!" hissed Agape.
The nameless woman pushed some stray strands of hair away from her face as Harry straightened and said, "I would think anyone would want to stay out of Azkaban. I'll give you a minute to decide."
With that he left the room.
A moment later the door to the viewing box opened and he came back inside.
"Maybe she'll be more willing to talk when I go back in," he said, his voice no less confident than before. "Sometimes it takes a while. If we have to, I can get Tonks to do a good-cop-bad-cop thing. She'll see right through it, but it would annoy the words out of her if nothing else."
"I can see you as the bad cop," Alton admitted, nodding.
Harry glared at him. "Actually, I'm normally the good cop."
"See if she'll respond to the name Jett," Roman interrupted. "She's not very well known, so the Ministry knowing her name would probably unnerve her."
"I'd rather leave her the option to give me any name she wants at first – but if she leaves me no choice, I'll find out her name anyway," Harry told him, shrugging.
"Yeah, but you won't have the information we need," Alton pointed out.
Agape and Roman observed the woman in the other room as Harry invited Alton to do the job himself if he thought he could do better.
With no one else inside the room, the prisoner seemed to relax further. She brought her legs up to her chest and draped her arms over her knees as she let her head fall back to rest against the wall. She closed her eyes and heaved a mighty sigh. Agape wondered what was going through this woman's head at that instant.
Judging by the faint frown she noticed growing steadily deeper on Roman's visage, he was wondering as well. He had been in her place at one point – but he had reacted quite differently. So long as Augustus was in the room, Roman would tell the Ministry just about anything – as that's what most double agents do – but this woman didn't look anywhere near budging. If she said anything at all, Agape would be thoroughly surprised.
Alton and Harry were distracted by their argument. Alton saying something to Harry about the interrogation process taking too long and that they needed to get moving sooner. The Auror was just trying to hold his temper with the opinionated man.
"Roman," she said suddenly, but quietly so the others wouldn't hear. "What do you think would happen if you talked to her?"
Roman gave her a sharp side glance. "You think Potter would let me?"
She gave him a side glance of her own. "Do you think you could get her to talk?"
"Maybe." When her reaction was less than thrilled, he tried again: "Most likely."
"Well, Harry is a sensible person, so if you think you could get her to speak I don't see why he would object. What do you say?"
Roman bit his lip in an uncharacteristic show of doubt. But he replied, "Okay. Let's try it."
"Harry, what if Roman gave it a shot?" she asked loudly almost before the words had left his mouth.
Harry looked over in surprise and even laughed shortly. "You stole my thunder, Agape. I was going to ask if he would come with me when I went back in."
Agape grinned hugely – it looked like those classes were actually paying off. She felt like she had done something right.
"Well, Luciano?"
Roman fortified himself with a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'll come in."
5
Harry lead the way into the interrogation room, but he could tell things were different as soon as Luciano entered after him. The woman watched the Auror in a similar way as before, seemingly unconcerned yet alert. However, as soon as she saw Roman with him, her eyelids opened a little more and she paid much closer attention.
What really blew Harry away was what happened next.
"You're not from the Ministry," she stated to Roman. Her clear, frank voice sounded odd inside the walls, as if it didn't quite belong there.
Harry was so shocked he didn't know how to react right away. He looked at Roman, who was equally taken aback, and raised his eyebrows. The kid certainly had an effect.
Roman eyed him questioningly. Harry answered by shoving the empty chair toward him as he walked past it, choosing to stand quietly in the corner instead of sitting. He would let these two interact by themselves.
Roman took the seat in front of the woman, confirming her previous statement, "No, I'm not from the Ministry. But I need to find someone."
"The little girl," she acknowledged as her legs unfolded and she sat up straight.
"Liberty Kimber," Roman said, eagerly nodding. "Do you know where she is?"
The woman's pretty eyes narrowed at him, as if she didn't understand something. "You don't know?"
"No. Should I?"
Harry's brows furrowed and he watched Luciano's reaction closely. The younger man merely blinked uncomprehendingly.
The woman's narrowed stare grew uncertain, and then she was suddenly moving. Without warning, she leaned forward and seized Roman's right arm, shoving up the long sleeve of his shirt.
From where he stood, Harry could plainly see the gruesome scar that clawed up Luciano's forearm starting at his wrist. The Auror had never noticed the mark before, but the woman seemed to know all about it.
Her face relaxing again, she was no longer in doubt. When she saw Roman's shaken face a small smirk appeared on her shapely mouth and she replied to his question, "Yes, you really should know."
Roman was frozen for a moment as he gaped at her. It took him a full thirty seconds to recover. o"Well, perhaps you could inform me," he said at last, pulling his arm out of her grasp and hurriedly pushing his sleeve back down.
"Can I leave this place if I do?" she inquired, cocking a dark eyebrow at Harry.
"If you'll be willing to help us once you're out," Harry answered honestly.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "I'll need my wand."
(Okay, I swear that I'll write quicker in the future. I only have three weeks of school left, so after that I'll have plenty of time on my hands to type. Hope you enjoy!!!)