A/N: Hello all. Here is my latest Chapter, I hope you enjoy it. The next chapter shouldn't be too far off, as I've had a few weeks off. well enjoy.

Chapter 17:

Confessions of a Poison Pusher.

Tonks looked at the sullen teenaged girl that sat across from her. The girl was a cliché teenage rebel, from her black hooded cloak a size too big, to her dark hair that fell into her eyes. The girl sat looking at the edge of the table that stood between Tonks and herself, chewing her bottom lip.

It was late Thursday night, and in order to have the weekend off to visit her parents, Tonks had been on call the last few nights. Tonight she had been summoned into the office; the reason was the disgruntled teenager that sat in front of her. The girl had been picked up selling mushroom juice, a rather harmless illegal potion, only to be found with ten vials of Blue Ring poison.

"So do you want to tell me your name, or are we going to have wait till our desk clerk finds out for me?" Tonks tried to say authoritatively.

"Yeah, whatever. Like I'm gonna tell the fuzz what my name is," The teenager spat.

"Well, maybe you'd like to tell me what you where doing with ten vials of Blue Ring?" Tonks tried.

"Those pillock's that picked me up, they must've planted it on me, or something."

"You're in a lot of trouble here. Just selling Blue Ring will get you a long stint in Azkaban. Now do you want to tell me your name?"

"Piss off."

Tonks stood, "Right. I think I'll send you to the lock up for the night, and I'll go home to bed."

"What do you mean lock up?" For the first time a tiny bit of fear crept into the young girl's voice.

"It's downstairs, so it is a bit cold. There is one toilet - in the middle of the room. You might not get much sleep, but I will. Then tomorrow my boss will come in and have a chat with, and he'll be in a bad mood, because - well he's always in a bad mood."

The girl didn't answer back, but sank down into her chair, deep in thought. Tonks was saved from trying to work out what to say next, by a light knock on the door. She opened up the door to find the desk clerk holding a file.

"Didn't take much," said the desk clerk. "That cute little rose on her wrist isn't very common."

Tonks took the file and shut the door. She moved back to her seat and made a show of reading the small file. There wasn't much to it. A few public destruction charges and a prior for selling mushroom juice.

"Miss Emilia Whiltshed - Hennery, you've been caught selling illegal potions before. Now are you sure there is nothing you want to tell me before I pass this all on to my boss in the morning?"

"Look, the Mush juice was mine, but that other stuff - I was just holding it for someone."

Tonks put her elbows down on the table. "Emilia, I'm going to need a name if I'm even to think about looking into that."

"Look I don't know the guys name. So, like, whatever. Don't believe me, but that's what happened."

"How about what he looks like? We could get a sketch."

"Well, he 'ad 'is hood up didn't he?"

"Of course he did. What about his voice? What did that sound like?"

"I don't know. Like every other London geezer."

"Right, all that- doesn't help you at all."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Give me a name, that's all I need," Tonks tried again.

Emilia shrugged and avoided making eye contact with Tonks.

Tonks changed tact. "Can I tell you what I think? I think that you were holding it for someone. I think you know who it was. I think that it was a friend or a boyfriend even. Nothing in your file makes me think that you would make such a big leap from selling Mush juice to a Class A poison. I bet you didn't even really didn't even know what you where holding. But you got caught and now you're covering for a friend. It's sad. You're going to end up taking the rap for something you didn't do.

"Em, whoever you're protecting here, they aren't worth it. Were talking Azkaban, this isn't small. Your friend, whoever they are, is making a really horrible poison used for torture."

Tonks let her words hang in the air, and watched as slowly the words were absorbed by the girl.

"He told me it was a party potion. Something new."

"Who?"

"Malcolm Darcy." the girl looked straight at Tonks when she said the name. "He's a friend of my boyfriend."

"You've done the right thing here Em." Tonks stood up.

"Can I go now?"

Tonks opened the door and called out for the desk clerk. "We'll have to hand you over to law enforcement, they'll give you a formal warning for selling the Mushroom juice. Then you'll be free to go, but I may still be in touch."

"Yeah, whatever."

"What am I doing?"

Sirius looked up from the crude sketch he was carving into the table. "You're sitting at the headquarters of a secret society with an outlaw, moaning about the impeding doom of meeting your girlfriend's parents."

"My life just gets odder by the day." Remus rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just that I can hardly get my head around… she's my girlfriend. I'm in a relationship. That's already hard enough for me to take. Add in meeting her parents, who aren't that much older then me, and it's too much for me to get my head around."

"Shut up Remus! You have a stunning girlfriend, who is so over the moon about you that she wants you to meet her mum and dad. Go with the flow here, mate." Sirius went back to attacking the table with a knife.

Remus ran his hands through his hair. "You're right. Now if I could just relax enough to go with the flow."

Tonks was late to the office the next morning by ten minutes. It had been late when she got home, and she then had to pack her bag for the weekend trip to her parents. In her haste she gave Remus only the most fleeting of thoughts, she knew that he was still ill at ease about the trip, but what could she do about that.

As the lift doors opened on the Auror offices floor, Tonks came face to face with Haman and Benson. "Tonks, early I see," Haman jibbed. "We were about to go out and follow up your lead. Got time to join us?"

Benson gave her a smug sneer. Tonks steeped back into the lift, followed by the two men.

Soon they were walking down a quite street in south west suburbs of London. Malcolm Darcy lived here with his mum and dad and two younger sisters. He had finished at Hogwarts the year before and now worked part time at Quality Quidditch store on Diagon Ally. The boy had a small record of mostly reckless behavior.

The three Aurors pushed the small gate open and walked up the narrow path to the front door of a semi-detached two storey house. Benson knocked. They didn't have to wait long before a middle aged woman with long brown hair answered the door in jeans, slippers and a Falmouth Falcons tee-shirt.

"Hello." The woman looked at the three strangers with cold scrutiny.

"I'm Auror Haman, and these are my collages Benson, and Tonks. We'd like a word with a Mister Malcolm Darcy."

The woman swore. "What's that little toad Lysander Nichols been getting him into now?" The woman swore again. "I'll go get him for you. Come on through to the kitchen."

Tonks and the two men walked through to the kitchen. Tonks and Haman sat down at the table, while Benson chose to lean against the counter. Muffled voice could be heard above then. There was a loud slam of a door shutting, before the womsn appeared downstairs again.

"Lazy bugger's still in bed. He'll be down soon. Can I get you lads… err and lady a drink of anything?"

They all declined. A tall teenager trudged sleepily into the kitchen. All he had on where a pair of boxer shorts and a hastily thrown on checked shirt. His shoulder length hair was swooshed on one side.

"Bloody hell Mal, could have put some clothes on!" Mrs. Darcy scolded her son.

Malcolm crossed his arms. "Hell, if I'd know that the Aurors where coming I would have had the dress robes cleaned."

"Oh come Mal, you can't have thought that we wouldn't be around?" Benson asked.

"Look I've had my last warning form, I've been behaving myself."

"So boy, you can't think of any reason why we'd be here?" Haman questioned.

The boy tightened his crossed arms. "No."

Benson took a step closer to the teen. "Really? Nothing you'd like to tell us?"

"No, Nothing - wait this isn't about last Friday night down at the pub?" Malcolm looked around at the three Aurors. "Look all me and San did was float a few pints of a table. You can't tell me that's muggle baiting. It wasn't even me that was casting the charms."

Tonks and Haman exchanged a glance. "That's not why we're here," Tonks said. "Last night I had a chat with a friend of yours, Emilia."

Malcolm looked stunned. "Emilia? That's San's girlfriend. I"ve only meet her a few times."

"And you gave her something to hold for you?" Tonks pushed.

"What? - wait. What am I meant to have given her? Look I don't go in for any of that." Malcolm shook his head.

"Come on son. It's best if you just fess up now," Benson growled.

"Look I told you, I don't do that rubbish." Malcolm threw his hands up in surrender. "Personally I think Em's a bit of a scrubber. San could do better than her, he's a bright guy. He got really good N.E.W.T.'s."

Tonks rubbed the back of her neck. Emilia's story was starting to fall apart. It was becoming more apparent that Malcolm was just a scapegoat. Tonks looked at Haman she could tell that he was thinking the Sane thing.

Tonks worked fast to redeem herself. "If Emilia's story's rubbish, then who was she holding for?"

Malcolm slouched against the wall, "Don't know. Maybe some dead beat friend."

"What about that boyfriend of hers, your mate Lysander? She'd want to protect him, Wouldn't she?" Haman asked.

"Well, it's her boyfriend, yeah. But San's a mate."

Tonks tried a different angle. "You said that San was a good student at school, what subjects was he particularly good at?"

Malcolm bit his lip in thought. "Errr… Herbology. D.A.D.A, and Potions. But he never got the marks he deserved in potions because Snape was a prat."

Tonks smiled at the teen. "Yeah he was. Why didn't Snape like his potion making skills?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Something about San's potions lacking respect and timing. San was always finished way before anyone else, even if his potions where a bit murky."

"Lysander Nichols was it?" Benson asked. Malcolm nodded. "And where would we find him?"

Malcolm shrugged again. "The Spell and Sphinx, down Knockturn Alley is where I'd look."

Five minuets later Tonks was heading down Knockturn Alley, Benson in tow. They were off to find Lysander Nichols, while Haman went to track down Emilia. Tonks glanced briefly at her watch, wondering if she would be late to meet Remus before they headed off to her parents. She wasn't yet, but she had an awful feeling she would be.

A/N: well you all know what to do now... go and tell me what you think??