Dann's spell hit the Boggart first, twisting it into a large, green ogre-like thing... wearing a tutu. When James gave her a questioning look, she shrugged. "Old fairytale. Ogres makes me laugh."
"Reducio!" James watched it shrink, and then levitated the smaller version of Dann's amusement into an open crate.
He snapped the lid down, muffling its high-pitched, dying squeal, but one corner of the lid wouldn't close. "Could you give me a hand?"
Dann stuck her wand behind her ear and used both hands to shove down hard on the top of the crate.
If a live Boggart could paralyze a grown man, they didn't want to know what a dead Boggart did.
James' hands were stuck to the crate. Dann's too. He felt a sickening pull against his navel. "Hold on, I think were about to..."
They spun, holding onto the crate for dear life, landing with a thunk in a different place. James' vision swam. He let go of the crate and tried to get his bearings, surrounded by stools and large, black tables. The sign above the door read, "Museum Teaching Laboratory".
Matt jaunted through the door, and James realized his wand was gone. Again.
"Well, done, Secret Thief!" Then he noticed Dann standing behind James. "I didn't expect you here, Danni. Still looking for your long-lost brother after I'm dead? Oh, the irony!"
"It's just Dann," she said, her voice shaking.
Matt chuckled. Then he aimed his wand at James. "Hand over the tooth."
Claxons went off in the hallway. Someone had tripped the fire alarm. The ceiling hissed, and mist started raining down on them.
"Why?" James asked.
"Because in a moment, Aurors will come to arrest you for theft." Matt looked insincerely apologetic at Dann. "And murder."
Dann's face went white.
Matt sneered, just like the Boggart from the crate. "You didn't think I was going to let that go, did you, partner?"
"You wouldn't let anything go," Dann said. "Not even me!"
"And so you killed that poor, unsuspecting man, thinking it was me." Matt's laughter rang through the room. "It was perfect. I swindled more Muggles out of their useless trinkets without you." He held up a bag that radiated with power. He slid the bag to the middle of the room, a familiar amulet spilling out onto the floor that James recognized from last week's "job". Matt sneer faded. "But it's people like you, Danni, that shouldn't be allowed to run round, offing innocents."
Matt looked far from innocent when he addressed James. "Where is it?"
Dann dug her nails into James' arm. "He's going to kill me and then frame you. Don't let him have it!"
James heard pops of Apparition outside the room and felt his face slipping. The disguise was wearing off, and the Aurors would find the real him. With stolen magical items and a corpse.
Was she worth saving? Would he be able to save himself? James locked eyes with Matt.
"It's in the crate."
