"What are you doing in here, Miss Bale, eavesdropping behind shelves?" said a soft voice behind Gwen.
She whirled around. She hadn't heard the sallow-skinned wizard approaching. Broderick Bode was looking at her with mournful eyes.
"I am not … eavesdropping, Mr Bode," she replied in an equally soft voice, hoping that the three wouldn't notice them. "I wanted to meet Vivi Gregorius, she asked me to come here. But I can't find her."
The voices nearby had become silent.
"Oh, Miss Gregorius – she's gone. She was in a hurry as usual. She came here to bring us two new prophecies, and vanished."
"It is really interesting in how many places you work," Mrs Beresford, clad in dark green robes, had appeared out of thin air with Jonathan in tow. Mabel Tancock wasn't with them anymore.
"Isn't it," mumbled Gwen quick-wittedly, turning back to Bode. "Do you know where I can find her, Mr Bode?"
"Unfortunately not, Miss Bale."
Gwen gave a sigh, and said: "All right, if you happen to see her again, please tell her that I am looking for her."
Bode nodded.
"Could I have a word with you?" Mrs Beresford asked a bit impatiently.
Gwen slowly turned to look at her. "Of course."
"You said you entered the Department of Mysteries at half past seven yesterday morning. It's come to my knowledge that you usually do not start working that early. What did you do before you entered the Death Chamber?"
Gwen frowned. Her memory of yesterday morning seemed blurred and hazy. "I…I had some calculations to do, I think. Sorry about that but I remember that I was feeling rather bad yesterday morning."
"Why was that?"
"I… had gone to bed late the night before." Gwen didn't want to tell her about the red wine.
"Calculations?" Jonathan was making notes with a quill.
"Yep, and I had to review a report for Ad," she suddenly remembered. "Some values seemed to differ too much."
"And why did you start that early? Were these urgent tasks?" asked Mrs Beresford.
Jonathan looked uncomfortably at the tip of his boots.
"No." Gwen suddenly felt trapped. "Listen, I really don't know why I came so early, and I know that I usually enter at nine o'clock sharp. That may look suspicious to you, but I knew I had to work with Mr Crow later on, so I wanted to profit from my waking early and get some Brainroom work done beforehand. That's all."
Jon smiled encouragingly while Mrs Beresford frowned.
"You said you didn't see anything unusual while you were working in the Brain Room, just your colleagues entering."
"Yes."
"Where did they come from?"
"What? I mean…?"
"Did they enter the Brain Room through the door from the Circular Room?"
Gwen considered. "Yes. At least I think so."
"The first person you mentioned was Mrs Honoria Brum."
"Did I?" Gwen looked irritated.
"Did she come from the Circular Room?"
"I think so. Where else should she have come from?"
"From her office. From the Planet Room. From the corridor to the Hall of Prophecies. From the Death Chamber," Mrs Beresford suggested. "What was she doing?"
"She… she prepared a potion for me because I was feeling ill." Gwen felt suddenly thirsty.
"And then she went to work?" asked Mrs Beresford, while Jonathan was scribbling away.
"No. She wanted to leave, in fact. She had come from a … night-shift, so to say."
"Why did she come back then?"
"Oh, I don't know." Gwen felt a bit annoyed by now. Apart from that, she was surprised how bad her memory worked due to the hangover she had felt that morning. "Perhaps she wanted to get some things from her office before returning home. Why don't you ask her?"
"I certainly will," Mrs Beresford said quickly. "Can you remember having heard anything from the adjacent Death Chamber?"
Gwen gave a hollow laugh. "You surely know that all the rooms in the Department of Mysteries are sound-proof."
"Did you hear anything unusual in your room? Or did you smell anything? Taste or feel anything?"
She is just doing her job, and she does it all right, Gwen thought. "Let me think. I felt really bad that morning, you know."
"All right. You think about it. Please tell me if you remember anything. Anything might be important."
"So it wasn't Mayfield?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything about our investigation." Her deep voice was very calm now. "It's only us who are allowed to ask questions." She shrugged.
"Is that everything?" Gwen asked.
"That's everything for the moment, thank you," Mrs Beresford gave a cool smile.
"See you then," Gwen answered coolly, wondering why she hadn't been asked about her other colleagues. Mrs Beresford said good-bye.
Jon waved and said: "See you!", forming the word 'tomorrow' with his lips, as Marilyn Beresford had already turned around.
Gwen wondered where to provide the training brains for Crow. Surely the wizard was already marvelling where she was. She heaved a sigh and headed off to find Vivi.
~ooOOooOOooOOooOOoo~
Saturday, 23 April 1994
They had almost finished their breakfast – toast, fried eggs, sausages, bacon, beans and tomatoes –, when Hugh leant back comfortably, while Miss Carthew took a last sip of her cup of Earl Grey tea.
"I am going to apparate to the Wiz-Co, have you got your grocery lists ready?" Gwen asked, stretching and patting her belly. This morning she had finally been able to sleep a bit longer than in the last few days. Yesterday had been tiring, she had spent the afternoon teaching Crow spells to fend off an aggressive brain, and the evening to conduct some occlumency tests with the brain "Ernie".
As usual Miss Carthew handed her a piece of parchment written in her neat handwriting, while Hugh – also as usual – hastily looked around to find some parchment and draw up an ad-hoc list.
After Hugh had finished, Miss Carthew got up to leave, and Wookey busily cleared the table. The sun was shining through the windows onto the round wooden table in Hugh's kitchen.
"What are you going to do today?" asked Gwen.
Hugh got up and opened the door to his workshop next door. "This," he replied, pointing at a heap of small childrens' broomsticks. "They begged me to return them next week." He cocked his head, twitching his beard. "And you? Are you coming to my brother's pub tonight? There will be some good music."
Gwen shook her head. "No, I can't, I am going to meet an old schoolmate in Hogsmeade."
They said their good-byes and Gwen returned to her cottage to get some money and bags, and light a cigarette before apparating to Tinworth.
She grinned when she looked at the card she had drawn this morning, and which was still lying on her kitchen table: Two of Cups. It showed a man and a woman, each holding a golden chalice. A caduceus was rising between them, between the great wings of which there was a lion's head. Love? Friendship? A pledge? Unity? This might become an interesting day.
There was a tiny park near the main road where she usually apparated behind an elder bush. Some sparrows were making a racket in a puddle.
Squinting against the sun and the forget-me-not-blue sky she took a deep breath. The air was warmer now and smelled of spring. Moving on, Gwen tossed the butt away and strolled along the High Street looking at the shops, and greeting some of the muggles and wizards passing by. Then she turned left, went up a small lane, turned again left and entered a tiny cobbled street lined with small cottages and an abandoned warehouse.
She looked around. When she was certain that noone watched, she extracted her wand and touched with it the high gate that lead to the yard in front of the building. She murmured "6-4-2-2-4" and opened the gate. In that instant the whole scenery changed. Instead of the dilapidated warehouse a flashy blue building appeared, bearing the sign "Wizarding Comestible Goods".
Witches and wizards were moving around, some Apparating or Disapparating directly within the yard. Two witches collided while apparating on nearly the same spot, bumping against each other and swearing loudly. Others flew in on broomsticks, concealed under a Disillusionment charm. There was a counter where broomsticks could be checked in, and a row of boxes for flying horses and hippogriffs. Security wizards were controlling what happened on the yard.
Gwen got a hovering trolley from the trolley stand (after inserting a knut into the slot since she'd lost her plastic coin), and entered the wizarding supermarket. She liked shopping and prowled the aisles, always checking the three lists she'd got with her. A soft tune was playing. She started loading her trolley with fruit, vegetables and magic herbs, humming to herself. Then she went on to get pink milk, singing eggs and easy-to-spread butter.
"Hi, Gwen!"
She looked up from Hugh's list. She was trying to decipher a word on his list that looked like 'red dragon mustard'.
"Oh – hallo, Roberta, how're you?" she beamed and blushed. Roberta lived in Tinworth, like several other wizarding people.
"Fine, thanks," Roberta nodded, her grey eyes glittering, and reached for a package of green spaghetti. She looked a bit better than the last time Gwen had seen her, and was wearing a flashy red shell suit.
Suddenly a friendly female voice sounded out of nowhere: "Bargain of the week: premium state-of-the art precision foe glass, only 40 galleons, check out this and many other bargains on our bargain counter. It's a great time to shop!" A bit lower (and faster) the voice added: "Offers only available whilst stocks lasts."
"What are you going to do this weekend?" They moved their hovering trolleys side by side.
Gwen blushed even more and dived for some cat food tins for Napoleon. He loved salmon and dormouse best.
"I'll have to catch up on some work," Gwen muttered, sighing deeply. It was true, Ademarus had asked her to finish a mountain of work before Monday. They usually did not take their work home, but Ad had seemed to be quite nervous about something. While Roberta got some Happy Hippo treats from a shelf, Gwen asked: "What do those contain?"
"Assortment of dried insects, you wouldn't want to know exactly, would you?"
Gwen laughed. They had reached the bargain counter. Gwen rummaged through a pile of talking mirrors in different sizes and shapes, wondering whether she wanted a new one for her bathroom.
"I was thinking about that hippogriff ride we were talking about. If you're tied-up today and tomorrow, what about next weekend, then?" Roberta asked while rifling through a heap of copper and silver cauldrons.
Gwen beamed: "All right! I suppose I'll be finished with … my other work by then."
Roberta looked at her, slightly bewildered.
"With Crow," Gwen whispered. "It's difficult for me at the moment – with two jobs, I mean."
Roberta nodded sympathetically. They arranged a meeting Saturday in a fortnight. Then Gwen checked the content of her trolley, and proceeded to the checkout counter, while Roberta stayed behind to continue her shopping.
~ooOOooOOooOOooOOoo~