"And did you look at the other two memories or did you answer Mrs Hill's summons immediately?"
Miss Carthew stirred her tea daintily, not looking at Gwen, who had just come home, fed her cat Napoleon, and had a look at her own small, somewhat unkempt garden, when Miss Carthew had invited her for a cup of tea.
Gwen grinned and sipped her Earl Grey tea. Nothing gets past you, she thought.
Before rushing to her boss's office, she had, of course, had a look at the other memories, in case they contained important information.
„I looked at them first, one was another memory of Eleanor, again a very short one, where Archibald and she enter the Circular Room, say good-bye to each other, and separate to get to their respective workplaces. The other one was very blurred, but I think I am able to make out Macnair! I am going to analyse the memories more thoroughly tomorrow first thing."
Miss Carthew nodded.
They were sitting under the cherry-tree. Gwen had an appointment with Isabelle, who had returned from her holidays in France, later that evening.
"Agatha Hill was very pleased to hear of those five memories," Gwen continued. "Crow sneered the whole while, but there is no denying the fact that, at least technically speaking, we are making progress. Ademarus, too, was there, even though I don't know why she had summoned him. He was surprised when he learnt how I had extracted the last five memories, I think he prefers the more sober modern wand-waving magic. Agatha Hill praised our ‚excellent work', and asked Crow for his patience. She said he was, after all, free to divide his time flexibly, and work at his project whenever he wanted to – whatever she meant by that."
„It's really strange that Suplinius Crow wants to end your cooperation," Miss Carthew frowned. „Why is he behaving like this? Doesn't he realise that this makes him even more suspicious?"
They sipped their tea companionably.
„And what do you think about the memories?"
Miss Carthew put her cup on the table. „We learn that Alex Campbell might know something about a problem Archibald had, which is very interesting."
„I suppose they are going to interrogate him about that memory. By the way, do you know Alex Campbell?" Gwen asked suddenly. „He seems to know you..."
To her utter surprise Miss Carthew blushed like one her pale pink roses.
„I do remember him; an elegant, well-read and highly intelligent wizard." She gave a tiny cough. "I worked in the Love ante-room at that time." For some unknown reason she blushed deeper, now resembling her Damascene roses. „I think he's even somehow related to the Dumbledore family."
Gwen nearly burst with curiosity, but realised that her neighbour wouldn't tell her anymore right now.
„What else do we learn?"
„We learn that Vivi Gregorius might know or suspect something about Archibald's and Mayfield's work with horcruxes..."
Gwen raised her hands: „I wouldn't go as far as that. I think she really didn't see the goblet the two were hiding behind their backs, and even if she had, we don't know whether she would have realised what it was," she protested. „If this goblet was indeed a horcrux, that is," she added as an afterthought.
„Very good, Gwen, I'm just weighing the possibilities. But Vivi might know something. She sees a lot and seems to be everywhere, after all. Then, we learn that Eleanor made tea for her husband, and his colleague..." – Gwen giggled and sipped at her tea – „which might be important," Miss Carthew continued, lifting her index finger, „and that they went together to work until getting into the Circular Room, which we already know. And last but not least, we have another pointer to Walden Macnair."
Gwen finished her cup, set it down, and got up with a sigh. "Thanks for the tea, Miss Carthew, it was really excellent. I have to get going now, Isabelle invited me to a Mediterranean dinner, and I still have to change."
"Ah, she is back from her holiday in France, isn't she?"
Miss Carthew got up with her and saw her to the door. „I'm going to ponder this new information, Gwen," she smiled, her blue eyes twinkling. „Could you try and figure out what Campbell knew about Archibald Dusk?"
~ooOOooOOooOOooOOoo~
Monday, 8 August 1994
I suppose it's one of those days, Gwen grumbled inwardly, feeling a hot surge of anger. This morning she had not been able to find her floo powder and she had been already late. The small wooden box had been empty, and she had been one hundred percent sure she had stored some reserves somewhere. Then she had rapidly drawn a Tarot card for the day, and it had been the Tower.
In the early morning she had received a bouquet of flaming red roses delivered by owl. First she had thought they were from Jonathan, but then had noticed that the sender was Norma. She had felt an urge to throw the flowers over the cliffs, but had been unable to bring herself to do so as they were very beautiful and smelled lovely.
Sighing she had put them in a vase, but managed to discard the accompanying letter without reading it. 8 August, I suppose that was the day we met, she had remembered resignedly.
And now, after apparating into the London rain, and emerging, sopping wet, from the Visitors' entrance – the phone booth lift – amidst the crowd of Ministry wizards and witches, who were running in all directions, she had bumped into Macnair of all people.
He grinned at her, and helped her picking up her leather bag, which had slid down her shoulder. Gwen nearly turned into a pillar of salt.
„Hi, how are you? You are a friend of Manisha's, aren't you?"
Gwen murmured a thank-you, nodded, and wanted to hurry away, but he didn't give in.
„Fancy a smoke with me after lunch one of these days?"
"Erm… I don't think so," she stammered, "I mean I've got a lot of work to do."
"Ah," he grinned even more broadly, his black moustache quivering, "the investigation." He rolled the word on his tongue.
Gwen frowned. "You know that I…?" she asked in a hoarse voice.
"I have eyes and ears. And I've been interrogated, as you possibly know." He had lowered his voice.
Then he came very close to Gwen, who got a whiff of his stale breath and averted her face.
"I didn't murder Dusk," he whispered in her ear.
"That's not for me to judge," Gwen hurried away, and heard him laughing behind her.
"See you in the Smoking Room."
What a horrid wizard, Gwen thought. She used the lift to get down to the Department of Mysteries. When she opened the door to the Circular Room ("Commitment and dedication are key to solving any mystery"), she was still shaken up by that nasty encounter. She had just used the Caverotari spell and tool, and was rummaging inside her leather bag, when she saw two other people, standing next to one of the black doors with the blue inscriptions.
"Hi Gwen," Timothy smiled at her. Roberta seemed somewhat flustered, and Gwen frowned.
Have they just been holding hands or not? Am I imagining things?
The two were standing apart from each other, like colleagues engrossed in a perfectly harmless conversation.
"Hi Timothy, hi Roberta, how're things going?"
"Quite all right," Timothy beamed, "my spirits have been very spirited lately."
Or am I just… a suspicious and jealous witch?, Gwen thought.
Roberta was chewing one of her sparkling gums, and remarked: "We should meet one of these days – I mean you, Isabelle, and me, you know, to plan our trip to the Quidditch World cup."
"You're right. I'll tell Isabelle. Manisha is going, too, shouldn't we include her?"
"Why not. Timothy here is going too."
Timothy waved his hands: "Yes, but I'm going with my wife and children, so I think we'll be assigned a different tent place, and, anyhow, probably keep to ourselves. But we can, of course, …"
Precisely at this moment Vivi burst into the Circular Room with a loud cry, soaking wet, her claret-coloured robes dripping with a green liquid.
"What's the matter?" Gwen and Roberta exclaimed.
"The tank has exploded," Vivi panted, "the big brain tank, I mean. I'm going to call Magical Maintenance!"
She pointed her wand at a tiny trap-door on the bottom of the Circular room and murmured a spell. It opened and gave way to a red button, which she pushed.
"Merlin's beard," Gwen gasped, "I'll go and see what's happened inside. Who's in there?"
"I'll come with you," Timothy announced.
"Me, too," Roberta echoed.
"I'll stay here to await MM, and accompany them inside," Vivi explained.
The others nodded, as they knew that the Magical Maintenance staff, like any other non-Unspeakables (or just, "Speakables" as they called them), were not able to enter the Department of Mysteries.
"Are you all right, Vivi?" Gwen asked her, her hand already on the handle, and the platinum blonde witch, who seemed to be a bit under shock, nodded.
Gwen opened the door cautiously.
Inside pandemonium reigned. Firmin and Honoria were standing in one corner, Firmin was injured, a large gash was showing on his cheek. Honoria was trying to heal it with her wand, talking soothingly to her colleague. The green liquid stood up to their ankles.
Pieces of broken glass were scattered all over the place, and brains were floating in the green liquid, their tentacles reaching out aggressively. Ademarus and Isabelle were running about, trying to catch them with picker arms and putting them into small tanks. A strange smell wafted over the place.
"Let's help them catching the brains," Gwen suggested to Roberta, and Timothy.
Tim nodded: "All right, we'll follow you. Where do we get those picker arms?"
Gwen beckoned them to follow her. She went straight to Bob's office, wondering where the tank manager was. They all waded through the green solution, which had become somewhat gelatinous.
"Ugh," Roberta pulled a face, as she looked down at her soggy robes, but surged forward valiantly.
Gwen shook the handle of Bob's office door, but it was closed. Where is he now?, she thought desperately. She tried Alohomora, but it didn't work on the office door. She hurried to her own office, the others in tow. There were two small tanks, and four picker-arms, which she grabbed and handed to the others.
"Better than nothing!"
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the five vials with the memories standing on her desk. They all hurried outside. Timothy was somewhat clumsy in handling the arms, and the brains, while Roberta was surprisingly deft.
"Try to put two brains into one tank," Isabelle shouted from her corner of the room. "But not Claudine and Ernie, they can't stand each other."
Timothy looked a bit helpless: „Which one's Claudine?"
Isabelle frantically pointed at one of the floating brains.
„Where's Bob?" Gwen asked in the direction of Ademarus and Isabelle, while trying at the same time to get hold of Ernie, and keeping an eye on Timothy and Roberta, somewhat worried about them being attacked by a brain.
„Don't know," Ademarus answered, nearly tripping on the slippery floor. „I've sent him an urgent memo, though."
„Argh!" Roberta suddenly cried, as a brain wrapped its tentacles around her wrist.
Within seconds Gwen was at her side, performing the nonverbal Dissertio and Dissuo spells, closing down her mind.
The door to the Brain Room suddenly opened, and Vivi appeard, followed by a small ferrety wizard in navy robes.
He looked around helplessly, and kept standing there as if stunned.
"Who are you?" Ademarus shouted, not at all his usual self-controlled self.
"I'm Reginald Cattermole from Magical Maintenance. You sent us an Emergency call."
"I pushed the button," Vivi explained, turning to Ademarus. "I had hoped they would send some more helpers…"
"Could you please help us with this mess?" Isabelle waved her hands at the green solution and all the glass shards. "Remove the green solution and the glass?"
„You wouldn't be able to put the glass tank together again?" Gwen panted, rather hopelessly, and Cattermole shook his head slowly.
„I don't think so, but I'll do what I can," he answered in a small voice, extracting his wand, and gazing around vaguely.