She sighed deeply, sat on a chair and opened the newspaper Hugh had given her. The front-page was dominated by a sensational report by Rita Skeeter. Gwen stared a moment at the black-and-white photograph of the glittering Dark Mark over the black tree-tops. Something stirred in the back of her mind. She frowned and started reading the article, which was written in Skeeter's usual yellow-press style.
After a while Jonathan came back from the Aurors' Headquarters. He looked worried. When he got sight of Gwen, his features softened. "What are you reading?" He stood behind her, looking down on the Daily Prophet copy she held in her hands. She pointed to Skeeter's article. He frowned at it.
"We were talking about her, too," he said. „She's a nuisance. Makes things worse, writing a lot of crap. People might panic. May I have another look?" He held out his right hand. Gwen passed him the copy.
"But...," Jonathan suddenly stammered. "This can't be. It's... Did you see the Dark Mark, Gwen?"
"Yes, of course. I was there."
"Haven't you noticed...?"
"What?"
"Look!" He pointed at the Dark Mark. „It's different from the Dark Mark cast in the Death Chamber."
Gwen's eyes widened in astonishment. "You're right." She took a closer look. "I was so afraid when I saw it on the campsite, that I didn't notice. Just a few minutes ago when I was reading the article I thought that something was odd, but could not put my finger on it."
"I'll get my photographs." He went to his desk, and, after a short search, extracted a file from a neat stack of documents.
"Here we are." He spread out the photos he had taken on the site of the crime after the murder had been detected. "What do you notice?"
Gwen compared the newspaper photo with Jon's wizarding photos. „They are slightly different."
Jonathan nodded excitedly. „Yes, this one's got larger fangs than the first mark. Then look at the shape of the cheekbone, it seems broader in this one. And the snake..."
The snake protruding from the skull's mouth was indeed different in shape.
"And what does that mean?" Gwen asked, feeling somewhat naive. "I mean, is the Dark Mark supposed to always be identical? Might it not be that different Death Eaters conjure different Marks?"
"No." Jon shook his head vehemently. "As far as I remember it has always the same shape, underlining the uniformity, or – as they would probably say – unity, of You-know-who's supporters." He frowned.
"So... why do we see two different marks now?"
They pondered the issue in silence.
At this moment, the door opened and Mrs Beresford entered, carrying a lot of memos, documents, and letters, and slightly smelling of cigarillo smoke. She collapsed into her chair.
"Where can I put all these?" she murmured, while staring at the photographs lying on their desk. "What's the matter?" she asked in her deep voice, when she realised that the others looked rather alarmed by her abrupt appearance.
Jonathan started to explain what they had just discovered, while his boss put the documents she was carrying on another chair nearby. As there were too many of them, they fell on the floor. She sighed and used a Levitation spell to make them hover in mid-air.
"Yes, you're right, the Dark Mark should always be identical." She frowned. "Let me see."
She, too, started to make comparisons between the two Dark Marks, and groaned. "I can't believe it. They'll have our hide for sure. Why haven't we noticed before?"
"Well, nobody has noticed it, nobody can't blame you..." Gwen tried, but Mrs Beresford jumped up.
"But we are supposed to know," she exclaimed, wringing her hands. She scrutinised the photographs again. "There is no doubt, the Dark Marks are different. Well done, Jonathan. And what do you make of it?"
He looked up: "Well, if one of the Dark Marks is different from the others, it could mean that one of the Dark Marks is a ... a fake. Not a Dark Mark at all."
"But which one's the fake one?" Gwen asked, looking from one photograph to the other like someone watching a muggle tennis match.
"This one," Mrs Beresford pointed to Jon's photograph with the glimmering Dark Mark in the Death Chamber. "I am quite sure now. The one from the World Cup looks as it had always looked when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was powerful. It's been a while. Look at the snake. And the fangs. The eyes are… all right, so to speak. We didn't notice that the first one was… wrong." She drummed her fingers. "Merlin's beard, why would someone try and forge the Dark Mark?"
She paused for a moment, clearing her throat.
"We know that only Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named know the correct way to cast the Morsmordre spell," Jon said slowly. "So, perhaps, if someone tries to conjure a Dark Mark, and gets it… erm… let's say, gets it a bit wrong…"
"… it means that this someone is not a Death Eater," Gwen continued. "But why on earth would someone try to…to imitate a Death Eater?"
Jonathan stood suddenly up: "Perhaps someone who wants us to think that the crime has been committed by a Death Eater. The Dark Mark is simply… a diversion."
Gwen looked aghast: "But who could be so…"
"Perfidious and cynical?" Mrs Beresford suggested.
Gwen looked at her: "Exactly. So evil and cynical as to use a Death Eater spell as a red herring?" She remembered Miss Carthew's warnings.
Jonathan looked grim and began pacing to and fro. "I'd say, if someone wants us to think the murderer is a Death Eater, and they aren't a Death Eater, it simply means that we have to look out for something nearer home. Which wouldn't have been an Auror's job, by the way, but the job of a Hit Wizard or Witch."
"Oh!" Suddenly Gwen remembered her conversation with Manisha during the Quidditch World Cup. "I know something… I completely forgot about it because of those Death Eaters manhandling the Muggles, and the Dark Mark, and all the agitation, and the abrupt parting…"
"I beg your pardon?" Mrs Beresford asked. Jonathan halted in his pacing, and looked at Gwen in anticipation.
"Sorry. I'm getting off the point. Manisha and I were sitting at the fire, and… kind of gossiping. I think she was trying to insinuate that Roberta was in love with someone, but she didn't say with whom." Gwen cast a side-glance at Jon, hoping he wouldn't realise why Manisha had told her so.
"As a matter of fact I'm prone to sudden uncontrolled bouts of legilimency. When Manisha told me about Roberta I suddenly saw a picture of Roberta and Timothy."
Mrs Beresford and Jonathan listened with rapt attention.
"A picture in her mind, I mean. Timothy had his arm around Roberta and both were standing in front of the Arch in the Death Chamber, looking at Archibald's dead body."
In the silence that followed one could have heard a pin drop.
Then Mrs Beresford took a sharp inward breath: "Are you sure that what you saw was the truth? I mean, that it really happened?"
Gwen shrugged. "I could not give you a 100-percent-guarantee, but when I asked you the other day whether I could meet Jonathan, I saw a picture of a Hogsmeade street, which was, after all, the truth…"
Mrs Beresford was obviously trying to suppress her indignation. Gwen managed to look innocent. She didn't mention that in that case the legilimency had happened on purpose, and with a wand.
"Timothy Oakden and Roberta Dunphy. I see." Jonathan slammed his fist on the desk. Some papers went flying. Gwen flinched, but Mrs Beresford didn't blink an eye. "This Timothy discovered the victim and reported the murder, but he never mentioned that Roberta was with him!"
"And what has Manisha got to do with the whole affair? If she saw the two down there in the Death Chamber, it means that she, too, was at the crime scene!"
"We know that she knows Macnair. He's a Death Eater."
"But this isn't about Death Eaters!"
"Oh! Well,…"
"Well, it seems Macnair lent Archibald Dusk some money."
"This is all so confusing…"
"I want to interrogate them – all of them. I'll call for Pete and Gasparus. Then we'll bring them all here," Mrs Beresford ordered. "Manisha Cullen, Roberta Dunphy, Timothy Oakden, and Walden Macnair!"
Jonathan jumped up at once, fumbling for his wand, while Gwen got up slowly.
"But be careful. They must not suspect anything. And I need to talk to Alex Campbell, we'll need several rooms for the interrogations. I don't want to move them all to the Aurors' Headquarters."
~ooOOooOOooOOooOOoo~