It wasn't easy for him. Alastor Moody walked unevenly down the corridor. The finely polished floor made it hard for him to walk with his artificial leg. He hated taking small steps, but he hated falling even more. Sticking charms helped, but not enough to satisfy him.

He seldom frequented these particular hallways. Truth be told, he'd rather wrestle a venomous snake than deal with these politicians. Lord Nott had a small office in the ministry of magic because of his seat in the Wizengamot. When a Lord calls, a lowly Auror must answer. Alastor thought it odd that Nott had summoned him by name. Maybe His Lordship had seen a mouse in his office.

Thoros Nott barely had time to look up. He heard the knock and the Auror was already inside the door. The two men appraised each other for a long moment. They were alone. The Lord looked like he'd spent the night under the table at a low-rent ale house.

Like a goblin, Alastor Moody was never one to waste time. "You called for me, Nott. You look a little worse for wear."

Lord Thoros Nott drew his wand slowly. To do it quickly would have been a death sentence, but maybe that would have served just as well. With a flick he locked the door and warded the room. He pushed his wand across the desk toward the Auror. Nott's hands trembled. He set both hands on the table where Moody could see them. His voice was unsteady when he finally spoke.

"The world's gone insane, Mad-Eye."

Alastor snorted, "Tell me about it. No argument there."

"I need to see the director.. today."

Everyone needed to see the director of magical law enforcement, but Nott was worn thin. Whatever this was about, the man was deadly serious. Alastor knew that desperate people did stupid and dangerous things.

"Director Bones is a busy woman but her door is open. Allison makes her appointments," Moody said.

Nott slowly reached for his wand. Moody had his wand in his hand with an amazing economy of motion. It saved Thoros Nott''s life that he turned away from Moody and pointed his wand onto his own wrist. Lord Nott cast a spell on himself and his whole body twitched. The Lord's wand slipped to the floor.

The Lord grabbed his limp arm and raised it in front of him. He stood on shaky legs and swayed on his feet.

"I am a death eater. I've taken this bloody mark. I murdered a muggle to get it."

Moody's wand was still pointed at the man's chest. He could see the tattooed runes just below Nott's wrist.

"I've seen those before," Moody said.

When Nott spoke it was with halting breaths. "I'm sure you have. Voldemort wants my son. This has to stop. Take me to Bones and put me in Azkaban."

Moody summoned Nott's wand and slipped it into the pocket of his robes. Shit. There went his plans for the morning. Being a Senior Auror was never boring.

Death eaters had tried to run from Voldemort before. Their bodies were left as a warning to the others. Their remains were horribly transfigured, but part of the body was always left for identification. Nott knew what Riddle was like, but he wanted out despite the risks. That meant Nott was facing something worse than death.

Nott would talk. That made it Moody's job to give the man his best chance at a successful escape. Amelia Bones was about to get her morning schedule adjusted whether she liked it or not.

Lord Nott was still swaying on his feet. "Sit down before you fall down," Moody said.

This would never do. Getting Nott into the directors office in this state would sign his death orders. The Lord looked like he'd been sleeping in his clothes for days.

"Have you been drinking?" Moody asked.

Thoros Nott left his head in his hands and never looked up. "I wish I had."

Moody lowered his wand and pulled a small and thin vial from his inside pocket. "Drink this and we'll talk in a minute."

One pepper-upper position and two glamours later, Senior Auror Alastor Moody followed Lord Thoros Nott out of the lift and down the hall. Neither had a hair out of place. Mad-Eye was carrying two large evidence boxes and looking harried. Nott looked like he'd come directly from taking tea in the executives' lounge. Nott played his part as he kept looking over his shoulder at the overburdened Auror who was trying to keep pace behind him. It was Lord Nott rather than Alastor Moody who knocked on Director Bones office door and went inside. Alastor made sure to close the door behind him with his heel.

Once the door was closed, Moody set down the boxes and Nott slumped into a chair.

"Alli, we need to see Amelia."

The young blonde witch delivered the bad news with a straight face. "She's in a meeting with one of the Aurors. She has another meeting in an hour and a half."

Moody did his best to smile without the scars on his face forming a leer. He nodded to the directors administrative aide and right hand witch.

"Right, lass. This ones on me then." Moody squared his shoulders and didn't bother to knock as he opened the director's door.

Less than a minute later, Lord Thoros Nott was talking to the director of magical law enforcement about being sent to Azkaban.

Senior Auror Alastor Moody gathered a squad of wizards to arrest a group of smugglers and to secure their supply of contraband potions ingredients. It just so happened that the smugglers rented a storage shed from Lord Nott.

It wasn't much of a cover story, but at least it would give the gossip pages something to talk about. Maybe it would buy Nott a couple of days before the Death Eaters knew he was gone.

Saul Croaker knew that magic was complicated. There was almost always several ways to approach a problem. He could become invisible with a disillusionment charm. He could apparat between rooms to arrive unseen. He was a senior researcher into magical mysteries, an Unspeakable's Unspeakable. If the waters of magic were deep, then it was his job to know the sea monsters that hid in the depths.

Croaker didn't want to be seen entering Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He apparated to the VIP portal in the London office of Gringotts as the bank was closing and the lobby was nearly empty. The bank stayed open so commercial clients could make their daily deposits at the close of business. For a few moments, Saul Croaker had the building to himself. From one perspective, he too was at Gringotts to open a new account. The Curse Breakers at Gringotts had helped him many times before.

The Unspeakable nodded to the young goblin who came for him. Croaker threw back his grey hood so the goblin would recognize him.

"I'm Redeye, Senior Unspeakable Croaker. Is this a personal visit or are you here on official business?"

"May your transactions be profitable, Redeye. I've a meeting with Senior Curse Breaker Thornhand. I'm sorry, but I'm a bit early."

An eager customer was always welcome at Gringotts, and Unspeakable Croaker had made his deposits ahead of schedule for the last several decades. The man and goblin walked through a private side door and down three flights of stairs to reach the Curse Breakers' rooms.

With its thick stone partitions and crude furniture, the rooms for the curse breakers were functional rather than decorative, structural rather than beautiful. Of course there were scrolls along one wall with armored wards protecting them, but the shelves of potions and artifacts replaced the opulent ornamentation that the other account managers preferred.

Senior Curse Breaker Thornhand stood quickly as his visitor entered. "How may Gringotts help the Unspeakables today?" The goblin was ready for business and he sat down as quickly as he'd risen.

Saul settled himself slowly. Despite the goblin's thin fingers and short stature, Thornhand was lean and powerfully built. The goblin watched the wizard and nothing escaped his attention.

"I have a dark mark for you to examine," Croaker said.

The goblin shorted. "I doubt you've joined the tattoo club." There was the smallest hint of a smile at his own joke.

"Ah. No, not my arm. This is serious rune work. We think Voldemort sucks the magic from his marked followers and hides his soul in several horcrux. We also think the same scheme that secures Voldemort's soul in the horcrux is used to keep his followers from pulling magic backwards through the dark mark and draining the Dark Lord's magic."

The goblin tented his fingers and partially closed his eyes. "A rectifying or directional rune. It lets a soul enter the artifact, and lets the Dark Lord leach magic from his slaves without being drained in return."

The goblin's eyes opened wide. "Every vault needs a lock and key. There must be a bypass key for both. The key lets Voldemort access the part of his soul after it was locked in the horcrux. He needs a bypass key to push a signal into the dark marks and summon his slaves."

The goblin looked up and fixed the Unspeakable with a steady stare. "You wonder if the curse breakers can unlock the bypass key. At least I'd wonder that if I were at war with a dark wizard.

"There is great profit for the Nation in this, so our fees will be quite reasonable."

Saul drew a memory cube up from the pocket of his robes. "A pleasure as always, Senior Curse Breaker. This is what we've seen so far. We will have to examine the dark marks without alerting Voldemort. We have a marked spy who comes to the ministry every few months. We also have a refugee who wants to escape from Voldemort. You can examine their marks at the ministry when you're ready."

The Unspeakable also pulled a small book from his pocket. The volume was torn, worn, and stained. He set it next to his memory cube on the table.

"This horcrux is the diary of Tom Riddle. It was pierced by a basilisk tooth and the soul fragment was poisoned by basilisk venom. I hope you can read the runes and uncover the key scheme. Would the Goblin Nation happen to have any other artifacts that might hold the Dark Lord's soul?"

The Unspeakable had revealed one of the ministry's secrets. Now he waited to see if the goblin would to do the same.

Senior Curse Breaker Thornhand wrote four lines on a piece of parchment. The message disappeared from his desk with the flick of his wrist. The goblin started to reach for the artifact but the Unspeakable simple spread his hand and pressed both objects against the stone desk.

Unspeakable Croaker said, "We need to set fees and guarantees. We wouldn't want you to damage the horcrux during your examinations."

Saul handed him his notes from a mokeskin bag. There was a moment of appreciation between equals, then the goblin pulled a pre-written contract from his drawer and started writing amendments.

Thornhand spoke as he wrote. "There is a markup for managing multiple curse breakers. There is a markup for a rush job and for coming in after hours. There is also a discount for weakening the Dark Lord who robs us of profits by the minute."

The goblin had growled as he spoke about the Dark Lord. It didn't take a legilimens to see that there was little love lost between the Goblin Nation and the Dark Lord Voldemort, at least at the London branch of Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Thornhand added, "We'll put a stasis charm on the horcrux so we don't damage it during our tests."

Saul was a fair wizard. "There is your standard fee for the stasis charm, for team management, and for the extra hours on overtime pay. Add in a fee for extra security procedures.

"There is also a penalty if the horcrux is damaged. Add in another penalty fee each time Voldemort feels us examine the dark marks."

The goblin never met the wizard's eyes as he wrote out the contract. "I'm sure this will shock you, but we may have a dark artifact locked in one of our vaults.. even though that goes against the expressly stated rules of the bank. We also have a severed arm that has a remarkably similar tattoo to the one you've shown me. The arm was left behind when someone tried to open one of our vaults without authorization. A tragic accident, so fortunately we preserved the arm with a stasis charm in case the owner returns to claim it."

The sturdy goblin looked up and smiled before he went back to his writing.

Unspeakable Saul Croaker recognized the exchange of information. The goblin was looking for a partner in this battle. The goblin had matched the secrets revealed by the Unspeakable, and raised the stakes with a few secrets of his own.

The Unspeakable said, "Gringotts' is legendary for its customer service."

The goblin kept writing. "We try."

Saul knew that the ministry had the dead body of an unidentified Death Eater that had never been claimed by the next of kin. "I appreciate your arm in stasis and your access to the dark artifact. We will match it with a Death Eater's body, also in stasis. We can start with those and examine the living examples later.

"Let's call your curse breakers now and get them started. They can work on the artifacts and specimens while we work out the contract."

"Already done." Thornhand said. "I'll let you know when we need the living specimens of the dark mark."

The goblin kept writing as the door opened and Gringotts' team of goblins and humans went to work. The wizarding war had robbed the goblin nation of both blood and treasure. It was a rare and sublime pleasure to help end it.. while earning a profit at the same time.

The director of magical research thought they'd made great progress on cracking the keys when the Curse Breakers asked for someone who could speak parselmouth. It took them two days to unlock the key phrase. Given that the key was first created by a dark wizard still in school, it wasn't surprising that the phrase was "Magic is Power." After studying Tom Riddle's history, it took the Unspeakables and the Curse Breakers another day to figure out that the key phrase had to be spoken in parselmouth.

The Unspeakables and Curse Breakers had a new tool. They'd deciphered the magical connection between Voldemort and every marked Death Eater. They had volunteers who wanted to take a "White Mark" in order to further study the transfer of magic between wizards. It was an open question if they could modify the runes and corrupt a single Death Eater tattoo to drain the entire magical network.

There were a number of options. Again, Unspeakable Saul Croaker thought that simple solutions were often the best.

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