Teddy woke the next morning with a miserable hangover and only hazy memories of the night before. He was pretty sure the part with Pret was a dream. Otherwise that meant even Pret knew about the alcohol cabinet. Who would have told him? But someone had told Teddy, hadn't they? And according to Kamya, no one in the pack actually liked him , he hoped no one in the pack thought he was on par with Pret, though.

There had been something else with Kamya, though, hadn't there? They had agreed to a truce on the smuggling case, he might even get an arrest out of it. But then there had been something about Teddy staying off of Lilith's case. Which still sounded ridiculous even without the alcohol in his veins. Or mostly out of his veins. He was going to have interrogate Kamya about that the next time he saw her. For now, though, he needed to become mostly conscious and presentable and get into work.

When Teddy met up with Hasan at their office that afternoon, he was still nursing a headache despite the potions and spells he had used. He was just hoping for some quiet paperwork, as horrible as that usually was.

Hasan didn't even look up before launching into a conversation. "Where have you been, Teddy? Please tell me I wasn't lying when I said you were following up on a lead."

"Only a little," Teddy said wearily as he sat down and sipped from his coffee. "I did follow up with a lead earlier in the weekend."

Hasan finally looked up. "Bloody hell, Teddy. What happened to you?"

Teddy shrugged. "I don't bounce back as quickly from hangovers as I used to. Thanks for covering for me."

"You were out partying this weekend?" Hasan asked incredulously.

Teddy shrugged and made a so-so motion with his hand. A wake was technically a party. "Just tell me what's got you so worked up."

Hasan frowned at him before gathering up his papers on his desk. "I'm getting nowhere with the werewolves. Everyone is ignoring me."

Teddy froze with his coffee half way up to his mouth. "You were at the werewolf forest?"

Hasan snorted. "Barely. They kicked me out almost immediately because they were having a wake for the victim."

Teddy relaxed a little. "They were probably just closing ranks since the Wizarding World hasn't exactly given them a fair shake."

Hasan tilted his head in acquiesce of the point. "Lazy pricks can't treat them with basic respect and now my job is that much harder for it."

Teddy's eyes slid over to Collins and Jones. Now those were two pricks he would be worried about having free reign in the werewolf territory. "Maybe we can find a werewolf we trust and arrange a go between of some kind," Teddy muttered.

Hasan studied him for a moment. "That might work. You think you could talk to the Alpha about it?"

Teddy nodded. "I'll do that later today. I'll ask Harry when he might be at the forest." Not that he didn't already know the Alpha's schedule. "In the meantime, did you get the work up comparing the magical specs of Lilith Romero and Hermione Granger?"

"Comparing the specs of who?" Hasan blinked. "Wait... Hermione Granger? I suppose that should have been one of the first things we did," he said as he rifled through his folder and then the other papers on the desk. He finally pulled one out and studied it. "Huh. Inconclusive."

Teddy sat upright. "Inconclusive? What the hell does that mean?"

Hasan flipped the paper around so that Teddy could see it. "Too many spells between when they were attacked and the magical residue was tested."

"But how is the potions comparison inconclusive?" Teddy grumbled as he scanned down the page.

Hasan read that part of the paper. "Well, it states they are fairly certain it is the same potion. Maybe the brewing process evolved over twenty years?"

"So it is the same potion they are just too cowardly to concretely say so?"

Hasan raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Realizing he did sound antagonistic, Teddy sighed and shook his head a little. "What do they think it's purpose is?"

Hasan glanced down and then hesitated.

"Please don't say it."

Hasan looked up with a pained smile.

"Inconclusive?" Teddy guessed.

"They think it might be part of a ritual killing."

"You mean because they can't do their job they are trying to do our for us?"

Hasan laughed softly. "Teddy how about you go finish up your paperwork from before the weekend."

Teddy, who could still feel the irritation buzzing in him, just nodded. "Yeah, sorry." He made to grab for his paperwork and then shook his head. "Actually, I'm going to get opinion that isn't crap about these potions." He stood and reached for the potions paper. "I have an outside source that can help."

"Will Harry approve of this outside source?" Hasan asked, holding the scroll right out of reach.

"Yeah," Teddy lied, eyeing the scroll meaningfully. "I'll clear it with him when I ask about the Alpha's schedule."