LAST TIME

"Natalie, they have evidence and damning ones at that." De Luca sighed. "Harry— I am letting Valkyrie and you handle this segment of the case then. And Natalie, Faizal… before you protest, their suspicions are not without basis as I said. They have evidence so we better act on it. If she is innocent— which I hope she is, we will release her."

"That goes without saying." Valkyrie agreed. "I know it must be hard that your friend and mentor is now a probable enemy. I suggest you all take dreamless sleep potions and sleep over it. We've been up for more than a day. I'll have a team of interrogators get information out of Rookwood and the others in custody."

"No, leave Rookwood for us." De Luca sighed. "I want to be there when they get the answers out of him under Veritaserum. Keep him stunned and bound. He shouldn't escape."

"He is." Harry said. "I hit him with the tranquilizing pin. And a stunner and a body bind and made sure he had nothing but prison clothes on him. Also checked for poison or fake tooth. None, fortunately."

"Good." De Luca nodded. "We will wrap this shit up as soon as we can. Tomorrow is going to be another long day. So, get your rest."


Ch.13 The Schemes Unravel

Drops of rain splattered across the huge glass windows, tiny rivulets of water running down the length of the glass. Harry's eyes trailed with a single drop, making its way down the surface, merging with another to form a bigger drop before washing down a bigger line of water.

"The prisoner has regained consciousness and is prepared," the guard at the desk declared. "You are cleared to interrogate the prisoner at the Blacksite. You will find all you need inside the room."

"Grazie." De Luca pushed the huge metal door open and entered the room, followed by the rest of the team.

"There he is." De Luca declared as they faced another wall, one with a huge rectangular glass in its center.

Rookwood sat on the other side, groggily looking around, tugging at his chains. The room he was in had all sorts of instruments hanging on the walls— torture devices. In front of the mirror, on the Agents' side, were two small black cases with the W.A.N.D logo painted on them.

"Why is he in… there?" Harry frowned.

"That is WAND's Blacksite, Potter." Valkyrie pursed her lips. "Meant for extreme needs of information."

"It is a torture chamber." Daphne exclaimed.

"Yes." De Luca said. "As I said, Blacksite."

"This is not legal, is it?" Harry asked. "Not even for us?"

"No." De Luca admitted grimly. "Valkyrie and I will break about four international laws as soon as we step into that room. If word of this gets out about this to the majority of the ICW, we will be court-martialed and/or disavowed by W.A.N.D at the very least. But this also allows us to go totally off book and get what we need."

"But you will still be doing it on WAND grounds, which means— wait." Daphne's eyes widened. "This site isn't here, is it? There's no door here like the other interrogation rooms. It is not somewhere W.A.N.D will ever have to take responsibility."

"Correct." Valkyrie nodded. "The Blacksite's location is classified. It also holds some of the worst prisoners our teams have caught. De Luca and I will be interrogating Rookwood there. The two of you can see and hear the proceedings through this mirror."

"Indeed." De Luca said. "Khione, you will be keeping the dicta quill active. Potter, if there's anything you want us to ask him, press that button and speak up. Also, Khione, those papers do not have to be filed under any circumstances or even kept after the end of this case. But the conversation has to be recorded perfectly as Valkyrie will be rewriting the interrogation based on it."

"Forging evidence, you mean." Harry narrowed his eyes. "That is yet another offense."

"Technically, I will be paraphrasing it." Valkyrie said. "And, it doesn't matter. Rookwood is never going to see the light of day and neither are the facts of anything ever done there. Also, you cannot imagine the amount of information the Blacksite has been used to gain in the past and the number of lives it saved. It is only used for high-profile cases. If it makes either of you queasy, you're welcome to leave and send someone else. It is not like we have any shortage of work."

"Yes, the evidence from the warehouse has to be recorded. We have to cross-check the names of those we took into custody yesterday with the criminal database, and then work to interrogate them before creating the release forms or prosecution forms as needed." De Luca listed off. "It is a lot of work to do and a lot of information to sift through."

"So, you are going to interrogate the others normally?" Daphne's forehead creased. "Humanely."

"We are not monsters, Khione." Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Rookwood is a special case. He is, by all means, a serial killer and a terrorist for Magical Britannia. Not to mention, he may have the key to blowing this case wide open. Also, he was an Unspeakable. There is a high chance that he won't give us anything with a normal interrogation even under the influence of Veritaserum."

'That is very much true.' Harry's jaw twitched. 'Illegal or not, it is no less than the bastard deserves.'

"We will be interrogating him now." De Luca opened a case and removed a fork from it before picking up the second case in his hands. "Whatever we do there, you are to speak of it to no one. If either of you cannot bear it, you are free to leave anytime you wish."

Valkyrie grasped the fork, giving both of them a piercing look. "Bravo, Lima, Alpha, Charlie, Kilo. WAND Go Dark."

The fork in their hand flashed and the two disappeared in a swirl of colors. Harry and Daphne turned to the mirror watching as the door of Rookwood's room opened and the two entered, their hoods covering their faces.

Rookwood looked up groggily, his eyes narrowing slightly, a sneer forming on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Rookwood." Valkyrie's distorted voice rang through the room. "I will get straight to the point. We can do this in two ways. One in which you cooperate willingly and painlessly to give us what we want or the other where we cause you a lot of pain, put you under potions and spells, put you through things that will haunt you forever and you cooperate unwillingly."

"I suggest you choose the former," De Luca chimed in. "Because any which way, your cooperation will be achieved."

Rookwood looked between the two of them, his eyes sharpening slightly. "You know?" His voice slurred slightly. "One of your friends… She told me about this. This… W.A.N.D."

"Did she now?" Valkyrie leaned over the table. "What did she tell you?"

"That you… people are not like… Aurors." Rookwood slowly adjusted himself tugging at his chains. "That you people are… good. She was a testament to it. One of your… I believe, combat specialist. And ex-team leader. Scorned and kicked out of here."

"So, it is Cadros." Daphne murmured sullenly. "Well, that at least clears one thing up. Natalie and Faizal won't be happy."

"That they won't." Harry hummed. "But Rookwood is trying to get under their skin. Picking up the topic that might affect us the most first."

"And what else can you tell us?" De Luca walked around Rookwood's chair. "The more you cooperate, the better it will be for you, my friend."

"I know that I am never going to see the light of day again." Rookwood snorted. "But I spent fourteen years with Dementors in Azkaban. You cannot do anything worse to me than that."

"Oh, we can think of a few things." Valkyrie said in a high voice. "A few potions, a little cold, a few enchantments… and it'll be like those fourteen years all over again. Just… the experience will be compressed in the span of a few hours rather than years."

"Really? I am trembling." Rookwood said dryly.

"Look," De Luca sat on the table. "As I said before, you can either cooperate willingly or we can make you cooperate by force. The latter will be more painful for you. Extremely painful."

"So, you better start answering our questions." Valkyrie summoned a small knife from the wall. "Now, who are you working for?"

"What makes you think I am not the one leading them?"

Valkyrie's arm shot forward in a blur, pulling Rookwood's hand onto the table. A second later, a knife came down on his hand and Rookwood screamed.

Daphne looked away while Harry winced, watching as Valkyrie picked up a bloody finger from the table and threw it into a bin before wiping her hands on a conjured cloth.

Rookwood whimpered slightly, hunching up as much as he could.

De Luca, on the other hand, calmly opened the case he had taken with him, pulling out a small vial of green liquid which he handed to Valkyrie.

"Now, Mr. Rookwood." Valkyrie grabbed his hand again, tugging it forward mercilessly. "Whom do you serve?"

Rookwood spat on her face in response.

Valkyrie froze for a moment before uncorking the vial and pouring the potion on Rookwood's chopped finger. As soon as the liquid touched the finger, the wound sizzled and the man let out a piercing howl of pain.

"This potion is designed to keep you in pain and with time, increase it." De Luca's tone was merciless. "Within twelve hours, the pain will grow and spread through your body. Within a day, all you would be able to feel would be pain and you would be barely coherent enough to put together a word. I will give it thirty-six hours before your mind snaps totally and completely, rendering you a vegetable."

"We can also hasten the process." Valkyrie suggested. "A Cruciatus or two and the whole timeline will come to pass thrice as fast."

"You're—" A tremble passed through Rookwood's arm, a grunt escaping his lips. "Bluffing."

"Feel free to call it out." Valkyrie shrugged. "Right now, it has barely gotten started. Within an hour, the pain would spread through your forearm. It will seem to you like a… limited Cruciatus curse at that time."

"And the more it spreads, the more of your body we will have to cut off in order to stop it." De Luca said. "If you cooperate right away, you can get away with most of your hand intact."

"No… such potion exists." Rookwood hissed. "It cannot."

"For the normal public, it doesn't." Valkyrie conceded. "But we? We are W.A.N.D. I am sure your friend told you about us. About what we can do."

Rookwood glared at them.

"Why don't we give you a little taste of pain?" Valkyrie drew her wand. "Maybe it will loosen your tongue. Crucio."

Harry winced as Rookwood's screams echoed through the room as he twitched uncontrollably in his chains. His arms strained against the gray metal, the links digging into his skin.

A few seconds later, Valkyrie broke the curse and De Luca stepped forth, a vial of clear liquid in his hands. With a harsh tug, he forced Rookwood's mouth open and tipped the contents of the liquid into Rookwood's mouth.

"Imperio!"

Daphne leaned toward Harry. "Why are they torturing him if…"

"Little known fact about Veritaserum is that it can be fought much like the Imperius can." Harry answered her unasked question watching as Rookwood stopped struggling, his eyes glazing over. "It works similarly with a single, strong command— to speak the truth. It takes a good amount of will and resilience to fight it off. As for the pain? It makes it harder for him to concentrate and thus, harder to fight against it."

"Augustus Rookwood, whom do you serve?" Valkyrie asked. "And what is their goal?"

"A man that calls himself the Liberator." Rookwood replied in a monotone voice. "He is the one who orders everything. I do not know much about the man or his goal."

"What do you know about him then?" De Luca asked.

"He is very rich." Rookwood replied. "Or has rich friends. He never gives orders directly. The woman does."

"The one who worked for W.A.N.D?" Valkyrie asked.

There was a brief flash in Rookwood's eyes and his arms twitched, straining against the bonds. "Ye—ye–yes."

"Blimey, he is fighting it." Daphne breathed.

"That is not unexpected." Harry leaned back, watching as Valkyrie unleashed another Cruciatus curse on the man. "Rookwood was an Unspeakable. Now, while I do not know much about them, all of them specialize in esoteric magic. And when dealing with certain magics…"

"Some degree of mental fortitude is important for one's safety." Daphne agreed. "But not to a point where one can fight off the Imperius and Veritaserum. I have also been trained in mental fortitude for a bit. But I do not think I could fight off Veritaserum. Imperius, I can fight now. But…"

"Anyone would have trouble with the two of them at once." Harry said over Rookwood's screams of pain. "Honestly, I didn't exactly think he would fight it. Not with the pain."

"Without it?"

"Rookwood was strong enough to survive fourteen years in Azkaban with his sanity mostly intact." Harry reasoned. "And he has had more than five years now to recover from the experience. I did say, he might've fought it off. I could."

"You seem sure of yourself."

"During my second month in the Auror force, I was hit with four Imperius curses at once." Harry rolled his eyes. "Didn't work. Though, I did have the luxury of receiving four different commands, which probably helped me out a bit."

"Interesting." Daphne muttered. "Whom were you after?"

"Mulciber and Travers." Harry said. "They—"

He was cut short as Rookwood fell to the floor with a crash, twitching uncontrollably. His eyes were no longer glazed, but afraid and filled with tears.

"Now, Rookwood." De Luca stepped forward. "I am afraid you've left us no choice. I must allow my agent to take extreme measures to loosen your tongue. Agent?"

"With pleasure." Valkyrie summoned a device from the wall. "Let us begin."


The brown liquid in the cup swirled, the thin silver spoon poking through it as steam curled off its surface. Harry flicked the spoon slightly over the rim, creating ripples, and placed the spoon on the saucer.

"Is that how you deal with this?" Daphne's voice sounded faint, her features pale. "Drink tea?"

"I have little sympathy for what Rookwood was put through." Harry blew the steam away. "While I admit that the methods employed were not… ideal, the bugger would've never cooperated willingly. He was given two chances to do so. He didn't take them. Plus, even with his cooperation, he would've controlled the narrative and we may not have gotten what we did."

"Yes, their plans are somewhat ambitious." Daphne frowned. "Dominating the underworld of the wizarding world through absolute monopoly is… well, taking on a lot of trouble. But I didn't get a hint of their motive. Not beyond stuff that every other Dark Lord dreams of."

"Which seems almost suspicious." Harry pointed out. "Something tells me that this isn't your everyday Dark Lord."

"And what is it that… led you to this conclusion?"

"The dealings." Harry said. "They are accumulating wealth and building a network. Getting a grip on the underworld as Rookwood pointed out. This Liberator is practically buying the low lives with contraband and fake galleons and also giving them a job by arming them. But he has not yet acted like most would. Even Myers was a rogue as Rookwood said."

"He got a gun and decided he wanted to rob Gringotts." Daphne nodded. "He failed twice, but was successful in escaping."

Harry nodded absently.

Rookwood, while not a gold mine of information, had been useful enough to gain some insight into the operations of the Liberator. The man had several places like the warehouse they had raided, operated a dozen underground drug and sex rings all over Europe, and had made enough guns to arm a small army.

A small army that could potentially wipe out a whole country off the map under the right circumstances, with the right wizards. If those guns got into the hands of anyone competent instead of the low lives that this man was arming, it was certain that it would lead to a lot more trouble than they were in.

That was another point that puzzled Harry.

Why was this man equipping low lives with these guns instead of recruiting some better wizards? Rookwood had stated twice under the influence and pain that they were only allowed to recruit non-criminals or petty thieves and such who were either addicted to something or in need of money.

Not murderers or dark wizards with experience in torture and slaughter.

In other words, people no better or worse than Mundungus Fletcher. Low-life and low-time criminals with no real heat, who would skirt the law to make a small living off thievery and selling contraband.

These low-lives barely knew how to fight or had a spell repertoire that would only allow one to survive in the places they lived. Blasting curses, a couple of cutting spells, basic shields… Nothing overly fancy or problematic as far as even aurors were concerned.

"Potter?" Daphne shifted on her feet. "Do you think we can get to Cadros? If she relays orders, she must know more than Rookwood did."

"The problem would be getting information out of her." Harry said. "She cannot speak properly for starters and would fight way more than Rookwood did if her skills are anything to go by."

"She would." Daphne grimaced. "So, what now?"

"We get the team here and crosscheck the list of locations we got out of Rookwood." Harry shrugged. "We also need the files of other interrogations to see if there is any other pertinent information. After that, well, I guess we will systematically take them down. But that will be De Luca's call."

"It is exactly what the call is." Valkyrie walked into the room.

Her eyes were carefully blank, her features pale. She walked up to the cabinet and removed a packet from it, tearing it open and dumping its contents into a glass.

"Valkyrie, are you okay?" Daphne frowned.

"She isn't." Harry said as Valkyrie poured in water and stirred the concoction wordlessly. "And she is drinking a calming brew."

"Thank you, Potter," she said shortly. "Get to the conference room in five. We are going to pool together everything we have and make a detailed plan of action. Plus, Horus thinks he found something."

Valkyrie turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, taking the glass with her. Daphne and Harry shared a look.

"That affected her more than she showed." Harry said. "The torturing of Rookwood that she did. Honestly, I'd be more worried if it didn't."

"Right there with you, Potter." Daphne sighed. "Even you went away for a bit for all your poker face."

"I didn't want to see De Luca administer him the Draught of Nightmares." Harry closed his eyes, the image of Dumbledore's pleading eyes flashing in front of him. "It is perhaps one of the worst potions ever made."

"You've encountered it before?"

"Once." Harry said shortly. "I think we should go to the conference room. Let's not keep the others waiting. Not when we are in a time crunch."

"We are in a time crunch?" Daphne gave him a surprised look.

"You do realize that the Liberator might move up his timetable because one of his warehouses just got raided and his men arrested?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "It means, we have to crack this open as fast as we can and wrap it up with the Liberator behind bars and his operation up in flames. Because if we do not…"

"We are fucked."

The pictures on the boards moved, glancing down at the sign in their hands before looking at the strings stretching like a spider web all over them.

"Alright, what have you got for us, Agent Horus?" De Luca's voice pierced through the silence of the room.

"A couple of Gringotts accounts, actually." Horus slid forward a piece of parchment. "And each of their balances is in six figures, netting an estimated total of nearly a quarter million galleons."

Ares let out a low whistle at the number.

"Yes, those are some heavy funds." Horus agreed. "Both the accounts are in different names, one belonging to a registered establishment— one that only exists on paper."

"And the other?" Valkyrie asked.

"Atomus Le Duff." Horus threw a photo on the table. "The same person whom—"

"The Trivian Pearl mine and the warehouse belonged to." Faizal said. "He also has multiple shady businesses and shell establishments."

"Then he would be a good place to start, I reckon." Harry said. "He might also know something more."

"Le Duff matter isn't that simple." Faizal shook his head. "He is a rich and powerful man. We cannot arrest him without a warrant or even detain him without concrete proof of his involvement."

"He owned the warehouse we raided and found illegal contraband in!" Daphne exclaimed. "Not to mention, a wanted terrorist and a serial killer."

"We cannot skip past that process." Horus said. "The Macedonian government will be on our collective asses and build pressure via the ICW. The whole case would slip through our fingers. I am pretty sure an inquiry came to the ICW about the raid. But since contraband was found and a wanted international criminal was arrested, there will not be much action or any."

"If we take Le Duff in, that is a totally different bag of cats." Natalie agreed.

"Alright, first let us see if we can do something about those accounts." De Luca said. "Get them frozen and put them under review."

"Putting an account freeze shouldn't be tough but we need Mage to sign off on it." Faizal said. "But it will take at least a day to go through the legalities of it and deal with the goblins."

"Do it." De Luca said. "Valkyrie, Fern, Ares… what do you think of a hands-clean ops mission?"

"De Luca… you are treading a fine line there." Valkyrie leaned back. "We already went to Blacksite for Rookwood. I do not think any more steps out of the line should be taken."

"What is a hands clean mission?" Harry raised a hand. "As in off the books?"

"Yes. And you wipe away every bit of evidence of the mission." Natalie replied. "Thoroughly. That means no living witnesses. And if you are caught, you will be disavowed and left for the dead. It also means that no W.A.N.D equipment, including portkeys, would be used."

"That's not an option." Valkyrie said. "I would never do such a thing with my team."

"You have done it before." Ares said.

"The team wasn't under my leadership when that happened." Valkyrie said. "And I barely escaped in time from there. A few seconds would've seen me behind bars or on a death row."

"Then what are our other options?" De Luca asked. "They will wall us out if we go through legal channels. We have no chance legally, ICW or not."

"Let us concentrate on the other spots and Cadros," Valkyrie suggested.

"Excuse me." Harry cleared his throat. "What if Le Duff is the Liberator? Why else would he fund all the operations and everything? And Rookwood said that the Liberator is rich."

De Luca and Valkyrie shared a look.

"If you are telling us to do a hands-clean mission, I will be the one to do it." Valkyrie said resolutely.

"And that would be suicide." De Luca replied. "Le Duff's mansion will have an Auror detail or be similarly guarded. He could even have guards with those guns. You will need someone to watch your back."

"I am not putting another person in trouble." She banged her fist on the table. "Such a mission is the most dangerous thing anyone can undertake. No support, no extraction, no safety."

"There's another way." Harry interrupted before De Luca could retort. "We hit all the establishments at once. Clear them out, arrest everyone within, and even take Le Duff in. If we do that, any pressure will be nearly meaningless. "

"You are not thinking of the fact that what if Le Duff is not the liberator?" Faizal said. "If we pull such a stunt, and Le Duff turns out to be largely innocent… there would be repercussions."

"If we are willing to kill him, why not frame him?" Daphne asked. "And even framing is a strong word here. We know he is funding these operations. He is not innocent by any means. We can always pull something off and magnify his crimes enough so that Macedonia would have to thank us rather than fight us."

"It… is not a bad plan." Valkyrie glanced at De Luca. "But we are fourteen people."

"Forty-nine if the whole of WAND gets involved." De Luca said. "And we happen to be in luck. The ICW international court is closed on the second and fourth Sundays of every month, which happens to be in two days. So, they cannot fight or stop us until it is far too late. We have greater jurisdiction than Aurors."

"That could work." Valkyrie said. "Skirting the edges, but it could work. Even if Le Duff isn't our guy, we won't have problems. And if he is… well, the matter ends, doesn't it?"

"Let's go to Mage. This just became a level seven mission."


AND… DONE! Hope you all liked the chapter!

So, yes. As I have said, WAND is not your everyday police force. They can bend the rules, and even break them if they deem necessary, even though they officially have to work within certain rules and limits. Wizard-rights being one of them, which was violated to gain information out of Rookwood.

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A10riddick: I do not really plan on letting them get together in this part. Sparks will fly but the fire won't be lit.

Mark Andrew: That did become a little oversharing, to be honest.

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A huge thanks to Mughil and Enigma for betaing this chapter!

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