Chapter 6 : A mission under the Christmas tree

"I know that you're planning to go see your family during this holiday and that's great for you. However, wouldn't you stay at Hogwarts with me ? We can do some cool stuff, like roasting marshmallows that I found in the school kitchens." Arcturus suggested while showing the sweets bag that the house-elves had kindly prepared for him after he read in a Muggle Christmas book that it was a must for this time of the year.

"I already told you that I can't stay. I don't come home that often so I'm not going to miss an opportunity." Akira replied while hurrying to finish her homework that she wouldn't be able to do during the holidays.

Because this Friday evening was her last at Hogwarts, the following day being the first of the Christmas holidays that she would spend at London, not in Konoha contrary to what she announced to Arcturus. And it wasn't to see her family that she was leaving Hogwarts but rather to join Moody on his dangerous missions.

Suffice to say that the next two weeks weren't going to be easy but they were certainly going to be instructive, to the point that Rookwood - to whom she had spoken during an outing to Hogsmeade the Saturday after obtaining her internship with Moody - had advised her to open her ears and not let slip the slightest piece of information, even benign. This had put pressure on Akira, but not only. A certain excitement had also taken hold of her at the idea of discovering how the Aurors were working on the field. She was wondering if it was very different from ninjas, what advanced techniques they were using for investigation and if danger was around every street corner in an England that seemed to be rather peaceful.

Nevertheless, Akira had to be patient as she had one evening left to spend at Hogwarts before going on missions. One too many for her but one not enough for Arcturus who had told her over and over that he would be lonely without her around.

"Pff." The latter sighed in despair while letting himself slide on his chair which caused his foot to collide with the table at which they were both sitting, resulting in Akira making a scratch on her parchment. "I'm going to be all alone, like last year. Aren't you ashamed to do such a thing to me ?"

Akira wanted to say "no" but looking at him with his puppy eyes made it really difficult to not tell him to come with her. However, she held firm to not compromise her mission and her silence depressed Arcturus even more.

"Then I just have to go make potions. All by myself. And go play in the snow. All by myself. And play Quidditch. All by myself. What am I talking about? I don't even like flying, but I'm ready to make an effort if you tell me that you're ready to stay."

"It's only for two weeks." Akira reminded him rightfully. "You'll see, as soon as I leave, I'll already be back. Speaking of leaving, I'd better go to bed now if I don't want to miss my train tomorrow morning."

"Wait !" Arcturus suddenly cried while seeing her shoving all her school stuff into her bag with the back of her hand. "Since you won't be around and Christmas is only a few days away, I'll give you your present right now. Then, it's up to you to open it or wait for the big day."

He then grabbed a small rectangular package that Akira had seen him clumsily hide in his bag earlier in the day and he handed it to her. She took it sheepishly as she had nothing to offer to him in return but knowing Arcturus, he wouldn't mind. However, she still did a memo in her head to remember sending him a gift on Christmas Day. Wondering what he was giving her, curiosity got the better of the desire to wait and she tore open the package which was just parchments stuck together. She found inside... a stuffed animal. Well, more precisely a small stuffed Niffler wearing a red T-shirt with "Perfect Prefect" written on it that was changing colour with time, going from blue to yellow and so on.

"I was discussing with a Hufflepuff coming from a Muggle family and he told me that it was common to offer T-shirts with things written on them as a gift. But buying a real one was out of my budget so I improvised by getting what I could offer – a very small T-shirt with nothing written on it – and doing the printing myself with a special potion that can change colour with time and which is by the way rather hard to remove from fingers. And since it would have been weird to offer you only a T-shirt that you can't put on, I found a plush to put inside that I got for free by helping the shop owner putting some order in his stock after small kids paid him a visit. And as a final result you have this super cute lucky charm that you can take everywhere with you."

"Indeed." Akira said as she wasn't very fond of stuffed animals. "But why did you put "Perfect Prefect" on the T-shirt ?"

"Because you are, no matter what our Head Boy is saying." Arcturus pointed out with a big smile. "So, do you like it ?"

"A lot. Thanks." Akira added while putting her gift away in her pocket.

Now that nothing was holding her back anymore in the common room, she went to her dormitory under the saddened gaze of Arcturus. Once there, she prepared only a backpack since she didn't want to be weighed down by a big suitcase and once everything was ready, she went to bed. However, sleeping proved impossible given what was awaiting her. Instead, she passed time by watching the snow falling outside under the moonlight and when a good layer formed on the windowsill, she finally fell asleep.

Getting up early the next morning wasn't particularly difficult as a certain excitement had taken hold of the students who were really happy to finally be on holidays. Wandering around the castle decorated for the occasion, going outside to enjoy the freshly fallen snow or reaching the Great Hall to have a long breakfast, nothing could come to upset their day. Only those who were returning home via the Hogwarts Express were stressed at the idea of missing the train. They hurried to take a carriage to reach the train station, just like Akira who was accompanied by Arcturus who had been ready to get up early on a Saturday morning to say goodbye to her.

"Remember. I'll be back in two weeks. I'm not going to the scaffold." She advised him while climbing the few steps of one wagon of the Hogwarts Express.

"I didn't say anything." Arcturus defended himself while standing still on the platform as snow falling from the sky was slowly covering him from head to toe.

"No, but you look completely dejected." Akira added as he was indeed looking depressed as possible.

"Not at all." The latter replied while trying to smile which looked more like a grimace.

"In that case, have a good vacation." She wished him as she wanted to go find a free compartment.

"Wait, did you take Junior with you ?" Arcturus asked her out of the blue.

"Who ?"

"The Niffler plush. That's the nickname that I gave it." The latter advised her while displaying a weak smile.

"Yes, it's in my bag." Akira replied while pointing to her backpack. "Why ?"

"Because as I mentioned, it's your lucky charm. With it, nothing can happen."

"That's just a popular belief. It doesn't really work." Akira said while rolling her eyes at this nonsense.

"You never know. In the magical world, these kind of things are actually working. Trust me. And anyway, it won't do any harm to have it with you."

"If you say so." Akira added as she hadn't been totally convinced.

Arcturus finally let her go as the train was starting to move and Akira spent a relatively quiet journey even if the compartment that she had found was crowded with young students, thanks to Arcturus who had held her leg until the very last minute.

"You're late." Moody threw at her as soon as she had set a foot on the platform 9 3/4 right after the train had come to a stop.

"How can it be my fault when it's the train that's not on time ?" Akira replied angrily.

"Come with me. I only made a detour through the train station to pick you up but I'm in the middle of an important investigation." Moody advised her while ignoring her excuse.

He then began to limp away and Akira hurried to follow him before losing him in the middle of the crowd of families who had come to pick up their children for Christmas.

"What's this investigation about ?" Akira asked with undisguised interest.

"You'll find out soon enough. For now, just follow me without saying a word." Moody recommended.

Needless to say that it wasn't very appealing to be cast aside like a dead weight on the second of her arrival. But Akira couldn't complain since her primary mission was just to listen and report to Voldemort. Not to make herself useful in the wizarding world. If Moody took it upon himself to do the dirty job and let her just watch from afar, she wasn't going to say no.

Nevertheless, she couldn't stop thinking about the case that seemed to preoccupy her mentor as he left the train station while scrutinizing everyone suspiciously as if they were potential enemies. Was it a theft, an attack, a murder ? Difficult to say but according to the files that Akira had studied on Moody's behalf last Christmas, he was dealing with Death Eaters who didn't seem easygoing. Maybe he was now on the trail of one.

"Are we going to Knockturn Alley ?" Akira couldn't help muttering after they had passed through the Leaky Cauldron and reached the backyard covered in snow and ice.

However, she began to regret having mentioned this place since she wasn't supposed to be familiar with it, let alone having spent the whole summer there as Moody's magic eye was now fixed on her.

"Negative. Today, we aren't dealing with criminals adept of dark magic but rather with low-level crooks. I have my eye on one of them that I want to find since his knowledge could prove useful." He announced as they were both venturing inside Diagon Alley.

"We're tracking down a poor guy who swindles people ?" Akira translated with her arms dangling. "This isn't really what I was expecting when I left Hogwarts and its festive Christmas celebrations."

"Maybe you thought that you would arrest a dangerous criminal per day with the snap of a finger." Moody replied in his usual gruff tone. "That's far from what we do as Aurors. We plan and prepare blows whose effects won't be visible until several years in the future. And all this hard work to stop miscreants without failing or losing a comrade. That's what we're going to do today, as soon as I'll get my hands on that damned Mundungus." He added while starting to turn his magic eye all around to scan the surroundings.

"Mundungus ? That name rings a bell." Akira declared as she was sure to have already seen this unusual name somewhere.

"That must be from the reading that I gave you last year." Moody reminded her vaguely. "He's not dangerous, but his business consists of selling stolen or illegal objects on Diagon Alley mainly."

"Oh yes, that's right." Akira said as she did indeed remember reading something similar in the file that Moody was keeping about him.

There was especially a picture of him. A blurry one and in black and white, but still. It was hard to forget his miserable appearance as if he seemed to live on the street with alcohol as his only friend. Nothing to do with the people that they would cross path with in this Diagon Alley street where they were doing there Christmas shopping. And that was what betrayed him as Akira saw from the corner of her eyes what she had taken for a pile of dirty cloths move from a dark alley.

Indeed, a short man with long red hair, bloodshot eyes, a three-days beard and a long dirty coat too big for him was walking along the walls and hiding behind the shoppers who were too busy to notice his strange behaviour.

"It's the guy there, no ?" Akira asked while pointing at the door of Flourish and Blotts behind which the suspicious man just disappeared.

"Yes." Moody agreed as his magic eye was already fixed on him.

Not wasting a second, he reached this place with Akira on his heels. Entering the bookstore, they both started to scrutinize the place but it wasn't that easy to find someone in the middle of the crowd gathered there for the first day of the Christmas holidays. Therefore to get higher chance they decided to split, Akira receiving the order to stay next to the door while Moody was walking around the shop.

To not look suspicious while waiting for Mundungus to inevitably show up at the exit since books didn't seem to be his passion or very expensive objects to steal, Akira picked up the first book on which she could put her hand – a divination one, "The Dream Oracle" – and pretended to read even if it was just making her want to sleep. She did a great effort to keep her eyes wide open and it was rewarded as their fugitive soon headed towards the door with a book open in front of his face so that no one would recognise him. He thought for one moment that he had succeeded as he threw his book on a table covered with newly published ones before taking a step towards the exit. However his way was blocked by Akira who came to stand right in front of him.

"What are you doing kid ? Move !" Mundungus threw at her as a smell of alcohol and old tobacco tickled Akira's nose.

"Not so fast." She replied while preventing him from passing next to her. "Before you leave, I need to introduce you to someone."

"Is that the Auror with the creepy eye that turns in all directions ?" Mundungus wondered even though he seemed to already know the answer as he was casting worried glances behind him. "Because we aren't pal. So it's better if he doesn't see me hanging around here."

"Too late." Akira added while staring at something over Mundungus' shoulder.

This made the latter do a big jump and turn around instantly, only to face the Auror that he had tried to avoid in a not very skillful way.

"Hey there. How is it going ?" Mundungus told Moody awkwardly as it was impossible for him to flee now. "I was about to tell this young girl that it's been a long time since I've seen you around."

He nevertheless exchanged his rather relaxed air for a worried one when he saw Moody staring at him with a dark look.

"Don't think that you can fool me and answer instead to the question that I asked you last week."

"Which one ?" Mundungus pretended while taking on a slightly too perplexed air for it to be natural.

"Don't make me repeat myself or I'll arrest you for selling counterfeit goods."

"You have no proof."

"No, but I know where you live. And I doubt that you want your apartment to be searched by a squad of Aurors."

"Nobody wants to experience that !" Mundungus said indignantly while seeming to become reasonable. "And now that you're mentioning it, I remember what you asked me. I was supposed to tell you if I wanted to join Dumbledore and the army-like…" he added before lowering his voice as Moody was mentioning to him to not be so loud since there were lot of eavesdroppers around them, "…thing that he's putting in place. And my answer is, not really. Because I'm not a field guy. I just earn my living by selling some objects, and getting killed isn't part of my plan in the near future."

"It's precisely your professional activity which is of great interest for us, so I'll give you until Christmas to think carefully about the answer that you're going to tell me." Moody advised him as he clearly didn't want to hear a refusal.

"Even if you let me ten years to decide, it will still be a "no". I don't want any trouble with anyone." Mundungus replied more firmly before cowering under Moody's angry look.

"Except that it's too late to refuse after Dumbledore saved your skin multiple times. But if you insist on staying safe, then you should stop right away your fraudulent activities in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley as well. And I trust this girl here to follow you around to make sure that you stay out of business in these two locations. Otherwise, she'll report it to me and I'll send you myself to Azkaban."

"That schoolgirl ?" Mundungus half-laughed while pointing at Akira. "Go look for me in Knockturn Alley ? I want to see."

"She's capable of following you anywhere and without you even realizing it so if I were you, I wouldn't come back to hang around here." Moody advised him seriously as Akira was surprised that her mentor got such a high consideration for her.

"But, these two places are where I'm doing all of my sales !" Mundungus choked in panic. "If I can't go there anymore, you might as well just kill me before I starve or freeze to death since I won't be able to afford anything to eat or a place to sleep."

"It's non-negotiable." Moody warned him without the slightest pity. "Now, I'll show you the exit of the Leaky Cauldron and you…" he added to Akira, "…you'll make sure that you don't see this criminal around. And if he still shows up, come warn me."

"Got it." Akira answered as this wasn't her first surveillance mission.

With that, Moody grabbed Mundungus by the collar of his dirty and torn coat and he carried him away under the latter's protests.

This wasn't exactly how Akira had imagined spending her first day of work with Moody — she had thought that she would follow him around like his shadow — but at least she had a mission related to the team that Dumbledore was putting together since the latter clearly wanted to recruit a crook to fill out his ranks. This information was of the greatest interest for Voldemort, it would let him know that Mundungus wasn't to be trusted despite his poor-guy looks who is ready to do anything to get money.

Now alone in Diagon Alley, Akira went to take a room at the Leaky Cauldron to put her bag down - and Junior in her pocket since this plush was supposed to bring her some luck - before returning to this street — and also to Knockturn Alley where she had spent the entire summer — to carry out her mission. And she didn't waste her time as less than an hour later, Mundungus was already setting up a stand in a dark alley, hiding his face under a hat and a thick scarf. But Akira couldn't be fooled that easily and she asked him to clear out, which he reluctantly did when she threatened to go find Moody.

From then on, Akira's days were summed up in braving the snow, ice and cold to patrol. But also in window-shopping, drinking hot chocolate and buying a gift for Arcturus as Christmas was fast approaching. Her favorite store remained Quality Quidditch Supplies which regularly had a new broom in its window that was envied by young and old wizards and witches. But for Arcturus she had to find something else since he hated flying.

Instead, Akira went briefly to the Muggle part of London - even if abandoning her post was serious for a ninja - and she bought him a miniature pinball machine that was working with batteries to activate small flashing lights. Akira wasn't sure if it would be the pinball machine or the batteries that would fascinate Arcturus the most, but at least she was sure to make him happy with this toy as she was wrapping the gift one evening in her room.

And the first thing that Akira did on Christmas Eve was to take the gift to Eeylops Owl Emporium - which was offering a postal service in addition to selling owls – and ship it. Once done, she went back to work but this time, it was Mundungus that was looking for her as he seemed completely disgusted to not be able to sell anything while the other stores were packed with people doing their last-minute shopping, being ready to spend any amount of money to buy anything.

"You win." He declared to Akira after coming to a stop in front of her.

"Win what ?" She asked him as she was focused on watching parents jostling to buy the latest racing broom for their children even if it was extremely expensive.

"I'm giving up. You're ruining my business, and on Christmas Eve besides ! So you're going to hurry up and tell Moody that I'm joining your group, clan, army, whatever on the condition that he let me resume my activity at Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley immediately. Come on, go find him !"

"I can't. He left the Ministry for a mission and I don't know where he went." Akira advised him which was the truth.

"But you can stop your surveillance right now, and let me reopen my business. I promise that if Moody yells because you didn't wait for his orders to leave me alone, I'll say that I forced your hand. Okay ?"

Akira didn't have to listen to him, especially after seeing him steal a gold watch from an old gentleman's pocket, a watch that she forced him to return. But it was Christmas Eve, and Mundungus had agreed to join Dumbledore's team so there was no longer any reason to hinder him in his work.

"Fine. I'll leave you alone but on the condition that you don't steal anything from anyone anymore. Especially not today when people are more focused on organizing their Christmas party than reporting the theft of a gift or a wallet."

"I swear." Mundungus replied while raising his right hand in the air before spitting on the ground.

And without wasting a second, he trotted away, too impatient at the idea of finally reopening his business after days of famine.

He wasn't the only one who was happy. The whole street was filled with a festive atmosphere amplified by the Christmas decorations of the stores or the ones on trees installed for the occasion.

This excitement nevertheless faded in the evening when everyone went home to celebrate Christmas with their family. All by herself, Akira spent the evening in her room and went to bed early without expecting anything from this special day. No gifts since she had already received the one from Arcturus, no feast because the Leaky Cauldron was only offering regular meals and no snowflakes as the temperature outside that had warmed up during the day was producing rain instead. Not the Christmas that she had been used to at Hogwarts. At least she was gathering information for Voldemort and getting closer to finally see Tatsuno and Matsuo again. That was the only gift that she wanted.

Merry Christmas everyone (with some advance) !

Since I won't be around for this special day, I can already give you my gift and wish you a Happy New Year as I won't be here for this celebration either.

However, you'll still have a chapter a few days after. And this one will be an unusual one. Did you like how Akira was spending her holidays spying on the poor Mundungus who was just asking for selling his questionable objets in peace ? Then, you'll surely like the next chapter as it will be focused on the holidays that Arcturus is spending alone at Hogwarts. He thought that he would be bored without Akira around but let me tell you that it's quite the opposite.