First Acceptance
The interrogation wore on until it was interrupted by some Healer coming in, surprising them.
"Head Auror Potter- Hogwash is in St Mungos."
"I don't remember asking him to go there."
"He was just admitted to the memory ward."
"Damn," Justin swore from behind the glass. "Brook must have gotten to him."
"Who's that?" Bane asked.
"She's a suspect. We think she's working with the enemy, but we can't be sure why. It's possible her whole identity is fake and she's really just one of them in disguise." He shook his head. "Don't bring this up, but she even got rid of some of my memories."
"Are you looking for her?"
"We are, but it's difficult. We have to find something that can link us to her." He frowned. "That's why we're trying to get as much information as we can out of Kettleburn. If we get the boss, we get everyone else."
"Would you have to offer something to the boss?"
"We'd barely have to offer anything to his subordinates; that's the thing. If we have the boss, then they're not afraid of him anymore. They'll rat out everyone else without much pressure."
In the interrogation room, it looked like Harry had to get up and go deal with the new situation, but first he was going to stop by the observation room. He struck a hand against the table and threatened the suspect before leaving. Justin was a bit confused about how deeply serious his expression looked.
"Doesn't this prove our case-"
"This doesn't prove a thing. The problem here is that Hogwash is your other interrogator. He was playing the bad cop before Brook stepped in and played the good cop. That means that even if Kettleburn's testimony matches yours, it doesn't mean anything, because yours is called into question if no one remembers it. We don't want it to come down to just one source."
"I was there as well," Bane said.
"You can testify about what he was doing, but not about the rest of the club."
"I fail to see why that's my problem. As long as our testimonies agree, that's more than enough... or it should be."
"It might be enough to convict him, but it won't do anything to the people who manipulated him. They're the ones who are really responsible for what happened to you, and everyone else," Justin explained. "Either way, we need to keep him from getting rescued out of here by one of his associates. Harry, we'll leave it up to you to take care of things at St Mungo's. We'll stay and make sure that the witness doesn't go anywhere. We'll get Robards to help us."
"He should be back from the goblins by now. They won't be happy about how this has gone. All right; I'll leave you to it."
The moment he left, he looked to the centaur.
"You don't know who Robards is, do you?"
"No."
"Okay, well, Kettleburn looks like he's swimming in guilt right now, so he probably won't do anything, but... we don't know when Brook could get in here. She's got to have someone pulling strings for her so that she can apparate, or she's got something else. I just need you to make sure that if anyone gets in here-"
Bane raised a bow, nocked with an arrow.
"It'll go through the glass."
"Okay, but get her, not the witness."
"No promises."
He ran out into the hallway and brought Robards back in a matter of minutes, but his fears were confirmed as soon as he got back. A few minutes was too long. Bane had gone into the interrogation room and was loudly threatening the other witness, who was frightened. Robards separated them, but the centaur was still fuming.
"You told him you knew everything. Why do you need him alive?" he demanded.
"We still need him to testify-"
"Not if you find out who the boss is. You said that yourself."
"Okay, well, we don't really know who the boss is. When Harry implied that he already knew and was just checking off a box, that's just marinating the witness. It's a common trick to get him to talk more. It's actually something people come to expect, most of the time- you can look at the record of my interrogation; I told them I was aware of the tricks they were using."
He seemed more confused than anything else.
"You knew they were trying to trick you."
"It's a standard trick. I wasn't offended. It's like... hearing something about your date that later turns out to be untrue. It's not strange for someone to try to put his or her best foot forward, and some people might actually miss it if it wasn't there." He sighed. "Some people might think that you're not really trying if you didn't lie about your age or what you looked like. I know it's weird, but that's just how it is. Similarly, I wasn't concerned about the authorities were trying to trick me, because they try to trick everyone. It's nothing against me personally."
The explanation seemed to calm Bane down somewhat. It was clear that he didn't think much of wizards and their society, and perhaps it was only an explanation for blatant dishonesty, but there was honesty in admitting it and having it out. If someone asked him, Justin would probably say that he would prefer it if the goblins were to explain the way they did things, even if the conclusion he drew about their explanation reflected poorly on their character.
"Wizards have a lot of tricks in their society..."
"That's true. Personally, I respect the way that centaurs are more direct, even though I don't think human beings really work like that. What works for us doesn't necessarily work for you. After this is over, you can go back to living in the forest and we'll go back to living here."
If it was an attractive offer, he was somewhat disappointed even as he held it out as a potential solution for their conflict, but whatever Bane thought of it, he took it. The chance that they were lying to him, a witness who had been nothing but helpful, was low in the first place. As long as he told the truth, which was what he was most likely to do, they had what they wanted from him. He snorted and said that he missed the wood already.
"So, you and Potter brought him in?" Robards asked, turning to Kettleburn. He seemed to have regarded the last conversation dispassionately, only registering that it had happened. Justin had not been lying when he said that he was going to get it in terms of a punishment; it was over for his retirement plans.
"I only helped a bit," he said. "I hate to admit it, but he was mostly just guarding me, the witness, and I helped convince another witness to help us when we were out there. That's fine, though. This obviously isn't my area of expertise."
"It would be a bad look if you handled any of the evidence," the Auror said after a moment. "Just so you know, only we're supposed to-"
"Oh, no, I haven't touched a thing. I've made sure of it."
There was a pause. Robards seemed to have looked right through him before, but at the moment, he could only look straight at him. Justin did his best not to be too self-conscious.
"Thank you," he said after a moment. "I don't know if we've ever had a witness as helpful as you."
"Well, like I said, I can't claim too much credit. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this, like everyone else, and I only wish I could have done it sooner." He sighed. While working with the club, he had been interested in finding out who the boss was, but it was never really important to him, not even if he could potentially use it as a bargaining chip.
"I'm afraid I've got bad news. A few of the higher-ups are breathing down our necks. We don't have a lot to give them right now."
"We could make a public statement with what we have," he offered. "It won't keep anyone from going after our witnesses, but it's better if people know we have them first." He frowned. "I can't help but think that Marietta, or Brook, is waiting for us to do that, though. They might think that we're trying to bait them into showing up."
"Are we?"
"I mean... that might work, but I don't want to do anything that would risk the witnesses' lives. Wouldn't it be much simpler to just kill Kettleburn from a range with a killing curse? We wouldn't be able to block it, and if we had him restrained, it'd be hard to get him out of the way."
"We've got methods of responding to that if it's far enough away and we can see it coming. It would be hard to decide whether to use an anti-apparation jinx or not, though. If we did, it'd be hard to get the witnesses out in an emergency, but if we didn't, anyone else could show up." He shrugged. "One way or another, it wouldn't be my decision."
"What happened to Hogwash?"
"Who's that?"
"I assumed it was a nickname. Harry heard that someone named Hogwash had to be-"
"Oh, Hector. I don't really call him by his nickname; I don't call anyone by nicknames. I don't think he even likes it."
"I see. Did you hear about what happened to him? Was he assigned to look around somewhere with Investigator Cherith?" he asked, narrowly remembering Brook's job title. "Anything could help us get to the bottom of this-"
"Is there something suspicious about her?" he asked. Justin felt a pang of guilt for not having warned anyone about her, but he could not have compromised his testimony by admitting that he forgot it. "I can see why you would ask; she was one of the ones who interrogated you, so it's only natural to be curious, I suppose."
"Well, yes. She... disappeared suddenly when we were done with what we were doing for Harry. I thought it had to be some assignment that she neglected to mention. When I heard about Hog- Hector going down right about that time, I thought maybe those two events were related. Maybe she would know something."
"If someone assigned her to work with him, it would have been off the cuff. She wouldn't have left suddenly because of that. Most likely, she was just being prompt and she wasn't thinking about giving you an update. Technically, she's not required. What was she doing when she left?"
"We were at a warehouse investigating a disappearance of probity probes. It's likely that they were used against Arkie Philpott. The rookie was looking into how they were purchased, and by whom. It's possible that he'll come back with-"
Right around then, there was a commotion outside the room; they could hear shouting relatively close.
"I'll go check what that is; technically I'm not supposed to be watching other witnesses in the first place," Justin said, leaving without waiting for Robards to give his approval. Down a short hallway, he saw that the rookie was arguing with someone from upstairs until he was blue in the face, and he was already well on the way to a fuchsia tone.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN- LACK OF EVIDENCE ? WE HAVE TWO WITNESSES SAYING THE PROBITY PROBES-"
"Auror, it's hardly a high priority if a few dark detectors go missing. Maybe, given enough time, someone like You-Know-Who could figure out how to subvert or sabotage them, but he's long gone, and even if there were someone else, what would be the point? Most likely, it's a petty company squabble, and it doesn't justify an investigation of this scale. A new resolution was just put through the Wizengamot-"
"We have witnesses connecting the culprits in the current investigation to a much larger crime syndicate-"
"Oh, and one of them just mysteriously disappeared? The Corps has a serious problem on its hands either way with that. One way of looking at it is that someone was lying to you about this witness, and another is that you've got a hole in your security. I don't need to remind you that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is strictly liable for any escaped suspects."
"There's a third way," Justin said, interrupting. "She could have used a unique spell to get out, something that we didn't know existed. Alternatively, she could have had help from someone outside the department, but not outside the Ministry, someone who could have messed around with the security for the entire building." He shrugged. "We'll let the Head Auror know about your resolution and he'll decide on how to respond to it when he gets back here."
"Who are you?" the older wizard squinted. "I don't want your name. I wouldn't know it anyway."
"Oh, well, I'm just a witness for the case. I promised that I could help any way I could. If it changes anything for you, we're going after this group of people who seem to have an animus against anyone who causes so much as the slightest inconvenience for Harry Potter. Griphook was in there getting tortured with probity probes and all he ever did was steal a sword, I think, though it's been a while since anyone said anything about that whole episode. Assuming they're caught, it won't be a problem, but, well, if they're not caught, then I would be quite concerned if I found myself too close to the Wizengamot after an inconvenient resolution went through."
"There is no way that any such group exists," the older wizard said, stiffening. "I've heard of your claims, and they're utterly preposterous."
"Very well. The investigation isn't over, after all, so I suppose I can't blame you for being skeptical. In the mean time, though, just so you're aware, it's true what they say, that you can serve the club and get a better deal, probably even if you've done something Harry didn't like once. I wouldn't be surprised if a senior member of the same council that held a sham hearing for him might feel the need to improve his standing, but consider this- you might just get hung out to dry entirely. Ask Zacharias Smith what ever happened to his friend Finch-Fletchley and you'll get the idea."
No one said anything for a moment. The official slapped down the parchment on the desk and walked out. It was not an official order, but that was clearly in the works. The plants in the Wizengamot had to be working overtime to push through whatever they could to keep the investigation under control. Unlike Voldemort, the current problem was much subtler, it was not something where everyone could agree it was a problem, and everyone could see that the current government was running interference. If anything, it was kind of like that situation in fifth year where they were being gaslit about the return. That had been a weird period, and it was not really making him nostalgic to have the same thing happen again.
"That'll at least keep him away for a moment," he said. "Please tell me we've got something that'll get us closer to the boss."
"I was beating my head against the wall trying to get the people in Records to talk to me. Fortunately, I think we've got a case against Gemma Farley and Dennis Creevey. The problem is that I can't force the manufacturer to say anything about the sale. We figured that someone must have paid him, personally, in order to avoid tipping the goblins off, and it would have cost a lot of gold. The workers said that the whole crate would have cost way more than the average person would have had."
"So, he knows who the boss is?"
"There's a chance. It's just that he technically didn't do anything illegal, so we don't have a way of threatening him."
"Let me talk to him. You're the authority here- don't let anyone tell you you're not- that means there are things that we need that only you can handle. I've never fancied myself as someone with a silver tongue, but I've been on a roll lately, it seems. I'll just be honest with him and tell him how bad things are and how much we need his help. If that doesn't work, well, I suppose I'd be fine with one of Harry's more creative solutions."
"That might be for the best," the prospie said after a moment. "Someone needs to keep an eye on all the physical evidence we have, and legally, I can't ask you to do it... I don't know how many of our coworkers are compromised." He took a breath. "Technically, there's nothing wrong with you persuading the other witness to talk to us."
"I'll do my best," he said, just before being apparated to, and then left at the private home of the artificer. He cleared his throat before knocking. "Excuse me, sir, I'm sorry to bother you at such an hour. I don't know if you've spoken to anyone yet, but I must inform you of the importance of-"
"Who is it?" The door opened so suddenly he had not the time to take a look before he heard the question. It was an older wizard, so old Justin might have mistaken him for someone dressing up in a costume of an old man, assuming that someone had been old in the first place. His wand was surprisingly short at around six inches and surprisingly, in his hand as if he expected an intruder.
"Please don't hex me, sir. I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley, the victim and reluctant, remorseful participant in a horrid conspiracy."
"Why are you here?"
"Well, I thought I would see how remorseful you were, sir. Do you know what it's like to have a probity probe in your-"
"I didn't have anything to do with that. I make them and sell them. I've never had anyone trouble me, not in fifty years, over who buys them and I'm not about to start. There's no law on the subject." His expression changed into a scowl suddenly. "They're only dangerous if something's really, really dark."
"I'm not here to try to get you in legal trouble, not at all. I don't mean this the way it likely sounds, but even if Azkaban were on the table for being a willing participant in this sort of thing, I don't know if there would be any point in sentencing you at your age. I'm only here for information, something that should be no trouble at all for you to provide." He gathered that someone at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement must have explained that the products were used in a murder. Wait a minute... that means the man from before wasn't even right. He said that the dark detectors went missing. Did he not know that they were used to kill someone- or did he not know that we knew?
"I expect you're here, then, to tell me how horrible this organization is."
Justin wasted not a moment in regaling the cringe-inducing tale, sparing no detail and naming names whenever possible. Technically, he was only recalling what Harry had told him, and what he read from his own interrogation record, but he could almost imagine it as he said everything. If the idea of using the Memory Charm on him had been to get him to doubt his testimony, it couldn't have backfired worse; he had full faith and credit that Harry Potter had done his due diligence on every word that escaped his list, where before he had given numerous caveats that he might have been confunded more than he realized.
"Am I meant to believe all that?"
"We're building a solid case, sir. There's a mountain of evidence back at the Ministry. I'm only the messenger. I'm only here to persuade you to speak up before the judgement day comes. I wouldn't think much of a man who did the right thing only after it became certain that he would be rewarded, or that in doing so he would escape punishment. This is, therefore, your only chance to do the right thing."
The old wizard took a drink of a bottle that seemed to levitate itself over to him.
"I've been doing this a long time. They always told me that I was doing the right thing. I never thought it was so easy. I thought I was just selling them a product."
"I see. You refused, then, the designation of being a hero, even though they would have called you one, during Grindelwald's time when so many dark artefacts were getting past us."
"Was I wrong? It was just my job. I did the best I could at it, of course, but then..."
"Circumstances changed," Justin filled in. "You made the probity probes well enough that no one needed the newer models. They put you on laurels high enough to where you could rest on them, but then things stopped working out. Life fell into a normal pattern."
"Did your research, then?" he asked, a particularly white eyebrow raised.
"No. It's just what happened with me, sir," he said, taking a seat. "I never thought I'd meet another side character in a place like this. You might have even been close to a main character. Tell me, was there someone who-"
"Albus Dumbledore-"
"Right, of course. I should have guessed," he said before the older wizard could start on it. Almost certainly, the conversation would not go in a productive direction. "Everyone looked up to him, I presume? Whenever he did something, it was the talk of the town?"
"This is the neighborhood where he grew up. I don't know if you ever heard about that."
"I see." Justin had to think about how to proceed. He had not expected the issue to be so complicated. "Well, it might be too late to be the hero of a new story, or to start the old one back up again, but it's never too late to do the right thing. Even if you've been falsely accused or falsely credited, you can always set the record straight. I'll help you, if you like. I don't have a problem saying that I hardly did anything and you came there on your own."
"My life has been simpler than I thought it was. I was just buying and selling things. The distinction of being called a hero was a limited time offer, nothing more." He sighed. "That's not another pointless statement. That's a confession. You weren't the first to speak with me about all this."
"I suppose, all things considered, I should hardly find that surprising-"
"It was always an exchange. I... I should have guessed my last bad deed would be an exchange as well."
"Wait-" Justin wondered what was wrong. It seemed like the old man was getting close to a breakdown or something, and then he realized he was staring at the clock. "Is someone coming here?"
"It won't be long now. It will all be over soon."
"We should get out of here while there's still time. If there's floo powder here-"
"There's no escape. There's nowhere to go. He has eyes everywhere. That was one thing I learned early on."
"Who has eyes everywhere?"
"First, it was due to his old connections. There was the department of magical sports, or whatever it was, and then there were a few others from overseas. I don't know what all they do. I have never been overseas."
Justin had not considered that it might be an international conspiracy, but he supposed that he was not counting on help from outside in the first place. In all honesty, he thought the situation was basically lost at that point. There was about as much point in asking the sun to only shine on certain parts of the world. He turned when heard a knock at the door, and it opened without waiting for a response.
"Hello, there."
He was surprised in the fact that he was surprised. After investigating the issue for days, he would have hoped to at least see the conclusion coming, especially when the man's name had already come up. Had Zacharias known the whole time? Was he just taunting him? It had not been anyone connected with the Death Eaters, or really with the Ministry. The most trouble in which he had ever found himself, if memory serves, was having to hide from debt-collecting goblins.
"I should have known there was some reason Arkie Philpott was killed right in front of us when the rest of them were just in hiding. Why? Did you not think he'd sympathize?"
"No, no, but I know how they do things. I doubted that they would seriously pursue this once the man who tortured one of their own had been punished. If you told them anything about our operation, they would have known that someone who had been wronged by them was the most likely candidate for the only goblin missing from Gringotts. As long as they didn't dig deep into their records, they'd never come up with how exactly I paid those nastly little bastards back in the end."
"You should have been sent to Azkaban a long time ago. You gave information to a Death Eater."
"It didn't occur to me that he was one, and it didn't occur to the court that there was any chance a pro Quidditch Player could be a bad man. I realized something that day. It's all about how people see you. Then, I met Harry Potter."