chapter 5

The following morning Lin was at the Ministry on her way to her office. Inwood's file gave her no leads. She was considering a different approach to the investigation when she saw the fireplaces in the main hall blaze, and McLee appeared with three more Aurors. His face was coloured from spending what looked like hours in the December wind. The snow covering his team was quickly melting, and they trailed multiple puddles. McLee's frustration was clear. Not expecting him to say hello, Lin greeted him first. "So, where is the trooper who caused so much excitement, that you personally led the chase?" Lin was not intending to tease him, but she was curious. She disagreed with his hack and slash tactics and him not being able to think outside the square, but in general she saw him as a decent man and a professional. He had never used any underhanded tactics to destroy anyone's work to satisfy his pride or ambitions. His tactics were to outdo whoever he competed with, but never to drag them down.

"It's your Snape." McLee looked at her in a way as if having spoken to the man once incriminated Lin in his doings. "My ears are frozen off from chasing ghosts in Diagon Alley all morning."

"What about Mr Snape?" Lin interrupted.

"Someone tried to break into his lab and triggered all his traps and alarms. The commotion was loud enough. We could hear it all the way here."

Lin did not listen to the rest.

"Heeeey, Lin! Lin? What's the rush? It's not like you are responsible..."

It was too late. Lin disappeared in a flare in the fireplace.

Even in the early hours there were already some people at Diagon Alley. Lin ran all the way to the already familiar building, dodging numerous obstacles and people along the narrow path. The ground by the door was covered in foot prints. Lin counted four pairs. The prints then split up in opposite directions. Obviously McLee had ordered a search of the area.

This time Lin did not have to wait. The Potions master opened the door as soon as she came. "Miss Snedjnaya, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

If there was an award for having the best collection of most sarcastic remarks, his tone would have guaranteed him first place on the list, Lin thought. Suddenly, she was at a loss for words. A stray breeze picked up a strand of her hair and threw it in her face. Lin brushed it away. Lin was uncharacteristically puzzled. She could have found out everything from McLee. Yet, she came running. "I was not told what it was exactly that got stolen, only about the break in." The justification did not sound very convincing even to her own ears.

There was such intensity in Snape's scrutiny of her, as if he could read her mind. "Nothing was stolen. They were unable to get through the wards and left."

"Then why did you call the Aurors?"

"I did not. Aurors have a tendency to do more damage than the would be thieves. Local residents heard the alarms and called them."

"McLee broke your door."

A large snowflake fell on his eyelash, and Snape brushed it away instead of replying, but Lin instinctively new the answer. She noted that white snowflakes, falling from the clouds were in stark contrast with his black hair and cloak. Lin shook herself. She wondered why she was having trouble concentrating. Before the potions master could close the door Lin spoke. "Still, there must have been something in your lab that the robbers wanted."

"There are a lot of rare ingredients in my lab which present a lot of interest to the robbers. But you are overestimating my importance; the break in could have occurred at any lab, since even the most basic ingredient can be mixed into a deadly potion. Take the recent delivery of lizard claws, for example, they are harmless, but grinded into powder they are a part of a highly explosive mixture." Snape stepped closer and looked down on her, as if he knew everything and wanted Lin to confess her wrongs immediately. Lin figured this habit must have come from working many years with the students. "In fact, this is what your dead Auror had asked me about two weeks ago. So, why don't you stop wasting my time and tell me your suspicions directly, instead of pretending that you care about the robbery."

Only years of long training helped Lin hide her astonishment. She knew absolutely nothing about Inwood's project that included explosives. "What else did he ask you?" she questioned.

Snape's patience however had already run out. "Nothing! I told him to mind his own business. I do not take part in making such dangerous substances, which you can check by the used ingredients records! After your dead Auror tired of his questions, he quickly left, as should you, now that I have nothing else left to tell you."

Snow fell off the roof from the force of the door slamming shut. Lin guessed this was the last she would see of this wizard. The thought was unpleasant, but also she had seen much worse reactions to being questioned, and she learned long ago to ignore it when necessary. How much representatives of the law were respected depended on how the laws were executed, and sadly during the war faith in the Ministry's laws had been shaken badly. The Ministry was recovering in the last half a year, but it had a long way to go.

More importantly though, Lin was consumed by desire to find Ardall and hex him into the next century. Lin had an easy explanation as to why she knew nothing about the explosives. There were two types of files; one kind was a cover file, made up with minor modifications to exclude important facts of secret projects. It contained only part of Inwood's work. Lin should have known earlier that everything was far too properly arranged to be a full account.

Her murderous intention must have been clear because no one tried to talk to her as she stormed through the Ministry.

"Mr Ardall is not here. He will return in the evening." The secretary warned her as soon as Lin walked in.

"I know exactly where Mr Ardall is!" Lin named a wing farthest from the office. The secretary hunched his shoulders, feeling danger in her tone, like he was a kid scolded by a strict teacher. "He told me that he wants to see you immediately." Lin noticed writing on one of the folders on top of the pile. "He said something about a clock. I would hurry if I were you."

"Yes, yes, of course!" The secretary hurried to grab the necessary folder. He mistook Lin's anger as something Ardall felt for him. He did not want to be in trouble with his boss.

"Hey, open the office please, before you go," Lin commanded, pointing at Ardall's office. "I'm supposed to wait for him to come here, as soon as he settles the clock business."

The secretary obediently opened the office for her and hurried away.

Lin was certain that she would easily find Inwood's file before he returned. Ardall would keep it nearby because he was working with it. For all his intrigues and manipulations, he had an average intelligence, and therefore he would hide it in one of the most obvious places that regular people deemed suitable for hiding. Lin found the file in three minutes flat. The file was tucked between two books on the shelf. Ardall would have to ask Colby for a copy of his copy, because Lin now had the original. Lin was going to keep it at home. Although she did not think it was very likely that he would try, she was not going to give Ardall the chance to get it back the same way she got it from him.

At first, Lin locked herself away in her office to study the documents. This file proved far more enlightening. According to it, before his death Inwood was working on uncovering one of the most dangerous groups in London. When Voldemort was alive, the majority of the Ministry was focused on fighting the Death Eaters, which in turn gave an almost free reign to other factions in the city. Only in the last half a year did the Aurors, under Shacklebolt's leadership, began to seriously track and eliminate activities of a criminal nature. Why this gang was Inwood's responsibility was explained by a separate note. Once, the Ministry had tracked down the headquarters of this group. However, the Aurors did not succeed in the capture. They were met with a fierce resistance. Two members of the gang were killed in the crossfire, and the rest got away with the help of a strange artefact. The Aurors had discovered more artefacts in the gang's headquarters that clearly radiated dark magic. A group that was willing to use dark magic and explosives was serious. Could this group be responsible for killing Inwood when they felt that he was close on their tail once again? If so, she had to find them, but where to begin looking for them? Lin felt that she needed new leads. The only other location left was the scene of the crime. Earlier, she ignored McLee's ramble about not trusting the shop keeper, but perhaps he had unintentionally stumbled onto something. She had to find out. It was time to visit Knockturn Alley.