Chapter 4

After seeing them Floo off to St. Mungo's, I turned over the "Open" sign on the front door so that it said "Closed" and Apparated back to my office. I sat in my chair, taking a drag of my first cig of the day as though it were Felix Felicis. My eyes closed, and I mentally sifted through all the information I had thus far. One: someone was after Teddy, or Tonks. Probably Tonks. And if they were willing to sacrifice a child, the person either had a really, really big problem with Tonks, or they were insane, or both. Two: that someone was most likely not Cecily. However good she was at Potions, a sixteen-year-old girl at today's Voldemort-free Hogwarts wouldn't have the means to concoct such a dangerous brew. Besides, there was just no motive. No problems with Tonks or Teddy, no financial or personal gain, and even if she were slightly less intelligent about things, she would have known she would be the first the Aurors would suspect. Three: whoever this someone was, they knew the ins and outs of Tonks' arrangement with Cecily. They acted quickly and efficiently enough so that if Tonks had maintained her normal routine, she would have come home to find her son dead on the floor.

I finished off the last of my cigarette, grinding the butt into the overfull ashtray on my desk before vanishing the contents with a flick of my wrist. Wiping my face with my hand, I leaned forward on my elbows, dropping my feet to the ground. Nothing to do now but wait, I grimaced to myself.

It wasn't until after I had finished a particularly greasy curry from the shop down the street that I had more news. Tonks came in, but one look at her dejected face and I knew she hadn't found anything.

“Anything out of the ordinary?”

She shook her head no. “Not a bloody blasted thing. I turned my house inside out, Harry, and all I managed to find was Teddy's stash of Honeydukes chocolate bars. There isn't a single thing in my kitchen that I didn't buy myself. Nothing that Cecily brought with her, no takeaway, nothing. I tested it all myself, and there are no charms, hexes, or added ingredients in anything. I examined all of his toys, books, and clothes. Ron and I ran diagnostics on all the furniture, on the grounds, on my Floo ... Merlin, Harry, it doesn't even look like anyone else has even set foot in the house!” She groaned then, a long moan of frustration and pent-up anger.

“Tonks, we're going to find them,” I said in a voice that would chip diamonds. “Believe you me, I will not rest until we know who hurt him.”

She smiled at that, but it was a fierce, feral smile. “I know, Harry. That's why I came to you ... because neither one of us will ever give up.”

I reached out and took her hand. It was smaller than I remembered, but then again, I'd grown up since last I held her hand. “Too fucking right you are, Tonks. Cig?”

She shook her head no. “I'm going to go sit with Teddy a while, see if the blokes at St. Mungo's have turned up any news about what kind of poison was used, where it came from. See you later?”

“Of course.”

My hand tingled for an hour after she left. Robards popped in once, asking about Teddy. He was appropriately sympathetic, but I knew he was dying to remind me not to forget about the Malfoy case. But that would just have to wait.

Two hours later, I had no further news. Nothing from Tonks, nothing from Cecily, and nothing about the Malfoys. Leaving a stack of paperwork on my desk for tomorrow, I went over to Ron's office, but he was out on another investigation, so I decided to leave for the day. Flooing over to St. Mungo's, I paused, then decided to check on Tonks first.

“Any news on Teddy?” I asked quietly, sitting down next to her on the bench outside of his room.

“They're running some more tests now,” she said huskily, clearing her throat. “Anything on your end?”

I shook my head no. “Listen, I'm going to go check something out. Want some tea when I get back?” Tonks bobbed her head once, which I took for a yes, and so I took off for the Spell Damage wing upstairs on the fourth floor.

As luck would have it, Hannah and Neville were still there, sitting in the lobby. Walking over, I sat down across from them. “What's the latest?” I asked.

Hannah looked over at me tearily. “They said that she was hit by a very powerful Memory Charm but they can't figure out who did it,” she said, looking up at Neville gratefully as he wrapped his arm around her.

“They've been questioning her and testing her for hours,” Neville said tiredly. “But they can't restore the missing time. All she can recall is that she was cleaning up after lunch, and then things went black. They think that maybe she was confined somewhere dark, like a closet, or simply knocked out, but she doesn't show any physical damage, thank Merlin.”

“Well, that's good news at least,” I said, torn between relief and anger that someone had used the girl to get to Tonks.

“I don't know that I'd call it 'good' news, but at least it's better than it could have been,” Hannah said. “I just can't believe this happened. I promised my sister I'd take care of her, and now here we are at St. Mungo's, finding out someone's destroyed part of her memory.”

“Hannah, Neville, this isn't your fault,” I said perhaps a bit too loudly. “At least we know she didn't do this to Teddy. And hopefully, the mediwizards will be able to restore her memory, and she'll be able to tell us who did this to her. But if not, rest assured we will figure it out.”

But by the end of that week, nothing new had come to light. Teddy was stable, but comatose. The mediwizards were of the opinion that the poison, whatever it was, would just have to work its way out of his system on his own, but they had no idea how long that could take. Tonks was free to go home and straighten up, Ron and the other Aurors having completed their investigation of the crime scene. Cecily was also free to go home, but the mediwizards involved in her case had not been able to determine a way to restore those precious missing hours. Still, the Memory Charm had no lasting side effects, and otherwise she was perfectly healthy. In other words, I had absolutely no leads.