A smile began to appear on Nate's lips as Jonas continued to ask him about the orders the Grimshaw's made at Sellaphix.  He had to decide what he wanted from this.  Did he keep Jonas's ear and try and wrack his brain for lists and inventories from a year ago?  Or did he send him to Zelda Sellaphix?

He wrinkled his nose at the tasty jab that would be, for Aurors to show up at Sellaphix Apothecary again.  Nate had little love for the Sellaphixes anymore.  When things got thick with the law, any loyalty between them seemed to dry up.  They'd been fair enough employers, but he had them to thank for a few of his troubles.  He had nothing against those two boys, but Rafe and Zelda? They were more ruthless and calculating than they let on. 

"I delivered them," he admitted.  "Each time to a different location.  I wouldn't know it was Grimshaw's until the witch showed up to collect what she ordered.  She wore a hood," he supplied to pre-empt a question of who she was.  "old, though."

"Wish I could tell you what exactly what was.  Heh, you know, pretty sure it was Runespoor at least once, but other stuff as well.  You'll have to ask Zelda."

He grinned.  "Have you had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Sellaphix? Lovely woman." 

He hadn't been expecting this when he'd come to pay a visit to Nate Briggs today, but Jonas found himself smiling nonetheless.  Briggs was sharp, observant, and -- when he wanted to be -- even forthcoming.  It was too bad that he'd dropped out of Hogwarts, and that he'd let himself get pulled in so deep with Tawse, because the young man was clearly smarter than one might think -- maybe even nearly as smart as Briggs seemed to think.  If Rafe and Zelda Sellaphix had only seen fit to use him for running errands and carting around illegal goods, it had been a waste.

And now here, finally, he had a lead that might get him somewhere.  He knew vaguely about the Sellaphixes -- Adon had been on that case, had a sort-of friendship with one of the sons, and Jonas had read over the file before he'd confronted Nate in the Ministry's cellar -- but he hadn't had reason to interact with them yet.  It seemed as if that was about to change.

"Unfortunately not."  He flashed Briggs a crooked smile, one that promised all sorts of delightful Law Enforcement mischief.  "What can you tell me about her?" he asked, settling back in his chair.  "What d'you reckon she's like?"

Merlin, was he really going to do this? Well, that was too late as he'd already done it.  He'd given an Auror Zelda Sellaphix's name. He was actually pretty surprised that the Sellaphixes had come up today given he couldn't remotely imagine they'd have anything to do with those murders in the paper.

"They're good folk," he told Jonas.  He'd spotted old Rafe Sellaphix around Azkaban once, but they were in separate sides of the fortress.  He'd have felt a little bad for the family if he didn't know that this was exactly what they'd all signed on for, in the end, you reap what you sow. 

"I don't think they're involved.  Zelda and Rafe, all they cared about was minding their own business.  Bit high and mighty, though.  On one hand, they're dealing what's not allowed, and on the other they're selling themselves as model citizens.  Legitimate.  It's hypocritical but hell - it worked for a hundred years as I can tell."

He sighed, and smiled again.  Thinking about Jonas Trevelyan having a chat with Zelda Sellaphix.  He just couldn't imagine her being amenable to even the gentlest inquiry into their books.

"She's sharp.  Probably try to kill you.  I can tell you that what she cares about is that legitimacy.  She was the one who built up a client base outside of Knockturn.  That's what she cares about.  Being seen as a pillar of the community."  Again, he shook his head with a laugh.

Everything was about appearances.  "You got to be nice I reckon.  Don't bring that other one.  He ain't nice like you." 

Nice?  He'd take that as a compliment.  Jonas flashed the young man a bright grin, looking patently bemused.  That was advice enough for the best way to deal with Zelda Sellaphix, and he'd much prefer this method to trying to strong arm her into cooperating.  There were other Aurors who were masters of intimidation.  Jonas had never been one of them.

"Can you remember approximately when any of those deliveries took place?  Anything else about the witch who collected them?" he prompted.  "Age?  Height?  Wand hand?  Where did the Sellaphixes keep the other book?  There was an actual, physical ledger that they wrote in?"

All details, but possibly important details nonetheless.  He didn't want to scare Zelda Sellaphix, but being able to drop specific facts could be enough to get a source talking.  Giving all of the information to an Auror could be somewhat intimidating, but when Jonas could give the impression that he already knew most of it, sometimes an otherwise unwilling witness could be prompted to fill in the blanks.

Either way, however this went, he likely owed Briggs some thanks.  The Azkaban prisoner hadn't had to assist him at all.

"Thanks," he said genuinely, dipping his head in a nod.  He shot the young man another quick smile.  "Unfortunately, although I'll hate to take up any more of your time, I reckon I might have to follow up with you once I talk to Sellaphix, if only to verify everything.  There anything that you're having a hard time getting your hands on from the outside?" he asked, his forehead creasing.  "I've got to check what the bastards here'll let me bring in and out, but I can try."

Damn it, Jonas was a decent bloke, wasn't he.  That still annoyed the hell out of Nate who had very little love to hand out to wands in red robes.  Unfortunately, Nate couldn't offer an answer to any of the rest of Jonas's questions.  He could only shrug and put his cigarette out on the metal table.

"Naw, sorry, mate.  That's all I got."

He'd already said too much anyway.  He knew Zelda would be able to handle herself, but it was also no good for some warlock to be trotting around turning people inside out.  Love for Aurors or not, someone had to put a stop to that kind of barbarism.  Trade violations and burglary was one thing, turning people all blood and guts was another.   

"Hmm?" Nate wasn't at all prepared to field Jonas's offer.  He furrowed his brow.  Why would he do that? Go out of his way to bring Nate something that reminded him an outside world existed?  There was loads he missed but tried hard not to think about.  Sweets.  Booze.  But those were fleeting. 

"Nice to have the Daily Prophet regularly, actually," he said after a moment.  That was something in short supply.  Novelty. Something to read.  An untouched crossword...

He peered through the Vidris Curtain at the strange, friendly Auror.  He couldn't help but wonder if he'd been played, or if this had been genuine.  But he'd had the same misgivings the last time Jonas tried to help him. 

There were probably at least a dozen witches and wizards that he could name whose idea of utter paradise would have been complete isolation from the outside world: no owl post, no Wireless, no news from the Daily Prophet.  Maybe six months ago, Nate Briggs would have been one of them.  The scruffy almost-burglar had never struck Jonas as particularly worldly; judging by what the Auror had seen, Briggs and his wife would have probably been completely content to never scurry outside Knockturn Alley, so long as the luxury and the entertainment was abundant.

But stone walls had a way of changing things.  News had once been abundant, everywhere you could touch it; in here, interaction with the outside world was the scarcest of commodities.  That was part of the mighty weight of Azkaban Prison.  It never changed.  The most you could hope for was to outlast it.

If outlasting it in Nate Briggs' case took a few clandestine copies of the Prophet -- or maybe talking to some friends on the Wizengamot to see if there was any way of extending a subscription -- then he was willing to take up the cause.

"No promises, but I'll see what I can do," he said, giving the younger man a friendly nod.  Pressing his hand on the table to take some of the sudden weight off his knee, Jonas carefully leveraged himself to his feet.  "We'll see where this case goes, too.  Hope you won't mind too badly if I need to stop in again."

The Auror stood and from both sides of the rooms the doors scraped to life as the guards on either side seemed eager to wrap up the palaver.  The guard on Jonas Trevelyan's side waited patiently with the door open for him.  The guard on Nate's entered the room and guided Nate up and out of his chair by his elbow. 

Nate's instinct in his earliest days here had been to roughly try and shove off, but he went along with it now.  Allowed himself to be led (or dragged) around.  There wasn't much to be won in that kind of autonomy anymore, in that kind of defiance. 

"No, do come round any time.  We'd love to have you," he said, cheer in his voice but not on his face.  It was difficult not to feel the dread creep in that the afternoon's diversion was over, like a dream blinking away when woken roughly from sleep.

fin