The morning air was still smelling faintly of acrid smoke. Sameera surveyed the collapsed structure of what was once the Leaky Cauldron, now simply a sorry sight of splintered beams, broken roof tiles and chunks of brick and mortar, under her blue umbrella. She mused that it was a good time for the proprietors to renovate the old place, but as much as she disliked the dark, old medieval pub she still felt some sympathy for the sight of the Leaky Cauldron reduced to a pile of rubble and a large tarpaulin she'd recognised to be charmed waterproof in the rain.

But she wasn't here to reminisce about the pub. She had mostly been avoiding it - gone to the hospital on Saturday to get some medicine for the cough she'd picked up, and then back to work to sort out whatever she needed to get done alongside Mordecai. It wasn't fully gone and she hadn't been able to focus very well with the coughing, but she dismissed it. There were more important things to deal with.

A few of the alley's denizens were peeking at the rubble, but they hastily made way for her as she approached, all dressed in her suit on a Saturday morning, wand out. There was a bright yellow line on the ground encircling the entire pub. To a non-Ministry official who had no idea how the line worked, they would be repelled by it so that they wouldn't of disturb evidence. But since the person who had cast that was part of the Improper Use of Magic Office, Sameera definitely had been informed prior.

The line flickered as she passed, and then resumed its bright glow. She put her wand and umbrella away and cast her gaze over the debris. Among the debris was a figure carefully kneeling on the sooty floor, examining a chunk of wall with his wand and hands sheathed in gloves. Usually he'd be well-dressed as he always was in the office, but today he'd opted for a more practical dress code that included a bomber jacket. She couldn't blame him, since she was the one who'd yanked him out of his house that morning with a summons, along with the case he carried for jobs like this.

"What have you got so far, Dieter?" she asked, as she carefully made her way over to where he was. "I know you've had to deal with this sort of thing in Canada before."

"I have, but I haven't seen this much of a mess before." Dieter waved a hand at the debris surrounding him. "Been separating areas into 'explosively destroyed by charge' and 'destroyed by people escaping'. I've got my work cut out for me today and won't be back at the office until after lunch."

"Take your time, I think we all can rely on how you work." Sameera rested a hand on her hip. "So any definitive conclusion? Fireworks? Spell gone wrong? Or--"

"Sabotage?" Dieter got to his feet, dusting his knees. "I know what you're thinking, but don't go calling it so fast out in public. Government matter and all."

"The Leaky Cauldron gets blown up on the night of November 5th, with a strange parcel anonymously sent to Edward Pratt hinting as such? Either that was a heads-up or a gloating." Sameera would have tried sneaking a peek at the notes her colleague was making, but he was holding the notepad at chest height and he was much taller than she was. "Sabotage or not, someone planned for this."

"Some premeditation, yes." Dieter pointed his pencil at specific areas. "Based on the blast direction, the charges were set roughly around the kitchen area."

"Charges?" Sameera raised an eyebrow. "What sort of charges?"

"They're a mixture of potion and spell. I'll have to take a few samples back with me to find out what was used to mix these potent substances." Dieter pointed. "Look over there, on the wood. You can see the dried remnants of the potion used mixed with flammable liquid - may have been beer or wine for the drinking since it was a busy night, yes? But it could also have been specifically brought along to get a fire going."

Sameera looked around them. "Keep talking. How did you find multiple charges?"

"Sources of the blasts." Dieter carefully stepped over the shattered frame of a bed. "They were placed here and here, and two were set off one after the other. The first explosion was enough to structurally compromise the wood and brick alone, worsening the old cracks the owners didn't care to fix as the building aged. The second was specifically set under a beam literally bending under the weight of the first floor. Check this." He pulled out his wand and lifted a beam that had clearly been set aside, no doubt by him. "The wood is old, there's rot making its way in here, and there's water damage from what may have been a leaking pipe. Very vulnerable point in the structure. How long has it been since this pub had its structural integrity checked?"

"Do I look like I know?" Sameera made a grimace at the beam. "There were three, and you've mentioned two. So that means the third--"

"--was very much meant to finish the job."

"Except that there was a delay." The woman remembered that night. "The first and second didn't bring down all of it, and there was a gap. Then the third went off and brought down the rest. Did someone stop to think, 'Hm, I might be doing something wrong' and then decided to just screw it and go ahead anyway?"

"Whatever the intentions, that gap meant people had time to run in to try and evacuate the injured." Dieter gestured towards various gaps in the walls. "Effectively guaranteeing that the casualty count was much higher than the planner may have expected. Somewhere out there someone may be celebrating."

"Don't remind me, please." Sameera looked out towards Charing Cross Road. "I hope Magical Accidents has dealt with the Muggle side properly, or else we'll be looking at even more paperwork to deal with regarding the breach. We've added the Statute breach to the charges, but it would be great if we had anyone to charge."

"No prior event that may be linked with this?" Dieter asked, raising his eyebrows. "There's been plenty that's been going on of late, I would be surprised if this was an isolated one-off. Then again, I wouldn't be if someone wanted to throw off the scent, or possibly just ride with the glory. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dig around a bit more and hopefully find something else that could possibly give the Aurors leads."

Sameera frowned as she watched him resume his work. "I'll let Mordecai know you'll be back after lunch, and have the services of an apothecary to further analyse the evidence. Can I officially call sabotage? I'm sure the Prophet will want some word on what our definitive verdict will be."

"Sabotage is a very loaded word." Dieter stared in her direction; it would normally be unnerving if it had been anyone else, but Sameera was used to this. "Premeditated attack on the Leaky Cauldron, currently dissecting evidence and records, working on the leads. Well, that's if anyone comes and talks to the Improper Use of Magic Office."

"I'm sure someone will," Sameera said.