Late into the evening, nondescript office room


The small corner office on the floor was, at least for today, being utilised as Solomon's working area. The incident in his office earlier in the evening had made it impossible to do anything there - it was swamped with Aurors, investigators, clean-up crew. He needed peace and quiet to.. to... to think.

"Auror Gamp!" Solomon looked up from the small desk he was sat at, lowering his quill as he smiled at the witch who he'd asked to drop by at earliest convenience. "Please, sit."

He looked more than bedraggled, shirtsleeves rolled up and tie missing. Ink stains littered his forearms and fingers; painless scars from sending memos out all evening to various departments (chiefly the first and ninth floors). In spite of his furious communications however it did seem that the most useful resource this investigation possessed was quite easily within reach of their own floor.

Solomon pushed his chair back slightly and swept aside paperwork, so as to pay Andromeda his full attention.

"I believe we need to have a discussion about your father, before the morning."

Andromeda was tired. She had been working non-stop since Sunday morning. The students had disappeared on her day off. She kept thinking about the students covered in blood. What had happened to them all? Why had it happened? When Andromeda, Nadine and Adelebert got back to Level 2 they saw a huge hole in Solomon's office. It was like something Rascal Rosier wrote in his books people said. Andromeda had never read his books. She did not want to read them if this is what they were like. She was busy writing up every last detail about Camden when her boss asked her to come.

Andromeda took a seat. She frowned at her boss. Was this because the students had got upset at her? She was only trying to help. There was not enough time to be nice when people could be dying. Mr Carstairs looked just as tired.
"What about my father, Sir?" Andromeda asked. There was a pit in the bottom of her stomach. Someone had said the hole in the office wall went to Level 9. Andromeda assumed her father was already investigating.

If, perhaps, he were in his own office with personal assistant quickly on hand, Solomon might have suggested a spot of tea be shared before he pressed on. As it was he only eyed Andromeda with a faint suggestion of concern and pity. Did she not suspect? No... given, it was difficult to draw such a conclusion of one's own parent.

"Have you spoken to him at all recently?" he got up, heading towards a side cupboard where he knew one of the aurors-in-training kept a stash of liquor and glasses. " Since the discoveries I mean."

Solomon drew out two small glasses and, after some hesitation, selected a nearly empty bottle of firewhiskey. He preferred wine but this was a drink for trying times.

"He's not on level nine at present, you see..." with a hopeless shrug and smile, he poured the glasses until each were a third full.

That finished the lot; the trainees would need to replenish. "Strange man, your father." Solomon returned to the desk and slid one of the glasses across to Andromeda before resuming his seat.

"No Sir." Andromeda replied. "Not for days." She felt her stomach drop. Carstairs would not be asking about her dad unless it was official. Something was very wrong. He was getting them a drink. That made her more worried. Andie frowned harder. "Sir?" Carstairs said her dad was not on Level 9. Andromeda stared at the glasses. Then she stared at her boss again. Why was her dad not looking after things?

Carstairs pushed a glass of whiskey towards her. Andromeda did not touch it. She licked her lips. "Sir, the hole in your office. I heard it went to Level 9. Is it true?" She stared at her boss. He did not have to say a word. Andromeda felt like she was riding a broom and just lost altitude very suddenly. Something was very wrong on Level 9. Her dad was meant to be in charge. "Shit." Andromeda swore "Sir." She said by way of apology for the language. "Where is he? Has nobody told him?"

Oh, how he hated that stare.

Not Andromeda's in particular - but the confused look of someone who perhaps suspected a truth they weren't ready to accept. He felt like she needed the drink more than he did but Solomon took a good long sip of the firewhiskey anyway, while hers went untouched.

"We don't seem able to get in touch with him, you see." The department head sighed and decided to go ahead with the greater chunk of his news, reaching to a relatively thin folder on the table and then laying it between them on the desk.

He drummed his fingers without opening it.

"Testimony from level nine tells us that your father has been acting oddly today. Visiting all the divisions, uncharacteristically happy," his tone of voice made it sound like Mortimer Gamp's particular brand of glee might be disgustingly contagious. "Beyond the reach of Valentine's joy. And most extraordinarily unusual - he went home at a reasonable hour."

As a workaholic himself, Solomon understood this to be the most telling of acts. He continued to drum his fingers, the rhythm patently anxiety inducing now. Deliberate. He slid the folder forward, pushing aside the glass, and opened it to Andromeda's view.

Neat sheets of standard white Ministry paper - of the clinical rather than officious sort - displayed three pairs of bloody fingerprints. They seemed to have come off at various angles and textured surfaces.  "Several of the victims had these prints on them." Not to mention the odd print in the bloodied rooms. Solomon sat back to watch his Auror carefully.

"They match Mortimer and Lyra Gamp."

Andromeda could not stop frowning at her boss. Her heart tried to jump to her throat. She took a deep breath. She tried to keep calm. Her dad was rarely happy. At Christmas he had been happy sometimes. She never saw her dad happy at work. He always worked too long. What was going on? What was this folder? She wanted to reach out and grab it. She did not like waiting.

When he said it Andromeda froze. Blood rushed in her ears. She could hear her heart beating quickly. Her skin was icy. She felt dazed. Carstairs had strong evidence. Andromeda was quickly considering alternatives. She felt sick. Without speaking she tugged the folder off the table. She examined it critically. She did not want to believe him. Her parents were good people. She shut the folder and slid it across the table towards him. Her heart was still thumping.

"Sir." She said. Her voice did not sound like it usually did. She took a deep breath. "Sir are you absolutely sure?" Of course he was sure. Carstairs did not tell jokes. "Shit." This time she did not apologize. She drank a large sip. She pictured the students in Camden covered in blood. "We were meant to have Sunday lunch together." Andromeda said very quietly. "I was at Hogwarts and could not go." She looked up at her boss. She tried to breathe slowly. "Cepheus, my brother, said my parents were not at home on Sunday." She shook her head. "Sir, I swear on my life I did not know."

Solomon believed her.

He knew, on the other hand, that this didn't look good for Auror Gamp. In a way her problem was a microcosm of the department's humiliation - the concept that the perpetrator of this crime was underneath their nose the entire time! Vexing, at best. Clearly Andromeda shared the sentiment.

"I'm sure," he smiled grimly after allowing for a comfortable pause between her assertion of ignorance and his response. "Even so, we will need to follow standard procedure - your whereabouts over the weekend and such. And we'll need to question your brother."

Not that Cepheus Gamp looked especially capable of committing crimes of this nature, though he did seem sound enough not to be cajoled into it even by Mortimer. Solomon reached for the whiskey bottle and leaned across to top up Andromeda's drink.

"Not a word to him or anyone else just yet," the last of the amber liquid slid into her glass. "We're paying the happy couple a visit soon and can't risk a leak. Might be a false alarm if they aren't there, as you say. It's only..."

Solomon sat back, picked up the pocket watch on the desk as if he'd lost track of the time. "Only a few hours before the task force prepares to leave." He slipped the watch into his pocket and turned his attention back to the witch. "Is there anything you can tell us about your father or Gamp House?"

"Yes Sir." Andie agreed. Without question she was off this investigation. She watched her boss fill her glass more. Her head was spinning. "Their fingerprints are all over the scene." She said quietly. Andromeda shook her head. It was very hard to understand. Her hair began to change color and turned plain brown. She did not notice.

"Plenty, Sir." Andromeda replied. "But at the same time, nothing at all." She shook her head. "My Dad has been an unspeakable since before I was born. I have no idea what he does at work. I know he is Head of Department now. I know he and mum met because they did research together. I do not know what the research was." Now she was not sure she ever wanted to know. "You need to know how to break in? Ok. I can provide you an entry strategy." If her boss trusted her enough. This was not about Andie though. If her parents were the kidnappers she wanted them caught.

Unsurprising, how little she knew of Mortimer's work - Unspeakables were lip-sewn devils about their work.

The offer however was very gracious, and Solomon could see that Andromeda had chosen loyalties without hesitation. How could the wizarding world be blessed by such dedicated Aurors and still fall susceptible to these crimes? He suspected everybody and nobody, all at the same time.

"Not a strategy - we might leave that to Eleor, who is leading - but something equally as useful?" Solomon gestured with his wand for a wide sheet of parchment and an inked quill, indicating for Andromeda to accept.

With the likes of Eleor and JJ, some flexibility was important. And Merlin knew after today's events that they wouldn't be pleased about following rigid orders.

"A house plan, to the best of your memory. Mark down the most useful points of entry," he frowned thoughtfully before adding. "I'll send someone in later to take a statement of your alibi-" he had realised it was Valentine's weekend and desperately did not need to hear about Andromeda's plans in detail. "- but for now if you could briefly oblige me with where you were on the 12th onwards?"

He knew of Sunday, of course, she'd been to the school.

"Sir." Andromeda acknowledged respectfully. "Saturday morning I was asleep at home. I was working a night shift before." She shook her head. "Nobody with me but I went food shopping in the afternoon. The shop keepers in Diagon know me and will corroborate. I have receipts. That night I was at a valentines event at Rover's Fancy. Sunday at Hogwarts, Sir. As you know. I have gone home just to wash and sleep. I did not even know the news until I was called in Sunday morning." Andromeda considered the paper. She drew out the ground floor of the house. Her hand was shaking. "And if it is them, Sir?" She asked. What then?

Solomon watched as the witch shakily drew out the floor plan, and internally commended her for pulling through in spite of the shock of this news. A lesser Auror might have still been incredulous - or, worse, angry in their denial. Andromeda's ability to process the possibility of her parents' guilt made the department head feel like he was on the right path.

"You know standard criminal procedure, Gamp..." the thoughtful look behind his spectacles softened. "There will be a trial, of course. They must be held responsible for their actions. Even moreso for being Ministry employees."

A pause, he removed his spectacles and sighed heavily. He'd been trying to avoid thinking about public opinion on the subject but it was impossible at this junction. "We'll try to repress the news  after - or if - we apprehend them. Don't know what good that will do us besides give you time to prepare yourself for a public backlash."

It would be better to just come out with the information right away but Zephyr wasn't going to pass that. She'd try to do the impossible, by keeping it quiet.

"Yes Sir." Andromeda said. "I will survive. My family will survive I will look after them. We all need answers." She continued to draw. "I feel sick at the thought Sir. Doing this to kids. In the Ministry." She downed the rest of the alcohol. "I do not want to believe it Sir." She wrote some labels on the map. "Here is the back door it is at the side. Here is the front door. These are all windows. The stairs are here. There are also some here. And there is a cellar and an attic." She pointed. "You cannot apparate into the house. This fireplace is the floo. There is a house elf."

Even as she said she did not want to believe the imminent truth, Andromeda pointed out sections of the map that would be of interest. Solomon leaned over his desk slightly and nodded at each piece of information before he accepted the sheet for the folder.

"Thank you, Andromeda-" he used her first name in a kind, polite voice. "-this is invaluable."

The wizard rose from his seat to show her out from the makeshift office, aware that what she might need more than anything right now (even more than a drink) was time to herself.

"It isn't easy, our job. And I know they'll go hard on us because it's happened right here in the Ministry but don't lose heart." Solomon patted her shoulder in a fatherly manner while trying not to think about what she might feel towards her actual father right now. "I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of darker days."

He smiled, tired and heartening at the same time.

"Thank you Sir." Andromeda said. He had been very kind. She thought her boss would be more angry. She was angry at herself. How could she have missed this? "I am going to gather my thoughts in the conference room. I will start my statement. Please let me know when you have found my parents. I need to tell my brothers when it is time." She hoped Orion would come home. Andromeda nodded at Solomon and left.

-END-