For all of Blake's original impression of Duncan McBoid as a friendly, talkative bloke who asked more questions than he answered, the Scottish wizard remained committed to giving precise, surgical responses to every query that they made. Either he had nothing really useful to share, or they were going to have to hope they hit on the right question and drag it out of him in stages, one bit of information at a time.

This answer, though, made Jonas blink. Whoever he might have expected the big Scotsman to visit for a friendly New Year's Day celebration, the surly werewolf hunter was perhaps the last on the list.

But that also...made an odd kind of sense, the Auror thought as his blue gaze flicked briefly over to Blake. That might explain the mysterious connection between Bagnold and Duncan's niece, who had sent a patronus to the werewolf hunter at the Ministry during the December full moon. It also might explain why Bagnold had gone out of his way to conceal Moira's connection to the Runespoor sighting the same night. And, perhaps, it put the poisoned Valentine's Day chocolates in a new light, if Duncan McBoid might be a possible connection between Bagnold and Lorelei Hunt.

Not to mention, Jonas thought dryly, that if he were visiting the grave of a murdered relative and thought he was being watched, Kurby Bagnold was probably high on the list of wixes that he might run to if he were planning to return and risk a possible fight.

"Well, convenient that you've got a mate who's so social that you lot can stay up all night talking," he remarked without a hint of irony, flashing the other man a quick smile as he regarded him again. "What did you mention about your cousin's grave to Bagnold?"

Duncan flashed the auror a grin at the mention of Bagnold’s social nature. The man who merely suffered through visits. Once, long ago, they both had sat up all night talking around a fire with other good people. New Years had been slightly reminiscent of those times.

“I don’t know if there’s really all that much to mention about a grave,” the Scotsman looked thoughtful with no hint of any non-compliance. He thought back to what had been said, and even further when he had originally discussed the whole business with his friend[1]. Aside from mentioning the mess that had been left he couldn’t recall mentioning any details about it.

“I told him it was a nice location with some nice words inscribed. Mentioned that the guardian tree was traditional and that the place felt terribly empty, aside from that watched feeling anyway.” Iona’s body was still lost and hidden somewhere. Her spirit had passed beyond Death’s gate. Nothing there beyond soil, a tree, and a pretty slab of stone.

1.	Fire On The Mountain