It was at about 10:30 that another figure disrupted the silence that had settled in at the Shrieking Shack that night.


Aberdeen had brought Robin up to Scotland for the Woodcroft Festival and, since the train journey back to London would be too long for the two-year-old after the festivities had finished, she had made plans to make the shorter trip to Edinburgh and stay with her younger sister. Gweneth had gone to bed about half an hour ago, Robin had been sleeping like a log since seven 'o clock, and Aberdeen was relaxing with some late night television when she caught a glimmer of bright silver light out of the corner of her eye. A patronus was outside the window; Archer Radley's, unless she was mistaken. Realising this must be work-related, she jumped up and opened the window to hear the message that would make her heart start juddering.

'Akiva,' she whispered.

Moments later, she was knocking on her sister's bedroom door as she pulled on her cloak. 'Gwen' she called softly. Then, louder, 'Gweneth! Are you awake?' She pushed the door open to find her sister blearily turning on her bedside lamp.

'What the hell, Deenie?' she murmured sleepily.

'I have to go. Work called, it's urgeant. They found her.'

Gweneth immediately seemed more awake. Aberdeen didn't tell her everything about the wizarding world, but she couldn't keep bottled up her anxieties about her missing friend. 'Go,' she said quickly. 'I'll keep an ear out for Robin.'

Aberdeen nodded, then ran to the front door of the flat, shoved her feet into her boots, and tugged the stone of the necklace she wore out from its usual place between her shirt and robes. Her emergency portkey. It was a good deal less noisy than disapparating, and bewitched to take her directly to the Ministry. She'd need to stop there first to pick up some equipment. She held the stone tightly between her thumb and forefinger, and vanished from her sister's flat.


A few minutes later, there was a resounding crack! and Aberdeen was standing some yards away from the entrance to the Shrieking Shack, holding her wand in one hand, her broom in the other, her camera around her neck and her work satchel over her shoulder.

First things first.

Aberdeen quickly but carefully cast a Supersensory Charm, just in case there was any danger lurking nearby. Then she lit her wand, hopped lightly onto her broomstick so as to avoid contaminating the scene with her own footprints, and sailed nearer to the entrance of the shack, holding her left hand high to illuminate the area as well as possible. No sign of anyone else. Thank Murphy.

'Expecto patronum,' she murmured, thinking of the first time Robin had laughed. A shining silver robin patronus formed in front of her, and she told it to relay to Radley that she had reached the scene. The tiny bird flitted off into the night, and Aberdeen turned back to her work. She had thought, briefly, of thanking Radley in her message, but it was better to be concise. She could thank Radley for calling her rather than anyone else later; right now was a time for professionalism, not personal gratitude at the chance to help bring her best friend's kidnapper to justice. Besides, she told herself with some self-satisfaction, Archer didn't call you just because it's Akiva. You're here because you're one of the best when it comes to crime scene investigation. You've got a job to do.

She also had an auror-in-training to think of: Adon Eleor. She could probably use her partner's help right about now. And, oh hell! Had anyone told his brother that Akiva had been found? Aberdeen thought of how panicked he had looked that day he came to the Auror Office to report his girlfriend missing, and couldn't imagine what that would translate to after a nine-day disappearance. Well, Adon could probably better decide what to do about the worrysick Head of International Cooperation.

Aberdeen experimentally performed the Patronus Charm again to see if her first message had reached its destination and disappated; apparently it had, for it was able to conjure the robin patronus once again. Radley must have not gone far since recovering the kidnap victim. Akiva's been found. We need to investigate the crimescene. Meet me at the Shrieking Shack. Then she sent the little silver bird to seek out Adon Eleor.

While she was waiting for her partner, she might as well make a start. Standing (or floating) around aimlessly made her antsy. Wedging her illuminated wand up her sleeve so it would continue to provide a decent light without her having to hold it, she wound her camera so she could start snapping photographs. As her broom glided closer to the door, and the rocking chair outside it, Aberdeen detected the lingering scent of something very unpleasant. Something that hadn't seen soap in days, something mingled with vomit. Aberdeen's eyes were growing damp as she raised the camera to them. Oh, Akiva... What did they do to you? Suddenly, she realised she would be glad of company. There was something so terrifying about facing the stark truth of a close friend's horrible suffering... again.

Adon had, he felt, been very accomodating in all of this. Dreogan needed to feel integral in this and needed, in his own ways, to give orders. So Adon, for this own part, had been more than happy to follow his big brothers' instruction that he remain in London and surveillance Akiva's house and remain close to the Katzes. For protection.

But the fact was, Adon was having trouble feeling his legs. Sitting in one position for three hours had nearly been the death of him, and pouring over Dree's enchanted map in the dark was threatening his eyesight. Raynor would not like him using it. Dreogan had demanded it. And while the truism that "you can't please everyone" wasnt exactly true, in fact, Adon had found this far from the case, success did hinge upon proper concealment: What Raynor didn't know . . .

These were his thoughts when the silvery spectre of a robin approached. While Adon knew this to be Deen's patronus, and patronuses incapable of seeing, Adon could not help but hiss his surprise as he shoved the map hurriedly into his robes pocket.

"Akiva's been found. We need to investigate the crimescene. Meet me at the Shrieking Shack."

The  words hadn't been exactly what Adon was expecting -- perhaps a new Runespoor incident, or perhaps he'd been found out using his off-duty hours for the search -- but they weren't any more welcome.

"Khara!" he spat as he rose to his feet, grimacing at finding them asleep and tingling, and with a resonant crack! switched Mermaid Court for Hogsmeade.

He arrived grim-faced, looking about attentively and wand ready. Aberdeen was hovering about on her broom, snapping photos of the surroundings. But she appeared to be alone. Most of the festival-goers had cleared out, and silence, Adon decided, made things easier in some ways, but ominous, otherwise. "Concuctio hostilis!" he murmured, casting a defensive alarm and stepping up onto the delapidated porch of the Shack, glancing down at the grey and peeling wood.

He was silent a good long moment as he continued to look around, not able to spot Akiva. "You said they found her," he said, dully. "Where is the. . ." he stopped, agitated, and moved to an easier question.  "Where are the others?"

Aberdeen realised as she looked over at Adon and saw the look on his face that in her haste to get a message to him she hadn't made it clear whether it had been Akiva that had been found, or her corpse. Quickly pushing his question about the others out of the way with an 'I'm not sure,' she quickly pressed on to inform him, 'She's alive. But there's not a whole lot more I know right at the moment. I don't know her condition, who's been informed, who's all involved...' Aberdeen looked a little flustered; she didn't like not knowing. She prefered to focus on what she could find out.

Satisfied that she had taken all the photographs of the porch that were needed and that she needn't worry about contaminating that particular area of the scene, she hopped off her broom and went over to Adon, blinking fiercely to make sure her eyes were clear before she faced him. She needed to give him her full attention while she got him up to speed.

'Radley's the one who told me, so I'm guessing he's with her. Seems like it was a kidnapping-- but someone brought her back. Murphy only knows why. I don't know where Akiva and Archer are right now-- I would've assumed St. Mungo's, only when I sent him a patronus a few minutes ago it didn't take very long to reach him, so he must still be reasonably close by the village. And I know for a fact that Raynor was on patrol at the festival today, so hopefully she's with them too.'

Aberdeen took a deep breath-- she'd been speaking with the same sort of velocity as a runaway freight train-- then distractedly pushed a lock of hair back from her face and looked steadily at Adon, lips pursed in consideration. 'Listen,' she began hesitantly, 'before I start barking instructions at you-- I really don't want to sound patronising here, but-- are you going to be okay with all this? She's your brother's girlfriend after all...' She grimaced a little; there had been no way to ask without sounding condescending. But Adon was the less experienced one here; Aberdeen didn't want to inadvertantly push him too hard in a case in which he some degree of emotional involvement. Just because she constantly mashed her personal and professional lives together didn't mean everyone else would.

"She's alive."

Adon's shoulders dropped as he felt the tension he had been carrying there release. He released a breath and nodded, reminding himself to keep listening to the details that followed. Malakh, it was such a relief, that even Adon could not help but smile. He hoped Aberdeen would understand the cause and managed to wedge in a brief, "We'll learn more, then," in reassurance.

Radley and Raynor. In good hands, then. But no mention of Dreogan. Adon frowned at this. If they didn't Apparate directly to Mungo's, there must have been reason, implying grave injuries--Adon's frown deepened but he kept this preliminary conclusion to himself. "Hogwarts would have the nearest Healers and healing facilities," he offered. But really, it was not worth their time to conjecture about the things their own forces had done.

It was time to find out all they could about the other forces -- the ones working against them. Adon was anxious to start this process and so began to step around Aberdeen to move beyond the porch when she mentioned 1) instructions and 2) . . . the question.

No, he was not okay with this. Someone had taken away Dree's girlfriend and whisked away his rationality with it. He didn't even know where his brother was -- he received brief, one-line scrawls from the man occasionally... Adon was worried. But did that change what he had to do? Not a whit.

There was a slight twitch in Adon's jaw as he spoke, looking at her frankly."Bark away. I'm as eager to catch these mazikeen* as you are." Really, Aberdeen did not have much more cause to be asking the question of him than herself: It did not take an intelligence analyst to read the expression on Aberdeen's face the moment the disappearance had been declared official. They two had been close, and for some time. But Adon had not pried.

He paused, hesitated, and rubbed the back of his neck as he, with trepidation, added, "You won't have any trouble on my part. . . Do you know if anyone has told my brother yet?" Loath as he was to admit it, his energies might be better spent in keeping a very anxious and overly-protective diplomat out of Aurors' hair.

But he'd rather be here. Adon's jaw tightened at this thought and he locked eyes with Deen, awaiting her response.

* Hebrew for demonaic, unseen force.

Aberdeen nodded gratefully at Adon's assurance that he was ready to work, glad he hadn't been too offended. Or, if he had, he had hidden it well. It was something of a hypocritical question, Aberdeen knew, but it still came down to experience. She had been in this kind of situation before. She knew from experience that personal involvement in a case made her more focused, not less. Maybe she'd explain that to Adon one day, but now wasn't the time.

There was a trickier subject to deal with, and Adon had just brought it up. 'I had a feeling you might ask that,' Aberdeen sighed wearily. 'And I'm really sorry to keep saying this, but I don't know. I haven't told him, but it's not my place to. And let's be honest here... They haven't gone far, meaning they haven't disapparated. You know that probably means they didn't want to risk disapparating with Akiva. The condition she's in right now... I hate the idea of making Dreogan wait, but it just might be that it's best he doesn't see her until she's more stable. I don't know. I mean, I know Akiva, I know she'd want to see him in any other circumstances, but... I don't know what it's like for her right now, I don't know what they did to her...'

Aberdeen broke off for a moment, staring fixedly at a point somewhere above Adon's head while regained her composure. You just asked him if he was okay. For Murphy's sake, don't give him reason to believe you're not. After a deep breath that managed to stop short of a sob, she continued in a steady voice, 'And I can't claim to know anything about Dreogan or how he'd react if we tell him before it's all right for her to see anyone. You're his brother. What do you think?'

At the recommendation that they wait, Adon nodded, agreeing, though with reservations.

"I don't know what they did to her...'" Adon became grim-faced at this choked off statement and, seeing her struggle to regain face, he decided against any motion of comfort; only to say, "Whatever they did, Aberdeen, we will help her through it. And we will find the people who did it."

It was not as simple as that, of course. Picking up broken pieces and glass. But sometimes it was nice to think it was. Simple or not, it did not change their actions for a moment. They would work with precision. They would get this sorted out. And if it was more difficult, they would work the harder for it. But everyone seemed willing to give however might it might take.

"Please, I'll deal with Dreogan," Adon assured, not wanting anyone dealing with him -- messages might be misconstrued, lines crossed -- and knowing that no one really had the time. "At any rate, I do not think it will be an immediate issue. I believe," though he paused here, because he was not certain, "that he is in Israel." He gave little indication as to why, but rather pressed on. "I'll send a message." With a whisk of his wand and an unspoken charm, a large, silvery mass blossomed from the wand and slowly began to take shape into a bear, perched upright on its legs. Adon smiled a moment as he recalled kissing Thea. Turning the pool at Beit Gaddol to jelly. His mother's lemon meringue. "We've found Akiva and are keeping her until she can be taken to Mungo's. Come to Hogsmeade when you can," he instructed the patronus. The silver light from the patronus cast a soft light across his features and the scenery about him and he, with a sigh and a sharp flick of his wrist sent it off.

The night felt darker after this and Adon felt compelled to say something further.

Aberdeen, somewhat to her surprise, felt a little better to see Adon's patronus loping off, presumably in the direction of Israel. She wondered briefly what had taken the elder Eleor brother there, but of course that wasn't the issue. What mattered was that keeping Dreogan informed of their progress was taken care of. Though she didn't tank Adon out loud, she did give him a grateful look.

'Right then,' Aberdeen said briskly, at once business-like. Personal case or no, she was in her element and wasn't about to let this rookie forget it. It was comforting to know Adon could remain practical in the face of his partner wavering, but he shouldn't have to be in that situation.

'We need to set up a cordon, mark the area out of bounds for the public until we know more about what happened. Here,' she handed him her broomstick. 'Keep off the ground. See if there are any footprints heading from here to the woods. Murphy knows there's no chance anyone could've lugged a body here through a crowded village without being noticed. If there are footsteps, the cordon needs to encompass them. If not, a few yards into the woods ought to do it. Your basic visible barrier spell should do the trick, just remember to make sure it won't repel aurors. I'll double-check to make sure no-one's inside then start cordoning here.' After a moment's pause to make sure Adon was clear on his task, she drew her wand, still lit, from her sleeve, held it aloft, and pushed open the door of the shack.

At Aberdeen's prompting -- he had to remind himself it was "prompting," "instructing," rather than "nagging" -- he gave his customarily patient smile, nodding to each instruction and amendment. "Aye, aye, Spence," he said, taking the broom and lifting himself off the ground to inspect the area.

As he ascended, Adon waved his wand before his face. An augmenting spell, one he had learned from Dree, helped with his vision; like a topographical map, colours began to vary according to depth and terrain. He did not see any abnormalities but -- wait! No. His own, leading from nowhere to exactly where he had been. Glancing in the opposite direction, towards Hogwarts, he saw a slew of tracks, all leading to Hogwarts. Swooping down, he squinted as he assessed. Small -- very small, probably size 34-- feet, and very large. . . maybe not a number for those. A couple of others, perhaps? Size 38. It was hard to tell how many were tracks from the previous day, or how fresh. He was no tracker. This would be so much easier if Dree were here. "How many left to Hogwarts with Akiva?" he asked, seeing three sets of prints.

He glanced back at the shack, frowning. He knew he was supposed to take orders, but he didn't much like the idea of her being in there alone. Casting a barrier spell about this part, he moved gradually closer to the shack. "Spence?" he called. "Anything?"

The light from the tip of Aberdeen's wand did little to illuminate the interior of the delapidated shack. There were no immediately apparent signs of life inside, but one was always better safe than sorry. (And in some extreme cases, better paranoid than dead.) 'Finite incantatem,' the auror murmured sharply, pointing her wand into the nearest corner of the room. She repeated the dispelling charm multiple times before creeping the rest of the way into the shack. An involuntary shiver went down her spine; this was the place that had been rumoured to be haunted back when she was a pupil at Hogwarts, and even though she knew better now, not to mention the place was so small that it only really took one person to clear for trouble, that was a difficult vibe to ignore.

At the sound of Adon's voice, she straightened up, confident that no one was elluding her detection. However, she did take one last cursory glance around the room before she returned to the porch. Aberdeen was nothing if not meticulous. 'Even the ghosts have gone to sleep, apparently,' she told the auror-in-training dryly, emotion now tucked neatly away behind a wry facade. 'Can't say I know how many went with Akiva; was planning on grilling Archer for all that jazz when we finish up here. Why, you find anything? 'Course, if the kidnapper's smart, they've made sure they haven't left any tracks...

'Well, should probably get to snapping anyway,' Aberdeen reasoned, holding up the camera that dangled around her neck. 'I've only taken pictures over here. Would you mind finishing the cordon around this place? I'll give you a hand if you're not done by the time I'm done collecting evidence.'

'Even the ghosts have gone to sleep, apparently,' she quipped and Adon gave a rogue kind of a smile.

"Well, Madame Raynor was here," he grinned. "Who's to say they didn't scarper?" Tamis was, without a doubt, one of the most intimidating Aurors Adon had met owing in part to the jarring disjunct between size and power, the severity of manners, and the mere fact that Adon had never quite known how to deal with women superiors. Deen -- well, she was a bit like one of the guys, wasn't she? Raynor on the other hand . . . she almost didn't seem human. His respect for the woman was unwavering. His comfort with her -- Adon was beginning to feel that geniality was considered by the professional world to be inversely proportionate to respect.

"'Course, if the kidnapper's smart, they've made sure they haven't left any tracks." Adon felt a slight rush of blood to his cheeks at this.

"That is if the person who kidnapped her was also the same person to return her," he observed, knowing they could not rule out any possibilities just yet. Simplified thinking might cause them to overlook something. "I just wanted to be sure they weren't . . . well, followed," Adon ended lamely, afraid he sounded quite the neophyte. "I think I recognised Arch's and Raynor's tracks, but . . ." he shrugged. "Thought I saw one more type of shoe. I dunno, though. . . "

"They might have left some magical traces, if not physical tracks. . . Maybe we can have. . . ." he wet his lips. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that Dreogan could not be brought in to all this. "I can try a spell or two to see," he volunteered.

Not the pressing thing, Eleor, he reminded himself and was, in turn, reminded of when Aberdeen encouraged him to finish closing off the cordon. "Yeh," he agreed shortly, nodded and kicking off the ground on Aberdeen's broom.

The cordon was easy work and he had it finished within moments but hovered, laying almost horizontal upon the broom in order to examine the ground. No drops of blood, no . . . no nothing. Yes, the man -- the kidnapper -- no the person who had returned the kidnapped Katz, had not left any tracks. Holding his wand above the ground, he attempted a revealing charm, hoping to see covered tracks, had a masking charm been employed. "Specialis Revelio!"

When it became clear this spell had had no effect upon the area, Adon slouched slightly and shifted his weight to dismount from the broom, the need for keeping the ground intact no longer necessary. He froze abruptly, however, and, once more soaring to a reasonable height, set his jaw and uttered, "Goleya!" He smirked in satisfaction -- feeling a little thrill -- as he felt the power from the spell. Aramaic spells were undoubtedly more powerful than their latinate counterparts. It was surprising how few of them were taught in non Near-Eastern schools. Most had only heard of Avada Kedavra, the most powerful speech act known to all wizardry.

Goleya, while by no means as far-reaching as the Killing Curse, had its uses. For one, it revealed any and all spells that might be in effect in the area. And so, looking down, Adon could see the faint greenish glow of a spell upon the Three Broomsticks' roof -- likely a repairing spell. He could see the green hue of one of Aberdeen's spells coming from within the shack. He could see . . . an area, perfect and unblemished in the dirt behind the Shrieking Shack. Glowing. Blasted smooth, no doubt.

Adon punched the air victoriously, grinning as he swooped down and dismounted. "Deen!" he called, the smile apparent in his voice as he came to her side. Remembering now the need for professional decorum, he allowed his face to become sombre. "He -- the person who returned Akiva Katz smoothed an area just behind the shack. . . but it's not a trail. Just an area. Likely he -- the person -- likely flew or Disapparated from the spot." He paused and added, because he knew she would ask, "And I finished the cordoning."

He was quiet a moment. "I know it does not does not do much for eliminating escape routes, but perhaps there may be witnesses who might have heard Disapparation or Apparation at that moment? Or we could get a record of" he rubbed his jaw as he thought. "There will be too many brooms to account for all of them." He shook his head, his pride in any progress dissipating.

"Did you find anything?" he finally ventured, slowly realising that this, as with most other cases he had been involved in over the past three years, seldom yielded visible leads on-site. It was after, during analysis, that the true results yielded themselves.

'Nothing particularly illuminating so far,' Aberdeen replied, walking over to join the auror-in-training, camera in one hand, lit wand in the other. Well, strictly speaking she was more floating than walking. With only one broom between them, Aberdeen had dusted her shoes with some levitating powder so that her own footprints would not be added to the muddle; she was currently hovering steadily about an inch off the ground. 'Archer's shoeprints aren't hard to miss, another set looks like the boss's like you said, and then a third set... pretty small, almost certainly female too. I might've thought it was whoever dropped of Akiva, only these footsteps are walking alongside Raynor's over there--' Aberdeen waved an arm to indicate-- 'so our Mystery Guest looks like they're not the guilty party. Arch would've told me if they had a suspect.

'Now then, what were you saying about-- ah,' Aberdeen breathed out, catching sight of Adon's much more illuminating handiwork. 'Nice trick, Adon,' she whistled, not trying to keep the impressed tone out of her voice. Crouching down, she snapped another photo. 'Cleared their tracks indeed. I know we're not wanting to jump to conclusions about who left Akiva here, but... Whoever it is is looking less and less innocent. First abandoning a woman in need of medical attention at the Shrieking Shack of all places-- finding a healer or an auror a bit too cliche, huh?-- and taking the time to clear your tracks as well? Pretty precise piece of spellwork, this.' She gestured at the smooth patch of ground, still glowing softly. 'I mean, you'd be able to tell if it was done in panic or whathaveyou. It'd be much more sloppy. Nah, this looks a bit premeditated. Hell. Even if this was the kidnapper, what in Murphy's name is their game?'

Aberdeen straightened up, shaking her head. 'Motive. It's such a headache sometimes. You were saying about how they exited the crimescene... Disapparation or... Hmm...' She patted her work satchel as though searching for inspiration. 'Ah! Of course. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs.' Giving her partner a small, knowing smirk, she rummaged in her bag and pulled out a small, crystal phial containing something the same texture as castor sugar, only coloured a dull, metallic green. It was well buried because she had little cause to use it. It could be hit-and-miss sometimes, especially if the magic it was being used on was weak or old. But it was worth a try.

'Dunno if you've used Vestigium Dust before?' Aberdeen said, removing the cork stopper from the phial and carefully tipping a few grains of the substance over the patch of ground Adon had pointed out. 'It latches on to the magic signature left on an object or place-- that patch there your spell so helpfully revealed-- and if the magic's recent and strong enough, it--' Aberdeen cut herself off as the dust started to demonstrate its ability. After sinking through the glow (the dust tended not to recognise revealing magic unless it was extremely localised) and settling briefly on the ground, it picked itself up as if by an invisible breeze, and wafted gently up, and towards the nearest trees. The glinting particles only travelled a few feet before becoming stationary, lingering in the air, but it was enough.

'That's as far as it'll go,' said Aberdeen, 'the dust can't follow magic signatures very far, as a rule... But it does mean the perp didn't disapparate, at least not from this spot. If they had, the dust wouldn't have followed the trail off that way.' She pointed along the route in which the dust was hovering. 'So, they flew. Not a flying spell, at least not the kind with an incantation, or your revealing spell would've picked up on that... So, a broom. Or maybe...' Aberdeen pulled the kind of grimace that meant she was coming up with another possibility she didn't like the sound of. 'A flying animagus.

'So. It's still possible they disapparated further away, so still worth asking around for sounds of that. We'll need to double check with Archer the exact time frame we're looking at for that. Brooms-- you're right, accounting for all of them will be damm difficult. Worth a try in case anything jumps out at us maybe, but we can't afford to waste too much time on it. And... it's a long shot, but it might be worth looking into the Animagus Register. Though in all honesty, if our suspect is one of those... Chances are they aren't on there.'

Aberdeen always felt better thinking up lots of different leads to pursue. It made her feel that maybe one of them would light up the right path. Of course, it didn't always work out that way, but it was better to be overthinking and overacting than not knowing what to do. The latter made Aberdeen feel so damn powerless she could never stand it.

'Murphy's knees, I talk a lot,' she mused. 'You'll have to tell me to shut up every once in a while, eh rookie?' She put on a crooked grin, then added, 'Let me go an double check your cordons real quick. Then-- well, what do you think? Maybe we should be touching base with the others-- or seeing if we can follow that trail any-- or...' Her voice trailed off as she moved farther away from Adon and towards the magical barriers.