The trapdoor opened with a long squeak.  The tower room was illuminated with blue moonlight.  The moon was only barely waning from full, so the whole tower was awash in chilly light.  Figaro Sellaphix lifted himself from the ladder into the Divination classroom as quietly as he could.   He pulled his backpack up after him and padded silently across the rugs.

Xavier had assured him Professor Cuthbert wouldn't be around, and they'd kept tabs on any patrolling prefects.  So even though Figaro knew they were scot free, he was shaky and just waiting to get caught.  He wouldn't feel safe, ironically, until they were in Knockturn Ally. 

He looked back to make sure Xavier was following him.  If it hadn't been for Xavier, there was no way Figaro would have had the means or the guts to sneak out of Hogwarts castle to London.  He'd heard about what happened to the students who caused the ruckus at Halloween, and what had become of Fauna, Sasha and Beatrix for sneaking out on the full moon.  But the tension had been building and there was nothing that was going to stop Figaro from figuring out what was going on in his family - in his family's apothecary. 

Had Old Rafe Sellaphix been running an illegal trade from Sellaphix Apothecary? Figaro had to know.  His father's arrest had come totally out of the blue.  Rafe Sellaphix had always impressed upon Figaro the merits of honesty and hard work.  Integrity, he'd told Figaro, was the most important thing. 

And now, no one was telling him anything.  All the letters from his mother and dad were filled with nothing but instructions to sit tight and assurances that everything would be okay.  But they weren't okay.  Charges had been filed against his dad.  Big charges.  And now he was on trial with a sentence in Azkaban at stake.  And the family reputation had been ruined.  And no one was telling him anything.

What did they expect? That he'd sit at home on his thumbs?

His voice came out with a creak. "Got the floo powder?"

Unlike his companion for the night who seemed as jittery as a squirrel searching for the last nut before winter, Xavier walked the corridors with complete confidence. He wasn't partial to sneaking out in the middle of the night but he knew he had done enough premeditation on it that there was no room for error on his part. The only thing he had to concentrate on was making sure that Figaro didn't screw anything up. He cared deeply for his friend, probably the best friend he had, but Figaro was prone to irrational thoughts that often got him in trouble. If they were to get this plan off without a hitch he'd  need to make sure the Hufflepuff was thinking clearly.

Earlier in the week, since Figaro had expressed his need to get to his family's apothecary as soon as possible Xavier began formulating his plan and doing all the research necessary. It wasn't hard to figure out who Cillian Cuthbert was, and after observing the young Professor for a few days it was obvious that he dreaded his classroom as much as some of his students did. Which made the Divination Tower the perfect room the head off from. Practically every fireplace in the castle was connected to the floo network and getting the powder had been far easier for Xavier than most others. He had simply sent an owl asking Cin for it and it arrived two days later.

Xavier smirked at his friend and produced a small pouch from the inside of his robes. He then removed his robes, he was wearing simple muggle clothing underneath, a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. Even if it caused him to stand out in Knockturn at least passerbys wouldn't immediately associate him with Hogwarts. He pinched some of the powder and then handed the pouch to Figaro so he could follow. Xavier stepped into the hearth threw down the powder and shouted as clearly as he could with his thick accent, "Knockturn Alley!"

He felt the uncomfortable almost suffocating sensation of travelling through the floo network. He kept his eyes shut the whole time wincing everytime the light from a nearby fire crossed his face. After what felt like forever he stumbled out of another hearth and straightened himself up. He looked around the small shop he was in while he waited for Figaro to join him. He had ended up in one of the abandoned stores along Knockturn. It looked like the previous owners had left in quite a rush. What furniture was left behind was knocked over, some even had burn marks from missed spells. The more he looked around the more he felt he didn't want to know what had gone down here. The sooner they could get out of the empty shop the better.

Xavier had told Figaro about the fireplace they'd be aiming for in Knockturn Ally.  And old shop that had been raided by Aurors in the confusion that had followed the explosion. The owners had vanished everything inside, and then themselves, in a big rush.  Xavier was sure it'd be empty and that the floo was still open.

Figaro watched as Xavier was consumed in green fire, and then stepped up himself onto the stones of the big fireplace.  His bit his lip and promised himself that as soon as he emerged on the other side he'd be smiling.  This was the right thing to do.  He was going to get to the bottom of this.  And it was going to be fun.  Before too many moments passed, he took a deep breath and Floo'd to Knocktun Alley.

Thank Merlin, he ended up picking himself up off the dirty floor next to Xavier.  And when the shop was exactly as Xavier said it would be - dark, boarded up, and deserted - Figaro finally smiled.

They'd done it. 

"Oh well good!" he breathed, keeping his voice low.  Dim, greenish light came in through chinks in the planks that covered the broken-out windows.  Figaro rushed past Xavier to peer out.  "Bloody hell," he whispered again.

Peering out into the Ally, it seemed even more thrillingly terrible as ever.  The street was cramped, crooked and slinking with cloaked figures, some limping.  Some seemingly floating.  He couldn't see much from here, but he did see a familiar sign.  They were about a quarter of the way down the Ally from Diagon, so about a block or so from Sellaphix Apothecary, which sat as the mouth.

"We're not far," he whispered.  "Should we make a break for it? Get out of here quick, try to look casual?" Figaro had borrowed a long robe with a dark hood.  He took his wand out and put his hand on the door knob.

"God, I wish we could Apparate.  Make this a hell of a lot easier."

Xavier nodded to Figaro when he arrived out of the hearth. He took a few more looks around the abandoned shop. He was only half listening to what Figaro was saying. It was one thing to be sneaking around the castle in the middle of the night but it was something completely different to be in another country entirely walking down one of the most notorious streets in the entire Wizarding world. He was more keen on keeping his mouth shut and getting the job done although he knew Fig wasn't about to stay quiet and in a way he admired him for that.

Near the front of the shop he found a discarded cloak. It had burn marks along the sleeves. He figured it had been tossed aside after being sent on fire during whatever it was that went down in here. He shook out the soot and threw it over himself. He put the hood up and walked out of the shop like it was nothing. The Apothecary was only a few blocks away, the more they looked like they belonged there the less they were going to draw anyone's attention. Not that most people in Knockturn really paid attention to those around them or why they were there.

He fished a pack of smokes out of his jeans, fit one white cylinder between his lips and lit it with a match not taking the chance of using his wand outside of school. He took a long drag admiring the way the stick burned in the darkening night in Knockturn. He then glanced over at Figaro, "So when we git there, ye have a key or sumthin? Or are we jus gonna be breakin in?"

Xavier wasn't sure what his friend expected to find there. The place had already been searched by Aurors, if there was evidence linking Rafe to the runespoor explosion it had likely already been confiscated. He didn't think Figaro was going to find anything useful but he could understand the need to do it. After all part of the reason Xavier wanted to create ties within the Ministry was so he could have resources that could possibly allow him to find his good for nothing father.

Figaro was startled when Xavier wordlessly walked past him and out the front door.  Figaro grinned and followed after, having to jog for a few paces to keep up.  He probably looked every bit like some kid on a feild trip, tagging along the heels of a local guide.  The hood helped him feel protected, but he shouldn't have been so confident in their disguises.  Some people belonged down Knockturn and everyone else was bait.  He tried not to look around, but he couldn't completely curtail staring too long in certain windows and at shadowy forms that passed them.

Xavier lit a match and the orange light illuminated both their faces.  It was a warm color in the dank darkness of this mean street.  Figaro hoped Xavier would casually offer him a cigarette, but it didn't happen.  It was okay - Figaro had only smoked a cigarette once before and it had been a very loud, coughign sort of affair.  Not great for covert opps.

Instead, he felt at his wand that he had tucked up in his sleeve to make sure it was still there.  He knew that their cover was blown if they started using magic.  He wasn't exactly sure of how the Ministry did it, but they found out - or so he'd been warned every single summer since he went to school.  But if it came to defending themselves, rules be damned it was to be wands out.

"Got a key," Figaro answered.  The great metal key weighed heavily in his pocket.  He'd needed it in the past to open up shop when his parents or that assistant Briggs were unavailable.  He was gambling that it'd work.  Because Xavier had a point.  The Ministry'd probably searched it and  maybe even have confiscated it.

"Our family still owns the shop," he said with some defiance.  "My dad hasn't been convicted so it's against the law to take it."  He didn't really know anything about the law, but it just seemed wrong to him.  If his mother was up to it, and they thought they'd get any business, it could possibly doing business tomorrow morning.

As they neared the shop, some commotion began stirring from behind them.  Figaro looked over his shoulder and didn't see anything, but there were raised voices and something that sounded like the snaps of Apparition.  Figaro was immediately spooked. 

"What the hell is that?" He grabbed Xavier and pulled him into a shallow alcove. "What's down there?"

Some people belonged in Knockturn alley and some people didn't. Other than the fact that he should be at school enjoying his magical education, there was no doubt Xavier belonged in Knockturn. He stood tall, walking with confidence as the two young men made their way down the cobblestone path. He had no real worries about being there. His main concern was getting into Figaro's family's shop without being noticed. Even as a reasonably tall and built fifteen year old smoking a cigarette in the middle of the evening down Knockturn Alley Xavier just had an air of acceptance. He had spent many summers down these paths and most if not all of the local shop owners and patrons knew who he was. No one was about to mess with the kid nephew of  Cináed Tawse. At least that's how Xavier viewed things. He had been walking the streets of Knockturn with this air of arrogance to him for the last three years. He viewed his Uncle as the end all be all, a man who had come out of Azkaban reasonably unscathed, someone you didn't want to mess with. Sure there were crazies and murderers, vicious creatures and all sorts of dark persons squatting in these parts but none of those truths were going to stop Xavier from strutting around like he belonged. Besides, those types were more likely to pounce on someone who looked out of place than one who looked like they would do their own pouncing if given the chance.

Xavier felt some of his uneasiness ebb as Figaro mentioned having a key. That would at least make things a lot easier. It wouldn't have been fun trying to break into the shop swiftly, quietly and without magic, not that Xavier had any doubts in his ability to do so but it would have made them stand out much more than they wanted. Having a key would make things smooth and simple, they could just walk in through the front door. That is as long as the Ministry wasn't watching the place. Xavier figured it might have the magical equivalent of crimescene tape draped around it but he didn't think it was going to be under active surveillance.

Xavier let out a strangled yelp when Figaro roughly and rather suddenly yanked him into the nearest alley. Way to not look inconspicuous! He fought back a growl and a retort. He understood his friends apprehension. Although he wasn't one to be breaking rules while still at school this sort of thing just didn't make him as jumpy as it made Fig. He bent down and picked up the (thankfully) still lit cigarette that had flown from his lips when Figaro grabbed him. He took a long drag and was ready to give Figaro a big 'what the bloody hell do you think you're doing' when he heard the raised voices and sounds of apparition himself.

Xavier lifted his hood back up and peaked around the corner. Unfortunately he wasn't able to make out who or what the figures at the other end of the alley were, "They can't be here fer us. There's no way Cuthbert found us out an thee floo shouldn't have set off thee trace."

Actually, Hogwarts professors were the least of Figaro's fears right now.  More ahead in his mind were rampaging runespoors, skin-melting explosions, murders and werewolves.  Plus the Knockturn usual: hags, vampires, and the full run of black market smugglers, kidnappers and theives.

"No duh - could be something worst than our teachers..." he whispered.  His ears were senstive and perked, nearly tingling to try and decipher what he was hearing.  As the two boys looked down the dark crooked street, under archways and down broken steps, they couldn't make out anything.  But a couple of flashes of spell-light gave Figaro another start.

"We need to get off the street.  We're not safe here.  It's just a bit more - I'm gonna run."

Before Xavier could agree with this half-brained plan, or perhaps suggest a less panic-induced recourse, Figaro trotted out into the alley, crossed the road and made a break for his family's shop.  He kept close to the wall and was hurried on by more noise leaking out from further down the alley.  He didn't look back to see if Xavier had followed until he came to the mouth of a narrow side ally.  It was where Jimmy and others would drop off deliveries.  It led to the back door of the Apothecary and the best way to get inside without being seen.

He looked back down the way he'd came and hissed into the night.

"Xav. Xav! Let's go!"

Xavier bit back some anger at his friend's retort. Perhaps it was what he needed to remember exactly where he was. Being back in Knockturn Alley was like coming home for him. Growing up he never felt like he belonged. His nice big house in the country side with his mother and father was so long ago now and it had been the last place where Xavier had been well, normal. After his dad left everything went down the drain. His mother was never the same afterwards and living with his grandmother just felt like one really long visit. He never felt like the Tawse family home was really his home. Even Hogwarts didn't really hold that warming sense of home for him, perhaps because he had never been allowed to be himself there but here, in the heart of the most dangerous place in London Xavier felt at home, like he finally had a place to belong. As far as Xavier was concerned, he was one of those things that go bump in the night and so he hadn't really learned to fear the Alley like Figaro did.

He growled as Figaro suddenly dashed down the alley. He was tempted to scream after the boy but didn't need to call any attention to himself. For someone who was terrified of all the baddies that might be lurking about in the Alley Figaro sure was being stupid about it. Just because they weren't safe where they were didn't mean running down the street like an idiot was going to make them safer. He watched the wand light down the alley and was finally beginning to feel some of the fear and apprehension that was making his friend rash and idiotic. Perhaps he wasn't as safe and untouchable as he had always thought himself to be. Afterall Cin didn't even know he was there, his uncle wasn't about to race to his rescue if he got himself into any trouble. However Xavier refused to admit he was making a mistake or that this whole trip had been a bad idea, he just needed to make sure Figaro didn't do anything else that was stupid.

"Xav. Xav! Let's go!"

Like that.

Xavier hissed and rolled his eyes. Figaro seriously needed a lesson in not drawing attention to himself. Xavier kept having to remind himself that Figaro didn't have the same Alley experience that he had. Even though Rafe's store was in the alley and Figaro often came by the shop during summer holidays he wasn't a day in and day out fixture like Xavier was. When on holidays Xavier slept at the Black Chimaera and spent almost all of his waking hours in either the bar or the alley. He had learned from a young age where to go, who to stay away from and where to run if he got in trouble. Figaro didn't have that kind of heads up.

He finished his cigarette, tossed the butt and squished it into the cobblestone with his shoe. He took a deep breath, waited long enough after Fig's whispered shout but not too long to warrant the kid to call out again and stepped out from the side alley he had been pulled into. This time however Xavier kept his hood up and his head down. As comfortable as he felt walking down the alley he didn't need to draw attention to himself and he sure as hell didn't want to get involved with whatever was going on at the other end of the alley.

When he finally made it to Figaro's side it took all of his willpower not to punch him, "Don't do that agin, runnin like that, those maniacs coulda killed ye okay?" Although his tone was stern it carried the kind of concern and worry that Xavier always had for his friend. He hated seeing Figaro get in trouble or even worse get hurt. He may not have been afraid of what could happen to him but he was definitely afraid of what could happen to Figaro, "C'mon lets git inside."

Figaro expected Xavier to get impatient and angry with him.  Most people reacted to Figaro in that way some time or antoher, even his mates.  But what surprised him was the note of concern on his voice.  The hard as nails, streetwise Xavier was actually somewhat worried. 

Which should have given Figaro a good reason to feel worried as well.  But being outside his family's shop, even in the middle of the night, felt in a wierd way like home.  Like he had just taken the rubbish out and his dad was inside counting cockatrice combs, or grinding the last few ounces of a tortoise carapice into grainy powder. 

"Hold on, hold on," he reassured Xavier in a whisper.  "Got my key right here."

Figaro produced a large metal key.  It was longer than his hand and heavy.  The teeth on the end were many and complex, and the flourished handle had crow depicted in the middle for some reason. None of the other keys were this way - it was just an odd spare he'd been given one summer.

He hoisted it into the lock and shoved it home.  It ground into place loudly enough to make Fig flinch.  They were trying so hard to be quiet that even a small noise was unwelcome, let alone the raucous grind of a rusted key in a rusted lock.

He turned it slowly and then...

CLICK.

The lock released and the door was suddenly loose in its hinges.  Figaro looked over at Xavier, reassuring himself he didn't have to go in alone like a crazy person.

"Try not to... just, don't take anything.  Just look.  Look for anything... I don't know." 

When Figaro was really faced with it, he didn't know what he'd come here to find.  He'd come looking for reassurances and vindication, but that wasn't to be found in a box of matches, or in a tassle of rat tails and carrots hanging from the ceiling, nor in the bottom of a barrel of beetle eyes.

"Just... Look."

Cinaed had spotted them through the greasy shop window as he strolled while perusing the wares on the shelves of Connor's Cauldrons.  He hadn't needed one, per se  - shopping had been a convenient cover story for chatting with the shop owner.  For discussing neighborhood politics.  In other words, encouraging him to attend the neighborhood meeting at the Black Chimaera. 

He recognized the larger boy readily enough; his nephew had that start of that broad-shouldered heftiness that was the trademark of Tawse men.  His father, Xavier's grandfather, had been a fine example of that trait, as far as Cinaed could remember.  At first, Cinaed hadn't recognized the young man with his nephew though, even from a distance, it was clear the lad was a fellow student.  Or, at least, student-aged. 

"I'll have to return some other time," Cinaed offered Caleb Connor without taking his eyes off the lads.  The man's grunt seemed close enough to an agreement and Cinaed slipped out of the shop just as Xavier's companion was fishing a key out of his pocket.  They were going in Sellaphix'?  The little rat bastard ... the man owed Cinaed.  For hiring an idiot if nothing else.

He kept to the shadows, curling a finger in the shop door jam just moments before it fell shut behind the lads.  He gave the kids a few more moments to move further into the shop before slipping through the door and closing it quietly behind him. 

He started down one of the side aisles, moving away from the two boys.  "Field trip?" he asked, in a voice loud enough to carry across the shop's main room.  "Or - is this trip ... unsanctioned?"

Xavier entered the shop without a word. He let Fig walk around and do what he needed to do. He had no idea what he was looking for but figured just being in the store would be enough for his friend. Fig needed closure, at least that what Xavier thought this whole trip was about. He doubted they'd find anything that would either prove or disprove that Rafe was involved in the whole Runespoor thing, if there had been anything left in the store the Aurors were sure to have cleared it out by now, right?

Xavier walked down the aisles of the shop looking at barrels and jars of ingredients he couldn't even put a name to. He figured if they were here in the middle of the day they'd be easier to identify but in the cool darkness of the shop at night he couldn't even make out the labels listing how much each ingredient cost. He paused to look into a jar that seemed to be filled with the eyeballs of some sort of magical creature, the irises were still giving off a purple glow that only partly lit up the shelf they were sitting on.

As the low deep voice broke the silence Xavier spun, knocking over the jar of glowing eyes and drawing his wand. Fortunately as the voice continued Xavier recognized it's owner. He let out a sigh and lowered his wand but hadn't yet put it back in his pocket, "Bloody Hell Uncle Cin! Ye scared thee crap out o' me." He looked around the aisle he was currently in trying to make out the silhouette of his much larger uncle, "Do we really need ta answer that? What are ye doin here?"

While Xavier had walked down the aisles on the main floor, Figaro had gone behind the counter. It was a castle of a desk on a raised platform underneath the wrought iron balcony above.  Behind the counter against wall were hundreds of small drawers and nooks.  Old Sellaphix had a filing system that until now, Figaro had been bored to tears with.  But now he wished he'd paid some attention to the filing he'd been told to do. 

He'd only just begun picking through some of the drawers in the dark when a voice scared him witless.  A jar crashed to the ground and broke somewhere in the shop, and Figaro ducked to the ground, dropping hard onto his knees.  His heart was instantly pounding so hard in his chest, he thought it must be what a heart attack felt like.  It made his ears ring in dull throbs.  In that moment, he didn't know if they'd been caught by an Auror or professor some something much worse. 

Xavier's exclamation confirmed that it was, indeed, something much worse.

Xavier was overjoyed, it sounded like.  But Figaro was visibly shaking as he slowly rose to his feet, wand in hand at his side, to see the giant figure of Cinaed Tawse.

Figaro had been forbidden from day one that he was to go nowhere near that man.  His folks had told him horror stories.  And despite all the good things Xavier said about him, Figaro had obeyed.  (Because, frankly, some of the things Xav got excited about, scared Fig a little.)

Cinaed had a mane of long blond hair and an impressive forked beard.  And a murder to his name.

Figaro just stared.  He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to Cinaed Tawse. 

Cinaed strode the isles with a casual purposefulness, not unlike a costumer in browsing for their next purchase.  But, there was nothing casual nor business-like about this visit.  And, if he came across anything he fancied, he doubted he'd be bothering leaving payment.  Cinaed figured he could pocket half the store and it might equal the value of the damages to the Black Chimaera.  Sellaphix owed him.  The rat should be grateful if Cinaed merely took payment from the merchandise rather than from more painful sources.  But, his faux browsing brought him to the end of the isle, furthest from both of the boys. 

At his height, it was hardly a stretch for the man to set his long, calloused and runic-tattoo-adorned fingers rested on the top of a bank of shelves and pivot around it to start moving down the next aisle back in the boys' general direction.  He lifted both hands in an I'm-unarmed-don't-shoot manner when his nephew pivoted towards him, his own wand drawn.  "Perhaps you shouldn't have been doing something you were afraid to get caught at," was his simple response to the young man.  "Or, if you're doing something you shouldn't be, perhaps you should be more on guard about what's around you.  If it had been someone else that succeeded in sneaking up on you, you'd be in trouble."

He reached Xavier's side, looking down at the young man, his expression serious save a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.  As always, the slight twitch was accentuated by the ripple down the corresponding side of his beard.  "Such as if your grandma had been the one to catch you?"  He asked, simply.  "I'm shopping.  What are you doing here?" 

"Both of you," Cinaed added, finally looking up and across at the scrawny little twitchy kid.  In the low light of the darkened shop, it was impossible to tell who it was - but whoever it was, they looked as twitchy and yet motionless as a mouse in the shadow of an owl in the moonlight. 

In the darkness of the shop Xavier couldn't help but admire his uncle's massive form. Although he wasn't always there Cináed was the closest thing Xavier had to a father, he was the only male influence in his life and he respected him far beyond words. So seeing him look sternly at him and speak words that weren't exactly welcoming was a little more than disconcerting to him. For all the confidence that Xavier normally exuded it all melted away in the few seconds that followed after Cináed's initial warning.

Xavier coughed over a laugh when Cináed mentioned his grandmother. To be honest Xavier would rather go up against any of the murdering scoundrels Knockturn had to offer than face an angry Anna Tawse. If there was anyone in the world that struck fear into Xavier's heart it was her. However comical his response was Xavier wasn't dumb enough to ignore the warning that lay underneath it. He was right, both of them had been lucky that it had been Cináed who had entered the shop. He mentally berated himself for not standing by the door to keep watch while Figaro did what he wanted to do.

Xavier's features screwed up momentarily in confusion when Cináed mentioned he was shopping. Was he trying to be funny again or was he actually being serious? If he was being serious his idea of shopping was nicking things from Fig's Dad's store while no one was around. As much as he loved his uncle that thought was just wrong, then again at that moment he hadn't entirely made the connection between Rafe, Nate and the damage done to the Chimaera. Sure he knew it had happened and that Nate had been responsible, he had even offered to help Cináed rebuild he just never expected his uncle to blame Fig's Dad for everything that had happened. As far as he was concerned it had all been Briggs fault.

For a moment Xavier wondered what he should tell his uncle, "It's Fig's shop." He said simply not sure what else to say. He wasn't sure how Cináed would react if he said they had come here to find some evidence to link Rafe to the runespoor smuggling.

Figaro adjusted his grip on his wand, still held down at his waist behind the counter.  His palms were getting wet.  He had wand drawn, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it.  Should have paid more attention in Defense.  But frankly, faced with a for-real defense situation, all their class exercises seemed like a farce.  Popping each other with stunning spells? Falling into pillows, identifying curses? It seemed like kid stuff.  And pathetically unhelpful. But he gripped his wand more tightly just the same.

The man was at the far end of the shop, near the locked up main front door.  Whereas Figaro, behind the counter, was three strides away from the door to 'the back' and the exit to the back alleyway where they'd come in. He thought about running for it.  But that seemed like an excellent way to get cursed in the back.  There was a hearth upstairs in what used to be an office, which they'd always used as storage.  But they hadn't paid a Floo bill in ages and it was shut off from the Network. 

And then Cinaed Tawse said he was here shopping.  And then after that, Xavier said Figaro's name.  Figaro threw a wild glance at Xavier in the dim light of the shop.  What did he think he was doing, calling him his own name?! In every book he'd read, all the films he'd seen, you never gave out your name to bad guys.  The evil eye or something.

A few breaths later, Figaro found his voice.

"Yeah.  This is my shop," he said, his voice cracking on the first word.  "And you can't take anything unless you pay for it."

Merlin, what a stupid thing to say! Cinaed Tawse wasn't going to pay for anything.  He was going to kill them both and take what he pleased. 

"Maybe you should go, or maybe we should talk to some Aurors," he said trying to sound bolder.  But he took a step back from the desk, nearly bumping into the bank of drawers behind him.