So Bligh was dead. She had suspected as much, but had been hoping her intuition was wrong. Moody would rain fire and brimstone to avenge the young man, but first, Tonks would have to escape to tell him. She tried not to think of Astrid Huggins, who adored Bligh. Or Bligh's mother, whose name Tonks could not recall, but who had been beaming and proud at her son's graduation from Auror Academy.
"I like you," the Metamorphmagus informed, pleased to see that he had rendered her temporarily speechless.
"You're not as dull as other Aurors, I suppose it's the Black blood exerting itself?"
Tonks wondered if the little show-off knew she was a Metamorphmagus as well. Better to keep that under wraps for the time being.
"Who are you?" she asked. "Why not tell me? It' s not like I' m going anywhere at the moment."
The face that watched her grew serious. It was three parts ambition, one part plain old craziness. It was nearly the stuff of Voldemorts.
"I am one who has been overlooked, written off, thrown aside in favour of others undeserving. But not for much longer."
Tonks nodded with mock solemnity. "And you practice that little speech in the mirror how many times a day?"
That did not please her captor. The slot snapped shut and her light footed, decidedly cunning, Metamorphmagus captor of questionable sanity, left the dungeon.
No one came to Tonks cell for the rest of the day. Or the next, for that matter.
**
"Where's a newspaper when you want one?" Ron grumbled to himself.
There had been none delivered that morning at breakfast because most of the student subscribers were back home already. Ron had no luck searching in the Gryffindor Common Room either. His luck changed when he spotted a young Hufflepuff coming down the stairs, with the Daily Prophet tucked under his arm.
"Borrow this?" Ron called out. It was a rhetorical question. He had already snatched the paper from the boy.
Ron found Harry at the edge of the lake, where he was seated with Ginny on the stone bench that Hermione liked to visit when it was too warm indoors. Ron sat, sighed, opened the paper and began to look for anything Tonks related.
He was momentarily sidetracked by an article about the Chudley Canons' new Beater, but then guiltily turned his attention to scouring the news for subtle hints of trouble.
It was the first real 'break' the friends had shared since learning of Tonks and Bligh's disappearance. Worry was a wearying thing sometimes.
"Hold up." Ginny said, frowning. She took the paper from her brother, who protested, and scanned a small article at the bottom of the front page. "Narcissa Malfoy is dead?"
"What!" Harry said. "Since when?"
Ginny paused to read before answering. "Since some time ago, apparently. Says here she was in Switzerland when it happened. Isn't that where Dumbledore is? Professor McGonagall said he was attending to some urgent matter there."
Ron wondered how he had missed the story. "Does it mention how she died?"
"It doesn' t say. It only says there' s been an apparent cover up about the death and now some sort of Ministry investigation is underway. I wonder how Dumbledore' s involved?"
"That's awful," Harry shook his head. "I mean, you have to admire her for leaving Lucius in the end. That took guts. She didn't seem the 'free will' sort."
Ginny worried her lower lip. "Do you think Lucius is involved?"
"How?" Ron interjected. "He can't wipe his arse without the Ministry giving him toilet paper to use."
"That's lovely, Ronald," Ginny said, giving her brother a bland look.
Harry, meanwhile, looked troubled. "I wonder if Malfoy knows?"
"You know, I don't think he does. He's been his usual self all year."
"And what's usual for Malfoy?" Ron asked his sister interestedly.
"Gitty," said Ginny. "An improvement on bigoted, bullying, bastard. But gitty, nonetheless."
"This reeks of manipulation." It was Harry who said it, though they were all thinking it. The Ministry, and indeed Dumbledore, were not exactly known for being forthcoming or proactively minded in the past, though Dumbledore had taken great pains to ensure that that had changed.
The Ministry of Magic however, was another matter.
Ron looked around, as if just noticing the absence of another opinion. "Where' s Hermione?"
Ginny was now tying her shoelaces. "Gone for the day. She said she needed to go to Gringotts."
"Oh," said Ron. "She might have told me. I would have gone with her to get me some new feed for Pig. He's not responding well to this new stuff mum got. It repeats on him,"