524 The Apothecary Ⅳ

At the edge of a murky, muddy bog, a group of three wizards appear carrying their stunned, but glaring captive, Damocles Belby. They had apparated more than ten times to lose any possible tracker's, before heading to their destination. Damocles limbs and mouth are bound, but he wrinkles his nose at the strong bog scent permeating in the evening air. This far north the evening shadows are longer and darker than at Diagon Alley.

At the edge of the bog is an old abandoned shack as the leader, a crooked nosed wizard with a hard face and straw thatch like hair kicks open the door, and enters the dusty, old hut with his wand held high. "We're good, boys. Bring 'em in," Erie-Sticky Fingers instructed his fellow criminal counterparts.

One-eyed Joey spits on the ground in vile glee, while Sweet-Tooth flashes a yellow tooth rotted smile. Damocles cannot even struggle as he curses his wrathfully curses his captors in his mind and can only warily watch his captor's and memorize their features as best as he can. It was the only thing that he could do in this desperate and unexpected situation as his wand had been taken.

One-eyed Joey and Sweet-Tooth dump their captive onto an old, torn sofa that has most of its stuffing bleeding out of mold covered holes. A puff of dust, grime, and mold like smell is released as Damocles is thrown onto the old, hard, stiff cough. He rapidly blinks his eyes as dust and grime, and Merlin knows, what else flies up into the air and around him.

Not a complete fool, Erie says, "We will take turns watching the captive and keeping a look out for anyone suspicious. The Belby's should have already received the ransom note, and ought to be gathering the galleons. Come this time tomorrow, boy's, we'll be rich, and living in the West Indies."

The three men cackle wickedly as One-eyed Joey winks with his one good eye and theatrically whispers, "And what about the fat catch?"

Erie sneers viciously and casts a cold look at the figure of Belby. "We can���t have Belby tattling to the Auror's, can we know? We'll make sure to get rid of him, and even 'em, bloody wolves won't even find a single fragment of his corpse."

"Right, boss," One-eyed Joey said as Sweet-Tooth shared his greedy expression at the thought of riches, never mind the premeditated murder.

Damocles body shakes with laughter causing the three wizards to turn and face them. "What scared?" Erie mocked his captive as he pointed his wand at his captive to remove the gag over Damocles Belby's mouth.

"I found myself profoundly amused at the depths of your sheer incompetency," Damocles plainly taunted his captors.

"What was that?" Erie growled as his grip on his wand grew tighter. "Care to repeat that Belby?"

"Are you deaf now too?" Damocles sneered back. "But I suppose given the ill nature of the company I am in; I should not be so surprised-," but before he can continue Erie harshly slaps Damocles across the face leaving a burning bright red handprint across his face.

"I will not be mocked," Erie hissed. "Now, either say something useful or remain silent, Belby. Remember, who is in charge here, and I do not need a living hostage. Are we clear?"

"Perfectly," Damocles answered through clenched teeth.

Taking a step back, Erie says, "Now then, what were you going to say, Belby? And no lies!"

Damocles lips twitch into a smirk, but he quells his urges as best as he can. He had learned the hard way that it was better not to further antagonize his captors. Carefully wording his thoughts, he finally says, "If your ransom letter was sent to the Belby family then it would have been received by my younger brother as our parents passed away during Gellert Grindelwald's war. And my younger brother and I do not see eye to eye, in fact, we have not spoken since he left Hogwarts. As such gentlemen, I would not put your hopes in receiving a paid ransom for me. I would have instead forwarded such a letter to the Ministry of Magic or the Potions Guild as I would be of immeasurable value there."

"Lies," Erie hissed not daring to believe such a truth especially as his two henchmen suddenly began to look nervous. He could not afford to have his position weakened!

Damocles opens his mouth to speak, but suddenly finds himself gagged again, while Erie turns and roars, "Well, what are you two great big louts waiting for? Off you go!"

One-eyed Joey hastily hurries away to check on the ransom location, while Sweet-Tooth scurries outside to stand guard and watch for any suspicious activity. There was no one there that lived for miles, so anyone suddenly cropping up would be speedily dwelt with even if they were simply innocent bystanders. They could not afford, nor risk being caught for certain they would all be sentenced to Azkaban.

Standing just outside of the ransom location, an empty park, One-eyed Joey peeks around and cautiously peers around searching for anything suspicious. He spots a muggle dressed couple walking a very large dog, but the dog has its tongue sticking out and is waving its tail rather forcefully. The muggle couple disappears around a bend on the park path leaving the park entrance empty.

One-eyed Joey hurries into the park and reaches under a bench for a hidden bag. Blindly feeling around under the bench his face suddenly brightens up at feeling a heavy bag hidden just out of sight. He greedily pulls the bag towards him to suddenly see the large dog rush out from the bushes and right at him with fangs baring.

One-eyed Joey falls onto his behind, and hastily reaches for his wand much too late as the dog's fangs dig into his wrist. One-eyed Joey begins to shriek in pain and whack the dog in the stout, but the blasted creature will not release him. Desperately reaching for the fallen wand at his side, he raises his wand only to find someone grabbing his arm.

Glancing up in sheer astonishment One-eyed Joey sees a green robed figure as a sickening feeling appears in his stomach. It was that of dismay in recognition of the A.P.D. officer uniform. Hearing footsteps he sees the supposed muggle couple return and remove the charm over them to reveal two Auror's in scarlet robes.

"Twizzle, you can release him now," Banks said as he kept a tight grasp on the collar of the apprehended criminal, and other hand carefully pointed his wand at the criminal's neck.

"Sir, you will be coming with us," Banks steadily said as he hauled the bleeding criminal to his feet. The two Auror's and A.P.D. officers share grins of triumph, before transporting the criminal back to headquarters to be interrogated in the Auror's holding cell. It was going to be an awful evening for One-eyed Joey.