Chapter 85. Stolen Witches

… Blackmore Alley…

… downtown, Slough, Berkshire…

"Fabien! We've got another one coming in!" A portly bearded man called to someone out of sight as the large pipe in the corner started to creak and groan.

"Hurry her out then, I was just about to leave." A voice replied.

The portly Wizard stepped closer to the line of pipes arranged neatly on one of the walls of what looked like a warehouse.

Each of the pipes magically brought people in from different locations. The pipe creaking and groaning was from Maine & Sons, a grocery store a handful of streets away.

They were usually set up in restrooms in Muggle-populated places, where Witches couldn't make a fuss if one was to magically disappear.

The spell was placed in restrooms and only reacted to magic, if a Muggle lady sat on a spelled toilet, nothing happened but the moment a Witch did, it sucked her right in and brought her through the magical pipes to this warehouse.

If they were pretty or special, they were auctioned off and if they didn't meet the requirements, they were Obliviated and returned back to where they were taken from with a hole in their memories.

It wasn't a hectic business and most times, they only got a handful of Witches a week and most Witches were returned. They didn't want the Ministry breathing down their necks, after all, it was bad for business.

Although business was slow, there were good days when they found a Witch or two that could be auctioned off for a pretty penny.

Good days like today…

The portly man whistled when the Witch they got was gently deposited on the ground, knocked out.

"We've got a good one, Fabien…" He muttered, ogling the unconscious girl.

A monster of a man appeared through a hidden door, he was hairy all over like a caveman and wore dusty, ragged work clothes and boots like he did physical labor. He merely glanced at the girl and then pulled out a pouch from his pocket.

Ratley was a weasel of a man but he had a good eye for merchandise. The girl they had gotten was like a doll, a porcelain doll. She would fetch quite a handful of Galleons.

Fabien straightened out the bag and it immediately grew in size, large enough to fit a fully grown cow and more. He gently put the unconscious girl inside the bag after making certain that she was immobile.

The bag returned to its previous size and Fabien slipped it back into his pocket, heading out of the warehouse. It was a large, single room with bare walls and a leaky ceiling.

Rust and algae dripped down the cracked walls and from the outside, one would think it was an abandoned warehouse.

Ratley eyed the pipe that had brought the girl, wishing that she had come after Fabien had left to prepare for the auction, then he could have gotten to keep her for a couple of days.

He returned back to the rickety chair he usually occupied, a smoking pipe stained with tobacco on the chipped table beside him. He picked it up and took a swig of his bottle of firewhisky, returning to his watch.

His job was to sit in the musty emptiness of the warehouse for hours on end waiting for someone to come tumbling through the pipes. It was a boring job but it was an easy one that paid decently, Ratley wouldn't complain about that.

Plus, there were perks too. There were a couple of rooms where the girls who were chosen spent a day or two sometimes. He would admit that those rare chances he got made up for the endless hours he had to sit in the empty warehouse, listening to himself breathe.

His eyes trailed to the hidden backdoor that Fabien had walked out off, the main door was sealed shut to keep the image of the warehouse being abandoned. He still wished that he had let Fabien leave, instead of announcing the appearance of another girl.

-*-

"Let's go." Master Albeline said stiffly after apparating to Ji-hun's side.

Ji-hun found himself breathing easier when Master Albeline showed up, he knew that he would find his sister. He wiped his fogged-up glasses and followed suit, they were heading back into the store.

Master Albeline strode into the store like he owned the place instantly garnering everyone's attention without even realizing it. He went straight for the store clerk. "I'd like to speak to the manager."

The middle-aged lady behind the counter blinked up at him, unable to come up with a response. Someone else had to walk up to the conversation with an apology on the tip of his tongue, he studied the Master with narrowed eyes, making Ji-hun step forward as well.

"I apologize sir but the manager isn't in at the time, if there's anything I could help you with…"

"Then get me the owner." Master Albeline cut him off, his tone remaining the same.

The store workers were beginning to realize that this was the start of what could turn out to be a really big problem and immediately straightened up.

"Surely sir, whatever your issue could be can be handled civilly." The male store worker's tone changed.

"Fine then, my niece walked into your store with her older brother but he came out alone, explain that."

-*-

I stared down at the store workers, Legilimency didn't turn up much because neither of them had Juni in their memories. The middle-aged lady had stared at Ji-hun one too many times as they shopped earlier but paid no attention to Juni.

I did get one piece of valuable information though, it added up that this wasn't the first time that a girl was supposedly going missing in their store.

"Are you sure about that?" The middle-aged lady immediately went on the defensive, trying to discredit my story.

I leaned across the counter. "You must not want your job anymore."

Fear spilled inside her nondescript eyes, even though common sense was far from her at least she had her instinct working for her. It was telling her that I was otherworldly. "S-Sir?"

"Considering that your store has a history of young girls going missing, that's a rather bold thing to say, Laura."

She stepped back from the counter. "H-How do you know my name?"

I ignored her and turned to the male store worker, more like the assistant manager. "I will be in the women's restroom, I don't care if you have to shut the store down for today, let's go Ji-hun."

"Who is that man?" Laura whispered as we walked away.

I could feel the troubled stare of the assistant manager on my back. "Bad news."

-*-

"I already searched the entire restroom but there was no trace of her, it was like she disappeared." Ji-hun lamented.

I glanced down at the toilet seat in front of me, "She disappeared alright." I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"What?" Ji-hun hurried over.

I slipped my hands in my pants pocket, "She tried to use the toilet and either got sucked down or straight up disappeared, did you even bother using a basic tracking spell?" I lightly scolded.

Ji-hun looked contrite, although I was just a year older than him, he acted like there was a decade in between us.

"I was too frantic to remember." He admitted, sounding guilty.

"Good thing you didn't." I replied, picking up one of the perfume bottles placed on the small high window. "Because you would be gone too and I wouldn't realize until much later."

I rarely needed to use a wand these days, but I carried them around with me as a force of habit. I transfigured the perfume bottle into a human girl, placing it on the toilet.

Ji-hun watched intently, questions brimming at the tip of his tongue, questions he didn't ask.

"It's fine to ask what I'm doing." I said to him in a dry voice.

"What…"

The transfigured perfume bottle got sucked right in, the water remaining still to show that it hadn't been dragged down to the sewer.

"How did you…" Ji-hun trailed off, his wide eyes fixed on the toilet seat.

"Are you coming along?" I stepped closer to the toilet, wiping it down before taking a seat. "Hold your breath if you are…" I said before feeling myself get tugged in.

It felt like I was sliding through a water park slide, only that there was no water, opening my eyes didn't help much because it was pitch black. It was a short trip as I predicted so holding my breath was quite easy.

I had heard about shady dealings that involved pretty young Witches. Of course, the one time that Juni came to town, she got taken.

It would be convenient for them to knock the girls out while they were still in the pipe that transported them to their destination, there was a chance that magic was used but many things could go wrong in that case and I doubted that they would want the girls hurt.

So potions come to mind, it was possible that the walls of the pipe were lined with something to knock the girls unconscious, considering that every girl would probably be screaming in terror if they randomly got pulled down the toilet, making it very easy for airborne potions to work on them.

I landed on my feet, brushing away flints and particles from my clothes. Behind me, Ji-hun came stumbling out, staggering around a bit.

I huffed out a breath. "I specifically told you to hold your breath." I pointed out, adjusting my necktie.

Ji-hun had a hard time standing straight, he had to lean against a pipe different from the one that had brought us to keep himself upright. "I'm really sorry, Master Albeline, it… it happened so suddenly..."

I glanced around our destination, taking in the shiny pipes lined up on a wall and the decrepit state of the room we were in... "We have company…"

<note: the substance lining the pipes is the crushed flowers of the sleeping nightshade plant>