Chapter-82: Interrogation

Ronan was reading the article about how Sirius Black was spotted near Hogsmeade when he felt a tap on his shoulders. He looked up to find that all his friends were sitting all around him. 

"Guys," he said, "When did you come in?" He looked outside the window, and they were out of London and were going across the fields. "And when did the train leave the station,"

"What is wrong with you today?" Pancy asked.

"Are you ill?" Daphne asked.

"No," Blaise proclaimed, "I think that his brain had finally stopped working after all the long hours of studying and experimenting that he had been doing,"

"Very funny," Ronan said. But he knew that the real reason for his absence of mind was his uncle, Sirius Black.

Now that he had the mouse with him, he didnt know what he was supposed to do with it. If he were to set the mouse free and kill Sirius Black, he would get a huge amount of coins. According to the newspaper, Sirius had a bounty of 500 gold coins. And he could always use some coins. 

While, if he were to just tell someone with higher authority, like Shacklebolt for example about the mouse, he could get his uncle exonerated. And he was interested in doing so because he could get another pawn for his chess board, in the form of his uncle. And having a great pawn would be better for him in the long run. 

The problem that he was facing with all of this, was, that he didnt know his uncle. He didnt know his nature, and what kind of man he was. So gambling his bounty money over something that he had no way of knowing could bite him in the ass later on. And so, he was truly confused about what he should do.

Next year, that snake bastard would come back to life. And if I wanted to be the one to kill that bastard, I would need all the resources and manpower that I could muster. So which one should I go for? A pawn? Or money?

When Ronan finally broke his line of thoughts and looked around, and saw his friends were talking about the vacation time, he also joined in the conversation. He didnt share a lot of things about his vacation, just vaguely told them about it. When he was done, Daphne started telling them about her experience in France.

".. So dad and mum thought that it would be fun to go and visit my aunt," Daphne said. "She lives in a muggle neighborhood. And when we were walking to her house, we saw a muggle magician performing by the roadside."

"Performing what?" Blaise asked, "Magic?"

Daphne nodded, "Yes. You should have seen it. That man was able to make coins appear out of thin air. And he was able to make cards float in the air, without using levitation spells like Ronan. It was amazing to see."

"Wait, how did he manage to do that, if he was a muggle?" Pancy asked.

Then Ronan butted in, "Muggle magic is mostly based on illusion." He said, "Like the coin trick that he showed you, it is performed like this," Then Ronan showed them the trick.

He tucked a golden coin, at the back of his fingers, and then skillfully showed them the trick. And his friends were amazed when he made that coin appear out of thin air. "The basic principle of most of muggle magic is distraction. Daphne, was the magician showing his palm out front right?" she nodded, "He wanted you to concentrate on the palms, and not focus on where the main magic was happening,"

"Muggles," Blaise laughed, "They and their tricks.. All useless. I dont know how these people could live without magic. I mean look at this trick for example..." And then Blaise went out to insult the muggles and their way of living. Normal stuff.

But Ronan was not listening, because he just had an idea.

Distract everyone, while the main magic is happening somewhere else.

***

When the Hogwarts Express came to a stop at Hogsmeade station, Ronan and all of his friends disembarked with smiles on their faces. All of them were very hungry and were looking quite forward to the feast that was going to take place today. But when Ronan's eyes fell on the group of people that were standing at the station, visibly waiting for them, he realized that maybe he wouldn't be able to attend the feast today.

Before him were Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklbolt, Tonks, a guy with a prosthetic eye, and an old man who looked like he eats nails for breakfast every day.

Ronan knew that they were waiting for him, or at least had a hunch. Still pretending that he didnt know they were here for, he waved at Arthur as soon as he saw him. He then went to Arthur, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Weasley. I hope that you got my gift?"

Arthur smiled, "I got it. And let me tell you… It is wonderful." Ronan smiled.

"You had a good Christmas boy?" the man with a cruel face asked.

He passed the man a fake smile, "And you are?"

"Oh pardon me," the man then his hand forward, "My name is Rufus. Rufus Scrimgeour. I work with Scaklebolt and Tonks over here,"

Ronan shook the man's hand, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Scrimgeour."

Then the man abruptly said, "You didnt answer my question from earlier." He said, "How did your holidays go?"

Ronan acted as if he was confused. "Well, it was quite eventful…."

"Rufus" the man with the prosthetic eye spoke, "I thought we agreed that we would only question the boy in Dumbledore's office,"

"Of course Dumbledore," Rufus said, "It slipped my mind."

"What do you mean question?" he asked.

"Why dont we talk while walking?" Mr. Weasley said as he put his hands over his shoulder. Mr. Weasley lied to him because until they reached the Professor's office, none of them said a word.

Acting as if he didnt know what all of this was about, he kept asking them different questions. He asked them whether this was about Sirius Black or it had something to do with the gift that he sent to Mr. Weasley. But as they didnt say anything, he stopped by the time they reached the castle…

When they entered Dumbledore's office, he saw the professor standing near the fireplace. Along with him was Professor McGonagall, who looked worried for some reason. After they had entered, Ronan became the target of everyone's stares. 

"Take a seat over there boy," the man with the prosthetic eye spoke. He was pointing at the middle of Professor Dumbledore's office.

Quickly he sat down, Ronan wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. It was then that Shacklebolt came before him, "Ronan, first of all, let me apologize for the secrecy. We have a situation in our hands, which might be related to you. And we would appreciate it if you could cooperate with us,"

"Of course Mr. Shacklebolt." He passed the man a smile, "Please ask what you want to know."

Kingsley then turned seriously, "Did your holidays go well?"

He nodded, "It was quite eventful. I made some connections, that would help me in a future business of mine." He then turned to Arthur, "Mr Weasley they already have my product. And he is beta-testing it for me?"

"Beta testing?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Ohh…" he said, "It is a muggle term. Usually, before launching anything in the market, muggles tend to select a few people to test out their products, and to know their defects. This process is called Beta testing."

"What kind of connection are we talking about here?" Rufus asked in a stern voice.

"You know…" he said, "Some logistics and some manufacturing connections.. This product of mine is not a toy, so I can't use Zonkos."

"And if you dont mind me asking, who these connections are? And where did you meet them?" the man with the prosthetic eye asked.

"This a cooperation right?" He asked, still smiling, "I have shared information, that not many people are privy to. And I will give you more when I understand why you want to know such information."

"Do you think you are in power here, boy?" the prosthetic eye guy asked.

The smile that he had been maintaining from the start vanished, and turned into a frown. He then turned towards Shacklebolt, "Mr. Shacklebolt… Could you help me understand who these people are," he pointed at Rufus and Proesttic eye man, "And why are they treating with such disrespect?"

"This man is Alastor Moody. Former Auror, and trainer of Tonks over here," Shacklebolt said, "And this Rufus Scrimgeour, the…"

Rufus cut him off, "I am the head of an Auror office in the ministry… And you are a suspect in an attack on a fellow auror. So I would suggest, you speak the truth boy. Otherwise, you are in for a world of pain,"

Ronan didnt look worried at all. And asked calmly, "Who was attacked?"

"I was," Tonks said.

Ronan couldnt help himself but laugh, "Make sense. The weakest auror gets attacked."

Tonks tried jumping on him, but she was held back by Alastor, "Behave yourself Nymphadora," he barked, making her scowl in anger.

"Very well," Ronan said, "I will help you in any way possible. But I will not be able to give you the information of my contacts… Anything else, and I would be happy to help you in any way possible,"

"And why is it, that you are not telling us about your future partners?" Kingsley asked.

"Trade secret I am afraid. You would be shocked, how many people would jump on the first chance to copy my endeavors." He said, "Also, why am I even a suspect in this case? I have not met Tonks, ever since the start of the school year,"

"Someone attacked her," Professor Dumbledore who had been silent since the beginning spoke, "… While she was keeping an eye on you." Then the old man turned around and stared straight into his eyes, "And they suspect that you might have something to do with it?"

Ronan acted as if he was shocked, and then asked, "Why was she following me in the first place?"

Then Moody spoke, "We suspect that you are in cahoots with your estranged uncle."

Ronan chuckled, "Surely no one is dumb enough to believe that, right?" No one said a word, while most of the Aurors except Shacklebolt seemed pissed off…