"You are a difficult woman to find, Mrs. Dolohov."

Astoria blinked. There was a man in her office and Kit had not told her. Then she recognized him. He was one of the ones who had attacked her sister that night at Simone Capper's.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're a Seer, and I record prophecy. I want to know what you see."

Astoria swallowed nervously. She supposed saying no was not going to get it done. She turned to leave, and he was suddenly there, grabbing her arm to stop her. Astoria started screaming.

Justin released her in shock. He hadn't grabbed her that hard. He gasped when he saw her eyes. They'd gone milky, and she fell to the floor twitching.

The second her boss started screaming, Kit cast a silencing charm and headed for the MLE offices. Astoria had told her once that if anything went wrong to go get Auror Moody, not to check, not to open the door, just to go, so that's what she was doing. Kit walked as briskly as she could without breaking into a run. Thankfully his door was open.

"Auror M-Moody? Madam Dolohov needs you. Now please."

Kit was shaking like a leaf.

Moody glanced up at Dolohov's secretary, noted her level of agitation, and stood, grabbed his cane, and said, "Right, then. Pardon me." He pushed past her and loped down the corridor toward the Improper Use of Magic office.

"MAKE A HOLE!"

Aurors and Trainees scattered as he sprinted past. Moody didn't get up to speed very often any more, and his calf was burning. When he rounded the corner and charged into the ante-office and threw some magic at the closed door with his cane. It swung open with a loud BANG.

Justin had crouched next to Mrs. Dolohov when she had fallen. He was not certain how to soothe her without touching her, so he had been speaking quietly to her about nonsense things.

When the door banged open, he pointed his wand. Justin blinked. Not good to be facing down Mad-Eye Moody. So not good.

Moody took a split-second to analyze the scene. It wasn't good. There was a man wearing a silver bracelet kneeling over the girl.

He brought his walking stick to bear.

"STUPEFY!"

Justin was not entirely certain how he managed to avoid that, but he did. He was about to wet himself in all honesty. Having Auror Moody try to hex him was not in his top five things to do within his lifetime. He could not avoid the man forever.

"No," Astoria rasped. "No, stop it."

"Are you all right," Justin snapped.

"Do not touch my bare skin with your bare skin when your mind is that full. One would think an Unspeakable would know better."

Astoria sat up and groaned.

"Auror Moody, please come in and have a seat."

Moody frowned, and kept his cane aimed at alleged unspeakable. "I believe I'll remain here for the moment, and I think that Mister Unspeakable here needs to back away with his hands behind his head."

He motioned toward the wall with the business end of his cane, and tried to not show that he was a little winded.

Justin was glaring.

"Will you just do as he asks, Justin," Astoria snapped.

"How did you..."

"Are you kidding me? You're Justin Finch-Fletchley. You hexed my sister when you found out she brewed the poison used on Ginny Weasley. I just got the abridged version of you in my head. There isn't a lot I don't know at this point."

She winced and began massaging her temples. Justin put his hands on head and backed away. Astoria got to her feet.

"Madam Dolohov..."

"I'm fine, Kit. Thank you. I saw a spider. Mr. Finch-Fletchley was getting it for me."

Kit made a face and moved only slightly. Nevermind that the woman had just said she had the abridged version of someone in her head and was on the floor. If Kit had seen a spider, she'd be on the furniture.

Moody didn't look convinced either. "Kit, I think Mister Finch-Fletchley, Madam Dolohov, and I have some things to discuss. Would you mind terribly if we closed the door?"

Kit looked to Astoria. Astoria nodded yes. The secretary pulled the door closed behind them.

"Can I put my hands down," Justin asked. "I feel silly. I wasn't hurting her."

"You may put your hands down when I'm satisfied that you're not a threat," he retorted, magical eye whirling madly in its socket. "You will explain your presence and why Poor Kitty out there felt the need to summon me."

"I've witnessed Madam Dolohov having a real vision before. I wanted to speak to her about it. I did not know she was a kinesthetic. I touched her arm. She screamed and went down."

Moody nodded. "You've just learned why she does not touch me. Now... Tell me about that lovely sliver bracelet with the modified protean charm cast upon it."

"This," Justin snapped holding up his arm. "You're upset about something my girlfriend gave me for my birthday so we'd quit owling back and forth when I work nights?"

"Hold out your arm."

He did.

The old copper grabbed the forearm with his free hand and examined the bracelet. Now that he mentioned it...

Moody let go. "My apologies." He turned to look at Astoria. "I think I'll have that seat now." He collapsed into the nearby chair.

Justin still hand his arms up, but his eyes narrowed. "What did you think it was?"

Astoria looked from one to the other, grinning. She loved it when something so seemingly insignificant that she had done led to something that was much bigger. Auror Moody and Unspeakable Finch-Fletchley had been supposed to meet.

"I was under the impression that you were a Liberi Agent who had assaulted Madam Dolohov, and she is too important an asset to lose to the enemy."

Astoria blinked. That was unexpected.

"I was under the impression that they only took purebloods. I'm Muggleborn. My parents and sister were all Muggles."

"You should take her to meet your mother. Someone so important to you should know her."

Justin did not have to ask who she was. He looked at Astoria before looking back to Moody. "Why would I be sodding Liberi?"

"Interestingly enough, they all wear bleeding silver jewelry almost exactly like that bracelet of yours... Though, the charm is not the same on your piece, nor has it been transfigured."

"Fuck," Justin whispered. "For real?"

He moved over and dropped into the chair next to Moody.

Astoria folded her arms across her chest and started pacing. "You're both on the same side and looking for the same thing."

She got glares.

"I just thought I'd point it out. I brought you both here whether I knew it or not, so we're not leaving until this is settled somewhat."

Moody raised an eyebrow at the impetuous young girl. "We captured a great many Liberi at the camp, and each and every one of them wore some sort of silver jewelry enchanted with a modified Protean charm. I managed to interrupt their mole in the Aurors' office and I recovered a sample that he or she had dropped in his or her haste to escape."

"Fuck," Justin said.

"Unspeakable Finch-Fletchley, is that the only word you know? Can you please mind your language while in my office?"

Justin scowled at her. Then turned to Moody. "I spoke to Theodore Nott. We're looking into concentrated magic areas, places you could hide a camp like that. Some of Nott's answers lead me to France, but France is a very big country."

Moody raised his eyebrow again. He was not thinking very nice words just now. "Did he mention anything about Scotland?"

"He did, but I am more interested in France. He seems to have heard more about the one there, has more details of it."

The old man decided that he was going to have to do some digging on this Finch-Fletchley character. "Interesting. The one he mentioned to us in any detail was the Scottish camp."

"Perhaps he thought that was the one you could find. I'm interested in France."

"Theodore Nott? I thought he was dead," Astoria said.

Justin looked at her. "You're supposed to be dead too."

"From what I understand, He was kidnapped by the Liberi and pressed into servitude when he proved unaffected by the mind magics," Moody told her. His attention turned back to the young man seated next to him. He was curious as to the reasoning behind the boy's obsession with Gaul of all places, but he let it go. "I have a contact who works -- more or less -- for the Crown. He may be able to provide us with aerial photography, but we will need to narrow down the sites we wish to see."

"That sounds interesting," Justin said. "Is this contact of yours opposed to you having a tag-along? I would be interested."

"He can be obsessive about things."

Justin glared at Astoria.

"Things like bloody Gaul," he commented, under his breath. "I do not believe that he will take exception to your accompanying me to meet with him. On the contrary... I believe that your virtue may well be in danger." He chuckled at the last bit, remembering.

Justin made a face.

Astoria let out a laugh at that look. "Now I want to meet him. It's a shame that Marcus wouldn't want to share that way."

"Who's Marcus?"

"No one," Astoria snapped. She waved at them. "Pretend I'm not here."

Moody shot her a look that let her know that in no uncertain terms that he knew exactly whom she was speaking of and that there would be more discussion later on the subject. "If it settles you at all, Finch-Fletchley, he'll be trying to get my pants off, too... And it would be best if we did not bring Madam Dolohov along with us. Trust me."

Astoria made a pouty sound. "But I'd like to watch that. Why can't I go if he likes blokes?"

"Because then he'll be trying for a..." he reached back into his mind for an appropriate term. "...Menage a Quatre, so to speak. The man is the randiest bastard you will ever meet."

When Astoria Dolohov started giggling and blushing, Justin put a hand over his face. How in the hell had a conversation about the Liberi camps gone south this quickly?

"He'd want to have sex with all of us? At same time? Is that even possible?"

"Can we not that about... THIS," Justin snapped.

Moody laughed. "I suppose we probably should get back on task. To answer your question, Astoria, yes, it is, but only just."

He turned back to the unspeakable. "We have reason to believe that the work camps will be in a very remote areas. Does this track with your own research?"

"Yes," Justin responded, glad to no longer be in any conversation that involved himself, sex and Mad-Eye Moody in any way, shape or form.

"One of them came to me," Astoria offered. "They want me to frame Muggleborns in misuse cases. I can't do that. I have not been approached again."

Moody looked at her and asked, "Did you happen to catch his name?"

Astoria gave him a truly Slytherin grin. "I can catch a name even when no one throws it most times... Jonathan Woodhouse. He introduced himself. Like he was so sure of me. He wanted to help Daphne. Like I'd really join another band of fanatics after the last batch got my husband and best friend killed."

Moody smiled, drew a small notepad out from his pocket and made a note of the name. "Yes, I'm hearing that there are a few purebloods who were involved last time in some capacity who will have nothing to do with the Children. It's a promising trend."

"So many of us lost so much last time. Aleksey was only one of them because of his father, and then... the Ministry took everything from me after he was gone. They took everything from Daphne. They sold our lives off bit by bit. Reparations. Like I really want to go through all of that again. Not that I have a father-in-law to inform this time."

Justin was looking from Astoria to Moody. Surely she was not related to THAT Dolohov.

"I'm related to THAT Dolohov, yes. He's the previously-mentioned father-in-law."

Justin scowled and resisted the urge to cover his forehead as if that would keep her out of his head.

"Just use occlumency if you're so bothered by it," Moody told him.

"I am."

"His mind is too active to hide everything," Astoria said. "It's sort of fascinating how many things in list-form run through it. He can think about so many things at the same time. It's spooky."

The corners of the old man's mouth were twitching upward. "I keep forgetting that I can remember when Merlin himself wore short trousers, and thusly, I have about sixty years' experience on you."

"Do I need to leave so you can talk," Astoria asked. "You can talk with me here. There are not listening devices. I destroy them as I find them."

Justin was looking at her with a furrowed brow. This was the longest he'd ever been around a Seer. He didn't think he liked it. Were they all this weird?

Moody turned to Astoria. "You're right... He does think pretty loud. Very organized, though." He turned to Justin. "If you think she's bad, you should have met Cassandra Trelawney."

Justin sighed.

"He's getting impatient, though he'd never say. Perhaps you should invite him somewhere besides Gaul. I'll be there. As soon as I corner Harry Potter and get him to give up his secret."

This time Moody did smile. "I think he's already in on the secret," he told the girl. "So, am I slipping and you're just being kind to an old man, or do you just think he'd make a good recruit and had no idea I was thinking about pulling his file?"

"The second one," Astoria said, then she pulled her wand abruptly and did a muffling charm on Justin's ears.

He shouted and fell out of his chair.

"He was there. The wall, the bodies."

She released the charm.

Justin glared. "What the fuck was that?"

"Muffling charm. I didn't want you to heard what I just said."

"Warn a bloke!"

It took a few seconds for Moody to figure out what the bleeding hell she was talking about.

Enlightenment dawned. Hogwarts. "So was I. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Astoria said.

Justin was making a face.

"I'm going to need a longer sentence, Dolohov," he told her.

"He was on the same side you were before. He can be again."

"Do all Seers talk in riddles all the time," Justin asked. "Or are you special?"

Moody felt like smacking himself in the forehead with one of his gnarled old hands. "They all do it to some extent," he explained. "She doesn't do it as much as some of them do. She just doesn't want you to know that we're talking about you."

"Well, good job. High marks."

Astoria giggled. "You can ask him."

"If it's out on a date, I'm very flattered," Justin quipped. "But I am sort of spoken for."

"Well..." Moody grunted as he hauled himself to his feet. "I shall take it under advisement, Astoria. Finch-Fletchley: Keep the evening of the sixteenth open, I may request your attendance at a meeting."

He rolled his shoulders and vertebrae popped and cracked.

It was not very often that Justin wasn't sure what had happened, but he was pretty sure he'd missed half of what had taken place here.

"Okay."

Moody waved his cane at the door and it opened for him. "Until next time." He strode out of the office with a loud thumping gait.

"I like him," Astoria said mostly to herself.

"Uh huh," Justin replied before getting up and showing himself out.

Astoria leaned against her door frame and watched him.

Justin mentally swore after he walked away. He had not gotten what he came for. He wasn't sure what he'd gotten, but it was not what he had set out to get.


{SUMMARY} Astoria orchestrates a meeting of the minds between Justin and Moody - whether she knows it or not. After a little misunderstanding, they all figure out they're on the same side.