Incendio

Chapter 34: Piddlehinton

Samantha had only Apparated a few times, but she'd really gotten the hang of it. It made her quite sick the first time she tried it alone, but today as she sat inside a small cafe in Piddlehinton, she didn't feel like vomiting anymore. Kingsley had informed her that there had been a good amount of Death Eater activity in Piddlehinton and he had a contact he believed would be helpful.

The cafe was small and muggles sidled in and out, not paying much attention to the little teenager writing on a notepad. This contact had chosen this cafe in the middle of the daytime, which was an uncomfortable choice for Samantha who'd already been awake for seventeen hours. The contact was running slightly behind and Samantha who had already edited most of the piece she planned to return to Lee, was exhausted.

She looked up from her work to see a young man in line for coffee. She sort of recognized him, but couldn't put her finger on where she'd seen him. He turned to see her and gave a mimicking look, as if he was also trying to gauge if they knew each other. Before Samantha could give it more thought he wordlessly mouthed, "Fyre?"

It was obvious he knew her. He must be her contact.

She wordlessly replied with a nod.

She wondered if she should be concerned, she breathed a slight sigh of relief when he sat down. She just hadn't ever remembered seeing him outside of Hogwarts or out of a Quidditch uniform. He also looked a great deal older, it had been four years after all. She whispered, "Oliver Wood?"

He nodded, but smiled a little. "Unfortunately. Are you my contact?"

"Yeah." She nodded before waving her wand under the table and non verbally using Muffliato.

"I didn't realize you were the other voice on Potterwatch. I of course recognized, River, but Rebel I couldn't quite place. Then I remembered I hadn't heard your voice since you still sounded a bit like a squeaky mouse."

Samantha laughed, her voice hadn't dropped till the end of her third year. She'd sounded like she was filled with helium up until then. "Yeah, I never thought I'd be thankful for puberty, but here we are."

Oliver laughed a little but there was fear behind his eyes.

"Kingsley said you had some information for me." Samantha mentioned casually.

He nodded. "I thought it was best to meet here, the Death Eaters who frequent this area normally sleep during the day, and the Ministry official in charge of this town spends more time in the pub than the cafe."

Samantha chuckled a little before clicking her pen and writing notes, "Who's the Ministry Official?"

"Constantine Brenna." Oliver revealed and Samantha involuntarily rolled her eyes. She believed Constantine was her uncle, she wasn't actually sure.

"Do you know him?" Oliver asked having gauged her reaction.

"Not personally, but I know of him." Samantha grimaced. "Is he or his family much trouble?"

Oliver laughed leaning back into his chair, "Course he is. He was trouble before all of this began. Liked putting restrictions on Quidditch practices because he hated our team."

"Puddlemere United is your team correct?" Samantha put the pieces together, she assumed he was a Quidditch player for the team. Oliver nodded and Samantha continued, "Why did he hate the team?"

"Our captain is, well was, muggle born." Oliver took a deep breathe and Samantha watched his hands shake as he picked up his coffee.

"Was?" Samantha asked pulling a flask from her jumper's front pocket and offering it to Wood.