The Mystery of the Frozen Heart

Chapter Nineteen: The Lady of Shalott

1925

1 Taking that crazy witch and the dead wizard back to New York had been the easy part. Sending Queenie away, back home had been harder, but luckily, Queenie had understood that she'd only be making things harder for her sister if she stuck around for what came next. The moment Tina Apparated in front of the MACUSA headquarters, she and her prisoners were seized by her Auror colleagues. The unconscious witch and the dead wizard were taken away. Tina was brought to the same little grey room where, only a short while ago, she'd watched Graves interrogate Celestia Prewett.

They left her there, by herself, sitting on that uncomfortable metal chair, for a good long while. Naturally, she didn't move. Not only did she not want to make matters worse, she also had no idea where else she was supposed to go. This profession was, for better or for worse, her life. There was nothing else she could imagine herself doing.

After what felt like countless aeons, the door was opened, and no-one other than Percival Graves stepped inside, a pained expression on his face. He sat down opposite her, steeped his fingers, blew out a heavy breath, and shook his head. "You're lucky the President herself signed that permit, Tina. Otherwise, I'd lock you up in the same cell as Ethel Partridge...you know, the woman who poisoned you." He briefly motioned at the black tattoo on her right wrist. "If you'd listened to me, none of this would've happened. Celestia Prewett wouldn't be in the wind. Ares Malfoy wouldn't be dead."

Malfoy. That name sounded very familiar. Ah, yes: English Pureblood family. Very rich and prestigious. Not the kind of people who'd ever associate with someone like Tina. It wasn't as if she felt any sympathy for them, due to the fact that this Malfoy character had tried to kill Tina and Queenie, but she still lowered her head, and said, "I'm sorry, sir."

"Sorry for what? Hm? For disobeying my direct order? For going behind my back? For messing up my operation? For dragging your sister into this? For getting the eldest Malfoy son killed and yourself as good as? Now what the hell are you even sorry for?" He'd started to sound increasingly angry over the course of his little speech. For a moment, he just glared at her, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. Then, he inhaled deeply, ran his fingers through his dark hair, tugged at his cufflinks, and leaned back in his chair. "This is your biggest problem: you're so convinced you're doing the right thing that you completely ignore the fallout of your decisions until it becomes impossible to do so. Now, you're in a possibly fatal pickle, Tina, and I wish I could say that was the worst of it. It's not, though. All of this" - He motioned about with a brusque wave of his hand - "is bigger than any one of us."

"At least we now know that Prewett had no intention of cooperating with us." Tina knew that getting smart wasn't exactly the best move right now, but it wasn't as if she had all that much to lose. Besides, she was right about this, and he needed to realise that he was mistaken. So much depended on it - so much.

"All we know is that she evaded capture by an overzealous Auror who's incapable of following orders," he retorted, more weary than annoyed. "She trusted me. You've broken that trust and made me look like a liar in the process." For a few seconds, he closed his eyes, presumably to keep himself from strangling his underling. When he looked at her again, he seemed more or less resigned to his fate. "The damage has been done. You might as well stay and help me clean up your mess. We need to find out what Miss Partridge knows - not only about the Grindelwald followers or the frozen heart, but also about that curse she passed on to you."

She looked at him squarely, thin eyebrows raised. "Sir?"

He gestured for her to get up from her chair - the chair on the wrong side of the interrogation table, so to speak. "Sit here." He pointed at the chair to his right. "She'll be here shortly. Don't let her provoke you. That witch has got quite the reputation, and that was before you killed her paramour."