[2] after darkness → tom riddle

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Inside Information

"Adonis, there better be a bloody good reason as to why you've called us all here so abruptly and early," Nicole groaned as she tightly gripped the cup of coffee Morgandy had made her.

Adonis had been up all night examining the contents of the folder his sister had left for him. When he finally understood the collection of photos and documents, Adonis turned up at Morgandy's home at 4 o'clock in the morning and reached out to all of their close friends who were involved in Ophelia's case.

Emory, Archer, Dove and Rune, Nicole and Theodore, Harlen and Helen, Morgandy and Michael were all gathered in the Shannon's kitchen with cups of coffee in hand waiting for Adonis to answer Nicole's question, the same question they all wanted to ask.

"You're lucky it's the weekend Lockwood, I could've had a class in five hours," Emory pointed out.

"Ah yes, your class is clearly more important than your missing wife, Emory. Well done," Adonis answered back. "And the whole reason that you're all here so early is that I found something yesterday. Something that I should've found three months ago, but I didn't because of circumstances."

Adonis held up the blue paper folder and the group of friends all turned their heads towards it. Eyeing it up in Adonis' hand, all thinking the same thing; what the fuck was inside that folder?

Adonis brought down the folder and opened it. The first thing he pulled out was the stack of photos. The majority of the photos were of Alatar and Abraxas, it was like Ophelia - or whoever the photographer was - was a news reporter/paparazzi, following the two death eaters around to keep up with their antics. Adonis chucked those photos of Alatar and Abraxas down onto the kitchen table.

Those standing close to the table picked up some of the photos that had scattered across the tabletop. Harlen was closely examining a photo of his brother and Abraxas standing next to an unknown man. "Who is he?" he asked, showing the photo to Adonis and the rest of the group.

Archer gasped and looked over to Adonis. "That's Alexander Calvert, he's essentially our boss, besides Shafiq. He's Shafiq's second. But what is he doing with Tom?"

"That's what I want to know, but I'm not in a rush to find out. I'll speak to Shafiq about it after I find more folders," Adonis answered.

Adonis examined the photos that remained in his hand. They were of Tom, walking into a building that Alatar, Abraxas and Calvert had entered just before. He placed them on the table, watching Emory snatch them up straight away.

"She's been watching him, for how long?" Emory asked.

Adonis sighed, "from what I was told yesterday by the lady at the desk at the hospital, she handed this folder over in April, she told her I would come to get it in two to three months. I got it after five months, she said that Ophelia told her to discard it if I hadn't collected it after six months." Adonis looked to Emory, "I think she's been following him for over a year, maybe more."

"Why were you at the hospital?" Morgandy asked.

"I went and saw Tom yesterday," Adonis admitted. The group paused and watched him, "I know he was the last one to see Ophelia, and for ages, you all told me to see him was wrong, that he might stir the pot. But, he was honest he told me about Fionn, something which by the way you all failed to mention."

Harlen awkwardly coughed to break the tension whilst everyone turned their heads, trying not to meet Adonis' gaze. "Anyways," Adonis continued, "Ophelia gave Tom Fionn's birth certificate, which I found rather odd considering she had hidden him from him for 13 years. And that got me thinking, why did Ophelia suddenly make Tom aware of Fionn?"

"That's actually a really relevant question," Rune pointed out. "We all know Ophelia hid Fionn's birth from him, hell she hid Fionn's birth from all of us. But we know she did it to protect Fionn, so why has she told Tom?"

"Because she knew that I would've gone and interrogated Tom about her disappearance. She knew that Tom would have given me Fionn's birth certificate. Fionn was born at King's College Hospital, and that's where this folder was left for me from Ophelia. It was all part of her plan," Adonis explained. "It's a weird plan, but Ophelia's got something up her sleeve. And so, I think she's still alive gathering dirt on Tom to get him exposed for good."

It all made sense now. Ophelia and Emory's fight was the perfect chance for Ophelia to leave and not be followed by anyone. Nobody had to know about Ophelia's own investigation for their safety and the subtlety of the mission. Ophelia didn't abruptly leave for her own issues, she left because of Tom's issues. She knew she could never bring him down, but that doesn't mean she couldn't expose him or help in exposing him through her job as an auror.

"What else is in the folder?" Emory asked.

"Documents, stolen from Alatar and Abraxas," Adonis said as he pulled them out of the folder. "I think she went undercover because in here is a bag full of hairs and a piece of parchment with the polyjuice potion ingredients written on it."

"Ophelia has an accomplice," Archer announced.

"How do you know?" Dove asked.

For them, it wasn't obvious. For Archer, it was extremely obvious. Ophelia didn't get full marks in her potion's exam for her to not to be able to remember the ingredients of a polyjuice potion 17 years later. After all, Ophelia used Archer's notes. Archer helped her, they studied together religiously, Archer made sure Ophelia knew the ingredients to every potion along with the method before he decided she was ready. At the end of her exams, Ophelia was the best potion student besides Tom and one other, who both also got full marks in his potion exam.

"Polyjuice ingredients came up in Ophelia's potions exam in 1945 as a 10 marker, if you said one wrong ingredient you would only be able to get half marks, you needed all of the correct ingredients to get full marks," Archer answered.

"And Ophelia got full marks in her potions exam," Nicole recalled.

"Yes, exactly. Ophelia knows everything to do with potions because I made sure she knew every ingredient and every method. She wouldn't forget it, someone did and whoever it was is helping Ophelia," Archer exclaimed. "Plus, everyone knows that's not Ophelia's writing, it's way too neat for her."

The group looked at the piece of parchment that had the ingredients of a polyjuice potion written down on, they observed and followed the neat curves of the handwriting, coming to their own conclusion that Archer was right. That handwriting was way too neat for it to be Ophelia's.

"So who's helping her?" Theodore asked.

"Oh look, he has been paying attention after all," Nicole joked. Theodore may as well still be asleep due to the overall lack of words that had come out of his mouth since he woke up. He was usually heavily involved in a group conversation, but like Nicole, he wasn't a morning person.

"Shut up," Theodore whined.

"I don't know, I've never seen the handwriting before," Archer shrugged.

"Neither have I, but surely it must be a fellow auror," Adonis stated.

"We'll figure that out afterwards, Michael whatever you have to say just say it now! Something is clearly on your mind," Morgandy sighed.

The group turned and faced Michael who was stood with his eyes wide and staring at the tabletop. Harlen, who stood next to Michael, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and respond to the group.

"Don't be mad," Michael started, "but, Ophelia came to me a couple of weeks ago and gave me a folder just like that containing other photos."