"We have another leak!" yelled Tonks as soon as she her head popped from the doorway, surprising every member in the dining room, but it did the trick. Every hush and quiet whispers liven up into frantic discussion, papers flying this way and that, orders being shouted here and there. It was only when Kingsley shout from the top of his lungs did the commotion died.
"It's been the fifth this month alone, a total of twenty seven in the pass four months," reasoned Kingsley, ever the voice of reason since Dumbledore's untimely death, planting some sense into the adrenaline filled wizards, "What if it's a trap?"
"Not once in the previous twenty six was the leak ever a trap," countered Tonks, careful not to glance his husband's way, well aware of the things he was going through. Sitting down next to her husband with a sigh, she wrapped a loving arm around her very rounded belly, and demanded he senior, "Do not let those wankers slip, Kingsley."
She would gladly pick up her wand and be out of the door in the next ten seconds, if not for her heavily pregnant self, due in a month or so. She had to remind herself that there was no point in creating a better world for her son if she failed to keep him safe before he even cried his first cry. Remus took her hand and ran a thumb on the back of her hand, his silent gesture of support. Kingsley eyed the couple warily and nodded once, sending aurors and order members alike to rendezvous and do what they try to do best. Bill Weasley gave her a hug, reassuring her that he'll get those sons of hags, and left with his wife.
Now alone in the dining room with only her husband and her cousin, she dreaded the silence filling the room. Though, she was not so sure which she dreaded more, the silence or the words hanging on the tip of their tongues, the name they had so carefully avoided for the past four months.
"How is she still alive?" asked Sirius after awhile.
"What do you mean?"
"The last Potter Watch," said Sirius as he got up from his seat to heat the kettle, "'For all bird watchers, it seems that the crow is still flying West.'""An odd direction for crows to fly, yes." When she first heard about it on the station, she thought that perhaps the twins was trying to lighten the mood, adding a little joke into their dreadful session. All the aurors on their side thought so. She was never a birdwatcher herself, but she would not ruled out any of the listener to be one. Now, she was not so sure it was actually meant for those birdwatchers. "What about it?"
"Crow," corrected her husband from beside her, "Not crows. Singular."
She looked at both men in the room, the dark half moon under their eyes, the same gaunt expression, the grey hairs woven under their thick hair, and dared to say the name that had not left her tongue in what seemed to be forever. "You think that Ellie's the crow."
"It would only make sense." Sirius poured three cups of hot tea and laid them on the table, which Tonks wrapped her slightly swollen fingers around, welcoming the warmth it offered. Sirius went back to his seat and explained, "The news for birdwatchers started four months ago. Not long before the first leak, and messages from Morozov stopped coming around that time."
She has to admit, she understood the logic and reason, but it was a long shot. The timing might be a mere coincidence, the connection might as well be wishful thinking. "Sirius, what if the messages stopped because they- because he got the worst of it?"
"Not possible," said Sirius defiantly, his hollow eyes sparkling ever so slightly. In truth, she was as worried about Ellie as her husband and cousin. She may not be anything more than a friend to the young Potter, but she could not help but adore Ellie, snide and cheek and all. She swallowed her straying thoughts. One of them had keep a clear head.
"What if, Sirius? What if?"
"No. Morozov's stronger than he looks, smarter than he lets on," insisted Sirius with a shake of his head, his shaggy hair swept side to side. "That's why he was always the one sending the message, not Ellie. She's a Potter, they know how many eyes would be on her."
"Let's not forget about Morozov's brother," pressed Tonks. She realised it was a low blow, even if Xenyk was not present. She could still remember Ellie's rage during her first order meeting when Mad Eye so much as hinted about the oldest Morozov. She was also well aware of another tragedy left unsaid, but she was willing to pull any strings to get some sense into her cousin's head.
A shadow fell upon Sirius' face, and something she could not quite decipher flashed in his eyes. "Not many of the deatheaters remember the lad. Perhaps, not even the Dark Lord."
She had hit her mark then. Tonks checked herself and tried again, softer this time in case she was pouring the entire ocean on an open wound. "Say Ellie is the crow. Why west?"
That got her cousin jumped out of his seat and up the staircase. He threw the door to the study open and laid a map of England on the large teak table. He put a finger on a red dot marked as London, and traced his left forefinger to westward. He repeated the motion several times, probably figuring out what was on the west side that might interest his goddaughter. Tonks joined him, and carefully scanned the map when something clicked inside her head.
"Malfoy's Manor," she breathed. She had never stepped a foot inside that manor, but she knew where it was. Still, there was a chance that the crow was Xenyk, but if Ellie was there, then that would mean- "She's the one leaking information."
"Which lead us back to my question," sighed Sirius as he dropped to the floor, his back against one foot of the table, "How is she still alive?"
"She's a smart girl," said Remus from the doorway, surprising both Tonks and Sirius, "Whatever she's doing to stay alive, it's working. The question is, where's Xenyk? And why did Elle and Xenyk trust only the twins to give us the information?"
Sirius shook his head as if to clear his mind. "The twins cared about her deeply. They would have gone rampant if her life was on the line, and Morozov knows it's his life on the line."
Remus walked up to Tonks and gently led her to a loveseat, where she sat with a lot of effort. She loved her baby, their baby, but she was more than ready to have the little rascal out of her womb and into her arms. He made sure that she was comfortable, and sat on the floor next to her with a hand resting on her knee. Tonks patted his hand gently, calming his twitching fingers, willing them to stay still. Their son on the way was enough to keep Remus up at night, the last thing he needed was for his Elle to be in a situation where no one could help her. Sweet Helga Hufflepuff, no one needed Ellie to be in that kind of situation. Brave and brilliant that she was, she was still a sixteen years old girl, with her life ahead of her.
"So, what now? We wait?"
"We wait," said Sirius with a finality of a judge.
•••
"Explain!" bellowed an outraged Bellatrix Lestrange.
The deatheater whose name Ellie had not bothered to learn was cowering under Bellatrix's pointed wand, his body bristling even worse than a twig in autumn. "I- Ma'am-"
The poor man did not even get the chance to stutter a third word before Bellatrix blast an unforgivable at him, leaving the man writhing in pain, his back arcing in an impossible angle. It would be a miracle if the man survived the curse with his sanity, or spine, intact. She wished she could say that watching them writhing in pain got easier with time, but the truth was it was as easy now as it was the first time. Each and every son of hags in this damned manor deserved Bellatrix's wrath wrapped in a beautifully coloured cursed cast from the tip of her wand. Each and every one of them deserved to scream their throat hoarse, feeling their grip on sanity slipped like morning dew, and realised how death would be a blessing compared to the curse.
Rendering the whimpering deatheater useless, Bellatrix turned and yelled for her, "Potter!"
Ellie fixed her black denim jacket - the sleeves rolled up just bellow her elbows - and strut to where the Dark Lord's lieutenant was standing. She stopped a good arm length away from Bellatrix and held her chin high. If there was one thing she learned in the months living among the most venomous snakes of all Europe, keeping her fangs at bay was the only way to keep the suckers away.
"You will proof your worth, girl. I want you to lead the next scout and you will bring me something," ordered Bellatrix, venom dripping with every syllable, "And if you fail, Potter, you will find yourself laying next to dear Mummy."
Ellie offered her a sinister smile and marched through the front gate of Malfoy Manor, her wand tightly gripped in her hand where her fate was sealed by the ink burning defiantly on her skin.