Private Message to Barty Crouch, Jr.

[alt_lucius]

Any progress?

Am clear to-morrow morning should it be useful to bait the trap.

Toshenka says you found him well and he you. Trust you thought the same.

Comments

[alt_crouch_jr]

Fulton did not take discipline well. Hopkirk says he's writing a complaint against Desai and me for misplaying the investigation. Should be fascinating. And self-implicating.

Now if he'll just lead Maule our way, we can wrap this up.

So, yes, re. tomorrow. All ready on our end. Lay the bait.

Toshenka is fine if he chooses to believe himself so. I hope his body will agree with him by Christmas. What did you think?

[alt_lucius]

Truthfully, have seen him look worse. But confess, I did not care for his colour. Did not stay overlong, for fear of exhausting him.

Narcissa dropped in this afternoon and said he was in good spirits but she, too, did not wish to tax him. However, know that he has the self-mastery to properly maintain his own recovery. If he can restrain him-self from over-exertion on behalf of his zeal for his subject matter and a whole host of captive pupils!


Re: To-morrow, fine. But not sure Maule shall be as obliging. Unlike him to take such a heavy hand in his affairs.

Took the trouble to check my source as well, who claims Maule was pre-occupied Thursday evening and all of Friday on a bridge job site. If he's involved, he has someone else doing his work for him - again.

[alt_crouch_jr]

If we'd all leave him to rest, he might recover more quickly. Know, however, that he thrives on company and discourse, so on the whole he's likely to recover the faculties that matter most if he has the audience he craves.

Suspect he will be a decade younger after a year of teaching. Compare that with Raz, who's aged at least that much in a similar span. (That one worries me.)


You're right about Maule, dammit. We'll be left with a mere whiff of his scent, but no trail. And now Fulton's lost his head completely, if it's Maule he works for, we can expect he'll go missing tomorrow and turn up on a beach somewhere, too. Maule does not survive by tolerating fools.

The latest: F accosted Sinistra outside a cafe and attempted an interrogation. She sensed something amiss in his method (small wonder) and refused to respond unless they moved the venue to MLE. Dropped me a note this evening to be sure I was aware of his 'most irregular' demeanor. Understand earlier, he made a visit to Endsleigh Gardens--Stint's flat. After he'd been removed from the investigation. Claimed to be carrying a message for someone who wasn't on site. Was rebuffed. End of episode.

Think tomorrow will be F's finale one way or the other. As far as we're likely to ride him.

[alt_lucius]

Indeed, he did say more than once during my visit that he is grateful to be back among his true family. And that the worst pain he has suffered since his return is writer's cramp! (Make of that what you will.)

Raz's new-found maturity is unsettling. Though I suspect you mean the other changes, which of course we have noticed but not discussed. Well. Narcissa and Aurora might have done, I suppose. Still a bit ... surprised at Our Lord's words regarding their matrimonial petition. On reflection you may come to appreciate your own unfortunate setback for reasons entirely unrelated to the suitability of the match.

But re: Fulton. Blast. Well, if there is no help for it, so be it.