Private message to Mafalda Hopkirk and Barty Crouch Jr.

[alt_corax]

Mafalda, are you aware that a half-dozen Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries have vanished without a trace?

Not merely missing. Not on holiday. VANISHED. No bodies, no traces, no one among their families or colleagues has seen them in weeks.

I will admit to not being an expert in Magical Law Enforcement but to my amateur, inexpert eye this does rather seem like something the Auror Department might have become aware of at some point. I would have expected that PERHAPS, having become aware, they might have informed my brother of this intriguing mystery.

Since he and I have both been kept in the dark, perhaps that's because you were convinced you could investigate this more effectively without Enforcers of any rank or skill level getting in your way. Since they disappeared in DECEMBER, and given your reputation for thoroughness and effectiveness that has afforded your department a startling degree of autonomy, no doubt at this point you can easily tell me WHERE THE FUCK THEY ARE AND WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO THEM.

Comments

[alt_crouch_jr]

No doubt we can.

Tell me why we would.

[alt_corax]

I doubt very much you can.

I think you've been well aware of the disappearances for weeks, and chose to cover them up. Which raises the question of why.

[alt_crouch_jr]

You doubt we could tell what happened. AND you suspect we know but are covering it up.

Deductive reasoning at its finest, that.

Reason this: Unspeakables :: Those of whom one does not speak.

[alt_corax]

I believe you'll find that some of them have family members who think of them not as 'Unspeakables' but as 'Grandfather' or 'Uncle Marston' and are more than a little perturbed at the Auror department's willingness to sweep this under the rug.

And Otto Strangeweale is not an Unspeakable; he is a rather senior Healer at St Mungo's. What's your excuse there?

[alt_crouch_jr]

Neither Strangeweale is an Unspeakable. Properly speaking. Merely a dabbler and dilettante, the younger one. Funding research and borrowing space for vanity projects. Surely you knew.

Have interviewed the 'beneficiaries' and found little sentiment for either party. Possibly if they'd kept family close, there would be more to report.

Assume your brother is also looking into Strangeweale's actions leading up to the fires. Has he completed his investigation, then? Or wants to ride our coat-tails and save resources in his budget?

If he thinks Strangeweale had something to do with his own property loss, suggest he pursue all leads. Have nothing to contradict that possibility.

[alt_corax]

We know Dogstar set fire to my brother's house. And so do you. I'm sure your stable of expert analysts found the same magical traces we did, from the same wand that made the explosive device at the Quidditch World Cup.

I assume you've kept that quiet because Bellatrix wants people to believe that Dogstar is as dead as Sirius Black.

[alt_crouch_jr]

First Maule, then Dogstar. Expect Cadmus feels he's got a target painted on his back.

Always did enjoy attention.