Bab 5: IKEA
A few days later, Scorpius was working with Albus. That didn't happen very often, as Albus still wasn't fully trained, and his focus was not usually related to what Scorpius was doing. But Albus had a lead on a man he had been looking for for some time, and Scorpius had been the only one available. So, he came with him.
They ran across London in jeans, because he was hiding among Muggles. That made Scorpius think of Sam and his claim of working odd jobs in the Muggle world. Could it be true? Was that why Rose hadn't found him before?
They stood outside a large, square, blue building. It looked very out of place among the surrounding buildings.
"What is IKEA?"
"It is a furniture store, I think. But the magic signals are coming from inside, so he is bound to be in there somewhere."
The inside was even more chaotic than the outside had been. There were people everywhere and they had those moving staircases that helped people get to the second floor. It seemed this was one large store, not several smaller ones like in a mall. How were they supposed to find anyone in all of this?
"Do you know what your guy looks like?" Scorpius asked.
"Not really."
"Great. Then this should be easy."
They walked around the store, which seemed to contain every sort of furniture you needed. Scorpius supposed it was easier to have it all in one place like this, but he wondered how you were supposed to find anything. The store was like a labyrinth. Very soon, neither of them had the faintest idea of where they were, or where the exit was.
"Even if we find your guy, how are we supposed to apprehend him here? We are not supposed to attract attention!"
"We'll wait until he leaves. But we need to find him first."
They wandered around the store, occasionally looking at the sensor Al had brought. It looked similar to a Muggle cell phone, so there wasn't any problem hiding it. In fact, they saw several people looking at their phones, just like they seemed to do.
"There are so many people here, how are we ever going to find anyone?" Scorpius was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people present. He had never liked crowds, but this was insane! And the way the room was designed, all the noises bounced back around. What was the point of making a store like this? He would never understand Muggles. Albus noticed his distress and shook him. "Hey, are you okay? Try to just ignore all the other noises, just focus on me. Just focus on me, Scorpius." They sat down on one of the many, many couches on display, trying to make the magic device work. It seemed being around too much Muggle technology made it faulty. Scorpius was more than ready to just give up for the day, but Albus was determined. This was the best lead he had had in ages; he wouldn't let such things as too many people and a labyrinth store stop him. Scorpius sighed and followed. As long as he only focused on following Albus and not watching all of the other people there, he would be fine.
Albus finally found a directory and seemed to be able to remember it in his head. They found the moving staircases again. Albus told Scorpius he could wait outside if he wished, which he was more than happy to do. He breathed a sigh of relief when he was well outside and saw to his amusement that some of the others, especially the men, gave him sympathetic looks. It looked like he wasn't the only one that was overwhelmed in such a huge store. Why did the Muggles do things like this?
He had barely waited 5 minutes before he saw a young man running out of the store like his life depended on it. A few seconds later, Albus came running after him. Scorpius started running too.
"Is he the one we're looking for?" he asked as he caught up to his friend.
"No, I'm just running after him for fun," Albus replied sarcastically.
"How did you find him?"
"I went to the café, and he seemed to recognise me and started running. I'm not sure if I would have seen him otherwise."
"There is a café in there as well?"
"Yes. They are famous for meatballs. I was planning on bringing you some, but that'll have to wait now."
They hurriedly ran after the man. Albus took out his magic censor again, and sure enough, the man was a wizard. That thing was a recent discovery. Apparently combining recent Muggle technological advances with magic could yield some interesting products. Hermione had made a whole new department devoted to discovering ways to use Muggle technology to the benefit of the Wizarding population. Not everyone was happy about those changes, but as Hermione had promptly put it; "No one forces you to use it."
Al and Scorpius caught up to the man in a corner a few blocks away from the IKEA. To avoid attracting any more attention than they already had, Albus dragged them into a corner, then Disapparated.
Back in the Ministry, the man slumped. He had tried to hide, but he knew there was nowhere to go now.
"What do you want? What have I done? Why are you chasing me?"
"Why did you run? I wouldn't even have seen you, if you hadn't run." Albus countered. "As for what you have done, we will get to that soon."
It was only now that Scorpius got a good look at the man they had been chasing. He suddenly hoped the man hadn't looked at him thoroughly. He instantly moved behind Albus, to stay out of the man's view.
"I can't be part of interrogating him," he whispered to Albus. "I'll explain later." Albus nodded and started moving the man towards an interrogation room. He came out after only a few minutes.
"Turns out, he is not the man I was originally looking for, though he also has a warrant out, so we'll probably keep him anyway. What's wrong Scorpius?"
"I recognised that man. He frequents the same pub I do in Knockturn Alley, though I am usually in disguise. But I don't know how well I changed my voice, so I don't want to give him more exposure to it, if it can be helped."
"Oh, I see. I didn't even think about that. I can easily interrogate him on my own or wait until Davies or Dawson comes back. But maybe you can help me find the right questions to ask then? All we have on him for now is shoplifting, hardly serious enough for us to bother with, usually."
Scorpius hesitated. How could he give Albus the right information without revealing to the man that someone from the pub had snitched? But then, the man would never know it was him…
"I know one thing you can use as an excuse to be angry with him. He was part of the group that harassed your brother last night. I think that is why he ran."
"He what?"
As Scorpius explained what had happened in Knockturn Alley the day before, he saw that Albus looked angry. Much angrier than Rose had been, but then, Rose had seen how James looked more often than Albus had.
"Listen, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. As I said, your brother probably started the fight himself, and I managed to stop it before it got out of hand. None of them would seriously hurt him. It is only because he emits that dark aura at times, it brings out the worst in some people, and they know he is a Potter. I have never seen them do anything like that with anyone else, ever."
That didn't seem to placate Albus at all. If anything, it made it worse.
"How important would it be for your persona not to be arrested?" he suddenly asked.
"Arrested? I mean, it wouldn't be terrible, but I would need a way to get off scot-free. I can't walk around there with a warrant, then people would want to turn me in for a reward."
Albus nodded, pleased at this.
"Why," Scorpius tried to add, but Albus had already made up his mind.
"Change into your alter-ego, the one who collected James last night," he said. "I have two people I need to be angry at right now. Don't worry, I will have Dawson release you later."
Scorpius didn't like that idea, but one look at Albus' expression told him it was best to obey. He quickly changed his appearance with magic.
Albus smiled, then walked back towards the interrogation room. When Scorpius followed, Albus grabbed him by the neck, tied his hands behind him as they did with all suspects they brought in, and literally threw him into the interrogation room.
Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
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