The visitor grunted again.
Lester turned and took in the form of his old friend, particularly the overly scarred face, wooden leg, missing chunk of nose, and the large blue magical eye that swiveled around in one socket. The man had lost all three bits of him since he'd seen him last.
"Damn, Alastor," he said dryly. "You just keep getting prettier, don't you? Is that why you're upset?" Lester verbally poked. "Did I kidnap your cuddle-bunny?"
The way the man's scars pulled to one side gave Lester the impression the other man wasn't in a joking mood. Seemed as though Moody was really starting to live up to his name.
"Mipsy," Lester said, finally addressing the elf. "Once you finish and put the clothes away you can-"
In a flash his shoes and robe had disappeared, leaving Mipsy standing in the kitchen with her hands clutched to her head in pain.
"Don't eat it all at once you crazy little-," he mumbled as he shook his head. "Get started on a proper dinner," he called, "Alastor's staying."
The look of pure joy on the elf's face made for an interesting contrast to Moody's eye bouncing around as if he expected the walls to start attacking him. Lester noticed the man's customary hip-flask and how the eye darted back in the direction of the cleaning supplies. The man had been overly cautious twenty years ago, now it seemed he'd blown past paranoid.
"Don't add any poison to his food," Lester called to Mipsy. "He's a guest."
After a moment he added, "Don't add any poison to my food either."
"Yes, Mister Lichy. You want me to poison you later?" the friendly elf asked, finally earning a chuckle from the mad old Auror.
"No. Never poison anyone," Lester clarified as the elf went to work.
Alastor's magical eye seemed to roll into the back of his head so it could keep the elf in sight, leaving Lester wondering what it'd be like to have two of those things spinning around in his head. He'd probably forget which way was forward within a week.
"I thought you didn't like elves," Moody remarked as he conjured his own chair to sit on.
"Just because I've never seen the need for one doesn't mean I don't like them," Lester replied. "Besides, she had just been born. Her grandparents were gone, her parents were on the way out, her Family had been devastated, and I was the only one even remotely connected to it. What was I going to do, let her die?"
Mipsy outdid herself when it came to dinner. Lester had always been a very picky eater but the little elf seemed to know what he liked, even when he didn't know how she knew what he liked. Maybe he'd been more than a little negligent in his care for her, but at least he hadn't abandoned her. He'd have to rectify that mistreatment and give her more work to do, and he'd have to see about having her form connections to other people for when the inevitable happened.
Lester found that once Alastor had his assurance Mrs. Figg would be released once she agreed to cooperate and testify, he was an energetic audience. Every piece of information was scrutinized, alternate theories purposed, and different interpretations outlined. The sticking point to him was whether or not legal guardianship had been transferred to these Dursleys, to which Lester replied he was welcome to look into it, even if the boy didn't want them involved. What Lester was interested in was just how Dumbledore had gained that guardianship to begin with.
"They were killed that Halloween," he said, pointing to the date on the boy's guardianship papers. "How is it the old man got the boy the very next day in time to abandon him that night?"
"The next day?" Moody growled, his blue eye swiveling from the bank records to the papers in question. "That was a crazy day, but - I'll be damned."
"What is it?" Lester asked. "Why is that day so important?"
"That was the so-called trial for Sirius Black."
.....
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