Albus joined the two women with a cup of tea. He tried to figure out what to do with this new information. Sophia claimed they hadn't seen anything, and that they hadn't made that fog appear. Where had that come from then? And why on earth had Piers tried to attack him? Had he not recognised him? Only a few minutes after they started drinking the tea, one of the older men came towards them. Fred, Sophia had called him.
"Ah, here you are, son. As Sophia might have said, each new member gets their own little area to do their work in. Since you've officially passed the test, I thought we might get on to that straight away. Or would you rather sit and drink more tea with the ladies?"
Albus smiled at the way he asked that. Honestly, he wouldn't mind just sitting quietly and drinking tea, but it was rather awkward. What could he say to the woman whose life he had ruined? He got to his feet and followed Fred to the end of the compound. That would let Mary and Sophia have a conversation without him. It sounded like they were friends, he hoped he hadn't ruined that.
The size of the cave was not random, like he had thought. They made a new hole every time someone new joined them. That was Fred's job. He did this pretty much without thinking and kept on talking and reminiscing the whole time. Albus barely had to say a word. Fred also knew the whole story of the organisation, going back some 70 years. Apparently, they had almost disbanded some 40 years ago, but the persecutions during the second wizarding war had made them start again.
"Many of our members at the time were Muggleborn. And none of us wanted to be too closely associated with the Ministry at the time. So, we set up a secret base in a mountain and took in many refugees. Some of them even became members after the war. The secret base became too small, and too many non-members knew where to find us. That was when McLaggen over there offered us a place on his land. Though I suspect he hasn't gotten what he hoped out of our association." Fred didn't say anything more, though Albus thought he knew what he meant. McLaggen had mentioned something about that last night.
"How long ago did you move here? It sounds like it has been longer than I've been alive."
Fred laughed. "Not quite as long as that, son. We've only been here for the last 10 years or so. It took us quite a while to find a suitable new location. Some of us wanted to stay above ground, but this at least guarantees privacy. Mostly. Sometimes, when we open the tunnel entrances, random people do appear. Like an Auror who is on the run from the Ministry."
Albus had to smile at that. "Do you have to leave through those tunnels? That sounds inconvenient."
"Not at all, as long as you know this place. Remember the three D's son. You can Apparate back here, as long as you know the Destination, and have enough Determination."
That was good to know. It would be impractical for them to not be able to leave when they wished. Maybe it was just over near the tunnel entrances that Apparition was blocked. Why even have those, if they could Apparate in and out? He would have to ask Sophia later.
Just as they finished, Greg also came walking over.
"Ah, I see Fred has already shown you where you can make your own area. We've all decided to have a celebratory lunch, to welcome our newest member. Come on, everyone's waiting."
Celebratory lunch? Was this normal, or was it Greg's idea? Or Sophia's? And would everyone be there, or just the ones that liked him?
It turned out, it was everyone. Everyone who was currently at the base anyway. But it was clear that some of them were better than others to hide their displeasure. McLaggen's smile was definitely strained. Sophia seemed supremely smug about it though. Albus remembered that she would have had to take the fall, if he had failed the test. Did she get some sort of reward now that he had passed it? There were still some details he didn't know, but at least he was allowed to ask now.
The rest of the day went by with Albus getting to know the people he had only seen in passing so far. Some of them also invited him in. It would be rude to refuse, and he needed to make a good impression on these people. They may end up being his only human contacts for some time. It also gave him an excuse to check out the other areas, to see if there were any reasons why this group was popping up for the Ministry. There was nothing. And none of the names he remembered from the list seemed to be here. He even sneaked out again during the night and searched the rest of the compound. If there were any hidden areas here, they were hidden well indeed.
***
Yang felt the cage move. That was strange, he had been in the exact same spot ever since he got here. He had seen several cages move through the door, and only once had it come back. The Knocker had been furious, muttering about people wasting his time. Was that other room where he did his sales? Why would he then take him there now?
He was dumped on the floor the moment he was out of the storage area.
"You really do have an Auror. You're an idiot, do you know that?"
"Why would I lie?"
"You don't know who you're messing with. And now you've openly proclaimed that you have him. Potter is never going to stop hunting you."
"You presume too much. Potter already knows I have him. He knew from the start. I pretended to negotiate for his release. But I can't let him go back. He knows too much."
"And you think that selling him to someone else will prevent him from talking? Better to just kill him and get it over with."
"Waste of a good sale."
"Well, he's no good to me. Look at him, he can't even stand. Whatever you did to try to break him also makes him useless. I need workers, fighters. Even if he starts cooperating, it will be months until he will be of use. No, he's half dead already. Just put him out of his misery."
"I am not a murderer."
"You have qualms about murder, but have no issues with human trafficking, or animal sales? What do you think I use the humans I buy for? He would be dead within days, or a killer."
"That's different. I'm not responsible for other people's actions."
The other man laughed.
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but the answer is still no. Let me know earlier next time, then I might be interested. Before you strip them of all their fight."
Then the man just turned around and left. Yang wondered if the Knocker would attack him, but he remained silent. Yang didn't know what to make of this exchange. He hadn't even been able to move his head to get a good look at him. He was wearing a hood, that was about all he could see in the dark room.
The Knocker didn't say anything to Yang, he just lifted him up and put him back in the cage. He didn't even bother giving him a shock. He knew those didn't work anymore.
Yang thought back on what he had heard. He had to go over it several times in his head to make sense of it all. The Knocker was trying to sell him. And the man had been interested, but when he saw the state of him, he declined the sale. It sounded like that was a good thing, considering what he had said about fighting and killing, but it would at least have gotten him out of here. Now he would just continue to lay here and wait to die. It was all he had left to hope for.