I came back to the inn in the early afternoon, still limping slightly. Dáiríne was alone behind the counter, cleaning glasses with little swooshes of her wand. When she saw me, her face lit up. "Gilderoy! Where have you been? I was so worried. Why are you covered in blood again?", she shouted, smiling a happy but confused smile. I went up to her and, seizing her arm, I demanded to speak to her in private. With a mix of fear and anticipation on her face, she brought me to her room. I told her of my attack and my rescue, and that I believed that the howling came from a banshee. With every word, her expression became darker and more reserved. Finally I asked her the question that had been on my tongue all the time, "Do you know anything about an amulet?". She hissed and jumped from her bed, suddenly furious. "I know NOTHING of an amulet. It is dangerous to ask such questions". "I am already in danger. A man wanted to kill me yesterday because he tried to find the amulet. An artifact that is obviously linked to you and your family", I said with power in my voice. "THERE IS NO SUCH THING", she screamed, apparently mad of fear. "You should leave. Your life is in great danger", she whispered, her eyes popping. Then suddenly she whirled around, leaving nothing but dust in the place where she had just stood. In shock I jumped up, running through the house, searching every room and corner. But she had apparated somewhere further away. My biggest hope of solving the riddle had vanished right in front of my eyes.

I limped back to the bar, determined to honor Dáiríne's memory by opening a bottle of whiskey, as I heard voices from outside. A moment later, Flinn and two rather muscular looking young men entered the tavern. As they saw me, they all stopped dead. "You again. Where is Dáiríne?", asked Flinn with a stupid look on his face. They all looked highly suspicious, and I suddenly remembered that I was still covered in blood and soil. "Answer him!", one of the muscular men demanded. He seemed like a man with power. "She disapparated just a few minutes ago. I don't know where to, but it seemed like she had urgent business to attend to", I answered, deciding that it was best not to tell the whole truth. It must have been the wrong thing to say, however. Suddenly the big bulky guy shouted "Petrificus totalus", and, flabbergasted, I fell to the ground, stiff like a board. "Seize him", he ordered with a triumphant grin on his face. Flinn and the other ugly lad took me by the shoulders and legs and carried me, like a wooden plank, out of the inn and through the town. Unable to move I recognized only what happened directly around me. People screamed, some shouting "Monster". Others laughed and pointed fingers at me. It must have been ten minutes at least until they brought me into a big hall (of which I could only see the ceiling), then down a tunnel and finally through a door with iron grids. There they lay me onto the ground. I heard footsteps leading away from me, then a door getting locked and someone saying "Liberatio rigida". I was able to move again. I jumped up and, realizing I was locked up in a cell, I shouted after the man, "Why am I here? What am I being accused of?". With a devlish grin the man, who I recognized as the muscular man from the inn, turned around and said "You are accused of the murder of Shane and Dáiríne O'Neill. And you are accused of being a werewolf".

The cell was cold and damp and it stank of excrements. After one day, I wished I had stayed in the cave. The guards gave me food twice a day; water with plain bread and cheese. Nobody came to interrogate me for a week, and after a day I realized that they let me suffer here on purpose. Accusing me of a werewolf was ridiculous, but I could understand how they got to the conclusion. The howling had started right after I had arrived here, and it had been at fullmoon. And then a young man disappears. And at the next fullmoon, an old woman disappears and I am found after a night of being missing, at the scene of the crime, covered in blood. Still, I thought grimly, it would be so easy to disprove my guilt. There were so many ways to force the truth out of someone with magic. After one week, they sent a specialist from St. Mungo's hospital into my cell (of course only after chaining me to a wall). It took him only a simple spell to determine that I was not a werewolf. However the guard who was with him demanded some further tests, "An order from the chief of police". After this, the specialist sighed, but reluctantly injected a solution into my veins which made me feel like my blood was on fire. After I had screamed in pain for several minutes, trying to rip the chains from the walls, the medic gave me another injection which made the pain stop immediately. Exhausted I hung there, my heart racing like after running a marathon. "Do you believe it now? This man is not a werewolf! Otherwise he would have changed into a wolf now. But instead, you caused him minutes of agony. This should be illegal", the specialist told the guard with anger in his voice. "You can go now. We will demand your presence at the trial", the guard said with a grin, ushering the medic out of the cell. With a last apologizing look toward me, he took his bag and left the dungeon as fast as he could.

 Even after they had made sure that I was not a werewolf, they still kept me in prison. The guard told me that my trial was to be in a month, grinning from ear to ear. This guy doesn't like me, I thought. He told me that I was to be interrogated with veritaserum by the town's specialist. A week after the medic, they sent young Neil down to my cell, together with two very muscular guards. "Hello Gilderoy", he said, very reserved, and placed a single phial with a clear substance inside on the floor. "Chain him. Then you may leave", he told the guards, with a very devilish grin. They followed his orders with great joy. As they left the dungeon, I could hear one of them laugh. As soon as they were gone, Neil's expression changed. He looked very worried now. "Look, I will not hurt you. What they are doing here with you is absolutely disgusting. They only hate you because you are a stranger, and even though others in this town would have much better motives, they accuse you of double murder. You will not get a fair trial here, but if I interrogate you with veritaserum, they might believe me.", he whispered very fast as he opened the phial. I found no words, so I just hung there for a moment, jaw hanging as well. "Drink", he told me, and placed the phial at my lips. I swallowed the whole content. A warm, happy feeling started to spread all over my body, starting in my toes and quickly working its way up to my head. I wasn't able to think anymore. The world looked like white cotton to me, nothing seemed real. From what seemed like a distance I heard a voice ask "Did you kill Shane and Dáiríne O'Neill?" and the only thing that came into my head was "No", which I happily told the voice.

"Do you know who killed them?"

"No. I think Shane was killed by a madman who tried to kill me too. I do not know his name. Dáiríne is alive. She disappeared by her own free will. I do not know where she is"

"Do you know where we can find Shane's corpse?"

"No"

"Do you know where we can find the madman?"

"No"

"Did the madman talk to you?"

"Yes"

"What did he say about Shane and Dáiríne?"

"He said he "kept the last one for a little while". I guess it meant he abducted Shane because he thought that he knew something about the amulet. That the old hag wasn't up for bargaining, I guess he meant Dáiríne. That he killed him when he found him of no use." I thought for a second. "He didn't say more"

There was a long silence. Then..

"Why did Dáiríne disappear?"

"I asked her about the amulet that the madman was looking for. She was scared and angry, and then she disapparated right in front of me"

"What do you know about the amulet?"

"I know that it is connected to Dáiríne and that the madman wants it for his master"

Another long silence followed.

"One last question. If it wasn't you, who is the werewolf that haunts the village?"

"There is no werewolf. It is a banshee. It wailed for Shane"

Suddenly I was back in reality. Neil must have ended the effect of the veritaserum on me. We sat there in silence for a few moments, then he spoke. "The reason I sent the guards away is that: I didn't want them to hear of Dáiríne's secret, in case you knew anything. The thing is, Shane told me of it, when he was drunk. But he didn't know more than us either. He just knew that there was something odd about Daisy. She seemed to know things that she couldn't have known. Things that happened long before her time. All I know is that: Dáiríne hasn't always lived here. At some point she just appeared in this village and told the O'Neills that she was a relative. Then she bought the tavern and has had it ever since. Then, a few weeks after Shane's parents disappeared, we first heard the wailing. It went on for a couple of nights and then stopped. And it definitely came from the tavern. We all found it strange, you know, there were rumors. Anyway, she's gone and we can't ask her now, can we? We have to try and concentrate on getting you out of here." He spoke very fast and quietly, as though he feared that we would be interrupted any minute.

"You said something before that made me think. You said 'The old hag wasn't up for bargaining". And then I remembered the stories of ravens flying over the village. It was only that one week. You know, usually owls are used to send letters. But here in Leinster, the more traditional way would be to send ravens. What if she got blackmailed by the abductor? What if we find the letters?" For a moment there was a glimpse of hope in the air. For the first time in weeks, I was able to smile. But then I thought of something and suddenly all hope was gone again. "She would have burned all the letters. If she was so keen on keeping her secrets, we will never find one of them in her house". We sat there in desperation for a while. Then Neil got up, and looking rather hopeless he said "I will search her house anyway. Maybe a letter arrived after she was gone. Or maybe I'll find something else. I will get you out of here. Just for the sake of justice. And truth"

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