The temporary leader turned sideways, braced a hand against the reef beside him, and "pulled" himself upright. The movement took twice as long as it would for an ordinary person. With his legs spread and bent, he struggled to maintain a half-reclining posture.
He tilted his head to look at his chest, the corner of his mouth tightening before relaxing again.
After sitting up, he glanced once more toward where the Auror captain was kneeling, then looked away. Turning toward Bella, he spoke with obvious difficulty, pausing after every few words as more and more bloody foam gathered at the corners of his mouth.
"This bastard planned to... blow up and sink the entire island. Cough, cough, cough... During the years he was stationed on the prison island, he used... the convenience of his authority to get... a large amount of military explosives from Muggles. He buried detonation points deep in the seawall and... pfft... the bedrock, and set Incendio along the windbreak. As long as he died, the explosives would trigger automatically... When people outside saw... the whole island had sunk, they would only think he died in the line of duty—the Nelson family name... would rise another level because of this 'heroic sacrifice.' All of us had already been on the list from the moment he chose us for his team..."
He paused and reached into his inner pocket. His movements were slow but steady. His fingers felt around inside the lining before pulling out a piece of parchment folded into thirds.
It was the "final letter" the Auror captain had forged in his office earlier.
He held out the roll of parchment. When Bella caught it, the bloodstains lingering on its surface smeared across her fingertips.
The edges of the parchment had been soaked by seawater and