When he woke up next, he was still in the same cage. The Mooncalf he thought he had seen in the alley was now visible in a cage a few meters away. The sight of such a beautiful creature with a chain around it was enough to wake Yang up completely. This was officially the worst case he had ever worked on. He was also wondering what was going on outside, and how long he had been trapped here. The chain prevented him from Apparating away, or maybe the whole building prevented that.
The door he had noticed earlier opened suddenly. Silhouetted by the bright light from outside, the man seemed even darker than he had been in the alley. He seemed to carry several trays of food. He gave each cage a tray of food, none of the beasts as much as tried to take a bite or sneer at him. Not even the Chimaera. Yang was even more astonished when he opened several small boxes and revealed several Occamys inside. He knew that Occamys could shrink to fit into any space, but it was cruel keeping them in small boxes like that!
"Beautiful, aren't they?" the man said as he turned to face Yang. "I have a buyer lined up for them, they won't need to stay in the travel boxes for much longer."
Yang didn't know how to respond to that. He wanted to demand release, to ask what he thought he was doing, but he was taken aback by the matter-of-fact way the man spoke to him. As if this was a totally normal scene.
"You, however, have caused me some grief. First off, I didn't even get the chance to take hold of the goblin I had arranged to meet in that alley. And then I suddenly had you as a witness and a potential problem. I had hoped, since you were alone, that I could keep your disappearance a secret for a while longer, but it seems the Ministry keeps track of their employees now. Twice I thought I had escaped them, only for them to track your location again. Finally, I had no choice but to take you here, to this warehouse. It's hidden with the Fidelius Charm, and it seems that is enough to keep the Ministry from finding you. Now I pretend to negotiate for your release."
The Trackers. Yang had forgotten about those. Well, at least they were good for something, though it seemed they had their limits. He knew Potter wouldn't have started any negotiations if he had had any hope of recovering him by any other means. He was now essentially a hostage. Great.
"I see that you've noticed my special belly chain. Great devices, my father was the one perfecting them. With them, any animal, beast or other, becomes as meek as a lamb. I'm curious to see how long it takes to work on other magical races as well. It seems they haven't quite cowed you yet though."
That made Yang find his voice and he addressed the man for the first time.
"Who are you?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. They had never gotten a name for this man, only his trading alias. The Knocker. Not a promising nickname, but then, he had knocked out Yang when he caught him. Was that how he caught most of his other animals as well?
"I thought you knew that. Didn't you come intending to arrest me? That would leave all of these animals to starve, you know. Very bad for the reputation of the Ministry."
"You could have told us where they were."
"I could. But I wouldn't. See, they wouldn't be any use for me, if I gave up the position. And I would gain nothing by giving it."
Yang didn't respond to that. He was right, of course. With all the crimes he was wanted for, and the extra he was currently committing, there was no chance of a lesser sentence for him.
The man finished giving food to all the different creatures. Yang wondered if he would get anything. He didn't want to ask. As a hostage, he had to be kept alive, and if it truly had been days since his capture, he should be hungry. But he wasn't. He felt too sick to even think about food. This all disgusted him.
In the end, the man left a small jar at the end of the cage. Then he left with the small boxes containing the Occamys. Yang went and looked at the jar. Baby food? Why would the man give him baby food?
He opened the jar of baby food hesitantly. How could he get it out of the jar? He didn't have a spoon or anything to scoop it out with. He licked the top part that he could reach and tilted backwards to pour the rest into his mouth. Then he resigned and scooped the rest out with his fingers. It was not like anyone else was here to see him. He saw that a bucket had been left for him to relieve himself in. Well, at least he wouldn't have to do it on the floor. As he went over to it, he saw that water was supplied from a small hole about halfway up the side of the cage. He bent down to drink from it. It seemed this had been designed for someone shorter than him. The man had probably not planned on keeping humans in his secret warehouse. Maybe the cage was meant for the goblin he mentioned. Yang hoped the goblin would have seen sense, or be offended when the man didn't show and thus escape a terrible fate.