- ̗̀ drive ̖́-

         like a dangerous XXXXX creature being herded towards the ministry’s executioner, ansem followed behind helen at a distance. she walked with authority, one that would have found him hard pressed to keep up with her even if he wasn’t trying to put some distance between them. given that she’d not used his first name, ansem wasn’t even certain that he was the warbeck she was looking for.  the only distinguishing feature that differed himself and his identical twin brother was his beard and it was EASY to transfigure one of those !!  he wouldn’t put it past arson to impersonate him to avoid getting into trouble with the ministry. the summons had been vague too – all leaving a foreboding air about the wizard. 

      when they finally stopped during down hallways and passing ministry offices, they stopped at what was either an interrogation room or an office, ansem couldn’t be sure.  his exposure to ministry office’s stopped at his father’s.  ragnorious warbeck worked as a member of the wizengamont, wizarding britain’s high court of law and parliament. his office was somewhere on the second level but thankfully far enough from wherever they were going that he wouldn’t be spotted. he could only imagine the howler he’d get from his mother if she found out he was spending any time at the ministry.  the warbecks, after all, were constantly waiting for ansem’s ‘antics’ to embarrass the family.  

        ansem took the vacant chair when they made it to their destination, wincing as it dragged along the floor as he moved it. merlin, did it have to make so much noise ?  he felt like he could wake the dead with all the ruckus.  with a grimace, he settled into the chair.  instinctively, his hands started to fidget.  actively, he tangled them together so he wouldn’t act as nervous as he felt.  he had a feeling that wouldn’t serve him well.  “so,”  he started, after the quiet started to drive him mad.  “…i’m guessing this isn’t a social call ?  or that i’m being gifted with an order of merlin, second class, for putting up with my coworkers ? “  he forced a smile.  “ or third class. i’m not bothered. “

「 ✨ ansem has mentioned a canon object. x12 」 「 ✨ ansem has used a wizarding idiom 」

to say that helen was having a  trying  day was an understatement.  the atrium was still a bit chaotic.  after all,  the whole ordeal with the masked miscreants had lasting effects,  whether the wizarding community wanted to believe it or not.  the head of the department of magical law enforcement was asking for updates on the case.  and while she is a  respectable  witch in her field,  miracles do not happen over night.

she knew the owl from the ministry was vague.  but she’d let her first and second in command handle the owl proceedings.  there were people of interest she and the rest of her colleagues needed to question.  ansem would happen to be one of those people due to his familiarity in working with the goblins at gringotts.

the walk to the interrogation room seemed like an  ETERNITY.  but,  they made it.  the former slytherin seated herself on the chair and waited for ansem to do the same.  she hadn’t uttered a word since escorting the younger wizard to the interrogation room.  but the silence soon broke.

an attempted joke.  she could assume it was purely a defense mechanism.

“  unfortunately,  this isn’t a social call.  and nor are you being bestowed with and order of merlin i’m afraid.  ”  from the corner of her eye,  she could see her colleagues smirking with amusement.  “  and i’m here to tell you that you are not in any trouble,  mr.  warbeck.  the auror department simply has some questions that could potentially aid our case against the masked miscreants.  ”

     “be careful on that broom of yours from now on, alright, chér?” freya smiled, waving a goodbye at the exiting patient before turning and coming face to face with another wix in the st. mungo’s hallway. “oh hello there – did not expect to see you, is everything alright?”

「 ✨  collette has mentioned a canon object 」

her heels can be heard  ricocheting  off the walls of st. mungos.  the head auror walked with a purpose as usual.  unfortunately a colleague landed themselves in the hospital after a rather  nasty  duel taking down a perp.  unfortunately,  it was more than just a duel.  it also involved being scratched by a werewolf, hence why the former slytherin was now at the hospital trying to get some sort of update from the healers.  she breathed out a sigh of a relief.      “      oh thank merlin.  i’ve been trying to find an update on a colleague of mine who’d just been admitted about half an hour ago  ?  chloe alton  ?      ”

   as soon as the doors flung open to the auror department, tiffany jumped off of the front desk’s seat. she could tell it was a group of her superiors almost immediately. her excusal of herself to go join her fellow trainees for training was lost on her lips. she watched them drag a wizard through the corridor, whose eyes she recognized. they were fiery, just like they’d been through the mask. she was brought back to a stand off at the glitzy cauldron, protecting the innocent… this was one of the ones who’d gotten away. what a bast–

she was startled out of her reverie by helen, the head auror. 

“uh, yeah.” 

tiffany’s accent came out thick in her excitement. forget training. shadowing helen during a real live interrogation was so much better! for a witch in six inch wedges, she sure could walk fast. she held the door open for the older woman, following in after her.

“     well come on then,     ”      helen started walking only to spot tiffany already ahead of her.  she thanked the younger witch and stepped through the doors and into the interrogation room.  thank  merlin  for small victories.  the masked miscreants were an  evasive  bunch.  she stopped before fully entering the next room.  

“      you can wait in the room if you’d like.  or you can go to the other side of the room and watch.      ”

and with that,  helen walked in.  her face remained passive as she approached the suspect.  if looks could kill,  she reckon she’d be dead by now judging by the look in his eyes.  she pulled out her wand and cast another restraining spell on the wizard.   doesn’t hurt to take extra precautions.  she then secured her wand in the holster and sat down in front of the male.

“      now,  i want to make this process as easy as possible for you.  but i have a feeling you won’t talk.  and merlin knows how much of a  struggle  that is.      ”      she kept her gaze level with the suspect.  she knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to crack this one.  the high likelihood of going to azkaban would not be enough to get the list of names that she wanted.

「 ✨ helen has mentioned a canon object. x4 」

「 ✨ helen has mentioned a wizarding idiom. x2 」

        auror headquarters in the ministry of magic were as busy as ever. to venture walking distance down the long corridor that led to the department, was to hear the sound of spells being fired nonverbally, grunts accompanying them, the soundtrack supplied by trainees practicing the advanced dark deflecting magic. that’s where you would find tiffany, prior to september 23rd. right alongside her fellow comrades, sans the whining.

 the raven haired witch was currently sat, with her legs crossed atop the department’s front desk. her platform heels with a bat cut out of the orange wedge were in full view. when she wasn’t training, she was helping out from behind the mahogany, keeping incoming civilian tips by owl organized, as well as greeting them on site; taking notes.

 you see: tiffany got bailed out early from st. mungos after the masked miscreant attack, due to special circumstances. apparently, she was needed; needed to sit on her arse! she’d been forced to sit out training. she did humdrum desk duty for a week while she took her prescribed potion and finished healing. at first, tiffany was annoyed. so she’d been thrown into a couple brick walls. so what? honestly. she’d gotten up. what was a little internal bleeding. hadn’t anyone played quidditch before? she wanted to learn, to train!

then she’d gotten a clean bill of health. then her role as auror trainee and new experience with desk duty merged. weeks later, she got to enjoy bossing her fellow trainees around whenever their superiors were absent, and train when they were there. during the daylight, she divvied up her time between training and working the desk when all the higher rank were called out of the office to do their sworn duty to wizarding kind.

due to the new hectic atmosphere at the ministry, the masked miscreants being rounded up was the main focus. she understood and accepted this, knowing that before long, things would be back to normal. in the mean time, at night, she made up for half the lost hours of learning. in the back of her mind, she assumed this was expected of her.

tiffany flipped the page of her read, best aurors of the ages, when the bell at the glass door rang. without looking up, her usual response left her ruby red lips like she’d repeated it a thousand times. which, she probably had. things sometimes got stale, when all of her superiors were out, hell bent on cleaning up the masked mess on a timetable; plus having to deal with new dark wizards popping up here and there, thinking they were big zits when they were really tiny blackheads; easy to get rid of, but annoyances nonetheless. 

“please tell me something i can live vicariously through.”

since the masked miscreant attack,  helen was flitting in and out of her office.  she couldn’t get a moment’s rest.  but she didn’t mind that.  it was nice to be back on the field again.  the only times she would be needed on the field is when it was a rather  BIG  case.  if it were a minor case,  she’d just be stuck in her office reviewing any and all paperwork that’d been filed.  or check up on cases.  but that was all part of the job.

「 tagging @hclcns for a semi-plotted starter. 」

         the summons had come via owl post.  ansem had been sat at his dining room table, listening to an evening show on the wireless, when his tawny colored owl had dropped the letter in his lap before speeding away into the night. he’d recognized the ministry seal even from a distance, his stomach plummeting. as far as he knew, he hadn’t broken any laws; the same couldn’t be said for his twin brother.  “ if he’s mucked up and tried to blame me … “  he muttered as he tore through the seal, squinting to read the scrawl across parchment.  dear mr. warbeck, it read, your presence has been requested at the ministry of magic this friday at half past noon. it went on to detail how to access the ministry lifts, and where he could park his broom should he decide to fly to the offices.  with a roll of his eyes, he tucked the summons into his pocket.  what had arson gotten himself into NOW ? 

       friday came sooner than expected, the mirror above his sink reminding him of the appointment as he attempted to flatten his hair.  he made a face at his reflection, dressing quickly before travelling by floo to the ministry.  it was only as he crossed through the lobby of the ministry building, searching for the auror office,  that he had the good sense to worry.  he could only imagine how it would look to the de la fuentes,  the family of the girl he was now courting, if this ended with his face splashed across the prophet or locked up in azkaban prison !!  with a sigh he made his way to the auror office,  resigned to whatever fates had in store for him.  the welcome witch led him to a room where he could wait, his fingers tapping incessantly against his leg as worst case scenarios thrummed through his mind.

the masked miscreants.  just a bloody band of troublemakers.  helen’s main priority for the department is to track them down and bring them in.  after everything that’d happened with the robbery,  she was beyond angry.  but she needn’t let that anger manifest into something she could take out on her department.  instead,  all of that was fueled into tracking them down and following any possible lead she and her colleagues could find.  which is why she was now on her way to the waiting section of the office.  a colleague came to inform her of a  person of interest.  now,  this isn’t to say that whoever is a person of interest is a wanted person.  it just means that they could possibly shed light on the situation.  or at least that is how helen is seeing it.

      “ … but i’m so close to winning. “  her lips twisted into a pout.  she was unsteady on her feet, the most recent shot given to her sloshing over the edges.  her eyesight was slightly unfocused, making it difficult to avoid spillage.  finally, deciding helen was probaly right,  she set it down and gave in.  her opponent cheered, his mates grabbing his hand and raising it in the air – the rightful victor.  she scowled.  settling down on a nearby bench,  phoenix drank in the crisp night air as her mind spun.  why was she suddenly so dizzy ?  “ are you sure it’s not hot ?  maybe you’re just impervolous - impervilous, “  she frowned, the words not coming out right.  “ …. to the cold.”

tiffany pulled her hair up so that it was all atop her head, then let it fall. “it’s… cool.” 

ugh, that fight really hadn’t been all that, and a pile of her favorite platform shoes from the store down in montegreedio. she had so much to learn yet. she was perfectly fine with reading while the rest of the idiots who’d somehow gotten into the program played with their wands. hopefully they wouldn’t blow up the department while the superiors were out chasing down the masked miscreants.  

besides, healing magic was the billywigs knees. she’d be back training alongside them in no time.

“so, you’re here to break me out early then, aren’t you? thank. merlin. couldn’tve stood another minute here without going bonkers.”

helen ran her fingers through her hair and readjusted her seating position.  the lack of progress on the case frustrated her.  that much was obvious to her.  but unless she was going to get back on the field and do the investigative work herself,  the former slytherin would have to sit patiently until  someone  or  anyone  is brought into questioning.

“Karat with a K, not Carat with a C,” claramae clarified, “karat denotes the level of purity in the gold, and carat, well, gold is weighed differently than precious jewels. it can all get a little confusing. nonetheless..”

she held the lead up to the light. “i’ll make sure you’re properly prepared. i’m thinking bars of gold. proper flashy.” 

with a wave of her wand, claramae summoned a book to the reading stand. the diminutive witch danced her way over.

“ah, yes. see?” she pointed, her sea green eyes alight. “the gold bar we want would weigh 400 troy ounces. quite a lot… i could probably find some great deals for some extra lead for 5 pounds a pop a galleon. maybe less if i haggle. but it’ll at least be 20 through 25 galleons. a bit more pricey than our past deals.”

 in the muggle world, this would be worth over $300, not counting claramae’s service fee.

 “however; the traditional golden bar is worth 62,500 galleons easy, if we shoot for the highest level of gold purity attainable outside of nicholas flamel himself. it’s not pure gold, like everyone would try to have you believe, but i assure you that 24 karats would please whoever you’re trying to broker with.” 

it should be mentioned that 62,500 galleons was worth half a million dollars in muggle money. magic, if you knew where to look and had enough saved, could really allot quite the steal. if claramae had to put her money on it, she’d bet the goblins at gringotts had to do with why alchemy was hardly practiced. 

“yes, that should do nicely. as usual, you’ll need to pay for it before you leave. that way you own it prior to the transmutation. i explained all of this to you before,” she said with a wave of her hand. “i promise, it’ll all be worth a lot more once i’m through with it.. unless you think it’s too grandiose for this particular occasion?”

though she didn’t say it, she didn’t think such a thing were possible.

“      oh i see,      ”      her lips coming to form an ‘o’.      “      my mistake.      ”      helen was no professional when it came to such matters.  but she was glad to have claramae educating her on it.  never hurts to learn.  she watched the young witch work.      “      well then by all means,  you are the expert here,  claramae.  i will take whatever you recommend.  the department is  technically  covering any necessary fees.      ”      

   “ he’s still not allowed to go back to practice, ” claramae said, frowning. “ but I think it won’t be long before he’s back. ” she was just glad the international teams weren’t playing for their cup until next year. it wasn’t like monty was missing too much, besides practicing and sponsored matches. besides, it’d have been a scandal if they essentially punished him for getting attacked at the glitzy cauldron by having him replaced. she’d have seen to it. 

she giggled. she always hoped helen would tell her something, just the tiniest something, but she never pushed. the diminutive witch showed the way into her and monty’s office. she levitated a velvety square onto the desk. It had a bunch of different metals, native element minerals; there was a small block of graphite labeled in neat lettering with the word, diamond. some were fairly basic looking, some downright gritty, but they were labeled with what they could transmuted to. “ let’s see. we have the basic lead, that can be transformed to gold. did you just want your usual ? ” she said, nodding to the metal. “ what karats are we looking at. twelve, eighteen … ? ”

        “ is it warm ?  it feels so warm tonight. “  nix tugged at the collar of her shirt,  finishing the butterbeer in her hand.  when she’d signed up to compete during the witching hour,  she hadn’t expected to feel so dizzy.  after all,  you couldn’t get DRUNK off of butterbeer.  unfortunately for the hufflepuff,  she hadn’t realized that her friend had added a little extra someting to their shots. “ seriously.  i’m melting.  i can’t be the only one. “

        there was no sense trying to LIE to helen.   if he said he’d been cleared for desk duty,  ready to return,  it would be easy enough to check the records to know that was untrue.  instead, he grimaced;  caught between a kneazel and a hidey hole.  “ i probably SHOULD be. “  he agreed.  “ i’ve never been very good at it.  the silence always starts driving me barmy within the first hour.  by the second,  i’m talking to myself.  focusing on paperwork is a WELCOME distraction. “    he smiled.  though some of his coworkers might disagree,  costin thought paperwork was quite enjoyable.  you could lose yourself in notations,  describing events to the best of your memory.  he was a journaller though;   when you’d lived as long as he had,  documenting your life,  acknowledging the contrast,  was fascinating.  “ i hope to be back by friday. “

  tiffany lowered her rebelliwitch owl order catalogue, her thoughts of purchasing a brand new pair of platform heels to add to her ever growing collection forgotten at the sight of the head of the auror department. “hi ! ” she exclaimed, looking around her curtained area. she was just a trainee. a promising recruit as far as they went, yes, but still low on the totem pole. she wasn’t expecting company from her of all people ! not that she was complaining. HARDLY. 

“ please, sit. ” she motioned to the chair by her bed, tucking her hair behind her ear. her side table had a bouquet of roses. according to her healer, they represented apology and love. that probably explained why they were from her parents. she’d only been here one day, and the room reeked of them ! she stifled a sneeze. “ so. remember how i told you i got thrown into a wall ? ”