* NOMI

He’s grateful when Nomi steps in, because as much as he knew he shouldn’t be getting lippy with Principal Gold, he was finding it more and more difficult not to. Easing back into his chair, he listens to the exchange quietly, although getting a little annoyed by just how quickly Gold seems to judge Nomi. Then again, that did seem to be Gold’s specialty- rapid fire judgments that took quite a bit of hard work to make her change her mind on. He’s fairly certain she disliked Max since day one, and sure, the kid certainly got sent her way enough times throughout the year, but he wasn’t a cruel child. 

“Miss Melody is her name,” Gold begins, already looking far too annoyed with this conversation than Jack felt was warranted. “She’s been teaching here since the school was first established. The grounds of the school were once home to a nightclub in the 1920s. I don’t know the exact nature of her death, she’s fairly tight-lipped about it herself, but I know there have been several rumors some more ludicrous than others.” 

“Max has said she’s always seemed to be a rather happy spirit. Would you say the same?” He asks, as curious as he was about Miss Melody’s death he figures it had little to do with the case at hand. Whatever happened to Miss Melody it occurred seventy years ago, before the school had even been built. 

“Oh certainly,” Gold replies, “she is just as well beloved by the staff as she is the students. She’s a very pleasant person to be around. Which is why all of this seems so odd. I don’t know who would want to frighten her in this way- so much so she’d run off, but it is quite disturbing.” 

“And you think that’s what has happened? That she got scared and is hiding somewhere?” He hoped as much himself. The last thing he wanted to be doing today was tell Max that something awful happened to one of his favorite teachers. 

“It’s the only explanation I can think of- that is unless she chose to move on to the ‘other side’ as it were. But I honestly don’t see why she’d do that. She seemed quite happy with her life here.” 

.

Nomi listens carefully to every word that Gold says, keeping track of every statement. Nomi thought the very idea of Miss Melody was kind of awesome, an interesting person to be taught by and with an intensely interesting history. Nomi has never seen her, but she can see why the staff and students of the school would like her if she was as happy and pleasent as they made it sound. And compared to Gold, she must have been the brightest damn spirit in the school. They could understand how someone raised by Jack Monday would be so invested in solving the mystery

They make a soft and thoughtful sound. Starts asking a quick question to be sure. “She never mentioned feeling threatened by anything or anyone?” They ask, because if there are any hints towards what could have done this, they want to know.

“As I said before, Mx. Everhart. She seemed quite happy.” 

Nomi nods her head, already kind of fed up with even talking to Gold. They just didn’t like her, is what’s happening here, they just didn’t like the tone of her voice or the way that she looked at Jack, the way that she looked at them, the way that she looked at the both of them together. 

Nomi would like this case to go well. They would like them to solve it quickly and easily, with an efficency that couldn’t be anything other than impressive. There was a pleasure that came with solving a case and solving it well. And they hoped that in the end, Miss. Melody could come back. If she had been scared away by something, maybe they could solve that problem and get her back from where she had run off to. 

“Well, good. In that case,” Nomi starts, and spares a glance toward Jack to see how he feels. “We’d like to take a look around the school and talk to a few people, get a better feel for what might have happened here. I assume we have your permission to take a look around wherever is needed?” 

By the time they’ve recovered their own wand, which had gone flying off into the street, and catch up to Nomi, who is just…. so fast, now, way faster than they’d been the last time the two of them had worked a case together, seven or eight months ago, Nomi’s already cuffing the guy, as he squirms on the ground trying to get out of her grip. 

     “Don’t you need proof, to bring me in?” he asks, through gritted teeth, all the casual and cool demeanor he’d been showing off moments ago gone.

     “Well, buddy,” Marleigh says, crouching down low to look him in the face as they answer. “You just assaulted an auror. So no, we don’t. But if you’d rather I not mention that in my report, the cure for whatever you did to these tapes would go a real long way towards changing my mind.” 

They grab the guy’s arms, hoisting him back up onto his feet, glance briefly over at the car. They wonder what’ll happen to it, if he gets thrown in jail. It’s a nice car, even if the orange is a little tacky… But that’s a thought for another time. Right now, they’ve got to get this guy back and see what they can get out of him, see if they can break the curse on poor Emmett, and the others who had lost their voices. 

Nomi seems to have it totally under control by the time they get there, but then again, that’s just Noms. They’ve always got things under control. The man gets out of the car, now that he’s faced down with two aurors, but he doesn’t look caught out, seems to be keeping his cool pretty well. There’s no guarantee this is their guy and not just some weird perv who has been lurking around spying on people, but he matches up too well with Trevor’s description for them to feel like there could be anyone else.

     “Townsend Trinkets and Tronkets?” the man repeats, cooly, leaning back against his car, arms crossed. He glances up, at the store across the street, its loud and cluttered windows, the big sign over the door. He can’t exactly feign ignorance about it from half a block away. “Nah, I’ve driven past it but I can’t say I’ve ever been inside.”

    “That’s funny. Because we’ve got a positive ID from Trevor, the man you sold the tapes to. So unless you’ve got an identical twin with an equally bad mustache running around here somewhere, I’d suggest you come clean. If you can help us get these folks their voices back, we might consider going easy on you.” 

The man looks amused, but there’s a cruel and humorless glint in his eye as he looks between the two of them. Almost like he’s sizing them up, trying to decide if he feels like he could take them in a fight. Marleigh hopes he’ll decide he can. They’re itching for a good fight, really, itching to fight at Nomi’s side and show this asshole just what the terrible twosome can do. 

     “Can’t say I know a Trevor, but he must be mistaken,” he says, a slow drawl, and Marleigh must be just too focused on trying to read his expression, because they don’t see him pulling his wand out until he’s shooting a disarming spell in their direction and taking off at a sprint down the block, away from the store. 

If the man before them doesn’t have something to do with the cursed casettes, Nomi would eat their their own shoes, because there’s no denying that he fits the description given by every single witness that they talked to in this case. Shit like that doesn’t just happen as a coincidence, not really, not more often than once in a blue moon. But he’s so cool and so calm as he leans against his car, as casual as the day is long, as if he has nothing to hide and no secrets to keep from them. 

Nomi isn’t surprised when Marleigh breaks out a little white lie to try and break him, to try and walk him into a corner where he has no other option but to tell the truth. Someone who was innocent wouldn’t have any problem continuing to fight them on it, and they’d get a better feel for what was up with the guy if that was the case. Sometimes when you said something like what Marleigh had, it was just the push someone needed to tell the truth. It had worked when Nomi and Harlow were investigating those cursed books, not really that long ago. 

Nomi gets kind of a bad feeling though, when they notice the way that he looks at them, as if he’s wondering what to do about this new little problem that’s arisn. Nomi almost thinks he’s just going to brush them off, let them keep going around in circles. 

But he runs instead. 

Which kind of feels like enough of an answer. 

“Ugh!” They say, with a huge sigh. “I fucking hate when they do that.” 

And then they’re moving off after him without a moment of hesitation. When it came to Marleigh and Nomi, Nomi knew that they could follow their instincts and just move, just act without having to run it past them first, because Marleigh would rather Nomi just fucking move instead of waiting around to get an order from somebody. So Nomi follows him, and Nomi pulls out her wand to stun them with a silent little flash, hopefully not drawing the attention of any no-majs that could have accidetally stumbled into the area. 

He falls to the ground, much less cool and much less collected than he had been a moment before. “Well,” Nomi says, as she leans down to catch his wrists in their charmed handcuffs. “That was illuminating, that you very much, sir. I think we’ll continue our little conversation back at headquarters.” 

Harlow smiles fondly as they watch the small interaction between Nomi and their uncle. They have a feeling the two of them will get along well, even if purely for the reason that they and Nomi get along well with one another. 

“Oh, I have plenty of embarrassing stories, that’ll surely bring a blush to this little one’s cheeks,” Manny chuckles as he reaches over and gives Harlow’s shoulder a quick squeeze. They should probably be blushing at the very thought of any of the stories Manny is sure to have on them getting retold to Nomi, but all they can do is roll their eyes fondly. 

“But yes, lots of work to do first, I’m afraid,” he nods, his face falling slightly, “I’ve been working on this case for two years now, in our division, but I’m afraid it’s so much larger than what falls in our jurisdiction. I’ve got cases popping up all along the Mississippi River spanning decades. But here, we can discuss it in my office.” 

Stepping back from the two, he waves them to follow him, as he makes his way through the floor they were on and into an office in the back. Once they get inside Harlow is pleased to find it looks exactly as they imagined it, his desk is a cluttered mess, but even they know there’s a certain mad genius behind it. On one of the wall there’s a corkboard that’d been taken over entirely by the missing werewolf case, with news-clippings spanning decades, and pictures of the various missing werewolves pinned onto it. 

“If you manage to help me solve this my little alligator, I’ll be taking a month’s vacation, I swear,” he lets out a tired chuckle as he looks their way. 

“We’re going to try our best,” they assure him with a small nod, “do you think you could start by going over everything you’ve found in your own investigation?” 

.

Nomi already likes Harlow’s uncle, in that natural and easy way that Nomi usually likes people. Any company is good company as far as Nomi has always been concerened, so they’ve never struggled with loving someone instantly. They like the idea that Harlow has someone like this in their life, they like the way that they act with each other, the soft fondness that is clear between the two of them. It makes Nomi wonder what their own family would think about Harlow, what Harlow would think of the messy little world that Nomi came from. 

They follow Manny and Harlow toward Manny’s office, and Nomi looks around it when they get back in. They’re instantly drawn to the corkboard, the news clippings and the pictures. They can see the most recent victim, the teenager. Laura Cooper. She was just a kid –– Nomi sometimes still felt like a kid, so she couldn’t imagine what it was like to actually still be a teenager. Nomi had a bad feeling about it, they were scared that in the weeks since the girl had gone mission something terrible would have already happened, something scary and impossible to deal with. Nomi doesn’t want to have to tell those parents that their little girl is gone forever, but its hard to picture a world where something unconceviably terrible hasn’t happened to Laura Cooper. 

Nomi returns their attention to Manny has he goes over the grand and all expansive details of the case with them, the missing werewolves spanning decades and everything that they’ve discovered over the years. All the way up to Laura. To the missing girl.

It makes Nomi think about Hadrian and Eden, makes them wonder if this could be another big smuggling ring situation. They struggle for a second with how to really ask about that, what exactly they should be saying about the situation that went down here a couple of weeks ago. A corrupt auror, a mess that ended with him dead, and two members of their own squad damaged in a way that nobody could fail to notice. 

“Could this be something to do with the black market?” They ask, finally, with a curious look around. Manny doesn’t look like he hates the question, because its undeniably a good question. 

He grins at Nomi’s enthusiasm over meeting Max. They were right, his son was going to instantly love them, and Jack couldn’t wait to see the two interact with one another. This case was definitely going to prove to be an interesting one, no matter what happened, but he couldn’t have asked for a better partners to have during it all than Nomi and Max. 

Leading Nomi into the school, the route to Gold’s office was well hammered into his head, what with how many trips he’d already made to it this year. Max was a great kid, but a handful, which meant he’d fallen into the habit of getting called into the Headmistresses’s office on several occasions for his classroom distractions.  

When Gold’s voice echoes through the door, he has to allow himself one eyeroll before stepping inside, readying himself for whatever the hell this interview was going to end up like. 

“Mr. Monday,” Gold lets out a sigh as her eyes fall on his familiar face, “and so we meet again. I must say when I heard the Central Squad was being called in for this, I wondered if you’d be involved. I would normally question your ability to approach this case without bias, but then again, I suppose if there’s anyone that could make sense of your son’s vivid imagination, it would be you.” 

Gritting his teeth, he forces a smile as he hears Kerrigan’s voice in his head giving him her usual warning when it came to talking to Gold, “Jack, don’t piss her off, this is the best elementary school in state.” 

“Yes, I’m pleased to be here as well,” he replies, trying not to sound as sarcastic as he’d like to. “With the school’s safety in question, I guess my boss saw it important for me to check this place out myself. Make sure Max is in a good learning environment and all.” 

Nomi shoots Jack a grin, feeling emboldened and warm at the sight of him rolling his eyes before they step inside. It’s kind of good that Jack is the star in this situation, the one that Gold is going to want to pay the most attention to. When they walk into the room, Gold sighs as she looks at him, and it’s pretty clear that Mr. Monday isn’t her favourite person in this world. Nomi doesn’t really know where she gets off, judging Jack like this, clearly not liking him. They guess that she’s allowed but she should at least try to sound less weary about it. 

Nomi can tell that Jack is trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice as he speaks to her, but Nomi can definitely hear it. Either that means he’s doing a bad job, or they’re just well attuned to the sund of Jack Monday being kind of a sarcastic ass. 

“We’re both real invested in little Max’s learning environment.” They agree, with a small little wave and a small little grin, feeling the cool gaze of Gold as it skims over them. “Children are our future, and all that.”

“Your enthusiasm is noted.” She says, and it gives Nomi the impression that Gold has noted several different things about the both of them, the awesome team standing in front of her and coming to solve all of her many problems when it came to ghosts and ghouls. “Do you have a plan in place for where you would like to begin this... investigation of yours?” 

“We usually like to start with questioning the witnesses.” Nomi says. “That’s a solid part of every good investigation.”

It’s an easy enough plan, despite the risk. Nomi takes up a stake-out spot with a good view of the store while they duck into the bathroom at a coffee shop a few blocks away, recycle an old concealment from a year or two back with a few on the fly tweaks to hide their face. They stroll on into Townsend’s Trinkets and Tronkets, give Trish and Trev a wink as they come in, browse for a minute or two before making a show of finding their way towards the box of cassettes. They browse for a few minutes before picking out a copy of Jagged Little Pill and making their way to the counter, purchasing it along with a pair of headphones—just to make sure the curse, whatever it was, didn’t hit anyone within a wider radius around them, just in case. 

And as they start to leave the store, making their way to a nearby bench, they make a show of pulling out their telekit, popping out Achy Breaky Heart, and putting their new tape in, sipping their headphones on and sitting on the bench. Technically, they think, they could probably get away with not even hitting play, as long as whoever this guy is thinks they’re going to. 

Nomi’s stake-out spot is within eyesight, so when the orange Mustang slowly pulls up across the street from them and starts idling, Marleigh knows Nomi sees it. They keep up the act, looking over the tracklist on the back of the cassette tape, taking care to put their own tape away and making sure the new, cursed tape is rewound all the way to the beginning. They’re kind of hoping Nomi will get over to the guy before they actually have to press play just in case. 

And they do. Marleigh can see out of the corner of their eye as they approach the orange Mustang, tap on the window. He’s idling a little far away, but Marleigh can just make out a guy with a mustache roll down his window and tip his cowboy hat in their direction, and that has to be the guy Emmet and Anaya saw, has to be the guy Trevor had bought the tapes from, though they could get a positive ID from Trevor.

They pop the tape back out, making the switch back and putting the cursed one safely back into its case, and slip everything back in their pockets before making their way over to Noms and the guy, ready to provide back up if Nomi needs it. 

Nomi keeps a careful eye on things when Marleigh steps into their role and gets to work. If this plays out the way that they expect it to, they could solve this case within the hour. Nomi would like that to happen. They would like this case to be over and done with so that they could fix everything that had happened, so they could return voices to the people who needed them, return magic to them in a certain way. It would be unfair if they had to wait for even longer, it would be the worst thing imaginable if they couldn’t find a way to reverse the curse that was plaguing them.

They set up in a discreet little spot with a good view of the store, and they notice Marleigh when they make their way inside. Disguised, but recognisable to them in the way that they always would be. When you knew someone as well as they knew each other, you leaned to see them even if they were wearing a whole other body, even when they were briefly trying to be somebody else. Marleigh was good at this, the little act. Anxiety knots in Nomi’s stomach, but they work through it because they have Marleigh’s back, because Marleigh has theirs as well. 

It doesn’t take all that long for Marleigh to go into the store and buy the tape. They watch as Marleigh steps back out on to the street, purchases in hand. They watch as they sit on the nearby bench, and they notice instantly when the orange mustang rolls up. Jackpot.

Nomi is moving withing a few seconds, at the car in the blink of an eye. She leans down and grins in through the window, gives a little knock on it to get the man’s attention. He definitely fits the description that the others had given them, and she kind of agreed that he would look a hell of a lot better if he grew out that beard. 

“Hi there,” They say, flashing him a little grin as he tips his hat at them. With a well practiced motion they flick out their badge, arching an eyebrow at him. “Can you step out of the car, please? I just have a few quick questions for you, and then you can be back on your way.”

They feel Marleigh come up behind her to join her, and relax further at the fact that the two of them are standing together again. The man looks between them and seems to consider it for a moment, but in the end he does step out to join them in the open air. “What can I do for you?” He asks, with a little drawl in his voice, eyes flciking down to their badge again. “Officer Everhart.” 

They smile when they see how delighted Nomi seems at the little offering. As nervous as they were about all of this, they know it had to be even worse for Nomi. There was no telling just what they’d run into on this case, with still so much unknown, but for once they’re feeling actually a little optimistic with all of this. If anyone was going to find out what had happened to all these missing werewolves, they know it’d be them and Nomi, especially with their uncle’s help. 

Leaning back against the park bench, they drape their arm over Nomi’s shoulders as the other auror digs into the dessert they’d brought. They can see how troubled Nomi still is by all of it, and when they eventually voice their concerns, Harlow is glad that this was how they were going to start out. If they talked this stuff out before hand, it would only help them further own the line, when the danger of it all became that much more real. 

“Me too,” they nod, as they look over to Nomi, shooting them a small soft smile. “I know we got this though. I mean, first it is us,” they smirk as they lightly tug one of Nomi’s pigtails, “and we have my uncle. Which you’ve met Imelda, you’ve seen how great she is. And she and my uncle are just alike, both really dedicated and been in the magical species business for decades.” It was rare for them to be the more optimistic one between the two of them, but they just couldn’t let themself think about the negatives here, not when they were still fresh off their high from Scotland. 

Once Nomi is wrapped up, they give the other auror a quick squeeze of their hand, before they lead the two of them into the auror division’s headquarters. When they flash their badge to the front desk, it’s clear on the receptionist’s face the impact of Eden and Hadrian’s previous case was still weighing heavy on the division, as she solemnly nods before directing the two of them to their uncle’s office. They barely make a step in the direction of the stairs though before an all too familiar voice rings out from a small balcony above them. 

“I thought I heard trouble was coming through the door,” looking up they see their uncle’s face smiling warmly down at them over the balcony’s railing.

Looking over towards Nomi, they grin before heading up the stairs, racing a little bit on the last couple steps before their uncle brings them in for a hug. 

“Manny, this is Nomi, my partner,” they smile as they pull back from him, and look over at Nomi. The word ‘partner’ feels a little more weighted than usual, considering who they were referring to, and Manny seems to pick up on that at he smiles over at Nomi and extends his hand for them to shake. 

“Nice to meet you, Nomi.” 

It might say a lot about Nomi that they’re already relaxing a little bit, just sitting here next to Harlow, just feelin their warmth. Harlow is strong, and dependable, intense in so many ways. Nomi always thought of them kind of like a force of nature, but they were so damn kind as well that sometimes it blew Nomi’s mind. They didn’t have to be so kind, people would let them get away with it if they weren’t. But they are. But they bring Nomi pie, and take them back after even the worst things, even after they got mauled by a werewolf.

They trust Harlow, when they say that they know they’ll get through this. It’s Nomi and Harlow, and nothing has killed them yet. If anything, the pain they’ve been through will only make them more careful, will only make it so that they work harder to fix whatever’s going on here, to find out exactly what happened to this missing werewolves and make sure that nothing like it happens again. Nomi so badly wants to help them, to find justice for all those people who have disappeared after all those years. They nod their head, listening along, taking every word that Harlow says and making sure that they wrap it up nicely in their mind, a certainty that they can call on later when they need it. “We can do it.” They agree, softly.

Nomi follows Harlow into the auror department, taking a curious look around when they step inside. Nomi was always interested in what other divisions’ headquarters looked like, they always wanted to see what was going on. But there was no time to wander off and explore here. They had someone to meet. Harlow’s uncle, which was a weird and wonderful thought. His voice rings down from the balcony, and Harlow rushes up the stairs to meet him. Nomi follows, a fond smile slipping in to place when the witness it, watching Manny and Harlow hug with such warmth. 

The grin widens when Harlow introduces them, and Nomi almost feels shy for a second. But Nomi is never shy. So they beam instead, and take Manny’s hand without even a split second of hesitation. 

“It’s nice to meet you too. I mean really, so nice to meet you. I’m hoping you have a whole bunch of truly embarrassing stories about Harlow to spoil me with, at some point.” They say, letting some of their usual cheer slip back into their voice. 

They hadn’t actually planned on coming tonight, which was unusual for them. But everything with Appius had them feeling on edge, and the approaching full moon had them feeling on edge, and the last thing they wanted to do was bring anybody else’s mood down because they felt like some kind of easily-startled animal all of a sudden, weird and paranoid and a little shaky when they spent too long alone. Restless. 

But Jack was going, and Nomi was going, and Sol was going, and that was half the friends they had to their name, pretty much, and the exact combination that meant if they didn’t go, the apartment would be empty and they’d spend the whole night being just as weird and restless and paranoid but also alone. And alone kind of feels like the last thing they want to be, tonight, in a desperate sort of way. Like the only thing outweighing the irritability they keep biting back, and the paranoia they keep shoving down, is a clinginess they don’t know how to handle. 

Not that it’s helped, much, being here. They’d gotten here a little later than everyone else, getting Liv 2.0 all settled in at home, let Nomi go ahead without them and promised to catch up. Jack had wanted to dance and they… didn’t, really, didn’t have it in them tonight. They hadn’t been able to find Sol in the crowd. They’d had a brief conversation with the weird Mountain Squad auror who talked too much, which had been fun for a few minutes until he got distracted by, apparently, Miranda. And then they’d given up, and gotten a drink.

They’re on their second drink by the time Nomi finds them, which marks more drinks at once than they’ve had in something like three weeks, and it kind of feels like a moral failing, somehow, which, in a cruel twist of fate, means it doesn’t even taste as good as it should. But Nomi does find them, and they sink into their touch, a little, chest relaxing just slightly at the feeling of having someone else around. They’d been half worried Noms would be too caught up in Harlow to notice they’d finally gotten there.

     “I’m all good on drinks,” they say, holding up a still half-full glass of firewhiskey. If anyone could persuade them to have another, it was Nomi, but they were still hoping to go home with Jack even if they weren’t up for dancing right now, and it seemed insensitive to be completely drunk by the time that happened. 

Nomi can practically feel whatever Marleigh is feeling, the dark cloud settled over them as they tried to have fun here in the club. Nomi feels bad about it, like she should have been doing more, like they could have been paying better attention or devoting more time to them. They hated when Marleigh was freaking out. It felt like the entire world had a cloud over its head, it felt like so much had gone wrong and so muched needed to be fixed.

They had been hoping that something would ease away from Marleighs shoulders when they got here, when they stepped into the heat and the light of the club, found themself surrounded by these people who loved them and who just wanted to be with them. But they don’t seem to have been helped by it, which makes Nomi ache. A heavy feeling. They know they type. The kind you can’t shake. The kind that won’t go away until you’ve found something more solid than this, until all the answers are clear and plain in front of them. 

Nomi came here with Harlow. Practically dragged them here, to have some fun. They should go and find them, but Marleigh is more important right now.

Marleigh is who they need to be with. 

Marleigh leans into their touch, holds up their glass, and Nomi presses a little closer. When everything had felt like it was falling apart for them, they had been soothed by friendly contact, by someone thet trusted touching them and weighing them down, keeping them steady here. They intend to be here for Marleigh for as long as they need, all night if that’s what it takes. 

“Ah, good.” They say, keeping up the appearance of it all for a moment, resting their head against Marleigh and breathing them in. “Hey,” They follow up. “Do you want to go get some fresh air? I could do with a smoke?”

It wasn’t very often they went to a night club, and when they did it was almost always at the insistence of another, sometimes it was Hades, other times Nomi, but the result was always the same. Generally Harlow would gripe and complain about going until finally they were broken down- that didn’t happen this time though. Instead it was Harlow who first brought up the idea of going. Loud music and a packed club wasn’t exactly their idea of a good night, but with Willow and everyone else there, they just couldn’t resist going. 

Taking the drink Nomi offers them, they stare down at it incredulously, unsure if it was a joke, and the other wix was hiding a whiskey behind their back, or they were in fact expected to drink it. “You’re paying my dentist bill, if I get a cavity over this thing,” they reply before taking a drink, and man…. There was definitely a good kick of sugar in there, but the sheer amount of alcohol in it, is what really hits them.

“If I have more than two of these I’m going to passed out on the floor before John and Willow even get here,” they laugh, before taking another sip, because shit it was actually good. 

“Or is that your whole plan this evening? Getting me boozed up early so you can finally talk me into dancing.” 

The look on Harlow’s face when they take the drink offered to them is frankly hilarious, as far as Nomi is concerned. They fucking love that shit, the incredulous way that Harlow can look at them when they make these decisions, and the fondness they know lingers underneith it despite every other indication to the contrary sometimes. The look on their face makes them laugh as well, when they take a sip of the drink and taste it. 

That’s how Nomi likes their drinks. Violently pink. Damn strong. The kind of thing that’ll get you fucked up before you even know whats happening. They grin at Harlow, sharp and a little vicious, nodding along. 

“Damn, you got me.” They sigh, light and breezy, the sound of the laugh lingering in their voice, with every word that escapes. “You may be the only person with the brains to unearth my dastardly plan. 

outside tennessee auror division, afternoon, @nomieverhart​

When the case file hits their desk that morning, they aren’t surprised at all to see what it’s for. Throwing them back on a werewolf case with Nomi again, right when things were getting good between the two of them, sounded exactly what Ben Eames would have done. If there is one saving grace though in all of this, this particular werewolf case is the same one they’ve been hearing their aunt and uncle go on about extensively for the last two years. The missing werewolves that have been popping up all over the midwest had become a bit of an obsession with Imelda and Emmanuel, who would find any time they could, even at the Bishop family Christmas dinner, to talk about the bizarre and largely looked over case. They knew with their aunt’s pull in the department it would only be a matter of time before it finally hit a squad, they just hope that now that the case is finally getting the attention they know it deserves, that they won’t let any of them down. 

When they get to the Tennessee Division, the same division their uncle worked out of, they take a seat on a bench outside as they wait for Nomi. There was no telling just how the other auror was feeling about all of this, so they wanted to check in with them first before they both had to dive deep into whatever their uncle had uncovered in his two years of investigating these disappearances. 

When they hear the pop of someone apparting nearby, they look up to see Nomi, and shoot them a half smile as they extend to them a cup of coffee and a small plastic container containing a piece of cherry pie from the bakery down the street. “It was my turn to feed you this time,” they reply, before nodding over to the empty spot on the bench beside them. “I figured with the full moon getting close anyway I might as well fill you up on carbs and sugar.”

.

Nomi is aprehensive about this case, they can’t deny that. They may always try to feel confident and self-assured when they’re heading out to work, but something about this gets to them more than they’d like it to. Well, they guess it isn’t a mystery why. The last time they went out on a werewolf case with Harlow, everything had gone to shit. They’d been ambushed, they’d been turned, they’d both gotten hurt. It was a day that had changed their life forever, that had filled them full of so many complex and warring emotions. They stil felt violated sometimes, they still felt so angry that they could scream about everything that had happened that day. 

And it had almost broken them and Harlow. It had put a rift between them that they were only recently really recovering from. The very concept of it all just brought up so many bad memories, and it left Nomi feeling a little shaken. 

But they always worked the cases they were given, and they always worked them well. Nothing bad was going to happen this time. They were going to go out there with Harlow and make some kind of plan, and they were going to stick to it. They would have each others backs this time around, they wouldn’t let anything go bad. With that plan in mind, they take a deep breath and apparate to the Tennessee Division. They only have to look around for the briefest of moments before they spot Harlow waiting for them. 

They break into a smile, only half forced as they approach the other auror, collapsing on to the bench beside them and looking at their offering. Their heart swells a little bit, their smile widens. They take both of the offered gifts and let out a soft laugh. “You spoil me too much and I’m gonna get used to it, buddy. This is exactly what I needed today.” 

He takes the coffee with a nod of thanks, pleased already of just how well this little partnership of their’s was going. The two of them hadn’t worked a case together since before Nomi was bitten, and it feels so good to be hitting the beat together again- even if that beat was his son’s elementary school. 

“I didn’t know you were homeschooled,” he replies, giving them a quick once over he shrugs his shoulders before adding, “then again, I guess that makes sense.” Flashing them a teasing grin, he gives them a light nudge of the shoulder. “Based on our previous run-ins I’d say that’s very likely. But it will be good to prove her wrong by solving this thing quickly due to our downright brilliant combined detective skills.” 

Whether they actually would be able to solve this thing quickly, he honestly wasn’t so sure about, given the weird nature of the case. Max has been going on about the ghost juice for the last week, carrying the milk carton full of it in his bookbag ever since, but even with that he’s not so sure just what was going on here. 

“We should probably talk to her first though,” he adds as he takes a sip of his coffee, gaze drifting over to the school in front of them, “once Max sees me we’ll never be able to shake him, and it’ll probably be better to talk to her alone.” 

.

"I’m a creature of inherent mystery,” They drawl, as Jack gives them a once over. It did make sense for them. It had no doubt shaped them into the person that they were. They’d been taught to be something wild of free, someone who put certain things before others, someone who acted first and asked questions later. Nomi had been raised to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, to stand up for themself and the people they loved with all the ferocity of a wolf. Instincts which had only been heightened after they turned. And they were somewhat self taught in that area as well –– they had no pack to guide them, no werewolf friends with which to discuss the various intricacies of their new life. There had been support groups they attended, but it hadn’t done much to sooth the ache or stamp out their ferocious anger. 

Nomi was confident about this case –– they always made a point of walking in to things feeling confident. Just the act of taht could carry you through tough times in a case, if things got stalled. They found it was powerful to blindly believe in yourself, to believe in your partner and the fact that at the end of the day you would solve whatever problem was coming up, that you would close the case and get to go home feeling satisfied. 

“God, I cannot wait to meet Max.” They confess, grinning and giving Jack a punch in the shoulder. “He’s gonna like me so much better than you.” They tease, sticking out their toung at Jack before they turn on their heel and start making their way into the school.

It isn’t difficult to find the headmistress’s office, with signs pointing in that direction and in the direction of other offices scattered around the place. Plus, Jack has probably been there before. Nomi takes the leap when they get to the door and knocks on it, three short raps. 

“You didn’t let Marleigh get hurt,” they reply quickly, determined to make that point clear, as they rest their hand on Nomi’s shoulder. They knew the kind of guilt that Nomi was facing, having bore so much of it themself after the other wix was hurt. But Nomi didn’t deserve to feel that way, far from it. “Marleigh was lucky to have you out there. And I know they’d tell you exactly the same thing,” they add, “if you weren’t there who knows what would have happened.” 

Nomi might not have known, but they did. If Nomi hadn’t been there, John wouldn’t have been saved, and Marleigh and Sol both could have died while trying to escape. All four of them needed each other, and it was that strength that saved them. The same strength that helped them and Nomi make it through the last battle to help the others make it back to the safety of the barn. 

They smile, a soft thing that is saved for very few people, as Nomi strokes the curve of their cheek. It still feels so new, them falling back into this little routine of their’s of stolen touches and soft smiles, but they’re glad that in everything else that has come back in their life, this has too. “How am I doing?” They ask with a breath of a laugh. “I feel like I can actually breathe again for the first time in six months,” they add in a rare moment of honestly. Looking over to their arm that was now bare from Willow’s tattoo, they still almost can’t believe it’s all happened. Part of them is waiting to wake up from whatever dream this is they’ve found themself in, while the other half is glad they finally woke up from the nightmare they’d been in for so long. 

Leaning forward, they steal another kiss from Nomi, letting it linger longer than the first they’d shared only moments ago. When they pull back they shoot Nomi another smile. “We can stay here for a little bit longer if you like,” they offer, as they snuggle in a little closer to them, “then head back to Calderon’s to check in on Marleigh.” 

Harlow’s smile is a wonderful thing. Nomi has always thought that, has always tried so hard to win the sight of it, the special way it seems to look when its directed at Nomi. It makes them feel special, it makes them feel far too good. And they count themselves lucky every time that they inspire it, every time it blooms across Harlow’s face as they watch and wait for it. It’s a victory, every damn time, and Nomi loves to win. 

They feel horribly soft, listening to Harlow talk, hearing the breath of laughter that escapes them. They sound honest, they sound relieved, and its a good thing. They don’t have to worry anymore,  not about Willow. Their sister is home safe, and in easy reach whenever they need each other. No matter what else may have happened, what might have been wrong and what storms may be rising on the horizon, waiting to strike with lightning and rain. At least they’ll have done that much, at least they’ll have all gotten back here relatively safe and sound. No lives lost, just lives saved. Some of them might have been changed in ways they couldn’t fully understand yet, but on a whole the trip to Scotland had been a win for them. Twelve people were free, and they had gotten through it. It might have been a mess, but Nomi felt safe in the knowledge that they had done the right thing. 

Things have been rough for everybody, the last few weeks. Scotland was a hellscape, that much was true, and they were all still dealing with the consequences. Nomi was particularly protective of Marleigh since they got back, occasionally hovering, having to see them a couple of times a day to reassure themself that Marleigh was steady and there and alive. They needed Marleigh, they needed Marleigh to be okay and stay with them for a hell of a long time, because they didn’t know what they would do if they didn’t have their best friend. They’d flounder, they’d fall apart, because Marleigh was one of the rocks that they leaned against when things got hard, and they had been the first person who really made Nomi feel human again after everything that happened.

Nomi is ready to step into that roll for Marleigh as well, if they have to. 

The full moon is looming on the horizon, close enough that Nomi can feel the ache and the pull of it, the heightened emotions. No one really knows whats going to happen to Marleigh when the full moon rises –– maybe nothing, maybe a whole lot of things that Nomi hopes they’re prepared for, even if the chanes are low. And Nomi knows that it’s weighing on Marleigh, the unknown factor of what their future holds. If they turn, that’s okay, but its so fucking hard to go through it. 

And Nomi just wants to take care of them.

So they find Marleigh in the crowd at Morgana’s Cellar, and they give them a calculating once over. “I can practically feel ya thinking, you know. And you gotta stop right now, cause you’re gonna hurt yourself, baby.” 

No matter what else is going on in the world, Nomi can always be depended upon to have a good time. The moment they had heard about this little trip to Morgana’s Cellar, they had been particularly invested in joining in and having a little fun. They all deserved it, as far as Nomi could see. A night to cut loose, spend a bunch of someone elses money, and do some good old fashioned inter-team bonding. All the better that they get a night to follow Harlow around in a club, when they’re fully allowed to pull them in and kiss them, to sit with an arm around their shoulders and enjoy the feel of them beside each other. 

That’s what they intend to do now, as they slip in to sit next to Harlow, passing off a drink to them with easy grace. Something bright and pink and delicious, which was basically all that Nomi liked to drink in places like this. They weren’t sure exactly how Harlow would feel about it, but they were excited to see the reaction. 

So they level Harlow with a grin, tuck themself close beside them, and relax. “For you, my treat. Careful though, the sugar crash can be worse than a hangover.” A little nudge, a beaming smile. Nomi is happy, happy that they can be here. Happy that they’re together in this, surrounded by other people that they love. 

They’re glad Nomi has quickly picked up just where they were trying to go with this, and lay back a little as they let the other auror take the lead again. Rudy was close to cracking, they could see it in the nervous way he kept looking back and forth between the two of them, like if he did so enough he might be able to pick up on just whether or not he could get out of the current situation he was in. Which he definitely couldn’t. 

“Alright fine…” he groans, resting his hands on his hips, and Harlow can already tell they finally got him before he even opens his mouth again. “It was never supposed to go this far, okay. I came across this old book involving the dark arts- it’s an incredibly rare edition, known for it’s breakthroughs in modern curse work. I figured I’d try a few out, just purely out of academic curiosity. I grabbed a few books off the shelves, in places I knew no one would miss them. I thought I’d broken the curses after trying it out, but I must not have done a good enough job. Because after I re-shelved them, the curse must fallen back into effect.” 

“Well clearly,” Harlow snaps, not sure what they were irritated most about this situation that the whole thing was started because Rudy decided to turn curse enthusiast for a day, or that he’d let it go on for this long. 

“You didn’t think alerting the authorities was a good idea after the first customer was injured?” They ask. 

“Well I removed all the books again, right? And I broke the curse again, but… and I guess this really just goes to show why that book of curses is so well renowned, because no matter what I did the curses would go away, but come back again.” 

“Yeah… a fantastic book,” they roll their eyes, “well, we’ll need to take you into MACUSA, for an official statement. My partner was right, a judge will look on you more kindly for confessing. That’s not to say you’ll get away free and clear,” they add before looking over to Nomi, “you have anything else to ask before we bring him in?” 

There’s a feeling of triumph that comes when you know you’ve got your guy, when you know that your gut instincts have done well by you, and that you’ve cracked a case. Nomi keeps their face clam and professional when Rudy cracks, but they’re gonna freak out and jump up and down about it later. This is the first case they’ve helped solve since they got back, and after six months out of work, it feels pretty damn good. 

They have to ask though, they have to know for sure. “One time, twice, that’s an accident. But this has happened three times. You realised the books were still cursed and you left them up. Why did you do that?” They ask, cold and curious, because to leave them there on the shelf was almost asking for trouble. She thinks there’s something harder in him than he’s letting on. 

He stares them in the eye, and they can still smell the fear, the annoyance, something that might be shame but could easily be something entirely different. “I wanted to be the one who fixed it. I wanted to beat the curses.” 

They nod their head, sighing a little bit. “Well, you did a damn great job, dude. Congratulations.” Dry, sarcastic. “We’ll take that book you talked about back with us. Our curse breakers will want to see what damage you did, exactly.” Shaking their head, they pull out this nice warded handcuffs, and recite Rudy’s rights for him. He stays stoic and quiet while they do, resigned now to his fate here. 

They give Harlow a pat on the shoulder, before they both lead Rudy out to take him back to MACUSA. “Good job, Bishop. Let’s blow this popsical stand.” 

They can’t help but let out a chuckle at her explanation—amazing, that the witness they had who could actually talk was going to be ten times less helpful than the one they had who couldn’t talk, just because he’d been interested in cars and guys and Anaya here seemed to have a distaste for both of those things. Still, she’d seen an orange car and  guy with a bad mustache, which was as much as they could have hoped for from coming here. At this point, just what the cassettes were designed for and how they were doing it was mostly moot, shit that could be hashed out when they had this guy in holding. The better option here was going to be getting the guy in holding, finding him and getting him to slip so they had probable cause to bring him in.

     “Well, Noms,” they say, glancing over at Nomi once Anaya’s finished talking. “It sounds like it’s time for an old-fashioned stake out, huh?”

They thank Anaya, letting her get back to whatever she seemed so huffy and high-strung about being interrupted in the middle of, and head back out to the street, considering their options: on one hand, they could just get a full record of the people who had bought the tapes, find the most recent one, lurk around until a guy in an orange Mustang showed up. Or…

    “What if…” they say, still thinking through the idea as they talk. “We set a trap. Give the tapes back to the Townsends, I disguise myself, go in and buy one, see if this guy shows up to see whether or not the tape works on me? He’s either watching them to see if it works or watching them because he’s a sadistic bastard, so either way he’d be likely to show up. I’m not a half blood, so odds are it doesn’t actually steal my voice, and if it does—well, once we have him in holding we can get him to reverse it. I’m sure the Savages would be relieved if I came back to the office and couldn’t talk for a while.”

They walk back out on to the street, and Nomi is sure again about the fact that they’re on to something here. In all likelyhood, this guy was the person cursing the tapes. Assuming that it was the same guy all around, there was no other reason that all of the victims and Trevor Townsend would have seen him. The sicko was watching them for a reason. They can also tell that Marleigh has an idea, even before they really open their mouth to say it. 

What if, dangerous words when they come out of Marleigh’s mouth. But suggesting to set up a trap is so damn in character for Marleigh that it almost makes Nomi laugh. It makes Nomi a little nervous, but it also seems like a plan that could work, and something that would be a hell of a lot more exciting than anything else. “I dunno, buddy. I kinda like that voice of yours. I’d be pretty sad if you lost it.” They consider for a moment, running over everything in their head. It was likely that the tape would do nothing to Marleigh, but if it did...well, they’d have to hope that it could be undone. Nomi didn’t like the idea of Marleigh stepping in to danger, but they also thought that it was a pretty good plan. “I trust you, if you think that’s the best way to go here. And I’ll have your back.”

“So. Yeah, fuck it. Lets trap a bastard.” They say, a little more determined once they actually agree to it. 

outside port steward elementary for young wixes, afternoon, @nomieverhart​

He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh that morning as soon as the case file had hit his desk. Because of course somehow this thing was going to be given to him, although he’d really been hoping he would anyway. It was only a couple nights ago, when he and Kerrigan and all of the other parents of children at the school were asked to come to the auditorium to discuss the events of four days ago. After hearing the bizarre nature of the case, he figured the Illinois Division would struggle with it, and figured it’d be only a matter of time when it’d land in the squad’s hands as it had that morning.

Eager to get to the school as soon as possible, he apparates there soon after Langer gives him the go ahead, telling him his partner will meet him there briefly. When the familiar pop of an apparation sounds out behind him, he’s met with another pleasant surprise that morning in the form of Nomi. 

“Oh Principal Gold is going to absolutely hate the two of us,” he chuckles as he looks over towards them, “I mean she already hates me, so that’s a no-brainer. The witch seriously thinks she’s running Ilvermorny and not some primary school. But anyway, yeah I’m just warning you now not to expect the warmest of welcomes.” 

.

Nomi’s entire day had lit up when they saw the case file waiting for them. Not only was it a cool case, but it held so much potential in other areas. Some time with Jacky, who honestly had been neglecting them lately, and the chance to meet tiny little Max Monday. God, Nomi was excited for that. They hoped that Max was a terror. They hoped that he was tiny, horrible version of Jack. They hoped that he adored them with every inch of his being, because if he didn’t, he probably had bad taste in people, and that was a terrible trait in a child. 

Nomi had come prepared, as much as they ever did. They had a fake little junior-auror badge in their pocket for max, and a cup of coffee in hand for Jack when they arrrived, something which they hold out for him when they spot him. When he looks over at them, he chuckles, and they let out a bright little spark of laughter, enthralled at the very idea of dealing with a strict, stuck up principal type. 

They grin, as they consider it. “Is it bad that I’m kind of excited? I was homeschooled, man, I never had the chance to disappoint or shock an authority figure. It sounds like a hell of a lot of fun.” They can’t help but bounce a little bit in excitement, just at the idea of it. People were usually a little bit shocked about Nomi, the way they dressed and their attitude, and now the bright red W stamped on their badge. They didn’t imagine that a bunch of people would be thrilled about the known werewolf walking in to this school full of children, especially if they were already prone to hating people like Jack, who only had the fault of being kind of a handful.