I'm searching for a wisdom,that every man seeks to find

If this is what love is

“Ah, you must be the canon fodder.” Rasmus said, his tone placid and his features void of expression. The man was white as a sheet, looked young - perhaps even too young to have done any sort of real-life dueling. He’d always loathed the Department of Law Enforcement - they ran around trampling on things they did no understand and their Hit Wizards, the pitiful requirements to hold the position made them of little use beyond front-line human shields.

Rasmus let his thoughts wander out loud, certain that Riley would be attuned - should there be any slip in his defenses. What Raleigh hadn’t taught them was much like a vault, or a safe. the mind had corridors that could be locked away and sealed. That came later, that came from his studies in the Department of Mysteries.

“Do they know you’re just like me? Do they know you’re a monster?”

“Is that why they keep you on? Because you’re little more than a weapon - a tool to be dispensed?”

Rasmus turned his attention back to the Hit Wizard before him, the man had been rambling something. Like some un-pithy rebuttal to his earlier comment, if the Unspeakable wanted he could attempt to penetrate the wizards mind, force himself into the deepest corridors of the man’s most inner thought - leave him a drooling mess on the floor. But that would leave his own mind vulnerable, not to most, but certainly to someone who’d shared the same teacher.

Cutting the man off, Rasmus leveled his eyes against him, the wedding ring, the glimmer of innocence that hadn’t been buried beneath gray snows of war. He was a wizard of weak constitution - as Rasmus’ father might have said.

“There is a belief, that two people who have shared the same teacher - should be able to understand one another.” Rasmus scoffed, meaning it more as a joke than anything. “ People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That’s how they define “reality”. But what does it mean to be “correct” or “true”? Merely vague concepts… their “reality” may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs? “ The man tried to redirect the conversation - pressing Rasmus further about what would happen in Godric’s Hollow, but the older wizard didn’t acknowledge him, looking this time towards the mirror again.

“Whatever their intentions or beliefs - those who can’t acknowledge their real selves are bound to fail.” Rasmus added before crossing his arms and leaning back - he would not acknowledge this man, this nothing, he knew who was, he knew what he was doing when he took that muggle’s life - what was a few thousand more? A statistic - the first act of war that would let every muggle and wizardkind in England know…. They were not safe, nor would they be until magic reigned supreme. Orders were orders, after all.

Riley focused on everything that transpired within the room. Though Rasmus was chained to the floor, his wand in a completely different part of the Ministry building, she knew that he was still capable of some wandless magic. She'd witnessed him use it herself...The auror pushed the memories aside as she took in the exchange between the men in the room, and regret began to make its way to the forefront. She witnessed the hit-wizard's lack of confidence in facing the murderous wizard currently sat at the table. The former unspeakable's mention of the young man being cannon fodder was all it had taken to turn the lad into a shaking leaf in the autumn wind.

No, that was wrong. There was no need for insult; the leaves had done nothing wrong.

Riley chuckled derisively following the thought, though if it was at the thought itself or its timing she wasn't sure. Either way, it would prove a contrast to the feeling of guilt over having thrown the hit-wizard head first into his current situation.

But this was nothing new. The witch was always internally at odds with herself. Her mother often said it was what kept her well on guard, for she herself would have first-hand knowledge of how duplicious one's nature could be. Raliegh just believed it to be a sign of a vulnerable mind; never able to pick any one thing to which she would be able to truly devote her all. Where her mother saw strength, her father always saw weakness.

Perhaps his opinion on her may have been different if she'd allowed him to see more than just what the auror had wanted to.

“Do they know you’re just like me? Do they know you’re a monster?”

“Is that why they keep you on? Because you’re little more than a weapon - a tool to be dispensed?”

Her eyes snapped to meet his gaze through the mirror, even though she knew he'd have no way of seeing it. Riley didn't know if this was a small comfort or an annoying inconvenience. She wasn't sure what emotion had flitted accross her features, but if the tension in her jaw was anything to go by, she certainly what her face was conveying now.

The brunette didn't bother with even considering a response. She knew the game Rasmus was playing, and it was a game they both knew well. Though most of what he vocalized after was mindless diatribe meant to cause confusion in the hit-wizard and augment the former unspeakable's false sense of superiority, the intended Rowle heir made a valid point. Those who failed to acknowledge their true nature, were doomed to fail at living a worthy life in general.

"I must acquisce, dear brother. You speak the truth in your last lines. However, you seem to fail at noting the irony that comes with you being the one to speak them."

Riley watched as his head snapped back in the direction of the mirror, his eyes slightly wider than he probably would appreciate. Rasmus would appear to have forgotten that though their father had allowed himself to be fooled by the facáde of the 'Perfect Son', she herself knew very well there was a reason behind a decade's long engagement.

Rasmus could enter her mind and spit all the venom he wanted. Her left hand began to subconciously trace the ink lines on her right forearm that were currently hidden by the sleeve of her robes. The Rowle family motto was inscribed onto the flesh of every legitimate Rowle on their thirteenth birthday in it's runic form, the oroborus. The enchanted ink made sure it would never be removed.

But if there was one thing she had learned long ago, it was that the snakes that dwelled in Rowle manor only ever struck in fear.

Armed with this knowledge, she wasted not a second longer and made her way into the interrogation room.

He’d thought this every second since he watched Rasmus Rowle get taken away in chains. He knew the man was heartless, knew he was cold, knew he’d lost the right to call Riley his sister ages ago - but despite everything, Darwin hadn’t expected Rasmus to turn into a killer. Darwin is pretty sure he’s in shock, pretty sure that the siren indicating there was a possible air raid approaching was all in his head - they’d evacuated the shelter, but he’d never heard the siren stop. At least not until he tried listening for it.

Darwin was talking to his father when it happened, but even now, he couldn’t seem to place what the conversation had been on - just a flash of green light, then it was over.

He wanted to go to the Ministry.

Savage wouldn’t let him - not that Darwin should have been surprised, but the man was a brute, a veteran, a hero - and at the very least recognized a wounded soldier when he saw one. But Darwin was no soldier, not really, not like Riley was - the Unspeakable might have had the badge, but his training had scarcely prepared him for the field.

Down in the Department of Mysteries so much was theoretical before practical application, in the Space Chamber him and his team often worked closely with those in the Time Room. They measured distances and the relation of time and using muggle physics applied to endless arithmatical calculations and formulas - there were few instances. Certainly nothing frightening like what one might find in Thought or Death or even Love - there was the odd incident of course, someone tried to travel back in time and ended up aging the appropriate five-hundred years and died soon after… But they didn’t see the truly sickening underbelly of the magical world.

Diana had told him he was being foolish, that he was risking too much - maybe if the muggleborn hadn’t been in such close proximity to Rasmus’ sister as frequently as he was, his father would still be alive.

Darwin shakes the thought from his head, they weren’t his words, but still, he wouldn’t dare to ever repeat them.

Sitting in his flat, staring out the window of his loft above the pub - Darwin is unable to keep his mind away from the interrogation of Rasmus Rowle. Truthfully he can’t imagine Savage will want Riley talking with the now former Unspeakable, but at the same time Darwin can’t imagine that they’ll be given much of a choice. Darwin knew little of the older wizard, but there was always whispers about him - rumors - because of his name alone the man had been vetted a dozen times. A Ministry employee yet almost weekly Hit Wizards saw fit to raid his family home - always coming up empty handed.

Darwin felt a shiver run up his spine and pushed the creature from his mind, his face turning up somewhat in disgust before his eye caught something in the distance. The setting sun had all but left the Hollow blanketed in a familiar dark, only the soft glow from the lamp posts lit the street, but by this time there was almost always nothing at the tree line - nothing but the silhouette of ancient and even some magical trees.

But Darwin saw a flicker - a spark, something green blink in and out of the trees - then there was another, then another - and another. The wizard rose to his feet and stared out the window, he’d lived in Godric’s Hollow his entire life, even beyond the community he hadn’t seen any sort of bug that let off such a peculiarly… familiar glow.

It almost felt like it was taunting him in the most menacing way and it was with a realization that filled him with dread when he came upon the memory that the light was connected to. Darwin shuttered again, he couldn’t allow for his emotions to cloud his critical thinking - that’s what Savage or er, well, anyone from the Office would probably say.

Taking a breath, Darwin headed out into the night. He was at the tree line when he heard the almost familiar, zip of an apparition Capturing several of the bugs in a magically sealed jar he heard Savage’s voice and turned to see Riley’s familiar face - smiling instinctively even if only for a second before he felt it taint slightly with sadness. She has his eyes.

“Gray. You shouldn’t be here.” Savage said gruffly, his scarred face imposing as ever.

“I live here.” Darwin said smoothly as he held out the jar for Savage to examine and watched as the man grabbed it and brought the bugs closer to his eyes, screwing his face up slightly in disgust.

“Still. We will handle this.” Savage added.

“Just one of those insects has the potential to release a lethal blast with a radius of approximately 6cm. At precisely 1837 the bugs first began appearing - every hour since then, or at least for the three since they started up, both the number of fireflies and their potency has increased exponentially.”

“Can you contain them all?” Savage asked, examining the jar closer.

“No.” Darwin said simply before he looked towards the forest.

“Then we need to evacuate.” Savage said, the urgency in his tone not missed, but Darwin scarcely reacted - he could tell that the General had already considered the town a loss.

“You can try, but there isn’t enough time to get everyone to safety.” Darwin said, knowing full well who would take priority in the Ministry’s eyes. “With your permission Sir - “ Darwin turned to look at Riley, feeling his confidence return as he did before he looked fully at Savage. “I believe Auror Rowle and I can find the hive, we can shut it down - somehow - and stop these creatures before…” Darwin trailed off slightly, his eyes landed for a moment on the local school off in the distance and he couldn’t help his emotions betray him as his breath caught in his throat.

“Before what?” Savage pressed, screwing his face up as he narrowed his eyes at Darwin.

“Before 0037… When their life forms reach a critical mass and… Godric’s Hollow gets wiped off the map.”

Riley had not been home since the moment the air-raid sirens had gone off in Godric's Hollow. Truth be told, she hadn't even set foot out of the Ministry building since she apparated within it with her own brother in shackles. She looked up from the report she had been working on for a while now. Riley knew it had to be done but, that didn't mean that putting the events of that transpired in the shelter to paper was an easy task. Especially if she allowed herself to think about it all as Riley, Darwin's best mate and Rasmus's younger sister, instead of Auror Rowle, trained officer of the Ministry's Department of Law Enforcement.

To avoid falliing into the former thought pattern, she focused instead on the sense of unease that had caused to look up in the first place. It was a familiar sense, but not one that she believed any person could truly grow accostumed to. Considering the ramifications of having ignored it the last time, Riley was quick to indulge it and made to get up from her desk. She stopped short when felt a much different sensation emanate from her forearm.

The witch pulled up her sleeve just in time to watch as yet another section of the runic piece changed its ink from black to emerald. The changes had started shortly after the 'interrogation' of Rasmus had been concluded. She chalked it up to the enchanments on the damn thing and assumed the irritating thing would stop once it was all a solid color again. Curiosity won over as she brushed her fingers over the mark. It was warm to the touch.

Riley dropped her sleeve as the earlier sense took hold again, and she turned just in time to watch H.A. Savage making his way over to her. The man wasted no time in relaying the situation currently ocurring in Godric's Hollow. It appeared to be a 'plague of green fireflies', with dark-magic signatures that were originating somewhere in the expanse of woods that bordered the small town. He wanted to look into the matter first-hand and wanted her to accompany him.

His mouth said, "Because you live in the middle in those woods and would probably know your way around them better than most," but his eyes said, "because your family practically owned that enitre forest at one point, and no one really trusts you to be left around here alone right now."

Riley nodded her agreement and voiced a simple "Of course, sir."

It was a suitable response to either of the messages he'd conveyed, and she knew he was a smart enough man to know it.

They apparated at the edge of the woods in question. No sooner had they spotted the first green glows in the distance, than Riley felt the irritation on her forearm flare again. Now it was a very distinct, if only mild, burning sensation. She didn't bother to lift her sleeve this time. Her focus was drawn elsewhere when she heard Savage mention Darwin's name. She didn't fail to notice the odd way he looked at her before turning to their superior. In her line of work, it was look she'd seen on many other people's faces before. Seeing it on her best friend's face and knowing that she had been the cause is some way almost left her breathless.

Almost.

There was a task at hand and many more were counting on it being completed. Savage turned to her at Darwin's suggestion.

"You have until 2200 to find this alleged hive and shut it down. You get not one more second beyond that, do I make myself clear?"

The question was meant to be rhetorical, but that didn't stop the response that was provided

"Crystal."

Riley glanced over at Darwin as she realized they'd responded in tandem, and for the briefest of seconds they were both fourteen again, in the Astronomy tower providing the names of obscure stars in unison even though they were across the tower from one another. But as he stepped closer with the bugs he'd caught in his jar, the burning sensation returned pulling her back to the present, where they had just agreed to go on a mission that their boss clearly didn't believe they were capable of completing, and the though the physical distance was no more than thirty centimeters, it felt like they were constellations apart.

Savage apparated away, and wasting no more time, she turned to her partner as she unholstered her wand.

"Lead the way."

Cádiz Rowle - Warden of Nurmengard Prison

                                     Case File - Darkness Falls

There wasn’t much to do from where he was sitting, his fingers drummed against the surface of the wooden desk - oak, blackened with a cheap finish that screamed mediocrity. Rasmus turned up his nose as he continued to drum his fingers, his right hand was getting tired but he’d timed it so they’d drum for 1.5 seconds while leaving a half a second in between. In this way he was able to keep track of how much time had passed - so far the Aurors had been holding him in this interrogation room, watching him through a two-way mirror for just over six hours.

Rasmus grinned, showing his teeth as he stared dead center, certain beyond certainties that he was holding his sister’s gaze. She was, after all, why he was here. He wondered if she knew it was her he was waiting to speak to, if it was her idea to stretch the protocol on holding time within the interrogation room from four hours to six. He broke the stare and tsk’d, looking back down to his hand - did she actually think he would crack? - But of course she knew, she knew he wouldn’t break. There had been a time when she knew him better than anyone else in the world, until she betrayed him, betrayed everyone who mattered.

His eyes flickered towards the glass again as he let down his walls just enough for her to take a peak - to hear and see only what he wished for her to see.

“Do you actually think I’ll crack?”

His eyes shifted, his walls back up - his occlumency defenses told of nothing but a loyal ministry worker, an Unspeakable who’d served dutifully for over a decade in the Department of Mysteries’ Thought Chamber. One loyal to the Ministry, a man who was engaged - who’d been engaged for just about as long as he’d served in the Ministry.

She wanted him to get angry, angry like he used when they were fencing - she’d antagonize him into making a mistake, her error was thinking that now, as a man, Rasmus was about to make the same missteps he had as a child. Years of planning had brought him here, Cádiz was counting on him from where she stood at Grindelwald’s side - a place he longed to be as well, but, for now at least, his place was here.

The chains around his wrists rattled as Rasmus brought his free hand up to scratch at the scruff that was starting to come in. It was about this time he was usually heading out the door to work - clean shaven, suit perfectly pressed, everything about his image absolutely perfect. From his home to his work space, everything had its place and the elves were far too familiar with the Rowle families’ code for punishment  to dare to move anything.

“All this trouble.” Rasmus sighed as he shook his head, “over one filthy muggle.” He’d cast the killing curse in a bomb shelter in front of a large chunk of Godric’s Hollow, although chaos had reigned as people had begun to panic - Rasmus - agitated by the pushing and shoving reacted instinctively, aggressively and had managed to catch a muggle square in the chest. Granted it was the mayor, granted it was the father of his sister’s partner - someone she had even looked up to possibly, but that was nothing but coincidence.

It was strange how these things seemed to work out.

He and his sister hadn’t spoken in years, not since six months after she competed her Auror training and had hauled his father off to Azkaban. The trial of Raleigh Rowle had been an expedient one indeed - involved in countless crimes from organizing illegal werewolf fights, to profiteering from the exploitation of endangered magical creatures - to the use of all three unforgivable curses.

Rasmus glanced at the white scars on the back of his non-dominant hand, the words ‘I can do better’ still faintly visible even today. The former Slytherin didn’t have any love for his father, but Raleigh had gifted Rasmus a birthright and Riley - Riley did not begin the Rowle name and she would not be the end of it. Not so long as Rasmus still had breath in his body, what his sister failed to realize was there was nowhere for a blood traitor to hide - not for much longer, not when Grindelwald’s forces were about ready to beat down France’s door… After that happened, England would be alone - too late to join the fight as their Ministry imploded from within.

Rasmus was bored.

He was bored and would not be kept waiting anymore.

“You really shouldn’t keep me waiting, if I don’t return home every twelve hours then Godric’s Hollow will… Well… It will cease to exist.” Rasmus stated plainly, any trace of a smile gone as to add credence to how serious he was being. It turned his stomach to think of his sister as a blood traitor, to think of her mudblood friends and their filthy halfbreed daughter in the family manor that she could now claim as her own - even though her image had long been burned from their tapestry.

Yet it would be so.

Fate was a cruel mistress.

As she stood leaning against the edge of the two-way mirror’s frame, eyes cast upon the interrogation room’s sole inhabitant, Riley couldn’t help but feel the heft of the truth behind the old adage. She had sensed that something wasn’t right the moment they set foot in the bunker, and the unease had only crept further and further down her spine, spreading out through each and every one of her nerve endings, until she’d found herself having to keep her arms crossed over her chest, hands firmly under the opposite arm, all in a bid to keep them still.

“If one cannot even yield control over one’s own appendages, how is one to be expected to hold any form of control over something as powerful as magic itself, dear?”

The taunting words echoed in her mind on a regular basis, almost as if the woman who’d spoken them to her as a child was still firmly at her side ... and not miles away in a different country, having completely turned her back on the Ministry she worked for, the beliefs she swore to uphold, the sister she swore to protect.

“Why does he keep staring at the same spot on the mirror?”

The sound of the hit-wizard’s voice shook her out of her thoughts. “Come again,” she said glancing back at them.

“Your brother,” they emphasized each syllable; practically spitting them, ”he keeps tapping his fingers and staring at the same spot on the mirror. Why?”

Riley bit back on the urge to claim she had no brother, instead shifting her gaze back to the man in the room. She dropped her eyes back to the arms once again crossed against her chest, thinking about the habit they both shared. The habit they’d both developed as children during their long tutoring sessions. “He might be trying to find a way to keep track of time while he’s in the room,” she said, her tone implying it was a lucky guess at most -though she had garnered quite the reputation for her accuracy with those. “As for the staring, he probably thinks there’s someone right on the other side of that spot who he can make uncomfortable,” she added offhandedly. She felt no guilt at the unnerved look that swept the hit-wizard’s face. Their antagonizing would not go unanswered. 

It would surprise absolutely no one to find that she was not the most trusted member of the Ministry at this moment. Not that she ever had been. The name Rowle inspired many things in people, but trust was hardly ever one of them. Some even used the fact that she’d arrested the family patriarch as reason to doubt her intentions, “What kind of daughter turns in their own father?” they had said. She was damned when she did and damned if she hadn’t. Her older sister, once an Auror herself, had defected and joined Grindelwald without anything that so much as resembled hesitation.

“Do you actually think I’ll crack?”

Riley snapped her focus back to Rasmus so fast she didn’t even become aware of the fact she’d moved closer to the mirror until the reflection of her own eyes blurred her sight. It was a useless trap. Raleigh was never the best father, though his methods were harsh -to put it mildly- he was damn good teacher; Rasmus excelled in his position as an Unspeakable in the Thought’s Chamber for a reason. But the older Rowle often forgot that though their views on the subject differed now, they both still had to sit through the same lessons.

It was his actual vocalization that her instinctively clenching her fists, but the auror relied on her experience to keep from biting. Diana often said she had ‘too much of a talent’ for compartmentalizing, and if ever there was a time to use it, now would be it. Riley could not afford to think to the events of the bunker, to the sight of her best mate’s face when ... no. Not now.

“Those aren’t particularly kind words your brother has for your mate’s dad now are they?”

Riley continued to look forward.

“It’s useless bait.”

She turned to face the hit-wizard. “He’s grown tired of doing nothing, so now he’s attempting to instigate a confrontation hoping to get something, anything, going. He knows I’m on the other side of this mirror and he wants to be the one to make me jump. He doesn’t realize that in the process, he’s already done so himself.”

“What do you mean?”

Riley arches an eyebrow and directs their attention to Rasmus. “You see his hands?” she asks turning to point them out, “He has stopped keeping track of time. The more he talks, the more track he loses. The more he lo-”

She stops mid-sentence at the former Unspeakable’s last words. Noting the look on her colleague’s face, she states, “The only thing that will cease if doesn’t make a trip to the manor every twelve-hours is his internal clock and deep-seeded sense of perfection.” The hit-wizard seems only partially convinced, and she can’t blame them. She isn’t even quite sure she believes that herself.

“If he wants the interrogation to begin, then so be it,” she declares.

“H.A. Savage stated that you shouldn’t have any direct contact with the suspect until he arrived,” mouthed off her apparent baby-sitter.

Offering a small smile, Riley simply stated, “I’m aware, which is why you’ll be going in my stead.”

As the door closed behind her work-mate, she again felt little guilt at the fact that she was essentially using them as her own form of bait. He may not be her brother now, but Rasmus was so once. He took after their father when it came to the strong sense of self-importance. In his mind, he was Rasmus Rowle, the heir to Rowle estate and everything that came with it.

He was expecting to be addressed by an auror. “Let’s see how your disposition fares thinking you merit no better than what you once called ‘over-glorified Auror errand runners’, brother.”

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

Name: Leliana Rowle nee Chevalier

Age: 137 years old

Education: Former Beauxbatons

Other: Seer 

France -  2006