He laughed, bordering on a giggle, at Fauna's makeshift singing. Oh, Virgil truly liked her! She had a sense of humour about herself - and those were the best people, who could take a little teasing. They knew who they were on the inside. He took a drag of smoke and grinned on the exhale. The lyrics. Those lyrics had been the product of an especially dull afternoon after quarantine.

           "I'll need them as evidence if anything comes true."

"Any real reason to suspect they might come true?" Virgil reached into his back pocket, pulling out a folded piece of parchment. "I don't actually have a copy right now but I've memorised it, obviously..." he unfolded the empty sheet and laid it on his thigh before slipping out what looked like a transcription quill, hidden in his sleeve.

A pause as he made sure he had the words straight in his head. "Okay. I'm going to quickly read it out loud so try not to interrupt." He breathed in and started reciting the ode in a soft, rhythmic voice. Without its musical accompaniment, there was a distinctly ominous quality to his recitation.

Virgil drew to the end, frowning in concentration, green sunglasses sliding down his nose. "Will you live to see the light of another day....soon startle awake...haunted ode for the witch, Fauna Blake," he glanced up at the girl in question, repeating the final line: "This haunted ode for the witch, Fauna Blake."

He extended his pale hand and plucked up the quill.

"Oh," Fauna sat up straighter, about to protest out of politeness. She hadn't meant to make him recite the song, and well, if he started singing she might just die again of embarrassment, but the ease with which he found a quill and parchment and got that intent, focused look on his face made her consider that he didn't mind making a copy of the lines for her. Maybe he was happy to.

"Right, obviously," Fauna agreed with a straight face, holding back an amused eyeroll at his rather Slytherin-esque arrogance. Was it arrogance or confidence? She'd find out once he recited all the lines.

"No reason. It's just been one of those months, you know? Well, you know," she gestured. She meant December.

Raising her eyebrows, she crossed an arm over her stomach, having no plans to interrupt anyway. Her stomach gave a nervous flop the way it did whenever someone was about to present something. She felt it during meetings, she felt it during concerts, she felt it whenever someone could potentially be embarrassed. She felt pre-embarrassed for them.

Though soft-spoken, Virgil's voice matched the tone of the lyrics, and rang with subtle surety. Her nerves settled as she propped her elbow on the armrest of the couch and rested her chin in her hand. She watched the blue flames flicker in the fireplace, and listened.

The witches, the wolves, the monster in the moors. The moon hovering heavy over the bleak castle. It sounded pagan, a little Shakespearean, a lot gothic. Surprise flickered over her face. He depicted her as some heroine in a tale of dreamlike danger. Foolish, steadfast. She hadn't been brought anywhere or lured, but she'd chosen to come there because she'd heard someone in trouble.

It sounded like something she would do.

A thread of cigarette smoke wafted in the room over the crackling of the blue fire and the bubbling of the cauldron. Goosebumps crept up her arms. She smiled softly into her hand, and finally glanced over at him as he recited the last lines.

His sunglasses had slipped down his nose, and she caught a glimpse of very pale eyes.

"That is so cool," she said after a pause, giving the lyrics room to settle. Aurors were terrible with words. "I mean, that you came up with all of that. Where did you - I told you, didn't I? I made some weird comment about liking haunted songs," she chuckled, delighted he'd made such a song out of her randomness. "Thanks, I mean - now that I hear it again, I uh, appreciate it more?"

 Without the audience of Aurors. She smiled sheepishly, but her smile faded as she realized there was definitely something different about his eyes.

"Hey, are you ok?" She pointed at her own eyes, a touch of worry in her voice.

She liked it! Virgil beamed at her, unable to hide the fact that underneath the bravado he'd been worried about how Fauna was going to receive the ode. Nobody wrote such things without caring. They put a little of themselves into the writing of it - and he put a little of himself into everything he did, musical or not. Those were the only things worth doing.

He rolled up the parchment and handed it over to Fauna. "Hey, are you ok?" she asked, causing him to quickly push his sunglasses back into place.

"Fine. Temporary, we were... experimenting." Virgil nearly slipped and said with what; he had begun today by being submerged in various potions to see if they would trigger his Seer ability. Just another day in the Hall of Prophecies, with some rather unnerving side effects. The experiments hadn't even yielded concrete results, though his scrying skills were noted to be enhanced.

On the other hand, Fauna's personal predicament with werewolves and dark wizards did make him wonder if there was anything to the ode. Was he unconsciously sensing something about her?

Only one way to find out. He held out his hand to her. "Do you have a hair tie or something that I can have? Ribbon?"

Fauna nodded in thanks, and tucked the rolled parchment into her front jacket pocket. She'd take it home and keep it somewhere safe, away from the terrible singing of Aurors.

Virgil dismissed her concern so quickly that she hoped it really was a temporary ailment. He had that focused look on his face again, searching for a... hair tie?

"Hm? Um, one second," Fauna began searching the pockets of her trainee jacket.

"Why don't I have a bloody hair tie?" She muttered, finding several other things:

A paperclip. A chapstick. A Pandora's Box contact card. A pen. Her handy little notebook. Her pocket watch. Aha! Found!

Fauna fished out the silver pendant that Trouble the raven had given her a few weeks ago.[1] She'd tied a bright yellow ribbon around the tiny loop of the pendant, making it easier to find in the depths of her pockets.

The rose etched on the pendant felt cold in her palm. It wasn't always.[2]

Carefully, she worked on untying the ribbon with her fingernails, and once it was loose, she handed the ribbon to Virgil. Her fingers closed tightly around the pendant, about to drop it back into her pocket.

"Hair tie," Fauna announced, glancing at his short locks. Not that he needed it.

1.	Damn Rough Life
2.	Little Tailor Shop of Horrors

He watched her, almost fondly, as she hunted for a hair tie. In the end it was a ribbon that Fauna handed over - looped around a gleaming silver pendant. "That's a nice necklace," Virgil commented and accepted the ribbon. Thoughtfully, he rubbed it between his fingers. This belonged to her and she'd been carrying it around: that made it good material for scrying.

Still sensitive from the earlier Mysteries experiment, Virgil hoped that he might be able to detect something in Blake's future. Behind the sunglasses, his eyes glowed slightly. He shook his head and pressed his lips together, breathing in deeply.

"Um... I'm not getting much," the glow dimmed, "hold on... the smell of grass, cold air, water... trees in the winter... a park, maybe? And wet dog," he pulled a face.

Rather unhelpful. Wet dogs at a park, that was every Sunday afternoon in London. "I'll keep this if it's alright?" Virgil tapped the ribbon with his wand and it snaked around his wrist, tying itself into a neat bow. "Might trigger something one of these days. I've been trying to incite visions, since the one I had about Abby, but no luck so far."

Ultimately, he wanted to have a True Prophecy rather than snatches of the future - but those were extremely rare. And life was (one hoped) long. Virgil knew he had to be patient. Only, being patient was so hard!

"It's not really mine," Fauna shrugged with a slight smile, pocketing the necklace. Why had she said that? The ribbon, at least, was hers.

He held the ribbon and breathed in, his pale eyes aglow. Fauna straightened in her seat and peered over the tops of his sunglasses, frowning in concern. Should she get someone? She half stood, glancing at the door.

Oh. He was fortune-telling. Sort of.

She let out a small breath of relief. For Merlin's sake! Her face flushed. Not everyone could predict what someone was about to do or why they were doing it, Virgil.

A wet dog, winter, a park. Fauna belatedly caught his words and his offer.

"Ok?" She nodded after a pause, unsure of the right response. "Er, thanks. I'd be curious if you sense anything else."

She settled back in her seat and smiled self-consciously. Exciting! Right? A vision! Who didn't want to hear a vision about them? Wait, probably Abby. She hadn't known that he'd had a vision about Abby. Wait, did seers ever have happy visions?

The smell of wet dog could be anything from Pez coming in from the rain everyday and shaking off the water to... the smell of the wolves at the zoo.

The very thought made her uncomfortable, but she held onto it.

"Do you ever sense things that have already happened?" Fauna wondered, resting her chin in her hand again. "I mean, an event from maybe a month ago. Or years ago. If it's important to the present."

Her gaze drifted to the thin yellow ribbon tied in a bow around Virgil's wrist. On anyone else it might look out of place, but on him, against the white blouse and black trousers, it looked right. Lively.

At least it wasn't red. She had several colorful ribbons at home, and had deliberated between red and yellow, likening red to her (future) Auror robes, but then settling on yellow, the color of joy and days long past.

He wondered why Fauna carried around a pendant that did not belong to her, and tucked away that little piece of information to examine later. The ribbon tingled around his wrist but it was a more gentle sensation than the red thread in the Death Chamber; that had been a potent magic. Virgil took another drag of smoke as Fauna shot off a few questions.

Divination wasn't a popular subject. It was received with skepticism even amongst wizardkind, so he was happy to answer genuine questions about its nature.

"Yes," he shrugged, "scrying works backwards as well as forwards, and even in the present. It isn't linear." Virgil had deeply enjoyed discussions about the way it defied conventional methods of learning. "Some of us are more gifted at scrying the past. You could probably find a few Seers working at the museum."

Although not, of course, with consistent results when it came to ancient objects. "Anything you need examined?" he asked, still eager to help Fauna - she had a great deal of his gratitude for finding his violin. "It doesn't always work but it's always worth a try."

Fauna tilted her head and smiled, her chin slipping in her hand as she glanced at the fire with a faraway look. A few seers worked at museums, he said.

She couldn't wait to tell Tia that every time she studied a historical map she was actually scrying into the past. Right? It sounded like something that would make her smile.

"Hm?" She raised her eyebrows, focusing back on Virgil. Oh. He was being very nice to her. Today. She'd always thought of him as impish and lackadaisical, and he still was, but he was generous, too. Not everyone had the courage to take the lyrics in their head and write them down and perform them for someone they barely knew. Not everyone used their foresight for good, either.

She straightened, taking him seriously. "Hm."

Exciting again! Who didn't want a vision about them - focus, Fauna.

What to ask? She could ask whether her stepdad's side of the family would really, truly accept her, and if her mum would be happy, and her sister settled. But that was so personal and felt like grasping at clouds. She wasn't worried about that after yesterday, not at the moment.

She could ask about Grimshaw's, and the dealings that the Hunts had made there, or the girl who had died there in the 80s, or the girl that had fallen into the ossuary last month, or-

Rosemary. She could ask about Rosemary, the girl who'd been found in the back of the shop...

A knot of dread formed in her stomach. Cold and obscure cases. Bad idea. Unprofessional. Her hand moved to her jacket pocket where she'd put the pendant, shifting it off of her hip.

And then she had it.

The moon. She could ask about the full moon. It all went back to the moon.

"This is going to sound intense, but," she winced in apology. "If you happen to pick up on anything from the last full moon, or the next one," she suggested hesitantly, "That would be helpful. Everyone's scurrying around preparing for it on Level 2 and Level 4. Not sure how much you've heard?"

Or was that a bad idea too? She paused, making an effort not to stare through his sunglasses at his eyes, which had already seen so much.

He finished off his cigarette as Fauna deliberated, and flicked the stub into the fireplace with practiced ease. Giving her a mind a quick skim - awful, yes, considering she didn't have magic - it seemed like the witch had her fair share of mysteries that needed scrying. Virgil did not envy aurors: they dealt so often with the dark realities of human nature, and rarely with its lighter side.

            "This is going to sound intense, but..."

The full moon! He sat straighter, changing positions on the couch arm. Oh, he'd heard enough by prodding Yavin about it. Something bad happened at the zoo last month. Cinaed Tawse had been involved. Always with the poor werewolves, did the man ever do any of his own work?

"I've heard enough," Virgil stuck out his bottom lip thoughtfully, "and I can try to meditate in moonlight on evenings, to see if that will help the scrying. Is there something in particular I should focus on? Don't worry, my lips are sealed otherwise," he mimed zipping up his mouth.

Fauna perked up. Virgil was helping! Even if scrying didn't always work, it was nice to know someone was on her side, looking into the evidence from another angle. Sometimes she missed relying on her own intuition.

"Ok," Fauna straightened in her seat, her face as focused as Virgil's had been when he'd written down the lyrics for her.

She flashed him a quick smile. "Ok, let me think."

What did they not know? What were they struggling to understand the most? Tawse could appear anywhere during the next full moon, but they had patrols to catch that. They had a 3-day time window, they knew he had some control over direwolves, they knew he kidnapped unregistered werewolves, they knew he liked to hurt muggles and use everyone against each other. His next attack would likely take place in a muggle location, with multiple werewolves, and one or more lackeys causing trouble.

They knew he couldn't stop talking, they knew he was a purist piece of - focus, Fauna.

What could she tell Virgil? She tried to be careful with case details, but Virgil was an Unspeakable after all. He didn't have to know everything to help with something. Bagnold had already spilled the beans about Tawse to Moira and Fig. No one could get mad at her for - well, yes they could.

"Focus on Cinaed Tawse," Fauna watched his face. Had he already heard that Tawse stood at the center of it all? Ugh, every time she said his name it left a sour taste in her mouth.

"He's been kidnapping werewolves and setting them loose in muggle areas. If he has his eye on someone," she shook her head. "It takes planning, to do what he's doing. Maybe he's staking out certain locations, preying on the vulnerable. Maybe the WBA is doing his dirty work for him. Maybe he's using Imperius or erasing memories - he's known for that."

He'd erased Savvina Katopodis' memory. He'd taken her from Regent's Park, they thought. He'd commanded and used a direwolf, too.

In an ideal world they would catch Tawse before a second attack happened.

Fauna bit her lip, considering. There was another dark wizard involved. The creepy candle guy who had prevented them from apparating and sending up red sparks. The man with something glowing on his chest. The biggest unknown.

Though she trusted Virgil, she didn't feel comfortable sharing that level of information.

She smiled grimly at him, grateful that he was listening and trying.

He shouldn't listen to her thoughts. Virgil knew he shouldn't but he did anyway - partly out of impatience and partly out of curiousity. What was going on with this investigation anyway? Unspeakables managed to catch all kinds of secret information from two but he hadn't been paying a lot of attention. Yavin didn't want him doing anything dangerous this month, after the vampire and Death Chamber incidents in December.

           "Focus on Cinaed Tawse..."

Virgil nodded, picturing the dark wizard in his mind's eye. Cinaed Tawse, he repeated inside his head. One of the most hated wizards around but even Fauna sounded like she was getting bored of him. "I can do that. I'll tr--" he stopped abruptly.

Fauna's thoughts had wandered down a surprising path and he could sense her anger, her unease. Someone's memories had been erased and there was another person involved, another dark wizard. Virgil cleared his throat, feeling guilty for his intrusion.

"Sorry, just remembered I have something to do for Yavin," he explained away the sudden halt. "I'll try to focus on Tawse and the full moon whilst I'm scrying. Um... he..." the wizard hesitated a moment before continuing. "Tawse is awful but I'm really glad you're on our side of the law, Blake."

He wasn't sure why he said that, though he meant it. Cinaed Tawse would die one day and all the people he hurt would die, too. And nobody would remember him fondly. Fauna, though... Virgil smiled a bit at her. Fauna was going to leave a lasting mark.

Even if she did have an unhealthy penchant for haunted castles and wolves.

Had she scared him off with her grim tale? Oh no, she had. Fauna glanced down, trying to hide a flash of disappointment. Some days, she could barely handle thinking about the menace that was Tawse and what he'd done. Just yesterday she'd bolted from Anton's questions. How could she expect Virgil to handle it?

Remember, not everyone was a trainee. Remember, he'd recently witnessed Abby's exorcism.

When she looked up, he smiled and it felt genuine. He said he was glad she was on the Ministry's side. She must have sounded very grim!

"Thanks," she rose to her feet with a faint blush, patting the scroll in her pocket to make sure it was there. "Uh, I should go face the music on Level Two, you know?"

She paused, wondering if he was alright behind his sunglasses. "Er, don't think about Tawse too much, if it's too much. Really. It was just good to talk for a bit."

She had amazing friends. He'd given her a song and a glimpse into her future, and had listened to her whinge about not having magic. At times she wished she could talk to someone, really talk to someone, about work and life and everything under the sun. Fauna hadn't quite found that yet, she didn't think. But that was ok. She had now, and friends and crushes, and the promise of 2012. She had the rest of her life to look forward to.

"If you ever want to go another round of owing favors, I'm here," she said half-teasingly. Level Two and Level Nine, working together! Former Hufflepuff (always Hufflepuff) and Slytherin, getting along!

"I can find a lost viola this time, or mumble background accompaniment during a song," she listed ridiculously, reaching for the door handle to exit the visitor's room.

As she touched the handle, it slid into the wooden door, hiding itself. Her mouth dropped open in offense and surprise. Seriously!

Fauna stood back, dropped her head and gestured at Virgil.

She took his arm for a moment as they left the visitor's room, then straightened in the more austere foyer of Level Nine.

"Anyway, I'm here," she nodded, a soft smile settling on her face. Here to scold him when she was embarrassed, here to help.

            "Er, don't think about Tawse too much, if it's too much. Really. It was just good to talk for a bit."

He shook his head, dismissing the concern. Virgil did not mean to disappoint her but he didn't trust himself in her head either: there were things only meant for aurors to know and he didn't want Fauna to betray those secrets. Knowing things did not mean knowing what to do about them wisely. One had to know one's limits.

"It's not too much." Virgil assured her as she took his arm to be led out to the foyer. "I really do have an errand to run for Yav. Don't worry, Blake, I bounce back like a dream."

And if he said it enough times, it sort of became true. And anyway, this trading of favours was proving to be interesting. Outside of the visitors room, in the flickering blue light of the torches, he walked the auror-in-training back to the lifts. "I'm here too," Virgil replied easily to her offer. "You'll hear from me. Probably."

Trouble came looking for him often - but only because, like Fauna, he went looking for it too.

"Send me an owl if you discover any spooky castles."