To be honest, Vivian did not want to go to work this morning. She'd rather just stay home and act like she was sick or something, but there were things she needed to get done. Number one on her list was coffee. That was number one everyday though, something needed to wake her up and paperwork just didn't do it for her.

Second on her list was to prepare for a meeting with a Gringotts curse-breaker, Raziel Cohen. She would be helping Vivian on a new case involving some cursed jewelry that had been trafficked throughout London. They only had a few cases where it got nasty, most of them caught before they really hurt anyone. The necklaces that had been cursed were found to slowly grow smaller as the victim wore them, causing strangulation and general discomfort for the moment. No one had died thankfully, they had gotten the jewelry off in time after realizing what was going on.

Now, with the jewelry in hand, actually it was wasn't in hand, it was wrapped up and tucked in a case; Vivian was headed to one of the conference rooms to get ready for her meeting with Raziel. Vivian had told someone to be on the lookout for her and to direct her to where she could meet Vivian.

After reaching the room and setting down the case that held the bewitched jewels, Vivian sat down in one of the chairs with her coffee in hand and sat back, crossing her ankles in front of her and waiting for her guest to arrive.

Just by looking at her, there was no way to tell that Raizel Cohen was in any way intimidated by her current circumstances.  The Cursebreaker held her head high as she made her way through Level Two's corridors, returning any gazes with a pointedly challenging glint to her eye.  The British Ministry was far darker and colder than the government headquarters that she was used to back in Jerusalem, but the invitation today had been accompanied by a choice, not an order or expectation.  This wasn't a trap about to be sprung; the Auror waiting for her wasn't going to interrogate or arrest her.

Still, she fought to ignore the knot in her stomach as she followed the directions she'd been given and stopped outside the conference room.  Her jaw set, Raizel eyed the heavy oak door, and then turned the handle and shouldered it open.  Her eyes shifted back and forth across the room before settling nervously on the Auror.  Lifting her chin, she fixed the other woman with a fierce look, as if she could intimidate her through the sheer force of her gaze, and then started forward.

"Auror Callen?"  The words came out sharp and crisp through her accent, each consonant hard with harsh enunciation.  Raizel stopped short, hovering as if she were going to take another step forward, her stance somewhere between uncertain and aggressive.

"I do not have very long," she said shortly, her posture stiff.  "It is best if we get started with your business."

With the first few words out of Raizel's mouth, Callen could tell that the other woman was trying to intimidate her. And kudos to her for trying, because she met Raizel's glare with one of her own. She leaned forward to stand up and show Raizel what she had for her. "Well in that case I'll make this quick," she said in reference to Raizel being short on time.

She used her wand to unlock the box in front of her, the magical locks popping open one by one and the top lifting up. "In here, I have three necklaces laced with dark magic and a curse I'm unfamiliar with. All three pieces have been worn by different witches who have claimed that the jewelry slowly decreased in size as they wore it, causing strangulation. Thankfully, they were all able to get it off in time and no one has been severely injured by it."

Callen turned the case to show Raizel the three necklaces within. Each of the same intricate beaded design, but three different shades of grey and black. The gemstone at the center of each seemed to swirl, as if someone has stirred a gas within it and it never stopped spinning. It was ominous and Callen had a feeling that the stone was where the curse had been contained. "Have you ever heard of such a thing as this before?" Callen asked.

The Cursebreaker bristled, shooting the other woman a sharp look.  She was too used to how these people worked -- mild, unassuming questions that later turned out the foundation that had been laid for some pending interrogation.  But this was not about interrogating her; it had been an inquiry, not an accusation.  Raizel forced out a breath, trying to release some of the tightness in her lungs, and stepped forward to see.

"I do not curse jewelry," she said stiffly, peering into the box.  "But curses..."  She rolled her shoulder in a shrug, her eyes focused on the swirling, churning colors at the center of the gem.  Something to catch the eye of a witch, for certain; nothing about it looked Muggle.  She glanced at the second necklace, and then the third.  Except for the differences in color, they could have been twins of each other.

"Curses go in and out of style," she said shortly.  "I have heard of strangulation hexes before.  Different ones have been popular at different times, and in different places.  But some are more..."  She paused, pressing her tongue to the back of her teeth as she searched for the word.  "Subtle than others."

Which meant discovering the basics of this current curse.  Knowing what sort of spell it was would tell them something about how it had been cast, and what type of knowledge was needed -- which, she assumed, would help the Aurors in finding the mage who had done it.  Raizel set her leather bag on the ground and carefully extricated her wand. 

"What magic have you tried on them?" she asked, eyes flickering warily to the Auror.  "Anything yet?"

Vivian watched as the curse breaker examined the jewelry, noticing how the other witch saw how similar the necklaces were. If these necklaces looked like twins, maybe they'd be able to identify others before it caused harm. Maybe sending out a notice of some sort to warn people of the dark qualities the necklaces seemed to exhibit.

Callen watched as Raizel pulled out her wand, and her hand immediately went to reach for her own, but she dropped her hand to her side. She wasn't trained for this sort of thing, and she wanted to watch how Raizel would do this. Yes, she did have great marks in school, but uncovering dark magic wasn't her forte. It was partially due to the fact that most of her cases were protection details and making arrests, she didn't work much with the darker end of the magical spectrum.

"I haven't tried much so far, I just had a bad feeling about them and I didn't want to destroy anything without finding out information useful to the case." The Auror said, glancing down at the necklaces. Just being near them gave Vivian a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Declaro Incantatum was used, but the reports showed that it didn't reveal anything. We might want to try it again because it's possible that it wasn't performed correctly."

She picked up the file she had put on the table beside her, in it were notes from one of the Aurors's that had processed one of the crime scenes and performed the enchantment revealing charm. "I know I should have tried more, but my gut's telling me this is something best left to someone who know's what she's doing." The file was discarded back onto the table after she flipped through her notes and pulled out what she was looking for.

"Oh wait, an evidence gathering spell was  used where the first incident occurred. It says here 'magic recovered dark in color. Ominous swirling pattern, blacks and grays. Traces of pink.' It's later stated that the pink was from a love potion being made though, nothing to do with the case." Vivian said, reading from the paper in hand.

She looked back up at Raizel, "Does that help at all?"

Raizel didn't relax, not entirely, but at the Auror's words -- "This is something best left to someone who knows what she's doing" -- some of the edge seemed to vanish from her posture.  She gave a short, brisk nod, not as sharp as before, and returned her gaze to the necklaces, studying them intently.

"Maybe," she murmured, as she raised her wand.  Positioning it carefully, she said softly, "Goleya."

The world flooded into bright technicolor around her -- deep in the Ministry, the intensity of the spells was almost blinding.  Raizel ignored them all, tried to focus on any glow emanating from the jewelry.  Black and gray swirling indeed, with just a trace of pink.

Twitching her wand, she cut off the spell.  Just as the Auror had said.  Bending over, she opened her bag and removed a pair of thick dragonhide gloves.

"The enchantment is on the jewels, I think," she said matter-of-factly, pulling on first one leather glove, and then the other.  "It seems potent.  It would need something to anchor it -- maybe a rune."  Reaching out, she picked up the first necklace, keeping the chain from touching the bare skin of her arms as she turned the pendant over in her gloved hands, carefully examining both metal and stone for any sign or marking.  "Did you notice any other effects on the mages who wore them?  Just the strangling?"

The Auror watched intently as Raizel picked up one of the necklaces to examine it. It was fascinating that certain types of material could protect you from the harmful curses and hexes placed on an object. She came back into focus to answer her question, "Aside from the strangulation? Not much, it seemed as if they were too calm to be victims though. They were in a daze when we talked to them; slurred speech and a foggy look to the eyes. Nothing major, and there wasn't any sign of it being related to alcohol."

Vivian pointed out a mark on the back of the pendant, "What about that?" She said before pulling her hand away. There was a small shape that resembled a triangle, with one side shaded in more than the rest. It looked almost...

"It looks like the Greek symbol for Delta." Callen wrote down the finding in on the paper she had, adding it near the description of the swirling inside the pendant.

She turned to the curse breaker, "Do you think it could be possible that the symbol relates to the dark magic placed on the object?"

"Hmm." Raizel tilted the pendant back and forth to catch the light, examining the marking.  She ran a gloved finger over the ridges, her expression intent.  It was clearly a triangle, and with the heavy line on one side, it did look like the Greek capital delta.

"Maybe," she said at last, glancing up at the Auror.  Her voice was doubtful, but there was none of the challenge in her tone that had been there moments before.  "Delta usually means change when it is used in spells.  It would not work very well to lock down a curse, I think."

With a frown, she set the first necklace down and picked up the second, turning it over in her hands.  Now that she knew what she was looking for, the triangle was easy to see.  The delta-like symbol was present on the third piece of jewelry as well.  Perhaps it was simply part of the design -- but with magic and especially Runic magic, Raizel knew, few things were accidental.

"It is what makes the stone keep changing, maybe?  But there could be magic in that," she said thoughtfully.  Flipping the necklace over, she regarded the stone again, her expression somewhere between curiosity and suspicion.  "If they are acting dazed, maybe there is another spell affecting them.  One that will make it harder to notice the necklace as it works?"

The thought of some weapon, obviously intended to be used against women, and set up to lower their defenses enough that they might not even notice -- Raizel looked up, her gaze hard and her jaw set.  "That would explain the different colors in its aura, too -- black and gray and pink," she said grimly.  "But I do not like it.  The people who had the necklaces -- were they all witches?"

Change. The sign for Delta meant change? Well what would it be doing on a cursed object, Callen thought. She watched as the cursebreaker turned the necklaces over and sure enough, the symbol was on each of the pieces. Maybe it was just something that marked which wizard or witch was creating the necklaces.

"Maybe the Delta sign is just a cover up to lead someone away from the real magic in it." The Auror said in response to the thought of multiple spells being placed on the jewelry. "Or it could be that it's where a charm is placed to just distract them while the dark magic works its magic." Callen shook her head, the words coming out twisted and not how she had meant them.

She watched as Raizel got a hardened look in her eye, her jaw shifting to what some would think would be in a protective or tougher look. "The people wearing them..." Callen shifted her gaze down to the notes in front of her. Here was the victim list-- And Raizel was right. "All of them were witches."

Something stirred in the Auror. Who would be creating dark objects and only targeting women. The thought made her shudder and make her think twice about the necklaces she had at home. "Do you think... You think it's intentional that they would be targeting women? And could the spell be set up so that not only were they dazed and being strangled, but women are attracted to the magic in the necklaces? Maybe a faint compulsion spell to lure the buyer?"

Raizel snorted.  "Did they target women?" she repeated.  "Was it intentional?  How would I know?  I am not an Auror.  But," she added grimly, her attention still fixed on the necklace held in her heavy gloves, "if I were, I would be asking those questions."

With a frown, she set the necklace down on the table, and once more reached into her leather bag.  Her arm went in much deeper than it should have, as she obviously searched around, seeking something by feel.  A moment later, her hand closed around something, and she removed a small, folded piece of leather.

"It will help once we know what charms are on the necklaces," she said matter-of-factly, unrolling the leather pouch on the table.  Inside it were a series of slender silver instruments, looking a bit like a lock pick's tools.  Raizel examined them for a moment, and then selected one, sliding it out of its pocket.

"Where did the witches purchase them?  Did they come from the same store, or stores that were nearby?  Do the shopkeepers remember where they came from?"  The questions were rhetorical, but she fired them off anyhow as she picked the necklace up again.  With practiced confidence, she began to press the tool along the edge of the jewel's setting, as if trying to lever or pry it off.  "There are plenty of bad, bad people in the world.  Whoever did this, I do not think it was an accident," she added darkly, applying more pressure to the jewel.  "Why else would there be so many all at once?"

"Sorry, I think out loud sometimes. Okay, a lot of times." Vivian said in response to Raizel's comment about her not being an Auror. She continued to watch the process of trying to determine the charms on the necklaces. Raizel continued try and almost pry the jewel off with no luck.

The swirling colors in the middle of the jewel seemed to coagulate near where ever Raizel pressed, as if it was trying to escape. "It's like the magic wants to get out," Vivian mumbled to herself as she observed the dark black gas-like magic.

Vivian had a bad feeling that there were more of there cursed necklaces out on the market, be it fair trade or underground marketing, somebody was still selling these things and waiting to wreak havoc. "Are you trying to break the jewel off?" The Auror asked curiously, she honestly just wanted to know how this whole figuring-out-the-curse-thing worked.

Raizel grunted.  "Yes," she said, just as the tool finally hooked on something and she got the proper leverage.  With a pop, the jewel went flying out.

She fumbled it for a moment as she tried to catch it, finally stilling it between her gloved hands.  Frowning, the Cursebreaker set the backing down on the table, turning the jewel over so that she could examine it.  The back was a dark, dark gray, and impressed into it was a minute row of intricately carved symbols.

"Here," she said, nodding to the Auror.  "You see?"  She frowned, squinting at the carvings.  "Not Futhark and not Ogham.  I think it uses the Orkhon alphabet -- that's from Central Asia."  That was intensely more interesting, she thought with a minute sense of satisfaction as she examined the chain of runic letters carefully.  Very few witches or wizards from Britain would use Orkhon runes to cast a spell; even the classes at Hogwarts focused mostly on Scandinavian runes, with a rare smattering of Egyptian hieroglyphs.  Venturing into a much more exotic alphabet from a distant part of the world suggested either a foreigner or a Runic scholar.

She huffed out a sigh, and then looked back to Callen.  "I can look into what the spell does, but it will take a little bit of time," she said matter-of-factly.  "Do you want me to try and find out?"

The Auror jumped slightly as the jewel popped out. "I didn't know you could do that," she said, examining the hollow space the jewel had left behind. It was hard to catch for the Cursebreaker, fumbling it around in her hands until it was finally still. She saw the symbols as Raizel pointed them out to her.

"Orkhon? I've never heard of that," Vivian said. She had taken runes for a while, but never been very interested in it.

"It'd be great if you could find out anything else about the spell, thank you very much for helping out so far, it's been great to have someone actually qualified to check these out." She said, nodding in agreement. "If you figure anything out, you know how to reach me?"

The Cursebreaker gave an easy shrug, setting the stone down with the incised back facing upwards as she reached into her bag again.  It was clear from her body language that the Auror's lack of knowledge was not surprising.  Runic scripts taught at European schools tended to be very European; there was a focus on Nordic writing, and possibly Ogham or hieroglyphic, but little else.  She did not have so many experiences with Asian, African, or South American alphabets, but when it came to the regions where she'd traveled, she considered herself to be well-versed.

"Yes.  By owl," she said matter-of-factly.  Contacting Aurors was easy; they all had the same address.  She had no intent of getting her friends in the office involved in this.  As far as she was concerned, it was her business now.

She removed a piece of what looked like thick, translucent amber, yellow-green in color and about the size of her hand.  Carefully, she placed it over the cursed stone.  Raising her wand, she made a series of quick, sharp gestures over it.  Within seconds, the amber had melted over the stone, rushing in to fill the crevices formed by the inscribed symbols.

"This will hold the inscription without retaining any magic in the writing," she informed Callen crisply.  She tapped the amber once with her wand, and it broke free; picking it up again, she examined the back to make sure it had copied the inscription successfully, and then returned it to her bag.  She hesitated, and then flashed the Auror a quick, gracious smile as she began to remove her gloves.  "I will see what I can find out.  If you find any more, let me know -- and make sure that no one touches them," she finished sharply, her expression grave.

Vivian watched as Raizel broke off the amber and saw that the inscription was perfectly transcribed into the hardened amber. She relaxed, obviously impressed by the things she had seen today. As soon as Raizel made sure the amber was okay, and after putting it away, Vivian reached over to lock up the case with the jewelry.

She locked the case shut and with a precisely worded spell, made sure no one else would be able to open it without her. "No one will be able to get to these, not a soul." Vivian replied, sharing the same grave expression that was mirrored on Raizel's face. She didn't even want to imagine the danger and harm the necklaces could cause if someone got a hold of them.

And just the thought that there were more on the market...

"Thank you very much for your help. I'll be sure to contact you if I learn anything else." The Auror said professionally, returning the ghost of a smile. Maybe they would be able to figure this out with only a few bumps in the road, who knows? Maybe this would be an easy case...

...but then again, maybe not.