Sam had recieved a request by a co-worker to join him for some luch in the Sword and Chant. Now, this was extemely unusual- an unfortunate side effect of being an Auror longer than most of your co-workers had been alive was that you tended to intimidate- which had piqued his curiosity. Therefore, he was walking into the Sword & Chant, noticing it was pretty busy. good, if Cooper wants to talk about something we won't be overheard. Samn though idly.

Paranoia became him.

When one worked in a Department as closed knit as the Corps, among people who had gone through the exact same exhausting training as one’s self, it felt almost blasphemy to not trust one’s coworkers. Yet Cooper was close to be forced to do just that, as his suspicion about the missing evidence on Aidan Renwick. His one saving factor was the fact that he refused to speak a word about it, going as far as not even sharing his most private thoughts with the Dragon Lady. Oh, he’d mentioned it on passing that day in the Training Arena, and as far as he knew there was a large chance Tamis already suspected the same as he did. But for Cooper, this was far more personal: someone within the Ministry was helping to save the piece of sod that had murdered his wife. He was forced not only to grieve, but to constantly wonder if the perpetrator was one of his own –or if, perhaps, it was someone who did not work as an Auror but had access to the Headquarters nonetheless.

His footsteps echoed on the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley as he hurried towards The Sword And Chant for his lunch appointment. For a secret meeting he wished not to have overheard, it was quite possibly the best place: full of patrons all the time, and with food and beverage that wasn’t exactly considered topnotch, there would be little chance of being overheard. His red robes whistled as they were lifted by the soft breeze of the sunny day, but the werewolf didn’t much care as he turned into the small pub –and bumped right into Samuel Harcroft. Pulling short, he huffed, but decided not to comment on the man’s position.

“Sam, thanks for coming,” He said, though he kept his voice low as his eyes took a quick once over of the pub: full of people and the sound of clattering cutlery, his belief that it was the perfect place for this meeting proved correct. Cooper had decided that if there was one single person –apart from Tamis- he could trust, it was Harcroft: after what seemed to be a thousand years on the Force, Sam steadfast on his believes and surely impossible to buy out. Cooper had seen this evidenced a thousand times over, and he was about to put it to good use. He needed advice, honestly: if he were to go to Tamis, an official investigation might be opened –and, if the mole were one of their own, they’d possibly end up learning that he or she had been discovered, leaving room for improvisation and carefulness. But if he didn’t go to Tamis, there was a chance none of this would ever be discovered. Hopefully, Harcroft could help him make the right decision. “Care to join me at one of the tables?” Cooper asked, patting the older man on the shoulder and taking a step forwards.

Sam nodded when Cooper greeted him, noticing his fellow Auror was scanning the room. Cooer looked pretty paranoid to him, which was interetsing. Very few Aurors had what Sam regarded as a sufficient level of paranoia recently- it was only really the Aurors thta had fought in the Second War who truly did.

"Sure. I'm curious abotu why you want to have lunch with me. Most are too intimidated." Sam said, quietly, in case anybody was listening. Walking to a table close to a wall, Sam sat down, making sure to sit where he could see both the door and most of the cafe. He preferred not to have people sitting behind him, having seen far too many fellow Aurors attacked from behind. Picking up a menu, he scanned the room from behind it, seeing it looked like everything was clear.

Cooper might have laughed at Sam’s mention of most Aurors being intimidated by him –but he found himself frightened the elder man would take it as a sign of disrespect. Truth be told, he had always felt slightly intimidated by the bloke’s career and his illustrious past with the Corps, but such thoughts were worthless in a situation such as this one, and it was, as a matter of fact, Sam’s past and his straight demeanor that had chosen him for today’s lunch. Carrying around his suspicions on his own was a hard task, and beyond all pretense of finding out how to deal with the situation, the truth was he needed someone to unburden himself with. “You might have noticed this is the first time we’ve been alone together,” He muttered, though it was through clenched teeth and he couldn’t be certain Sam had even heard him.

Allowing the man to lead, Cooper followed him to a table by a wall, and sat opposite the other Auror. The position of their table allowed the two men to sit with their backs against concrete –a safety precaution he wasn’t prone to, but which he wasn’t surprised to see the man take- and for their eyes to gather in their surroundings constantly without having to keep twisting their heads to glance over their shoulders. Mimicking Sam, Cooper picked up his own menu and scanned it halfheartedly while his attention remained mainly on what was occurring around him. The pub seemed to be in its normal lunch time rush, and it didn’t appear that anyone’s attention was on them. But that didn’t leave anything for certain, as matters could always be misleading.

“So, of course there’s a reason I asked you here today,” He began to speak in a low voice, but was interrupted as a waitress approached to take their order. He made his best attempt of a smile at her. “I’ll have the Caesar Salad and a mineral water,” He requested, not in the mood for anything extravagant or magical. “Sam?”

Sam had, in fact, heard the reference to them being alone together. That made him suspicious. Why could Cooper not have seen him in the office? "I figured there had to be a reason. I'm also curious why you couldn't approach me in the office?" Sam said in a low voice. When the waitresss came, Sam simply said "Same here", not really being in the mood for anything else. Turning back to Cooper, he waited to hear what Cooper wanted to say.

Cooper’s eyes kept turning towards the surroundings, nervous as he watched for anyone who might be paying just a tad bit too much attention to the duo of Aurors chatting at a table by the wall. Licking across his bottom lip, he glanced towards Sam as the man ordered and then fell silent, obviously waiting for an explanation. With a sigh, Cooper leaned back into his chair, folded his arms over his chest, and gave the entire restaurant yet another once over before forcing himself to put his attention on Samuel.

“It couldn’t be in the office, because what we need to talk about is quite a delicate matter,” He commented, falling silent for an instant as a couple walked by their table. He then sat forwards, leaning a bit over the table, unable to keep still all of the sudden. “You see, Sam, I-I think we have a mole,” He whispered.

Whatever Sam had expected, that wasn't it. "You think we have a mole. Is this a general suspicion, or do you suspect somebody in specific? And on what basis do you suspect a mole?" Sam asked, keeping his voice down so no-one else could hear. This was a serious allegation- He could see why Cooper wanted to tell somebody, but why not Raynor?

There was a hint of shock on Sam’s face, enough to indicate that the man certainly hadn’t been expecting this particular twist to their lunch time meeting. But then the man was jumping straight back into matters, business mode on and it would have been impossible to guess that just a second ago he’d been entirely shocked. Cooper caught himself on the verge of a smirk at the way the man’s mind worked, but smiling wasn’t quite something he felt comfortable yet –and, even if he did, this wasn’t quite the type of situation one smiled about.

“I don’t have any leads as to who it is, yet,” His voice mimicked Sam’s in the sense that it remained rather low, and his green eyes kept daring around at the rest of the place’s patrons –but still, nothing quite seemed amiss. “Some sensitive information that would have put a very powerful man away has gone missing –and this same man appears to constantly be keeping on the top side of things,” He mentioned slowly. “Could be an Auror, or simply someone with access to our information, but something is utterly wrong.”

"Check the records, Cooper. You need permission to access the sensitive data, it's recorded who makes the requests. Find out the last person to access the information before it turned up missing. That will give you somewhere to start looking. Be aware though that nothing you've said definitely says there is a mole- we need more information." Sam said. For how important ther sensitive information could be, it wasn't actuyalyl kept track of that well- it wouldn't be the first time information had gone missing. AS for the man seeming one step ahead- that was all to common, depressingly enough. It was suspicious in combination though.

It was slightly annoying that Sam would tell him to check the records on who had last requested to see the files on Renwick –but it was even more annoying to realize that he hadn’t even thought of that possibility. He was certain it would lead nowhere; considering a mole wouldn’t be foolish enough to leave a trace, but it was still something that needed to be checked. Not, of course, that he was about to allow that to beat him down in this conversation. The Auror settled back for an instant as their meals arrived, shooting the waitress a quick, small smile before settling forwards once again to confer with Samuel –his own appetite somewhat diminished.

“A mole wouldn’t leave a trace,” He whispered, letting one of his fingers toy with his fork as he narrowed his eyes. “You know as well as I do that anyone from the Corps would be trained enough to get what they need without leaving a trail of pumpkin juice,” He pursed his lips. “I could report my suspicions to Raynor –but if she finds them sufficient a case would have to be opened, meaning word would begin to spread even if we tried for it not to.”

"Possibly, but it isn't nessecarily an Auror- if it was one of the admin staff, they would not know how to cover their tracks. It is worth checking into, since it might help us cut down the list of suspects." Sam said to Cooper. "Of course don't mention it to Raynor yet- as you've said, it'll tip the mole off. But we need to know who was the lats to access the information, if it's not the mole, there will be both a record of the information being checked out and it being checked back in- look to see if anybody checked out the information then didn't check it back in again. It's not conclusive- merlin knows I've had to admit to accidentally leaving a file in my desk in the past- but it's a clue. If the mole left no trace in the files, we need to move onto other sources on information" Sam said, hoping Cooper would understand. he didn't expect to catch the mole red-handed yet, but it could give some clue.

As Samuel spoke, Cooper found himself debating on sharing Dale’s words on the matter; but she’d given no possible hints at the mole’s identity, if she’d even been aware who it was and Coop had little doubt she didn’t. No, talking about Dale was useless –if anything, Harcroft might not even take her word for it: many of the older generation of Aurors weren’t quite content with using informants who were suited for Azkaban. Cooper had to agree, but at times he made exceptions –he simply wasn’t sure how Sam felt about the matter.

His food forgotten, Coop bit down on his bottom lip and nodded. The temptation to reveal his secret washed over him, but he kept quiet as he slowly nodded. “I’ll check out that information, and then get back in contact with you. Do you have any other ideas?”