Navigating the cubicles in the auror office, Johann's eyes were keenly seeking out someone in particular.

Several of the crimson-robed aurors nodded to him, exchanged a few words about the final tournament task which had been announced at Hogwarts just the night before. The news was on the papers that morning. Despite working on level five, if he was honest, he hadn't the foggiest as to what the fourth task would be...

…well, he had about three, but since the Department was carefully keeping things safe by using misinformation amongst its own staff, he couldn't dare breathe about it. Besides, his curly mop of hair covered a brain full of far more potent secrets from all corners of the Ministry.

A deep purple feather quill was sticking out of the mop of black curls where he'd forgotten it less than twenty minutes ago, and another was poking out of his suit jacket pocket. His hands were carrying two mugs which were both steaming in his wake.

At the third 'oh, for me?' query from aurors looking for their caffeine fix on a Monday morning, Johann let out a polite but exasperated huff, and finally got to the cubicle he'd been waiting for, and grinned.

Plopping the mug down on the desk, leaning over Rowan's shoulder, managing to avoid her jumping if he took her by surprise, he stepped away and seized a nearby vacant chair, dragging it over to crowd her cubicle desk.

"Morning, got your favourite - oh did you already?" His expression changed from bright greeting to dismay at the possibility Tyren already had her preferred beverage. He'd made sure to learn it especially…!

"I erm," he lowered his voice and blew on the top of his cup of coffee, stealing a glance out into the passageway he'd arrived from, "wondered how things were with the werewolf investigation?"

Between him making a special effort to bring her a drink, rocking up at her desk first thing on the week, and the fact her colleague from level five was asking about a case that he had nothing to do with, all pointed to something weird. Johann was friendly enough to his auror colleagues, but he was known for jumping behind them and enlisting their help on the very odd occasion.

It was a hectic morning in the Ministry of Magic, with people running all over trying to take care of buisness, organize last minute preparations for the final task, etc. In the midst of all the noise, Rowan sat at her desk, scribbling notes down.

Her red curls were pinned up to keep them out of her face, though a couple of them had fallen loose and were now trying to  prevent her from getting any work down. For the most part, Rowan loved her hair, the way it looked, the color of it. But sometimes, like right now, it drove her nuts, and she half wished she could just chop it off. But of course she knew she'd never actuully do that.

She was so busy taking notes that it took her several moments before she even noticed someone was standing by her desk, and it took her even longer to actually look up to see who it was.

"Oh, hello Johann," she greeted him distractedly, taking several more notes before finally setting down her quill and looking up at him properly. She laughed at his horrified expression, shaking her head. "No, Johann, I'd quite forgotten about it, thank you," she told him, taking the mug of tea and sipping from it, sighing in relief. "Mmm, that's good. Thank you. Now, what do you want?" she asked, not bothering  to beat around the bush any longer. She knew that Johann was up to something, and she wanted to know what it was.

"… now what do you want?"

"To talk to you about werewolves," he clarified, now he had her full attention, "I know earlier this month the papers reported exposure[1] for the man found, but the problems have included immigrant werewolves using the safe houses[2], and others unregistered transforming elsewhere." He explained, knotting his fingers together.

"Look, I just wondered if you might be able to help me look into some possible patterns. What with having all the access to such files and investigations." He looked uncomfortable about asking.

"It's not that I have an unregistered friend, before you ask - Hannah and Colin and both registered." He batted away the thought that he was somehow harbouring a werewolf, and Tyren had knew of Healer Bombay for her involvement with Elder Knox Greyfriar and their trouble with the wizengamot, and had probably met Colin Downer from the Department of Mysteries who Johann had lived with for the past year.

"Injuries, after full moon, or occurring straight after. Either found like earlier this month, or reported to St Mungo's, or failed to report to a safe house. It's made a bit more difficult given the immigrants using registered names to gain access. One of the immigrants could have attended a safe house and the registered person might have gone unnoticed for their absence as a result." He weighed up the possibilities with one hand and then the other.

"November 2nd, last year, for instance.[3]"

1.	3 May 2010 - Daily Prophet
2.	12 Feb 2010 - Daily Prophet
3.	November 2nd - possibly not known by the aurors, but subsequent meets were almost rumbled

Rowan's eyes narrowed in worry but also in intrigue. She supposed word had gotten around to certain people that she was sympathetic to werewolves, and especially to unregistered werewolves. "Yes, I know all about the issues surrounding werewolves recently," she told him, almost dismissively. She wanted him to get to the point.

She leaned forward, fixing him with a firm gaze. "If you're going to ask this of me, do not shy away from it. Look me in the eye and ask it of me. You've no doubt gathered from certain people that I have particular feelings towards this issue. You ask this of me, you place the same trust in me as you clearly do in them."

Rowan waved away his reassurances. If he knew someone who was unregistered, the fewer who knew about it the better. She knew what having an unregistered friend could do to a person, her little sister Aoife had been out of her mind with worry. Rowan still wasn't convinced there wasn't something more than friendship going on between the two of them.

"I've a ton of paperwork to do, and yet nothing that matters to me as much as this. I can look into things for you, as long as you are willing to be open and honest with me. It's a small number of us here at the Ministry who care what happens to these people, and we need to stick together," Rowan told Johann, leaning back in her chair.

Although Rowan appeared to be quite suspect of Johann at first, she did pledge her involvement soon after he broadly explained his interest.

"I appreciate the help, Auror Tyren." Johann explained, "I should let you know this is not an official level five directive, but rather that I believe I can be of assistance here by coincidence."

He folded a piece of parchment and plucked the quill from his hair as if it were as natural as extracting the one from his jacket pocket, and noted down the second of November, and the subsequent full moon date.

"It may not be as simple as cross referencing who did not report in on those nights, because they may have been falsely registered in a safe house when it was another werewolf. They may have not reported their injuries or any unusual outcome because they thought they were transforming outside of the safe house and can't remember."

His quill nib paused over the parchment.
"Also, violent unexplained deaths in Muggles. Or occurrances of Muggles going missing on the night of the full moon, either not reappearing or their corpses."

He had as yet not fully explained why he was asking this of Tyren, but hoped she would trust him enough to look into what could be a needle in a haystack.

Edit:

But if there was an auror who could find that shiny sharp amongst the stack - it was Tyren. He hoped.


End