Late morning, in a conference room on Level Two.


Fauna looked at the evidence board, her spirits sinking. She’d felt grateful when Trevelyan, the lead on the Pilpher case, had asked her to manage the details, and even to show a few of the newer trainees what to do. Coming from him, she understood it as a compliment. Burglaries were not usually exciting, and Aurors loved to delegate the less exciting stuff, but this time, the theft was unusual. Someone had stolen information. And that information likely related to the pentral and dementor issues they’d been battling since August.

Break-ins and burglaries had plagued London more often in the past few months, and for reference, she and the trainees had listed the incidents on the far left side of the board. A glowing line separated the recent burglaries from the one they were investigating. As of right now, they’d found nothing to connect the Pilpher case to the cluster of typical thefts involving money, valuables, and antiques, and they had to assume they were unrelated.

They’d spent the weekend determining the missing documents, as much as they could piece together from Foy Pilpher's memory and notes. The Auror trainees had made progress in that area, and Fauna had jokingly commented that the thief had done well, drawing attention to the very thing he wanted to hide. Unfortunately, even private investigators had imperfect memories, and Pilpher could be forgetting a document or two. Pilpher had already admitted that she couldn’t remember everything she’d noted within those documents. The number of missing documents could also be masking the main motive. Was the thief only interested in the dementor treatments, for example, but had taken other files to obscure that?

Fauna wondered this, even hoped it, as her gaze strayed to the scarab logo pasted underneath ‘missing/stolen information’. Not only had the thief stolen information about the dementor cures and smuggling of unicorn blood, but invoices from the Sellaphix shop as well.

Her brow smoothed as she pushed her worries aside and turned to face the trainees.

“OK, let’s review what we have so far.”

She tried to sound calm and upbeat, though they’d been hashing it out in the conference room for hours already.

“On November 3rd, sometime between 1:00 and 2:00am, our offender broke into the office of Pilpher and Stride over in, uh, Barking, London. That’s a mostly muggle neighborhood. The offender broke the wards around the building, but left the illusion in place as a boarded up office of little interest to muggles. The traces of spellwork we found were strong. It was done quietly enough not to wake up the street.”

The door to the conference room opened and Auror Bailey popped his head in. “Did you discover who pilfered from Foy Pilpher yet?” He joked for the umpteenth time, grinning at the trainees.

Fauna crossed her arms. “No,” she said too quickly and too curtly, then winced as his mouth dropped in offense. “Sorry. Um, have you seen Trevelyan? We’re about ready to review all of this with him.”

“I can check his cube. He at least laughs at my jokes.” He glanced at the coffee pot that Fauna had taken into the conference room with her. Wandering in, he lifted it by the handle.

“It’s empty.”

“It’s empty,” Bailey let out a big sigh,  leaving it on the table and closing the door.

“So,” Fauna tried to remember her train of thought. “As Bailey reminded us, the thief pil - took documents from Foy Pilpher specifically.”

She pointed her wand at the bulleted list on the board.  “She’s missing documents on a possible unicorn blood smuggling ring,” Fauna gave a slight shake of her head. “She also knows he’s missing information about the dementor treatments at Saint Mungo’s, but she doesn’t remember if those documents identified patients.”

St. Mungo’s had not been happy when Level Two had notified them of a potential breach in sensitive, confidential patient data.

Fauna hesitated. “And then there’s the Sellaphix shop invoices, though Pilpher doesn’t remember what was on them.”

She moved to the Spellwork column on the board. “We found traces of revealing charms, and simple spells rearranging the paperwork. A few combustion spells, which caused damage. They also made noise, which a muggle heard on his way home from the pubs. He thinks it was around 2am, but he was a bit pissed at the time.”

Fauna pointed at the Witness column. “Another witness thought she saw someone in a hat, male, leaving the building at around 2:30 am. Neither witnesses thought to notify the police – muggle or magical. The private investigators didn’t know about the burglary until Pilpher came to work around 7:30 am the same day, November 3rd.”

She looked at the Person of Interest column (her choice of words), and kept her gaze on Figaro Sellaphix’s cheerful face. “We only have one person of interest so far. Sellaphix says he was at home, asleep. If he's involved, his motive is... unclear.”

There were a few possibilities written on the board. He may have stolen the documents to protect his family, or to gain information for the Daily Prophet, neither of which seemed at all likely to Fauna.

“Anything to add before we explain what we’ve found to Trevelyan?”

Fauna glanced at the trainees, worry flickering over her features even as she smiled in encouragement.[1]

1.	Feel free to expand on witness descriptions, coffee shop gossip, point out Fig as the main suspect, or anything else!

Briar was bored. Not because they were working a boring case, as far as burglaries were concerned this was actually rather interesting, but because they had been going 'round and 'round for hours and hadn't really got anywhere. They had unreliable witnesses, a PI that couldn't remember jack and a suspect that had little to no motive.

Briar had been leaned back in her chair, her feet up on the conference table. There was a small origami crane that she had folded within the first hour and was spinning like a top on her finger tip.

She glared at Bailey as he once again made his lame joke then yelled at his retreating figure, "you could at least fill it for us!"

She huffed and listened to Fauna's break down, which in all honesty, didn't put them much further than when they first started, "If Sellaphix did do it, he wasn't alone. Those wards on the office weren't exactly done by an amateur, and Fig's not exactly . . . " she trailed off. It wasn't the first time she had voiced the opinion. Having gone to Hogwarts with their 'Person of Interest' she had little confidence in his wand skills.

Raine wasn't the biggest fan of cases to do with theft - there wasn't a lot of hexing to be done and it didn't seem like anything too important had been stolen. But she also knew that this was one of the ways they would build up to actual dark wizard cases over the years. So she was intent on doing this the right way.

Give or take that horrid interview with Fig. As Fauna went over the case details again, she was relieved nobody mentioned the interview transcript.

            "...and Fig's not exactly . . . " Briar was putting forward the theory of an accomplice.

"Not exactly the quickest broom in a fleet." Raine finished with a brief smile in her friend's direction, before turning back to Fauna at the front. "I agree. He's the only lead we have so far and he doesn't have an alibi but I don't think Figaro did it by himself. We know him, he doesn't have the smarts."

Even, she thought, if he might have the intention. "When we spoke, he was extremely protective about his mum, though," she shrugged as she leaned back in the conference room chair and glanced into an empty paper cup that had once contained glorious coffee. "Maybe he thought Pilpher and co knew something about the apothecary that we didn't."

Zora Roh walked in, still laughing from some exchange she had with her Magical Law Patrol friend. Pratt had been a pratt and stuck the trainees with a burglary case as practice.

She tossed a file onto the table.[1] Zora had intercepted it from the patrol so she could snoop on the littles. She'd glanced at the report on this one - there was almost nothing good to go on, so might be a lesson in disappointment, but that was part of it. It'd be good experience on how to go through the book methodically and make decisions on what leads to follow and where to get them.

"MLP canvassed the area, as per your request. Witness statements from the neighborhood."

She stood back and crossed her arms, with a little grin. "How's it coming? Crack it yet?"

1.	Statements in the case file

At Roh's grin, Fauna smiled tightly, giving her a nod in thanks and opening the file on the table. Merlin! Were they a bloody joke out there? Fauna was just having a grand time talking about a friend like this. To the Aurors, this must seem a minor investigation, a fun little trainee project, but it felt like Fig's life hung in the balance.

"Briar and Raine are leaning towards Figaro Sellaphix," Fauna managed neutrally. 

As if they were leaning towards success or whatever motivational claptrap the Ministry had memo'd that day. Fig was leaning towards a holding cell.

Unable to even glance at Fig's goofy smile, Fauna gestured to the evidence board.

"Though we all agree that, uh," she glanced at the other two trainees. "This was not the burglar's first thievery, and as far as we know, this is out of Fig's skill set."

He was not dumb, and even if it shifted some of the blame away from Fig, it bothered her that they said as much. She wished she had been there for that interview on the fourth. She shouldn't have to play mediator! Raine should have controlled her temper! Still, Fauna felt guilty, because she should have never sent Raine to Fig's flat alone, not after the drama with the hex. She'd just never imagined Fig would have anything to do with it.

He didn't, he couldn't.

"Which means," she said distractedly, looking over the papers. Fauna heard the door open[1].

"If Fig was involved, maybe he was working with someone. Two burglars. Or he hired someone to snag the Sellaphix documents. But with what money?"

Fig's tiny flat and his job position didn't allow for...

"Aw, shite," Fauna glowered at the witness document. "Younger kid, loud, blonde," she pointed at the description from the coffee shop. "Young and 1.5 meters tall," she pointed just above it, and handed it to one of the trainees to inspect, her words failing her.

1.	Jonas is welcome to pop in, and overhear the gist of it!

"Got something?" the red-haired Auror asked, as he closed the door behind him and limped inside.

With the pentral investigation continuing, it had been a busy month.  When word had gone around about the break-in, Jonas had picked up the case mostly out of sympathy to Foy.  He understood all too well what it was like to try and juggle clients with the Ministry nosing about, particularly when there was sensitive information that one didn't necessarily want to end up in a case file somewhere.  The sense of helplessness that came from being a victim -- of being targeted when only a private individual, without the heft and weight of the Ministry behind you -- had also been seared into his sense of being.  It hadn't been that long ago that he'd been in his former housemate's shoes.

The investigation had also proven to be an excellent opportunity to let Blake run a case.  The young woman was nearing the end of her days as a trainee; by summer, she'd be ready to earn a full-fledged badge of her own.  Once she did so, she'd be a full Auror, expected to manage her own caseload alongside her assigned partner and take charge of trainees.  He'd floated the idea to Pratt of letting Blake take the lead on this one, and the Head Auror had agreed. 

Jonas gave a nod to Roh and pulled out a chair, flipping it around to take a seat.  Without a word, he looked from Blake to Cavanaugh and Almasy, a clear indication for them to continue down their current line of reasoning together.

She sat straighter in her seat when Roh interrupted with new information, though the older woman clearly didn't seem to be particularly attached to the case. Who was? Besides Fauna, who had good reason to be.... after all leading a case on her own was impressive and Raine had to admit she admired her colleague's way of trying to hold the conference room together.

            "Younger kid, loud, blonde. Young and 1.5 meters tall," the witch in question handed over the sheet.

Raine leaned over to take it, already scowling as she scanned the report. It wasn't looking good for Fig. Trevelyan slipped in just as she handed the document over for Briar to read. It was very possible that their old classmate was involved but this made everything feel more real.

"That sounds like it could be any young blonde man in London," she glanced from the senior auror to Fauna, shrugging. "But it could just as well be him. Isn't that enough to bring him into custody?" Raine avoided looking at Figaro's photo but added in a more professional tone: "For questioning, I mean."

Regardless of whether he was responsible, there was no way Fig could survive a proper interview without either breaking or giving away some info they could use. Not like anyone was going to miss him for 48 hours.

Blake was handling it. Zora was satisfied. She plunked her ever-present sunglasses down onto her nose (perhaps her one and only vanitatis culpa).

"I think this bloke's by the name of Mercutio Tiverton." Zora tapped on the statement from the Blackwood Cafe. "He's got a smuggling conviction. Picked him up in 2008."[1]

She couldn't resist. Blake would have certainly tracked him down, but who didn't love it when another Auror stuck their nose in your case? With that, Zora knocked on wood and made her leave.

Exit Zora

1.	8 May 2008 - Ministry Busts Runespoor Smugglers

Briar hadn't moved from her position when Roh came in and offered further information for their case. The move almost seemed like posturing. The was Blake's first case as lead and it seemed like all of Level Two was eager to see if she could hack it or not. Briar continued to spin the mini paper crane on her finger as the others spoke.

She didn't move until Trevelyan came in. She suddenly straightened, taking her boots off the table and placing down the crane. Her demeanor completely shifting from the arrival of the previous Auror. She took the file Raine had offered her finally taking an interest in what Roh had given them.

"Certainly isn't looking good for Fig even if it is a wrong place wrong time thing." Her ice blue eyes flitting up to Jonas as he took a seat, "bringing him in," she added to Raine, "may give us something, even if just to wipe him off the board."

She looked at the info for Tiverton, "now this guy could be worth looking into given his priors."

"Custody?" Fauna hedged, glancing worriedly at Raine. Fig in custody? Oh Merlin no.

"Thanks, Roh," Fauna took the new statement, battling both appreciation and exasperation. Too many Aurors in the conference room! Her stomach fluttered at going over this all with Trevelyan, easy to talk to as he was. Roh left, and Fauna studied the statement with interest, happy to have suspects - or persons of interest, besides Fig. She shared the parchment with Raine and Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh, to her dismay but not surprise, also felt they should bring Fig in.

"Or," she paused. "A few of us could head to Fig's flat, ask him some more questions, and verify what he's already told us, before bringing him in officially. See if he's consistent."

She looked hopeful, raising her eyebrows. Fauna glanced at Trevelyan. Surely that made sense?

"Tiverton hangs out near the cafe. I can track him down and find out if he has an alibi," Fauna said much more eagerly.