Lennie flipped through the file in front of him and tried to decide if it would be enough to keep Rigel’s attention or not.  After the shitshow yesterday, he had to walk a knife’s edge today. Rigel had nearly killed him, kinda, but had shown some grit. Rigel’s instincts may be twitchy, but he seemed motivated to learn.  What case would be able to keep him interested and teach him some self-control?

“What do think about following up on this?” Lennie asked, handing the file over to Rigel

Rigel took the file, with a cascade of papers peering out of the manilla folder, opened it and sat down in the nearest desk chair which in all probability was Lennie’s. Popped his feet up on the desk, filing through the proceedings of the case. Surveying the language, how it was constructed and what gaps and details could be possibly left out due to the ineptitude of its writer.

Pictures only did the scene an injustice. Taken from one angle, leaving the rest to your imagination. Seemed like more of a sign or protocol and a chore that needed to be followed through rather than a tool used to capture all of the details that one might miss upon arriving at the scene.

“You’re the lead Lennie, train me to follow.” Rigel said as he flipped to the fourth page in the folder.

“Well that was easier than I thought.” Lennie said with a smirk. “Not much can be drawn from that file that hasn’t already been run down.  Blood from a stone young man, blood from a stone. Also the writing is shit, but you can’t blame me for that. If you turn to page 37 in the dossier you can see a photo with a small magical object on the counter in the background.  Here use this magnifying glass.  It’s the only thing I’ve able to think of that hasn’t been run down yet.  Not particularly glamourous, but auror and lawyer work is 90% crossing t’s and dotting i’s. So we’ll head down to Diagon and Knockturn and poke around to see if anyone recognizes it. Thoughts, suggestions?”

Rigel followed along. Turned to page 37 in the dossier, observed what he would of without instruction, Rigel hated that. He typically wanted to see if he could see it first without being given the answer.

He closed the folder with a crisp sound.

“I’m assuming you ruled out that the rock, sorry, stone, was a horcrux?” Rigel said standing up, signaling he was ready to follow.

“Certainly we did. Verified that cup on the buffet next to it wasn’t Helga Hufflepuff’s too.” Lennie said deadfaced.

Lennie lead the way to Diagon Alley and they spent the rest of the morning going into shops and fruitlessly asking owners and attendants if they recognized the strange stone in the background of the crime scene photo. He hadn’t really wanted to resort to Knockturn, but there was little choice with their leads in Diagon all played out.  So it was that Lennie ended up spending the afternoon giving Rigel a primer on how to properly sweet talk, bully, cajole, blackmail and trick people in seedier positions into giving up information to the aurors even when they didn’t want to.  So it also was that they came to the back entrance of Borgin and Burke’s as twilight was beginning to fade.

“So, pop quiz. Why would I bring you here instead of the front entrance?”

“It’s getting dark out.” Rigel said as they shuffled their way into Burke’s.

“Not a bad guess, but it’s actually more practical than that. Try again?” Lennie whispered

“The people who shop here don’t like aurors, so because you dress like Pee Wee Herman you have a big target on your back saying, ‘Hey I’m an auror!’ Am I close?” Rigel retorted in the same hushed tone as Lennie delivered his lecture.

“Close enough, although I’d call it more of a Johnny Cash look. And we have the added possibility of accidentally catching them doing something rather naughty.” Lennie whispered through a smirk

As they made their way through the back rooms, Lennie motioned to Rigel to stay slow and quiet. Getting closer to the front he realized that the normal hushed hubbub of milling customers was replaced by quiet voices discussing something hurriedly.  Lennie motioned to Rigel to stop and peeked through the curtain leading to the front.  The door was shut, and curtains drawn. He saw a scraggly, gaunt woman with dark hair talking in a barely a whisper and gesturing spasmodically.

Vesta Baddrick had been fully alive for not more than a week and she still looked it. Her lank blank hair fell over her face and she bared yellow teeth in a hiss.

"Of course it's real. What rat-wife would go through the trouble of faking one of these when it's far easier to sever a fresh one...! It's worth more than that and you know it. Or maybe you fancy losing one of - "

Burke was looking past her; she jerked her gaze over her shoulder to see the cut of a tall wizard in a wrinkled coat. She recognized him immediately as one of the MLE's rankest.

"Auror!" she wailed and flung her wand arm in a wild wide arc, like swinging a dead cat.

"Reducto!"

Burke barely had time to choke out a protest before he felt obliged to lower himself behind the counter.

Rigel heard reducto being casted, the tall lank of a mess got caught when he was the one telling Rigel to stay slow and quiet.

Lennie was in the process of running, Rigel positioned himself towards his right near a tall bookshelf. As he ran past, Rigel shoved the bookshelf over to provide for some cover.

“See, I told you, Pee Wee Herman.” Rigel waited to follow Lennie’s next move.

“Insults later!” Lennie admonished, “Get your arse moving, she knows I’m an auror and took a shot anyway.” He grabbed Rigel’s shoulder to spin him around when he heard sounds from the front room. He flung a hasty Bombarda at the table by the doorway and he roughly began to usher Rigel back toward the door.

From a strategic standpoint, Vesta had a lot to gain by the Ministry of Magic and the Azkaban guards continuing to believe she was dead and buried in a potter's field. Now would have been a great time to Apparate away. But, on the other hand, one less Auror in the land of the living was good for everyone. And what, was that a little boy? A baby Auror! Cut him down before he got too big!

Instead of retreating, Vesta advanced with little regard for her flesh as a table exploded in her path. The stolen wand in her hand seemed happy enough to obey her violent intentions and so her next spell blasted at full power.

"Intabeviscus" A flurry of red and violet sparks erupted from her wand towards the two interlopers.

Rigel took a glimpse back to see an awful apparition of a woman pushing through an exploding table stabbing the air with her wand, emitting a purple and red intertwined and powerful shot. He’s seen that before, Rigel knows the effects well. Now with Lennie here, there was no parameters set before this escapade, however legality was still in effect with his presence. Unfortunately, despite the target on his back from this unknown woman, he needed to be creative, a wizard confined to legal spells pursuing magical law. Ironic.

Protego Lennie shouted, fending off the streak of ugliness sent at them by the ugly pile bones. Expeliarmus he retorted, flinging it deftly back at the woman in riposte. He used his free hand to give Rigel an instructive shove.

Rigel was at a full sprint with his wand unsheathed, looking for a path for Lennie and him.

He rounded the corner behind a building and shouted “Aguamenti,” a jet of water spewed out of his wand on the iced cobbled path, “Glacius.” A white beam covered the water turning it into ice.

Rigel turned and resumed running.

Lennie rounded the corner and skidded on the ice, falling flat backward and losing his wind. His momentum took him skittering into the wall leaving him in a heap of lanky limbs. 

Another opportunity for Vesta Baddrick to choose self-preservation presented itself. Spellfire from the Auror sent her wand ricocheting off a cabinet and in the next breath both the Auror and his whelp disappeared out the back door. Burke was up from behind the counter shouting at her.

"Baddrick, blast it! Stop, you'll get us both killed!"

Vesta gave the merchant a withering sneer. Borgin and Burke played both sides, always had. Always just above board, never trying to kill Aurors. Pathetic! She stalked across the shop to collect the wand, snatched it up.

"Fine! We'll just take it outside," she said with coughing laugh. Can't have any loose ends. They'd seen her face. She went after them out the back door, the end of her wand glowing red.

Out in the dark alley she saw the two figured ahead. She stumbled on a patch of ice and fell hard onto a knee. From there, she cast a Fire-Whip Curse. A yards long jet of fire streamed from her wand and lashed in the air, flinging fire towards them. Any fool could use the Killing Curse. Vesta preferred a bit more craft in her witchcraft.

Rigel forgot that he was at his prime, extremely faster than his mentor. He casted his spells thinking that Lennie was a step ahead of him and off to his left. Adrenaline rushes gave the worst tunnel vision.

Rigel saw that his plan had worked on his ally. Lennie’s feet slid out from under him causing him to lose balance and his wand. He looked back, made eye contact with Lennie and gave a wink. He sprinted ahead, leaving his comrade behind.

At least my obituary won’t include getting a kid murdered on accident Lennie thought wryly as he saw the kid disappear around the corner. He had been harping on Rigel to make better decisions and staying to go toe to toe with this dark witch was probably not the wisest.

Back on her feet, Vesta strode towards the Auror on the ground. Out in the open, her general inability to walk in a straight line was easier to notice. And though her wand arm couldn't seem to hold still, point blank was easy aim even for the clattering wreck that was Vesta Baddrick.

"Not your day, Auror! Not your day! Pray if you've got'm, Auror. First you, then your kid," she scowled as she approached. "Not your day!"

Lennie scrabbled frantically towards his wand as the shambling specter approached. The stars were leaving the corners of his vision and his breath starting to come back to him, but he'd be [i[Avada'd[/i] well before he made it there.  Prayer.  Yes, maybe that would work.  He stopped scrambling, turned to the woman and looked here straight in the face.

"You're right, you've got me cold." He said, "Thank you for giving me a chance to make peace." 

He took a kneeling posture and sank back into the part of his memory that held his Jewish/Catholic muggle upbringing.  He bowed his head and closed his eyes to slits.  He was looking around frantically while he began, "Hail Mary, full of grace..."

Vesta stopped in her tracks, and even recoiled. What the hell was this! The sizable Auror was - what was that mumbling, what was this? Was he actually praying? Praying! She'd not been serious, she'd been about to melt his organs!

"Cut that out! Be quiet so I can dissolve you from the inside out! I said be quiet!" Her eyes were wild and every syllable shook her wand. This was that third opportunity to hold onto her freedom another day. Kill him and go, kill him and go, kill him and go! But the unstable Vesta Baddrick's attention had been snatched into a tangle at unexpected behavior from Auror boneshambles.

Rigel saw that the girl had no idea he was in the alley to their left. He looked for ice as he started up his sprint. What an odd creature.

Rigel slid legs first out of the alley, “Expeliarmus.”

Rigel’s momentum carried his right foot into Lennie’s right side. As soon as they made contact Rigel apperated.

He lay face up in a vineyard. The gridding above him holding up the grapes that were being grown for this years batch. This was the spot that he escaped to when he was a kid being chased, the first thing that popped into his head to apparate to.

“You good mate?” He said catching his breath, not even bothering to sit up to see if Lennie was accompanying him on the journey he took them on. Didn’t want to make it real if he left behind a man condemned to death.

"Well, I'm not dead. So that's a start." Lennie said, deadpan. "I have absolutely no clue where we are, but you seem to generally be alive as well. And you didn't get into an Avada contest with that crazy witch, so it seems you're learning something." Lennie cracked a bit of a smile

He stood up slowly, stretched and tested his joints.  He noticed a burn lashed down the back of his arm, but he was largely no worse for the wear.  It certainly could have ended much more poorly.

He dusted off some of the dirt clinging to his damp jacket, reached out and picked a grape and popped it in his mouth.  "Ugh, these are terrible!" He exclaimed spitting onto the grass between the rows of trellises. "I almost had her by the way, I was just about to hurl a big chunk of rubbish into her eyes and turn the tables." He said as he fixed a look of confident nonchalance on his face, then amended with a wink, "Thanks kid, good work."