12 March 2020 at 9am
Crowe and Associates law offices at 19 Knockturn Alley 003B
London

Talisha Crowe had not forgotten about Rigel Acrux. She had not forgotten about the first and only response to her for hire advert that she'd put in the Daily Prophet a couple of weeks ago.  She had not forgotten Rigel Acrux's earnest but well-presented letter of inquiry nor that he'd included the name of Niobe Thursby in the post script. She appreciated Thursby. She appreciated her brother Pollux more. She appreciated the increase in her case load now that she was defending a vampire and she was thrilled to be able to afford to hire a bit of help again. Crowe and Associates had never actually been in the plural properly before and hiring a street waif wasn't a partner-made, but it did lend a smudge of corporation to her endeavors.

Help Wanted
Crowe & Associates now hiring for an assistant in matters clerical and sundry. Must have own wand and licensed to Apparate. No experience or N.E.W.T.s necessary. Opportunities for advancement available for the right candidate.

Crow & Associates specializes in criminal matters so moral flexibility is preferred.

She'd asked Rigel to come by at nine this Monday morning March the twelfth and to not be late.  She had court at ten and the Wizengamot did not like to be kept waiting unless they were the ones keeping her clients waiting in which case the delay of game was all above board.

12 March 2020 at 9:01 AM
Crowe and Associates law offices at 19 Knockturn Alley 003B
London

Rigel showed up wearing his pink suit accompanied by his rose gold watch.

Having walked down Knockturn Alley, he shivered from the atmosphere it provided. Hopefully the office with provide a nice respite. Rigel stood there and explored the symbols.

What an interesting symbol.

He tucked in his shirt again, for good measure. Checked his watch.

9:01
Oh. Bullocks.

Reached for the door handle, nervous, and opened it not knowing what to expect.

Wow, it’s small and cozy.

Upon seeing Talisha, he extended his hand, “I appreciate your patience. Rigel.”

He smiled, scared that she might make a deal out of the minute he lost them.

"Ah!"

Talisha stood up from the chair behind her desk and leaned way forward to shake the young wizards hand. A collection of talismans dangled and jangled from her neck as she did so, and her left eye took a wild swing around its socket. She clasped his hand with her right and regained her balance on the desk with the other.

"Rigel Acrux, he looks smart," she declared at him once she released his hand. She straightened up and nodded. "Yes, well-kept, right on time. Looks like a Rigel. Looks like an Acrux. Looks like a wizard. Not his fault though. I did ask for that, didn't I? Have a seat."

There was a chair on Rigel's side of the desk.

"I am Talisha Crowe," she introduced herself with a grand gesture. "Tell me, Rigel. Are you a criminal?"

Blushed at the compliments, he did not expect such a warm welcome. He noted such an interesting slight against wizards even when she clearly was one herself. What a lovely lawyer, this would be fun.

Rigel took the seat when it was offered to him. Crossed his left leg over his right and leaned on his right elbow with both hands clasped. Smiled and enjoyed her mannerisms. He could tell this office would not fall prey to a monotonous work day.

“Are you a criminal?”

Not anymore, no.

“No but, what is your definition of criminal?”

Talisha's chair wailed and creaked when she sat back and steepled her fingers at her chin, her lopsided smile like a Cheshire cat.

"Ah! Ah ah!" she laughed. "Cheeky devil you are. Bet you've got a file thicker than a fruitcake at school, haven't you. No, no, it's good. It's good. The world needs a bit of chaos. We're full up on pedants, but chaos makes things tidier. But no."

She leaned forward again and placed her finger on the desk.

"Criminals do crime. That's obvious enough. It's in the word."

Her finger advanced down the imaginary list.

"Two, avoid digressions into semantics unless you know exactly where you're at. And three: how do you feel about vampires?"

He smiled and shifted to his left.

Vampires?

Rigel lifted his brow in interest. How long has it been since he talked to Cass? That's really the only vampire he knew and talked to. He wondered how she was doing, he’d have to send her a letter to catch up.

“Seems like you’d be a good tutor for navigating semantics. I have no aversions to Vampires. I have a friend who’s a vampire, we were close.”

It was probably related to a case, he thought. Rigel gets upset when people are persecuted against, and the public opinion of vampires isn’t so well received. He hoped that he wouldn’t get too emotionally invested so right off the bat. So he pressed to prepare himself.

“Why do you ask?”

Talisha lifted her chin and peered at the young wizard. He wasn't nervous. No fidgeting, no over-explaining, his hair wasn't even changing colors. It was, though, equally possible that he was nervous but just very good at hiding it. Or in his short life his youthful psyche had reason to numb itself to all feeling. Or perhaps he was sky-high on gillyweed. She smirked to herself. Ah, youth. Now she was jealous. She wished she could be sky-high on gillyweed right now.

"In due time," Talisha replied sagely. She had more questions. "Are you not concerned that vampires possess hypnotic abilities and that some say its not truly possible for a human to be a truly willing participant in a vampire bite? Are you not, Mr. Acrux? And vampire registration, have you given that any thought? Seems reasonable, doesn't it? The Ministry of Magic protects vampires and provides them social services - seems like a list ought to be kept, do you agree?"

Talisha tilted her head, laced her fingers, and smiled nicely.

”In due time.”

That was nice to hear for Rigel. He sat there for a second, processing all of her questions, making sure he took note of them to answer them in order. This was important to him, Rigel broke eye contact to look at the ceiling, a thing he does when he is trying hard to sift through his thoughts.

Can humans willingly participate in having a vampire bite? Something like that. Am I concerned about vampiric hypnotic abilities affecting that?

“Of course I express concern for predatorial vampires, who use their abilities to harm others. Dichotomously, I also have concern for Wizards who wish to do harm.”

He wondered if he was being too verbose. This is a legal position, did they value that?

“Neither of them supersede the other. I do think that humans can participate willingly with vampire bites. Are wizards registered? Wizards possess the same ability to harm, I don’t think that just because one creature is different from another that they need to be registered.”

Rigel hoped his question didn’t come off snarky. Or too self righteous.

Ministry of magic protects vampires of course, because they are hunted.

“All of the Ministry of Magic’s participants benefit from their deeds. Whether it be indirect or not depends. I have benefited from their databases and information that is public to me, I do not need to be registered."

He took a pause. Thought for a second and said, "Are we defending a vampire?"

As Rigel Acrux worked his way through his answers, Talisha sat motionless and listening. The morning was maturing and more and more light filtered down into the little office from Knockturn Alley through hazy green-tinted glass. They were five minutes in and it was so-far-so-good for Mr Acrux. He'd done a very good job avoiding common interview pitfalls like urinating in the plant, promoting a musical act, or admitting to being a spy from a rival law firm.

Rigel finished his answers with a question of his own. Little ferret had connected dots! Talisha was as giddy to tell him as anyone. She stood up slowly from the chair, resting her fingers on the desk and gave a little shrug. She looked so damn proud of herself, like she'd nabbed the big one.

"We might be. We might be. I mean, I - " she put her hand to her chest and dipped at the knee for a beat, "I am. It's the 'we' that's the 'might'. You and I, we're not a 'we' yet. Only Seers can tell. But yes, and I think that's the point, Mr. Acrux. Representing a vampire on a murder case, I'd be stretched thin, very thin. I need an assistant."

She left the desk and crossed the room to a tea cart where an enchanted kettle had been keeping water hot.

"How old are you? Can you Apparate? Good with a wand? How are you at reading?"

That "might" rang through his head, he liked hearing that he could possibly be selected for this position. Rigel wondered how many other applicants have applied and also heard the same.

“I have my license, I think I’m pretty good with a wand. I can be a quick study too.” He said with confidence. 

Rigel started to gain resolve to read even the most boring things that would certainly be incorporated with this position. He wanted to go all in, try to change for the better and be knowledgeable in at least something.

Talisha seemed excited to talk about the case so he pressed.

“How’s the case looking? How could I help you, if I was selected of course.”

Rigel met the minimum qualifications which was more than could be said to the non-existent applicants queuing up to work for her scrappy little enterprise. Oh, she'd have liked more of a selection but really, time was of the essence and she couldn't just conjure someone out of thin air. It was far too expensive and she'd used up her last favor of the Hexwicks.  Talisha nodded along as she poured the piping hot water over a sachet of herbal tea.

"The status of the case must be a closely guarded professional secret," Talisha explained without admonishment. It was very polite of him to ask. "There are those who'd take any advantage to sabotage our defense so mum's the word."

She took some powder from a coffer marked only with cat skull symbol and sprinkled it into the teacup and then swizzle-stirred the tea until it was blended. She turned back to Rigel, the light coming from behind illuminating her lion-like hair like a mane afire. She held the cup in both hands and let the steam rise in front of her face.

"I am in need of a gopher. A dogsbody. A lackey. A bodyman. A familiar A left hand. A third eye," she rattled on, suddenly rapid. "Well. A fourth. Doesn't matter. You'll assist in miscellaneous and sundry. Errands, minor requests and quests, pulling documents, deliveries, quiet inquiring about, some shopping, bit of light reading, lying for me, managing owls, sharpening quills, all that sort."

She went on. "The pay is fair and the hours can be atrocious. But do know this, I will allow no harm to befall you no matter the danger."

Oh danger huh? “Interesting.” He said with an abject smile.

Talisha did a great job reeling Rigel in, making the offer seem alluring. To be quite honest Rigel was in it for the long haul, regardless of the excitement it may have brought but now, the excitement seemed promising. All tyed in with the fact that she seemed quite serious, but her words loaded in levity into the conversation but her action and body language presented a more tenacious approach. More resolve. She was a character that Rigel enjoyed observing and found himself listening more to her words and watching her mannerisms than blowing her off as another crazy adult. Rigel would call this respect, others would call this common courtesy.

“I would gladly do all of those things for you, except the lite reading, I would like to try and be as knowledgeable as you’d let me. A fourth eye with a different perspective if I could even offer that.”

Talisha sipped from the tea. As she did, her left eye rolled back in her head until her eye looked completely white. When she lowered the cup again, the eye seemed to sigh back into place.

"Good good," she muttered to herself. Then she returned to her her desk, set the tea down on a stack of files, and pulled a tight scroll from the drawer. She whipped it open and laid it out in front of Rigel; the scroll unfurled over the edge of the desk it was nearly five feet long. The text went in all directions, paragraphs wound around each other and writing when all up and down the edges. It was pocked with tick boxes, blank spaces for signatures, and a little space at the very bottom requested one drop of the applicant's blood. Next to it was a space for the employer's likewise offering.

 "There's just the matter of the application."

She held out a fluffy white self-inking quill.

"It's all standard. It describes the duties and parameters I've already explained and details the confidentiality and secrecy requirements. Your signature and mine activate a magical pact, nigh unbreakable. The penalty for breaching this contract is quite unpleasant, so do, Mr. Acrux, choose wisely. For once in your life, your fate is entirely in your own hand. Well, as much as it can ever me," she said than broke out in a peal of melodic laughter.

With that, Talisha took her seat again, took up this morning's Daily Prophet and teacup again leaving Rigel with the document.