After lunch time.


Virgil made his way through the DMLE after having registered with the welcome witch, helped along by the Unspeakables badge slung over his comfortable attire. His hands were full. He wasn't supposed to be in today but he had come to check on one of his independent experiments on nine - luckily. Fauna had sent a memo earlier in the day.

It amounted to "Don't trust the chocolates!"

The chocolates he received[1] on Valentine's, from an anonymous admirer. Abby had mentioned to Fauna, and now the young auror was telling him not to eat it. In all honestly, the chocolates had barely crossed his mind.

Life kept throwing up different things. There was the Sphere and general Mysteries insanity. His dating Cepheus, which was new and exciting. Waverly's memory problem.

Not to mention planning to tell his family, very casually, that he was seeing the son of the man who kidnapped him and his friends last year; the same man whose wife currently sat in their Labyrinth after trying to break Mortimer out. It was a lot. He added chocolates to that list.

"Fauna Blake! I got your note," Virgil approached Fauna's cubicle in the auror's bullpen, placing his burdens on her desk: a freshly baked loaf of bread wrapped in wax paper, a jar of honey, and the box of anonymous chocolates.

He had stopped at his flat during the lunch hour to fetch the evidence - and the other things as an afterthought. "I hope you like sourdough?"

1.	14th Feb - For the Diviner

Fauna had been meaning to pop over to Level Nine and talk to Virgil during her lunch break. She really had, after the urgent memo she'd sent him that morning.

She'd also meant to finish her lunch, but there it sat on her desk, half-finished. A sad sandwich she'd pieced together out of the leftovers from home.

She hunched over the slim file open on her desk, frowning a little. A few new photographs, all non-animated, were pinned on the cubicle wall in her line of sight, should she ever look up from the file before her.

One photo showed Fauna on a trail in the woods, surrounded by family. Her mum stood beside her, pink-cheeked and smiling, and next to her mum was a taller man with a slight goofy grin, clutching his i-phone and giving the camera a thumbs up, and next to the man was a sullen teenage boy standing a foot away. The photographer, of course, was Fauna's sister, who Fauna had taken a picture of in the next photo. She shared Fauna's wide eyes and surprised brows, but her hair was somewhere between honey blond and warm brown, and curled over her shoulders. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she held up an obnoxiously-decorated cookie, about to take a bite out of it.

The photo on Fauna's desk was much less pleasant. The werewolf gloves turned and turned, showing all angles like most evidence photos did. The stiches were even and cruel against the wild tufts of fur and curved claws. What sort of person would make these at all, let alone deliver them to such a young student?[1] Auror Childs had asked her to think about it after she'd pestered him so much, and so she was, but it turned her stomach.

At the sound of Virgil's cheerful voice, Fauna glanced up and closed the file. The disquieted look in her eye started to fade.

She smiled at Virgil in his cozy Slytherin-green sweater. He looked much more put together than she did at the end of a busy week. Her light pink blouse had collected wrinkles and the staleness of the air.

Sourdough? Fauna glanced at the wrapped loaf of bread, then at the other offering.

Oh right! Oh no. The chocolates. The heart-shaped box, bright red and generic, sat there on the edge of her desk, taking the place of the first package that had poisoned Talisha Crowe on Valentine's Day.[2]

"Hi!" Fauna said belatedly, leaning back in her chair to make more room for both of them.

"Um, thank you, Virgil," she gestured at the bread and honey. That was very sweet of him. Fauna pushed her sad sandwich further to the side.

"Yes. I, er..." Fauna faltered, her gaze falling on the chocolates box. By Friday, words tended to fail her more than usual.

She sighed, "Sorry. Have you opened it? May I?"

Fauna didn't touch it just yet, but looked at Virgil curiously, hoping to hear more about how it had come by his flat.

1.	O Mother Tell Your Children
2.	For the Darling

He spared her desk a glance, gaze lightly touching the photographs and inkpots and quills and sandwich remains as his eyes found their way back to Fauna's countenance. She had been deep inside a case file, a woman resurfacing and surprised to find that the world did not resemble the bottom of the ocean after all.

Virgil smiled to himself a little. He really liked Fauna.

            "Sorry. Have you opened it? May I?"

"I did and you may," he perched himself on a corner of the table, delicately pushing aside some empty scrolls. "They arrived in the morning, on Valentine's, but I rather forgot about them..." the blonde's mouth twitched into a more boyish smile. "They weren't from my Valentine."

The box had been sitting at the back of a kitchen cupboard all this while, untouched even by his flatmates. There were usually other, freshly baked things to snack on - and he never lingered on the whole secret admirer angle.

"I only opened them to look inside." Virgil added as he reached into his pocket to take out a milky popsicle. "The chocolates themselves are untouched," he bit into the icy treat. "Want a popsicle? It's honey rosemary."

The chocolates weren't from his Valentine. Though Fauna barely raised an eyebrow, she filed that tidbit in the back of her head to happily pry about later, when she could focus on his answer. Abby must already know! But Hufflepuffs were always the last.

Fauna smiled softly at his offer. How many treats did he carry in his pockets? He might be an Unspeakable, but he spoke of pleasant subjects as often as he could, and did his best not to carry any burdens from or to Level Nine. Whoever had sent him chocolates directly to his flat might have thought it the easier way to reach him.

"No, thank you, the bread looks delicious enough."

With that, Fauna stood and started tidying her desk, flicking her wand at the clutter. Files put away, sandwich disposed of, bread and honey safely tucked in a locked drawer (after checking to make sure Virgil didn't want any with the popsicle), old birthday cards put in her purse. Fauna stretched her arms and stared at the box of chocolates on the desk, letting out a little sigh. Please let it be benign. After the three-day weekend adventure with her girlfriend, Sasha's birthday, and staying up too late with Gris at the coffee shop, she was tired and ready for the end of the week.
 
"Alright," she looked at Virgil, amusement in her gaze despite the serious expression she adopted. "Stand back," she nodded at his perch on her desk.

"Be prepared to laugh at me - I hope - when I open this thing up and only find chocolates that, I don't know, have no honey in them. Or no rosemary. Or worse, are white chocolate."

She didn't particularly like white chocolate.

Fauna waved a shielding barrier around the chocolates box, holding in a chuckle at how this must look. She hadn't actually been here to see the first box arrive, or to see poor Talisha Crowe eat a bug. Virgil probably thought this was some kind of Valentine's prank cooked up by herself and Abby. She wouldn't blame him. She wished it were.

Transparent shielding charm erected, Fauna waved her wand to open the heart-shaped box. First she saw the owl-shaped chocolates. Then she saw the heart-shaped note attached to the inside of the lid.

She leaned in above the shield to read it, catching a whiff of chocolate. Her stomach grumbled, then turned queasily as she read the simple message.

For the Diviner.

Fauna stilled, her face falling.

The Diviner.

Fauna had seen the same looping cursive when she'd wormed her way into the evidence room to look at the box of chocolates that could have killed her. The Darling, her message had said.

It added up. Two red boxes, two heart-shaped notes, two sets of owl chocolates, two pithy messages.

Fauna drew back, quiet for a long moment.

She looked at Virgil, her gaze descending into the depths again. She was sorry, she felt like saying. She was honestly sorry that this horrible thing had clawed at anyone else, especially one of her friends. She'd much rather face the dangers of her job with the Aurors at her side and her friends and family having her back.

This wasn't just a danger of her job.

Just as she opened her mouth to explain, an Auror poked her head up over the cubicle wall across the aisle.

"Merlin's balls, Blake, not again!"

He raised an eyebrow, perfectly prepared to laugh at Fauna as he obeyed her instruction to step back. Why would anyone send dangerous chocolates to him - dangerous enough for level two's attention?

Virgil found himself vaguely involved in all manner of investigations or projects but that was an internal matter; he tried to help without bringing too much attention to himself. So he wasn't surprised when nothing leapt out at Fauna right away... but his brow tensed as she read the message in the box.

Why was she looking at him like that?

            "Merlin's balls, Blake, not again!"

Something cold dribbled down his fingers and he realised his popsicle was melting. "Not again?" he looked from the intruding auror to the familiar one, biting into the icy treat.

"Sounds ominous. Should I be worried?" Virgil stepped closer again, leaning in to look at the message. The Diviner. So whoever sent this knew he was a Seer. "That's odd. How many people even know I have visions?"

Outside the Ministry and his family, he was certain the circle was small. Either he knew the sender or they've been doing some investigating of their own.

Virgil had never looked more out of place on Level Two. Fauna glanced from his curious, mildly concerned face to the Auror in red staring at her across the aisle.

Absently, Fauna handed him a tissue from the tissue box on her desk. For the popsicle.

"Uh, one second," she told him. "I'm handling it," Fauna called out to the Auror.

The Auror nodded, still looking concerned, but remaining where she was.

Fauna glanced down at the chocolates box and waved one of her favorite spells at it - Aura Perciperium. Though Fauna would have to take the chocolates from him regardless, this would tell her just how much she had to ruin his day.

Patches of color lit her desk, transforming the drab office area of Level Two into a world that matched Virgil as he stood there in his bright sweater with his head of blond hair.

The photos on her cubicle wall barely glowed, but on her desk, the shielding ward around the box flared bright, and Fauna squinted, waiting a few seconds for her vision to adjust. Beneath the ward, the box turned a putrid yellow-green, radiating off the chocolates in waves.

Fauna frowned. She wasn't familiar with all the possibilities, but that didn't look good. She turned to face Virgil, and blinked several times at the violet haze haloing his hair and clothes. Fauna had expected a healthy, verdant green to match his sweater and his Slytherin house.

But the gentle violet color suited the Diviner. It was his aura after all.

Fauna let the spell drop quickly, giving him a faint, apologetic smile. Just as she hadn't liked it when Virgil had peeked into her head without asking several months ago, he might not like that she'd seen his aura, or thought she had. When using the spell in the field, she had simply followed true blue Auror Trevelyan, pale yellow Laz, and even Bagnold in steely gray without a second thought as to how anyone might feel about it. Here in the dull office setting, she felt a bit intrusive.

The problem on the desk was more so.

"I received something very similar on Valentine's Day. Same box, same type of note," Fauna said in a matter-of-fact, but gentle tone. "And it looks like the same ill intent."[1]

Fauna made a movement with her wand to flip the box shut. She kept her wand pointed at it as the ward held.

"I'll need to take this to testing. I can explain more once we get there," she looked at him, grateful that this was Virgil Carstairs in front of her. She trusted Virgil to be discreet.

1.	I forgot that Abby had actually told V a little about this

He wrapped the tissue around the base of his popsicle stick, though he was making quick progress by just biting through the sweet treat. Fauna was handling it and it felt like he had walked into a class demonstration. The Auror watched on in the way a Responsible Adult would - entirely unnecessary.

Blake examined the box of chocolates with an unspoken spell, though he could guess it was some detection or auror charm; the kind of thing they often used on nine. Whatever she was looking for, she found it.

Virgil raised his eyebrows as the witch frowned and looked up at him with an explanation. "I received something very similar on Valentine's Day. Same box, same type..."

Ill-intent. He felt himself stand straighter, shoulders tense. Someone had sent him poisoned chocolates? And they had sent Fauna chocolates too, so whatever this was it intersected at the same point his interactions with Fauna did. He wasn't used to the idea of being a target, not in this purposeful and deliberate way.

"How touching," he drawled with a heavy sigh. "We have a mutual admirer."

***


He finished the popsicle in a few quick bites and shrugged off his jacket as he followed Fauna out of the auror pen. Virgil had never been to the testing facility for two; he was curious, and lingered on this feeling instead of his anxiety.

"So, what was wrong with your chocolates?" he asked, folding his jacket over his arm.

Fauna levitated the warded chocolates box down the aisle and out of the bull pen. Even Auror Bailey, carrying a huge stack of files surely meant for her desk, veered the other way when he saw the gift she was carrying.

"They were poisoned," Fauna told Virgil after a moment's hesitation, keeping her voice low, and glancing at his face to see how he was taking it. It was never easy to realize that you were a target, though Virgil took bad news better than most people.

She didn't want to go into detail yet about the extra-crunchy surprises within the chocolates. If bugs were in the chocolates sent to Virgil, she'd find out soon enough, and the poison was disturbing on its own.

"The box arrived at my desk while I was running late on Valentine's Day. One of the lawyers helped herself and got an unpleasant shock. She's alright now, though," Fauna told him, grimacing. Virgil might have seen the inter-departmental warning from Level Two about not trusting anonymous food items, but maybe not. Now they knew it wasn't just a threat against her or Level Two. Someone had also targeted Virgil personally.

She'd have to ask if she could stop by his flat today or tomorrow, check the wards that Roh had put up since the burglary, look into that burglary again, see if anything remained from the owl or the sender a week later. Her mind was buzzing, thinking of his earlier question - who knew that he was a seer? Perhaps it was that specific, or maybe someone knew that he practiced divination, delved into mysteries on Nine, or had access to the dreaming pool - sorry, Virgil, she knew that wasn't its name, but the question held.

She let him take in the news and glanced at his face again as they passed the door labeled 'Evidence' where she and Virgil had recovered his violin a few months ago. A very short walk down, they reached the next door, its label ominously scorched, but everyone Fauna knew called it Testing, so Testing it was.

She opened the door and hovered the box inside, then gestured for Virgil to go next, taking a surreptitious glance around the corridor to avoid any scolding about 'letting friends have special privileges, Blake'.

The room was plain, but had a counter with a transparent, glassy box atop it. It had the ability to expand as much as it needed to up to the rectangular grooves in the ceiling and into the counter itself. A warded room within a room.

Fauna knocked on the wall panel of the adjacent Evidence room, and after a moment, an envelope flap opened in the wall to reveal Ethel's lined face. Ethel, from Evidence. Ethel who only went by Ethel - no last name, no ma'am, no Mrs or Miss, nothing more than two efficient syllables.
 
Ethel frowned at the chocolates and Fauna and Virgil, and closed the envelope flap. Fauna heard the chair rolling on the other side of the wall. A door opened behind the counter, and Ethel walked in, wearing what Fauna liked to call her white lab coat.

"Another one, Blake?"

"Not for me."

"Play us a sad song on your violin, will you?" Ethel said dryly, nodding at Virgil. Fauna wafted the chocolates box into the glass box, where her ward slowly dissolved. The glass box flashed with light from all angles, taking photos of the box as it was, and several more photos as the chocolates box dismantled itself.

Fauna returned Ethel's questioning look with a hopeful raise of her eyebrows. Now? Yes please. Ethel sighed and waved her wand, casting the first few detection spells. Strange lights reflected off of Ethel's warded spectacles and Fauna blinked, curious what she could see on that side of the counter. It looked much more advanced than the aura spell that she'd used minutes ago.

"Well I can tell you right now, there's something truly nasty in here, and it's not maple flavor. It looks like the same substance as yours, Blake, though it will take a day or two to get exact results."

Damn. She'd known it would be poison, but she'd wanted to be wrong.

"Anything at the bottom of the tray?" Fauna wondered, remembering the red rose left in hers.

The tray levitated out of the box. Out floated a dried sprig of tiny white and pink buds.[1]

She looked at Virgil, curious if he recognized it, the corner of her mouth twisting apologetically.

1.	a pressed Valerian flower

Poisoned.

He figured as much but he wanted to hear it from her. The chocolates were poisoned and his chocolates were probably definitely poisoned and somebody absolutely had their eye on them. Virgil looked tired - he was tired of hearing bad news after all - but his eyes were lively, active, thinking. He remained uncharacteristically silent even when they reached testing.

            "Play us a sad song on your violin, will you?"

Ethel's distinct voice, dry and amusing, nudged him. Virgil did a little theatrical bow to one of Level Two's many witches-who-got-shit-done. He smiled, breaking his serious deliberation so that he was his usual self again. Ethel's work was fascinating, and held his attention a bit longer.

It was only when he was shown the leaf that he realised he hadn't spoken at all.

"It's Valerian," the blonde's voice came out too soft so he cleared his throat. "Valerian. Popular ingredient in sleeping tea and even some liquors. The flower..." he eyed the buds for a second. "In flower language, Valerian symbolises strength and awareness. Preparedness."

If his 'secret admirer' was sending him a message to be prepared, he was going to take it to heart. "How worried ought I be?" Virgil turned to Fauna with a gentle furrow in his brow. "On a scale of one to ten. One being boggart-worried and ten being trapped-alone-in-haunted-castle-worried."

Virgil recognized the flower and just as importantly, its message. For some reason, that didn't surprise her. He delved into dreams, experiencing them, aware of potential meanings, but always leaving a thread unraveled. Flowers were of the moment, too. They lost their scent and potency with enough time.

She'd pick this apart for him. Virgil was taking the news in stride yet taking it seriously, and Fauna's eyebrows inched up at his mention of haunted castles. If only he - wait, he knew.[1]

"So, you haven't received anything like this before last week or since then. Neither have your flatmates, that we know of," she looked at him to confirm. The sender hadn't followed up yet, Fauna thought, to make sure the chocolates had reached their intended targets.

She glanced at the box that was still being dismantled, the dozen or so owl chocolates spinning in the air.

"But it is poison, and it was sent to your flat directly, by someone who knows you at least well enough to guess at your abilities. Whoever it is apparently knows of me as well, and got past Ministry defenses instead of targeting my house. I'm wondering why there's that difference. I mean, charming the box so it opens on my desk almost guarantees that I wouldn't have had a chance to taste one," Fauna added wryly. "So whoever it is, they're trying to hurt us indirectly, for now. They know poison, and flowers mean something to them."

Flowers. That stuck in her mind. Fauna paused for a moment, but Virgil was right there, and he was such a good listener, and she hadn't actually answered his question, just shared her thoughts.

"I would say a seven. Knock it down two points because you've got me, and we're in this together," Fauna smiled at how cheesy that sounded. "Er, and I'd like to check out your flat today or tomorrow, whenever is a good time, to set up some wards, ask lots of questions, the usual." Bring him a coffee or some type of baked treat to return the favor. She'd talk him through things to do to stay safe, red flags to look out for. In a strange way, it was easier to focus on a threat to someone else than to think about a threat to herself.

"No beetles in this batch," Ethel announced.

"No beetles!" Faun echoed a little too happily. "That knocks it down to a four. And to be honest, Virgil, Tia and I were chased around a haunted castle just last weekend and I can tell you even that was an eight."

Ethel snorted a laugh.

1.	A Haunted Ode

                 "So, you haven't received anything like this..."

He nodded once, quick and sure. Virgil was caught up in his own whirl of activity these days but he was certain he'd remember if either Ari or Nick were getting creepy gifts in the post. Fauna was reasoning out loud, putting her little grey cells to use, as if she could slowly piece together the identity of their dangerous admirer. Perhaps she could.

The blonde laughed out loud, shaking his head as she downgraded the level of dangerous he might be in.

"You can drop by to set wards, of course," he slipped his hands into his pockets, thinking as his gaze flicked between the two witches. "Also, um. If you put in the paperwork to have the Valerian analysed by Mysteries, I can do some scrying with it on nine."

Virgil said this in a quiet, hesitant manner. The last time he scried something for Fauna he had received a vision of Alec Carter's death - and, well, nobody had really listened to them, had they?

"It might amount to nothing," he rushed to say in a more sure voice. "But it's worth a shot, I suppose. Although I do wonder if the sender expects me to scry them..."

It was possible. "I'll take precautions," Virgil decided before smiling a little at Fauna. "Did you really get chased around a haunted castle?"

He was offering to scry? Again? Even Ethel blinked at him over her spectacles. Fauna supposed he could be offering more for himself and for her than he was for Level Two, but still.

"Uh, I will, if you're sure," Fauna cleared her throat, feeling awkward.

"Thank you," she added softly, a bit distracted by his last comment. Did the sender expect Virgil to scry again...?

Fauna nodded when he asked about the castle, amusement flickering over her face. She turned and thanked Ethel, who handed her a stack of forms to fill out, which Fauna decided she would do on Virgil's behalf, in addition to the request to send the flower to Level Nine. As she held the door open for Virgil and took another glance around the hallway, she considered that her next step, really, should be to send word to her boss about the second box of poisoned chocolates.

Fauna did not quicken her pace, not one bit. Thankfully, this time Virgil could avoid Pratt's office. She'd start with a memo, follow up with her boss later in the day, and find time to poke around Virgil's flat, officially or unofficially.

"I think you predicted the castle chase," she half-joked, raising her eyebrows at him. "No moors or moon, but there were bats circling in the daylight, and some spirit howling at us from a tower, and there was a lot of screaming, you know? From us," Fauna chuckled, able to find it a little funny now.

She started to tell Virgil a short version of the tale, starting with the wayward floo trip, but a thought kept niggling at the back of her mind. The last time that Virgil had kindly and responsibly offered Level Two his vision, Alec Carter had turned up dead. A horrible loss for Level Four. Mere days later, the Atrium's phone booth had descended with the remains of two werewolves trapped in a purple wave of wolfsbane.[1]

Fauna paused, glancing back at the testing room, her gaze thoughtful.

1.	Calling Card

He was glad she accepted - it hadn't been offered easily. Virgil knew he was on risky ground but he couldn't help himself; perhaps this time, if the scrying worked, someone wouldn't die. Perhaps this time people would listen. Oh, he really hoped he wasn't developing a saviour complex.

Fauna distracted him from that worry with her haunted castle tale. Leave it to Blake to make a harrowing experience like that sound entirely charming. "The moors and the moon were for atmosphere~" he intoned in a flowery voice as they idled down the corridor back towards more familiar parts of level two.

"Although now I'm wondering if I ought to scry with music..." Virgil trailed off, hands in pockets, expression thoughtful. "Never tried it. I'm glad you and Tia came out unscathed. Is it something you're investigating?"

He felt something then, like a premonition with the cadence of Deja Vu - goosebumps down his arms. As if he was going to be having this conversation again with Fauna Blake years from now, in this very corridor if not one similar. Is it something you're investigating? A little chill ran through him and Virgil thought of when he had passed through the veil and seen an older version of himself[1] in limbo.

"It's alright if you can't tell me," he added, shaking off the sensation with a shrug.

1.	22nd Dec '11 - Two Innocent Stars

Fauna nodded, but distractedly. Was she really investigating the haunted castle? No, she'd reported it and passed it off to someone else with more time. She and Tia were both alive and well, the island was largely abandoned, and the floo system was getting fixed, so if she had to go back there to check it out, she would, but she was in no hurry.

She knew that it was alright if she couldn't tell him, but she heard his reassurance and immediately jumped to what she'd been thinking about earlier, which didn't include the island or the spooky spirit. It all had to do with atmosphere. Spectacle.

"Virgil? What do we have in common?"

Her tone warmed the way it did when she thought she'd stumbled on something important.

"Besides a good deal of empathy and a savior complex," she blurted, then glanced at him in apology.

"I'm just wondering who might know about your vision from January. The year just started, but this isn't the first time that flowers have come to the Ministry through unconventional, unpleasant ways," she said more carefully, her brow furrowing.

Everyone had heard about the gory phone booth display, and Virgil's own boss had been there, being helpful and weirding Fauna out, and while Fauna didn't want to scare Virgil with her tendency to speculate, she did trust his insight.

She slipped her hands into her pockets, hoping he understood that it was alright if he couldn't tell her.

He had expected a quick answer and a goodbye - Fauna was working, and he was just slinking about in his comfy clothes like a cat who's treading ground where it ought not. Virgil stopped walking to look at her properly; there wasn't anyone else around, it felt like a fairly private part of the passage to be having this exchange.

Empathy, check. Saviour complex, check.

            "I'm just wondering who might know about your vision from January."

"Ah," he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, biting his lip. "I see what you mean. The phone booth thing though... that wasn't like this was it? It feels like two people writing different messages in the same ink. And one of them has no subtlety," the wizard snorted softly.

Now that Fauna put it to him, he felt like he was trying to sort out a tangle of threads he couldn't see. "Alright. One step at a time..." Virgil breathed in and unfolded his arms to hold up a hand.

"One. I did some scrying for you with a focus[1] on Cinaed Tawse. Two: I get a vision about Alec Carter's death. I didn't tell anyone about it except you and the Unspeakables," he counted off the beats with his fingers. "Three, Alec Carter died."

Virgil paused, frowning. "Then... then the phone booth. Which, again, isn't like Carter dying, because being mauled to death doesn't have any artistry to it. And now the flowers in poisoned chocolates."

This was giving him a headache. Did Fauna just do this over and over again every day? Merlin.

"Logically, you and I only have Carter's death in common," he sighed and dropped his hands. "And you weren't involved in the vision I had about Abby, were you? To all outward appearances we don't really know each other that well."

1.	2nd Jan - Why have you come here?