There was any amount of things that could have happened in his absence, but the assassination of his replacement had not been one of the things he had considered a possibility.  Alex mused for a moment if it would have been his name on the Headline if he had not done what Marcus asked.  Then again, if he had just been able to perform his task without any hiccups he would have returned to the Ministry before anyone began to ask questions, and before Marcus had resorted to filling his seat when it became obvious that Alex would not be returning as quickly as they had both hoped.

However, there are some risk that can not be avoided.  Alex would have ended up going one way or another, but how things had escalated in his absence had not been expected.  But he had effectively elliminated another threat that would have been a problem had it been left unchecked.  After much discussion they decided that in the end, Alex was the expendable one in his department.  Plus  they both knew that Alex wouldn't be out of the picture forever, regardless of the outcome.

Alexander Belisario rubbed his newly shaven face as he walked the entrance of the Ministry.  A few odd looks were given his direction, people that probably recoignized him but probably not enough to actually say anything to him.  He was still technically a worker of the Ministry, though he was listed away on personal buisness, that was far from true.  He had been gone on Ministry buisness which in the long run would prevent anything even bigger developing at their back door.  He striaghtened his shirt as he stepped onto the elevator.

"Mr. Belisario, sir?" the young man attending to the elevator looked very surprised. 

"Floor one, if you would.  I have a meeting with our Minister.  I don't want to keep him waiting too long.  I've already kept him waiting for too many months already," Alex said giving a comforting smile as the young man complied. 

A moment later the door opened and with a curt nod, Alex stepped off.  The elevator shut and was off once more leaving Alex to stand in front of the door that led to Marcus' office.  So much had changed now that he had a moment to think about it.  The departments were all dealing with relatively new problems.  But as Alex entered the next room all he cared for was a bottle of scotch.

Outfit

The elevator opened and Claudia looked up from the file she had been going over.  Marcus didn’t have any scheduled appointments, but she knew better then to not expect the unexpected.  However seeing the man who stepped off of the elevator nearly caused her to drop the file she had been holding.   She thought perhaps she was seeing things, but then again if Ciarra was back in London it was only natural her father would soon follow.

“Well, Alex….it’s certainly been a while,” she said with a smile.

It had been no secret to really anyone other then perhaps the usually oblivious man in front of her that she had tried nearly every trick a woman had in her arsenal to get his attention.  There had been several times that his apparent lack of observation where she was concerned had almost earned him a hex or two thrown at his back.  She could usually have any man she wanted, and the one she couldn’t seem to figure out had nearly driven her to distraction on more then one occasion.

But, in the months that had followed Alex’s departure from the Ministry things had changed.  The game had nearly cost her entirely too much and she found herself convinced the thrill of the chase wasn’t really worth it.  Some things of course would never change, like her usual stream of flirtatious remarks and the clothes that showed off her natural curves.  She was done with the toying with men…it never really got her anywhere aside from being involved in that horrid incident in Diagon Alley.

“I…I saw Ciarra a few weeks ago,” she said, not going into too much detail.  “She and her new boss were quite helpful…you should be proud of her.”

Without Ciarra and Vane she would have certainly ended up another statistic.  Perhaps she might have managed to get her wand back, but when she thought about it she considered it unlikely especially given the fact that her attacker had fiver friends waiting to assist him.

“Marcus should be free,” she told him.  “I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see you.”

Alex found him amused standing looking at Claudia.  How many times had he come up here and walked into his old partners office?  Then there was equally amount of time that Claudia would stop him if he were in a meeting.  Which had only been a handfull of times.  Something about Claudia seemed different though, and it almost made him want to prod for information.  But there was always that thing about girls not liking you looking around in their head, that he did his very best to respect.  He was on good behavior today.

“I…I saw Ciarra a few weeks ago.  She and her new boss were quite helpful…you should be proud of her.”

Alex had heard about that.  Claudia had been the unfortunate one to find one of the dangerous werewolves.  Or as Vane would describe, "worthless trash not worth saving."  He was in complete agreement with that, especially since Vane knew first hand that it was a choice.  Still, Alex wasn't really enjoying the new Claudia.  Perhaps that experience had an adverse effect? 

"I'm quite proud, in fact," Alex smiled, though searching for a sort of segway.  But before he could say anything Claudia had already spoken again.

“Marcus should be free.  I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see you.”

He laughed, "That, I'm not so sure of."  Way too much had happened, and things were...complicated.  Politically it would be a disaster if Alex started to show he was around after his replacement had been murdered.  A lot of people believed that Alex had a hold of a couple key prophecies and it would just serve as a means to make the Ministry look even weaker.  No, the next few months would have to be careful...decisive.

As he went to walk into Marcus' office he looked back at Claudia and a moment of...inspiration hit him, "Say Claudia, It's been months since I've been in London.  Perhaps you could help bring me up to speed...say over dinner and a drink?"  Alex wasn't one to let things stay as they were, and maybe it would help Claudia feel safe to go out...If that was even the issue.  Either way it would be interesting to find out.

She refrained from commenting that Marcus might not be so glad to see his old partner waltzing into his office.  It occurred to her that he hadn't seemed particularly surprised when she mentioned Ciarra's help.  It wasn't surprising he knew what happened, but yet she still felt somehow that the less people knew the better.  She had survived with just a few bruises and scratches...it could have been so much worse.

As he passed her she went back to her file.  It felt quite odd in someways to allow him to do so without making any sort of pass at him, but she let the moment slip by.  In truth she was a bit shocked to see him, and it seemed that inhibited her ability to come up with any sort of convincing way to flirt.  There was also the fact that it had never led anywhere in the past...aside from giving her quite a bit of frustration when nothing seemed to work.

"Say Claudia, It's been months since I've been in London.  Perhaps you could help bring me up to speed...say over dinner and a drink?"

If she was in shock when he stepped off the elevator it was nothing compared to what she felt when she heard to those words.  Looking up from the file again and over at where he now stood, she thought maybe she had hallucinated, but there he was waiting for an answer.  Mentally shaking herself she managed to give him the little half smile she used to use whenever he had walked off the elevator in the past.

"I'd like that," she said.  "Name the night...you'll have my undivided attention."

"I'd like that," she said.  "Name the night...you'll have my undivided attention."

Alex couldn't help but allow a small grin come to his face, "Friday then.  I'll send you an owl later with the details."  He gave her a small wink before disappearing into the Ministers office.  He was glad that maybe he would have the chance to make Claudia be able to cope with the events of her last outting.  Plus since he wasn't as loaded with work as he was when he was department head, he had more than enough time to give Claudia the once over.  And something in his gut told him this was a good move to make. 

He crossed over to the desk where Marcus seemed to have his attention drawn to some paperwork.  Alex pulled out a newspaper not from their region and threw it on Marcus' desk in front of him.  "One crisis averted, at cost to my career it seems.  Though I suppose I knew that going into it," Alex waited for Marcus to look up at him.

The Newspaper he had handed him was of where Alex had spending his time for the last several months in a attempt to avert a future issue.  He was glad that it was over, and would no longer be a problem.  But now his return to England would not be welcomed by all, or even at all.  It had been an operation that was planned for him to be gone for only a couple of weeks.  Nothing major, but enough for people to notice.  Things were never simple.  There had been a mole that sold Alex out, and in order to avoid being killed he had to go into hiding.  The issue went a lot deeper than originally thought and because of it Alex had been framed and there would have been no way for him to return to his own Ministry without bringing the problem with him. 

Slowly Alex had fallen into routine, but kept Marcus up to date on the whole situation.  Eventually Marcus had no choice but to fill Alex's seat while he was away.  But now...now there was no getting his spot back.  It would be a political nightmare if he came back considering it seemed that Robards had been an inside job, though Alex had his suspicions after looking over the report himself.  Of course that was no longer his responsibility.

"Hope you've been holding up, Marcus.  But I'm damn happy to be back in London," Alex said.

Without speaking, Marcus pulled out his bottle of scotch he kept in his desk and a glass. "It's good to have you back." Marcus motioned to the bottle, "Help yourself, since you're technically not on the clock right now."

Marcus picked up the newspaper. No one but those present in the office knew about what had transpired. It was most certainly a career-breaking move for Alex, but there was no one else capable of doing the work. Alex practically volunteered for the chance to step back into the action, but that didn't mean that the sacrifice was any less noble. The paper showed what looked like the end scene of a great tragedy. The surrounding buildings had seen better days, and not everyone involved left unscathed.

"As you know, I had to fill your position. We were in desperate need of someone to take your place et cetera, et cetera. You know the drill, you knew it was probably going to happen, so I won't bore you with the usual song and dance." Marcus grabbed another glass from his desk and emptied a bit of the bottle into it. He took a sip of the brown liquid before continuing. "There is another, far greater issue at hand here."

"I'm sure your aware of the assassination of the man who took your position." The fact that someone was able to infiltrate the Ministry was something that Marcus despised. The idea that it could have been someone that he trusted made him sick. "It's regrettable that we have to find yet another to fill the role that you once had, but you understand if I don't jump at the chance to give you your old job back."

"I've already got reporters asking me questions I'm not ready to answer. The fact that you just so happen to return so close to the unfortunate incident. Well... let's just say I'm not ready to open up that can of bees either. I doubt you'd take it anyway, even if you were offered."

Marcus stood up and locked his office door so no one could disturb them. He sat back down and took another sip. "I need to know what happened over there, Alex. From the beginning."

Alex didn't hesitate in taking the bottle of scotch and opened it, pouring himself a glass as Marcus spoke about the recent happenings at the Ministry.  Giving him all the news that would actually concern him.  It was true though, his return was rather suspicious in the eyes of the media, in relation to Robards murder.  So Alex returning to his old job would be bad politically.  And honestly with that kind of incident happening, he wasn't sure he would be a good choice to put back in that position. 

If he had known things would have gotten this bad, he would have stayed.  Perhaps he would have been able to prevent it.  But the reverse being that if he hadn't gone they would all be dealing with a even larger issue.

Marcus locked the door and returned to his desk before Alex got a line he had heard several times over the years.  But it had been no simple operation.  Far from it.  It had been more complicated than anything he had dealt with before, and he didn't have to luxury of a partner either.  If Marcus had been with him, it would have been dealt with in a week, not the several months it took him.

Alex reached into his coat and pulled out a large file and put it on Marcus' desk.  "Both of our infomnants had been right.  An old friend of ours had started over but this time around the French Ministry.  I met up with Talon Vandalier and he set me up with what I would need, but they didn't want me there.  As you guessed since the French Ministry had stopped most communications with us, that there was definately something going on with them.  More so than we had anticipated."

He emptied the scotch in his glass and placed it back on Marcus' desk. "I attempted to talk with their Head of Law Enforcement but I got a different kind of welcome in the form of cell time."  Alex filled himself another glass.  "So I knew I had a problem.  Our old friend already had control of key members of the French Ministry.  There was no way of knowing who, and since I didn't know heads or tails of the who's who in the French Ministry I had to do it the old fashion way."

"After I escaped I investigated the members of the Ministry, and thanks to some connections I gained over the months I was able to figure out who had been influenced.  Most of the details are in my report.  I'm sure you can guess what happened.  Our old friend won't be much of a problem to anyone.  Except maybe someone trying their hand at necromancy," Alex downed another glass.  "Of course I am over simplifying but I've lived the last few months in paranoia."

"I'm glad to hear that Talon was able to be of some assistance, though it's not like him to throw you to the wolves like that. He should have known that you would be thrown into prison for poking around too much. Maybe he was as in the dark as we were? That still doesn't explain a few things." Marcus pulled out some parchment from his desk and scribbled down something to follow up on. Marcus couldn't have done anything to get Alex out. As far as they were concerned, this was not Ministry business.

"So it sounds like you used your ability to peek inside people's minds and discovered that they had been under the influence of the Imperious Curse. That means that our old friend was able to get close enough to a number of these high ranking Ministry officials. Curious." Marcus scribbled another thought down onto his parchment. "It seems that our oold friend might have some interesting connections. That's something to look into."

Marcus picked up the file that Alex had placed on his desk and thumbed through it. Photos, profiles, notes written on napkins, etc. "This is something I'm going to have to look through in greater detail." Marcus picked up the newspaper and put it with the rest of the file. "I assume that not everything went so smoothly if you're on the subject of paranoia." If Alex was looking over his shoulder, then it was a pretty safe bet that there were some bad things going down.

"From what you're saying, it sounds like your investigations took you a bit deeper than anticipated." Marcus poured Alex another glass of scotch and slid the glass to him. "Where did it take you?"

Alex had made sure to highlight things in his report that were probably noteworthy enough to follow up on.  And a lot of those items he would do so himself.  But there was a long list of things that didn't make sense.  Mostly how their old friend managed to get himself into a position in order to take control of key members.  When dealing with someone capable of holding multiple people under the imperius curse, Alex already had known that their old friend had grown substantially in power and ability.

His mentor, Talon Vandalier.  The very man who had taught him occulemency and legilmency, hadn't even been aware of the true situation.  And someone would have to go to some great lengths to fool him.  Or if that had even been the case.  There was just a lot about the whole thing that didn't add up, even after it was all over, and that didn't sit well with Alex.

"I'm not sure how.  But somehow, our old friend managed to have several followers.  Ones not under the imperius curse but actual believers in his cause.  Our old friend must have learned a substantial amount of diplomacy in his years of abscence.  I was careful the first month, but I was able to assume a role that allowed me a degree of freedom," Alex  pulled over a chair and sat down taking the freshly poured scotch and taking a drink.  "After two months and I had made a number of contacts, I got my first real lead on the location of our old friend."

"Of course it turned out to be a trap.  But I had taken that into account and instead ended up learning quite a bit more.  Though I wasn't quite positive, there was a possibility that the Minister of the French Ministry was going to be the next target.  So I spent the next week or so shadowing the Minister.  Probably not one of my smartest moves but I wasn't about to let that happen.  Most likely if it had there would had been a warrant and then it might have made its way back here to London.  Probably saying I was a traitor and all that nonsense.  I digress.  I managed to protect the Minister without getting myself caught.  From then on I had to keep an eye on the French Minister though in case he was targeted again."

He took another drink of the scotch and looked at the glass for a moment, "I fell into a routine after that.  I began to build psycological profiles on members of the French Ministry.  Based on opinions of people and their family members.  Slow process, as you can imagine."

I can do much more than imagine. Remember the good old days?" Marcus watched Alex down the scotch like it was water. Perhaps it really was as stressful as he was letting on. Alex was a tough individual, but everyone has their limits. Alex had been on the run from who knows what, and barely managed to get out of it unharmed. He deserved a few drinks before getting back into the swing of things here in the real world.

"The French Ministry at the time had been in a sort of information blackout. Nothing in or out. I know, because I tried. It was at that point that I figured something might have been up, but it was too late to pull you out. Well, if I were able to actually do so, that is." Marcus corked the bottle of scotch, now much emptier than before, and placed it back in his desk. "Shadowing the Minister though. Difficult work, that would be. Especially if he was under the Imperious Curse. No doubt that he was being monitored at all times. It's what I would do if I were in our old friend's shoes."

"Something is most certainly up with Talon. It's unlikely that something this big would have slipped past him. You know him better than I do, and I still know that he's too good for something like that. Do we have any way of tracking him? I want to follow up, see if maybe his loyalties lie with someone else. Or worse, to see if he too had been under the Imperious Curse."

Marcus had a good point.  Talon, slip up?  No that just wasn't a possibility, he would have known a mile ahead that Alex had been heading into a trap.  But he did have a solution to that.  "Bring in Cyrus, his son.  He can track his Father without being suspicious.  Cyrus has been occupied with his wife's illness, apparently she had her memory altered or some mishap when she was working a case.  I heard she is recovering now, so he should be returning to work.  Plus technically he still works for you."

"You know I can't stay here now Marcus.  If I even came back as a Senior Auror I would still cause a political mess for the department.  It's best that I just step down," Alex sighed.  He couldn't stand it.  He had done so much over the years that he wasn't sure what he would do, at least until a second later he knew what he could do.  "I'm still going to do some follow up to the investigation and see what turns up.  Considering the amount of improvements that our friend had, I have a suspicion that he might have not been the mastermind.  But rather the whole thing could have been an experiment."

Alex shrugged, "Either way, it looks like I'm done here.  Swept under the rug for the better of the Ministry as it were."  He couldn't help but laugh.  "I would rather us go back to the days of pounding the pavement and busting down some death eaters.  But I guess we all have to grow up at some point."

Alex in a way, felt lost.  There was nothing more than he could say.  After twenty five years of service to the Ministry, a set of uncontrollable events left him with no choice but to leave the Ministry.  That wasn't to say he wasn't going to stop fighting the good fight.  That wasn't something that could be suppressed by him, he'd fight it on his own terms now.  "So do I still get a gold watch for early retirement?"  He laughed.