The Crescent Moon was a respectable place for a wizard to drink on an weekday evening in Hannover. Nestled away from the hustle and bustle, the wizard's watering hole appeared to Muggles as three private storage garages, never opened. Strangely they never attracted graffiti, the young teenagers of Hannover always were interrupted by a nagging feeling they had to go back to have dinner with their families, or tea with their grandmothers, as soon as they raised a can to do the deed, and were put off. The Magical kind who inhabited the area saw the place for what it was - delightfully out of place, with a pub sign forever sighing in a breeze, even if the day was absolutely still.

Johann Storm would regularly raise a pint and play cards within its walls. Known as a local and a regular, he was blissfully unaware that the owner's daughter, Hanna had been doing her very best to get his attention for the past year and a half, even acquiring a rather lackluster boyfriend in the hope he would rush over in a jealous rage. In reality, Johann thought her French was coming along a treat, and that she would be very efficient as a future landlady. He was more interested in earning a few by teaching others or casting his intelligent eye over business deals in the local, or other languages. For all his youthful appearances, he'd witness signed hundreds of contracts, many of whose occupants had approached him poised at the Crescent Moon's bar, having heard of his reputation.

It therefore wasn't too unusual for his game of Wizard's dominoes with two of the older patrons of the Crescent to be interrupted by the owner's daughter coming over to tell Johann a wizard at the bar would like to speak to him. Dividing his dominoes between the two men, he gave his apologies, and took himself over to the stranger, a well dressed man who looked vaguely familiar, but out of place in his surroundings. After a few brief words, they retired into a corner at the request of the stranger, where they sat in deep conversation for some forty minutes, Johann's brow furrowed as he considered the proposition and the terms.

The two wizards playing dominoes watched passively, a game finished and another begun after seeing their younger friend would not be rejoining them - fully engaged in business conversation. They exchanged looks, sharing thoughts, and realising each was thinking the same about the stranger Johann was in conversation with, equally surprised Johann was interested in such a lengthy conversation with such a man. Still, youth would always fail where experience knew only too well.

An hour passed before the two men shook on a deal, and the stranger left immediately, without drinking upon any deal. Johann returned to the bar where he told Hanna to cheer up, noting her worried expression. She returned an exasperated huff, serving his drink and shaking her head. Johann heeded her behaviour no more until he sat back down with the two old wizards again, and raised a drink to a most profitable arrangement that had just been agreed. It was only then that he realised that there could be anything wrong.

Johann gave his new client the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to be taught Mandarin from the very beginning, which would take time and patience. Lessons began in earnest, the client was on time, if not a little early, completely focused. They didn't partake in small talk, didn't accept his polite offer of coffee. Just sat at the table in Johann's flat, intent on listening and learning. Each lesson he returned well practised. There was a real drive behind the man which Johann admired. Then, after three weeks, Johann received a large order for translating complex legal documents - a client he always received many recommendations from had sent them in three boxes. Working all night to rewrite them, he entirely lost track of the time of the lesson. The normally tidy table was covered in them, and Johann looked haggard. Suddenly the client who his friends had disapproved of broke routine.

Amidst the paperwork in Johann's flat, he voiced a most intense interest in Johann's abilities to deal with sensitive information and translate, trusted by several large clients in Hannover and overseas.

"So sorry about the mess." Johann apologised, as he opened the door into the main room of his flat. The walls were lined with bookcases, and the room was split between a long dining table - currently submerged in papers - and a cluster of chairs beside the fire where Johann occasionally entertained guests or sat on an evening. A pile of books was propped against the arm of one of the chairs, leaning as if someone seating themselves would cause them to fall. The drapes were still drawn across the window despite the daylight outside, and the lamps burnt low. Feeling the oppressive feeling of the room on re-entering it from answering the front door below at the street level, Johann pushed the curtains open and narrowed his eyes at the light of day, before examining the heads of people walking along the pavement outside below.

"Rather lost track of time, as I say." He added, turning, still holding onto the curtain material with his long fingers. His new client was stood at the table, peering down with interest. Johann frowned, not keen for one client to be reading legal documents belonging to another.
"Do you translate these regularly for him?" The client asked, still intently looking down at the paperwork.
"Somewhat. Tends to be large volumes all at once, like this." Johann replied politely. "Would you mind… not reading …"
"He trusts you with them all?" The new client asked, his sharp little eyes raising from the pages to Johann's face with a renewed interest.
"Yes, of course." Johann replied, stepping round the table swiftly to turn over the piece of great interest.
"My apologies, confidentiality is very important." His client stepped back and smiled somewhat knowingly.
"I'm glad you agree. Please, why don't you sit down, I'll put things in some order." Johann pointed to the cluster of chairs around the fireplace where the fire had burned out at some point during the night. There was a pause between them both before the other wizard obliged, taking the seat with the pile of books, upsetting the pile, much to Johann's irritation.

He tried to cover the irritation with casting a general concealment charm over the paperwork all over the table. It would be a disaster to rearrange it at all, so that would have to do. Thank Merlin he didn't have a house elf, or anyone living with him at the time, or had appeased the women who had offered to come and clean for him - like Hanna from The Crescent Moon. That had been a curious offer, considering she did so much cleaning at the pub. Women were very strange creatures.

The lesson passed by swiftly. Johann suitably impressed with the way his student was picking up the spoken language.
"Its uncanny, your accent has improved significantly." He told the wizard, sitting back and narrowing his eyes in thought. His student smiled knowingly.
"I told you when I sought your services why I wished to learn. I've returned today especially to take my lesson with you." He explained, and reached into his robes. "I wonder if you might give your opinion on this document actually." Johann received a bound scroll, which he unravelled, tiredness which had been snagging at the corners of his mind being ignored yet again.

His eyes skipped through the documents with a frown on his face. Reading in silence, right to the end, he handed the scroll back, and sat in silence, thinking. The new client smiled to himself, and tucked it away.
"I need someone I can trust to translate those." He told Johann simply, "I pay well, as you are already aware."

Johann steepled his fingers and stared off to one side in thought.
"I can see why." He replied quietly, not entirely sure how best to react. "I don't believe the Ministry would look very favourably on your trade." His eyes flickered to his client's face to gauge the reaction. Unsure whether to call a halt to the lessons given this sudden offer, or not. He did pay well, and to all intents and purposes, he was just translating documents. He didn't read them, or retain them in his mind purposely. It just happened with the other clients, a natural curiosity combined with a willingness to remember facts, figures and dates. His new client didn't know this. The two of them looked at each other for a moment.
"And you feel you can trust me?" He asked cautiously.

"Absolutely." Came the response. Johann gave a nod. "I'll have someone deliver them to you later this week. I can see you have your hands full here already. Only, be sure not to leave mine lying around with such minor concealment charms on them, won't you now?" There was a knowing smile, and his client bid Johann thanks and a good day, before seeing himself out. Johann, still seated by the dark fireplace, rested his chin on his hand, and tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head asking him to quantify why he'd just agreed to translate shipment instructions for a criminal importing hallucinogenics. As long as he didn't leave them lying about when his auror acquaintances dropped by for him to proof read their court documents and seek advice on how to close any loopholes to avoid getting the sack for beating the hell out of their prisoners…