It had been a rough week. Tamis had decided to take him off of the field unit for the werewolf related cases, leaving him in a strictly supervisory role. Although Ackerly was agitated, he was glad that at least she had not shifted his entire focus as an auror. He was still the senior auror in charge of werewolf related crimes, he just had to push the paper and make sure people did their jobs correctly. Which meant that he had needed to pick up some other cases to fill in the gap of time. Something new to focus his attentions on.

Of those available, none seemed to fit his particular areas of expertise. One in particular seemed interesting, however, in relation to the possession of one of his colleague's brothers. The other he'd decided on was the disappearance of magic.

Which meant it was time to stop sulking, roll up his sleeves, and get started. First thing in the morning he headed over to Adon's cubicle. The information he had was limited. Adon was there when it happened, so was Jonas. Other aurors might stick the two of the together to save time, but Ackerly thought it might be a bad idea. This had to be a sensitive subject for Eleor, and he wanted to recognize that fact. Besides, if he interviewed both separately he might find conflicting stories- and conflict could be good, it would help solve problems.

He leaned against the cubicle wall, easily peering over the top of it. "Got a few minutes?" he asked. "Seems my case load's been shifted and I picked something up of a particular interest to you." Without waiting for an answer, Ackerly summoned a chair and set himself up in the open doorway of Adon's cubicle. "I'm on your brother's case," he told him simply. "And I figure you're the best place to start."

Well. Fox got right to it, didn't he? Perhaps Adon had become too accustomed to Jonas' technique of chatting a source up already. Or, perhaps it was because Fox figured he could shoot straight and get a straight answer.

Whatever the reason, Adon found several lost opportunities for a quip here or there about their mutual dislike of the Witch Weekly article -- only exacerbated by Jones' teasing.  But Fox didn't really seem the type.

Adon mirrored Fox's own tone: slow, respectful, if not a little stiff. He swiveled in his seat to regard Ackerly cautiously. "Sure," he agreed. I have as much time as that takes." He gave a hestitant smile. He wished Fox'd talk to Roh. This was how it was supposed to be done. Not charging in, interrupting a perfectly good sandwich. Though, while of course banging his girlfriend was of "a particular interest to him" (especially now that he had), his brother's possession and near-demise had a different sort of resonance, though not particularly less sensitive.

"Should we--"

Fox summoned a chair and blocked the entry to Adon's small real estate in this world. "Ah," he said, the smile growing a bit more apprehensive. "Guess we'll stay here, yeh?" He frowned, closing his paper files and tucking them away in a drawer in order to give him a moment or two to prepare thoughts. This accomplished, he returned his attention. "I assume you're familiar with the events. They're, for the most part, straightforward. Events and accountability won't be hard to place. Apprehension, on the other hand, might be a bit more difficult." This said, he took a cleansing breath. "So, what is it that you want from me?"

Ackerly watched Adon carefully. Body language tended to give off more than most people realized, but given Adon's history and his own auror training, Ackerly supposed he would be better at controlling than most. He knew that he had a bad reputation around the auror office... It wasn't that Ackerly was bad at his job, just difficult to work with and he had somewhat of a short temper. Many people he worked with in the auror office were aware of this. Some walked on eggshells, others just purposefully pressed his buttons.

"Information," Ackerly answered simply. What else would he want from Adon on the matter? The case file he had was relatively thin. Not everyone was a stickler for protocol like he was. Writing up reports, pushing paper, adhering to guidelines was kind of his thing. Details should be closely watched when working on files.

He wasn't sure, though, how to go about questioning Adon in relation to the matter. "There's not a lot of information in here," he told him. "I need some basic facts to work with, other people to talk to, things like that. Whatever you feel like telling me to start off with. If you don't want to talk about what actually happened, we can put it off for a while." Adon might not trust him enough. Unfortunately, unlike the public's implicit trust in their law enforcement, the law enforcement officials were not so easy to trust in one another.

"I just like to take my own notes," he explained, in case the other auror wanted to tell him just to go off of what he already had instead of bothering him. Which was true. Ackerly never trusted his partners to ask the right questions or write the important things down.

"I don't see the reason to put off talking about it," Adon said bluntly. "Though," Adon added, raising his eyebrows a little and leaning in, "the case file, however slim, was started by me, as was the testimony, so unless you have any particular questions, directions, or angles you'd like to throw out there, you'll get the same account as before."

Because Adon was, after all, consistent. And he had been as painfully forthright as possible on this.

"People to talk to: Alberic Grimm first and foremost. I don't know what he knows and, without his creepy-ass Legilimency, won't ever know. He won't tell me what he did or saw when he invaded Katsaros' or Dreogan's minds. Next of course would be myself. Then Trevelyan. Finally, you ought to check with Dreogan, but," he said, tone softening, "please give him some time. He's only just started talking to his wi--his fianceé. You could ask her some questions as well; they were in the same house for a time, when Dreogan was possessed, I mean, but I didn't get the impression that she knew much of anything." He considered. "To be frank, she can be a little oblivious."

 "So," Adon said, a wry smile curling his lips that indicated he was not, particularly, relishing this moment, however sardonic the smile, "what information do you want from me?"

Ackerly normally would have a foot-in-mouth moment when Adon admitted the file was actually his. He would have apologized, but felt it would be awkward, so instead he gave an awkward smile. He listed the people that Adon told him, arching a brow slightly when he mentioned that Grimm knew legilimency. It was one of the things that he had never trained in. He'd always had it on his list of things to do, but Ackerly's to-do list was pretty insane. It always had been. the time had just never presented itself.

"Won't tell you?" Ackerly asked. "Does he realize it is a legal matter?" Impeding an investigation wasn't exactly legal, was it? But then again, it could have been Adon's personal connections that were preventing full information. That was going to be his one ray of hope in dealing with Grimm anyway. If the talk around the ministry about the man had an inkling of truth to it, it would more than likely be a most unpleasant situation.

So that was a good place to start. Grimm, Trevelyan, Adon, his brother, his brother's wife. Four people. He could interview each one, then compare the stories side by side, and pull out the inconsistencies and get to the bottom of some things. "I'll give him however much time you think that he needs," Ackerly said. "I don't imagine that it is something simple to talk about. And if he has just now started talking to fiancee- the last thing I want to do is make things more strained there." Ackerly wasn't a fan of ruining the lives of successful couples, he knew how much it hurt to lose that. And if they were trying to fix things up, he didn't want to get in the middle of it.

"Well- I just wanted you to read over your account of what happened, make sure you didn't miss anything." Perhaps he was going about this the wrong way. But it was the only way that Ackerly knew. At least he was attempting to be nice. Well, nicer than usual at least.

"Won't tell me," Adon repeated levelly, blandly. One could almost hear the traces of his uncle in that voice. "But then, I'm not the investigator of this matter. I'm the overly protective little brother. You should do alright," Adon assessed. "Just go in as official and as big as you can."

His lip curled to reveal the top line if white, straight teeth. "Uncle Albie and I. . ." he said with soft, precise syllables, "we don't get along. He tried to make nice with the offering of a Shrunken Head for Christmas," he waited, looking at Ackerly, hoping he'd at least made a mental note of this, "but things have turned sour between us since the fifth."

Fox was impressive, at least. If not overly sympathetic -- something Adon was sure he'd be annoyed with -- he was at least respectful. Like Adon's advice and suggestions counted. It was refreshing, and not  something he felt he received much since coming to the British office. Despite being a recent trainee, in Israel, Adon'd been respected as an individual with extensive leadership experience in the military.

Fox was alright. Alberic could go to hell. And if Fox was the one to drag him down there, then Fox got a ticket to heaven, in his book.

Adon made a show of hunching over the offered file to read. Rubbing his chin, he inhaled slowly through his nose.

He began to nod with increasing earnestness.

Snapping the file closed, he handed it back to Ackerly. "Yeh, now that you mention it, I must have forgotten . . . on the record," he said with a Trevelyan-knack for none-too-subtle emphasis, "to mention how Alberic Grimm went apeshit crazy and I had to all but rip him off of my brother when all that Legilimency went down." He looked at Ackerly with lowered brows, clearly unhappy, but not at Ackerly. "As Dreogan described it to me -- from what little I could make out later, it seems Alberic and the possessor -- one Teiresias Katsaros -- were engaging in some sort of mentallock or mindbattle or something and Dreogan got caught in the crossfire." He exhaled sharply. "At any rate, it did a number on Dree. And I'm sure as hell that shit can't be legal."

Though his British magical law was somewhat rusty. Something he would need to remedy quickly, as a now fully-fledged British law enforcer. "I'm afraid I don't have much on Katsaros for you. Jonas and Grimm'll have more on that for you. Went to my same school, but we never overlapped. Family's Jewish. And Greek."

Going in as official and as big as Ackerly could was often overkill. He was accustomed to throwing his weight around, and generally it did more harm than good. But he figured he should trust the advice. Overprotective little brother would hopefully not steer him wrong in this- not if he cared about his brother.

But the idea of his uncle attempting to make nice by gifting a shrunken head seemed a little odd. Normal people would have no use for such a novelty item. "That's interesting," was his only comment. The last he'd heard about shrunken heads was when one of the officials in the DMLE had mentioned that O Morain woman peddling them, another notch to the reasons she was watched- even though shrinking animal heads was hardly illegal. Just... suspicious.

Ackerly made sure to take note when Adon mentioned Grimm's behavior, and that he had to be forcibly pulled from Adon's brother. "Legilimency is often more dangerous than people make it out to be," he said. "It's part of why I never tried to learn. Often times there are some things you are better knowing, and not everyone can be trusted to use such an ability with responsibility." Perhaps Grimm was one of those people. "And unfortunately the legality of actions in relation to such a thing can often times be fuzzy." But he would definitely take a look into it. Loopholes could work for you just as easily as they could work against you he had learned.

"That's fine, I can ask the two of them about Katsaros. At least we have a person to work with, makes it a lot easier than if we'd had no clue who it was." If they had no clue, the case would be a lot harder and the brothers would likely never find any closure for what had happened. "Any clue if your brother had any run ins with Katsaros then? Or if he knows him personally?" Ackerly asked.

"And unfortunately the legality of actions in relation to such a thing can often times be fuzzy."

"He was writhing in pain. And wouldn't talk for days after," Adon snapped back. He paused and, blinking, gave a wavering sort of smile. "I'm sorry. I do that. . . It's not your fault, of course. But I'd sure love your help in making sure that Alberic gets what he should for that." That was what Ackerly was here for, of course. "He hasn't been investigated -- ever, to my knowledge. Not even from a regulatory, supervisory review, either. He just . . . does what he pleases."

And what he pleased to do was seriously screwing up his brother.

Adon gave a satisfied smile at Ackerly's concessions. He was alright. The last questions, however, gave him pause. "Well," Adon began as he thought, "yes, I'm certain he did." Dreogan, unlike Alberic, had been investigated, prior to being employed in the Ministry, and they'd looked heavily into his past and his associations with various crime rings. It could not be proven that he ever participated in any illegal activities himself, however. Dreogan's record was clear.

Still, it was difficult to bring this up.

"When he was fifteen, our father was abducted by a group of men. Dreogan dropped out of school and with misguided exhuberance, went about chasing after any crime or terrorist group he thought possible. In Turkey, he spent a couple of weeks with . . ." he thought about the group. "I don't remember. The leader was Gozde. Katsaros was in it, too. Seemed to single Dreogan out, and Dree fled shortly thereafter. The group hunted him down a little over 10 years later--" Adon's face twitched instinctively, "and we didn't hear from them for a while. Then, this winter, Sasha Schlagenweit, a kid Dreogan's taken under his wing -- or something --" Adon didn't quite understand, "went missing, so Dree did what he could to track him down, and came across Katsaros instead. There's a case file on this -- but they got into a duel in Hogsmeade, during the Winter Festival."

Adon didn't bother to say Dreogan had lost.

He also didn't bother to say whether he knew Katsaros personally.