- CHAPTER TWO -
A Moody Confrontation
Evan had a hard time putting his socks on the next morning. A bit of excitement for his first day of work, a bit of anxiety of what would be in store for him, and yes, a bit of worry over seeing Brice. After putting the socks on the wrong feet, and having to switch them—only to rip one—Evan grew impatient, and whisked his wand over his socks, and they easily went on his feet. Once that was done, he got his things, and Flooed to the Ministry.
Coming out of the hearth, he took a deep breath, and started down the hallway filled with fire places, towards the Atrium.
The first time Evan saw the Atrium was with his mother when he was younger. Evan's father worked in the Department of Magical Transportation. Though he didn't have a grand position in the Broom Regulation Control division, Evan loved that his father brought home brooms of all makes.
Some days, his father would leave a few broomsticks at home, and Evan would get on and try them out around his family's home just outside York. At first, he tried to be secretive about using the brooms, but he could tell his father knew about his little adventures. Only when Evan, during the summer after his fourth year, wrecked a Nimbus 2001 prototype by "accidentally" running into a muggle plane at 220 miles per hour, did his father stop bringing the brooms home. Luckily by then, Evan had his own broomstick.
Because of this hobby of Evan's, he became a fair Quidditch player. Though never small enough to be a Seeker, he enjoyed playing as a Chaser, and was considered one of the fastest ones on the pitch for his time at Hogwarts. Some thought he would go on to play in the League, but when he received a letter of acceptance to the Auror Training Academy, he couldn't pass it over.
Once he passed the Fountain of Magical Brethren, he went through security, and made his way to the lifts. He could feel his heart pounding and his fingers tingling as he entered the lift, and started down towards the Auror Department.
Just as he reached the double doors to his new work, he closed his eyes and breathed. Evan was never one to be nervous about things, but seeing Brice again on his first day at his dream job was reason enough to be for the first time. He opened his eyes, and confidently opened the doors.
Evan was surprised at how easy going people seemed to be moving around in the office. Few people were present, almost as few as the night before. He could hear a few people talking in some cubicles about wanted wizards or witches, or things of that nature, but there wasn't anything grand occurring. It was just like any other office.
As he turned around the corner of a row of cubicles, he found Rowan's, and inside, Brice was sitting by herself.
Brice always seemed—to Evan—to bring a sense of beauty to a room. Her face was simple and clear, and Evan always liked how her face seemed to brighten up when she smiled. Her light brown, amber eyes always made Evan wonder if she was questioning him, or asking a question themselves.
At the moment, she was—like she always was—playing with her long dyed blonde hair. She seemed not to notice Evan, who was partially hidden behind the divider of another cubicle. She seemed to be listening to Rowan, who Evan assumed was sitting in his chair.
'I just don't understand why it has to be him' she voiced, clearly unhappily. Evan's smile, which crossed his face while noticing Brice, quickly vanished, and his face fell with her comment. He didn't think she would have such a grudge over something that happened almost six months ago.
At least she's still wearing the necklace his mind mentioned, noticing the silver pendant around Brice's neck.
'The Minister put you two together. I would suggest you put your differences aside, and try to work well at this assignment. It's a big project for new Aurors, and it could give you a leg-up on others in your class' Rowan replied. Brice sighed, and continued playing with hair behind her neck. Evan heard enough, and stepped in.
Walking in timidly, he looked at Rowan first. His supervisor smiled at him, and stood up.
'Good morning Evan. I'm sure you remember Brice' he said, motioning to the seat occupied by the woman. Evan looked at Brice—whose expression was a mix of anger, sadness, and falsified contentment—and smiled placidly. She returned a smile, which Evan knew was forced, and he took a seat next to her. Once he sat down, he only then noticed his hands were shaking.
'So, I told both of you, your assignment is to watch Alastor Moody. He's been living in his home on Gretton Road, and hasn't left in a few months. We've had a few Aurors checking on the house here and there, and so far there has not been any activity. His defences are like muggle mouse traps' Rowan explained. Brice tilted her head in confusion.
'Mouse traps?'
'Oh, little devices that snaps a metal bar on a mouse. Sorry, I've been talking to Arthur Weasley up in the Misused Department too much lately. Anyways, the point is, they spring very easily. You need to stay a good distance away from the house, and please, don't cross into the yard without good reason. That's all you'd need to do, is set off that circus, and you two would be here sweeping the floors for the rest of your lives.' Evan swallowed with difficulty. He didn't think this assignment would be so big.
'So what should we do first?' Brice asked, not looking at Evan.
'To start, you're best to look at what's been happening with Alastor these past weeks. The files are in the stock room. Get the files, and read them over, and learn as much as you can about Alastor. I want you two watching that house by the end of the week' Rowan stated. Evan nodded, as did Brice, and she got up and started off towards the stock room, leaving Evan in the cubicle. Evan up, and gave a short smile, receiving a chuckle from Rowan.
'This should be an interesting project' Rowan put in with a laugh. Evan sighed, and made his way to the stock room, where Brice was already getting the files out.
She was a short woman, just a little more than five feet tall, and had a very nice figure to Evan's eyes. Not too thin, and just the perfect proportions, made more evident by the skirt she was wearing, with a nice black top. She was trying to reach up to get a file, and Evan moved in to help. He reached over, and she shoved him away.
'I can get it myself, thank you' she said stubbornly, taking out her wand, and levitating the file down to her.
'I was just trying to help' Evan responded. She took the file, along with a few others, and walked out of the room, again leaving Evan by himself. He exited the room, and jogged to catch up to her. She was walking quickly out of the Auror Department, and onto one of the lifts. He just got on the one she was on, and they rode the short trip in silence. One they reached the Atrium, she started off quickly towards the fireplaces.
'Look, we're working together whether you like it or not, so you could at least try' Evan said, as they walked out of the Atrium, which was filled with wizards and witches moving to and from the Ministry. Brice stopped, panting slightly from her quick pace, and turned to Evan. She looked at the tall lanky man with a cold expression, and took a step forward.
'I should try? No Evan, I don't have to try anything. I want to do this well, and I don't want you messing it up. You'd be best to just stand aside and let me do my job' she answered angrily. She turned around again, and started towards a fireplace.
Evan was already getting annoyed by this line of conversation. They were partners, and he wasn't about to let her drive him into submission, and not do his job. It was as much his as it was hers.
'This is my job too Brice, and I'll be damned if you try and run me out. I know you still blame me for what happened last spring-' Brice snorted at this, '-but I don't care. We both want to do well, and I already told you I was sorry a thousand times for what happened. Just bury it, and let's work at this Moody case.' Brice stopped walking, and turned back towards Evan. She was looking at the stone floor for a moment, and sighed. She took a few steps closer to Evan, and pointed at him.
'Alright Ev, but if you even come near to getting me mad' she threatened, not needing to finish what the penalty would be. Evan nodded to show his total understanding, and Brice turned at started off again towards the hearth. Evan couldn't help but notice that she called him Ev—something she had not done since the accident.
Brice decided to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron, where they could read over the files without much interruption. They arrived, and found a private booth for the two of them, where they separated the files, and started reading.
As Evan read the files, he couldn't help his eyes notice Brice. Though he thoroughly disliked her beating him academically, he loved her free spirit and the way she carried herself. Even when she read, she seemed to close off the rest of the world, and focus entirely on her file. At least that's what Evan thought.
'You know, you won't get that far if you keep staring at me' she commented, not looking up from her file. Evan snapped out of his stupor, and went back to his file. Brice, although still not happy with Evan, and the memory of last spring's trip still clear in her mind, smiled a bit at his total lack of charisma.
Alastor, Evan found, retired from the Auror Department about one year ago. The list of wizards and witches he put into Azkaban numbered almost half the total number of cells. In later years, he was documented for stunning more and more innocent people, and the occasional muggle. Eventually, his number of wrongfully arrested people outnumbered his number of actually guilty ones.
It was then, that he was put on a Ministry suspension, and two months later, he "retired". Research since then told that Moody almost always stayed in his house. He cast Anti-Apparation charms on his property, so the only way you could go to him would be to actually walk up to the house.
Reports about how Moody was doing were vague and incomplete. No one could really go in and check on him, so knowledge of his attitude and deportment were limited, if not totally non-existent.
Once Evan finished reading his stack of files, it had been hours since they first came in. He gave a sigh, and stretched his back, glancing over to see Brice, and chuckled. She was snoozing on an open file, her head lying on the table.
He gave her a light nudge, and she bolted up straight. Evan laughed again, and Brice shoved Evan over.
'Don't laugh. I haven't slept since I heard about this assignment' she informed, giving a stretch. Evan tried to look away while she did, but his eyes were drawn to her. She finished, and looked back down at the file.
'What did you find out?'
'Not much. He was a great Auror, then slowly went off his knut. No one knows how he's been doing the last six or so months. You?' Evan asked. Brice stacked the files, and sighed.
'About the same. He made some amazing arrests when he was young, and some horrible mistakes when he was older. There was a report by Rowan a few months ago, but it didn't say much except he was very paranoid.' She gave another sigh, and looked at Evan with tired eyes. 'This is going to be tough.'
'Very. Rowan doesn't want us there until the weekend. We have time. Besides, we're just keeping watch of the place. We might not even have to step inside or even see Moody' Evan insisted. Brice nodded, but did not look entirely convinced.
'But we need to be ready. The whole reason we have this assignment is incase something does happen.'
'Well, how about we switch files for now, and tomorrow we'll talk to Rowan again about Moody. He met him, so he can help I think' Evan suggested. Brice yawned, nodding at the same time.
'Alright, that sounds decent.' She took Evan's files, and handed hers to him. She put them away in her bag, and stood up.
'I'm going to go home and read these. We'll meet up again tomorrow at 10am with Rowan. Can you go and make sure it's alright with him, please?' Brice asked. Evan didn't like being ordered around, especially by Brice, but he wanted a good relationship with her, and she was nice enough to say please. It would have been different if she just demanded he do it.
'I can do that sure. I have to go back to the Ministry anyways. I met Ludo Bagman yesterday' Evan stated. Brice yawned again, and looked like she was almost about to fall over.
'Oh yeah, he played in the Quidditch League right? That World Cup will be quite the show' she said, still tiredly, but with a hint of interest. Evan knew Brice liked Quidditch, although not as much as he did. She knew about his father and those adventures with the brooms, and he sort of influenced her liking of the game.
'It will be for sure. He said he could get me tickets, did you . . . did you want to go?' Evan asked hesitantly. He had a feeling Brice would react in a negative way, and was not disappointed.
'Evan, we need to work on this case. We only have three days until Rowan wants us there, we need to be ready! We've only been on this case for a day, and already you're looking a day off. Honestly, only you would be like that!' Evan sighed, and looked up at her again.
'I know Brice, but the World Cup is on Thursday. We'll meet up with Rowan tomorrow, do a good amount of research, do a bit on Thursday, go to the Cup, then make sure we're ready on Friday, and boom, we're at Moody's house by Saturday; Sunday at the latest.' He really wanted to go to the Cup, since he hadn't seen a Quidditch match in over two years, and the opportunity to see the World Cup was rare. Brice stared off into space for a moment, and Evan could see a wisp of a smile cross her face. She seemed to be in internal debate for a moment.
'um . . well, Alright, but we have to be ready. If we're not on schedule by Thursday morning, we're not going. I don't care if I have to stun you to keep you away. And this is not a date, understand?' she declared, the last sentence being accentuated with a pointing finger. Evan nodded, and Brice grabbed her bag, and left the Leaky Cauldron.
Evan gave a huge sigh, and outwardly laughed. In the course of one day, he got Brice from ignoring him, to agreeing to go and see the Quidditch World Cup. He knew she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to see it; she wasn't that much of a bookworm. She had her fun here and there, although not with Evan since that little trip they took a few months ago, the one that changed so many things between them.
He slowly gathered up his files, and looked out the window. It was already dark outside, and the bar was loud with the sound of friends, laughter, and talk of the World Cup. Evan stood up, and a piece of parchment flew onto the table. Wondering, he picked it up, and he laughed again.
It was the bill for the drinks. Evan threw down a few Galleons, and continued to chuckle as he returned to the Ministry. Even though she still had a lot of dislike towards him, Brice hadn't changed a bit.
A/N - Alright, this chapter gives more background on the characters, and you meet Brice. Please, tell me your opinion on things. How are the characters? Does the story seem to be going alright? I know it's a little slow now, but it will speed up in coming chapters.