Life in the Fast Lane

Hello and happy Saturday! My week was awful and very long. I don't know how I'm suppose to manage and entire 5 day week next week for school. It's only been two weeks and Junior year is already kicking my ass. Well at least I have you wonderful people to turn to! Thank you for coming back for a second chapter I hope you enjoy it as much as the first. Just a quick heads up, I know that all the Department of Mysteries stuff and evidence testing is stupid and probably not possible but I needed something for this story. So deal with it! Enjoy and check out pinterest for her date night outfit.

Chapter 2: Working Girl

Cassidy's POV:

As soon as I was in the Ministry I bolted to my office. I clocked myself in and had an intern send a message to the Aurors that I would be late. I hurried to my office to finish my paperwork and by the time the clock struck 10am I was off to the Auror Department. When I enter the Department I asked the Welcome Witch where I could find James or my brother.

"They've already left for the Department of Mysteries," she told me. "Auror Clark told me to tell you to head over."

"Alright thanks," I said smiling before hurrying off to the Department of Mysteries. The Department of Mysteries lies on the second-lowest level of the Ministry of Magic, Level Nine. It is accessible via the lifts from the Ministry Atrium. This level bears a striking difference to those above: the black-tiled walls are bare with no windows and no doors, apart from a plain black one at the end of the corridor that leads into the Department proper. Light is provided only by torches, which glow with a blue-white light. As I reach the doorway at the end of the hall I can feel it has grown colder. I clutch my jacket to my body and reach for the doorknob and opened the door.

"Hello?" I called into the dark empty room. "James? Spencer?"

No answer.

I entered into the room and looked around. The room was illuminated by blue light candles. It was a small circular room with marble floors that looked as smooth as still water. There were twelve doors around the room none of which had handles.

"Cassidy?"

I jumped upon hearing my name and turned around and saw James, Spencer, and an old man who was fairly pale. His eyes were darting around the room quickly like he was expecting something or someone to jump out at us.

"Hey," I greeted them. "Sorry I'm late I got...held up this morning."

"Yeah 'held up'" Spencer muttered. "Anyways let's get started, shall we? Mr. Lambine this is my sister she's the investigative reporter on this case."

"Nice to meet you sir," I said reaching out a hand. He just stared at it then went for one of the doors speaking out something I couldn't quite hear. We entered through the door and it shut behind us. We were in a long rectangular room filled with beautiful dancing lights shining off of the copious amount of clocks and other sparkling items in the room. Mr. Lambine kept walking and unlocked and led us through another door that held dozens upon dozens of shelves holding small glass orbs.

"What is this place?" I asked in awe.

"Hall of Prophecies," Spencer replied. "Basically we're just going through and checking to make sure none are missing and checking if anyone is hiding out in here."

"Sounds easy enough," James said and I nodded in agreement.

"Be careful children," Mr. Lambine spoke. "If you touch any of these you will instantly be afflicted with madness."

"No pressure or anything," I joked looking around at the beautiful, glowing orbs. I went through row by row, but saw no sign of a missing prophecy or of anyone sneaking in. By the time I got back to the door leading back through the room filled with clocks I had looked through more than a dozen shelves of prophecies and not one was out of place.

"You guys almost done?" I yelled my voice echoing off the walls.

"Yeah we'll be over in a sec," one of them yelled back. As I waited I looked around looking for more clues. As I looked by the door for signs of forced entry I found a small silver key.

"Well this was a bust," James said grumpily as they approached me.

"Maybe not," I whispered holding up the key. "Hey Mr. Lambine do you still have your key to get in here?"

He nodded and held it out for me to see. I took it from him and held it close to the one I had found and noticed they looked exactly the same.

"They're the same key," I said handing his back. "Who else has a key to this room?"

"This is the only key we have on file for this room," he spoke quietly. "Someone must have made a copy."

"Who has access to the keys?" Spencer asked.

"Only the Keeper of the Hall..me" he replied. "It is normally kept in one of the drawers in my desk. No one knows which, but me."

"Then how do we explain this key?" I asked holding it up. He only shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright we're going to have to run tests on both keys," Spencer said. "So this door stays locked until further notice.

"Spencer I'd get some well trusted Aurors to stand guard here," I suggested. "Someone's gonna want their key back." He nodded his head in agreement. We thanked Mr. Lambine and then left. We went to the Aurors office first and put the key into evidence to get screened for prints or anything that could help us.

"Who would even want to go into the hall anyways?" James asked as we took a seat in Spencer's office. "They would instantly go mad if they touched one right?"

"Only if the prophecy doesn't pertain to them," Spencer corrected. "They might be looking for a one specifically for them."

"But why," I asked.

"That's your job to find out," Spencer said. "You're the investigator."

"Right, right. I'll...umm…go get the results from the evidence testing then go off of that," I stammered. "I'll go do that now. See you guys later. Get those Aurors posted down there Spence. Tell them I'll be back tomorrow to do some more searching and researching."

"Bye Cass," Spencer called out. "Stay safe!"

"Always am!" I called back as I made my way out the door. When I entered my office I sent an intern to get my evidence testing results so I could figure out my next step.

"Here you go Miss. Clark," the young intern squeaked as they brought in the results.

"Thanks Jackson," I said grabbing it. I opened it up and began to look for anything useful. The original had only DNA samples from Mr. Lambine. And it didn't have any traces of magic used on it. But the key that we had found did.

"Huh," I sighed. "Interesting"

"What's interesting?"

I looked up and saw James standing in my doorway.

"Hey," I said waving him in. "The key that Mr. Lambine had didn't have any traces of magic, but the one I found by the doorway did."

"Were there DNA samples on either besides Lambine?" he asked sitting down across from me.

"Yes on the one we found," I said looking for a name but there was none. "There's no name though."

"So we're stuck," James huffed.

"Not necessarily," I said. "I can run the keys again just to be sure on this information. Because if it is true then the key we found is the original and is a copy."

"But wouldn't the copy have traces of magic as well as the one it was copied from?" James asked confused.

"Yes, but it would be a small amount and difficult to pick-up the first time," I told him. "But if I run it again it might pick it up."

He nodded. "Let's do it."

"Alright I'll get everything ready go get the testing ready and lined-up," I commanded.

"You got it boss," he teased saluting me.

"I'll be down in a little bit," I said writing a few things down.

"Okay," he said. "Maybe while we're down there you can tell me why you were late this morning."

"Bye James," I said through gritted teeth. He laughed as he left the room. I too let out a small giggle as I got the keys ready to go get tested again.


"So," Spencer said. "What've you got for me?"

"Well the first time we test the keys the one had did not have traces of magic and it had only his DNA on it. The second time we ran it there were only faint traces of magic, not enough to detect what spell or curse though," I rattled off looking over the information I had collected.

He let out a sigh and then asked, "What about the one you found by the door?"

"It had ' DNA along with someone else's, but so far we have been unable to trace the DNA to a single person," I said. "But we did get enough information to find out it's a females DNA."

"Well that narrows it down to only half of London's population," Spencer groaned pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And really only about a quarter considering half of London's population are magical," James said absent mindedly.

"Great," Spencer said slamming his head on his desk.

"Do you really think that's all I have for you?" I asked. "I thought you knew better. I sent a friend to talk to people in the Department of Mysteries to see if anything has been out of the ordinary the past two or three months. He reported back with nothing mysterious so it has to be an inside job."

"Alright we'll start looking into that tomorrow," Spencer said. "Just get the names of all the current working Unspeakables and we'll interview them."

"Got it," I said. "I'll do that right now before I leave."

"Great," Spencer smiled. "Good work both of you. We'll pick up same time tomorrow?"

"Right and I promise I'll be on time," I said blushing. "See you later." I left before either could make fun of me. I sent a letter to the Head Unspeakable for a list of all the workers in the Department. He sent one back and I filed it away with the rest of the information on the case and got my things and went home.

"I'm home," I called as I threw my keys onto the kitchen counter. "Anyone here?"

"In here!" Marlene called from the living room. I went in and saw her sitting on the couch with some files spread out around her.

"What's that stuff?" I asked as I toed off my boots and peeled off my jacket.

"Just stuff for work," she said without looking up. "What are you doing here anyways I thought it was date night?"

"It is," I smiled plopping on the couch next to her. "He said he'd pick me up around 7:30pm. I've got a while."

"You better shower then. You smell like frog parts," she suggested scrunching up her nose. I groaned and pulled at my shirt.

"I know I spent a good part of the day working with evidentiary testing potions," I groaned. "I guess I should go now before he shows up."

"Good idea," she called as I made my way into my room. I stripped off my clothes and got in the shower washing away the frog smell with honey smelling soap and shampoo. After finishing my shower I dried off and put on my robe. I curled my hair and did my makeup then picked out a floral dress and paired it with a cream scarf and tan heeled boots. I laid out the outfit and then sat on the bed yawning only now just realizing how tired I was.

'Just a few minutes,' I thought to myself as my eyes fluttered shut.


"Cassidy Anastasia Clark get your arse up!"

I was shaken awake by a very pissed looking Marlene. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and it read 8:00pm.

"Why didn't someone wake me?!" I growled as I ripped off my robe and tugged on my dress.

"I went out to get milk and I came back and Sirius was standing outside," she said throwing a pair of polka dot tights at me. When I shot her a confused look she claimed it was cold out.

"Urgh!" I groaned pulling on my boots violently. "He's gonna kill me." I grabbed my the purse Marlene held out for me and grabbed a discarded leather jacket on the floor before looking in the mirror and then rushing to meet Sirius.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize as I'm tugging on my jacket. "The warm water in the shower made me tired and I didn't think to set an alarm and...ugh today could not go any worse."

"Hey hey hey," he said grabbing my arms. "Slow down love. It's fine I understand."

"You do?" I said blinking at him.

"Yeah I do," he smiled brushing a stray curl away from my face. "We can stay in if you'd like."

"No we haven't had time to go out lately," I said. "Let's go now. I'm sure it won't be that busy anyways."

"Alright if you're sure," he smiled. I nodded my head and grabbed his hand leading him to the door.

"Positive. There's a little cafe down the street I've been dying to try," I smiled.

"Let's go then," he agreed. We left the building and went to the cafe. It was small, but very cute and not many people were there either which was great. We filled each other in on our days and what our plans for tomorrow were.

"You know if you aren't doing anything this weekend we can shut ourselves in," I suggested on our walk back to my flat.

"As great as that sounds we have that benefit thing at the Potters on Saturday," he reminded me. I groaned and let loose a small string of curses.

"I completely forgot," I whined. "I still have to find a dress. Damn it."

"Sunday maybe?" he asked. I thought for a moment and then smiled.

"Sounds perfect," I agreed just as we reached the front of my building. "Well I would invite you up, but last night caused me to be late this morning and I promised James and my brother I would be on time tomorrow."

"Just another thing for me to look forward to on Sunday," he said wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed and slapped his arm before reaching up to kiss him lightly.

"There's a dark alley around the corner for you to apparate from," I informed him pulling away. "Good night Sirius."

"Night love," he said before disappearing down the street. I smiled at his retreating form and then went inside.

"How was date night?" Lily and Marlene asked as I entered the living room with a smile still on my face.

"Absolutely brilliant," I sang. "You two going to the Potters benefit Saturday?"

"Well considering I'm dating their son," Lily noted.

"Remus and I are spending the day locked in," Marlene said. "Our relationship needs work."

"Lily you up for shopping after work tomorrow?" I asked giving her a hopeful look. She thought for a moment and then nodded. "Great meet me at the Leaky. Now I'm off to bed for a good night's sleep for once."

I changed into my pajamas and wiped the makeup from my face then fell into bed and into a much needed deep sleep.

But not before setting my alarm of course!

I know it's not too exciting yet but I promise within the next few chapters it will get interesting. Please review and tell me what you think! I only got one review for the last chapter but I got lots of favorites and follows so that gives me hope! I love you all!

XOXO,

SophieElizabeth630