Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling.
Charlie's WarChapter 10—Conspiracy Theory
Everyone seemed to converge on Travis's house at once. Charlie and Travis drove in from their meeting with Tricia Trevino; Amanda came by after work with some good news about the Auror Division which she was dying to tell. She brought someone along again. She was proving to be a very good recruiter. Diane was waiting for them in the living room talking to Harry and Ginny. They seemed to be pleased with whatever she was telling them.
When Diane saw Charlie and Travis come through the door, her eyes lit up and she jumped up. She held up a copy of the magazine she brought with her.
"He printed it just like I wrote it," she said excitedly. "He loved the angle and wants me to keep writing about dark magic. He thinks it will be very popular."
"That's great, Diane," Charlie said. He was caught up in her enthusiasm and he kissed her before he caught himself. Ginny looked at him with an amused look on her face, but didn't say anything. No one else seemed to pay attention except Amanda, who kind of sniffed.
Amanda stepped into the living room ahead of Charlie and Diane, pulling on the arm of the man she brought with her. "This is Miles. He works in the Auror Division." She waited for her words to have their effect. Immediately, everyone turned toward Miles, who smiled confidently.
"It's a real pleasure to meet all of you," he said. "There are several of us at the division who are frustrated at the way things are being handled. We know that something's going on, but everything we try to do gets struck down or if we try to complain, it falls on deaf ears.
"The training we receive isn't adequate for what I believe we are facing. The reports of muggle tortures are being ignored for the most part. We want to do something, but it seems like our hands are tied."
He turned to Harry earnestly. "If you could talk to the Secretary himself, I think you can straighten things out. Our director acts totally oblivious. He feeds shit to the Secretary. It's like he doesn't believe in the organization. It's very frustrating. If the Secretary actually read one of our reports, I think things would be different. I brought a file for you to see. It's the investigations on past activities that didn't get past Kenneth Fowler's assistant's desk or the deputy." He waved around the envelope. "There are things in here, some of it I've personally investigated, that are real and credible, but no one will listen."
He was clearly upset. Charlie felt a ray of hope for the first time in a while.
"Did you know that there are vampires that are working with two dark wizards and their recruits?" Miles asked.
"Yes, we did." Harry said.
"Damn. The Secretary knows nothing about it! Ken, uh Mr. Fowler actually laughed at the report. He warned my partner and me about lying to make our jobs look relevant."
"We have a lot of information which may be helpful to you. The head dark wizard's name is Ares. He's paired up with a psychopathic witch named Murianne, and triplet vampires, who are sadistic bastards," Travis said. "They killed two muggle friends of ours, Lilith and Selene. We believe that they used Lilith to get into this country somehow. Murianne is definitely a former death eater and we believe that Ares is as well. He's probably using an alias because nobody knows the name. Lilith was the first to be tortured and killed. And we know of two muggle bars that have been terrorized just around here. We also know he's recruiting in wizard bars that cater to a younger crowd."
"I've asked from friends from the Ministry to investigate Ares from our side," said Harry. "Hopefully something will turn up."
Miles was impressed. "You have done more in a short time than we've been able to accomplish in years. This isn't the first report we've investigated. There was little activity over the past two years, but it has really picked within the past month. Hopefully with your help and exposure from the media, wizards will actually start paying attention."
"Diane's our media witch," Charlie said. "She'll help you any way she can."
"Outstanding! We couldn't get anyone from the news to even listen to us because our boss fed them some bull shit piece one time that was totally bogus. It's almost as if he doesn't want us to find any dark wizards." Clearly frustrated, Miles was happy that someone believed him and wanted to help.
Harry and Charlie looked at each other significantly. Maybe the head of the Auror Division didn't want anyone to believe the threat. But why?
"Diane," Harry said. "Will you do an investigation on Kenneth Fowler?" he said. "There's something wrong here. Do you agree?"
"Absolutely. Unless the guy's a complete moron, and that's possible, why would he not want to tell people of the threat so that they'll be prepared? It just doesn't make any sense."
"There's something else," said Miles. "It didn't seem significant at the time, but the more I think about it, the more important it sounds." He hesitated for a moment. "All of the Aurors in the Division except for the higher echelon are Americans. Mr. Fowler's deputy is from Europe and his executive assistant is from England."
"Why do you find that significant?" Ginny asked.
"Because Americans have never experienced dark magic, even in the early days. Most wouldn't know a dark wizard from a street sign. I think they purposely recruited Americans and discouraged English and European-born wizards from applying for Auror."
That seemed like a bit of a stretch to Charlie. Was there some conspiracy theory that was undermining the Auror Division? It seemed unlikely. If the Secretary of Magic didn't believe there was a credible threat, then he might consider downsizing or even eliminating the division, but to sabotage an entire division sounded preposterous. It made absolutely no sense.
Diane, however, looked extremely interested in Miles's revelation. Charlie believed she was on to something. He looked at her questioningly. Her brow was furled. She was making mental notes, figuring out something in her head. She looked at Charlie and nodded. She wanted to talk to him in private before saying anything to the rest of them.
Charlie followed her into the kitchen.
"Miles may be on to something," Diane said. He started to shake his head. She touched his chest. "No, listen to this. I'll admit it's a stretch, but what if, I know it sounds crazy, what if either the director someone else high up like the deputy or the executive assistant is actually a dark wizard? They could control the propaganda and could protect the dark wizards, letting them take hold of the department while everyone else is totally clueless?" She closed her eyes and tried hard to make her thoughts clearer. "Once the Department is infiltrated, then before too long, the whole Department of Magic is made up of dark wizards, controlling every aspect of the wizarding world. Didn't something like that happen in England with the Ministry of Magic?" she asked. Her hand was still on Charlie's chest and she was patting it absently. He didn't seem to notice, but apparently Amanda did. She walked into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" she asked, looking from Charlie to Diane.
Diane removed her hand from Charlie's chest. "We were just discussing a theory," she said. "Something I wanted to run by Charlie for his opinion. Why? Are we missing something?"
Amanda reddened slightly. She didn't want Charlie or Diane to know she was jealous of Diane. Amanda had harbored a crush on Charlie even since they met. She wasn't going to act on it, but she didn't want anyone else taking him away either. She looked at Diane and turned around and walked out.
"That was odd," Charlie said.
Diane just smiled. She was perfectly aware of what was going on. It wouldn't hurt if Amanda thought something was going on between her and Charlie. She shrugged. "Yes, it was."
"So you're going to investigate your theory?" Charlie asked.
"Absolutely," she said. "I think there's something to it. I would love to talk to Miles's partner, but I don't think he'll talk to me. He isn't here and may be worried about repercussions. I think maybe the key is with the deputy director and or the executive assistant. What do you think?"
"Could be. Sounds outlandish, but you never know. Keep me informed, okay?" Charlie said. "And be careful. If what you're saying is true (and I'm not convinced it is), then there is a lot at stake here and you never know what anyone will do to protect their secret."
"I know and I will."