Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. I struggled with a part of this chapter (and hopefully it's not noticeable) and I went back to work on Monday, so I don't have much time to write. I will try very hard to put a chapter out a week (though I'd like to aim for 2 a week). I'm also working on a GoldGraves story, so that'll take up time too (and maybe I should work on my Scorpion fic, lol). Thank you all for reading!

Chapter 11- In All Conscience

January 1924

A New Year. A new beginning?

With Hitcher's passing, the line of command changed in the Auror's office. Limus was now the Chief Auror, with Carneirus taking his place as Captain of Auror's. Limus wasn't like Hitcher. He wasn't angry or bitter. He also smiled too much for Laura's liking. He was a pasty, skinny white man with a poor fashion sense. Edward Roche always joked that if Aliens were real, Limus was definitely one, and he was doing a bad job of blending in.

After a couple of weeks, and after the holidays, things were beginning to return to normal. Or, as normal as it could be in the Auror's office.

Laura was no longer relegated to just paperwork. Hinton and Laura were a real partnership now. Graves had been surprised when Laura asked him not to change her partner after all, but agreed. Hinton, though still angry and bitter, didn't seem to mind Laura too much anymore.

They had an understanding now.

Christmas with the Goldstein's had been just what Laura needed. A refreshing change of pace, the three women spent all day gossiping and giggling, forgetting about the horrors of the job.

January was a bitter cold, but Hinton and Laura had spent much of the month outside of New York. The more stakeouts and raids they went on, the more Graves trusted them with the more secretive cases.

Which brought them to this particular January evening. Instead of spending it in their respective warm homes, the pair were posing as husband and wife, in disguise, in northern California. Graves had sent them to the cold city of San Francisco to look for Gregor Favila. Wanted for the murder of a muggle, the wizard was last seen in downtown San Francisco.

This was officially the farthest west Laura had ever been. She wished she could enjoy it, but like most of her traveling, there was less of an emphasis on enjoying her time and more on finding the criminals they were after.

One day, she'd have to take a real holiday.

"Okay, ten dragots says Picquery and Graves have fucked," Hinton bet her. They were sitting at table in a nice restaurant near the wharf. They had requested a table by the window so they could watch the street, keeping an eye out for their target. Hinton was wearing a nice dinner suit while Laura had to wear a classy and quite beaded flapper dress. It was silver and she felt like the moon when she shimmied.

Laura grimaced, preferring not to think about her boss and the President in that way. She took a drag of her cigarette. "Boy I fucking hope not," she said, blowing out the smoke.

"They've known each other since Ilvermorny. She keeps giving him these promotions. She's probably seen his dick," Hinton kept going.

"The women in the office are always gossiping," Laura admitted. "It's the way he sits, you know? Hunter said only guys with big dicks sit like that. Of course then Olala asked him why he sits like that." She chuckled at the memory. She'd never seen Hunter blush so hard. "I bet you ten dragots that they've never fucked. I will agree that I bet she's seen his dick though. When? I don't know, but they got that look between them, don't they?"

"Do all of you ladies gossip about all of us men?" he questioned, fishing.

Laura laughed. "Hah, no. Sorry. Only Graves. Mostly Graves. He's got that something that the women like."

"And you?"

"And me what?"

"He does it for you?"

Laura made a face at Hinton, scrunching her nose up. "Don't fish for compliments, Hint. It's unbecoming."

"Ah, okay." Hinton turned to look out the window, a knowing smile on his face.

"Okay nothing. Graves is handsome, yes. But he is a jackass. So no, Hint old boy, he doesn't do it for me," she said a bit too forcibly.

Truth be told, she was still having sex dreams about Graves. Since Queenie hadn't said anything or reacted in any way, Laura figured she had hid it very well. She was doing well by not thinking about Graves like that while at work. At night though, when she would slip into bed in her nightie…

She took another drag of her cigarette.

"You should date this year," Hinton said out of nowhere, turning to look back at his partner.

Laura grimaced at him. Again.

"I mean it."

"Who am I going to date? I only spend time with other Auror's. And I live around a bunch of muggles," Laura complained, her head turning to look out of the window. The street was busy tonight.

Hinton grimaced at her use of muggle. "Miller Jackson in Wand Permit is single," he offered.

Laura rolled her neck as she turned to look at Hinton, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and disgust. "Don't. Be. Fucking. Stupid."

He leaned back in his chair, arms out. "What? Miller's a nice guy."

"In Wand Permit. And he's like 12!"

"He's 22. That's not that young. You're what, 25? And it's not like you're going to live forever. I also didn't say to marry him. Just date the guy."

Her eyes narrowed at Hinton, wishing she was a legilimens. "He told you he likes me, didn't he?" she finally asked.

Hinton shrugged.

"Oh, gross. That's the last time I go down to Wand Permit," Laura complained, stubbing out her cigarette as she looked back out the window.

"He's not that bad, is he?"

"I'm not looking," Laura said in a soft voice.

"It's a New Year. You've been here for half a year now. Have some fun," he told her.

She smiled brightly at him. "But I'm having fun with you," Laura joked.

Hinton shook his head disapprovingly. "Ten dragots say you have a date with someone by June."

"I'll take that bet. And you're gonna regret-" Laura stopped talking as she spotted a familiar face across the street. "Well, well, well."

Hinton looked outside casually. "So it is true."

"I do hope you're done with dinner, darling," Laura said.

Signaling for the waiter, Hinton chuckled. "I'm quite ready for a walk, my dear."

After quickly paying their bill, Hinton and Laura hurried out to follow behind Favila. With their combined transfiguration skills, the pair of Auror's had been able to change enough of their faces and hair to make them look like different people. All they needed to do was follow Favila, figure out where he was staying, and then get word back to Graves.

Tailing a mark was an art. You had to stay close enough to not lose them, but you couldn't be too close. Truth be told, Laura was not overly good at it. But it was easier when you had someone else with you.

Walking arm in arm like they did this every day, Laura and Hinton whispered to one another, smiling like a couple in love as they followed several feet behind Favila. The man moved at a leisurely pace, seemingly unbothered by the cold January air.

Laura pulled her thick wool coat closer around her with her free hand, hating the cold. Favila headed up one of the steep streets of San Francisco. As they walked, Laura wondered how on earth anyone could live here. It was too much of an angle for her.

After ten minutes, they were still following behind him, but the crowd was thinning. They couldn't risk following him for much longer without being caught, but they needed to know where he was going.

"I don't suppose you're good at the Disillusionment Charm," Hinton whispered.

"Unfortunately no. I could only ever master a couple of limbs at a time and not for very long," Laura replied.

"That's more than I ever got."

Hinton tugged her arm back slightly, signaling for the couple to slow down even further. They had turned onto a side, residential street and there were only four people between them and Favila. While Hinton kept his eyes on their target, Laura casually glanced around, pretending to be interested in the scenery.

In reality, something felt off. The further they got from the main roads, the more her skin crawled. And from the way Hinton held her arm close to his body, he must have felt the same way.

"We should-" Laura started to whisper to Hinton when suddenly Favila wheeled around, wand in hand, and shot something off at the pair.

She reacted on instinct. Unhooking her arm from his, Laura pushed him with her shoulder, shoving Hinton to one side while she flew to the other. She landed hard against a brick staircase, the air being violently pushed from her lungs.

Hinton recovered quicker than she did, barely touching the pavement of the street before he climbed to his feet, wand out to fire back at Favila.

Taking a brief second to catch her breath, Laura climbed to her feet and whipped her wand out just in time to see one of Favila's men take aim at Hinton.

"Stupefy!" Laura shouted, her wand pointed at the creeping criminal.

The charm hit its mark, square in the chest, and sent him back flying. Laura turned on her heel and disapparated.

A second later, she apparated a foot behind Favila. Without waiting, she quickly sent off Expelliarmus, but Favila blocked it and fired off a spell at her. Laura blocked it and took a step back, watching as Hinton sent off his own spell at Favila.

The muggle murderer easily blocked that spell as well. As Laura prepared to send another charm towards Favila, something zoomed past her left side.

She started, spinning to find another wizard across the street, grinning devilishly at Laura. She could feel something dripping down her left arm, but ignored the white hot pain. It wasn't her wand arm, so it didn't matter at this point.

Laura growled, furious at herself for not noticing the third man. She fired off three spells in quick succession, the last being her rather angry Stupefy Duo. The last spell hit its mark, causing the man to go flying back. He hit the brick house behind him violently, dust curling out around him.

Turning again, Laura realized the street was quiet. Hinton was kneeling on the ground and Favila was gone.

"Larry!" she called out, rushing to her partner.

"I'm fine. But Favila disapparated. I don't think he's coming back," he said, grimacing through the pain of the wound on his sound.

Laura clicked her tongue disappointingly at the blood seeping through his dark suit.

"Well, fuck."