Frank and I stepped onto the rotary. Slowly the wall started spinning, speeding up until it was a blue blur.
"Office suite 723." Frank spoke clearly, as though he were using flu powder. I remained silent and observant.
I'd been working for the Magical Law enforcement department for 6 months when we had a full-scale all points attack. As was becoming usual, I was gathering information from the aftermath of the scene to try to piece together what happened, and try to figure what will happen next. I ended up along side Auror Frank Longbottom. I tried not to feel intimidated, but this was a man who had escaped Lord V twice.
The wall stopped turning, Frank opened the door directly in front of us. The door was identical to all the other doors in the rotary. The door opened into a quaintly decorated hallway. It was wood paneled on the lower half, and had a Morris print wall paper that looked like it hadn't been updated since Victorian times. Magical lamps made to resemble gas-light were set at intervals along the wall between doors marked out in prime number sequences. Finally we came to a door labeled office suite 723. Frank opened the door and let me proceed him inside.
I blinked rapidly several times, my eyes momentarily dazzled by the light. After the gothic horror of the entranceway, the quiet Victorian of the main office hallway, I was unprepared for anything as over done art deco, industrial, and modern as this room is. Frank seemed amused by my reaction.
"Fortunately, as we get split up into teams and assigned to an office space, we're allowed to choose our own style of décor since we end up spending so much time here. Unfortunately, our last team leader had a fondness for muggle television adventure shows." He led me to the middle of the suite, where there was a glassed in conference room. He held the door open for me.
"In the last few months we've been assigned a new team leader, Alistar Moody. He's still taking suggestions on floor plans. But he fully intends to get rid of this human fish bowl. Here's the rest of the full team. Alistar Moody, you know. Here is Carlotta Brice- Team Healer, expert in Magical Maladies and injuries. This is Nancy Longbottom- Auror, Magical defense and strategy; Dorcus Meadows – Expert in Herbology; Harold McGinnis- expert in covert operations; Edgar Bones- transportation; Severus Snape- with covert operations as well as Potions expert, and I'm the communication liaison of the team. You've been transferred to us as a Crime Scene Investigator."
I tried not to look confused as Frank continued.
"As you can see, each member on the team has their expertise- and we make use of that. This will be one of the few times we're all in the same room. Outside this room, we'll tell you who it's safe to know, when and why. Our primary investigator is out of commission. We have too many cases open to wait and see if he'll be released from Mungo's. Your personality profile and work on the Quidditch leagues indicate you're a good team player, can handle high-pressure situations even in front of reporters, and are able to work without supervision. We need these traits along with your ability to look at the small details and see how they fit in the larger picture. Now, I read in your file that you are being fast-tracked through the Auror program?"
"Yes, sir." My test scores from Hogwarts O.W.L. & N.E.W.T classes were nearly always at the top of form. I think it disappointed a few of my professors that I went to work for the Quidditch league instead. Then the League was shut down due to the war with V. I was at the last game that was held- it was a blood bath.
I was questioned as a witness, thanked for my quick thinking to get the spectators, especially the children and underage students, in the sections nearest me down into the sealed locker rooms where myself and a few of the surviving members of both teams could defend them. I stunned two Death Eaters that found our out-of-the way entrance allowing some of the team members and parents to grab brooms and fly out to try to rescue children who made it to the broom fields without their families. We found their bodies later that evening under the green glow of the dark mark.
The Ministry recruited me that same week.
Frank approached me after a high-profile case we worked on together about doing cross work for the Department of Mysteries. The hours would be longer, but I felt it would be worth the time and effort. There were spies and traitors in the Ministry ranks. Many of my friends, colleges, and teammates, in the Quidditch league and even my brother-in-law were no longer with us because of information leaks. This is one way to begin to find them; by using watchers from within.
It makes since that the Department of Mysteries does this, they were set up to be a clearing house of information that comes through the Ministry, as well as explore and research the, as yet, unexplained. Information is gathered, then catalogued by those who have limited bias to the content.
The meeting progressed. I was able to learn about them, and they began to learn about me.
Moody, was shrewd and cynical as only a true pragmatist could be. Frank and Nancy Longbottom were highly skilled analyzers who complimented each other greatly the way they came at problems. Carlotta, who asked to be called Carly, was cautious but had a harshly callus side. I've noticed many healers developing that tone over the past two years. I think the toll of picking up the pieces of patients and their families must be a great one. Harold didn't say much that first meeting. What he did say was worth listening to, and showed he put a lot of thought into what he did say. Dorcus on the other hand was much more outspoken and idealistic. Severus was an enigma. I was never to acknowledge that I knew him, and he would never acknowledge that he knew me. But, despite being fresh out of Hogwarts- he was our greatest source of information on HIS army, as well as being our consultant in potions.
I am an observer. I watch body language, as well as the physical reactions there's little control over- eye movements and blinking, perspiration, arm position. More is communicated without saying a word then with written or spoken missives. When watching Quidditch players, the smallest muscle twitch could be the sign of a larger injury the player doesn't want to reveal. When watching suspects, it can mean a falsehood, or confession. The smallest grain of dust near a victim could reveal an illegal herb or poison, a hair- who administered the dose. The evidence speaks louder then rumor, or even facts.
I always chose to stand behind the evidence.
I looked at Moody over the cup of tea. He looked like hell.
He'd lost a leg, an eye, and possibly his sense of perspective in the line of duty.
He drank from a hip flask now. I doubt he'd even take a sip of something Dumbledore gave him let alone the tea I'd made. I know better then most why, but it makes me wonder sometimes if I'll end up the same way.
I'm a career witch. Even if I had made time in the past for a new family of my own, I'd have been terrified they'd be used as hostages against me. And I've not even been on the front lines since my 6th year in the Ministry.
When our team disbanded, we were forbidden to ever discuss what we did, learned, saw- even amongst each other.
Moody stopped by my office today to remind me that because of all our history in the Order, the Ministry, and shared friendship with Dumbledore- that publicly, I didn't know him and he would act like he didn't know me.