A/N: I'm so glad that my muse is back! Am fairly sure that she'd eloped
to Tahiti with some hot stud and abandoned me during the past few
months of hellish work/school/RL type drama. In any case, as always,
credit must be given to Kimmie for the inspiration and Sky for the
beta, and I must also give an enormous thank you to Kayleigh for the
tips and details that she had so kindly helped me work out on Seamus'
familial background. Thank you and your British self with the knowledge
of regional info on the Potterverse :D
Disclaimer: I've stated in the other 62 fics on this author's page that I don't own any fandoms. Hopefully the point has been made?
"This must be the house, then," a lithe blonde woman murmured, glancing at a small scroll by wandlight as she made her stealthy way towards the gates barring a dark, portentous estate from the rest of the world. "Think you can handle it?"
The sandy-haired young man accompanying her shot her a dark scowl. "Just because I'm not as monumentally perfect as your previous partner was doesn't make me an incompetent lout, Caligo."
"Temper, temper," Susannah Caligo drawled in a low, patrician voice. "I'd never suggested you were, but you wanted to go in and seek out the target while I dealt with the wards. It was just a question. And my previous partner is irrelevent to this discussion."
He rolled his eyes at her, inciting nothing more than a smirk in his direction, and determinedly raised his wand.
Several spells later, even as Caligo broke down the final ward, he crouched low, his back to the wrought-iron gate, and as Caligo cast a temporary Silencing charm that would cover any sounds he made, he slid the gate open and stalked in.
The resident of the house was in the middle of watching his House Elf jumping up and down on shards of broken glass in cruel amusement when the door opened to reveal a grim, masculine face, atop an athletic body clad in the navy blue robes of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. The House-Elf squeaked and stumbled painfully to cower under the enormous ebony desk of the study as its master raised his wand, aiming it at the intruder with a curse on his lips.
Outside the building, Susannah Caligo watched as the windows of the house flashed with bursts of light and sparks, several jets of fiery green in her line of vision. But the spells kept coming, so he wasn't dead. Setting her teeth and wishing him luck despite his... somewhat irritating qualities as a coworker, she repaired the wards that she had torn down earlier; their target was not to be allowed an escape.
She was just about to cast the final anti-Apparation ward upon the place when a ringing cry of "STUPEFY" shook the walls of the house and then all was still. Her wand raised, the young hit witch waited expectantly.
It could have been anyone who emerged victorious, really, and therefore she drew an inaudible sigh of relief as her partner walked out in the same gait that he'd walked in, a few scorch marks on his robes and a scratch on his cheek, but otherwise unscathed as he levitated the unconscious master of the estate out before him.
"Another one down," he said flatly.
"Good work," Susannah declared magnanimously. "You can take him back and I can finish up over here."
"Leave the dirty work all to me, why don't you," he muttered, and she smirked.
"I'm just better at getting some sorts of information. Now go before I ward the place again."
He Disapparated, prisoner in tow, with a pop. Susannah sighed, and continued her determined way towards the house to investigate the final pieces of this puzzle.
Stuart Jugson had just been taken away by the Azkaban liaison when Susannah Caligo returned. "Well then..."
"What?" her partner asked, somewhat impatiently.
"His wife is missing." The blonde former Slytherin said, in a slightly mystified tone. "Susan Artemisia Jugson. Missing these past two days, and Jugson's House Elves have been in a state of almost perpetual self-inflicted punishment due to this calamity. Apparently the girl's flown the coop late one night after Jugson had chugged himself into an inebriated stupor."
"And what is the information on the girl?"
"Susan Jugson, aged 25, formerly Bones," Susannah said crisply. "Hufflepuff alumna, Pureblood. No living relatives."
The man raised an eyebrow. "She was in my year. Lord, I think that we had Herbology together."
"I know she was in your year, Finnigan... but she's nowhere to be found. The House-Elves don't know... and before you ask, yes, that's under truth potion testimony. And according to them, they were punishing themselves because their master didn't know either."
"And what sort of relationship did the lately incarcerated have with his better half?" Seamus asked sardonically. "I can't say that I knew her well."
"The stories have it that he coerced her to marry him... and then broke a promise to leave her family unharmed."
"Charming," Seamus scowled, green eyes narrowing. "I adore two-faced sadism. Really."
"As much as I would appreciate a jug of flobberworm mucus over my dress robes," Susannah drawled. "But Mister Jugson's gentlemanly behaviour isn't the most important issue right now. HE is certainly not going anywhere."
"I know... but have you any ideas where his wife might be, and what she might know?"
Susannah gave him an exasperated look. "I think that's the next thing we must work on."
Seamus glared at her. "I meant... if the House Elves could give any indications or clues that WE might be able to piece together?"
"We're still working on that," Susannah said wearily. "Truth Potions has a slight soporific effect on House Elves, you know. We'll have to wait until Bobo and Vinny come to once more."
"And in the meantime tackle the mountain of paperwork."
"You're starting to learn," Susannah said sarcastically. "I'm so proud of you."
"Sod off."
Disclaimer: I've stated in the other 62 fics on this author's page that I don't own any fandoms. Hopefully the point has been made?
"This must be the house, then," a lithe blonde woman murmured, glancing at a small scroll by wandlight as she made her stealthy way towards the gates barring a dark, portentous estate from the rest of the world. "Think you can handle it?"
The sandy-haired young man accompanying her shot her a dark scowl. "Just because I'm not as monumentally perfect as your previous partner was doesn't make me an incompetent lout, Caligo."
"Temper, temper," Susannah Caligo drawled in a low, patrician voice. "I'd never suggested you were, but you wanted to go in and seek out the target while I dealt with the wards. It was just a question. And my previous partner is irrelevent to this discussion."
He rolled his eyes at her, inciting nothing more than a smirk in his direction, and determinedly raised his wand.
Several spells later, even as Caligo broke down the final ward, he crouched low, his back to the wrought-iron gate, and as Caligo cast a temporary Silencing charm that would cover any sounds he made, he slid the gate open and stalked in.
The resident of the house was in the middle of watching his House Elf jumping up and down on shards of broken glass in cruel amusement when the door opened to reveal a grim, masculine face, atop an athletic body clad in the navy blue robes of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. The House-Elf squeaked and stumbled painfully to cower under the enormous ebony desk of the study as its master raised his wand, aiming it at the intruder with a curse on his lips.
Outside the building, Susannah Caligo watched as the windows of the house flashed with bursts of light and sparks, several jets of fiery green in her line of vision. But the spells kept coming, so he wasn't dead. Setting her teeth and wishing him luck despite his... somewhat irritating qualities as a coworker, she repaired the wards that she had torn down earlier; their target was not to be allowed an escape.
She was just about to cast the final anti-Apparation ward upon the place when a ringing cry of "STUPEFY" shook the walls of the house and then all was still. Her wand raised, the young hit witch waited expectantly.
It could have been anyone who emerged victorious, really, and therefore she drew an inaudible sigh of relief as her partner walked out in the same gait that he'd walked in, a few scorch marks on his robes and a scratch on his cheek, but otherwise unscathed as he levitated the unconscious master of the estate out before him.
"Another one down," he said flatly.
"Good work," Susannah declared magnanimously. "You can take him back and I can finish up over here."
"Leave the dirty work all to me, why don't you," he muttered, and she smirked.
"I'm just better at getting some sorts of information. Now go before I ward the place again."
He Disapparated, prisoner in tow, with a pop. Susannah sighed, and continued her determined way towards the house to investigate the final pieces of this puzzle.
Stuart Jugson had just been taken away by the Azkaban liaison when Susannah Caligo returned. "Well then..."
"What?" her partner asked, somewhat impatiently.
"His wife is missing." The blonde former Slytherin said, in a slightly mystified tone. "Susan Artemisia Jugson. Missing these past two days, and Jugson's House Elves have been in a state of almost perpetual self-inflicted punishment due to this calamity. Apparently the girl's flown the coop late one night after Jugson had chugged himself into an inebriated stupor."
"And what is the information on the girl?"
"Susan Jugson, aged 25, formerly Bones," Susannah said crisply. "Hufflepuff alumna, Pureblood. No living relatives."
The man raised an eyebrow. "She was in my year. Lord, I think that we had Herbology together."
"I know she was in your year, Finnigan... but she's nowhere to be found. The House-Elves don't know... and before you ask, yes, that's under truth potion testimony. And according to them, they were punishing themselves because their master didn't know either."
"And what sort of relationship did the lately incarcerated have with his better half?" Seamus asked sardonically. "I can't say that I knew her well."
"The stories have it that he coerced her to marry him... and then broke a promise to leave her family unharmed."
"Charming," Seamus scowled, green eyes narrowing. "I adore two-faced sadism. Really."
"As much as I would appreciate a jug of flobberworm mucus over my dress robes," Susannah drawled. "But Mister Jugson's gentlemanly behaviour isn't the most important issue right now. HE is certainly not going anywhere."
"I know... but have you any ideas where his wife might be, and what she might know?"
Susannah gave him an exasperated look. "I think that's the next thing we must work on."
Seamus glared at her. "I meant... if the House Elves could give any indications or clues that WE might be able to piece together?"
"We're still working on that," Susannah said wearily. "Truth Potions has a slight soporific effect on House Elves, you know. We'll have to wait until Bobo and Vinny come to once more."
"And in the meantime tackle the mountain of paperwork."
"You're starting to learn," Susannah said sarcastically. "I'm so proud of you."
"Sod off."