Author's Notes: Again, many thanks to LuthAn for the beta.

The Magical War Detective I: The New Protector

Chapter Three: First Impressions

Part II

Andrew spent the afternoon showing Alice how to fill out some of the simpler forms. There was no better way to disabuse a trainee of unrealistic expectations than by introducing them to paperwork. By day's end they had made their way through a good portion of the paperwork Andrew had been putting off.

The next morning, Ketterly decided to take Alice along when he interviewed Morris Jakes' neighbour Mr. Bradley.

Bradley was an elderly wizard who still walked with a limp from a youthful duel gone awry. When Andrew identified himself the old man invited them in and offered tea. There was no surprise in his face – he had clearly spoken to Jakes and knew to expect investigators – but more importantly, there was no hint of anxiety or deception. If anything, Bradley seemed to regard the visit as a welcome change from his routine.

Bradley invited them into his home and offered tea. Andrew was pleased to note that Alice looked at him questioningly before she took a sip. He nodded; the tea was safe, a bit weak for his taste, but safe.

"I must ask what you were doing when you saw the Mark," Andrew asked after taking another drink. He set his enchanted quill to record the conversation exactly, even if it insisted upon adding marginal notes during lulls in the conversation.

"I'm a poor sleeper these days, curse causes me leg to dance sometimes," Bradley explained stoutly. "I went to make tea and looked out me kitchen window and there was that thing plain as daylight. I called Morris, as he works for the Ministry."

"Did you see anyone when you looked outside?" Andrew asked.

"I thought I saw movement, maybe figures in dark cloaks moving about the garden. At least two, but without my glasses on it was hard to tell for sure," he made an apologetic gesture. Witnesses often wished they could offer more.

Out of the corner of his eye Andrew saw Alice shudder at the mention of the Death Eaters. "Have you seen any odd characters or things in the area?"

"Other than Mrs. Randall's apple crumble?" Bradley forced a grin. "I wish I could tell you more, Protector Ketterly, but there isn't anything to tell."

Ketterly realized there wasn't much more to be had from Bradley and so asked him a few more procedural questions before standing to leave. They thanked him for the tea and collected their cloaks.

"Death Eaters often scout ahead," Ketterly explained as they left Bradley's house and approached a Muggle residence. "They like to be in and out as quickly as possible on a raid."

Alice nodded. "It doesn't sound as though they were here long."

"No," Andrew said. That it took only a few minutes to murder three innocent people and turn a little girl into an orphan was a chilling thought. He had heard that an aunt and uncle in Essex would take in Charlotte Landry. "It doesn't."

Posing as Muggle detectives looking into a burglary in the neighbourhood – a good ruse since there almost always had been at least one theft within the last few months – they moved quickly down the street.

It was only when they interviewed a retired accountant called Mr. Phelps who lived three doors down from the Landry cottage that Andrew and Alice heard anything substantial. Mr. Phelps recalled seeing a supsicious character.

"One was a woman," Phelps said. "Sure of it. She wore this queer dress. It looked like something a monk might wear except it was green and lilac. The get-up some folks wear these days."

"Hippies," Andrew declared with authority. Sometimes planting a false suggestion without magic worked better than any Memory Charm. "What did she look like?"

"Skinny as a rail, sandy hair. I didn't look at her face as much as that outfit."

"We'll look into things," Andrew said. He pressed a special card into the man's hand. It contained a charm that would discourage Phelps from speaking to his neighbours for a few days. Andrew hated doing it, but he had to uphold the Statute of Secrecy and it was better than modifying his memory.

"Hippy?" Alice shook her head as they left the street in search of a good place to Apparate. "I though Phelps said she had the rain thin. Are Muggle rails shaped differently than ours?"

Andrew sighed. Purebloods. "He meant he thought her one of those young Muggles who are rebelling against…well everything established. They wear odd attire and Muggles call them 'hippies.'"

Alice paused in mid-step. "They rebel against everything established?"

It seemed a bit much to Andrew as well. The establishment was flawed but overthrowing it would be worse. "Just about."

Alice shook her head, obviously unable to comprehend that much rebellion.

Andrew had Alice copy his notes from the interviews with Bradley and Phelps into the file. Writing legibly was a challenge for him, and he was relieved to have a trainee with a fair hand. Fortunately there had not been too many pauses in the conversation so there were only a few comments from his quill ('Protector-Trainee Pevensey should not gulp down her tea...' 'Looks like rain this afternoon...') in the margins. Then Ketterly quizzed Alice on regulations and finally sent her home with some more reading.

After she left, Basil opened his desk drawer and removed a letter bearing a Ministry seal. He brought it over to Andrew.

"This came while you were out, for your eyes only," Basil said. Andrew noticed a scorch mark on the inside of the secretary's sleeve.

"You're lucky there wasn't a more fearsome spell on this letter," Andrew remarked. Basil suffered from an insatiable curiosity.

Basil scowled at him. "I'm going home. Take care."

Andrew opened the letter. As he had half-expected, it was from Crouch asking him to meet a Ministry agent at a Muggle pub in London.

He had wanted the Department Head's attention. He had it now.