She left the flat around eight so she could take a leisurely walk through the city. She ducked into a store to purchase breakfast and entertainment for the day. She was dressed in her most Muggle outfit, dark ripped jeans and a shirt that had a famous Muggle band's logo on it. A pair of dark sunglasses on her head held her hair back and out of her face. Her hair was usually braided, but her goal today was to look the least like herself as possible.

She was early, as usual, and sat on a bench at their meeting spot, her foot tapping as she waited. She thought about cracking open today's tabloid, but it was purely to look busy and normal, so thought against it. She did not have to put on the act here.

Finally, a few minutes before nine, she spotted him from a distance. She was satisfied with the outfit he picked. In their casual, weekday looks, they could've been tourists or just two friends enjoying a rare sunny London day.

"Good morning," she called when he was a few paces away.

"Where to, Wellwood?" he asked. "You're in charge."

Church bells rang in the distance, giant clangs signaling it was nine o'clock. She found a bench across from where the address in question should have been... but somehow didn't exist.

"Now we wait?" He asked.

"That's why I told you to bring stuff to look busy," she explained. "They've obviously got wards up, we just need to wait for them to slip up and then decipher what you're dealing with."

"Right," he said. "I could guess what they're using, I've got similar protections on my own home-"

"Good aurors don't guess," she said, echoing words that every Auror had heard a thousand times before they got on their first case.

He nodded, knowing she was right. She was a pain in the arse to deal with, but she wasn't incompetent. "That's correct."

"Gotta keep the fan girls out?" She asked, reaching in the plastic shopping bag and taking out the parfait she'd bought for breakfast.

"Came with the place, actually," he said.

She ate her granola and yogurt slowly, trying to look as natural as possible, while keeping her eyes fixed across the street.

"I was beginning to think you didn't eat," he said, in an attempt at small talk. "Not sure I've ever seen you in the cafeteria."

She swallowed the bite of yogurt she'd just taken before replying. "Big fan of a working lunch."

He nodded and got to reading his files, which he'd charmed to look like a muggle newspaper. But his eyes also flicked up across the street. She was not used to having company, and found it rather distracting.

After about forty minutes of waiting, she stood up, and lit a long, skinny cigarette.

"Those are horrible for you," Potter said.

She shrugged, stretching her arms out wide and walking a few paces away to both stretch her legs and not to bother him. She didn't like him, but she didn't want to be a complete arse and smoke him out.

They watched. And they waited. She took the apple out of her bag and ate that, out of sheer boredom.

"How do you not lose your mind?" He asked.

"Sometimes it's far easier. Sometimes I'm there ten minutes and I have all the info I need. These buggers, though... they might hold out on us awhile. But they'll slip up eventually. They've slipped up on everything else." she explained. "And I've perfected the art of counting how many people have walked past."

"And?"

"One hundred and eighteen people so far. Six dogs, although I'm not counting the one a woman carried in her purse," she said, in obvious disdain. He smiled at the small cracks of a not-miserable person she was allowing to slip through.

She tried to look natural, reading her tabloid, reading Ames' upcoming games and marking which ones she would be at, making a grocery list.

"How long do you think we should stay?" He asked, after they'd been sitting there for nearly two hours without any sign of activity.

"Well, we don't want to look suspicious. Maybe another half hour. We need this info before your guys go in there, though. Why, got another afternoon long meeting?"

"No, I cleared my schedule for you," he said.

She raised her eyebrows, surprised. That was a big deal, and a huge sign of respect. "Well."

She glanced at her watch, as it ticked forward. She started to grow weary of watching, and felt her attention was slipping. She was sure Potter's had gone as well, since this was not his usual line of work.

"Maybe we should head back to the office," she suggested.

"Back to the office?" He questioned. "Kensington told me to make you go home after we were done in the field today, something about too many hours-"

"That arse," she sighed. What was she supposed to do for six more hours until Ames got home? She ran her fingers through her hair and flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes. "Alright then. Same place, after lunch on Friday?"

"I'm free," he said. "Meet in the office?"

"Sure."

She nodded at him and turned around, walking in the direction of her flat. Guess this meant she was going to scrub the place from top to bottom this afternoon.

At noon on Friday, Liv wrapped up her side projects and prepared to hit the field. She quickly changed into muggle clothes and stored the rest of her things at her desk. She looked totally different today, wearing a gray silk blouse, a skirt, and the sapphire necklace Ames had gotten her for Christmas. She'd even put on lipstick.

She glanced up to see Potter walking towards her, dressed like any old Muggle working an office job in the city would. It was an odd sight, but it was the right one.

"Let's do this," he said, and they began the journey to the same bench as before. She really hoped that they would get some info today, else they'd need a new vantage spot to remain inconspicuous.

Liv lit up a cigarette and paced a bit. If they couldn't crack this, what would they do? Send Harry and his team in blind? Hope that through sheer dumb luck, Harry's familiarity with this kind of magic would suffice? It just wasn't an option.

"You're making me nervous," he said, after her third cigarette in a row. "You're going to wear a hole in the side walk. Sit down, will you?

"I think better when I pace. Plus, I might as well use your eyes and attention before they're gone. Unless, of course, they are already.

"Hey, I've done a fine job so far," he said, and she realized she'd dug into him just a bit too far. "I'm not sure why you're always such an uptight arse about everything."

She huffed, and stamped out her cigarette with her boot, then got sat back down, this time resting her ass on the top of the bench and putting her hands out, palm down, on her knees.

"This shit killed my mum," she said, quietly. She had no idea what compelled her to spill her guts to someone she didn't even like, but here she was, and there was no way to un-tell him.

"Oh, god," he said, furrowing his brow. She didn't want the sympathy. "You should've had Kensington give you a different case-"

"I'm not letting the choice of others handicap my career," she said. "This is a big case to be associated with."

"I'm sorry, Wellwood. I'm really not sure what else to say," he said. His entire demeanor had changed, instead of combating her sarcasm with his wit, his face softened. "Just you and your dad then?"

"Nah, never knew him," she said, itching for another cigarette. "Walked out before I was born."

"...siblings?"

"Just me," she said, and he had a little more understanding on why she was… the way she was.

"You're ...dating someone though, aren't you?"

"Yeah, Ames and I have been together for a few years. So I've got him at least." she said.

Their silence was a little more comfortable now, but she was still stressed and found herself smoking and pacing often.

"He plays Quidditch, doesn't he?" Potter asked, noticing that she would stop pacing to answer and it was really driving him barmy.

"He's a Beater for the Tornadoes."

"You must be quite the Quidditch widow right now then," he said. "I remember those days."

She thought back to all the headlines in the tabloids about his divorce, but that must have been years ago, now. "It's the worst, right?"

"God forbid they have more than a day off a week, and even on off days they're working out, and of course their off days never line up with your off days."

"Oh, of course not. That would be far too convenient," she said. "I'm lucky if I duck out of work early on Monday once a month, just to spend a few extra hours with him."

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, he asked "I kept you waiting Monday, didn't I?"

She extinguished her cigarette, sat down, and nodded. "You did. But how would you have known?"

"Well, we actually found something in common," Potter said. "Perhaps now you won't hate me."

"I didn't hate you," she said. "I don't hate anyone. Okay, maybe I hate Houston, but that's only because he's incompetent and has no respect of deadlines, and he has the office I wanted."

"He's such a pain to work with," Potter agreed, emphatically. "I try as hard as possible to avoid it."

She smiled, before turning back to what was in her lap. He let some time go by, his eyes focused across the street intently.

"So how'd you get to be on the Research team?" he asked.

"Well," she said, sighing as she figured out how to briefly outline her transformation from a careless Hogwarts student to someone with an actual career. "I was an awful student... for most of my time at Hogwarts. I'm talking truly poor marks."

"You don't seem like the type," he said, wrinkling his nose at her.

"I simply didn't care," she explained. "And my mother couldn't be bothered by what marks I made. But my best friend, Holly- Evanson, you probably know her as, she had these big dreams of being an Auror. Nothing was going to stand in her way..."

He looked, thoughtfully for a moment, trying to place her. "Not sure I know an Evanson..."

"She's short? Blonde curly hair? Did a lot of work on the Stonehenge case two years ago..." she began, trying to figure out how to link the two of them up. "Really, eh, big tits?"

"Ah, her!" He said. "Haven't seen her for awhile."

She shoved him.

"You're a git, I'll have you know," she said, laughing. "She's been out on maternity leave- had the kid, I dunno, six months ago now. Anyways. She was dead set on me not failing out of absolutely everything, so she kept dragging me to Divination classes."

"Really?" He asked. "Out of all the subjects, Divination?"

"Hey, I am an expert tea leaf reader," she defended herself with utmost sincerity. "Anyways, between that old bat Trelawney and Holly, they managed to convince me that my attention to detail was a skill that I could use, and a gracious fool named Paul Kensington agreed to take me on with an internship after Hogwarts."

"Interesting," he said. "And you've been there since?"

"When Kensington started going to the intern before some of his Junior Researchers, he decided it was time for a promotion... and I guess I've worked my way up over the last seven years."

"Good for you," he said. "I don't envy your job, but you're damn good at it."

"Thank you, Potter," she said, quietly examining her hands.

"Are you and Evanson still close?"

"Friendships are complicated," she murmured, not wanting to go into any further detail.

A moment later, her eyes fixated across the street as a young man approached, stumbling a bit. She was grateful to pivot their conversation back to work.

"Huh," she said, beginning to scribble on the pad in her lap.

"He doesn't look like one of the suspects."

"No, but he sure looks like a buyer," she said, unfortunately knowing all too much about what the signs were.

They watched him stumble around, even making it up one stoop to knock on the door. Harry got up, as discreetly as possible, to get a better vantage point on the man as he began to wobble off in another direction.

She watched, with bated breath, hoping their suspects would reveal themselves, or at least let the bugger in so she and Potter could get a peak at their charms.

But it was no luck. He made it almost out of her sight, and she turned to Potter, who nodded at her as he began to tail him. She was merely there to observe and report. Actually apprehending anyone? That was definitely not her territory. That was the sort of thing she'd get disciplined for.

Since there was nothing more to see, she turned her attention back to her notes to make sure she had everything she wanted to remember. Her eyes periodically flicked up, checking the status of across the street. She was disheartened, to say the least.

She lit up another cigarette, waiting for Potter to make his way back to their spot. It was about twenty minutes before he approached her from behind, huffing and puffing.

"Out of shape, Potter?" She asked, not looking up, but smirking.

"Just hauled my arse out of there when I realized he was about to notice me," he explained. "Then I had to take the long way back to try and throw him off if he decided to follow me."

She nodded. "We're still at square one."

"I know," he said. "And we need a new vantage point if we're going to stake out here again."

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

"Has Dawsyn been sending you the reports?" Potter asked, taking his seat next to her again.

"Another six admitted to St. Mungo's..." She thought briefly of her mother's affliction, then pushed it straight out of her head. "You could go in blind, but that seems like a rather foolish thing to do."

"Far too foolish," he agreed. "I'm not sure what sorts of wards they have up, what they're capable of."

"I'll write to Hogwarts," she said. "Speak to their professors, see if they were talented in any of their subjects."

"They had awful marks, Wellwood-"

"So didn't I, now look where I am."

He nodded, admitting she was right. "Alright. I hate to let this hang over the weekend, but it seems it's going to have to."

"I have more research to do... I want this case closed," she explained.

"Yeah," he said. "Me too."

"I'm heading back to the office," she said, and he got up and followed.

Upon returning to her desk, she disregarded the inbox full of mail and turned straight to her parchment, sending off letters to Hogwarts that she hoped would be read and returned with haste. It took her a few hours, but she managed to get at least one letter back assessing the skills of the men in question.

"McCain was skilled, but lacked application. Homework assignments were sloppy, if turned in at all. Very little grasp of the upper theory of charms that took more dedication to learn, but he was quite gifted with a wand. It would not surprise me at all if he had used this talent for negative things..."

"Wellwood," Kensington said, as he shut the door to his office behind him. "It's half past quitting time."

"I know," she sighed. "I've just got to-"

"What's the status on the case?"

"We've got more evidence we're in the right place, we're just trying to nail some things down further before we send the team in there."

"Very good," he said. "Now get out of here before I vanish your light sources."

She grumbled about it, but collected her things and got out of there for the week. She walked home slowly, tired, but her head was moving at a fast pace. She was trying to piece things together.

She knew Ames had a game tonight, again... So she stopped at the store down the street and got the Quidditch widow special: a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. She knew there were leftovers in the fridge.

As she walked up the stairs to her third floor flat, she couldn't help but feel mentally exhausted by this entire week. She wanted this case over. Hopefully Tuesday, she could get the evidence she needed and hand the case over to Potter. Her entire head would be much clearer after they left the debriefing meeting for the case.

As soon as she stepped in the front door, she was startled. Ames was home.

"Hey," she said, putting her things down on the counter. "What's going on?"

"I'm not allowed to be in my flat?" He asked from where he stood by the stove, his arms crossed.

"No, you are... It's just Friday, during the season."

"Game was cancelled due to weather," he said. "I'm guessing you didn't get my note."

"Note?"

"I sent you a note to work that I'd be home early and I wanted to go out. I asked you to meet me at that new restaurant over in your part of town, the one on-"

"Oh, Ames, I was in the field and I've just had the craziest day," she pleaded.

"It's fine" he said, raising his arms. "I get it."

She knew there was no winning here, and she was tired. She turned, put her boot up on the chair and unlaced them, one by one, and slipped them off, her toes wiggling in freedom.

"What've you got there?" Ames asked. She knew he'd come around, and let him poke through her bag. "Wine and ice cream. Why are you always bringing home such absolute trash and putting it in your body?"

"For fuck's sake," Liv screeched, crossing the threshold of what she would allow. "I'm underwater in the most important case I've worked on in over a year, can you give me a goddamn break, Ames?"

She kicked her boots into a pile by the door and went to lock herself in the bedroom.

"Don't you-" he reached out and grabbed her arm, and the force he used shocked both of them and he dropped her arm.

Tears sprung to her eyes, and she walked straight into the bedroom and locked the door behind her. She didn't want to look at him. She felt disgusting, and any evidence of an appetite disappeared.

She snuck the balcony door open and lit up a cigarette. She rarely smoked when she was home, but she needed something to force her to slow down, take a deep breath, and focus.

She reached at her sleeve and pulled it up. A red handprint shape had already formed against her pale white skin, and her shoulder ached from being tugged. Ames was stronger than he ever realized.

She thought about leaving, about packing a bag and taking it elsewhere for the night, but she really had nowhere to go. She hadn't spoken to Holly in a few months, after Holly had blown her off twice, and didn't want to resume that friendship by showing up at her door upset. Holly's new obsession with her baby had caused the divide to grow between them. She felt incredibly trapped, and had never felt quite so alone.

Author's Note: Here's chapter two! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, DMed me, and subscribed to this story! The support is really awesome. Evergreen thanks to potter-reading-coastie for betaing this story. Next chapter will be up, same time, same place on Wednesday!