He braced himself, then knocked on the door. He gave it a few seconds, then used his wand to blast through the door.
"MINISTRY OF MAGIC! I WANT EVERYONE'S WAND ON THE GROUND!"
Liv had her wand held high, and kept her back against Potter's as the entered the house. This way they would have protection from both sides.
The two boys they had just seen enter the house were standing in the kitchen, conversing with a third boy who was bottling up their goods. Liv felt chills at the sight.
"I SAID, WANDS DOWN!" Potter bellowed, in a tone that made even Liv twitch.
The three boys reluctantly dropped their wands, and put their hands in the air.
"You can't just come into our house, man," the skinny one piped up.
"I've two search warrants," he said. "This operation is getting shut down. Hands on the wall."
She was about to move to help him cuff the teenagers, when she saw a flicker of movement on the staircase just outside the kitchen. He reached for his wand, but not before-
"STUPEFY!" Liv yelled, watching as the fourth boy fell over, frozen. Then she got up in Marcus McCain's face. "Got any other friends in the house that we should know about?"
Fear had kicked in, and she watched his jaw quiver. "N-n-no."
"You sure about that?" she sneered. "We're not going to be very happy if you've lied to us."
He nodded, beads of sweat forming and rolling down his face. She placed her wand to his wrists and bound them. Potter moved towards the other two boys, so Liv directed her attention to the punk on the stairs, binding his hands before reversing his spell.
"You fucking bitch!" he spat, upon being unfrozen.
Unamused, she cast a silencing spell on him, and began to drag his uncooperative body down the stairs, dropping him off in the kitchen with the rest of them. Her heart was still beating fast in her chest, but she was running on pure adrenalin.
Potter was leaning over the fireplace in the front sitting room, and she joined him to see what the plan was. He stood up and brushed his clothes off. "Aurors are sending a team to document and seize everything. They should be here in a minute or two."
"Do they handle, erm, the boys?" She gestured in the direction of the kitchen.
"No," he said. "That's on me-us."
She nodded, and glanced at her watch to see that it was after five already. Before she could say anything else, the team of Aurors began coming through the Floo in rapid succession. Suddenly, four men and two women were in the living room, combing through things and sticking anything suspicious in plastic bags.
Potter spoke to their leader, Georgia Nuevo, and handed the crime scene over to her. Then, he turned to her. "You grab two and I'll grab two. We're going to be taking them to the basement of the Ministry, there's a small holding cell there. They'll stay there until they're processed."
She nodded, and grabbed McCain and Nimmo by the hands. Teenage boys smelled gross.
"See you there, Wellwood," Potter said, before appirating away. She waited a moment before leaving herself, the two boys in tow.
She had only been in the basement of the Ministry once, and not wanting to splinch the criminals, appirated to where she remembered. Mercifully, Potter had chosen that spot as well. "Just this way."
It was very chilly in the basement, and it gave her the creeps. The little hairs at the base of her neck stood on end.
Harry tapped his wand on a door, and it opened slowly. An older man sat at a desk, looking bored.
"Krause," Potter greeted his. "I'm sure you were informed?"
"Yes," the man said, standing up. He carried a large set of keys, assumably for the large door behind him. "She doesn't have clearance."
"She's with me," Potter said, leaving no question. Somehow, she minded his rule-bending less when it made her life easier...
Krause threw an unhappy glance in her direction, but didn't question it. Liv was unsure if Potter got away with bending Ministry rules because of his elevated position in the Auror department or because of who he was. She decided it ultimately didn't matter, as she was here to finish the task at hand. Despite the stress of apprehending their targets, she was happy to be with this case until it was closed.
Following Potter's directions, she got Nimmo and McCain into different cells, and Krause went behind them, making sure they were locked.
"You got it from here, Krause?"
"Yep," the short old man said. "I'll do their intakes."
"Very good."
Liv followed Potter out, and as they entered the elevator wordlessly. All at once, she felt the exhaustion hit her, and realized it was after seven.
"What a day," she said.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into something that's not your area of expertise..." He said, rubbing his eyes. "I just saw the opportunity when they forgot to close their wards, and I couldn't let that go. Plus..."
She looked to him when he said nothing further. "What?"
"I trusted you could handle it. And I was right."
She felt a surprising surge of pride. She didn't usually care what people thought of her- positively or negatively, but Potter's approval meant a lot to her. They walked together to the main Atrium.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Potter said. "I'm sure Kensington is going to want you in on the debriefing."
She nodded, simply out of energy. "See you."
She normally walked home, but today she was too tired. She quickly found an open fireplace, and took the Floo home.
"Well it's about damn time!"
She was surprised to be greeted by that voice, and quickly turned around. "Simon!"
She gained a quick second wind, and engulfed him in a hug. Ames had been right, Portugal has been good to him. "How have you been?"
"Oh, great," he said. "Kicked some arse in Portugal, met loads of beautiful chicks, and enjoyed myself. No complaints."
"Great," Liv said.
She kicked off her work boots and accepted a glass of wine from Ames. "Hope you don't mind that we ordered take away. I didn't realize you'd be working so late this evening."
"Sorry," she said. "I had no idea I was working that late until I was in the thick of it. Was in the field and got caught up."
"Do anything fun?" Simon asked, before taking a long drink of his beer.
"Got four drug dealers locked up," Liv said, casually. "What's for dinner?"
"We ordered pizza," Ames said.
Liv got up, stretching her legs and trying to quell the anxious energy within her. She was unsure how to handle herself. It had to have been a post adrenaline thing, she thought. Her mind was racing, and she felt an overwhelming combination of anxiety and overstimulation.
She wanted desperately to smoke a cigarette, but Simon didn't know she smoked. She always tried to impress him, whether she admitted that to herself or not. She thought back, to a few years ago when she had first met the duo. She had initially approached Simon, who very suavely managed to set her up with Ames. And she'd been with him ever since.
But she had always had a soft spot for Simon. When she was honest with herself, she knew she and Simon would never have gotten on. He was too flighty, too much of a free spirit. He was always traveling, never saw the same girl for more than a few times, and was generally just a flake.
As Ames was busy paying the kid that delivered dinner, Liv used some of her anxious energy to change out of her work clothes and into leggings and a t-shirt. Once dinner was on the table, she scarfed down two pieces of pizza and another glass of wine. The wine helped dull her anxiety, and she felt herself starting to wind down.
"It was great to see you, Simon," Liv said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "But I've had a long day. I think I should get to bed."
"Take care, Liv."
"I'll be in soon," Ames said, squeezing her hand.
She rifled through the drawer on Ames' side of the bed and grabbed the dark green bottle he kept a sleeping potion in. She normally avoided potions, but tonight she was eager for release from her endlessly spinning brain. She measured out the potion with the dropper cap, letting three full drops fall under her tongue. From there, the potion's bitterness escorted her to a dreamless sleep.
Liv woke up late- she was already supposed to be at work when her eyes opened and settled on the clock. "Fuck!"
She quickly showered, threw on acceptable work clothes, and made it to her desk only half an hour late. Her hair was still damp and she had yet to get coffee, but both of those obstacles were fixable.
She peeked around her cube to see that Kensington was not in his office, not that he would have cared all that much.
After putting her stuff down, she made her way to the break room in search of coffee. She decided it was the kind of day that required two cups of coffee on her desk. As soon as she was settled, she began to fill out forms related to closing the case.
"Double fisting this morning, Wellwood?" Potter asked, leaning over the top of her cube.
"Hey," she said. "Just absolutely wiped."
"I should've warned you that you would be," he said. "Aurors go through special training on how to cope with post-adrenaline crash. I shouldn't have just let you leave last night."
She took an extra long sip of her first coffee, finishing it. His words validated the weird feeling that had inhabited her body over the last day. "Another cup and I'll be good as new."
He nodded. "Just got a memo from Rutherford, we're debriefing at three."
"Where?" She asked, writing it down.
"Conference Room Alpha."
"Got it, thanks."
She spent the majority of her day filling out the debriefing report. Kensington bothered her before the meeting, asking her to meet him in his office.
"What's up, Kensington?" She asked, before taking a big bite out of an apple.
"We normally don't like our Research Assistants acting as Aurors in the field," he said, the words slowly filling up the space between them.
She furrowed her brow, but couldn't conceal the defensive tone. "Even when they're instructed to, by Senior Aurors?"
Kensington put his hand up, to pause her. "I just wanted to open the dialogue with you, Wellwood."
"It's a better scenario than me disobeying orders from a superior and him going into the situation alone, isn't it? You know Potter doesn't play by the Book of Best Practices."
"But I hold you to them," he said.
"Look," she said, standing up. "I never asked for Potter to be on this case, and I never asked for him to be out there observing next to me. I expressed my concerns about this from the beginning. I am not just going to sit here and be reprimanded by you for circumstances I advised against from the beginning of this entire case."
"Let me remind you that I am the supervisor here, Olivia," Kensington said. Her eyebrows raised in rage when he called her by her first name.
"Have you spoken to Potter about this?" she asked. "Have you heard his side of things?"
"Rutherford can handle his employees, I have no doubt in that. I thought we best discuss it between us in case it comes up as a full team at the debriefing."
"Fine. Are we done?"
Kensington nodded.
She walked out of his office, slamming the apple she'd taken one bite out of into the trash can just outside his door. The satisfying clunk of apple against metal pleased her, but only made her feel more eager to relieve the stress, anger, and frustration that was boiling up under her skin.
She was at the conference room first, a pad of parchment and her quill ready to take notes. She didn't want to wait for Kensington and walk in with him. Her body still felt flush with anger.
Potter and his boss, Rutherford, were the next in. Potter pulled out the chair next to hers and got comfortable, waiting for this meeting to begin. The leader of the team of Aurors who had combed the scene after them, Georgia Nuevo, took a seat next to Rutherford as they made small talk. Doug Spier, head of the legal department, ushered in one of his assistants, Bryce Darsyn, who had been assigned to work with the legal matters of the case. Finally, Kensington was the last one in, taking the open seat next to hers.
Everyone else in the room knew each other, and Liv knew she was lowest on the totem pole. She wasn't even supposed to be there. "This is my most skilled Senior Researcher, Olivia Wellwood."
Everyone acknowledged her, and they were able to begin the meeting. Sometimes, working in a male dominated field really left her upset, as she was talked over twice before they even let her speak.
"So give us a rundown of the events, yesterday," Kensington prodded.
She and Potter both looked at each other, trying to decide who should speak first.
"Potter," he followed up.
"We'd been observing the block surrounding 1100 Rinaldi Street for nearly four hours," Potter said. "A sudden downpour forced us into a Muggle bus shelter, when we noticed the two suspects we'd been looking for over the prior two weeks walking past.
"We observed them from afar, when we noticed them break down their protective wards in broad daylight. They entered the house safely, without replacing their wards. At that point, I made the executive decision to go in after them, considering the ease with which it could be done."
"A slight… departure from Protocol," Rutherford said. Liv looked up to watch Rutherford and Kensington exchange a glance.
"Yes," Harry admitted. Liv was afraid of what was coming. Would they write her up, or worse, suspend her? Or Harry? Or even both of them?
"Which wards did they have protecting the residence?" Rutherford asked. Liv exhaled, hoping that was the end of that, though she wasn't sure she'd feel totally at ease until the meeting was adjourned
Liv scratched the nib of her quill lazily against the parchment as he answered with spells she was unfamiliar with.
"We entered the residence from the front door, calling for all occupants to put their wands on the ground. The two suspects we had watched enter the residence, along with one other associate, were mostly compliant. At that point, Wellwood noticed there was a fourth member of the operation on the stairs who had his wand fixed on me, and stupefied him.
"She assisted me in cuffing them, then retrieved the fourth member of the operation and cuffed him as well. At that point, I was in contact with Headquarters, and Nuevo's team prepared to take over. I handed the crime scene over to them, and Wellwood and I took the suspects to the holding cells for Krause to intake."
"And what did your team find, Nuevo?" Kensington asked.
"A rudimentary but successful operation for producing and distributing Category 2 illegal substances," she said. "We found approximately two stone worth of goods, two cauldrons worth brewing, and many ingredients to make more. They had an overwhelming amount of distribution supplies and paraphernalia."
Liv spaced out as they discussed details that had nothing to do with her work or impact on the case. There was a nagging anger begging at her to release it, but she knew better than that. She was quiet, scribbling in her notes, and occasionally looking up.
After what seemed like an impossibly long time, she heard the words she'd been waiting for. "I think that just about covers it. Anyone have further questions?"
Her eyes darted around the room, waiting for each person to shake their head no.
"Meeting adjourned, then."
Harry was the first one up, and she followed him out, the other Department Heads continuing to chat about unrelated cases.
"I hope you weren't reamed out too badly for breaking protocol on my orders," he said to her.
She sighed, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I handled it," she said. "Were you given much trouble?"
He shrugged, and gave her a small smile. "Let's just say it's nothing I haven't heard before."
She shook her head, disapproving of his penchant for breaking the rules, but she couldn't help but smirk, before returning to her office.
"Let's get a drink," Potter said, appearing at her office door as the clock approached five.
"I'm not so sure..." she replied. She was too tense.
"C'mon," he said. "What are you going to do? Go home, wait for your boyfriend to come home, and do nothing about how crappy and pent up you feel?"
"Well, it sounded like less of a shit plan in my head..."
"I know a good place," he said. "And I won't keep you out all night, I'll get you home to your bloke."
She thought about it for a moment, and knew that deep down, she did not want to go home and sulk in her empty flat. Alone. "Alright. I'll go."
She grabbed her bag from her cube and met him in the Atrium. "Feel like walking? Or would you rather Floo?"
"Let's walk," she said. They made it above ground, and she followed him through the crowds of a busy London rush hour. It was too busy for their silence to be awkward. It all felt rather natural, actually.
Author's Note: Apologies to anyone who got two notifications about this chapter this morning—FFN is not cooperating. I digress. Here's chapter four! Eternal gratitude to my beta, potter-reading-coastie. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and PMed me about this story, your feedback is so appreciated. Next chapter will be up Monday morning—and I think you're really going to enjoy it