To Tickle A Dragon
By JK Fie'r
Disclaimer: I don't own The Bill or Harry Potter.
Warnings: Kiwi spelling
Other notes:
JK: Okay! After a long absence, during which I have been to Canada, returned from Canada, gained University Entrance, and founded a fanclub for Iago (as in the character from Othello), here it is folks, chapter five! At 535 words, this may be one of the shortest I've posted yet… but I don't care. BIG note at the end of this.
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Chapter Five: tempus fugit
Subtitled: Time Flies
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Superintendent Adam Okaro, Sun Hill, was staring at her.
Okay, so this was actually a perfectly normal occurrence for Gina.
Once upon a time (a time too long ago to be forgotten, a time too recent to be anything more than bittersweet) it had been perfectly normal for her to wake up and find Adam staring at her.
Smiling.
That was in the past.
"You're saying that there's been an… incident, and you didn't bother to inform me until now?"
An incident. Things like this were always just 'an incident'. It made for less problems in cases where subordinate officers overheard this sort of talk, but it was still… irksome. Times like this, she wished that those pencil-pushers over at the Ministry owned one thesaurus between them that hadn't been spelled to bite.
"The Ministry said not to worry about it."
"And you followed that order?"
"…It…"
And it hadn't been an order, not an order per se.
And she couldn't bring herself to lie to Adam. Not after everything. Not after…
"It wasn't an order. It was… a suggestion."
"Do you just decided, for possibly the only time ever in your life, to follow the Ministry SOP, did you?"
Adam sounded more amused now than annoyed, though odds were even on which he'd pick in the end. And Gina couldn't really blame him for either emotion. After all, she'd lived with him for all that time, and he'd never known.
Of course, now he was a Superintendent. They were briefed on the existence of the Wizarding World after they'd spent two months in the job.
A sort of probation for senior officers.
"Look, Adam, I'm sorry. But if it makes you feel any better-"
"Gina."
One word made her stop. Adam sighed.
"Gina, I do know how difficult it is for you. This job is tricky enough without…" a pause. An almost-sigh. Almost.
"Without added weirdness?" Gina suggested, keeping the smile off her face, but deliberately not out of her tone.
Adam nodded.
"Gina, I want you to investigate this murder further. I don't care what the Ministry says. It's our patch, and like it or not, they have to respect our laws and values, not just their own."
Gina nodded. It was an opinion she tended to share.
So then…
Why hadn't she decided the same earlier?
"Sir. Investigate it my way, or investigate it your way?"
Adam smiled. God, but he could still set her heart aflutter with that look. It was like sunshine peeking out from behind a cloud.
No harm in looking. Touching was out, but no harm in just looking.
"Do what you can."
Which meant that she was allowed to use all the resources the station had to offer.
For Gina, it also meant that, if needed, obliviate was permitted on any additional officers that she chose to involve.
"Time sure has flown, hasn't it Adam," Gina said, almost letting a wistful smile grace her lips.
"It'll only go and fly the coop if we don't get back to work," Adam replied, good humour tainting the words.
Bittersweet.
"Sir."
The moment was over. Back to work.
Gina left the room.
Merlin, but she could do with a ciggie.
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JK: Some of you may or may not have noticed that some of the chapter titles are a tad… familiar.
There's a reason for that.
Latin is a difficult language to translate. It's not as difficult as English, but still kind of tricky. Most, however, tend to translate the Latin into English, not the other way around, as I am attempting to do with these chapters. Getting it into idiomatic Latin also poses its own challenges.
A rundown of that which has appeared so far:
fac dormitus canem: Now, I came up with the title in English, then decided that what I really needed was a gimmick. I had, however, already written the chapter. So, after much searching through my books, I managed to find my dictionary, and got the 'let', and then double-checked on the dormitus, so make sure it was accurate (participles are one of my weak points).
caveat emptor: Famous saying.
olim…: This is one of my favourite words in the Latin language. One little word, and it can mean 'once' (it happened only once), or 'once upon a time' (once upon a time, there were three bears…)
nunquam ora equii gratum inspice: My unofficial family motto. My grandfather made it up, and my Latin teacher corrected his grammar.
tempus fugit: Another famous saying.
From here on in, I will be telling whether or not I made the Latin myself, or stole from an ancient writer, or if it's a famous Latin saying.
Meanwhile, reviews are yummy.