To Undo Charms

Keenan sat shackled to the table in the small interview chamber, staring at his hands. He was looking even worse, if that was possible. Dominique glanced over at Chris and Toby, the concern evident on her face. While she knew he was in the 'bad guy' category, she still didn't want to break him completely. She didn't want to stoop to the level of torture to get the information they needed from him.

Not to mention, there was always the chance that once they spent the time and effort to recover it, they found it unnecessary to their investigation.

"We're not questioning you today. Just want to see if there have been any memory charms placed on you," Chris said firmly. Keenan nodded dumbly, as though he had lost all the fight after multiple rounds of questioning and truth serum.

"Do what you must," he said resignedly. Chris looked over at Toby and nodded. Taking a deep breath, Toby pulled out his wand and stepped over to the man.

"Should have done this to start with," he muttered, earning a scowl from Chris. Dominique just rolled her eyes at the blonde auror.

"He's got a point," she said towards Chris, who turned his scowl to her. "Sure the others thought of it…" Toby waved his wand over Keenan, muttering things under his breath as he worked through a few complicated wand movements. Dominique and Chris watched silently, waiting.

Nothing visible seemed to be happening, though from the look of concentration on Toby's face, he was obviously seeing something that Dominique and Chris did not. After a few minutes, Toby sighed and stepped back.

"He's got… well, he's got a fair amount - about 15. Some of them I know, but others... I haven't seen them used before, only read about them. It'll be tricky to undo all of them without any sort of permanent damage," he said.

"But it is possible?" Chris asked. Toby looked at him.

"In theory. But… it's complicated. We have to figure out which one to undo first and it has to be precise. Do it wrong or do the wrong one first and we'll lose everything," he said. Keenan glanced up at him.

"Will I lose my mind?" he asked quietly.

"That's what I'm hoping to avoid," Toby answered honestly. Keenan shrugged.

"And this point, what's it matter? I'll be in Azkaban for the rest of my life as it is," he muttered. "Not to mention, I'm sure Magnus won't waste any time tying off loose ends. Man's got spies everywhere."

Dominique glanced over at Chris and Toby. She hadn't thought of that. Magnus himself had infiltrated the Ministry. Who's to say he didn't have more cronies still embedded there somewhere? While Harry and the others had been going through a thorough vetting of everyone from the Minister's office down to the owlry, there was always a chance someone else had gotten through the cracks.

"Maybe we should think about taking extra precautions," she said. "I don't want to risk someone coming after him or the others before we get the information." Chris nodded shortly.

"Might not be a bad idea," he said. "I'll take care of it. But in the meantime, we should speak to your aunt about the charms."

After they had sent Keenan back to a holding cell with a bit more extra protection, the three set off towards the Oblivator department. Toby walked in first and made his way to Audrey's office. Knocking on the door, they heard a muffled "Come in" and entered.

Audrey sat behind her desk looking a bit frazzled. Her brown hair that was normally in a perfect low bun seemed to be falling out of it as she looked up from the various parchments covering her desk. Dominique couldn't help but be surprised. While Audrey was not as big a stickler for rules and order as her Uncle Percy (the man often got out of hand in terms of his obsession with it), she did manage keep herself put together. Glancing at the paper in Audrey's hand, Dominique instantly recognized the loopy handwriting of her grandmother and surmised that her aunt's current hectic-looking state was no doubt due to her running some sort of interference between Gran Weasley and Lucy on the wedding. While they kept the Weasley matriarch included in the plans (honestly, there was no way they could ever keep her out of it), the older woman still had a habit of attempting to take the reins while Percy was still attempting to micromanage the budget. Much to Lucy's chagrin. She adored her Gran, but thought some of her ideas were a bit dated, as it were. Dominique had heard many a lament over wine in the past few weeks.

"Oh, wasn't expecting you lot. How can I help?" she asked, looking up at them with a relieved smile.

"Trouble with the wedding?" Dominique asked lightly. Audrey sighed heavily and looked around her desk.

"You just missed Percy. Came in with another report on how we're going over budget. I keep trying to tell him that with Ryan covering most of it, it's not a big deal, but he and Molly are starting to gang up on me and Lucy," she replied. She looked back up at the three. "But I take it this isn't about the wedding."

"We've discovered some complicated memory charms on one of the prisoners from the Network attack," Toby said. Audrey nodded.

"Figured as much. We've had a few others come in about that," she said, shuffling a few papers off to the side of her desk. "What are we looking at?"

"Well, some of them are fairly run-of-the-mill, but there are some I've only read about. Pretty complicated, to be honest," he started to explain.

"Tell me there's no Lethe charm," Audrey said with a sigh. "Already had one of those this week. And there's not a bloody thing we can do to erase it."

"Thankfully, no," Toby continued. "But he's got 15 total and it's a pretty intricate web of spells." Audrey sat back in her chair, tapping her chin.

"What do to..." she murmured.

"Can it be undone?" Chris asked. "Can you do it?" Audrey's brown eyes flicked over to the auror.

"Yes. But it's not easy. It'll take a couple different potions and a few complicated charms," she replied. "And I'll need to exam him and spend some time studying the different layers to the charms."

"How long?" Chris asked.

"To be honest, at this point, I'm not sure," Audrey said. "Depending on the charms and how they are woven together, it could take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months." Dominique glanced over, noting the look of impatience on Chris' face. "I know you want the information now, but it has to be done precisely or we'll lose everything and this man is permanently damaged."

"We understand," Dominique said quickly, hoping to cut off Chris who looked ready to say something harsh.

"I can try and speed things up a bit where I can, but you'll have to let me do it correctly or there's no point in doing it all," Audrey said. Chris nodded.

"Of course," he said. Audrey sighed and sat up.

"I'll keep in contact and let you know my progress," she said, clearly dismissing the three.

"If you need my help, let me know," Toby said. Audrey studied him a bit and then smiled and nodded.

"It would probably do you some good to learn about more advanced memory charms," she said. "Come back in a couple hours and we can get started." Toby smiled and nodded. The three then filed out of her office, with Chris starting to brood.

"Come on, Chris. You know we can't rush this," Dominique said.

"I know. Just hoped it wouldn't take so long," he replied.

"In the meantime, we've got loads of blokes to question still," Toby said, not seeming as downtrodden as Chris. "And I'll be helping. That should hopefully speed things up."

"That is true," Dominique said. "Don't we have a couple others to get to today?"

"Yes," Chris said. "I'm not sure what we'll get out of them, but best to soldier on."

"That's the spirit!" Toby said brightly, smiling at Chris. Dominique chuckled as Chris only huffed. "Sure we'll find what we need to know in due time."

"In the meantime, let's continue to keep this amongst ourselves," Chris said. Dominique frowned.

"I don't see why there's any need to keep this a secret from the others," she said. "It's not like they haven't come across memory charms."

"I know, but… I can't seem to put my finger on it, but I don't completely trust the Americans," he said.

"Even Tori?" Toby asked.

"Even Tori," Chris said. Dominique sighed.

"Fine," she relented. While she found Witt and Richards annoying, she didn't see anything wrong with Tori, Martins or Violet. She wasn't sure what was getting into Chris lately, though figured he was likely just feeding off Teddy's frustration.

The three made their way back to the auror department and sat at their desks. Tori was already there finishing up a report on her latest interrogation.

"Any luck?" she asked, glancing over at them. Dominique looked at Chris, unsure of what to say.

"Ran into a bit of a complication with one Network member, but nothing we can't solve," Chris said lightly.

"Martins said he's come across a few with memory charms," Tori replied, going back to her report. Dominique shot Chris a look, which he ignored as he started going through the file for the next person to question.

The four settled into their work for a few minutes before Richards walked into the department. He paused for a moment and glared at Tori before striding into Teddy's office.

"What's that about?" Toby asked, looking over a Tori. She glanced over at the office and sighed as she turned back to her report.

"He's not completely happy with my work," she said, not looking up.

"But you work more overtime than the whole American team combined," Toby replied.

"And I still don't understand why Richards has you only questioning lower level members. You really should be working on more high profile ones," Dominique added. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Chris studying Tori closely. She made a mental note to try and get it out of him later. He was obviously thinking something.

Tori stopped working on the report and looked up at the three.

"He's punishing me," she said simply. "Richards has never really liked me - some grudge against my dad who was head of the auror department in MACUSA for a long time before he retired. He always thought I got into the academy because of him, even though my dad had no say in the selection at all." Chris' eyebrows flew up as he glanced over at Dominique.

"Well, that's not your fault. You can't choose your dad," she replied sensibly.

"I know, but Richards can't seem to let go of it," she said. "Always trying to order me around and shit."

"But he is your team leader," Toby said.

"Yea, but he sometimes forgets who we all get our orders from - the president of MACUSA," she said wryly. She smiled slightly. "Don't worry, guys. It's nothing I'm not used to." She returned to working on her report while Chris continued to study her. He still felt there was something more there she wasn't telling them, but didn't think it was the right time to push it. Maybe later in the week when he got her away from the office.

At that moment, the office door flew open and Teddy stormed out.

"If you need me I'll be in Harry's office," he said curtly as he passed them and continued out of the department. Dominique sighed and shook her head. With his quick temper, he should have been a Gryffindor like the rest of the family. From what she heard about Tonks and Remus, they both seemed rather laid back. Must have picked it up from her uncle Harry.

"Suspect he's off to complain again," she said with a sigh.

"Been doing that a lot?" Toby asked.

"Vic said he comes home in a right good state most nights. She's been seeking refuge at ours with Lucy and the wedding plans," she replied.

"It's that bad?" Tori asked, glancing over at her.

"Something about Richards seems to set him off," Dominique said. Tori snorted.

"That does not surprise me," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Does it help? The wedding plans?" Toby asked.

"Most of the time. It's easier to deal with Lucy than with Teddy apparently," Dominique said. "Though that's up for debate, if you ask me."

"Is she that bad?" Toby asked.

"You didn't hear her go on about flowers for three hours the other night," Dominique said, shooting him a pointed look. "And then when she lays in about Gran or Uncle Percy… Merlin, I nearly drank an entire bottle of wine myself just to handle it." Toby chuckled as he shook his head slowly.

"Suspect Pix is happy she's missing that," he said.

"I wish I could go to a Greek island for two weeks just to escape it," Dominique muttered.

"Just ran into Teddy," Molly said as she strode into the room. "Best to pick up more wine on the way home. Suspect Vic'll be coming over again." She sat down at her desk.

"Grand. Luce is coming over as well… wants us to work on garlands," Dominique said blandly. Molly sighed as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Seriously wish Daisy were here. She could do all the work herself in half the time it would take us," she said. "Doesn't even have to move. She looks at it and it's done almost."

"There's a bit more to it than that," Dominique said, glancing up at her. "Even for Daisy." Molly just sighed heavily as she started going through some parchments on her desk.

"Still would make things easier," she muttered. The group fell into silence as they started working. Dominique kept shooting looks towards Teddy's office, not feeling particularly thrilled with the fact that Richards was still in there. Granted it didn't take long for an airplane to go shooting into the room and Richards to come striding out, no doubt heading to Harry's office as well. He glanced at the grouping of desks one more time before continuing on.

Just as soon as he left, Witt came sauntering in, sitting in the open desk next to Molly, who glanced at him cautiously.

"So… Weasley," he started smoothly. Dominique looked up, ready to fire off a retort when she noticed he was leaning towards Molly, who was now leaning away from him, an odd look on her face.

"It's Molly," she said.

"Right, Molly… doing anything tonight?" he asked. She just sat there blinking at him before glancing over at Dominique, confused.

"Ehm, actually I've got to do some wedding stuff with my sister," she said. "She's been keeping us fairly busy after work on that."

"Right, heard that's coming up soon," he said casually. Dominique snorted, causing everyone to look down towards her.

"Sorry, we only talk about it every day, is all," she said before turning back to her work. Witt looked back at Molly.

"Well, if you're busy tonight, you wouldn't mind going out this weekend, would you?" he asked. Molly looked at him, obviously searching her head for a reason to say no that didn't involve wedding planning.

"Weren't we going to meet Louie and his friends this weekend," Toby said suddenly. "In Paris?" Everyone looked over at him. Molly blinked a bit and then smiled before turning back to Witt.

"Sorry, seems I'm booked," she said before smugly turning back to her work. Witt nodded and looked down at his desk while Tori chuckled. Molly looked up at Toby and mouthed a quick "Thank you," before Witt caught on.

"Come on, Don Juan. We've got a meeting," Tori said, standing. Witt sighed and stood, then followed her out of the room. Once the two had left, the four started chuckling.

"Seems he's going to try and make the rounds of the Weasley/Potters," Chris said, glancing towards the door.

"Next he'll be going after Roxanne or Merlin forbid, Rose or Lily," Molly said, with a roll of her eyes. "Thank goodness those two are still at Hogwarts."

"Uncle Harry would probably kill him himself before he'd ever let Witt near Lily," Dominique said. "Sure Aunt Hermione would do the same in regards to Rose."

"Isn't Rose dating that Malfoy bloke?" Chris asked.

"Who would have seen that one coming," Molly replied with a slight roll of her eyes. "From what I've heard about Uncle Harry and his father from back in school."

"Come on, now. All water under the bridge now. The Malfoys certainly have done enough to try and make up for back then," Dominique said. "And, I mean… look at Uncle Oliver and Marcus Flint. They're practically best friends now. And with Jamie and Lila engaged." Molly snorted.

"Wouldn't call them best friends, but yea, they do seem to have made up," she said.

"And no one really has the same sort of house rivalries as back then," Toby added. "I mean, Wills was Slytherin and he and Daisy seem perfectly happy together."

"I still have a hard time seeing that," Molly commented. "He seems too… outgoing for a Slytherin."

"Oh trust me, he's likely got a sneaky streak to him. If anything, he's got the whole ambitious and cunning thing down," Chris said. "I mean, all those years getting close to the Woods and now he's with Pix."

"We all know that was pure, dumb luck," Dominique said, laughing.

"Or, a really good master plan," Chris countered. The group continued on with their analysis of Wills until Teddy walked in and sat at a desk next to Molly, sighing heavily.

"How did the meeting with Uncle Harry go?" Dominique asked, studying her brother-in-law, silently wondering where the annoyingly happy Hufflepuff had gone. Teddy ran his fingers through his now light brown hair.

"I'm still stuck with them," he muttered. "Harry admitted he can't stand Richards either, but there's nothing we can do about it. Hermione is insisting we show united front. The U.K. and MACUSA. Working together." He rolled his eyes. "It's bad enough I'm up to my ears in reports from all the other auror teams both here and from around the world. I spend half the day dealing with bloody Richards and his bloody requests."

"Still hung up on the Woods, I see," Chris commented. Teddy glanced over at him.

"And the Prostatis. Wants to talk to Nikos, but I keep telling him that he's in Greece," he said. "Thank Merlin he passed on everything he knew before he left. He's been too busy working with Pix to do anymore searching."

"How's that going?" Molly asked. "Anyone heard from her?" They all looked at Toby.

"She's not been writing since she got there," he admitted. "Suppose she's just busy, is all. Certainly a lot there for her to figure out."

"She's probably talking to Wills every night," Dominique said. Teddy looked around at the slightly crestfallen group. He sat up in his chair.

"Look at us. This is pathetic," he said with a short laugh. "Seems we could us a bit of cheering up around here. How about tomorrow night we all go out for drinks? On me." The group perked up noticeably. "Good. You lot pick the place. I'm going to go see about sending flowers to Vic at St. Mungo's to make up for being a twat." He then stood and walked into his office, his hair starting to turn blue.

"Well, isn't that a lovely development," Molly said, smiling.


Finally got up to chapter 10 finished and bits of later chapters. Still hitting a couple blocks here and there, but it's going.

AleenaBean - I'm glad that you're liking it! We'll get more into that next chapter. And I'm about to start writing when/how she starts figuring out how to use it all. But the next chapter has a bit a of a reunion moment. ^_^

As always, thanks for reading, following and reviewing!