Castle turned the key to his loft and stepped inside. It was dark and quiet, and so he whipped out his wand and pointed it at the ceiling. All the lights in the entire loft came on and he huffed out a sigh. He pointed his wand again and they all went out, and he reached over and flipped the light switch, which cast the living room in a hazy yellow light. He made his way to the kitchen, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the counter. He wasn't a fan of the quiet, but had managed to get used to it over the last six years with his daughter off at boarding school in London. He checked his watch, which could tell time in three different time zones and he had one of them set for London time. It was early there, maybe too early, but he walked over to the coffee table positioned between the couch and the TV and picked up the mirror that was sitting there. He threw himself down on the couch.

"Alexis?" He whispered into the mirror. Not expecting a response he reached for the remote as he kicked off his shoes, and flipped the TV on. It came on a little too loud, and he heard a muffled mumble come from the other side of the mirror. He quickly muted the tv and looked intently at his reflection, thinking maybe he had just heard something. But then his face quickly disappeared and was replaced with his daughters, red hair glowing in the morning sunlight peaking through her window.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, seeing that her eyes were still filled with sleep. But her voice responded with much more alertness than he expected.

"No, I've been awake for a while. Needed to get some reading done before my first lesson this morning." She smiled at him and he leaned deeper into the couch with a sigh.

"I miss you Alexis." He said, finally deciding to not hide it anymore, even though he hadn't been very good at it.

"Dad, I miss you too, but it's been less than a month. I told you you can come over for the first quidditch game, it's in just a few weeks." He smiled brightly at her, warmth spreading across his chest at the idea that she didn't mind him visiting her.

"I sure do love a game of quidditch." He said, spirits already lighter, lifting the fatigue that had been slowly crawling over him.

"Where's Gram, is she home?" She asked, turning her head to see around him.

"Nope, it's just me. My book launch party was tonight. Actually..." He sat up on the couch, excited to tell her everything that had happened. "I left her a few hours ago, she went off dancing with someone she found on her greydar." This made her chuckle, he'd really missed her laugh around the loft lately. He brushed the feeling aside. "I left early actually. An auror came to get me, needed to question me about a murder that happened this morning."

"Oh no. Is everything... what happened?" She asked, concern spreading across her face. He could see her lean back into her bed, pulling up a blue and bronze blanket to block out the chill, settling in for a good story.

"I have a copycat!" He had been too excited about the idea, he had been dying to tell someone. But she wasn't as excited as he was and he knew she wouldn't be.

"Dad, that isn't necessarily a good thing." She commented, shaking her head.

"Yes yes I know that. But how cool is that though? Anyways, they naturally thought I might know something or be behind it, but I've got a solid alibi that your Gram can attest to. I couldn't really help with it though, didn't know anything about the victims or anything." His face was contorted in a thoughtful expression. "Wish I could have been more help." He whispered, just now realizing how nice it would feel to help find the killer.

"Maybe you still can? You said victims, so there have been two murders? You might be able to spot details that maybe the aurors can't?" He just looked at her. She had a really good point, he was surprised he hadn't thought of it, but he had been a little distracted.

"Hmmm... I doubt a team of aurors would allow me to follow them around. Though..." He sat up. "The minister of magic might be able to get me an in." He smiled down at his daughter who just nodded.

"Finally that connection might be able to get you somewhere besides the inside of his office." She said.

"And a fair share of galleons." He said back. The minister and him both shared a common love for a wizard version of the classic muggle card game, poker. And he'd managed to win almost every game, taking a fairly large share of wizard coins from the minister and his other poker buddies.

"Just be careful dad. Aurors, they chase dark wizards. You aren't necessarily the best at attack spells so... just be careful." Her look of concern tore at him a little.

"Don't worry Alexis. I'll be fine." He smiled down at her, all signs of sleep gone from the both of them. Alexis turned to look out her window.

"Look Dad, I'd love to keep talking but I really need to finish a reading before class starts. Talk to you soon?" She sat up in her bed now, setting the mirror carefully on her bedside table.

"Ya. And I'll definitely come over for that quidditch game" He said. She reached over to look on her wall.

"Ya, it's October fifteenth. Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. Should be a good match." She looked back at him.

"It's a date then. See you then." She blew him a kiss and he did the same, and she disappeared from view, probably off to the library. He sat the mirror back down on the coffee table and it turned back into a normal mirror. He sat there, contemplating his discussion with his daughter, and trying to figure out the best way to contact the minister.

An owl would take too long, the case could be over by the time anything would be resolved. He doesn't have a connection to him like he does with Alexis. His next best thought was the fireplace, but it was still too early for anyone to be in. He walked over to his fireplace, looking at the measly amount of floo powder sitting at the bottom of the jar that sat on the mantle. It took a lot to travel by magic like this all the way to London. It still surprised him that it actually worked, but he'd done it on occasion. You couldn't travel your whole body through it, but sending a message worked most of the time. He basically acquainted it to a fax machine. And since he knew the Ministry of Magic barely used any muggle technology, this was his best bet.

But it was still too early and he was now wide awake. He walked himself over to his office, eyes unconsciously scanning his wall of books like he always did when he entered. He opened his laptop and turned it on. He was pretty sure that there probably wasn't another wizard in the world who liked muggle technology as much as he did. He felt so comfortable around it, and it seemed to like him much more than magic did on occasion. Like the Auror had said, he barely used his wand. Even now, it sat deserted in his coat pocket in the kitchen. He sat down and leaned back in his chair as his laptop booted, his mind still on this auror. Katherine Beckett. Her name was so... literary. He loved it. He thought of her sharp features, the faint scar that ran across her cheek, making her even more beautiful, and though he felt that this thought was cliche he couldn't help but think it. He leaned against his desk, hands fiddling with the yellow and black scarf that sat across his desk. He looked at his computer screen and the blank word document that automatically popped up every time he turned it on. His fingers twitched, just like they had earlier that day in the interrogation room. They twitched with the urge to write, and so he did. A new character was sitting at the edge of his mind and as he typed she became more real. A hard edged Auror, who was motivated to hunt down dark wizards who have killed. He imagines her being smart, fierce, and a litttle slutty.

The words flow from his fingers so freely. He hadn't wrote like this in months. The character came to life with every word and just as quickly as the character came to his head, so did her name. Nikki Heat.