Chapter Six

The Wild Side

Alexandria stepped into her office with Wilder on her shoulder, taking time to stop at home long enough to change into robes that made her condition a bit less obvious. She exhaled deeply and gave Sally Scribe a smile that Sally hadn't seen in many, many years.

"Good morning, Minister Wilder! Welcome home!" Sally greeted warmly. "And welcome back, Mr. Wilder."

"Thank you, Document. Just Wilder will do when he's in his owl form, Mage in the others," Alexandria replied.

"How was your trip?" Sally asked.

"Amazing! We went around corners I never thought to check and explored all sorts of fascinating small towns that I didn't even know existed. We also rented all sorts of vehicles. Who ever heard of a Pooka who was into vehicles?"

"Everyone has to have a hobby," Wilder hooted.

"Oh! I understood that hoot," Sally said with fascination.

"His language ability is a lot more powerful than mine. He can control who understands him and who doesn't," Alexandria explained.

"It'll come in very handy in this office, won't it? Assuming he's going to work here is well," Sally said.

"I am going to be appointed Deputy Minister of Mysteries," Wilder hooted proudly.

"Yes, but not until after we're back from maternity leave. Until then, he's just a practicing agent, at least officially," Alexandria explained. "Draco and Grandfather have already signed off on his new role, so there shouldn't be any problems. Speaking of which, how are things going here? Any problems with Bagman or any other cases?"

"I am happy to report that Ludo Bagman is quite subdued," Sally said with amusement. "Partly because of being humbled after overthinking your personal life, and partly because he's become a father again... to one Bianca June Bagman, according to a note that Hermione Owled me."

"In another words, she's in the Hogwarts book as well. Well, hopefully you're right and he'll be too busy with family matters to cause me too many headaches this year. Anything else?"

"No, not really, but there are several letters here from different people, including your mother, but written on Auror paper. When she dropped it off, she said it was concerning the Maxens, so I decided just to leave it for you to look over since I knew you were back today. There's also a letter here from Draco, and for some reason your mother believes that has to do with the Maxens as well. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't right. He constantly seems to mention them, Worley especially, as if he sees them more of a threat than just as a political rival. Jennifer told me it has a lot to do with how much Worley reminds him of his father," Sally said.

"Draco's father with Truth Seeker powers. Yeah, that's scary," Alexandria admitted. "Alright, Sally, I'll go through them and check in with the appropriate cell. Anything else?"

"Oh! I hired an Indigo for the Development Team. The file is in the R&D box. Also, I left some recommendations on who you might consider to be the new Pen. Since you work directly with the Research team on a constant basis, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to fill the position without your input."

"You could have since it's your department, but thanks for giving me the option anyway," Alexandria said.

"The rest of my notes are encoded, categorized, and dated in this pile... but overall, things have been very quiet," she said.

"Thanks, Doc. I really appreciate you stepping in," Alex said with a sincere smile.

"Not at all, I enjoyed it. Honestly, I've been enjoying all of the extra time I've been able to devote solely on my team over the last few weeks. In fact, I believe I'll be heading back down there. They're doing a bunch of very interesting experiments right now, and I'd love to send you a proposal list on new spy devices I would like to develop."

"New spy devices! I want to see!" Wilder hooted excitedly.

"Let me make sure they don't blow up the lab first, then I'll send you an invitation," Sally protested with a chuckle.

"Thanks again, Doc," Alexandria said. Sally waved as she stepped out into the fog.

"She's cool! She's like M, isn't she?" Wilder hooted.

"Sure, I guess, but I don't think M in James Bond was a part-timer," Alexandria said.

"Sally has two jobs, but I don't think she does either of them part time, do you?" Wilder asked.

"Well, no, and I think it's been wearing on her in recent years. When Father began adding more auxiliary staff, she seemed more than a little relieved," Alexandria noted.

"She seems very invigorated now," Wilder noted.

"Yes, she does. In fact, I'm really intrigued to dig into those files now... and to get off of my feet for a bit," Alexandria admitted.

"Shall I send for tea an sandwiches?" Wilder suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea. Hey, wait!" Alexandria protested, but it was too late; Wilder had already gone out the window. Alexandria shook her head, having no luck in concentrating on the files until he finally returned.

"Your tea is in box three," Wilder reported cheerfully.

Alexandria opened the box and sighed at the contents.

"There's only one cup in here," she said with exasperation, putting the tray on her desk.

"Do you have an appointment with someone?" Wilder asked curiously.

"No, I meant what are you going to drink out of?" Alexandria asked him.

"The water container in the top of the familiar tree, naturally..."

"No! Not naturally!" Alexandria exclaimed. "We can't just go on in this office like we did before we got married, you know. It's just not going to work."

"It's not?" Wilder asked curiously.

"Of course it isn't! You're not a real owl," Alexandria pointed out.

"I'm just as real as any other owl at the moment," Wilder said proudly.

"You're a Pooka," Alexandria replied flatly.

"Yes," Wilder agreed.

"You're not my familiar anymore, and I don't feel comfortable with you sitting in that tree with me down here drinking tea," Alexandria explained.

"I'm doing my job. You said that I was an Agent until we got back from maternity leave," Wilder repeated. "Until then, I'm an Agent."

"True, but..."

"Agent Owls don't have tea with the Minister of Mysteries. They wait up here until they're needed," Wilder replied.

"Wilder..." there was a soft ringing sound.

"Someone is coming through the fog," he reported.

Alexandria turned to look at the foggy corridor. A moment later, Aurelius stepped in with a large cage and a Winged Serpent peering out of it.

"Good morning!" Wilder said cheerfully.

"Morning, Wilder, Sis. I brought you a parolee for instant release," Aurelius declared, opening the cage door.

"I'm surprised you even got him in there. He hates cages," Alexandria admitted.

"I told him it was to protect him from the girls," Aurelius explained.

"They kept wanting to touch me out of admiration," Austere complained. "Did you two have lots of sex?"

"Yes, lots!" Wilder confirmed.

"Good, then maybe you will be more tolerable now," Austere decided.

"Wilder! Don't encourage him!" Alex scolded, growing red.

"How am I doing that?" Wilder wanted to know. "Isn't that the point of the honeymoon?"

"It is," Austere confirmed.

"You can't argue with them," Aurelius agreed, keeping an even expression for his sister's sake. "So how was your European tour, other than the obvious?"

"Brilliant, actually. It reminded me a lot of our adventures as children, since we went to all sorts of out of the way places," Alexandria said. "But I'm glad to be back. Was Austere good?"

"I wouldn't call him good, but I'd say he was tolerable," Aurelius said. "He kept asking when Wilder would be back, actually."

Alex put her hands on her hips.

"You missed Wilder?" Alex asked Austere flatly.

"He has excellent taste in friends," Austere explained.

"Austere is my best friend!" Wilder hooted in agreement. Alex stared at Wilder. Then she stared blankly at Aurelius.

"I don't know what to tell you. I've never been in love with a Pooka before," Aurelius informed her.

"He doesn't make it easy," Alexandria said.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," Aurelius replied with a thin smile. Alexandria sighed and smiled back.

"True," she said.

"I emphatically disagree. I have been quite easy on you. In fact, I do everything within my power to make sure that you are comfortable and happy, Alexandria," Wilder protested.

"It wasn't meant in a bad way, Wilder," Alexandria reassured him. "It just means that being married takes a bit of adjusting, that's all."

"For the record, humans aren't that easy to live with either," Wilder informed her.

"Yes, that is true," Austere hissed sympathetically. "They are such irrational creatures."

"Look who's talking! If you two start ganging up on me, I'm going to start sending one of you home," she threatened.

"Do we get to pick which one of us goes home?" Austere inquired.

"Maybe we should take turns," Wilder suggested.

"Do you two mind if I bring up some Ministry business before Alex really gets annoyed?" Aurelius asked.

"Should I get more tea?" Wilder offered.

"Yes, and get some for you too this time. I don't care if you hang out as an owl while you're in the office, but I don't want you drinking out of the bowl or eating kibble. Please put in our order and come back in human form so that you can eat with us," Alexandria told him.

"Gladly!" Wilder hooted, flying back out the window.

"Are we still in the building?" Aurelius asked.

"Yes, I just got here so I haven't had a chance to change locations yet. He won't be long," Alexandria assured him. "How's Ginger doing?"

"Good... getting ready to head on maternity leave," Aurelius said. "She and Alicia are having a contest. Whoever has a girl gets the name Alice, and if they both do, it's whoever is closest to July fourth. That does give Alicia the advantage since she's due that week and Ginger's due ten days later. To be honest, I'd rather have a boy this time."

"You don't get to pick," Alex chuckled.

"Justice is convinced it's a boy. He thinks he has the right to choose after putting up with his little sisters," Aurelius said. "When's your due date again?"

"Late August," Alex replied.

"Well, I hope he or she isn't too late, then. Alicia's going to be disappointed if they don't all go to school at once," Aurelius said.

"It's going to be a boy. It's always a boy with me, remember? Dawn inherited the Ravenclaw line," Alexandria said.

"Maybe that's the line Ick's memory follows, but he doesn't know everything, you know. Things have changed since he had those memories, so I wouldn't rule it out if I were you," Aurelius said.

"I'm just glad that I'll finally get to raise one myself and not from a distance," Alexandria replied sincerely. "That's more important to me than anything, you know?"

"I know," Aurelius replied with a smile.

Just then, Mage Wilder walked in with a fancy tea set on a silver tray, pausing to listen at the door.

"Are you starting the conversation without me?" Mage asked.

"What are you wearing?" Alexandria asked him, ignoring the question.

"A butler's outfit!" Mage declared.

"From what century?" Aurelius wanted to know.

"I saw it in a movie. Do you think it's old fashioned?" he asked, putting the tray on the table while his wife sighed with exasperation.

"A bit," Aurelius agreed. Mage shrugged and changed to the suit he normally wore.

"So what did I miss?" he asked.

"We're just getting caught up with family matters," Alexandria said.

"But that's the most important thing of all, and what I want to hear about most," Mage complained empathically. "I know all about work, but I don't know anything about having a family! I haven't had a family since I left the pod, after all, and I'm going to be a father now, aren't I? Alexandria has such an amazingly large family and I want to know every single thing about all of you! I want to learn everything there is to know so I can be a part of it all! If my life mate has one fault, it is that she doesn't spend enough of her time participating in family life."

"Mage, you know why..."

"I know your excuses Alexandria. You had reason enough to stay away when your boys were wee little things, but they're grown up now. No work is so important that it should take the place of what matters most," Mage told her.

"Father has a rule about that, actually," Aurelius offered. "Family first, then work, then the rest of the world... unless one of the last two affects the former."

"That's a very good rule," the Mage said. "And surely that is something you must have learned during your leave of absence, Alexandria."

"Fine! We'll talk about family first. Really, I can't ever win against him. I can't believe I made the mistake of marrying someone like my mother," Alexandria said with exasperation.

"You keep saying that, but I really don't understand why you think so," Mage said, then turned to Aurelius. "What conversation did I miss?"

"We were just talking about babies, really..."

"I want to hear all about them!" Mage said excitedly. Alexandria decided to simply pour the tea as Aurelius repeated his update.

"The newest addition is Sabina Ambrosia Snape, Andrew's latest. He has three daughters now," Aurelius said.

"Oh, I would like a little girl, but I will be excited for either one! How many do you have?" Mage asked.

"Four, soon to be five. The oldest one will be getting married around the Christmas holidays... we're thinking of having the wedding in Villahexen."

"What? That'd be a security nightmare," Alex complained.

"Apollo's pitching in with Father and Grandfather to buy out the old lodge for the night," Aurelius explained.

"I've heard of Villahexen, but I've never been! I heard there's excellent skiing there! We're going, aren't we?" Mage asked with interest.

"Barring a national security incident that borders on the collapse of our government, I don't see how we could get out of it," Alexandria said dryly.

"Then we must do what we can to insure that it doesn't happen!" Mage said with determination.

"That sounds like a good place for me to talk about work. Have you heard anything about what the Aurors have been working on?" Aurelius asked.

"We just got here. I haven't even touched the newspaper yet," Alexandria replied.

"Well, we've been trying to figure out what happened to Roy Lockhart and Rhett Heron. They went off to India and have gone missing," Aurelius explained. "Leu and Ambrose are combing through his old books to see if they can find some clues. We know they went to explore some historic caves, but we don't know which ones. Going by painting led us to an abandoned Wizard's hut out in the Maharashtra rainforest."

"Do you suppose they went to Ajanta or Ellora?" the Mage asked. "They are both famous and historically significant. Personally, I recommend Ellora, and they both are in the Maharashtra region. If I were going to take a dart throw as to where to start, I would start there. They are extensive and have significant iconography of three different religions cut into the rock."

"Did you detect magic in those caves?" Aurelius asked.

"Yes, most certainly, although they have been combed extensively for individual items. A great deal of religious relics with magical properties have been removed from them over time," Mage replied. "Some were removed by government authorities to protect them, but many more were plundered for profit. They have a severe problem with wizards smuggling precious artifacts out of the country... as bad as Egypt once had, and they don't have as good of a handle on it. You never know what you might find at their extensive street markets, for example. And by no means are the magical artifacts always local. You might stumble onto something from any part of the world... relics traded to the shop keeper for some other desired trinket."

"So whatever it is they're after, it might not even be something that originated in the country," Aurelius realized, not liking the sound of that at all.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were the case, all sorts of questionable items end up there. The wizard markets can also be as random as a London antiques market, and you really need to know a local dealer if you want to track something down," Mage explained. "Of course, magical items show up in public markets as well. You'd be surprised at how many of them are sold by humans that don't know any better. They see them as nothing more than old trinkets to sell to tourists and are often mixed in with an entire table of miscellaneous junk. You need to be actively looking for magic items to find them there... and have a keen sense of magic devices in general."

"Can you sense if an item is magic or not?" Aurelius asked curiously.

"I can sense magic, but not individual items. My magic comes from living things," the Mage explained.

"I get it. Pookas are as wild as Wild Magic gets, but most of magical artifacts are based on Ancient Magic," Aurelius replied. "Well, we have more than one person in the family who can sniff out a magic item if need be, mainly Diana and Mum. Still, this really isn't about finding the item itself. We're just trying to find out what it is to get a clue as to where they went."

"But what if they're after an item for the same reason, Rel?" Alexandria asked. "What if they're just using it as a clue to find the person that Roy was looking for in the first place? Sending anyone to look for them based on what item they're searching for would be nothing short of a wild goose chase. Unless, of course, the owner was singularly focused on it," Alexandria added, mulling it over.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Aurelius asked.

"Maybe whoever it is they're looking for is on a lifelong quest to find a legendary item, which he had been researching for years and year. If it was his obsession, he probably talked to his friends about his goal to find it all of the time. In that case, looking for the item would mean they're likely to meet up eventually."

"Ah! So it's like in Indiana Jones, when his father spend his entire life looking for the Holy Grail," Mage suggested.

"You've seen those films too?" Alexandria asked flatly.

"Only the Last Crusade, because it had Sean Connery in it. I've seen all of his films," Mage said. "They might be looking for the wizard's personal journal, so that they can find a starting place... just like in the film!"

"Maybe he has a point, Alexandria," Aurelius said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're following a paper trail of some kind. I also think it the fact that wizard smuggling is a real problem is also interesting, Mage. I'm going to see if Harry will let me talk to that smuggler that Chuck caught the last time he went traveling with Lockhart. I think he might know something that we don't."

"But would he even be willing to cooperate after being extradited and sent to the Tower?" Alexandria asked.

"That's why I need to talk to Harry first. Maybe the possibility of an early parole will entice him to cooperate," Aurelius replied.

"Harry would have to go through Grandfather to get approval for that. Let me do it instead, since I can offer it directly," Alexandria said. "We can go over the weekend."

Mage made a buzzing sound.

"Wrong answer! We are house sitting for your parents this weekend and spending time with your children! No work related plans can be made until Monday," Mage informed Alexandria. "Family first, isn't that the rule?"

"Yes, it is. He's going to be real good for you, Alex," Aurelius teased. "I'll see about getting permission to talk to him on Monday."

"Fine. Monday," Alexandria said with a sigh, and Mage nodded at her with a smile of approval.