Chapter Text
If Chiara had to pick one word to describe Theseus Scamander, it would be arrogant. Stuck-up, prick, or obnoxious would also suffice. The two of them have never seen eye-to-eye, and never worked well together, not even back in their school days, so Chiara cannot possibly fathom why they have both been summoned to Head Auror Gryffiths’ office at the same time.
She’s arrived a few minutes earlier than Gryffiths had requested, hoping that she might get a few answers out of him beforehand, but of course, Scamander seems to have had the same idea. He’s already there, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against his thigh and not even bothering to look in her direction as she walks in. Thinks he’s so great…
Gryffiths isn’t there yet, anyway, leaving the pair of them to stand in his office in awkward silence. Chiara has always hated this office. Aside from the fact that a summons usually means she’s done something wrong and is about to be shouted at, Gryffiths keeps his office exceptionally tidy. From the mahogany desk, with paperwork neatly stacked and organised, to the polished frame of a portrait hung on his wall (someone called ‘Eldritch Diggory,’), everything is perfectly in order. It almost feels like if she even breathes wrong, she’s going to break something. Wholly unpleasant.
“I don’t suppose you don’t know why we’ve been sent for, either?” Theseus finally says, breaking the silence.
“I don’t.”
If he’s going to say anything else, he doesn’t get the chance, as the door behind them swings open and Azrael Gryffiths strides in.
He is, realistically, only in his mid-40’s, but the stress of the job seems to have aged him by at least another decade. His strawberry blond hair already shows faint streaks of grey, and though his face is still somewhat youthful, there is a near-constant furrow in his brow, and crow’s feet crinkle at the corners of his eyes.
“Ah, Scamander. Wilson. Thank you for being early.” He smiles warmly at them both, although he looks quite obviously exhausted beneath it.
“Of course, sir.” Theseus dips his head politely, which makes Chiara want to roll her eyes. To her, it makes him look stupid.
“Er… is there a reason you wanted to see us?”
“Ah! Yes. Sorry to keep you both in suspense.” Gryffiths shuffles through a few of the papers on his desk, quiet for a moment. He finds whatever he was looking for and sets it aside. “I have a case, and I believe you two are best suited to take care of it.”
If Chiara didn’t know better, she might think he was joking. They’ve never worked together before, not even once. How can they possibly be suited for anything with no experience?
“What kind of case?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing. “As you know, the department has been spread… rather thin these days.” Understatement. After the chaos of the end of the war, hundreds of Dark wizards had completely evaded capture and spread all across the world. Most have thrown blame directly on Minister Evermonde, after his continued blunders and attempts to keep wizards out of the war altogether. To compensate for it, everyone in the British Ministry is being overworked like there’s no tomorrow.
“Many of our top Aurors have been dispatched across Europe to help round up who they can,” Gryffiths continues. “We sent a team to France last month, and during their time there, they uncovered an organised crime ring run primarily by a small group calling themselves the Ashwinders. They were formerly based in Scotland, but after their leader vanished and his replacement was arrested, they relocated to Paris.” He sighs. “With the help of the French Ministry, over a dozen members were caught and brought to justice, but those that escaped-”
“Came here?” Chiara guesses.
“They did. It’s worse than simply coming to London, however.” He pauses, as if building dramatic tension. “Two weeks ago, a handful of them staged a breakout at Azkaban.”
Her jaw drops. “A what ? That’s impossible!”
“How have we not heard of this before?” Theseus demands. “That should be international bloody news!”
“On the contrary, we are trying to keep it quiet. Only myself, the Minister, and a handful of department heads know about it at present, and we would like it to stay that way. Aside from the fact that we don’t want to cause a panic amongst the people, well… if one can break out, they all can. The last thing we want is other criminals getting ideas.”
Chiara frowns. She supposes that makes sense, but it doesn’t sit quite right with her. Shouldn’t the people be aware that someone extremely dangerous is on the loose? Based on the muttering to her right, it sounds like Theseus agrees with her. “Who got out?”
“Just one- a man by the name of Theophilus Harlow. He was second in command of the gang, back in 1890, but after the top dog disappeared in ‘91, he took control. He was arrested shortly after.” Gryffiths reads off the papers he set aside a few moments ago.
“So… I assume our job is to find where he’s hidden himself and bring him back in?” Says Theseus. He looks almost as rattled as Chiara feels, which is very unlike him. In all the years she’s been unfortunate enough to know him, he’s always had an excellent poker face.
Gryffiths nods. “In part, yes.” He sighs again, long and slow, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “You are also tasked with finding out what happened to Elsie Weasley and Richard Byrne, two senior officers from the department. They were given this case right after the breakout happened. A few days ago we lost contact with them, and not a word since.”
“Oh.” Chiara squeaks, voice small. Two people have already gone missing trying to bring the guy in? That doesn’t bode well. Senior officers, too… Chiara vaguely recognises their names.
Theseus is asking something, but she’s not listening, as a sudden thought occurs to her.
“Why me?” She interjects over whatever he was saying. He huffs at being interrupted “It’s not as though I’m the most qualified Auror for something like this.”
Gryffiths raises his eyebrows. “You have been almost constantly badgering me about assigning you more difficult cases, a chance to prove yourself, and now that I’m handing you one, you’re not going to accept?”
That… is true. He’s never assigned her to a serious case, no matter how much she’s begged. A favour, she’s certain, to her father- the pair of them have been friends for years, and she strongly suspects that’s why Gryffiths keeps such a close eye on her, never letting her do anything actually dangerous. Most of her jobs have been menial paper-pushing, the highest risk being tripping over that loose brick in the floor by her desk that she’s been meaning to fix.
Granted, helping track someone who had, against all odds, managed to escape from Azkaban, is quite a step up from all that, but if she doesn’t take the opportunity now, another might never come her way. That said, she feels terribly unprepared for two missing Aurors and an Azkaban escapee.
“This simply seems like a job more suited for someone with more direct field experience, is all.”
“As much as I agree,” Theseus starts, making Chiara bristle, “I have a feeling this is a last resort?”
“Indeed. There isn’t anyone else- all our officers are already taking on cases of their own. Believe me, Wilson, I hate to do this to you. I wanted to assign Karkaroff in your place, but he’s already off on an investigation of his own, in Bulgaria.” Hm. Chiara could swear she saw Karkaroff milling about outside the Minister’s office not half an hour ago. “If you stick close to Scamander, everything will be fine.”
Theseus nods. “I do have a perfect record. You’ll be safe with me.” It is probably not humanly possible to sound any more stuck-up than he just did.
Stick close to Scamander. Honestly, she’d rather peel her own skin off, but it doesn’t seem like she’s got a whole lot of choice in the matter. “I… I suppose… yes. Fine.”
“Excellent.” Gryffiths claps her on the shoulder. “That will be all for now. I have to go manage about a dozen other things the Minister has got me doing.” He runs his fingers through his hair, looking as though he would rather do anything else. “The Archivists on floor 9 will likely have all the rest of the information you’ll need. Until later… best of luck. Thank you both.”
And then he’s gone, rushing out of his office almost as quickly as he’d entered, leaving Chiara and Theseus alone again. She flips her blonde hair over her shoulder, chewing her bottom lip as she thinks. Something is decidedly not right here. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but she’s not entirely sure taking this mission will end well. Not as though she can back out now, however, and one glance over at Scamander makes her think that, bad feeling or no, perhaps she doesn’t want to. She’s been aching for a chance to one-up him, ever since their school days.
What could possibly go wrong?