Making The ROunds (Ted, Vincent)

[alastor]

Alastor had finally arrived back at the Ministry and was even angrier than before. People were dying, there was evidence of a group of dark wizards calling themselves the death eaters. Yet all anyone could think of was poor Andromeda, as far as Alastor was concerned losing a boyfriend was nothing compared to people losing their lives.

Once again it was up to Alastor to come in and protect the people of the wizarding world. Approaching the elevators in the lobby of the ministry he had decided to wait to pay Angelique a visit and head straight for his old boss Vincent. Arriving at the highest branch of the Ministry, Alastor ignored everyone as he saw Vincents office and headed for the door. Holding up a hand to stop any questions that the secretary seemed ready to ask he pulled his wand out of the pocket of his robes and waved it at the door as it flew open and he entered Vincents office without breaking his stride.

Waving his wand once more the door slammed shut and locked itself as he came to a stop right next to where Ted was sitting, in front of Vincents desk. "Miss me?" A smile crossed his lips as the words left his mouth.

[Vincent Corrigan]

Vincent was, as always, taken by surprise by Alastor Moody's sudden, boisterous entrance. But then, that was Moody. "Alastor!" he greeted him. "I'm in the middle of a meeting with Mr. Tonks right now, have you checked in with Angelique yet?"

In truth, he was actually rather glad to see Moody. He preferred to deal with real work issues, and not have to be involved in relationship problems that never should have been made public. He silently cursed the Daily Prophet.

[alastor]

Alastor dropped his smile the instant Vincent mentioned his current boss. "Yeah, well I thought about it but this requires a higher power. Seeing as how..." He paused for a moment to place his hand on Ted's shoulder. "It's about the issue with our two rookie's here." Removing his hand he moved to the side of Vincent's desk so he could lower his voice so only the three of them could hear.

"I just left Miss Black's apartment due from not being able to restrain myself from strangling her any longer. The poor girl is jumping to the worst possible conclusions about everything and is about as useful as a rock to the department." Moving away from the desk, Alastor began to pace around the room eyeing everything, stopping for a short moment to remove a pocket sneakoscope from his robes and place it on the minister's desk.

"The way I see it Vincent, this is a precursor to an attack on the Hogwars tournament." He paused to allow Vincent time to take the newly exposed theory in.

[Ted Tonks]

Did he want to make a public statement? No. Did he expect to have to? Yes. He was about to answer when the door flew pen.

Damn it, Ted thought as Alastor put his hand on his shoulder. How many people was he going to get a lecture from today? What worried him though was that sneakoscope, and he eyed it carefully before glancing at Moody.

For now, though, he kept his silence, trying to fade into the background.

[Rita Skeeter]

Rita Skeeter had managed to sneak into the ministry undetected as usual, it was amazing what you could hear when no one expected an unregistered animagus to be listening.. especially a beetle. She'd managed to crawl into the office of the Minister of Magic to her delight catching most of the conversation with Ted Tonks. What a pleasant delight! She couldn't have planned this story seeking excursion's timing any better.

So they wanted to try to go against her personally and try to shut down the Daily Prophet? She decided that she had a second article that definatly needed writing.. one that.. should they succeed in doing either, the blame would land squarely with the Ministry of Magic and her public would be outraged. She would see that her written legacy continued despite the fact that the ministry wanted a coverup... indeed.

She listened to the remainder of the conversation before scurrying off undetected as normal, to see what other tidbits could be found in the ministry today.

[Vincent Corrigan]

Vincent sighed. Moody was right; this was no time to have two of his aurors crippled to the point of being unable to do their work. Ted looked bad, he could see it. Whatever his reasoning for breaking up with Andromeda, it was clear that the decision was taking its toll on him. And if Andromeda was even half as bad as Ted, it would have a devastating effect on the department. It would leave Moody, Fabian Prewett, and Cassidy LaRose to do all of the work in the department. Since Cassidy was tied up investigating Tyler's case, that left them even more limited.

But Vincent didn't quite follow the logic. "Wait... you think that this... incident... is tied to a potential attack on the tournament? How so?"

[alastor]

Alastor stormed over towards Vincent's desk and leaned over his eyes locked onto Vincent. "Vincent, how about we both pretend that once upon a time you were a damn good Auror." Standing back some Alastor kept his gaze switching between Ted and Vincent. "Now both of you think on this. The article was released the day after the champion selection." Resuming his pacing around the room his eyes continued to scan every aspect of the office.

"One of the auror's crippled by said article happens to be my immediate backup inside of Hogwarts if you exclude Headmaster Dumbledore. Yet any wizard dumb enough to start an attack in front of Dumbledore isnt smart enough to plan something like this if you catch my meaning."

[Vincent Corrigan]

Vincent nodded slowly. As bizarre as it sounded, Moody's theory made a lot of sense. What better way to cripple a young female auror on her first mission than a sudden breakup with her boyfriend? It certainly seemed innocent enough... but maybe it wasn't.

Vincent glanced past Moody to Ted. Having talked to Ted and hearing at least part of his side of the story, he knew that, as far as Ted was concerned, there was no plot. But what if Ted had been manipulated?

"What do you think about this, Ted?" he asked. "You went there to bring her flowers and you wound up breaking up with her. That wasn't your plan at all when you got there. What made you change your mind? Did Rita or anyone else say anything to you?"

[Ted Tonks]

Ted was quiet for a moment. Yes, of course they had spoken to him... why else would he have changed his tune so quickly?

He sighed, knowing that out of everyone, these two were not the two to lie to.

"Rita Skeeter and I exchanged words, yes."

[alastor]

Alastor almost tripped over his own feet as Ted admitted to speaking to Rita. Grabbing a chair, Alastor placed it next to Ted's and sat down leaning in a bit. "Ted, if my theory is correct then somehow Rita Skeeter is tied to the death eaters. Either they are using her or she is a member herself. I know you've had a bit on your mind today but can you remember the exact exchange of words between you and Rita?"

Alastor was barely able to keep his excitement under control, he had lost the scent a while back and he was very possibly close to picking up the trail and this was one bloodhound that has not been fed in a while.

[Ted Tonks]

Ted shook his head and shrugged. "I don't remember, Alastor," he admitted. "It was all most about how Andromeda should be with her family, and how much danger she was in with me. I don't recall the exact words."

He truly didn't. All he knew was that it hadn't seemed like anything other than exploiting Andromeda had been going on, but he could be wrong. "In my opinion... I do not think she is a death eater. I'm not even sure she works for them. I wouldn't give her credit enough to be that useful to the dark lord. But I am willing to concede that I could be wrong."

[alastor]

Alastor sighed at Ted's response and leaned back a bit in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "You'd be surprised at what some dark wizards consider useful and what they do not." Standing up he began to pace around the room, his hand slowly stroking the stubble that had begun to grow on his chin. Finally almost as if an invisible bolt of lightning flew from the ceiling and struck him Alastor almost seemed to jump over to Vincent's desk once more.

"Let me bring her in for questioning Vincent, it's very possible the poor girl could of been under the imperius curse, or she really is working for this Voldemort character and either way I think we should bring her in." Alastor sighed slightly as the words left his mouth, it was a bad time when one had to resort to questioning the young students at Hogwarts but drastic measures had to be taken during times like these.

[Vincent Corrigan]

Vincent hesitated at this. The idea of questioning a student... it put the Ministry at risk for some complaints. And perhaps they were justified. Since he was already in the hot seat, so to speak, something like this would not go over well. "Alastor, I can't give you permission to question a student; only Albus Dumbledore can do that. If the girl is of age and Dumbledore says it's OK, then by all means, question her."

[Ted Tonks]

Ted shook his head. "You're searching for something that isn't there. She was not under the Imperius curse, she really just is that vile. Death Eater, maybe."

He hadn't seen anything that would suggest that what she was doing wasn't from her own free will, and sometimes Moody was just overly suspicious. This was one of those times, he was certain.

Then again, he wasn't in much of a position right now to say so.

[alastor]

Alastor shook his head as he stared at the floor feeling a bit of shame for the awful suggestion he had just made. "Your right Ted, i'm probably chasing shadows. Besides my assignment is to protect the students during the tournament not harass them." Standing up and taking a deep breath he placed a steady hand on the chair Ted was sitting on. "Well, I must head back to Hogwarts. Good luck saving face with the public Vincent." A small smile crossed his features as he leaned in a bit to whisper to the two wizards in the room with him.

"If all else fails just remember, while these folks are sitting in their homes reading the Daily Prophet and judging us, we're running around in Merlin forsaken areas of this country getting body parts ripped off of us so that we may allow them to continue sitting in their homes reading the paper." With that said, Alastor stood up and hastily walked towards the door, stopping for a moment. "Oh and Vincent, tell Angelique she needs to come to Hogwarts and meet with me. Her and I need to have a bit of a talk."

Continuing out the door he closed it behind him and winked at the secretary as he walked past and out of the Ministry headed back to Hogwarts.

[Vincent Corrigan]

Vincent watched as Alastor left the room was almost as much bluster as he'd entered with. He admired the man and his dedication, even if he was sometimes just a little too cautious.

Turning back to Ted, he sighed again. "All right, Ted. I'm going to take care of this situation with the Prophet. An editorial in the Prophet will at least be a start. It won't clear everything up, but hopefully it will at least stop the bleeding, so to speak. For now, I want you just to lie low and work on the assignment Angelique gave you. But go home and get some rest, will you? You look like hell."

[Ted Tonks]

"I feel like hell," Ted replied softly, nodding to Vincent and getting ready to get up.

"If you need me," and he didn't suspect that they would... he had done enough damage. "You know where to find me."

He stood and turned to go, and then turned back to Vincent. "Thank you for having enough faith in me not to let me go."