Report

[Gabriel Lowery]

Gabriel was going to offer to help her clean herself up, but she ended up cleaning herself up. He politely waited until she finished, and then looked toward the exit of the alley. "We're going to a muggle neighborhood not far from here. It was where the attack happened."

He put his hands behind his back and he started to walk out of the alleyway. "Of course we can go where ever you think that you want to visit."

[Angelique St. Clare]

"Well, just start at the site of the attack," Angelique said. "I want to scour the area to see if I can find any clues. Now, you said you used memory charms on all of the muggles that witnessed the scene? And all they saw were people in hoods, is that right?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

He started to lead her towards the site of the attack, which was in the neighborhood near by. "Yes. Just people in dark robes and hoods, with stick things, according to them. A few thought that it was just a muggle gang. A few muggles were actually hit with a few curses while the other ones were just terrified. We made sure that we could secure the area in order to make sure that they were all alright and we repaired their memory just right."

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique frowned. It seemed unlikely that they were going to find much to go on here. Still, things were going so badly inside the Ministry, that it seemed necessary to keep looking at every case from every possible angle. "OK. Now, out of curiosity, was anything taken in the attack? Did there seem to be any reason for the attack, or was it just completely random?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

"We searched while we had the chance before muggles started to get suspicious as to why we were there. However, we didn't find anything missing. One muggle reported seeing some kind of mark in the sky. He said with was like a head or something, but that was all he could tell." Gabriel looked ahead as they walked. "From the looks of things, it was just completely random. Maybe they were just doing it to let people know that they're there. I don't know."

[Angelique St. Clare]

"Great," Angelique groaned. "These random attacks with no purpose... they're the hardest to track. It seems like there have been more and more of these kinds of things lately. I feel like we're going to have to work with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to see if we can track the illegal use of magic in the presence of muggles, and even then, we won't know specifically who was responsible." She continued walking with him, noticing that the neighborhood was pretty much a stereotypical muggle neighborhood--rows of white houses with white picket fences and prety little gardens in the front yard. Just the sort of quaint innocence that the average Death Eater would be looking to destroy. "So where was the first spell fired?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

"I don't think that we will ever really know who is specifically responsible for this. Only if we could catch one of them, it would probably answer a lot of questions, however we don't know where they will strike next. There is no way that we can be everywhere at once to check." Gabriel sighed and walked through the neighborhood. His parent's house used to be similar to these, however he shook the memory out of his head. The sadness in his eyes returned, but he focused on his current task, and that was trying to figure out what was going on.

"It was fired at this house. Third from the end. Then it went down this row of houses. A few muggles had come out to see what was going on, and then that's when several were injuried and killed."

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique frowned. Gabriel was right, there wasn't any evidence to be found here. She walked around for a bit, silently studying the ground for any sign of clues left behind, but there was nothing to be found. All she could find was muggle items--a lighter, an old tin can, a candy wrapper. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"They're too good," she said. "They know what they're doing, and they're not going to leave any evidence behind. And we can't predict where they're going to strike next. They have us just running around in circles, and they know it. They're calling all the shots. How are we supposed to stop them?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

Gabriel rubbed his chin. "I've thought about that," he replied. "The only thing I know is to catch them. Yes, their attacks are random, but there has to be some kind of pattern, something we're missing." He paced back and forth. "I'll keep working on it." He continued to try to come up with something, but nothing could come to mind. "We just have to keep watching them, study them. After that, maybe a few can be caught."

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique frowned and looked around some more. "Or maybe there really is no pattern or reason at all. Maybe they're doing it on purpose, to send us running all over the place and keep us distracted from whatever their real plan is. Or maybe they're trying to send a message, that anyone is at risk and that they don't care when or where they strike. There are so many possibilities and we're never going to figure it out unless we can catch one of them, but they're too smart..."

She walked slowly towards the house where the first spells had been fired, looking thoughtfully at the ground. She didn't expect to find anything, but she was getting desperate.

[Gabriel Lowery]

Looking around carefully, Gabriel didn't see anything, however he found himself watching Angelique as she was looking around as well. He turned away before she could look back at him. Gabriel occupied himself with searching again. "Maybe they are doing both. Sending us everywhere under the sun, and sending us a message. Both worlds are in danger and we don't know where to look next." He didn't like the idea of people being in danger and if he was going to have to work with Angelique more closely and talk to her, well he would attempt to even if he wasn't much of a talker.

[Angelique St. Clare]

"Unfortunately, you're probably right," Angelique replied. "It sounds a lot like the kind of thing they would do. It worries me, because I'm afraid they might be planning something big, and they're hoping that we'll be so busy dealing with random cases like this that we won't be prepared for whatever is coming. It's a good thing I've called all of my aurors home... I just hope I'm stationing them in the right area. Right now, it's absolutely impossible to be sure."

She sighed and was about to stand up, when a glint of something caught her eye. She reached over and picked up something that was half-hidden in the too-long grass. Turning it over in her hand, she could see that it was a ring, a very old ring. Judging by the size and thickness of it, it was a man's ring, in a dingy hammered gold, with what looked like a coat of arms on it.

Holding it out to him, she said, "Looks like a wizarding family to me. What do you think?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

He continued to look, going back over places that he and a few others looked. Nothing was there that he saw. Sighing Gabriel turned around and saw Angelique reaching for something. He took a few steps closer to her and looked at what she was looking at with curiousity.

Gabriel reached out and took the ring while his fingers brushed hers. He didn't think anything of it, but didn't let his eyes meet hers, they were just on the ring. Looking at it, he came to the same conclusion that Angelique did, it was a man's ring from what he could tell and there was a coat of arms. "It does look like a wizarding family's coat of arms," he said agreeing. "Maybe we can find out who this ring belongs to. If we can do that, then maybe we can find out who did this."

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique smiled and let out a breath. Finally, they had something, some sort of clue. A place to start. She was still hoping she could link the case with one that another of her aurors had been working on, and maybe, just maybe, this ring could be the missing piece.

"It's a start, anyway," she said. "And definitely more than we had before." She took the ring back from him and placed it in an evidence bag. "I'll have this analyzed, then see if we can trace the coat of arms. Who knows? Maybe we can actually figure something out."

She took one last look around, then shrugged. "I don't think we're going to find anything else. Why don't we head back?"

[Gabriel Lowery]

"True. Once you get the information on the ring, will you keep me updated on it," he asked as Angelique took the ring from him. Gabriel was going to attempt to keep up with whatever was going on. If the Aurors needed some kind of help, he thought that he could give them the extra they needed.

He gave one last look around. "Yeah, we might as well head back. The quicker that ring is analyzed, the better." Gabriel felt just slightly more comfortable around her, but that didn't mean anything different. He motioned for them to start walking back to the portkey. His hands went to his pockets as they started to walk back.

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique nodded. "Yeah, absolutely," she said. "I'm actually going to have my brother do the tests on it, instead of doing it inside the Ministry. Normally I would take it to the Department of Mysteries, but I'm not entirely sure I trust the department right now. And Wesley used to be an Unspeakable, so I trust him to do the work."

She let out a sigh as she walked back with him to the portkey. "Hopefully we can start to figure some of this out soon... We've got to start catching these guys and getting information out of them."

[Gabriel Lowery]

"We will," Gabriel replied simply. He had to have confidence in that a few of the death eaters would be caught at some point or another. As for trust, he didn't trust anyone at the moment. However, right now he thought that he could trust Angelique to some point for the time being.

He was slient for a few minutes as they walked. "I'll keep you updated with whatever we find or deal with. You'll be getting a copy of the reports." As they reached the portkey, Gabriel looked to Angelique. "Let's get you to land on your feet this time, eh," he said without realizing it. That was the first time some kind of joking words came from his mouth, and he wasn't sure if his expression showed that he was joking or not, but his eyes showed it.

Gabriel picked up the shoe and waited until Angelique touched it as well.

[Angelique St. Clare]

Angelique laughed. "Yeah, I'll do my best," she said. "I'm usually a lot more graceful than that."

Moving closer to him, she found herself looking into his eyes for a bit longer than necessary. He had nice eyes--kind and intelligent. For a second she couldn't quite catch her breath.

But the moment didn't last, and she soon recovered herself. She put her hand on the portkey and took a deep breath just before she felt the familiar pull behind her navel.

[Gabriel Lowery]

Gabriel looked back at Angelique as she seemed to stare at him. He couldn't bring himself to look away. Even as she looked away, Gabriel didn't. Thoughts were racing through his mind as she touched the portkey.

They were both taken back to the Ministry and he led her inside. Gabriel walked Angelique back to her office, then stopped outside the door and cleared his throat a little. "Good luck with getting information on that ring. I'll keep you updated with everything." He gave her a half smile. "Have a good day Ms. St. Claire."

[Angelique St. Clare]

It was a very rare occasion when Angelique was at a loss for words. But somehow, after that lingering look with Gabriel, she couldn't quite find her voice. After they had arrived back at the Ministry, she followed behind him quietly and didn't say anything until they reached her office and he spoke to her. Even then, he flashed a little half-smile that made her heart skip a beat.

She shook her head , trying to clear out the crazy thoughts that were going through her mind. "Yes... absolutely... I'll keep you updated as soon as I find out anything. Thanks again for your help, Mr. Lowery." Since he was being formal, she spoke similarly. "I'll... be in touch."

She walked into her office and closed the door behind her, then leaned against the door. What the hell had just happened?