Ministry of Magic
Auror
Order of The Phoenix
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25 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Crystal Meadowes on Sept 8, 2016 4:08:46 GMT
Crystal felt like banging her head against a well. She and Addy Stark had been at this for a month now, and it felt like they had made absolutely zero progress. Addy’s living room was currently covered in a mess of papers scattered amongst mostly empty takeout containers from dinner. The pages were a combination of newspaper clippings, personnel files and case reports Crystal had nicked from work, and various handwritten notes the two young woman had scribbled out as one thing or another seemed to come together. At one point earlier in the evening there had been some form of organization to the pages. But now they were just sort of spread out everywhere. Crystal had been sitting on the edge of the couch with her elbows on her knees as she stared down at Harry’s report from the Ashland and Johar arrest on the coffee table (maybe there were some clues hiding in the hospital side of things), but now she groaned in frustration and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. “This is bloody ridiculous. We’ve gone over these a hundred times, and there’s still nothing. Either we’re seriously missing something or the pieces we need aren’t here.” Not that she was ready to give up. She just hadn’t dreamed when she took on this crusade that it would take so long to get somewhere. She and Addy were starting to spin themselves in mental circles. What they really needed was a fresh set of eyes. But that was pretty much out of the question, at least for the time being. The last Order meeting had proved most of them thought there were bigger fish elsewhere, and there wasn’t much point pulling in Crystal’s usual accomplices. Not yet. Harry clearly knew she was up to something, but telling him was out because he would want to bring in all his friends in the auror department. And Crystal just couldn’t take that risk. Not when she was so sure there was a mole somewhere in the Ministry. But Fred and George weren’t exactly the subtle types, Tonks had enough on her plate with Remus being sucked into the whole werewolf mess, Neville and Hermione couldn’t keep a secret from Harry, and Ron couldn’t keep a secret period. So until Crystal could finally come up with some kind of concrete proof, she and Addy were pretty much on their own with this. She sighed and pushed herself to her feet, heading for Addy’s kitchen. “You mind if I make coffee?” Crystal had been over enough times enough to know where it was. “If I have to stare at those pages any longer, I might lose my mind.” She needed to take a break and rest her weary brain before trying to tackle this from yet another angle. What time was it even? Probably well into the night, but exactly how far, Crystal had absolutely no idea. Although they might be here a good while longer seeing as neither she nor Addy handled losing well. It got a little tricky sometimes coordinating Addy’s schedule with Crystal’s ever increasing shifts, but when they did manage to meet like this, they tended to go for hours at a time. (OOC – Hope you don’t mind this! I wanted to see a little of them investigating. Let me know if you want anything changed.) |
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Quidditch
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20 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Badassery
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Gen
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Post by Addy Stark on Sept 23, 2016 19:14:59 GMT
Addy had always had trouble falling asleep. Since she as small and newly without a mother, she'd been unable to drift off into dreamland with ease, instead lying awake in her bed, muscles tight and tense, mind racing. As she grew, this didn't change- particularly in times of stress, she was unable to sleep, unable to rest, unable to relax. Her father used to tease her about her energy, lightly (but always leaving warm drinks out for her to try and help), but it had been a former coach who had pointed out that if she couldn't sleep, she might as well distract herself with something else productive.
"Do push-ups," they'd suggested. "Catch up on your reading. If you're going to be awake, use that to your advantage." And so Addy had done push ups, caught up on her reading, went out for runs with Finn at sketchy times of night. Now she was doing something just as sketchy - though equally productive- with her sleepless time, poring over documents and news clippings with Crystal, trying to figure out what was eating the Ministry from the inside out like a cancer. They hadn't gotten far. There was her dad's letter, there were incidental eyewitness reports and records of Healers coming and going, but none of these explained away the memory of her dad choking on some poison and passing in the midst of chaos. None of them quelled the fury that Addy carried around with her, deep in her guts, towards those who were responsible.
She'd read the same line a few times when Crystal levered herself up to make coffee. Addy hummed agreement. "Go ahead," she told her, stretching lightly. She didn't need it- she was wide awake- but it was something to do. Addy watched as Crystal set about doing so, then stood to stretch again. Finn, bless his canine heart, had gotten tired of all the paper and none of the attention, and was snoozing in Addy's bedroom, so it was just the two of them. Addy appreciated Crystal's faith and hard work more than she could say... So she didn't, just headed into the kitchen with her and leaned on the counter nearby. "You overworking yourself?" she asked, stretching out a calf muscle thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure you drink more of my coffee than I do."
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Ministry of Magic
Auror
Order of The Phoenix
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25 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Crystal Meadowes on Sept 28, 2016 8:09:47 GMT
The consent given was expected, hence why Crystal was already halfway to the coffee pot by the time it came. She wasn’t really surprised when Addy trailed her to the kitchen. The younger woman had a thing about physical contact and being close to people, something Crystal had gotten pretty used to between both the little Lupins and Molly Weasley. Besides, it was oddly comforting when one was waist-deep in conspiracy theories and darkness to turn around and find another living, breathing person there.
Crystal used her hand to stifle a yawn as she put on the coffee. Heating it up with magic would probably go faster, but she liked doing it the Muggle way. Maybe because that was how her father had always done it. Addy seemed to catch the yawn though because she asked after Crystal’s well-being. The young auror shrugged, turning around to lean back against the counter while the coffee heated up. “Probably,” she admitted with a weary smile. “Wouldn’t be the first time. I just can’t seem to slow down though with everything that’s going on. I always feel like there’s more I should be doing.” In truth, Crystal was pretty sure she was the sort of tired that sleep wouldn’t cure. Only answers and peace. Until then though, she would roll up her sleeves and press on. That was just how she worked. Forge ahead until her body forced her to sleep and then get up to do it all again. Usually with the assistance of coffee. She glanced over at the heating pot before flashing Addy an apologetic smile. “Occupational hazard. When you run out, let me know and I’ll buy you more.”
She tilted her head and gave Addy a weighing look. “What about you? You holding up okay?” Her tone was a careful balance of concerned and casual, leaving Addy the room to shape her answer around anything from her current stage in the grieving process to being sore from Quidditch practice. It was a rare courtesy Crystal had greatly appreciated after her own father’s death. Sometimes she had really needed to talk about it and sometimes that was the last thing she had wanted to even think about. Whichever place Addy happened to be in, Crystal was happy to play along. Tonks had done the same for her a few years back. It was nice to finally pay that kindness forward. Not to mention Crystal actually genuinely liked Addy, and she wanted to do whatever she could to help.
If only that desire was all it took to find answers. The coffeepot wasn’t quite heated yet, so Crystal pushed herself away from the counter to pace the small kitchen. “Okay, let’s try this from the beginning. Your dad gets suspicious about somebody in the ministry, so he writes that note. Then he gets ambushed by… someone. Someone who takes the time to wipe the memories of the aurors when the killing curse would’ve been easier. Sounds to me like someone who would’ve been recognized and didn’t want to risk having that spell on their wand just in case.” She held her hands in front of her as she paced, absentmindedly ticking off the points on her fingers. "All the focus is on the Death Eaters because they storm the hospital a few days later, and they attacked the Eye to draw out the aurors. But it’s the opposition on the Wizengamot, not the Death Eaters, who benefit most from his death. And he was supposedly going to a Wizengamot meeting when he got ambushed. A meeting that apparently no one else knew was scheduled. Almost like it was by design. So what links the Death Eaters and Ministry?”
She paused briefly in her pacing to chew the end of her thumbnail as she thought something over. But then she started back again. “Greengrass obviously gains the most from having your dad out of the way, and a pure family like hers almost has to have those sorts of connections somewhere. My gut says she's involved somehow. But she’s accounted for during the Ministry infiltration, so if she was involved, she wasn’t working alone. And then there’s the poison, which clashes completely with the whole guns blazing thing the Death Eaters had going on in the hospital attack. Almost like they were there to frame someone instead of just killing him.” Which was clearly working, if the public’s reaction to Malfoy was any sign. But some distant corner of Hell must have frozen over because just this once Crystal was willing to give the Slytherin the benefit of the doubt. He just didn’t fit into this puzzle properly. Not that most of the pieces did. Crystal paused again, hands poised in the air as if waiting for inspiration to strike. It didn’t. She sighed and dropped her arms. “And there I hit the same bloody wall.” She ran an irritated hand through her hair as she looked over at Addy. “What are we missing? There has to be something.”
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Quidditch
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20 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Badassery
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Gen
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Post by Addy Stark on Nov 11, 2016 22:12:21 GMT
Crystal yawned into her hand, and Addy tilted her head thoughtfully, letting it loll on one shoulder for a moment before rolling it, stretching out the kinks that were forming there. She raised both eyebrows at Crystal's admission and shook her head. "Unfortunately, you do need to sleep to be at your best," Addy drawled, nudging Crystal with a companionable elbow, part teasing and part urging. She shrugged at the apology. "Don't worry about it," she said easily. "Least I can do. Besides, you seem to make it better than I do," she eyed the coffee pot appreciatively. "Do you have a secret, or is it just sort of done by guesswork between yawns?"
Addy rolled her shoulders in a half-shrug, half-stretch. She didn't have a clear answer to that question, not really. She was a lot of things - angry, frustrated, tired, but also hopeful and determined - and she wasn't sure how you determined if those added up to "okay". Mostly she felt like she was carrying a little knot of burning coal around in her chest all the time, but how did you say that? Addy was nothing if not honest, though, so she made a non-committal noise. "I don't like problems without a simple solution," Addy settled on. "It's frustrating." Her mouth thinned, but the set of her jawline was as determined as ever.
Crystal started to pace - a familiar sight - and Addy leaned on the counter, hands relaxed around the edges. "I wish he'd told me more specifics," she murmured, tone irritated. "He wasn't very forthcoming before ... before it happened." She blinked her eyes open wide against memories of the hospital room, and nodded her head. "There's definitely a connection," she agreed, fingers tapping on the counter thoughtfully. "But we don't know enough about the Death Eaters." She chewed on her lip. "There's probably a connection somewhere that people don't know about." Someone hiding in plain sight - a wolf in sheep's clothing. A very murderous wolf, apparently.
Addy wrinkled her nose at the mention of poison once again, shifting against the cabinet. Instead of focusing on the memory, she used that anger to stoke the little coal in her chest, feeling it flare up expectantly. "They were investigating the hospital staff," she pointed out. "You don't think there's anything there?" Her mouth thinned again. She didn't know anything about the former death eater on staff, and was hesitant to trust the Prophet, but... "We don't know for sure when they poisoned him, so we can't identify who did it. Maybe we should be working on the Ministry end?" Addy sighed and rubbed at her eyes. They just kept going in circles. What were they missing?
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Ministry of Magic
Auror
Order of The Phoenix
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25 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Crystal Meadowes on Nov 27, 2016 0:17:57 GMT
Addy nudged her shoulder, and a hint of a tired smile crossed Crystal’s face. “So I’m told. Maybe someday the world will actually stay saved and I can test that theory.” She really didn’t mind being busy all the time. As a rule, Crystal was generally far too active to sit around and do nothing. But sometimes it would be nice to sleep in until she woke up naturally. Until then, however, there was coffee. “My dad taught me how to make it.” Normally she might have stopped there, but Addy seemed like the sort who might actually appreciate the full story here. “He and my mum, during the first war, they and some friends of theirs tried to fight back against Voldemort. Very cloak and dagger. The way my dad used to tell it, they did a lot of work at night, so they got a lot of practice making coffee to keep themselves going.” She shrugged. “I can teach you sometime if you want.”
All things considered, Crystal wasn’t really expecting Addy to be okay. She herself had been a wreck after her father died. And his loss hadn’t been wrapped in a conspiracy. It occurred to Crystal vaguely that Addy might be using this whole investigation as a distraction so she didn’t have to deal with the actual loss. Like she was hoping the answers would somehow make it hurt less. “I know what you mean.” Crystal didn’t let things go easily either. She needed the world to be concrete – good and evil, right and wrong. Every question needed a solid answer. She reached up to rub the back of her neck, tilting her head a bit as she worked out a small kink. “It’s one of the hardest things about my job. Sometimes I just have to accept that a case won’t get solved. That there won’t be an answer. I hate that feeling.”
Addy was right about there being a connection. Crystal chewed her thumbnail thoughtfully as she paced the floor. “Oh, there is. There were all sorts of people who supported Voldemort in the first war and got away with it because they knew how to protect themselves. Anybody who thinks that didn’t happen this time is an idiot. The trouble’s in finding them.” She stopped pacing as a potential idea occurred to her. “So maybe we start with the high families. Pure, rich, whatever. Look though the ones that would’ve gained from a connection to Voldemort and still have some level of power. Like Eleanor Greengrass. Maybe we’ll find something that way. It’s a long shot, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.”
The hospital staff was another potential lead. “There could be a connection,” Crystal agreed as she went back to pacing. “Or it could just be coincidence. They could’ve cased it just as easily by sending in someone with a broken arm and then used Polyjuice potion to hide their faces. On the other hand, they couldn’t be sure who we’d let into your dad’s room unless they had a source. So maybe it’s worth something.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But personally, I think they’re barking up the wrong tree with Malfoy. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a selfish git. But actually delivering the poison himself knowing he’s the most likely suspect? He’s not that stupid. As for the two they just arrested, I’ve got one friend in the know who believes the Imperius Curse story and one who doesn’t, so I don’t know what I think. I’m probably too close to that bit anyway.” They had killed Neville’s father, after all. She sighed and stopped pacing to massage her temples. “There has to be something on the Ministry end, but I keep coming up empty. So if you’ve got any ideas, I’m all ears.”
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