Trivial Matters

(ooc: he certainly is. he's been mostly up now for several nights, and its getting to him.)

"Calm, Mara," Robert said, understanding how easy it was to want to just leap in and arrest Grayback. "As it so happens, we have need of him. Leave him in one piece for the moment, would you?"

He listened to the discussion of the missions ahead of them. Millie's mind was on the right track, as usual.

"Correct, Millie. Grayback, I'm not only interested in the why of it but, equally important, the who. And, I want to know if they had anything else of Flamel's. We've been searching for some of his journals. We want his journals from the mid 1970's until his death in 1992. If someone has them, you lot need to let me know and then we need to get them. Millie and Michael, I think you would do well to blend in before you try to get the stones...."

"Blend in?" Michael asked incredulously. "I'm an English old man. And she's a fair skinned blonde. How the devil do you think we'll blend in, in Istanbul?"

"Go see the Quartermaster. Not you, yet, Potter, not unless you know your way around the armory. They'll need polyjuice to get them into Istanbul. I can't imagine we wouldn't have some stocked for some of these countries.  Can't guarantee how you'll look, but..."

"You always make these things sound so inviting," Michael shook his head. He looked at Millie.  She wasn't sure how she'd feel at being given polyjuice for some random Turkish local from whatever stock polyjuice the Quartermaster had. Nor was he particularly welcoming the essence of said random Turkish local. Michael always thought it felt somewhat violating of his own personal space somehow and he didn't usually welcome it, even if it was sometimes was necessary.

"Potter," he said, a new thought hitting him. He knew his ideas were starting to sound a bit less organized than he wanted them, but he had several at the same time, and he didn't want to lose track of one. "You said you completed the map. Perhaps that's what Rookwood wants.  Do me a favor. Create a map that looks totally plausable--but also totally wrong. It might be good insurance if we need to suddenly put it somewhere to throw Rookwood off the track and buy ourselves some time--or to find out what he's really wanting here for. And lets put all the usual protection charms around it for top level classified documents. If he wants it, he's going to have to work for it. Can you do it?"

"Athena, welcome," Robert said, turning to her. He'd only seen her once or twice, but that was a few years back, but she had certainly grown and changed. "Thank you for coming. You're welcome to help yourself to breakfast if you like. You're on target with what we called you for.  Please hone Mr. Potter's skills so that Rookwood can't get a damned thing out of him. Potter, I need you to be as impenetrable as it gets, so put your all into it, won't you? Athena, I need Potter and Ned Fletcher to be completely closed to him. I want the Department of Mysteries completely closed to him except what I grant him access to.  Fletcher works in the Department of Mysteries. I don't want Rookwood getting to him either. Fletcher isn't completely unequipped but I'm sure he could use some polish. The other thing I need you for is to assist us in our missing person's matter. Rookwood said Alice Anderson is alive. If she's alive, we need every bit of help we can get to find her. That's one of our other priorities this morning. Do you have any information about Rookwood or about Alice that might help us to find her?"

Athena's arrival had given Robert an idea--a fairly impossible idea, but still, if he could find a way to do it, or for Rookwood to think he'd managed it, it had possibilities to bring him in line if he got out of hand. He made a mental note to see if he could find a way to find someone with good legilimens skills, maybe even Athena if she were so skilled, that could, with the help of a charm or something, cause Rookwood to see disjointed random wizarding horsecrap-ish visions. Something akin to wizarding white noise, something to frustrate the hell out of him. Something to make him wonder if the flashing pictures and sound had meaning or not.  He'd send himself on his own wild goose chase. It as certainly worth a more developed thought than he had time to work on at the moment.

"I need a wand, Lupin," Rick said calmly, interrupting Robert. "A good wand."

"I know very well what you want," Robert retorted. "Millie and Michael, before you go, you'll also want to go see Ned. He's got new wands for you, custom made for each of you. I'll release them for you all. You might want to consider using them. Mara, I need a favor. Comb the files. You're looking for anything and everything--any lead on Alice Anderson, presumed dead. If Rookwood is to be believed, she's alive, and if she's alive, we need to check all our own information and sources immediately. Get anything you find straight to Eli or to me. Whatever you're working on, the Anderson matter takes priority. And, this is an 'Eyes Only' assignment, so no one sees your report but Eli or me. You report directly to us on this, and if Claire gets her panties in a bunch, she can take it up with me. When we get a lead we can sink our teeth into, we're going to chase it down and try to find Alice."

He realized he was standing, still thinking, still working, but holding a filled breakfast plate that he was totally ignoring.  He sat down at his desk as his stomach growled embarrassingly loudly. He couldn't honestly remember when he'd eaten last, come to think about it. And besides that, Kate was a good cook. He broke off a corner of the scone and put some of one of the curds Kate had made. He took a bite--it made him remember why he so loved home cooking. Kate was so innovative and creative. This was obviously one of her new concoctions--a spiced apricot curd that he was sure he was going to instantly fall in love with.

"Are these Kate's jams and curds?" Michael asked, spooning into something that looked like orange marmalade.

"Indeed. That's not orange.  That one is actually a clementine and firewhiskey jam."

"Really?" Michael was intrigued. Kate had been playing with new jam flavors. He spooned some onto his scone. Kate had been holding out on him. He made a mental note to get with her for her new jam recipes. He dipped his little finger into the jam on his plate and tasted it. "Oh my goodness," he said savoring it. "She's definitely been holding out on me. Marvelous!"

"The dark purple one is actually shrivelfig with candied ginger," Robert said. "Shrivelfig can actually be used as a lovely sweet fruit if its prepared right. I rather like this one. The jam itself a good pick-me-up. Its actually very nice." He looked at Eli. "Do try the shrivelfig, won't you?" It was code to Eli to brace himself to go invade the potions lab, and if they were going, with open invitation to the lab, what the heck might Rookwood be deliberately leaving for them to find? He wanted Eli to be at his best, in case they were about to be blindsided. "Eli, what have I missed so far? We want our bases as covered as we can get."

No one seemed to know what to make of Mara Jordan. Ariel was decidedly not a fan, having already felt entirely misplaced and exposed in the bowels of the Ministry. Athena had had her reservations, recognising the Auror instantly, and she shrugged a little closer to Millie, unease furrowing her brows. She had long sensed the change in the magic that crackled around the blonde witch. She knew that she herself was fast but Millie would be faster, her non-verbal, often wandless, bursts of magic unpredictable and unexpected in such an unassuming looking witch. Jordan wouldn’t expect it and Athena felt much better for her presence. Krum’s pardon hadn’t changed the way the Goyle woman viewed herself and thus imagined the way others viewed her in turn. She still looked in the mirror and saw the teenaged convict. Much had changed and all of it was untrue now, wiped off of the record board even though everyone knew it was true. She, the murderess, a woman who knew Azkaban intimately; who knew the Death Eaters intimately. It would have made Jordan’s career to have her and Ariel back in a cell and she could sense that.

Millie pressed a cup of coffee into Athena’s hands, sensing the disquiet in the woman. She sent her a reassuring smile before glancing over in Ariel’s direction. The werewolf was exhausted. The rings beneath his eyes aged him. It was the price of the full moon, she supposed. He was – ahem, excuse the pun – wolfing down the scrambled eggs and bacon that he had loaded rather pointlessly onto the plate, no doubt grateful for not having to make it himself or trouble Ollice to do it. He nodded, a mouthful of bacon preventing him from speaking. He had his reservations about returning to Turkey, although he didn’t begrudge the opportunity to have a holiday. Wiggling back onto the black market scene was always a tricky endeavour, though, and he didn’t have many friends there. None, actually, if we are going to get specific about it. He did have one feller who might have counted as an acquaintance but Ariel didn’t have much at all going for him over there. He’d need an in and he knew it. Something worth trading. Something that would make them look at him and wonder what else he had up his sleeve.

“There aren’t many people who are very friendly towards me,” he said after swallowing, his tone deadpan, hedging. “I’ll need something to catch the attention of buyers. Something that will get me back into their circles and get them to tell me things. Is there anything of value in the Ministry that can be afford to be lost, so to speak? The aurors could always raid the buyer’s shop afterwards, I suppose, but there’s no logical reason for me to be there from their point of view. I need something to try and sell to them so they’ll sell me back their stories.”

“There are some telescopes,” James suggested, hugging his research folder to his chest, slightly unsettled by the proximity of Millie Hayes – whose injuries he still felt guilty about – and the Greyback to him. He was pleased to see the former, of course. Her scar had, with magic, faded to a white set of lines across her neck and jaw. It looked almost like a tree, its branches spreading up across her jaw and onto her cheek. The skin looked healthy, though. He was sure magic had a lot to do with the improvement but … knowing that it was a werewolf who had done it … James knew it hadn’t been Ariel’s fault but he was unsettled a little all the same. “They’re worth quite a bit of gold because of their connection to famous astronomers. They’re just sat in the Department of Mysteries so I don’t know if, perhaps, they’d do?”

“Thanks, Potter,” Greyback chuckled wryly, “but I’m not sure there’s really a market for the nicked goods of some dead scientists.”

The idea of polyjuicing to blend amused Millie to no end. She was sure that her and Michael could have blended in without. They would have made a convincing father-daughter pair of tourists. She could have had a camera, he could have worn a slightly weird looking hat and they would’ve been quite the pair. As it was, potions probably made a little bit more sense and she was always happy to peek in on the quartermaster. What she’d have to figure out in the meantime was how to tell Keiran that she was popping off to Turkey. She’d kept quiet about her activities with the Ministry in his absence and, now, so much time had elapsed that she didn’t have the first clue about how to approach the conversation. She’d have to, though. Preferably before they left.

“Yes boss,” James nodded to Robert, a smile licking at his lips. He was already relishing the thought of winding up Rookwood in that regard. Athena winced a little, idly having been sifting through his mind. He was an open book. He couldn’t even tell she was there. “Easy peasy.” Just like opening up his brain, Athena thought to herself. He would be easy pickings for Augustus. She wanted to which mad hatter had decided it would be a good idea to play the long game and see what he was up to. She couldn’t deny she wasn’t curious and, as she dipped into particularly interesting memories in regards to the map, she could see why her former father-in-law would want it.

“I can do that,” Athena assured him. “It may take a little time with James,” she side-eyed the brunette in question, “but I can sort him out, enough to tide him over until he’s able to rebuff August altogether. All I would caution about him is that no one should suspect anything atypical of him. And in regards to the Anderson case,” her eyes crossed the room to Elijah. “Why on earth are you willing to dig this all up again?”

The room fell silent, seemingly, as the old friends faced each other. Elijah drew himself up, taking a long breath, and met Athena’s gaze. He shrugged his shoulders a little, unsure about whether or not he had a proper answer for her. The witch looked dissatisfied, to say the least.

“Rookwood gave us good reason to believe she’s alive.”

Athena set down the coffee and strode forward, coming to a stop before the Krum man. Her arms lifted and crossed over her chest, disapproval tightening her lips.

“She’s dead, Elijah. She’s been dead for over fifteen years, at least. You and Mira put this to bed. You should have put this to bed. Augustus is playing on your fears. He’s trying – no, he’s gotten to you. Dead or, apparently, otherwise, she’s still your weakness. Those Anderson girls – they are your weakness. Augustus will gain from unhinging you.”

“She’s alive, Athena. I know she is.”

The witch’s eyes narrowed and her magic reached out, pushing gently at the front of Elijah’s mind. She felt his barriers subside and she absorbed herself in his mind, stretching towards the memory that Augustus had showed him. And, though she was sure her heart stopped in her chest, her face didn’t change. Her expression didn’t give a thing away. She recognised that woman. Of course she did. She knew Millie would, too. And, of course, Ariel would. Alice Amelie Rousseau. Not Rousseau. Anderson. She really was alive.

“Well,” she declared, pulling away. “We’ve got a face, at least. That’s something to work from.”

“I don’t think there’s anything else to add, Robert,” Elijah said softly.

Robert had ideas flowing now. Possibly helpful things--and Potter had inadvertently given them to him.

"First things first, Eli, would you be so good as to make sure that Goyle and Grayback are hired in as Ministry consultants at the standard rate so that their services are paid?" Robert asked.

"Potter," he then asked curiously, "In any of those telescopes, you wouldn't happen to have a pocket telescope, would you? That might be useful. Last summer I was fiddling with a potion that might be used to dip a magnifying glass in. The potion was supposed to show a glimmer around any sort of object that had magical energy to it. The potion was an abject failure--worked for about 5 days and then it fizzled out. I still have that dud potion lying about. What if you took the telescope apart and dipped all the parts in that dud potion and then reassembled it? That might give Grayback something to barter with and then by the time they got in and out, it would fizzle out and be utterly useless. What do you all think? Is it worth a try?"

"Athena," Robert said, "Rookwood isn't reporting back til Monday for work. So you have the weekend at least. However, we really could delay him in getting access to the Department of Mysteries for a few days, I suppose, with a wild goose chase of some sort. I wonder how he'd like to go to Istanbul?" Robert allowed himself a moment of a mischievous thought.

He watched the encounter between Athena and Eli. What concerned him was that if Alice was indeed alive, then there was surely a reason for her to be out of Eli's life and presumed dead for so many years. Rescuing a lost love who he hadn't seen in so long might very well have unpleasant consequences for him. It might not be the picture perfect reunion that Eli most likely had had at some point entertained in his mind, and as much as Robert believed Eli generally handled things well, Robert had no desire for Eli to be hurt or to open up an old wound to find that it still held new raw aches for him. Robert understood and agreed with finding Alice, but what if she didn't want to be found? What if she were avoiding Eli for her own reasons? It went without saying that he would support Eli, but he wasn't going to not be involved somehow to make sure that Eli wasn't heartbroken again if he could help it.

"Lupin, I want my wand," Rick said again, more directly this time.

"Yeah, yeah," Robert waved him away for the moment. "Grayback, I presume you have wolfsbane to take along with you if you should need it? Is there anything else you need, besides some bait to get you into the market again? And Michael, did you get your wand?"

"Not yet, but I have my requisition," Michael said, "I'll get it today. I do need someone to watch Scott and Craig for me."

"Drop them off with me if you like," Robert said, remembering Michael's twin boys that were now about 18 months old. "What's two more?

"Double trouble on steriods," Michael sighed. "They're running now, starting to talk, and into everything. And it all goes in their mouths right now. Its just plain scary the things they think they can eat. And they take everything they can get their little hands on and shove it in their pockets."

"Like father, like sons," Robert laughed at the boys' efforts to start pickpocketing. "They're starting early, aren't they?" He looked at Eli. "Unless you're into babysitting a pair of tiny juvenile delinquents for a couple days or know someone else who won't be put off by them?"

Robert did understand that two identical twin boys who were now zipping around and swiping everything in sight had to surely be a frustration to Michael and the dogs and the furniture. Nor was he putting it past Snidely to be training them on the fine art of pickpocketing. Snidely was just demented enough to be amused by making sure they knew how to do it right as soon as possible. It took a tough, energetic, patient witch or wizard to keep up with them.

Greyback looked decidedly delighted with the arrangement. Elijah couldn’t help but think that his mind must have already been spinning, working out how to rub that consultancy position in the faces of the judicial board that were habitually on his case looking for any reason to put him back in Azkaban. He was glad for Athena, though, and made a mental note to put in for her to be paid more than the werewolf. As useful as he knew Greyback would probably prove to be, he still didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. Athena was trustworthy and she’d always been there for him just as he’d always stood by her. Her freedom was down to him, after all said and done. Yet, also, he couldn’t help but think that much of her predicament since her marriage to Kendall Rookwood was also, probably, down to him. He owed her something at least.

“That’d be good, yeah,” James spoke, unwittingly rousing the Deputy Minister from his thoughts. Elijah tuned back into the conversation, looking between the Potter and the Lupin. “There’s a market for people looking for ways to identify magical objects, Greyback,” James’ voice danced a little with amusement. “Could we have a fiddle with the potion, Minister?” He asked, turning back to Robert. “Five days probably isn’t long enough, if contact with the black market proves a little bit tricky. Do you think we could try to extend the potency period – maybe to a week? It’d work, I think, but I’m worried that five days potentially puts Greyback in a bit of danger.”

“I’m flattered you care so much about me, Potter. I’ll make sure to send you a Christmas card,” Ariel replied drolly, lifting up his cup of coffee in acknowledgement. Millie could barely hide her snicker at his words, earning a wry smirk from the werewolf.

“You could tell him that the security branch of the department have a backlog or something,” James suggested. “They tend to hold up us internally, too, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that they might be stopping Rookwood from gaining entry.”

“But why not send him on a wild goose chase?” Millie agreed with Robert, glancing over at Athena.

“A ‘let’s keep you busy’ mission to tide him over while the department sorts itself out?” Athena joined the two ideas together, raising an eyebrow.

“So we’re all going to Turkey together?” Ariel clarified, waving his hand through the air, as though physically joining the dots. “Me, you,” he pointed to Mills, “and Michael and your former father-in-law,” he pointed to Athena, who rolled her eyes. “Should we all go together to save on Portkeys? Think of the environment and all that.”

“Actually,” James cut in, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Contrary to popular belief, there’s no environmental damage caused by Portkey use. That’s just something the Daily Prophet was trying to popularise. It’s all rubbish.” Ariel sent a wolfish grin in James’ direction.  

“We won’t be there as long as you or Rookwood,” Millie replied, glancing in Michael’s direction.

“And I’ve got to keep an eye on him, I take it?” Ariel deduced smoothly.

“At one time,” Athena began, folding her arms, “Augustus had his fingers in every pie in the bake house – the bake house being Europe and the innumerable amount of pies being every conceivable magical underground the continent housed. There’s no way in the creation of cats he wouldn’t check in on the Turkish scene – even just for looking’s sake. You’ll cross paths. Be careful. In fact … Millie. You need to take his memories.”

“Excuse me?” The blonde witch arched an eyebrow.

“You need to massage his memories, dull these, make them difficult to find for anyone trying to look for them. If, perchance, Augustus takes an interest in Ariel, we need to know know that we won’t be betrayed.”

“And you think … I can do that?” Millie inquired, turning to face the elder woman.

Athena didn’t even blink. “I know you can do that. Yours are as muddy as they come and I know those little vials in your office at Hogwarts that Theo finds so interesting aren’t just run of the mill prophecies preserved behind glass. They’re your memories. Of Keiran, aren’t they?” Millie’s face changed, guilt darkening her features. “You need to do it. Otherwise everyone’s at risk.”

“No, no, no, I get that,” Millie shook her head, taking her wand out of her pocket. “Does anyone have a vial?”

“Yes!” James declared, pulling open his bag.

“No way, no!” Ariel took a step back, straying towards Robert’s side. “I’m not letting you point that at my head. No way.”

“Oh, don’t be so ridiculous,” Athena rolled her eyes. “It’s for your own good.”

“That's what they say when they take dogs to the vets to be neutered!” Ariel exclaimed.

“That can be arranged,” Elijah interjected huffily.

“Sod off, Krum!”

“Do you want to go back to Azkaban, Greyback – because it can happen, Ministry consultant job or not!”

“Elijah don’t shout at him!”

“Athena – he’s being ridiculous!”

“You’re also being ridiculous!”

“Oh for Merlin’s sake--- petrificus totalus!”

Ariel seized up, freezing like a block of ice, and keeled over, landing with a thump on the floor. Millie froze herself, blinking in surprise, and turned, her wand still aloft, looking for the source of the spell. Elijah and Athena, who had squared up to each other testily, also parted and turned to look at James who was standing his ground, a nervousness in his stance and resolve locked in his jaw, his wand hand quivering just a little bit.

“Well then,” Athena clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Looks like this won’t be an uphill battle after all, Jamie.”

“Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence, Thea.” He scoffed.

Millie had taken the opportunity to dart across the room and kneel by Ariel’s side, doing as she had been bid by Athena. Removing the top layers of his memories, ultimately leaving the impressions intact but taking off what could be found by an invading force, was easy enough. Placing them at the back of Ariel’s mind, leaving him aware but unable to quite access the way he felt in those moments, was the tricky bit, the bit she had perfected on herself, allowing her to function during the months Keiran had been away.

“I think I will look after the boys,” Elijah voiced, rubbing his brow. “God knows, Cepheus and Caelum need someone else to plot with.”

“You also need some time to relax,” Athena informed him firmly.  

“That too. Give Ariel everything he needs once Millie’s finished with him. Then let’s get this business underway, shall we?”

"Sure," Robert replied to James request to tinker with the potion. "I got bored with it, myself. If you can do anything with it, then be my guest. I can tell you this, if it helps. It has Israli dead sea salt as the primary preservative. If I were to guess, the key is in the ratio of the sea salt to the active ingredient. They don't play nicely together.  Find a way to bind them a bit longer, and you might have a success. I tried to get them to bind with flame, but it stunk to high heaven. It was too repulsive to hold my interest in trying it to see if it worked. I might have that stinky crap lying about too. Millie, you want to come with? I'll have to go to my home potions lab at the farmhouse. I'll give the potions to you and you can get them back to Potter? Michael will need a baby-wrangler to help gather up the boys, I'm sure."

"Um..so you all know, I work alone," Rick said now that it was all sorted out.

"You? You can't even keep track of your wand," Robert scowled.

"I didn't lose it."

"Where is it, then?"

"It broke."

"Where are the pieces?"

"Um..." Rick frowned. He honestly didn't remember.

"Uh huh. Lost. Told you. You lot, do bring Rick back in one piece. I rather like him, despite his attempts to the contrary. Oh, and just so you know, I'm going to deal with Flynn Roper for whatever crap he stirred up this time that's got every one here scrambling in the middle of the night."

"He's my friend," Rick said.

"He's an arsehat," Robert said. He went to the credenza, drew out a manila folder and rifled through it until he found out a document--several pages stapled together. He took the document and handed it to Eli. It had Flynn Roper's rap sheet--which was several pages and a head shot photo of Roper's cheeky con-man grin. "See for yourself. Arsehat."

"Flynn Roper is a master salesman," Michael said. "Talks his unsuspecting mark into believing he's all that and a bag of chips. But, in point of fact, as the rap sheet should more than adequately show, the only other things Flynn Roper is good at is bungling just about every con he's ever done, and he's excellent at knowing how to get tossed in jail--any jail, all jails." Michael looked at Rick. "Your choice of friends is just pitiful. Robert's right. He's an asshat. Maybe we ought to just screw with him and make him think we're going to toast him like a marshmallow. Maybe we'll scare him into behaving for awhile. We'll have to deal with him anyway in Istanbul because I can promise you he is still there trying to dig up what you left behind. , and I know there's more than one of us here that enjoys a bit of mischief." He cast a pointed glance at Millie.

"You did hide it, didn't you?" Robert cast a skeptical glance at Rick. "For Pete's sake, tell me you didn't give them to Flynn, did you?"

"No, I did not," Rick glared, annoyed.

"Good. Eli," Robert said, looking back at Eli once again, remembering Birmingham. "You and I have an errand to run anyway.  Shall we go and wrangle babies when we're done, or how would you like to do this?"