Check, Mate

Robert was not amused. In fact, he was quite angry. And the more emotional Robert became, the more stonefaced and businesslike he always was. Thaor's twisted confession in the wizengamot mistrial of James Roland was not something he had expected. As far as Robert was concerned, there was not going back now. It was done. Overwith. The moment Khaat had taken her pensieve and taken the memory of his confession from the trial and placed the thread in it and allowed him to view it. His trust in Thaor had been obliterated entirely. Their friendship nothing but ash.

He had not gone home. He had stayed at the Ministr and pushed his own emotions aside, burying his own personal hurt and anger deep within his work.. He had gone through the building and had entirely revoked Thaor's permissions to any sensitive Ministry materials. He had created a new secure facility well away from Thaor's access and had moved any ongoing operations completely out of his reach. He'd put protection lines around areas specifically designed to keep Thaor out.

He had taken enough time to brew a pot of tea at sunrise and poured himself a cup. Thaor was not due for hours yet. There was one last bit. A thorough search of Thaor's office before the face off that was inevitable. He stood at the window of his office, taking a momentary break to refuel his energies with a cup of Earl Grey, before moving onto Thaor's office.

Khaat had wanted to kill Thaor. Wanted to just outright finish him off. He understood it. She was angry at anyone who had betrayed them. It was not a hurt she was able to absorb one more time. Not one more betrayal. He had stayed her off. If anyone was going to deal with Thaor, it would be he himself. He might let him live for the moment, but that was up in the air as well.

At times, Millie hated the Ministry. It was filled with silly people that said silly things about silly operations which would have an outcome even sillier than its incredibly silly codename. In short, Millie really didn’t enjoy it in the government building. She had spent most of her morning playing chess with one of the lamps in the Minister’s Office. It was after lunch that things started to go down the pan a little bit. First of all, she lost her chess game. Second of all, something bad happened in the court rooms. Millie, of course, didn’t quite know what happened but by the time she came back the Ministry was abuzz with gossip. Millie understood that from what people were saying that the Minister was unhappy – though Millie wasn’t entirely sure why.

She reached the Minister’s office relatively quickly and opened the door after knocking twice. She burst in, frazzled having just come from the atrium where she had met a fellow colleague to exchange some paperwork and unceremoniously dumped it all on the floor.

“What’s occurring?” She inquired good-naturedly. “Even the interns are babbling about something or other. Did something happen at the trial?”

"Hello, Millie," Robert said calmly. He turned to her and took a sip of his tea, looking into her innocent face. "Millie, I presume you know that sometimes my job is not an easy one. And I presume you know that at times it might make your job a bit...well, unconventional. This is one of those times. Have you ever looked into a pensieve? This is one time I need you to. Come in and close the door. What you're about to see is not open for public knowledge. Not yet. It surely will be. Just not yet."

He motioned to the silver bowl on his desk with the water in it. He stirred the waters. He needed her to see what happened in the courtroom. Thaor's betrayal. It might not make sense entirely to her but he planned on explaining the gaps as he needed to.

"If you dont' see this, what happens in this office this morning will not make one lick of sense," he told her, gesturing towards Khaat's pensieve.

Thaor had been awake since he left the trial, and it showed. The bags under his eyes had bags, the lines under them had lines. He decided he had put it off long enough, and apparated to the ministry, not bothering to put on his ministry robes, instead tucking them inside a sack and taking them with him.

Upon entry to the ministry, one of his good friends in security Zach informed him that his permissions and top level clearance had been removed, by order of the minister, this didn't come as a surprise to Thaor and he continued to his office. Roberts door was shut and Millie was nowhere to be found, he figured they were talking and Robert was preparing her for what was about to happen.

Thaor went into his office, and immediately knew someone had been in it, presumably Robert. Thaor packed his personal belongings, and put all the confidential files, and ministry property on his desk, neatly organized so Robert could see everything that should stay, was staying.

After tidying his office up, Thaor went to Robert's office and knocked on the door.

Robert had not expected Thaor for hours yet, but he recognized the knock anywhere. He hadn't had time to brief Millie accordingly. He knew that the rumors about himself were swirling through the building. Well, the Ministry had always been good for spreading gossip, and the very notion that Robert was not his usual congenial self seemed to unnerve staff, as if they were about to see some great display from him. That was laughable. There was virtually no chance of that. He motioned to Millie to hold on viewing the pensieve and he stilled the waters, letting the memory thread simply swirl about like a strand of blue light simply laying in the silver bowl.

He had no doubt that Thaor found there were more places he could not go than places that he could. It did make Robert sad to think he was losing a lifelong friend, someone he had trusted not only his own life with but his family's lives. It didn't happen often to Robert, but when it did, he drew up his ability to be stoic and stonefaced until enough of the facts had transpired before he dealt with his thoughts and feelings about it.

He had no desire to make this any more painful than necessary. He hoped the situation would go relatively peacefully and then, he decided, he would take a moment to smoke one of the Italian cigarettes Michael had given him for Christmas and move on with the morning's business. He smoked perhaps 5 cigarettes a year, but he felt entitled to one this morning before he got down to the business of reassuring staff that no mushroom clouds of flame and smoke would be erupting from the Minister's office this morning.

"Come in, Thaor," Robert said calmly.

Politics, despite being the secretary to the Minister, had never been something Millie had been involved in. She was young, this many bitter rivals from other departments reminded her, and so she was not to know. She had had a feeling that morning though that something wasn’t right, that something was going to go wrong. She couldn’t explain it. Even if she’d voiced her concerns she was sure they would’ve brushed her off as being young and naive – perhaps even stupid. Millie knew Robert would have listened, that’s why she was kicking herself for not explaining to him sooner that she felt something wasn’t quite right with the day. It wasn’t that the sun wasn’t shining or that the birds weren’t singing; there was just something in the air – an imposing feeling of dread more than anything else.

The pensieve that Robert motioned to was sure to confirm all of Millie’s worst fears but before she could drop herself into the memory, a lock on the door punctured the silence between them. Millie’s eyes flicked frantically to the Minister before darting towards the door, her hand straying for the pocket in her beige, linen trousers where she could feel the tip of her wand pressing into her thigh. She had yet to tuck it behind her ear, evidence of the fact that it had not been long since she’d come back from lunch with the girls. She bit her lip hesitantly before standing back to linger beside Robert’s desk. The man was ridiculously calm if the rumours were to be true. Millie didn’t like to put much stock in gossip but if that was Thaor behind the door then perhaps the rumours were true.

Millie’s time at the Ministry had been short but exciting and she hoped that as long as Robert stayed in power she would be around playing chess with his furniture – if he stayed long enough, perhaps she’d be able to outsmart that infernal lamp of his. Unlikely. Millie bit her lip when Robert spoke and glanced over at him anxiously before returning her eyes to the door, awaiting Thaor’s entrance. Robert seemed to know far much about the unfolding events but this reassured Millie more than it worried her.

Thaor paused for a moment before entering the room. He took a deep breath took his wand out of his pocket, and opened the door nonverbally. Thaor crossed the room with a nod to Mellie, and took a seat in one of the two chairs by Robert's desk. Thaor set his wand on the desk, as a sign of faith that they wouldn't be necessary for todays meeting. Bonjour, mon vieil ami. Thaor said, waiting for a response.

Thaor dug into his mind, all the good memories with Robert and the gang, it was all over, it had to be. Thaor couldn't live like this anymore, he can no longer stand idly by and lie to those closest to him. He had to stop himself, and this was the only way he knew how.

He knew Robert would be able to get himself out of trouble, he was good at that. He was also very good at getting Thaor out of trouble, but Thaor didn't want that anymore.

"Good morning, Thaor," Robert said, exhaling slowly on his cigarette. If he had had poorer timing on choosing to light up, this would have to have been one of those times. A cigarette? In front of Thaor? He had never done that before. He didn't think Thaor even knew Robert owned a cigarette, much less that he enjoyed them. And Thaor always noticed departure from routine. Especially where Robert was concerned.

He was concerned about Millie, though. She wasn't used to this level of politics. He slid out his own desk chair and motioned for her to sit. He leaned on the edge of the desk, leaving Millie behind him.

"I don't understand what's going on with you. I really thought I knew you," Robert said. "But I am quite sure that we both have entirely different views of what happened. I just did not realize it was that completely different. Care to fill me in?"

Thaor noticed Robert had taken up smoking cigarettes. Thaor really was in trouble. After Robert took a seat, Thaor took a deep breath. We see eye to eye on how everything happened. However, we don't see eye to eye when it comes to rule 45. Thaor said, looking into Robert's eyes.

Thaor of course meant his life, when he meant the 'mess' in rule 45.

"Do we?" Robert asked. "Do we really see eye to eye on how everything happened?" Robert didn't think so. "Because I'm not so sure. I certainly could get Kate and she could probably sort it all ot for us. I'm not sure what happened that made you change your thinking."

Kate was a talented seer and Robert trusted that if he truly need it she would know some way to use her skills to uncover the truth. He did not want to have to resort to that.

"I thought we took care of all of your old business when we took care all those old promises you made," he said, referring to the unbreakable vow that had kept Thaor captive for so long and how they had battled that to unwind it to save his life.

Robert knew Thaor did not ever like asking anyone for help. And when he had had to resort to it, it wasn't ever easy for Thaor to cope with or let go of. But Robert did not believe it was that old business that had caused whatever this was.

"Is it worth it?" Robert asked quietly. "Just tell me. Is it honestly worth it?" It was a genuine question. He needed to know. Was it truly worth him throwing away all their years of friendship for,..well, for this...this whatever-it-was. Robert would much have rather Thaor have worked with him than to suddenly work against him, and yet, here they were.