A Not So Auror Investigation

Hallie Cooper had been mugged. Mugged. If it wasn't enough that she had heard her Father murdered, hiding place in the closet when the Death Eaters had come knocking; seen the brother bitten by a werewolf, transform, and then disappear; watch her friends mutilated in the shrieking shack and have her first captive found dead in the Atrium she had now been mugged. 

Luckily she'd managed to magic aware most of the bruises, of course there were always emotional scars that couldn't been cured with a swish of her wand. No. The night she was mugged her attacker stole the one thing that was irreplaceable to Hallie: her late Father's watch.

The watch had a brown leather strap with punctured holes for the buckle to fasten through. There was nothing magical about the watch, it's hands were normal as muggle watches were and it's face was encircled in gold. The batteries had stopped working a long time ago. Years ago. Yet Hallie continued to wear the watch. Whenever she wore the watch she felt her Father was there, watching over her. Now. She felt like he was even more distant.

Taking a sip of her banana milkshake the auror's eyes flicked up at the clock on the wall. Two minutes until the lady she was waiting for arrived. Usually Hallie was late although today was different. Today was important to Hallie. More important than an exam, more important than an auror interview, more important that arriving on time for work. This was a matter of feeling her Father once again.

The clock ticked. Two minutes had passed and a bell above the cafe door gave a jingle. 

(OOC: Sorry! Just found this!)

A few days ago, Audriana had awoken after a particularly annoying visit with Robin, headache already obvious. The tapping on the window thanks to the owl waiting on the other side of it certainly didn't help. It was with a groan that Aud pushed herself out of bed and made her way to the window. Pushing the frame up, she stepped to the side and allowed the bird to enter.

The attached letter had requested a meeting from a new client, along with a date and time. Nodding, she let the owl back out and had placed the letter on her bedside table.

The day had come for Audriana to meet the girl who had sent her the owl. Her feet landed softly - she had become accustomed not only to the landing of apparition but also remembered the dance classes her grandmum had made her take, landing toe-ball-heel.

The bell above her head chimed as she pushed the door open to Cafe Twin Montez. It wasn't her usual location for a meeting, but she hadn't really felt like correcting the girl who had seemed fairly distressed in her letter.

Pushing the cloak down so her face and hair were visible, Audriana looked around for whomever she was supposed to meet. Usually, if they met in the street, or in Knockturn Alley, Aud would give a specific street corner. But today, being at a café made it harder.

((OOC: Outfit))

Hallie watched as, who she presumed was Audriana, looked around the cafe. Gosh. Hallie hadn't mentioned what she looked like in the letter, or where she would be sat. Truth be told Hallie hadn't thought about it at all. Many questions were being thrown around her brain. Should she invite her over? But then what if it wasn't her? Would the woman think she was weird? Perhaps? Could she get out of it? Even if she could she was still seem weird.

Standing up Hallie waved her hand, inviting the brunette over. Well, she'd taken the plunge now. She never was one for waiting around. Biting her lip she sat down, hopefully it would be her - Hallie was pretty confident it was Audriana after all what were the chances of someone else walking in at the exact time that she was expecting Audriana.

'Hi. I'm Hallie Cooper.' She said when Audriana arrived. Although they had conversed via owl Hallie only thought it seemed polite to firmly introduce herself face to face.

Brown boots tapped the floor as a moment of impatience hit, before she saw a blonde stand across the way and wave at her. It wasn't fair, Aud decided, to be impatient. It was just in her nature, and she did her best to suppress it. Nodding in greeting to the girl in question, Audriana wound her way through the tables to reach the blonde.

"Audriana Swan." She replied, extending a hand to the girl before sitting across from her. Untying the top of her cloak, she let it fall back over the top of the chair as she shifted in her seat to be more comfortable. Hallie was obviously younger than Audriana, though likely not by too very much.

Looking over the blonde, Aud pulled out the letter she had received. "What is it you're looking for?" Clarification always helped, as well as specifics or last known whereabouts. If Robin's taken that watch to try and get me at another match, I swear... She thought, her inner voice venomous even without proof that he had done anything. Embarrassment didn't look good on her, much like anger likely didn't.

'Nice to meet you at last.' Hallie added politely as she took Audiana's hand before watching her seat. The lady seemed rather unique and looked pleasantly low key, which Hallie suspected was a good thing - it might allow her to blend into places others usually wouldn't.

Wow. Already hit with the question of the artefact that Hallie was looking for. It appeared this Audriana lady was a straight to the point of business kind of lady, something that Hallie wasn't. 

'I have a few photographs in my back, somewhere.' Hallie replied as she bent down to collect her small handbag from the floor. However for a bag that was reasonably small it seemed to take the auror forever and a day to find, alas, the photographs. 

After placing them on the table facing Aud Hallie fastened her undetectable expanding charmed bag and placed it this time on the table by her milkshake. 'It was my Father's.' She informed the procurer of hard to find things. Hallie was desperate to tell her about the mugging, the way the person had handled her - it could help with the investigation Hallie had mused. 

Audriana watched as the girl dug in her bag, seemingly flustered by something. Aud was well aware that she sometimes came off as distant or cold. but truthfully, it was more of a shield for herself than a barrier for someone else. When the photos were placed before her, Aud watched as the blonde in the photos held the watch or wore it.

It was understandable, Aud decided, that the girl would want something back that belonged to her father. Most people wanted things that meant far less to them, whether it was for the sake of money, or for the sake of keeping that which they believed belongs to them. This was one of the more honorable requests she'd had made to her. Audriana was the type who wouldn't take a job if she felt it to be immoral. This, of course, was not one of those cases.

"When did you last see it?" She asked after a few moments, looking back up at the blonde.

The blue eyes of Hallie Cooper watched anxiously ad Aud examined the photographs of Hallie wearing the watch, holding it and then one that was in a photo of the whole family, before it was broken by death eaters and werewolves. Then, alas, Audriana asked for the information.

'About two weeks ago I was coming home late from work, it had already gone dark and-' She paused. 'I was mugged by the alley between Slug and Jiggers and Madame Malkins, he took my watch. Well... I think it was a he.'

She wasn't sure what else to say so Hallie decided it was best to simply sit opposite Audriana in silence and answer any questions that were thrown at her. Would she have to live through the mugging again? Even if she did Hallie could handle it. She had heard her Father murdered in the room next door, took his watch from his wrist, saw her brother bitten, lived through times when her brother had vanished, watched her best friend mutilated. She could handle living through a mugging again.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn't the first time that Audriana had been sent after something that had been stolen in an event like being mugged. Unfortuantely, each time it happened, she felt exceedingly sorry for the person who had been attacked. This didn't exactly sit well with her, of course, because she had a very distant nature and was unlikely to allow herself to be attached to any of her clients.

It was painfully obvious that Hallie was a bit traumatized after her experience, and Audriana had no intention of making the poor girl go through things too thoroughly.

"Alright. So we suspect it's a male." She nodded, wanting to be sure Hallie knew she was paying attention completely. "I have a few contacts I can question to see if they've seen anything like this. They owe me, so they won't likely go blabbing."

She paused, looking down at the pictures once more. "If you're alright with me taking one of the photos, of course." She added quickly, not wanting to seem overly forward. Sure, it was her job, but she didn't need to be rude about it.

Audriana listened as Hallie spoke of her mugging. Then she continued in a business like manner, confirming with Hallie that it was a man - who nodded, her eyes wide whilst she listened to what Audriana had to say. Then. She closed her eyes.

Her Tongue rubbed against her teeth as she thought about her mugging. Was there anything more than it being a man. Yes. 'He- he was tall, quiet stocky. His hands were-'

BOOM. She'd been punched in the face

'Large and he seemed to have a firm grip.' 

CRACK. Her ankle had snapped and she was lying as he upturned her bag.

'There were auror papers all over the floor that he ignored, my wand lay aside and...' Hallie opened her eyes, frowning 'Sorry. I - I don't know if any of this will help but I don't think he has anything to do with me capturing Charlotte Topez. He would have taken the papers too wouldn't he?'

Hallie was starting to think like an auror now. Trying to put pieces together, rule of suspects and try and find someone who had motives to steal the watch but not the auror papers. She wasn't supposed to discuss Ministry work with people who weren't employed by the Ministry but right now Hallie didn't care. All she cared about was getting her Father's watch back, besides the incident with Charlotte Topez had been splashed all over the Daily Prophet meaning it wasn't exactly secret. 

Audriana wanted to take a photograph. They were originals. What if Audriana lost them? Sure the one of her simply sitting on a tree stump, her chin resting on her watch-bareing hand, wasn't sentimental but the family photo was. 

'One moment.' She replied casually before opening her bag, rummaging around for her wand then withdrawing it. Flicking her wand at each of the photographs the word 'Geminio' formed in her mind and suddenly each photo became two. Two perfect replica's sat before the witches giving a grand total of four photos on the table.

'Sorry about that it's just I kind of want to keep them.' Hallie told Aud before taking the originals and placing them in her bag. 

"Do you think he was after something besides the watch? Or perhaps he was just a common mugger who was after what appeared to be expensive jewelry?" Audriana asked, watching as the girl copied the pictures.

Hallie apologized, which Aud thought the girl assumed was the polite thing to do. Honestly, she wouldn't have expected less. Not that Audriana had any valuable family pictures or anything, but she felt that she would do no different.

"I understand, trust me." She replied, eyes level on Hallie's face. Aud had trained herself long ago to avoid showing emotion. Especially to someone she didn't know. That wouldn't have gotten her where she was - rich off inheritance as much as new money from her own job.

She would have given much to have something of her parents'. Granted, she would pretend it meant nothing to her, but Audriana wondered if an object like that wouldn't be her most valuable possession. For now, all she had was the necklace that hung round her neck. The one her Grandmother Natalia had left her all those years ago.

"Do you have any questions? Or would you have me go and start looking? It shouldn't take too very long."

She didn't want to keep the girl longer than was necessary, but Audriana didn't want to just up and leave, either. Honestly, there wasn't all that much information in the case, but that was to be expected of such a traumatic experience she supposed. How well could she remember her parents leaving? Sure, she knew exactly when it happened, exactly what they said. But she couldn't remember what they looked like, nor what they were wearing. In her mind, it was all about the actions and the words.