Rosalind Rookwood (espionne) wrote in an_ill_wind, @ 2009-05-11 01:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | - 1980/05 may, benjy fenwick, rosalind rookwood |
WHO: Benjy Fenwick and Rosalind Jugson
WHEN: Saturday morning, 8 May 1980 (backdated)
WHERE: Underground attack site, near Waterloo station, London
WHAT: Auror investigation of the attack site
RATING: G
STATUS: Complete log
Saturday morning, when Rosalind arrived at the Underground attack site, she was glad to find it free of Muggle inspectors. They'd been buzzing around them since Wednesday night's attacks, an annoying background noise as she worked. Obliviators squad and Muggle-relations Ministry's officials thankfully dealt with them, saving her from exchanging a word with their hapless lot, but their absence now brought a calm to the scene that was more than welcome.
She was early. The Auror headquarter had been almost empty when she'd stop by her desk before heading here. Fenwick, her partner on this site, would show up soon, but she didn't see a reason why she shouldn't get started in the mean time. The worse of the clean up was done by now and they'd be able to enter the tube tunnel where the underground train had been destroyed, just out of Waterloo station. Avery had got the train as it exited the station, full with passengers. Rosalind had to give him props for it, it'd been a carnage.
She was stepping down the ladder from the Waterloo platform to the tunnel when something caught her eye in the nearby rumble. She wasn't sure what it was, but it reflected her lit-up wand's light. She took a step closer, feeling the dark magic remnants from Avery's curses in the air around her. Crouching to take a better look, she recognized a ring and cursed under her breath. It was too far from the destroyed wagon to belong to any of the passengers. Either it had been lost by a passenger getting onboard from the platform, or...
She didn't have time to check if her intuition was right; hearing Benjy arriving behind her, she quickly straightened up, stepping on the ring as she did to hide it from his notice.
Benjy showed up only moments after Jugson; he was of a similar mind to her: getting started on this sad business was better accomplished sooner rather than later. Ducking beneath the tape that not only warned onlookers to not look but also marked where wards keeping out everyone but DMLE personnel had been erected, he looked around. It was quiet, but the fire marks on the walls and ceiling and the rubble all around made it all too easy to imagine the roar of flames and the horrified screams of the dying as they were trapped in the Tube.
Cursing under his breath he bent his head to avoid hanging cables, and saw his partner kneeling to the ground. Feet crunching on the remnants of the tunnel, he came up behind her. He masked his surprise at how quickly she rose, and gestured to the ground behind her. "Morning. Find anything?"
"Good morning," she replied. She knew that she'd straightened up too quickly and felt the need to explain it. "You surprised me, I didn't expect you so early. For a moment there, I thought it might be another Muggle who'd have got through." She then shook her head in reply to his question. "No, I just got here and didn't have time to really get to anything yet. How do you want to proceed? Working side by side or dividing the area in half?" Each Auror had its favourite method and she preferred to offer Benjy the choice. It'd be easier to examine the ring if they worked separately, but she could find a way to do it even if he was nearby. Insisting on sending him away would only catch his attention more.
Benjy spared a glance back to the police tape and the invisible wards. "... Right," he said, looking once more at the ground around her feet. Nothing there. He shook his head at her. "No, first we lay out a magical grid, I think. Then we'll start from opposite ends of the tunnel and both of us will go over the whole place. Put magical markers anywhere that looks suspicious and make a notation of it in your notebook. When we get back to the office we'll compare notes and collate our findings."
Raising his eyes, he gestured towards the entrance of the tunnel. "Does that work for you?"
"Sounds good," she agreed. It was her preferred work method, in fact, but right this moment she was more concerned with how she could examine the ring hidden under her foot without raising his suspicion. Or more exactly, without raising it more than she already had. "Let's get started, then. I'll lay out the grid while you walk off to the other side, alright?" She hoped he wouldn't argue and insist on working at this end. She could always silently cast a spell to glue the ring to her sole, if it came to that, but hopefully she wouldn't need to.
Benjy merely nodded, digging into his robes to find the small notebook he always kept on him while on duty, and the stub of a pencil. "Work in opposite directions. I'll start going east, you start going west and we'll work our way up and down the grid."
It was bound to be a long day, and probably boring. But necessary. It was absolutely necessary and Benjy wasn't about to be lax on it. "If you find anything major, get my attention." He smiled slightly at her, and turned his back to traipse to where he'd come in.
Rosalind nodded then raised her wand and began working on the grid. She carefully laid each square of the magic grid as he walked away, taking her time to ensure that they were all straight and of identical size. When she was done, Benjy was far enough that he couldn't possibly see what she was doing, but she still didn't want to take any chance, so instead of crouching down to pick up the ring, she moved her foot off the ring and, lowering her wand, she levitated the jewel up to her free hand. Her intuition had been correct: it was no ordinary ring. She immediately recognized the distinctive coat of arms of the Avery family, magically engraved in the metal. Closing her fingers on the family heirloom that could have given away the utterly foolish boy who'd lost it, she walked off towards her end of the grid. Christian Avery owed her one, now. If she'd been assigned to another site, or if it'd been Fenwick who'd found the ring, he'd have ended up in Azkaban. She traipsed carefully through the debris, cautious not to disturb evidence. Her own caution contrasted with Avery's carelessness. She could hardly believe he'd been stupid enough to lose something so easily identifiable when basic precautions such as wearing gloves would have done the trick. She calmed down as she walked, seeing it in a more favourable light for her. The worst was avoided, thankfully, and she'd proven her usefulness to the Dark Lord once more. Christian Avery's ineptitude might profit to her, after all.
Reaching her end of the grid, she put a glamour over the ring to hide the tell-tale Avery's coat of arms before sliding it in the pocket of her robes and taking out her small notebook. It was time to get to work. There was a long day ahead of her before she could tell any of her fellow Death Eaters what she'd found.