WHO: Frank Dawlish & Thorfinn Rowle. WHAT: Frank goes back to his house to get something and it doesn't go as planned. WHEN: April 13 mid-morning. WHERE: Bath, England. WARNINGS: None.
It had only been two weeks, but as Frank approached the building he had called home for more than two decades, he felt as relieved as ever. He didn’t have his wife or children with him, and he knew he had to be quick about getting what he was there for, but perhaps he could pack as much as he could before fleeing.
He had a wand on him -- a new one that John had procured from someone, though Frank didn’t ask for any specifics -- and he nervously reached for it. ‘Old habits die hard’ was the saying, wasn’t it?
Frank muttered a quiet spell to unlock the front door -- and instantly, it seemed as though something was going off, some sort of alarm, some sort of security system. Frank looked momentarily confused -- he had never set anything of this nature up, and yet it was loud and blaring and --
He whipped around and suddenly spotted someone approaching him. His eyes widened and both of his hands immediately went up. “Hello, I’m just trying to get into my house and something started blaring, I don’t --”
“You don’t what?” Thorfinn asked as he stepped out from the shadows. Once in the light, he raised his wand and pointed it at the person standing by the front door of the house. He was sure the older man actually didn’t pose much of a threat to him, but one could never be sure in these trying times. “That blaring noise interrupted my cup of tea.”
“I don’t mean any harm, sir,” Frank replied right away, shaking his head. “I am just trying to go back inside my house. I don’t know why the noise started, but this is my house and I can prove it!”
And on instinct, he started, “My son wor-- he knows a few people in the DMLE. We really mean no harm to anyone.”
Lowering his arm a few inches, he tilted his head to the side and studied the man for a moment. “Who is your son?” Thor asked with a convincing amount of innocence in his voice as if he didn’t know the owner of the house in question.
With confidence and pride, Frank responded, “John Dawlish. He was an Auror before the division was dissolved and was working as Hitwizard but --”
Oh. Oh, no.
“Of course,” Thorfinn said as a wide grin that somewhat resembled that of the Cheshire cat spread over his lips. “John was such an asset to the department until he up and quit on us. Such a shame he decided to throw away his career like that.”
“He -- yeah -- didn’t throw away -- busy --” Frank struggled to string together any coherent thought from forming into a proper sentence, and he was afraid that he had already incriminated himself now.
The blaring noise seemed as though it was louder now, and Frank backed into the doorway of his house slowly. Perhaps he could get away somehow.
Thor feigned a sympathetic nod before the arresting chains manifested and wrapped themselves around the older man’s wrists. “Frank Dawlish you’re under arrest for... Are you one of the people that didn’t send your children back to school? Never mind. We’ll figure out the official reason once we’re back at the DMLE.”