The Aurors: Threads

WHO: Kent Brightstar and Lien Fitzgerald
WHAT: Kent sits down with Internal Affairs
WHERE: Conference room in the NY Auror Office
WHEN: November 17, 2017
WHY: Because Kent will never stop answering for what he’s done questions
RATING: PG-13 for discussion of Salem business and language.
STATUS: Complete

( If she'd had a bingo chart for weak excuses, Brightstar would be close to giving her a prize. )

WHO: Miles Hastings and Pamela Knight
WHAT: Lunch, because they both need to eat sometime.
WHERE: Some place that the Aurors frequent where they're known by name
WHEN: Monday, November 6, 2017
WHY: Miles is being the team dad and checking on everyone.
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete

​​( He still hadn't been able to shake that odd anxiety over his team. )

WHO: Miles Hastings, Ariel Singleton, ET O'Brian
WHAT: Thanksgiving!
WHERE: Miles's apartment
WHEN: Thursday, November 23, 2017
WHY: It's tradition
RATING: ??
STATUS: Ongoing

( All of the leftovers would go to the office tomorrow. )

WHO: ET O'Brian and Bastien Fontaine
WHAT: First time seeing each other in years
WHERE: Hallway at MACUSA building, then ?
WHEN: Wednesday, November 22, 2017
WHY: The elusive unicorn appears again at last!
RATING: Maybe some language? IDK Yep, ET says language
STATUS: Complete

( All things considered, it hadn't been so bad. )

WHO: Miles Hastings and Ariel Singleton
WHAT: Lunch and talking
WHERE: Wizard place with atmosphere of privacy
WHEN: Wednesday, November 1, 2017
WHY: Miles can't shake his worry and wants to see Ariel.
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete

( Somehow the events of their last case had managed to make him feel like he'd regressed. )

WHO: Ben McMullen and Kit Ghezzi
WHAT: Talking about everything while on ‘vacation’
WHERE: Patrick’s guest bedroom, West Hollywood
WHEN: Monday, November 6, 2017
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete

( I’m a lot. It’s okay if it is a deal breaker )

WHO: Lien Fitzgerald and Jack Duvall
WHAT: Old friends meeting under less than ideal circumstances
WHERE: NY Auror Office
WHEN: Early November (date TBD but after Jack is back)
WHY: Because Internal Affairs has to look into Salem business and Lien drew the short straw
RATING: TBD, likely to be high for discussions of criminal behavior (violence, use of Unforgivables, murder)
STATUS: In progress

( ... something had gone wrong here, badly wrong, and Lien needed to find out what it was ... )

WHO: Miles Hastings, ET O'Brien, guest appearance from Alistair Sterling
WHAT: Miles needs to get back in shape. ET needs to work out some anger. Alistair has an image to keep up.
WHERE: Gym W
WHEN: Saturday, November 18, 2017 | Morning
RATING: Gratuitous gifs
STATUS: Complete

( Who was he to argue with progress in whatever form it took? )

WHO: Sal Staunton-Perksmoore and Pamela Knight
WHAT: Pamela needs to talk to Sal about Salem
WHERE: NY Office conference room
WHEN: Early morning Monday, November 6
WHY: Because Pamela needs to talk to Sal about Salem
RATING: PG-13 for discussion of Salem things.
STATUS: Closed, complete

( ... what Pamela was saying was deeply unsettling ... )

WHO: Miles Hastings and Sal Staunton-Perksmoore
WHAT: Anxiety, thinking, breakfast, and some conversation.
WHERE: Their apartments
WHEN: Monday, October 30, 2017
WHY: Miles can't quite settle down.
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete

​​( Easier, but never easy. )

WHAT: Closer/Stinger for Case Sierra Alpha 95
WHERE: Salem mostly
RATING: PG

After it was all said and done, there was nothing left to do but go back to New York City.

Brigid Playfer had casually strolled out of the Federal Building and quickly made it out of Salem. There was no trail to follow. Although the aurors continued to work around the clock for the next twenty-four hours. Alongside the vetted local authorities, they scoured all crime scenes, tracing any bits of magic they could find, and still found nothing. The trail wasn’t just cold, it was frigid.

Playfer’s house had nothing of value. The abandoned building Frank the Pirate used was nothing more than a den for a bored twenty year old. Not even Alistair Sterling could find trace of Brigid.

Twenty-five hours after Ariel had used stupefy to kill an innocent witch, the media descended. What had happened quickly became public knowledge - the double murder, the laced beers getting into no-maj hands, the recurrent violations of the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and especially the event on October 21, rumors of a new powerful and dangerous spell, not to mention the vast failings of the department to not apprehend the criminal Brigid Playfer, but how they had been manipulated so easily and one of their own killed an innocent woman while in auror custody.

The one small kernel of hope came thirty-eight hours later when Bobby Dedworth finally woke up.

Dedworth confessed to his dalliances with the beer and his presence at the Adler apartment the night of the murder. He had broke down in tears at that part in the story. “I was just so far in over my head. All I wanted was to let people have a good time.”

And then, one-by-one, the aurors made their ways back to NYC, heads hung low. There would be no celebrations or revels, just more work to be done and further fall out to mitigate.