Chapter 93: Chapter 94. Old Rivalries

… Auror Headquarters…

… Level Two, Ministry of Magic Headquarters…

 

Hazel leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling in exhaustion, she had spent the entire morning filing documents and her back already ached terribly. It made her wonder just how Giselle was able to keep up with this day after day.

'X' had gone silent for over three weeks now, both in the Wizarding World and the World of Muggles. It was an outcome that was just as concerning as when she was still going around murdering at least three people a week.

There were so many speculations. What happened? Had she gotten foiled by a third party? Did the fact that a Wizard was her most recent victim relate to her disappearance?

Even worse, the Ministry was starting to pretend that their troubles were gone just like that. They acted like the 'X' case had been resolved simply because there were no new attacks even going as far as to put their team on a new case.

Said new case had already been open and was being worked on by a group of other Aurors but as they were making no progress it was turned over to their team which was adding salt to their already festering wounds. The case of 'X' still remained unsolved and yet, they were being given a new, impossible case.

Apparently, young Witches were frequently being reported missing, a majority of the reports coming from the downtown Slough area. It was a town west of London and it was no secret that downtown Slough was a dangerous place. It was marked off as a hotbed of dark Witches and Wizards and Majes knew better than to hang around there.

Something had to be done about it though, even though it would all be futile. If a missing report came in, it had to be checked out and the proper steps had to be taken. The chance of the missing person being recovered was non-existent but it was their job, it had to be done.

In between the case of 'X' and the reports of missing Witches, Hazel was stretched thin and exhausted just like the rest of her team.

"Hazel?" Finn Dewey, one of her teammates showed up at her cubicle, he had floppy brown hair and smiled a lot. "I just received another missing person's report. If you're free, want to come along with me to check it out?"

Hazel shot out of her seat in the next second. "O-Of course!" She agreed without hesitation, already reaching for her scarlet dress robes.

"It might be better to leave that behind." Finn stopped her.

Hazel froze and then retracted her hand, 'Of course, silly her.' They were going to downtown Slough, Aurors weren't welcome there. There were rumors through the grapevine that there was a magical space somewhere in downtown Slough that was a far worse place than London's Knockturn Alley but it was yet to be confirmed.

"Oh! Sure, it totally slipped my mind." She replied nervously. "Are Mr. Potter and Mr. Swiller out?" She asked curiously, their offices weren't close to hers so she didn't see them except for when they had a mission together.

Finn frowned, an odd expression on his typically smiling face. "They are. You and I should be able to handle this though." His face brightened again. "Unfortunately, we have no leads so we are just going to document the incident. Natali will also be coming with us." He added after they already started off.

Hazel stiffened slightly at this, Natali Woller was really not her favorite Witch, there was nothing she could do about it though so she hid her initial reaction and muttered a lackadaisical 'Oh'.

Natali Woller met them on Level 1, she was dressed in a skimpy leather dress, her signature dark red lipstick in place. Finn took the lead, stepping forward first so that the two ladies could follow behind him.

They would be apparating to a safe spot. Safe spots were mundane businesses or houses where Aurors were free to apparate to any time, this helped with the transportation issue as they couldn't just apparate randomly if they didn't want to cause a panic amongst Muggles.

There was a little trinket shop just at the edge of downtown, Slough that was a safe spot, their journey would begin from there. They would have to take the rest of their journey on foot but the clothing store where the report had come from wasn't too far from the safe spot.

Finn noted that although they were in a trinket shop, neither of the two women with him batted an eye at the glittering metals on display, he reckoned he could figure out why. Hazel wasn't the type to be taken in by things like this and Natali simply thought that the trinkets here were beneath her.

Finn slipped his thumbs into his belt loops, he never tucked his shirt in even though Daylen gave him an earful every single day. At least, he had taken to wearing an unbuttoned waistcoat, that was the most Daylen Swiller was going to get out of him.

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The clothing store was far bigger than they had been expecting, there was a large symbol at the front of the store which read 'Ro'. It made Finn's eyes narrow, this investigation was going to become rather complicated.

Natali Woller was pleasantly surprised at the store they came to. "Ro? They have a Ro in downtown, Slough? I never knew this! I bet I could get a decent deal shopping here…"

Only Natali seemed impressed by the store, Hazel shared Finn's sentiments for entirely different reasons. She had her guard up when they stepped into the impressive store, a bell going off somewhere when they stepped into the luxurious space.

The store workers noted something off about them when they stepped in and wisely avoided the trio, letting them walk up to the counter to the poor salesgirl behind it who was way out of her league with the three important-looking people that walked into the store.

"Is the manager in?" Finn spoke up, still at the helm.

The salesgirl nearly dropped the package in her hands in fright. "W-Well… h-he's… the…the M-Madam…" She stuttered badly.

"How can I help you?" A new voice interrupted her building panic attack.

The salesgirl immediately scrambled to bow slightly. "Madam?! You don't have to attend to them, Mr. Bigham can handle them I'm sure…" She quickly started to explain.

"I sent Elizar off, don't worry, I'll deal with this… By the way, the cashmere sweaters in section 9 need to be restocked…"

The salesgirl was quick to obey. "Yes ma'am, I'll get to it right away." She accepted scurrying off.

Hazel warily studied the young lady behind the counter, the one that the salesgirl had referred to as 'Madam'. She suddenly wished that she had agreed to sit this investigation out, anything to avoid the current scene she was thrust into.

"Why hello, Hazel, it's such a surprise to see you here." Roxana said with a smile that didn't quite reach her light brown eyes.

Finn and Natali immediately turned to stare at her in shock. "Hi, Roxana, I'm just as surprised as you are." She responded with more of those fake smiles.

Even though Roxana had graduated top of the year just like her, instead of getting a job, she chose to join her father's business, concentrating on his shopping line and building it to what it was now.

Finn went silent now, as did Natali, leaving Hazel to handle the conversation with Roxana who she hadn't spoken to in years.

On the morning that they would later come to learn that Audric had run away from school, Hazel had been wandering around because she was troubled about the events of the night before. She found herself in the deserted class that they usually had meetings in, only to realize that she wasn't alone and Roxana had already thought to come to the room before her.

That was the last time they had a civil conversation with each other and afterward, they learned of what happened. Not long after that, the news of Audric's possible death spread and they never saw eye to eye after that. Each was convinced that the other was the reason that Audric had snapped and become a fugitive, although deep inside them, they knew that they were both responsible.

Their stiff conversation didn't go over Finn and Natali's heads but those two found that it was better to keep mute and allow Hazel who seemed to share a past with the Madam to handle it.

"Yes, now I suppose you didn't come to my store to shop?" Roxana noted with a daintily raised brow.

Hazel swallowed to push down her emotions, she and Roxana were currently stark opposites. Roxana was dressed in an expensive soft gray dress, diamonds winking from her ears and neck, her long blonde hair gathered up in an exquisite hairstyle. While Roxana was dressed in high-waisted suit pants and a frilly white undershirt and a feminine waistcoat over it, her long red hair left loose down her back.

"We didn't, we received a report of a missing person…"

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