I am the dragon breathing fire [Darren]

A year ago, if someone had told Jane Lennon, then auror-in-training, that she would be working for her crime boss cousin, @Aeric al-Busuri Regan, she'd have probably laughed in their faces. She'd have probably took it a step further and recommended a shrink. She'd been so determined to be one of the "good guys," though it wasn't as if she was actually all that bad. She'd never murdered anyone in cold blood or anything; just killed Death Eaters in the war. If she had to describe herself in such a fashion, she supposed that she would choose the word "troubled." She had done her best to stay out of trouble, after graduation, but it always seemed to call back to her. She'd always been a little on the wild side, though, at her core. London was a rough town, and you had to be tough as nails to survive in some parts of the city. That, and her best friend, at the time, had been trouble personified: Darren Hadditch. He'd been involved with a lot of crime, from what she understood, since graduation. He'd always acted surprised that she wanted to be an auror instead, and she supposed that she could understand that. Especially now, as she was quietly breaking into someone's home while they were, hopefully, away on holiday. Old habits die hard, or so they say.

As one would expect, the old wizard had thought ahead far enough to set up a couple of good protective charms over his home. Luckily, she was good at this sort of thing and it only took her about ten minutes to disable all of them and let herself in through the front door. She'd have to be on the lookout for more, though. If this guy had what Aeric said that he did, he'd probably go through a lot more trouble than just a couple of charms to protect it. All seemed well, so far, though. Nothing had set her on fire, yet, anyway. Jane supposed that this was a good sign.

Nice place. She looked around, checking for any signs of life in the house. But, there was nothing. Not even house elves. That was good news for the blonde woman as she carefully made her way to the basement where Aeric had said that she would find a vault. Inside the vault, there was supposed to be a set of goblin-made knives. She crept slowly down the stairs with her wand at the ready.

"Lumos." Her wand lit up as she entered the basement, and she nearly jumped out of her own skin at what the light revealed to her. She could have sworn she hadn't heard anyone, and yet there he was. He had always been a sneaky little---

"Darren?" Great. This ought to be interesting.

@Darren Hadditch

"What now your going to arrest me?"

He whispered back at her as he squinted in the sudden brightness of her wand. She wasn't very stealthy with that thing waving in the wind and he shook his head. "Shut off the light." He nearly demanded, not particularly wanting the two of them to get caught down here. He moved through the shadows her wand cast on the cold stone walls of the old basement and made his way toward her with a look on his face that was rare. She puzzled him. The last he heard she wasn't a cop anymore, even worse she was a hunter, so why in the hell was she down here. For a split second the little hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Was there something creepy and dangerous lurking in the dark basement, other than him? Finding his way closer toward her but not as close as he would of before Darren silently wondered why she was here.

If she wasn't here to arrest him, and there wasn't some creature she had to catch, then what other reason could there possibly be? And then the faintest of smirks fell onto his face, maybe she was following him. He hadn't exactly kept tabs on her over this last year but he hadn't completely ignored people when they talked about her either. He'd heard things, he'd asked questions, but he thought he had been pretty convincing when he told them he didn't care. A part of him still did though, a part of him always would he suspected.

"What are you doing here Jane?"

Jane couldn't help but allow the slightest of smiles to come to her lips at Darren's first question. That would be pretty funny, actually. But, of course, that was not the reason why she was there. She watched him, silently, as she imagined the gears turning in his brain. She liked that she kept him guessing, sometimes, with as much as he'd done the same to her. Then, he'd told her to shut off the light and she quickly whispered, "Nox." to kill the spell.

"I don't know what you're freaking out about. I've been checking in on this place for a while to make sure the coast is clear." She explained, part of her hoping that he'd be impressed. "I'm supposed to be, eh... acquiring something." She watched his face as well as she could in the darkness. He knew her past, and what a good little pickpocket she had been before. Hell, she'd even done things like this. He knew almost everything about her, despite having been apart for a year.

Part of her still missed him. She didn't miss being with him, but she missed his companionship: his friendship. She knew they'd never be as close as they were, that they might not even ever be friends again, but she had made her peace with it and was alright with that. She had Ryan, now, after all. And Ashley.

"So, what are you doing here, Mr. Hadditch?"

"Freaking out?" He repeated with a dry and apathetic tone, highly doubting he had done anything of the such. He rarely freaked out about anything and really Alvin was one of the few who could even push his buttons anymore. He supposed he had Grisha to thank for that. It was strange that such and emotionally unstable relationship could actually grind Darren into such a hardened stone. Nothing bothered him anymore, nothing got to him, especially not her feeble attempts to rile him up. Though he supposed the fact that she made him stop and think about whether he had freaked out in the first place was the smallest of victories. Maybe she could still reach some part of him, even if it was a tiny little part.

"Acquiring you say?" He narrowed his eyes on her and leaned up against an old vanity that was covered in a charmed cloth to resist dust behind him. Usually that meant stealing but Jane wasn't a thief, she couldn't be, she had gone the other way when they graduated. It should of put a strain on their relationship when she joined the good guys club but in a weird way it actually made it more interesting. He didn't believe that she was hear doing something illegal, not yet anyway, and his mind was going through all of the ways she could be here on the up and up. Maybe she was hired by the owner of the place for something. Maybe she was returning a stolen item to its former owner and that item was housed in the basement. Either way, she wasn't a bad guy now, she couldn't be.

"Working." He shrugged off her question, giving it little thought and even less of an answer. It was the truth though and even though he wasn't about to share all of the details with her he also had no reason to lie. The job was simple enough though, find the papers, get out with out being caught. And if she wasn't here in an official capacity then the second half of his task list was still intact. He moved in the current darkness, stepping lightly and barely making a sound as he pulled open the drawers of a filing cabinet across the room from here. If her eyes had adjusted quickly she could probably make out his shape but he wasn't exactly hiding. He began to rummage through paperwork, feeling for the seal that would denote which stack of files he was searching for.

"What are you here for?" He asked again, having zero issues with sticking his nose right into her business. She was a good liar, but finding out whether what she was looking for was worth lying about was most of what Darren wanted to know anyway. Maybe if he kept her distracted long enough he could find what he was looking for before she asked too many questions.

Ah, there it was. That familiar feeling of deep annoyance. Jane rolled her eyes at her ex-best friend/ex-boyfriend as he pulled that 'I'm too cool' attitude of his. Whatever. More importantly, he didn't look like he believed her. She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Acquiring. Y'know. Sneak-thievery. I'm sure you're familiar with this sort of thing." Though, yes, Jane was technically breaking the law... She didn't see a problem with stealing from rich people, if she were to be completely, 100% honest.

"I see." She watched him move for the filing cabinet, and assumed, then, that he was probably there to snatch some sort of document for whoever it was that he was working for. She brushed a bit of hair back behind her ear before beginning on her own search. She was looking for a dagger that Aeric wanted. He said it would be in a decorative case of some sort, and so she began by peeking in the various wooden boxes laying around. While she hadn't immediately found what she was looking for, she did happen to stumble across some expensive looking alcohol that she also intended to take with her. Why not?

She bent over to reach the ebony box with the ivory decor, taking a moment to get a good hold on it and pull it carefully from the stack. "Oh, just something my boss wanted." It wasn't a lie. He was always so nosey.

"Is your boss an alcoholic?"

Darren snorted at the bottle of whiskey she pulled from the rack and turned back toward his own hunt but not before adding one more little tip she absolutely didn't need. Just because he was that kind of a guy. "Don't touch any boxes made of black oak, their usually cursed against thieves." Any good thief would of already know about the line of boxes warded against them. He had a feeling she knew too, but that wasn't really why he was saying it.

Returning to the files he began to shuffle through them in near perfect silence. Nope, this wasn't it, nope not this either. It wasn't in the drawer it was supposed to be in. He had been given assurances that it would certainly be there. That there was no where else it could of been unless someone else had drawn him to the punch. And then he turned back to her.

"Are you being truthful with me Jane?" He asked slowly, cold, and without right. After all he was the one who hadn't been on the up and up during their relationship. He hadn't cheated on her with another witch but he might as well have. He basically threw everything they had away without a moments notice. "What exactly did you come for?" Maybe she had been sent by another buyer. Maybe she was working for his boss's boss's enemy.

Stranger things had happened.

"No." Jane smiled. "This is for me."

The former Gryffindor probably would have appreciated his concern if she had actually felt that it was genuine. "Yeah, I know. I got it." Merlin, she needed a drink already. This was not going as she had planned. The only good fortune that she had encountered, thus far, was that she had found that expensive whiskey. Aeric had made it sound like finding this thing would be a walk in the park.

It wasn't in the ebony box.

She sighed.

Darren started to speak again, and it took every ounce of willpower in her 5'7" frame for her not to roll her eyes at him again. "What reason would I have to lie to you?" She tilted her head a little and put her hands on her hips. "That's not really of any concern of yours. Is it?"

If he thought for a second that she wouldn't hex him into next Tuesday if he really started to give her any problems, he had another thing coming. Seriously, what was his problem? He'd been her best friend for almost a decade, and today she felt like she didn't know him at all. It was almost as if they were strangers again, and it made her a little sad when she let it.

Now was not one of those times.

She turned again to the stack. There was a shiny one in the back. Maybe that was it?

He smirked at her attitude, she was always so snarky and he had missed it. Jane was the type of girl who didn't take any shit. Not from anyone, not even from him. He'd basically done the worst thing he could to their relationship. He hadn't just set it on fire he'd napalmed it and here she was acting like it didn't even phase her. She was stronger than he'd given her credit for and he had to respect that. Even if it did irritate the shit out of him. A part of him, the vindictive part, wanted to know that it hurt her when they broke up. He wanted to know that it had meant something to her just like it meant something to him. But he knew that was the worst thing he should be wishing for her. The smaller part of him, the tiny sliver that some how found a way to love, only wanted the best for her. She deserved more than he could give her. She deserved better. They both knew it.

"Yeah I guess your right, not my problem anymore." He replied dryly after he found what he was looking for. He tucked the envelope into the large inner pockets of his thick black jacket and then sucked in a deep breath. He could barely see in the dark but he knew where she was in the room. He could feel her but more than that he could smell her shampoo. In the darkness it was even stronger than he remembered it. It smelt like home and all the good memories. It even reminded him of the bad ones, which didn't seem so bad anymore, but he clung to those ones instead. It was easier that way.

"Who's concern is it then?" He prodded, wanting to hear her say she wasn't dating any one but assuming that wasn't the case.

"I'm always right."

In a way, Jane had found herself becoming more grateful for Darren's departure. She felt as though a weaker part of her had died and been discarded, and she stood born anew in the wreckage. She had always thought that she needed him. She didn't, and she had proven that to herself. She didn't need anyone. If someone was in her life, now, it was because she wanted them to be there and they wanted to be there too. Darren didn't, and she was accepting that. It had hurt, at first, but she'd found comfort in others; particularly his best friend, Piers.

To her knowledge, nobody but her sister and Morwen knew about that. She intended on keeping it that way for as long as possible.

"The buyer's. He's the one who paid me to find the goddamn thing." Jane knew what he was doing. She wasn't going to indulge him. Instead, she accio'd the shiny, metal box to her. It was very decorative, with what looked like precious gems inlaid in the top. Silver, by the looks of it. Possibly goblin-made. She opened it, and atop velvet lining laid the dagger that Aeric had described.

That deserved a victory drink. She carefully set the box inside her bag before picking up another bottle of vintage liquor. She opened the top and took a sniff, taking in the aroma. This was the good shit. The blonde took a drink before remembering what little manners she had and turning to her ex best friend. "Wanna try it?"

He huffed at her words with another smirk. She was always right, he seemed to remember he spouting that off quite regularly when they were dating and even before back in Hogwarts. If only he'd of believed it maybe things would of ended differently between them. He shook his head, not that she could see it in the near darkness, and then took a few steps toward where the staircase was. Darren was enjoying their bickering and banter but he knew staying here any longer than they needed to was just asking for trouble. The more time he spent with Eva the more he wanted thrills but getting caught stealing with his ex-Auror ex-girlfriend wasn't exactly the kinds of thrills he had in mind.

She expertly avoided answering what he assumed she understood he was asking and he chuckled deep in his throat. He waited for her by the stairs even as she checked out the merchandise she had come for. It seemed both of them would be getting lucky tonight, just not in the way they used to. In a way this was almost better. He had Eva now, he was sure she had someone although he had no idea who, maybe they could just be neighborly thieves. Wave as they picked pockets and passed one another by one the streets. Maybe there didn't have to be such animosity between them.

Maybe.

But honestly, it was what it was and Darren wasn't going to lose sleep over it either way. He missed her but not enough to try and turn back the clock. Not enough to take back what he had done, not that she'd let him. For all he knew she'd completely moved on. Had no regrets. And wouldn't even bat an eye if he tried. Maybe it would be better this way, for them both. "Yeah but how's about we do it outside?" He said, resuming a little bit of control over the situation. It did smell good, he could smell the expensive fragrance from here, but it didn't smell good enough to get himself landed in Azkaban for breaking and entering. Besides he had a job to finish.

"You ever been to the Den?" He asked her, knowing she preferred the Hare or the Goblet but that was his spot. Maybe she'd join him, maybe she had better places to be, but he could at least ask. If she did come with him he could turn in the envelope, get paid, and maybe even treat them to dinner. For a second he found himself forgetting they had broken up, stopped being friends, and kind of hated one another. For a second things almost felt normal.

And then he heard the door upstairs creak open and heavy footfalls headed toward them.

"Shit."

"Good idea. For a change." Jane closed the top on the bottle before stuffing it into her bag as well. By 'the Den,' Jane assumed that Darren meant the dark little spot on Knockturn Alley. She'd been inside only once, but she'd been impressed with their listing of signature drinks. If she hadn't been there doing business with a rather shady-seeming bloke, she might have given one a go. The only thing that likely saved her hide in the criminal world, now that she'd been a known auror-in-training and war hero as a part of Potter's resistance against Voldemort, was her connection to the Regans. Otherwise, she wasn't so sure that someone wouldn't slip a little too much venom into a Vipertooth Venom drink for her.

Jane gave a brief nod. "Only once. Interesting place."

The sounds upstairs made her heart sink into her stomach, and her stomach to her knees.

"Fuck."

Thinking quickly, Jane examined the wall nearest to Darren and felt around the stones for a moment. A lot of these old houses had secret rooms and tunnels, or at least that's what Aeric had mentioned to her. Death Eaters and Order members alike had used escape routes to evade capture and death or imprisonment. She just had to find the switch on the wall. He'd said that it should be-- "Ah, there."

The stones in the wall shifted to reveal an entrance to an old tunnel with a dirt floor and dirt walls. Without a second thought, the blonde reached back for Darren's arm and essentially dragged him into the tunnel before pushing in the bracket in the wall that held a torch. The wall slid closed again, and she grabbed the torch before lighting it. Giving her temporary companion a smug look, she walked ahead of him to find the exit. It shouldn't have been far.

I hope.

He had no idea what she was rustling around in the dark for but Darren was reaching for his wand. He was ready to fight if they had to but first he cast a spell across his face, making him appear to look like someone else rather than himself. His sleek black hair became a fluff ball of brown curls that trailed down to his eyebrows, his pale face was covered in freckles, and startling blue eyes finished the look. The point was to look remarkably not like himself, enough that witnesses would remember things that were exactly the opposite of his own dark features. In the relative darkness of the basement Jane might not of even realized what he was doing and when she pulled him into the corridor he was pleasantly surprised by her quick thinking.

"Not bad Lennon."

He whispered as the wall behind them closed and she began to light a torch. It looked like the tunnel went on forever and for as much as Darren knew it could have. "How did you know about this?" He asked softly, pushing the bouncy curls that were going to quickly drive him insane out of his tanned face. "You know your kind of like my bad luck charm Jane." He confessed as they began to walk, he had no idea if she had even turned to look at his brand new features yet but he was more concerned with the envelope in his pocket. It was literally going to burn a hole in it if he didn't return it in time. Pesky anti-theft measure he'd been warned about, within one hour of it being removed from the owner's residence it would catch on fire and destroy itself. He had to get it back to the Den where the specialists could remove the enchantment and he had to do it fast. He wasn't sure how far they could travel in the tunnel before they were 'off the property' but he wasn't entirely keen on finding out.

"This'll be what? The second job you've ruined for me in as many months?"

He was referring to the time he'd been stupid enough to let himself get cursed by a dark object and return to her apartment in the night. He barely even remembered it, had very little recollection about what was said or done, but he did remember her tossing the item out the window and smashing it (and his profits) to bits. He was still avoiding that contact in the streets of Knockturn, even over a month later.

"A girl's got to have her secrets."

A scowl crossed Jane's features at his comment about her being his bad luck charm. "Or maybe you just really suck at your job?" She walked along, her eyes scanning the walls and the floor as she went. He was always such an infuriating ass. Or, at least he had been every time that she had seen him -- which really wasn't that often at all. It was hard to believe that it was the same person.

Especially after that handy little appearance-changing charm he had used. She'd have to remember that one.

Looking over her shoulder at him with an expression of combined confusion and annoyance, she noted his change in appearance with her usual sass. "What did you do to your face? Shut up and keep walking, Hadditch. We ought to be getting to a fork in the path soon, and--" Sure enough, they came to a place where one could either go right or left. Remembering the floor plan that she and Aeric had studied, she turned left. "If it weren't for me, you'd be having an unnecessary duel right now. Now, keep up."

She remembered the statue and wondered what had ever become of that situation. Jane might have acted as if she didn't care about him, but she did -- to an extent. She certainly didn't want to have something on her conscience like him getting caught up with someone who had the coin to hire goons to "take care" of him.

"I have the money for that statue if you still need it. I don't need you holding anything over my head. But, this is the last time that I'm offering."

The path led them to a ladder which would take them up to the surface, and she turned to Darren for a moment. "There. That's our way out. It should take us up to the woods, just off the property. We'll be able to apparate back to London from there."

"Yeah I'm sure you do."

He replied to her in a whispered tone as they walked along the newly found path. In reality she was saving his skin with this escape route but that didn't stop him from blaming her for him almost getting caught in the first place. If she hadn't been there he would of been in and out long before the home owners returned. Never the less he followed her along the path and squinted in the strange lighting of it.

"Can't be too careful."

Darren's words were as short, vague, and misleading as her's had been as he replied to her question about his face. They had apparently reached that point in the aftermath of their relationship where yes they spoke to each other but neither one of them really said anything. It wasn't unlike Darren to be mysterious and avoid giving up any information though, it was really just the type of wizard he was. Dark, shadowy, full of secrets and barely tamed anger.

"As much as I'd love to take your sickles I think I'll pass." He told her dryly, never for a second considering taking any money from her. Not because he was too proud to have her pay him back for something she'd broken in the first place but because a small part of him still didn't want her wrapped up in any of this. If she paid him she'd be connected. There would be a trail. He didn't want that for her. Not that he got an opinion anymore.

"You should come back to the Den." He told her as they reached the end of the path. "If you're really a full blown criminal now its about time you got your feet wet in the real world."

He led them out of the cave and into the woods. The darkness was broken up by the shadows of tall old trees in the moonlight and he saw her face, her blond hair, her silhouette, and it reminded him of good days past. He missed what they had but he had moved on. He didn't want it back. And he got the feeling neither did she. "Just... don't mention you used to be an auror okay?" And with that he apparated away to Knockturn Alley, considering it a 50/50 chance that she followed.

[[out]]

A devilish grin formed upon Jane's lips at Darren's statement. She certainly had secrets. Don't tell Darren were words that she'd found herself uttering quite a bit over the past year.

Her smug demeanor quickly faded and was replaced, instead, with something akin to frustration when he declined her offer once more. "Fine. Have it your way."

Darren being Darren, she had honestly expected him to decline her offer. She was, however, caught off guard once she thought she had heard him invite her back to the Den. If this had been a little over a year ago, she'd have followed him to the pits of Hades. Now, she wasn't so sure. "Yeah?" She heard him out and contemplated it. "Maybe."

She smiled again and rolled her eyes at his advice. "Do I look stupid?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Don't you dare fucking answer that, Hadditch."

Jane watched him disappear, and apparated herself away to Knockturn Alley to join him. Why not, right?

[out]