I can't promise to be nice [Joanna]

This was supposed to be an easy call…. George Larkin was a daft old wizard who’s muddled brained forgets he lives in a thick Muggle residential area and so his spells often gain the unwanted attention of muggles. Donn’s boss and coworkers had already dealt with him three times from the start of the year. Which had earned him the affectionate name of “Loon-kin” in the office.  They now felt it was Donn’s turn to play clean up duty for Old Loon-kin.

With almost three years working in the ministry the 21-year-old Hogwarts graduate still only typically handled minor wizard mishaps and accidents. Although it is extremely tedious, he had resigned himself to the cleanup duty and just being a maid to wizards who dim wittily casted themselves into trouble in front of  even dimmer witted muggles. He had once held on to the hope he would eventually move on to more challenging assignments, although recently his personal life had taken him into a very conflicting direction. This new direction requires him to be completely secretive and it is necessary for him to keep up his appearance of an obedient Ministry worker. Although occasionally he wishes he could show the slightly perturbed muggles just what they should be worried about.

Refusing his urges, he instead dutifully popped into as the old section of the River Cam town of Cambridgeshire. The 21 year old wizard in a tan suit, looked like a young muggle business man as he made his way along the patchwork of uneven cobble and asphalt sidewalk to a narrow row of dirty of grey-brown brick buildings. Like many others in England, each address displayed a white painted bay window, a fenced in basement and more narrow first story window. Many houses Like this one have been divided up into multiple apartments allowing for the growing Muggle population whos breeding seems without limit. As if making his point he passed a Muggle couple out for a walk with a toddler in a stroller and another infant strapped to the woman’s chest.

Pulling his mind back to the task at hand he noted there was nothing out of the ordinary. No uniform wearing muggles or their vehicles were around, which usually means the job would end quickly. He came a pawn the blue door sooner than he expected because it was miss labeled 14 when it clearly sat next to unit 12… Yet another example of muggle miss place phobias and dimwitted stupidity. Donn walked up the five steps which led to a narrow stoop where Donn ears picked up the argumentative voice of an older gentleman and another of a younger man… then a worried voice of a woman.

Interesting. Donn thought it was more prudent to interrupt the heated discussion so that he could get on with his day and gave the blue door a good pound.

“Who the Bloody is this? No, I told you I am not going to let you leave until you pay me for your bloody apartment. No promise notes and I am not taking any colorful paper no matter what old witch is printed on it! I told you it  better be Knots or I will be sending an owl to the Ministry!”

The old man was clearly amidst of the argument with the very worried couple behind him. So much so that he did not bother to look at Donn as he opened the door. Donn caught the Muggle woman say hopefully to her husband “Is it the police?”

“Mr. Larkin, I am with the Ministry.” Donn said as he tried to take a step into the shabby foyer in hopes that no one on the street get wise of the disturbance.

Before Donn got two steps inside as he gained the old man’s full attention. The Old half-blood Warlack face appeared quite unfriendly considering Donn’s presence would save him the trouble of sending an owl and waisted parchment, but what was not expected was that look soon turned confused then one of complete horror and then furry. “Sinnoway!” spit Larkin at Donn with a breath that reeked of fish and rotten teeth.  Donn was confused why the old man called him by his father’s last name. It was possible the Old man new him. He brought up his sleeve to his nose and was about correct this discussing smelling, senile old wizard when suddenly the old man released a blasting curse square at Donn’s chest. It threw him back so far that he landed in the middle of the narrow lane barley missing a silver parked car. The door slammed shut.

Donn’s reflexes kicked in and he scrambled up brandishing his wand. Only to meet the eyes of a middle age muggle looking quite perturbed by Donn. Donn silently cursed worried he would have to deal with, yet another Muggle until the Muggle asked, “O’ laddy, What ar' ya doing in the street? “

“I slipped.”

“Aye. Well, be more careful then.” The Muggle replied before walking around the corner. As if slipping on a completely dry street was the obvious answer. The extent of Muggle stupidity always surprised Donn.

Donn only decide to try to reason with the warlock more, because force might cause the attention of more muggles. Donn rubbed at a bump forming on the back of his head as he went quickly back to the door. He noticed that Larkin face appeared in the bay window but he disappeared before Donn addressed him.  “George Larkin I am Donn BANE.” Saying his last name las loud as he dared, preferring not to get more attention on the street. “I AM with the MINISTRY. If you do not open this door immediately, I will have to send others to bring you in.”

This usually scares more wizards into talking to Donn. They are are more eager to explain their case, then they are looking forward to doing something that would lead them to a stay in Azkaban. Yet the loonasy of Loonkin was about to be made apparent.

“You can’t fool me, Sinn-o-way! I know it is you. You can tell you -know-who that you have to kill me first. You did not get me before and you are not going to today!” Larkin said in between muttering something... likely spells.

“WHAT?” Donn  said utterly confused. Donn tried a spell to open the door but it zapped him in response. “OUCH. George I am not with the Dar--- You-Know-Who. He is dead. I WORK FOR THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC. Open now or I will have to report that you assaulted a Ministry worker and are harboring Muggles!”

No answer. Just some bangging and possible foot steps. Was he leading the muggles somewhere?

“George, I will see that you are carted to Azkaban and if you do not….” Donn said as he tried to reason with him again.

“Just try it Cepheus. I am not afraid of Death Eater scum like you!” Said Larkin's muffle voice from behind the door.

Donn backed away from the door. The Old warlock just called him his late father's name. His late father was a Death eater… and it could be possible that he had dealing with Larkin during one of the wars. Donn curse… this was slowly escalating above his pay grade. He could apparate back to the office and report to his boss but who knows what the crazy old man would do next. Donn was about to walk around the building to check other entrances when Owl dropped a argent message on his head.

Donn hold position. Sending Reinforcement. 



@Joanna Hennings

Joanna had not stopped since she had arrived into work that morning (especially early due to an urgent floo call at 6am). Overnight there had been a confirmed sighting of a wanted dark wizard down in Cornwall, and it appeared he had taken refuge in an abandoned farmhouse. Most of the nightshift were there awaiting further instructions as to capture. She had put together a team to relieve the nightshift and sent them home only 3 hours later than their actual finishing time. Then there had been the security detailing for the upcoming Magpies vs. Cannons Quidditch match. She had sent those that were to be involved in that to do an inspection of the pitch and liaise with the Quidditch administration over the specifics.

Then a tip had come in that there had been an illegal portkey of controlled potion ingredients come in to Knockturn Alley. Another team had been sent to investigate and apprehend. It was also the day for staff changeover at Azkaban so a fair number of the hit squad had gone to relieve their colleagues up there who were given two days off before returning to the Ministry. All in all, Joanna was stretched rather thin. There was a few new recruits in the office, ones that she was yet to trust out on active duty so had them doing the mountain of paperwork that had piled in. Therefore, when an urgent memo appeared from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, Joanna had to take a deep breath before opening it, pleading internally that they would not need an entire hit squad back up.

Help required at 14 Bennet Lane, Cambridgeshire. Residence of George Larkin. Blasting curse detected with Ministry official present. Please send immediate assistance. I’ll owe you one!

Okay, so it was not as bad as she had thought. George Larkin was known to Law Enforcement. He was an eccentric older wizard who often got confused and broke the Statute of Secrecy. While Joanna had never personally had to apprehend him, his name had appeared on her desk countless times. But a blasting curse? In front of Ministry and muggles? That was a grounds for arrest and trial. She suspected it would also end in a stint in Azkaban given the size of his file and previous arrests. Who should she send? Joanna glanced around the office space, noting the complete lack of options. It would probably be a relatively minor apprehension. She could send the team of new recruits. But did she trust them? A resounding no was her response. Mr Larkin was not intentionally breaking the law, and deserved more compassion than she was sure the new, eager to prove their worth, recruits could provide. Merlin. That really only left herself.

Unlike aurors, who often went into dangerous situations without backup, hit witches and wizards did not typically operate without a team. Although many made fun of the department for being unable to move without hand holding, Joanna saw it more as being sensible and having someone to watch your back. She was loathe to leave the office by herself, unknowing what untrained, useless Catastrophes employee was actually in Cambridgeshire that needed assistance. She hoped it was at least one that was capable of a few defensive spells but doubted it. Who knows what the situation was? Maybe they had been knocked unconscious by the blasting curse and it wasn’t a hit squad required but rather a mediwizard to take them to St Mungo’s.

While part of Joanna wanted to send a memo back with the reply “don’t send people into situations unprepared”, she knew that being owed one by another department would come in particularly useful in the future. A potential supporter in terms of rearresting released Death Eaters perhaps? They could easily show the number of catastrophes that followed in a Death Eater’s wake. And so, despite her better judgement, Joanna made up her mind that the hit squad would be sending help to 14 Bennet Lane. And as she had just watched one of the new recruits mischarm a memo and send it flying into the wall, the help would be herself. Merlin knows how they had managed to pass training! Joanna almost walked into the auror’s office to find someone to babysit for her but decided that would be a bit extreme. Instead, after changing into Muggle clothing of a blouse and trousers,  she stood firmly in the middle of the office and raised her voice to get the few that were there’s attention.

“I have been summoned out on a case. You are all to remain at your desks. I should be back promptly and I expect to have seen significant progress in your paperwork when I return. If anything urgent comes up. And I mean urgent, not just that you need someone to hold your hand on the toilet, one of you. And just one, mind you. One of you will apparate to 14 Bennet Lane, Cambridgeshire,” she paused, looking at the incompetent faces, “Why aren’t you writing the address down? I’m not talking for the good of my health. 14 Bennet Lane, Cambridgeshire. Residence of George Larkin. One of you will apparate there and notify me so that I can return immediately. You are not to do anything else. Got it?” Joanna looked around. They probably had not got it. Shaking her head in exasperation, she set up the ward to ensure any urgent memos and notices would go to the main office and be dealt with by the remaining squad rather than her empty office.

Was that a good idea? Oh Merlin, probably not. She would probably return to the office on fire. Maybe she should get them a babysitter. At least someone capable of extinguishing fires. One of the magical maintenance team would probably do. Internally acknowledging that she was maybe being a bit too harsh on the newbies, and that she would most likely be judged if she summoned someone to look after her staff as she had a complete lack of trust and faith in them, Joanna sighed. Taking one more glance around the office space, committing the smoke free appearance of it to memory, Joanna made for the lifts. A very crowded lift, controlled by what must be a maniac, all but hurled them to the atrium. Joanna was unsurprised that a few looked as green as she felt upon exit.

Making her way to the apparition point, Joanna took a deep breath to clear her mind. It would do no good to splinch herself due to lack of focus. It would be unheard of for hit squad backup to arrive needing rescued themselves. Focusing on the destination in her mind, Joanna felt her body unpleasantly compressed in all directions as she disapparated.

Crack!

She reappeared in a quiet corner, a street away from Bennet Lane, to allow a short walk in order to push down the urge to vomit from first the lift and then the apparition. It was a nice residential neighbourhood, with the old Victorian properties having been mainly converted into flats for modern living. It was popular with families, as evidenced by the number of Muggles with children she passed by as well as the toys on doorstops and decorations in some of the windows. It was always nice to walk through everyday life, seeing how ordinary and safe the Muggles were, completely innocent to the magic around them.

She felt the commotion before she saw or heard it. The tingle of magic in the air that signified someone was casting an excessive amount of wards and jinxes. What in Merlin’s name was going on? Quickening her pace, Joanna quickly found herself a few houses away from number 14 and stopped to observe. While the house seemed perfectly ordinary and blended in with the others around, the man on the doorstep was not. Did the idiot have his wand out in public? At least he was dressed appropriately, Joanna would not have been surprised if he hadn’t. The officials within Catastrophes were not often trained in what actually counted as Muggle wear.

The young wizard seemed irritated, although Joanna could understand why if he had been expecting a routine call. Having assessed the situation from afar, and interested to actually find out what had happened, Joanna walked briskly forward until she was behind the blonde haired man. Quickly setting a muggle repelling charm up so that they would not be noticed as anything out of the ordinary, she cleared her throat and offered her hand in greeting. “I am Joanna Hennings. Lead Hit Witch from Magical Law Enforcement. I am aware of who George Larkin so please do not give me his backstory but rather update me on the relevant details on what has happened today.” She said clearly, hopefully conveying in her tone that she had no time for idle chit chat and rather that they were to get to work as quickly as possible. “What is the current situation?”

Donn had circled around the building, to no avail.  Unfortunately, the Loon had casted his jinxes and protection charms on the back door and windows before Donn could get to them. Donn’s reveal charms showed that they were just as strong as the front door. Apperating did not work too, which was not a surprised because must wizards place anti apparition charms because they prefer guest to use the front door. Donn reexamined the  front of the building thinking. At this point it would be easier to blast through the side wall, but such an event would surely take the notice of muggles. The only other option… Donn was about to stepped back, backing up into the street to examine the roof for a skylight, when he spotted a dark-haired woman wearing a blouse and trousers quickly approaching him. Her eyes were on his wand.

He crossed his arms and in a practiced smooth motion tucked his wand in to his sleeve…  before it finally registered who, it was. Donn was expecting a his boss or a few of his counterparts, possible an assistant of a member of another department, not the lead Hit Wizard, Queen of Law Enforcement, Miss. Joanna Hennings herself. Shit he must have messed up. She was relieving him… and he was about to get pulled off the case. He frustratedly shook his head and stepped closer to her as she casted the muggle repelling charm. I should have thought of that.

Donn took her hand, presently surprised she was relieving him politely. Which would not have been the case if they blamed him for the new situation. “Yes, Miss Hennings… I am aware of who you are. I am Donn Bane.” Donn had applied for her department when he first tried to get into the ministry, but was turned away not that she cared to remember. He was barely able to get a position in the mop up department, of accidents and catastrophes. This was partly due to his dismal NEWTs he was able to pull off after the loss of his parents, yet what likely added to it, was the fact his parents died on the non winning side of the war. But who needs to be bitter? Trying to focus on the job he continues, “Yes.  You know then it was supposed to be a standard call, but it seemed that Mr. Loo-Larkin has recently acquired a muggle couple as tenants in the upper apartment. When I arrived, he was in the middle of a heated discussion about them paying him. I think he forgot they either they were muggles or that muggles don’t carry knuts. They appeared pretty frantic and his wand was already out.”

“When Mr. Larkin let me in…” Donn started before he hesitated for a second. He was debating on how much to tell her. He purposely never brings up his ties to the Death Eaters at work, some were blissfully unaware of his connections altogether. It was even more important to continue the serade, for his recent actives has increased the need to be completely off the radar. So he simply said, “ I only had a chance to announce that I was with the Ministry, before he shot me almost clear across the road.”

Donn rubbed the goose egg on the back of his head, he noticed that the skin was tender and winced before he continued. “Larkin seemed confused as if the War with the… well, You know Who was still alive and the war was happening. He thought I was there to take him into Azkaban or something. I tried to correct him but he was already putting up wards. The guy was very proficient.” Donn said as he glanced back at the windows then realized he might be written up for this one if he couldn’t handle one Loon.

“Look, this was not what I was told was going to happen. It is not my fault that he decided to totally crack with me dealing with him. I tried to handle everything rationally and calmly… but he is just not coherent….”  He stopped himself from saying something like he thought I was someone else and realized maybe it was better she took over. If he wasn’t involved maybe the crazy old man would not mention his father. Besides the word in the office was that Joanna Hennings was a badass. He knew she could handle it. It was just a shame she put a target on every wizard that was barely grazed by a shadow in their past. He decided to give her all the details and get out of her way. Fade into the background of the ministry , keep his head low. The last thing he needed was to get on Hennings radar.

“I got a nice zap on the front door and even checked the back and the basement, it is all sealed up. I was …” he lowered his voice even more, incase the Crazy old wizard was watching them. “about to apparated on to the roof. Most of the narrow houses like this has a sky light or two. It is possible he forgot to ward them. I was hoping to get in there myself." He gave a slight shrug and then a single finger salute, while saying, “I guess, I will leave it to you then. Good luck.” He turned and started to walk away.

Sinnoway, her mind supplied following his introduction. He could go by whatever name he wanted, but law enforcement did the background checks before the hiring of Ministry staff, and were actually capable of noticing when a wizard started using his mother’s name. Joanna was almost offended that the Death Eater families gave so little credit to law enforcement that they thought changing their names would get them out of trouble and suspicion. No way. So this was the son of one of the Death Eaters who had escaped Azkaban? Both parents died in the Battle of Hogwarts, one on top of the other. It had been decided that they were both most likely fighting for You-Know-Who. But there was no evidence, no witnesses to suggest that Donn Bane had been involved at all. Nevertheless, Joanna had not been enthusiastic when she was informed he was being hired by the Department of Accidents and Catastrophes. She was sure he knew more than the pleas of innocence he provided.

Was he trying to suck up to her? She wondered. No one called her Miss Hennings. She worked in an environment where people loved to call each other by their last names. She hated it. She was not her family. They were not their families. Everyone had given names for a reason. The rest of the squad could call each other whatever they liked, but they knew to always address her by her first name and that she would do the same to them. “Joanna, please,” she interjected quickly, lest he try to call her Miss Hennings again. That would never do. Neither would nearly calling members of the public by offensive nicknames. Donn had caught himself before the full word was out but Joanna was not an idiot. She knew exactly what George Larkin’s given identifier was. She glared at Donn warningly, but otherwise said nothing.

Absorbing the information, she clarified, “So there are two muggle civilians inside? Age range? Location inside residence? Any injuries already sustained?” Was it so hard to provide pertinent details rather than guesses about reasoning? Honestly, Joanna had little time to care what Donn thought was going through George Larkin’s head. And why had he paused? Joanna narrowed her eyes as he continued. It sounded like he was leaving something out. Most likely the young man had been over zealous and said something arrogant that he shouldn’t have done and was now embarrassed over it. As he should be. Ministry officials had an important job, but they couldn’t just throw their power around, look where that got them.

Joanna kept her face impassive, it would not do to laugh that the arrogant little Sinnoway had been blasted across the road by George Larkin. But somehow it felt like delightful karma. And a very important lesson about not underestimating situations and going in prepared. She hoped that it would prevent Donn from making the same mistakes the next time. That really did depend on his willingness to learn however. She did however ask, “are you injured? Do you need a mediwizard?” It would not do to have a concussed wizard in a potentially escalating scenario. As with all of the hit squad, Joanna was trained in basic field healing magic. Unwilling to work with an official that might need to be in hospital, Joanna immediately cast a diagnosis spell and found that the damage was just confined to a bump on the back of his head. “I cannot do anything for the appearance, but I can lessen the pain and headache.” Tapping her wand to the top of his head, presumably a slightly amusing sight as he was taller than her and she had to stretch in order to reach, she murmured, “remedium capitis,” allowing a light blue light to form and seemingly dissolve into his scalp.

Ah. If George Larkin thought the war was ongoing then this would be more difficult than she thought. All wizards would fight with everything they had to avoid being taken by the Death Eaters or You-Know-Who. And the Ministry had just been their plaything back then. “Poor thing,” she commented sympathetically, sending a kind gaze at the warded door. “The war took a lot away from a lot of good people, and it has left it’s mark.” Yes, so Joanna emphasised good, she was aware of that. But she did not have the patience to care about the not-so-good people lost in the war. Actually, that was too kind. The down right evil people who thankfully perished. “Well that certainly will be a challenge. If he is trapped in the horrors of the past then he will unlikely be able to hear reason.” She shook her head in empathy, “We must be cautious and not give him any further trauma.”

Why would she have expected the son of a good for nothing Death Eater to have been raised with the ability to take responsibility for his actions? He had probably been taught from birth to try and wriggle out of consequences and pass the blame onto someone else. Joanna rationally knew she was being mean and petty. The sins of the parents should not pass down to the children, but she was suspicious of anyone who had grown up in that kind of environment. No doubt he had been told from birth that his blood was better than others and he deserved to lord it over everyone else. And it was that kind of attitude that they needed to stamp out before it festered and grew again. “Excuse me,” she said sharply, unwilling to listen to anymore of these silly excuses, “please try and learn a lesson here and learn from your mistakes. The first step is accepting you made them.”

She was actually impressed with his suggestion about apparating onto the roof. While she was sure that George Larkin would have cast spherical shaped wards in order to prevent aerial attacks, checking was important. However, when Donn turned to go Joanna was not sure her eyebrows could raise any further. What? He thought that he just got to walk away happily while she cleared up his mess? No. She was not a babysitter. She had enough messes to clear up within her own team. She definitely was not clearing up his mess and letting him leave without consequences. “No, no, no.” She said slowly, as if she was talking to a small child. “You are not wriggling out of your duties. I am here to ensure the safety of you as a Ministry official, George Larkin and the innocent Muggles trapped inside. I am here to provide the magical force needed to get inside.” Pointing her finger lazily at the house behind and then back to the cowardly wizard in front, “you are staying to deal with the situation. You will be doing your job!” She raised her voice towards the end of the sentence, in utter disbelief, or rather annoyance, why would she be surprised, at how quickly people bailed on anything with minor difficulties.

“Now. I suggest you go with your initial thought, which was not entirely stupid, and check out that skylight. Please do not attempt to whisper at me. One of the wards George Larkin has raised means that while we cannot hear what is going on inside, he cannot hear us outside.” Honestly, did she had to explain everything? “I am going to unravel that one to see if we can deescalate the situation without force.” With a flourishing gesture, Joanna pointed her wand at the bay window - glass was always weaker in reinforcing wards than other building materials - and began using her magic to try and remove a portion of the silencing ward. She ignored the other, more serious, wards and spells in place for the moment. Feeling the silencing ward break in that area, Joanna listened carefully. There did not seem to be any noise coming from inside which presumably meant the wizard and Muggles were no longer in the front room.

She sent a knocking spell at the window, one that would resonate throughout the house, and with a quick sonorous began talking. Softly. “George,” she said, injecting every bit of empathy and comfort she had into her voice, “Hello George. Are you alright in there? I’m Joanna. I’d love to talk to you.” If he was as far gone from reality as Donn had said he was then it would not make a difference. But it was important to rule out these options before going for the more offensive.

“Joanna,” Donn corrected himself as per Miss. Hennings request. He doubted that she wanted him to use her first name to promote a more intimate relationship or to be less formal. Instead he believed she must have a muggle in her family or was influenced by them because most wizards still held on to the tradition of showing respect and honoring superiors properly. It was something his mother made a point of teaching him. She believed first names were only used in public to address a servant or someone well below your social standing.  But who was he to argue with Joanna if she wanted him to belittle her in front of others?

“Yes, two muggles, a couple, possibly married.” He glanced back to the front door trying to remember the other detail she asked for. Muggles were muggles, why would one ever want to remember them in such detail? Still, he did not want to seem incompetent. “They were possibly in their late twenties or early thirties. They were on the landing when I entered and after he propelled me away from the door, I thought I heard a series of footsteps go upstairs. Injuries? No, but they seemed quite rattled, the female more so. I think the male was trying to reason with Mr. Larkin, so he was not completely irrational.” As much as a muggle could be. Dealing with muggle that seen magic, Donn had seen varying state of irrational behavior. Still Donn left the last part out, because he had a feeling she was a muggle sympathizer.

When she noticed his head injury, Donn practically denied obtaining it at all, but instead replying, “It is nothing. No, I am fine. I will take care of it.” His mother was never the doting kind and rarely bothered taking him to the healer. Such an excursion would mean it would take time away from her work. Instead a medicine cabinet was kept stocked with tonics and ointments that Donn learned to help himself to or he would just let things heal on their own. Unfortunately, Miss Hennings took it a pawn herself to help heal or a least reduce his pain. Frustrated over being fussed over, Donn stood there and let her heal him, although his face slightly betray how he felt which was annoyed and belittled. He forced himself to give out the typical expression of “Thank you.”

The witch’s sympathy to the Loon was unreal. Everyone was affected by the war, including Donn. Donn was aware he should have died that night next to his parents’ side and instead he has to live in whatever is left of this hellish wizarding world. Even still, he was not the one kidnapping Muggles and holding them as hostages until they pained him a ransom, even if it sounded quite an excellent way of retiring early. What was more maddening was somehow after hearing all the facts she believed this was all his fault? Donn had a habit of biting his tongue (literally) so that he would prevent himself for saying something. His brain said it was not the time to pick a fight with the Head of Hat Department, but he could not held back completely. “I would be more than happy to learn from any 'mistakes, if I did make any."  He took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. " As I SAID he behaved completely irrationally."

Too eager to leave it took the third ‘no’ to make him halt. “Wiggleing out?” he repeated as he turned. “I thought your department was taking over…” It was then he realized he did not see anyone else from her department and then it hit him that his bosses’ message did say ‘Reinforcements’ not replacements. Donn did not know which was worse; that he would still have to deal with the old crazy man or that he would have to take orders form Joanna. He was leaning to the latter. This was just reinforced by her next few comments, which were passive aggressive and bullying. Donn would have preferred to use some four-letter words to reply but instead he took a deep breath and then set his face readying himself as he accepted the task.

As Hennings played nice-nice with Mr. Loony Larkin, Donn apparated to the neighbor’s roof. He tried not to tip off the crazy man by causing any noise on Larkin’s roof but from the edge of the neighbor's roof he got a good idea were and what size was the Skylight. He got as close as he was willing to risk and was rewarded with the chittering from the muggles in an adjacent room. With a wave of Donn’s wand only a simple shield charm shimmered above the Larkin's roof but nothing else protecting the skylight. A dark smile lit Donn's face with the discovery and he rejoined Hennings below.

It did not sound like she had any luck with Mr. Loony Larkin, by the way the old man was yelling through the door at Hennings, he sounded as irate as ever. A fear flashed through Donn’s mind that the old man might have brought up his father's name again, but he could not help it now. He hoped she would dismiss anything the old man said as chaotic ramblings of a disturbed mind. Donn stayed back at let her try to reason with him. He waited for her to join him in the pocket of her ward slightly out of site of the building windows.

“Looks like only a weak Protego protects the building's roof. There is a skylight, and I sensed nothing additionally protecting it. The Skylight is just wide enough for one person at a time to slip into. I believe there is a bathroom below… but I could not get close enough to verify. I did hear the Muggle couple's voices through it. So they are upstairs and near the skylight. Possibly in a connecting room like a bedroom, if I would hazard a guess.” Donn said with a smile, quite pleased with himself. Surtain if there was anyone making progress here it was him.

Still he waited for her to inform him of the progress she made and decide on their next course of action.

He was useless, Joanna determined. Stuck up, arrogant and completely useless. She had absolutely no clue how he had been hired in the first place and then how he still had his job. If he was under her command, she would have gotten rid of him years ago. The surliness and immaturity he was displacing was making her seriously regret attempting to do Accidents and Catastrophes a favour. Nevertheless, she was here now and she would just have to follow through. Then, maybe mention to Donn’s superior on her return that she felt his attitude did not lend itself towards interacting with the public in any capacity. He was unable to answer basic questions with any kind of specific recall, he was happy to ignore protocol and put them both at risk by working with an injury and he was clearly unwilling to take criticism.

How utterly dare he attempt to talk back to her. Not because she technically held the superior position in the Ministry. Not because she was there to assist him out of the mess that he had created. Not because his family had been responsible for countless horrors over the years. Not because she had a million other things to be doing that were more pressing for her department and his every comment was just a waste of more time. But because it seemed he genuinely believed that he was not a fault and was taking up the attitude that she was seemingly hard of hearing. If he had been a member of her team, Joanna would have taken him to task. Finishing the regrettable assignment then making him write up exactly where he had gone wrong, then ensuring he went back on training to negate the chance of it happening again. Since he was not, she merely ignored his childish response and focused on the current situation.

It was as she was awaiting George Larkin’s response that she heard the crack behind her that signified Donn had apparated. She hoped it was up to the roof like he was meant to but she was not convinced. Joanna would not have been surprised if he simply left. Death Eater spawn have no meaning of the concept of hard work. A small part of her also almost hoped he had left purely so he would reap the consequences later and she would never have to deal with him again. Joanna suppressed this part of her though, able to acknowledge that it was verging on extremely vindictive and bad-natured. And those were two things that she did not want to be part of her personality.

George’s response to her was, to put it politely, unpleasant. And she had to put it politely, she refused to use as many swear words as he had. It was also enlightening. It would seem that Donn Bane, in his infinite, arrogant wisdom had told the civilian he was going to Azkaban. The absolute idiot. George was convinced that there was a Death Eater outside who, upon him refusing them entry, had called for back up and told him he was bound for Azkaban. She apparently, was the back up and her kind tone was just a further deception from the scum. While she did not disagree with Mr Larkin’s assessment of Death Eaters as scum, Joanna did feel that he was wrong in giving them enough credit that they were capable of playing nice as trickery. They could not fake kindliness, it was concept that they were completely unable to grasp. Be a decent human being to someone? Never!

Another crack behind her meant that, unfortunately, Donn had returned. That was a shame. She had taken absolutely no pleasure in any of their interactions thus far, and Joanna seriously doubted that would change going forward. His next words, said with a smile, only confirmed her suspicions. No. She did not like this boy. What, did he expect an Order of the Merlin for finally managing to answer a question she had asked previously? What a shame for him, Joanna was all out of the ‘good effort’ badges you could give an animal when it gets potty trained. Rounding on him, determined to get that smug smile off his face, she quickly re-erected the sound barrier and began to lecture.

“How absolute dare you threaten anyone with Azkaban. You are no way in any kind of position to decide who does, and does not, go to Azkaban. You do not have the authority to make that choice. It is extremely inappropriate for you to even mention the place when out on official business. It is against numerous regulations and also just plain stupid when dealing with an already distressed citizen.” Joanna barely paused for breath as she continued. “Never mind that in this case it has further escalated the situation and now resulted in Mr Larkin convinced that the second we get inside he will be carted off and tortured! The sheer ineptitude of your words astound me. They also undermine the very justice system we have and fought for that guarantees people a trial before conviction. Or have you seemingly forgotten basic rights as well?” She did not shout as she said all this but rather spoke with an even, yet harsh tone, her words doing the work far more than any volume could.

Cutting off any chance of the little fool replying with any kind of excuse or denial, she continued, her voice softening back to a normal level. “Let’s go to the roof then and get inside. We need to ensure the muggles’ safety as top priority before apprehending Mr Larkin.” Joanna turned back to the front door to throw as powerful a battering spell as she could at it. Obviously the wards had been reinforced so one spell by itself would do little. However, that was not her aim. She smiled as the door and surrounding brickwork shook violently. That would keep him distracted enough for a while.

Without waiting to ensure Donn was following her, Joanna disapparated and reappeared on the roof. She had always found that the sensation of apparating did not promote itself to short distances, but needs must. Quickly pointing her wand at the roof beneath her, she muttered, “galba adactae,” repeatedly to ensure that when she brought the shield charm down there would be no noise. It would not do for Mr Larkin to hear a disturbance upstairs when she was trying so hard to convince him that they were still trying to break through the front of the house. In order to further that illusion, before dealing with the skylight, Joanna walked to the edge of the roof, pointed her wand downwards towards the front door and threw another battering spell at it.

Compared to a battering spell, the simple charm to cancel the shield and remove the skylight was child’s play. “Please keep behind me,” Joanna informed Donn as she edged forward, “I assume you can perform a simple hovering charm to get inside without landing in the toilet?” Although, Joanna mused, it would be enjoyable to see him head first in a toilet. Even better if it hadn’t been flushed. Pointing her wand beneath her, Joanna slowly lowered down into the bathroom inside. Letting the charm drop once she was on the floor, she examined the room she was in while awaiting Donn to appear behind her.

“Now, where did you hear the muggles?” A human revealing spell would only tell her how many people were in the property, not where they were. Oh Merlin, the sooner this was over, the better. She could hardly wait for whatever disrespectful response Donn had for her.

OOC: I'm off to Paris Thursday morning so I won't be able to reply until next week =)

Donn’s jaw tightened and his nostrils flared. So, after he did what she asked… risking his own neck by walking around of some flimsy Muggle roofs to check where these dumb hiding muggles were, this daft power-hungry witch wanted to give him a hard time for using the term Azkaban. She allowed no rebuttal to be uttered from Donn. She apparently had the ‘authority to make the choice' of taking the word of a raving mad warlock over a colleague. He took a breath in and had to remind himself that this was lead Hit Witch and he did not want to get on her Bad Wizard list. He did have a vague recognition that he had made some threat regarding Azkaban to Larkin, but it was hardly what “escalated" the situation. He was merely reminding Mr. Larkin that there were consequences for his actions. Unlike Mr. Larkin, Donn was under no delusions. He knew he was not in ‘any kind of position to decide who does, and does not, go to Azkaban’. If he did have that power, there would definitely be some rearrangement of the inmates and Mrs. Joanna Hennings and her mood swings was slowly looking more promising to be on the inmate list, if only for a short stay.
 
Bitter frustration simmered within his inner cauldron while he followed her next course of action. He was determined to get the job done and be rid of this mad hit witch.  A small part of him was impressed with the use of the battering spell as a distraction but he would have-not chosen to use it himself. Donn was not one for cunning trickery, and he found most of its use of which disdainful. He would have preferred to just storm the house from the roof and face the wizard head on.

Apperating behind her, he followed her leed. He watched her juggle the battering charm and the wards with expert precision. It was obvious that this was not her first time breaking through a wizard's defenses.  He was wondering if she had invaded any of his mother friend’s houses just for the fact they were known Death Eaters, while she gave her command and belittling question. Donn simply gave an answer of “Yes, of course.”  Before she jumped and floated down into the Bathroom.

Donn mimicked her actions and landed behind and to the left of her. As soon as he did, she asked were the Muggles were. At that instant, Donn realized that his guess was wrong, the bathroom connected to a short hallway which connected a muggle living space on one end and their bedroom on the other, not a bedroom directly. He also could no longer hear their voices. They must have been talking close to the hall where he overheard them. The living space which likely had the door to go down the stairs was quiet and seemed empty. So, he turned and pointed to the direction of the bedroom, whos door was closed. The Magical Accidents & Catastrophes employee was quite familiar to Muggle responses, and so concluded that the battering charm sent the muggle couple scurrying for their nests like rodents.  The daft beings likely think a locked door and maybe some wood furniture would provide them protection from Mr. Larkin and his unnatural ability. Such simple-minded Idiots.

Donn squashed his internal commentary and simply answered, “It looks like the muggle couple figured it be best to barricade themselves into a room until help arrives. We could keep them here and place wards of protections on them and deal with them after we deal with Larkin. Or we can break into the Muggles room and stupefy them now so they don’t harm themselves and don’t experience any further stress. If it was up to me, I would rather keep the element of surprise we have on Larkin, but the choice is yours.”

Joanna could not help the look of shock that she threw Donn. Maybe she had misjudged him. Maybe she had been letting his family connections cloud her opinion of him and his actions. If he was considering the emotional wellbeing of the couple then he couldn’t be as much of a pureblood supremacist as she had assumed. She prided herself in being a relatively good judge of character, normally able to get a correct impression of someone quickly, and go with her gut on how she felt. This, this was outwith what she was expecting.

“Yes, I agree,” she replied in a softer tone than she had used all day. Maybe she should not have taken her frustrations on the day out on the young wizard. It was not entirely his fault she was in this situation. Her day had not been going well before she had arrived in Cambridgeshire, and it was likely that her impatience at the findings there had been due to what she was leaving behind at the Ministry, rather than simply the unfolding events. Here she was, claiming that Donn should accept responsibility for his actions, when she was trying to blame him for lack of staff and training. It was not the right time to apologise in the middle of a home invasion, but Joanna vowed she would apologise once the situation was contained. Practice what you preach and all that. She certainly was not one to pass the buck on to someone else.

“I imagine now that the,” she used quotation marks with her fingers, “Death Eaters are in Larkin’s residence, the muggles are quite safe from further retaliation. His primary focus will now be us. Or rather,” she said listening to sound of a curse being cast downstairs, “the ‘us’ that are currently trying to break through the front door.” While the entire situation was completely overboard for a standard day, Joanna could not help but enjoy the part where she got to trick people like this. If she had been unprofessional whenever she performed a building entry like this she would have succumbed to her desire to announce their true presence with surprise! and take delight in the confused look on the wizard’s face as they tried to reconcile the spells coming from outside with the Ministry staff inside.

Of course, Joanna was not unprofessional, so those thoughts remained firmly in her head. Instead she ran down potential scenarios to consider their options. She could tell Donn to remain with the muggles, get them out and to an obliviator. A high up one. The muggles would clearly need to forget they have ever stayed there. Someone was going to have to find them a new home. Not her department though! That responsibility she was quite happy to avoid, passing over to it’s rightful team in the Department she was currently providing a favour for. So, Donn staying upstairs was an option, but definitely not a preferable one. The Hit Squad were not in it for the glory. One on one duels made no sense.

Never go one-on-one when you can go two-on-one!

That was one of the key messages in training. Always have back up. You work as a team, not an individual. And as such, even an inexperienced, untrained in combat Ministry employee was better than none. Joanna was sure she could shield him from any dangerous spells while at the same time making use of the extra body to corner and disarm Mr. Larkin. And then, she admitted in the privacy of her mind, arrest him and take him in where it was likely that he would end up in Azkaban. But knowing that that was what was probably going to happen, and sharing that knowledge with the wizard were two very different things.

Coming to her decision on their next course of action, Joanna immediately threw a silencing charm at the door she presumed the muggles were behind. It would not do for them to make noise and Mr. Larkin assume it as Death Eaters. It was highly unlikely they would be leaving that room, but she also placed a locking charm on the door as well. It would take basically nothing for a wizard or witch to disarm, but would prevent the muggles from exiting. And honestly, as long as they were out of the way, that was all that Joanna and Donn could do. She was not their mother. If they injured themselves in there then it really was their own business.

“When we get downstairs I need you to hold a shield charm,” Joanna explained, making complicated motions with her wand at the floor between them and the stairs. The spell she was casting prevented floorboards creaking so that Mr. Larkin downstairs would not hear them move. “I will ensure that even if you cannot hold a strong enough charm Mr Larkin will not be able to use a blasting charm on you again.” She meant for that to sound reassuring, not patronising.

“Unless for some reason I am unable to take point and stun the target, you are just to keep your shield up. If the target ends up with his defence down and back to you though then it would be acceptable for you to use a stunner. We will go downstairs together and then stay within range as we try to apprehend the target from behind. The only actions required are shields, stunners and disarming charms.” Joanna paused her explanation to look at him, “you will be fine. The two of us will be able to contain him. Hopefully before he realises we are inside rather than still outside.”

With a final hushed, “keep behind me until we are downstairs!” Joanna began to move across the floor towards the stairs. Vanishing the door that blocked them, she stepped forward and cautiously began to descend, keeping both ears open to listen to where George Larkin’s location within the house was. Her wand was ready for anything the old warlock attempted to pull.

Donn waited for her to give another rant of something else he did wrong. He was ready to argue that he had considered the negative repercussions if they leave the muggles in the room. It was possible that the dumb Muggles could get so distraught they might try to jump out their window. Although any injury would be fitting for their stupidity, but it would be most inconvenient for Donn for the fall would not likely kill them. Instead Donn would have to chase them down and they and everyone they talked to, to have a memory charm placed on all of them. It could be messy. Donn was banking on the fact they would likely behave more like animals… as so would not resort to such drastic measures as long as they don’t feel threatened directly.

To Donn's surprised Hennings agreed with him. Instead of belittling another of his actions, she moved onto their next agenda that waited for them down stairs. He held still when she mentioned Death Eaters in quotation marks and waited to fully grasp just what she was applying. He was bad at lying, and he knew it and did not want anything to slip out. After understanding it was a cynical remark towards Larkin, Donn gave a slow nod as he realized then that they needed to take out Larkin as soon as possible. He could not have Larkin saying something about him or his father that would have Hennings looking into Donn. The last thing he wanted was her digging into his life. Not when things just started to go in the right direction.

While Hennings seemed preoccupied analyzing the situation, Donn was trying to think of a way of disabling Larkin quickly.  The problem was that Hennings was sharp and obviously did not like him already. She would likely end up criticizing anything that Donn did anyways.  Donn figured Expelliarmus would not do, and he decided to not 'accidentally' make anything fall on Larkin's head. Instead Donn decided to go with a full body bind, it will prevent him from using spells as well as saying anything that could be misunderstood.

When Hennings finally included him in her plans, instead of out lining them, she jumped into describing his dumb down role. “Just a shield charm?” He asked slightly confused. It was something one would assign a student. Her next comment raged the wild beast within him. The one that wanted to knock her out, stomp down to Larkin and blast a hole in the chest of the quack wizard.

“She has a point.” His mother’s voice interjected in his head. He pushed her out not wanting to hear two women be little his actions and feeling the need to concentrate on Henning’s plan.

“Shields, stunners and disarming charms but only if you can’t take point otherwise shield only.” He repeated, before her next jab at his ego. Did she really think he was worried about whether or not they could handle Larkin? Donn bit his tongue and followed her out the apartment door and down the stairs.

The foyer was empty, the two doors that led to his apartment looked shut. Donn had hoped to see the old geezer standing with his back to the stairs and wand held out to the door, but it looked like he barricaded himself more deeply in his apartment. The moment their feet touch the landing a raddled came from a Long Art deco griffin themed Umbrella at the far end of the foyer. The umbrella stand erupted as several pointy tipped umbrellas, sharpened canes that now resembled stakes and spears and one hidden sword rose out and shot towards them. Donn first instinct was to step forward and wordlessly reinforced his shield.

The quite inventive triggered charm, was designed to propel the object through the invaders coming through the front door not down the stairs. SO luckily Henning and Donn where not in the majority of the objects line of fire. A number now stuck into the wall and the front door’s left side. The rest Donn deflected to the opposite wall. The thudding sounds and maybe the view of the spikes coming through his wall likely gave Larkin clue of where they now were.

A fact reinforced by the old wizard yelling through the wall, “You bloody sneaky snake skin worshiping Death bringing wannabes! You are going to regret ever targeting me! This is my bloody house!”  There was a slamming door within his apartment. If he was not before now Larkin was likely barricading himself deeper.

Donn let a curse slip past his lips under his breath. He just gave Hennings something else to blame him for. He would be better to go with her plan let her get knocked out and then finish the job  himself. He took a step back... allowing her to choose which door they were going to try to enter.

She really should have just stunned him when she had the chance. The incompetent idiot was more of a liability than anything else.

“One instruction,” she whispered harshly, eyes narrowing, “I gave you one instruction.” Of course the glory seeking idiot would immediately step in front of her rather than let her simply freeze then vanish the weapons before they made contact with anything. Vanishing would have ensured that Mr. Larkin had not heard the trap going off. Now there was a bloody - excuse her language, Joanna was frustrated - umbrella sticking out the wall! Such a large part of her just wanted to incapacitate the Death Eater spawn, go on the offensive with Mr. Larkin and finish the job quickly with efficiency rather than diplomacy. A very large part of her, looking at Donn temptingly. It would be so easy…

A small part of her was impressed that he had actually managed to produce a reasonable shield charm, but she was ignoring that part. People that did not follow orders were more dangerous than anything else. They were like an unexploded firecracker. You just did not know when they would go off. Give her a situation where she was vastly outnumbered by the criminals over an unexploded firecracker any day. Yes, Mr. Larkin, Joanna thought. It is your house. If you had just kept it as yours and not rented it out to muggles then none of them would be in the current situation.

Well, the element of surprise was gone.

With nothing to contain her anymore, Joanna let loose her frustrations on the two doors that were available. “Reducto!” She said, anger present in every syllable. The door exploded into dust, floating to the floor and in the air like a cloud. She quickly repeated the exercise with the second door and stepped forward. As a liability, she decided that it would be best if she just let Donn do whatever he liked. He would have to accept the consequences later. Her personal hope was that he got knocked out and not cause her any further annoyance. Using a gust of air, she batted the dust cloud out the way, clearing the path in front of her.

It seemed like Mr Larkin had experience in ancient runes, with the house set up with some complicated, and nasty, protection spells on it. Joanna was only skilled in taking down the most rudimentary of these spells, normally the specialist curse breaker team were deployed. Today however, it appeared she was on her own. Casting multiple revealing charms as she walked to understand the complex intricacy of spells that were layered over the place, Joanna was able to pause and disarm a few before they could be enacted. She put slightly more force into cancelling the runes than she usually would have, but there was an incompetent buffoon behind her that was perfect for increasing her adrenaline.

It seemed every kind of protocol and procedure had been tossed out the window for this case. She regretted even coming into work that day. Surely, for her sanity, Joanna deserved a personal day. As someone that lived by procedure, intimately knowing why it was necessary and the importance of it, this situation was making her extremely uncomfortable. She had no one to rely on and was stuck in an hostile location with 2 hysterical muggles, a powerful, hallucinating warlock who thought she was a Death Eater and then a potential actual Death Eater who, Joanna thought nastily, was only probably not a Death Eater because no one was able to put up with his insubordination.

“If you don’t want to set off a trap then walk behind me,” she said with pursed lips as she walked through another room. “If you cannot do that then…” she let it trail off as she simply walked away from Donn. Joanna could not bring herself to care enough about sounding threatening. She now just wanted finished. The door from sitting room to dining room was similarly blasted away, but this time the dust cloud only spread out in the living room, leaving the dining room dust free. There was a very strong shield protection placed on that room. Too strong for any non-professional to break. Certainly too strong for Joanna and her wand. Luckily, Mr Larkin did not seem to be hiding in that room. A vicious part of her mind wanted to suggest that Donn check it out, just to see what the wards would do if a human who meant harm tried to step through them. She suspected nothing pleasant.

Instead, she ignored that urge and sent another curse at another door. If there had not been muggles upstairs then Joanna would have been a lot less careful and simply made holes in the walls. She didn’t care about the state of the house post-departure after all. As the dust cleared, a bedroom was visible with Mr Larkin hiding angrily inside. She faced the irate elderly wizard; her (and potentially Donn if he was still there) on one side of the hole created, and he on the other. She could feel the magic coming off the protections from where she was standing. The only good thing about that meant that while she could not get through, Mr. Larkin was now stuck where he was and no spells he cast would get through to them. And she was able to bring the protections down. She just needed someone to watch her back and then fire offensively (and defensively) while she used her magical energy to break the protections. There would be an instant, when the spells dropped that Joanna would be still containing them, rendering her vulnerable.

This was why they always worked in teams!

She was tempted to call for back up at that point. Maybe one of her poorly potty trained newbies could come? Really, anyone. She wasn’t fussy. Knowing none of that was an option she turned to Donn, ignored the uncouth screeching coming out of Mr Larkin’s mouth. If she wasn’t skilled in ignoring people shouting then she would have been tempted to respond. Yes Mr Larkin, he is a piece of dung, but it’s his father you’re thinking of. I doubt that Donn has the control to attack something sufficiently.

“I’m going to drop these wards,” she said sharply. “When he starts firing, fire back.” Simple instructions Joanna, he clearly couldn’t handle anything else. “For the brief moment where I’ll be out of commission you have free reign.” Preferably do something useful for once in your miserable life and stun him, she added on in her thoughts. Unravelling protection charms took time and a lot of magical energy so Joanna started straight after her final words, half listening to all the absolute garbage spewing out of Mr Larkin’s mouth. If it hadn’t ruined her day so much then it would almost be funny.

Donn took Hennings whispered harsh criticism without comment. He knew with his screw up that there surprise was gone, but wasn’t he doing the spell she asked him to? Donn wanted to argue and yell out his frustrations at both Henning as well as send some nasty blast or curse at Larkin but he attempted to cap his pressuring frustration. It was a pattern. She blamed him for everything that went wrong. At this point he was sure it was not just other departments members she blamed, but likely her own subordinance that suffer from her superiority complex. For once he felt gratitude for being stuck in his lame department, for he would not have to deal with her directly in the morning. Still he knew his boss was likely going to get a note form Hennings and dreaded being called in regarding it. Donn hoped he could plead his case before it came.

Donn through up another shield charm in attempt to protect his face as she sent a sudden blasted at each of the doors. Donn let out a series of coughs as he lowered his charm and found the force of Henning spell had not broken open the doors but completely reduced them to dust. He watched as she marched into the cloud, giving a  slight wave as she cleared a path for herself. Donn sprinted forward until he was on her heels again with his sleeve against his mouth. He fought the urge to cast his own wind spell and instead just squinted through the dust, using his wand to cast a shield spell like her original plan.

Through his blinking eyes he saw faint glow of marking forming wards along the walls and doorways. “Bloody Runes...” he mumbled under his breath. He knew enough about runes to know the ones he looked at were not good, but did not know enough to counter and disarm them. He watched Hennings examine them and work on them shortly before continuing. It did not look like she got rid of them all just, enough to let her pass. She crossly said as much to Donn. Taking her advice, he followed behind her making sure to not to touch the walls or the doorway. He vaguely wondered what would he have to do to get pass them himself and hoped they would still be down so he could get out.
      
Donn followed Henning into the dust filled living Room. He noticed she halted for a second and examined the connected Dining room area. It did not take long for Donn to figure out that it did not contain any dust, which meant it was warded even more then the other rooms they past. Donn wondered what was in the room that it required heavier wards. It was possible this was where Larkin was before they triggered his door charm trap or he was planning to ward all rooms this heavily and they interrupted him. The most intriguing theory was that there was something hidden in this room worth the efforts of the wards.
 
Donn took a step towards the room but was halted as Henning obviously dismissed the area by sending a curse down the hall to the backroom’s door. The stream of curses and profanity that escaped the hiding old wizard let them know she indeed found their target. Donn reinforced his shield and followed her towards the back bedroom. Wards were placed on this room too although either to quickly or in too much haste to be as effective as the dining room. Still for being a crazy old wizard he knew how to ward and create some nasty hexing runes. Donn thought that the old mad likely gave his father much difficulty back in their heydays.       

As if Larkin read Donn’s thoughts, it was that moment that Donn father’s name entered among the crazy old wizard's profanity. Donn’s blood turned cold. He stole a glance at Hennings, attempting to gauge her response. Instead of her looking like she recognized or question his father's name, she seemed to completely ignore it and focused on the wards at hand. This time her directions were simple and ones he had no problem following. He preferred free reign, to be able to rush right in and not hide behind someone like a shadow. Donn stole a glance at the old warlock whose top of his head could just be seen over the upturn furniture and tilted mattress. Donn gave a nod but Hennings already started on the spell to break the ward.

Donn barely had a moment to reinforce his shield, before the wards came down. Realizing he had to put some distance in between him and the exposed Hennings, so he sprang into the room. His shield held up to two of the warlock’s blasts of light and once he sprinted latterly, he dropped it and sent stunning spells back at the warlock. Unfortunately, he was not able to get a clean shot of Larkin, who ducked under his child like fortress of furnishings.

“Grrr, I can’t get a clear shot of him!” Donn change his tactic and went to move the furnishings with a flick of his wand, lifting a cabinet to block a blast of the warlock’s wand.  Pieces of the cabinet fell in front of him. Unlike Donn, the warlock was not throwing stun spells and the Magical Accidents & Catastrophes wizard realized he would likely be in pieces if he is too much of a clear target. The trick was to move the barricade out of the way while providing himself cover. Because of this Donn then focused on the Mattress choosing to move it away from Larkin and once again toward himself. With the two pieces moved out of the way he realized that Hennings would have a clear shot first. She would also be more of a target if he did not distract Larkin. Although he wouldn't mind sending a curse or two her way, he didn't want her to be blown up. (If she was a muggle it might be different.)  There was a small part of him that wanted to see what the lead HIT witch could do, so he decided to give her the best chance and fully distract Larkin.

All the talk of his dead father who Donn still had a mountain of issues with, brought up the buried anger he still held on to. Donn decide to let it all out. "YOU bloody Crazy wizard! You got one thing right, Larkin. Cepheus Sinnoway, my bloody Father was a coward and a poor excuse for a wizard. He betrayed me and... my mother. If he was not already dead, I would want to kill him too!"

Just as Donn expected Larkin reaction was one of confusion. He stuck his head out with jaw hanging open and to take a good look at Donn.

She certainly had not been expecting that! Donn had actually done as requested when she had been overloading the wards and Joanna had taken the time needed to recover - only a few seconds - before getting ready to intervene. It had seemed that Donn had been having problems with the number of obstacles that George Larkin had erected. Or, collected from round the house. Seriously, it looked like he was building a play fort. What was he, five? She would have personally focused on vanishing or banishing the childlike structure rather than simply moving it out the way - as there was always the chance that George Larkin would just summon the pieces back again - but given Donn’s capabilities, he was doing well. It came as a slight surprise when the overinflated egomaniac actually admitted that there was something he couldn’t do, and she prepared herself, as planned, to stun George Larkin and arrest him.

And then it happened. Had she been prone to physical reactions, Joanna was sure her jaw would have dropped and her eyes would be bugging out her head. She had been expecting some kind of yelling - he seemed to have been holding back his anger and she knew it was definitely going to be coming out at some point, plus men seemed to never be able to do anything quietly, they liked the sound of their own voice too much - but not that yelling. It seemed that Donn had a lot of pent up rage about his father... although, Joanna privately added on that she expected his mother was similarly involved in the Death Eaters. She had also been found after the Battle of Hogwarts, and she certainly had not been fighting alongside the students and Joanna’s brother. So, she doubted the husband had actually betrayed the wife.

Nevertheless, Donn’s emotional outburst served its purpose. George Larkin’s head popped up in confusion, like a rabbit coming out it’s warren, and Joanna rapidly fired multiple stunners from the other side. She could heal any injuries, or rather professional trained mediwizards could, that he sustained to taking spells to the head and the subsequent fall, after he was in Ministry custody. She was unconcerned with damaging him, or any of his possessions. This call out had gone on entirely too long, and had frankly taken too many turns for the ridiculous. As her spells made contact with the unsuspecting homeowner, his body collapsed to the ground, hidden once again by the pile of furniture. She made quick work on getting rid of all the objects. Joanna guessed, after George Larkin had served his time and was released that he would have to buy a complete set of new furniture and do major renovations on the building. She hadn’t exactly stopped herself from causing damage.

Clearing the room so that only Donn and herself remained standing with a prone body lying between them, ropes shot out her wand wrapping tightly around the unconscious George Larkin. Joanna also summoned his wand and, using nicer binding, attached it to her leg. It would remain there until she turned it over as evidence back at the Ministry. With the nasty spellwork displayed across the residence she was sure that given the evidence, George Larkin would be going away for at least two years. If only the man had listened to reason! All of this could have been avoided. Merlin, it was such a shame that this was one of the outcomes of the war. People across the nation who had lost touch with reality and were instead caught by a cycle of horrors.

Before she considered ennervating George Larkin, she turned to address Donn, feeling more positive towards him now that their interaction was nearing its end. “Good work on getting his guard down,” she praised. And Joanna meant it. Managing to catch a suspect unawares was difficult and Donn had succeeded where many before him had failed. “Normally it isn’t advisable to start yelling in the middle of spellfire, but in this case it worked perfectly.” It was not something that Joanna would have done anyway. Yelling while exchanging shots just seemed so... unnecessarily masculine. As if the louder they yelled at someone, the better they were. It was exactly like she imagined a pissing contest would be. Who gave a sh- if someone could aim their urine higher than another?! It clearly just meant that the participants had too much time on their hands if they could take part in such unproductive activities.

“You know,” she added on, feeling that it was only helpful to let Donn know. “If the reason that Mr. Larkin was so...” she searched for the right word, “...combative with you was because he mistook you for your father it would have been helpful to know that from the start.” She assumed that he had not told her because he thought no one would make the connection. “We do run recruitment checks before people start at the Ministry.” Joanna pointed out, “and a change of name does very little to prevent us from uncovering things.” She was actually a little offended that people genuinely thought she would be confused by a change in name. Did they think she was an idiot?

“No one would have thought badly if you had said that was why you couldn’t continue on the case.” She said pacifyingly. However internally Joanna wasn’t sure. She imagined that there would be colleagues of Donn’s who wouldn’t react well to working alongside the son of a Death Eater, possibly two. But, it was dangerous to let him out into the field if there was the potential for being targeted due to his family connections. Joanna decided she would arrange a meeting with Donn’s superior when she returned to the Ministry in order to mention that. It was for everyone’s benefit, really.

She got the idea. Donn blinked as her rapid fire of stun spells flue passed him. If he did not know otherwise, he wouldn't have thought such a barrage of spells could be from just one caster. Donn moved the mattress to one side in order clear himself a path to run to the old man and to make sure he is down and disarmed. As he started forward, Hennings was in the process of vanishing the room's content. Don knew this met more work for him. He would likely have to stay after the Hit witch left and act as cleanup crew. He then realized just how much work she had made for him. Three doors made into dust and the skylight to repair. Donn opened his mouth to ask her to halt the removal of all the rooms furnishings, but he soon found the last object in the room wanded away.

Frustrated he halted and slapped his palm to his face. Letting his hand slowly drag down his face, as he took in two deep breaths. Although Donn did this in an effort to manage his total utter frustration, to others it might look like a sign of relief. He decided to let the Hat witch to her job and disarm and incarcerate Larkin herself. Getting started on his actual job would hopefully distract him well enough. With Larkin caught it mean that Hennings would be aprating back with him to the Ministry and out of his hair at least until the next morning at work. He knew he should deal with the Muggles upstairs first, but Donn did not trust his temper. Instead he turned to the door and tried to repair it. The dust stirred and gathered but it looked like the door would have to be recreated. He was trying to figure out if it would be easier to use a conjuration spell or to look about and see if he could find a door that was not blown apart. Hit witch did not seem to care that she had created an unbelievable chore list for him. 

It was then the witch addressed him, although a little surprisingly positive. Donn was sure that the crazily sadistic witch would find something else he did wrong. He held his breath as she mentioned him yelling to distract Larkin. It then donned on Donn that he had done exactly what he did not wanted to have happen and now the information about his father had come out. He was just so tired of being yelled at by his father's name that his brain stopped working. He was pulled from his internal self-criticism when she then called him on it... not telling her from the beginning that Larkin mistook Donn as Donn's father.

Donn simply replied, "You are right. I should have." He did not trust anything else that would come out of his mouth. Donn simply walked over to a closet door and waved his wand at it. He casted a nonverbal duplication spell and then non verbally levitating it twin to the bed rooms door opening. He would have to enlarge the door to fit but he did not care. It gave him something, anything to focus on beside the Henning witch. Why did she think now was the best time to talk to him about his parents?

Her last statement was the final trigger and his frustrations boiled over. He barely leaned the door on the wall before he turned to Hennings in outrage.  "What? Did you just say, no one would think badly if I couldn’t continue with the case? You realized YOU stopped Me from leaving! You said that I could not 'wriggle out of my duties' if I could recall right. Let me remind you that, THIS is supposed to be my duty!" he said as he pointed at the door. "I help wizards cleanup messes. I help prevent other muggles from getting involved and make it look like nothing happened. Thanks to you, I have nothing to repair. I am going to have to conjure up Larkins whole bedroom set."

After Donn released his frustration his brain started to click things together. "So you knew who my father was the whole time? Is that why you treated me like dung? I can't believe this. You're all the same. You are still fighting the war aren't you? You are not much better than bloody Larkin, you know that right?" He gesture to the old man now covered in ropes. "I have got news for you, both of you! It ended. The WAR ENDED. I had to take classes for people that imprisoned and killed practically my father's entire family. I had shared a dorm with wizards that I know for a fact killed my father. And yet, you are the ones that can't work civilly with Death Eaters son."

Donn shook his head and turned away from her, as he tried to redirect his temper elsewhere. His mind pulled from the images of Rhayader as a dark part of him willed him to simply blow up the whole house and Hennings in it. But his rational head prevailed, and his shoulders relaxed. The wave of frustration turned... and became dangerously close to self-pity. "I will not pity myself." he said to himself defiantly, before lifting his head as he reassessed Hennings. "Unlike you, I have had to accept that war causes destruction, chaos and death. I see how it starts with ideals and promises, but it turns down the wrong path by idiots and people blindly following others. After the good and bad die, it is those that they leave behind who are left to rebuild homes, their family and their place within society. Wizards like you, who cling to fear and hatred from war make that nearly impossible. Now if you excuse me, I have to stun the muggles upstairs before they do something ridiculous like jump out a window. I am sure it would be a natural idiotic response after what the pare would perceive as… what do the muggles call it, ‘bombs’ went off. If you don’t mind send a good Obliviator, I got enough work here to do."

He started to turn away from her. He now needed to be out of the room. He knew he said to much and did not trust his mouth not to say more.

Joanna could not care less that apparently Donn was incapable of doing his job by repairing furniture. Or replacing it. Same difference really. What she did care about was that apparently she had been meant to guess that somehow he had been mistaken for his father and that was why he had tried to leave. Oh yes, she thought sarcastically, watching in rye amusement as he worked himself up into a tantrum, that obviously should have been her first thought.  The lazy, arrogant idiot honestly thought that this was appropriate workplace behaviour? Joanna wondered if this was nature or nurture? Had he been born with this personality or was it down to the environment he had been raised in? It would certainly make for an interesting psychological study. Arrogance: born or bred? She wasn’t even sure where she would put her money. Both options seemed equally plausible.

Joanna kept her face completely impassive as he started trying to claim sympathy. She was done with this man and his horrendous attitude. She was done with his inability to follow orders. She was done with being disrespected because, apparently, she didn’t pussyfoot around his uselessness. “Are you quite finished?” She asked cuttingly when he got to the end of his little rampage. The immature child just couldn’t shut up, could he? Joanna stayed exactly where she was, allowing her eyes to follow Donn on his journey but nothing else. She would not deign to move for that fleabag.

“Now listen here young man,” Joanna began. Her voice implying that if he attempted interruption it would not end well. “I could not care less who your family was if you were in any way proficient at your job. Competence is important, not blood.” She figured she’d make a dig about blood status at the same time. “You have displayed exactly what I have already praised you for. The rest is severely missing. Now, I will consider the last two minutes a severe lapse in judgement because if you think that it is in any way appropriate to talk to anyone, never mind a superior, like that then you are severely mistaken and I can guarantee there is no place for you at the Ministry.”

Threat in place that she would not hesitate to ensure that Donn no longer had a job, Joanna continued. “If you had spent less time smarting over not being worshipped then you would have remembered that I placed a silencing charm which means that the muggles have not heard anything. And, surprisingly enough, I am not your skivvy. I am not running errands because you are too lazy to do so yourself. Get your own obliviator!” She was just about ready to go when she decided that she needed to add one more thing. “Further more, Mr Sinnoway,” she wasn’t going to use his fake name right now, “I don’t know anyone who didn’t lose people during the war. We all did. Never repeat that ignorant statement anywhere ever again. Too many good people died, and too many sacrifices have been made for an upstart like you to dare try and lecture me about it.”

Joanna could not wait to return to Law Enforcement. She might even hug some of her useless employees in delight. If there was a silver lining to this experience it was that she had a new appreciation for her newbies. They may lack skills, but they did not come close to how horrible that Accidents and Catastrophes employee was. “It is now 2pm,” she said, quickly checking the time. “I expect a full report on my desk by 5pm so that I can sign off as accompanying officer. If it is not on my desk by 5... well, that will be another thing that I have to discuss.” Yes, Joanna was going to arrange a meeting with Percy Weasley to discuss the caliber of people he employed. Mainly, that smug a-holes should not be allowed to represent the Ministry in any way, shape or form.

She pointed her wand at the prone figure of George Larkin and ennervated him. As he struggled pointlessly with his bindings, she levitated his body towards herself and withdrew a length of string from her pocket that would act as a portkey back to the Ministry when activated. “George Larkin,” she began clearly as she spelled the portkey, “you are under arrest for performing magic in front of muggles in violation of the 1692 International Statute of Secrecy and casting an offensive spell at a Ministry employee on official business. You will be taken to a holding cell at the Ministry prior to your trial.” Ignoring his protests, she grabbed his arm so that they were making contact and activated the portkey.

“5pm Donn.” She reminded just before she felt her body jolt forwards and the world begin to spin.

OUT

Donn had meant to turn a walk away, but her coarse words froze his retreat.  Instead of being done with the menacing HIT witch, he had to listen yet another one of her criticizing rants. An endless barrage of words criticized his competence, judgment, and behavior poured out form her strangely impassive face. He found it interesting that she went to excessive efforts to point out that nothing she said had anything to do with blood status, for it was the first time that it was mentioned.

His mother had described how about half blood and muggle born wizards are often furiously jealous of blood purity.  The young Donn had thought the notion was a comical falsity at the time of his Hogwarts days. Yet here was obtuse proof venting in front of him. It would have had made him laugh, if Henning was not currently threatening his job.

Just when Donn thought she was finished, she mimicked Larkin by called him by his father’s last name and venting about the war. If their interaction up until this point had been different, he might have thought whatever caused Larkin to lose his mind, was now affecting Hennings. Yet he now chalked anything that Witch said would naturally be belligerent, so the similarities between her current statements and Loony Larkin escaped him. Instead be was bemused over the fact she was lecturing him on lecturing her.

She was a total nutter. Could this day get any worse? he thought before she gave him the deadline.

“By five, you mean today?!? As in three hours?” he said but she was already attending to the old man and before he knew it, she was gone. A series of curse words he normally held on to in the times he was in severe pain escaped his lips. The quiet that followed was deafening. Even the muggles seemed to be holding their breath as he thought.

First, he had to tell his boss, Mr. Percy Weasley of the hit witches rampage and the current situation along with her insane deadline. If there was any luck, Mr. Weasley would send Donn some assistance or possibly relieve him to attend to Hennings full report. He wished his boss would tell off the Hit witch for him, but Donn highly doubted it. Unfortunately, Mr. Weasley, seemed to Donn to played by the book. Donn thought he would more like get a lecture about respecting his peers.

A sound from upstairs reminded Donn he still had to deal with the muggles and get an Obliviator. Another colorful curse word escaped before he got himself back under control and started upstairs. He will have to incapacitate them first before he got help. He had a depressing theory that even if he managed to meet the final report deadline, Hennings was going to screw him over.

OUT