The smoky, silvery alley cat dashed into the MLE Head's office, looked around for a second, then, spotting it's target, ran towards the desk. Once there, it used the Head Auror/Former Head Auror's lap as a springboard and jumped onto the surface. When it was settled, it delivered it's message, in the voice of the former prosecutor come Department Head herself:

"Wes, please send whoever you have that's not working on the De Talone case down to my office. Or at the very least, someone that would know how to break into a cabinet. I think I may have found a lead on the dangerous plants from last year and how they ended up in the food court in the first place." Message delivered, the patronus faded away, leaving no sign that it had ever been there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiro MacMhuirich

Jaxton sighed and brought his hand up to rub his face, and then dropped it back into his lap. "Well, I'm more than happy to continue being the Head until you find someone to take my place... I'll even help to train them up if they need the training - but I can't do this job for too much longer, I can't loose everyone now that I've got them." By everyone he meant his children and his very very soon to be wife Ali.

"I don't want to leave the department though, I just would like to be a normal Auror." He laughed. It had been a while since he'd been one of them, but he was looking forward to it. "Though, I'm more than happy to help Emily with the YATI's, I've always tried to get the other Auror's to help the YATI's out any way..."

He sighed and smiled, a soft slow smile at his best friend. "You know I wouldn't hand in my resignation if it wasn't important."

Wes was quiet for a bit while he considered the options. He didn't want Jax's personal life to suffer, honestly, he didn't. Wes just didn't LIKE to let people go. It was something he was having to do more and more, though, sadly. The DMLE was dwindling.

"All right," he said finally, with a sigh of his own. "Here's what we'll do. I'll keep you on in an advisory context, as the Interim Head Auror, until I promote someone else." Wait, wait wait, something clicked in Wes' brain just then. "No, scratch that," Wes stood up from his desk and started pacing behind it.

"What if, before you leave, we make Emily the Head Auror, since she's always around, has good experience and leadership skills with the YATI, and we like her and she'd be good at it and so on," he held up a hand to stop Jax before he could interrupt, "then, while you're out, I'll work closely with her to get through this de Talone case, and when you come back, you can impart any other knowledge you have on her and can settle into an advisory role."

He snapped at his friend now. "How does that sound?" Eh? Eh? Good, eh?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

The smoky, silvery alley cat dashed into the MLE Head's office, looked around for a second, then, spotting it's target, ran towards the desk. Once there, it used the Head Auror/Former Head Auror's lap as a springboard and jumped onto the surface. When it was settled, it delivered it's message, in the voice of the former prosecutor come Department Head herself:

"Wes, please send whoever you have that's not working on the De Talone case down to my office. Or at the very least, someone that would know how to break into a cabinet. I think I may have found a lead on the dangerous plants from last year and how they ended up in the food court in the first place." Message delivered, the patronus faded away, leaving no sign that it had ever been there.

Wes blinked and took a half step back from his desk at the sudden arrival of something smooooky in his office. Oh hey, he knew that patronus! It belonged to his prose--- er, fellow department head!

"Hmm, okay," he said to himself when the cat disappeared. "I think I have the person for that job." Heh, he sure did. Wes flicked his wand into his hand and sent off a giant wolf patronus of his own.

It had taken her awhile, but Roxanne had finally found a clue as to where the zombie plants had come from. It was a small lead, sure, but it was a lead nonetheless. Which was why she was now standing in front of her former boss colleague's office, knocking on the door and waiting to be granted entrance with a few papers held in her hand. Of course, the papers weren't the only reason for her visit. Nope, there was also the small matter of who, exactly, Wes had sent to help her. As if she didn't have enough trouble already. Just what had he been expecting to happen with that? That everything would come out sunshine and roses? Just thinking about it was making her irritation rise. Not good. Especially since the third thing she wanted to talk about was help again, this time in the MLE's own lab. She felt like she should still help with the De Talone case anyway she could, and since she was pretty sure a certain tea cup hadn't been tested yet, welp, she wanted to help with that. Tea leaves counted as plant material after all. Thing was, she had never been in the lab, so....... yeah.

It was shaping up to be one heck of day... though she didn't mind so much. Emily had marched through the office with purpose, stopping only a few times to check her in tray, check the notices and to see if she'd missed anything vital to the investigation. But she had her own mission in mind, and so without any hesitation and without any further distractions, Emily arrived at Wes' door. She knew why SHE wanted to see the bossman, but she didn't know why he wanted to see her. He did want to see her, no?

Meh, if not, then it would surely be a pleasant surprise for him.

Emily knocked, politely. Even if every inch of her wanted to storm in just so she could get back to work quicker.

Two knocks on his door in rapid succession, one after the other. Hmmmmm. Wesley looked up from the file he was reading and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Come in," he called out to the door. It was either one really impatient person or two separate knockers, both of whom felt they were important enough to need to knock on their own.

He was betting on the latter.

Roxanne said nothing when Emily walked up and also knocked on Wes' door without saying anything. As if she hadn't even noticed her. Which, come to think of it, she probably hadn't since she looked pretty distracted. Weren't they all.

Anyway, when Wes granted them entrance, Roxanne hurried in first, since what she had to say couldn't really wait and plopped down in a chair, legs crossed at the knee. "I found a concrete lead as to who was responsible for those zom-plants that created last year's crisis." And that was all she was going to say until Emily left, because she didn't want the Auror hearing everything she had to say. Not that she had anything against the younger woman or anything. Just that Roxanne knew she might object to some of what she was going to say and she really didn't want to deal with an argument right then.

Oh, it was Roxanne? And she had come all the way down here instead of just sending a patronus? Must've been important, then. Wes sat up a little straighter.

Annnnnd he was right, the knocker had been a person who thought they were important. Heh.

"Go on," he nodded at her. "The plants WERE the Scottish Silver Fern, weren't they?" Or something close to that, if memory served him right. THEY WERE THE PLANTS Rafael was in DENIAL about. Hmph.

Or maybe she'd just go on, then. "Correct. And they did come from Scotland...... through The Spiny Serpent." Wes realized where that was right? It was definitely enough to cause slight alarm. Roxanne couldn't believe it herself. "When we," or rather she "finally got that drawer open, I found these." she explained, lightly tossing the papers in her hand onto his desk. "They're delivery receipts from the shop, plus order receipts from a greenhouse in Glasgow that clearly state what the plants are." She still had his attention, yes? Good, because what she felt was the real shocker was coming. "They were sent to Belmonte from some mysterious someone, but the delivery receipt says that Belmonte refused to sign for them. Wes, I think the sender was trying to get people sick......"

The Spiny Serpent? Yeah Wes knew where that was. His eyebrows went up immediately as he got a mental image of the shop in his mind. He'd been there many a time himself, though not to buy zombie-inducing plants of course. The problem with the Spiny Serpent was that it was in Knockturn Alley....

He picked up the delivery receipts and flipped through them as Roxanne continued. "Hold on," he muttered, his nose in the papers, "you're saying Belmonte REFUSED to sign for them? Why? Did he know what they were though?" Because if he knew something, anything, and had refused to cooperate with the investigation (WHICH HE HAD), Wes could still get him on obstruction of justice.

But if Belmonte were naive to the power of these plants, and if the shop in Knockturn Alley were to blame... then he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He set the papers back down on his desk with a serious expression. "Who's the sender?"

Yep, alarming. "That I do not know. All it says is that he refused to sign. Everything else, you'll have to ask him." Roxanne wasn't a mind reader, after all. Not even close. As for the sender....? "No idea. There's no name and the only address is the one of the greenhouse the plants came from." And there in lay the problem. With no name, someone was going to have to go into Knockturn Alley. She would offer to go herself, but who knew if the ban on MLEers in the alley extended to former employees? And she just couldn't take that risk, not now.

It wasn't until Wes opened the door that she realised the other person in her vicinity was there to see him too. Huh.
Emily wasn't phased by Roxanne's presence, considering she used to be in the department and all, and it wasn't her business to pry... well, not this time anyway.

Offering the woman a fleeting smile she then followed her in. You know. Since the woman was a Department Head and all... manners and such.

Emily positioned herself by the door, standing, leaning... until the woman had her say.



The word concrete lead caught her attention, but it was the case she hadn't worked on. While most were focusing on the zombie case at the time, she'd been focused on the De Talone case... someone had to do it.

So it was a bit blahdy-blahdy-blah.

It didn't escape her attention that Roxanne didn't just come out with it. Curious.



Plants... fascinating. Emily did make a mental note about what was being said, in case it would be of any use to her in future.



And NOW things got interesting... though, Emily didn't know who this Belmonte person was. Someone from Environmental Regulation? ... yeah, that'd make sense.



And so there was some more blahdy-blahdy-blah stuff. Emily eyed the time, wondering how long this all would take. Though, the YATI's would be fine, for now... so it could wait some.

It was a rather interesting experience, being a fly on the wall. Invisible as such, only, not. All this talk of Knockturn was making her thirsty though... and it had been a while since she'd visited Moribunds. Not that she had the time for that these days, especially with the developments at De Talone's shop.

Emily readjusted her stance, folding an arm across her chest, and inspecting the dirt under her nails on the other.

Belmonte had refused to sign, and there was no other clue as to who was behind this other than a greenhouse address. "Great," Wes murmured to himself, out of the corner of his eye noticing Emily come in and lurk by the door. Eavesdropping, was she? No matter, he'd put her to work soon enough.

Wes sprang up out of his chair and started pacing around behind it. "Shouldn't we investigate the Glasgow greenhouse as a lead? Maybe there's someone there we can bring in... someone had to sell the plants off, right?" Maybe someone there could describe whoever had delivered these plants to the Ministry. The plants Belmonte had refused to receive, and yet had ended up in the Ministry anyway....

Hmm. He looked at Emily and kept pacing. "Did you need something, Browne?"

Roxanne watched calmly as Wes started pacing around the office. She had an idea, but was unsure how to phrase it. "Maybe.....you could send someone in to question the greenhouse employees? Someone that wouldn't seem......suspicious?" Because, really, her department had done it's job. Besides, she had enough trouble just getting her people to come to work. And if he caught her drift, it would get a certain Scotsman out of her hair. #slytherinthinkingforthewin "With Emily?" Yep, we see you there, eavesdropping. Not that Roxanne was particularly upset by that fact, after all, with the way news traveled in the MLE, she would've found out anyway. She'd always liked that about the department (expect, of course, when said news involved her).

Huh?

What was with their looks. Why were they looking at her like that? YES SHE WAS HERE THE WHOLE TIME! Were they not invited in? Together? Well, she'd assumed together because Wes hadn't stipulated otherwise.

Meh.

She was here for one good reason, or two, depending on your interpretation of the issue. Though, at Roxanne's question, Emily jerked her head up.

What? What was she doing? With them? WHAT?!

"Er yeah, it's about the De Talone case." Short and sweet, a vague summary of the reason for her being there.

Hmmmmmmm. Wes had the vague feeling that Roxanne had had this little 'idea' of hers all along, even before she'd walked into the office. She was just waiting for his predictable reaction before she said anything.

Oddly, he didn't mind. He stopped pacing and crossed his arms in front of his chest, eyeing the two women across from him. "Or we could send in someone who knows about plants." Didn't she have any of those people, in her department? And why send Emily along? Wes had more important things for her to do... not that this wasn't important, but if he were sending two of his employees along, one might as well be a baby auror.

So. Speaking of aurors... "Yes?" Wes looked at his YATIL. Who still didn't know she had sort of been promoted, did she....

Okay, so sending Emily in probably wasn't the best idea. Since, you know, the woman had no idea what they even talking about. Which meant.....it came down to her. Grrrrr. "I would send one of my people, expect that getting them come in to do their normal jobs is like pulling teeth." Difficult and unpleasant. "Besides, the only one I would trust with this would be a Head Botanist and I don't know what Belmonte was doing, but he somehow failed to hire one of those." So now, she was rethinking her idea. She knew it would look odd and was illegal, though for a 'plant person' to just show up at the greenhouse with out an MLE official and start interrogating asking the staff questions. "I guess I could go myself. But I'd still need one of your people with me. Can't just show up and start interrogating people without being a law enforcement official or being accompanied by one. It's illegal." Yep, she still remembered all that she had learned for old job thank goodness. Just as he didn't get the bright idea to send Dorian again. Though, the last time had been amusing.......

Did Roxanne know she wasn't the only auror in the office? AND they had a clan of awesome YATI. So plenty of peeps to go around and do grunt work.
"You're welcome to take Simon or Josh..." she chimed in. They were available, or she could make them so at least.



Oh goody. Her turn. This time SHE gave Roxanne a sidelong glance. Was the woman still privy to this information? Considering she was no longer MLE? Hhhmmm?

But since Wes pressed for more, she took this to mean it was cool.

"We were back at the bookshop... and Edgeworth showed up." Eyebrow raised, she gave Wes a look. "He wanted to remove some items from the premises, saying it was evidence to clear his clients name..." ridiculous, as if they would omit evidence either way. "We don't know what it is he was after, and he left empty handed," and this is where it would get annoying, "... though we think he'll try to go back, he seemed adamant on getting whatever it is he was after."

Emily paused here to see her Heads reaction before continuing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Okay, so sending Emily in probably wasn't the best idea. Since, you know, the woman had no idea what they even talking about. Which meant.....it came down to her. Grrrrr. "I would send one of my people, expect that getting them come in to do their normal jobs is like pulling teeth." Difficult and unpleasant. "Besides, the only one I would trust with this would be a Head Botanist and I don't know what Belmonte was doing, but he somehow failed to hire one of those." So now, she was rethinking her idea. She knew it would look odd and was illegal, though for a 'plant person' to just show up at the greenhouse with out an MLE official and start interrogating asking the staff questions. "I guess I could go myself. But I'd still need one of your people with me. Can't just show up and start interrogating people without being a law enforcement official or being accompanied by one. It's illegal." Yep, she still remembered all that she had learned for old job thank goodness. Just as he didn't get the bright idea to send Dorian again. Though, the last time had been amusing.......

Wes listened intently to Roxanne, his mind whirring all the while with possible solutions and alternatives to her suggestions, but he did finally nod in agreement with her. All right then, he'd get someone to tag along with her.

"How do you feel about sending Ashburry-Hawthorne in? I can't think of anyone more passionate about plants on this entire floor." And that was the Merlin-honest truth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

Did Roxanne know she wasn't the only auror in the office? AND they had a clan of awesome YATI. So plenty of peeps to go around and do grunt work.
"You're welcome to take Simon or Josh..." she chimed in. They were available, or she could make them so at least.

Oh goody. Her turn. This time SHE gave Roxanne a sidelong glance. Was the woman still privy to this information? Considering she was no longer MLE? Hhhmmm?

But since Wes pressed for more, she took this to mean it was cool.

"We were back at the bookshop... and Edgeworth showed up." Eyebrow raised, she gave Wes a look. "He wanted to remove some items from the premises, saying it was evidence to clear his clients name..." ridiculous, as if they would omit evidence either way. "We don't know what it is he was after, and he left empty handed," and this is where it would get annoying, "... though we think he'll try to go back, he seemed adamant on getting whatever it is he was after."

Emily paused here to see her Heads reaction before continuing.

"Or Simon or Josh," Wes added alongside Emily. Yeah, good idea, YATIL. Good one.

He raised his brows to match the look Emily was giving him. "We do allow him a chance to examine the evidence on his own, so no, he's not allowed to just take items whenever he feels like it." Yeah right, the only things the man would be removing to clear his client's name were probably key pieces to a case against her! And that would be an obstruction of justice!

Wes tried to not get too fired up just yet. "Sounds like we need to set up a round-the-clock guard on the bookshop," Wes said instantly. "Was there something else?"

Emily couldn't help but smirk at Wes' suggestion to Roxanne. Yeah, that dude was enthusiastic about plants all right, he was virtually batcrap crazy.. about plants. Which was weird. It totally weirded her out.

Anywaaayyy. Back to the matter at hand.

Emily nodded in agreeance with Wes, sure the Law blah blah aspect hadn't been her strongest in her YATI phase, but she wasn't stupid by any means and she learnt from her mistakes. She wasn't about to let the man touch anything without supervision, let alone remove items from their custody... until they were thoroughly done with it.
"Already on it boss," she mused, "We've already got a shift roster penned out, YATI's will be alternating for experience and there will be an auror in their presence at all times..."of course, considering they were only training and all that jazz. "And herein lies the problem... with so many out of office we're spread a bit thin."

Thin was an understatement, she was virtually on every shift....

"And so... I was wondering..." Emily paused, daring to ask her question cause it'd be so cooool. "Any chance I can be granted a timeturner?" Or not. Whatevs. She knew a few brews which would keep her conscious and alert for some length of time.

"Also... I'm just concerned that perhaps this is exactly what Edgeworth wants us to be doing, wasting our time baby sitting a shop." It wasn't the worst idea a crook would have. It was an equal risk-ish.

Yep, that sounded good to Roxanne too. "Aron it is, then," she replied with a relieved smile. Then there was some talk about something that technically any of her business anymore, but she still couldn't help listening to. She had worked that case, after all, and didn't want see it go down the drain thanks to an over zealous lawyer who was defending a guilty woman. Those Hogwarts kids had gone without justice long enough. "Maybe he's trying to get you guys out of the office so he can sneak in and steal some of the evidence?" Which would mean that this Edgeworth character would be in for a giant shock.

Excellent, Emily was on it! Wes knew there was a reason he had promoted her. Er, he was going to promote her... still had to do that once Roxanne left here... he cleared his throat to himself.

"Glad you're on top of things, Emily." However, the timeturner thing had him shaking his head. "No can do. You know we only have a few of those left, I don't even know where they are," but Izzy probably did, "and I don't think they're supposed to be used for frivolous patrol duty." Sorry, kid, it was a good thought.

He glanced at Roxanne as she spoke up and turned his head back to Emily. "Those are both distinct possibilities... but we'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open until we can catch him doing something of more substance than just being shifty." He sighed. When would this de Talone thing end???

Anyway. "If that's all, Roxanne..." Wes gave her a meaningful look. "I'd like a moment with Emily?"

Yep, shifty man sounded shifty. Though Emily's idea of using a time turner did seem like a good one, Wes was right. They probably weren't meant for stuff like that, even if one could convince Isobel of the importance.

And now it seemed like Wes needed to talk to Emily about something privately, so Roxanne stood up. "For now, anyway," she replied with a wry smile. She was sure something would crop up eventually that required the attention of the MLE. "Emily." The other woman got a brief nod before she walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.

Aaawwwwwww. Shame.

Emily nodded her understanding... she didn't think she WOULD be granted one, but it was worth a try. Heh. Afterall, there had been a minute chance of the response being a yes, so the opportunity had to be explored.

It was interesting that Roxanne was thinking along the same wavelength in regard to Edgeworth, but Wes was right, shifty behaviour was nothing without substance. Still, she didn't have to be happy about it.

She had been about ready to bid her farewell and head back to work, but she scrapped that thought as Wes dismissed Roxanne...

If she didn't know better, she'd have thought she was in trouble. The sensation was very similar to being called into the Headmaster's office at school, that 'whoops' moment. But there was no whoopsing here was there?



Emily returned the woman's nod, professionally, "Ms Carter."

Carter... Carter just reminded her of Josh. Speaking of, he'd best be keeping out of trouble, the lad was good, but his instincts were rather Gryffindorish.

For now, anyway. Wes echoed Roxanne's words in his mind and gave the woman a nod. "See you around." He was glad she had been promoted --- not because they didn't need her on his floor, but because they needed good leaders like her elsewhere in the Ministry too.

Now, on to Emily.

"Emily," he stated calmly, "you might have noticed that Jaxton has been on leave for a while. Family issues aside, he's been looking to take on a more advisory role in the Auror office. I've discussed this with him and we've both come to the conclusion that you would make a fine acting Head Auror with possibility to make that your permanent position. Should you want it. While he, meanwhile, will move to be the Auror Office Advisor."

Emily shifted in her seat, not out of discomfort, but rather because she felt more at ease... what with the non-MLEer out of the office now. It unnerved her slightly, the way Wes addressed her. DID she do something wrong? ...

But soon the tension disipated from her forehead.

Wait... WHAT?!

"Err.." Emily started, processing the words in her head, acting HEAD Auror... which may or may not be permanent. Did she want it? OF COURSE she wanted it. It was only her career goal since she could remember... granted, she hadn't expected it to come so soon. "It would be an honour," she replied, nodding, the corner of her lips turning up into a smile. As if she would say no. Pffft.

She had a million questions, not that they were important or anything, quite frankly she was just keen to get back to work, they had a case to close.
"Is there anything I need to know?"