The Mysterious Case of Sirius Black

.One.

The windows of the Rose Turner's quaint country home shook as rain pounded upon them. The girl in question was sat at her dining table, sipping a cup of tea calmly as she read the day's newspaper. It seemed to her like nothing new was happening in the world. 

She placed it down, uninterested in the flashing photo of the Weird Sisters' concert in Puddlemere. The group was rising to popularity, so it was no surprise that the Daily Prophet decided to put them on the front page. 

Rose stood up, chugging the rest of her now cold tea, then swirling her wand to apparate to a nearby floo. A short, swiftly moving line of wizards awaited her as she arrived at the floo transit station. It was times like these where she was more than thankful that she lived in a village with a small wizarding population. She rarely had to wait in line for the floo.  

Stepping forwards to the fireplace, she handed the toll of ten sickles to the pudgy attendant, then announced clearly, "The Ministry of Magic, Level Two." 

With a flash of bright green flames, she had arrived at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Level two was the most chaotic of all the seven levels. It was filled with winding hallways, floating case files following busy aurors, and lots of mess. 

Rose began her walk to the office of the Investigation Department. She passed by elves and aurors, all enraptured with their own business. She nodded her head back to a few aurors who she was in the Academy with before finally arriving at the doorway to the tall frosted glass doors that held the Investigation Department. 

The first thing that hit her was the scent of fresh coffee that wafted through the room. Coffee was an essential for most aurors, though she preferred a strong cup of tea instead. 

As Rose neared her desk at the back of the room, a throat was loudly cleared at the front of the room. The director of the Auror's Department, Rufus Scrimgeour, stood atop an empty desk to capture the attention of the many aurors scattered in the room. Over the past few years, Scrimgeour had risen from auror to Head of the Auror's Department. The man seemed to be more stressed than normal this morning, Rose noted. The wrinkles on his face were prominent and he was gripping the papers in his hands with the force of a troll. 

"Everyone listen up!" he began, using the Sonorous charm to increase the volume of his voice, "I have just been informed that Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban." The room erupted in whispers and Rose turned to her partner, Martin Belvedere, as her jaw dropped open in shock. 

"Sirius Black," he gulped, "as in that Sirius Black?" His dark skin paled significantly. Everybody in the auror's office knew about Sirius Black's betrayal and murderous rampage. 

"Yes Martin. That Sirius Black. Mass murderer and suspected death eater Sirius Black," the dark haired female answered.

"Silence!" Scrimgeour yelled, demanding all attention back to him as continued, "We have created a task force and are requesting every auror's cooperation in capturing him. We do not know why or how he escaped after 12 years, but it is our top priority to capture him. That is all. Shacklebolt, Dawlish, Turner my office now." 

Martin's eyes shot to Rose's, confused as to why she, of all people, would be called alongside the two best aurors in the department. Rose's mind swirled with the same thoughts. She stood up shakily, palms beginning to sweat as she passed the eyes of the curious aurors in the room. She could imagine they were questioning her relevance to the case. 

Rufus Scrimgeour's office was most commonly entered by the most important aurors and rarely ever normal aurors. It was a stressful place to be. The only time aurors were there was if they were about to begin an important case or if they were being reprimanded. The dark furniture and bookshelves that lined the room made it even more of a threatening environment.

Rose entered the room, following the standard posture procedure she never thought she would have to use: hands intertwined behind the back, legs slightly apart, strong posture. Aurors at the academy were taught to stand in certain ways depending who they were speaking with.

Scrimgeour began speaking, and Rose's attention immediately snapped to the man. 

"Kingsley, you'll be leading the search for Black," Scrimgeour started, looking up at the three from the report in his hands, "John I want you partnered with Kingsley. I know that you two will be able to find him. Both of you can create task forces to search for him and will have expedited access to all resources relevant to the case." Kingsley and John both nodded in sync, taking the black access card that laid on Scrimgeour's desk. Rose stood nervously, not letting her face change to display the many thoughts running through her mind.  

"If the search does not finish by September, Rose, you'll be stationed at Hogwarts with your partner Belvedere. I'm sure you know that Black was involved in the Godric's Hollow massacre of 1981. The Potter boy will be a third year at Hogwarts so it's likely that Black will target Hogwarts. We will be deploying dementors to guard the grounds there and keep an eye out for Black. I want you to investigate anything you can find about Black," Scrimgeour continued, looking directly at the now-shocked woman, "But not before September. I will give you your access card in September, no earlier. I do not want to hear a peep from you about getting earlier access, understood?"

"Yes, sir," she said affirmatively. She paused for a moment, hesitant to ask the question filling her mind. "Can I ask why I was chosen for this task?" She surrendered to her prying brain, blurting out the question.  

"Dumbledore originally didn't want anything to do with dementors or aurors at Hogwarts. It is supposed to be the safest place in the world. However, we convinced him that we'd station the least intimidating aurors," Scrimgeour responded. Rose swallowed heavily, nodding.

It wasn't an answer she liked, but at least she got an answer. 

Everyone shuffled out the room and Rose watched as Kingsley and Dawlish began calling out people to join their task force. She ignored the commotion, choosing to walk back to her desk without a word to the two men.

"What happened in there?" Martin asked desperately. His eyes were wide with anticipation as his leg shook with excitement. "Are they assigning you to the case? You're going to be leading with Kingsley and John?

"They want me and you guarding Hogwarts if Kingsley and John can't find Black by September," Rose whispered, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself. Thankfully, any eyes that were currently on her were focused on the commotion at Kinglsey and John's desk.

"What!" Martin shrieked. Rose shot him a glare and he flinched.

"What!" He repeated, whispering this time.

"You heard me," She shot back, "Just be ready for September if it comes to that." She shook her head to try to clear her head. "I need to focus on something else. It's not my time to be focusing on this case," she finished, but couldn't resist turning her attention to the chaos in front of her. Shacklebolt and Dawlish had both began making search forces and they were now being deployed. They also had to make smaller investigative forces to investigate any connections Black had to others around him. 

Her observing was interrupted by the most egotistical man to grace the Investigation Department. Proudfoot had been an auror for ten years now and was the quickest to be promoted to the Investigation Department. It took merely one year for him to be promoted due to a serial murder case and a sprinkle of nepotism. 

"Turner!" the man called, "I'm transferring my arson case to you." He placed a box of case files and evidence onto Rose's desk before shooting her a smug grin. "Maybe they'll let you onto the task force also if you can solve this one," he suggested. In that moment, Rose wanted to send a bat bogey hex straight up his nose, but resisted, instead grumbling out a thank you. 

"You should stop taking his cases," Martin scowled as Proudfoot walked away with a pep in his step, "That prat needs a reality check. Maybe a good slap in his ugly mug." Rose laughed before stifling it.

"You shouldn't say that," she reprimanded, though she completely agreed with it. She stood up to start going through the contents of the box. 

"There's basically nothing done in that case, I heard Proudfoot stressing out about it earlier," Martin informed the girl. She groaned as she opened the box, seeing only a few scraps of paper and a ton of photographs.