[The End 11/13] Secrets Unveiled

|| The ministry was quiet, and Evan Batair was bored. There weren't any wars going on, weren't even that many criminals out and about. All in all, it was probably the quietest period the Ministry ever had. Evan walked out towards the cafeteria, hungry and desperate to do /something/ even if it was something as mundane as eating. He took a seat at a table, relaxing against the back of the chair. With a flick of his wand, his lunch flew from the offices and landed on his table. "Watch," he muttered to himself, "Someone's going to come along and tell me to go investigate something now that it's lunch." It was almost how it always worked. The more interesting stuff came while he was in the middle of something. Most commonly eating. It wasn't as if he'd climbed high enough in the ranks to turn anything down, anyway. Despite his arrest record, he never got any more promotions. It was probably because he was a muggleborn. He knew how little the purebloods liked someone like him.

|| Why had she become an Auror again? Oh, yes. For the /excitement/. Athena James had always longed for excitement and danger as a child, always eager to take on the Dark Arts. And it was that determination in her that allowed her to climb the ranks, becoming closer and closer to one of the most valuable Aurors to date. Hell, she had friends important in the Wizengamot that certainly helped recognize her ability. There had only been one criminal she had ever failed at finding and catching, but what did that little failure matter anyway? The subject herself had died in Azkaban prison after being caught by another. Yes, she longed for the excitement, she lived to throw those too evil into Azkaban. And yet, so often was her job dull. So often there were long stretches of time where there was no one to catch, no one to seek out. They'd barely had any fun since the big Azkaban breakout a few years back. With a sigh, she throws her paperwork to the side, before venturing out for food. Perhaps that would ease her brain from her failure and boredom. There, she throws herself down into a seat next to friend and fellow Auror Evan, after barely catching the words he had mumbled to himself. "Don't complain, I think I'd welcome that. Right dull, this place is now."

|| His eyes flicker over towards Athena, before chuckling lightly. They had the same attitude about the Ministry in recent days. The difference was, "Oh, I wouldn't mind that at all. I'd just prefer if it wasn't during lunch." He stuck his fork into his food, sighing slightly. Things had been quiet for years. Even some members of the Wizengamot had gotten quiet, which in Evan's opinion, showed just how boring things were around here. "The only thing that happened even somewhat recently, was that mass breakout years ago. And we still don't know how that happened." After taking a bite of his food, he pointed his fork towards his friend before saying, "We should still be investigating that if you ask me." But of course, no one ever asked Evan Batair. Evan Batair, the man with an amazing record, yet still very low in the ranks. Athena herself was proof that the ministry had a bias towards him. She had an amazing record herself, and she had risen higher and faster than he had. If things kept going the way they had, he'd probably be lucky to get just one more promotion before he died of old age. And of course just like he had expected, one of the higher ranking Aurors was walking towards their table, probably to send him to investigate something that didn't even matter. "Evan, Athena. Fiendfyre in Knocturn. Only one location burned. It was most likely specifically targeted."

|| To be quite honest, Athena would throw her food completely out to window for the whole day just for a chance to get off her ass and do something worthwhile. But of course, she hardly ever had such luck. The only entertainment she found were in the friends she had in the Ministry, ones like Evan. Yet, Evan was one of the few that she had even seen recently. When he brings up the old mass Azkaban breakout, she groans, nodding her head. "God, yes. Just because it's been years since anything has happened since, does /not/ mean we give up on the cause of that utter disaster." Many Azkaban prisoners had died that night, including Athena's failure catch. It pained her that while the wizarding world had been counting on her, she couldn't wipe out one crazy deranged girl who looked only about ninety pounds anyway. How?! How could she have failed with such a frail girl?! It was best not to dwell on that. But she always did. Her attention was caught once more away from Evan when a higher up came to the table, and she was immediately ecstatic that she was being put to a job. An exciting one, it sounded like too. She couldn't help the large grin plastered across her face, exchanging a glance with Evan. "Burned, you say? A house? Who was the target?"

|| His lunch forgotten, Even stared up at the man before them. Fiendfyre? Targeted? This was proving to be more and more interesting the more he listened to it. Could this be the case where he could finally prove his worth? "That's... a really good question. If the house was targeted, they must be important. Or at least important to the person who set it on fire." And if their criminal could burn down a single house with fiendfyre with no other houses burning down, it made it important for them too. "That's the thing," the man started, "The house belonged to Damien Thorne." The only thing Evan knew about Damien, was that he was a prominent member of the Wizengamot. There were even talks between Aurors whether or not Damien should try to be the next Minister of Magic. "Go investigate, find out who did it." "We'll get right on it." It was hard to keep himself from groaning. Of course, they had to go /now/. Once the man had walked away, Evan sighed, pulling himself out of his chair. "Let's go investigate before they think of yet /another/ reason not to promote me."

|| "Damien?!" The house burned by Fiendfyre had belonged to Damien Thorne, Wizengamot member and next possible Minister of Magic? And, most importantly to her, one of her closer friends here at the Ministry. Was he okay? Last she had seen the man he had only shown up because he had to, acting nothing much like himself. Strange, she could see it in his eye like there were much bigger things taking over in his mind. Could that have led up to whatever caused someone to burn down his house in what could have been a very lethal manner? What if he had died in the mess, and what of his family? She knew he had one. She even last remembered his wife being pregnant, did he have children? "Might have been some anarchist attack against the Ministry. Damien has made himself plenty popular." And if it was, they would have to be caught immediately. Athena wasted no time in grabbing everything she needed, before grabbing hold of Evan and apparating along with him to Knockturn Alley. The sight before them was truly one to behold, a mass of rubble and a Manor burnt down. There was every possibly of finding dead bodies hidden in the mess. The thought chilled her to her bone. She would /not/ find her friend dead today. "Alright, let's start looking," she mumbles, not looking back at Evan as she moves to trudge into the rubble, wand out.

| Evan had to say, there wasn't much left. Whoever had done this, clearly didn't want anything still standing. Which made it extremely weird that there was only one part of the building left standing. "I'll look over there," he states pointing over towards the part of the building not toppled. As he walked towards the building and began stepping over the burnt planks and furniture, he tilted his head towards Athena, "So what's he like? Damien?" It was clear she knew him, given her initial reaction to his name being brought up. "Is he the sort of person who'd have powerful enemies?" Because that was the thing with this place. Whoever had managed this was incredibly powerful. And the fact that there were no other reports of houses burning down meant that Damien had to be specifically targeted. He couldn't see any other possibility. When he came to the room that remained standing, the first thing he noticed was the cauldron, which, though singed, was completely fine and even showed a fair bit of use on it. "Someone clearly enjoys brewing potions." He began looking over the shelves, reading the labels on the bottles. Training. Healing. Sleeping. But there was one shelf with nothing but Polyjuice potions. It struck him as odd. he could understand the other type of potions, but Polyjuice. "What would a Wizengamot member need with Polyjuice potions?"

|| Most of the house was rubble, and yet still there were pieces that survived. Most of note was the room Evan was currently investigating, but Athena was more interested in the smaller parts hidden underneath the rubble of the floor. Shoving small pieces around and moving to corners, she answers Evan, not looking. "Damien having powerful enemies? I don't know, it seems unlikely. He was a nice person, calm. Very smart. Unless someone was merely jealous..." Athena shook her head. So the room was some potions room, it sounded like. She thought she had heard Damien say something about potions. "He was top at Hogwarts in potions. Maybe he just liked challenging himself with the polyjuice." Pursing her lips, a strange glint catches her eye near the corner. Digging closer, she finds a hilt, and pulls it up to find a full weapon, a dagger, looking burnt slightly at the blade. A dagger. Why in the world? She turns around, holding the dagger up for Evan to see. "I reckon whoever targeted Damien had something a little more lethal in mind." Could the dagger possibly have been used to harm Damien in any way? Storing it on her person for further investigation, she continues to look. She still found no bodies, which was a relief to her, but after a long while found another thing of note. She immediately guessed that it was Damien's wand, and picked it up hoping reversing the spells would lead them to find him. But holding it in her hand, her first instinct was wrong. This was a wand she recognized, the wood and the core, all down to the exact inch of the tool and its flexibility. The recognition nagged at her brain until it remembered, and a chill ran down her spine, instantly quieting away from Evan, impossibly still. This exact wand was one she had memorized after it had been in her possession years -
<SLY> Tick Tock Chava -- ago. It wasn't the exact wand, no, but an exact copy of the evidence that was supposed to lead to her greatest catch, and then had turned into her greatest failure. But Damien Thorne had absolutely nothing to do with Chava Roku. Right?

|| A challenge. That made some sort of sense. He shook his head and stepped back into the rubble of the rest of the house, only to see Athena holding up a dagger. "Perhaps he's a weapon enthusiast? Is it sharp? Does it have blood on it?" He guessed it probably didn't have any blood on it, otherwise, Athena would bring it up. It certainly wasn't their first time investigating something. Following along her plan of searching through the rubble, he notices something poking out through the timbers. He reaches out grabbing it and heaving it from the wreckage. "A few bones. Burnt down to almost nothing. Human." Could they have found whatever was left of Damien's body? This case was getting stranger and stranger. A glint of steel drew his attention elsewhere, and he brought his wand from his pocket. With a wave of the wand, the rubble over steel rose up and moved elsewhere. "There's a basement. It's intact. I'll check it out." He walked down the stairs into the basement, glancing around. There was something he could only describe as some sort of primitive forge. That explained the dagger. "There's a forge. Looks like potions aren't the only things your friend likes to make." His eyes dart down towards the end of a room, noting the steel door. He couldn't for the life of him understand the door was solid steel. Was it supposed to keep people out? With a flick of his wand, the door opened, and he stepped into the far room. "Athena! You might want to see this!"

|| Most of the things Evan said fell on deaf ears as Athena continued to stare down at the wand that was so intriguing to her. Of course, it might have been a coincidence, but if she learned anything in Auror training, it was that one should never consider anything a coincidence. It was harder to be straight edged when she was investigating the house of a lovely friend of years. She wanted to believe the best of him. And most importantly that he was alive. She had to tell Evan about the wand and the strange connection it had to the dead Chava Roku. He called out to her, and she grabbed the wand in her fist, making her way down to the basement. That had to be interesting. Meeting him, she started to speak, "As far as I know the only connection Damien had with Chava Roku were as schoolmates, so I'm -" She stopped dead as she stepped through the steel doorway, suddenly being thrown into having to pay more attention to her surroundings. Just past the steel doorway was a sight Athena had before seen something quite like, and she had been there in person for plenty of horror scenes. Blood painted the walls, splattered across and drying on the floors as well. Chains hung from the ceilings and walls looking as if normally used, and few buckets lined the room that Athena wasn't sure she even wanted to get close to. The smell and the distant look told her enough that they were filled with more blood, battered organs, and human flesh. What was most disturbing, however, were the few human people lined against the walls, all bloodstained and some looking as if they were dead, or on the verge of death, wounds having not been healed. All were unconscious, except for one woman at the far wall, only feebly stirring, eyes fluttering, looking malnourished and in pain. A woman Athena immediately recognized. She wanted to scream, or faint, but she does neither, grabbing hold of Evan's arm to keep herself upright. Damien's house. Her /friend/. It was too long before she could whisper to Evan in absolute horror, eyes on the stirring woman across from them. "Name, Velia Thorne. Damien Thorne's wife." What did he /do/ to her?!"

| Evan shook his head at Athena, before walking over towards one of the buckets to take a peek. What he saw and smelled made him want to vomit. Victims were clearly killed, and their innards were put in buckets. "I don't think your friend is quite as friendly as you think." He walked over towards the woman at the far end, before examining her. "No cuts or anything on her." He turned around towards the others, taking note of the cuts and slices. "Where these people are wounded. I think we found what that dagger was used for." This was far bigger than anyone had expected. Damien Thorne, a killer. "Most likely made the dagger in the previous room at the forge. This woman is unharmed, and there are a bunch of polyjuice potions upstairs..." He sighed lightly. "I'm missing something." What could it possibly be? "Wait, did you say Chava Roku? Why?"

|| It had been the worst few years anybody could have ever asked for. Trapped down in this damned basement by those named Damien and Chava Thorne, Velia had been simply used for years, and only for her hair. They had to keep her alive for the hair for their precious potions to work, and Chava could use /her/ body as an alias, as Damien's wife. But oftentimes, Velia wondered if being alive was even worth it. Trapped down here, nothing to do, hardly anything to eat, having to watch anytime they came down here to torture victim... It was Hell, and Damien Thorne was Satan, Chava his pathetically blind doting wife. Chava, who had stolen her identity. All Velia quite remembered was the screaming, and then dead quiet, and it seemed nobody was left. Chava and Damien were gone, and here were... Aurors. She hadn't even realized the house had burned down, and now, they were going to be caught! Those motherfuckers were finally going to be caught! "Help me!" She called to the two Aurors, as they were surveying the room. Her eyes widened, hand reaching out. "They're monsters, monsters, the both of them..."

|| Athena didn't believe it. She simply couldn't believe it. Damien Thorne, a killer... No, her judgment was never this bad. She always knew who the good ones were, and he was one! She always could catch dark criminals! There was no way she missed one in such a dear friend. "He couldn't have..." She stares down at the wand as Evan asks about Chava Roku. Chava Roku... Why did she have the nagging feeling that she had something to do with this before she died years ago? She was missing something. Just as Evan had said, something was clearly very missing. And then Damien Thorne's wife spoke, calling for help. "She's alive. Information," she mumbles, nodding her head to the woman before heading over, getting on her knee before her. "Mrs. Thorne, Hi, my name is Athena, we're both with the Ministry's Auror department, here to investigate Damien Thorne and his home. Do you have any information on him?"

|| Something wasn't right. Polyjuice potions, this woman here, nothing quite made sense, there was something very clearly missing, and one or both of them just weren't picking it up. He turned his gaze towards Athena, before placing a hand on her shoulder, "Have a breakdown later, focus on the job." It might have seemed harsh, but that was their job, and it came first. The woman at the far wall began to speak, and Evan couldn't help but wonder. "Both of them?" The pieces of the puzzle slowly began to fall in place, and Evan was starting to think he was going to be sick, "I don't think she's Damien's wife. Two other people who are monsters. An assortment of Polyjuice upstairs. You mentioned Chava, did you find something else here?" He turned back towards the woman at the far end of the wall, using his magic to unlock the chains that bound her. "Before you answer that question, allow me to ask another question of my own. If Damien is one monster, who's the other?"

|| The male was catching on much quicker than the female. The woman addressed her as Mrs. Thorne, and the thought of being married to that monster made her want to vomit. She falls back from the chains, rubbing her wrists, staring in between the both of them. It was easiest to answer the man's question. "C-Chava Thorne," she stumbles over her words, blinking rapidly. She had hardly had an excuse to speak in too long, and her voice sounded raspy. It hurt to speak. "Damien Thorne is a /killer/ and Chava Thorne used me. They deserve to be dead. Dead, DEAD! KILL THEM! The bitch should have died in Azkaban but he saved her." Too much talking, too much talking. What if Damien or Chava found her? What if they killed her for telling the  Aurors the truth? "Don't let them come back and kill me."

|| Chava /Thorne/, Velia had said. Thorne. The more the woman spoke the more everything started to piece together one by one, and Athena was more shocked than before. Damien and Chava were the monsters, and somehow Damien had hidden Chava Roku away... for years... "Killed two birds with one stone," Athena murmured, fingers trembling. "Oh no." It wasn't long after Velia had been released and kept close to them to further investigate, and to keep her word as evidence. While she and Evan had gone back to the Ministry to report to the head of the Auror department. But not before Athena had taken the moment to vomit her fear and disgust out of her system. What was supposed to be a mere investigation had turned out to be a massive scandal, with two more killers to catch on their hands. With trembling hands, Athena reported to the head, Evan next to her. "In conclusion through our findings of the Manor basement, the potions room filled with ready to go polyjuice potion, a wand belonging to Chava Roku, and the frontal of Thorne's wife herself, we know find Thorne to be a convicted killer and torturer, married to long dead Chava Roku, now Thorne. It appears Thorne had tricked us all, and Chava Thorne is still alive to this day. They both escaped in the flame." Athena looks at Evan for support, her eyes still looking sad. Her friend. Damien, her friend. Could she ever trust her own judgment again?

|| He could safely say no one had expected this, and what should have been a simple investigation at lunchtime, had turned into a sickening freak show. He watched as Athena had spoken detailing the investigation. Yes. Thorne had tricked them all. But at least they knew what happened in Azkaban. At least they knew why many people disappeared without any bodies turning up. Damien was careful. And they would have to be too if they wanted any hope of catching him. "The victims have been sent to St. Mungos for proper treatment. We're dealing with a very dangerous and very clever criminal. We should be careful." The man before them stared coldly at Evan, "That's enough." Evan knew better than to talk back to his superiors. With every disadvantage he had, he didn't need to $!#@ off the higher ups as well. "Well done, Athena. Your investigations will most certainly help in the future. Get some rest. Evan, back on duty." This always happened, /always/ happened. Anyone other than Evan would get the praise, anyone but /Evan/. The mud-blood. When their superior was too far away to overhear he muttered to himself, "I helped with that investigation you pompous arsehole."