Seeking the Ministeress

[Adana]

Adana glided through the Atrium, knowing that if she oozed confidence, composure and purpose then it was unlikely anyone would stop her to question her motive to be in the Ministry. On the other hand, most may assume that she was here to visit the Ministeress, as many students seemed to have been doing lately. It was for this reason that she had worn her school robes, however, whilst travelling to the Ministry she had worn her travelling cloak that enhanced her eyes, cheekbones and made her look older, so it would not seem as suspicious for a student to be walking to the Ministry when she should've been in classes.

She stepped into the lift, her heels clicking as they moved over the barrier. She resisted the urge to laugh at the ridiculous memo-system the Ministry had, she could not stand out, she had to remain as unforgettable as possible. What she didn't realise, was that she was a stirking girl to look at and her looks alone made her stand out.

She fingered a small vial around her neck and wondered when she would have a chance to take the first sip. A few wizards filed out at the next stop, and Adana took the opportunity to take a quick sip of it there and then. The potion took effect immediately, leaving Adana a little light headed. She recovered quickly and looked around the lift, as if wondering how long there was until her stop, but was taking the chance to survey the people with her. There were still Ministry employees and other witches and wizards in the elevator. An old wizard with a purple top hat actually put his hand on her shoulder and asked if she was off to visit the Ministeress. Choking on her desire to make a scathing comment, Adana tried to arrange her features into what she hoped was an innocent type look and replied,

"Yes, I've been sent from the school to see her," The wizard sensed the importance immediately and his beard and forehead crinkled kindly at her.

"By Headmistress Claire? Oh, that was a bad business. They think they are on the trail of catching whoever did it," Adana blinked. The last sentence the old wizard said, weren't the words that his mouth formed.

"I'm sorry?" She asked, distracted. She gripped her wand in her pocket and as the man began to talk, she performed the Silencing Spell, and she read his lips.

'They still don't know who did it,' Adana undid the spell, and was about to ask another question of the wizard when the lift shuddered to a stop and the old man pushed her gently in the direction of the doors.

"This is your stop. Good luck!" Adana was relieved to have left the elevator and ignored the memos sweeping around her head as she strode along the corridor to the Ministeress' door. When she arrived, she could still feel the exhilirating feeling of the potion coursing through her, she she decided not to take another sip just yet, raised a slender hand to the glass and rapped curtly on the door.

[Kiki]

Kiki was sitting in her chair behind her desk, taking the adantage of a quick moment of piece and quiet. One of the old Ministers portraits on the walls were nattering to themselves quietly, some squishing into each others frames to play their usual games of cards. Kiki was surprised the first time she saw a Minister from the early 1900's pull out an Exploding Snap packet and put it on the table to play.

The sharp rap on the door drew Kiki out of her daydream and relaxation rather harshly, and she stretched in her seat. Shaking the last of the feeling of relaxation from her mind, she picked up her quill, dipped it quickly in the inkwell in front of her and began to finish off the letter that she should've completed hours ago.

"Come in," she called, then signed the bottom of the parchment with a flourish, tapped it ith her wand and it flew out the door in the shape of an aeroplane, just as the door swung open.

[Adana]

Adana ducked slightly as the memo flew above her and decided it may be better for her if she didn't scowl so often. She was supposed to be playing the part of an innocent schoolgirl, one that was able to slip in and out unnoticed.

She walked into the room, shortening her gait a little so it seemed as though she was less willing to come in now she was here, that the prescence of the Ministeress was a little daunting. It was, of course, hardly the case, but she found it somewhat nessecary to the character she was trying to present. She kept her eyes on the ground, looking up briefly to nod at the Ministeress. She sat down on the seat in front of her and managed to slump her back a little, as if nervous. It actually managed to send little shots of pain up her spine, so she was slowly moving into a fouler mood than usual. Adana's mismatched eyes looked up once again to meet the Ministeress, then allowed her lips to part and - nearly devoid of her usual purring exotic accent,

"Hello, Ministeress,"

[Kiki]

Kiki watched the girl walk nervously into her office and take a seat, noticing the almost grimace on her face. Surely if the way she was sitting was hurting her, she'd correct it? There was something oddly familiar about this girl, but Kiki couldn't put her finger on it. Deciding to ignore it, and wait for the answer to come to her later, Kiki turned her view on the awkwardly odd girl and her purpose here.

"Please, call me Kiki," she offered, smiling warmly at the girl. She had a sudden sense to stay a little wary, and Kiki almost always trusted her gut instinct. So as friendly as she came across, she held back a little.

"How can I help you?" She asked, then knew what the girl reminded her of. She reminded her of Adia. But why would this girl remind her of D? A little confused, Kiki waited for the girl with the curious different coloured eyes to speak again.

[Adana]

Adana missed nothing. She could see the small flickers of uneasiness that darted ever so slightly across the much-loved Ministeress' face. She could tell the young woman in front of her was slightly confused at her prescense, however, Adana was very gifted at spinning webs of lies. She was certain that soon enough the confusion that was deftly hidden, but not buried deep enough for the sharp Slytherin to miss, would soon disappear.

Adana unconciously straightened her back, when she realised she had she decided to ignore her posture and remain as she would usually and not alter her basic body-language. The small, seemingly meaningless gestures that secretly held so much meaning in them would have to prove themselves benificial through this meeting. Adana slowly planned her next move.

"I have been sent to enquire of you some answers," She told the Ministeress, choosing not to say whom she had been sent by. Let the Ministeress make her mistakes and Adana would rise above them. The tingling sensation of the potion still darting over her body was strong; Adana reached slowly and let her hand slip into her pocket, to perform the Silencing Spell if need be.

[Kiki]

Kiki was confused again, and didn't hide it this time. Claire had not said that she was planning to send a student over to talk to her, or perhaps this girl in front of her - whose name Kiki still had no idea of - had come on behalf of the students to see what rumours she could prove to be true.

Kiki doubted the latter, the former seemed more likely. Deciding to stick with that theory, Kiki didn't lose her wariness of the girl in front of her as she spoke.

"Answers to which questions?" Kiki asked, placing the quill that she had been toying with for the first few minutes of the meeting away.

"I'm sorry, I never quite caught your name,"

[Adana]

If Adana was going to be truthful, she had not expected her comment to be deflected quite so neatly. She had imagined coming in here and probing from Kiki as many details as she could - Adana wasn't unrealistic enough as to dream that she would be able to glean the whole story from Kiki's ignorant answers. Adana's eyes glittered, sending a slight wave of power around the room, before Adana remembered she was supposed to be forgettable, and she returned to her former state of mind.

"My name," She spoke softly, as it was easier for her to lose her accent that way. "My name is Charli," The accent slipped over her teeth as she spoke the falsified name, a shortened version on one of the brass plaques attached to the wall behind the Ministeress. Adana folded her hands into her lap, resisted the urge to smirk then posed her first question.

"I have been sent to ask how your investigation into the memory loss of Rose is progressing," Once again, the purring exotic accent emerged slightly over the centre of the word 'progressing'. Adana ignored it, hoping that the Ministeress would perform likewise, and waited patiently for her answer, her slender fingers wrapped around the wooden wand in her pocket.

[Kiki]

Kiki paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. It wasn't a question she had been expecting, but the low whisper and the way it was delivered by this Charli seemed to confirm slightly in Kiki's mind that the girl had been sent by Claire. Possibly the reason behind no owl was that Claire had not wanted the mail to get intercepted, and so had just sent the girl on anyway.

The investigation was not going well at all. She herself and a small team of Aurors had gone over the room at the top of the Tower several times and had found nothing. As a result, Kiki had no clue on who to go on. She was planning another search of the room once again, just in case there was something that they'd somehow missed, but to Kiki it felt as though they were going in circles.

"We are progressing nicely," Kiki told Charli. "There are a few more things we need to get in order, and then we might be able to find whoever did this."

[Adana]

The correct answer resounded inside Adana's head loudly, unignorable. She had not expected that; when the man had lied to her in the lift she had to Silence him. Perhaps it had something to do with her want of finding the truth from Kiki, that it spoke her true words plainly within her mind. Adana let her fingers fall from her wand, as she now had no immediate want of it, and reclasped them in her lap.

Kiki's investigation was going terribly. Adana smiled inwardly, the arrogance usually displayed on the outside now appearing within, where it was confined for the time being. The thought pattern that ran through Kiki's head was very much similair to that which was echoing in Adana's.

Adana's face remained expressionless, she only moved slightly to brush a strand of raven hair out of her eyes, then moved onto her next question, leaning forward slightly to heighten the mood of mystery.

"Do you think that people within the school may have been involved? After all, it seems highly unlikely that someone would be able to travel in and out of the castle without being noticed by one student. Perhaps they had aid of some sort," This question enabled Adana to discover if the thought pattern of Kiki was along that of some students, and whether or not the small group of followers of Danawi was safe. Adana also knew that was she spoke was a lie. Danawi was a very powerful wizard, and she knew that he would have no trouble doing the deed he had performed.

[Kiki]

Kiki was surprised at how sharp this girl was. That was a brief idea for the time, until even the smallest idea of anyone inside was destroyed after all the Professor's did not hesitate to volunteer to take Versatium to prove their innocence. As all had readily agreed, Kiki didn't have the heart to call their bluff, if there was one, and instead decided to go to sleep, relying on Claire's small Legimens skills to detect a lie in the eyes of the Professors - which of course, found nothing.

The other idea was that students had been involved, but that idea was pushed aside almost as quickly. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the school population had no reason to take Rose's memory, let alone be able to perform the magic, and the other point one per cent would not have been able to access the Head's Tower until after the event had occured.

The only doubt in Kiki's mind was the strange reappearance of Adia, whose timing had been impeccable. Mind you, most of Kiki's friends had perfect timing, always turning up where you would least expect it. Kiki, therefore, was a little suspicious of Adia's sudden appearance after no word for several months.

"No," Kiki told the girl in front of her. "We have no reason to believe that anyone from the school community is involved."

[Adana]

Adana's mind echoed Kiki's thoughts on Adia, and noted the fact to herself. So Adia and the Ministeress were friends. Perhaps that link may also prove useful to the followers of Danawi.

Or it may prove fatal.

Adana could feel the first strong tingling of the magic beginning to wear away from her, slowly lessening. She couldn't take another sip from the vial around her neck without it being obvious to the Ministeress. Hardly panicking, she waited a few moments, and confirmed to herself that the potion was most certainly disappearing from her body. She could hardly continue with the questioning of the Ministeress now, she may have to come back later, stay within the character and she what else she may be able to find.

"I must leave now," Adana stood, trying to think of a valid excuse. As she opened her mouth to speak, the door behind her flew open and Kiki's assistant informed her that her next appointment was here. Adana nodded at the Ministeress in farewell, then promptly exited the door, the golden touch of the potion falling from her as she walked, the slow, smaller gait first, then as soon as she was out of sight of the Ministeresses offices, her confidence emerged once again and she strode along the Atrium, not being stopped by anyone once. She pulled her wand out and tapped her left side pocket, her travelling cloak appearing draped over her arm. She threw it over her shoulders then exited the building, watching the skies for any sort of signal from Kiki.

[Kiki]

Kiki stared at the girl's quick departure. Why had she left so quickly? She had not given a proper reason, just exited her office without so much as a glance back.

Kiki looked up to her watch and then noted the time. It was nearly the end of lunch, so she probably had to return to the school. It seemed a most plausible excuse and Kiki found it sufficient when she realised Gloria was still hanging in the doorway.

"Give me thirty seconds, then send them in,"

Gloria nodded and disappeared from the door. Kiki reached for her quill and a piece of parchment then wrote a letter to Claire, asking about the meaning of the visit. She attached it to the leg of her fastest owl, then sent it off out the window, and returned to her seat for her appointment to arrive.

[Adana]

Adana's eyes spotted the owl flying from the window, watched it as it soared into the sky, frightening the few muggles that were strolling along the pavement. She reached in her pocket for her wand and Summoned the bird down, glad for the fact that she was a qualified witch. She took the message from the bird, muttered a spell so that it still flew on course to Claire, but before it reached the castle, it would turn around and return. It would seem that the message had been delivered, and Claire would be none the wiser.

Crushing the letter in a slender fist, she put the wand and the note in her pocket, then returned to school.