The Man with Two Faces

[Jack Connor]

Jack Connor sat in one of the ergonomic chairs meant for one of the more senior Auror’s, namely Peter Burke. He leaned back comfortably, nonchalantly reading The Daily Prophet, his Daily Prophet. The little magic anklet on his ankle’s tiny green light flashed methodically. Jack had cut his hair into a manageable coif again, shaved his face and was dressed in a suit, tie and fedora reminiscent of Cary Grant.

Jack always dressed smartly, when not behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. He looked rather dashing to say the least, and smiled over his paper at every woman who passed by. Most of them giggled, or blushed and quickly looked away, others smiled back in rather seductive manners. This wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Jack turned the page, opening up to the center of the paper. The title read ‘Mad Max caught by Auror Department,’ and smiled a tad victoriously knowing he and Peter Burke had caught the rather insane but rather brilliant art thief, he had lost his spark in the eyes of Jack when Mad Max got his name by killing people and leaving them in the fashion of the paintings he had stolen. Jack had been a con-artist and been accused of many a thing but never ever did he kill or harm anyone. His crimes were all quite harmless really, well except for very wealthy people having their money stolen right out from under their noses.

((ooc: Anyone, and everyone?))

[Sarah Watson]

((ooc: They prob knew each other at Hogwarts since they were in the same year/house. The fact he was a rascal at school means Sarah prob had a crush on him though they ran in different circles- she was shy/withdrawn at school, living in a world of books, and then went straight into the Auror dept like he did. So I was thinking, she's prob quite defensive around him cos he knows 'the real her', from Hogwarts before she joined the Aurors (when she was bullied for her bookish nature - maybe some of his friends even bullied her back then?), from before she developed the hardened/sarcastic exterior. Idk if you'd want to do something with that but yeah, just thought I'd throw that out there!))

Sarah fixed the man sat at Peter's desk with an unimpressed expression, "For the record, I think this is a terrible idea," she pointed out, "I really don't think Peter should be using you to help catch other criminals. Once a crim always a crim, right?" she asked him, more like challenged him to prove it otherwise. "Besides, they're doing the same with Armitage already... I think the only reason he gets to not rot in jail like he deserves is because he bangs the boss. Handy that really, marrying a prominent Auror when you're a supposedly 'repentant' Deatheater. My point stands... who did you screw to get this shot out of prison?" she asked in a dry manner as she dropped the file she'd carried onto Peter's desk- her reason for being there.

Then she noticed Jack was getting more than a little attention from the females of the department and so she marched over to a fresh-faced trainee who had been staring at him, "Alright, the show's over, go back to perving on people in the training room, there's a good girlie," she made a shooing gesture with her hands at the girl who, since she knew what was good for her, ducked her head in embarrassment and scurried off. "Well it looks like someone's still got it, don't you ever get tired of the attention?" she asked Jack curiously as she turned back to face him, crossing her arms in what appeared a defiant, challenging gesture but instead was a rather defensive move.

[Jack Connor]

((ooc: That sounds perfect to me! Hope it’s alright what I said about them having a Triwizard Tournament, I figured they should have had something interesting happen in their years at Hogwarts? And sorry for him I am still sorting his voice.))

Jack smiled, still looking down at his, or rather Peter’s, Paper, “Hello there Miss Walking Talking Encyclopedia,” he greeted her with an old nickname her chums used to call her at Hogsmeade, without glancing up from an article about ‘The Mistreatment of Thestrals.’ Jack had thought they were one of the most beautiful creatures in the magical world after seeing them in Fifth year, following the death of one of his mates Cooper in their own Triwizard Tournament. To be honest Jack never knew how he had been picked in the first place, never having entered his name into the goblet, until Cooper had told him he’d done it as a joke, not even thinking they would have been picked in the first place. As an ode to his mate one of his first aliases was Benjamin Cooper.

“Your opinion is noted,” he said still reading, this time a very shining article about the Minister. Finally he glanced over the paper at her with an impish smile, “I’m reformed Watson.” Surveying the room he nodded his head gesturing to an elderly woman with white hair, “Vera, that woman is one of the most powerful in here, didn’t you know?” he joked. Vera saw to the front desk of the Auror Department and was the only one who was there almost constantly. Like most elderly women Vera had taken a shine to Jack. In Jack’s mind she was quite powerful however, she controlled who got inside the Department and who didn’t.

Folding the paper he set it aside and picked up the files Sarah had just set down. They weren’t for him of course but Jack was one of those endlessly curious (some might say nosey) people. He opened the file and began skimming through a few documents. “A jewelry heist, interesting,” he mused aloud. “Excellent work,” there was a tone of admiration in his voice as he flipped through a few more pictures and documents, ignoring the fact that he wasn’t supposed to, “Everything else is left untouched, the glass casing undisturbed, no visible forcing the cases, and no signs of breaking and entering, security systems disabled,” he said, then set the file down and leaned back with a satisfied expression, “It can only be one of three people,” he concluded.

He turned his charismatic smile on a fresh-faced trainee who intermittently shifted her gaze and occasionally her body to look at him. At Sarah’s reprimand he shook his head as the trainee blushed and shuffled off. “Now, why do you have to go and spoil my fun. Are we jealous?” he teased good-naturedly. He made a faux-ponderous expression for a moment, “Mmmm no.” Then with a sigh he added, “We did you become so defensive? You have certainly shed that shy exterior,” he said with a smile in a way that made it almost sound like a compliment.

[Sarah Watson]

((ooc: That's fine, great even! For what it's worth, I think he's great, I already enjoy writing Sarah bouncing off of him.))

Sarah's expression darkened immediately as he greeted her with an old, and certainly not beloved, nickname of hers from her Hogwarts days. She also didn't particularly enjoy having Jack Connor around because he knew her from 'the old days', from their school days together in Ravenclaw, and she'd become a much different person since then, practically unrecognisable from the shy, studious teenage girl his friends had taken to bullying. " 'My opinion is noted?' Gee, now don't I feel special," the blonde retorted sarcastically and, unable to look at him properly because of the raised newspaper, she instead send an evil look at it - if looks could kill the paper would certainly have burst into a ball of flame by that point. She let out a choked laugh at his claim, purposefully telling herself to ignore the boyishly mischievous smile that she'd always had a thing for, "Reformed, my arse, Connor," she scoffed in disbelief, "You're still yearning to exploit some poor, unknowing individual, it's a reflex for people like you, you probably won't, or can't, ever quite leave that world behind." She spoke as though an authority on the subject but mostly Jack just had a way of making her sure of her teenage previously-formed opinion on him.

She followed his gesture and was met with the piercing look of Vera, the ever-present 'receptionist' as far as a normal word/job title could be used in a workplace like the Auror Office. "Really? Huh. You know, I always kind of figured that your type would be the uh- 'the older woman' but I didn't realise you went that old," she teased him easily, smiling in a simpering sweet (and obviously sarcastic) way at him as he finally set the paper aside and instead turned his attention to the files she'd brought for Peter Burke. "Excuse me, 'fao' means something here! Oh, we're just violating department rules left right and centre now, aren't we?" she protested as he opened them and started to read them. "One of three people? One being you?" she challenged, half sternly and half a little mockingly, as though teasing his arrogance to think only a select group of people (himself included) could pull off such a thing.

Fixing him with a death stare she arched a carefully shaped eyebrow and then nodded, "Yes, yes I spoilt your fun because I am incredibly, incredibly jealous. I just wish I could perve on you myself and not have anyone else look at you at all, so you'd be eye candy just for little old me," she sighed in a dreamy, wistful manner before the expression fell off her face. "I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped irritably as he talked of her shedding her shy exterior, "Did you ever think that maybe I was like this all along? You hardly knew me at school. The only time I even showed up on your radar was when your dumb-arsed friends thought it was funny to make my life hell. Where are they all now, by the way? I'm hoping for in a dead-end, loveless marriage with too many children and crappy jobs, that would just... that would be the icing on the cake."

[Jack Connor]

“Heaven’s no! It’s not nearly seamless or artful enough to be mine,” Jack answered seriously, with a small cheeky smile playing across his features. “Of the many cat burglars I know, those who would say climb into a building to steal something rather than con their way in, there are only three of these who could have done it. Though one of them, like me should I have ever allegedly stolen something similar to this, would not have left a very believable fake. Leaving the cases empty doesn’t give the thief nearly enough time to flee the country, however if they leak it to the press we will know that they want to fence the merchandise quickly.” As if he hadn’t explained properly he added, “Leaking it to the press is a bit like advertising that you have something of value. The only problem is, who wants to take something so hot.” He described with an air of nonchalance.

“Can anyone say… stalker?” he teased with a shake of his head and shrug of his shoulders. Sensing that he had tread over very sensitive territory Jack, for once, closed his mouth for a moment and remained silent while she spoke. “I never said you weren’t. You just didn’t show it at school, was all I meant,” he clarified. He shrugged, “I tried to tell them you weren’t worth it,” to be fair he did often tell his friends off for picking on her. “Well one of them is in the ground, so, a dead-end is fairly certain on that one,” Cooper was probably the brightest of his misguided friends. “Rupert knocked up his girlfriend in 7th year, and as far as I know they got married and are still very happy together, he’s a mechanic, took over his dad’s business. Dunno what happened to Gavin, smokes a bit too much spliff last I heard while being a paper pusher for the Ministry,” he said. “What happened to your friends?” he asked almost playfully.

[Sarah Watson]

Sarah scoffed, "You have a very high opinion of yourself, Connor. You know, I'd like to be around the day when you finally admit you were caught by Peter and didn't, in fact, hand yourself in willingly," she admitted with a tight, very forced smile down at him. Glancing down at the files he'd flicked through she nodded along as he spoke, "Mmm hmmm," she murmured non-committally to his suggestions, "Whatever," she shrugged, feigning an air of casualness carefully, "It's not my division either way and sorry but your 'impressive' knowledge base on this topic really doesn't make me think 'oh wow, he's hot and he knows his shit' which I assume is the only reason you'd talk me through this?"

"Oh, I see," the blonde replied shortly at his clarification, feeling somewhat off-kilter due to the fact he'd kept his mouth shut and let her speak rather than contradict her through some witty remark finished off with a killer, teeth-sparkling grin. "I wasn't worth it, wasn't even worth bullying? Thanks, my self-esteem just sky-rocketed there," she hissed but knew he meant well - she knew he meant that he'd told his friends to lay off her because, really, she hadn't done anything to them and didn't deserve their scorn. It was still a sore area for her though and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, having to look away and feign disinterest in their conversation by staring down at her nails instead. "Oh yeah I remember Rupe freaking out in the common room... so that's what that was about. I kinda hate that they're happy though, Lucy always pissed me off," Sarah admitted, not being able to disguise the bitterness in her tone as she mentioned Rupert's girlfriend's name - she'd been one of her frequent tormentors who hung out in the girls' bathroom so much that Sarah couldn't avoid her taunts forever and ran into her far too often.

"Aww I like that Gavin finally found his calling," she claimed with a sweet smile which quickly fell off her face, though she tried to cover it, as he turned the tables on her. "Are we playing a twisted version of 'Friends Reunited' here? Well, between concentrating on my school work and your 'friends' spreading rumours about me and making it common knowledge that anyone who talked to me would be in their firing line too... I didn't have a lot of friends at Hogwarts," she told him bluntly, adding in a mutter, "Or any, actually."

[Jack Connor]

“In that case I hope you have some sort of immortality potion,” Jack responded in a faux-serious tone, before flashing Sarah a charming yet impish grin. His eyebrows pulled together and upward into an expression of equal skepticism and bemusement combined. “I don’t know what you mean Watson, you asked, I explained,” he shrugged completely unfettered by her defensive tone.

Jack gave her one of those killer, teeth-sparkling grin of his, “Heh. So you would rather have been bullied than my mates having left you alone, is that what you’re saying?” he shook his head, “I really can’t win with you can I?” he continued playfully. He smiled, “Yep, happy as two love birds can be.” As far as friends go Jack always liked Rupert, he had an unabashed cheerfulness that he admired, and was rather a dopy lad but a good one all the same. “Lucy was quite hot, I never really understood why she liked Rupert, I suppose it was his innocent, honest, lovable golden-retriever quality.”

“If you’d like to call it that then, yes,” he answered awaiting her answer and then smiled, “It’s alright Wats, I’m sure you have loads of friends these days,” he added assuredly though there was still a slight playfulness to his tone that suggested he might be mocking her ever so slightly.

[Sarah Watson]

Sarah shook her head with a dry laugh, "You really are incapable of swallowing your pride and admitting defeat, it's almost admirable." The shaking of her head became more firm then as she became more defensive, "I didn't ask, I mocked, but I didn't say 'oh please Jack, do give me an insight into your huuuuge repetoire of crim knowledge'."

"Oh yeah, like you actually vouched for me and told them to leave off me? Well they didn't really listen to you, did they?" she pointed out in a matter-of-fact manner, pointedly ignoring his devil may care smile. The blonde nodded, "You really can't ever win with me, or win me over like every other woman for that matter, glad to see you have caught onto that."

"Well maybe some girls just prefer the honest, reliable, loyal kind of guy to the jetsetting, suave, suit-type," Sarah pointed out about Lucy and Rupert, a tad teasingly of his 'image' as this other kind of bloke.

"I have colleagues, they can be a lot better, it's their duty to watch your back, keep you alive. Can't say that friends always feel the same loyalty... I mean I had friends first few years of Hogwarts, pretty good ones I thought until some bullies threatened them with relentless teasing if they didn't turn on me. Can you see why I find the concept of 'friends' not so peachy?" she asked sarcastically. She refused to openly admit she often felt lonely when she returned to her empty home at night - admitting she didn't value 'friends' was about as emotionally candid as she would ever be.

[Jack Connor]

Jack gazed up at her musing on her words with a partial smile showing through his fingers, propping his elbow on the desk in front of him for a moment. “Alright then,” he held up his hands in the universal ‘white flag’ signal, “…next time I won’t explain how a crime takes place, I will simply get to the point and tell you who did it, and when you ask why or how I will remind you of this very moment.”

“What can I say? I was only a kid, my power of influence hadn’t really… blossomed quite as well back then,” he admitted with a charmingly irresistible grin. “Who ever said I was trying to win you over?” he posed the question playfully before picking up the Prophet once more and turning the page.

Jack gave a short laugh, “Well then, she picked the wrong bloke, he is honest though, most of the time anyways, and loyal to her I suppose,” he added with a shrug.

“Wow, you really are jaded aren’t you,” it was a rhetorical question, “Friends, colleagues, they are much the same in that their loyalties can be tested and turned, however friends, unlike colleagues, you choose and that can be useful. Friends can be quite helpful sometimes,” he shrugged.

[Sarah Watson]

Sarah nodded at his suggestions, "Yes, please do, because frankly I doubt I'll be the one working with you directly on something so, like I said, it's probably not my division," she shrugged easily. More and more she was being given surveillance tasks and research jobs, meaning she worked with the R+D lot quite a bit and spent less time actually in the thick of any kind of dangerous mission.

Scoffing, the blonde woman shook her head, "You still held considerable sway, as much as I hate admitting it, and people wanted to be with you or be like you, actually," she pointed out in a matter-of-fact manner. "Maybe not consciously but, subconsciously, you are always trying to get people on side, it's probably an automatic thing you do since I'd imagine being charismatic is a desirable quality in a conman."

"I'm not," she replied automatically, defensively, as he claimed she was 'jaded', "I've just experienced enough of so called 'friendship' with people to know that it's a load of crap, mostly," she remarked, glancing down at him as he turned another page in the Prophet. "Oh sure, you can pick your friends, you are right there, but I think humans often make terrible emotional decisions, sometimes we don't act or think as rationally as we'd like to think we do. For example when it comes to choosing partners or crushes or friends even," she suggested thoughtfully, "At least with colleagues you know you're all working towards the same thing. And if you end up not completely hating the personality or eccentricities of some of your colleagues then it could morph into friendship too and you'd know by that point that this person was capable of loyalty." She knew Jack was completely right about friendship but refused to admit it. She'd probably end up reflecting later on him calling her jaded, realise that's indeed what she was (as much as she hated herself for it), and cry about it. For now, her expression remained the same - cold and uninterested.

((ooc: I thought I'd put in the bit about her crying to suggest she's not as emotionally unaffected by what people think about her as she likes to project outwardly. Think Sandra Bullock's character in The Proposal when she confesses "I went into the bathroom and cried after Bob called me a poisonous bitch". Maybe something similar could happen at some point in the future but Jack accidentally happens across her crying?))

[Jack Connor]

“Really, a long time ago I thought you were in the art theft division?” Jack said thoughtfully. “Have you turned your sights on training the newbies rather than being out there in the thick of it?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Really, is that so?” he appeared visibly faltered, if the small smile was anything to go by, “I suppose so, I didn’t know that I was charismatic, but thank you,” he replied graciously with a slightly triumphant smile, getting a compliment out of her was rather like pulling teeth.

“If you say so,” he sighed returning his attention to the paper, “I think we are all jaded by now, just a little bit.” He listened to her words and his eyebrows pulled together, “Crushes?” he let it go, “Are you sure you're all working towards the same thing?” he inquired, “Now, see that is my own personal paranoia, and jadedness surfacing. Everyone always has a motive for the things they do, whether it is known or in their subconscious, and it is not always what we plan on doing in the first place,” he told her. “Sure, you can look at it that way,” he nodded with a casual shrug.

((ooc: That sounds good to me. Poor Sarah, but Jack would try to comfort her at some point if he saw her crying, or charm her into admitting why she was crying to him, then comfort her?))

[Sarah Watson]

"Oh, sorry, I think you're mixing me up with another girl," Sarah retorted in a patronisingly apologetic manner, laced with heavy sarcasm, before she sighed lightly, "I might not have turned my sights to training newbies but hey, the powers that be saw fit to and they at least let me have a newbie of my very own for once which is a novelty because they've never really trusted me with a fresh-faced do-gooder before. Don't worry, I soon knocked that refreshing spirit right outta him," she joked.

She scoffed upon seeing him falter ever so slightly (hey she'd take anything, no matter how small, at this point), "Oh yeah, right, like you didn't know you had that appeal. Please... do I look like an idiot?" she said irritably. Mostly she just hated that he'd managed to get a compliment out of her - to her credit she felt like she'd just been stating the obvious rather than being nice and complimentary.

"Yeah? What happened to you then? 'cause, honey, you don't seem awfully jaded," the blonde said in a disarmingly perky, upbeat tone as she looked to him hopefully for his answer to her query. "Well... I'm fairly certain all the R+D guys are working towards pretending like they're doing work for the department but are actually making their own lady robots... Mackinnon is working on becoming a just plain ridiculous level of buff... uh let me see Becca is working towards shooting herself in the foot one of these days by letting her darling Deatheater husband work here as a consultant... Michalka is working on being ridiculously soppy now he has Fiona but it's a little less irritating than his pining act and he's more concentrated on work now so I let it slide... Starbuck is as terrifying and focused as ever but there's gotta be something underneath there that's unstable... the likes of Lehane and Miles are just seeing who can out-do the other in bitch fights... Dr Beaumont is digging her own grave by slowly irritating a lot of slightly mentally unstable people..." she listed off in a show of thoughtfulness, "You know, you might just have a point, Connor," she admitted lightly with an amused smirk.

((ooc: I was thinking it could be late at night, she thinks hardly anyone is left in the department, and she ends up sitting curled up in a ball in a supply cupboard or something, and he could hear the sobs through the door and go to investigate, not imagining in a million years that he'd find out Sarah was behind the crying? I can imagine her being really defensive, basically telling him to piss off and let her cry by herself but it's clear she doesn't really mean it.))

[Jack Connor]

“That’s reassuring,”

“Well,” he paused, and then smiled broadly at her. “No you don’t, not necessarily,” Jack replied leaving that question opened ended, mostly to rile her.

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about,” Jack smiled at her. For a moment he listened to her babble on and on about everyone in the department. “Bitch fights eh?” he smiled at the thought. He had met Lehane before. She was spicy. He smiled even more just thinking about it. He shrugged, “Mmm are you telling me I’m write Watson?” he teased.

((ooc: Aww poor Sarah.))