Inside You Will Find (Staff Office, Caretakers Office)

Inside You Will Find (Staff Office, Caretakers Office)
(OOC: Follows Hog's Head, A Clearer Head)
(OOC: Combined threads from the previous site)

RICHARD GREENE

Richard walked slowly down the steps to the dungeon. He was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, because he did not want to be discovered. Rounding the corner of the hall the door he was looking for came into view. It was Mr. Caretaker’s office extension, otherwise known as the broom closet, to everyone but Anthony, who insisted it was his own private storage unit.
Looking both ways down the hall, Richard walked over to the door and looked at the lock. It seemed standard do first he tried the simple spell “alohomora”. It did not work, so there was a spell on the lock. Richard turned and leaned against the wall near the door, so he could see down the hallway, while he tried to figure out what Anthony would use as a locking spell.

With his mind on the possible incantation, he did not realize the broom closet door was slowly opening. Until he found himself sprawled on the floor inside with Darik, the Elf standing over him, he had no clue he had been found. At least it had been by a friend.

“Darik, what are you doing here? Where did you come from? How did you get in here, “ he quick fired the questions, probably too loudly. Darik just put his finger up to his mouth to motion for him to be quiet.”

Richard picked himself up off the dusty floor and brushed his slacks off. It was not surprising to him the caretaker’s closet was dusty, damp and cluttered. He had seen some of the lazy attempts the man had made to pretend he was cleaning other parts of the castle.

This time in a whisper, he asked, “Darik how did you get in here? The door was locked. And what do you think you are doing? .... Find anything?” Richard shut his mouth again because Darik was not paying much attention to him.

(OOC: Darik and Richard are both my characters, so I have stated what Darik did here.)

DARIK HOUSEELF

Darik had apparated into the small room without informing anyone what he had planned. Master Tarik and Master Greene had talked about the possibility of items in the room which did not belong in a caretaker’s possession. He knew Master Greene was going to try and find out what was there, which would have been very dangerous. He was definitely starting to like the Professor of Herbology, but he realized the man although brave had not had the training needed to find out what was going on. Maybe Darik would ask Master Tarik if he could give him some of the training he needed. Even Master Will knew more than Master Greene did at the moment and it would be good practice for Master Will to learn how to pass on his training.

Just as Darik was about to open a very interesting looking drawer, interesting because it appeared to have things piled in front of it on purpose, he heard a noise outside. Holding statue still he listened. Someone had just tried to open the door using a spell which would only open non-magical doors. The persons voice sounded familiar and it did not take Darik long to realize it was Master Greene, standing outside the door. Darik shook his head. “The human was going to get himself killed one of these days,” he thought as he silently made his way to the door with some difficulty. The place badly cluttered.

Opening the door just enough to get a hold of Master Greene’s shirt, he pulled hard. Before the Professor hit the floor, Darik was able to put a softening spell on the stone and a noise dampening spell into the atmosphere of the room.



Darik thought, “Why did humans have to talk so much. This one was going to get him killed if he did not learn fast.” Deciding not to answer any of the questions at the moment he headed back toward the drawer. Before he got there, Master Greene was asking more questions, at least this time in a quieter voice. The human learned quickly which a plus was for him. Darik would have hated to quiet him in another way.



Darik turned in his tracks and tried to take on a semblance of patients. “Master Greene, I apparated in to this space. There was a lock but it was a common one I have used before so I knew how to bypass it. What am I doing?” he repeated the question, “I am trying to help and keep you and Master Tarik out of trouble. I will not get discovered her and you two would.” Darik paused to see if his statement sank in. “I have not found anything, because I just got here, and was interrupted by someone showing up.” With this last statement, Darik added a definite smirk. “Humans,” he thought.

He knew he needed to get Master Greene out of the small closet or he was never going to get anything accomplished. “Master Greene you could do me the biggest favor if you would go outside and guard the door. I am not sure where the man Anthony is at the moment. I should have checked but I was in a hurry. If he comes keep him busy.” Darik surveyed the room. “I figure I need about 20 human minutes to see if there is anything of interest.” Darik stood still waiting for Master Greene to agree (he hoped).

RICHARD



Richard never would have thought of apparating into the closet. Apparently in would not have done any good, if Darik had found a sealing spell on the place. Richard would have either harmlessly bounced back to his original departure place or would have been injured. Thinking about it he realized it would have probably been a very bad mixture of the two.



Puffing up a little Richard felt at first he had been insulted. But after a very short moment he realized the Elf was probably correct. He was not sure Tarik would have been caught, but Richard knew there would have been a good chance he would have been discovered. This cloak and dagger life was not easy to learn.



Catching the smirk at the end of Darik’s statement made Richard realize he had just lost points in the respect area, he was trying to cultivate with the Elf. The only thing he could do was keep trying.



Richard realized Darik was probably trying to get rid of him. He did have a good point though, a lookout was needed. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep Anthony busy if he showed up. Twenty minutes could be a long time though. Looking at his pocket watch, he said, “Ok, 20 minutes it will be. We can meet in my office when you are done. Good luck.” With that he squeezed back out through the barely opened door.

Pulling out a notebook so it looked like he was doing something, he watched out of the corners of his eyes. Five minutes passed, before……….

ANTHONY MIRABEAU

Anthony had just come from seeing Tarik. The Medjai had sent for him and not wanting to miss a moment at getting information, Chameleon went. His great uncle was smooth but not smooth enough. Tarik had said that it was because of the Statue Spell. Anthony thought that it was probably partly that. Tarik probably wanted to find out what he had tried to look at. Tough, as Tarik could keep guessing. The Chameleon had no intention of failing in his mission. He had left the note as requested by his uncle.

When he had first gotten there, he wondered if it had been because Tarik had found the note. It hadn't been as it was still where he had dropped it. Looking near it, he spotted what had turned him into a statue, Tarik's journal. The Chameleon knew that his uncle would need to know about it. Just as Tarik was asking about what he had accidently opened, Anthony saw the light on his watch blink. Somebody was near one of his private spaces. He would check the closet in the Dungeons first. Giving Tarik a sly grin as he said, "Nice try Medjai!" With that he had left.



"What are you doing, Hanging around my private space?", Anthony hollered as he neared the closet. Figuring it was time to see if this man was useful or just a waste, The Chameleon continued with venom and his wand barely showing, "I think we need to have a chat, don't you? My Office Now! Unless you want to never move again, Professor?" The Chameleon laughed as he knew that Tarik and this Herbology Professor had underestimated him. He figured that nobody had ever thought he might be non-verbal. Giving an evil grin as he pointed the way to his office and said, "Move!"

RICHARD

Richard had seen Anthony before he spotted him. Taking a silent deep breath, Richard thought, “Here we go.”



At first Richard did not move from where he was leaning against the wall reading his notes. He was determined to play this as cool, calm and collected as he could. Slowly he closed his notebook and just as slowly put it in his outside robe pocket, while never taking his eyes off of Anthony. Straightening up he said, “Ah Mr. Caretaker, you have finally arrived. I have been waiting here for you for over half an hour. And by the way, what do you mean by one of your private spaces? This is the school broom closet, and is supposed to be open to anyone who needs anything. If you are worried about a safety factor, I will have a talk with Deputy Headmistress McChey and see if we can go in and make it safer for you and the students.” Richard could not keep all of the venom out of his voice no matter how he tried. He hoped Darik was at least half listening to the conversation.

Glancing at the wand Anthony had barely exposed but definitely available, he continued, never loosing eye contact with the man in front of him, “I do agree we need to chat, yes that would be a great idea, but I really do not have the time at the moment. I just stopped by to get some articles for my class. It seems you have changed the lock on the door though. Or maybe it is just broken. I will bring that up also when I talk with Deputy Headmistress McChey.”

Richard rubbed his chin and pretended to look at the sealing all the while letting his own wand drop into his other hand. “Now let me see there was something else you said.” Looking back at Anthony and catching him again eye to eye, with pure undiluted hatred in his voice he continued, “I believe you told me to ‘Move’, no I think you meant it more as a command, well personally I think….” At this point Richard silently thought “Carpe Retractum” which grabbed Anthony’s wand from his hand and placed it in Richards. Bringing his own wand up, he pointed it at Anthony and thought “Wingardium Leviosa” which caused the caretaker to be suspended above the floor about a foot. “Let me see what else I could do to cause you to have some manors for your superiors.” The word superiors came out a little more forceful than the rest of the sentence, Richard wanted to make a point. Walking around the dangling Anthony, Richard realized he was enjoying this way too much. He was generally not a very mean spirited person, but something about this man brought out the worst in his attitude.

DARIK



Darik momentarily froze when he heard the caretakers voice outside the door. There were still doubts in his mind the professor could pull off his job outside the door. Darik prepared to apparate at the slightest trouble. Although he might just become invisible and stay and see what the caretaker did, he had not decided yet.



Listening, he smiled, because Master Richard seemed to be in control. As he went back to checking another cabinet he found buried in the back of the closet, he kept an ear out for change in attitudes outside the door. Darik was beginning to wonder if this mess was normal for the human. If not he was really a perfectionist at making the place look un-kept, disorganized and basically filthy. Opening the locked door, of the cabinet, the caretaker needed some lessons on how to magically lock a cabinet, a 5th year Hogwarts student could do better, Darik started to dig through the clutter.

Darik wanted to stop and see what Master Richard was doing but he did not dare. Fifteen minutes had almost past and he had told the professor he only needed twenty. Reaching into the cabinet he pulled out an interesting looking box and a stack of disheveled papers. Knowing he could not take anything with him he made small copies of the paper, so they could look at them later and opened the box. It contained nothing of much interest, but he committed the items to memory and replaced everything the best he could like he had found it.

Keeping an ear to the conversation outside, he made his way to the second cabinet which had a sheet partially draped over it. It held some promise of a find

ANTHONY



He wondered just how dume this professor thought he was. Anthony laughed as he said, "That is funny Professor, since I have only been a way twenty minutes. One thing you are going to learn real quick, is that some of us hate being lied to! Care to try again?" Anthony had to do this just right or his cover was in risk of being blown. He realized that he was now real thankful for the lessons that Fai gave him. Because he might just need them, since this man was not all he appeared to be.



Anthony smiled as he answered, "The broom closet has been moved. It is two doors down and to your left. If you had read the door, we would not need this talk." He had put labels on the doors so as to avoid this. Looking at the door and seeing, Caretaker's Storage by order of Headmaster Witchard , he said pointing to the sign, "See, or can't you read?". Nobody could check by talking to the man but there was an entry in the man's books. Anthony would not use his trump card unless he had to, though the orders were still in his pocket.



Anthony just grinned as he tried to figure out what the man was up to. This guy should be shaking in his boots, instead of threatening him with Sasha.



Anthony knew that whatever this man did it would happen soon. He prepared himself by reaching into his pocket with his free hand. The Chameleon was ready if this man turned the tables because in his hand was his "ace in the hole" thanks to McBurr. He so far, the orders had not been needed.



It had happened so quick that Anthony was furious. Luckily for him, the owl containing the orders had dropped to Mr. Greene's feet. Putting a look of fear on his face, he said from a foot off the ground, "Don't read that, if you know what's good for you!"



"Unless you are an Auror, I don't you are my superior! Now Put Me Down unless you want to go to Azkaban!" Anthony said furious. Then as an afterthought he said, "Thanks for possibly blowing a three year operation."

(OCC: The orders are from another thread to help seal his cover. The Ministry actually believes that he is working on a special assignment.)

RICHARD



Richard was caught just slightly off guard by that statement. It could be true or it could be a lie to through him off. He would be couscous but worry had not been added to the mix just yet. This little weasel was only someone who was having his strings pulled by someone else. That fact had become apparent when he had seen the sweet break out on Mr. Caretakers brow, even with all the big talk.



Carefully taking his eyes off of Anthony, Richard looked at the paper on the floor. Levitating it into his free hand he opened the missive.

Mirabeau:

Agreement has been made between the parties concerned for you to protect Tia Spellman from harm while she is in attendance at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Please be advised you will be working undercover as the Caretaker, during your assignment. This should allow you access to the schools secured areas.

If you are caught please wait for the proper channels to be run before giving up your true identity.

S. Wright, Auror
Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement
Ministry of Magic

“Now this is very interesting. The fact, you know someone in the Dept of Magical Law Enforcement, could be true or you could just have easily made this up.



“An Auror, I do no several but their work is too confining, I like to travel where I want and do what I see fit to do. The lecture circuit is enough strings for me. Mr. Caretaker are you hinting you may be on some type of special mission? Now let’s see, you are passing yourself off as from the DMLE, unlikely, but possible, they will hire anyone these days. Or maybe you are from another organization pretending to be working on the side of law and order.” Silently Richard lowered Anthony to just about the point where is feet would touch the ground then jerked him back up to the original height, about two feet.

Richard was getting tired of playing cat and mouse with the caretaker. He would have to let him go soon. Hoping he had given Darik enough time to find what he could, Richard decided to end the show, “Mr. Caretaker, I do not care who you are with, although I plan on checking your story, if you ever talk to me like that again, I will prove to you why they called me The Caretaker, when I was on the Lecture Circuit. Your job here is to clean and maintain the school, my job is to teach, whether it be students in my care or unruly caretakers.” With this said Richard cancelled the levitation spell and Anthony unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

At this point something fell inside the room behind the door. Richard was quick though, now that the adrenalin was flowing, “It appears you have rats. Uhmmmm….not a good sign for someone who is supposed to keep the castle clean. I have enjoyed our little talk. We will continue with a different one at a later time. A time of my choosing of course.” Richard turned and started to walk away.

DARIK

Darik only had about five minutes left before he had to leave. He had just made his way to the last cabinet. The top cupboard of the unit only held some bottles of describable liquid, a canister with a green powder in it and four very dirty mason jars. The top drawer of the lower part of the cabinet was hard to open but it finally pulled. Not much to speak of either some tools, writing implements, ink bottles which had dried up ink in them. As Darik felt off in one of the dark corners his hand hit on a solid piece of bumpy metal. Pulling it out into the little bit of light he had, he discovered it was a disk with some sort of writing on it. He did not dare to remove it but he had come prepared. In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories he was so fond of reading, Mr. Holmes needed to make an imprint. He used a block of wax, pressing the item into it and then replacing it where it had originally set. Darik pulled a block of wax out of his pocket and followed the example.

He turned his head to listen to the conversation outside the door.



Darik smiled; he wished he could see the expression on the caretakers face. As he listened he became less cautious and knocked over a small bottle sitting on a corner shelf. Freezing he waited to see if anything would happen immediately. No one came charging in so he closed the drawer, moved what he could back into place. In his pocket he had the wax indent, some copies of the papers in located in the first drawer he had checked and some other information just by what was dirty in the room and what was clean or at least cleaner.

Darik looked around one more time and apparated to Master Tarik’s office. He had decided to go there first before heading to the Master Richard’s office where they had agreed to go. Master Tarik deserved the report first.