Auspice

[oo] a prologue of sorts.

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“Gail,” a tall, wiry muscled man warned, shooting the much shorter ginger-haired woman a warning look.

“Christoph,” she replied in much of the same tone, her arms firmly resting on her hips.

“You know we’ve got to go. Besides, I can’t just go ignore the Council, not if I don’t want them to suspend me from using my magic and taking my wand from me. Renwick’s not going to supply me with a brand new wand, and I’m sure they won’t allow me to go freely, either.”

A large sigh escaped the pale woman, who was getting increasingly more pastel-shaded with the frustration that was escalating within her. She was a caretaker; she couldn’t just up her family to London without another thought because of the Sorcery Committee. That just wasn’t how the world worked, both muggle and wizard.

“Do you understand what kind of danger this will put is in? Do you care that we’d be risking our lives for people that don’t bother to contact us? Honestly! Does it matter to you that we’d be risking our lives for people that probably don’t even care about us? I don’t give a damn about what the Council says! We can’t do this, Christoph, and you’re mad if you think we can!”

He clenched his fists in order to prevent himself from pulling his wand out at his own wife. “Do you think that I want to do this, Gail? Of course I don’t want to! But it’s part of my job. I work at the Sector of Foreign Policies and traveling to foreign places to discuss the policies among other political things is something unavoidable. It came with the position and I can’t just pick and choose here. It’s not that easy, you know that. If we stayed, I’d be fired and we’d run out of Galleons in no time. Our family wouldn’t be able to survive that way.”

“What about our daughter, hm? Are you going to drag her into this mess as well? Imagine how difficult it’ll be for her to start somewhere new for us and for people that couldn’t give a damn about us. If I were in her position, I wouldn’t be too keen on this plan. Besides, she can’t just be a spy at the school? Do you have any idea how bizarre that would be? She’s still too young, Christoph! She should be able to enjoy her last year as much as she can, not spend it spying over her peers and professors! We can’t do this.”

“What choice do we have?” He sighed, glancing down at her for a quiet moment before continuing. “She has a purpose, a duty to fulfill to this family, you know. You ought to be aware that she needs to help us or this effort is pointless. I don’t want to do it either, but she has to do what she has to do just like you and I do and there’s nothing we can do about that. It’s not optional, Gail. I can’t back out of it, I’m sorry. I wish we could, but sadly, I don’t have that sort of control.”

The woman racked through her mind endlessly, over and over again for some kind of defense, but she had no choice but to admit defeat and submit into his orders, no matter how much she’d rather not cope with these things. “When do we leave?”

He gave a grin of a sort, though it was a mixture of both victory and a sense of grim. “Next week. The school year starts in September.” Her lips began to push themselves in a pursed position, unpleased by the sudden situation.

The sensation that passed through the scene seemed to turn the whole room bluer. The air in the room appeared to loom over them, whispering a mellow tune which turned into a soft melancholy melody that haunted their souls.