We never had a chance- Open

[KAY DILLON BOWEN]

watch out stay awake they're lurking
, obsess you they are always working .

---

Kay watched the stapler zooming around the Auror office and hid himself under his desk when it collided with the back of the head of a much older, and annoyed looking auror. He was bored and one way of relieving his boredom was to enchant various items on his desk. The stapler had been given to him by his mother and he hadn’t the heart to tell her that wizards never used them, so now it was used as a paperweight. He summoned the stapler when the Auror was distracted by an argument about ink. This argument caused Kay to frown; it was proof that the Aurors were bored. They had little to do these days other than chase false leads about the location of various muggleborns and order members. Sure Kay at times provided false leads, but that was not exactly public knowledge.

“Hey Bowen” a voice called, and Kay turned to face the head Auror. “Yes?” he replied with a look of curiousity on his faced. Hopefully this would be his chance to escape the stuffy office. “I need you to go to Hyde Park, rumour has it there was a fight there between some witches and wizards, and one of them was a muggleborn” the head auror said. Kay nodded, basically leaping at the chance to get out. He first apparated to his flat to get changed into muggle clothes before apparating to Hyde park. Fortunately the park was relatively empty when he got there an no muggles saw him appear out of thin air. He walked around the park, not sure of what exactly he was supposed to look for.

He had just been told there had been a fight in Hyde Park, nothing more. He examined the play area and found nothing. He then looked at the ground for any signs of struggle and found nothing. As he continued his pointless examination, an owl landed next to him and hooted. Kay frowned glancing around to make sure no one was watching before he took the letter from the owl. He didn’t recognize the writing and what he read disturbed him. So there had been a struggle of sorts, Kay wondered if he should meet this ‘Doctor’ to find out the finer details of what had happened. He was still deciding on whether or not to meet him, when he heard footsteps behind him. Kay instinctively pulled his wand out and slowly turned to see who it was.

[NESSIE BLACK]

Nessie jumps backwards a little even though the man hadn't moved quickly enough to be all that startling. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to sneak up on you." The golden-haired teenager ducks her head apologetically and raises her left hand in a 'don't shoot' gesture. She smiles nervously. When she had first seen him she had assumed that the man was a muggle so she hadn't paid much attention to him. Even when the owl had landed next to him she hadn't noticed. How ignorant. There's no doubt that he is a wizard, obviously. "I was just, uh, walking. I'm going back to my hotel." She adds so he hopefully won't think that she's a stalker or a death eater.

After a week or so of hiding in the forbidden forest Nessie Black had found that she was utterly incapable of living alone in a forest full of monsters. Even though she had been almost finished Hogwarts, she just hadn't known enough magic and completely lacked camping equipment. After giving up she had decided to hide in London where there were enough muggles to hide among. As long as she didn't use magic the ministry would never know where she was. Being a muggle-born, it had been easy for her to tap into the bank account her parents had set up for her years ago and withdraw enough money to get a hotel room. Today she had promised herself that she would find a job. Now she's unsuccessfully returning home.

Nessie self-consciously smoothes out her 'new' clothes. They came from a Goodwill but at least they look normal here. The shirt is just a grey t-shirt that says "Westland Tigers" on it and the jeans are faded and ripped around the bottoms of the legs. With any luck the wizard will just assume that she's a muggle and forget about her. In the back of her mind she wonders if, maybe, he's part of the order. In her own roundabout way she had been looking for the fabled order ever since Hogwarts had fell. That had been another reason why she had come to London. She doesn't know more specifically where Dumbledore is or how to find him so she's stuck with hoping she'll get lucky and run into someone. Of course, asking random wizards if they're order members is a nice way to be killed or sent to the death eaters so she's stuck with just hoping she'll get lucky.

[KAY DILLON BOWEN]

watch out stay awake they're lurking
, obsess you they are always working .

---

Kay smiled at the girl, although his smile came out as more of a grimace that a smile. “No problem, I wasn’t actually paying attention otherwise I probably would have heard you” he said shrugging. His smile became more genuine although there was a hint of confusion when she said that she had just been taking a walk. Was this girl worried that she came across as something other than what he thought she was. But then again Kay didn’t know who or what this girl was. An idea came to him then, even if the girl was just a muggle and not a local she could have seen or heard something recently. He just hoped the girl didn’t think he was insane; he quickly put his wand away. If the girl was a muggle then he could only hope that she hadn’t seen his wand, as if she had he would have alot of explaining to do.

“Soo, have you noticed anything weird in the park recently?” he asked her, hoping she had been in the park when the kidnappings had occurred. “You know any weird noises or strange looking people?” he added. If he could get any information from people who could have been nearby when the kidnappings happened, it could make things alot easier for him. That way he could put the pieces together and possibly even find out why members of the order had been kidnapped. The fact that deatheaters had been able to take atleast two people in broad daylight, in a busy park disturbed him. Someone must have seen something or atleast heard something. Muggles were ignorant to magic, but that didn’t mean that they were blind and deaf whaen it occurred right infront of them. No single person was that oblivious to the world around them.

Kay watched the girl self-consciously smooth out her clothes, not sure what else to say to her. He didn’t want to scare her. If she was a witch, then she was probably scared already and if she was a muggle, then saying too much might make her believe he was completely insane. Kay would have to leave soon in anyways and report to his boss what he had found and then possibly find one of the Order members to find out if they knew of anymore kidnappings. His gut told him that what had happened here was not an isolated incident, and that more people must have been taken. How many people though, was something he would have to find out.

[NESSIE BLACK]

Nessie looks up at the wizard through her overgrown bangs and tries to figure out what he’s doing here. She smiles back at him, in response to his smile, recognizing that a few months ago such an overreaction on her part would have been kind of funny. It had been a long time since she’d seen another wizard and she’d missed being able to talk and smile. She quickly fixes her expression to a frown that better fits the situation. Noticing that he looks a bit doubtful, she inwardly sighs. Was her lie that obvious? A real muggle girl would probably have ran away screaming or kept walking after mumbling an apology. Standing there and talking had obviously been the wrong response.

"I only just got here, I wouldn't know." She shrugs, wondering if any death eaters are around. There wouldn't be any reason for a wizard to be here if it wasn't anything serious. He sounds surprisingly conversational, like he’s not going to suddenly attack her. If he were a death eater he would have used magic on her, witch or not. Nessie sweeps over him with her eyes again, deciding that he might be okay to talk to. What to do… If he is a ministry wizard or a death eater telling him that she’s a wizard would be disastrous. If he’s part of the order then he could take her to the order and she wouldn’t be living off of ramen and crackers anymore. Even though it’s better than going to Azkaban, life as a fugitive wizard was much more boring than she had expected. Lots of hiding, no magic, no friends, no job and no money. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she had managed to forget all of the spells she had learned.

“Okay, fine. I’m a witch so stop looking at me like that!” She says suddenly, even though he hadn’t really been staring at her too much and it was a stupid thing to say. She’d always been reckless, according to her teachers, so why stop when the world’s ending? “I’ve been living in the forest for the last few weeks and I only just got to London, so I haven’t heard any news or anything.” She intended to keep talking and ask him about You-Know-Who, but she snaps her mouth shut, thinking better of it for once. Surprisingly, it’s a relief to tell someone.

[tyler]

((A/N: I don't know if Nessie has changed her apparence drastically since Hogwarts, so I'm assuming that she hasn't. If she has, then let me know and I'll change this post))

Being back in London was a bittersweet experience. Every street corner, every restaurant, back alley or park, Tyler knew it all. The memories were vivid, especially when he passed a bar that his mother used to work at when he was younger. It was painful, to say the least, and the second he stepped foot into the city, he felt a burning sensation and an incredible need to get out now. But the fire inside of him to get revenge had stopped him from turning on his heel, and he would go to the Order HQ tomorrow to finalize his commitment to the organization. For now, however, he walked to Hyde park. The swing sets, the slides, they brought back visions of his childish giggles and saying 'Higher, mom! Push me higher!' as the two played for hours when she got the rare treat of having the night off.

Tyler kicked some of the sand out of the play area and let his hands trail above his head on the monkey bars. He remembered swinging on them when he couldn't get to them without climbing the latter. Now he was tall enough to just raise his hands and brush the metal bars. This muggle world was nice. Most were. Tyler thought that after leaving London and the wizarding world behind, things would be safer. And they were, for years. But now... Tyler shook his head of the thoughts, gritting his teeth together.

The boy was distracted, or else he would've noticed the oddity of a grown man and a teenager hanging around the park, especially with an owl. It wasn't until he heard the words 'witch' and 'You-Know-Who' that he glanced over and picked up the confirmation that something wasn't quite right with the pair. Instinctively, he mentally checked to see if he remembered to grab his wand this morning. Yes, he'd be alright if it came to a fight. Trusting people was so much more difficult these days.

Tyler turned his head, but only slightly. He would listen from here, judge to figure out which side these two were on, and then maybe go talk to them. As much as he wanted to avoid people and just get his job done, he knew that having friends might be a benefit. But wait-- Wasn't that a girl from Hogwarts? Yes, she was a Gryffindor, several years older than himself. Gryffindors tended to be on the good side, right? But he wouldn't speak up just yet.