The sky was very clear and quiet in the small grasslands. Rolling hills were illuminated by the pale moonlight. Every single star shone brightly. There was a loud crack in the air, and a man rolled on to the ground. Panting heavily the man got back up and started running. The man wore a dark black traveling cloak, a dark red sweater and some comfortable jeans and boots. He would look like any other person in the world... except that he had a wand in his hand, and a giant black mist was now chasing after him, whispering harshly about all of the man's fears. "come on, Ray... think..." He muttered something under his breath, and flicked the wand behind his back. A dark purple jet of light came racing towards the mist, but was soon consumed on the light. "agh... how about..." He turned and started to run backwards, and he swept his wand on to the ground, and a giant wall of flames erupted from the grass. Raymond Grace smiled in triumph as the mist stopped in its tracks. Soon it was engulfed in a ring of fire.

Raymond gave a small laugh, doing a little hop as he stepped over the flame without being hurt. "Not so tough are ya? Bloody sorcerers are getting more and more clever by the year..." He said, now flicking his wand as if it was a sword, and mist screeching in pain. Raymond did it again and again until it was as big as a bag of cotton candy. Then he tried the purple jet of light once more. One final screech and an explosion made Raymond fall back, but as the smoke cleared and the fire was gone, the only thing with Raymond now was a small teddy bear staring up at the sky.

---

"Whoever sold you this had clear instructions to give it to you and your family, mister White." Raymond Grace said, now in a cozy little room. Pictures of a loving family were up on the walls, moving and laughing and waving. Mrs. White had just finished crying. "I know your political campaign is all about trust but... You might want to check what you buy and give to your child from now on. That curse was meant to break not only your minds, but your whole family's..." He said very softly and not in a harsh way, but a caring one. "Thank you so much, Mister Grace! Whatever you want, its yours!" Mister white said with a smile, and handshake.

"Its no trouble, really." He said with a smile. "I'm just happy i could help... And I wish the best of luck to you on your journey to become Minister, Sir." Raymond sat up getting hugged by the wife, and yet another handshake from Mr. White. He walked out of the house, and with a turn, he disappeared in to thin air.

---

Raymond reappeared in front of a small cottage in a very small town. The mountain tops were high in the background, with snow on their tops. Raymond opened the door to the cottage to reveal a dark room. Another flick of his wand and a fireplace came to life, illuminating the room. It was covered in artifacts with ancient symbols, small toys, or pieces of jewelry, some almost completely destroyed. A sneakoscope was on a desk as well as multiple pieces of paper with notes and accounts of his previous cases. Raymond Grace was the chief of the Dark Arts Destroyers, or the D.A.D. for short. He took off his coat, keeping his wand in his pocket still as he places the stuffed bear on a shelf, staring at it. "Gave me quite a fight tonight..." He said quietly, walking over to the table and turning on the radio, and humming along to the song.

He checked his watch. He knew that the Ministry would be here any minute to introduce his new partner in crime. To be honest he was very excited, eager to work with someone in this very serious job... Raymond has been doing this for quite some time, and it was only his courage and sense of humor that really kept him going. That and the most important thing that he learned from working with Harry Potter:

Love. He sat down in an arm chair, picking up the Daily Prophet and glancing at the headlines, waiting for the knock on the door.

Normally the firing range at the Ministry of Magic was filled with people casting spells, timing their throws or practicing brand new things that had learned. But today, the range was nearly empty except down at one end where a horde of people had gathered around a single firing range spot. “There’s no way she can hit all those in one shout.” “Obviously you’ve never seen Miss Reilly at the firing range.” In the middle of the group stood a young woman, she took a deep breath before showing off her perfected stance and firing her spell, the ball of electricity shot out and split into four separate parts before slamming against the targets with such an impact that the targets and the stands exploded instantaneously. Expressions of shock, surprise and curse words left the group surrounding the woman. The woman just smirked, slipped her wand into her holder and left as the men and women who surrounded her exchanged words and money. Those people didn’t know who they were betting on and she had somewhere to be.

“Yes sir.” The young woman said as she walked into the Minister’s office. Her heart was pounding but her straight face didn’t show that, she grew up focusing so hard on things that she really didn’t feel like that she needed to express too many emotions.

“Brittany Reilly.” Her face twitched at the use of her first name, the caramel eyes of the blonde blinked a few times; a small expression of her annoyance at the use of her first name. It was so plain and boring and common that she preferred to be called Bree, but she knew better than to correct the Minister of Magic. “Your talents have not gone unnoticed by me or the other staff for that matter. We’ve been watching you closely and all your intense training, you are quite an impressive. But it’s time for you to put your talents to better use.”

“Sir?” She said questioningly as she tilted her head from her shouldered attention stance. “What better use is there of my skills then to be an Auror?”

“Oh that, is something very few people know. And you shall be one of the few.” The Minister said gesturing to a seat. Once she took it, he leaned over his desk and began to go over the details of what the D.A.D. did. He could see interest spreading across her face further and further as he spoke. “So, with that being said, you don’t really have much rules to follow but there is a catch.”

“Catch sir?” She repeated, a confused look spread across her small face.

“You will have a partner. But I’m sure that won’t a problem am I right Miss Reilly?”

“I don’t see it as a problem sir.”

“Wonderful. Come in.” The Minister called out to the door, an older man walked in, “This is Alex Marter, he will take you to your partner, I’m sure he’ll be glad to have someone to work with.”

It wasn’t until she got to her feet that she registered that he said he, and before she could get out the words to questioning why her partner was male, the two of them were out in the hallway. “Okay… I guess I’m working with a guy, that’s new…” She said under her breath as she followed the man to lead her to her coworker. It wasn’t until they got outside that was a confused. “He’s not here?”

“No, he works out of his home. He keeps holds of the relics that he helps destroy to insure that are done, it’s safer to keep them as far away from civilization was possible.”

“That seems logical.” Bree said as they took off in the Keyport to appear in front of the house. “Okay…” She said softly as the guy left her with a packet of information to give her new partner. A roll of her eyes left her as she walked up the path and straightened out her black shirt and dusted off her blue jeans. Leaning over she pushed the doorbell button and waited.

Raymond was half asleep when he heard the doorbell. He pulled out his wand, and then looked at the Sneakoscope... it didn't go off... So it must be his new partner! He put his wand away, and opened the door to reveal a very attractive woman. He looked her up and down, and what she would assume to be him checking her body out, it was to see if she was holding anything that gave off a "dark magic" vibe. "You from the Ministry?" he asked her cheerfully. He moved to the side to let her in. "Raymond Grace. Dark Arts Destroyer, at your service." he said with a smile. it was clear that she wasn't the most animated person in the world... "Mind if i ask you a few questions?" he asked, smiling a bit as she looked around the house in amazement. it made him feel proud. He had a lot of relics from his time working here. One of the best in the whole business.

GREAT! She’s working with a pervert; he’s already checking her out right as she arrived at his door. Yuck. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea for her to turn around and leave. But she could really use some excitement in her life and it wouldn’t be a bad idea for her to show the Ministry that she could do the tough jobs. No matter what they were. Even if the toughest part of her job was dealing with her coworker. Even though he was a rather good looking guy and even the facial scruff gave him a dangerous and yet appealing trait about him.

“Yes, I am your new partner. Here I was told to give this to you.” With that Bree handed him the packet. She then stepped into the house and began to look around, her eyebrows rose and her caramel colored eyes expanded in surprise. There were a lot of things in the house but they were… empty. Nothing was in them, no dark or light magic. It was much like the things in her parents’ house that had never been touched by a wand. Wow, this guy was good. “Brittany Reilly,” She said, “New Transfer from the Auror division. You may call me Miss Reilly or Bree if you like. I hate my first name.” She stopped in front of a doll, surprised that it was empty she leaned forward, observing it for a second before standing back upright. She was tall for a girl, five foot nine inches; lots and lots of leg, toned and in shape, she was healthy, fit and ready for action.

The hallway led into the living room where she found a spot in one corner of the couch. Gently placing herself down onto it she looked up at him, a small closed lip smile curled the corners of her lips before she spoke. “What are your questions Mister Grace?”

Raymond raised his eyebrows at her formality, taking the file and skimming through it. He gave a low whistle, looking up at her yet again. "What was your house at Hogwarts?" He asked. "Have you read 'Secrets of the Darkest Arts'? 'Confronting the Faceless'?" Raymond asked again, still pacing as he read her file. "Are you familiar with advanced jinxes, hexes, and curses?"

He sat down in an armchair across from her. "My apologies if you think i'm insulting your background. I just find that words mean more than a piece of paper." Raymond explained, giving a small smile. "I'm sure the Minister has told you a lot about this job, Miss Reilly... and i also assume that from your O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores, you have a lot of questions for me... I think getting this out of the way instead of holding it out until we are on the verge of jinxing each other to vomit slugs... They can be about the job, or my background." He said simply. He could tell that this woman was very straight forward, and to the point... a bit too much.

"I was in Gryffindor at Hogwarts. Never truly understood why; I seemed to be a lot more focused on my studies compared to everyone else in my house but the Sorting Hat told me my talents would be best used in Hogwarts as a Gryffindor. I'm not going to argue with the thing but it did confuse me quite a bit." His other questions surprised her a bit and apparently it was enough to be read on her face as he apologized to her. She watched him is down and placed her folded hands onto her lap and straightened up, yes poor Bree never truly learned how to relax that really has been one of her downfalls throughout her life. "It's quite alright, I can understand the idea of wanting to get to know each other on a less documented level." She coughed slightly before beginning. "I have read 'Secrets of the Darkest Arts', 'Confronting the Faceless', 'Mysterious of Mischievous Forces', the 'Ancient Ruins and Spells' series up to the newest release, all the series of 'Hexes and Curses Pre and Post Date'; I could go on." She said with a nod but judging by his silence she probably shouldn't.

"They didn't tell me much about the job, just that it deals with a lot of hexes, jinxs and curses. Things I'm fluid in, in fact, I've had people bet on my at the firing ranges back at the Ministry that I couldn't do this or that when it comes to castings. My mastery has always been in spell casting, charms and transfiguration. I do, however, have an issue with Potions; don't really know why, couldn't quite grasp it but I did well enough on my O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s that I graduated top of my class." She gave a nod before running a small hand through her long blonde hair. Her head tilted to one side. "I do have to ask, about three months ago there was talk around the Ministry about a Dark item being possessed, I believe it was a Rocking Horse, but a week or so later it was no longer mentioned. Did, did you get the case? Was it really a Rocking Horse?"

Raymond shook his head. "Oh yes, the rocking horse... I wasn't a part of the team to deal with it personally... I was the... aftermath team." He leaned back. "You know that a spell can latch on to an object, whether it be charms and jinxes.... That rocking horse was a true work of dark art. Poor muggle family bought it for their first born. As soon as the young girl sat on it they heard strange noises from the baby monitors-- you are muggle born, so i assume you know your devices." He said, not sounding rude or aggressive. "The baby refused to eat, and barely made reactions. A small unit was dispatched to take care of it... put up a nasty fight, and took out two men. It had a lot of protective marks on it to make sure it did its job well. I made a couple visits a week to make sure those things weren't lingering on any of the other objects in the house." After his story he looked at her, his piercing blue eyes glancing in to her's. "We deal with a lot more than people outside the D.A.D. think... and now you're a part of the team!" Raymond smiled brightly.

"So this job," She began softly, her attention moving from him to the floor at her feet, seeing as she had leaned forward, forearms resting on her knees, her hands still folded and her intense caramel colored eyes watching him close before moving their gaze to the ground. "is rather dangerous." A sentence people normally say when they are just about to say that they are going to back out but Bree's eyes shot up, a smirk curled the corner of her full pink lips as a twinkle seemed to appear within her eyes. "Brilliant." That... is not a normal answer, but Bree is not a normally person. This job was different for many reasons. One being it was dangerous, two being it was challenging and three, since her parents died, she really had no one of importance in her life so dying, well it wasn't as big of a threat as it was to most people.

The smirk stayed sparkly implanted on her lips as she leaned back in her spot on the couch. One arm moved to the armrest while the other stretched itself along the backing of the couch. Isn't it funny how the thought of danger makes her comfortable. "So Mister Grace, tell me about yourself."

Raymond smiled at her remark, glad she was on board, but knew it would take a bit before she would understand what really was at stake with this job. When asked about his background, rubbing his hands together. "Well... Lets see. I was a Gryffindor myself. I guess i was the same as any Gryffindor for my first couple of years of school. Always looking for adventure and fun, not really caring about my grades personally, but always sticking up for people. I got my act together in my fifth year, and excelled in most except transfiguration... I always need some sort of assistance in that. I became an Auror like my father... i ranked up, became notorious in a sense, but not famous of course... and one night my father died, and i got introduced in to the D.A.D. shortly after that." He said simply. He didn't like to go in to detail on how his father passed. He knew he wouldn't be able to finish the story.

“Interesting.” Bree started, watching his face closely as he spoke. Her elbow rose up on the armrest of the couch. “Hmmm.” She said softly as she watched as he shared his story. Slowly, her head tilted to one side, her slightly curled blonde hair watching him closely as he spoke. Bree never truly understood the idea of being subtle or to approach things in a gentle manner that was not something that she was able to grasp. “It hurts; I can see it in your eyes. I don’t know why you’re digging for yourself into a hole when it’s not your fault.” She said with a nod as she lowered her hand from her face, “Do you have a case for us to look over?” Attempting to change the topic from what she said in case it offended him.