Closed Cold, Dark Night

[Jacob Kingsley]

The area was locally known as being dark. Jacob always thought it was just a turn of phrase, but streetlights were off and it was almost as though a veil had been thrown over the neighborhood. It looked like a normal place, large houses dotting the streets, hidden behind huge trees. Very different from Bleak Street where you expected the kind of darkness Aurors sought to keep at bay. The Auror felt a chill run through his body and he tightened his grip on his wand in case they'd just walked through some kind of alarm or sensor. Jacob was excited to be working with James Cade on this. They were searching for a witness, a guy who knew a guy and who was supposed to have information and possibly dark items on his person or somewhere near. Someone had witnessed him selling them, and St. Mungos had reported someone coming in with an injury that stank of dark magic.

Jacob had never been the one to be able to stay silent for too long. "Do you really think he's going to just be outside in a place like this? I bet someone's giving him a place to hide" he theorized.

 

[Professor James Cade]

The silence was something James always found unsettling. In his line of work, silence was usually a precursor to something going wrong. He had been assigned to find a witness who had knowledge of a guy in possession of dark magic artefacts. It seemed shakey, a guy who knew a guy who saw a thing, cases had started with less but it usually took a lot more to get James out onto the streets than an unverified eyewitness account.

"Maybe, but criminals like this aren't known for being clever," It wasn't often that James got to work with Jacob Kingsley but he always enjoyed it when it did, they worked well together. "Who knows, maybe we'll catch him doing something shady and make this whole thing easier for us,"

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

"Wouldn't that be nice..." the younger Auror mused. Having their work made simple by some overt action like that would sure make things easier in terms of their work and the dreaded paperwork they'd have to complete after. Jacob glanced at the mailboxes again and realized they'd arrived at the right address. He glanced at the house that was just up the walkway. It looked so...regular. Almost too regular. There was nothing that stood out about the house. Its colors were muted. The front lawn was immaculate, the trees shielding the house from the street but not so much that it seemed as if the homeowner was purposely trying to hide something. If he hadn't been looking for the address, Jacob was sure he'd have easily walked past the house. Nevertheless, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. And he could feel the rush of adrenaline that accompanied his fight or flight response. But he was an Auror, so he knew only one response.

"This is it" he nodded. There were lights on in the house but he couldn't see anyone behind the closed curtains. "What's the plan?" he asked, deferring to the older Auror.