LEO HADN'T EXPECTED TO BE INCLUDED in many, if any cases before the trial. He had expertly to be completely stuck at his desk until after it. Lydia hadn't even been given much more than paperwork, and a few little cases here and there. They never really amounted to all that much. So when Scrimgeour actually called both of them into his office, Leo was sure it was just to inform them that Leo would be going back to MCUSA and Lydia would be getting yet another new partner. However, that wasn't the case. In fact, on Scrimgeour's dest was a prophet, and it had a headline on it, that spiked Leo's curiosity.

      Riddle Manor was a taboo place. At least in the wizarding world, nobody ever spoke of it. And the muggles were never able to find someone to live in it once it was abandoned. It just sat empty, for years, so when a muggle who had been there to take care of the property in case someone were to buy it turned up dead; it didn't go unnoticed by the wizarding world. Of course they left the initial investigation to the muggles before they would even take a look at it, but because of the name on the documents of the house, it dragged them into it. Chances were, the muggles had already dealt with it in their world, but the Ministry had to see if there was a mess that had to be cleaned up because they were wrong.

"Are you two familiar with this?" Scrimgeour asked as he walked around his desk and took a seat again.

Lydia nodded, "That muggle groundskeeper was killed at the Riddle manor," she shrugged, "I thought the muggles decided it was a heart attack."she added.

"They did, and it probably was," he replied, shrugging a little bit, "but headlines that have Riddle in it tend to catch everyone's eye."

       With their new assignment in mind, Leo and Lydia went to their desks to grab their cloaks before they went on their way to the hall of fireplaces.

"How's it feel to have an assignment again?" Leo asked as he stepped into a fireplace.

Lydia scoffed a bit, "It's not like this will be any more exciting than all that desk work." she stated as she crossed her arms.

        Leo stepped into the fireplace before Lydia and as soon as both feet hit the green ash, he disappeared into the floo network. It felt as if he was being pulled each and every direction that was possible, like every bit of oxygen was being squeezed out of him before his feet finally hit the ground in a old fireplace, filled with cobwebs and old ashes that immediately covered him and swirled around his face as he stepped out so Lydia could enter next. As he did so, he looked around the room the floo network brought him too— by the looks of it, it was an old kitchen. There was a long table down the center of the room and there were old trays lining it. All of which were gathering dust. There was a large stove that had heavy pots on it, and there were various cupboards, some of which were open or hanging on just barely by a hinge.

Leo examined the room on his own for just a bit longer before there was a loud sound of flames roaring to life and a green flash that left Lydia standing in the same old fireplace he had landed in. She immediately had to stifle a sneeze as the ash settled.

"So this is Riddle manor..." she mumbled. "Real dump if you ask me." she said as she waved her hand in front of her to insure there were no cobwebs that she would step through. Even though Leo had already cleared them out of the way when he stepped out.

"I think it's homie," Leo said with a small shrug. And immediately a groan of irritation came from Lydia and Leo chuckled in response. "Come on then, let's get this over then shall we?" he asked, stepping aside and holding a hand out as if to usher Lydia further into the house.

     The two of them made their way across the old kitchen which turned out to be in the basement. The two ascended up the stairs with their wands at the ready, just in case there was by some chance a possibility that someone or something was there.

"My money is on no-maj—" he paused, "I mean muggles just fooling around. Maybe redecorating a bit..."

Lydia rolled her eyes, even though she wasn't looking at him as they got to the top of the stairs, Leo could almost feel the irritation radiating off of her. "Can't you just get this over with without any of your bloody jokes?" she asked, looking at him as they stepped up into a entrance room that had stone floors and elegant but dusty art work hanging up and a large mirror against the wall where a table sat with a empty vase.

"It would be much more boring if I did," he shrugged as he stepped past her, "lumos,"

Leo walked across the room, looking back towards the door the stairs had brought them to. And the door was decorated with cobwebs just like everything else in the house.

"Admit it, Corner, you think I'm a joy to work with." he continued as he turned and went towards the front door to examine things over there while Lydia walked towards a hall that led to some sort of ballroom or something.

Lydia scoffed in response, "A nuisance maybe."

      Leo smirked as he scanned the table with the light coming from his wand, but saw nothing but the usual; dust and, surprisingly, more dust. However when he turned to examine the coat hooks that lined the wall by the door, something caught his eye; nothing.

There was no dust, no cobwebs. Which was easy to explain away, perhaps a muggle had used it to hang up their coat? Or maybe the grounds keeper had hung his coat up all the time before walking through the house to make sure it was empty.

Leo was snapped out of his thoughts by Lydia squealing, and the sound of her jumping back and hitting the wall. When he turned around, he saw her looking down the hall, in horror almost.

Leo chuckled, "See a ghost?" he smirked as he walked towards her, "I thought you would have been used to that seeing that Hogwarts has an abundance of them. Right?"

He expected some sort of eye roll or a reaction that would send the same message, but instead he still stared down the hall in fear.

"It was a snake, I've never liked snakes..." her voice came out almost as a squeak.

"It's an abandoned house, Lydia. There's bound to be some little things in here." he told her as he began to go down the short hall. "Maybe even a few with wings. Better watch your head."

      Leo led the two of them to a ballroom of sorts, just a large empty room. And when he got there, he saw exactly what had slithered right past Lydia. Just to the left of him there was a shorter staircase, as wrapped around the railing was indeed a snake. But not just any snake, it was bigger than any snake that he had ever seen and as soon as he rose his wand to shine the light onto it so he could see it clearly, it weaved through the railing until it was out of site upstairs.

"Is it just me or does it want us to follow it?" Leo said, barley glancing back at Lydia.

Lydia groaned, "Do you still think it's just a bunch of muggles?" she muttered as she followed behind him.

      Leo skipped every other stair by taking longer strides, and was able to get a decent look down the hall at the top of the stairs as Lydia came up behind him. Down the hall, he could see a light flowing out from under a door, and then he heard a click of the door opening just enough for the snake to get inside the room.

"We should call for backup," Lydia whispered, so quietly that Leo could just barely hear her.

      Part of Leo knew she was right, but the other part knew for a fact that if it was anyone dangerous with the snake, that they'd be goners if they waited. So really, in that scenario it was a lose-lose situation. Leo had always gone ahead and done things, whether or not he was out numbered. Something he knew wasn't a good practice, but by the looks of it, it wouldn't be changing anytime soon. So Leo took a few steps towards the door, and as he did he gave his wand a small flick to turn out the light and also push the door open just a bit more. Inside, for a split second, he saw it.

       On the armchair, there was a small creature, a thing that looked like it was waiting on deaths doorstep. And it opened its mouth and from it came a language that Leo couldn't understand as the snake that they had followed wove around the legs of the chair and onto the seat. As if the creature was speaking directly to it.

"You must be the Black that everyone is speaking of," the creature said weakly once it was done hissing, it's voice cracking as it tried to speak up so Leo could hear it. "it's a shame that we had to meet this way," it added. It's voice sent chills down his spine, just by the looks of that thing before him...he knew what it was.

"Leo-"

      As soon as Lydia was beside him, he quickly took hold of her wrist before disapperating. Cutting Lydia off as soon as she opened her mouth. The two of them lifted off of the ground, they quickly landed on a dimly lit street just outside of his apartment. That had been the first place that he could think of.

"Leo, what the hell was that?" Lydia asked sharply as she pulled her wrist away from him, panic radiating in her voice. "That...that thing."

"The reason the dark mark showed up at the World Cup, the same reason Sirius Black escaped Azkaban last year, the same reason there have been a rise in death eater attacks in America." he said, keeping his voice low just in case by some odd chance they had been followed, and also to try and keep the panic that Lydia had in her voice from showing up in his, "I think..." he stammered a bit, "I think that was Lord Voldemort."

stay classy!

*edited 10/26/2020 *