The rather large and bulky envelope addressed to Ms. Sofia Robards stared back at her tauntingly, daring her to read its contents. It wasn’t as though she was violating any standing agreement between herself and Dillan only things she hadn’t noticed, or rather hadn’t wanted to notice had been haunting her since their first argument of any merit. Now she wanted, no needed confirmation that he was who he said he was, to put those pesky doubts at rest that had reared their ugly heads as soon as he had mentioned some bits about Hogwarts he had no right knowing, mentioned facts about England that as a yank he should have no knowledge of, had said had done things. In the throws of lust, passion – but certainly not love, not yet not so soon – she hadn’t questioned it. But now, now things were different and she was having a crisis.

With shaking hands she opened the envelope only to find a very large service record. Sofia let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t known she had been holding in till that moment. Dillan was an auror, was a pure blood – the mental check list was slowly clicked off. Height check, eyes check, status… retired?

Sofia blinked back at the paper, stunned. Apparently Dillan Wentworth was a retired 50 something year old Auror. There had to be some mistake – it was a common enough name especially considering the puritan traditions of naming children after members of the family. Sofia scribbled a quick owl to her American contact and began to wait.

Fifteen minutes went by. No reply. The silly owl probably wasn’t even near the Atlantic yet and she had no patience or inclination to wait. She left her office, papers in hand, and gave Julie some excuse and to not expect her to be in for the rest of the day – and to let Dillan know she would see him at her house later. One penetrating look later and a ‘we need to talk’ look Sofia was apperating to the American Ministry offices.

She stormed past the little security officer, a flash of her badge and a freezing look being more than enough answer that she had every right to be there, and made her way to the law enforcement levels, located on levels two – four. The Americans always had to do everything bigger and better didn’t they?

After questioning a secretary or two she found her contact’s desk and took a calming breath. She couldn’t risk seeming angry or upset, or letting them know that something was amiss. Then they would start their own investigation and there was no telling what that would expose. Best to keep this quiet till she knew more about Dillan – the senior citizen that had apparently found the fountain of youth.

Mask of indifference and a polite smile she sauntered forward, drove gray suit swaying, as she made her way to Mr. John Smiths desk.

“Mr. Smith?”

A twenty something auror with messy blond hair and from what she could tell from his shoulders, the build of an athlete looked up at her, looking somewhat confused. “Yes?”

“I’m Miss. Robards – from the British Ministry. I was wondering if you might have some time to answer a few questions for me about Dillan Wentworth?”

The confused look disappeared, replaced by a charming grin. “Miss Robards was is? I would be delighted – only it seems you came at my lunch break. Care to discuss this over sandwiches?”

* twenty minutes later *

“No no Miss. Robards there has to be some error in your records. There has only ever been one Dillan Wentworth to work for our department – he was a bit of an odd one coming from a family of hebologist and the like. Was rather handy when we had poison cases actually. Why was it you were asking?”

Sofia’s mind was reeling as some other part of her brain began to lecture her about putting her trust in another rouge again. There was no room for misunderstanding – she had asked Mr. Smith upwards of twenty questions concerning the Wentworth family and he had even been kind enough to provide pictures of the man. To more opposite men there never were. Mr. Wentworth Sr. was short, squat and looked rather like the muggle version of Santa Claus, while her Mr. Wentworth was a rugged looking sex god. There was no family resemblance what so ever and Mr. Wentworth Sr. was a single elderly gentleman.

“Its no matter. Just a matter of processing confusion I’m afraid. Mr. Wenthworth’s name popped up as a possible candidate and there must have been some sort of typo for I assure you our two gentleman are nothing alike. You understand?” She asked, her hands in tight fists, her nails slowly digging halfmoons into her palms. She needed to unclench them soon before she drew blood again – Dillan would see and know something had upset her… then again it wouldn’t matter would it? It would just be a grand conversation opener – that is if she was able to restrain herself from killing him before hearing his side of the story.

Mr. Smith nodded enthusiastically. “I do…” He trailed off looking at her thoughtfully. Sofia tensed, knowing full well an onslaught of questions was about to come. “Though I still don’t see how it warranted you coming over here.”

Sofia smiled harder, feeling more like a puppet following the motions of its master than the disillusioned and heartbroken girlfriend she was fast becoming. “We’re a bit short staffed at the moment and somehow I ended up with the task of running the background check. I might have gotten a tad bit impatient. I’ll have to have a word with the secretary that made the typo. I am dreadfully sorry to have wasted your time.” She responded, leaning forward and touching his arm. Every once in a while it paid to have a mother that obsessively taught her how to distract the opposite sex. Anyway it wouldn’t hurt to flirt with the man – its wasn’t as though she was involved in a trust based relationship. In fact the relationship was over. She was breaking up with him here and now.

“It was no problem. I rather enjoyed having company for lunch.”

“And I company for dinner.” And look at company did the first time, it gave me another criminal, and not one that was upfront and charming about it either. I am never eating dinner with another male alone again. “Now I suppose I should be heading back. Till my next background check Mr. Smith.” She said with a wave, making sure to use the less abused hand – her left for she couldn’t quite seem to unclench the other one yet.

“May it come soon!”

Sofia gave one last smile and a slightly bitter laugh before aparating to the only place she knew no one would disturb her – the Robards Manor. She didn’t make it inside but rather promptly sunk to the ground at the front door, exhausted from her performance of nonchalance and feeling beyond miserable. What had she done this time? Was her life destined to be one mess after another? At least she still had her job and had the evidence to have the lying scum bag removed from her sight for good– only why then did she feel so broken every time she thought about not longer seeing his face at work? No longer eating dinner with him? Dillan Wentworth had better have a good excuse when I see him next Sofia thought as tears of hurt and anger slowly dripped down her face.