Early Years

Although happy to see his eagerness, something gnawed at the pit of her stomach when she saw the excitement and emotions filter through his young eyes. They were pained, but poorly disguised a thirst for power, for control over oneself.

He is a slytherin, after all.


"Depends on what you want to know, and what you want to use magic for. I specialise in self defence, as an Auror. Tell me why you're here." Cayden noticed a steeliness in him that had not appeared when he'd first walk in, curiousity imminent in her aging features.

"I.. want to be an auror." Not entirely bereft of truth, but the shaky voice made it clear that wasn't the whole story. And how could he tell it? 

From his experience, everyone at the Ministry turned a blind eye to his father. Why would telling her the story make any sort of difference? She was probably just as much in his pocket as everyone else there. He was taking risk enough taking these lessons.

"Are you sure about that?" She gently pried at him, not wanting to extract the truth but was eager to know the full story behind him and his family. His father had never seemed the doting type, often referring to the boy as an object or completely non-existent in his eyes. 

"This may not be what you want to hear, but I am not fond of your father; I don't believe he's a good man." Cayden spoke with nothing but the truth, resentment filling her pale eyes. "I am often penalised for not following his orders, but I'd rather do the right thing than be a bad person." 

Cayden grasped her wand lightly, directing the book back to the shelf.

Could... could this woman be?

He didn't feel any unease with her, she had a purity of intent that Barty just couldn't explain. What if she was the key to becoming free?

But what if it was also a trap? A way to lower his guard?  Suddenly his hope died as fast as it came. He didn't know how to proceed. He wanted to feel hope, any kind. He wanted to blow the whistle on all his father did. But he couldn't bring himself to do it? What if she could do nothing and it would only make things worse for him.

"...Ye..Yes I want to be an auror." He tried to hide his concerns with a smile.

"I know you're hiding the truth from me, I can imagine how afraid your father has left you." Cayden would not push the subject more, but wanted Barty to know that she could be trusted. "But you don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. All I want to do is help you." She admitted, tucking her greying hair behind her ears as she spoke, a display of nerves if anything.

"We'll change things from the inside, together, if you want to become an auror after all." Cayden now smiled at him, raising her wand again.

"How about I teach you a fourth year spell? It'll scare off anyone."

She knew.
She knew about what he did.

And she did nothing about it too.

The hubris of her. Making declarations to change things, and yet she was just as apathetic as the rest of them.

A brief spike of anger flared in him before he quelled it. She couldn't be held accountable for that. She didn't know the harm she was doing, she was ignorant. 

He was trying to learn magic from her and she was being forthcoming. That was what mattered. He didn't want to make her hate him too. Maybe he could help her as much as she strove to help him.

"Sure. What's the spell do?"

Her smile was creased with sadness as she rose from her seat, knowing shed made a mistake with what she said. 


"Stupefy." She said rather calmly, wand aimed at the now battered book as it shot across the room. It was a good thing the book was blank, or she'd cringe at the fact that this training session was destroying it. 

"Stupefy.." he repeated the word under his breath as though to test how it rolled off his tongue. "Aside from knock books around, what does it do?" He asked academically.