the stranger at my door | cas

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

it'll take your family heirlooms,

but it can take your darkest sins

January 11, 2028
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Archie had one more stop to make. Somehow the dark and empty pathways of Knockturn Alley didn’t frighten him, nor did they feel entirely unfamiliar. He often visited when he worked as a Cursebreaker, especially at the museum. It was strange at first, but a handful of artifacts on display were discovered in these shops. Not often, but often enough to make the visit worth it. But this time, Archie was here for an entirely different reason. He had already sent out messages and made contact with old colleagues and friends of friends, but Archie had a goal to quickly staff the last few months of the spring term to prepare the Cursebreaker trainees for their final tests.

A similar effort was underway in other departments for law enforcement and healer trainees. And the rest of the staff assisted where they could. So he’d sent a quick note to an old friend Casimir. They had worked together for several years as Cursebreakers, although Archie was a couple of years behind. By the time Archie switched careers, Cas had also switched a year later. But during his planning of areas of focus: traps, numerology, astronomy, runes, artifacts, and various other training areas, he thought of Cas for magical items. Archie recalled his patience and knowledge regarding anything found in some tomb with the slightest chance of a curse. Or even things that were puzzles. Who better to challenge the trainees?

Plus, his assistance in other areas was useful as well. Every one of them had their tips and tricks. Archie pushed the door open, the shop was empty, and there was something to be said about the lighting, but he’d expected nothing less. And he wasn’t surprised when nobody appeared immediately. With his hands in his pockets, Archie walked slowly down the center. His footsteps make a simple hollow noise with each step as his eyes scanned the room.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

11 January 2028

It wasn’t often these days that Cas found an artifact he couldn’t handle. After all, he’d been in the field for a long time – Damian liked to crack jokes about exactly how long – and he’d seen just about everything. The magic dampener had proven to be the most difficult code to crack in ages, and even that had eventually yielded its secrets. There was a certain level of intuition you needed to succeed, but in the end he’d found the answers he’d needed in dusty tomes and across the sea. That was the secret to a cursebreaker’s success, after all – research. Cas was no stranger to the process, the long process of combing the city’s extensive archives and digging up everything you could (before going to literally dig something up). There was a time and place for flashy spellwork, but research and due diligence were the key to success in this business.

In that sense – Borgin and Burke’s wasn’t so different. Cas sat in his office, fingers steepled and lost in thought as he considered the problem. The Aztec necklace lay on his desk, although he’d long since surrounded it with spell-proof glass. There was a tricky curse imbued within the gold and platinum of the necklace, and once it had been activated – Cas hadn’t yet found a countercurse powerful enough to tear it apart. There were very few records of the period, which meant he couldn’t rely on history to solve the problem. The lightning attacked the glass dome again, but only made a faint ringing sound as it failed to crack even the surface. Yes, whoever had enchanted the necklace had done very thorough work. But Cas wasn’t worried. He’d never found an unbreakable code in all his years as a cursebreaker, and he didn’t intend to break the streak now.

The faint sound of the bell pulled him from his thoughts. Of course – Emmanuelle had the day off, which left Cas to attend the front. That was something he hadn’t personally taken care of for months now. Cas took care to lock his office behind him and slowly made his way to the front room. His faint surprise at seeing Archie didn’t register on his face…because his visits weren’t as frequent as they’d been once, but he was still a regular visitor to Knockturn Alley despite his new position as a professor. Cas supposed it wasn’t so new anymore, but it was still a change to think of Archie behind a desk instead of out in the field with all their other ex-colleagues. But it was good to see that he still chose to stay grounded and see the artifacts for himself instead of retreating behind the safety of numbers and theories. “Something catch your eye?” Cas asked at the methodical way Archie scanned the room. He lingered behind the counter, casually removing his dragon-hide gloves as he spoke (because handling an artifact that cursed without protection was just pure stupidity).

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

it'll take your family heirlooms,

but it can take your darkest sins

January 11, 2028
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Archie did miss certain elements of Cursebreaking and even working at the museum. Every time a new artifact was brought in, Archie thought he’d seen everything. The history fascinated him, as did the puzzles. And sometimes numbers were the key, after all. Certain civilizations depended heavily on mathematics and precision, where he did well. Cas entered the room, and Archie looked up, smiling at his old friend. ”I see you’ve been collecting.” A few new things caught his eye, but others were familiar, and some he didn’t see anymore. He was still working with artifacts, which was perfect for Archie.

Spotting the gloves, Archie raised an eyebrow. ”I didn’t interrupt your work, did I?” Cursebreakers might have differed in their personalities, but they consistently had an incredible ability to focus. He tried to remember the last time he’d come in here. It must have been before the school reopened, but Archie couldn’t be sure. But unfortunately, he didn’t have the same leisure time as he once did as a regular Professor. Sometimes he wondered if he would’ve taken the Head of House posting had the actual workload been described to him. The other Heads, Blaise, and Parvati, were equally busy.

So Archie supposed he should get to the point. Polite conversation before a question always annoyed him. They could catch up after instead. ”I did have a question for you.” Archie paused. How many years had it been since they worked in the field? ”I’m looking for experienced Cursebreakers, or former Cursebreakers, to work with this class and certify them for the field.” Archie began. It was a lot to ask, but it was worth a shot. ”Everything would be done by the start of summer.” Hopefully, a bit earlier if he could manage it. ”I’ve got Roche and Weiss for Runes and Potions, and I’m waiting on a response from a few others.” If all replied, he’d have more than enough, but he knew not all would want to. But Cas was one of the most senior he knew, so perhaps he could give a reference to the ones Archie didn’t know.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas spared a glance for the glass cases and mounted displays but didn’t linger long on his merchandise. He was intimately familiar with the inventory and the story behind every object – it was one of the benefits that came with running an enterprise in a niche subject. He didn’t rely on moving a large volume to keep the lights on, and anyone who’d been in the business long enough knew it wasn’t about galleons anyway. It was difficult to say what motivated the dealers of the underground, but he supposed there was a little of everything for him. Action, danger, power. A chance to break new ground and learn new (or forgotten) secrets.

The dragon-hide gloves disappeared to their discreet place behind the counter while Cas waved off the question. “A strange hybrid of curses, not all done at once. I’ll need another visit to the Oraculum, at least.” There was, at least, more surviving material about Spanish wizards in the New World than what the Aztecs had recorded about their own magic. If he was lucky, he might even stumble across an old artifact where he could witness the magic firsthand and replicate it. It was always easiest to break down a spell when you had a live model. But Archie certainly hadn’t come to discuss ancient curses, and Cas wasn’t here to lecture him. He saved that for his siblings and ex-trainees.

He made a hum of recognition at the mention of two old colleagues from his days as a trainee, but didn’t otherwise answer immediately. It’d been a while since Cas had been surprised, but Archie had caught him off-guard. Consult on a class, assist with the certification of student cursebreakers? It was a stark departure from Cas’s usual MO, his comfort zone of dusty artifacts and in-depth research. He’d been a sort of mentor, once upon a time, but those days had long passed. Cas tapped his fingers on one of the display cases and took a moment to consider the scenario. “I suppose you’ve run them through the full curriculum on artifacts? They can search for magical residue, distinguish between latent and active curses, research its history…?” Cas hated wasting his time on the basics, after all.

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

it'll take your family heirlooms,

but it can take your darkest sins

January 11, 2028
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

The response Archie had received for this new endeavor had been more than he could ask. At first, he worried who would want to do such a thing. Although Archie knew everyone was capable, teaching and training required a certain personality. As Cas returned a vague answer, Archie resisted the urge to ask more. In Times like this, he truly missed the work. The adventure (when not potentially lethal) was thrilling and finding something connected so far to the past. The museum had filled that need, but everything also moved at a snail’s pace there.

”Of course.” Archie responded confidently. Now, whether trainees had retained that important information was the reason for these examinations. As it was his responsibility to do his best to train them for such a dangerous life, Archie wanted to rely on those with first-hand experience. ”They’re a good lot. But I’m sure they’re tired of my endless droning on how serious this work is.” Archie also held a private concern that the shift in focus on academics and classroom work versus field work might put them at a disadvantage. Another reason he wanted an emphasis put on certifying them.

”I understand if you’re unavailable.” Although Archie hoped he could spare the time. If anyone could accurately assess the trainees in this area, it was Cas. ”I’m waiting on responses from a few others.” Reaching into his jacket, Archie produced a small list. There were names of people he had reached out to. A few names were crossed out, some circled and a few added to the end in a slightly different color ink. ”Lets see….Carter, I think you trained her and Leakey—for magizoology.” Archie figured that an abundance of volunteers would only be helpful. He looked at the last two names written down just the day before. ”Some colleagues recommended Greyback and Evans—both are supposedly quite adept with charms.” That was one area where Archie had trouble recruiting anyone. All these areas of study were equally important, but there was nothing quite like a shield charm to make all the difference in their line of work. He was hoping to hear back from Carter and Leakey. Archie had worked with the girls briefly before his exit. But he didn’t know anything about the latter two.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas didn’t like conversations that didn’t have a singular focus – and he detested small talk. The latter had always been Alek’s specialty, bland conversations with bland people that all blended in with each other into an amorphous crowd of mediocrity. He engaged when he had to, because there was a certain level of polite groveling required in his line of work, but he delegated when he could. And as for conversations that went all over the place and therefore never went anywhere…well, he left those to Damian. His younger brother could talk the horn off an erumpent, and subsequently he’d sometimes talked Cas to the point of near insanity.

So the prospect of shop talk with a proper expert like Archie was interesting, but it wasn’t the purpose of his visit so Cas filed it away for later. It did seem like an interesting prospect to bring his ex-coworker back to the shop another time, perhaps after his next visit to the Oraculum, if only to get a fresh pair of eyes to see if there was something he’d missed. Not that that happened too often. Cas listened skeptically to Archie’s proposal. There was something to be said about putting the students through a proper trial instead of testing their knowledge through examinations - because Cas had seen it happen too often when a newbie could rattle off hexes and their counterspells quick enough but then freeze the moment action was required. Still. The thought of him lecturing at Hogwarts seemed ludicrous. He simply didn’t have the patience to answer questions about the generations of Dark wizards in his family or the number of years in their collective prison sentences.

He nodded at the mention of Carter and Leakey and maintained a politely blank expression at Greyback and Evans. “Grimm might be worth a call. Still the best expert on recording ancient cultures that I’ve found. And Hudson. He caused the highest number of avalanches during his training period but was still quicker to his wand than the rest every time.” Cas shook his head at that. Nobody had tested his patience quite like Rhys Greyback, but Hudson had come close. In those few moments of silence, he weighed the possibility of saying yes. He’d known Archie a long time and they’d always managed to get their hands on the gold by the end of the assignment. But that was part of the challenge – Archie knew Cas from a time when he’d been more willing to take risks and throw everything to the wind in the name of victory. He was slower now, had more responsibilities. Was he really that same cursebreaker anymore? The doubt gnawed at him sometimes. Cas left all that to quiet deliberation, and only quietly pointed out, “It’s been a long time. My reflexes aren’t what they used to be.”

octavian archimedes vector jr.