have you ever seen the rain | cas

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN A MONTH SINCE THE explosion at King's Cross. Since Claire had lost Casey. Since her entire perception of self had been shattered and rearranged in fragments. On the outside, Claire was as composed as ever. She went home to dinner every Friday, she smiled and laughed at her father's self absorbed anecdotes about acquaintances she didn't care to know. They had no idea she had lost the one love of her life. That the Purifiers had taken that from her. It chilled her bones.

At work, Claire threw herself in to every opportunity to prove herself. No task or mission was too small. If it meant that she was one step closer to apprehending the monster's that had attacked the station. That had ruined her future. But, the cracks were beginning to show. Some people had often suspected there had been more to Claire and Casey's professional relationship. But, they had guarded it so carefully that it was merely speculation. Claire had always been too afraid that if coworkers knew they would accuse her of career climbing. Casey had respected this, as he had been her mentor in training. But, it meant that she was being watched. Waiting for her grief to ruin her.

Claire gripped her wand as if it were anchoring her to the ground. When work snubbed her, she turned to other methods to vent her anger. As they tip-toed around action she found relief in the Order. Who she felt were more proactively tackling the issue, where the Ministry were restricted by the law. Though, even the Order had it's restrictions and Claire was struggling to find justification for it in her grief. When a mission arose, she took it. Even for the perfunctory collection of an artefact in the rocky highlands of Scotland. Unfortunately, they had not allowed Claire to do this alone.

"You know, feel free to wait back at base until I'm back." Claire said, turning her head so quickly her long blonde hair flicked over her shoulder restlessly. Casimir was a respected member of the Order, but Claire was not shy about her disdain for company. "No offence, but I don't need a babysitter." She smiled politely, stepping up to the portkey and toeing the empty plant pot, letting it suck her through and deposit her in the North without ceremony. She hadn't waited for Casimir's reply, hoping he would wordlessly take her advice and simply not follow.

The sky above shifted from the bright sun of London to the grey, dismal overcast of Scotland. Claire stepped aside reflexively as the portkey whistled behind her, vomiting Casimir directly at her side like an abandoned stray. An unwanted addition to her misery "Hm," She hummed shortly, in quiet irritation. He didn't deserve her scorn, but she felt like he was directly thwarting her. An unwanted shadow. She tried not to blame him. Said nothing more as she turned her face away and began to walk in great strides. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

It was time to start taking a more active role in the Order. Cas had been mulling the decision over since his initial recruitment, and he’d been reluctant to engage in anything that risked unnecessary exposure. It had been several years since Cas had taken that first step, but he was still unwilling to completely upend his life for it. The status quo was comfortable for him – pureblood society accepted him and he had a clearly defined place within it. He’d carefully cultivated his school connections to pursue tolerable careers to his family, and he only occasionally accepted the odd mission for the Order if it related directly to his skill-set.

But the status quo simply wasn’t acceptable anymore. The failure to prevent the bombing at King’s Cross – it hadn’t felt like previous failures which he’d attributed to the shortcomings of the Order. For the first time, it had begun to feel like his failure too. And this careful ‘balance’ he’d achieved between his life and the Order was no such thing at all, but a failure to acknowledge his new responsibilities and own up to them. At some undefinable point, his life had begun to feel empty of meaning. The Order at least gave him a purpose, a reason to be doing all this even if nobody else knew it.

He still preferred to work independently. Harry must have some level of trust in him, if he’d seen the value in recruiting Cas. And Titus was probably the only other person in the world who had some understanding of his unusual situation. But he didn’t fool himself into thinking that the rest of the Order liked him or even wanted him there. He was an unknown variable, an inevitable betrayal waiting to happen. So they avoided him and he avoided them, even as he steadily began to attend more meetings and accept more missions.

Compared to his curse-breaking experiences, these assignments had been almost laughably simple. His background with Gringotts was by no means unique, but his unusual line of work in Knockturn Alley meant he had a specific knowledge of Dark artifacts that most Order members didn’t. That meant he was usually assigned to this sort of task, for the retrieval of potentially Dark and dangerous artifacts that could be used for nefarious purposes. He could usually handle its collection alone, but he’d been saddled with a partner for this mission.

Partner was a laughable word for the situation. She was much younger, new to her Ministry career and remarkably less experienced – although her level of self-confidence (read: arrogance) might suggest otherwise. As she turned her back on him to approach the Portkey, Cas rolled his eyes but didn’t respond. After they’d been dropped off in Scotland, she began to walk towards their final destination without another word. Cas matched her pace easily. His tone was even and face expressionless as he finally spoke. “When we approach the site, I will be entering first. Considering my particular background in the acquisition of artifacts.” And that I was curse-breaking while you were still in school, went unspoken, although his tone suggested the omission well enough. He resented being burdened with somebody so junior, although he had more self-control than to complain like she did. He didn’t say anything else as he lengthened his strides.

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

MARCHING AHEAD, CLAIRE HEARD CASIMIR before she seen him. His long legs catching up to her easily. His pale, angular face just visible in her peripheral vision. He had a strong, quick gait that she resented. His arms swinging close to hers without exertion. She was almost tempted to break out in to a run - if only to prove a point - but refrained. The last thing Claire wanted was for Casimir to run back to the Order and tell them about the bickering half-blood girl who'd yapped at him the whole way. Her reputation within the Order mattered to her. Almost as much as her desire to catch the people responsible for the bombing. 

"On whose order?" Claire asked sarcastically, pausing briefly to look at Casimir's back. Her arms crossed haughtily. His tone of voice and lack of consideration for her opinion on the approach annoyed her. She couldn't even pretend to play nice in the presence of it. "And I'm trained to deal with potential hostiles." She countered his claim of superiority, her chin squaring defiantly. "I'm not your side-kick." She told him firmly, unwilling to simply be a cog in the cursebreakers claim to fame. She did not appreciate feeling outdone by something as simple as 'time'. "We go in together or not at all."

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

It was almost easy to forget how short Claire was when speaking to her, if only because the attitude added another foot, but the height difference came into contrast while they navigated the terrain. He’d reached her easily, and had to resist the temptation to walk faster so she would have to rush to keep up – but he had better self-control than that, and something told him antagonizing her unnecessarily would only make her more difficult to work with. It was their first mission together and, Cas was certain, their last. He worked better independently, with all the flexibility and skill that required. Saddling him with a partner only meant he’d have to split his attention to ensure she didn’t accidentally set off a protective curse. And he’d had enough of that while training young cursebreakers.

He raised an eyebrow briefly when she asked whose order it was that he go first, and he tilted his head down to look at her. “Mine,” he said simply, and without further elaboration. As they reached the crest of a hill, the outline of their intended location came into view – an old, rundown castle. He stopped for a moment to take in the landscape for signs of intruders. A shadow of a smile flickered on his face at yet another demonstration of this girl’s complete self-assuredness (which, at this age, couldn’t be well-earned). “Oh, is that what you do? I’m pleasantly surprised they’ve extended your training past fetching coffee and filing paperwork.” There was a strong hint of biting sarcasm in his tone.

Cas started walking again – it would be preferable to be in and out before dark, and a castle was hard enough to navigate without concerns for protective enchantments. He shot her a skeptical look, eyebrows furrowed, as the blonde went on to say she was not his sidekick and this would be a joint venture. “My skillset is more applicable. You can join me if you'd like, but I will not be sympathetic if you set off an Anti-Burglar Hex while stumbling around.” He'd seen her type before -- young Aurors (or cursebreakers) that were desperate to prove themselves. It usually ended badly, and Cas was not inclined to fail a mission from the Order. "This will go more smoothly if I take the lead."

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

FACE SLACKENING IN SHOCK, ANY SPLUTTERED A scoff in reply to his succinct declaration. "Not bloody likely, Karkaroff." She spat at him, her laugh entirely devoid of humour as she looked at him. His utter lack of consideration or remorse stated plainly on his face. He truly thought himself the leader of their operation, and perhaps he was in many ways, but Claire's pride simply wouldn't stand for it.

With a wide stepped stance, Casimir looked about ready to take over the world. Or, a whole fleet single-handledly. Claire despised his confidence, mostly because she felt dwarfed in his shadow. She stopped beside him, still seething over his comment when he opened his mouth once again, belittling her in such a way that it stung like a fresh wound. "You are..." Claire's nostrils flared, her back teeth grinding as she felt the urge to push him down the steep incline rear its ugly head. "You know what, I'm not even going to say it." She turned her nose up at him and looked down at the castle below.

"To be quite frank, Casimir, I don't care what you say." Claire declared with remarkably eloquence, given her foaming anger. "I'm going down there with, or without your blessing." She carried on, her eyes wide and very serious. Fingers itching towards her wand, should she need to fight for her place. "I know you'd rather be here alone, and perhaps if you were you'd die alone." She said with an unnatural cheer. "However, unfortunately for me, I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Pulling at the cuff of her dragon hide cloak, she scoffed again and started after him when he marched away. Peddling her legs to keep in time with his, she'd already told him she wasn't a side-kick, she couldn't drag behind. Taking out her wand, she muttered a small detection spell to check for possible unfriendlies hiding in the underbrush. Or, even any traps laid before them untampered by more complex concealment. All the while, she eyed Casimir angrily in her peripheral.

"To collect, maybe." She answered, her nose wrinkling. "But, not necessarily to fight for it, otherwise they wouldn't have sent me with you!" She snapped, frustrated that he could be so arrogant and so dismissive towards her. It stung her pride immensely. "Oh, get over yourself." She huffed, rolling her eyes as she stomped in the opposite direction, she heading to the left of the castle, Casimir towards the right. "If I required your leadership, I would have asked for it." She spat at him over her shoulder. "Try not to get killed!" She called towards him, her wand scanning the area as she went towards the left side. "Or do," She added under her breath, though perhaps not from the distance she thought. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

There was something amusing about watching her get so worked up, especially over such small and spare comments. Cas had grown up in a masquerade, where every emotion was tightly controlled and everybody stepped purposefully. There were no random comments, no unplanned decisions, nothing that could upset the delicate balance pureblood society had found after the end of the last Wizarding War. Claire was nothing like that. He could read every emotion on her face – her climbing anger visible through her words, the clear frustration in her eyes and the set of her mouth. She was brutally honest, the type who never held anything back. He could imagine it was an easier quality to admire when one was standing next to it as opposed to being the target.

Still, there would be a need to distinguish between idle threats and her actual red lines. Cas and his siblings had been raised with restraint, and every word spoken had a deep resolve to it. He would never promise anything that he didn’t intend to see through. But from this brief exchange, he had the instinct that sometimes Claire’s threats exceeded her intention to act – her bark had proven to be quite loud, but it was yet to be determined how bad her bite was. “It might be better to die in silence than in this chatter,” he muttered to himself as Claire continued on about his preference to be here alone and her responsibility to ensure it didn’t happen. He couldn’t remember any of his cursebreaking partners talking this much singlehandedly – although he was usually able to silence any small talk during critical moments with a dark look. He supposed Claire was an example of how Ana might have turned out if she had been raised with no filter. That thought gave him chills.

Cas resisted the urge to roll his eyes again and instead focused on his Occlumency exercises to keep a blank expression and a cool head. A new site was no place to lose his temper, and he needed to focus carefully on scanning the perimeter and identifying the easiest point of access. It had been a few years at this point since the last time he had done it professionally, but seven years of constantly moving from place to place and applying the same charms had ingrained it into unconscious thought. Still, before the two separated, Cas stopped Claire from turning left by placing a firm hand on her arm. He looked down at her intently. “It might occur to you,” Cas began in a low tone, “that you have no idea what I’ve fought for.” The attack he had helped prevent on that druid community flit through his mind, as well as every encounter he’d ever faced – with competing treasure hunters, with pureblood rivals, with distrustful Order members. He let her go without saying anything further and turned to survey the outer wall, pulling out his wand in a smooth movement.

Now that he wasn’t facing her directly, he allowed himself to roll his eyes at her last muttered comment. She truly had an astounding amount of confidence for someone with such little experience. He couldn’t imagine why the Order had paired them together, except that Harry must’ve been punishing him for something. Cas raised his wand and murmured a few of the most common spells used by cursebreakers – charms to reveal a location’s defenses, as well as any lingering magic. He watched closely as a mosaic of colors began to spread over the wall, revealing the web of spells the last owner had left behind. Cas made a derisive sound. “Sloppy. They must have been in a rush,” he observed out-loud as the streams of red and blue coiled around each other. He continued a slow path along the right side of the castle, studying the wall and ignoring Claire completely. “Finite Incantatem,” he murmured experimentally, attacking a particularly vicious-looking curse. He looked over at Claire, and decided it might be amusing to watch her seethe some more. So he raised his voice to call out, “I can assist you if you’re having trouble dispelling these curses.”

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

JUST AS CLAIRE MADE TO MOVE IN HER OWN direction, quite satisfied with her comments, a hand stalled her retreat. His grip firm, but not restraining. Its steadying weight stuttering her steps so that she snapped her head to look up at him. What she found melted the words from her mouth, his stare pinning her in place as his own barely moved. Just enough for her to hear what he was saying, the gentle inflection like an expertly aimed blow.

Claire would typically have something scathing to say, but he'd caught her unaware. Her mouth hanging open slightly, the breath suspended there as his words sunk in to her chest. He was right. So infuriatingly right. She had no idea what he had fought for. It was a sobering, humiliating revelation. She pulled her arm from his grip, clamping her mouth shut and turning away from him. He had succeeded in mortally wounding her pride. It left her momentarily speechless. She hated it.

Her retreat became more of an escape this time. Eager to remove herself from the intensity of his stare. Like he was using Legilimens to crack open the meat of her mind. She did not care to be seen by such an arrogant man. Distance offered a new perspective and Claire could focus on disarming the various hexes that cloaked the castle. Really, she might have allowed Cas to do this on his own. It was, after all, his speciality. However, she was far too stubborn and began to meticulously pick apart the mass webbing of a dozen wards and curses layered along the left side of the castle's wall.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Cas's figure moving with frightening speed. His wand never ceasing its ministrations. Claire felt the need to speed up, to beat him in some way, even if she knew it was near impossible. She was better at hand-to-hand combat. However, when his lilting voice raised to meet her across the space she froze again. It was becoming a weapon in and of itself. "Oh, would you bloody well shut up!" She snapped at him shrilly, her hair flicking as she turned her head, inadvertently brushing the exposed brick of the castles wall.

Immediately, the strands melted in to the stonework, pulling Claire's head towards it viciously so that it caught her breath. She gasped a half scream, her dominant hand coming up to snatch at the locks before they pulled her entire upper body in to the castles stone innards. Panic seized in her chest, dispelling any previous pride or ego as her dominant hand and wand were swallowed by the curse layering the wall. One she hadn't gotten around to disarming, apparently. "Cas!" She screamed, her arm consumed up to the crook of her elbow, the hair pulled in almost to her scalp. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

The routine of disarming the castle’s magical defenses was comfortingly familiar to Cas, and the longer he spent fluidly running through the motions (and without an incessant flow of chatter in his ear), the faster he could work as his body began to remember. He’d been trained for this, after all – quickly identifying whether he was working with a charm, a curse, or a Transfiguration, then deftly applying the right counterspell to disarm it. It had never been his favorite part of the job – Cas’s interest usually rose to the surface after finding the artifact he’d been sent to retrieve – but a hidden corner of his heart ached at the reminder of what his life had been like once…and how easy it was to fall back into it. It was too dangerous to allow your mind to wander during an assignment, so Cas didn’t let himself indulge in the speculation that in another life, he might never had had to give it up. That was an idle thought, and one that didn’t do him any good to dwell on. He could hear Claire’s snappy response in the distance – briefly glancing over to observe the choppy wand movements of a beginner – before he rolled his eyes and turned back to a particularly tangled web of spells. Cas had barely begun to prod at the knot when a strangled scream broke his concentration yet again.

Annoyed at the interruption, he was tempted to ignore what must only be the start of another tantrum, but the urgency in the way she screamed his name compelled him to look over – and what he saw sent him running. Claire had accidentally stumbled onto a fast-acting curse, and he knew from experience that the first seconds were critical. He latched onto her free arm tightly to provide a steady anchor for himself, although Cas hesitated after raising his wand – he had learned of a specific, very powerful countercurse from Gringotts, but it could only be performed in the first few moments of a curse’s activation. It wasn’t used so frequently by cursebreakers unless they’d been assigned to East Asia, and it had already been some years since Cas had last used the incantation. The words finally came to him after a moment’s struggle, but his hesitation meant he had missed the window of opportunity to use it. Cas began to swear profusely as the countercurse bounced off the wall and shot back towards him. He ignored the searing pain left by the spell as it made contact with his wand arm and instead immediately shifted to a different, if not slightly more unorthodox, strategy.

Relashio as a spell wasn’t strong enough to defeat such a damaging curse, but Cas quickly shot one, two, three separate attempts towards the wall until Claire’s momentum gradually began to slow and then reverse. He then dropped Claire’s arm to grip her hair and hastily cast a cutting charm. It left her hair jaggedly cut short (not that he had the time or mental capacity for a cleaner attempt) and Cas quickly dragged her back and away from the wall as her wand arm began to emerge again. Once they were a few feet away, Cas quickly let her drop to the ground so he could return to handle the curse, which was still activated and beginning to emit red sparks. This scenario was more familiar to him, and his muscle memory kicked in as Cas cycled through a cursebreaker’s typical selection process to find the right counterspell. Eventually the curse dissipated and Cas was left heavily breathing in front of the wall, before he spun around quickly to face Claire. Even as he struggled to catch his breath, the disapproval in his tone bled through clearly. “Hair down…rookie mistake,” he panted, finally feeling his breathing begin to even out again. “Aurors always sounded more intimidating in the stories we were told,” he muttered darkly to himself as he stalked away to return to his section of wall. He had never babied his trainees at Gringotts, and he didn’t see the need to start now with soft questions like if she was hurt or if she needed anything. Merlin, he couldn't guess why they'd sent such a green Auror to do a curse-breaker's job. They still had to finish disarming the worst protective enchantments before they could enter, and Cas was itching to see what was inside. He had no patience for amateur mistakes.

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

PANIC WAS NOT AN EMOTION CLAIRE WAS unfamiliar with. She knew it well enough to know that she hated it. Memories of long nights spent curled in her Gryffindor dorm room with a metaphorical boot on her sternum. This was different, but chillingly familiar. Her heart hammering and thoughts scrambling as her hair and her shoulder were wrenched towards the wall. The bone-chill of the stone interior fading to a bruising numbness as she yanked desperately at it.

For a moment, between the first pull of her hair and the screech she had let out, Claire thought Cas would leave her. Let the wall gobble her up to teach the Order a lesson for sending her out with him. Soon enough, though, his presence was undeniable as his arm looped hers and she gripped him for dear life. A part of her thought terribly, 'if I'm going, he's going with me'. Her eyes large and frightened as he seemed to ruminate over counter-curses.

"Oh sure!" She croaked as her arm disappeared almost to the shoulder. Soon enough it would be her face and she shuddered at the thought. Seized at the thought of breathlessness. "Take your time! Read a book!" She chastised him, hoarse with panic as she forgot what her fingers felt like. Couldn't even begin to wriggle them. He appeared no less concentrated, her free fingers digging deep in to the meat of his shoulder blade as she clung for dear life.

Eventually, the wall stopped pulling her, but didn't immediately release. "I thought you were good at this." Claire hissed at him, goading all the more as her fear made her temper rise. Much to her almighty relief the effects did begin to reverse but not before Casmir lifted his wand and cut a large shank of her hair from the stubborn wall, releasing her head with a snap and causing Claire to hiccup with shock. Her mouth slung open as he pulled her free from the wall finally and she dropped to the ground without grace.

Tailbone throbbing, Claire was frozen on the damp grass as she watched Cas dismantle the curse she had missed. The one that had almost encased her in stone. Just a few swishes of his brittle wand, like it was nothing. Like she wasn't even there. Her chest was heaving, arm bruised right down to her wand which she still gripped with white knuckles. She couldn't feel it yet, too overwhelmed by the fury and the humiliation of fumbling under Casmir's critical gaze. When he finally turned to her, she flinched, but her jaw sharpened.

When he spoke, it was not to ask if her arm had been broken. Not even to consider if the curse had clung to her skin, crushing her bone to dust. Just a comment about her hair, the shorn piece tickling her cheekbone, where it hung unevenly. Claire couldn't help it when her leg kicked out, missing Cas's shin by mere centimetres as she ground her teeth mercilessly. "I hate you." She breathed hotly, loathing bleeding from her eyes as she stared up at him. She felt no bigger or better than a lonely blade of grass. Crushed flat under Cas's storming boots as he turned away from her to complete the job. As if she wasn't even there.

With his back turned, Claire could finally feel ugly bruising all down her arm. Her scalp stinging where her hair had been yanked at the root. She got to her feet slowly, switching her wand to her non-dominant hand as she held the other close to her side. A part of her wanted to go to him, to show him how she compared to those stories by planting her fist in his gut. Instead, she sniffed once and turned back to the wall that had caused all of her problems, picking apart the curses one-handed until the wall seemed to groan and shift, stones crumbling without the heavy weight of warding curses to hold them up. She felt it when they were gone, the air bled of that coarse electricity.

Somewhere behind her head, a bird began to sing, as if in jubilance. Claire stepped back, watching as a door wavered in to focus between where she stood and Cas was mounted like a sentinel. Casting a side-long look at him, Claire refrained from telling him she would go first. She didn't possess the composure to break breath to him just then - hatred oozing like poison from her pores. She let him go first, caring no more about protecting her partner. Her arm ached in agreement. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

In the heat of the crisis, the entire world narrowed to Cas and this curse, and his years of experience navigating and surviving much worse. Those ancient civilizations had risen and fallen centuries, millennia, before any cursebreakers encountered their crumbling ruins, but if there was one thing that Cas had learned about human nature – it was that the best and worst of humanity, its intentions to protect or seek retribution, could survive even the collapse of their entire world. And if he had survived all of that – curses older than nations, temples that had survived hurricanes and pillagers and plague, then he would not be defeated today by a castle that barely registered as ‘old’ on the radar of a cursebreaker.

Claire’s hissed comments were easy to ignore, if only because that and everything around him had become a sort of buzzing in the background while Cas focused on his encyclopedic knowledge of counter-curses. He readily ignored her as he tightened his grip on her arm and shot off beams of red light from his wand to loosen the curse’s hold on Claire – although by the time he started pulling her away, it may have been a tad more roughly than necessary. The buzzing finally began to recede, just in time for one of Claire’s nasty comments that she’d thought he was good at this. Cas rolled his eyes. “Tell me,” he grunted as he began to drag her away from the wall, “Is this the same technique you use when catching Dark wizards?” With that small dig, he dropped her unceremoniously on the ground.

If he had perceived her as any sort of threat, Cas would have been reluctant to turn his back on her. As it was, her childish comment and even more immature attempt to kick him was enough for him to widen his eyes in shock before narrowing them slightly. He would have expected the reaction from a schoolgirl, although even then he had never seen anything of the sort from Ana. She had always known better than to kick or scream, and her rebellions came across in other – more subtle, more clever – ways. “Fine,” he huffed at her declaration. He was tempted to grab her leg as she attempted to kick him in the shin, if only to see what she would do next. But he resisted the temptation and added, “Next time I’ll let the wall swallow you. See if I care.” He promptly turned around and returned to the wall without further ado to work more calmly on untangling the curse, although he was still internally fuming. Harry must be punishing him for something or had a twisted sense of humor – it was the only reasonable explanation for why this encounter had ever happened at all.

Cas could feel the moment they had finally untangled the web of curses enough to watch them dissipate completely. It charged the air with the raw sensation of magic, and he felt it course through his veins like a sudden injection of adrenaline. It was an addicting feeling, the sort of high cursebreakers spent most of their time chasing. It didn’t compare to Hy-Brasil, with the entire island soaked in the sensation and coursing with the electricity of magic in its purest form. But it was close, the closest one could find in a world of wizards increasingly changed and affected by the Muggle world alongside it, separated by only the thinnest of barriers. He breathed a small sigh of relief – one obstacle down. One step closer to breaching the castle and discovering this artifact the Order had sent them to retrieve. And, he thought bitterly, one step closer to never having to see Claire Slater again.

He glanced sideways at Claire to test whether it would trigger one of her many objections, but after a moment’s silence turned to approach the new doorway cautiously. He probed the air with his wand, muttering under his breath as he searched for signs of magic that would impede their entry. It was as coated in magic as the walls had been, so Cas ignored any obvious targets to attempt to gain entry – the doorknob, the lock. Instead he diverted his gaze first to the frame and then to the hinges, crouching to examine them more closely. Those were both made with a heavy metal and infused with anti-theft charms to prevent anyone from simply taking them off. Cas considered the situation a moment longer before tapping his wand decisively and applying a rusting charm to every hinge. It wasn’t as flashy as breaking down the door, but it was effective. After a few minutes of letting his charm do its work, Cas pushed experimentally on one of the eroded hinges and watched it crumble away. After that it was easy enough to bypass the most fearsome curses on the lock itself by ignoring them completely and pushing the door to collapse inward. He straightened and turned back to Claire. “Last chance to turn back,” he drawled, peering into the castle. Cas then lit his wand and took a careful step until he was just inside the doorway – despite the brightness outside, he could barely see more than a few feet ahead of him.

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

'...THE SAME TECHNIQUE YOU USE WHEN CATCHING DARK WIZARDS?' The words danced around Claire's consciousness long after Casimir had gone back over to his own corner. Even after they curses had been stripped clean from the crumbling stone and a door emerged, she felt the sting of the insinuation. Claire was often prideful, but she'd always considered herself a genuinely competent auror. However, working alongside Casimir had quickly left her feeling lacklustre. It was a wound she did not know how to heal.

Approaching the doorway cautiously, Claire did not appreciate the renewed proximity to Casimir. Studiously ignoring his presence as she eyed the ancient fixings on the door, flecking rust on the dying grass around it. Only when he spoke did Claire deign to turn her face, stiff with discomfort and dislike as she curled her lip at him, "Are you going to shut up and go in?" He didn't appear fazed in the slightest as he took the lead, his wand barely illuminating a step in front of him as he ventured inside.

The air was stale and cold. Compressed and old, so that Claire pinched her lips together and breathed shallowly. It reeked of dark magic, she thought. Considering that it could have been because of the sheer force of dark wards that had blanketed the place. Claire wasn't so sure, though, as the further they entered the worse the feeling became. Sticky like tar and cloying at the back of her throat, she felt a yawning in her gut, like she might like to lie down and cry. It had nothing to do with her wounded pride, she realised and her head dropped as she scanned the uneven ground before them.

Cas had come to the top of a set of stairs, of which sloped steep in to the belly of the castle. But, Claire wasn't interested as she searched for the source of that horrible despair that threatened her. By the door, just behind them, a cluster of rocks were nestled innocuously. Claire's eyes widening minutely before she pointed her wand and declared all at once, "Pogrebins!" Just as the rocks seemed to shift and separate - as if shaken awake.

Claire slung stunning charms towards them, felling many, but a few were quick in their pursuit. She knocked against Casimir's back slightly as a small pogrebin dodged her and rushed her ankles, razor sharp teeth clamping down on the meat of her ankle. Claire kicked out viciously with a curse, sending it flailing through the air before she stunned it flat on the ground. It was a small inconvenience, but Claire's ankle ached anyway. "Move, before I stun you!" She hissed at Cas, elbowing him in the back as she stunned the last pogrebin, leaving a trail of immobile bodies scattered across the gaping entrance. "There's a lot of dark magic here," She declared with a prickling shiver up the back of her neck. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

He thought it was somewhat rich for Claire Slater to instruct him to shut up, but Cas was much too intrigued by the dark entryway to respond with a biting remark. Instead, he chose his new favorite technique when it came to dealing with Claire – ignoring her completely – and eyed the passageway that lay ahead. He lit his wand with a murmur and held it up, studying the musty tapestries, already eaten through by moths, and the floor of the hallway, lined deeply with dirt and cobwebs. With a small flick of his wand, Cas sent a general probing spell ahead, which to his surprise didn’t encounter any obstacles. At the very least, there were no other spells guarding the doorway with hexes and curses to ward off thieves. How unusual. With careful movements, Cas slowly entered, leaving Claire to scramble in behind him. He swept his feet, searching for hidden triggers or unnoticeable holes, and kept a tight grip on his wand as he continued inside. The farther he got without any resistance, the more on-edge he became. This was unusual, very unusual. In ancient tombs and temples, it was almost impossible to go more than five steps without encountering some complicated booby trap or dormant curse. But things were quiet here and he was able to proceed without triggering anything at all. Cas was so focused on the conundrum, he didn’t notice any of the warning signs. The deep sense of despair and hopelessness that permeated through the musty air. The quiet rustling sounds, the strange shadows that flickered off the wall.

He was jolted out of his concentration by Claire’s startled declaration – and then he realized exactly what he had missed, a moment too late. As a cursebreaker, he was well-versed in curses and their counter-spells. He had encountered so many dark forms of magic, from Scourers in America to the ancient Egyptians’ burial practices to the fierce protection spells that coated old Persian temples. Magic he knew intimately, like it was an old friend. But magical creatures? He had never encountered any such things. Why would he – as a pureblood who had grown up in a household where everything was handled by staff, in a school that specialized in Dark magic above everything else, in two career paths that were immersed in magic-infused areas where creatures couldn’t possibly survive? No, he had no experience with magical creatures, and he froze as Claire immediately moved into action to stun any pogrebin she could find.

Cas stared wide-eyed at the oncoming onslaught, frozen until Claire hissed at him to move. He automatically stepped backward, raising his wand uncertainly to fire a few warning shots at the small but quick creatures. He was used to tight deadlines and split-second decisions, but nothing like this. He realized quickly that he wasn’t firing spells at nearly a fast enough rate to keep up with the approaching creatures, and they quickly caught up to him as Claire whipped her wand through a small group on the other side of the passage. They bit at his feet and ankles, and Cas eventually stumbled and fell backward onto the hard stone floor. He raised his wand hastily, but it wasn’t necessary – Claire hadn’t hesitated, and she quickly dispatched the last of the nasty little creatures with a few well-aimed spells.

Breathing heavily, Cas was still in a state of semi-shock at what had just happened. How could it be that in all his years of cursebreaking, he had never encountered a group of magical pests? How had he missed the warning signs? Worst of all, how had he been saved by an upstart young Auror that thought she knew everything? He was broken out of his reverie by Claire’s declaration – ‘there’s a lot of dark magic here.’ Cas rolled his eyes and snapped back sarcastically, “No, really?” It was unusual for him to succumb to the childish impulse, but he was still rattled. He got up hastily, wiping his dusty hands on his pants and raising his wand again. He marched past Claire without another word, already dreading the inevitable gloating he was going to hear about his paralysis when faced with magical creatures. A weakness in his skill-set, one he hadn’t realized before now. He kicked one of the Stunned pogrebins in his frustration and then continued forward. He stopped only twice, the first time to send off another spell to probe for curses, and the second to examine a tapestry that held all the signs of a secret passage behind it. Clear evidence that it had been moved often, judging by the seemingly random places where the fabric was worn through from being handled too much, as well as hints of a breeze that had no clear source. He shoved aside the tapestry in aggravation to confirm his suspicion. “I can hear you smirking,” he suddenly snapped at Claire, turning to her with a stony face. “Congratulations, you’re an expert in magical pests. You must’ve gotten the experience from staring into the mirror every morning.”

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

THERE WAS LITTLE IMMEDIATE TIME TO GLOAT. Though Claire still preened with satisfaction as she heard the hard thump of Casimir's heavy feet as he stumbled and fell to the ground, his wand work jilted - aim shoddy as he subdued few of the pest-like creatures. Not before they took a few nasty chunks from both of their ankles in the meantime. The roles had been thoroughly reversed. Casimir might unbuckle the most stubborn defensive curses, but he was no match for the nasty little buggers.

Claire stepped over the immobilised body of a pogrebin and watched through her lashes as Casimir got back on to his feet. Petulant in his reply, but her mood could not be immediately dampened. He stormed down the stairs shortly after, leaving Claire to follow behind him once more. Though not before he sent the body of a pogrebin sailing across the open space. Claire snorted in to her collar. Her wand at the ready, though her aches and pains had all but vanished in the ensuing flood of adrenaline and self-satisfaction. He stopped short at the bottom, once his pesky little probes had ran the length of the dark innards. Reeling around on her suddenly, far too close for Claire's taste.

Head rearing back slightly, Claire did not drop the smirk that curled the corners of her mouth. She didn't even immediately reply, though his words clawed at her angrily and with great effect. "Tell me..." She murmured after a long moment, tongue dashing across her bottom lip as if to steel herself for her next reply. "Is that the same technique you use when breaking curses, curse-breaker?" She recalled his previous barb with worrying clarity, turning it on him in a similar blow to the ego.

They were toe-to-toe, which was becoming eerily familiar as time went on. Claire reached up to brush a cluster of crumbling stone from the shoulder of his robes, moving to slide out of the gap he had closed her in, their chests brushing as she passed him and turned her back on him. Unable to wipe the smirk from her face as she did. "I think we'd get along a lot better," Claire began, rocking on her heels absently. Wand lifted to illuminating the draughty, moth-eaten space before them. "If you started treating me like an equal." 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

If Claire was annoying when she acted childishly, then she was positively infuriating when she gloated. As the pair resumed walking, she had an added little spring to her step like Christmas had come early, and when he whirled around to face her, it was to take in the sight of a satisfied smirk crossing her pale face and a gleam in her eyes that he wasn’t quite sure he liked. The narrow and winding passageway meant that the distance had been significantly closed between them, and they stood practically nose-to-nose as Cas gazed down at her with eyes narrowed in irritation. He had thought his last comment might provoke her – she might stomp her foot, or her lips would purse with displeasure before she would blurt out some half-baked insult. That would help center him, remind him who was the rational player and who was the hothead.

But the smirk on her face told a different story, and Cas’s heart pounded at her opening remark that suggested a biting, witty remark on its way. She didn’t disappoint, and all at once her presence shifted. She wasn’t the childish little Auror playing with things far too big for her to understand anymore. No, Claire radiated a cool confidence as her fingers brushed his shoulder lightly and she turned his own words against him. Cas felt himself flush – whether in anger or embarrassment, he didn’t know – and his eyes flicked downward for only a moment as he caught himself scrambling for something to say. That was unusual – he was always in control of the moment. It was rare to catch Cas off-guard, and he immensely disliked the feeling of being caught off-balance. He gazed down at Claire, his hand automatically shooting out to capture hers before she could move away – he wasn’t used to being touched, and certainly not when he hadn’t initiated it first. His head finally stopped spinning long enough for him to ground himself again, and when he finally spoke again his voice had dropped to match her low tone. “I think you’ve already seen my technique,” he murmured in return, releasing her hand so he could lightly run his fingers through her choppy, now much shorter hair. If that couldn’t draw a reaction out of her, then absolutely nothing could, and Cas allowed the distance between them to grow before she could get any brilliant ideas like trying to hit him.

She had gone to illuminate the secret passage he had uncovered, and Cas moved curiously (although at a careful distance from Claire out of arms-reach) to look into the pitch-black archway. His expression was serious, features drawn in deep concentration as he raised his wand to examine the entrance for any runes or signs of what the passage might hold. A few swipes of his wand uncovered a thin blue residue of magic that lingered over the doorway, although Cas felt himself relax at the familiar sensation of preservation spells meant to repel rust and water and aging. So there was something worth protecting from time and the elements, was there? That thought was broken at Claire’s last words demanding he treat her like an equal, and Cas raised an eyebrow at her. “Earn it first,” he informed her frankly, running his fingers along one end of the archway and turning away from her to watch the weak spell dissipate. “Preservation spells. There could be anything down there. Most capable goes in first, I think,” he murmured, eyes fixated on the darkness ahead. He didn’t even pause a beat before walking in, mind already off Claire and focused on whatever mysteries awaited them down the hall.

Claire Evangeline Slater

[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JULY, 2023

THERE WAS A MOMENT WHERE CLAIRE FELT SHE had maybe bested Casimir. His superior expression slipping as she'd faced him and questioned his competency, much like he had done to her just previously. It had felt beyond good, buzzing in the back of her head with the fading adrenaline. This, of course, was a naïve train of thought. She should have known he would not simply let her walk away, but Claire was still shocked when he grabbed her wrist to stop her sweeping, smug clearing of his robes.

Claire's skin burned where he touched her, callused fingers rough but shockingly hot to touch. Her smirk faltered momentarily and she pulled gently, but did not scatter nervously. Too stubborn to relent in the wake of his retort. He let go of her hand quick enough, but she felt the blistering after-effect long after. Frozen in place as that same hand lifted and gently brushed the hank of hair he had disengaged from the curse outside. A hot flush burned in her face and chest, head pulling back in surprise as she stared at him. His voice was so soft it felt shockingly intimate.

Claire swallowed roughly, her skin tingling with shame and proximity. She had known he was a bitter adversary and that he had no respect for her as a partner, but this felt different. It was no longer a biting judgement of her capabilities, but a duelling response. He met her energy and outdone her, leaving her feeling cold as his pulled away and she turned away from him. Her skin hot and too tight, like she needed to step out of it and breathe. Unable to do so when he was there, just standing at her back. She was no longer smug. Oh, how she hated him.

Staring at the cold, damp room she illuminated, Claire spat her request at him over her shoulder. It was met with cool indifference and her skin blazed with humiliation as he mounted himself on a pedestal. "I didn't know you were royalty," Claire retorted, her gaze pinned on stone inscription that ran the upper length of the room. It was in a language she did not immediately recognise, almost like old, inactive runes. "God, you're such a pompous piece of shit." She cursed a little too loudly, keeping her distance as she tried to decipher where she had seen such runes before.

Eventually, Claire had to gravitate back to Casimir's side. He had picked apart the spells that draped the passageway and Claire could not figure out the runes around them. She kept a calculated distance from him, her gaze shifting to those callused hands briefly before she cleared her throat and averted her gaze back to the arch as he declared himself the most capable and lurched forward. "By all means, your highness!" She crowed sarcastically, sweeping her hands. "Would you like me to lay out the red carpet while I'm on your tail?" She added, curling her free hand in to a claw as if to mime grabbing him viciously, teeth gritted. 

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!