Continuing the Investigation [open]

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan was not happy to be in Azkaban. He was not here because of any sentencing. He had done nothing wrong. He was just here to collect any statements from the guards regarding the case of an escaped prisoner almost two months ago. And he was trying to find some more information regarding his current case. He had already been here several times and collected statements and he was sure that nothing new would come up of this trip, but he felt like something was missing. He wanted to make sure that the ministry was well prepared because the second any news leaked out to the public about the escaped prisoner, mass chaos would ensue. Tristan had to be sure that they were prepared to know what was going on and when they caught the escaped prisoner, they would be able to bring him to justice. 

Tristan was also well read on the case that had caused the prisoner to go to jail. Guilty of the murder of Josh Chambers, an auror, nearly 8 years ago. Tristan never knew this Josh but he knew that the auror was a very good friend of Kelly Evans and thus this case had become a personal matter for Tristan. He was going to make sure that this prisoner was found and brought to justice. He was going to be appropriately punished for both his crime and for escaping. And anyone who was an accomplice was going to be punished as well. Tristan would have no mercy. He had a bit of a personal reason that motivated him. His own father was murdered by a death eater when he was just eleven years old. He wanted to show the world that murders do not get away with their crimes. 

Tristan stood in front of the cell where the prisoner once was. He had seen this place so many times both in pictures and in person. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, starting fresh. He needed a fresh approach and a chance to try something new. He needed something, anything, that would keep him from this winding circle of unanswered questions. 

[Charlie Hamilton]

Charlie thanked the guard that had been on duty the night that the killer of Joshua Chambers escaped, turning to leave the guard room once his interview was over. He'd been assigned this case since Auror Chambers, wife of the late Joshua Chambers, had been deemed too close to the case to be the lead investigator. Not that she had liked that decision one bit. Charlie's lips curved into a small grin as he remembered her tantrum, though he understood where she was coming from. Charlie liked Hermione a lot, she was a good Auror and a great witch, and though she kept a lot to herself, he imagined they had a lot in common.

Making his way down the long line of narrow cells in this particular block in Azkaban, Charlie's eyebrows lifted at the sight of a man standing in front of the cell he was heading towards. He assumed that this must be the magical lawyer that had also been assigned to the case, though Charlie wasn't quite sure who he was supposed to be defending; the Ministry of Magic didn't particularly need to be defended in a case of an escaped prisoner. But he swallowed his questions for the time being, and as he neared the man held out his hand with a quick smile.

"Charlie Hamilton, nice to meet you. You must be the lawyer." His words had a quiet bite to them, but he didn't intend it...much. "I've just been talking to the guard who was on duty the night of the escape, I assume you've read up on the case? I know you lot are under the pump with all the different cases." Charlie hadn't known Joshua Chambers personally, as he'd died before Charlie had moved to London and joined the Ministry, but he remembered Kat spoke of him fondly, and thought that if they'd known one another, they might have been good friends.

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan jumped slightly at the sound of another voice approaching him. He turned and smiled at the man who was now standing there who introduced himself as Charlie Hamilton. He took his hand to shake. "Hello there, Mr. Hamilton. I'm Tristan Clarke and yes I'm the lawyer," he said with a smile. He had heard the name before and knew that this was the man who had now been assigned to the case as well. So it was likely that the two of them would be working together moving forward. "Yes, I am quite familiar with what has been going on here. My assignment has been to collect statements and evidence." 

He then leaned closer to Hamilton so that what was shared between the two of them could not be heard by anyone else. "There are certain claims that the escaped convict might have made some statements prior to his escape that could potentially be damning to the ministry if they were revealed," Tristan said in a lower voice. "So between you and me, a lot of what I'm doing here is to cover the ministry's own butt."

The convict that been claiming for years that he in fact was Josh Chambers, the man who had been murdered. Of course, no one would believe such a lie as it would make sense for a convict to do whatever was necessary to be free. However, because after his escape the ministry had asked Tristan to get all the evidence fresh "in case of a potential lawsuit against the ministry" Tristan began to wonder if there may have been a chance of truth in that. What could the ministry be so worried about that they employed one of their lawyers to dedicate so much of his time to this case so early? Why had they not revealed to the public that an Azkaban prisoner has escaped? There was too much going on behind the scenes that did not seem right. As he continued to read through the cases from 8 years ago and talk to the guards about the night of the escape and complete his own little side investigation, Tristan had made one observation that he had not yet revealed to anyone. Someone had to have helped this convict escape. That meant someone may have believed him. 

Charlie looked like a guy that could be trusted but he also worked for the ministry. Perhaps as they worked together and shared information, Tristan could use him as an ally to bring justice to this case. That was really what was important to him, more than anything else. He then backed up and spoke at a normal volume again. "I'm very much looking forward to working with you, Mr. Hamilton," he said. "Something doesn't seem right with this case and I really want to figure out what's going on."

[Charlie Hamilton]

Charlie shook Tristan's hand with his eyebrows raised. "Damning against the Ministry?" he repeated, glancing around the corridor at the cell block. The guards weren't too close by them, but Charlie knew that other prisoners liked to talk as much as the guards did. "You and me both, Tristan," he commented, liking the man already. Charlie could tell that though Tristan had been recruited by the Ministry to look after the Ministry, the man wasn't going to dance exactly to their tune. 

He gestured with his head that the pair should walk back up the corridor and towards the offices, away from the cells, and set off slowly. "What kinds of things are being said?" he asked Tristan, who had followed his lead. "I've read up on the case since I got back from Europe and it just doesn't add up to me. After eight years this person, a convicted killer, manages to break out of Azkaban? Even without the Dementors, it's still one of the most tightly guarded prison in the United Kingdom."

Charlie paused at one of the guard offices and poked his head in; it was empty, so he decided to appropriate it for his current need. He drew two chairs and sat down in one of them, before glancing back up at Tristan. "I read that over the past eight years the prisoner had made requests to see Straw Buckett and Hermione Chambers, Josh Chambers' widow. And that he had continually declared that he was Josh Chambers, and had been falsely imprisoned. What do you make of that?'

[Straw Buckett]

“Did someone say my name?” interrupted Straw as he entered the office. Straw had seen them talking moments ago when he rounded the corner and saw them walk into the office. He nodded the Charlie and took steps to form the tip of a triangle between the three of them. Straw was partnered with Charlie so he trusted him and despite knowing Tristan, Straw couldn’t help but feel his guard rise at his appearance at the prison. He thought it best to be on guard while the three of them had a brief chat.

It wasn’t normal for lawyers to be digging around like this; especially when it was such a sensitive issue with the Ministry. “Clarke!” Straw nodded, “What are you doing here?” Straw mind began to race as he anticipated Tristan’s response. Potter had tasked Charlie and him alone to work on the case so if Tristan was here for similar reasons, who had tasked him to do so?

Straw was treading shaky grounds; he needed to be extra careful when talking to Tristan, especially in front of Charlie. He was a Auror after all and had a job to do but what made this job particularly difficult is he’d never played both the suspect and enforcer before. Straw looked to Charlie, “I spoke with Lachlan, he said he was working that day and will be happy to have a chat with us in a sec.” Straw didn’t go too much into detail knowing he’d explain more to Charlie at a later stage.

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan hesitated, wondering exactly what he should say in order to both gain Charlie's trust but make sure that he did not do anything that could get back to the ministry and cost Tristan this case. He had a hunch that something did not seem right and he was not going to stop until he found out what that was. Usually his gut feelings were somewhat based in truth, and it was better to act on that hunch and find out there was nothing wrong than not do anything and miss something potentially huge. So as he followed Charlie to the office, Tristan decided to see what Charlie already knew first before offering too much information. 

And Charlie did seem to already know about the declarations the escaped prisoner. Tristan pursed his lips. "Those are the claims that prisoner 13187 kept making. While normally it was ignored as an act of desperation to escape, claiming to be Joshua Chambers, the fact that I was asked by my superiors to learn more those particular claims as well as whether Buckett or Chambers had ever answered his requests that got me a little more suspicious. It sounds like the prisoner just trying to get a ticket out of jail by making up lies but why would the ministry be so worried as to make sure that it was indeed a lie that they would send me to read through all the documents and logs over the past 8 years?

"Also, another thing," Tristan said, in a quieter voice. "I've been doing a little extra investigation on my own and I'm pretty sure ---"

He was interrupted by the arrival of Straw Buckett. He raised his eyebrows, wondering if he was here for work or out of curiosity. It did not seem like Straw would be a good auror to be put on this case considering his close relationship with the late Joshua Chambers. And the way Straw was interrogating him made Tristan wonder if he was indeed here just to learn more about the investigation. He let out a low sigh. 

"Here on official ministry business," Tristan explained. "I have a meeting with Mr. Hamilton this afternoon. But I do hope you are doing well." His tone was friendly but his eyes conveyed the message that Straw was not going to get as much information, at least not when he was so closely tied to the case. 

[Charlie Hamilton]

Charlie raised his eyebrows as Tristan confirmed much of what he assumed about the Ministry's involvement in the case; or rather, their intense desire to be seen to be not involved. Charlie's sense of there being something not quite right about the whole situation intensified as Tristan leaned forward, a serious expression on his face, and revealed he'd been doing his own digging, but before Tristan could finish explaining what his own investigation had uncovered, Straw Buckett himself walked through the door.  

"Yup, we're talking about you, Buckett. About time you got here, what'd you do, sleep in?" Charlie grinned. "Tristan and I were just going over the details of the Prisoner 13187 case with me. He's been tasked as the Ministry's official lawyer to look into the details, make sure there's been no foul play." Charlie had originally shared Tristan's thoughts about Straw being too close to this particular case to be working on it, but since they'd started the investigation together he'd changed his mind. Charlie knew Straw well enough that he was able to put aside his personal feelings and find the prisoner who had caused so much trouble. Plus, he figured that Potter had made the final call, and he didn't question it further.

Charlie could sense the tension from Tristan at Straw's arrival, and though he didn't show it, he was surprised that the lawyer would be nervous talking in front of Straw. He didn't push the question with Tristan, merely made a mental note to try and speak to him alone again at a later time. He nodded as Straw mentioned the guard that had been on duty that evening. "Good, I'm glad he's here. It will be good to talk to him. I don't know that anyone has yet, which is strange."

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan pursed his lips. "Exactly, we want to be sure of no foul play whatsoever," Tristan said. He walked a little closer to Straw, taking a good look at him up and down. "Are you involved in this case too? Or are you just coming by to make sure we're doing our jobs? Either way, I completely admire your quest for justice, especially for someone you care about so much. I just want to make it clear that I'm on your side. I want to make sure that this man is found and he is given the appropriate trial and punishment to fit his crime. So I look forward to working with you both."

Tristan gave Straw a warmer smile then. They have always been good acquaintances, having a mutual friend in Kelly Evans, but they had never really spent time together. There was something about Straw that just sort of irked Tristan. Perhaps it was the age difference (though it made no sense since Kelly was the same age as Straw. Perhaps it was because she was more mature), but he could not put his finger on it. Now that he had some thoughts and gut feelings about the auror, he was even more cautious in how he approached Straw.

"I saw in the log books that you had come to visit Prisoner 13187 a few times, Buckett. So I'm sure you heard his claims that he was not the person that we thought he was. I can't even imagine how horrible that must have sounded, for someone to pretend to be your friend," Tristan began. "I'm just curious if he has said anything else to you, if he had spoken to Auror Chambers, whom he was also trying to get in contact with. Or if he spoke of wanting to escape or ways he could escape. Anything you might have to help us figure out exactly what had happened would be awesome." 

[Straw Buckett]

Straw watched as an over confident Tristan strolled over and began to look him up and down. Straw frowned as the man monologue in front of him.

“Alright Clarke, I got it,” stated started Straw taking a step past Tristan and towards Charlie, the man was already too close for comfort and Straw didn’t like it. “I’m glad to here it, it’s just odd that the Ministry would send a lawyer when they’ve already got two Aurors on the job?” Straw stood crossing his arms next to Charlie. “Why are you here? Charlie and I have been given the case, I’m just running a little late cos I had to confirm our next appointment with one of the guards.”

There was something odd about Tristan today. Straw wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong with him but was sure the guy was hiding something. His attitude was enough to send Straw’s spidey sensors tinglingly, especially after he’d just tried to size him up. Straw was much taller and a bigger build than Tristan and wouldn’t haven’t any issues over powering the guy if he needed to but It was Tristan’s tone and the way he was looking at him. It was as if Tristan knew more about Straw’s involvement than he was letting on. Straw didn’t want to assume anything but couldn’t help but feel slightly defensive around Tristan.

“So why aren’t we having this interview back at headquarters?” Straw now looked to Charlie wondering if he too thought it was odd to be talking in Azkaban instead of an office. “And why didn’t you tell me we were meeting Tristan?” Straw wondered out loud again now turning to his partner.

Straw looked back to Tristan as he quested Straw’s visits to Prisoner 13187. “Yes I had heard these admissions. I’ve been ignoring them and just putting it down to insanity” Straw shrugged. “But enough was enough and I paid him a visit.” Straw admitted with a shrug, “With the nearing anniversary of Josh’s death and Hermione due to come home, I thought I’d take it upon myself to shut him up really. As you can understand yes it is a sensitive topic and I didn’t want this getting to Hermione during this delicate month. So I visited him, we spoke and he just rambled and dribbled. The man was crazy and I made sure he knew that for as long as I was around, he’d spend the rest of his life in jail rotting,” Straw voice was serious and quite stern as he spoke about Josh’s killer and in reality, once Straw did find the person responsible for all this, he wouldn’t stop till the person received a particular kiss from the Death Eaters.

“So what have I missed? What do you know Clarke?”

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan's eye twitched when Straw asked what he was doing here. "I'm here," he explained, "for the same reason you and Mr. Hamilton are here. Because our superiors tell us what to do and we do it. You are carrying out your job and I'm carrying out mine. I had come here to collect pictures of the cell and first hand reports from the guards who are here. And to find out if there is any evidence that the claims the prisoner made could have been true. You know, the ones that the prisoner was actually your friend, that the wrong man had been imprisoned all this time. I think the Ministry is concerned it would cause a huge uproar if it were true and they had accidentally been keeping an innocent man prisoner for 8 years. Wouldn't that just be horrible?" 

It was silent for a moment. He knew hew as touching on a delicate subject and he could handle it more tactfully. Tristan was at the disadvantage physically, compared to the two aurors before him, trained in combat. His scrawnier frame would not stand a chance. But he would try to fight back with words. While shy outside of work, when it came to his job, he was much more outspoken and not afraid to ask the difficult questions. Tristan sighed. "I'm glad you're here, Buckett. I want to know firsthand, the things he said to you. Sounds like he was not your friend, thank goodness. But I wonder, what exactly was he rambling on and on about?" 

Tristan knew it was not fair to be interrogating Straw like this. They were not in a court room. This was not an official interview. This was a meeting between three parties involved in a case. But Tristan needed to get something. If he had some superpower in his years of being a lawyer, it was to be able to continue asking questions and not back down until someone could not help but break down a few barriers. He felt it was going to be harder with Straw but Tristan knew that even if his hunch was not correct, there were still some secrets that the auror was trying to hide. And Tristan was going to get to the bottom of those secrets, especially if they meant getting the answers to all their unanswered questions and getting the right prisoner behind bars. 

[Straw Buckett]

“Yeah it would but he’s not, my friend is dead and this man is crazy.” Straw stated very to the point as he frowned back at Tristan. “Look I think these are questions for another time. Maybe we can arrange a time to talk but right now I’m working and more concerned in collecting the facts so Charlie and I can catch this killer.” Straw could see what Tristan was trying to do, he wasn’t silly enough to answer his questions now. Straw needed time to prep for a talk with Tristan, he needed to know how much he knew and how he could possibly use this information to his own advantage.

“This guys knows my family and friends so we’re the ones interviewing you, I’d really appreciate if you could tell us all you know so we can plan our next steps. I’ll tell you want I know later but I have to talk to Potter first as I’m sure you understand.”


The fact that a lawyer was involved made Straw nervous. With just himself and Charlie, he had a chance to protect himself and his family but with Tristan digging around, Straw felt his plan could soon explode in his face.

[Charlie Hamilton]

Charlie was surprised at the mounting venom in both Straw and Tristan's voices, and he wondered about Tristan's almost immediate distrust of Straw. He knew that both men were trying to do their respective jobs, but Tristan's dislike of Straw - and Straw's of Tristan - was growing more obvious as the minutes ticked past. It was also unusual for Straw to be so defensive, considering his normal placid demeanor, and though he had only just met Tristan, Charlie imagined it was a similar change of behaviour for him, too. 

Before the pair could come to blow, Charlie cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows. "Just a little reminder guys, that we're on the same side here," he said lightly, though the tension in the room suggested it was meant as anything but. Charlie looked up at Tristan and held out his hand. "Tristan, it was very nice to meet you. I think we'd do better meeting somewhere a bit more," he cleared his throat again, "neutral next time to discuss the details." Charlie then turned his glance to Straw. "Straw, we do have that meeting with Potter soon, so we'd better make a move."

He nodded to Tristan in goodbye and walked out of the office, Straw beside him, waiting until they were outside the prison gates before turning to Straw. "And what in Merlin's name was that all about, Buckett? I've never seen you more defensive, not even when the Darwin Dropbears are losing."

[Straw Buckett]

Straw ‘s face was a cold stone wash as he stared mindlessly at Charlie’s back as the two exited the office. Together they made their way back to the entrance in silence. He was grateful that Charlie had broken up the conversation, clearly seeing that they were not going to get anywhere. Straw had to admit he wasn’t very amicable towards Tristan as usual and had a suspicion that his partner would soon be asking him about what all the tension was bout. Straw was unsure how he exactly was going to answer Charlie’s question but knew he had to think quick. And sure enough Charlie had turned to ask him about it.


Straw scowled down at the footpath as they walked, “I don’t know,” He began shaking his head. “There’s something about him I just don’t like.” Straw had never really felt any connection towards Tristan. Straw had simply politely put up with the guy, as he was Kelly’s friend. “Sorry mate, I don’t know what came over me,” and Straw wasn’t about to go into detail about it with Charlie. He already felt like he’d told too many people and needed some kind of normality with Charlie (if that was possible being an Auror).


“What did he tell you? You don’t think it’s weird he’s being pulled into this too? I thought it was a secret. I mean, if he knows, who else knows too?” Straw may have been the one to break out Prisoner 13187 and currently trying to cover his tracks however he was using this opportunity to figure out who had actually done this to Josh in the first place. If word was getting out already, what was going to stop the real murder finding out and coming after himself and Charlie? Either way Straw didn’t like it.