Cored

Chapter 49: Resolve

Exhausted from the previous days of pain and magic and relieved it hadn't been something worse, Katherine came downstairs after eleven to find Crawley and Iz sitting at the table.

"Good morning," she said, wrapping her red Weasley cardigan tight around her as she padded to the coffee. She had shrunk her backpack down and slid the straps around her watch band so it dangled like a charm.

"Morning," Iz said with a smile. She must have come with yesterday's copy of ConJour on her, because Crawley was pouring over it, who just grunted at her. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Do you mind if I use your shower?" the auror asked, heading upstairs when Katherine nodded. She walked over to read over Crawley's shoulder. "Letters Leave Unclear Messaging," the headline read, paired with an image of Quahog waving a stack of papers at a journalist as he walked through massive lobby.

"Is that the main MACUSA building?" Katherine asked, marveling at the wall of windows shining in the sunlight. In the center of the space hung what looked like a clock but reminded her more of the one Molly had in the Burrow.

"What is this?" she asked an unresponsive Crawley. He looked at where she pointed, setting the paper down and rubbing his temples.

"It measures the threat of magical exposure. It's been on high since you took off your tempering. Went up to danger when the letters started coming in, but here it's on severe. Makes it damn hard to keep a secret in that building."

"Come on," she said as she pulled at his arm to get him up from the table and over towards the couch. "We can't do anything about it from here. Let's watch a fake government instead while Iz isn't down here to complain about it."

He dragged his feet from the table, but once he was on the couch, he wrapped her tightly in his arms while she picked up the little DVD player and turned on the next episode of their show.

Crawley squinted as the character's started to argue, surrounded by agents in hazmat suits who were concerned about some horrible illness that had been sent to the West Wing in a letter.

"This episode is hitting a tad close to home," he muttered.

Katherine nodded slowly, and he watched the idea buzzing through her eyes. "What?" he asked as she sat up, looking out the window but not really seeing the trees.

"You say the letters didn't have any traces of magic in them," she recalled, turning to face him. "And there was no one casting the spell. But is there any way they could have... powdered it?"

"Powdered?"

"Yeah," Katherine said. "Here, it's tularemia. But it happens with anthrax or ricin, too. If the powder was fine enough, it would have all blown away or been breathed in or shaken off when you picked the letters up. Or at least small enough that unless you were looking for it, you could miss it."

"Powdered spell..." he said.

"Like floo powder. It's not unheard of."

"It would explain why there was no castor. But if they've found a way to do that, then they could infiltrate a whole building. Why worry about the letters?"

"Maybe they wanted to make sure it worked first. Or they have a limited amount. I wonder if I could see it, like I could see Mark's memory charm."

Crawley thought for a moment, his eyes watching Katherine's turn brighter with her resolution. "You really want to go back to New York, don't you?"

"I do," she said. "I know you aren't whipped up about the idea, but you said yourself when we were in Iowa that you want to be more helpful. At least you're doing a job when you are here with me. I feel like I'm letting everyone else clean up my mess."