Past and Present: An Auror Story

Chapter 4: Arenaria

As the weeks passed, Neil continued to improve. Between resting and regaining the strength he had lost from the accident and the sessions of physical therapy that he had once a week, he was becoming more and more independent. Falling accidents were almost nonexistent at this point, and he could now basically do everything by himself, especially with the help of the renovations. He was so independent, in fact, that he no longer had to have someone stay with him during the day. He was proud of that. The more independent he got, the more his embarrassment disintegrated. He was finally regaining his lost confidence, and it showed. He was a lot happier, although he wouldn't say it out loud. 

Caimiro began feel a lot better about leaving him during the day. She didn't have to worry about him falling and getting hurt. Even so, she still came home for lunch everyday, claiming that she did it so she could eat with him. That wasn't entirely untrue, but she also wanted to be there to help him if he fell.

Not having to worry about him was a huge stress off of her, which positively affected her productivity. She was happy to discover that her concentration, which had been suffering, was improving at last. Being an Auror called for diligence. As for her job itself, it was going a lot better than it had on her first day. After correcting her uniform, her co-workers, as well as her higher ups, began taking her a little more seriously. After the first week, she began getting overrun with cases and assignments. Not that she was complaining; she liked going to the front line. After all, that's what she enjoyed about being an Auror in the first place. That's the whole reason she had worked so hard all these years to get to where she was. She liked the action. She liked the adrenaline that coursed through her when ever she was taking down criminals. And most of all, she liked the satisfied, happy, and thankful faces of the many people she helped. 

Her first few cases involved breaking up and writing reports pertaining to violence in poorer Wizarding communities. Unfortunately, the class gap in Wizarding Italy was very, very large. There were many privileged communities,  and even more poorer ones. The middle class was almost non-existent and was typically a class that consisted mostly of immigrants who had money and a career built up from lives in another country.

Sadly, most of Italy's magical underbelly was still in ruins from the Global Wizarding War and World War II. While Gellert Grindelwald never managed to overthrow Italy's Muggle government himself (Muggles already took care of that), the Italian Ministero della Magia was the first Wizarding government to succumb to his revolt. That conflict, along with the first and second Wizarding Wars against Voldemort, caused poverty to spread like wildfire. With that came prejudice surrounding blood status. Muggle Italy had been able to find prosperity while its magical people were left with nothing.

One such settlement, called Arenaria, was a coastal city on the country's southern tip. Many impoverished people lived in ramshackle houses that leaked and creaked with every gust of wind. The days were often sunny, but the sunny Mediterranean weather would sometimes bring infrequent storms that inflicted damage that people were unable to recover from. Repairing one's house with magic could only work well when all the parts of the house could be found. Homeless Wizards and Witches were forced to squat, peddle, and busk for loose knuts. The abuse of Euphoria and mind-clearing potions was rampant with some citizens, as lack of opportunity left them with no choice but to spend their lives guzzling draughts until they forgot about their pains.

Caimiro had broken up a few duels between two rival gangs in Arenaria when she regrouped with the other Agentes (Officers) that were based in an old hospital that had been damaged by a fire during a dry spell. The commanding Chief Assistant was Assistente capo Efisio Barsanti. He was a handsome fellow in his late 30s with lightly tanned skin with light hair. He wore the standard Italian Auror's uniform: brown jackets with the Ministero's crest on the left breast, grey pants, black boots, and flat caps that match the jackets. Barsanti's shoulders sported a tiny, blue insignia with three yellow wands marking his rank as Chief Assistant.