… ‘Ro’ chainlink Stores, downtown Slough…

Hazel quickly put a somber expression on, she was here for business. Important business that involved the possible survival of a young Witch, she and Roxana’s past had nothing to do with it.

Roxana’s beautiful face crumpled into a frown. “A missing person? Here at ‘Ro’? Are you sure of that?”

Finn stepped forward to show her the written report, Roxana’s father was a very important man, they couldn’t just throw accusations around. “Here uh… ma’am, it’s all documented here.”

“Thank you.” Roxana whispered politely, taking the sheet of paper that was offered. She quickly scanned it, intelligence obvious in her soft brown eyes.

Hazel stepped back at this point, Roxana was a nice person but she only did that to her own advantage, she wouldn’t be nice to a person if she didn’t have anything to gain. People could never tell, Hazel inclusive if Roxana hadn’t been the one to tell her personally.

This meant that Roxana was going to deny the allegations harder than a politician defending himself against promiscuity, this investigation was a lost cause, and they weren’t going to get any useful information.

“Um?” She looked expectantly at Finn.

“My apologies, I didn’t introduce myself, I’m Finn Dewey, that is my partner, Natali Woller and you already know Hazel Hamilton.”

“It’s fine.” Roxana dismissed. “You can simply refer to me as Roxana.” She offered. “Now, Mr. Dewey?” She straightened her back. “I’ve read through the documents and I’m afraid that they are all speculations.” She spoke in a cutting tone.

Finn flinched back, beyond shocked at the turn that things had taken. “I’m sorry?”

“I am well aware of the stories of young Witches disappearing from stores, especially stores around this area but there is no hard evidence to prove that that the Maj in question that tendered in this report has been to my store.” She started to explain.

Hazel could see the horror on Finn and Natali’s faces grow, she and Roxana might have all the bad blood between them but she suddenly felt the urge to smile. People tended to underestimate Roxana because she was rich and pretty, it worked to her advantage every single time.

“As a matter of fact, the reason you found me in this branch today is because of this same issue but tell me, Mr. Dewey, if a young Witch truly went missing from my store, why don’t any of my workers know about it?”

Finn’s face went pale. “T-They don’t?”

Roxana returned the document back to the stunned Auror. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask my workers, I give you permission to.”

“Why are you at this branch for that issue if you are so certain that the young Witch didn’t go missing from your store?” Hazel asked patiently.

Finn had been in the process of telling Natali to do the questioning of the store workers, she was an Obliviator so it would be impossible for them to lie to her. They both turned sharply when she posed her question to Roxana.

Roxana looked slightly irritated. “This is a private matter of the store but I suppose it has to be said to prove our innocence. There are a lot of stores competing with ‘Ro’, I came here because I was concerned that with the number of young Witches going missing, especially in stores, someone would eventually consider using it to frame the store, and what do you know? I wasn’t wrong.” She ended in a cold voice, her eyes holding derision as she stared Hazel down.

Finn gulped, unable to say anything but wait for Natali who had gone off to do a little questioning, she returned too soon, a tell-tale expression on her face that spoke volumes.

“I didn’t even need to ask, there was nothing to find.” Natali sighed, a furrow in between her brows, the investigation just kept going down the wrong paths at high speeds. “It’s not possible that the person that reported the case wouldn’t take it up with the store first before calling the Ministry.”

Roxana turned to stare at Finn at this, a smug expression on her face. She had shredded the accusations held against her store with a couple of well-spoken words. 

Hazel was right to be wary of her. She wasn’t doubtful that Roxana’s store had nothing to do with the missing Witch because there was no way Roxana could have known that they would be visiting her store at the exact time that they did. But, she couldn’t help but feel like Roxana was hiding something because she had addressed them in a way that wouldn’t allow them to question her further.

There was no reason for her to shred their investigations unless she had some simple questions that she didn’t want to have to answer. She could have simply let them know in a much more civil way that they had received a false report but no, she went out of her way to make herself the victim.

Hazel said nothing of her speculations though, poor Mr. Dewey was already sweating, there was nothing more that could be done here.

“Then I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.” Finn nodded stiffly, a little too eager to exit the store, Madam Roxana was a terrifying young lady.

“Did you really find nothing?” Finn questioned Natali as they made the return journey back to the little trinket shop.

Although Natali had been taken in by the store, she was good at her job. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t have been assigned to their team as their Obliviator. “Not one single suspicious thing, it might not look like it but the young Mistress was telling the truth.”

Finn sighed longsufferingly. “So we just made the trip out of London for a nonexistent case?”

Hazel bit her lip, still mulling over the incident. “It would seem so.”

Finn straightened his shoulders. “Something has to be done about this, we already have enough on our plate, getting called out for made-up crimes will not be tolerated.”

“And how do you suppose we fix that?” Natali asked, her voice syrupy.

“We can just make the criteria for a serious report more stringent, tangible evidence will be required like a photograph of the person and the location. If it’s also possible, a written report of the store’s response to their claims.” Hazel blurted out without really meaning to.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Hazel, I’ll write it up to the higher-ups when we get back to the office.”

Or so they thought, when they got back to the Auror Headquarters, they bumped into Mr. Potter and Mr. Swiller, both looking particularly harried.

“Good thing we found you all, get dressed, we are leaving in five.” Harry spoke quickly, levitating his dress robes to him.

“What happened?” Finn was the one to ask.

“‘X’ has struck again,” Daylen responded, a severe expression on his face. “And this time, the body found is of one of the missing young Witches…”

Hazel felt her heart drop to her stomach, this was the worst possible outcome, how could this even happen??

“This ties ‘X’ to the missing young Witches.” Harry added, equally grim. 

The rest of the team got ready as their leader directed, leaving the Ministry building again before they could even take a break from their previous investigation.

“Is that why she went silent for over the past three weeks? Because she started kidnapping her victims?” Hazel asked, all of her questions brimming at the tip of her tongue.

“It’s easy to believe that was what happened but Witches have been going missing even before ‘X’ went on a hiatus.” Daylen muttered as they all took the elevator up.

“The girl in question is predicted to have gone missing long before ‘X’ stopped murdering which means that she acquired the girl after she was already taken.” Harry mused.

The rest of his team turned to him with varying degrees of shock on their faces.

“Then what… what… you are saying is that ‘X’ got the missing Witch from a human trafficking ring?” Natali spoke everyone else’s thoughts out loud.

Harry’s grim expression did not change. “It is merely speculation but if there truly was a human trafficking ring, it would explain why no ransom notes have been sent for the kidnapped Witches.”

Silence settled over the elevator… A human trafficking ring… right under their noses. It sounded so heinous that there was nothing that could be said to lighten the levity of the atmosphere.

“I thought ‘X’s’ victims were all male?” Finn blurted out when they got to Level 1, attracting everyone’s attention.

“It’s an easy misconception to have as most of her victims are but no, there have been a handful of female victims too. It was deduced that since ‘X’ is female, it was easier for her to lure away men than women but as long as they’re young, she doesn’t seem to be particularly picky...”