I Will Be Your Alibi || Dorian ||

Dormiens was instructed to wait while the front desk man rang Dorian’s desk. The call went unanswered but Dormiens was assured he was in the office and to please wait. Another attempt was made and this time Dorian answered and soon enough he was walking briskly to reception. “Owl Creek?” he asked the dark haired woman, although there was no one else waiting that didn’t belong to the department, but he wanted to be sure before he started gathering information from the wrong person. “I’m Agent Humbert. If you would follow me, we can speak more privately.”

He led the woman to his desk and gestured to the stiff chair across from his own. His desk was perfectly organized; files stacked in a thin, straight pile on the right and a container of quills all matching in color and length on the other side. A wood placard read “Agent D. Humbert” in gold lettering. There was a single black picture frame with an image of a blonde toddler laughing as a white and chocolate springer spaniel licks her face. Geralina had given Dorian the picture; Ariel with her parents’ dog. It was a daily reminder of why Dorian worked as hard as he did to keep the dark wizards at bay best he could, and the only thing sentimental on the Aurora’s otherwise pristine desk. “So,” he started, taking a seat behind his desk and pulling one of the quills from the jar and opening the top file in his stack. “You witnessed the arson event at Owl Creek?”

Dorian’s expression remained consistent despite his initial confusion. If she hadn’t witnessed the arson event, then what was she doing here? And how did she pertain to the investigation? Dorian listened patiently, his questions being answered as the woman explained herself. “I see,” he said softly, more annoyed with Dorcas than suspicious at this point. He had only needed her friend’s information on his desk, not her sodding friend. Not at the woman was on his desk, but he wouldn’t put it past Dorcas to suggest such a stunt as means of a laugh. He shuffled through the papers in his file, looking for a different one than the one he was expecting to complete. “May I have your name then?” he asked, having found the sheet of parchment with his notes about Dorcas and Alastor’s strange interaction earlier in the day.

He dipped the tip of his quill into the black inkwell before drawing a long stroke on the paper that was the start of a cursive D. Dorian’s penmanship was impeccable, and on more than one occasion his printing had been mistaken for type. Her given name, though unusual, was easy enough to spell. How any graduate of Hogwarts failed to muster a teensy bit of Latin was beyond him, but certainly they all knew the words of the school’s crest? Her surname, however, posed more options. “LeBeau.” He looked up before writing her surname. “LaBeau or LeBeau?” Or perhaps he was off all together. 

Neat script inked her name onto the parchment. Dorian looked up at her when she began to get impatient. “I am sure this won’t be too long, should you answer my questions promptly.” If her story was inconsistent then, of course, their conversation would be longer. “Let’s get right into it, then. Shall we? What were you doing today between noon and one pm?”

“And your visitor was Mrs Meadowes, is that correct?” The fact that the woman was not able to give a precise time when her visitor left was an important detail that Dorian picked up on straight away. It would have been suspicious, rehearsed, if she knew the exact time for a casual visit or in the midst of a emergency. Taking the time to look at a clock would have been strange in that moment. “How did you come to be aware of the incident earlier today?”

Dorian jotted down the details as they were provided to him. He focused on collecting the necessary information while attempting to not form an opinion on the matter just yet. He wanted to details and the clues to lead him to the answer, not the other way around. Forming an opinion early on in a case was a surefire way to end up ignoring key details that might otherwise indicate the narrative they were following was flawed. It was sloppy detective work and Dorian had learned long ago to avoid that sort of investigating procedure, which was why he was here taking down an alibi for his own friend. He could not afford to be blinded by personal connections. He would inquire internally as to if and when Dorcas’ message regarding the fire came into the Ministry.

They were nearly done, but he had just one more question for the woman. “And was there anyone else with you during or following your visit with Mrs Meadowes? Anyone you might have spoken to about the incident?” If there was, he would contact them next. If not, he would look into Dorcas’ message to the Ministry and then, hopefully, put this ordeal behind him and focus on finding the Death Eaters involved with this attack and determine exactly who had been hiding the muggleborn families in the first place. They were either in danger or perhaps had already met a similar fate, but if there was a chance they could beat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to the punch, Dorian would try for it.

Good, he thought. No one he needed to follow up with in the immediate future. He could get back to the real detective work and push off the unsettling feeling that Dorcas was more involved in the incident than she let on. He still needed to check out a few more leads on her alibi but thus far they were turning up in her favor and for a man who purposefully distanced himself from every sort of relationship due to his profession, he was glad that it seemed he would not be losing another friendship just yet. "Alright then, Miss LeBeau." He set his quill down and looked up at the woman. "I don't have any further questions at this time, but I may be in touch at some point in the future. Thank you for coming down." Dorian rose from his chair and extended his hand to her.