November 16th, 1891 — Ministry of Magic
Faustus Prewett

It had been a long couple of days for Jack;  He hadn't stopped much since the attack on Saturday.  Of course the task of hunting down the man who had caused the explosion at the Pott's shop was officially in the hands of the Aurors but that didn’t really stop him from trying to help in any way he could.  Luckily he'd actually been one of the witnesses so it didn’t take much convincing for them to let him be somewhat involved. 

Unfortunately after days of running down leads and aurors doing whatever aurors did they still didn’t have their man and it was starting to really wear on him.  Every day they went without an arrest was another day he came up empty handed for the Potts family.  The last time one of them had looked to him for that one answer all he could do was shake his head.  They had to rebuild their livelihood and he couldn’t even tell them that the man who'd done it was arrested.

Sent away from both the Auror office and the constabulary and unwilling to make himself a nuisance to the Potts again, Jack used his unwanted free time to visit his mother.  It had been some time since he'd been home and he hoped it would be distraction.  They lived in a healthy sized muggle town but Jack didn’t mind the travel or the population.  He was quite accustomed to living among muggles. 

The thing was, he wasn't completely amongst muggles.  He realized with a start that, just across the road was the exact man they'd been hunting.  Jack stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, arguing with himself over whether he was imagining things.  The man seemed to sense he was being watched and when he realized Jack was staring at him he immediately rushed off.  This was all the confirmation Jack needed. 

He took off after him, hand reaching for his wand inside his jacket, unable to fully draw it given the muggles that surrounded him.  Quick on his feet it was easy enough to catch up with the man.  With a firm grip on the man's shoulder, preparing to detain him the muggle way, he said "Don't do anything foo-" but his sentence was cut short as the man disapparated, muggles be damned. 

The sensation of disapparating was one Jack was familiar with, he did it himself quite regularly, but being forcibly side-along'd was very different.  In the split second it took them to travel Jack got the distinct impression that parts of him were not entirely committed to coming along.  He landed on his feet with a mouthful of very creative and colorful swears, his left shoulder already screaming.  Before he even consciously registered the spell he intended to cast, he drew his wand, and hurled a jinx at the man intending to pin him down before he could try and run again.  Unfortunately whatever he cast at him was a little too effective and the man hurtled to the ground, knocked out cold.  Jack added a pair of cuffs and shackles for good measure before rolling the man over to make sure he was still breathing. 

Satisfied for the moment, Jack could finally take a moment to take stock.  He had no idea where they were but he knew where they needed to go and he knew with absolute certainty that he had enough determination to get them there.  With a flick of his wand he levitated the unconscious man, grabbed firm hold of his upper arm, and turned on his heel with a singular thought of getting to the Auror office in London. 

When they landed again Jack thought for sure his arm had been ripped clean off this time.  He looked at it exactly once, his jacket had been ripped at the seam and his arm hung limply at an awkward angle.  Steeling himself against a wave of nausea he set off for the Auror office, his captive floating along behind him.

After a bit of looking and a fair number of strange looks from people in the halls he finally found it.  He stood in the doorway pale and obviously injured but still sporting a weak grin.  "Look who I found."

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Save the night at the concert he'd had with Miss Skovgaard, the rest of this week had ended up rather bleak. There were still absolutely no signs of the culprit from the Florist Potts attack, and Faustus found himself increasingly frustrated at the Auror Offices' inability to catch the perpetrator who did it. Of course his feelings on the matter were no reflection on the Aurors' ability to to their jobs, but more a promise of the trouble that would descend upon the man who did it when they found him. They had had far worse times catching other criminals of the same caliber, but the elusive nightmares that had continued to plague Faustus throughout the week had done nothing for his patience, which was usually quite strong given the nature of his career.

Thankfully, Basil and Laurel Potts were not the type of parents to linger outside the Offices at every waking hour. The monetary reward that Mr. Potts had offered up would aid the search, but Faustus worried it wouldn't prove sufficient enough. And mercifully so, the Potts family would make full recoveries within the next week or so.

Lead after lead had taken them nowhere - after returning from pursuing a particularly fruitless lead, Faustus returned to the offices, hung his cloak and hat on the coat rack and collapsed into his chair, hand massaging his temple as he reviewed every inch of the case file again. There had to be something they were missing. Just as he was about to get up to go back out - this time for a mind-clearing walk - Faustus heard a commotion at the front - mostly heard Sterling exclaim in surprise. Faustus stood up and strode to the front of his office, thrusting the door open. His eyes immediately landed on the scene at the front of the offices.

Dorset, looking properly beddraggled with a levitating — wait a second, was that —?

Faustus stared for one fraction of a moment, taking in the sight of Dorset, arm hanging at a dreadfully odd angle, arm aloft and levitating an unconscious body into the room. "That's not —" He replied incredulously eyes wide. But the triumphant, if not exhausted grin on Dorset's face had already answered the question, and Faustus closed the gap between them, taking his wand out. It appeared that the body of the culprit had not escaped unscathed in whatever tussle Dorset had gotten into with him. The head auror wasn't surprised to be grimly pleased at this fact, though he did his best to hide it. "Well done, Dorset," He exclaimed, doing nothing to hide the impressed tone in his voice. He was still too stunned and not to mention exhausted to do much else, but he gave Dorset a gentle clap on the back - on the poor man's good side - as he observed the floating body

"Looks like he gave you a bit of trouble." Faustus' gaze finally tore away from the culprit to rest on Dorset's bad arm. Frankly he was impressed Dorset had been able to keep himself together enough to hand in their criminal. But then again, Dorset had already shown he had been resourceful and quick back at the flower shop.

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The impact his arrival had was much stronger than he had expected, not that he'd actually thought about it.  In fact, in his haze to get there he kind of pictured the office to be mostly empty.  The fact that there were enough people to make a fuss had him looking a bit sheepish about his entrance.  He must look worse than he thought.

The praise was enough to make him beam (the Head Auror himself said he'd done well!) but the clap on his shoulder went a long way to quell it.  It may have been his good shoulder but it still jostled the limp appendage on his other side. 

"You'll need Oblivators." he said, a bit winded from the effort of… well everything.  The adrenaline that was holding him together and keeping him going could only do so much.  "He disapparated in the middle of a muggle town.  Took me along with him." he tilted his head to the afflicted shoulder. 

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Under normal circumstances, Faustus would have been observant enough to notice the effect his congratulatory clap on Dorset's back had on the young man, but frankly he had been rather occupied with the unconscious man that was still hovering peacefully in midair. The mention of needing Obliviators was enough to sober him enough, and he glanced sharply at the hovering man. Of course, he hadn't had the decency to go quietly, no that would be too easy. His expression softened to one of concern as he focused back on Dorset and his shoulder. It would need to be seen to immediately — though it was likely possible to be mended in a heartbeat, Faustus didn't intend on prolonging Dorset's suffering any more than it needed to be. Especially after he had done such a good job over the past few days, albeit perhaps a bit haphazardly so.

Faustus was in no mood to lecture Dorset on the finer parts of suspect and criminal apprehension though, and so he looked to Sterling, knowing from one head auror to the former one what needed to be done. He jerked his head wordlessly towards the door and Sterling nodded, immediately striding out to fetch the Obliviators. "In the meantime, let's get him transferred into our custody." He said as Sterling's cloak disappeared down the hallway, and he turned back to Dorset. Faustus pointed his wand at the floating body to take over so Dorset might have a bit more peace and relax as much as he could. "I'm sorry to prolong your suffering, Dorset, but I'll need you to sign some documents to transfer custody right now. But I won't ask you to fill out your statement until you've had your arm seen to." He nodded to the injury, his brow creased in concern.

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"Eh, I'm alright.  I'll sign whatever you need." he waved the concern off, trying his best to sound casual about it.  Part of him really did think it didn’t feel nearly as bad as it looked - 'For the love of God, don’t look at it again, Dorset.  You don’t want to be the guy who vomited in the auror office' he thought to himself.  The other part of him knew with absolute certainty that he was working on borrowed time.  This was an act he could only hold up so long.

"I hate statements."  He muttered mostly to himself. 

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Faustus flicked his gaze from observing the apprehended man to the one who had done the apprehending and then looked to the man's injury. He most certainly did not look alright one bit. Whether it was Dorset attempting to downplay his injury or if the injury was so far gone that he genuinely couldn't feel how painful that would be, Faustus didn't want to question it. The best course of action was to get the criminal processed and get Dorset to the hospital quickly.

The face the younger man pulled almost made Faustus laugh - his lips twitched into a hint of a smile. "They're always the worst part of the job," he conceded. "But the most necessary. Follow me." He led Dorset into his office, quickly pulling out his wand to summon a chair for Dorset. The necessary papers fluttered around them immediately and settled into a pile on Faustus' desk facing the young constable. Thankfully, magic was on their side and Faustus could keep an eye on the criminal whilst the papers shuffled around to make it easier for Dorset to sign.

In the meantime, Faustus stood, leaning against the wall, watching the man carefully to make sure he would stay unconscious. He would process the man after Dorset left. "It might be best for another auror to go with you." He began, eyes moving to Dorset's shoulder again before eyeing Dorset's color and any other signs that Dorset might collapse on the spot.

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Jack took the seat without hesitation, sinking down to perch on the edge with a groan that he tried to disguise by clearing his throat.  Everything that wasn't absolute stillness sent fire raging down his arm and across his back.  He reached for a nearby quill as the papers assembled themselves in front of him.  Even once settled, the words on the page seemed to swim before him.  He blinked, willing his vision to clear but eventually he just picked the most obvious line and signed his name in what was likely his most haphazard signature ever. 

Flipping to the next page and finding a random spot to sign he threw another scrawl on that one too, the ink blotting unpleasantly as his vision blurred again.  He dropped the quill, not even waiting to be told he was done.  There was no way he was actually doing anything approaching acceptable. 

"I hope it's in walking distance…I'm not disapparating like this again." There was no question in his mind that no one, not even an auror to side-along him, had enough determination to get him and his arm to the hospital in one piece.  He looked up at Mr. Prewett with an expression of grim determination, hoping he wasn't swaying as much as it felt like he was."

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Even as Dorset sat down, Faustus knew there was only a matter of time before the boy lost more than a fatal amount of blood. With the papers signed, Faustus moved forward, placing a hand on Dorset's good shoulder and taking the quill from him. "Right then, let's get you to the hospital. Now." He said firmly, guiding the constable up and towards the door. Merlin, he shouldn't have directed him to sign anything under this condition in the first place.

"And no you're not disapparating like that again." He agreed, searching for Sterling to take him to the hospital. It was then he remembered that Sterling had gone to fetch the Obliviators and would likely not be back for a while. Sandow was on assignment and Abernathy was too. Rosier had the day off; though even if Rosier were here, Faustus wasn't sure he'd trust Rosier to bring Dorset there in one piece and stay there until he was seen to. Faustus cursed under his breath, caught between escorting Dorset himself and grabbing someone else to do it.

In the end, Faustus had to see that the culprit was properly taken care of and he searched for the only other auror available. "Fawcett, take Dorset here to the hospital please and do make haste." He kept his hand on Dorset, peering around to check his color. "He needs attention urgently."

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He let himself be guided up, not bothering this time to hide the groan of both pain and effort it took to get back up.  He looked down at his feet as he was shepherded towards the door, trying to catch his breath, when he realized he was leaving a little drip trail of blood behind him.  "Ugh," was all he could manage.  This business of being injured was all very inconvenient.

He was relieved to hear he wasn't going to fight him on the disapperating front.  Jack wasn't sure he'd win any kind of argument and they could absolutely just wait until he passed out, which he was certain was going to happen sooner rather than later.  He was distantly aware he was being handed off and when Mr. Prewett peered at his face. 

Jack tried to offer a reassuring smile but it probably looked more like a dazed and goofy grimace than anything.  In the custody of whatever auror had been tasked with him, jack ambled towards the door, throwing a "thank you" over his shoulder at the Head Auror. 

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