Isabella was still receiving letters from beyond the grave and that caused Persephone a good bit of distress. She wasn’t sure who exactly was doing it, but she needed to get to the bottom of it. She also had a few minor cases involving those that resided in the dodgy town. That was what had drawn her into Knockturn Alley that evening hoping to come across some kind of information. Obviously she never went actively working by approaching others. That would be exceptionally unwise and raise alarms with others. She was a pureblood. Being a pureblood did not do her any favors when it came to the Ministry and being a pureblood auror made her a blood traitor in these parts. A good bit of people she came in contact with didn’t really connect the dots as she used her maiden name as an auror but her married name for pretty much everything else. Now that her husband was working on the same force she was glad she had continued to use her maiden name for her work as an auror. It didn’t make it obvious to others that didn’t know her personally to connect she and Nikolai and herself as being married as she felt that some people might think they would incompetent because of their relationship. It would also be a pain in the ass for someone to call out ‘Petrov’ and have to constantly ask which one they were referring to.

It was a nice night weather wise as she walked down the darkened streets. She had dressed appropriately, showing just enough skin to draw attention but not look like a street walker. Sure it would probably get her information faster, but she wasn’t about to put herself in a position where she may actually have to hex someone for getting a little too fresh with her. Of course she would still get questionable blokes that didn’t have much to offer her. For them she often pretended she didn’t understand English well and began to speak mostly in Russian or Italian as if she were a foreigner. But for the most part she usually gained a man’s attention, kept ordering drinks until the bloke was tipsy and just got them to start talking. It seemed like a few drinks and showing some skin made it fairly easy to learn things she hadn’t known prior.

She had been to the main pub quite a few times, not wanting her face to start being familiar she ventured into a tiny little pub that seemed to attract more seedy characters than the other. They were the ones very down on their luck that she was sure she could find is less of a challenge to find things out. She walked into the bar looking around with disinterest as she approached the bar, giving the bartender a wide smile as she leaned over the bar slightly to gain a bit more attention as she ordered a beer on tap. ”On the house.” The man rasped as he handed the drink to her. She thanked him quietly with a playful smile as she took out a pack of cigarettes and tapped them a few time in her palm before taking one out and lighting it casually with a book of matches already on the counter.

@nikolai

Outfit

After all of his years in law enforcement, Nikolai could humbly say that he was damn observant, though perhaps he’d always carried that trait and it was just something less necessary for him when he was growing up. Reading situations, people, motives and intentions were hardly necessary in successfully operating a farm, clearly. But now he could say that it was certainly a skill that he’d honed over the years and that came in handy in a great deal of situations that he found himself in. If anything, he would say that his time undercover had done damn wonders on his ability to survive simply by being able to observe situations and know what could potentially come of it. His time there, in the aurors’ office, and with his own company had only furthered this. Hell, even moving to London in being in a job that certainly didn’t require that particular skill hadn’t wavered it in the slightest, and the current climate in the politics of London and the discrimination that he’d seen had made it more important than ever to make sure that he did what he could to keep situations under control. It wasn’t as though he thought he could solve every problem by himself or anywhere near it, Nikolai just thought that there was no reason for him not to keep himself as aware as possible. Getting back into the aurors’ department here had made that more critical for him in a job standpoint, but that wasn’t what brought him into Knockturn Alley that evening.

Something was brewing—that was clear to everyone who was even paying a bit of attention to their surroundings. He didn’t doubt that students at Hogwarts understood this shit as well and they weren’t in in the wizarding world seeing it firsthand for the majority of the year, though that was a good thing. The point of the matter was that it wouldn’t be too long before something serious went down, and he couldn’t sit by and know that he wasn’t at least trying to do something about it if only by getting any information that he could. There was no better place to do that than in Knockturn Alley where the misfortunate had no choice but to congregate. The treatment that he’d seen thus far in London was unacceptable in his mind, and it was only getting worse. Knowing that purebloods like his wife and their family were getting targeted for their blood status didn’t help matters since it only brought the problems closer to home. People could only be pushed so far before they pushed back, and he didn’t doubt that it would happen soon and it would be starting here.

He’d not been down Knockturn very often, only on a few occasions where he’d had similar goals in simply wanting to see what he could witness or overhear about shit that was going on. This pub was even seedier than the White Wyvern, and thus it was the one that he had decided on this evening. He had only been there perhaps an hour, or potentially less than that as he wasn’t wearing a watch, and he’d chosen a darkened corner of the bar where he had gone unnoticed thus far except for when he needed a drink. Nikolai had just been glancing over to get the bartender’s attention when he noticed a woman with incredibly familiar tattoos leaning over the bar further down and had to stop himself from laughing out loud. Apparently his wife had had similar ideas in what she had wanted to do tonight, unless she had a secret life involving seedy Knockturn Alley bars and incredibly tempting outfits, he mused. But those were thoughts for a different time as this could be very amusing. He got to his feet after setting some money on the bar to pay for the drinks he’d had thus far before sauntering casually over in her direction. He leaned against the bar after reaching her, not yet attempting to get her attention though it wasn’t lost on him that she’d already gained quite a few second and third looks from the nearby men that he unfortunately couldn’t hit. Normally he wasn’t very territorial, but he partially wouldn’t mind knocking out the next one who looked her way. He shook the thought from his mind, ordering a whiskey from the bartender before glancing in her direction, “Bum a smoke?” He asked, before nodding thanks to the bartender as he delivered his drink.

Persephone had taken note of quite a few blokes sitting in various areas of the bar, casually searching each face to access just promising they could be. There was only one bloke she couldn’t see properly hiding out in a darkened corner of the room. He was quite large from what she could tell, and knew it would be important to keep a close eye on him. He could possibly cause her issues if he so chose to do so though she hoped the bloke wasn’t stupid enough to try anything. If she had to go up against him for getting a little too friendly she would end up giving herself up easily. She figured it was given that most women that came to these little pubs didn’t know how to handle themselves. Her going up against anyone with the training she had obtained over the past sixteen years of being an auror would be fairly easy to spot. He hadn’t seemed to notice her which was good she supposed.

She had ignored any looks she was given by other male patrons finding playing ‘hard to get’ often worked in her favor. Besides she wasn’t going to lead them on and chance them actually physically touching her. That had happened once, and she had broken several of the bloke’s fingers for it. She was always careful to keep some kind of distance between herself and a potential source of information. A lot of times just giving a less fortunate looking wizard any form of attention worked. She knew she was attractive and very often used that to her advantage.

The bartender was an older bloke with scraggly black hair that looked like it had gone unwashed for weeks. His smile revealed several missing teeth though he looked genuinely pleased to be around her. He probably knew a good bit about quite a few things. She toyed with the idea of staying until last call seeing if she could get any information from him. With the bar between them it would be more difficult for him to make any physical advances on her.

It didn’t take long for her to notice the movement of the man that had been sitting in the dark corner as she could feel his eyes on her briefly almost groaning inwardly that she would have to deal with a bloke that could actually give her some problems. She kept an eye on him from her peripheral. It took everything in her not to laugh or show any amusement really as she noticed it was her husband. Now that she stopped giving him so much flack when it came to work she should have figured he would be back to doing stake outs like this, though it was more amusing that they both seemed to still remain on the same wavelength when it came to work. She pretended not to see him as she casually took a sip of her drink though her lips twitched ever so slightly when he leaned against the bar beside her. She took a long drag from her cigarette before turning towards Nikolai and exhaling the smoke casually from the side of her mouth with a look of disinterest. She flipped her pack open flicking her wrist so that one cigarette peaked up from the top offering it to him. ”You know these things will kill you…” She said with a quirked eyebrow.

Although he still had his job in the department of international cooperation, Nikolai was incredibly damn glad to be back in a job that actually made any kind of difference or that just gave him some damn action; that wasn’t to discount the importance of foreign delegates, as he supposed they were important enough, it just quite obviously wasn’t the job for him. Getting back into a position of an auror had done wonders on just making him feel more like himself and it had obviously helped Persephone to realize that he wasn’t nearly in the dire condition that she had thought him to be in. Nikolai understood where her concern had come from, but it was good that she knew now that she didn’t have to worry.

Now they just could go back to having to slightly wonder what the hell the other one was up to while simultaneously knowing that they could handle themselves in nearly any situation that came their way. It was because of that exact reasoning that they’d always had that Nikolai wasn’t at all concerned by Persephone skulking around Knockturn Alley. He knew that she could take care of herself in any situation that she came across in here, unless someone came at her physically where she could potentially be at a disadvantage but it actually did look like she could take nearly any man in this bar in a fight. After all, Nikolai had been paying close attention to all of them, subtly of course. It would be a rare situation if she couldn’t handle something here, though he knew there was always that slight possibility and that was why he was glad that he was here anyhow. Just like he had been stabbed, he knew that shit could happen—apparently they weren’t invincible, who would have damn well guessed it?

Nikolai took a swig of his drink indifferently, not wanting to seem particularly interested in his wife, which was an amusing thought. Finally, he moved his gaze back over to her at her words, grabbing the offered cigarette from the pack and letting it rest between his lips as he picked up the matchbox. He didn’t reply just yet, lighting up the cigarette and inhaling slowly. It had been a hell of a long time since he’d smoked, actually, though it always entertained him that he seemed to most often in situations like this one. Once he had exhaled, he spoke again. “I’m a hard person to kill,” he stated, offhandedly; the statement was an amusing one since it had been the logic he’d pulled on multiple occasions after surviving getting stabbed. Clearly, he was a hard person to kill, so he might as well go back to work… or that had been his logic all of those months back. They could have some fun with this, he knew, though he also knew that they could also benefit from actually trying to get some information from others and going their separate ways to do that… but what was the damn fun in that?

Persephone had learned her limitations quickly when it came to what she could and couldn’t handle. When it came to her spellwork she was very confident she could take out just about anyone who didn’t have the training she did. Hell, she was confident that she could handle even those with training, but when it came to physical fighting being a woman in general was a disadvantage. She was fast but the moment someone stronger than her got a hold on her she would struggle and possibly not be able to hold them off. It felt like these blokes around the bar wouldn’t be too challenging Merlin forbid one of them tried to get physical with her. She doubly hoped none of them tried now that she realized Nikolai was there. It would be in their best interest not to, not just because she had the training but now Nikolai was there. She knew Nikolai trusted that she could handle most situations on her own, but he had never seen any man make advances on his wife which probably wouldn’t go over well.

If she were to be honest with herself, if she saw another woman make a pass at her husband she would find a way to indirectly intimidate her and stake her claim. Actually she had done that once with a new secretary at the Ministry in Russia. It was amusing to see the look on the woman’s face as Persephone approached Nikolai in front of her and asked him if he was coming home right after work to let the woman know he was very much taken. The moment he had walked away she had turned to the woman quirking an eyebrow asking her if there were going to be any problems. The poor thing looked like she was going to be sick and Spiridon had found great amusement in it as he had been nearby though she wasn’t sure if he ever told Nikolai about that.

Persephone wasn’t sure if any bloke in the bar would be willing to approach her now with the large Russian beside her. She had taken notice that the bartender was keeping an eye on them, maybe waiting to intervene if necessary and try to play the hero. She looked at Nikolai curiously as he had taken a drag from the cigarette she had handed him. She knew it had been awhile since he smoked as they both had quit smoking around the same time, though she picked up the habit not too long after they moved to London. She never smoked around him or the rest of their family but she was sure he already knew she had picked the habit up again. She really wished he wasn’t so attractive as this would be quite the challenge if she were to pretend she didn’t know him. ”Are you now?” She replied finding his comment to be extremely amusing but not letting that come across her features.

Nikolai had no idea what the odds were of running into his wife at a seedy bar in Knockturn Alley was, but he’d wager that they were quite low odds indeed. Of course, way back when he would have said that the chance of him running into his one-night stand in Moscow again were slim to none and he had ended up marrying her, so he supposed he didn’t take much stock in odds. Of all the bars in Knockturn Alley, of all the nights to go there… compared to the large size of Moscow… yes, it frankly wouldn’t make any sense for him to think that this was an odd occurrence. That didn’t make it any less amusing, though, and he knew that they could make this quite humorous if they chose to and the fact that they were already acted as if they didn’t know each other certainly meant that this was off to quite the entertaining start. Yes, he supposed that they also could just continue what they were doing in trying to get information, though she’d probably be marginally more successful than he would. After all, she could use a more direct approach whereas he got most of his intel from what he could overhear or very casually pick up on conversation. Partially, he wanted to tell himself that there probably wasn’t all that much information to be gained from this bar and that it would be far more interesting to see where his encounter with this woman that he’d clearly never met before went. But they would just play it by ear, he figured.

Smoking had not been a habit that Nikolai had his entire life, though he supposed he’d had it for a good portion of it. His father had always smoked intermittently depending on how much money the farm was bringing in though a pack of cigarettes weren’t exactly expensive. But Nikolai hadn’t picked up the habit until his time undercover and at that time he’d gained a fondness for cigars on occasion. Cigars were a show of wealth in Russia, which meant that the more powerful members in the gang had smoked them often more as a show of power than anything. It was then that he’d really gotten those bad habits, and it wasn’t something that he was fantastic at outright shaking. He’d quit a while back around the same time that Persephone had, though still smoking the occasional cigar on occasion. Of course, he was well aware that his wife had started smoking again after they’d moved back here, but he hadn’t commented on it. They’d both picked up and dropped the habit before, it was all a matter of circumstances. Smoking while he was in a seedy bar with his wife seemed like a good a time as any to pick it back up again, if only for the evening.

After all of the years he’d spent in law enforcement, of course he was able to keep an eye on their surroundings while he continued to act disinterested. It seemed that a few of the men had ceased their second, third and fourth looks at his wife after he’d approached, but only a few. The rest didn’t seem to give a damn and were probably just waiting for an opportunity to get her alone. Even in a seedy bar like this, men were men, after all, and that was probably what she’d been going for in order to better gain information. It was how she had the advantage over him in these types of things, obviously. Nikolai took a long swig of his drink, outwardly not all that concerned about the conversation or anything happening around him. Really, seeing his incredibly attractive wife showing more skin than normal was making it difficult for him to act disinterested and like he didn’t know her, but it would be worth it in the end when this continued to amuse them both. “So I’ve been told, at least,” he replied, chuckling darkly under his breath. He really hoped no bloke came over here to attempt to try anything because he would hate to have to do something ridiculous to get him to back off. Knocking someone the fuck out would probably be frowned upon, obviously.

Persephone enjoyed this part of her job quite a bit. Granted it wasn’t really something she was asked to do and more something she felt would work to her benefit with the things she had been working on. She rarely worried about telling her superiors when she did these sorts of things as it was something she had done many times before and was always very careful. She knew being a woman made things so much easier for her than her male counterparts. A good bit of the time she was able to obtain information that her male colleagues may have not been able to. Being a female not only worked for the obvious reason of garnering attention from men who probably knew a fair bit about things going on, but she also came off as far less threatening. She knew Nikolai had never seen her in this rare form as it was a far cry from her actual personality. For moment she was thinking about showing him just how she operated, but figured she should think it over for a bit as she subtly scanned the room for a potential source of information.

Smoking was something Persephone had picked up while in Russia as she was never around smokers very much growing up but it felt like most of her co-workers in Russia did. She would often go out with them and started smoking just in social situations when she was having a few drinks with them. During that first detail she would have a cigarette in the morning with her coffee but other than that really didn’t smoke. Afterwards she seemed to become a daily occurrence though she felt it may have just been stress after that detail was over, but she smoked for quite a few years up until a year or two ago. She wondered if her husband would comment on it once they got back home as he had yet to even acknowledge it. She knew it was probably weird but she wondered briefly if there was any man outside of her husband that could look so appealing while smoking.

She knew Nikolai was still keeping a close eye on everyone around them, even if he looked disinterested by the situation as a whole. She really did enjoy watching him ‘work’ as he seemed to be able to pull off most things seamlessly. Though neither one of them ever had to do something together where they had to act like strangers. It would be amusing to see just how well they could pull this off. ”I wouldn’t go around boasting about your inability to be killed…” She replied arching an eyebrow at him before taking a long sip from her glass. It was then that she caught sight of a rather large bloke entering the bar, though not as big as Nikolai. She wondered if he could be a potential source if she played her cards right. He didn’t look like the type that would be scared off by someone like Nikolai just hanging around. She nonchalantly drained her glass often finding that drinking beer took a lot longer to get her even close to tipsy. She took a slow pull from her cigarette before carelessly flicking the ashes onto the floor as the bloke took up the seat on the other side of her. Letting a flicker of a smirk come over her face noticing that he had definitely given her a once over. This might be promising and it was a comfort to have Nikolai there as this new bloke looked like he could cause her potential problems physically. Granted it would also be slightly awkward to egg a man on in some fashion with her husband right beside her… though it could quite possibly make things interesting later. For now she decided she would ignore the bloke instead of engaging.

He did know that if shady shit was happening, it was likely to be happening at or around this pub. If not there, then it would be happening at the White Wyvern, which was an equally seedy though less hidden bar in Knockturn Alley. So far, he hadn’t heard much of anything as far as information had been concerned, though he hadn’t been there a particularly long time yet either. Perhaps they would amuse themselves with this a bit longer and then go their separate ways to actually try to get some information that could benefit them, or maybe they would simply continue this until they left. It was too soon to tell, he supposed, but he found that he was rather fine with it no matter what way it happened. They would just have to see how it played out. However, seeing Persephone in an outfit like the one she was currently wearing was doing absolutely nothing for his concentration or his restraint. He already had issues with self-control as far as his wife was concerned, and he always had clearly, since that was what had started this to begin with. It was interesting to think what would have happened if he hadn’t interrupted the fight that they’d been having back on their detail by kissing her which had led to them starting up their sexual relationship to begin with. This had all started from a lack of self-control involving her and it was currently an issue he was most certainly having. Nikolai couldn’t even recall the last time he had seen her dressed like this, and his thoughts would have headed down an inappropriate road if he didn’t stopped them immediately.

It wasn’t the time for that. Amusement aside, he did need to keep focused since they were in the middle of a seedy damn bar. He took another long drag of his cigarette, letting the smoke blow out of the corner of his mouth as he glanced down at Persephone with an amused look. “Well then, how am I supposed to prove it if no one overhears and tests it out?” Nikolai countered, flicking his thumb up against the cigarette to ash it onto the floor before taking another swig of his drink. His moment of distraction had ended, knowing that he was certainly capable of keeping a close eye on their surroundings while simultaneously appreciating his wife’s little undercover disguise. He was a multitasker, after all. But that did mean that he noticed the moment that a new bloke entered the bar and headed over to sit next to Persephone. He certainly seemed interesting, if his once over was any indication, and Nikolai supposed he couldn’t knock the man out for looking… yet. Besides, Persephone might actually want to attempt to get information from this bloke, since that was the point of being there, so he decided he would let her decide what she wanted to do with this newcomer before taking her lead on that one. Obviously, Nikolai could deal with him if the situation arose and it became necessary, but it clearly wasn’t at that point yet.

This was definitely going to be one interesting night. It was not lost on her that they apparently were in capable of going to a bar separately and ending up in the same exact one regardless of how many were around. It would be even more intriguing to see how her husband reacted to the way she went about getting information. She had told him that she would use herself as bait to obtain information. He was her husband and she felt it was important that he knew that though he had actually never seen her at ‘work’. She really wished he would stop smoking his bloody cigarette like he was. It was extremely distracting as now all she could focus on was his lips and everything they had to offer. She was starting to think it had been much easier to pretend she was in a relationship with him when she still hated him opposed to what she was doing at that moment. She had managed to keep her eyes elsewhere though she could clearly see him through her peripheral.

She finally turned her head to look at him as he spoke before making a show of her eyes looking him over from head to toe before shrugging. ”I’d just hate to see such a pretty face mucked up because of a pair of loose lips.” She said with raised eyebrows. The statement in general was laughable as she had seen him spar far too many times to think anyone in the bar could even leave the smallest mark on him. All the same she was enjoying this little game as they waited for an opportunity to possibly get some kind of information while out.

She turned back to her empty glass, letting her finger gently trace the rim of it as if lost in thought though made sure it was in clear sight of the bloke that had just sat down beside her. It was always best to go indirectly as that seemed to peak interest the fastest. Simply doing little gestures where a potential source could see them was usually the easiest and least suspicious way of doing things. She heard the bloke order his drink before turning to her with a smile. ”And one for the pretty little bint.” Oh he was one of those, shit. Well Nikolai was sure to get one hell of a show now. The cocky ones were always a pain in the ass to deal with, and she particularly didn’t like the way he had already addressed her. She was confident that Nikolai would be able to stand down until he could see there was going to be a problem. He had been around her long enough to have a good read on her by little things she did that no one else would even notice. She looked up at the bloke with a quirked eyebrow as he handed her what looked like vodka. At least if Nikolai was slightly put off by the bloke he could find humor in the fact that that was the drink he had ordered for her. ”Alone?” He asked casually as he took a sip of his own drink looking her over carefully. ”Depends on who wants to know…” She replied cryptically as she lifted the glass to her lips though didn’t take a sip which she was sure would be a dead giveaway to Nikolai that she wasn’t actually drinking it since after six years he had never seen her be able to drink vodka straight without pulling a face.

A lot could be found out by being observant and listening to the right conversations. Nikolai had learned this over the years, time and time again. During his time undercover, it had been very important for him to pay attention and it saved his ass on more than one occasion. It had been useful in his auror work as well, and with his own company. Now, he was back to auror work and finding it to be just as important as it had been back then. Granted, tonight he wasn’t near in the capacity as an auror, per say, though he would be if a situation arose that required it. No, tonight he was more focused on trying to see what he could find about… anything of interest, really, and he knew that people in this area had a hell of a lot of opinions. Some of them were more dangerous than others, and some were all talk, and it was all a matter of sorting out what kind was being dealt with when trying to determine what’s important. Tonight, he knew that he could gain some information that he hadn’t had previously, but he knew that Persephone would probably be able to get more information than he could. It was because of that he knew that it would just make more sense for him to keep an eye on everything and not try to actively find anything out. If he overheard something, that was one thing; but if any information as gained tonight it would be because Persephone got some drunk bloke to talk with other means.

He had never actually seen Persephone have to do this before, and he knew that it might be a test of his restraint as far as not knocking blokes out. He already was well aware of just who had looked at her and how many times, and for how long. It was too bad he couldn’t knock out everyone in this bar, since they had all taken their share of looks. Nikolai chuckled at her comment, “Oh, you’ll never see that.” He answered, before bringing the cigarette back to his lips. Nikolai was quite sure that no one in this bar could take him on, though there was always that surprising challenge… that was a lie; there was occasionally that surprising challenge, but Nikolai knew that he would be hard-pressed to find a man in here that could actually pose a threat to him. He didn’t find that cocky, since it was true.

Nikolai let his stool move imperceptibly toward the center, so that this newcomer wouldn’t think that Persephone was with him. Of course, he would have rather showed him that she was with him by knocking him the hell out. He already did like him just from his words to the bartender, but he could hold his tongue. If the man had information, Persephone would get it out of him, and it might be amusing to listen in on. More than likely, it would just be irritating, but it was too soon to tell. Obviously it wouldn’t be irritating on Persephone’s part since she was just going to be trying to get information, but this bloke was going to get on Nikolai’s bad side quickly, even if he didn’t know it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Persephone feign a drink of vodka… obviously feigned since he knew she was incapable of drinking the liquor without making the same face every time. He doubted that face would have worked on trying to flirt with this bloke, he thought, hiding his amused smirk by taking another swig of his drink.