wc: 898
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You groaned in frustration from the top of Theseus's desk. It had been days since you had any real leads and you were running out of ideas.

Theseus sat with his elbows resting on the desk, his hand running over his sleep-deprived face. Across from him sat a still-recovering Mustache, slumped in his chair, staring blankly at the back of the picture frame sitting on Theseus's desk.

You glanced at your watch. "Lads, I hate to break up this party, but if we keep going at this rate, we won't get anything done," you said, lazy sarcasm engulfing your words.

Mustache glanced up at you for a moment, sighing, before saying, "Any suggestions, then?"

Theseus sat up, as if trying to motivate himself. But the trail was almost dry, and you'd picked apart every clue you had.

"Right. Let's go over that night one more time," he said, focusing his attention on you again. "What are we missing?"

You threw your hands up in frustration. "We've been over it a million times, Thes! He was just acting like the lunatic he is! Anything he said is bullshit."

"Bullshit to you," he corrected. "But maybe not to us. Do you remember anything? Any meeting place or hints at plans? There must be something."

You sighed, rubbing your temples. "I don't know... I don't remember exactly what he said, word for word!"

A beat passed. Then Theseus's eyes widened, and he muttered, "Hang on..." He immediately stood, running to the door. "Y/n! Come with me!" He yelled over his shoulder.

You glanced at Mustache, bewildered, and he returned the expression, shrugging.

"Hurry up!" You heard Theseus's voice yell from the elevator. You rolled your eyes dramatically to Mustache and ran to catch up.

You stepped out of the elevator into a dark, freezing hallway. There was nothing but silence around you, contrasting drastically from the other floors full of people and chatter. Everything was dark marble and shined even in the dim light. It occurred to you that there was no source of light in this hallway. It just... somehow wasn't pitch black. You glanced around, uneasy.

Theseus wordlessly lead you down a haunting hallway that seemed almost endless. You expected to see a ghost float through the wall at any moment.

"Theseus, where the hell are we?" You asked, slightly unnerved at the setting surrounding you. Walking closer to him, not fancying getting lost down there, you turned the corner and finally stopped.

"The Department of Mysteries," he answered shortly, barely glancing back at you, focused on the identical doors that now stood before you.

You waited for something to happen, but Theseus just stood there, eyes closed, perfectly still.

You were about to ask what he was doing when the doors began to shift together until they formed a single, ornately made door. (Magic, it's amazing) You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.

"You can't say the password out loud. If you walk into either of the two doors without the password, you set off the alarms," he explained, opening the door for you, which lead you into an even darker room, solely lit by blueish light in the center of the room. It was coming from a floating bowl of water, but you knew better than to believe it was just water.

You'd only heard about pensieves through your... previous career of illegal activity, but you never saw one. They were incredible rare and valuable, that much you knew.

Theseus stood across from you, gazing at the glowing water for a moment before pulling his wand from his jacket pocket. Taking a step toward you, he placed his wand on your temple. You were suddenly extremely aware that Theseus was less than a foot away from you. Hell, any closer and you would be touching. His other hand found the side of your face, steadying you. You gulped, finally meeting his eyes.

His mouth opened, but nothing came out as you locked eyes. He finally collected himself after a moment, and you saw something flash in his eyes that you couldn't identify. Confusion? Realization? You weren't sure. He squeezed them shut for a moment.

"Right," he began, his eyes fluttered open and he shifted his weight as he talked. "You know what this is?" you nodded. "If we do this, it won't just be memories from that night, it'll be some that relate to whatever you were thinking about that night too. So I'll be able to see everything you see... is– is that alright?"

You considered it, but quickly nodded. Theseus already knew about Charlie, so there wasn't anything he didn't know about... not really.

He nodded and muttered a spell you didn't quite catch, pulling a string of memories from your temple and placing them in the water. You briefly thought it odd, watching your own memories fall from your head. 

You stared at the water and Theseus glanced apprehensively at you for a moment, and you got the feeling he'd been in your position before. His mind on display for someone. And he didn't like it. But you trusted him completely, so you leaned down and gazed into the water, him immediately following suit.

You landed in a room you immediately recognized. It was the living room of your childhood home.

.