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[Official Nathaniel Hyde]

 

It’s plain room with table and chairs and a recorder. The walls have some partial sound proofing - not to muffle the screams but to stop annoying noise getting into the room.

 

For questioning: Hunter Bennett

Ministry Officials handling the case: Official Nathaniel Hyde and Official Rose Granger-Weasley

Reason: Conveniently left the VIP section just in time

[Official Nathaniel Hyde]

The news of the Ballycastle Bats Stadium explosion had travelled fast, even for those who weren't exactly Quidditch enthusiasts, like himself. Aurors and other Officials from different departments had been called into action, some of them apparating at the scene, searching for causes and sources, eye witnesses and anything that could help them rebuild what had just happened; some others had decided to stand guard at St. Mungo's, but with all the chaos and emotions, he knew well it wasn't a place he could be at because of his ability, and had previous experience with dealing with stressed Healers and worried family members for when he handled The Wraith Case. After the emergency meeting, they were given the list of suspects and people of interest for the Ministry, and as it involved the Minister of Magic, it got everyone at the building busy and looking everywhere for what was necessary to find the person or people behind the attack and locked them up in Azkaban.

 

And now, they had all owled the suspects and eye witnesses for a quick interrogation. Nate had partnered up with a senior Official, Official Granger-Weasley, with whom he hadn't had the pleasure of working with just yet. They would be chatting Hunter Bennett up. He was a Pro-Quidditch Player, and he was reading all of the gathered information about him and about what he had been seen doing that day prior to the explosion. "Weren't you there that day, Granger?" He asked Rose as he stood outside of the interrogation room, awaiting for the man who had already arrived and been directed to Level Two.

Edited by Official Nathaniel Hyde, 02 September 2020 - 10:03 PM.

[Official Rose Granger-Weasley]

Rose had been with the ministry ever since graduation. Her career choice was of no surprise to anyone, with her dad being a former auror and her mom a former minister of magic. Still, she could've followed her cousin James, and even older cousin Fred into a career as professional quidditch player, but her call to do something back for the community was greater. Starting off as Junior Auror, Rose had grown to her current position over the years. This spring, Rose made plans to take some time off work. The twenty-seven year old had planned a seven month hiatus to travel around and see more of the world, as she usually couldn't get off work more than three weeks in a row. Rose had been gone for five months when the catastrophe happened. She'd been in Germany at the time, but once she found out, she instantly returned back to the UK, to check if any of her family members had been injured. She had cut her hiatus short and got back to work again, after discussing her situation with Official Black. She just couldn't go off and enjoy some time off while the person who caused the distastes was still out there. 

 

After the first investigations, a few suspects had turned up. Among them, Hunter Bennett. She knew the man, of course. Her love for quidditch hadn't faded after Hogwarts, she could easily name each player of the English national team in a whim. Of course, it was hard to believe he could do something like this, but Rose was professional enough to set her bias aside. Rose sipped her tea as they waited for Bennett's arrival, shaking her head at the younger auror's question. "I was in Germany. I came back that day to check on Lucy and Fred." Rose explained. "Were you anywhere close?" She countered conversationally. 

[Hunter Bennett]

The news that Hunter Bennett was being invited for questioning due to the Ballycastle Bats explosion created such a ruckus in National Quidditch League. It impacted their team’s performance especially with one of their teammates being badly injured too. Hunter had a closed-door meeting with his handler, his coach and their manager and how they should deal with this matter as it will seriously impact his career. Every media outlet in UK will have a feast about this and as much as possible, they wanted to lessen the impact to their team and his career as a National Quidditch player. May it be false accusation or not, it is apparent that the effects are likely to be devastating, even when allegations do not lead to unlawful punishments. They may not be called crimes, nevertheless they may have substantial impact and will still affect his job and his status in the Quidditch community.

 

Regardless, his presence will be required at the Ministry of Magic or else the consequences would be severe, so his Manager allowed him to make an appearance. For Hunter, he’s innocent and he can prove that alright, what he’s worried about was the effect it has on Harper, his son. The kid is already at Hogwarts, but the news will surely reach his school in no time and that’s big deal for Hunter. He can deal with the rumours and accusations just fine but not Harper’s reaction. Hunter was delayed at the lobby of the Ministry of Magic due to some reporters who ambushed him while he’s on his way to his scheduled meeting. Hunter responded with a short and brief, ‘No comment.’ And then he was ushered inside the lift where it will lead him to Level 2. He rubbed the bridge of his nose while waiting for his floor, just thinking of this issue with the press is already causing him a huge headache. As soon as he heard the ding, Hunter came out of the lift and asked for the name of the two Officials he’s meeting with today. He was directed outside a room where two people were waiting. “Good morning, I am Hunter Bennett. Apologies for the slight delay.”

[Official Nathaniel Hyde]

Nate made a face, nodding briefly at her statement. He had gotten a list of the people that had been treated that day at St. Mungo's, but the Healers didn't have any information on those who were treated at the stadium, and it was understandable, especially in the middle of such chaos. He shook his head. "It was my day off." A day he ended up spending outside the hospital to make sure they didn't get any suspicious patients or other people attempting to go inside as they needed to ensure the Minister's welfare, and it the state she was in, it meant helping keeping her alive with no one trying to 'finish the job.' At the mention of Lucy, he eyed her briefly. "How's she?" Lucy Weasley, one of the only two girls Nate had ever been romantically interested in. She had been the promise to a new chapter, but had disappeared on him with no real explanation, even when they were both at the same house, only different years. It had been a blown to his ego back in the day, not to mention he hadn't fully recovered about what had happened with Candice. So many years later and that ship hadn't sailed either, with him focusing exclusively on his job.

 

Hunter Bennett finally showed up, not that they had been waiting for him that long. "Mr. Bennett. This is Official Rose Granger-Weasley, and I'm Official Nathaniel Hyde. We're only like to make a couple of questions. I promise we won't keep you in here for too long," Nate stepped aside and motioned for the man to enter the interrogation room, also waiting for Rose to do the same. "Are you familiar with the Charter of Rights? Though this is not a formal interrogation, just a conversation, as I'd like to think we all want the same here, which is bring justice and find out what really happened at the Ballycastle Bats Stadium..." He side smirked, waiting for the man to make himself comfortable before walking inside and closing the door behind them.

[Official Rose Granger-Weasley]

Rose nodded when the other auror mentioned it had been his day off. Surely a lot of aurors would've liked to trade places with him and watch the game off duty, but for his sake, and that off all the other aurors, it was better that he didn't go. The list of possible accomplices to the crime had been so long, officials from other departments were called in to help as well. Rose raised her eyebrows when the auror asked about her cousin. "You know her?" She asked curiously. "Lucy is fine, physically. She had a few cuts and bruises, she was patched up at the stadium." Rose explained. "Her friend was taken to the hospital though, she was a bit distressed about her." She felt bad for the youngest member of their generation of the Weasley family. It seemed like she knew quite a lot of people that got injured at the quidditch stadium. 

 

Then, Mr. Bennett finally arrived, following Mr. Bennett into the interrogation room. The woman sat down and put some parchment with some notes on the table, nodding along when Nathaniel started off. "Please answer all of our questions truthfully, however, anything you say can and will be used against you. At any given time you can choose to end the interview, consult with a lawyer of refuse to answer." She explained before handing him a document. "All of your rights are listed here. Please familiarise yourself with the document. By signing it you agree to fully understand your rights and that you're here at your own free will. To repeat my colleague, you are not being detained. If at any point anything you say gives us any reason to do so, this will be clearly communicated to you." She said, waiting for him to sign the document. Assuming he did, Rose continued. "Mr. Bennett, could you please tell us how you experienced August 15th, the day of the collapse?"

[Hunter Bennett]

Hunter nodded and smiled to the two officials, “Pleasure to meet you.” He entered the room which by the way is just a plain room with a table and chairs, good enough for a question type of meeting. After observing the room briefly, he took a sit on the allotted chair and leaned on it while trying to be comfortable with the place and the two other people in the room. The Charter of Rights was mentioned, Hunter could only nod, it was discussed to him during the closed-door meeting he had with his Manager to give him a general idea what he’s going to face here and what are his rights just in case. “I understand.” He glanced at the document and go thought it as fast as he could before providing his signature. Letting go of the pen, the lady started the question. Hunter narrated everything regarding that day. “I’ve received a ViP invitation to watch the championship between Ballycastle Bats and Kenmare Kestrels together with other National teammates. I only went there because my son is a huge fan of Bats.” He paused while remembering the day, “We chose to join the stands instead of VIP section because my son was supposed to meet with friends there and watch the game together with their families. I left him for a while to visit the VIP section because I want to check who else from our team was invited and found Blaine there, together with his partner. We talked for a while; I was also interviewed by a journalist from the Daily prophet while in there. But as soon as the Minister made her introduction speech, I had to go back to the stands because my son will be looking for me and I don’t have any intention of leaving him there for long, although I have my girlfriend and my son’s friends to look after him.” He shifted his gaze between the two officials while continuing with his story, “We’re just watching the game as per usual when the explosion happened. From what I’ve seen while at the stands, the blast started at the VIP section because it’s the only portion of the stadium which collapsed.” He can still imagine the moment of the blast, it was a chaotic day for everyone.

[Official Nathaniel Hyde]

((so sorry for the wait!))

 

Nate chuckled, rubbing on his chin as he blinked and nodded slightly. "More than she'd like to admit." They hadn't ended in good terms, but it had been ages ago, and had been nothing more than a fling, so why keeping hard feelings about it? He listened to the other auror's words, happy to hear she hadn't been badly injured. He nodded again, and there was nothing else he could add since he wasn't acquainted with Lucy's friends, and Hunter Bennett had arrived.

 

The man made himself comfortable, and Nate could sense this would be a fairly quickly and easy questionning, for the man seemed very cooperative. He wasn't nervous either, nor he could find any other red flag coming from an underlying emotion, which already got him thinking they were wasting everyone's time. Unfortunately, the Ministry didn't rely solely on abilities, which was such a pity, to be honest. Nate finally closed the door behind them and stood at the back as Weasley interacted with the man and gave him the chart. Once it was signed and she started the interview, he bent his head, inspecting his facial expression and his voice tone, producing a small notepad where he took notes. His story made perfect sense, though he felt there were some holes that needed to be filled. "Do you know who else received a VIP invitation? Anyone you remember seeing in there besides this Blaine you mention, and his partner? Where were you seated?"

[Hunter Bennett]

(I am going to reply now, I can reply again once Rose posted)

 

The other Official also asked him a question regarding the other attendees of the VIP section, “I honestly don’t know who else got the VIP invitation, what I am sure about was my teammates got it but it’s only me and Blaine who showed there. I wasn’t surprised that my other teammates were a no show, we’re all busy with practice because of our upcoming match with Scotland. I wouldn’t show myself there too if not for my son.” At this Hunter smiled, “I can’t deny his request to see the Bats in action…so yeah.” As for the second question, “If my memory serves me right, there were 2 Daily Prophet employees , one of them is Miss Hwang, then there were Ministry officials together with their dates aside from the Minister herself. I vaguely heard someone mentioned the Head Healer of St. Mungos was there too so I am assuming the other guys with her were Healers too. I don’t know them personally including their names.” There were other people who came late but Hunter left right away. “I was sitting beside Blaine, near the back corner. It’s just the 3 of us in that part of the VIP section."

Edited by Hunter Bennett, 22 September 2020 - 05:28 AM.

[Official Rose Granger-Weasley]

Rose raised a single eyebrow at Hunter, not planning to let him go that easily. The man had acted suspiciously around the time the stands had collapsed and it was up to the ministry to figure out what exactly happened. Surely, the information the man gave them lined up with what they had already known. They had a list of every single person who entered the VIP Room. Including the unwanted ones, who were asked to come in as well. She still couldn't believe the ministry had allowed such a security breach to occur, she definitely had to talk to Ashlee to make sure their protocols were followed in the future. "Well, mister Bennett..." The red haired woman started off. "It surely is convenient, isn't it? Leaving just before the collapse to get to one of the few safe spaces in the stadium where people were able to leave unharmed." She said and placed her elbows on the table between them, leaning forward. "Why get seats so far away from the VIP box? Surely if you manage to secure a ticket to the VIP box you should be able to get some seats next to it as well? I can imagine having to travel around a packed stadium with quidditch fans can be quite the challenge for a man like yourself."

[Hunter Bennett]

Hunter turned to the lady Official, catching her raised eyebrow but Hunter wasn’t affected by the look. Instead, he caught the lady’s eyes as he answered her question. “I am a Quidditch player Official, if anything, I know every facet of the game, from the time a player entered the stadium, to the introductory speech of a Ministry official until the end of the game, including the briefing and interview right after. I’ve been in this industry for almost 6 years now.” He explained calmly, his gaze unwavering. “The moment the Minister started her speech, in just few minutes, the game will officially start. I used that opportunity to go back to my designated seat at the stands where my son and girlfriend were seated. As you mentioned it’s a long way to go from the VIP section so I used the time of the speech to my advantage and took my leave and I’ve arrived to my destination just as the referee released all the Quidditch balls.” He clasped his hands in front of him and leaned forward too, mimicking her action. “You’re right, I could have used the VIP ticket to enjoy the game, but as I’ve mentioned, I was there because of my son and his friends. They want to sit near each other so I have to pull some strings and use my connections to get those seat numbers just so my son can be with his friends and family friends. I’m sure giving in to your son’s requests is not a crime Miss.” He leaned back to his chair once again as he took a deep breath. “And besides, the Bat’s section where we’re seated is not bad at all, we have famous pro-quidditch personalities with us there too, Grindelwald, Krum, Levki, Longbottom, I assure you I wasn’t bored at all especially when my son got all the autographs he needed.” As for the fans, Hunter chuckled, "I admit a lot of people asked for my autographs but I already know how it works, I know my way around people if I want to avoid them especially the press."

Edited by Hunter Bennett, 26 September 2020 - 02:45 AM.

[Official Nathaniel Hyde]

The list of the VIP invitees only grew as the interrogations proceeded. All of the English National Team had received an invitation, and Nate couldn't help but raised a brow as only two of them actually attended the match. The reason behind it made perfect sense, but still, they couldn't let anyone slip and if he was a little conspiranoic about it, he'd investigate each player to make sure they had been practicing at the same time the match took place. The young man kept on jolting down the information Mr. Bennett provided to compare it to the one they had, growing slightly annoyed as they had a sea of people to talk to, considering the amount of attendees to the match, and the size of the stadium, which had been at its full capacity that evening, according to what he had managed to get from the Games & Sports department. He eyed the quidditch player as Official Granger-Weasley spoke up, snickering as he always did, especially at the stance she had taken, elbows on the desk and everything. The room was at a calm that wasn't too common at questionning and interrogations, a reason why Nate was completely sure they were only losing their time. Hunter Bennett answered promptly, his voice unwavery, and was cooperating with everything he was asked about. The man had been there with his son, and that was indicative enough if his innocence, if they asked him. The way he kept on bringing him into the conversation and how he spoke of him made him think they had a great relationship, so why would he put the kid in danger? It made no sense. This job wasn't about morals and sense, though, but he still didn't find a reason to believe he was guilty of something. "Fair enough," he said, inhaling deeply and closing his notepad. "I have nothing else to say, Official, so if you have any other question," Nate gestured for her to keep on firing at the man if she wanted to. "I'd only ask for you to be available in case you're required for a second questionning, Mr. Bennett."