Sophia Brandt and the Brooch of Isolt Sayre

Spy kids

"I have an idea." 

Three pairs of eyes looked up from their books over to Callum Black, who for once, had a pensive expression on his face. Sophia caught Rosie's expression--her friend looked worried. She couldn't read Noah's expressions as easily, but he didn't look all that excited either. 

Callum let out a loud "ahem," bringing their attention back. "Don't you want to hear it?" 

"Your ideas never turn out well," Rosie said bluntly. 

"That's not true!" 

Sophia wanted to defend her friend, but Rosie wasn't exactly wrong. 

"How about last year, when you told us to sneak into the second year dormitories so we could claim our beds?" Noah said. "We couldn't even get into the rooms and Grace caught us and nearly reported us to the Headmistress!" 

Callum opened his mouth to defend himself, but Rosie was faster. "Or, that time when you said we should all put essence of wightswood in our robes so we'd never have to clean them! My robes still smell like grass and even my dad couldn't get it out!" 

Sophia stifled a laugh, but Callum saw her trying to cover it up. 

"I've had a few bad ideas, sure, but Sophia's plan last year nearly got us all killed," he grumbled. 

"Hey!" She protested, feeling attacked. "We had to stop Professor Leon from brewing that potion." 

"Not to mention, now we're the most famous students at Ilvermorny," Noah bragged. 

Callum sighed, and Sophia felt bad for her friend. "I'd like to hear your idea, Callum. We might not want to do it, but we'll hear it at least." 

His expression brightened instantly. 

"Okay, so here's my plan: we're going to spy on the aurors..." 

* * *

Sophia still couldn't believe the rest of them had agreed to Callum's plan. She was usually up for some sneaking around, but Noah? And Rosie?  Her friends were extra cautious when it came to things like this, where they could get caught and sent to the Headmistress (who also happened to be Rosie's mom). 

Callum's argument had been pretty convincing.

Although they had a decent lead on the case of the missing brooch, the aurors had access to all of the students and professors for questioning. Sophia also realized that they probably knew the most about the brooch and its magical properties as well.

After doing some digging, Rosie discovered that the aurors met with Headmistress Calderon-Boot every Friday afternoon for a progress report. She didn't know exactly what went on in these meetings, but she did know a lot about her mom's office. 

"She always keeps a window open in her office because it gets stuffy inside there otherwise. If we can get our hands on a pair of extendable ears--"

"--got it," Callum said, grinning. "Michael gave them to me for Christmas two years ago. They're amazing." 

"Then we just need to find a room above her office..."

Now, the three of them were carefully lowering the ears down to the window from an empty classroom on the floor above. Rosie had undone the lock with a quick Alohomora and Noah opened the window so Callum could place the extendable ears. 

Sophia thought they must have been one of the strangest things she'd ever seen, and her parents were famous magizoologists who had shown her all sorts of strange creatures. They looked like a pair real ears, for starters, but had a long string in the middle so you could eavesdrop from far away. The ears would even turn to face whoever was talking, which freaked Sophia out the most. 

"Got it!" Callum exclaimed, holding up the second ear from the window. He'd cleverly wrapped the strong around his arm so it was the perfect length to listen in on the meeting below. 

Almost immediately, the ears started projecting the voices of the aurors down below. 

"So what progress have you made?" The unmistakable voice of the Headmistress came out through the ears, and Sophia thought that she sounded disappointed. "Other than ransacking the dormitories of my students and our guests." 

Rosie's eyes widened in surprise at her mom's comment. 

"Like I've said, Phoebe, we've been conducting interviews with the professors and are still searching the grounds for evidence," one of the male aurors replied. 

"But you have no suspects?" 

Sophia and Callum looked at each other--this was what they were here for. 

After a brief pause, one of the aurors spoke up. "None. Our searches turned up nothing in the students' dormitories and we have yet to find any evidence connecting someone to the crime." 

"That's insane!" Noah whispered. "We're doing a better investigation than they are!" 

From down below, the extendable ears could even pick up the sound of the Headmistress sighing. "I will allow you three more weeks at Ilvermorny to conduct your investigation. After that, I'm afraid we will have to drop the case." 

"MACUSA will push for five," one of the aurors responded furiously. "A relic of this prestige merits a thorough investigation." 

"Your presence here is affecting the students and teachers. I will not further damage relations with Mahoutokoro or Castelbruxo over an investigation that turns up nothing." 

"You're making a mistake," one of the aurors said, his voice sounding threatening.

A pause. "I don't think so." 

Sophia had to admit that Rosie's mom had a lot of courage in standing up to the aurors. When they arrived, she wondered if anyone could stop MACUSA from doing whatever if wanted to do, from raiding dormitories to creating an atmosphere of unease and suspicion.

"If you continue to interfere in our investigation, we will have to report you to MACUSA as a suspect in this case," the auror said. 

Rosie let out a small gasp and Sophia felt her chest seize with fear. She couldn't believe that the Headmistress could ever be a suspect in the case. The aurors had to be stupid to suspect she had any involvement in this. 

"I see." 

"We will let you know if there are any developments in the case," another auror said, sounding much friendlier than the last. 

Soon after, they heard the faint sound of a door closing--the aurors had left. Sophia couldn't imagine what Rosie was thinking about. She must be worried sick about her mom being dragged into this, she thought. But they can't just bully everyone at Ilvermorny into having their way. 

All of a sudden, a loud static noise came from the extendable ears that made all four of them cover their ears in surprise. 

"Callum, what was that?" Noah asked once it had stopped. He shook his head to signal that he didn't know. 

Then, they heard the voice of someone who sounded very, very disappointed. 

"I'll see you in my office. Now."