The shocked look he had faced her with quickly turns to irritation as he realizes that she wasn’t taking the threat as seriously as she should have been. After having seen the mark, James went into full Auror mode: ready to defend at all costs and attack if need be. He toed the line between protocol and sheer brashness with a careful step.Â
   “I’d rather people be panicking and rushing to get out of here than standing by and doing nothing. You do know what that symbol is, right?” he snaps, his brain clouded with angry over the woman’s carefree attitude. How could she act like this when there was likely death eaters among them? Unless she is one? He remembers his Auror vows and decides not to make any extreme judgements on her character: it was a stressful situation, after all, and James, more than anyone, knew that reactions often do not represent character.
   Unable to keep his wariness and suspicion at bay completely, he keeps his wand in hand and slightly raised, position defensive but not threatening. He hopes the situation would not call for him to use it, but if she drew her wand on him he wouldn’t hesitate to cast a body bind and apparate her directly to the ministry. His irritation only increases when she so rudely refuses his offer of help.
   “It’s my job to get people to safety. Take it as an insult to your abilities if you want, but frankly, I don’t care,” he says, miffed by her exclamation that she wouldn’t be leaving the area. “You’re acting rather unbothered, which leads me to believe that you’re either terrified and in shock or you were looking forward to this.”
Momentary irritation evaporating, Alecto smiled sweetly.  “No, I have no idea what it is. Enlighten me, will you?” It was difficult to find anyone with a sense of humour these days, and if she had known that she would become the subject of a misplaced interrogation, she would have left earlier. The war had been over for years, yet the entire Wizarding world still scattered because of a single mark in the sky. Pathetic. How they had won, she would never know. Besides, she saw no reason to be frantic - if there were anyone out there wanting some foul play, she would certainly not be the target. Better she was doing nothing than inciting the crowd more, and she scoffed. “I’m not an Auror, am I to be in charge of crowd control? Although whoever should be in control of that is bound to get sacked.”
Alecto took note of the defensive position, completely unbothered. She was confident that he wouldn’t hex her. Crossing her arms, partly to show that she wasn’t even holding her wand, she shrugged.  “Then shouldn’t you be out there, helping people to safety? I daresay there’s no threat around here.” Other than her, of course, but with so many Aurors jumping out of the woodwork, she wasn’t planning to further incite anything. As bored as she’d been, as much as she’d been craving something that reminded her of the war, she wasn’t daft. “Clearly I’m in terrible shock. It’s really a surprise I don’t drop dead with fright”, she deadpanned, already getting bored with the back and forth.
Not wanting to take orders, but also not wanted to get arrested for trespassing on evacuated territory, she finally said, “I’m sure there’s someone else that could use your help more than I can. Why don’t you go and help them?”