InsaneJournal

It was the dream again.

Caught out, the full moon looming large in the sky and bathing the nighttime world in shades of silver. It would have been starkly beautiful had it not meant darker things were also emboldened to come out of the shadows. Gideon could hardly make out their shapes, but their yellow eyes shone bright, and the low, bass snarls reverberated down his bones.

Surrounded, he knew. His wand out, trying to keep his eye on as many of them as he could. Too many of them though, and this would finally be it. Greyback, the largest of them all, parting from the pack, a heavy shape defining itself, hind legs tensed and poised for attack. The beast’s growls were its only warning as it leapt for his throat where his heart seemed to be permanently lodged, ears ringing, the Avada Kedavra born upon his lips---

Gideon’s eyes opened to a dark ceiling, skin slightly damp with sweat, breaths that had been panting not so long ago, his rapid pulse still hammering against his chest. It was the silence ringing in his ears, but no, no that wasn’t right. He sat up, nearly dislodging Bilius in the process. The animals were awake and alert, heads sprung up and ears perked.

Someone was trying to breach the wards.

Bilius stirred when he felt Gideon move under him. Half-asleep still, he tightened his arms around the other man. "Love? What is it?" Nightmares were nothing new for the two of them and he was certain he'd manage to soothe the other man back to sleep soon enough. Even if he needed to employ some whiskey.

This was what Bina lived for. Well, not the dismantling of wards, but the bringing in of vigilantes. Perhaps having Scrimgeour back in charge meant there would be progress made. That the stupid release of convicts would be overturned. After all, if criminals were allowed to run free, what was the point of a department of magical law enforcement? She knew Prewett's record, knew he had been one of them, knew the trust that was being placed in her to bring him in. He may have seemed docile, reclusive, and cooperative the last few years, but that meant nothing to her. A criminal was a criminal. And one vigilante was no different from another.

Cambina was decked out in protective dragonhide, hair plaited to one side to reveal the shaven, tattooed side as she worked to steadily undo the wards. Before long, she was pounding on the door of the cottage. "Mister Prewett! Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"

Gideon had been about to reply to Bilius when the voice sounded through the front door. Ministry. He met Bilius’s gaze in the dark. “This happens sometimes.” As if to say, this is what you get, when you attach yourself to me. He’d apologise, if he didn’t think Bilius was halfway down that road anyway.

Slipping from the bed and shrugging on what nearest clothes were at hand (ever-present jumper, sleep pants that had been swiftly discarded earlier), the picture Gideon presented to Cambina when he opened the door was one of sleep-roughened grimness. Behind him, the dogs set to growling -- the cats had all but made themselves scarce. He took a moment to assess her -- all her rough edges, from hair to tattoos to wardrobe. “You must be Auror Bulstrode.”

How could they know about him so soon? Surely they wouldn't be here for questioning this early in the morning? Wouldn't Alice have had the decency to do it at a decent hour? Bilius yawned, frowned at the bed that was devoid of four legged beasts, and rolled out of bed, grabbing the dressing gown and tying it round, bandages still peaking out from the collar and from one of the sleeves as he grabbed his wand and moved to stand behind Gideon, a hand on the small of his back.

Cambina raised an eyebrow, wand loosely gripped in her hand. "Mister Prewett," she said efficiently, taking in the cottage, the animals, and the disheveled ginger man emerging behind Gideon. "If you could come with me. The Ministry has some questions."

“Doesn’t the Ministry always?” Still, Gideon remained unmoved from where he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. His fingers dug into his flesh until the knuckles were white to keep them from shaking. His expression, with effort (so much effort, he’d swear they could hear his heart), effectively bland. “Would this be out of courtesy or mandate?”

Bilius hand curled in Gideon's jumper. They were here for Gideon. It didn't make any sense.

"I have the authority to use force." It was enough of an answer and Bina would prefer to get this part done with. She could interrogate him properly in the Ministry. "This will go easier with your cooperation."

The light touch to his back -- Bilius -- was reminder enough: Gideon had to keep their attention away from Bilius, not with his suspicious injuries nor his true affiliations. This was routine, the crimes of his past to continuously haunt him again and again. “I’ll cooperate,” he bit out, before promptly turning his back on them to meet Bilius’s gaze. He leaned in, close, so close. He wanted to touch, reassure. His hand had already reached out half the distance before he was aware of it. He noticed it, paused, then swallowed. “This happens sometimes.” Forced himself to complete the journey, cupping Bilius’s face, his jaw.

He shouldn't. Bilius knew that. Knew how much Gideon valued privacy and discretion. But Gideon's hand was on his cheek, against the scraggly ginger beard and he leaned into it. "No. Let me come with you." He knew it was a futile plea, but he couldn't just stand here and let them take Gideon away.

“Someone should be here. Just in case.” His expression however, was flat. No. “I’ll be back in twenty-four hours. That’s as long as they can hold me, and it’s as long as they will do so.” And he hated how he so very much wanted to lean down and kiss Bilius, just once more, and didn’t, couldn’t yet, before he dropped his hand, turned abruptly back to Cambina and purposely brushed past her to step outside.

"Gideon," Bilius hissed, reaching out as Gideon turned and stepped out, only to be stopped by the arm of the tattooed Auror.

"Your wand and your journal, Mister Prewett," she demanded in a tone that made it clear she would have them whether he cooperated or not.

He turned to her, a good head taller, though she hardly seemed fazed by it -- good on her, he thought. He held out his hands, his wand laid across his palms. “Journal’s on the side table by the hearth. It may be hidden under a cat. Just push her off.” He almost wanted to laugh at the irony. The worst things to be found there were his somewhat racier exchanges with Bilius. Well, if they hadn’t put two and two together by now, there was very little hope for the DMLE all together.

Bina took the wand, secured it in a pocket of her jacket while hers was still trained on him. Perhaps there was no reason to assume anything of him, but he was a convicted criminal. "Just a precaution, you understand," Cambina said, her wand moving to bind his wrists. "Your companion's wand as well while I conduct my search." Her gaze fell to the second man.

It was a strange feeling, being on this end of law enforcement, but he supposed this was what he was signing up for. Bilius fought back a protest when Gideon's wrists were bound before he realised the Auror was speaking to him. "Oh! Um..." Bilius glanced round. "On the bedside table, I believe." In the disorientation of the morning, he hadn't grabbed it, in part because he could do only a few spells with his off hand at the moment."

There was a sense of deja vu in this moment, hands bound just like this nearly 18 years ago, even the same cold, sick dread of fear curling in his gut damped down by a stony face, clenched fists and gritted teeth. Better, maybe, because this wasn’t the aftermath of a violent crime committed by his own wand -- or maybe worse because Gideon hated Bilius seeing him like this, even if it was just a thin shadow of what had transpired before. “I’ll be back in twenty-four hours,” he said to Bilius again, low and steady, reassuring even. “This will have been a pointless waste of everyone’s time.”

Bilius' hands moved to fist in Gideon's jumper. Right now, he didn't care about this stupid Auror. He reached up, caressing Gideon's cheek and kissing him hard. "It'll be alright, love. I-" I'll talk to Alice. But he couldn't say that. So he kissed him tenderly.

For her part, Bina kept them in her gaze, retrieving both the journal and the wand from the bedroom. It was a cursory search, rifling through drawers and cupboards, leaving through books and parchments on the table, mentally making a note of everything she found. It would all go into her report later. And if she missed anything, well, with Moody and Scrimgeour back, she was not going to miss anything. Of course, the presence of two large shaggy sheepdogs, a colony of cats (feral?) and some odd pygmy puffs made her want to call Magical Creatures on the cottage. Thorough. That's what she needed to be. Which meant letting the subject stew while she went through every drawer in the space.

His balance was nearly upset in the sudden jerk of Bilius’s pull, but he found he didn’t care, grateful as he was that Bilius could supplant courage when his own had fled. “Yes,” he whispered in answer to what had to go unsaid, pressing his forehead against Bilius’s. If Cambina had meant for him to stew, then it was Bilius who gave him the strength to fortify his reserves.

A glance over to the hit-wizards who had accompanied Cambina showed them to be decidedly looking anywhere but at them, expressions striving for bland detachment but wavering into discomfort. He couldn’t, for the life of him, recognise them: too fresh-faced, eyes still too bright with untainted vigour. “They get younger all the time.”

"And we get older and better like good whiskey," Bilius said, running his fingers through Gideon's hair, not caring who saw. He had as much reason to be arrested as Gideon now, he was the one who was currently a member of a vigilante group. But this was just another test. Keep his involvement secret and keep Gideon safe. Another press of his lips against Gideon's. "I can get dressed and meet you there."

But Gideon shook his head. “You still need to rest.” And there would certainly be little of that in the bowels of the Ministry beneath discerning, suspicious eyes. The thought of Bilius being anywhere near the DMLE was vaguely horrifying, now so more than ever. “Twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours, and if I’m not back--” Well, it wasn’t worth thinking about now. Beyond them in the house itself, Cambina’s silhouette drew close. “It’ll be all be okay.” And in a moment of gathered courage, he pressed forward this time to kiss Bilius, eyes closed, trying to absorb every detail, before he drew away and straightened. “See anything you like, Bulstrode?”

"Nothing like a convict in restraints to brighten my day," Bina said, grabbing Gideon by the arm. She returned Bilius' wand to him before leading Gideon out of the cottage and to the edge of the wards to where she could apparate him to the Ministry.

"Twenty-four hours," Bilius repeated firmly, wrapping his arms around himself as he watched Gideon be led away.