Who: Anthony Goldstein; NPC Janitor What: Anthony takes a walk on the Dark Side Where: Level 9 of the Ministry of Magic When: Thursday, March 31 Rating: PG-13
Like clockwork, Horace Tremble would come, wheeling his cart full of cleaning supplies down the hall at percisely the same time every evening after five, making his wall to the end where he would go down a flight of stairs to the Wizengamot Courtrooms. There, his shift would begin, cleaning the courtrooms of dust and cobwebs, emptying the trash and mopping the floors. Once a month, he had to polish the wood, but not tonight. Polishing the wood was what he hated the most since it took so much time and made his old joints ache. For he was a squib, unable to perform magic.
Which is why Anthony thought he would make the perfect tool to unwittingly assist him in his plan.
Squibs, like Horace, did not use wands or magic so they were often overlooked by the Ministry. Horace, in particular, didn't care much for politics. A widower of thirteen years, if he had children, he never talked about them. He did his job, he went home. Let the wizards fight out their differences, what did it matter to an old man like him?
Intentionally staying later than usual, Anthony stepped out into the hall at the same time he knew Horace would be coming with a couple other stragglers leaving the Department of Mysteries. One of Anthony's coworkers gave Horace a friendly wave and greeted him with a, "Good night," but Horace answered only with a nod.
Walking a little behind the rest, Anthony approached Horace and made his move. He'd been practicing it at home with his unregistered wand for several days now on mice he'd bought from a Muggle pet store. What he wanted to do would probably land him a Dementor's Kiss if the Ministry found out, so he had to do this perfectly... and Terry's own life depended on his success, so he needed to do it right. With his hand in the deep pocket of his coat, Anthony held the unregistered wand he'd gotten from Michael and concentrating his focus on the elderly man, making eye contact just as he passed, Anthony silently cast the Imperious spell.
Anthony continued walking, but Horace faltered in his step, falling under the spell. Anthony was successful - he could puppet the man to do what needed to be done. While joining the rest of his colleagues inside the elevator, he asked one what they were going to do this weekend, all the while sending Horace further down the hall to make a stop in the woman's lavatory, where Anthony had managed to sneak into, not long before. Inside one of the toilet stalls, Horace dug into the garbage bin to retrieve an ordinary Muggle plastic hook with an adhesive back. Carefully, he carried it out of the loo and went to the Wizengamot courtrooms, like usual.
In the courtroom where Anthony knew Terry's trial would take place, Horace brought the hook to the chair where the defendant would have to sit. Horace peeled the backing off the adhesive and stuck the hook on the underside of the wooden seat where it was almost invisible. Anthony had charmed the hook into a Port Key what would be activated at ten minutes after the beginning of the trial - it would effectively whisk the chair away, along with the person sitting upon it... hopefully Terry.
The Port Key was charmed to send Terry to an abandoned bothy in the Hebrides that Luag and Michael had set up for smuggling Suspected Traitors out of the country. Anthony had asked Luag to wait there during the hours of the trial, again hesitating to reveal much more since he felt the less they knew, the better it was to keep the secret. Luag stubbornly wanted to know what he was waiting for, in case he had to prepare himself, and so Anthony reluctantly obliged.
The Port Key was now in place, and Anthony let Horace go about his work, as usual. He would have to be kept under Imperious until later, when Anthony could Obliviate his memory. If the Ministry found out that the Resistance was using Dark Magic, Anthony understood that the reaction would be terrible.