Who: Millicent, Alice, and a cameo (?) by Pepper What: Confrontation Where: The Minister's Office When: Friday 19 December 1979, morning
Status: Completed Rating: PG? Not high
Alice Longbottom was nervous, but as she always had been and always trained herself to be, she wasn't showing her nerves. Dark blonde hair brushed away from her face, her Auror's robe neatly pressed, and her wand secured tightly in the belt of her robes. She didn't think that she would need it, but in times like these, it wasn't in her habit to go without it.
She took the elevator up one floor from the DMLE and stepped into the Minister's office, one of the lower-level assistants bringing her to the door to Millicent Bagnold's private office. Giving the assistant a look to say, "I'll be fine from here," she raised her closed fist and knocked quietly on the door.
"Come in, Mrs Longbottom," Millicent called. No, the Minister hadn't suddenly developed advanced skills in divination, nor x-ray vision. She'd just left specific instructions that no one but Alice was to be shown through. Not the only preparation she'd made for this meeting; she'd also briefed Pepper on what she needed from him - to be a (necessarily silent) witness, but primarily to immobilise Alice the instant the auror went for her wand. Millicent wasn't taking any chances, and she'd been given no reason to trust any of the Order.
She stepped behind her desk, not sitting down just yet. Pepper was already in position, seated against one wall to the side of Mill's desk. (After consideration, she'd decided against the back wall; she was being careful, not hostile.)
Alice stepped into the room, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest -- that would seem hostile, and she was perceptive enough to know that the Minister didn't trust her as far as she could throw her. Why else would Pepper be there? Of course, Alice didn't really feel comfortable with Pepper's presence, but she didn't think that she had a choice in the matter. Millicent wouldn't meet with her alone, and much as she hated the idea of being in the same room with him, she knew there was no other option. At least with Pepper, she knew that he wouldn't be talking about what happened.
"Good morning, Minister," she said brusquely, feeling a bit irritated with the formalities as she stood in front of Millicent, trying not to feel intimidated. The only thing keeping her from cowering in fear was Dumbledore's assurance that, if things went badly, he would deal with it. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" she looked across the desk to Millicent.
"Yes please," Millicent said, and waved a hand at the visitor's chair across the desk from her own. "Do have a seat." She took her own, smoothing a hand across her desk - the workspace directly in front of her chair was empty, no notes or agendas or references on the blotter. "I'm very glad you decided to meet with me; I'm eager to resolve this issue and get back to my proper business. Do you," she continued, giving Alice a thin and edged smile, "have the authority to resolve it? Because I've spoken with other members of your group and thought we were moving towards understanding, only to find out that I was apparently wrong."
Moving fluidly, Alice sat down across from Millicent. Her smile was forced as well. This would have to be handled very carefully. Very carefully, and Alice wasn't certain if she knew how to do it. Of course, Albus trusted her to be diplomatic, but Alice didn't trust herself. Nevertheless, she had to try, and thus, she cleared her throat delicately. "I'm afraid, Minister Bagnold," she said slowly, "That not all Order matters are within my control, but you contacted me, and thus I am their chosen representative. We are willing to work with you, under certain conditions." Of course, she wasn't in the position to make demands, but the things that she had in mind wouldn't be that much to ask for.
Millicent's smile became something much closer to - though not quite - warm and sincere. "Well, that sounds like a step in the right direction. I rather wish I'd known about you earlier, if it would have avoided all the previous misunderstandings. Why don't you tell me what those conditions are, and I'll do my utmost to accommodate them?"
Alice had to repress a frown, keeping her face straight. She didn't want to say aloud that she wished that Millicent knew nothing of any of this. It was too late for that. So she searched her mind for the conditions she thought most important. "First," she said slowly, "No paper trail. I want there to be no paperwork of any kind regarding our activities or our members. Not so much as an intra-departmental memo. I'm certain that, as you're aware that the Death Eaters seem to have a leak in the Ministry, you can understand why this is important for our personal safety. Everything communicated stays between you and me." Alice remembered the third person in the room and shot a glance over her shoulder. If looks could kill, Pepper would have been as dead as if she'd just shot a Killing Curse. "And Pepper.
"Secondly, though I may understand your desire to have communication with us, the reason that we exist as we do is so that we are not bound by Ministry guidelines and procedures." And, Alice added in her head, laws. "Therefore, I don't want you to think that, by me communicating with you, you can control what we do, or try to influence what choices we make." She wasn't sure how this would go over, but she plowed on. "Finally, that you will not arrest any of our members known to you, or see to the termination of their employment at the Ministry."
Good lord, did they think Mill was stupid? Pepper wondered (returning Alice's glare trifold; he'd worked with Millicent long enough to be immune to death glares, and it really didn't bother him as much as Alice might think). Of course she wasn't going to be writing memos talking about vigilantes, the idea was completely idiotic. And he'd already reassured them of the second point! It was tempting to make some barbed comment, really, but he resisted, merely tapping his wand thoughtfully against the arm of his really extremely comfortable chair as he kept his eyes on Alice, watching for even the slightest wrong move.
It was just as well Mill wasn't given to fidgeting, because if she'd been playing with a quill at this point, she might well have snapped it. These were the conditions she'd been dancing around for... well, it felt like months. These were the conditions for which Pepper had gone through all this?
But since a screaming argument at this point would hardly be helpful, Mill confined her glare to her inoffensive blotter, and when she looked up was entirely polite, if a little chilly, once again. "Despite what you have clearly thought, Mrs Longbottom, none of that presents any difficulty. I am not and never have been in the habit of keeping official records of unofficial investigations, nor do I intend to make you a Ministry concern in any way, shape or form. You're of most use when you're off the radar; I've wanted to know where you were so I could keep you that way, instead of tripping over you every time I turn around. And I most assuredly," there was a hint of laughter in her voice, though not really of amusement, "want no control. If I ever feel that the Ministry isn't keeping me busy enough, I can always try dealing with my family."
Alice blinked. While Pepper thought that Alice was idiotic for worrying about these things, she likewise thought they were idiotic for thinking that the Order would trust the Minister and her office unconditionally. Especially after what had happened with Pepper. With that out of the way, Alice simply asked, "What is it that you want, then?"
"Information," Mill answered promptly. "That's all. I'd like to know what you know, preferably when you know it. News like this likely DE spy is always welcome, but we can do more with it when it's timely. I'd like to be kept apprised of the general scope of your activities; details would just hinder both of us, unless there's likely overlap with Ministry operations. You're in a uniquely qualified position to determine when that may be. But knowing what you're up to, in a general sense, will both help me to prevent the Ministry tripping over you in a way we can't keep quiet, and mean I can perhaps deliver you useful information in turn."
This offer was too vague for Alice to be excited by it. Information for information -- that could mean a lot of things. She took a deep breath and pushed a piece of her blonde hair away from her eyes. "If we come across any more information like that, I will let you know," Alice told her. Her hand moved to her knee and smoothed out her robes. "Right now, though, most of our activities are kept to protecting our own members and teaching self-defense classes in Hogsmeade." She cleared her throat delicately.
Probably Pepper could have said something about that, if he'd wanted to. Oddly though he found himself with no such desire; he was starting to get used to being very circumspect on this whole matter - not that he hadn't been before, whatever the Order may think of him now, but even moreso than he had been. Still, Alice's comment afforded him some amusement, as did the fact that she seemed rather uncaring about the deal. That was possibly due to the fact that it was exactly the same deal he'd already told them of, several times, and she'd therefore expected it, or perhaps she simply didn't believe it - or care about what Mill could offer. How was it, exactly, that he could come out of this with a lower estimation of the vigilantes than he'd started with, he wondered.
"Admirable aims, both of them," Millicent commented lightly. "All I really want is to maximise our combined resources, and avoid another Gumboil incident." Her smile didn't reach her eyes; they were just tired. "Oh, and another thing. I'd like to know if you can unfuck my assistant, please. At least sufficient that he can actually do his damn job."
"I don't have the authority to do that," Alice said simply. "Or, in a more practical sense, the magical ability." She shot another look over her shoulder at Pepper. "I don't know what spells were performed, or what the counter spells are. I can bring the subject up, but I'll warn you that the other members won't be amenable to the idea."
Pepper had made a small noise of amusement at Mill's wording; just the idea of the Minister using the word "unfuck" entertained him, besides anyone else. At Alice's reply though he sobered up, not out of any particular depression or disappointment at her answer, as he would have been shocked at anything else, but just because the situation rather called for it... except for the small nugget of humour in her phrasing. "The other members" seemed so... all-inclusive.
Millicent's eyebrows lifted, not precisely sceptical, but expressing a certain disbelief in the presented statement of facts. "Perhaps you should suggest to them," she said, reasonably, "that I can't investigate this DE leak myself. I simply don't have time. If I have to delegate it to someone else, they're going to want to know where I got my information from, but I can't have Pepper doing it if he's potentially incapable of communicating the entirety of his findings to me."
Alice paused. She wasn't entirely sure how the Order had anything to do with the Death Eater leak, but she wasn't certain of how to say so. "With all due respect, Minister," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "We don't know anything more about the Death Eaters' leak in the DMLE than you do, and I don't see how Pepper's knowledge of our organisation has anything to do with the leak. After all, you've already been given the names of all of our contacts in the DMLE by Mr Pepper here."
"If you don't know any more about the leak than I do, you can't know that the impediment you've given Pepper won't be a problem." Mill, in contrast, spoke with a decisiveness that bordered on alacrity. "I don't care about his experiences of your organisation right now, what I care about is ensuring there's no possibility of him unearthing vital information and then being unable to tell anyone." She needed him functioning fully and properly. Especially since it was her fault in the first place.
They were at a stalemate, and Alice knew it. There was no way that the Order would consent to lift the spells on Pepper. Not for the good of Millicent Bagnold and her office, not after the fragile trust that had been placed in him had been so shattered. And Alice personally wasn't going to work very hard to convince them of otherwise, no matter what she might say to Pepper and Millicent. "I can assure you that your Death Eater leak has nothing to do with our organisation, Minister," Alice told her smoothly. "And the spells only prevent him from speaking about the Order, and as we are, in fact, opposed to the Death Eaters, and therefore aren't working with them and their leak."
Mill said nothing for a long moment as she just fixed Alice with a steady gaze across the table. She was trying to figure out if Alice was being purposefully obtuse, or if Auror investigations were always pleasantly linear and never uncovered unforseen information. Could be either, really.
"And you can assure me," she said eventually, "that at no stage during his investigation is he likely to uncover that the Death Eaters are doing or have done anything involving your organisation, because the Order is so perfectly secret that it's impossible. At no stage is there going to be a vital piece of evidence that could potentially incriminate to the point of conviction a Death Eater suspect if only it didn't involve one of your people and he could actually fucking tell me about it. At no stage, basically, is the trail to this leak or any leads that flow from it going to even remotely encounter your organisation, because you've had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them at any stage. Is this what you're assuring me of?
"Because let me assure you," Millicent continued without pause, leaning forward with her hands pressed against the surface of her desk, "that if there's even one glitch in this investigation because you and yours have refused to remove or modify the curse you've put on Pepper, 'unhappy' will not even begin to cover what I am."
One did not become Minister by being an ineffective speaker, and Pepper halted in his first instinct to add to the speech - he wasn't here to contribute, technically, after all, especially as there wasn't much he could contribute to most of the discussion. She seemed to think however, possibly correctly, that certain things needed spelling out quite clearly, and she had missed one rather important point, so he also overrode his second instinct to remain silent. "Consider," he added in a low tone, "how we found out about the leak in the first place." He shot a level stare at Alice as he spoke, daring her to find any flaw of logic in this. They only had two incidents to go on to find this thing, and one of them relied on vigilantism.
Despite any inclination that Alice had to crumble under Millicent's gaze, she stood her ground, not showing so much as a twitch of discomfort. She reminded herself as she listened to what they said that she had faced down Death Eaters. She could handle the Minister of Magic. But this would never fly. The Order would never agree, no matter how good of an argument Alice made. "Frankly, Minister Bagnold," Alice said icily, standing up and smoothing her robes, "Your Minister should be happy that it's an inability to speak and not lack of memories that may 'impede' your investigation. He can continue it as planned, but as I said, I have no authority or ability to remove the spells. I'll bring it up, but I have no guarantees." She was standing now, not because she planned to do anything to harm either of them, but because she was planning on leaving as soon as she was finished speaking. "I think we are at an impasse. And I have other work to do. DMLE business."
It was on the tip of Mill's tongue to say, And your organisation should be happy assault charges on a Ministry employee aren't being brought, but she bit it back. Overstating threats was only ever counter-productive. "Do bring it up," she said instead, remaining in her seat, but sitting back. "And represent my concerns, please." She offered a smile along with it; she didn't want to antagonise the Order, but her first priority here was tearing Voldemort down, not soothing their ruffled feathers. "Thank you for your time."
"Of course," Alice said, but her voice was chilly. "You're welcome." As she walked away from the Minister's desk, she saw Pepper and threw him the iciest glare that she could muster. He had known what the consequences would be of betraying the Order, and now he wanted to reverse them. Normally, Alice was soft-spoken, diplomatic, and unassuming at first glance, but today, as she walked out of the Millicent's office, she had her head held unusually high and looked unusually proud. She strode out of the room and then into the elevator, using thetime as it went down a floor to compose herself and go back to her work.