remus lupin is finally at peace. (moonstricken) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-02-08 22:01:00 |
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Just as had been planned, the four men met at the safe house, went over last minute details, and apparated to the large tree with the lightening crack down the side. They'd all been on patrols around here, but James knew the lay of the land better than most people ever could since he'd walked it as a stag several times. Animal senses can tell you things about an area that your eyes would never see and James had them walking along a deer trail quietly until they came out of a small wooded area and could see the house ahead. Between them and the manor were several large white peacocks and James eyed them warily. "Those things are nasty," he whispered, nodding in their direction. "And I dunno how smart it's gonna be to try and use magic in case the Malfoy's have wards that would tell them hexes were being cast out in the yard but they might be necessary. I never thought a peacock would make noise but their loud little fuckers," James said, "So my suggestion is that we try to avoid spooking them all together, but if that doesn't work, I'd say we're gonna have to use stunning spells." Abe chuckled as he stepped quietly past the others. "Never let it be said that ill-gained skills aren't handy now and then," he said as he pulled a bag out of his robes. He stepped towards the peacocks and made a soft clucking sound to get their attention. He dug into the bag with one hand and pulled out what looked like fat, swollen raisins... which was in fact precisely what they were. He tossed the handful in the direction of the peacocks, scattering them on the grass and watched as the peacocks slowly wandered over to investigate and start eating. As they dd Abe carefully scattered more of the plump raisins and grinned at the others over his shoulder. "Sleeping potion in the raisins," he whispered, careful not to startle the birds. "Old wizarding poaching trick. Muggles use brandy but the potion is far more effective. It won't hurt them, just make them sleepy and docile. They'll be right as rain in the morning." Remus kept his distance, standing on the opposite side of James and away from the peacocks. He'd already had one too many close encounters with them before, and he didn't know how they would react if they noticed something like him so close by. He had his wand out, prepared to stun them if it came down to it, but he would rather avoid them altogether -- so it was a relief that Aberforth had some prepared to handle the situation. He hadn't fancied getting into a duel with a peacock on this night, of all things. Considering the size of them, Remus hoped they wouldn't take too long to fall asleep. "Let's keep moving, then," Remus whispered, eager to get this over with. Standing out here made him feel exposed, even though they may be in more danger inside of the manor -- at least in there, they would have walls to hide them. James nodded and watched in amazement as the peacocks began to look dizzy. He couldn't fucking wait to be an old man and know just about damn everything. They made their way quickly and quietly up to the house and between the four of them and a few quick checking spells it was clear that there were no wards on the house at the moment. James used an unlocking spell on an inconspicuous looking door and kept his wand raised as he peeked it open. They all slipped inside and James had to put his hand up over his mouth to stifle a laugh. He was sure someone thought this place was tasteful and high fashion but it looked to James like the height of ponciness. "They're sure to have elves but hopefully Narcissa has them all hopping to serve the guests," he whispered. There were lights already so they didn't need to use a Lumos as the stepped through the room. It looked like storage more than anything which explained why James had initially thought it looked like his great-grandmother had been exploded in here. There was a door at the end of the room and James moved cautiously toward it. "It's now or never," he said, his wand still raised as he opened the next door. He peered out into an empty hallway. There were doors everywhere. The grandiose self-adulation that was inherent in every nook and cranny of the Malfoy estate made Caradoc's skin burn with a well-bridled disgust. He had seen children without shoes, people without clothes on their backs and families crouched in hovels far less grand than the houses kept for these peacocks. But he followed James, Remus and Aberforth quietly, one hand tight on his wand as the other gripped the listening end of the device around Marlene's neck. With a nod to James, he moved into the hall, his back sliding against the wall to cover them in case any were to peep their damn heads anywhere they shouldn't. Abe ignored the wealth that surrounded them in the manor. It was gaudy and completely over the top though no doubt the Malfoys thought they were the high of sophistication. Abe had been to Paris and Berlin and Rome. He knew what sophistication was. This was not it. He shook that thought away as he looked down the corridor of doors and grimaced. "If I were a study door, where would I be?" he murmured whimsically before sighing and glancing at the others. "I think we're going to have to try them all. Be careful, watch for wards and open them slowly just in case." He matched his words to action and made his way to the nearest door. He checked for wards then very gently and very carefully eased the door open the barest crack, just enough for him to peer inside and see what was there. He then closed the door, looked over at the others and shook his head. It took all of Remus' willpower not to corner Caradoc with questions -- had Marlene gotten in alright? Did she sound nervous, scared? Could he hear the other people's voices on the other end -- did they sound suspicious? He knew that Caradoc wouldn't let anything happen to her, and he had to put his faith in that to hold back from speaking. She had been able to fool them well enough at the masquerade that they would even invite her to a dinner -- she could do this, too. Remus nodded at Aberforth's suggestion, breaking away from them but staying in the same hallway so they were still in sight to check the other doors, covering more ground instead of going through them one by one. With a house as big as this, Remus couldn't even begin to guess where Lucius Malfoy's office might be, so it was all they could do. He carefully opened the first door he came across, looking inside, but quickly deducting it wasn't the right room and closing the door behind him. He repeated the process three more times before he stumbled across a room that appeared to be an office -- Remus just hoped there wasn't more than one. "Let's have a look in here," he whispered to the others, moving inside and immediately making his way to the desk, first. He was careful as he began to sift through the papers on the desk, making sure to keep them in the exact order he found them so as to not draw suspicion that someone had been looking through his files. James followed behind Remus as he opened doors keeping his ear open and his wand up. He was the lookout after all. They finally made there way into an office and the men filed in before they shut the door quietly behind them. Caradoc was busy listening to Marlene and that was where James wanted the older man's attention to be so he put his ear to the door to listen for footsteps but kept his eyes on the room. If an elf popped in James was going to stun the little son-of-a-bitch whether or not it was the elf's fault he worked for these twats. It was with half a mind that Caradoc followed Remus, James and Aberforth into the office and slid against the wall to a chair. The timbre in Marlene's voice seemed pitched to a more desperate tone. She must be having ... He frowned - for a split second and then immediately schooled his features to passivity - he would give Marlene a little time before he went busting out after her. But only a little. Once inside the office Abe immediately made his way over to the cabinets behind the desk and started trying the various drawers and cupboards. The first few he opened contained little more than general stationery then he hit a drawer that was locked. He pulled the rosary he'd found out of his pocket and began pressing the beads, which contained various types of spells used for unlocking, against the top of the drawer in quick succession. The seventh bead was the lucky one. It glowed slightly for a moment then the drawer clicked. Abe stuffed the rosary back in his robes and pulled the drawer open. "Jackpot," he murmured as he started to pull files out and flip through them. "Remus, start copying these," he whispered, holding some of the files out to the young man. Remus looked up from the piles of parchment he had been looking through when Aberforth spoke up, and he put the papers back in place before moving over to fetch what he found. "Great -- let me know if you find more, I'll get started right away," he whispered back, taking them back to the desk and setting them down. He pulled out blank parchment that he had tucked away into his robes, setting them down next to the documents ready to be copied. The spell was simple enough to do silently, and Remus wove his wand in the proper movements over the parchment, watching as the blank one began to fill in with the files Aberforth had found. He did the same for each piece of parchment in the file, copying them as quickly as he could. James watched as Remus began to copy. He couldn't help but wish he could read what was being spelled. To find out if this was all for naught or if they were getting something to pin these bastards to the wall. He felt almost useless, watching Abe search and Remus copy and Caradoc focus on Marlene. At least he did until a sudden pop caused him to jump, his nerves stretched so thin that he acted on instinct first before thought. Clunk. The house elf dropped, the candlestick connecting with the back of its head before James even realised he'd grabbed it from the sidetable next to the door. "Oh, fuck," James said immediately dropping to his knees. "I didn't mean to," he said, looking up at Caradoc. Godric's balls, James hated hurting a house elf who couldn't be blamed for being a slave to the Malfoys. "Shit, Shit, Shit," he swore quietly. The elf stirred and James held his wand over it. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Just hold still and I'll heal it up." There was no way to keep an elf from apparating away and squealing on them except to stun them but James didn't want to do it since he'd just hit the poor thing. It's eyes grew wide in shock, whether from the candlestick or from the kindness. "Dobby-- Dobby--" the elf stuttered and then passed out cold. "Oh fucking fuck I killed it," James said, throwing his hands up in the air apologetically. "I didn't mean to." Caradoc, his attention taken from Marlene for a moment, knelt by the Elf's knobbly form and held his fingers to its neck. The blood pumping through its jugular vein trilled lightly, swift as butterflies' wings. "Hush, James, hush. It's just passed out is all. You can mark elficide off of your seven deadly -- " and before he could complete his sentence, he went very still and pushed the other end of the listening device hard against his ear. Standing abruptly, he took three massive steps to where Remus copied and shouldered by the slighter man with urgency. Extracting the pencil nub he always seemed to carry in his pocket, he began quickly noting the words Marlene spilt from her lips with growing desperation. Were they fighting? By all the gods ... "I'm going to get her. Now." Remus had only paused for a moment when he heard the commotion from the hall, but when no one rushed in saying they had to leave, he continued to copy the documents. He was nearing the end of the last page when Caradoc had moved over to his side in a hurry, which made him stop what he was doing to watch Caradoc write. The words he heard next terrified him, made him feel sick -- "What's happened?" he asked, trying to keep his voice down but with the clear sound of fear. "Is she in danger?" Before Caradoc could leave, Remus grabbed the man's arm to stop him. "... take me with you." The documents were finished, only needing to be put away -- there was no reason for him to stay, not if Marlene was in trouble. With nothing but a curt nod, an iron-vised hand clamped around Remus's wrist as he waved his wand and (Malfoy wards or not) Apparated them both to the place of Marlene's description. James was way to busy with the house elf Dobby to notice that Caradoc had gone silent or even that he'd walked over to Remus. It was only when the two men went rushing past him that he realized something was wrong but Abe was left to put everything back and James had to do something about this fucking elf. He'd read plenty of books about obliviation and quizzed Marlene's dad for hours about his profession when he'd spent time over there with Harlan and Mars. Still, knowing what it was and actually doing it were fucking miles apart. It'd have been better if Abe took care of it but he had to get everything together just write or it'd be known right away shit had been copied and that was out of the question. The elf began to wake up and James pointed his wand at it. "I'm really, really, really sorry about this," he said. He winced as he mimicked the motion Marlene's dad had shown him once upon a time and mumbled the spell. His wand did something but what it did, James couldn't be sure. The elf's eyes closed again. "Please don't tell," James whispered as he leaned down to check one last time if the elf was alright. He could have sworn it nodded, but how the hell could he know for sure. He hurried over to Abe. "What the fuck is going on?" James asked. Abe had been searching through some of the other cupboards when Caradoc grabbed hold of Remus and the two of them dashed out. He swore under his breath and leapt for the table, barely noticing James and the house elf. He didn’t know what had happened but it was obvious it was time to get out. He grabbed the files Remus had been copying and starting hurriedly putting them away, trying to ensure he put them back where he’d found them. Once that was done, he grabbed the copies Remus had made and shoved them into his robes. A few creases wouldn’t matter as long as they got out of there safe and sound. "I have no idea," he said gruffly as he grabbed hold of James' arm. "But we're getting out of here now." James wasn't going to argue with Abe. The two men made it out of the house quickly and without incident though James was straining his ears to hear anything that might seem suspicious. They were two steps outside of the wards when James scribbled a message to the Order. Shit. Shit. Shit. |