remus lupin is finally at peace. (moonstricken) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-03-01 00:54:00 |
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It had been easier than James would have imagined to get inside the banquet hall thingy where Marius and Astra were having their reception. There was some security but Andromeda had made short work of them with a glare and a threat to contact Mr. Lestrange directly the night before his wedding to explain that the help would not allow the final touches to be added and displayed. She sounded so commanding that the two man security forced let all three of them pass with no additional questions. James fidgeted in his suit jacket, feeling absolutely ridiculous dressed this way, but that was also part of the illusion and Andromeda had been very adamant about it. She was the expert on these things so he and Remus did as they were told, though James kept rolling his eyes and mouthing words at Remus behind the woman's back. Though Andromeda had not shown it when being questioned by the security wizards, she had felt as if she could not breathe, wondering if they would believe her or not. She sounded so much like her mother it terrified her, but it got the job done. People did not stand in the way of a Black even when they had no idea who they were dealing with. Remus was a little taken aback at Andromeda's take-charge attitude -- not that he minded, but he didn't know the woman very well; he'd expected he would have to be the one to take the lead, but the guards seemed to listen to her, so what did it matter? He ignored James' faces and followed behind Andromeda as they made their way into the room where the reception was going to be held. Andromeda surveyed the room and pointed toward the set of tables nearest where the bride and groom would be sitting. "They'll have the most important people seated in the front," she said. "It would make sense that they would treat Rodolphus and Atticus's friends with more respect than their own so those are the tables that will give us the best chance of catching a Death Eater who is valued more highly in the ranks," she explained. She adjusted flowers as she went, straightening napkins and undoing wrinkles in the linen. To anyone who might peer in, Andromeda was bound and determined to look like she knew what she was doing. James nodded as he followed Andie and Remus to the front. "We should probably only bug one per table as well," James said. "That way we don't end up with all the bells going to the same two or three families." He picked up a random bell at the first table and pulled the dingy part to the side so that he could stick the tiny listening device to the top of the bell. He held it there for a moment to make sure it was stuck and then let go and rang the bell. It sounded perfectly normal, not muffled in any way, and James grinned. "They'll never know," he said. "S'brilliant." "If you will do the tables James, I want to make a special one for my step-nephew and his bride," she said. "If we want to be certain they take a specific one home we'll need to make it sentimental to them and them alone." While James and Andromeda began their work, Remus took his place at the entrance to stand guard, watching just in case anyone they recognised -- or didn't recognise -- decided to stop by and see what they were doing in there. It could be explained easily that they were just making last minute checks for the night, but if they didn't believe them, at least they could have an advance warning so they could escape. She moved to the table that was obviously for the bridal party. It wasn't difficult to tell which seats were intended for the bride and groom and Andromeda picked up a bell and held her wand to it. Very carefully she cast a spell she had learned in order to label items in Nym's room to teach her to read. A delicate script appeared on the bell on which she wrote: First of March, 1980 What woman could resist a memento with her name engraved upon it? None that Andromeda knew. James moved from table to table, attempting to do what Andromeda had been doing and straightening flowers and tablecloths along the way. He even added a few poncey flourishes of the hand as he did it so he'd look like a professional if anyone peaked in. It was a quick moving job, since none of them wanted to be hear any longer than was necessary and he had the last of the listening devices implanted in no time. He headed up toward the bridal table where Andromeda was finishing up and reached for the ornate silverware sitting delicately on the plate that would no doubt belong to the groom. He shoved them down the front of his pants suddenly, and rubbed them all around. "Sorry Andie, it had to be done," he laughed, taking them out and then placing them back on the groom's plate in the same position they were before. "Lick her spoon. You know you want to." Andromeda shook her head. "James Potter that is disgusting!" she laughed. "And I will do no such thing. Marius is a pig and so I suppose it won’t do any harm to spend tomorrow laughing about his utensils but Astra is not a Death Eater and we will be leaving her fork and spoon alone," she said firmly, though she still had a huge smile on her face when she glanced down at Marius's plate. "Honestly James, that is just repulsive!" Andromeda knew she should be more perturbed by the defiling of cutlery but the very idea of it amused her to no end. She highly doubted she would ever be able to look at him again without feeling vastly superior now. "Well, that's it," James quipped, looking down at Remus. "What do you say we get our arses out of here before we get caught?" he asked. There was no mistaking the disgusted look on Remus' face at what James had just done. There were pranks, and then there was going too far, and Remus felt that doing... that to something someone would have to eat off of fell in the 'too far' category. It didn't matter that he was a Death Eater; that was just gross. "Right. We should definitely get out of here. No sense in staying longer than necessary... let's go," he said, leading the way out. They were almost home-free, and then they would have several listening devices spread out in several purist homes. |