Pepper is the sword-arm of crazy (pickledpepper) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-04-18 16:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! . placeholder, ! [1980-04] april, aloysius croaker, octavius pepper |
Who: Pepper and Aloysius
Where: Mill's ex-room at Gairloch
When: Friday
What: Working and boy time
Rating: PG-13
Status: Incomplete
Some people might have considered it insensitive for Rufus to bluntly tell Pepper to go make a potion just after his wife was kidnapped by a psychopathic, fanatic murderer. Personally, though, Pepper was glad of the distraction. Veritaserum was a difficult brew, and even when he wasn't actively prepping the first few ingredients there was stirring and watching the consistency and a few potions texts that he'd grabbed from their faux-library to study. It had been a while since he'd had time for this. It was easier than a lot of things, rules to follow and reactions that could be predicted, obvious consequences for doing things wrong. Consequences you could prevent, if you were good enough.
Most of Mill's things had been packed up and sent back to Guppy, leaving the room fairly bare, the ideal place to work without interruptions. It was certainly easier than his own lodgings, which were still full of the detritus of three and a half months cohabitation and petcare products. He told himself he just didn't want to see what happened to veritaserum when cat hair got in it, but it was hard to look at Hardy or Laurel - especially Laurel - and not think about Jo. Easier to sprawl out on Mill's bed while his defenses re-built themselves, and lose himself in something logical.
Aloysius ducked into the barracks that held Millicent's room, the bag containing his books heavy on one shoulder. Oddly enough he wasn't overly worried that Pepper was going to rush off and do something stupid in the wake of Jo's capture. He was worried but not as worried about it as he might have been had positions been reversed and it had been Pepper who had been captured and Jo who was free. He was more worried about Pepper's mental state. He knew it wasn't... great after Millicent's death and this had the potential to be so much worse than a clean death in a fight. Rodolphus Lestrange was a certified lunatic after all. Not that he really knew what to do other than just... be there and even hen he wasn't sure how much use that was.
There was part of him that wished that he and Kate had been able to come up with some instantaneous grand plan that was flawless and perfect and that they'd been able to carry it out and bring Jo back. Unfortunately they had to live in reality where they were just an Auror and an Unspeakable.
He came to a halt in front of the door of Millicent's room and mentally girded his loins. He might well need that... or he might not. Pepper's unpredictability is part of what drew Aloysius to him even though it could be baffling as well. Once he was ready, he raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Pepper?"
Though he doubted anyone would really much interrupt him, given the fact that the entire camp had rather made a point of not speaking to him in any way, Pepper had locked the door behind him when he'd last come into the room. It was just more secure that way, or at least felt it - technically anyone there could reverse the lock with a simple spell or two, but it was a clear sign that he didn't want company, if nothing else. He had agreed to let Aloysius come here though, even if he was 99% sure that needing somewhere quiet to work was a pretext for checking up on him, given that the basement where he usually worked was just as quiet as anywhere at Gairloch.
His wand was lying next to him on the bed and he swished it at the door, hearing the lock click open before dropping it again, giving the potion a bit of a stir while he was distracted from the book. "It's open." A faint steam rose at the disturbance of the liquid, but he ignored it as normal, checking the heat for what had to be about the dozenth time that morning and finding nothing to adjust.
Aloysius couldn't help the tiny wave of relief that went through him when he heard the lock click and heard Pepper call out. Yes, he could have unlocked the door himself but he wasn't sure he would have if Pepepr had refused him entry. He knew others might have but his family had been big believers in respecting locked doors unless it was an emergency. Old-fashioned, perhaps. Naive, maybe. But that was the way it was with him.
He opened the door and ambled into the room. If he hadn't already known Pepper was brewing something, it would have been obvious, even without looking, the moment he set foot in the room. The heat and the smell was clue enough. He walked over and peered into the cauldron, his curiosity caught for a moment. He was atrocious at potions. He was far too easily distracted during the brewing process and he always managed to miss some crucial step. If he was lucky, the potion just turned to sludge... though he had been responsible for some spectacular explosions and melted cauldrons during his time at Hogwarts.
"What are you brewing?" he asked as he headed for the somewhat rickety-looking table and chair in one corner. He eyed it dubiously for a moment then shrugged and hauled his bag off his shoulder. He pulled out a couple of books and put them on the table. When the table didn't creak, wobble or otherwise look like it was in danger of imminent collapse, he settled himself down and opened one of the books.
"Healing supplies," Pepper lied smoothly, not a hint or tell to prove that it wasn't the truth. Well, lionfish was used in a couple of healing potions, at least, and Aloysius was awful at the subject, he was hardly likely to know the difference. "Got some more shit out of Roland's before I left." He tapped the stirring rod against the brim of the cauldron, a few drops that had collected on it falling back into the mix before he set it down, picking up his book again. A glance at Aloysius' things revealed complicated-looking titles that he suspected would be just as fascinating to him as potions textbooks would be to Aloysius - that was, very little at all. He'd done alright at Arithmancy, but it hadn't been his favourite subject and he rather suspected he'd forgotten most of the practical knowledge needed at NEWT level.
No, he was far better at the practical. Give him something to do with his hands and he was happy. Which perhaps said something as to why he always found it easier to sort his thoughts out if he could write them down, something he hadn't even attempted to do yet.
"I suppose there's always going to be need for those," Aloysius said absently as he flipped through the pages of the book until he found the pages of arithmantic equations he was trying to puzzle through. He was fairly certain that if he worked them out, he could use them... with a few alterations... to make something that made a bigger, cleaner explosions than his discs. Once he had that sorted out he could do some more work on the timing charm. Right now he wanted to think about that rather than the other two books in his bag, which were not precisely legal and dealt with Dark wards. He wanted to meet with Kate at some point and let her have a read of them. As an Auror, she might be able to see something in them that he'd missed.
"Oh... I should be able to get my hands on some more silver knives in the next week or so," he said as he pulled out some parchment and started scribbling notes. "I take it they'll be welcomed if I bring them round?"
The mention brought to mind his conversation with Ursula and the comparative uselessness of silver as compared to other metals in weapons; while he might have once viewed werewolves as utterly non-human, creatures with nothing in common with him, the memory of Al still hung with him, as well as the momentary amusement of the Portuguese girl. No, not so different, but then the same could be said for the wizards they were fighting as well. They were all people, broken, flawed people who thought they were right. "Mmm. I've still got mine. Don't know about anyone else." And he didn't really believe for a second that Fenrir was actually locked up somewhere, let alone that they were brainwashing him into an honest citizen. If the werewolves were quiet for now, they were only going to come back stronger later. Too many of them, especially when they could turn with a bite when the full moon was up, while their numbers were dwindling already. And it wasn't even the unwilling, hesitant people they were losing.
Aloysius nodded, most of his attention now focussed on the equations. "Good," he murmured. "I'll bring them around. I'm trading them for some of those exploding discs, which probably makes me an arms dealer but I got a better deal that way." He frowned at the page and tilted his head to one side, an unconscious gesture that had often made Bode laugh and tease him that the equations wouldn't look any different on an angle than they did in a straight line. His frown deepened momentarily before he shoved all thoughts about Bode away. He didn't want to think about his friend... former friend. He chewed on the end of the quill for a moment then started scrawling on the parchment again.
"We've corrupted you horribly," Pepper decided, feeling a flicker of amusement at the idea of Aloysius as an arms dealer. Not that he had any misconceptions that crime was always committed by people who looked seedy, that men in well-fitted robes made or adjusted by tailors always possessed an impeccable moral code that kept them strictly within the law, but... it was Aloysius. Most of the time he seemed about as harmless as Laurel. Had claws, yes, but without the experience or malicious intent that he'd come across too many times.
He was about to fall silent again before it occurred to him that he was rather desperately pathetic at holding up conversation today. Aloysius made a statement, he responded. Not the usual way of it, really, and both of them were doing their level best to ignore the elephant in the room. (But then, as a rule, Pepper always had favoured the silent treatment as a method of punishment. It was surprisingly effective.) "I suppose they'll've spun their foreign terrorist story again."
Aloysius glanced over at Pepper with an amused snort. They probably had corrupted him horribly, certainly he was a diferent man to what he'd been before he met Pepper and through Pepper, Jo and many others, but he didn't think that was a bad thing... most of the time. His old way of life had been very comfortable and steady and even fulfilling but it had also been, if he was candid, rather boring. He couldn't say that his life was boring now.
He hadn't touched on the subject of Jo and neither had Pepper. He supposed that there were those who might say they should talk about it but honestly what would it achieve except to frustrate and infuriate them both and probably result in Pepper throwing him out of the room. There wasn't much they could do and while there were many things he could say about Jo's stupidity, none of them would help either. Better to let it lie for the moment. If Pepper wanted to talk about it, he would. "Yeah," he said. He hesitated for a moment then gave a mental shrug. Pepper was going to find out sometime. "They're saying someone died in the fire in Knockturn. One of the owners of Borgin and Burkes."
Well, that hadn't taken long. What, four, five days since he'd confessed to Murphy and finally gotten those mortal sins off his shoulders? He suspected that might be some kind of sign, actually, that he was never meant to be one of the virtuous, he was destined to be a sinner, preparing the world for the innocent but never allowed to truly live in it. Either that, or he was being morbid and reading far too much into an accident of fate. He wasn't entirely sure he believed that, though. Not the way that everything that was comfortable or distracting kept being ripped away, leaving him to just... keep going. "Smoke inhalation, probably. Better than what happened at Dalby." And his voice was probably far too level and just a bit too distanced for this kind of news, really, but how was he supposed to react? It was his job to kill people, now.
Aloysius gave Pepper a long look then turned back to his book. "Possibly. Though given the nature of the shop... would you believe they called it an antique shop? Well, given the nature of the shop, it could have been anything. He could have been dead before the fire started, which might explain why he didn't get out. They weren't exactly forthcoming with details in the paper. Probably hadn't had time to make them up yet." Okay, maybe that was a stretch but then it also wasn't out of the realms of possibility either. He'd been into Borgin and Burkes exactly twice, both time seeking obscure books, and calling it an 'antique shop' was akin to calling a Death Eater an upstanding member of society.
It would have been something of a coincidence for the man, whoever he was exactly, to have been accidentally killed by something in his stock the same night that Pepper snuck into Knockturn Alley to burn his shop down. Panicking at the fire and touching something he shouldn't have, maybe, in which case he supposed his death could have been worse than smoke inhalation. He smirked a little at the thought and hoped that was the case. Even if the man wasn't a Death Eater, anyone who owned a shop like that was not an innocent in this game, and the Burke family was definitely connected to the Lestranges. "Take it no one died at the Avery's place then," he stated, only half a question, because if they mentioned a death connected to a dubious store on the most notorious street of ill-repute in the country, they'd milk a death of a prominent pureblood in their own home.
"No word of it in the paper," Aloysius replied absently. "And I doubt that would have been left out, all things considered." He tapped one of the equations at the bottom of the page with one finger then began furious scribbling on the parchment for a few minutes. When he finally finished, it was with an feeling of triumph. He'd worked out the first half of the equations and that would make the rest much easier to decipher. He finally dragged himself back to where he was and blinked as he remembered what he'd been talking about. "Oh... no one died in Hogsmeade either." He paused and snorted. "Though apparently Body Part Ltd was damaged as well. The hags are upset. Devastating really."
"Yeah, the shop in Hogsmeade was empty and they would've been onto it as soon as I got out," Pepper commented, frowning slightly as he tried to follow a slightly convoluted explanation in his book. Once he visualised it, though, it was easier to understand, and he tapped a fingernail idly against the page as he read it through again. "Spose it might be better about the house, though. Elle doesn't like killing people." The emotional state of the hags was really not a concern for him, though he could easily imagine the way the store must have smelled after the fire had taken hold, memory recalling the stench of burning flesh more quickly than he would have liked. Why was it that fire was such a recurring theme for him? It seemed like so much began and ended with it.
So Pepper had been involved? That didn't really surprise Aloysius. He knew that the results of his and Kate's scouting would be put to use. He went still for a moment as he contemplated the dead man in that light. He probably had to take some responsibility for that. He'd done the work that enabled the attacks to go off as smoothly as they had... except for Jo obviously. He sighed and went back to his equations. He'd drive himself mad if he started down that path. Bad enough that he spent too many hours in front of that damn trunk full of Time Turners contemplating what might have been in the Ministry. He didn't need to start doing that for deaths like Millicent's and this man, who ran a store full of Dark objects and didn't really deserve such contemplation.
He opened his mouth to say something about Elle then shook his head and decided to change the subject. Talking about the attacks was starting to edge towards dangerous territory. It might be better idea to move things to much... safer ground. "You know I need to complain to the management here. I was promised a mint chocolate on my pillow and they let Rufus get to it first." His gaze flicked momentarily to Pepper. That part of his conversation with Rufus had been private but it had made him laugh in a very bad situation.
Even if it hadn't been private, Pepper hadn't picked up his journal since the previous night, and then only to jot a few notes down after deciding that that was about all he could reasonably manage. Rufus had told him to get to it, and that was what he was doing. He waved a hand vaguely at the complaint, though, momentarily trying to recall the easy teasing that had been a staple of previous interactions. "Room service is crap too, I'm going to need three or four customer comment cards to get everything down. I have some chocolate though." Which he'd nearly stepped on coming out of his room earlier, but he supposed it was a nice thought, probably.
"I'll keep that in mind," Aloysius replied. "I..." He broke off and stared down at the page in front of him. Wait... if he took that plus and put it there, he'd... probably blow his own face off. He sighed and leaned back in the seat, straightening suddenly again when it creaked alarmingly. He wasn't getting very far with this and normally he'd set it aside and let it percolate in his mind for a while and work on something else but the only 'something else' he had immediately on hand was the Dark ward books. He glance dover at Pepper but he seemed to be absorbed in his own book so maybe it was safe enough. He set the book he was reading aside. He liked to be able to glance at the equations from tiem to time and see if anything made more sense. He then reached down and pulled out one of the ward books. He grimaced then opened it. He didn't particularly like delving into Dark magic but if it helped Jo in some way, he'd do it.
The corner of Pepper's mouth twitched in what was almost, but not quite, a small fond smile as Aloysius suddenly trailed off (as much as one could trail off in a sudden, given the slow petering out of thought that the term implied). This was why he had not been sorted into Ravenclaw. He liked knowing things, yes, craved knowledge even, but for him it was a tool rather than an end in itself. With Aloysius it was more like a lover.
And that thought soured the momentary affection, as did the one about how normally he gave his chocolate to Jo. She enjoyed it more than he ever had, and he enjoyed her enjoying it. When she wasn't entangled in revenge pacts with sociopaths. "You," he agreed, instead focusing on the barely-started sentence. "I'd rather... fresh doughnuts, or fish and chips, or something, really." The things they used to take for granted, but there were so many of those.