Who: Quintus Travers, Aloysius Croaker, Kate Proudfoot, Lavinia Travers What: Aloysius and Kate take a dip into the world of kidnapping. Where: The Travers home When: 12 May 1980, around 7.30pm
Status: Complete Rating: PG
Lavinia was having a fairly uneventful day of cross-stitching and trying to stay out of trouble. Some time spent on the piano so that Gaius wouldn't be cross at her had thoroughly depressed her as she hadn't actually done her finger exercises and seemed to miss every other key (which their father helpfully pointed out before she'd burst into tears, given up, then remembered that ladies weren't supposed to sob in public), so she moved on to some quiet studying on the floor near Quintus, who seemed to take a great deal more interest in his wine bottle than his youngest daughter. She thought to ask him once if her runic calculations were correct, but he didn't appreciate the interruption and she was forced to go back to fretting over it herself. Maybe she could have Sera correct it before she ultimately had to pass her homework over to her brother, because handing him study exercises with mistakes still on them had never gone over well, and Lavinia wasn't certain she wanted to be scolded tonight.
Quintus was used to long days at work and the quiet unwinding period he reserved for himself during the evenings. His family clearly did not understand just how hard he worked as an Unspeakable, since he couldn't exactly tell them what his work entailed. His son had made a habit of working late, which meant that his evening silences were usually extended until activity began in a flurry when he arrived -- dinner had to be made on time and his youngest daughter's excitement assuaged before order could be reestablished, just in time for all of them to turn in for the night. He didn't mind reading in the presence of his eldest daughter and a glass of wine or correcting Lavinia's assignments -- Merlin knows she needed the help -- so long as he was not expected to do anything taxing, which was more or less what he strove for in life.
Aloysius squared his shoulders as he and Kate strode up to the front door of the Travers home. It felt strange to be back in his Unspeakable's robes and he felt a odd pang at that. He should feel normal in these, like he was at home, but somewhere between the takeover at the Ministry and now, he'd gotten used to being... a rebel, he supposed. Though given his performance at Hogwarts, not a very good one. Well, tonight would change that. He was determined. It wasn't his safety or future depending on this, it was Jo's and Pepper's and that was more important to him than anything else.
"Remember... look serious and as though you know more than Travers does," he said quietly. "Don't let him get the upper hand but be mysterious. Unspeakables don't often speak about their jobs outside of work, even to each other."
They came to a halt at the door to the house and Aloysius thumped on it loudly and authoritatively.
Kate straightened her shoulders and hid any look of unease behind a practiced Auror's calm. It felt rather odd to have the situations reversed in field work. This was clearly something Aloysius would know and understand far better than she would ever hope to. He knew what Unspeakables would expect from the department, and she most certainly did not.
However, back-up she could do, and acting authoritative came easily enough, despite the fact that she knew Rufus carried far more authority in his little finger than she could hope to convey. Perhaps one day, if she lived to tell the tale, she'd manage to seem very authoritative herself. For the moment, she just hoped she had enough, and looked appropriately mysterious, although she had to admit that Aloysius himself really wasn't that mysterious.
She'd told Aloysius that she would follow his lead on all things Unspeakable, so with a sideways glance, she nodded, kept quiet, and waited for the family to open the door.
Quintus glanced up from his book at the sound of the door being knocked and let out a loud sigh. Who on earth would be calling unexpected at this hour? If it was Gaius home early from work, he could have just let himself in and saved them all the trouble. He wasn't about to move from his seat to answer the door either way, and so he motioned at Lavinia. "Go see who it is."
"Yes, daddy," Lavinia replied promptly, though she stalled a minute to set her quill carefully back into its inkwell. Smoothing out her dress, she got to her feet and moved to the door, wondering who could possibly be calling (they hardly received visitors with any frequency who weren't there to see Gaius, and he wasn't home yet).
Startled to see two strangers upon their doorstep, Lavinia shrank into the door a little bit, but tried to smile politely. "Hello," she murmured, fingers twisting nervously across the top of her dress before she remembered she wasn't supposed to do that. "May I help you?"
When the girl opened the door, Aloysius was enormously tempted to just grab her and go. It had to be Lavinia just from her age. But he wanted to be sure that they would not be stopped or followed and that meant neutralising her father first.
"Is your father in?" he asked sternly, stepping forwards as though he had every right to enter and relying on the surprise factor to make her give way. He glanced back at Kate and gave a small nod towards the girl, hoping she would read it as a request to stay near the girl. They didn't want to lose her after all.
Lavinia winced and stepped backwards, looking like she had no desire to do anything even resembling argue. "Yes, sir," she replied, still polite though her voice had become very small. Nodding quickly, she pressed herself behind the door so the two could enter. She was so sheltered she barely realised there was a war going on Out There and so didn't ask for even a semblance of identification. Her father could deal with it -- that was the way it worked in this household.
"Daddy, there are visitors here to see you," she called out, hoping she wouldn't be scolded for 'yelling' across the house. The sitting room wasn't far enough away from the front door to warrant actually fetching him. "Would you like tea?" She then asked uncomfortably, hoping for an excuse to escape any real hostessing.
Kate indeed noted Aloysius' slight nod and interpreted it precisely how he had intended. After all, if this was the girl (and she was certainly the right age), they didn't want her disappearing into the rest of the house. She kept her face impassive, but inwardly she couldn't help wincing over it. The girl was a mouse and would likely be absolutely terrified by what they were intending - even if Kate was fairly certain they would be far kinder to her than her brother had been to Jo, or indeed would be to any Muggleborn girl. And that thought made her step through the door, following Aloysius, and completely closing off any of those thoughts. They were not useful to the task at hand.
She turned her gaze to Lavinia, pretending to evaluate the young girl, although in reality her mind was spinning with whether or not she should accept the invitation for tea. On the one hand it would get the young girl out of the way while they dealt with her father, but on the other, Kate didn't really want her disappearing so they would have to hunt her down or potentially miss her entirely. She shook her head. "No, this is business," she said rather bluntly.
In the sitting room, Quintus let out another sigh and reluctantly set his book down on the sofa. Who on earth would be coming to see him, particularly at an hour at which normal people were all eating their meals? He didn't have friends who would be paying him house calls, particularly not without warning. The entire thing was rude and he hoped that he could be rid of them quickly so his evening routine would be as little inconvenienced as possible.
"Yes?" he said, walking out into the entryway and raising his eyebrows at the two visitors. "Can I help you?"
Aloysius hid his sigh of relief. It looked as though Travers didn't recognise him and that meant the first hurdle of tonight had been surmounted successfully. He strode forward confidently, his expression stern and forbidding. "Come now, Travers," he said briskly. "You cannot be in any doubt as to why we are here. Did you think that Rookwood and Waffling were unaware of what you were doing?" Well, yes, Waffling was probably unaware of anything other than what he'd had for his last meal and what might be served up for his next one but Rookwood had always been on top of things... and Aloysius didn't like to think about what it might mean that Rookwood had stayed and, as far as he could tell, had kept his position. That was speculation for another time and place.
He kept walking forward, gesturing towards the sitting room Quintus had emerged from. "Let's take this somewhere a bit more private," he said. "I am sure you would prefer that." He thought hard for the moment then turned to Kate. They absolutely didn't want to lose the girl somewhere in the house. "Unspeakable Madison, could you stay with Miss Travers for the moment?"
Lavinia looked properly abashed at the woman's admonishment, and shut the door behind her so that they and Quintus could discuss business, or whatever it was they were discussing. She then moved to return to her studies, but found herself hesitating a moment at the not-very-veiled accusation of her father. Though repressed to quite an extent, Lavinia still clung to a smear of curiosity, and she'd never heard anyone speak to their father that way. Afraid that something bad was happening that she had utterly no control over, it occurred to her that she should write Gaius.
"I believe I ought to contact my brother, Miss Madison," she said, as politely as her uneasiness would allow.
Oh, that would never do. Kate turned her gaze to the young girl making it as strict as she could possibly manage. She'd worn her hair up in a bun, and between the strictly gathered hair, and the strict countenance she wore behind her glasses, she did make a rather imposing figure despite her relatively young age.
"Your brother?" Her tone indicated boredom with Lavinia's 'worries', despite her wishing to be obeyed, she did not particularly wish to alarm the girl. "Unspeakable Unger will only be a moment, and I cannot imagine your brother would be interested in being bothered with your father's work." The emphasis was light, but she hoped it was enough to persuade the girl that her brother would be annoyed by such a distraction.
And Kate's eyes had spied the books spread out nearby, and she used them as a distraction to get Lavinia's mind off of the idea of contacting her brother. "You are continuing your studies at home, I presume?"
With the query she turned to give her full attention to Lavinia. Although she didn't have much experience with children, Kate thought it likely that giving the young girl just a bit of attention would possibly distract her long enough for Aloysius to do what he needed to with the elder Travers.
Lavinia wavered for only a moment before caving, and a flush rose to her cheeks as she nodded. "Yes, Miss Madison, I imagine that is true." But there was still something uncomfortable about the situation that made Lavinia wish Gaius was there, an island of stability in this bizarre atmosphere. Looking a bit mortified at the idea that she'd trouble a family member with something so petty, Lavinia moved towards her books and tried to smile, a wan, unconvincing expression that spoke more of her effort than her mood.
"Yes, ma'am," she replied, warming very slightly that someone had noticed. "Ancient runes. My brother and sister help me now that Hogwarts is closed."
Quintus was baffled at the insinuations being made about him and paid no attention at all to the conversation his daughter was having. Instead, he interrupted with an indignant huff and shook his head at the man. "I have not done anything wrong! Why are you coming into my home and disturbing me in front of my children? If this is a business matter, you can speak to me at the Ministry, but now I think that you should leave." With that, he motioned to the door, but his hand was trembling -- even if he'd done nothing wrong, the chance of confrontation terrified him. He hoped that they would simply leave him in peace, at least until he could try to make sense of what the 'Unspeakable' had said.
Aloysius paid no attention to the two women, trusting Kate to do what was necessary to keep the girl in her sight. He kept his concentration on Quintus, hardening his expression when the man started to baulk. "Unspeakable Travers, I assure you that you would much prefer to deal with this here and now. In private." His expression became knowing. "If this must be done at the Ministry then there will be no way of keeping it quiet. The Minister will know and if his office knows, then the... news about queries regarding your work will spread throughout the Ministry by day's end." He raised an eyebrow. "I am sure that you would prefer to avoid such a... scandal. I am certain that your family would."
Kate kept half an ear on Aloysius, but was pretending to give her attention to Lavinia for a moment, trying to remember what on earth she knew about Ancient Runes. She supposed she could probably mutter nonsense and the girl might or might not know what she was talking about and if she did it in such a way as to indicate she did know what she was talking about then likely Lavinia would only be impressed.
"That's quite good," she said. "It is certainly important that young people continue their studies no matter how difficult it might be to do so. Do you enjoy the subject?" Kate wondered how much longer it would take Aloysius to do whatever it was he planned on doing with Quintus Travers. "Tell me a bit about what you are studying."
"Scandal?" Quintus said, voice rising to nearly a shouting-level. "What are you doing, coming here and threatening me with a scandal? I have done nothing wrong! I don't even know what you're talking about! What do you want from me?" He was sweating, now, and looking flustered. Normally a quiet man, all of this excitement was overwhelming for him. "If you will not leave, I demand to see some identification this instant!"
At that moment, Quintus seemed to realize that Lavinia was still in the room. "What are you still doing here?" he asked her, though it was not a question intended for answering. "Get out of here!" He gave a terse wave of his hand at her, making it clear that she was dismissed.
Kate utterly lost Lavinia's attention when her father's voice rose about its usual tone, and she stood staring, rather unladylike, with wide eyes and a half-opened mouth. She didn't care about ancient runes now, or whatever it was the unspeakable had asked her, because there was talk of scandal, and she was well aware her father was anxious, afraid. Scandal was one of the worst words one could utter in a purist household, particularly one as poor as their own -- they didn't have stacks of galleons to lift themselves out of bad behaviour.
Stricken suddenly by Quintus's torn attention, Lavinia cringed and whispered "yes, Daddy," before turning to flee the room.
When the man demanded to see identification, Kate rather hoped that Aloysius would take that as his clue to stun the father so that they could grab the daughter and leave as quickly as possible. Lavinia was on the verge of flight and with her father's remarks made as it to leave.
"Do you want your school books, dear?" Kate asked her, hoping to keep her in the room a moment longer, and thinking a split second too late that 'dear' was rather familiar for an Unspeakable who had put on an air of boredom and relative disinterest. But if it delayed Lavinia at all, it would not give them very much time, which really meant that she and Aloysius would have to move quickly and she glanced at him. They didn't have ID cards, and although they could probably pretend to reach for them, returning with their wands instead, they might still lose the girl.
Aloysius cursed Quintus inwardly for being a stubborn bastard and not going quietly. They didn't have ID cards and things had reached the point of no return, especially with Quintus ordering the girl out of the room. He'd hoped to do this subtly but it seemed it was not to be. The girl was the important thing though, Quintus was irrelevant.
"Secure the girl," he snapped over his shoulder at Kate as he yanked his wand out of his robes. He pointed it at Quintus and snapped, "Stupefy!"
Quintus threw himself onto the ground, narrowly avoiding the Unspeakable's stunner. But now, he was practically cornered against the door frame -- anywhere he went, Aloysius would have a clear shot and easily be able to incapacitate him. Where the hell was Seraphina when he needed her? Even if her best qualities were her abilities to cook and have intellectual conversations, maybe she could have done something or at least alerted Gaius to their situation. He just knew that he didn't want to be hurt or taken anywhere -- he was frightened beyond anything he'd ever felt before. But what struck him was the Unspeakables' attention on Lavinia. Secure the girl? What did they want with her?
"Please don't hurt me," he said, pleading and holding his hands up to the wizard. He made a motion toward Lavinia, hoping that if that's what they were really after, he could use it to bargain for his own safety. "Just take her, if that's what you want. Take her, but leave me alone. Please, just don't hurt me!"
Lavinia screamed, short and sharp and terrified, as Aloysius acted, and she tore herself from the door, through which she'd nearly moved, to help her father in whatever useless way she could. She wished Gaius was home, Merlin she wished it so much because he would know how to fix this and he wouldn't have ever let strangers into their house and she was so stupid, what had she been thinking.
And she saw that her father was fine in another instant, though her breath of relief was inhaled just as quickly in horror as he pointed at her, inviting them to take her. A noise of anguish squeezed across her throat and chest, and she turned and ran, practically throwing herself through the door. She didn't care if Quintus was supposed to be more important than she was and she should have gladly given herself up to keep him safe. She didn't care about anything right now but getting away -- terror welled up in her chest and she couldn't remember where her wand was, she couldn't remember how to get out of the house, small though it was. Crashing through the adjacent room, she screamed for Seraphina, tears pouring down her cheeks. But she didn't have time to get far against two grown wizards with wands, and the horrible weight of a parent attempting to sacrifice her was too much to bear.
She fell barely seven feet from the sitting room, sobbing too hard to right herself.
"Stun him," she instructed Aloysius, although she was certain he would do so without her saying anything about it.
Kate would pause later to be disgusted at the words that issued forth from Quintus Travers' mouth. That any parent would be so self-centred, so well, asshole-ish, for lack of a better and more accurate phrase, was something she would likely spend the next week ranting on and off to Gawain about, but at the moment her battle sense kicked in, and she had her own wand in her hand in a flash, ready to bind up Lavinia so that they could go.
Of course, the girl had ran off, but she didn't seem to be running very gracefully and certainly she was making no effort to be quiet about it. Kate turned on her heels, her wand in her hand and she was off after Lavinia, although it seemed the adrenaline her body was pumping through her, was over-kill for the amount of chase she would have to do, and Kate paused for a moment to be grateful for Purist Women Being Weak.
"Incarcerous," she cast at Lavinia's hands, pulling them together and Kate herself stepped towards the young girl to grab her.
Aloysius cursed silently when Quintus ducked his spell and was about to cast a second stunner but when the man burst out with his cowardly reaction. He was caught short by that, shocked that any man would be so cavalier with his own child's life. What sort of man did that?
He heard the girl's outburst behind him but left her to Kate. She was an Auror and he knew that an untrained Purist girl would be no match for her. He kept his attention on Quintus, giving the man a look of disgust.
"Incarcerous," he said, pointing his wand at the man cowering on the floor. He would stun in him a moment. Firstly he wanted to be sure that they had the girl. He didn't take his eyes off Quintus though. He knew Unspeakables and he wasn't about to underestimate a former colleague. "Madison? Do you have the girl?" he called.
Lavinia pushed herself against the floor, wailing and struggling as her arms tightened together, inexorably bound. She wasn't ready to die yet, or whatever it was these horrible, horrible people were going to do to her. Unmarried girls weren't supposed to be dragged off by heathens! It was barbaric! "Please, please don't take me. Please," she choked wetly, kicking at her would-be captor would her feet. She wasn't used to physical exertion, and just struggling had worn her nearly out. Oh, the ironies of being such a good little purist girl.
Crying harder as Kate grabbed hold of her, she gave up on pleading, instead crying out for Gaius, who, without some miraculous intervention, certainly would never hear her. She wanted him right now, more than she'd ever wanted anything in the world. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be.
Watching all that was unfolding around him, Quintus felt absolutely no relief. He was sure that whoever they were, they were going to kill him. He trembled in his ropes, staring up at the wizard -- or really, the wand pointed at him -- and tried not to let his fear overtake him completely. He had a low tolerance for excitement, almost as if his body rejected adrenaline or something. But at his daughter's cries, he felt himself begin to do the same, whimpering pathetically as he closed his eyes tightly. "Please, don't kill me," he sobbed. "Do what you want with her, but don't kill me. Please. I'll do anything."
Kate pulled Lavinia to her feet. "Come along with me quietly and we won't hurt you," she promised. And at least she knew that there would be nothing reasonable people would consider hurt. If a good discussion about the abilities of a woman to take care of herself was pain, then there might be a bit. Kate got a glint in her eye, momentarily wondering if she should indulge in a sex education lesson later on, but for the moment, she turned her head back to Aloysius.
"I've got her, Unger," she said simply, and turned her attention back to Lavinia to see if the girl was going to be reasonable or if she would need to stun her and levitate her to outside of the property.
Lavinia had no choice but to nod, tears streaming over her cheeks in hot bands that wouldn't stop. But she could be quiet, she could. She'd cried silently before and it wouldn't be that hard now, not when it kept her from being abused by these monsters. Seraphina was nowhere in sight, her father was clearly not going to make an effort to aid her, and she couldn't fight them, she couldn't, so she just nodded, again and again, whimpering out 'all right, I will, I promise,' in soft, caught breaths between repressed sobs.
Aloysius kept his eyes and his wand on Quintus as he listened to the commotion out in the corridor. He tried not to feel like a complete monster when he heard the girl whimpering and pleading. It wasn't as though they were going to hurt her, certainly not in the way the Death eaters had hurt and killed so many others and certainly not in the way they had done to Jo. Throwing a few home truths in the girl's face wasn't hurting her in his eyes, it was educating her.
He didn't relax though until he heard Kate call back that he had the girl then he went down on one knee in front of Travers and let his contempt show. "You disgust me, Travers. What kind of man... what kind of father just surrenders his own daughter to complete strangers? You don't deserve to have a daughter if that's the way you treat her."
He rose to his feet again and looked down at Travers. "But you're a lucky man, Travers. You're going to get her back... eventually. I think you need to speak to your son. Tell him what's happened here and tell him we'll be in contact." With that he pointed his wand at Quintus. "Stupefy"
He watched the spell take effect then hurried out of the room. "Come on," he said to Kate, keeping any pity he might have felt for the girl off his face. "Let's get out of here."
When the wizard got closer to him and spoke directly to him, Quintus' trembling became full on shaking. He was petrified, so frightened that the man's words barely registered to him. Tears were still streaming down his cheeks and he let out a final sob when Aloysius aimed his wand. Withdrawing as far away from him as he could, Quintus opened his mouth to beg one last time for mercy before the darkness of unconsciousness overtook him and he was still on the floor.
Kate kept her thoughts to herself, pulling Lavinia to her feet and following after Aloysius. They would take the girl back to the cottage they'd prepared, set her up properly, maybe get her a cup of tea, and then Kate and Lavinia Travers were going to have a bit of a chat. Perhaps a proper mother daughter tea, really, considering that the girl's mother was dead, and she had no one to look after her properly. It was quite possible Lavinia would return to her family quite the better woman for her little outing - or at least that was Kate's view.