Marlene Lupin is plotting her revenge (on_the_wall) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-16 19:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! . placeholder, ! [1980-05] may, aberforth dumbledore, marlene lupin (née mckinnon) |
Random log pairing; "Achy Breaky Heart"
Who: Aberforth Dumbledore & Marlene Lupin.
What: Abe and Marlene share tales and spells of pyromania
When: 16 May 1980, 7 pm.
Where: The Hog's Head,
Status: Partially posted, incomplete.
Rating: PG.
It almost seemed as though Marius's little plot from the previous weekend had been counter-effective. Well, that much was obvious -- she wasn't dead, and thus Lestrange hadn't gotten what he'd wanted. However, rather than causing her to shrink back into herself, leaving her afraid to leave the house and talk to people, she'd been out more in the last week than she had been in months, especially by herself. Marlene had finally realised that it didn't matter any more if you tried to leave things alone and drop off the Death Eaters' radar. All that mattered any more was making sure that you knew how to fight back if they decided you were someone in their way. And Marlene planned on doing just that. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. It wasn't that in the slightest; she was still terrified over what the Death Eaters had done and what they still very well would do. But she was done hiding, and done being afraid to live her life. She wanted them to be afraid of what she could do for once. That wasn't quite where Marlene's mind was that night, though. She was going to a pub where she knew that she'd be safe, and darn it, she had things to celebrate. Somehow she'd survived both the fight at the castle and the events of May 8th, all her injuries that weren't permanent were well on their way to being fully healed, her husband had finally pulled his head out of his arse of self-loathing, and she was having a good hair day. It was nice, this being in a good mood thing. "Hmmm. Sex on the beach, please, Mr. Aberforth!" Marlene ordered, grinning cheekily as she hopped onto a stool at the front counter of the Hog's Head once she'd arrived. Aberforth gave a laugh then pretended to frown at Marlene. "Well now, Miss Marlene, I do think I'm far too old for that sort of thing and I'm certainly too old to be frolicking on a beach. Besides you're a married woman. It'd be far too scandalous. I'm afraid I have to decline." Even as he was saying that, a flick of his wand had glass, ice and various liquids and paraphernalia flying around behind him in the area he kept aside for those who liked more 'exotic' drinks. In fairly short order, a glass full of a pinkish-orange drink came floating over. Abe took it out of midair and placed it in front of Marlene with a small flourish. "Only one of those if we're going to be playing with fire spells," he said with a small smile. "I don't fancy having my beard burned off through drunken shenanigans. Once was more than enough." "Ah, foo. You're still a heartbreaker, Abe," Marlene grinned, scooping up the glass and tipping it in the bartender's direction before taking a drink, drowning her unquenchable sorrow in a sea of fruity schnapps and vodka. "You're probably right though. It'd be on the front page of every news rag this side of the equator. Remus would be traumatised" She fell silent for a few moments, taking in her drink and the pub's clientèle. The Hog's Head always had so much more character than the other bars in the area. "Fiiiine. Just one, if you insist," she sighed over-dramatically. "But in that case I want one of those little paper umbrellas -- ouch, you've gotten your beard burned off before? Did it involve fireworks? I can see one of those things getting caught in that thing," she gestured to the beard, "and KAPOW. That'd be a pretty miserable Guy Fawkes Day." "Ah yes, I have over my many years in the world, left a trail of achy, breaky hearts behind me," Abe said with an air of mischief. "On the other hand, it would earn me a reputation quite beyond what I already have. Then Remus would come and punch me on the nose and the scandal would simply magnify." "No, no fireworks," he said with a laugh. "Though it did involve setting drinks on fire. Some of those shots that people like to have a bit of fun with when they're drunk. I don't recommend letting anyone with a beard drink them. As it turns out, hair is highly flammable." Marlene ran her fingers through her hair absent-mindedly through her hair as she finished off her drink, thankful that she had never run into a situation where she had to find out about hair's flammable properties the hard way. "Anything to keep the press's attention off what's really going on, eh? Seems to be the way they're running things now. That and turning people into robots" She finished up her drink in one final gulp before setting the glass back down on the counter, along with the proper amount to pay for it. "Complements to the chef! Now just give me a moment to tie my hair back..." she snickered, pulling a hair band off her wrist and pulling her hair into a ponytail, not wanting it to go the same way as Abe's beard, "and we can go play with fire." Aberforth made a small grumbling noise under his breath. "It's all about control. I've seen it before. It can be done for good reasons but this? This is being done for the worst reasons." He gestured for her to come behind the bar, lifting the wooden flap at the end to let her through then fishing a thin length of leather out of his robes. "I shall do the same," he said with a quick grin, tying back his own hair though his ponytail sat low near the nape of his neck. "And one other thing." His grin became decidedly mischievous as he quickly worked his beard into a rough braid and tied off the end with another thin length of leather. He then lifted the trapdoor behind the bar to reveal a set of steps leading down into the basement. "Follow me and close the trapdoor behind you." He lead the way down the stairs and through the racks of bottles of wine and various other liquors and the stacks of kegs to an area right at the back which was empty and clear. The wall and floor of the entire basement were lined with stone and he quickly cast a series of wards to protect the wooden ceiling and the racks. Marlene did as she was told, hopping off the stool and scuttling back behind the counter as she tried not to giggle at the new kungfu master look that Aberforth was sporting. She'd never seen the basement of the Hog's Head before (or most of it, really, with the exception of the main room and the bedroom that Agnes had been staying in), and it was exciting being privy to this new information. Closing the trapdoor being her, Marlene used one hand to guide her way down the staircase against the wall while her other tightened against her wand in her pocket, ready to cast a cushioning charm just in case she slipped on the steps and went toppling the rest of the way down. Once she was back on solid ground again, Marlene looked around the basement, trying to get well-equainted with the space they'd be practicing in. "You know, it occurred to me after we'd agreed to meet here that the whole pub is made out of wood, and that that plus fire spells probably wouldn't work out too well," she noted, watching Abe reinforce the room with spells that would keep the place from going up in flames. She was glad he knew how to do that -- she certainly didn't. "I was not expecting this, though. I don't think it ever dawned on my that the bottles of everything actually needs some place to be stored. Full of surprises, you are." Abe chuckled as he finished off the warding. "Oh, a lot of what I serve needs to be stored for a while before being drunk. Even beer needs to sit for a while before it's worth drinking. Green beer is a dreadful thing." He patted one of the racks he'd just warded. "Red wines and good scotch whiskeys need to age for years. You can drink them young but they're better aged." He cocked his head slightly. "Now, tell me what your problem is and how far you got towards solving it with Caradoc?" Time to get down to business. Marlene's expression went a bit more somber, not because she wasn't excited for the help, but because it was still very newly jarring that Caradoc wasn't around any more. She was sure it had to be the same way for Aberforth, especially since his brother was Professor Dumbledore of all people. It had been nearly a year and sometimes it still caught her off guard that her family wasn't there to refer to on some things. "Well, it's not so much a problem as a... wanting to improve, really," she explained, trying to think of a better way to phrase it than 'a desire to put some slight pyromania to good use.' "To hone the element better, if you will," she grinned. "I tend to default to Incendio in fights, and I'm good at it, and he taught me to do this cool fire-whip thing that I kicked Marius Lestrange's arse with at Hogwarts, but the problem with that one is it leaves you defenseless otherwise since the flame hooks on to your wand." Abe nodded. "I can certainly understand wanting to improve. Fire spells are dicey things at the best of times and even the most experienced wizard can lose control of them, especially the more dangerous fire spells." He snorted. "The battle being a good example. Rodolphus Lestrange used Fiendfyre and lost control of it. That's what caused so much damage to the greenhouses. Damn fool of a man." He raised an eyebrow and gave Marlene a speculative look. "I know that spell and unfortunately there's no way of using it without having it attached to your wand. But how are you at wandless magic?" Marlene clenched her mouth shut, stopping herself in the nick of time from replying with her thoughts on Rodolphus Lestrange, considering that the moment was not the time for the string of obscenities on the tip of her tongue to come flying out. "Damn fool is putting it extraordinarily nicely," she muttered, grumbling under her breath. "No Fiendfyre though. I was there when it made half of Godric's Hollow go up in flames. Fire's scary as hell when it's out of control. "At wandless magic? Pretty damn miserable," Marlene explained with a slightly self-deprecating laugh. "Most of the time when I'm getting myself into trouble it's because I've lost my wand. And then I panic." |