Who: Pepper and Rufus When: Wednesday 20 May Where: Gairloch What: The veritaserum is finally done, woot. Rating: PG-13 Status: Done
It was sort of amazing how quickly Pepper went from calm to stomach-rolling anxiety as he began transferring potion from cauldron to vials - three of them, the smallest size he had, though the one that stubbornly refused to fill more than halfway he slipped into the lockbox with the rest of the things he didn't like entrusting to other people. Four mL for Rufus, then, and that little potion really did look abysmally pathetic in the bottom of a cauldron. It was sort of amazing how much of what he'd started with had boiled off. But then, veritaserum was extremely concentrate.
Carefully wrapping the two filled vials in cloth, he eased himself up from where he'd been sitting and left the room, making sure to lock it behind him as he always did. If he was lucky Rufus would be in his quarters and he wouldn't have to disentangle him from the middle of a crowd in a hopefully-subtle manner, not while he was tired and relieved to finally be finished and still aching through the muscles all down his torso, flexing and stretching with every step he took. He didn't run into the man on the way from one door to the other, though, and so he paused outside Rufus' room, knocking sharply on the wood of the door before leaning on the wall to wait for an answer.
"Come in!" Came the gruff response, and Rufus was laying out over maps he'd borrowed from the map room, a quill in his hand as frowned at the locations of known death eater homes. One large X marked the location of Avery's house, and a frowny face was labelling the Lestranges. Though Jo had been returned to them, for better or for worse, he did not want to deal with that mess again. Instead, he drew circles carefully around the Nott, Macnair, and Burke homes. Then, upon reconsideration, he bolded the circle around Nott's house. Bastard.
"What's up, Pepper?" He said, peering up at the door over the top of his classes. He patted the floor invitingly, though there was worry curving around the corners of his lips. He didn't want to show it, but Amcyus's and Amelia's absence was beginning to get to him.
Pepper looked skeptically at the floor for a moment before easing down onto it; actually using the muscles was likely a good part of recovery, after all, and the discomfit wasn't nearly so bad as being hit by the spells in the first place. Likewise any shortness in Rufus' tone was summarily ignored. They all got a bit snappish from time to time, and Rufus had always been a bit like that anyway. With Amelia on an extended and unscheduled walkabout it was even more understandable. "I have," he said, flicking open the cloth package in his hands so the vials were visible. "It looks and smells right so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Generally when potions go wrong, they do it in extremely obvious ways." He remembered several of them from Potions class at Hogwarts, particularly when partnered with Narcissa, though he hadn't had a perfect record even while responsible for his own work. He supposed few people did.
Pushing his glasses up, Rufus moved cross-legged from the floor, helping his leg a bit so that it went where he wanted. He stretched out a hand for the vials and considered them, brow furrowing. Well. Best way to find out if they worked was to test it. He carefully opened one, and dipped his pinky in before setting a single drop upon his tongue. It tasted fine -- like nothing, to be precise, and he didn't feel any different, even after a few thoughtful swallows.
"All right," he said, matter-of-factly. "Ask me something embarrassing."
"I was going to offer to do that," Pepper commented mildly, mind blanking in a somewhat inconvenient fashion as he tried to summon a question, any question, that would be suitable without being humiliating to either of them. Though, as he recalled, any question would do if you tried to lie in response. It was an unnerving sensation and one he wished he could forget as easily as other things seemed to slip through his grasp sometimes. "Uh-- when did you first realise you liked Amelia?" That was reasonable, probably, something they'd discussed before (though not lately), intimate only in a surface manner, glancing and easy to ignore.
"Christmas of 1976," Rufus said before realising he was even answering the question. He blinked in surprise, as he'd been intending to at least try and lie. But for someone of his already naturally honest predilections, it seemed that he was a bit more prone to unconsciously telling the truth than he'd expected. Hm. "Try something harder," he said uncomfortably, trying to focus his attentions more fully on trying to lie. He was reasonably sure the veritaserum worked, but he didn't want to take chances when the stakes were this high.
For a moment Pepper gave in to the slight smirk that threatened at the look on Rufus' face. He'd answered quicker than Pepper ever had when Moody was interrogating him, but then Pepper had been tied up and thinking desperately, forcing himself not to give too much away in his responses. Or maybe it had been that his had been diluted in a glass of water. Hard to say. "Did you ever actually suspect I was involved with Death Eaters?" he asked, not really caring about the answer himself but knowing that Rufus probably would. Most people didn't like answering that sort of question when the subject was sitting right there. It was impolite. Personally, Pepper had already accepted the fact that pretty much the entire circle of his acquaintances had probably wondered at one point or another.
Aha. Now there was something Rufus didn't want to answer, because even if the answer was primarily no, he had had a niggling doubt after Amelia's comments. He didn't want to admit to that doubt, not when he'd trusted Pepper with so damned much. Say no. Say NO, he willed himself, but when his mouth opened a "yes" was coming out. He flushed a bit, and shifted awkwardly. "I had my doubts. They've been resolved." And that was the truth, too -- had to be. "Looks like it works," he grumbled.
A handwave - Pepper had been expecting the answer, though he was slightly, just a little bit, relieved to note that he'd been correct in thinking it wouldn't bother him. Being able to predict his own reactions was weirdly sort of comforting, considering how up in the air everything else was right now. "It works best if the answer's absolute. I remember fudging a couple times last time when they asked about the future instead of the past. It's probably even better if people don't realise they've taken it." He remembered reading that somewhere... where, he couldn't recall, another alarming speck of blankness in his mind, but he glossed over that as unimportant. It wasn't like he remembered all his source material anyway. "Which means better to make sure everyone's here for a meal, or else figuring out a way to keep them from gossiping about it."
Rufus hmmed and leaned back against the wall. Given the outbursts at the obliviating, he wasn't sure if he wanted to secretly veritaserum anyone. He was well aware that preparing for it would make the potion less effective, but he didn't want a full scale mutiny on his hands either. "I don't know if I want to just chuck it in the evening soup and announce that I'm questioning everyone." He rarely talked about his leaderly doubts, but Pepper was here and, unfortunately, the ability to talk around the issue had been sapped from him. "Don't feel like dealing with the potential consequences. I need people on my side." Pink still tinged his cheeks, but he decided to own the truth -- maybe Pepper would have some reasonable feedback. He didn't know. "How long's this stuff last?"
Pepper tilted his head as he tried to remember, wincing a little as muscles twinged in his side and smoothing a hand over the spot as though the warmth of his palm could heal all ills. It would be nice if it could, really. He had never liked feeling like an invalid. "I think it was from half five onwards, I can't have been out long, and then it was wearing off about... nine that night. Maybe later. There's this weird bit near the end where things sort of.. come to the front of your mind, but you can fight them, if you want." He paused, considering the general mood of camp, or what he'd seen of it. Elle and Aloysius definitely had been upset about the obliviating, but Elle because of the specific spell and Aloysius, he thought, because of who had cast it. He assumed the Unspeakable would accept his competence at potions, at least, but he wasn't as confident at predicting everyone else's behaviour as his own. They all seemed so emotional these days. "You can either tell them first and see who freaks out, tell them after they've had it but before you start asking questions, or let them figure it out themselves. Probably the first two would go down better, though if you go for the first we have to consider the spy might've arranged for an antidote, or whatever, and look out for anyone trying to disappear."
Rolling the possibilities around in his mind, Rufus decided that he, indeed, preferred the first two options. There were problems with both, and he felt suddenly tired. "I think," he began. "That I prefer the second. If people apparate out, then we can reward the camp and the problem is dealt with. And people will be angry but at least they will have some warning." He nodded slowly, then more certainly. "Yes, I think that is the best way."
At times like this Pepper was awfully glad that he didn't have to make the decisions. Leader of anything had never been his brand of ambition - he wasn't suited to world domination or heralding armies. He much preferred standing behind, half in the shadows, ready to give advice or follow orders so long as he got to know everything that was going on. There was probably a wealth of material in the psychology of wanting to be important and trusted, but he'd developed a remarkable distaste for delving into his motives, lately. "Probably tonight, then, no point waiting. And we'll want to get the Longbottoms and Aloysius here." Lachlan and Leon would be a loss, of course, but if either of them was a spy they were pretty much screwed anyway given that they spent the entirety of their time surrounded by Death Eaters and sympathisers. There wasn't exactly much keeping them from passing information on.
"Tonight." Rufus agreed, though he didn't want to agree. Damn, this was too soon for him. He wasn't ready. The two missing would have to be dealt with when they got back. "You don't think we ought to wait to see what's become of Amycus and Amelia?" He knew the answer before he'd even asked the question, but for once in his life, Rufus wanted a break, even for a few seconds, of having to decide everything for himself, for having to take charge. Just a few seconds. A few seconds during which he could miss Amelia instead of having to think of her detachedly as a casualty of war.
"We can't wait forever. We don't know what went wrong and it's too easy to keep putting it off for one more day." And he'd already learned for himself that the highlands could be dangerous in unexpected ways. It was possible that they'd never actually get their wayward lambs back, that maybe they'd stumble across their bodies some day, or else they'd be never seen again, lost in the annals of history. Maybe unearthed by some Muggle hikers. He resisted the urge to add that this way, if anyone did take off, they'd have to change the wards anyway. He might not be particularly concerned about Amelia anymore, but it still seemed rather tactless when talking to the woman's boyfriend. "At least this way it'll be over quickly. One way or another."
"Yeah," Rufus replied, though the commitment in his voice was one of necessity, not desire. "Chuck it in the soup, I suppose, and then make the announcement. We'll keep them all in the cafeteria till the questioning is over, and if anybody leaves, by Merlin, we will have them." A worn hand moved to push Rufus's glasses up atop his head, and he rubbed his eyes. He was glad to have the potion -- the residual feeling of mistrust for an unnamed someone in Gairloch did not sit well with him, particularly as there had no proof for months that they had a traitor in their midst. But it would be over and he could go back to trusting his fellow outcasts. "Who's on dinner duty tonight?"
"Not sure," he admitted; he'd had to mark his own days in the front of his journal to keep track of them. "Easy enough to check, though. I doubt whoever it is will much complain if I say I feel like doing it, I missed a couple of mine after the battle so I can say I'm playing catch up." Cooking wasn't nearly as tedious a chore as some other things, of course, but it was still a chore, and he didn't really imagine anyone would object to an unexpected evening off. Unless they coincidentally had also picked tonight to quietly drug everyone in camp, but that would be incredibly unlikely and if it were the case they'd have more problems than how to spike the soup without anyone noticing.
Rufus shifted where he sat and handed one of the vials back to Pepper. "A bit stupid of me to ask since you'd be prepared, anyhow, but might as well take some of this yourself and assure me you aren't a traitor, before I put you in charge of drugging the entire camp."
"It would be pretty hilarious if I was, in an ironic sort of way." Admittedly not so much in a practical sense, but still. Given that he'd fully expected to be asked to test it in the first place it wasn't exactly a hardship (though, it was true, if he were a spy he'd have brewed an antidote at the same time, especially as he'd personally been on two separate ingredient-fetching missions, one alone). Despite knowing that it was tasteless, he still half-expected something different when he licked the drops off his finger. Something... more impressive. But then, sometimes the impressiveness came from being so utterly innocuous, which was certainly a theory he liked to live by at times. "However, I am probably more loyal than most of the people here. And not to the Death Eaters. Just to specify."
Rufus looked at him, evaluating and collecting his thoughts on the other man. He did, admittedly, put stock into Pepper's loyalty, even if they didn't get along at all times and despite Amelia's protests to the contrary. But that didn't mean he shouldn't be cautious, and now that he had Pepper with veritaserum in his system and a closed door, he thought he'd ask the question that still lingered in his mind after nearly a year. Logically, Pepper could lie and he wouldn't know it, and logically Pepper could tell the truth without being under the influence, but Rufus felt like he'd know. He was a man who relied on instincts, and he trusted them right now. "What happened between you and Edgar last year that you told Millicent and didn't tell me?" He didn't break eye-contact for even a second, preferring to see the glimmer of Pepper's pupils as he answered.
It would have been --maybe not easy, but feasible, at least, to hesitate to word his answer in a politic manner. But Edgar was long dead, and they were not at the Ministry anymore, and it just didn't matter. So Pepper didn't hesitate, didn't flinch away from the question or the scrutiny, just let the answer come unbidden. "He used Cruciatus on Selwyn several times. I stopped him each time after a few seconds. Other than that most of the interrogation went how we said in the written reports. I didn't know he was involved with vigilantes until after he was dead, when I infiltrated them and his name came up, which was probably some time in late August. Since I was trying to gain their trust I was trying to be careful what information I reported back, and since they're stupidly unorganised it always took forever to get any sort of answer out of them. After I told you that he was the leak some of them were still pissed off about it because it was dishonouring his name even though it was true and the most practical response, even though it could have been done in better circumstances, but then it was apparently also Edgar's idea that they shouldn't try to hide their identities because that way at least when they got hunted down and brutally murdered they did it in a noble way. I take it most of his work with them was a lot more practical than that, though."
That was quite possibly the longest speech Pepper had made in rather a long time, really, but then he did have quite a few opinions on the subject of vigilantes, and as long as they stayed on topic it was easier to just let himself talk out. Even if it did feel strange, vaguely unnerving, no matter how much he trusted Rufus.
Rufus nodded, and though he had other questions, other curiosities that wanted to be sated, he wasn't going to exploit the situation any further. He could ask Pepper when they were both recovered, and after this goddamned veritaserum business was dealt with. "All right," he said, shuffling a bit before getting back on his ribs and recollecting his quill. A deep sigh and he pushed his glasses back down and wrote some notes next to Nott's house. "More burning this week, so you'd better hop to getting dinner ready." He felt better. Sort of. Resolute, at least.
Clearly Rufus was far less evil than him, if that was the only extra question he was going to ask. Which made it a good thing he was leader, really. It was probably hard to inspire loyalty and devotion when you were endlessly tempted to take advantage of situations to leech embarrassing secrets out of people and learn far more than anyone ever needed to know about what exactly they thought they were capable of doing to their enemies in the future, or what they had already done in the past. Shifting slightly to find something to pull himself up with, he went to make a quip about the universal popularity of fire, and found he couldn't. Goddamnit; what was he without amusing parting comments? "I do love a good fire," he said instead, because if it wasn't true about everyone, it was definitely true about him. They'd really grown on him since he'd started in on being the one to set them, rather than the one to clean up afterwards. "I can use emotional blackmail to get Aloysius over, since we're going to be thorough, but he'd probably prefer no one tried to delve into whatever Unspeakable stuff he brought with him. He's got this whole thing about..." A handwave as he tried to think of the wording he was after. Communication was so complicated sometimes. "Things that should never be used by anyone ever." And it was quite likely that he was hiding time turners somewhere, which would be tempting, sometimes. There was also the question of what exactly he'd done the other night to have him looking so shit when he'd turned up, but Pepper was pretty sure it was directly related to how he'd gotten Jo back, so he was inclined to think it didn't matter so long as it didn't cause long-term emotional damage. (To Aloysius, that was; if there were Death Eaters involved, he swung towards a lot more in favour of it.)
Getting up again proved to be harder than sitting, but he managed it without a great degree of fuss. Hopefully no one would bother him too much while he nattered around arranging dinner, because there was a multitude of reasons why it was best no one figured out he was hopped up on veritaserum. But he was pretty sure he could stick on an appropriately unsociable expression, and carefully censor any comments he did have to make.
"Sounds good," Rufus replied, pausing a moment to wonder what sort of dirt Pepper could have on someone so seemingly simple as Aloysius Croaker that allowed him blackmail abilities -- emotional or otherwise. He didn't ask, though, utterly oblivious to Pepper's internal monologue of good versus evil and curiosity and manipulation. He did what he did because he felt it was right or just or justified, if he could distinguish between the three -- and it was via a rather simplistic sense of right and wrong that made these decisions easier. He wouldn't have envied Pepper his moral relativism, not one jot. Muddying the issues was always a bad idea.
"See you at dinner, then, Pepper. Thanks." And then he waved in a sort of vague, affectionate way that didn't quite suit him, before returning to his topography.
"And a show," Pepper joked, opening the door to slip out only at that point, when nothing they were saying could be considered even remotely incriminating. Personally, he found his moral greyscale far easier than a black and white view of the world, but that was not something he was much inclined to discuss these days, either. It occasionally made people uncomfortable. Though, really, so would what they were planning to do tonight. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he went to find the duty roster to see who he was going to be making happy.