Carlotta "Magic the Muggles" Pinkstone (nosecrets) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-07-26 15:38:00 |
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Victoria pushed a curl behind her ear, reaching for the milk to finish the preparation of her morning tea. Carlotta was nearly always down before she was and that was a bit odd in and of itself, but she reached for the morning paper - not the Daily Prophet which was something she still had not quite gotten used to. Even with Carlotta writing for the Quibbler it had not quite gotten to be a normality to not have the Daily Prophet when she ate breakfast. Odd how that had been something that she had looked forward to for the entirety of her time living in the Muggle world. Well, at least until recently. This morning's paper had been similar to it always had been, and Victoria was certain, as she very nearly always was, of the lies it was telling. After having spoken for a long time and way into the night with Carlotta, she knew what had gone on at the Daily Prophet in the final days, and she knew how it bothered her friend to be a part of the lies being presented. It bothered her to the point that Carlotta would only write for the Quibbler, and even then, she tended to write far less than she used to do. Victoria picked up the cup of tea again, took a sip and glanced at the clock. It was most unusual for her friend to be so late to come down from her rooms. She frowned, and reached down to idly pet Rhiannon behind the ears as she considered whether she should go check on her friend or not. Carlotta came down the stairs in a remarkably good mood. Ever since her meeting with Mr Karkaroff yesterday she had felt quite good about the decision to get involved with the Concerned Citizens for the Truth. Well, mostly. Somewhere underneath all of this goodness there was an underlying feeling of unease about the project. But every time it presented itself Carlotta couldn't quite finger what that unease was or why she was feeling as if it were so wrong. The Concerned Citizens for Truth were a group that sought truth after all, and that was what she sought herself, so why shouldn't she be involved? Come to think of it, she thought that she would check in with them this afternoon to see what had come of the Ministry safe house discrimination process. Had they met with the government? Were those problems being taken care of? "Good morning, Victoria," Carlotta said to her friend as she entered the dining room. Perhaps she would be able to talk her Muggleborn friend into being involved as well, she thought idly. They had talked frequently enough about the problems within the current government. Together they could solve them - but she would need to convince Victoria to not go to France as they had also spoken of but surely that could be done with enough coercing. "How are you this morning?" Victoria started at her friend, but pushed away the feeling of unease she had about the lateness this morning. Carlotta had been quite busy this month and certainly she could have been up all night working with her writing and projects. She pushed the pot of tea and the eggs towards her friend and gave her a smile. "Good morning, Lottie. You were so late I was beginning to think I would need to send Rhiannon up to pounce on you." For her part Rhiannon looked up at the human as if the idea of being sent forth to do anything was laughable. And indeed it probably was as the Kneazle wobbled rather than walked most places to begin with and the idea of her pouncing on anything rather the size of a spider or the size of Carlotta was an amusing mental picture. "Oh Merlin," Carlotta poured herself a cup of tea. "Poor Rhiannon, she would have never forgiven you for that command," she put in a bit of sugar and stirred. "No, I was actually just writing down a few notes to myself about my next project. Victoria, are you certain you still want to leave in a week? I think it is the sort of thing that you could be interested in as well." Victoria placed the tea cup down, her eyes on her friend. Carlotta well knew that Victoria had no interest in being a part of the Wizarding World at the moment - the world was dangerous to her and to other Muggleborns - and they'd had the conversation frequently in the past, so what was with this idea? "What are you working on?" She asked carefully, reaching for the napkin she had in her lap. "I'm going to begin this afternoon," Carlotta said, feeling perfectly at ease as she took a sip of tea. Yes, she knew Victoria hadn't wanted to be involved in the Wizarding World, but this would be perfect for them to do together, and at any rate, she would be doing it. "I'm going to help the Concerned Citizens for the Truth group, you know the citizens group that is working on ensuring that the Ministry is treating people fairly? I've decided that it would be a good idea for me to get involved, and really, Victoria, it would be the perfect way for you to get back into the Wizarding World yourself." "You're what?" Victoria stared at her best friend in shock. The group had been the topic of conversation many evenings because Carlotta herself had voiced reservations about the group. She had already spoken to Victoria about how she had been asked to join it, but felt that there was something unusual about it - or something not quite right about it - and now she wanted to join it? Carlotta looked up now. The question jarred against the feeling that obviously she was going to do this and ressonated with the quiet sense of something being not quite right that was in the back of her mind. Yet she couldn't quite think why. The group was useful, it sought fairness for the people of the Wizarding World, and she could help with it. Obviously it would be helpful if she could work with it. "I'm going to help the Concerned Citizens for the Truth," she said, equally emphatic as she had been before, although something once again didn't quite feel right about it. "They're interested in helping ensure that the Wizarding World is equitable - with the new Government-" "The new government?" Victoria blinked. "You don't even like the new government, and you said yourself that you were suspicious of the group, why in Merlin's name would you want to join it? Carlotta, have you gone absolutely balmy?" Carlotta was confident she had not gone balmy, in fact, she was confident that she was going to help the group, and yet, Victoria did seem right as well. She hesitated, a tea cup suspended mid-air as the very real pressure that she wished to join this group and do something good for the Wizarding World fought against what Victoria was saying - words she would normally have dismissed as a lack of understanding for the Wizarding World's current needs except that they somehow did not seem so foreign. In fact something about them seemed quite normal and something about them seemed right, even as they seemed to contradict everything that she had come up herself. She had spent the entire morning thinking of new projects for the group - Looking into the rehabilitation centre, and Miss Hall seemed to have been there, didn't she then, a successful stay - well, and Mr Potter too - both subjects seemed to have come out of the rehabilitation better for their stay within it - and although Greyback seemed to have had that mental breakdown the other night, that was no doubt the result of other pressures. "I don't believe I have gone balmy, Victoria," although there was a hint of uncertainty as she said it. Perhaps she had gone balmy, Victoria was telling her one thing and she was feeling one thing, but what she wanted to do seemed to completely contradict everything that she was feeling, or what Victoria was saying. "You most certainly have," Victoria said. "If you want to join this group. Lottie, just the other day you said that you weren't certain about this project in the safehouses, that you weren't certain about the people in the group - why they were doing it, and how they were coming up with their projects, and you weren't sure about the research they were doing. Why would you want to join a group you did not trust a day ago?" "I just - do." Carlotta stopped. Victoria was right. There was no sense to it: no logic to it at all. She didn't - did - didn't - did want to join this group. No, the more that she thought about it the more that it felt absolutely ridiculous. Victoria's questions were bringing to the surface all of those small niggling things that she'd pushed aside all morning long, and now instead of the small niggling things, she was pushing aside the larger overall effects of the Imperius curse. She blinked, staring at the cup of tea in her hand. She'd been in her office. She'd met with Mr Karkaroff. She'd - she had no memory of how she'd gotten from there to here, or why she was having tea with Victoria in her dining room. "What day is?" She asked. "Sunday morning," Victoria said. "It's Sunday morning, Lottie, what is going on?" "I think I was cursed, Victoria," she said, putting the cup of tea down in confusion. "I - I don't know. But we're going to find out." |