Who's the Daddy? Lucius is the Daddy! (ex_ofbadfait221) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-06-20 03:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1979-06] june, elle abercrombie, lucius malfoy |
RP log: Elle and Lucius
Who: Elle Abercrombie and Lucius Malfoy
What: Lucius has been arrested. Elle interrogates him
When: Thursday evening
Where: The Ministry, a questioning room
Rating: PG
Status: Complete log
At this moment in time, Lucius Malfoy was not a happy man. It was one thing to have one's name broadcast as a "suspected Death eater" on a vigilante radio broadcast, but another thing entirely to be hauled into the Ministry at totally unsociable hours. He sat at the table, back perfectly straight, arms folded in front of him, foot tapping slightly in exasperation and a stubbornly neutral expression on his face - he didn't know if anyone was watching him, after all. There was absolutely no way that he would be kept here for any length of time, though -- he was Lucius Malfoy, surely that name still had a great deal of resonance? Besides, he had an alibi for last night and was good enough at Occlumency to keep most average Legilimens out. It had been most inconvenient when a couple of Hitwizards had showed up at his door, demanding he accompany them back to the Ministry. They had been entirely unhelpful when he had enquired as to the nature of this turn of events, but they had unceremoniously assured him that yes, this was an arrest, yes, it was to do with the murder of Ministry officials, and yes, they would use force if necessary. Bearing in mind what had happened to Cynus Black when he had resisted arrest, Lucius had decided it was better to come quietly. He idly wondered who would be questioning him. Surely it wouldn't be some new recruit? Yet he hoped it would be -- being interrogated by an inexperienced auror would mean that he wasn't seriously suspected of anything, and they would be easier to manipulate. Getting bored of waiting now, Lucius' foot tapped faster on the polished wooden floor. Really, it was despicable to have left him waiting in this room for quite so long. Elle sat outside the room, her eyes focused on the notes she wrote in front of her. As soon as they had brought in arrestees, Elle had demanded she be one of the interrogators. Technically interrogation wasn't exactly active, and she was going stir crazy being stuck in the office with nothing to do but paperwork. She made a couple more notations on her pad and then glanced up at the clock. She had purposefully kept him waiting, and planned to keep him there for another few minutes. Lucius Malfoy. She remembered him from school. It was hard not to, he had run in Hogwarts social circles much the same way he did now in the Ministry. She was lucky in the fact that they had never been on bad terms... rather just indifferent. Still, she knew this wasn't going to be easy. She needed to get somewhere with him and before some prominent member of the Ministry came and whisked him away because of his place in high society. She figured the only thing going for her was that she was very nearly a pureblood. Her children, if she had any, would be considered pureblooded - or at least if their father was. Hopefully Malfoy wouldn't find her base and refuse to talk to her at all - after all, this was going to be hard enough as it was. She glanced at the clock again and pushed away from the desk. Here goes everything. She tucked her pad under arm, took a deep and calming breath, and opened the door. "Mr. Malfoy," she said politely, "excuse the wait. I'm sure you know the Department is understaffed and we've made quite a few arrests today." Her tone suggested he was not actually one of the suspects. She placed her pad on the table, "Can I fetch something for you? Water? Tea?" Lucius recognised the auror as she entered - from school, possibly? Something Abercrombie. They had been in the same year. But that was beside the point, it was about time. Really, if this was the way the Ministry treated all their prisoners, no wonder Selwyn had hung himself. Really, he should be treated with the highest regard. "I'm a very busy man -- Finella," he said stiffly, after a couple of seconds straining to remember her name. It was in his interests to make a good impression, after all. "My wife will be most displeased I have been kept for so long, but yes, a glass of water would be most welcome, thank you." Her tone intrigued him, as did the pad on the table, mere feet away from him. He glanced over to it as subtly as possible, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was written there. However, he couldn't read her handwriting from that angle, and returned his gaze to Elle's face, fixing her with his icy stare. He was struggling to remember more about her from their school days, but was having difficulty. Lucius rarely remembered anyone but those who were important to him, or had made a negative impact on him, and she fit into neither of those categories. He aimed to remain on good terms throughout this interview, as he had previously learned from being on the other side of the questions that cooperation sped the whole process up. Well, cooperation without actually admitting to any crime. One thing was for sure -- he was going to make sure she knew quite how displeased he was with this whole affair. Elle stiffened slightly at the use of her full name, but settled into a placating smile, "Please, it's Elle. We did go to school together after all." She nodded as if to show she understood, "I can have an owl sent to her, if you'd like," She stood up and went to the door and opened it, "Jameson, bring water and two glasses, will you?" She waited there for a moment before she was handed two glasses and a pitcher full of water. She brought it to the table and poured a glass. She wouldn't make the same mistakes that other interrogators had in the past. Besides, she knew Lucius was a different character, and had to be dealt with accordingly. The pad didn't have much written on the page it was open to, though one things was circled, and then underlined. Not involved. Of course Elle didn't believe that at all, but... she needed him to think she was on his side. "I am sorry about all this," she sat and leaned back in her chair, "Hopefully I can get you out of here as soon as possible. That's the hope anyway. But sometimes I wonder how this place even manages to function." She picked up her quill and tapped it absently on the pad, "So I'll make this as painless as possible, all right?" Slowly and deliberately, Lucius poured himself a glass of water, and sipped it. He placed the water back on the table, and twisted the jug around until the handle was perfectly parallel to the edge of the table where he was sat. Only then did he look up again at Elle. He had no intention of calling her by the shortened version of her name, of course. She would be either 'Finella' or 'Miss Abercrombie' until the interview was over. "No need to send an owl," he told her, his voice not wavering from the decisive, stiff tone he had used since she had entered the room. "At least, not if this really does take as short a period of time as you say it will." With this, he shot her a patronising smile, the emotion not spreading beyond the edges of his thin lips. He had to admit though, her manner was disarming. He wasn't sure if he'd prefer it if she'd stomped in demanding to know all his Death Eater secrets and accusing him of being a murderer. This friendly atmosphere was... unnerving. But he had her number, he wasn't going to let her get to him. Lucius was determined to stay in control of this situation, and his face remained stoic. "Well, you'd better start asking questions then, hadn't you?" He picked up the glass of water again, taking a long sip before placing it back next to the jug. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have a coaster? I wouldn't want to leave a ring on the table." She was determined to stay on her own course and run this interrogation, this interview, in her own way. Even though he didn't break the formality with her, she was going to stay friendly and charming. It was her strongest part of her personality, after all. She sipped her own water and gave him a conciliatory smile, "I will do my best to get you out of here so that your wife... Narcissa, correct? ... doesn't worry." Elle flipped to a new page of her pad and then ripped it out. She folded it into fourths and handed it to him, "Unfortunately that's the best I can do. I didn't bring my wand in. I didn't think it was necessary." She tore out another piece and folded it as well and placed it under her own glass. "I'll be honest, Mr. Malfoy," while her tone was friendly, she kept his formal title since he hadn't invited her to do otherwise, "while my superiors may disagree with me, I don't believe you are involved in this mess, or the death of Edgar Bones and his family. I have to ask you certain questions because I am required to. Part of the downfall of being a pawn sometimes," she said with a self-depreciating smile. On a fresh piece of paper she began to write neatly so she could organize her thoughts, "However," her tone became a bit more serious, "I believe that some of your associates may be involved, most likely without your knowledge, because of evidence we have been collecting. So I'll have to ask you some of those questions as well. Let's get the arbitrary ones over with first," she smiled, her tone returning to its friendly lilt, "where were you yesterday evening between 5 o'clock and midnight?" "It will do, I suppose," Lucius pointed out sniffily, placing his glass on the folded paper and looking at it disdainfully. "I don't have my own wand of course, they seem to be in the habit of confiscating them upon an arrest." His tone told her exactly what he thought of being arrested. Disgusting. It was probably fortunate for her that she decided to address him as 'Mr. Malfoy', he refused to allow anyone other than his friends and equals call him by his given name. And he didn't consider her an equal, of course. It was rare he considered anyone as such. He sat back in his chair, regarding her with a lazy boredom as she spoke. If she genuinely believed he wasn't involved, he might be able to get away with this. However, he must still be on his guard. He allowed his facial expression to remain neutral and his mind to remain blank, in case she attempted Legillimency on him. "Well," he said, "I suppose it is encouraging to see that not everyone has lost complete faith in me." Cooperation, he told himself. "To answer your question, I was home all evening. I invited my parents over to tea, and Narcissa and I entertained them into the early hours. It was most unlike us to carry on so late, but it is important to keep up with one's parents, is it not?" He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Which associates of mine are you referring to? Or will we get to that later?" "Again, I am sorry for that. I know my apologies don't mean much, but I still feel that I you're owed them," oh, she was making herself sick. She thought this man to be some of the lowest of the low, if he truly was a Death Eater... and she very much thought he could be. Still, she needed to play to his sensitivities, if he had any, and so she continued with her urbane approach. She jotted down Lucius' alibi, already knowing that it would check out. If Lucius' family was involved in the least bit, of course they would give him an alibi. The DMLE would have to break all of them down, which was just an unfathomable idea. It didn't mean she wouldn't tell, "You'll understand that I'll need to contact them for verification when we're done here, but I'm sure it checks out." She knew Jameson would send someone to take care of it in a moment as he jotted his own notes outside of the room. She at least had that piece of mind. "I agree that it's important to keep up, I wish I had more before," she looked away, which gave away that she was now an orphan, "well, that's neither here nor there." She gave him a forced smile, apparently pushing past her sadness. She jotted something else on the pad, "We'll get to them, I promise. Right now I'd like to get the questions about you out of the way." She picked up her water and took a sip, her eyes not coming off him, "The 7th of this month, do you have any recollection of where you were?" "By all means, talk to them," Lucius shrugged slightly. He'd invited his parents over for the sole reason of giving him an alibi -- they wouldn't let him down. As far as they were concerned, the two best things he had done in his life were marry a member of the Black family and take the Dark mark. Yes, his alibi was certainly sound. Five years of working for the Dark Lord had taught him to cover his tracks, and cover them well. Unconsciously, he drummed his fingers on the table slightly out of impatience. He didn't believe her claims that she'd get him out of here as soon as possible; if anything, it would be just like the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to keep him here all night. He raised his eyebrows slightly at the mention of her own parents, but didn't comment. Her implication was not lost on him, but she was right, it had no relevance to this interview. More timewasting. Leaning forward again, he folded his arms on the table in front of him. He resisted the urge to toy with his glass of water -- he didn't want to come across as nervous or agitated at all. Lucius' brow furrowed slightly at her question, casting his mind back. The 7th? Ahh, yes. The evening that Edgar Bones died. "You may or may not remember," he drawled, looking her straight in the eye. "Earlier that week my father-in-law was killed. By one of your colleagues, I believe." He raised an eyebrow, patronisingly. "My wife was absolutely distraught, as you can imagine, and for a few days I was loathe to leave her alone in the house. Family comes first, does it not? So to answer your question, I was caring for my wife." He picked up the glass of water and took a long and deliberate drink from it, placing it carefully back on the makeshift coaster and then meeting her eye again. "If you want to check that one out too, family and friends were constantly dropping in to offer condolences and support. Any one of them will verify that I was there." She made a few more notes on her pad. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of Cygnus Black's death. The whole thing had been unfortunate, the fact that Edgar had resorted to such tactics, and that he paid for it dearly. "Yes, my condolences, Mr. Malfoy," and she meant it. She wrote the words, in mourning, on her pad and circled it twice. She noticed the finger drumming and the way he folded his arms. She only hoped that Jameson was taking thorough notes. He better be. She couldn't make notes like that when Lucius was sitting this close to her. "I understand completely. I hope your wife is faring better, though I am certain it will take time." Elle knew that Narcissa Malfoy would never get over it... but she also knew that Amelia and Ichabod Bones never would either. And neither would she. "Of course, I'll have to check those things out, but probably not thoroughly. Just enough to appease the higher ups," she gave him a small smirk and then leaned back in her chair, "All right, let's get to the point. This isn't going to be easy to hear, since at least one of our other suspects holds a relation to your wife and perhaps yourself." She leaned forward and crossed her arms on the table, almost mirroring him, "What do you know about the activities of Regulus Black? I understand, as of recently, he has been working on his NEWTs, but we have several witnesses placing him in untoward locations, and evidence at crime scenes that point to him." She knew she was laying more on the table than she probably should... but she needed him to at least think about trusting her. "Thank you. I'm sure she will come to terms with it, once she has had sufficient time to grieve," Lucius replied simply. His eyes slid again to her notepad, but there was nothing to deduce from the minimal notes there. Meeting her eyes again his lips twitched with the ghost of a smile, knowing that she would probably notice where his gaze lay. These aurors were generally smarter than they let on. Again, the idea of her checking on his alibi didn't faze him. They were a close-knit group, these purebloods. The mention of Regulus, on the other hand -- he raised his eyebrows, considering the best way to phrase his reply. Regulus had been with him, of course. They had worked together that afternoon; the younger man had been the one to cast the Avada Kedavra curse on Bones. But now, Lucius had no way of knowing how much Elle knew about Regulus' involvement, or even whether he had been arrested. "He has been working on his NEWTs, that is correct," he started. "Narcissa has been sending him care packages. Again, Cygnus was his Uncle, and he was also very upset." Now the question was -- to give him an alibi or not? If Regulus was questioned and their stories did not match, well, they'd be in deep trouble then. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face as he cast his mind back. "I know he has been hard at work, and it's very possible he has been round to the manor," he said. "But I am not in the habit of babysitting my wife's younger relatives, you would have better luck asking either Narcissa or Regulus himself, I'm afraid." Elle caught his gaze and the corners of her mouth twitched upward. Elle didn't make any attempt to cover up what she wrote down. What she wrote down all looked rather flattering and didn't lay suspicion on Lucius. However, that was Elle's version of shorthand. Half the time what she wrote down was the opposite of what she actually thought, and the other half of the time, they were just notes that would remind Elle of a bit of their conversation that she thought was extremely important. She didn't doubt his alibis would check out completely, but she still would check, "I may have a word with your wife, but not now. The last thing she needs, I'm sure, is someone questioning about someone else in her family. We will give her time." Now if that wasn't an interesting way of putting things. Elle wrote down, NEWTs; in manor; Cygnus, and then nodded, "No, you're a much busier man than to watch over your wife's relatives." She pushed away from the table and stood up, "And honestly, I would hope that Mr. Black would not be involved, but some of the evidence is a bit overwhelming when you look at the big picture." She walked over to the wall and leaned against it, crossing her arms loosely, "Do you know how close he is with your brother-in-law? A Mr. Rodolphus Lestrange?" Had they pulled him in here to get dirt on his associates, after all? First Regulus, now Rodolphus, this was most vexing. Try as he may, he couldn't figure out her intentions in the slightest, or what her opinion of him actually was. Granted, it was a much more preferable way of being questioned than being hit by a slew of Unforgiveables, but he still had to be very, very careful about what he said. He took another drink from his glass, before swirling the water around and sipping it again, deliberately taking his time. While he would much rather be out of there as soon as possible, he was trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, something he felt he had always been able to carry off. He refilled the glass from the jug, again rearranging the jug so the handle was parallel to the edge of the table before replying. "I fail to see what this has to do with any allegations against myself." Lucius' tone was wry, and loaded with as much sarcasm as he could manage. "I am not generally concerned with the relationships between my in-laws. I am sure they get along without any problems, certainly I have not noticed any animosity between them at family gatherings." He smirked at her again, and once more the emotion did not travel beyond his lips. "If you wish to learn about Regulus and Mr. Lestrange, asking me is not the most efficient way to go about it. You're a clever girl, Finella, I'm sure you could work that out for yourself." He stared her in the eyes, somewhat defiantly. Interesting stalling tactic, Elle thought as she watched him carefully. His nonchalance was perfectly tailored, but given the attempt to bring the interrogation under his own control, Elle thought he couldn't be quite as at ease as he wanted her to think. She watched him with the water and the jug, her expression giving away that she was waiting for him to respond... not watching, calculating, and remembering his every gesture and movement. Her eyebrows raised slightly as his tone changed a bit. She was beginning to agitate him. That was good. The more agitated he was, the more she could see behind his little societal mask. She completely ignored the comment he made about the allegations and pushed off the wall, "So you haven't noticed if they spend an exorbitant amount of time together? Ever slip away at dinner parties to have private conversations they don't want overheard?" She walked over to the table and picked up the jug to refill her water. When she placed down the jug, the handle was askew from the edge of the table. She sipped at her glass, "You don't know the information we know, Mr. Malfoy. Perhaps you are exactly the person we need to be talking to." She placed the glass back on the table, and walked back over to the wall, "It's no secret that you're a purist, Mr. Malfoy, as well as many members of yours and your wife's families. Personally, I don't think that you would be involved in something as base and foul as what has been occurring. Truthfully, only ignorant fools would be involved in such things, and you're smarter than that. However, you may be inadvertently involved. I need to know what you've seen and observed. You actually have no idea what is important to us and what is not." Sitting back in his chair and stretching his legs out underneath the table, Lucius folded his arms across his chest. He fixed her with his gaze as she moved across the room, considering each point as she brought it up and waiting for her to finish speaking before he said his piece. His glance moved to the water jug briefly as she placed it back on the table, but he resisted the urge to correct its position, instead keeping his arms folded in front of him and returning his gaze to her face. "Like I said, I do not make a habit of keeping tabs on my relatives. Their actions and any conversations they may have are none of my concern. I apologise that I cannot be more helpful on that point." Hmmm. So that was the angle she was taking. If Lucius was a less distinguished man, he would have shrugged at the mention of his purism. As it was, he simply raised his eyebrows and twisted the edges of his mouth into a half-smile. "Last time I checked, being proud of one's bloodline was not illegal." He sounded amused. "The Malfoy name can be traced back hundreds, nay, thousands of years, and the same is true of the Black name. Being loathe to dirty the blood of my ancestors does not make me a terrorist, nor does it make my family terrorists." This was, of course, putting his opinion lightly. He couldn't remember offhand what Elle's bloodline was -- not that it mattered that much, of course, but he didn't recall her being a mudblood at all. However, he could safely assume she was neither pureblood nor purist, giving them a conflict of opinions. "Like you say, I am a man of learning, and of business. I do not concern myself with the affairs of my family and friends, and I hope you do not believe I would let any such activities go on beneath my nose. However, let it be known that an accusation or insinuation about my family is also an accusation about me, and I do not take such matters lightly." He said this coldly, all previous hints of humour gone from his face and demeanour. "Which leads me to my next question. What exactly, Miss Abercrombie, are you accusing me of?" "I wasn't saying that it was a crime, Mr. Malfoy. Every person has a right to be proud of their bloodline. It's those who take it to an extreme that have to be reined in," did she dare throw out her own lineage? No. Though she was close to being pureblood, she was not pureblooded and therefore couldn't begin to compare to his 'thousands of years' of lineage. She listened calmly as he spoke and while her insides boiled with indignation and anger, her features remained rather neutral. Even if they couldn't hold him for long (and she was certain that they couldn't) she wanted to stay on his good side. She was hoping... wait. Maybe she could bring up her lineage... if only for... It was a long shot. But she needed set it up correctly. "Obviously this is not a light situation, Mr. Malfoy. And I do not believe that you would allow any of these activities to knowingly occur under your watch. But as you have stated, you do not closely monitor the activities of your family or their associates. Perhaps even your own associates. Therefore they could be involved in something illicit that you have not realized - something you may have seen or heard could be vitally important and you may not even realize it. Any cooperation you could give the Ministry would be more than appreciated." She took a deep breath, "You've been accused of conspiracy for murder. Because of who you have been seen with and who we have evidence against." She walked over to the table and straightened out the jug so that the handle ran parallel with the table, "Mr. Malfoy," she glanced at the door. He was not stupid and probably knew that they had another person listening in. She rested her hands on the table and leaned in, her voice barely audible, "The charges won't stick. I can tell you that right now. They have nothing against you. Others, yes. But not you." She locked her gaze with him for a moment, "I believe in the purism ideal, Mr. Malfoy. I admire and respect families such as yourself. I only hope I can give my children the same privilege." There. He would know what she meant and where her blood stood on the purism scale, "It is the people who abuse such an honour and a privilege that need to be stopped. They ruin the good names of families like yours. That's all my goal is here. It may not be the goal of the Ministry's, but let's face it," she smirked lightly, "Everyone has their own agenda." Conspiracy for murder? Fair enough. He had tried to kill MacDonald after all, but they couldn't convict him. When Elle told him of the accusation, Lucius' facial expression changed ever so slightly. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, before returning to his usual passive state. He sat forward in his chair slightly, trying to appear shocked rather than resigned. "I'm not going to lie to you, Miss Abercrombie," he said in his best sorrowful voice. "This is extremely distressing and somewhat alarming. I am shocked that anyone here would believe me capable of such a thing." Lucius had had plenty of chances to play innocent in the past, and now he was putting it into full force. It was hard to believe she was a purist, though. Lucius scrutinised her face closely and found her hard to read. "Well, it seems we are on the same page then," he replied, also smirking. "Extremists are giving my family, and other families, a bad name. But I reiterate -" his smile faded. "You will get more information by asking questions to those you actually suspect, if you are telling me the truth about your suspicions. And if you are also telling the truth about your doubts regarding my guilt, well then," he sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest in a determined manner. "It is simply impolite to keep an innocent man locked away like this. I have no information that would be of use to you." "And I say, again," she said, nearly cutting him off, though not quite, "That you don't know what is going to be useful to us or what is not. But if you are not willing to disclose any information, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." She pushed off the table and grabbed her pad. She wasn't going to push him. She wanted to leave open a door of communication, even if it was opened barely a crack, "Once I'm able to check your alibis and the like, your paperwork for release will be processed." She paused and then reached into the pocket of her robes. She placed down a card that her name and other information, "If you think of anything that would be of service or help, Mr. Malfoy, please contact me. Or even if you have an interesting tidbit of information you think I might enjoy," she almost joined in his little smirk and straightened to her full height, "Jameson will see to you. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Malfoy." She nodded her head in a gesture of 'respect' and made her way to the door. She waited for just a moment so Jameson could release her and left the room. Once the door was closed, she looked at him sharply, her entire demeanor a bit sharper, "Keep him as long as possible. Go through every second of that conversation. I want a transcription on my desk as soon as possible. Sooner than that." She looked to the door and her eyes narrowed. She didn't believe his feigned innocence for a moment, but knew that he would have strong alibis and his friends within the Ministry's walls would make sure that he was released even if there was a shred of doubt in his alibi. She paused for a moment in thought, "Jameson, make sure that every once in awhile he's given a comfort. A feather pillow. A nicer meal. Make sure that he knows that they're from Auror Abercrombie." If anything good could come from this arrest, maybe it could be a line of communication with someone she was certain was involved in all of this. She made a quick note on her pad and then left the room to head back to the office. She was going to have a long night ahead of her. Lucius glanced at the card politely before she left, not saying another word until the door had shut behind her. Even then he didn't immediately move, staring at the blank space of wall in front of him before leaning over to finish off the remainder of his glass of water. He knew that, in all probability, he was still being watched, and was determined not to give anything away. Knowing these Aurors, he wouldn't be getting out of here any time soon, and it was too late now to go around checking his alibis like she said she would. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight. |