Marlene McKinnon (bp_marlene) wrote in breaking_point, @ 2010-04-14 06:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | *complete, 2025 04, character: marlene mckinnon |
RP: Marlene
Who: Marlene, ghosts and portraits, Myrtle
Where: Hogwarts
When: 14 April, 2025
Rating/Warnings:
Summary: Marlene continues her investigation
Marlene had shared her theories with Simmons, who didn't seem too impressed. Too many conjectures and not enough proof, he'd said. Merlin help them from inexperienced Aurors. It wasn't that Simmons was a bad Auror. In fact, he seemed pretty good and efficient, knew all the rules and regulations, memorized the reports, great for assignments, but he was a bit too literal. He was the perfect second in command for Alastor, but hardly the person to make the connection with Voldemort. Not that it really matter since Marlene doubted that any of the people of this time could make that connection with a few exceptions, including a certain young man who wanted to be in the task force. The positive side was that Simmons didn't object to her continuing her investigation (and yes, she could hear the scorn in his voice when he said that). Of course, an investigation needed information and she didn't have more. In fact, she was back to staring at her wall. Albania, Arianna, where would the other target be? "Bugger," she said, standing up and pulling the report about the New Year's Eve attack. "The safest place: Hogwarts. That's what you hid your things, but did you have time to find out? It was just ten days after the attack in Albania, but how much did you fin there? Mmmm, I guess we'll have to see."
She started to pull out all the reports from the wall, all the notes on top of her desk, piled them up and put her in her back, before rushing out. Soon she was at the gates of Hogwarts and she made her way to the school, focusing on her task. When she got in, she grabbed the reports and flipped through them until she found the one she was looking for. The attack on the school had been on Voldemort's birthday. There was a lot about deaths, and hexes used, and injuries sustained; a lot of pages of autopsies and medical jargon; pages about the encounter outside and Rabasta. There was a lot, but very little about the time that Voldemort had been inside the school, and it was time to find out.
There was only one way to get in: the entrance hall. She started there, with a big smile, a quill and some parchment. She started to ask portraits and ghosts, retracing every step the wizard took from his arrival to his trip to the headmaster's office, then back down. She walked the same path, stopped where he had stopped, wrote down every single conversation that the ghosts and portraits could remember and finally, she went to the Great Hall. He had sat in the great table and she walked up and sat in the Headmaster's chair. There was a murmur through the students there, but she ignored it. Instead, she tried to imagine that she was here alone, looking over the great all. "I rule the world from here. No one can stop me. You must have been so full of yourself, too full of yourself, because you weren't looking for something, not that day. You were too busy making a point, and that's different. When you get your memories, you do it in secret. You set up diversions; you're efficient and curt. Hogwarts was none of that. You stayed here all day, uncaring of the risks. You weren't looking for anything other than a birthday present. This was your birthday present to yourself."
She stood up again, hooking the bag over her shoulder and walking down again. She went down the length of the Gryffindor table and sat at the end. She put her bag on the table, took everything out, spreading it on the table in front of her and kept staring at it. "If I had something here, how would I get it? The Headmaster is back, so are the teachers, plenty of Aurors. Names get checked and no one gets in and out. We don't have reports of missing students... but they can get around school, no one would care. Lily. You bastard used her, didn't you?" She found her diary, flipping to the pages until she reached the end, and went backwards, but there was nothing. Slamming the diary shut, she stared at the students around her. She was the strange one, but Lily would have been one of them. They wouldn't have notice, except-
"When did the sixth year come back full time?" she asked the boy sitting a few seats away from here.
"The fifteenth of February," he answered, looking more at her dress than her face, but Marlene wasn't in the mood to tease when she was working.
"Fifteen, before she left, so they would have noticed her, wouldn't they? And you couldn't risk that. No, that would be stupid. You'd wait until you were ready to call her to you." Staffing her bag again, she was walked out of the Great Hall. "Right, Marly, time to do some more talking, need to find where the girl went before leaving the school. Potter was down, she had been kidnapped, or sothey thought. No sense to ask about her whereabouts in the school, but she was getting ready to go, so would be careful, trying to avoid the Aurors." She found an empty area and called the Ministry, getting the names and routes of the people on duty that night. "That's where you wouldn't have been, so let's look at other places. We should start with your rooms, I bet the Fat Lady would know a thing or two."
She started her trip upstair talking to the the portrait that guarded the Gryffindor dormitory. She didn't know anything, but directed her to a friend, and then another friend, and soon, she was back downstairs and going into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "Hello, Myrtle." There was a sob from inside a stall and Marlene smiled. "Myrtle, my name is Marlene. I don't know if you remember me. I used to come here to put my make up during classes. You liked my chanel red lipstick."
The ghost poaked her head through the door and looked her up and down. "You look-" She came out and then pointed at her breasts. "Bigger, and you haven't visited in a long time."
"I've been dead, sorry," she answered with a smile.
"Oh, you too." Myrtle floated and stopped in front of her. "Now you're alive, and I'm not. How is that fair?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I'm not sure, but maybe you'll come back too," she offered. "I do have a question for you, if you don't mind."
Myrtle turned around. "I'm busy."
"This could be very important. I'm trying to get the boy that killed you."
Myrtle faced her. "Ask me."
"The Potter girl. She came here just before she left. It was her last night in the school, and she came inside your room. Did she say anything? Do you know where she went afterwards?" Marlene asked.
"I was there," she said, pointing to the stall. "She came in, didn't say a word to me, mighty rude after I helped both of her parents, and then she entred the chamber." She pointed to the fountain. "There."
Marlene followed the floating ghost to the fountain and started to touch it, looking for a lever. "Do you know how to open it?"
"You can't. You need to hiss speak."
Marlene frowned for a moment. "Parseltongue. Potter is one." She'd have to get him, but not today. There was too much already and it was too late. She'd come back to school in the morning and catch him before going to work. "I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" She winked at the ghost. "See you later, love."
"You won't come," Myrtle said as she was leaving.
Marlene popped her head back inside. "Yes, I will, but let me tell you something, love. You can come out here and shock all of these girls. I bet you'll have a much better time. Think about." Waving at her, Marlene left, getting ready to go home where she'd have dinner alone. Going back to McKinnon estate would wait for another day, possibly when she was speaking to Alastor again.