Frank Abbott (cryptomancer) wrote in lightning_war, @ 2008-09-06 02:00:00 |
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Current mood: | concerned |
Tuesday morning, 15 September 1942, in Isaac Diggory's office in Londinium...
Frank Abbott arrived at Isaac Diggory's office precisely at 10. He'd made the excuse to his Muggle superiors that he had to deal with a problem related to the destruction of his house, which was not entirely inaccurate.
"Isaac," he said, extending his hand to shake. "So good of you to make the time for me. It's been far too long. How are your children? I've heard about the disturbances at Hogwarts; I do hope none of them were involved."
Isaac shook his hand and offered him a seat. "Tea?" he asked. "Our children are well, Lizzie's children... well. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. What did you and Hortensia hear from Marcus about Bill's illness last year?"
"Tea would be excellent, thank you," Frank replied. He considered Isaac's question for a moment. "Hortensia was under the impression that St Mungo's wouldn't treat him, which I gathered meant that it was something that would eventually subside on its own."
Isaac sighed heavily. He leaned out the door and told his secretary to bring tea for the two of them and then returned and shut it behind him. "Well," he said. "That seems no more and no less true than what the rest of us heard." He took a seat opposite Frank. "Bill had a disease called polio. It always goes away on its own, unless it kills the patient, it just sometimes leaves its mark behind it. Weakness in limbs and lungs, that kind of thing. He's back in hospital now, pneumonia. Marcus lied. It seems that perhaps he always did."
Frank nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I'm beginning to believe that myself. He was my prefect, of course, but I didn't have much to do with him after we left school, and I'm afraid I trusted Hortensia's opinion of him rather too much--and it has only been recently that she has started to think she was giving him too much benefit of the doubt."
Isaac frowned. "I'm well and truly finished believing it," he said. "The damage he's done, that I've let him do, that everyone has let him do, to Lizzie and the children... well. Bill should have stayed in hospital last year and if he had he would be been healed. Right now, we're none too sure what's going to happen, I need to get back there myself. Lizzie is there this morning. But we need to talk first about the family history."
"Yes, of course," Frank said, shocked. He'd had no idea that Marcus had been insane enough to risk his own son's life; in his place he'd have done anything to make sure his children had the best treatment possible. "I'm afraid I can only tell you what Hortensia told me." He frowned. "Now that I think of it, I'm not certain how reliable that is, since she always trusted what Marcus told her."
Isaac went to the door to take the tea tray from his secretary and set it on a little table between himself and Frank. He left it to stew for a moment. "Where to begin?" he mused. "Here's what we think is up, Frank. They are cursed, Frank, Bilius and Marcus both. Was cursed in Marcus's case, I hope, and I pray for his soul."
"And you suspect it may affect other members of the family?" Frank said. "Hortensia never mentioned anything that would indicate she knew of such a thing, of course..." He trailed off as the new information fit itself into what he knew of his wife's family and her behaviour. Things that had seemed unrelated started fitting into place, much the same way as when pieces of intercepted information at Bletchley began to reveal an enemy plot. "She was--in retrospect, you perceive, because at the time I was unaware of how far from the truth her opinion was--irrationally defensive of her brother. It was only after his death that she began to see the truth of what he'd been." Another data point? He set that aside for now. "I'm afraid that I let her influence me as well; even in the face of her brother's obvious treason I let her talk me into a compromise that I should have known would never be acceptable to the Lady Dracaena. But then, she has always been rather unreasonable on the subject of the Bois and the Malfoys." He paused, as another piece slotted into place. "You don't suppose there's a connection? Everyone knows Weasleys and Malfoys have never got along, but could there be more to it than that?"
Isaac nodded to Frank, relieved not to need to lead him to the conclusion. "Yes," he said. "We're ahead of you so far, we are now certain that there's a curse on the Weasley family, laid by an ancestress of of the current Lady Malfoy. And some in the other direction, although we should respect their privacy in this matter.
"You can probably work out what needs to happen now," Isaac continued. "We think, but cannot be certain, that among the current generation the curse has mostly acted on Marcus and now Bilius, and perhaps also on Mercy--as you know, in her current situation she is in fact the only one of us who is directly a rival to a Malfoy. From your family we need two things: one is that your wife's and your children's birth data should be evaluated by Doctors Wilkes and van Renssaeler. The other is simply any more information about anything that might be related to the curse, in Marcus's or Hortense's experiences or memories."
Frank nodded. "Of course. Fortunately, I kept all my important papers in my Gringotts vault, otherwise they'd likely have been destroyed along with my house." And that was another data point to fit into the pattern that was developing; the lightning rain that had struck his house had been deflected from an attempt to kill Lucius Malfoy. "I shall deliver them to St Mungo's this afternoon, and ask Hortensia if she remembers anything that might be relevant."
"Good," Isaac said, and began to pour the tea. As he did so he said "I won't lie to you Frank, we're awfully worried about Bill. I'm just in this morning to take care of the essentials here, and back to the hospital. Lizzie's been there ever since she managed to get through on the Floo, which wasn't until this morning. The doctors aren't without hope," he hastened to add. "In fact they think he has a reasonable chance. But... also perhaps..."
Frank took his tea and took a sip while he considered. "Would it help if I owled Hortensia and asked her to come down today? She doesn't have clearance to use the Floo at Bletchley, but she could take the train. She was closer to the children than I was--my work kept me away," he said apologetically. He wondered if he'd have noticed anything if he'd spent more time around his nephew. "She would want to be here if anything happened."
"In that case, yes," Isaac said. "And I am sure Lizzie would appreciate it too. You'll probably understand this better than I do in fact, but the doctors say that the curse structure in his charts is interacting badly with his current illness and the current time... it really depends more than usual on his being able to summon the strength of will to fight it, and that's a lot to ask, of a boy. We're not sending for the others yet, and I hope we don't have to, but... I have a letter ready to send if we must."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Frank said. "I haven't seen anything critical in any of my scrying, but I wasn't allowing for the random effects of a curse. There must have been some collateral effects to enhance the chaos caused by Marcus' actions. That doesn't excuse the way I responded to Lady Dracaena's request for Hortensia to repudiate her brother, of course." He sighed. "I still don't know how I'm going to make it up to her for that."
Isaac raised his eyebrows. "You chose to side with Marcus?" he asked, rather shocked. "Or Hortensia did?" He had thought that it was likely to be more Lady Malfoy's doing than Frank's. She had dealt fairly with his own family, but Isaac and she had had nothing to do with each other since their schooldays and Isaac was some years older. "I don't know that I wouldn't have done the same I suppose," he added thoughtfully. "Luckily the choice was never put before us before it was perfectly clear how many of the problems were of Marcus's own making."
"I tried to find a compromise," Frank said, shaking his head in denial. "I was willing to repudiate Marcus but I couldn't bring myself to ask that of Hortensia, not while she was still so upset over our house being destroyed. She doesn't handle change well," he added apologetically. "She agreed that we would renounce everything he had done since being held captive by the Germans, that we would act as if he had died then and been replaced by an impostor. It was only after he truly died that she began to see that what he'd done to Lady Dracaena differed only in degree, not in kind, from his usual behaviour."
Isaac sighed. He had imagined that in repairing relations with the Malfoys he and Frank would be able to approach Lady Malfoy properly as a family, but this wasn't going to be the case. "What choices are before you now?"
Frank didn't even have to think about the question. "Truly? None. I must apologise to her, first for ever thinking that she would accept anything less than a complete renunciation of Marcus Weasley--that I did not understand just what harm he had done to her, not just in Germany but all her life, is no excuse--and second for not taking steps to repair our relationship once I understood just how badly I had misjudged the situation." There was more to it than that; he still needed to find out just what Frances had said or done to Alastor Moody. "Of course this will not be easy given the amount of time that has passed, and the longer I wait, the harder it will be. But I can hardly go to the Bois uninvited, and this is the sort of thing which must be done in person."
Isaac nodded along with him, and finished his tea in a couple of gulps. "I have been corresponding with her about the curse, and other things," he said. "Certainly she regards our repudiation as more than sufficient. I don't have the kind of influence with her to add any support to your case, we haven't even met. And you lived there for years. But if there's any way I can help..." He privately hoped that there wasn't, he didn't want to connect his wards' relationship with the Malfoys to Frank's difficulties. But he would have to help if he was needed, for Hortensia and her children. "Is there anyone else who can?"
"I wouldn't ask you to argue on my behalf," Frank said. "However much influence the curse may or may not have had, it was still my decision to say what I did, and I would not drag anyone else into my disgrace." He sipped his tea while he considered the question. "Kyteler, perhaps," he said. "I have a report to deliver to him, and I believe I should do so in person."
"Good," Isaac said. "Last night must have been hell for you."
"Not nearly so bad as it was for the people on the ground," Frank said. "I'd foreseen that there would be an attack but not where; by the time I arrived it was nearly over."
"Alice and Lizzie couldn't get through until this morning, of course," Isaac said. "Well, I'd better not keep you, and I need to get back to the hospital myself but please let me know how it goes, and also, if you or Hortensia come up to the hospital I'm sure Lizzie would be pleased to see you, and Bilius if he's awake." He frowned and wondered what Yvon Malfoy would do, if he was there and Frank was too.
Frank nodded. "Yes. Thank you for all your help. You've given me a lot to think about. I don't know how much this curse may have affected my family, but then in such cases one never does. I hope everything turns out all right for Bilius; I'll get those charts over to St Mungo's directly."
"Thank you," Isaac said, and stood to let him out.
bydegrees and cryptomancer