Hestia (Jones) Shacklebolt (ndr_hestia) wrote in newdarkrising, @ 2008-05-22 22:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | char: hestia shacklebolt, char: kingsley shacklebolt, char: seamus finnigan, char: tracey davis |
I don't want to go to Azkaban
Who: Hestia, Kingsley, Seamus & Tracey
What: Proving if Tracey can be trusted, and then getting her help.
Where: An Order safe house, somewhere in London.
When: Thursday, 22nd of May, 2005
A half hour before the designated time, Hestia apparated to the safe house alongside her husband Kingsley. Wands drawn, they made their way through the old abandoned home, Hestia to the second floor and Kingsley to the first. Using her wand to detect signs of magic, Hestia searched every room and hallway to make sure no one was hidden and that no magical traps or the like had been set. Satisfied that the second floor was safe, Hestia closed off the stairwell with several strong wards and met up with Kingsley in the old home's living room. "That second floor is all set and I've sealed off the staircase so no one can sneak up or down. How's this floor?"
Kingsley has moved with the efficiency of his younger years as he made his way through the house's first floor, going room by room, leaving no possible place for a person to hide or a trap to be set. Once satisfied he warded off the back door and the windows. Even though the house was protected under the fidelius charm, it was never bad to be too careful. He finished just as Hestia was coming down the stairs. "It's all ready. There will be no death eaters surprising us here tonight."
They went to the living room and sat down, wands in hand, facing the door as they waited for Seamus to arrive with his friend.
Seamus arrived with his usual promptness. The man was obsessively punctual, and this was one time when Tracey wasn't inclined to try to make them late. They'd gone through several apparations in different directions to throw off any possible followers, and when Seamus was satisfied that they'd successfully avoided detection, they made the final leap to the safehouse.
As he put his foot onto the house's front steps, Seamus still hadn't let go of Tracey's hand. He turned to look at her, trying to make a last assessment of her state before going in. "Y'allright?"
"No," Tracey said, her face pale, but she stepped up beside him anyway. It was the only option open to her now anyway, unless she wanted to remain a pawn of the new Death Eaters, and after what they'd put Theodore through last night, Tracey was even more anxious to escape their control. But she was walking into an unknown here, with only Seamus's assurance that these strangers would help her rather than tossing her into a cell beside her brother. And while she trusted Seamus, she didn't trust them. "Do I look all right?" she asked anxiously.
"Beautiful," he assured her, because even though it didn't matter, he knew it mattered to her. Seamus had figured out that if she didn't look right, she didn't feel right, and she already had more than enough to worry about. He squeezed her hand once, then stepped on up to the door. He gave three sharp knocks, and then opened the door to walk in. Though it was a violation of courtesy, he thought it likely that Tracey would rather he walked in first. So he did, and immediately upon entrance he saw Hestia and Kingsley seated on the sofa. He nodded a greeting to them. "Shacklebolt an' Shacklebolt," he said, giving a slightly awkward half-smile. The smile faded as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with a look that was serious almost unto the point of being grim. "Thanks for comin'."
Hestia gripped her wand tightly the moment the door opened, just in case. Luckily the person who stepped through it was just who they expected; Seamus Finnigan, followed by a rather pretty blond-haired witch. "Hello Seamus," Hestia greeted him with a tiny smile, as she rose to her feet with Kingsley beside her. "Would you like to introduce us to your friend?
Seamus nodded, finally letting go of Tracey's hand. "This is Tracey Davis. Tracey," he gestured to the two people on the sofa. "Hestia an' Kingsley Shacklebolt."
He was more nervous than he would have liked to admit. Not that he had anything to fear from Hestia and Kingsley - it was just that they were both people he had a great deal of respect for, so coming before them for help was a little intimidating. Not to mention, a lot was riding on this discussion - namely, Tracey's entire future.
Oh fuck, she was up in front of the bloody Minister. Tracey made a snatch at Seamus's hand to recapture it again and missed; her attention was focused on the Shacklebolts. That cell in Azkaban loomed ever closer. "Hello." Anxiety made her greeting short and sharp. She was already shoring up her defenses against whatever accusations they might throw at her.
"Sit." Kingsley said, looking them both over quickly. He and Hestia took their seats, motioning for Seamus and Tracey to take a pair of nearby chairs. "I have heard what people say about you, Tracey; I am not entirely ready to trust you." He didn't smile, didn't frown, he just stared hard at her.
Contrary to Kingsley's serious expression and tone, Hestia kept a polite smile on her face as she settled into the seat and crossed her ankles in front of her. It was how they always handled interrogations or questioning; Kingsley played the stern and forceful part and she played the polite and understanding part. In a tone that was much more light than her husbands, Hestia asked, "Why don't you tell us more about why you are here, Tracey. All we have heard from Seamus is that you may need our help."
Great. If they weren't going to trust her, how were they going to help her? This was just going to be a waste of time. Tracey looked longingly at the door, then scooted closer to Seamus, wrapping her arms around his. "I don't want to go to Azkaban," she said flatly.
Watching the girl, Hestia could sense the nervousness in her. Shifting slightly in her seat she replied, "None of us do, dear. Our question is what have you done which would make you think you might get sent to Azkaban? What has happened to make you so scared that you would come to us? Why do you need our protection?" She hoped the girl would see that they couldn't just take in every person who came to them and said simply 'I need your help." They needed to know why.
Tracey pressed her lips tightly together and glanced up at Seamus. At his encouraging nod, she blew out a slow breath. "The Death Eaters are making me help them and I don't want to. They've given me an amulet--" And here she pulled out said amulet "--that summons me whenever they want me."
There. It was too late to turn back now. If the Shacklebolts wanted to throw her in Azkaban for being in collusion against the Ministry, she'd just given them a confession. And if the Death Eaters ever found out that she'd squealed on them, she was worse than dead. All she could hope for now was that Seamus hadn't put his trust in the wrong people and that they'd be able to protect her from the wrath of the people who used to be her family and friends.
Kingsley leaned forward, his hands clasped before him, his wand on his lap. "Can you take the amulet off?"
No Aurors bursting in to take her into custody yet. That was promising, but Tracey wasn't entirely relieved yet. She shook her head and quickly released the amulet. "I haven't tried it, but they said something bad would happen if I did."
"No doubt it would," Hestia said quietly, "The Death Eaters have always had a certain penchant for punishing those that disobey them." She leaned forward for a moment, eying the amulet that Tracey had pulled out from beneath her clothing. It was in the same shape as the Death Eater's new mark, a fact which went a bit of a ways towards confirming the girl's story. "Before we agree to help you," Hestia said carefully, "We will need concrete proof that you are telling us the truth." She glanced over at her husband, confirming with her eyes that they would go along with their original plan.
"We think that the best way, the only way, that we can fully trust you and find out what you know is with legillimency." He sat back in his chair, picking his wand up with his right hand. "I can do it, or my wife can. Hestia, though, tends to be a little more gentle."
But with Legilimency, they could take everything they wanted from her and then they'd have no more use for her. Tracey wasn't sure she liked that idea. She eyed the wand in Kingsley's hand suspiciously. "I want a guarantee that you will help me when you find out that I'm telling the truth, and that none of what you find will be used against me."
Hestia stood up, her wand held loosely in her hand. Her voice was soft but strong at the same time. "I promise, on the lives of my daughters, that if I find you are telling the truth, we will do our best to help you Tracey Davis." She took a step closer to the girl. "Is that good for you?"
Tracey heard the power and magic behind the words, and her grip on Seamus's arm loosened ever so slightly. "All right," she said bracingly. "Do it."
Hestia moved closer to the girl, raising her arm and holding it tight in her hand. In a very soft voice she explained, "I will try to be as gentle as I can, but it is likely that you will feel my presence at the very least. As long as you relax and stay open and calm, you will not likely feel any forcefulness." She looked into the girl's eyes as she brought the tip of her wand slowly up to point at her head. "Are you ready?"
Relax with a wand pointed at her head? Not likely. Still, Tracey made a game attempt and screwed up her face as she closed her eyes tightly.
Hestia couldn't help but give the slightest of smiles at Tracey's screwed-up face. She took a deep breath of her own and cast the spell. Immediately she had slipped through Tracey's mind. Doing her best to be as gentle as possible she searched through the memories. She skimmed quickly through those of the girl's childhood and slowed does slightly as she came to ones of Tracey in school. There were flashes of the Carrows and Severus Snape and then the familiar face of a red-haired which crouched down on the floor. Hestia continued her search, passing quickly over memories of Tracey and numerous changing men after giving them barely a glance. Finally, she came to the memories she was searching for. The girls first encounter with Macnair, cornered in a park, was given a much more detailed glance. She moved quickly on to the memory of the night of the Orphanage murders, feeling Tracey's fear as her own while the bloody werewolf growled and Macnair uttered orders. She moved, in turn, through every other memory involving Tracey and Death Eaters, focusing intently on what was being said and heard and felt. Finally, feeling she had searched through everything she needed to, Hestia withdrew. Immediately she glanced over the frightened witch and asked warmly, "Are you alright? I tried my best to be gentle."
It was a good thing that Tracey was already sitting down by this time, or she might have collapsed when Hestia withdrew. As it were, she sagged heavily against Seamus. She'd done any number of intimate acts with a lot of people, but that was the first time she'd felt the presence of someone else in her. "Let's not do that again," she gasped.
"I'm sorry," Hestia said with genuine worry. "But it had to be done." She turned to Kingsley, conveying with her eyes what she had learned; that Tracey Davis was to be trusted and that they would now have to help her.
"We will help you every way we can." Kingsley said, relaxing slightly into his chair. "There are several option for you now; we can put you in a safehouse or you could stay with certain members of the Order who's homes have been cleared. We are in the process of getting a curse breaker so that your amulet can be removed..." he looked at her, seeing the worry in her eyes, and he smiled a little. "You are very brave, and trust me when I say that you have done no crimes to send you to Azkaban."
Tracey breathed a sigh of relief to know that she wasn't going to be tossed in prison. That was one weight off her chest. Unfortunately, the other one that still remained was pretty damn heavy. "I want to stay with Finnigan," she said unequivocally. "But will I have to stay there? What if I want to go out?" It was all good and well to hide somewhere, but if she were stuck in one place, especially one as small and grungy as Seamus's flat, she was going to go spare. "And how long will it take to get the amulet off?" Until it was off, Tracey was always going to be in danger. And once it was gone, she'd be in even more danger -- the Death Eaters would know of her betrayal, then, and anywhere she went wouldn't be safe.
"It would likely be possible for you to stay with Seamus," Hestia replied as she moved to sit back down beside her husband. "However you would not be able to use his flat. The moment anyone gets a hint of a connection between the two of you, that will be the first place they would check." She paused for a moment to consider the options and then continued, "Both of you can stay in one of our safe-houses. I promise we have a few nicer than this one," she paused to gesture around the clearly abandoned home. "And you will have to be under Fidelius charm to ensure your safety, as well as quite a few wards. I do not think it would be safe for you to go out, though. The moment you leave the safe-house you are vulnerable to magical tracking by the Death Eaters." Surveying the nervous girl, Hestia finished, "As for your amulet; the man who we would like to look for it is a trusted member of our group. Now that we have proved your trustworthiness he can meet with you and we can begin the process of having it removed as soon as possible. I don't think I have to warn you, though, that the moment that Amulet is removed, the Death Eaters will likely know. As such we would like to get you somewhere safe before even attempting to remove it."
"My family's got a cottage on the Aran Islands we could use," Seamus said softly, speaking up for the first time since he'd made the introductions. "I was thinkin' o' takin' Tracey there."
"Not go out?" Tracey repeated faintly. Even if they did move to a cottage or a safe-house, Tracey couldn't imagine being stuck there until Merlin knew how long. The last war had lasted a year. Tracey didn't think she'd be able to last a week in the same place without being able to go out. Seamus would be with her and she'd be safe, but she'd die anyway, bit by bit, as loneliness and boredom sucked out her soul. "Aren't there any other options?" She'd take the safe-house if she absolutely had to, but she could already see the days and weeks stretch out in front of her, running into each other. How long before she and Seamus got tired of each other? How long before she started resenting him for his freedom and letting that poison their relationship? Suddenly she wasn't sure she wanted this sort of help any more. The problem was, there was going to be no help coming from anywhere else.
"Tracey." Hestia leaned forward, her eyes locking on those of the other witch. "You must understand this. The moment we remove that amulet, you will be considered a traitor to the Death Eaters. I must emphasize to you that the Death Eaters do not take traitors lightly. If Malus is anything like his father, I assure you the punishment will likely be your life. Not to mention what they will do before they kill you." She hated saying such awful things to the girl, but she had a feeling that fright was what she needed right now. "Do you remember hearing the stories in the last war of those who disobeyed Voldemort? Igor Karkoroff for one. There were few others, mainly because I'm sure they knew what would happen should they disobey their master. Tracey, I know you have already seen what the Death Eaters do to those they do not like. Imagine what they would do to one who betrayed them."
That said, she leaned back onto the couch, fingers coming up to lightly massage her temples. Feeling the reassuring weight of Kingsley's hand on her knee, she said, "There may be one other option if you feel you absolutely must go out." Not matter how mad anyone thinks such a thing would be. She sighed and continued, "We can have an amulet made, similar to the one you currently wear. It would prevent you from being magically tracked or located from most spells. I must warn you, of course, that this would not stop those who wish to harm you from waiting outside places they think you will visit and catching you that way."
"I know what they do to traitors," Tracey said fiercely. Or at least she had a very good idea, anyway. She'd been around them enough to pick up on that. But still, a prolonged death from wasting away like Rapunzel in her tower wasn't a very palatable option either. At least Rapunzel had a prince who came to rescue her. Tracey's prince would be in there with her.
Hestia's suggestion came as a welcome relief, as risky as it was. "I'll be careful about where I go," Tracey assured quickly. "I just need to not be trapped anywhere."
"I hope that you will be, Tracey. Because one false move, and-" She stopped herself and shook her head. If the girl hadn't gotten the idea by now, she never would. Instead, she turned to Seamus. "Now, back to this family home of yours. Does anywhere live there now? If we were to use it as a safe-hold we would have to inspect it first, put up new wards and then do the Fidelius Charm. We think it would be safest if one of us be the Secret Keeper... past experience has taught us that you never know who you can trust." She was thinking, of course, of the Potters. Though she had been too young to be in the Order then, she knew that they were determined to never let that mistake happen again. "Both of you would be allowed in, of course, and we would be willing to give the location to those that you trust explicitly and who we do as well."
"It's empty," Seamus answered, nodding as Hestia finished her explanation. "An' isolated even without the wards. It's out on Inis MeƔin, an' it's got a few defenses of its own - an old place, ye know? Addin' extra shouldn' be too much trouble."
Whatever would keep Tracey safe, Seamus was more than willing to do. And he was already working on what could be done to help keep Tracey entertained enough in the house that she wouldn't feel too much compulsion to leave it. While he was sure the amulet would help, he didn't want to take unnecessary risks - and if there was anyone who would take an unnecessary risk, it was Tracey.
"We will begin with the wards as soon as we are done with this meeting, and we can arrange a meeting with the curse breaker so that we can get that amulet away from you." Kingsley paused. "But remember that it won't be removed until we are ready to set you up in the safe house. I would suggest that you keep a low profile among Malus' ranks so that he has no reason to suspect that you are defecting. Watch your drinks, veritiserum has always been a crafty tool amongst the Death Eaters."
Kingsley looked from Tracey to Seamus. "You should both get your affairs in order, because we will want to move you as soon as we're ready."
"I know," said Tracey, who really had gotten the idea. She didn't like it, but she got it. So this was really it: she'd actually sold out everything and everyone she'd grown up to respect, she'd tossed her lot in with The Enemy, and now she was going to have to go into hiding to not get killed, and hope with everything she had that the Death Eaters wouldn't call her again or discover her ruse before the wards were completed. Tracey, who had always been unfettered and free to do whatever she damn well liked, could feel the walls closing in on her already. She was just glad that Seamus was going to be with her on this. Now the trick was not to ruin what she had with him.
She glanced over to Seamus now. "I have to pick up some things from my flat."
"I'll have to do the same," Seamus replied with a nod. "An' drop by Mam's to let 'er know I'll be takin' 'er up on her offer to use the place." He looked to Kingsley then, to clarify. "She's trustworthy, for sure, an' so's my stepdad."
"I'm sure they are, and they will be let in on the Fidelius once the wards are set." He stood. "With all hope, Malus will be caught and sent to the darkest corner of Azkaban to spend the last of his days with those that follow him. We'd like it if you both lived to see that day." He smiled.
"So would we," Seamus replied with a wry smile. He'd grown rather fond of being alive over the past twenty-five years, and thought it might be nice to continue the activity. "When should we be ready to move, an' what should we do in the meantime?"
"Stay somewhere you know is safe, and lie low. We will arrange the meeting with the cursebreaker within the next day or so and send word as to where we can meet... likely this safe house or another one." Hestia paused to glance over at her husband, who nodded. Looking back at Seamus and Tracey, she said, "As soon as he has taken a look at that amulet, we will get it removed and have you put into the warded cottage. Hopefully this can all be accomplished within a week. You should, however, be ready to move at any time."
Tracey nodded, her subdued demeanour a stark contrast to her usual vivacity. She concentrated on all the things she was going to have to do before she went into hiding; focusing on that let her not dwell on her betrayal. "Thank you," she mumbled. It was good of these people to help her out to the best of their ability. Tracey could appreciate that, at least. It wasn't their fault that they couldn't fix everything, no matter how much Tracey wished they could.
Seamus put his arm around Tracey's shoulders, and echoed her thanks to the Shacklebolts. "Thanks," he said sincerely. "We'll be waitin' for word an' ready to go."