InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "FANGS UP"

Edward Charles Carmichael (theslicker) wrote in refreshrpg,
@ 2015-03-18 19:47:00

Entry tags:

! log, 1998-march, x-character: eddie carmichael, x-character: gwenog jones

Who: Eddie Carmichael & OPEN
What: Ed reenacts a scene from Weekend at Bernie's.
When: Late Wednesday evening.
Where: The Shrieking Shack
Rating/Warnings: There's a dead body. And cursing.

After knocking back three consecutive shots of whisky at the Hog's Head, Ed felt as light in the head as he did on his feet, traveling a familiar winding path to the outskirts of Hogsmeade and the Shrieking Shack. He'd been alerted through one of his contacts that a package had been dropped there for him, intended for surreptitious delivery to a Ministry janitorial closet the following morning. He didn't know who it was meant for, and he didn't want to know. If there was someone else at the Ministry doing something they shouldn't, they were likely in a higher pay grade and he'd be the one to pay with his job. And his reputation. And who knew what else.

It was dark, but he knew his way, and as he drew close he fished out his wand and a half-empty pack of Dunhills, using the former not for defense but to light one of the cigarettes. In the flare of the summoned light he noticed that there was something not quite right about the entrance to the shack. His stomach turned over, and it had nothing to do with the whisky. He raised his wand again.

"Lumos."

The image of a crumpled form on the stair leapt out of the dark, and Eddie didn't need to get any closer to see that the bloke was dead. Men didn't sleep that soundly with their necks crooked like that.

"Aw, fuck all."

Before he could turn and run, which was the only course of action that made any sense to him, there was the sound of approaching footsteps and a secondary light.

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_fixate
2015-03-19 02:28 am UTC (link)

Usually, Gwen wouldn't be at Hogsmeade at this time. There really was no reason - except to transfer back and forth between Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Wednesdays were not typical for her to be at Hogwarts, but she had left a few things in her office yesterday that she had needed to look at. And while she was already in Hogsmeade, she'd decided to make a go of it and hit up all the shops. She never really went there and it was high time she got herself a few things, like chocolates - boy, did she need chocolates.

And then, some liquor. She'd been stressed out as of late, in the most amazing of ways but still - she needed to relax and she wanted to be on her own. She hardly found herself without company these days and it was nice to sit and read at the Three Broomsticks and just enjoy her own company with a drink. It was much later than she had intended when she'd decided to leave, and take a bit of a walk around Hogsmeade before disapparating back to Diagon Alley.

In fact, she hadn't intended to go anywhere near the Shrieking Shack at all that day, but as she wandered she found herself heading down that familiar path and thought why not? She hadn't seen the sights, as it were, in ages and she was already there - so she headed straight on down the path. Normally she wouldn't cross through the barrier, either, but - was that light inside the Shrieking Shack?

Heading in, Gwenog raised her wand, muttering Lumos under her breath as she did so. It was then that she heard someone else, a little bit of shuffling and a curse word and she nearly walked straight into someone she'd never seen before. And behind him, grotesquely laid out, a dead body of someone she swore she'd seen around the ministry - an "Oh Merlin." She said, before turning to look at the guy before her.

"One move and I will Confund you into next Tuesday."

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	theslicker 2015-03-19 04:14 am UTC (link)
	"A Charm would be rather redundant," Ed replied smoothly, lowering his wand in a gesture that simultaneously levelled his senses. This woman was more of a complication than the body. He could abandon a stiff. She'd be more difficult to elude. "I've got no idea what's going on here." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_fixate
2015-03-19 04:34 am UTC (link)

She did not lower her wand. There was no way to know if he was telling the truth - at least, not that she would be able to do herself. She had no veritaserum and she wasn't good with Legilimens, either. "I don't believe that for a second." She said - though it was quite possible he stumbled upon it as well. Unlikely, in her mind, but entirely possible.

"What's your name and what are you doing here?"

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theslicker
2015-03-19 01:01 pm UTC (link)

Inclining his head toward his lowered wand, Ed's expression softened. Girls usually liked that.

"I'm Eddie, and if I were responsible, don't you think I'd have done something about you by now, too? I was out walking, just like you."

She didn't look like the type to be back to finish the job, and not just because it was obviously already finished. Still, Eddie didn't go so far as to pocket his wand.

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_fixate
2015-03-19 01:14 pm UTC (link)

She knew what everyone would say - Fabian, Peter, Bina. She shouldn't let her guard down so easy. She didn't lower her wand, not really, but she took a step back. "That's what someone who wanted to kill me would say." She replied flatly, not taking her eyes off of him.

"I'm Gwen." Gwenog Jones. The Gwenog Jones, of the Holyhead Harpies. The Quidditch star, ass-kicking Beater. Definitely not the person who stumbles upon dead bodies outside of the Shrieking Shack.

She did not look at the body. She would not, she could not - oh. She looked again. Dead, not mutilated, but definitely dead. He looked... she couldn't even describe the look on his face.

"We need to call someone."

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theslicker
2015-03-19 01:29 pm UTC (link)

Eddie didn't point out that someone who wanted to kill her would just kill her. He wasn't stupid. And besides, she appeared to relax, if only by a fraction. Or at least seemed less likely to hex him first and ask questions later.

"You're right, Gwen."

Ed was swiftly putting two and two together about her identity, but he couldn't focus because he felt like turning the lit cigarette still in his off hand into his palm when he noticed a familiar sigil scrawled at the shack's foundation, just beyond where she stood. It would look like graffiti to anybody else, but he recognized it as a sign for him that whatever he was meant to retrieve and deliver was nearby.

If it was the body, he was going to have some serious words with his boss about his cut.

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_fixate
2015-03-19 01:43 pm UTC (link)

She noticed his lack of focus, his eyes traveling to something she couldn't quite see and wasn't wholly comfortable with turning around to look at. She wasn't even sure if it was something she wanted to look at.

"If you're looking at another dead body I'm going to disapparate the hell out of here."

Of course, she didn't mean it, but there it was. "Okay, you're coming with me. We need to apparate to the ministry or something. I don't know how else to get anyone here."

She was not all that educated on sending messages that weren't in the journals or by OWL, and she had access to neither of those things right now.

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	theslicker 2015-03-19 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	"There's a one dead body per residence rule in Hogsmeade." Eddie's nervous laugh was genuine, but he also knew that jokes could be disarming, could be a distraction, and he needed to distract her. This job was a total bust. Of course, if she didn't share his three-sheets-to-the-wind macabre humor, he might've made things worse. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_fixate
2015-03-19 02:11 pm UTC (link)

"You really think that's appropriate right now?"

Gwen almost wanted to laugh, though. All of this was absolutely absurd. She couldn't even believe it. A dead body! At the Shrieking Shack! JOHN DAWLISH'S DEAD BODY. She had seen him, herself, at the Ministry! He worked with her best friend, for Merlin's sake. And now he was dead, here, in front of her.

"Forget the Ministry." Her mind, obviously, went there first because of Cambina. She wanted to tell her about this - but that's not what Auror's did. "There's a station for the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol just up the road. Let's go."

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	theslicker 2015-03-19 05:03 pm UTC (link)
	"You don't think someone should stay here? What if whoever did this comes back to get rid of the evidence? You go. I'll wait here." Eddie was afraid that what he voiced was exactly what would happen, but he had no choice. He had to try and find the package, if there was one, and it wasn't the poor sod on the stair. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_fixate
2015-03-19 06:45 pm UTC (link)

"You know you're not making yourself seem any less suspicious by wanting so desperately to stay alone with the body." She replied. She was trying to be tough, but she could feel herself crumbling. Gwen didn't want to deal with this - she had no experience seeing dead bodies before.

She stood her ground, wand tip still lit and aimed right at him, just in a relaxed manner. "If you're so concerned about it, I'll stay here and make sure nothing happens. You go and get the Patrol."

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	theslicker 2015-03-20 01:02 am UTC (link)
	"No problem," Eddie said, lips thinning imperceptibly. "Though of course, if I'm as guilty as you think I am, you're essentially letting me go." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_fixate 2015-03-20 01:06 am UTC (link)
	"Yep, it would seem that way." She said, brow raised. "But no body, no crime. If you disappear, they still know he died, they have evidence in the form of a body, and I know your face." She said coolly, her time flat. "Now go get the Patrol." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

theslicker
2015-03-20 01:53 am UTC (link)

Ed shrugged, unable to keep the ghost of a smirk from his face. She was smart. The difficult ones always were.

"Don't run off now, Gwenog Jones."

He stalked toward town, wand aloft again and gleaming. After years of fancying girl Quidditch players, this was hardly the pay off Eddie had hoped for. But he'd take it, provided when he returned with the authorities his real reason for being near the shack didn't come out.

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