InsaneJournal

Who: Dorcas Meadowes, Fabian Prewett, Bilius Weasley, Alecto Carrow, Gideon Prewett, and Lady Noir
What: An exchange of prisoners.
When: Night of 14 May 1998 (dark is 9 pm so let's say 9:30)
Where: The field in Warwickshire where the CLFQ took place.
Warnings: Shockingly nothing on screen. But bad things are intimated.



Fabian was familiar with this rolling field and windmill. It wasn't the first time he and Dorcas had been here, or Alecto, though it was the first for Bilius. They'd fought and bled and writhed in pain on this green sward, but at least none of them had died. Fabian hoped they'd be as lucky this time. He stepped out into the centre of the green grass, looking around for the other party to the exchange demanded by Lady Noir's owl to Dorcas. As he recalled from their previous encounter, she was likely to be late. Five minutes or more, it had been, last time.

But this time, Lady Noir wasn't late. She showed up with a crack, masked and cloaked, and strode over to Fabian, arms open. "Hello, Mr. Prewett," she said lightly.

Bilius wasn't sure what to expect from tonight. But he was willing to do anything to get Gideon back. And since his attack he'd been training with Gideon, Dorcas, and Fabian - each having their own strengths. Hopefully he'd be able to hold his own tonight, or at the very least, not be a liability. His hand tightened on his wand as he prayed to gods he didn't believe in that things went smoothly tonight. Alecto for Gideon. That's all he wanted. They could kill the bitch another time.

Dorcas kept a tight grip on Alecto, whom she’d magically silenced; this exchange did not need Alecto’s running commentary of insults, after all. She still had the black market wands she’d taken off Alecto, the tip of one pressed none to gently against the witch’s side as she waited for the exchange to begin. She still had Alecto’s knife, too, strapped to her thigh. Someday, she’d end this for good and be done with the thing. But for now, she’d wait. Gideon was more important.

"Madam," Fabian said, holding in the jibe about having something to say to him now. He gestured to Alecto, held safely in Dorcas' custody, with the wand already out in his left hand. There would be a discussion later about Alecto, but for the moment all differences were put aside: his brother, his idiot brother, was all that mattered right now. "We've brought our side of the bargain. Have you brought yours?"

Lady Noir flicked her wand. Gideon, bound and gagged with a hood over his face. "I have. He's fairly useless, you know."

It took all of Bilius' skill and training not to rush towards his lover, or emit a strangled noise. Every muscle in his body tensed as he set his jaw, wand aimed at Lady Noir as anger coursed through his body. If she had hurt him. Insults and comebacks ran through his head, but he kept silence. He couldn't mess this up. They just needed Gideon back. He kept his eyes on his lover, on the weariness he could see in his body. He wanted to yell, to reassure him, but he didn't want to risk Gideon doing something stupid or heroic. Instead he bit down on his lip and watched, ready to rush to Gideon's side the moment he could.

Dorcas dug the wand a little harder into Alecto’s side when Lady Noir made Gideon appear. She couldn’t tell how badly he might be hurt yet, but she expected it to be bad. The next time she went for Alecto, she would do it alone. No more people should lose lovers because of Carrow. But at least Gideon was alive, and they were getting him back now.

She risked a glance at Bilius before turning her gaze back to Gideon’s hooded form. There would be a reckoning for this.

Fabian waited until he was sure Gideon was still breathing to speak. It occurred to him, not for the first time, that this might be a trick with polyjuice. They'd sort it out in an hour if it was. And they had ways of tracking Alecto.

He had once been a solicitor; he remembered how to carry on negotiations. Apprenticeship for the trade had taken him three years, and burned into him that you didn't admit you had a weak hand. (She didn't; Fabian was certain they wanted Gideon back more than Lady Noir wanted Alecto.) Still, he responded coolly: "I suppose it's good we have something you consider worthwhile to exchange for him. Shall we send them across?" He was focused on Lady Noir; Dorcas would handle Alecto, and Bilius had enough to do keeping himself from making the situation worse.

"And what am I supposed to do with that?" she asked in a wry tone.

"Uphold your end of the bargain!" Bilius snapped, grip tightening on his wand.

She laughed lightly. "Oh yes, of course. I'm always so pleased to do business with convicts."

Fabian didn't even glance back at Dorcas, but he wondered if she knew it the way he did: that what Lady Noir wanted was something else entirely, and Fabian had a very bad feeling he knew what it was. Still, the cards in his hand were what he had; he had to play them out. No echo of his sudden fear echoed in his voice as he ignored the pointed gibe. There would come a time when she occupied a cell in Azkaban, and Fabian rather hoped it was his. "I guessed you were looking for an attack dog you could train. Or do you have something else in mind entirely?"

Which should serve Dorcas as a cue to be ready, if nothing else.

Dorcas didn’t trust things to go smoothly with this exchange. She fully expected that they might have to fight their way out of this. She shifted her feet a little, getting a more solid stance in readiness of shoving forward with Alecto when the word came. She wasn’t sure what kind of game Lady Noir was playing, or trying to play, but she was fairly sure she knew the pieces better than the Lady. All of them but Lady Noir, of course, who was an enigma and made the particulars of the game hard to judge until she made a play.

Dorcas was ready for just about anything. She had the confiscated black market wand, and her own, and Alecto’s knife.

"If what you want is a prisoner exchange, though," Lady Noir continued on carefully, "you're welcome to it. But I have a feeling you'll be very disappointed in the outcome."

There was simply no way that Fabian could get to Gideon in time to stop whatever was about to happen. "Go on," he said, hard years of discipline in keeping a professional demeanour all that was keeping the dread from his voice.

Lady Noir’s words sent a chill down Dorcas’ spine, but she steeled herself. She shoved Alecto forward roughly, staying close behind as she slowly advanced her prisoner toward Lady Noir. She kept glancing at Gideon, trying to think of what little she might be able to do if she needed to.

"What have you done to him?!" Bilius snapped, rage and fear coursing through him as he levelled his wand at Lady Noir. "Release him!"

Behind her mask, Lady Noir's eyebrows arched. "Mr. Weasley, please, lower your wand. I'd hate for you to injury yourself or Mr. Prewett in your -- excitement." She gave a tight flick of her wand and Gideon lurched forward, stumbling, into his brother. "Ms. Carrow, if you please. I'll take her now."

Relieved a bit, Dorcas shoved Alecto the rest of the way toward Lady Noir and backed away, wand still pointed at Alecto’s back. She didn’t trust either woman, even if Gideon was back with them.

Fabian caught Gideon with his right arm, drawing Gideon in and pushing Gideon around behind himself, protecting his brother with his own body as best he could without compromising his wand line on Lady Noir, or perhaps on Alecto as she lurched toward the other woman.

Everything else was forgotten then as Bilius moved behind Fabian, wrapping his arms around Gideon and tugging the hood off of him. Falling to his knees with Gideon in his arms, he ran his hands over Gideon's face and hair. "Gideon," he breathed out softly. "I've got you, love. You're safe now.."

Lady Noir groaned in disgust and shook her head. She pushed Alecto away from her, satisfied to see she was bound well enough for it to matter. "Well, are we done with this ridiculous reunion then?" It was hardly a question though.

She knew -- even if none of them did -- that it would a matter of minutes until Gideon Prewett was dead. And by that time, she'd be long gone.

Dorcas nodded. “Yeah. We’re done.” For now. She didn’t trust Lady Noir, and she certainly didn’t trust Alecto. This wasn’t completely over, but at least Gideon was safe.

This had all been too easy. Lady Noir wasn't a Death Eater, and she didn't operate under those rules, but to the extent that he understood how she did operate, this made no sense. There was no way that a live Alecto Carrow was more valuable to Lady Noir than Gideon Prewett. This exchange made no sense that Fabian could see, and he trusted it about as far as he could throw it. So what he said was, "For now," and let that stand as he waited for Lady Noir's disapparation.

Lady Noir glanced at them all with a quirk of her lip. "You know, it would be much easier for me if you just killed Carrow for me. Any volunteers, or should I take care of it?"

Dorcas stiffened. She hadn't gone through all the trouble of resisting the urge to kill Alecto before this exchange just to be robbed of vengeance. "You don't get to do that." Her voice was defensive and cold, and Dorcas pointed her wand at Lady Noir. "If you don't want her alive, leave her, and get lost."

Lady Noir held her wand up. "I'm sorry, Ms. Meadowes, but I just asked if anyone would like to take care of it. Are you volunteering?" She stepped aside and motioned to Carrow. "By all means. It would be a pleasure to watch."

Fabian's eyes widened, an expression mirrored by what he could see of Alecto's face. For all that Fabian knew the world would be better off without Alecto, and understood Dorcas' burning desire for revenge (all too well, on some levels, which was why he fought it so hard), he couldn't help but feel a sliver of pity for Alecto, who was about to come to the bad end that she'd been dodging for two decades. None of that was in his voice when he spoke, though. "Dorcas. Evidence." As in don't leave any. "We don't have time for this. We need to get Gideon to Mungo's."

Not Mungo's. That much was clear to Bilius. Bringing an ex-con to Mungo's would cause too many questions. Questions they couldn't answer and he was not about to let the DMLE get their hands on Gideon. Not again. He thought about the safehouse, momentarily. A good, secure spot, but it wasn't home. He needed Gideon home. "Get a healer," he murmured under his breath as he brushed his lips against Gideon's. "Come on, love. Hang in there." Tightening his arms around Gideon, he apparated both of them home to the cottage.

Dorcas eyed Alecto for a moment, then stowed her wand. This wasn’t the time or the place. Not with people looking. Not in so off-hand a manner. Dorcas turned to Fabian, glad that Gideon was away to safety. “Let’s...get him a Healer, yeah?” And she could use a stiff drink, herself.

"Suit yourself," Lady Noir said. She took Alecto by the arm and disapparated them both away with a crack.

With the disapparition, Fabian's stoic mask slid off and Dorcas could see that he was shaking. "Yeah." He still couldn't articulate what was wrong, but that had gone too easily. "You got it in you to do the apparation?"

It had gone too easily. That troubled Dorcas. She laid a steadying hand on Fabian’s arm and nodded. “I can do it, yes.”

Fabian nodded. "Let's go."