InsaneJournal

Who: Bill Weasley and Gwenog Jones
What: Bill tries to find Fabian
When: In the wee hours of Saturday morning
Where: The Prewett-Jones Flat and the DMLE, near Diagon Alley, London
Warnings: anxiety. unsympathetic hitwitches.



Bill’s wand was in his hand as he knocked on his Uncle’s door. There were too many unknowns, and too much that might be happening. There had been an attack in this building, and now Fabian was missing. He calmed himself. He knew he was going to worry Fabian’s girlfriend, but he didn’t want to do so beyond the minimally necessary amount.

Gwenog was in a state. She knew Fabian was going to be coming home late, but this was past late. This was getting into something-was-wrong sort of late. She’d spent the last hour or so wandering around the flat she shared with Fabian, waiting to hear from him warding him every other minute.

When she heard the knock at the door she ran to it, flinging it open. “Fabian is -” She had started to say, only to see that it was in fact not Fabian, but his nephew Bill. “Bill, hi. Come in…” She waved her hand, ushering him in after she’d opened the door wider. “Your Uncle isn’t here…Have you seen him anywhere?”

Bill shook his head. “No, I was hoping you had. What I hear is that he’s fine, but that there was some sort of trouble. I’m going to go down to the DMLE and see if they’ve got him in the drunk tank. If he comes home, or if he wards you, can you let me know? He’s got a number of worried friends.”

“He told me he was going to be home late but… not this late.” She said with a sigh, looking at the clock again before turning her worried face back to Bill. “Of course, if he says anything I’ll let you know. But Bill - what do you mean there was trouble? Fabian is not likely to get so intoxicated in public he gets himself in trouble.” Now, the ex-con who may or may not work for the Order again… he might get himself into trouble. But Gwenog didn’t know much about that, or anyone else who might associate with that crowd, so she didn’t push the topic. “If he is at the DMLE, will you please tell me straight away?”

“Of course,” Bill replied, “It’s easy to have misunderstandings with the DMLE when you’re not their favorite person. Usually these things just take time to clear up. I’ll see what I can find out.

“Actually.” She raised her hand briefly to stop him and then turned to grab herself a coat. She wasn’t exactly in pajamas, but she wasn’t dressed up either, but she really didn’t care. “I’m coming with you. To the DMLE, if that’s alright.”

Bill nodded. It wasn’t exactly secret conspiracy best practice number one, but he wasn’t going to deny her the opportunity to find out. “Let’s go find him, then.”

It definitely might not have been in the best interest of anyone to allow Gwenog to join him on the trip to the DMLE, but she wasn’t going to be taking no for an answer either and Bill put up very little resistance, which was really in the best interest of his health. “Brilliant, let’s go.”

---

Bill approached the desk wizard, “Good Evening. Bill Weasley, of Gringotts. Can you tell me if you’ve booked in a Mr. Fabian Prewett?”

The hitwizard on duty looked up at the banker and the woman he was with. He recognized her, or thought he did. It was always tricky arresting the old family wizards. He decided to pass this one straight along. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll send for the watch commander.”

Bill nodded and waited. It was a slow night, and he felt the eyes of all the witches and wizards in the room on him. He maintained his facade of calm. He took Gwen’s arm, and leaned in to speak quietly in her ear. “As stone-faced as possible. We are definitely being watched.”

The trip wasn’t a long one, but Gwen could feel herself wanting to panic even more at every stretching moment. She had her journal in her pocket, waiting for any response from Fabian. She hated the DMLE office - the coffee was shite, and it brought up a lot of negative memories she didn’t wish to revisit. She wanted this nightmare to be over, to be nothing but a silly misunderstanding.

Bill took to handling the questioning of the Hitwizard and Gwenog merely nodded her head and smiled at him when he looked her way. In fact, she had looked relatively calm until Bill told her they were being watched, and her face paled just the slightest and she responded as nonchalantly as possible in her most hushed tone. “Why are being watched?”

Bill smiled for the audience. “It’s good news. It means they know something.”

A hitwitch came out from the back, and took in the scene in the outer lobby. “Mr. Weasley and Miss Jones? I’m Hitwitch Currie, I understand you have some questions?” She sounded Scottish, Bill thought, Irish, perhaps. She wasn’t making this easy, which was information in itself.

Bill put the best face on it. “Yes, thank you for seeing us. Miss Jones and I are looking for my Uncle, Fabian Prewett, who hasn’t turned up at home tonight. I heard, secondhand, that he might be a witness to an incident and thought he might be assisting you with investigations.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that so? We don’t talk about ongoing investigations, Mr. Weasley. However, I am authorized to tell you that your Uncle is in custody and is a person of interest.”

Bill noticed her look. He had to get it all. “And Mr. Sirius Black?”

“Yes,” she said, looking up at him.

“May we see them?,” Bill asked.

She shook her head. “Not unless you’re their legal counsel.”

Bill nodded. That meant it was bad. “So they’re being charged? With what?”

“Murder,” said the hitwitch.

Gwenog took comfort in thinking the DMLE knew something, and her worried face soon held a small smile on it. Good, he must be here. That at least calmed her worries about him being hurt or kidnapped or anything on the very far negative side of life-threatening things.

Her worry, however, was quite short lived.

She let Bill do most of the talking, choosing to listen instead of make a fuss. In fact, she was rather stoic through the whole thing until she learned they were actually being held as people of interest, not just as witnesses. And then, she heard what the charge was.

“Are you out of your bloody mind? Murder?” She nearly shouted, turning to look at Bill with severe alarm written all over her face. She was shaking, and very nearly hyperventilating.

“There m-must be a mistake.”

The hitwitch looked on impassively. Either she was used to this or she’d set up this scene to see what their response would be. Bill noted her emotional cruelty, but didn’t think there was anything to be done about it.

Bill turned to Gwen. “Gwenog, yes. I’m sure it’s a mistake. Deep, slow breaths. Do you need to go outside for air?”

She wondered if Bill was at all familiar with Fabian’s panic attacks, and the sort of things Fabian did to help himself calm down, and in return taught Gwenog to do after she was kidnapped by Death Eaters. She had to look at him for several moments before anything registered and she started to slow her breathing, counting to five to breathe in, hold it, and breathe out.

“Yes, I do need to step outside, but not until I know what in the name of Merlin is going on.”

“OK, we’ll find out. It may take a bit, but I can work on this.” He turned his head, still in front of Gwen. “Hitwitch Currie, is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Mr. Weasley, I personally know nothing, except that I saw two hits bring in your uncle and his friend. They were covered with blood and we sent a body to St. Mungo’s. My advice to you is to hire good legal representation.”

Bill nodded. “I’ll be back with those, ma’am. Thank you for your time.” He turned to Gwen again. “We should go, we can’t do anything else here tonight.”

Gwenog was not looking forward to going home tonight knowing that Fabian had been covered in blood and was now locked in a cell being accused of murder. She was furious and quite scared - she would have gone off on the Hitwitch more if she thought it would help, but Gwenog was not a stupid woman. She wasn’t ruled by her emotions. So she remained quiet and nodded without a word when Bill suggested they leave.

The second they got outside, though, she burst into hyperventilated breaths and turned to him, clearly alarmed once more. “What the bloody hell was that about? Covered in blood? You know your uncle couldn’t have done whatever they think he did - Murder, I mean really.” Of course, unless it was… It could have been possible. “No, no no. I refuse to think he murdered someone.” She said, more for herself than anything.

“What should I do?”

Bill also breathed more clearly once he was out of the DMLE watchstander’s office. “First of all, he didn’t murder anyone, he witnessed a murder. I’m going to his parents to get him legal help, that’s the best thing anyone can do for him now. You should consider taking a sleeping draught and getting some rest. Are you alright to go home? Do you want to stay at my flat with my brother Charlie tonight?”

It felt silly to need to stay over somewhere, but Gwenog hadn’t slept well since she had been kidnapped and she hadn’t been really alone since then, either. She’d basically moved in with Fabian right after the whole thing happened. “I - it wouldn’t be an imposition to Charlie, would it? I’m not sure if I want to be on my own right now.” A grown woman who still couldn’t stand to sleep alone at night, but Gwenog knew there was no shame in it. She hadn’t had the easiest year. “If you need any help with anything, ask me, alright? And keep me updated with even the smallest of information.”

Bill steered her towards his flat, his mind racing over all that he had to do before dawn. “If you can keep Charlie from staging a rescue, that’ll be enough.”