jamila denial is no man. (noman) wrote in thedept, @ 2013-08-22 09:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, hansel lagerkvist, jamila denial |
WHO Jamila Denial + Hansel Lagerkvist
WHAT Honey Jam goes on a mission. Nothing wrong with that except...Hansel isn't exactly himself so...
WHEN Backdated to any work day during the Disney week.
WHERE Yorkshire Dales
RATING/WARNINGS N/A
STATUS Finished.
TO BE AIRED Nope!
"Are...you sure you're up for this?" Even as she asked that question, Jamila understood how stupid it was. How could Hansel not be? The mission was simple enough: in a hill somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales, a spell had gone awry and sent all brooms a-flying, some even through the roof. All the workers had evacuated as soon as a plea for help had been sent and all that was left there now was the father, his wife, his son and his wife.
So really, it was just a matter of containing the situation, a Finite Incantatem here or an Immobulus there...really, nothing two experienced agents can't do.
The problem was that...well, looking at Hansel and his sudden...streak of positivity and caring, Jamila couldn't say she was as sure as she often would be...
Hansel was positively beaming at Jamila when he spoke. "Of course. If someone needs help, I can't refuse them help."
As far as Hansel's mind set was at, he simply did not understand the reason for Jamila's apparent misgivings with him going with her to the do the mission. They had been on any number together through out the years, as one of the closer teams in their squad... What could be the sudden issue? Certainly, it couldn't be his good mood? She had seemed surprised by it when they had spoken earlier in the week.
Looking to reassure her to his ability to handle the situation (which, given his state of being, Hansel did not stop to consider that perhaps he was not as fully equipped to handle it as he thought), Hansel reached out and gave her shoulder a slight squeeze, smile softening only a little. "There's really no need for concern, dear. We'll be in and out before you know it, with the family safely removed and the spell corrected."
Jamila smiled -- and tried not to make it look like a cringe as she tried to make it look more natural. Really, Hansel being in a good mood was so obviously not a bad thing at all but...well, she may be prepared for hell and high water and maybe some Death Eaters here and there but a Hansel who was sweet and warm and fuzzy did not fit the equation!
"Well!" she said anyway as they arrived at the foot of the hill (they could have Apparated right by the door but Jamila complained that she was thirsty so they had to buy a drink for her but really, it was so she could talk to Hansel about doing this mission). "Best get going." She offered her hand for a side-along Apparation.
Crack!
Her wand was instantly upon her right when the door was flung open and she tensed herself, expecting the owners to come rushing out but all that came from them was a shout of warning, "Look out!!" and the shadow of a zooming broom hurried towards Jamila's stance.
She gaped and reached to push her partner aside, shouting, "Honey--!!"
What could go wrong?
It was the initial thought in his mind when they appeared and landed on the ground. He had worked his wand out and began to look around the yard when the sound of a door slapping against the wood frame split through the air and he barely had time to register the broom before Jamila's hand had connected with him, sending him sideways.
Hansel's shoes slipped on the grass and he nearly toppled over, his arm waving through the air wildly. Sparks shot from his wand, his words coming out in a confused jumble at first and it was just as he found his grounding that he spoke, pointing his wand at the blur. "Immobulus!" The spell shot forward, grazing the end of the broom stick as it came within inches of his partner.
It slowed at first and then dipped, slamming into the ground, tearing up the grass and sending bits and pieces against the two as Hansel moved forward - momentarialy forgetting work, the people inside, in a way he normally would not have- and reached for Jamila, the smile from before gone and replaced by worry. "Jamila, are you alright?"
Jamila's gape was frozen solid on her face and only loosened when she gasped and followed broom in its descent with her eyes. She breathed out in relief later, her heart thumping inside her chest. "Well, that was close." She turned to look at Hansel, "Are you hur--"
She didn't manage to get the rest of her question out when Hansel suddenly slammed her with his worry and her gape returned to her face to respond to it. "I..." she struggled to vocalize her scattered thoughts. "Y, yes! Of course I'm fin--"
"Thank goodness you're here!" The father was a rolly-polly kind of man, donned in a stained white shirt and a red-and-yellow vest. Jamila whipped her head to him because his panic was a more favorable, more understandable thing to behold. "We managed to stop a few brooms but there's just too much! Hogwarts just placed an order--"
"That's okay! We understand." Jamila stumbled away from Hansel and towards the owner of the shop. "Is everybody out?"
"They're all trying to stop it!"
Jamila nodded and turned to Hansel. "We should get them out of there."
Hansel was more than a little relieved to know that Jamila was uninjured, although her own behavior was not missed on him. She seemed uncomfortable, but it was not something which he could dwell on.
"I'm g-" he broke off when the father approached them and when Jamila spoke, Han nodded, holding his wand more tightly. He found himself becoming increasingly worried; feeling optimistic and happy felt ordinary to him, despite others belief to contrary, and this was the first field job he had had in the most recent weeks which left him unsure of how to conduct himself. It left room for unusual worry.
"Sir - Remain out here please," Hansel said, glancing towards Jamila almost questioningly before he moved forward, sloping inside of the building and raising his wand. Brooms were flying everywhere, many slamming into the walls, while some banged into the roof as if seeking out the holes left behind from the first round and he waved his hand, cause several to fall motionless to the floor as he took a few steps further in.
Jamila chased after Hansel; no use dilly-dallying now that they were in the deep of things! The architecture of the factory was simple: near the door, there were desks and chairs with paperwork and beyond it was the workshop itself -- one set of tables for the broomstick, another for the bristles and more for the other thingamabobs that a wizard's broom apparently needed.
Which made the interior of the shop absolutely messy and cloudy with splinters and dust and hair and others floating in the air while the brooms made a mess of things. Jamila coughed and sneezed. Right in the middle of it all was the son with his wand out and in a perfect dueling stance. Beside him was his wife and under one of the tables was the mother cowering under her hands.
Jamila pushed on Hansel as she normally would as he dove right into the heart of the problem. "Get them out of here!" And then she flung her wand towards the brooms spinning overhead, crying out, "Immobulus!"
In a flash of blue, the brooms were shocked out of their busy lives to drift sleepily in the air.
This would be an aspect of the mission which he would not reflect kindly upon later when the spell which had turned him into Mr Kindness had worn off and there would be a distinct feeling of uselessness, something which he had not felt in decades. At that moment, as spells shot through the air and dust trickled down onto the shoulder of his jacket from over head, Hansel felt fine however; it suited him well enough to stride forward, with Jamila's nudge and order fresh in mind.
Following her lead and leaving the magic in her hands seemed like the more capable idea and Hansel did not linger. He moved first to the woman who had sought refuge underneath the table and knelt down, taking her gently by the arms he tugged her free and they stood together. "Come along dears, come along. You lot have to leave the building, yes? We'll handle this," He said, one hand on the woman's elbow, who was paler then a ghost, and was steering her towards the exit, but Hansel stopped short when he realized the man was not following, although his wife had taken a step forward.
"I can help," He stated firmly, seeing the silent questioning in Hansel's eyes, who promptly shook his head, his shortly cut greying hair shifting lazily with the movement.
Although he had not been given reason to be in the most recent days, Hansel could be firm all the same and he adopted a chiding tone now, lips pressed in a firm line. "No, sir. You can't and we wont allow you to. This is a job for the professionals which we, -" He indicated himself and Jamila, "Are. Now out. Before I make you leave."
He waved his wand threatening and eyeing it due weariness, the young man quickly took his wife by the hand and hurried to the exit while Hansel walked the woman, this time much quicker, to the doorway, where he saw her out and after a brief and quiet exchange, he stepped back inside, casting a glance skyward to the drifting brooms. Hansel cleared his throat, turning his wand slowly between his fingers. "You reacted very quickly, Jamila..."
The Freezing Charm worked only a momentary relief until other brooms started zooming into the room and crashing into each other or attempting to smash against them in a typical kamikaze mission. Through it all, Jamila ducked, and flung a spell or two or whipped her wand towards the civilians to cast a quick protection spell before she was back to ducking and freezing the renegade brooms again.
And in the middle of it all, Jamila managed to spare Hansel a look of incredulity, with tight brows and wide eyes and a gaping mouth that was enough to say, What are you doing?! Her partner was just making it seem like they were playing with paper airplanes and the kids had just made a mess of it all! She dropped to the floor before a broom managed to split her skull.
By the time Hansel had returned to his side, the floating brooms had multiplied by a great fraction and she was catching her breath as she took a small pause to marvel at her and Hansel's work. Her hair was a mess by now, with stray locks rebelling from their half-tied standard. "Really?" she gasped and flashed Hansel a beam. "Thank you! I learn only from the best. By the way, what was that?" she asked with a finger towards the evacuating owners even as brooms zoomed faintly from the background. There were still more rooms to explore. "'Come along, dears'?"
"What would you have me say?" Hansel quickly asked, turning away from his unusually frazzled partner as he waved his wand; spells shot out, immobilizing a broomstick that had been hurtling towards them at a dangerous speed and he hit the next one, which halted and crashed into another broom and caused both to crash.
Keeping an eye on the brooms and the door both, to make certain that no one returned, he turned back to Jamila, frowning at her still. "I can't just sa--say for them to -excuse me - piss off, now can I? It isn't polite." There was a certain uncertainty uncharacteristic quality to Han's voice, more as if he were a novice at this. Not to the tough,ex-Auror turned magic reversal squad.
"I just-" He shot a spell up and brooms fell in a bundle, thee spell closing them together as if rope had wrapped around them and although they still were attempting to fly rampant, they remained in place. "I'm sorry that I'm not meeting your expectations--Honestly!"
Jamila gaped. "What-- Who said anything about meeting-- Honey!" And now her voice was reaching a pitch again, the same way her eyebrows were climbing closer to her scalp line as she stepped closer towards him and gripped his arms with both her hands. "Honey, I'm not saying anything like that! It's just that," she rolled her eyes, "Well, I've said this so many times this past week already but it's just not you! I, I mean..." she frowned a bit -- or more like her face twisted a frown out of her -- as she stepped back and threw her hands up, "...this is the first mission where you're suddenly very polite!" There! That should do it. Kind of.
"I, I mean...I just..." she looked around for a bit, "know that there are other ways of saying that. Without being very umm...chiding? But not rude? But assertive?" Her face took on the look of cringing as she said this and upper arms pressed firmly against her sides, she bounced her shoulders a little, left and right.
And then a broom smashed against the other side of the wall and she gasped and stumbled back, looking at the origins of a crack.
"I don't understand why this is such a problem," He managed to say although with the noise overhead it was a all too likely that Jamila could have missed what he said entirely. Surely those he worked with who prefer his politeness over how he had once behaved? From everything they said, from the way people reacted to and treated him, Hansel could only figure that he had been a, well, terrible man and that this was an improvement on all ends.
He should have refocused himself of handling the broomsticks, which posed a very real and genuine threat to the surrounding people, the building and the Ministry; flying brooms were not something they needed Muggles to see, let alone attacking, flying brooms. But he was distracted, concerned that he had upset Jamila and wanting to fix it all at once. It was the only right thing to do, wasn't it?
He fired a stronger spell off this time, immobilizing the various broomsticks charging over head of he and Jamila and he took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak. But whatever Hansel had been going to say, he did not get to finish as a broomstick - seemingly out of now where- slammed into his shoulder, knocking him to the side as it bounced off the walls and did a tail spin into the air.
"Hansel!!" shrieked Jamila before she whipped her wand to the offensive broom and set it off in a burst of fire. In the next minute, she hurried towards her partner in a blaze of panic, dropping roughly down his side on her knees so she could point her wand on his shoulder this time and let a Ferula take effect. "Honey! Honey, Jesus Christ, this wasn't supposed to happen." She cuffed her locks behind her ears.
A broom zoomed close and she turned sharply to fling her wand at it so that it shrunk into a paper broom and fluttered away. A Protego spell followed her charm and she looked again at Hansel.
"Honey. Honey, for the love of Merlin and all that's holy, don't tell me this is enough to take you down!" she said firmly.
"No, no...of course not." Where the broom had connected felt as if someone had hit him repeatedly with a chair leg for a couple of hours someone who wasn't overly happy with him either, but there was nothing else he could say. It was not the worst injury, if it even counted as such, that he had taken on the field. Hansel forced a smile as he looked at his partner and gave a shake of his head. "I'm fine, really."
He had meant to rise but Hansel stopped, waving his wand at an oncoming broom and caused it to shrink to the size of a fly and then slowly stood; he did not push off from Jamila although a part of him had wished to as he did not want to give her any further cause for concern. He clapped her on the shoulder with his other hand, not wanting to move his sore arm, and shifted his wand from one hand to the other. "Let's just agree that, yeah. Need to be more assertive, let's just get on with it - Can't have them nailing the both of us like that, eh?"
Jamila let out a long breath through her nose and nodded, her features still contorted by discomfort among other similar thoughts as she rose to her feet and held her left hand out to help Hansel out.
She looked up to the frozen brooms, then left and right to the distant sounds of their suicides. "How should we do this? Should we split up? Or do you want us to do this together. I mean," she gestured at Hansel's magically bound shoulder, although said nothing more of it. "We can start with the eastern wing and finish at the western wing." They can look out for each other like they always did.
Hansel started to say that he 'Really could manage' with his arm the way it was but stopped, falling silent as he considered what Jamila had said. It truly was the smartest and safest choice they had with the way the brooms struck haphazardly and in a team they could at least keep an eye out for each other, which after the latest round was all that Hansel wanted to do next to finishing the mission.
It only took him a few seconds before he nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, let's remain together, run through like you said. We should destroy the remaining brooms - It will ruin the shipment, naturally, but I don't believe they could salvage much as it stands. Incendio or the Reductor curse should work quite well, don't you think?"
Jamila let out a bright, tight smile, the kind of thing that was out of place in their situation but it was much better than being stressed about it. Besides, Hansel's decision was on worthy of a smile.
"Okay, then," she offered her left hand to him. "Together."
They ran through the whole length of the factory together, Jamila throwing up the shield charms while Hansel got rid of most of the brooms. From time to time, Jamila contributed to that department with a Reducto spell of her own but most of the time, she transfigured the brooms into flowers. Like an old classic movie from the past.
In the end of the mission, the factory became only a little better than a condemned building. Smoke rose from its sad excuse of a roof and through some of the old and new windows of the wall. The owner was crying, his son sobbing as they comforted each other and the women shared each other's comforts.
Jamila stood outside with Hansel, wand tucked in and hands fumbling through her pockets. "I have a calling card here of a solicitor who could help you with your situation. But for now, it would be best if you could just go home and rest." Finding none, she turned to Hansel and asked, "Honey, have you got one?"
In the end it had all worked out and Hansel only was experiencing a dull throb of pain in his shoulder every now and then, but now that the job was finished and the family was safe he felt that it could have gone worse and luckily, hadn't. Looking at the family now, it was hard to tell that they weren't the worse for wear.
"Ah, yes..." Hansel slipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a business card which had faint traces of soot sticking to the glossy white surface. Holding it out to the father, Hansel did not offer a smile right then; he knew that little would make them feel better in this moment and he did not want to push them. "He's a fine solicitor and one of the best I know. He'll help you with everything you need, "
Hansel let his arm lower back to his side when the man took the card from him and glanced at Jamila before looking back to the family. "If there's anything more, let us know."
"Let us know," Jamila said with a nod and a smile.
After an uncertain number of minutes where the family thanked them and wavered between staying and looking at the ruins for a fourth time, they finally Disapparated. Jamila sighed at their disappearance before she looked up to her partner.
She moved close and placed a hand on his uninjured arm. "I'm glad that went well."
He ran a hand through his hair, shifting in place while smoke continued to rise behind them. The place would need a sweep through and Han knew he had to remember to report back in when they returned to the Ministry but all he really wanted was a cuppa and a nice break. Which might have said something about his current state (and he normally would find to be pathetic but not now).
Hansel smiled a little, briefly glancing to where the family had just disappeared from and then to Jamila. "Me too. They might have lost their order and factory but they didn't lose each other, which makes it a good day of work in my mind."
Jamila smirked as she snorted out laughter through the back of her nose, biting the lower of her teeth as her smile spread. No, that was not something she was used to hearing Hansel say but it was so precious, she was willing to forgive it for now.
Apropos to nothing, she stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing the side of her face against his form. A sigh slipped out of her while a smile persisted. "I'm really sorry about earlier, Honey," she said after a quick silence. "I'm just...I mean...no, I don't have any excuse for what I did earlier."
"No," He said, leaning closer, his own arm winding around Jamila in a half hug that would not have happened without the charm that was affecting him. He was not mad at her and did not think he could have been if he even wanted to be; after all, Jamila was one of his closest friends and even if he did not agree, Hansel understood why she had reacted the way she did.
Pulling back, Hansel gave Jamila a wider and warmer smile and patted her gently on the shoulder. "It's fine. We're fine, really. You just didn't expect this and it was a surprise. No harm done."
This whole gushy moment really wasn't making Hansel's sudden Care Bear-side any better but Jamila just didn't have it in her to fight it anymore. She was just happy to bask at the fact that they managed to pull off another successful mission. As they always had since they decided to take on a lot of them together. It made her feel especially relieved and delighted that this change in Hansel hadn't affected that as she was worried it had.
She looked up to him so that her chin was pressed against him and said, "You know I'd take you in any way, right?"
There was a right answer for her question but Hansel was not about to tell her no. Instead he gave a slight nod of his head. He couldn't blame her if she was accustomed to one thing or another and after all, Jamila had not been completely thrown off by the changes in him. And others, as he had heard about someone behaving in much a similar fashion.
"I do now, " He said, pausing before he gave a slight chuckle and raised and lowered his shoulders in a slow shrug. "I know you would prefer if I returned to my...grouchy old self though, right?"
Jamila frowned at that, and it was a frown that was not so much disappointed or superficial, but it did have a quality that was sad. And Jamila really was sad. And fine, maybe even disappointed but the disappointment was directed to herself more than anything. Wasn't Hansel one of her best friends? If her husband suddenly changed the way Hansel did, would she act the same way?
She pouted at Hansel's collar and tugged on it. "I'm sorry, Honey," she said, trying not to sigh. "I guess I just have my comfort zones, you know? Although I never realised it would get to this..." Jamila looked up to him, again. "If I suddenly turned into a hateful witch who acts like it's her 17th birthday, how would you act?"
"I...Well, I suppose I would be very taken aback and confused. I might even go out of my way to make sure that it was really you." He said, after a lengthy pause to allow himself the time to consider her query. Of course he had wanted to say that nothing would change if that were to happen, that they would continue being close friends and one of the better teams at the Ministry but Hansel could tell, just by looking at Jamila, that this was important to her, to how the situation was handled too and he was not going to hold back to spare her.
They were friends, she was one of his closest, and Hansel did not want to lose that. Which meant working on their troubles - after all, that was what people did, wasn't it?
Hansel raised his hand and gave her arm a gentle pat, continuing to smile. "Which means that you have nothing to be sorry for. How you reacted was...normal, and I'm far from mad at you."
That made Jamila smile -- a flat stretch of her lips that was only very slightly upturned so she let her eyes and the blush in her cheeks finish it for her.
"Okay," she said. "Well, shall we get going, then? They could be waiting for us back in the Ministry."
Hansel gave a nod and took a step back,while taking hold of Jamila's wrist. "Of course, yeah. We'll work through this, you know that." He said, giving her another smile just before they disapperated, only moments later landing outside of the Ministry for the rest of a long day.