InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Mada mada dane"

Madison might have preferred the dragons.

Incredibly stupid and sure to get them killed, yes. But at least Nathan was there at her side. She knew where the threat was. Now? Resting at the Malfoy Manor with a helpful but not entirely clever house elf? She didn’t have the best read on the terrain. Caution might have been the smart move, but she was never quite that type of Ravenclaw.

“You know, if you’re planning to let the high council kill me, let’s get this over with.” Madison raised a brow, a beat for the challenge, before continuing. “Except, I don’t think you’d go through the effort to stop me from bleeding out if that was the plan. Which means you probably think I have something to offer. And honestly, I’m not sure that I do.” She had a particular talent, but quite a limited scope. Madison wasn’t a fool, she knew she was no better than a foot soldier in the war, and even of lesser importance in the squabble following.

“Unless you want me to kill him.” She reached up for pendant necklace, reassured by the familiar weight in her hands. “He didn’t seem all that fond of spirits. Although you’d most certainly get better results from Nathan.”

Narcissa had had Dobby serve breakfast on the lawn, which was warded properly and covered by an anti-Apparation jinx, but that was all to keep people out and not in. She looked at Madison over the plate of breakfast quiche she was slowly consuming and put down her fork. "I can see why the Hat didn't sort you Slytherin," she said after a moment. "That was almost--Gryffindor in its level of brass. I don't intend to kill you or your brother, or have you killed, or have either of you kill Rodolphus, or to turn you over to the remainder of the Inner Circle. I would prefer to avoid a disaster in which anybody dies, if that's all right, Miss Travers."

“I think we’re long past the tropes of Hogwarts.” They had far bigger things to worry about than the whims of a sorting hat or the house cup. “And quite honestly, death isn’t the worst thing that could happen.” Madison wasn’t looking for die, but given her line of work, she wasn’t too worried by it anymore. “Which does beg the question, Madame Malfoy what do you do if it is already a disaster?”

"Keep it from becoming more of one, if at all possible," Narcissa said mildly. "I have some ideas about how to do that, if you'd like to hear them. Or contribute some of your own."

“Now, are these coming for the goodness of your heart or to save face after your sister attacked a hospital?” Madison would never claim she was innocent, but there were lines. Morals even. And Narcissa was sitting far too pretty to trust just then. “But please continue.”

"Do you really care as long as you and your brother survive?" Narcissa countered. "As it happens, neither. My motives are hardly your concern, but as it happens I'd prefer not to see Rodolphus' idiocy, or whatever curse is upon him, result in further folly and destruction. Bellatrix is probably beyond my help between killing a member of the Inner Circle and openly flouting law and order in her vendetta against the Potter girl. If Rodolphus becomes similarly obsessed, he'll end up dead or on the run, and I'd prefer that not happen. Not to mention that his mother, who was also there, would prefer he not destroy himself. Would you like to tell me how you ended up in the fountain and why it was full of acid?"

“Once again, I think you might find my brother to offer far better results.” She popped a piece of fruit into her mouth, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. “Although, the answer to that question is your darling brother-in-law, who only sort of blackmailed me and my brother into going after Avery. I can’t say I was really able to ask many questions, but it would seem that he also told Avery we were coming. Quite kind really.” Madison could have shown more tact, but she didn’t really care at this point. “He didn’t seem all that happy that we managed to escape onto his estate. So the acid was another gift from the liege.”

Narcissa resisted the urge to tsk at Rodolphus and sigh at Madison. "I'm not familiar with paramilitary intricacies and jealousies. I only know when they ask me to do something." Before Madison could go round once more, Narcissa continued. "I'm extremely concerned to hear about all of this. If Rodolphus were operating at anything like full strength, he wouldn't have gone on with this bizarre subterfuge. He'd have killed one or both of you to make the point, or let Bellatrix do it. Now all he's done is put you on guard, and frankly, put me and Lucius and his own family on guard. Rodolphus' sudden incompetence is as much of a concern as his malice." Narcissa didn't mention Avery, of course, since he was no longer a concern. At least not for Madison. And technically not for the Malfoys, either, at least not in a direct sort of way.

“That still doesn’t quite explain how I ended up in your care. Or how long I can expect such hospitality” -- she motioned to the breakfast spread to which she didn’t have much of an appetite for -- “to continue.” Madison didn’t really want to be wrapped up in this mess. More and more she just wanted a way out. Alice still seemed to be that option right now. Or at least a viable solution.

The knife Narcissa was using to spread butter on her croissant was blunt, but she didn't have to be. "It seemed the wisest thing to do at the time. To separate the pair of you from Rodolphus while he was unconscious and unable to object. Or express an opinion about what he might want to have done." Narcissa smiled pleasantly. "Priscilla agreed that it was a good idea to remove you and your brother and I agreed to extend my hospitality. Which is ironclad until you are well enough to leave. I don't mean to throw either of you out the door half-sick to be eaten by the wolves. Or any other life form." A delicate sniff accompanied the last two words.

Madison looked down at her ankle, making a few circles. She wasn’t going to be traveling anytime soon. “My gratitude then for your hosting and your healing abilities. Although I do hope that you have a plan in mind for Nathan when he wakes up.” She didn’t think he would be quite so kind. “Or Alice, when she finds out, she has been quite interested in the Lestrange family.”

"I rather imagine she's otherwise occupied at the moment. As is the rest of the DMLE." Narcissa looked up from her croissant at Madison and threw her next metaphorical card on the table. "Charles Avery has disappeared."

“The DMLE? What are they doing involved? Wouldn’t this all be more a matter for magical creatures? After the Sanctuary?” Madison wouldn’t deny her part there. She was quite proud of that party trick. Although if the DMLE was involved...if Alice was on the case. “Still doesn’t answer the Alice of it all.”

"His family has a lot of influence to bring to bear. Apparently his wife was in Crouch's office. I think they're related." Narcissa shrugged; in her experience everyone worth knowing was distantly related to everyone else. "But he's gone and nobody seems to know where he is. Or that vicious snake he adores so much. His failure to reappear would certainly solve a number of problems for you and Nathan."

“Pity that.” Madison shrugged, popping another piece of fruit into her mouth. “It also solves a number of problems for you and yours. Because if Avery was back in play, I might be so inclined to go to my sister and tell her exactly how the liege spends his time while his wife, your sister, is on the run.” She was so inclined before, Nathan was a deciding factor against, but perhaps now even he could see reason. “Might be we all consider ourselves lucky over his disappearance.”

Narcissa shrugged again. "How fortunate it is, indeed, that Charles Avery picked a convenient moment for us all to disappear." She ate the last bite of her croissant; how she managed to do so without getting any crumbs on herself or the tablecloth was clearly some form of personal magic. When she'd finished consuming it, she continued, "My sister's antics are her own. I love her, but I chose not to join in on her cause. My interests run parallel to hers thematically but I lack her deep personal investment.

"Why are you calling Rodolphus the liege?" Her gaze rested on Madison with more apparent interest than before.

“He seems to fancy himself a king, is all. You might not be family with paramilitary intricacies, but it’s rather difficult to miss.” It wasn’t strange that Rodolphus was giving orders. For the most part, Madison took her orders and assignments from her brother. Worked better that way by far. “Funny isn’t that two of the remaining leaders are now dead or missing with a common thread between them.”

Which made plain to Narcissa what Madison thought was going on. A slight noise that might have been a laugh escaped Narcissa. "Rodolphus hasn't tried that on me, nor has Lucius mentioned it if Rodolphus has tried it on him." Something about her tone of voice suggested that it might not go very well for Rodolphus if he tried. "Perhaps you see this as some sort of power struggle in which Lucius and I and Rodolphus and Bellatrix are engaged with Nott and the late Healer Mulciber and perhaps Charles Avery. There are factors not presently in evidence that might suggest a different interpretation. How is your French? Do you know what the Dark Lord's sobriquet means?"

Even if Madison’s French didn’t leave something to be desired, she wasn’t sure she would have answered any better. “It sounds like a lot of politics, that I am so very over at this point.” And she really didn’t care who knew it at this point.

"If you want it to be over, you must be ready to fight for it to end. And if you turn it over to the DMLE in the person of your sister, you will be choosing a route that not only destroys your relationship with her, but will leave you vulnerable to the Dark Lord's return and the concomitant effects of betrayal. Which will not be limited to yourself and Nathan," Narcissa reminded Madison.

Going back to her lesson without tsking at Madison's inadequate second language--so disappointing in a Ravenclaw--Narcissa continued, "The sobriquet means 'the one who flies from death'. You've read Beedle the Bard, or had it read to you. Think of 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart'. There were plans laid for him to return after death. If he returns, this will not end and there will be no way out. Especially not for those who voluntarily took his Mark."

“There is always a way out.” Just not always be preferable, but then again Madison might be past that point too. She was well and over a lot of things after the attack on St. Mungo’s. Before that really, but that seemed to be the deal breaker. “And cheating death is a nasty business, not without a considerable amount of side effects, or ways for it to go wrong. Which is one of the takeaways from that tale, along with a few others from the collection.”

Although, Madison was now starting to put together some of the pieces, into a better working theory. If the Dark Lord didn’t intend to allow himself to be killed, he had contingencies. The question was then how many, and exactly what did Narcissa know that she didn’t.

"If you don't care what it costs, and you're willing to see other people pay the costs for it, you can do a lot of magic with blood and death, as I'm sure you know after your time among the Unspeakables. And ultimately that has been where all of his work is going. Not toward improving our society or enforcing blood purity: toward his own power and his own protection.

"Bellatrix is a fanatic and she's willing to sacrifice anything to get her master back, including, I suspect, her husband. Not to mention my husband and son, and I simply will not allow that," Narcissa explained between bites of her omelette. "You can take all this to your sister and the Aurors and hope they can find and finish the Dark Lord's horcruxes, including the one Bellatrix took abroad, or you can help me undo them and be certain the work is completed."

Horcruxes. That made a strange sort of sense with everything these past couple of months. Not that she really ever got to know anything. She was so far down on the power structure, it was a wonder they still summoned her to meetings. Alice probably knew about this. Maybe the Order. Not that they spoke about those things, but they had been doing this dance long enough to read through the lines.

“So, you didn’t think you might also want to have Basilisk venom at hand?”

Narcissa's smile bloomed. It was more genuine than anything Madison had seen since she'd come to breakfast. "I knew there was a reason besides guest-law that I didn't let Avery kill you. That hadn't come up in my research, but Mysteries has access to tomes that aren't available to me at the moment, clearly." Setting her napkin aside, she made to stand up. "Come with me. I need to find out how much we'll need to destroy something."

Madison sighed, almost immediately moving to stand only to sit back down. “Charles Avery who has disappeared.” She didn’t quite glare at Narcissa, but it was close. There was clearly still a lot she didn’t know. But apparently just enough that she did, in order to be useful. “He’s a bit of a brute, might take a solid dose to render him, but people don’t make very good horcruxes.”

"Not Avery," Narcissa said, unfussed and still pleased. "He won't be found. I have something else in mind. We'll need to wait a tenday or so to do it, but that will be adequate time to get a large amount of basilisk venom." At Madison's expression, Narcissa clarified. "His snake. I think it's his snake."

“And you need me to what? Charm the snake?” At least she had a foot, as useless as the current state of her left ankle was. “I can’t say we hit it off.” Still, she did find herself hobbling onto her feet. Curiosity was a dangerous thing.

"Estimate how much venom it will take to dissolve the snake. It can be the test case." Narcissa offered Madison her arm to help keep her upright. The lawn was mostly even but she didn't want to chance Madison being further injured.

“Do you even have a way to get Basilisk venom?” Which once she said it, Madison realized was kind of a pointless question. The Malfoys likely had more than enough money to get exactly what they wanted. “But fine, show me the snake.”

Narcissa ignored the irrelevant question in favour of paying attention to the lawn and Madison's footing. "The snake is resting. Don't worry about the lump in the middle of it, when you see it. It should be gone by the end of the tenday."