malfaiteur

Reparations

alex-moody-church‌:

“He’s missing, and no-one has looked for him? Surely there are contacts in Paris that can keep an eye out, at the very least?” Alex frowned at her. The situation must have been truly dire, for Alastor to give up on someone. But Alex had never believed in a lost cause, or giving anything less than 110% of his time and energy to things that mattered.

He supposed that casualties were a given in war, but he refused to accept that.

Alex set the basket of edible offerings on the table, glancing at the schematics with interest. They were muggle- what a novel thing to find, in a wizarding household.

When she warned him off, Alex gave her a wan smile. “I’m married to the war, at this point. I keep trying to avoid it but my husband brings it home every night. I couldnt’ stand back, so I have to be involved. If anyone shouldn’t be here it’s you, and every other young person. You should be living your lives, chasing dreams, not… dying, fighting. Going missing.

“Beer would be great, actually,” he huffed a small laugh.

Originally posted by pnnzzlr

“I’ve been looking for him, but I was missing for a month and three days. The Death Eaters had too much of a head start.” It was a depressing thought, but Victoire didn’t have much hope she’d be finding Jean unharmed. Maybe not even alive at this point. “The French police have been looking too, but they haven’t found anything since they found me. The Ministry of Magic refuses to even acknowledge he’s missing, and I’ve been shut out of the Order’s conversations about it after I.. lost my temper.”

She stepped through to her small kitchen for a moment, coming back with two bottles of beer. Charming the tops off of both, she handed one to Alex. “You seem like you’ve got the best of intentions, but you should know that war won’t fuckin’ stay clean no matter how hard you try. Merlin knows how many people are going to get fucked over like Jean was before the war’s over-- you’ll get used to it, but every single one of them has a family.”

adprice‌:

Who the fuck carries a raven around with them? Adam had had enough with weirdos when he’d finally fired Remus after being late one too many times and maybe being a werewolf and also maybe a little bit because he wouldn’t shut up about muggle authors. While he was grateful that there was at least one wizard who knew muggle mechanics he also didn’t enjoy the idea of a noisy raven hanging out inside his flat for a prolonged period of time.

“I don’t use magic in my apartment so everything should be fine,” Adam assured her pointedly looking at Sasha before turning his attention towards Victoire. “Does it bite?” If that thing fucking bit he didn’t want it anywhere near him or his apartment.

“Of course Sasha bites, he’s a raven.” Victoire didn’t blink at the question, merely offering the bird a treat as a reward for being quiet. She didn’t go anywhere without the bird anymore, as he’d developed a good degree of separation anxiety while she’d been missing. “He’s also got a great sense for magic and electricity though, so I do need him. Unless you can sense household runes, that is.”

#c: adam

advance-emmeline‌:

“She’s what?” Emmeline gasped. The Minister, dead. Oh Merlin. No wonder they were shutting everything done. No wonder she hadn’t gotten called. Nothing she could do to help a corpse after all.

“Lord above. Alright that’s… Oh Merlin.” She ran a hand through her hair as she tried to figure out what on earth even happened next. What did they do now? “Are they shutting everything down now? I imagine they must be. I’m assuming no leads?”

“Murdered,” Vic clarified, though these days that was obvious. Sasha looked away from the window back at Vic, indicating he’d seen none of the gaps that she was looking for. She swore at the disappointment, though she’d doubted she’d find one in the first place.

“They’re locking people in, and I haven’t been able to find any gaps in their charms.” Because of course now was when the Ministry had to start suddenly being competent, wasn’t it? “They’re not saying much, and I have to admit Sasha’s language skills are limited. Unless you speak raven, neither of us can really tell you if they’ve got suspects.”

#c: emmeline

advance-emmeline‌:

She had been put on reserve as a Healer for the event. Which mostly meant having to cancel a date with Maura. That part sucked the most honestly. She’d really been looking forward to spending time with her girlfriend. The Minister has her own Healers, and Emm’s practicality understood the need for backup but that didn’t really make it better. She’d wanted a nice night in.

Only now there was definitely no chance of getting home to the woman she adored. The whole building had just shut down.

Emm shot up, hand on her wand and on high alert. No news had trickled in yet.

“What’s happening?” She asked the first person who came in the room. “What just happened?”

Victoire held her hands up in surrender, the raven on her shoulder croaking in annoyance at the disturbance. There was work in the morning, she hoped this didn’t take any longer than it had to, but that was looking unlikely already.

“The Minister’s fuckin’ dead,” she said, transferring Sasha from her shoulder to her forearm in order to hold him up to the window. The bird had a knack for finding wards and charms, which she thought might come in handy for finding a way out in case they needed one. “Funny what you can find out when you’ve got a spy with wings.”

#c: emmeline

Reparations

alex-moody-church‌:

“Jean?” Alex didn’t know the name, but he knew his information was sparse. The names of those in the Order he knew were limited, but he would be a fool not to assume that at least a small portion of those reported dead and missing in recent days had once been members, too.

He took the invitation and came into the narrow hallway, following her farther up. Listening. Keeping his voice low.

“You’re right, it shouldn’t. Alastor will never let me be a soldier, and I wouldn’t wish it, but I’m here to do whatever I can. Help fix things that never should have gone wrong.”

Originally posted by pnnzzlr

“My good friend, who the Order decided had something they wanted.” There was no shortage of bitterness in Victoire’s voice, but her face did soften slightly at the realisation that the man standing in front of her didn’t really know what he was stepping into. “He’s been missing since December. We were attacked by Death Eater sympathisers in Paris, and we-- well, we got fuckin’ split up.”

That was certainly glossing over the details, but Vic felt she might get in trouble for traumatising Moody’s husband too much. The information was out there if he wanted it, anyways.

She led him back into the living room, moving a pile of engine schematics off of the couch to clear space. “Moody’s right about something. You don’t want to get any more involved in this shit than you have to.” Her mother’s influence kicked in for just a second, chiding her about being rude to guests. “Can I get you tea or something? I think we have tea. We definitely have beer.”

adprice‌:

Adam really regretted the fact that he wasn’t a good mechanic. Despite all the books he read and all the times he tried, he could never fix any of his muggle mechanics on his own. Normally this would be an excuse to travel into Muggle London and drop it off at the shop but not this time. For starters he needed his phone fixed as soon as possible so that his parents could contact him and then there was also the fact that he had to be at the store more often because of Remus’ recent firing that left him without time to do much of anything. So he was very grateful when he could hunt down a witch that could help him and fast.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he said politely once he’d opened the door for her. “The phone’s just in this room over here.”

@v-for-victoire

Vic hadn’t bothered to change out of her coveralls after leaving her actual job, having planned on taking care of a few calls from what was becoming her rather lucrative side business between leaving work and heading back to her flat. She didn’t claim to be able to fix everything, but just being the go-between for wizards and muggle repair shops had enough of a market as it was. Things were going well in one part of her life, at least.

“It’s no problem,” She said with a smile, ignoring the way the raven on her shoulder cawed amusedly at her fake customer service voice. “I’m Victoire, and this is my assistant Sasha.” Gesturing toward the bird, who promptly fell silent at the attention as if caught doing something he shouldn’t. “I’ve just got to ask-- is there any way the phone could have met any kind of magic that might make it dangerous to work on?”

#c: adam

Reparations

alex-moody-church‌:

Victoire’s expression didn’t change, but Alex took it in stride. Didn’t make any movements or seem to press. His smile dimmed into a softer expression.

“Alastor Moody,” he said calmly, though he did glance around, just slightly, to make sure there was no-one too close. It was late evening so the street seemed deserted, but- well, being married to Alastor had taught him that one could never be too careful.

“It’s only very recently that he’s stopped being stubborn and allowed me to join,” he explained calmly. “And I was told what happened to. What’s happened to… a lot of people, who didn’t deserve it. Things that never should have been allowed to happen to anyone. I’m so sorry, Victoire.”

Originally posted by bellarkeagain

Moody has a husband. That didn’t surprise Vic as much as it would have at one point, but it was still a change from her previous idea that he was some sort of Ministry hologram gone rogue. She briefly considered saying he had the wrong place, perhaps pretending to be Juliette or Sylvanie, but she had the feeling her chance had passed.

“Then you can tell your husband that Jean’s still missing,” she said, but stood aside and motioned for Alex to come into the flat. There was no sense in having that conversation out in the hallway for anyone to overhear. “No one’s seen him since he and I got separated in France-- months ago. That’s the sort of thing that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

Reparations

alex-moody-church‌:

Alex blinked at the profanity, but it didn’t ruffle him. He’d been a teacher for five years, and he had six siblings. He’d heard it all and seen it all. So he smiled at her bird- a curious familiar and one he’d never encountered before- and smiled at her and tried to look as harmless as possible.

Which. In his experience wasn’t hard considering he was a wholly average 5′10.

“I’m Alex,” he said simply. “I wasn’t sure what you like to eat so, I- brought a bit of everything. Officially, I’m not here, because my husband would never shut up about it if he knew. Unofficially, I’m… the apology crew, I suppose.”

He wondered if she would invite him in, or if they’d have the whole conversation on her stoop. It was certainly a fine enough night to linger outside, so he didn’t mind.

“For the Order. I probably should have led with that.”

Originally posted by pnnzzlr

Vic didn’t let up on her glare, not at all convinced the man’s intentions were what he said they were and not entirely convinced she should let him in even if he was telling the truth. Sasha, ever the coward, cawed at the stranger one last time before taking off to perch on the couch in the room behind Vic.

“Whose husband?” She asked suspiciously, hand still on the door and ready to shut it in his face. Poisoned food was something she’d been warned of, and an Order member coming to apologize was something that should have happened months ago. Not now, they’d made it clear they really didn’t care. “I haven’t heard anyone talk about anyone named Alex.”

the-last-moody‌:

“For fucks sake,” Moody muttered but letting the witch pass. He didn’t like that people knew where he lived, but lately it seemed to be a battle he was going to lose. He’d kept it hidden for awhile, but unlike himself Alex had a habit of actually wanting people over.

He’d figure out the rest of it later, and shuffle things around if he needed too. “If you want to keep your foot I recommend avoiding going near the stairs going up,” Following her in and getting ready for whatever was about to happen.

“Don’t you dare ‘for fuck’s sake’ me,” Vic said, looking back over her shoulder to glare at Moody. She wanted to be here about as much as he seemed to want her here, but he’d left her very little choice. There was little doubt he was serious about the stairs being trapped though, so she followed the instructions to avoid.

“To start, Jean hasn’t been found yet-- you remember, he was the whole reason I had to go to France in the first place-- and I’m starting to get the idea I’m the only one looking.” More accurately, she’d known that since the beginning. “So it was a bit of a fucking surprise when who shows up but your goddamn husband, who seemed to think food would make me forget about the whole fucking thing.”

#c: moody

mlle-laurette‌:

Laure sat huddled on the very end of the couch, glad that Vic wasn’t looking so her friend couldn’t see the way her face wavered on the edge of nothingness. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do now. She’d never had to be someone who didn’t have a twin before.

When she tried to form words all that came out was a hiccupy sob. It took a few more frantic sob-coughs before anything resembling French or English made it past her lips. “I feel so lost.”

Vic managed to convince her bird to hop down onto her forearm, feeding him a treat to keep him calm. Sasha tore into the biscuit with great enthusiasm, no doubt getting crumbs on the floor. Used to his antics, Vic simply carefully moved them both to sit on the couch next to Laure.

She’d never been as close to her sisters as Laure had been to René, but she still was scared as hell by the prospect of losing them. They’d always been a unit, not until that month she’d been missing had she ever really been alone before. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” she said gently, reaching over to rub her friend’s back.

Even Sasha quieted down from his biscuit induced excitement, hopping off of Vic’s arm and over to the familiar girl. He croaked something that sounded rather like Laurie, rubbing against her arm with his head in a vague imitation of Vic’s actions.

#c: laure

Reparations

alex-moody-church‌:

Alex supposed he should just accept, sooner rather than later, that his role in the Order was going to be based entirely around food and apologies. His husband refused to give him combat missions even though Alex was experienced in an array of defensive magics, and he wasn’t really in a position to be a spy, unless it turned out that Death Eaters enjoyed fine pastries and dessert cocktails as much as the rest of the general population.

Which was why he found himself standing outside Victoire Fortescue’s flat with a basket of food and an apology on his lips that she probably wouldn’t want to hear.

“I’m sorry you got abandoned by the people who were supposed to have your back. I’m sorry my husband had to be the one to make the call. I’m sorry this stupid war is happening when you’re supposed to be enjoying your youth.”

But no-one ever wanted apologies, so he resolved to keep his mouth mostly shut. Let the food do the talking, and listen with his good ear. Make sure this girl was alright, or at least, as alright as she could be.

Originally posted by neshamaprincess

@v-for-victoire

Vic wasn’t usually much of one to answer the door when no one was expected, but recent events had her worried that a knock could be an auror announcing that something had happened to her sisters. That, or someone coming with information about Jean. She’d been looking for him since before she’d even been released from the hospital-- even hired a private investigator-- but had come up with a grand total of nothing.

As it was, both she and the raven sitting on her shoulder met the stranger at the door with a skeptical glare. Vic had just gotten back from work, still wearing heavy boots and coveralls with the Blue’s Auto Shop logo. Sasha seemed quite upset by the intrusion, rustling his feathers and croaking his complaints.

“Who the fuck are you?”