Hello, friends! Sorry again for the delay in posting...but I'll make it up to you. I promise.
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Thursday, April 7th, 2005
The door opened to Gerard, who beamed down at Draco delightedly.
"Mr. Malfoy! So glad you've decided to join us! And Peter, again, lovely to see you."
He nodded to Peter.
"Well, off we go, then!" and he turned and walked through the gates into a large, wide hallway.
Above him, Draco heard the shuffle of feet through the ceiling and looked up.
"Ah, simply another part of the factory, Mr. Malfoy. But today we are putting you at the beginning of the line" Gerard said.
He led them to the left through a narrower hallway. The first door he opened on the right showed Draco a huge warehouse-like room that held high shelves of what looked like blocks of metal. There was some sort of moving counter on the other side of the room, too, that disappeared through a small window. The room was hot.
"Like all jobs, you must work your way to the more desirable positions. And so you'll start here, in the melting room." Gerard said, making a sweeping motion to show the room.
"Cauldrons are particularly difficult to make, as many of the typical spells we use in production can interfere with the way the metal forms. Potion-making with a poorly formed cauldron…" Gerard shook his head in disgust.
"Wizards, you understand, will outright refuse to work without a wand, so this entire factory is made up of muggles."
Gerard looked like he thought Draco and Peter should be very impressed by this show of muggle equality.
"That's…interesting," was as enthusiastic as Draco could manage to sound.
Gerard beamed at him again and kept talking.
"I must admit, those muggles certainly find a way to get out of work. Look, they insisted we create this thing—it's called a conveyor— so that all they have to do is put the blocks of copper or brass on top of the mold, and then the conveyor carries it through the furnace where the blocks are melted and fill the mold."
Gerard went to the end of the conveyor, away from the window which apparently led to a furnace.
"If you turn this lever," he said, pointing at a lever on the side of the countertop, "It stops or starts it."
Draco nodded, noticing for the first time that sunk into the conveyor thing were little cast iron boxes that acted as cauldron casts.
"So what we need you to do, my friends, is read the side of the molds to see what metal they require and how many bars."
Gerard had brought them closer to the conveyor full of molds and was pointing at a small, barely legible inscription on one of the molds. It read, "B. 2 bars."
"Ah, this one requires brass with two bars. Mr. Malfoy, would you mind fetching them for me?" Gerard gestured to the wall of metal behind Draco.
Draco turned and saw that the shelves were arranged by type of metal, and that the middle section held row after row of blocks of brass, each about the size of his hand."
He brought two blocks over, and Gerard showed him and Peter how to arrange them properly on the top of the mold. He went over all the mold types, including the heaviest, which called for as many as fifteen blocks of copper. For each one, the blocks had to be arranged in a precise way so that they would melt into the mold correctly.
When Gerard was certain that they could arrange all the molds properly, over an hour had passed and all three were sweating and puffing.
"Well, there you go, my friends. Sorry for the heat, but this is only a temporary position. We'll be moving you to some more comfortable work once we get more of your friends to join us." Gerard mopped his head with a now-drenched handkerchief. "Someone will be up with breakfast at nine thirty. You can take it in the room upstairs. Good day."
And Gerard looked very relieved to be leaving the boiling hot room. Draco heard the door lock behind him.
Draco didn't have much time to think about this, however, because the conveyor-thing was moving, and Peter and he still hadn't filled half of the molds with the proper metals yet.
Peter was seeming less and less enthusiastic for their new jobs the longer time went on. At 8:30, he simply stopped working and stood around to wait for breakfast while Draco raced back and forth from the conveyor to the shelves, trying to fill them properly as fast as he could. He would have stopped the conveyor for a break, but he couldn't figure out which way to pull it without getting too behind on the cauldrons.
Peter easily turned around and turned the lever, causing the conveyer to stop, as soon as a hefty and sour-faced woman with a tray arrived for their breakfast at nine thirty. On leaving the room, they found themselves accompanied by two guards on their way up the stairs to what was apparently the break room. It was cool up there, and both of them devoured their food, Peter only looking more and more disgruntled.
They were returned to the melting room after a half hour.
Peter didn't even pretend to work. As soon as the door was locked behind them, he leaned against a stool and crossed his arms.
Draco practiced moving the lever to turn the conveyor on and off before he went back to work. It stuck so that he had to push really hard to get it to engage.
He took his time with the rest of the shift, allowing himself to turn off the conveyor for a break when he got behind. By the time the guards came back to walk them back to the yard, Draco's back was aching and his hands were dirty and blistering in a few places. Even Peter looked dirty and tired, as if just standing in that room doing nothing was exhausting.
Astoria ran up to him as soon as he walked through the gate.
"Are you all right? What happened?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."
"What did they have you doing?"
"Putting metal with cauldron molds in this room that must have been a thousand degrees." He hadn't stopped walking towards their room. All he could think about was how nice a shower would be.
"Oh. Well, how was it?"
"Fine. Didn't see anyone all day practically. Peter's worthless. Didn't do anything."
"And you are okay?"
"Yes, Astoria, I'm fine. Just tired."
He walked straight into the bathroom and turned on the shower. By the time he had washed all the grime off, Astoria had hung a change of clothes for him on the back of the door, which he gratefully changed into.
Lunch was already on the table, and Draco wolfed down the roast chicken, potatoes, and asparagus while Astoria watched him.
"You should sleep," she said, pushing the uneaten food around on her plate.
"You need to eat all of that," Draco said, ignoring her.
"If I eat will you take a nap?"
"Sure." Honestly, sleep sounded amazing.
He waited until she had eaten half of her plate, and then crawled under the sheets. He was asleep in minutes.
Martin and Anna were waiting for her when Astoria stepped out of the room, carrying a large basket from her and Draco's pantry.
"Is he all right?" Anna asked.
"I think so. Just really tired. He's already asleep."
The three of them moved to the patio table while Astoria relayed everything Draco had told her. It wasn't much.
"Where's Marie?"
"Peter called her back to their room," Martin said.
Both Anna and Astoria frowned.
"Draco must have been tired," Anna said quietly. "He didn't notice our new friends."
All three of them looked towards the trees where a German woman with perfectly curled hair and red painted fingernails was sitting in the grass and a wiry jumpy man with black hair was pacing anxiously between the trees and the wall. His name was Jonas. Hers was Vera.
Astoria was busy unloading her basket. "Did you guys get much to eat?"
Anna shook her head.
"I figured. Here, I brought it all out for you. I'm going to ask them over."
"I'll do it," Anna said, and she left the table to talk with Vera again.
Vera, like everybody on their first day out, was standoffish and declined the invitation.
The three of them sat and ate in silence, periodically looking over the doors. Missy and Adrian appeared to be getting along and so were holed up in their room. Astoria was just about to knock on Marie's door when the girl herself opened it and slipped out into the yard looking frazzled.
Anna waved her over and asked her what was wrong.
Marie waved her off as she took a seat, saying something fast.
"Bad work day," Anna explained to Astoria.
"Yeah, Draco mentioned that Peter didn't enjoy the assignment," Astoria said.
Marie appeared to understand and looked like that wasn't the half of it, but she didn't say anything.
Martin, sensing that Marie wanted to talk more but wouldn't while he was there, politely excused himself. He walked purposely over to Jonas, and the two began talking while Jonas paced.
"So bad work day?" Astoria asked Marie.
"Oui. He is—" Marie hesitated. "He is angry."
Anna asked her something in French, to which Marie said a lot of things that Astoria didn't understand besides, "No, no," right at the beginning.
They talked back and forth for a while. Astoria stared at the table and did her best to look warm and inviting and not at all dying to know what they were saying. From the tone, Anna was upset and reprimanding Marie, and Marie was apologizing and making excuses.
Eventually they quieted down, and Marie looked uncomfortable. At this point she had figured out that Astoria didn't speak a lick of French, and turned to her.
"He is angry when I speak French. You can help?"
"Help you how?"
"English. Help my English."
"Oh, well you're already doing better than I thought. I didn't know you could speak at all."
Marie blushed and smiled. "A little. A little."
"Well, of course I can help. And you can help me learn French."
Astoria saw Anna nod to this out of the corner of her eye.
All three were silent. Marie turned to Anna again.
"Your baby is—when?"
"Oh. September. Probably around the 7th. And you?"
"Novembre. Et vous?" Marie turned to Astoria.
"Oh! I, um. Well, we haven't really figured it out yet. I hadn't thought to use the calendar for that." Because, Astoria realized, she and Draco were doing wonderfully pretending that a baby was some vague, far-off event in the future that they didn't need to think about for a very long time.
"How far along are you?" Anna asked.
"Um, six weeks?"
"All right, well that puts you at…" Anna counted on her fingers. "November, too."
Marie beamed at her and said something Astoria couldn't understand.
"She said maybe they will share a birthday," Anna smiled a little sadly.
All three were quiet.
Marie spoke first. "I always wanted a baby," She said the words slowly, carefully pronouncing each word. "But…"
Anna nodded. "But different." She looked across at Martin for a moment. "I wanted a little girl named Morgan. It was my mother's name."
Marie asked something in French, looking anxious.
"I don't know. Astoria, do you think they will let us name them?"
"I—I don't know."
"Have you thought of names?"
"Um, no. We haven't. Draco's not—very happy about it."
The other two looked like they understood exactly what she meant.
"Et vous?" Anna turned to Marie.
"Oui. Amie, or Solís. For a girl."
"Solís. That's a pretty name. What's it from?"
"Il signifie comfort," Marie explained.
Astoria wondered how lonely Marie must be living with someone like Peter.
Over dinner, Draco and Astoria were quiet.
"Martin said he would go to work tomorrow," Astoria said.
Draco nodded.
They went back to silence. Draco looked like he was still half asleep.
Astoria cleared her throat nervously. "November."
"What?" Draco was still staring at his food, chewing.
"November. The baby's due in November."
Draco seemed to take extra-long to finish chewing and take a sip of water.
"Okay."
"Have you thought about names?"
"What?"
Astoria forced herself to not snap at him. "You heard me."
"Oh." He took his time putting his fork down and leaning back in his chair.
"Have you?" he asked.
"No."
"I think that's good."
"What do you mean, you think that's good?"
"I don't know that we should get—attached." He was pointedly not looking at her.
"Draco, this isn't a puppy we found in the rain. It's a child. And it's just as much yours as it is mine, whether you like it or not."
"They might take it away."
"We don't know that."
"Astoria, really." He looked at her, exasperated.
"Why would they give us all those parenting books? Shouldn't we at least prepare for and consider the possibility of us keeping it?"
He shrugged noncommittally.
"Think about how unprepared we will be if they don't take it away, and then we have a baby with no idea how to care for it, no names picked out, nothing."
"It will be harder that way."
"Don't pretend to be all noble. You just don't like anything to do with feelings and caring for people. Heaven forbid you get attached to your own child." Her voice had reached a shrill note, and part of her brain was telling her that perhaps Draco was just tired and that he was doing really well for a person who hadn't allowed himself to care about anyone since the War.
Draco grimaced.
Astoria stood up and pushed away from the table. "I'm going to take a shower."
By the time she got out of the shower, Draco was already asleep on his side of the bed.
She fell asleep running through the names that ran in her family.
She thought of her middle name, Cassiopeia, and she dreamed of a little girl called Cassie.
Friday, April 8th, 2005
Martin was gone when Astoria and Draco stepped onto the grassy yard the next morning. Missy was already out with Anna, looking deeply unhappy.
"Good morning," Anna said. Draco thought her smile was strained.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Martin was the only one who went to work today," Anna said.
"Because Adrian can't be bothered to do anything but sulk all day," Missy spat.
"Yes, Missy and Adrian aren't getting along right now," Anna said, and she sounded even more strained.
Not that Missy noticed. She was already ranting about how selfish and spineless Adrian was. She only seemed to notice Draco once she'd gone on about how fast she would go to work if she could.
"Why are you here?"
"Martin and Draco decided to take turns for work," Astoria answered for him.
"Why?"
Astoria shrugged. "Just to be safe."
Actually, Draco thought, Martin had agreed to go because Draco had been too tired. At least that's what he had thought. But he hadn't talked to Astoria since dinner the night before, so there was no way to confirm this.
Astoria didn't seem to care, though. Still bothered about last night, he figured.
"Peter didn't go to work?" Draco asked.
"No. We haven't seen him or Marie." Anna said.
Missy made a comment about yet another worthless male, which everyone else ignored.
Astoria went and stood at Marie's door for a moment, and Draco followed her. They listened silently before Astoria sighed, not hearing anything.
Draco didn't move back with her but reached for her hand.
She stopped and let him hold it, watching him expectantly.
But he didn't know what to say. He was pretty sure Astoria wouldn't appreciate that he never even called the baby a baby. In his head, he always referred to it at The Parasite—something there against their will that was stealing nutrients from Astoria and that would probably do more harm than good.
So no, he hadn't thought about names. You don't usually name parasites.
After a few moments of embarrassed silence, he put his hand back to his side and walked with her back over to the little group at the patio table. He could see the disappointment on her face.
Astoria and Draco had both just settled quietly into their chairs when Vera and Jonas' door opened, and the yard echoed with a man's shrill and desperate voice and the sound of falling—or thrown—objects.
Vera slipped through the door and closed it behind her, and the noise stopped.
She stayed leaning against the door for a moment, and then walked away from the patio table and towards the trees. They couldn't see her after she sat down behind one of the tree trunks.
"Should we—" Anna began, but then Marie's door opened, and Marie slipped out of her room just as quietly. She was wearing the same robes she'd been in yesterday, and her hair was messy and undone from the braid she'd had it in before.
Astoria and Anna were on their feet the moment they recognized a bruise along the side of her face.
"I didn't get the chance to tell you, Draco heard Anna say under her breath as she and Astoria walked quickly towards Marie, "But yesterday she said that he—" but by then they had reached where Marie was sitting on the stoop outside her door, curling in on herself with her arms around her legs.
Anna knelt carefully next to her and murmured something to her that Draco couldn't hear.
Marie shook her head and kept her head low with her hair hiding her left eye.
Anna said something again, and put an arm around Marie to help her up. Astoria quickly went to Marie's other side, and together they walked her to Anna's room and shut the door.
Marie wouldn't tell them what happened, but they managed to help her wash away some of the crusted blood from a cut by her eye. After helping her change into one of Anna's clean nightgowns—both noticing a handful of bruises along her arms—they settled her on Anna's couch with an extra blanket and pillow.
When she fell asleep, Anna made some tea, and she was finally able to tell Astoria the conversation they had had in French the day before. Apparently, Anna had asked Marie if Peter had ever hurt her, and Marie had said something along the lines of, "No, not very much."
They sipped their tea in silence, thinking.
"It's better when he's feeling in control. And when he is not—what do you say? Bored," Anna said.
"Did she say that yesterday?"
Anna nodded.
"We have to find a way to make him go to work, then," Astoria said. "And it can't be whatever awful thing Gerard had them doing yesterday."
"Or he has to feel better about it," Anna said.
"What do you mean?"
"I think—could we change how he sees it? Could we make him think it was exercise, or—"
But Marie was stirring again, so Anna rushed over to her to see if she wanted anything to eat or drink.
And for the first time, Astoria took a moment to notice just how identical their rooms were. Marie was on the same purple couch, and the same purple curtains graced the back window. The only difference was the shelves—these ones held books in French in addition to a few in English, and Astoria recognized a flute and more than one music book.
Lunch for her and Draco was a meager affair, although Anna and Martin had more than enough food to share with them. Martin, it appeared, had fared a little better in the melting room, thanks to a charmed fan placed in the room by Gerard.
But while it was enough food to feed Anna, Martin and perhaps two other people, it wasn't enough for everyone in the whole yard.
No one had gotten much food besides Anna and Martin, and two people—Adrian and Jonas—hadn't been given any food at all. And while Anna convinced a begrudging Missy to bring Adrian a plate, Vera told them it was pointless to waste food on Jonas since he wouldn't eat it.
Anna was careful to reserve food for Marie, but then both Peter and Missy heaped their plates from the spread on the table, and after they had picked through the food, all that was left was a meager portion for Anna, Martin, Astoria, and Draco.
To make matters worse, no one's pantry had been restocked, so there was nothing to eat besides tea, water, and whatever fruit or bread hadn't rotted in the cabinets.
Astoria noticed that Draco took only a few bites before shoving the rest of his mince pie onto her plate. She was so hungry she didn't argue with him and ate it.
The afternoon was miserable. Marie stayed in Anna's room, wrapped in a blanket on the couch, while Martin fell asleep in one of the patio chairs outside. Draco tried pacing to distract himself from hunger while Astoria took up her sketch book and drew out a picture of Tower Bridge in London.
But even that didn't last long.
Instead, she found herself looking from Anna's room where she could just see the couch with Marie to the line of trees where Vera had lain all day in the shade. Missy had disappeared into her room again, and had left the door cracked so that they could all hear her arguing—again—with Adrian.
She looked down and saw that she had written on the back of her first sketch—the one of Louisiana trees with Spanish moss—a list that read:
Anna and Martin – not enough food
Marie and Peter – Protect M, keep Peter working
Missy and Adrian – Keep from fighting, need more food
Vera and Jonas – help J settle, need more food
She looked up when Draco sat next to her and read her notes. He sighed.
"You'd better hide that."
Astoria closed the notebook.
"I talked to Martin," he said after some silence. "We'll both go to work in the morning."
So what do you think? And Question: You know I've posted interviews from Victims 3 and 4. What other material would you like to see? Notes from Gerard? An interview with a toddler Scorpius? Let me know! I'm mining for ideas!