Chapter Twelve: Plots, Homes, and Stalls
July 1st 1998
"I'm telling you to tell John that I am not his oven!" Audrey leaned away from Ellie as she continued her rant. "The man leaves me pregnant during a war with the entire Alley under siege, and he comes back ten months later. He left me with an accident, a happy accident, but John's going to have to wait to talk to me about siblings until I've had a couple years worth of a full night's sleep." She tickled Junior's belly affectionately. "You will be waiting on that little sister."
Audrey propped her feet on the table where Ellie was selling her baked goods at an abandoned stand from before the war, she had made it her personal project to turn this small stand into a temporary business stand. Ellie was successful in this regard, most of her business returned with a smile, kind words, and to tickle Junior's chin. Maybe the baby was part of the reason Ellie's customers spread the word so quickly about her return to business. Junior was adorable after all.
"I can't believe you want more. Junior's cute Ellie, but you want to go through the nappies and late nights again after just finishing with the first one." Audrey was an only child who never had the opportunity for a sibling. Maybe this clouded her judgment on the subject, Audrey had never really thought about marriage and children. Not much of an opportunity over the past couple of years. "I think you're nuts."
Ellie stuck her tongue out playfully, "I'm an only child too, Aud. Weren't you lonely as a kid?"
"A bit. Grandmum and Grandda were to up in years to play with me, they taught me stuff mostly. Grandda taught me how to hotwire a car."
"And that's why I want more than one," Ellie smiled, "So that you and Lucia can't focus all of your corruption on my one child." Audrey laughed.
Something caught Audrey's attention. Just across the street next to a fruit stand was the Junior Assistant with Felix Flanders who was talking loudly about some pictures he had taken for a class for a portfolio he was calling The Office. Felix seemed to be rather evasive about what the pictures were of. The two women stood and leaned over the counter to hear better. Audrey saw a sight that made the corners of her mouth turn up in amusement. Serena Scoresby was walking casually behind the two men appearing to be distracted by the bright fruit on sale, but her body looked very tense and ready for something. When they both stopped Serena bumped into Percy, Serena looked up and muttered an apology, as he turned away. Audrey noticed Serena tuck something shiny in her pocket before turning around and walking back up the street.
"Hey, did that kid just snitch your pocket watch?"
Audrey saw the skinny girl try and disappear into the crowd. Unfortunately, Serena couldn't quite manage this. Percy reached out and had placed his hand on her shoulder stopping the girl dead in her tracks. He held his hand out as a crowd slowed down to watch what was happening.
"Could I have my watch back?"
"Weatherby, that isn't going to work you know."
"Don't call me that."
The shorter man just grinned, and said something in Gaelic.
Percy paled as his friend finished speaking. Audrey leaned over the counter for a better look. Serena saw an opportunity as he took his eye off of her she twisted away shouting "Stranger danger!" and kicked him.
Every man who was watching the scene cringed in sympathy. Audrey just doubled over laughing; she was laughing too hard to go after the girl as she took off the pocket watch still in her pocket leaving Percy doubled over in pain. Audrey watched her pick up a snooty looking witch's purse before disappearing completely into the crowd. Talented girl, talented in the wrong field.
Ellie shook her head in disbelief. "You know, Serena was a pretty sweet kid before the war. Her mother kept her in line; Selene was the only parent she had. I liked her quite a bit. I left after they began to make those executions public, regularly. Selene was the first to go, which set a lot of people off, especially considering those kids she had taken in saw her head blown off."
Audrey stopped laughing and looked at Ellie in horror. She had not heard this story. "What did Selene do?"
"She was a freelance writer and was publishing pamphlets against the Ministry, raising moral and all that, recording every atrocity, every death that reached her ears. There was a woman that was burned alive after Selene was killed, she was the second to die; she's haunting the Alley now. I left after a couple of months after Selene's murder, I was about five months into my pregnancy and I went to stay with my parents. I was married to a Muggle-born, I was afraid I'd be next." Ellie shivered, holding Junior a little tighter. "I was scared."
This made Audrey more disturbed, what was being done for these displaced kids like Serena Scoresby? Were they getting the help they needed? Audrey rolled her eyes; bureaucrats in the Ministry were probably still debating it.
The snooty witch let out a screech as she realized her purse was gone. Ellie sighed and sat back down, "Are you going to help them or not?"
"Why do I have to help them?"
Ellie rolled her eyes and fixed Audrey with a very maternal glare that made Audrey feel guilty for things in her life that she had not yet done.
"You want to come?"
"As much as I'd like to, I like earning money more." Ellie smiled, "Besides, I can't ask John to watch Junior; he's studying for the Healers exam. And I can only imagine the places were Serena's spending her time." Ellie shuddered. "Have fun Audie, if I see Cappie I'll get him into advertising for my new location again seeing as I lack your sense of adventure."
Audrey smiled, "See you Ellie!" She stepped out of the stand and kept her eyes on the crowd where Serena had disappeared. Audrey tiptoed through the crowd and tapped Felix on the shoulder. "Hello Felix, is he okay?"
"Does he look okay, Audrey?" Felix responded as he shook his head with a grimace as Percy started to move back into an upright position. "That was underhanded."
"Pretty below the belt actually," Audrey retorted as she made a mental note to stop listening to Lucia's dirty remarks. It was starting to rub off on her. Percy gave her a nasty glare. No respect for the art of the pun. "I'm pretty sure Serena took your watch, you want it back? I'm pretty sure I know where she hangs out."
Truthfully, Audrey had last seen Serena's hideaway in early May a couple of weeks before the riot. If the girl had any sense at all she would have a lot of different locations just in case someone wandered to close for comfort. Audrey was relatively sure Serena had done just that, she seemed very smart, but the fact her hideout in an old broken down building behind the shops seemed too secure a location to give up. It seemed like the kind of place any street kid would want to stay for a long period of time, Audrey thought.
"Forget her hangouts, where are her parents? It time someone told them how their daughter spends her free time. Pick pocketing, that's disgusting." Percy grumbled as the crowd began to disperse. "Have their address?"
Audrey blinked, "It's that burned out shop back there." Felix winced. "Now, do you want to come or not?"
Audrey had to laugh at the look on Percy's face as she pointed down the turn into Knockturn Alley. He looked thoroughly horrified and glanced over his shoulder as if looking for someone to stop them from doing something stupid. Percy shook his head and adjusted the collar of his robes. Audrey had no such reputation to uphold, but she still pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. Septimus had done a few black market dealings with Audrey along in case he needed to send her to pick up something for an experiment she would know where to go and who to look for. Not everybody down here would be so kind to a lost apprentice researcher. Her first solo trip down here to pick up a package nearly put her morgue, and that was her first week of employment.
It was dark, creepy, and the perfect place to hide if one did not want to be found. Actually, she found Serena's hideout after following her after she picked the pockets of Alley customers. She was not all that hard to follow in all honesty, Serena knew she was being followed and might have begun to panic. These days she seemed to be getting a little subtler. Today she was just unlucky. Most of the time, people never suspected a cute little girl capable of theft.
Serena and Cappie were friends, Audrey knew that much. She had no idea how close they were Audrey thought they must have gotten to know each other during the war. Adamina and Martin had stated once that they wished their son had more kids his age to play with nearby. And they also mentioned that all of their friends had older children then Cappie. He must have been a bit lonely.
"Why did Felix stay behind?" Audrey asked as she examined some of the shop signs trying to remember the way she had followed Serena into the back alleyway. That stall was not there last time. "Not very adventurous or something?"
Percy shrugged, "He said something about developing some film for his photography class. He's been meaning to go in and take care of it for a couple of weeks but he got bogged down with paperwork."
"Oh," Audrey was not sure she wanted to know what Felix found to take pictures of. She curbed her curiosity to another topic. "You look uncomfortable."
"Aren't you?"
Audrey looked up thoughtfully; going into Knockturn alone was far scarier than going in with someone to watch your back. It was still creepy with other people there but one had a better chance of coming back out with everything you came in with in groups. Audrey was sent down for potion ingredients the local place didn't sell and walked in on some kind of deal. Septimus was with her and managed to keep them out of too much trouble. Being friendly with the owner was a bonus.
"No, not really." Audrey glanced at a couple of familiar looking shop signs from the time she followed Serena to her hideout. They looked familiar enough to start with. The way there was full of twists and turns and Audrey thought that she could remember the way. The backs of the shops had faded signs from the days when shady dealings were more common. "Right this way."
"Are you sure about that? Last time I followed you somewhere I almost got eaten by a plant." It was silent for a moment, "What kid is going to hide back here?"
Audrey was starting to think Percy wasn't very street smart. He also seemed to be one of those people who saw the glass half empty. That sounded like someone she knew… She just could not put a finger on it.
"A kid who knows that the odds of someone coming back this way are slim. From what I've seen, Serena's pretty smart."
There was an irritated sound from behind Audrey.
"Intelligence isn't just measured by test grades. I've met people who had high scores but were just so stupid about other things that I could hardly talk with them. I've also met other people who were in possession of a lot of common sense and also were very bright. It's a balance." Audrey remembered her grandfather being that way. He leaned more on common sense then the higher pursuits at the university level that Audrey found so fascinating. He was smart; he just reasoned that most people did not discuss a lot of the things taught at a university on a normal day.
Percy was silent; Audrey took that as she had made her point and won a disagreement. That was rare enough for Audrey to grin widely; arguing with Septimus was too exhausting for her to pursue her point at length, so those days when she won an argument against other people just made her day that much brighter.
Her footsteps became softer as they came closer to Serena's suspected home. It was still as rundown as Audrey remembered from her last visit. It was an old building presumable from the days when the black market was at its peak during the time of World War I and II. The dates corresponding with the Wizarding Wars of the time, Audrey suddenly felt the need to look more deeply into those conflicts. Maybe it would be easier to read about other conflicts then think about the most recent one.
The building was sturdy looking, it was a stone building whose walls were still standing but a ladder to the roof appeared to be in questionable condition. She would check out the ladder later, she crept quietly to the window and peered inside finding it a little cleaner than expected. It looked lived in, and also looked a bit like any normal ten-year-old girl's room. Sort of; Audrey expected a little more color. The money she was taking must not have been going to renovations. Audrey walked away from the window and gave the ladder a couple of gentle tugs causing it to clamor loudly against the stone. She raised an eyebrow; it might be able to hold her weight, which meant Serena would have no problems going up if the need arose.
Reaching up and grabbing the highest rung she was able, the soles of Audrey's boots scrapping against the wall as she pulled herself up onto the ladder. Curiosity was one of the reasons she ended up in Ravenclaw; she was almost put into Gryffindor for shear recklessness. She scurried up the ladder until she reached the roof while Percy looked around the outside of the building.
The roof was very quiet, peaceful, and very clean. There was a lounge chair sitting under a sheet that a pair of nails that were sticking out of the small shack next to it. A few books shoved under the chair suggested that Serena liked to come up here and read. Audrey knelt down and read some of the titles on the spine. A History of Weaponry, Weapon Concealment for the Paranoid, (Audrey made a note to find a copy of that), How to be Prepared for the Unexpected, Spying for Gits, Basic Anatomy for Children, and Harriet Pottmaker and the Sacred Stone. Audrey smiled at the girl's strange taste in reading materials; she always suspected that Serena was bright. The thought that she was trying to better herself made Audrey smile wider. It faded when she remembered that Serena was a thief and possibly also using these materials to become better at her craft. Audrey stood and walked over to the door of the shack that was hanging off its hinges and peered inside finding it empty of all forms of life. Except for spiders. There were a lot of spiders.
Turning back around to go back to the ladder and head back down to the street Audrey was sure Serena had not come straight back to her home. She made sure her foot was securely on the rung before beginning her decent. Though she slipped on bottom rung and lost her grip and collided with Percy who managed to stop her from falling over.
"Are you alright?"
Audrey nodded slowly, feeling suddenly rather awkward. Her stomach dropped into her feet. "Yes, I'm fine." He let got of her arms. "I hate to say that if Serena's not here, I have no idea where she is going to be. She'll probably be back later after she sells everything." Audrey paused as she realized that was probably what Serena was doing. " Um...I'll tell Russell to tell Cadwallader to send someone down to start looking for her, maybe Cadwallader could find a place for her."
"It's alright, it's just a pocket watch. If I get it back, that would be great. If I don't then I'll live. You're standing on my foot by the way."
"Oh, sorry." Audrey removed her foot and stepped back. "Sure you don't want to wait her out or anything?" Audrey paused and thought for a moment. "Why is it that children like Serena can't get help?"
"Minister Shacklebolt has been trying to get support and obtain funding for improvements to the children's homes that have been filled after the war ended. Quite a few officials are unwilling to part with a few sickles off their paychecks. And," Percy chuckled drily, "Businesses are as stingy with their money as goblins are."
Audrey smiled; maybe he was not completely heartless.
"Milady, I believe we can now safely come to the conclusion that the book will not be opened by our work."
"I've been thinking the same thing," The woman said calmly seeming to accept the information as something unsurprising. "Perhaps we should start thinking of another way, two months is quite long enough to judge whether or not we could open the book on our own without the aid of the spell. And my attempts to find the information in the Ministry Archives on this particular item have yielded no fruit. My efforts to go into the Department of Mysteries to search their books of myths, legends, and dark artifacts have been thwarted on each occasion. My clearance will not let me go down there." She looked back at the masked man. "I think we may need another plan."
The man in the golden mask propped his chin on his fist as he began to think. A few minutes passed before he spoke. "Perhaps we need to return to the source, Septimus Lowell."
The woman looked closely at the masked man as he continued to speak.
"Lowell had this item for sale in his shop, Merlin knows why, and I doubt he would be selling it if he really had an idea what it was. But I wouldn't put a thing past him, he is very hard to predict and very short on money from what I have heard. There are few things that I am absolutely positive of that we can use against him, the first being he is an alcoholic. My first plan involves putting Lowell in a room for a few weeks and wait for him to talk for a swig of whiskey. That should take less than a day if done correctly." The man in the mask joked as he reached for his own bottle of wine and an empty glass that he quickly filled.
The woman shook her head, "For an old man, he would be too difficult to catch. He is always around other people and I doubt retirement from the Aurors for all of these years would have slowed his either his wits or wand work. It's far too risky, one failed attempt and the old man will be very prepared the next time."
"Agreed, his inner circle is well trained in combatant. Now, the second point is that one of the few people who he would trust with any kind of information would be his apprentice."
"What about his niece?"
"They have only known about each other for a year, and I am not entirely sure where their relationship stands. Lowell treats Causey like a mixture of assistant and his own daughter. I wonder if there's another reason he keeps her around…"
The woman tilted her head slightly, "You think she is a secret-keeper don't you?"
"It's an idea we can use," he paused and took a sip of wine. "Septimus Lowell has worked very hard to keep her alive, I'm quite sure he wants to keep her that way."
The woman's eyes hardened, "I'm sure he does too. We will bring her with us when the time is right." The woman stood up so she could look at a nearby bookshelf. "I'm sure she knows many things, though I'd prefer a dead, know-nothing apprentice to an enraged master with no reason to talk."
Author's Note:
Alright I can now say with complete certainty we are making the steady climb to the climax of our tale. And I guarantee everyone that everything read here carries over to my next major project, which is a next gen piece. End me, please. It's been eating away at me for some time and my leads are beginning to order me to put their story down. My heroine's being exceptionally snarky about it.
On another note entirely, I found out my ACT score. I got another 20, but my math and science scores improved by a couple of points. Ironically, my English dropped by two. How does that work? T_T Stupid Government scholarship thingy, I will be taking it again.
