The library they spent most of their time at was a nice place, small but unnoticed, filled with useful books for teaching Su with. There weren't even any of the usual ash piles she had found within buildings, all that remained of what was once a muggle after wizards burnt the bodies.
Rows of tables, interspersed with bookshelves between them, lay along the two sides of the long room, a thick red carpet separating the two sides. Su sat at one of those tables, shiftily glancing at Morgan, as she does whenever she started slacking off.
A minuscule frown appeared on Morgans face and Su immediately diverted her attention back to the math problems in front off her. Well, she was a child. It would be unreasonable to expect her to stay focused for so long, so Morgan let it go.
It was something she constantly had to keep a check on, the way she kept falling into treating Su like an adult rather than the child she was. In some ways, Su was much more mature than any child she had ever seen before. She didn't show it much, being a generally quiet girl, but it was enough to cause Morgan to treat her as older than she was.
Focusing, Morgan concentrated upon the blue hula hoop in front of her, the rough wood of the ash wand digging into her palm and the thick carpet scrunched beneath her toes.
She would master this, no matter how long it took, just like everything else. No matter how much it hurt.
With a twist of her heel and wand, space warped and cracked around her, the world squeezing her as her body felt like being dragged through a far too thin tube. God, but it took a lot to get used to.
And that wasn't including the expected pain at the end.
With a crack, she reappeared within the hula hoop, flushed with success.
It took a moment for the pain to register.
She grit her teeth, stifling the scream she wanted to let out as she dropped to her knees, black trousers hitting the carpet and clutching her wrist. Her hand was gone, still clutching the ash wand in the other hoop from where she had apparated, leaving nothing but sharp, electrical pain racing up her arm. Her vision narrowed to a singe point as all her being focused upon the pain, resisting the urge to announce it to the world. She would not give in to this, she had experienced far worse and she would not let this affect her!
A puff of smoke erupted around her wrist and it was with relief that Morgan saw her hand had become reattached, the pain vanishing. Her thoughts were once again clear, unclouded by the urgent messages of pain stabbing her mind.
She had failed again. It was frustrating, but she never expected this to be easy. She would work at it until she got it, just like everything else.
"Again?" came Maria's tired voice. "You've been trying this for days now, why can't you just accept that you're not ready for this?" Standing above her, Maria looked unconcerned with her prior pain, lowering the wand from where she had fixed her arm.
Morgan threw a sharp-eyed glare at her. "I shall master apparition. I have no care for how long it takes." She stood up, once again entering the original hoop to try again, fingers still twitching.
"Yes, I know that, but why? I've told you before, you're just too untrained for it. You're magic is still too wild for something as complex as this and that wand is no help" she said, throwing a distasteful look at the ash wand. Maria had tried it once and after having the spell rebound on her, stuck to the one she already had. "You haven't ever managed not to splinch yourself and you've been trying for weeks."
Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Do have some faith Maria. Remember when I cut myself in half? Nothing that bad has happened in quite a while. Progress is being made, it merely takes a little time." She scowled at her next thought. "Although it would be easier if one of us could buy a book on it, rather than relying on your half-remembered teaching."
Maria had learned apparition by being shown and told what to do, she'd never gone into the theories of how it worked, her magic was trained enough that she didn't need to. Thus why it was taking so long for Morgan.
It didn't help that her mind couldn't help being distracted by the impossibility of apparition, the way a person could bend space with pure will. It merely caused her frustration trying to figure it out by instinct alone.
"Um..." began Su, looking up once again. Their eyes met, but upon Su's puppy eyes, Morgan relented and motioned for her to continue. Not an adult, she reminded herself.
"Why can't Maria buy you a book?" she asked.
Morgan waved to Maria, who explained. "Because, ever since Malfoy took charge, so-called 'dark' beings are being hunted down. Werewolves, vampires, morrigans, sirens, sphinxes, hags and so on, they've all gone into hiding or fled the country before the ministry hunts us all down." Her expression turned solemn as she explained. "My moth-" she cut herself off, eyes closing tightly. With a sigh, she sat down next to Su, face in her hands and breaths deep.
Morgan left her to herself. She knew well the feeling of losing family.
"That's not very nice" said Su, frowning. "Why would he do that? I thought he was nice, helping muggles and stuff."
"Ha! Helping muggles she says!" exclaimed Maria from behind her hands. "If only you knew! He's hardly helping them."
Su looked confused at this, but that rapidly changed to alarm at the loud crack echoing around the room as Morgan apparated to Maria's side, unconcerned about the pain throbbing from her hand.
Morgan had a sickly sweet frown upon her face as she grabbed Maria's shoulder tightly, fingers digging into her top. "Oh, don't stop on my account. Please, tell us about his treatment of the muggles. Now."
Maria finally removed her hands from her face, weepy eyes wide in shock as the temperature of the room skyrocketed, sweat beading her forehead. Morgan made no attempt to control her rampant emotions, the fury burning within her at what Maria had just implied. She'd thought Malfoy would treat the few still alive well, keep up the appearance of compassion he wore for the media…
"Y-you've never wondered? W-where do you think new orphans come from?" she said, her voice quavering from the intensity of Morgans burning gaze, drilling into her skull.
He- he was breeding them?! And the world just stood by and watched? Fucking useless, all of them! Useless old bastards! Fucking…!
Her temper only soared as she thought, heat-waves emanating from her body as power flooded her veins, held under her control by nothing more than a thin thread of control, the faint thought that Su was right next to her stopping herself from venting her rage.
She'd never given it much thought. Why would she, she had no care for the other orphans. They might as well not exist as far as she cared. They leave her and Su alone, and they don't have any repeats of Morgan beating their foolishness out of them.
But now… Half-forgotten memories rose up, of seeing babies at the orphanage and briefly wondering where they came from before dismissing the thought. She'd never considered…
That- that monster! Breath hissed out from between clenched teeth as her face thundered with fury. She would see him broken beneath her heel, just like the rest. Take his arrogant little swine of a child and make him watch as she…
She stopped that thought, calming herself a little as she reigned her magic in, the room returning to normal temperature to Su's and Maria's relief. She had to be careful, it was all too easy to label a person via what she remembered. For all that she was aware, Draco could be a perfectly reasonable child. Yes, far better not to let her judgement be clouded by preconceived notions.
And now, she itched with the urge to do something. For weeks, they'd been sitting back, collecting information and preparing. Perhaps it was time they used what they now knew.
How had she ended up here? How had she become the pawn of a ruthless, power-hungry child?
Desperation. The bitter thought echoed through her skull. She'd been desperate, it was that simple. The girl had offered her a means of survival without resorting to force and in the moment it had seemed like a good idea.
Merlin, why hadn't she just faked it? Looking back, it would have been so simple to just fake the oath. It wasn't even hard! It was just…
That night, lit by the candles Morgan had set alight with sheer will, combined with that look on her face and she'd...
It had felt like Morgan was looking at her very soul, as though she would imediately know if she did such a thing and with her life on the line, she hadn't wanted to risk it. So she swore herself to a child, it would suck but at least she would survive, right?
Would she make the same choice, if she knew then what she did now? If she knew the depths the girl was pulling her towards, the way the darkness slowly swallowed her up the more she stayed around her?
Even Morgans magic felt dark; sharp and burning, just looking for a victim. Oh, it was fading the more she gained control, but for now it was still there, ready to burn all in its path…
And it was so alluring. Su had already fallen into it, her own magic having begun to turn as dark as Morgans the longer they were around each other… The girl never stood a chance, being groomed into the perfect minion as she was. Merlin, the first time they met Morgan had just convinced her to murder someone.
But no, even now, she felt she would make the same decision. She was alive, safe, and not merely some toy.
And she couldn't help finding herself agreeing with Morgan more and more.
And that terrified her more than anything. It was a sign that she too was falling into Morgans seductive magic.
But- but what did it matter? Who cared anymore, if she became as dark as a Death Eater? The world was already fucked, at least following Morgan she would have a chance at changing things, of being so much more than she was...
She glanced down at the dark wand within her grasp. And it was a dark wand, in every way. When it came to performing dark spells, the thing sang in her grasp, feeling less and less dirty the longer she held it.
In the end, what was the good of the so-called light? Where were they when the ministry captured her mother, raped her and killed her while she watched, nothing but a quickly cast spell fom her mother preventing them from finding herself?
Vampires, werewolves, hags, all were getting more and more desperate. Sure, they could leave the country, but then what? The rest of the world was worse. Britain at least had Albus Dumbledore doing his best to campaign for their rights, little though he had succeeded. The rest of the world?
It was a blood bath, for vampires and hags especially. If she had to repay blood with blood to change things, then…
She cut off that line of thought, shaking her head, More and more she found herself with such thoughts as Morgans darkness swallowed her. Merlins beard, but it would be so much easier if she wasn't so convincing. Maria believed her when she said she would change the world. Morgan spoke of equal rights and Maria knew she could do it.
And that was how it started, wasn't it? With convincing whispers clawing at your psyche, tearing you down and rebuilding you until you agreed with their point of view.
It didn't help that Morgan was her sole source of life-force either.
She was stood atop a block of flats, looking down into the dark streets below, lit by a faint moonlight. For weeks, Morgan had her scoping out the city, particularly around the ever expanding residential area springing up near Diagon Alley. Now that wizardkind had no need to hide, people could come together and build communities in full view and the market of Diagon Alley was a great attractor, especially since this was the capital of Britain.
Communities had been springing up around the Alleys of cities all around the country as muggle infrastructure was slowly cleared out for wizarding homes.
And of course, where there were large numbers of people there would be a darker side, where crime was rampant.
She'd been following a rather careless drug dealer for a while now. Every evening, he would apparate to a small alley, there to await customers. He was a nobody, as far as she could tell. He probably made his own drugs in his basement or something to sell; the ministry would find him soon, he was too careless. It hadn't even taken her all that long to spot him.
In other words, he was a perfect target. Morgan wanted money, but she wanted security more. Minimum risk ventures were all she was allowed to perform. This man should have some money saved up, hopefully, and would be a perfect target to control with the imperius. With her help, he could remain unnoticed and keep bringing in gold for them.
More importantly, he was someone she felt deserved the imperius more than most. Gold wasn't the only thing he took as payment.
Ha, listen to her, thinking of people deserving the imperius. How did the world come to this? She hated that spell, yet here she was, about to use it and not feeling guilty.
She knew how she came to this. It was the sense of vindication she felt watching Marco get his brains blown out by tiny little Su, with a muggle weapon! The sense of justice! Maybe she wasn't thinking straight, perhaps Morgan had her claws into her deeper than she suspected, but she couldn't help it anymore.
She would throw her lot in with Morgan, for better or worse, if only because she could hardly make the world worse than it was.
The world seemed to slow as she pointed her wand at the dimly-lit figure below, awash with faint moonlight. This would be her first time using the spell on someone other than Morgan, who barely flinched to it these days.
And wasn't that just terrifying? A child, able to throw off the imperius. Maria had tried, had tried everything from force to seductive whispers, but nothing took. The girl was a rock. Her willpower was an oncoming storm, casting aside all in its path. She couldn't overpower that, it was all she could do to keep herself from crumbling beneath its wieght.
"Imperio" she whispered, the foul spell flying from her wand as her blood sang in retribution. It impacted, dissipating like mist as she felt her will collide with the mans.
And easily overpowered it. Was this the willpower of the average person? It was so puny, a sand castle to Morgans iron fortress. She'd held out some hope that perhaps…
Perhaps she was just bad at the imperius and that was why Morgan was so strong, but no.
The terrifying truth was that Morgans will was simply that strong.
She could feel the man's mind, like a bump within her skull, ever-present and suffocated by her own. With a simple thought, the man stopped still as she jumped off the building, slowing her descent with a quick Arresto Momentum.
He was blond, wearing black slacks and a thick coat, briefcase in one hand and wand in the other. Wordlessly, he knelt and opened the case at her feet, revealing the tiny vials of potions held within.
After looking them over, she had him apparate her to his safe-house, in which her assumption was proven correct. The basement - and rest of the house really - were being used to create drugs. Potions boiled in the basement, plants grew within various rooms, lit by sunlight lamps and he had a small hideaway beneath some floor boards, filled with gold and silver coins.
It was all ridiculously sloppy. His method of staying hidden seemed to be to hide in plain sight, with no magic. It was a childish idea, as though using less magic made you harder to find. There weren't even any charms up to prevent location spells designed to seek out things like these plants.
But those could be fixed, especially now that they had a wizard, able to buy things for them. Morgan could finally get a book on apparition, if she wished.
As it was, she was able to set up a few charms around the building, anti-detection and notice-me-not's. Not brilliant, but she was hardly an expert. She knew enough to keep herself hidden, usually, but she hadn't had a wand when Marco cornered her.
She made him hide out within the building until she returned. She would need to inform Morgan and come up with a plan, plans to avoid detection, to spread products further, to defend themselves from rival drug pushers….
She sighed. She would have a lot of work ahead, being the only one capable of using magic. At least she had her own helper now.
