Deadly Pursuits: Potter and Evans
by: Branw3n
Chapter Three
James Potter frowned at the warded transparent bag that Remus Lupin thrust at his face, quite irritated at the interruption. He looked up into his friend's somnolent visage, even more weary than usual, if that were possible, and grunted shifting in his seat to view the wireless, taking a huge swig of Odgen's fire-whisky, the liquor dulling the lethargy from his bones.
Some magically created alcoholic beverages derived completely different results in comparison to Muggle liquor. Some heightened the senses, sharpened them, and these were the cheaper brands. Odgen's was one of them. Keeping wizards intoxicated was an expensive business for they had stronger immune systems, as well as longer life expectancies as compared to Muggles, though these did not excuse them from the usual vices.
"James, I don't see why you're viewing this video once more. Moody couldn't make anything of it, neither could Sirius nor I."
He grimaced at Remus, shoving him out of the way with a hand, playing and replaying the piece of footage over and over again with his wand. Off to one side of his tiny office, a modern Muggle television did the same thing. He had loaded the video into the Wizarding Wireless, a crystal globe of sorts, and had reviewed them with much pensive consternation. He was nearly positive that they had missed something, he just couldn't put a finger on it.
"I suggest you redirect your much needed concentration on that on-the-scene evidence which the Department of Magical Catastrophes unearthed from us rather than maintain that grudge of yours. It was a bomb that you triggered but you didn't cause anyone any harm. You even saved Diggory's life."
That finally caught James' attention. "They usually withhold all scene evidence until two weeks after. What induced the change?"
The cause of the detain was supposedly for the examination of the evidence, putting it through various tests to prove its harmlessness or to disarm any spells cast before hand. Magically stimulated objects could also reveal their former owners. Though why processes that could be accomplished in a few minutes would be confined for half a month completely surpassed him.
"Moody called a few Junior Ministers, pulled a few strings and managed to acquire the murder weapon."
"This is what she…"
"Stuck into Sheridan," Remus finished bluntly.
James turned to stare at the bag, as long as his arm but thin and sleek, a seemingly normal two-sided blade though the intricate designs on its hilt suggested otherwise. The etchings crawled up the steel on one side, indiscernible at first to his eye but quite clear when flipped over and examined.
It was the work of a true sword maker. There was a scarcity of such men in the Muggle World but that was explicable, what with new automatic and easily managed taking its place but it was a pity that Wizards ceased to produce such beauty.
Albus Dumbledore, his old professor, had confided his furtive admiration for such weaponry, calling them instruments in a fluid and ancient art, one of the oldest in the world and James could empathize with him. His father had an extensive collection of medieval weaponry, mostly comprised of their ancestors' armaments which he had left to James as stated in his will, along with all of his possessions.
"Not a type I'm familiar with," he frowned. "Mind clarifying it for me, Moony?"
Remus' eyes took on a glazed appearance, his lips tightening in concentration. "I've checked with the veteran Aurors, Moody and a few of the Unspeakables. They've all come to identical conclusions. It's a cinquedea. Rather ancient design, priceless; if auctioned off."
James nodded absent-mindedly. He was knowledgeable of Remus' enmity towards armaments especially those of antediluvian heritage and make. They were primitive and much too uncivilized, weapons used to slay those of his kind.
James slipped on a pair of synthetically composed gloves which he conveniently stored in his desk drawer and removed the sword from its magically enhanced plastic encasing and stood, drawing himself into an attack ready position. He drew this stance from memory; dozens of blademasters had seed to his training, as was a normal occurrence to all male children of status in the Wizarding World.
He deftly ran through an exercise designed for small, enclosed spaces, similar to that of his office, oblivious to Remus' forced reserve from the lycanthrope's position by his desk.
"Excellent balance, though too weighty for accurate results in besieged situations, and for my liking."
"So glad to hear your opinion of the murder weapon, Prongs," Sirius dryly called out from the hallway in which the office's doorway opened up to.
Remus let out an impatient sigh. "Come to suggest otherwise, Padfoot? I'd be more than pleased to allow you your turn with the evidence."
He made a face. "I was never too partial towards swords. Battle axes, though…"
Remus grimaced, then returned to the topic at hand, knowing all too well that while his two best friends were around one another, a digression from the subject matter was all too customary. "Any reason as to why you've decided to grace us with your presence, Padfoot?"
"None, really. Just decided I'd temporarily relieve the hideousness of this room and its present occupants with my charm and devilish handsomeness. Well, that and I've no luck in trying to find a possible angle on the motive of the murder. Moody thinks they'll strike soon, someone related to the prime target. Someone Sheridan was associated to. He thinks the objective is to eliminate Crouch but I think that we shouldn't examine this one murder too closely. Sheridan was some arse in his time, illegal business practices and all."
"You thoughtfulness never ceases to touch nor astound me," James rejoined sardonically.
"I try my best."
"Moody might be right, though," Remus interjected. "Kill Sheridan and Crouch and the cabinet will have to instate a new Minister."
Sirius shrugged. "Not enough evidence to confirm that theory. The higher-ups refused to give Moody permission to assign some plainclothesmen and Aurors to safeguard Crouch. No need to cause an alarm for the media to pick up on."
Remus shook his head in antipathy of the narrow-mindedness of those who had power within the Ministry.
James returned the object into the bag and sealed it once more with a spell. He slid it over the desk's polished surface before something on its hilt glinted and caught his eye.
He once again unsealed the sack and removed the item up until its hilt, examining it closely, holding it against the light. There it was, the slightest glimmer, shining gold.
"What're you doing, Prongs?"
"Did you see that, Moony?"
"See what?" Sirius interjected.
"That sparkle."
"Where?"
"Here," he pointed at the sword's ebony hilt.
His co-workers crossed the room and occupied the space on either side of him, both peering scrupulously at the sword.
A minute passed before both consecutively shook their heads.
"Sorry, there isn't anything there," Sirius piped up, patting James' shoulder sympathetically.
He shrugged him off. "I haven't gone mad, Padfoot!"
"I'll be swayed once I see proof."
How could they not see it? It winked back at him, clear as day, miniscule but discernible once inspected.
James glared challengingly. "I will."
"Get on with it, then, Prongs," Remus prodded, snatching James' wand from above a file cabinet. "Really, James," he intoned, exasperated. "Never leave your wand where anyone can have access to it," James chorused, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, Professor Lupin, if you mind, I do have a task to attend to."
"By all means, get on with it, then."
Sirius patted James on the head condescendingly. "Don't worry he does that to me as well."
James shoved his hand away as he cast an extricating charm on the object imbedded on the blade handle. The golden nugget was barely the size of an eighth of the nail on a human forefinger but created quite a reverberating clamor as it clattered onto his desk. James then uttered an engorgement charm and it grew into a disk the size of his palm.
He felt Sirius and Remus press in from behind him, both aspiring for a closer look. From where he was, James could discern its composition, solid gold, judging from its weight and what appeared to be a long-stemmed leafless rose somewhat burned into its smooth polished surface.
"Any ideas, Moony? Padfoot?"
They bent over him, inspecting the object before Sirius snatched it from his fingers and studied it closely, eyebrows meeting as he frowned.
"I think I've seen this symbol before. Remember when I lost that witness on the O'Reilly case?"
His friends nodded. O'Reilly had been a supplier of sorts and one of his items for sale had managed to escape auction and decided to confide in them. They had interrogated her when she ran away, obviously recognizing one of O'Reilly's boys in the building while she was in Sirius' charge.
Had he gotten hell from that, though they managed to shut down that operation and recover the rest of the girls, Sirius had been set to file unfinished paperwork for months.
"Well, this thing'd been stamped on victims in about three unsolved cases, all had been high-profile political involved ones." He pointed at one protruding barb. "See that? There's a droplet of something on it, right?"
James nodded with Remus soon after, removing his spectacles from the pocket in his robe.
"Stands for blood. Bloody Thorn or somesuch with a similar name. Group of Jack-of-all-Trades, or so it seemed back then. Most of the Aurors working on the case either gave up, quit or disappeared. It's a cold one but could be useful."
* * * * *
Moira circled the park once more, as a dozen circulations were expected of her everyday jogs through the square. Blond hair up in a high ponytail, dove-gray zip-up sweatshirt coupled with black stretch cotton jogging pants and white no-nonsense tennis shoes stilled the breeze. It was near autumn and she was bound to catch a bout of pneumonia if she stayed out any longer.
She waved hello to the little girls playing by the swings as they gave her gap-toothed grins and stopped to exchange a few words with Dan, the crazy old street preacher she constantly bought lunch for.
Yes, even the pristine, near-perfect Wizarding World could not keep a few crazies or penuries out of their ideal society, same with crime, but Dan was a dear old sweet man and he did no one any harm.
Finishing up her twelfth circuit, she halted by some wrought iron benches to execute some stretches. She extended her leg over the bench's backrest and proceeded to reach out and grab her foot, stretching her upper body as she felt a presence appear a few feet to her left.
"Not much security, typical affluent neighborhood, lax security, might not have to out them if this goes right."
"Anything we might actually use?" She retained the ersatz smile plastered on her face while maintaining a look of half-interest as she continued to stretch.
He grinned, seemingly examining her in interest. "Penthouse apartment does seem to be receiving quite a number of visitors lately, some very crude ones."
"Not getting knocked up naturally, then, is he?"
"Natural maybe but not legally."
"So,
it's Cass, then?"
He
nodded contemplatively, black hair glistening off the sun. The
picture of some cynical businessman. "Yes, not you, do you understand?"
"She can't handle it," she bit back, smile never faltering for a second, as she batted her lashes for measure.
"No."
It was derisive and left no room for questioning. She hated that tone of voice.
"Fine."
She set down her leg and began stretching her arms over her head. Her eyes lingered wistfully on his back as he turned to leave, making his way down the street and into a Ministry building.
She shook her head in concealed disgust. The nerve of him! He may be the head of their guild but he was still her brother and therefore had no right to forbid her from doing what they were supposed to do!
She jogged in place for a moment, sustaining the façade before taking a circuitous route home, in case someone had taken notice of that little meeting in the park.
She passed a young couple on her way home, pushing a tiny baby in a carriage, and it made her wonder what life would have been had her father not been what he was and had he not stipulated his expectations of them in a will.
She hurriedly cleared her head of such musings. She hadn't had any other life than the one she led. Her schoolgirl days in Hogwarts had been a farce as well, a cover-up of sorts, something to keep them preoccupied and retain their visage of a normal Muggle-born household.
No, she didn't want another life, maybe someone she could trust outside the family, confess all that she had done and still feel loved, but that was an impossibility, a remnant of some vague childhood fantasy.
Well, if that knight-in-shining armor hadn't materialized by now, then he never would. Even a friend was welcome. Twenty-five and never-been-kissed. And Rom would like to keep it that way.
Damn him.
* * * * *
Author's Note: Rom had black hair as part of a disguise. That particular jogging scene was inspired by an episode of ALIAS.
I'd like to thank my quite inspiring reviewers, thanks for pushing me to continue this story!
Q & A:
chickensoup3- Lily's Moira O'Monaghan, she edits Atlanta Fairstrider's books, the latter's quite a famous writer.
Doesn't Matter- Lily's Moira. I wouldn't be able to stand her if she were Atlanta.
Mysticpixie- Lily's working for her own family. More will be revealed about them in the next few chapters. I think your idea about James going undercover in their group's really great! But sadly enough, it won't work into my plot because they don't accept anyone who isn't family or who they consider as family and won't turn on them.
I'm looking forward to writing Lily and James' meeting. I hope I'll be up to it when the time comes.
And as I've stated in the previous chapter, I haven't even seen the movie and have no idea why I even put it up. It was my inspiration, espionage-based as it was, but other than that, nope, not in any way connected.
Quack Quack 88- No, Rom isn't Remus' brother or anything like that but he's a very familiar character. And thanks for your compliment!
Thank Yous:
Anaxandra ayumi-dono bitch Black Ice Celtic Ember Chelsea chickensoup3 Daisy Silk Demonstar Destiny's Phoenix Doesnt Matter Emily Woodmark FaIrY ASpHoDeL jazmine Jinnikin kirbee Lilyflower8602 littledarkangel May Mysticpixie Pinkpanther Pris punkkittin01 Quack Quack 88 roary14 Sayo Scarlett*eyes silver-star The Devil's Maiden UnforgivenChild Zetta