***This chapter marks the beginning of what I am calling "Phase Two" of BHDWTM - you'll notice we've jumped forward in time, and as you may have guessed, that means bad things are coming for our characters. I want to warn everyone that the story gets pretty dark from here on out (I mean, you probably knew that.) I am putting trigger warnings before certain chapters dealing with disturbing subject matter.
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I still don't own these characters.
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Chapter 42 - How to Catch a Snake
July 18, 1981
The Leaky Cauldron, once a jubilant establishment to have a pint with friends, had recently been reduced to a somber escape from the outside war. Now, wizarding folk only ever came to sit alone and drink simply to take the edge off.
Emmeline sat in the shadows near the staircase, nursing a dram of firewhisky and waiting. Her face was hidden by a hooded black cloak - this might have looked quite suspicious had it not become the latest fashion among witches and wizards. These days, there was safety in anonymity.
While surveilling the front door, she reflected on the last several months:
She could not remember at what point she realized that she'd gone from being a child to being a soldier. The transition from girlhood to adulthood and active duty in a war had seemed so seamless; even with that brief glimpse into motherhood somewhere along the line. She supposed she could identify the shift around the time she finished at Hogwarts, but even that chronology seemed inexact; it felt like she'd been fighting even before that, though maybe not in the field. The day her father died seemed like an appropriate event to pin it on, like some sickening and hastened right of passage. Perhaps childhood had ended the very first time she had to ask her mother what the word "mudblood" meant.
She didn't understand why she'd only just realized the discrepancy in the timeline - she'd been involved in this war for years now. Even at twenty-one, she still felt like a girl, though legally she could be deemed as an adult. But she wasn't a girl anymore. Her friends were getting married and having babies and dying, and little girls should not have to reckon with losing their lives on a daily basis. Nobody had prepared her for it all, not really; and she had a sneaking suspicion this revelation was dawning on her friends as well.
After last July, Lily and James had all but ended their involvement with Order of the Phoenix. James came to a meeting every so often for an update, but he and Lily stayed far away from the battlefield and instead remained home with their son. Those who knew the Potters well knew they did not make the decision to step away lightly; in fact, their sequestration had been mandated by Dumbledore, who seemed to have a particular concern for both the Potters and the Longbottoms after the birth of their children. After what happened to Edgar, Emmeline figured Dumbledore had developed a soft spot for the offspring of his soldiers. The Potters had barely left their house at all in the last year, and had employed the use of nearly every protective charm under the sun to keep themselves safe. They, of course, had recently grown up very quickly thanks to parenthood. Emmeline was fortunate to live nearby and visited as often as she could between work at the bookshop and Order assignments, which James assured her made their mandatory confinement more bearable. Harry was getting so big; soon, it'd be his first birthday. That sweet boy was just about the only thing that could make her forget the outside world.
And of course, she could not prevent her mind from drifting to thoughts of Remus. He'd grown up ages ago, ages before any of them had by virtue of his furry little problem. He was presently across the sea with a werewolf tribe in Romania, or at least he had been last she heard from him. This trip had dragged on for nearly three months, and despite having spent the last year working to turn off the part of her brain which constantly worried about him, she couldn't help but wonder if he'd been ripped to shreds somewhere in the woods of Eastern Europe without anyone's knowledge.
He'd buried his mother last November. Poor health had plagued Hope Lupin for much of Remus' adult life, something which he felt entirely responsible for. In the end, her heart had given out. Remus was gone on a mission at the time of her death, and so when Lyall showed up on the doorstep in tears, it was Emmeline who heard the news first. Three days later, Remus came home to find that he was motherless. Since then, he'd carried the extra weight of yet another thing for which he thought he was to blame, no matter how many times Lyall assured him his mother's heart problems were "genetic." The Lupins had moved around a lot in Remus' youth and kept few attachments in order to keep his condition a secret, so the funeral was quite small. Lily had been the first of them all to lose a parent back in fifth year at Hogwarts when her father was killed by a drunk driver. Emmeline came next, when in seventh year her muggle father got caught in the crossfire of a death eater's curse. Sirius' father's death in the summer of '79 had been met with such seeming apathy from him that it was as if he'd died ages ago. James lost both of his parents in one go last June. Now Remus had to reckon with the sting of losing a parent - just another thing that forces you to grow up too soon.
As for Sirius, Emmeline hadn't the faintest idea what he'd been up to. Remus was gone more and more, and despite the previous olive branch, Sirius trusted him less and less. It did not take long after last June for Sirius to start suspecting Remus of disloyalty again, and this time, Remus was less forgiving. A mutual disdain for each other had caused a malignant rift to divide the two of them. The crack in Moony and Padfoot's friendship was helped neither by Wormtail's recent habit of reclusiveness, nor by the need for Prongs to be home with his family. Emmeline had hardly seen Peter for months, and she and Sirius were never assigned to work together. She got the sense that Sirius bore no ill will towards her, but she could not help feel defensive of Remus.
Lucky for her, Sirius' opinion of Remus had little bearing on her and Marlene's friendship. Marlene was not responsible for who Sirius put his trust in, and Emmeline suspected that, deep down, she really was torn between Sirius and her otherwise good relationship with Remus. Since Remus was gone so often, it wasn't like she had to face choosing between the two of them. Marlene understood Sirius' frustration and Emmeline was too angry to bring up the subject at all, so they had fallen into a habit of avoiding the conversation altogether, leaving the boys' business to the boys. Instead, they focused on joining together as heads of the doting auntie club for Harry.
Order movements had changed, too: the Bones family's deaths marked the beginning of a new era for the Order of the Phoenix, shifting from all-out assaults to routine patrols and small-scale sting operations. Dumbledore knew he was losing soldiers faster than he could replace them, and this change in strategy led to some success in apprehending Voldemort's supporters while still preserving the lives of those in the Order. Mad-Eye was responsible for single-handedly populating entire cell blocks in Azkaban. The Ministry hadn't been quite as accomplished in this department as of late - Alice and Frank complained that the Auror Office was having to beg people to enroll in the training program to make up for their losses. Every day of the last year had teetered dangerously close to a collapse of the wizarding world as everyone knew it, and freedom from You-Know-Who's total reign required constant work towards the fight for justice. Many worried that, after years of resistance, the fighters were growing weary.
Eyeing the dying light of the sun outside the window, Emmeline grew nervous that she missed the person she'd been waiting for. She'd hurried over after the closing shift at Flourish and Blotts, but wondered if he came through the bar before she arrived. But as soon as the thought came, so did the creaking of the door.
A tall wizard in a black silk cloak strode in, walking right past the bar towards the entrance to Diagon Alley. Emmeline couldn't quite see his face, but the long, silvery blonde hair spilling out from the hood of his cloak gave him away. Tossing back the rest of her firewhisky, she rose from her seat and followed him.
Keeping her wand in her grasp, Emmeline trailed behind the wizard from a good distance away, occasionally stopping to peer into a window to look otherwise occupied. When she passed Slug and Jiggers, Marlene stepped out of the apothecary in her own black cloak and followed behind her.
Mad-Eye had suspected Lucius Malfoy of not only fraternizing, but leading squadrons of death eaters for some time. He sent Vance and McKinnon out to confirm his suspicion.
Just as they knew he would, Malfoy took a sharp turn down a side street and descended a set of stairs leading to Knockturn Alley. Emmeline picked up her pace so she would not lose him around the corner, glancing over her shoulder to see if Marlene was following as planned. Knockturn was as macabre as ever, with dark shop windows displaying even darker objects. Weaving through the crooked backstreet, Emmeline tried to stay far enough away to be inconspicuous but close enough so that she wouldn't lose Malfoy. She passed questionable looking witches and wizards as well as shady storefronts along the way. She had not spent much time in Knockturn Alley, but even with first hand experience battling the dark arts, it made her shudder.
It wasn't long before Lucius reached his destination. Snaking around the side of Borgin and Burkes antique shop, he was halted at the back entrance by another wizard in a black cloak asking for identification.
Unfortunately, Emmeline was not privy to the fact that he was right around the corner, and realized too late that she had allowed herself to get too close. She hoped Marlene had more discernment and had stayed around the other side of the building. It would have looked odd if Emmeline turned around and went back the way she came, so without missing a step she walked right past Lucius - just as he was pulling his sleeve back down over a large tattoo of the dark mark on his forearm.
She must have glanced at him for one fraction of a second too long, because he snapped his head towards Emmeline and caught her gaze. She kept walking, hoping that he hadn't seen her face and simply thought her to be a nosy passerby. She and Lucius had been a few years apart in school and hadn't interacted a great deal, so it was possible that he hadn't recognized her at all. After turning another corner with no trouble, she thought she may have been out of harm's way; that is, until she saw Walden Macnair standing at the other end of the alleyway.
"It's her," he confirmed.
She spun around and found that two other masked death eaters had caught up to her. Lucius had recognized her after all, and had set his dogs loose.
Suddenly, Macnair was blasted with a stunning spell which knocked him out cold against the brick wall, but not by Emmeline's doing. Darting around the corner, Marlene began sending spells towards the death eaters at the other end of the lane. "Run!"
Emmeline dashed past Macnair's crumpled body, then she and Marlene began to flee.
"What happened?!"
"Lucius saw me...on your left!" Emmeline petrified a death eater that had just come from around another corner. "If Dung isn't at the rendezvous-"
"He'll be there," Marlene assured her, before accidentally knocking over a wizard who was missing a considerable amount of teeth.
They rounded a few corners then reached the back of Trackleshanks Locksmith, where Mundungus was nowhere to be found.
"I'm going to kill him," Emmeline growled. "Dung knows this place like the back of his hand. We had to study the map of this ruddy quarter, and yet we're the ones in the right spot."
Marlene listened for incoming footsteps. "Do you think we lost them?"
The green flash of a killing curse flew towards Marlene from an unknown direction, but Emmeline yanked her out of its path. It hit the shop's exterior instead, shattering the brick and leaving a large crater where Marlene's head had been.
"Apparently not!" Emmeline barked, yanking Marlene into a sprint.
They wove through the narrow lanes on the outskirts of the darkened alley, unsure of where they were going or how far they'd strayed from Diagon Alley. It became clear that more than two scouts were now after them. Knockturn wasn't very large, and the lanes were narrow - it was only a matter of time before they were cornered.
"Hang on!" Marlene hissed suddenly. She backed up to squint down a path they'd just passed. "Dung's just down there!"
There was Mundungus, looking rather jumpy behind Tallow and Hemp's Toxic Tapers candle shop.
"Dung! Where have you been?" Marlene called as they ran towards him. He jumped at the sound of her voice.
"Whaddah you mean? I've been waiting on you lot this whole time! I thought they'd got you," he said defensively, lowering his large carpet bag onto the ground.
"That's because you're in front of the wrong sodding shop, you sack of dragon turds!" Emmeline growled through her teeth. She and Marlene swiftly climbed into the bag, which had been bewitched with a magical extension charm.
"Listen," he called down to them as he hoisted the bag back up. "I'm not cut out for this geh-rilla warfare rubbish like the restah yeh's!"
Recently, it had been reported that the death eaters had placed various anti-apparition jinxes within the boundaries of Knockturn Alley, for the very purpose of trapping Ministry spies. Mundungus was the only member of the Order shifty enough to be seen in Knockturn without significant suspicion, hence the arrangement for him to be their "getaway driver."
Mundungus moved slowly so as not to attract attention. Inside his bag, which had been expanded to about the size of a water closet, the two witches sat in silence, listening to the voices of those they passed. Emmeline felt as though she had to hold her breath.
The bag tilted at an incline - they'd reached the stairs back to Diagon Alley. One, two, three, four-
"Stop, you there," someone called from behind. Emmeline's heart began to pound as she felt Mundungus turn the bag around.
"What've you got there?" another wizard asked. The voices were muffled from inside the bag, but they certainly sounded like death eaters, if there was such a thing.
"Who, me?" Dung asked, playing dumb (something he was rather skilled at). "Not much left today, just some-"
"What's in the bag?" demanded the first voice, drawing closer. Emmeline reached out, found Marlene's hand, and clasped it tightly. There was nowhere for them to run.
"...Well...if-if you're interested, I've recently acquired some rather beguiling wares," began Mundungus, launching into his salesman's pitch. "How'd you like to see some goblin-made cufflinks fer a fair price? Or perhaps - now, don't spread this around, but I got some of what the kids're calling 'pixie dust,' and it's very popular right now-"
"Okay, nevermind, on your way…" said one of the wizards, dismissing him. After a few seconds, Emmeline and Marlene felt the bag turn back around and continue in its previous direction, though Mundungus' pace had quickened a bit. Five, six, seven, eight, nine...
"Pure dead brilliant. I think Dung's just saved our lives by annoying those death eaters," Marlene whispered.
...
Dung didn't slow down until he reached the upper room of the Leaky where Mad-Eye was waiting. Once they heard Alastor's voice questioning him at the door, Marlene and Emmeline could finally breathe a sigh of relief. As soon as the door was shut, Mundungus set the bag down in the middle of the room and extended a hand down to help Marlene and Emmeline out of the carpeted void. In his usual overly-careful fashion, Alastor had kept the room dark save for a few candles on the bedside table.
"Well?" He inquired from the shadows.
"He's got the dark mark," Emmeline reported, dusting herself off. "But he spotted me. We had to make a run for it."
"You saw this while he was unmasked?"
"Yes."
"Did anyone see you get in the bag?"
"I don't think so. Would've been nice if we found it behind the right shop," Marlene jeered pointedly at Dung.
"Got 'em mixed up in me head is all," he muttered.
Alastor spun around to Mundungus. "You got-...you got the shops mixed up? You?!"
"It was an honest mistake!"
"You, who are so closely acquainted with the scum of the earth that roams around Knockturn-"
"I couldn't remember if it was Tallow's or Trackleshanks! They both start with a 'T!"
"Merlin's beard, you're about as useless as they come."
"Oi, I got 'em out, didn't I?! I'd like to see you waddle down there an'-"
"WADDLE?! You'd better-"
"OKAY, ALRIGHT!" Emmeline barked, her voice surely saving Dung's neck from Alastor's grip. "We had a detour, but Dung got us out. Alastor, I think-"
"Who else was down there?"
"I- er, Walden Macnair."
"He's one of the ones who stopped me on my way out," Dung interjected. "Nearly pissed myself when-"
"Nip it, Mundungus!"
Marlene sat down on the edge of the bed, causing the nearby candles to flicker. "There were others, but I didnae recognize any of them."
"How many others?"
"Six, maybe seven."
"I'll wager there were more in the antique shop - they were meeting in Borgin and Burkes like you said," Emmeline added. She was holding her hands together so that the others wouldn't see them shaking.
Alastor scratched his chin, pondering his next course of action. "Alright, I can bring this back to the Ministry. I just pray they take me seriously this time. You've both done well."
"Should I be concerned that he saw me?" Emmeline asked.
"It's not like we've kept our identities a secret while fighting them," Marlene replied.
Emmeline tried to assure herself. "...You're right, it probably didn't come as a surprise."
"If I can bring Lucius in and get him to show the tattoo, there'll be a cell in Azkaban with his name on it by Tuesday," said Alastor. "Even his most powerful friends at the Ministry won't be able to get him off the hook."
Marlene and Emmeline nodded. They'd completed their task, so Emmeline wasn't quite sure why she felt so unsettled.
After a brief pause, Mundungus rocked back and forth on his heels. "...Can I be off now?"
"You can be off when I say you can be off!"
"Okay, okay! Blimey..."
...
"...Alright, everyone's dismissed."
"I'm in need of a bevvy after that," Marlene exhaled, scooting off the bed.
Emmeline held out her arm. "I've got wine."
"Perfect," she said gratefully, accepting Emmeline's arm and disapparating.
