Author's Note: I am finally starting to feel better, which I should always take as a jinx. I'm in a boot from toe to knee because I tore a tendon in the bottom of my foot, most likely from the darned car accident. The chapter title is taken from a bumper sticker my sister has that says "Come to the Dark Side, We Have Cookies" with a little Darth Vader from Star Wars. Sometimes the Dark Side isn't all its cracked up to be. MNF
Chapter 30:
The Dark Side Doesn't Have Cookies (Biscuits)
Tuesday 26 December 1995
"Before we get into this," Rufus Scrimgeour stated, "please tell me you had a good time while away?"
"We did," Amelia said with a blush. "Sirius owns a villa in the south of France with a private beach. It was a lovely few days there, and we returned home in time to celebrate Christmas with our children and the extended house family. Did you have a good holiday?"
"The grandkids are the right age now," Rufus said. "It was utter chaos at about five-thirty and by eight they were sound asleep on the floor. I wouldn't have traded it for anything."
"Excellent. I look forward to the small children or grandchildren phase again," Amy admitted. "Now then, this…pair of…er…"
"Morons," Rufus added in. "They're not dealing out a full deck of Tarot cards."
"Yes, morons works then, I was attempting not to insult their intelligence until I was confident it was clearly warranted. They've been in custody for over two weeks, have they said anything yet?"
"Oh, they've claimed the higher-ups in the "Magic for the Worthy" group are going to come and rescue them. I have my doubts on this. You're looking at Juliette Burke and Camden Rosier, neither of whom had enough magical ability to warrant going to Hogwarts. They were both trained at home until they were fifteen and then married off to each other. They've been attempting to have a baby, but she has suffered numerous miscarriages. The Healers notes show their belief that each time she is pregnant, the lack of her magic means she can't carry the magical infant past the fourth month. The only way she will have a child is for them to create a child with such insignificant magical ability as to be near non-magical."
"I would then worry about the survival of such a child, due to patricide," Amy said softly. "It's a very sad situation." Amy sighed, almost feeling the pain of Mrs Rosier. "So, they're married and part of this dark faction," she said in her voice that let her Aurors know she was contemplating something. "Have they given you any indication who it is behind it?"
"No, although we believe them to be female, as they've both let 'she' and 'her' slip a few times," Rufus answered.
"Interesting. Do we have a list of dark ladies?"
"We do, but it isn't clear to me that it's someone we are aware of. I'm think of someone who is more 'grey' appearing, although dark of heart."
"Very interesting. Okay, get me a list of everyone who stood to lose something, who even leaned dark, and we will put tails on the worst of the bunch. I'll also be calling some of the widows of dead Death Eaters to come to our house for tea. Augusta will be most helpful in gently interrogating them. They can't refuse me either, as not only am I a regent of the Ancient House of Bones, but I am the Lady of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."
"Very good idea, Ma'am," Rufus replied with a grin he was tightly holding onto lest he smile.
"Let's start with Mrs. Rosier nee Burke, shall we?" Amelia asked. "Her uncle and cousin both died on the night of the wand-out, correct?"
"Yes, her uncle Leopold and his eldest son, Hubert, were reported missing by the family, and both had masks returned to the DMLE by Mr Potter. Leopold's first wife, and the mother of Hubert, had died some years ago by questionable means. He was in a betrothal contract with one of the Greengrass girls."
"Leopold was at school with me, although he was a few years ahead, and the eldest Greengrass daughter is the same age as Susan," Amelia said with disgust. "That is an issue for another day."
"Amy, you should know Camden Rosier lost his uncle, Evan and his son, Evan junior that night. Mr Rosier is more upset about the losses than Mrs. Rosier appears to be about hers."
"Understood, let's go." The pair walked down the narrow passageway which led to the interrogation rooms. The two were in rooms that were side-by-side and while Camden Rosier had representation waiting in the anteroom, Juliette Rosier nee Burke did not. Amy sidled up to Gawain Robards, who was waiting behind the two-way mirror, anticipating the interview. He was heading the taskforce looking into the "Magic for the Worthy" incidents.
"Have any specific questions you'd like covered, Gawain?" she asked.
"Anything you can find out about these idiots would help me," he said honestly. "Other than them not being the brightest of witches and wizards I can't say we know much." Bones and Scrimgeour looked at Robards puzzledly. "Any group that would use a suicide bomber and these two to carry out a murder or kidnapping do not have quality thinkers in their ranks."
"Understood. I'll expect a full presentation tomorrow morning on what you are certain of, unless something breaks while speaking with this pair. Rufus, let me take the lead with her, please?"
"Of course, Madame Minister," he said with a smirk and Amy heard the snigger in his comment and rolled her eyes.
"Hush up you two." She then opened the door, happy to find a well disguised Tonks on duty with the woman. Tonks nodded at Amelia and then stepped out. She would be watching the interrogation as well, and then writing up a full report of her observations of the woman born Juliette Burke, whom she had been monitoring – under different disguises – on and off for the last two weeks.
"Good morning, Mrs Rosier," Amelia said. "Has someone asked you if you'd like tea or water? We might even be able to find a non-magical fizzy drink if you would like that."
"I've never had one of those," Juliette said meekly. "We weren't ever allowed anything Muggle at home. Daddy said it was tainted because of their Mudblood." Juliette had a thready, high voice that while not unpleasant, could barely be heard. While inwardly Amy cringed at the words Juliette used without a second thought. The Minister knew it was due to the interviewee's upbringing and lack of social education that dictated her vocabulary.
"If you'd like to try one, I know there are some in the department refrigerator. Auror Scrimgeour would be more than happy to get one for you," Amy said gently.
"My father or husband won't know, will they?" Amy shook her head.
"It can be our secret."
"Then, yes, please." Juliette played with the edge of her prison robes as all personal clothing and effects were confiscated upon arrest and imprisonment. Rufus left the room, and immediately ran into Tonks, who had said fizzy drink in her hand. This wasn't the first time Amy had used this tactic; Tonks was shocked how often it worked. Rufus decided to wait a few minutes to see where his boss was going to go with the interview. She really was brilliant at interrogations.
"So, Juliette, it's okay if I call you Juliette, isn't it?" The woman nodded. "Tell me about yourself." Amelia listened to the tale of a woman who was utterly broken by her father and his dismissal of her as a witch. Her marriage was arranged, and she found her husband to be so dull she couldn't name one interesting thing about him. It was when she reached this break that Scrimgeour decided to return and handed her the fizzy drink.
"You drink it out of the can?" Juliette asked, rather unsettled by the idea.
"I use a straw," Amelia said, conjuring one. Tonks had brought one down, but Rufus opted to leave it behind, so that Amelia had another opportunity to endear herself to the perpetrator.
"So, what brought you to Remus Lupin's cottage?" Amelia asked as Juliette took her first sip.
"This is delicious," the younger woman said, her eyes brightening. "There isn't a drop of blood in it." Amelia looked to Rufus and then cocked her head at Juliette.
"What would make you think there would be?" the Minister asked.
"Well, Daddy said that it was full of Mudblood, so I figured it had Muggle blood in it, but if it's there I can't taste it."
"Alright," Amy said slowly. "So, Remus Lupin's cottage?"
"You're not going to say anything to Daddy or Camden, right?"
"What is said in here is confidential," Amy said, stretching the truth. She also knew that Tonks had again reminded her of her rights, which stated that anything found in the interview could be used against her if the case went to trial. Amy doubted it would, as she'd like to flip Juliette against Camden.
"Okay, so I'm not supposed to tell you, but you've been so nice, and you haven't yelled at me, so I'll talk," Juliette said, and Amy would need to have Rufus reiterate how to deal with suspects when they were as fragile as this one seemed to be.
"We were there to kill the werewolf," she said. "We were surprised at the number of the wards on the place. Who knew that he was smart enough to put them up!"
"Would it surprise you to know that he has a Mastery in Defence and a Mastery in Magical History?"
"It would. Greyback wasn't that bright, so I thought they all were stupid."
"Why attack Mr Lupin, other than his werewolf nature?"
"Auntie Druella, well, Camden's Auntie Druella, said that it would hurt her nephew. He's apparently cut her off from her husband's money." Amy immediately filed that away. She hated the politics of her husband's family.
"So, she's behind the group "Magic for the Worthy", the person in charge?"
"Oh, I don't think she's in charge," Juliette said after taking a long sip. "There are tiers, like in a big cake and Cam and me are at the bottom, then she's the next level up and then above her is someone name Um-barge or something like that and then above her is the big boss. He was one of the faithful of the Dark Lord's that remained unmarked so he could work in the Ministry. He works for the, er," she closed her eyes like she was trying to remember something. D-M-P-3."
Amy baulked. "DMLE?"
"Yes, that's it!" Amy nodded. She made a mental note to interview everyone in the DMLE from the lowest support person to Rufus, although she didn't think it was him.
"Juliette, do you know that your husband has hired himself a legal wizard?" Amy asked and Juliette's face showed disbelief, then anger and then she began talking rapidly, telling Amy everything she knew about the group. The interview went on for another twenty minutes, Amy pulling as much information out of Juliette as she could. Suddenly, the woman stopped answering questions, stating her husband wouldn't want to. Amy and Rufus exited, and Tonks took the woman back to her cell.
The recording pensive was turned off and Amy turned to Rufus. "What did you put in her fizzy drink?"
"A mild compulsion potion," he said. "Perfectly within the rules set forth for us by the Wizengamot. I only used a half portion, as I was afraid of what she might tell us otherwise."
"So, your department is going to need to be screened for the head honcho of these wannabe Death Eaters."
"I'll scan Gawain and Kingsley myself, and then they can work through the department. Everyone will have to submit or face termination." Amy nodded and then looked at her notes.
"So, what should our tactic be against the husband?"
ITWAU ITWAU ITWAU
"That plant was dead," Harry said, astounded as he started at the small verbena plant that he and Neville had been working on. It was not only covered with dark leaves but small buds were forming and preparing to bloom. "It's amazing."
"It's not all that amazing, Harry," Neville said. "We just transferred a tiny bit of life force from each of us into the plant. Come on, let's try it on a bigger plant."
"I hope you two aren't doing magic you've been asked not to attempt?" Sirius said as he walked into the greenhouse. "We've placed a great deal of trust that you'll wait until Maia has a chance to ensure you are fully prepared."
"Our magic didn't touch, I swear, Pater," Harry emphatically replied.
"I know it didn't this time, but Harry, since the blood adoption, I can sense your magic and it was coming quite close. Come inside, I want to speak with the two of you." Sirius turned his back and Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes at his adoptive father but chose not to. He and Neville followed Sirius into his office, where he closed the door and magical sealed it and then cast a Silencing Charm.
"I know Remus has hinted that something happened to James and me when our magic touched, and that it changed things, but that's all he knows. I'm going to tell you the whole story, but I expect that neither of you will tell anyone about what happened. Are you mature enough to keep this secret?" Both boys silently nodded, wondering just what had happened.
"It wasn't long after we left Hogwarts, but before your mum and dad married, Harry. Your dad and me were in the beginnings of our training with the DMLE. We thought we were so amazing because we'd left school at the top of our class in Defence, plus your dad in Transfiguration and me in Charms. We were going to take the Law Enforcement Department by storm. It didn't help that Dumbledore had recruited us while still at Hogwarts to join the Order. Our egos were so inflated.
"This was before I was dating Amy, but I had a girlfriend whose name escapes me now…Marla, maybe? Anyway, she had strawberry blonde hair and freckles everywhere, even down –"
"Sirius!" Harry said firmly.
"Right, not really part of the story. Anyway, we'd been talking about how great it would be if we were to combine some of our strongest defensive spells with an offensive charm at the same time. We could cast nearly simultaneously, and when we were able to coordinate the spells perfectly, we could do some serious damage. The first time we did it, Amy commented on it; first time I took notice of her." Sirius trailed off, a soft smile crossing his face.
"Yeah, yeah, you're lovesick over your bride," Harry said dismissively. Sirius came over and rubbed his knuckles over Harry's head.
"Don't pick on your old Pater that way," Sirius said with mock indignation and hurt.
"Sirius, you are neither old nor in anyway defenceless in this situation," Neville said, and the trio laughed.
"So, you were saying about offensive and defensive spells at the same time?" Harry prompted the older man.
"Right, anyway, your mum was working on her Mastery in Potions, but she was also working on Advanced Charms with Professor Flitwick. She was writing her own spells, hoping to aid her potions brewing for medicinal purposes. Anyway, your dad got hold of one of her textbooks and read about enjoined spellcasting. I'm guessing that you found it in the library, a copy of the same book?"
"Probably," Neville said. "Advanced Charms and Spells Volume Thirteen. The book was copywritten in nineteen thirty-four."
"Probably is then," Sirius said. "Auntie Cassie was wicked in her Charms. Anyway, your dad thought this was a brilliant idea, and of course, I followed where he led.
"What you boys want to do, it's so much more altruistic than what we were trying to accomplish. We just wanted to impress our instructors at the DMLE school, but we should have known that flashy spells weren't going to impress someone like Alastor Moody. Again, I reiterate that James and I were dumb eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds.
"First mistake we made was not discussing what we were thinking about with either Lily or even Professor Flitwick. Either would have told us we were off our rockers for suggesting what we planned to do. Second mistake, not doing any research on what was meant by tandem spellcasting, who it was recommended for and what the lasting results were.
"I've been thinking about it long and hard, and honestly, I can't even remember what spells we were planning on combining, but I think the result was a flaming shield charm. We had this idea that we could ram this flaming shield into the line of Death Eaters and break them. Mind you, we didn't even consider what we'd do once we broke the line, and we were now behind the Death Eaters. Stupidity, thy name is James and Sirius."
"I mean, that would have been great," Harry said. "Can you imagine how fantastic a spell like that would have been when I faced Tom? If they weren't all already dead, I would have loved using something like that!"
"It would have been great if you could cast it on your own, but since you were alone and from what you've told me, initially tied up and without a wand, the spell would have been useless," Sirius said, intentionally knocking Harry off the pedestal he was trying to climb on.
"Anyway, we were out in the field with Remus, Peter and Lily. Now, Pete did what he usually did while we were fighting, he would turn into a rat, and when a Death Eater went down, knocked out down, he would scurry off with their wands. Sometimes he tied them up, but it was better to disarm them.
"That night we'd either disarmed or incapacitated most of the group we were fighting against, and we'd alerted the Aurors that we needed help. Before the DMLE officers could arrive, a second wave of death munchers showed up and they'd corned Lily and Remus behind a copse of trees. James and I decided to give our fancy spell a test.
"The spell went off without a hitch, and we rammed them and set almost all of Tom's followers on fire. However, we couldn't separate our magic after we'd cast the spell. It was disconcerting. Remus got Lily away from the fire and they ran over to us. Your mum kissed your dad, but I felt it as if she were kissing my lips. Just then, the Aurors and Hit Wizards began arriving, and the rules in those days were once the pros showed up, Order members were to disappear.
"We tried to leave, but we couldn't. Amy and Alastor were there, and they were looking at us suspiciously. Remus must have sensed our panic, because he slapped an emergency Portkey on us, and he and Lils held on while we were whisked to the infirmary at Hogwarts."
"We couldn't Disapparate because our magical cores were stuck together."
"How did you un-stick them?" Neville asked.
"Hold that thought. Because it wasn't just that our magical cores were stuck, WE were stuck, connected in our minds too. I don't understand it, but it was a bit like Legilimency to the extreme. I could see everything in your father's mind; including things he'd never want me to know about. I felt how he felt the first time he saw Lily, kissed her, made love to her. I experienced how angry your dad was at me over the Snape incident when Remus was changed over. I felt his anguish at his parents' death. I was privy to the things we never shared with each other, and I knew it wasn't right."
"I don't think I'd like you knowing everything about me, Nev," Harry said softly.
"Yeah, there are things I keep private because they aren't for anyone else's thoughts, you know?" the other young man replied.
"Well, as I was subjected to the private highlights and lowlights of your father's life, I could also feel that he was seeing mine. I'd told him my parents were horrible to me, but James had to experience the curses and the kicks, including the night my father nearly killed me and I ran away to your grandparents' place. Then he saw the worse night of my life."
"Worse than your parents trying to kill you?" Neville asked in shock. Sirius nodded.
"I'm not going to get into the specifics, but my father had dragged me to a meeting of the close and personal followers of the Dark Lord. My cousin and her best friend, Octavia Nott, played a horrible trick on me. I was fourteen, in my third year at school and… well, Bella and Tavie made me think it was Tavie when it turned out to be her twin brother, Ovidius."
"Oh, shite," Harry said.
"Exactly. Started me on my serial dating adventure that was the rest of my Hogwarts years."
"Yeah, I can see that," Harry said slowly.
"So, it took Madame Pomfrey, Albus and Filius to get our magical cores separated. We couldn't do magic for the next month, and we were told off by those three and our instructors at DMLE school. We nearly lost our spots and were told if we ever did something so stupid, we would be out on our bums.
"The worst part, however, was that your dad and I could barely be in the same room as each other, the embarrassment was too strong. I certainly could not look at your mum and not feel dirty, she was my best mate's fiancée after all. Your dad didn't understand how I couldn't tell the difference between a girl's lips and a bloke's, and it just…it got in the way of our friendship. It was only Remus locking us in a room with him moderating that we agreed to try and forget. Your dad went so far as to be Obliviated of all of it, except for my relief when your granddad opened the door to let me into his house."
"Why didn't you erase the memories?"
"Because I doubted I would ever know what it felt like to be loved the way your mum loved your dad and vice versa. I wanted the memory of that. Turns out I just needed to wait a bit longer."
The trio were quiet for a long while, and Sirius rang the bell in the room to call for tea. He unsealed the door and took the Silencing Charm down while he waited for one of the boys to say something. Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and asked them: "Do you now understand why we are so concerned for your welfare if you push ahead without our help?"
