Disclaimer: no I don't own anything
PERSUASION
Ibzan was playing baby sitter in Grimaulde place and he was bemused as to how he had ended up with this job when he was almost positive he would never have asked for it.
But somehow all the adults had left the place leaving him and everybody else under 20. It was driving him secretly insane. He did not overtly say anything and his face was the same stoic mask but Pyralis knew he was not happy. It was a quirk of the lip and a slight narrowing of the eyes that indicated he wanted to throttle them. That's because between them all they were very very loud.
He was also slightly stunned that he had been roped into this role. He thought he could argue or rationalise his way out of anything and if that didn't work he had mind control but Molly Weasley had decimated him. That annoyed him and he was enjoying sulking.
If he heard one more explosion or giggle he was going to freeze their mouths shut and possibly even turn them into human icicles.
He knew it was his fault. He had made a big show of throwing his support to the wizards and witches, forsaking his own community who knew enough to leave him alone.
All of a sudden there was loud yelling from the hallway. It was that infernal picture of Mrs Black. Ibzan wondered how long he could ignore it for but when the shrieks escalated he rose slowly and went to deal with the problem.
Ginny was trying desperately to close the curtains. She looked up sheepishly as Ibzan strode into the room. He could hear laughing from the top of the stairs. Clearly they had something to do with the screaming. He stared at Ginny until she shifted uncomfortably.
"It was an accident," She offered weakly.
Ibzan blinked slowly then with a wave of his hand, a sheen of ice covered the picture. It muffled all the sound so there was only a quiet mumbling. Ginny carefully pulled the curtains closed.
"Thanks," She grinned warmly.
Ibzan didn't answer for a moment. "You are welcome." He then turned to leave.
He walked past the stairs, paused and then used his mind powers to force the others to arrive in the kitchen with him. He sat down in the chair and they stood around the walls, each trying to resist. Pyralis came in last, obviously unaffected by his mental call.
"Ibzan!" She protested. Ibzan resisted the urge to shake her and demand what had gotten into her. She was acting like one of the children. In Wild Mage communities they had always aged faster. At 15 they were adults that had responsibilities.
"I am not their nurse maid," Ibzan retorted. "I'm a warrior and yet while they go off and do what the order requires we stay here."
"We are Harry's body guards. They cannot not find this place. Harry is the secret keeper. Here he is safe!" Ibzan replied. His voice was flat still but Harry could sense the mans frustration.
He sympathised because that was how his godfather Sirius had felt, being coped up here. Sirius had been more petulant than Ibzan but it was a shared sentiment. Harry felt obligated to apologise but his mouth was still firmly shut from Ibzan's command. That made him feel less pity for Ibzan because Harry hated being controlled.
He watched the twins struggled a little but it was quite obvious they thought it was a great trick on behalf of Ibzan. Hermione looked like she would curse Ibzan as soon as she got free.
"Cursing me would not be advisable," Ibzan said, turning his attention to Hermione. At the same moment he relaxed his hold on them. They collapsed to the floor.
"Bloody hell," Ron breathed.
"I wasn't going to curse you," Hermione argued.
"You were thinking otherwise," Ibzan observed.
Hermione blushed, "Maybe so but it's against the law for other wizards to control each other. It's an unforgivable curse."
"I value my peace and quiet," Ibzan replied. He felt a heat radiating from Pyralis.
"Pyralis, have I made you angry?"
Ibzan's voice was loud in her head. Pyralis nodded and thought hard back at him. She couldn't project her response but if he was in her head then he could read what she was thinking.
"Yes you have, Ibzan and well you know it."
"Oh my apologises," He replied. His voice was arrogant and hard. Pyralis knew he was not sorry at all.
"In the name of fire, can I not be a normal teenager just once. I was fitting in and it was normal until you had to go remind them that we are dangerous and different."
"It would do well for them to remember we are dangerous, Pyralis."
"Only if you're crazy. Which you are." Pyralis was getting angrier.
"Fine," He placated her, "Continue as you have been. I will not make it difficult."
"Thank you," she said out loud. Ibzan shrugged and sat down. The others hesitated but Pyralis prompted them to finish telling them about Tonks and Lupin's relationship.
"Well there was big confession and we're pretty sure that he likes but he won't do anything about it," Ginny recounted.
"Why not?" Pyralis asked.
"Because he thinks he is too old for her," Hermione answered.
The boys, who had been watching Ibzan, seemed to forget the older man and join in the conversation.
"It would be nice if they got together," Fred mumbled.
"A bit of love would definitely go astray in this house," Ron agreed with his older brother.
"We should find a love potion," George suggested.
"That wouldn't work," Harry contributed quietly, "He already loves her, he just doesn't want to get involved with her."
"I say we play matchmaker," Ginny said. Hermione grinned and nodded.
"Hey you could throw them at each other, Pyralis," Fred said with a wink.
"Wouldn't that be a violation of free will?" Pyralis tilted her head.
"No," the twins replied in unison.
"We could try talking some sense into him," Hermione proposed.
"Nah," Ron said, "Mums already tried. He wouldn't listen to a bunch of us anyway."
"He needs a man to tell him it's alright," Pyralis said.
"Bill is too involved with Fleur and Charlie is not persuasive enough," George observed.
"So we need someone scary and persuasive and a man," Ginny ticked the requirements off on her fingers.
"Moody?" Harry offered with a snigger. The others scoffed.
"I doubt he is concerned with matters of the heart," Ibzan interrupted. The cold mage had been sitting there so quietly they had forgotten he was there.
The twins looked at each other and then back at Ibzan. "Scary," they said softly.
Pyralis heard them and guessed what they were thinking. "He's persuasive," she contributed.
"I'm what?" Ibzan asked.
"And he's a man," Ginny finished and winked at Hermione. Ibzan caught the top layer of thought and realised that the pair and Pyralis had spent time talking about how attractive he was. That unnerved him and decided to make Pyralis stop doing that. The frightening discovery of his apparent appeal had driven the current situation from his mind.
"He could talk to Lupin," Ron was saying.
"No I can't," Ibzan countered but he was ignored. 'I thought I was scary," he muttered to himself.
"And if that doesn't work I will throw them together… somehow," Pyralis said.
They spent the next few minutes persuading Ibzan to do what they asked. In the end it was combination of threatening to tell Mrs. Weasley what he had done with the freezing and Ginny Weasley's big pleading eyes. They were crippling and Ibzan decided that if either of the female Weasley's came to ask any favours he would just freeze their mouths shut immediately.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ibzan cornered Lupin at dinner.
"Yes Ibzan?" Lupin asked politely.
"It's about that woman, Tonks," Ibzan said.
"Ah you must have heard the gossip," Lupin said, blushing.
"We call it torture in my country." His accent was twinged with irritation.
"Well rest assured it is no one's business but my own," Lupin tried to dismiss the younger man but it was like asking the titanic to dismiss the iceberg.
"It is my concern now, unfortunately and if my persuasions don't work they will physically force you together. Pyralis is strong enough to take control of your bodies."
"But that is a violation of free will," Lupin protested, "and wrong."
"Yes but see you want to do it anyway. For stars sake why do you not just bind yourself to the woman and make everybody happy?"
Lupin shifted uncomfortable and the usual reasons flashed through his mind. His ostracism form society, his age, his lack of money.
Ibzan caught the old excuses and groaned inwardly. "Everybody in this order is ostracised so that excuse is void and you know that. Money is not such a problem and you've observed the Weasleys long enough to know that. That leaves age."
"I am much older," Lupin protested.
Ibzan sat down and gestured that Lupin join him. "I'm much older than Pyralis."
It took Lupin to realise what he was saying. "Are you two involved?" He demanded.
"Not exactly. I am very fond of to be sure. It is a form of love I suppose," Ibzan trailed off with a small smile.
"Then what are you talking about?" Lupin prompted.
"The annual meeting of the Wild Mages. It is similar to the Celtic Beltane. We have chosen each other ever since she was old enough to go," Ibzan shrugged. The Wild Mages had a casual attitude to sex and openly enjoyed it.
Lupin blushed, however. "You're nine years older. She's barely an adult."
"She was an adult at 15 in our culture. She had a woman's mind and body and that is sufficient for me. I would not have selected her if she was an average immature teenager," Ibzan responded. His tone dared Lupin to pass judgement on the Wild Mage customs.
Lupin didn't dare. Instead he was considering what the man had said. Nymphadora was well and truly a woman in her twenties, old enough to know what she wanted and the consequences of getting it. But it wasn't that simple.
"I will think about what you said," Lupin promised Ibzan.
"I ask no more. I will try and stop further interference and meddling," Ibzan offered.
Ibzan stood and removed himself from Lupin's presence. Lupin watched him go and wondered why the man had approached him. He guessed the other ones must have persuaded the Cold Mage but Lupin suspected there was another reason. He looked at Pyralis who was staring into the fire, rubbing her nose absent-minded. She didn't look like a woman. She looked like a lost teenager but Lupin knew that wasn't who she was. It wasn't who she was at all.
MD666