Tactics
Computer for fanfiction broke. At least the keys don't work anymore =(.
[1]
The kidnapper was in the interrogation room alone for 15 minutes before someone finally came in.
She knew what the score was. She'd read plenty of Maddison, where the main character was a prosecutor with the MAC of New York. They had to do whatever it took to get under your skin, and this was one of the techniques. Leaving you alone. "Nothing was scarier" was something that people said when it came to horror movies. The deal was that your mind could scare you worse than anything on the outside. The dread of the monster showing up, what it would look like, that kind of thing was usually more frightening than whatever man-in-a-costume happened to show up at the end.
Of course, she wasn't really alone either. Even without all Maddison comics, it didn't take a genius to know that at least one of the walls was just a window with a charm cast over it. The pigs could look in but she couldn't look out. They were measuring her, sizing her up. She tried to look as nonchalant as possible.
The door finally opened, and it wasn't exactly a monster that came through. It was a woman in a black dress. Beside her was Carrot Top, one of the Aurors that had taken her in.
"Hey, Freckles." the kidnapper said. "How's Lightning Bolt?"
Freckles ignored her. "Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks, Ron."
"That's okay." The kidnapper said. "He's in the closet with the rest of your boyfriends. You'll be in there with him in about five minutes."
Freckles didn't respond to that. He just went out the door.
It closed, and Black Dress turned to face her.
"Holy shit." the kidnapper said. "Someone did a number on your face."
"I wouldn't be talking shit to the one person on your side right now." Black Dress said.
You aren't on my side, she thought, but said nothing.
The lawyer sat down. Her left eye was yellow.
"My name is Lavender Nott." the lawyer said. "I've been assigned as your defense for the time being as per Section 1.3 of the Ministry of Magic Fundamental Legal Parameters. And you're in deep shit."
"How bad is it?"
Nott didn't answer right away. She opened up her thick folder and took out a piece of paper. She read: "Suspect is Alisha Corse. Corse is 25 years old. She has dark blue eyes and blonde hair. Corse was born in the state of Michigan, attended school at Wyvern Hall. There, she received only two F.R.O.G.S. and one C.A.T."
"I don't like studying." Alisha said.
"Corse was subject to many disciplinary actions for her behavior at Wyvern. Twelve suspensions and at least 40 detentions. Two of those suspensions were due to possession of drugs."
"They planted that Red Ice." Alisha protested.
"Course they did." Nott said dryly, but kept reading: "The other suspensions were due to Corse's use of jinxes, hexes, and curses on fellow students. Alderson Wainwright, stinging jinx. Rosa Somme, stunning charm that knocked her unconscious for 24 hours, which had her unresponsive to any attempts to revive for 24 hours. Jeff Collins, convulsing hex. Terrance Goldwater, Body-Bind Curse."
Nott looked up from the paper. "Did law enforcement plant those victims too?"
Alisha didn't answer.
"And the list keeps on going."
"What's your point?"
Nott rubbed her temples. "The point is that you have a history of violence and aggression. Judges tend to notice that kind of thing."
"Are they going to try me here or back at home?"
"Here." Nott said. "You're from the US and so were those people in that secret basement. But other than the kidnapping itself, everything you did to them was here in Britain. You attacked our Aurors too. And don't try and tell me you were startled and a spell just came flying out of your wand. You fired at the Aurors multiple times, and you weren't exactly apologetic when you woke up."
"What if I told you that it wasn't my idea?"
"It wasn't your idea?"
"No."
Nott rubbed her forehead, obviously not buying it, but she played along anyways.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean I didn't want to be involved in the kidnapping."
What she was about to do was low, but it couldn't be helped. She didn't like most of those losers anyway.
"So you're saying you were forced into it in some way?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
"Who forced you into it?" Nott asked.
"Dante Johnson." Alisha said.
"The guy you were talking about when you walked up the stairs?"
"Yeah. I was friends with them." Alisha said. "I won't say I wasn't. I didn't know what kind of shit they were into until it was too late. They said they would kill me if I didn't cooperate."
"Funny." Nott said. "I have a hard time believing any of that. The four people in the basement were pretty clear that you were the one giving them orders, running tests on them, that kind of thing. You didn't seem too bothered with that. In fact, all of them say that they saw you smiling most of the time. That's not the kind of behavior I would expect to see if the others were putting a wand to your head the whole time."
Alisha said nothing.
"Your school file alone would make it hard to believe. You've been in too many fights. So nobody is going to believe that you're afraid of one."
Alisha's jaw clenched.
"Another issue: Why would they pick you? You aren't the only woman in the world with a piss-poor attitude. Dragging you along would mean they would have to watch you all the time too. They certainly wouldn't let you keep your wand. They certainly wouldn't leave you alone in the warehouse by yourself."
Nott pulled out another piece of paper from the folder. "That brings me to my next issue. Why did you guys have those Muggles there in the first place? You don't have to answer that. The MAC went through your diary entries that you left in you room. You didn't even bother burning them."
Nott started reading one of the entries:
"She was here. The Witness was here in Indiana. She's supposed to be headquartered somewhere in Europe. People say Britain, but I'm not sure about that. She has the accent for it, though. Britain just seems too tight and condensed, with not much room to move around and hide. But that doesn't matter. The rally…there's almost no way to describe it. I've been pissed off for so long about the whole thing. Gloria is the sweetest little angel that any sister could ask for but she just can't do magic like I can. Sometimes she's okay with it, but sometimes it makes her cry. It just breaks my damn heart."
Lavender said. "There's more entries, detailing why you attacked some of those students. Jeff Collins was because he made derogatory remarks about the No-Majs."
"There's no such thing as a No-Maj." Alisha said softly.
"I don't care if there is or isn't." Nott answered coldly. "I'm not a scientist."
"Isn't there some kind of way you could…" Alisha reached desperately. "Get all that dismissed?"
"No, because when the MAC agents searched your house in the US, they had a warrant. The Aurors didn't need a warrant for the abandoned warehouse because it was abandoned."
"We can tell them that I was abused, beaten down so that I'd follow their orders no matter what." Alisha said. She was sputtering complete bull and she knew it. "We could say they raped me and—"
Lavender Nott exploded with laughter. It disturbed Alisha into silence.
"Oh, they did?! Really?! And I'm sure you have abrasions down south, then; right? Tooth marks on your body? Claw marks? How about skin and blood under your fingernails when you tried to fight back?"
"I have some of those." Alisha said weakly. "From Dante."
"Brilliant! How about increased anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder? Did you tell any of the kidnapping victims that it happened? Did you tell anyone that it happened?"
Alisha felt like crying.
"If any of that was true, then why attack the Aurors? Since you 'Didn't want to be there' (Nott did that with air quotes), the Aurors would be rescuing both you and the victims."
When Alisha didn't respond, Nott pulled out another sheet of paper. "How about this?"
She slid it over. It was photos of her with Dante. Some of the photos weren't worth describing, but they did make her turn away, her face burning.
"Those are copies of the Stillshot Charms found on both your wands; and once again, you're smiling. Some of those are dated a few days before the raid on the warehouse…but those guys were raping you the whole time. True story."
Alisha was feeling the walls close in all around her. "Well, what the hell else can we do?" she said. "We got to think of something!"
"We?" Nott asked. "What's this we shit?"
"I thought you were supposed to be my defense!" Alisha yelled. And damn it, here came the tears. Her heart was pounding.
"I am your defense." Nott said evenly. "That's why I'm telling you right now that it's not going to work instead of letting you get bitch-slapped on the stand in front of fifty people."
Nott pointed to the thick folder, with all of Alisha's deeds on it. "This is what we're up against, Alisha. Prosecutor Patil, has all this already. She's the one who gave it to me. You asked me a minute ago, how bad this all is; right? Well, here's the list."
She pulled out yet another sheet of paper. Alisha wanted to grab the folder and tear it to shreds.
"Kidnapping is off the table right now, thankfully. That still leaves us with the following. Nine counts of assault on law enforcement; firing spells at a group of Aurors. One count of battery; hitting Rankin with a curse. Four counts of false imprisonment. Conspiracy. Two additional counts of assault and battery."
For Alisha, it felt like there was a giant tumor in her throat. "What? For what?!"
"Two of the kidnapping victims are alleging you slapped them across the face when one of your tests didn't go well. The other two corroborated the allegations."
"Bullshit!" Alisha cried. "I never touched them!"
"I believe you." Nott said. It seemed like she was telling the truth when she said this. "But I don't know if the judges will."
"So let me guess." Alisha said, sniffling. "You want me to take a plea bargain; right?"
Nott sighed.
"That's what all this is for; right?" Alisha hissed. "I give up some names of some higher-ups and I get a reduced sentence? That about the size of it?"
"Fitted and tailored." Nott said. "I'm not going to put a wand to your head and force you to take a plea, Alisha. We can try things your way. I can stand up in front of the Wizengamot and tell them you were forced into it. And then we'll get to watch Patil bring up every single thing in this folder. Your history of violence, your affiliation with the Equalists, the photos with you and Dante. The only thing I have is that you say you've got some physical damage on you. I can have a physical done on you and maybe prove some of that, but then Patil will just say that you two liked it rough. The selfies you took will sink my argument alone."
Nott leaned in close.
"Alisha, once we sit down in that courtroom…I have no control. If we lose, the sentencing is completely up to the judges. The Wizengamot often sides with the Ministry of Magic. This decade is no exception. Right now, it's being run by Hermione Granger. As everybody knows, she's Muggle-born. She's been one of the most progressive Ministers in recent history. But she's not an Equalist. She doesn't like that you guys are anti-pure to the point where you attack them on the street. She doesn't like the riots or the bombings or the kidnappings. The Wizengamot are going to make an example of you and your friends. My guess is anywhere from 10 to 20 years."
"20 years?!" Alisha screamed. Her guess had been five. She might not see sunshine again until she was well into her forties. A third of her life, gone just like that. Her hands reflexively went to her throat, like she was being strangled.
Maybe I am, she thought.
"Be thankful that kidnapping is off the table here. Four charges, two of them minors. That's another 15."
Alisha thought she would black out at any moment.
"We can you get out of it, Alisha." Nott said.
That brought her back a little bit.
"I might even be able to give some slack to your friends as well. Dante too. He won't even know that you tried to throw him under the bus."
Alisha's eyes were wide and trembling. She looked like a child.
[2]
Lavender exited the room, went to the prosecutor's office, saying hello to some Aurors on the way there.
Prosecutor Patil sat in her office, going over the details of another case with Harry.
"Later, Harry."
"Later, Parvati."
Harry left.
Lavender sat down in front of her. Parvati checked her watch, then rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ten minutes. You suck."
"And you swallow. Pay up."
Parvati handed her the Deluxe Chocolate Frog from her shelf. Lavender ate it immediately. Her teeth always seemed to sharpen when she ate something, and this was no exception. Parvati stared, not liking the way her heart started beating a little bit faster.
"Glad to see you're not wasting any time chewing."
"Maybe you should stop staring at my mouth. You're 44, Patil. Get it from Harry's sister-in-law if you want it so bad."
"You can't call me Parvati? Even now?"
"We both know the answer to that."
It hurt but it wasn't a surprise. The prosecutor sighed and changed the subject.
"She broke that quickly? She seemed like a fighter on the way in."
"She's a child, just like we were." Lavender said.
"A child hanging out with a bunch of criminals."
"Too right. She thought she was a Harry when she was really a Draco. You give them just a tiny bit of choke, they always pop."
"What do you want, Lav?"
"Four years."
"She attacked nine Aurors."
"Yeah, but one of them was Ron."
Parvati snickered. "Maybe we'll give her just one year. Padma would like that."
They both laughed. It was nice to clear the tense, unpleasant air between them, if only a little bit.
"So then what do we get?"
"She gave up a few Equalist locations in the US, places where they've had rallies. Four of them, we already knew about, but there's three that we didn't. Corse also thinks there's a base in Ireland. She doesn't know it for sure, though. She also said her friend with benefits knows another place where the Equalists are running tests on Muggles. I'll be talking to him in ten minutes."
"Anything else?" Parvati asked.
"Yeah."
Lavender stood up. She fished a folded piece of paper out of her purse, put it on Parvati's desk.
"I wasn't kidding about before." Lavender said. "She's been asking about you."
She left.
Parvati opened it. It was a letter from Daphne.
[3]
The next week.
Another raid. More close combat. Another capture.
In the abandoned house, they found a house filled with wands. And they found the guy that had been living in agony since three months ago.