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The Hall of Prophecy
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 03-30-07 12:58
Ethan took care of some paperwork that had been piling up on his desk before running an errand he'd been thinking nonstop about ever since last visiting Hattie Harsnip in prison. He swirled in his rolling chair to the filing cabinet behind him and opened the bottom drawer, in which he had several manila folders. Some bulged more than others, but all truly contained more than the naked eye could see thanks to magic. He flipped through the tabs on several folders before coming to the one he wanted the most, one labeled "Finn Towneley."
In this folder were notes Ethan had made from his visits to Azkaban and St. Michael's Hospital. They all dealt with the many questions he'd had about his true identity, most having already been answered. The one question at the forefront of his mind these days was the one dwelling on the prophecy that had inspired Hattie Harsnip to kidnap baby Finn from his basket and substitute him for the dead baby Silas Emeric. Ethan wondered if the prophecy had already come true, or if there was still more to come in his already far-too-exciting life. He wanted nothing more than to be normal with a normal family. He'd done and seen more in his lifetime than he'd ever wanted.
Ethan read his notes about the prophecy, or what little he knew about it, and then grabbed a notepad and a quill. He left his small cubicle in the Auror Office for the hallway, where he went straight to the lifts. Ethan took it to Level 9, the Department of Mysteries.
Not being an unspeakable himself, he didn't really know his way around the Department of Mysteries, and it's only through the chance meeting of one of the staff members that he was able to get inside the offices.
"What's your name?" Ethan asked the young woman who'd met him in the entrance to the department. She looked to be in her early to mid twenties.
"My name's Urania Jones." She said, "And you're Ethan Somerset. Your photograph was in the Daily Prophet quite a few times in recent years."
Ethan gave a short chuckle. "Yes, it was... unfortunately."
"I probably wouldn't have remembered except..." she turned a bit pink. "Well, you are quite handsome."
Ethan smiled. "Thank you. I was wondering if you could take me to where the prophecies are stored. I understand there is an office here that deals with them?"
"That's correct," Urania said, leading Ethan through the entrance room to a particular door. "The Hall of Prophecy is right through here. Are you working on a case?"
"I am, but it's both personal and professional in nature. Who manages the Hall of Prophecy?"
By now, Urania and led him into the room itself. It was a vast chamber with shelves upon shelves of the orbs that contained the prophecies collected throughout time. Ethan stopped to gaze with amazement at the impressive chamber.
"The person who was working through the collection recently left us," Urania said. Ethan thought he detected a hint of bitterness in her voice, but when he looked at her, she looked somewhat expressionless. "He'd been charged with replacing the lables on the older orbs and making sure that everything is in order and accounted for."
"Is there a ledger I can see?" Ethan asked.
Urania nodded and went to a desk in the room. There was a massive book on top of it, laid open to the very middle.
"He was working on crossreferencing the entries," Urania said, "but I don't know how far he got or whether or not there is any semblance of order here."
"Do you mind if I take a look?" Ethan asked. "I'm looking for a particular prophecy."
"Do you have a name?"
"Finn Towneley."
Urania flipped the massive pages over, searching for the Ts. She found Finn Towneley's name after a few minutes. Next to it was a column and shelf number.
She looked up and scanned the columns, before pointing to one. "It should be over there."
Ethan followed her finger and then summoned the ladder that rolled from column to column. He climbed halfway up it and had his fingers outstretched for the orb with Finn Towneley's name on it when Urania said, "Wait! Only those who the prophecy is about can touch the orb. If you touch it, you'll go mad."
Ethan hesitated for only a moment, but then took a deep breath and wrapped his hand around the orb. There was a giant pause before he moved. He climbed down the stairs and walked up to the frightened-looking Urania.
"I guess that fully answers that question."
"Which one is that?" Urania asked breathlessly.
"Finn Towneley really is my birth name."
Unexpected Meeting
Author: Bill Weasley
Date: 03-30-07 13:22
Bill worried tremendously about the fate of his two brothers, Charlie and Ron. He found their absences to be a great distraction in all things. At work, he merely went through the motions. Working was usually a great passion of his, but he just couldn't find the desire to put forth any great effort as long as his brothers were unaccounted for.
Fleur had only just begun to recover from her second miscarriage when news of Ron and Charlie's disappearances had reached them. Just when Bill thought he might see her smile again, she retreated back into her melancholy mood. Bill felt very much the same way.
He set his quill down and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his palms. Perhaps he needed a pick-me-up, like coffee from Briar's Bakery. Deciding the drink, fresh air, and a short walk down High Street would probably do him some good, Bill left his office, told his employees he'd be gone but for a minute, and headed outside into the sunny and windy April air.
Hogsmeade village was relatively quiet. It was Thursday morning, and while most shoppes had already opened for the day, business generally picked up around lunchtime and in the afternoon. Few people were out and about, and those who were either walked with a purpose or strolled leisurely along. It was a very nice day for a jaunt around the village.
Bill had nearly come upon the bakery when he felt his wand fly from his pocket. Within seconds, he attempted to call out but found that he had no voice. He tried to sprint away but found that his legs wouldn't work. A pair of hands seized him roughly, and he found himself pulled into the shadows of the alleyway by the Hog's Head Pub and Brewery.
For some reason, the first thing Bill thought of when he found himself jerked in that direction was that Helena Tufton had been murdered in that very place. He could almost imagine Fleur discovering Bill's body outside the pub, another severe blow for an already fragile mind.
The hands shook Bill roughly, and he found himself looking up into a face he never thought he'd see again. He never thought he'd ever lay eyes on the person again because that person was supposed to be dead.
Bill mouthed the name, forgetting that he couldn't speak it.
"Khalid Adallah."
"Yes, Bill," Khalid hissed, pulling him deeper into the shadows of the buildings. "We meet again."
Bill wanted to say, "But Omar killed you!"
Khalid chuckled, as if he could read Bill's mind. "I'm sure you heard that my trusty associate Omar Nawif murdered me in prison. It's all lies, of course. He and I planned it. He "murdered" me, but in reality, he aided me in my escape. Loyalty is a wonderful thing, Bill. Omar is so deep within my pocket that he would take a murder wrap for me. Now, do you know what I'm going to do to you, who've twice foiled my plans?"
Bill figured he knew the answer to that one. His arms still seemed to work, but he had difficultly using them and staying on his feet, which felt more and more like jelly.
"I'm going to make you suffer." He took one of his hands from Bill to pull an object from his pocket. It was a small snuff box. Khalid opened it and flew the contents into Bill's face. The powder, whatever it was, stung his eyes and went into his nostrils.
Khalid released Bill entirely, causing him to collapse onto the street.
"It's rare, the powder. There is a cure, but few know what it is or know how to find it. The longer you go untreated, the worse off you will be." Khalid smiled evilly. "Goodbye, Bill. Pray for death, because it may be the only way to relieve you of your suffering."
Khalid kicked some dirt into Bill's face and then strode away. Bill heard him disapparate with a loud pop. He couldn't move himself nor call out for help, though he tried. His eyes stung and his nose burned but otherwise he felt fine. Perhaps the powder didn't work immediately. Perhaps his suffering would be gradual... Bill found himself clawing at the cobblestones to pulled himself out of the shadows and in a more prominent position to be found.
His entire body felt like a dead weight. He could only pull himself a foot or so before his arms grew tired and he felt like all he wanted was to go to sleep. The last thing he heard before his eyes shut, was a pair of footsteps coming towards him.
Breaking The Tedium
Author: Lucius Malfoy
Date: 03-30-07 19:25
Sitting in a meeting, twiddling his thumbs - yes, literally twiddling his thumbs - Lucius has that glazed out, no need for intelligence feeling he gets so very often at these gatherings. When there's some relevance to meetings, Lucius mind find them a little tedious but at least there's a point to stopping everything to sit around a table doing nothing for far too long. Today's yawnfest isn't one of those with a point.
A young woman enters to personally deliver a note to Hadden Overby who's recently been named as acting head of the Department of Magical Transportation. The former head, who was also on the Wizengamot, died of a heart attack only last week.
Hadden is sitting on Lucius's imeddiate left and the girl comes quietly up behind them both to slip the note into Hadden's right hand. Sitting as closely as they are, Lucius can't help but feel the lingering touch the girl gives Hadden's hand.
After the girl leaves, simply for something to do, Lucius leans over to whisper, "Who was that?"
Hadden says in an equally low voice, "A student worker. Cecily something. Or something Cecily."
"She seems to... an affection for you," Lucius observes.
"Good. It's not just something I'm imagining then. I may need to speak with her if she continues."
Hadden reads the note the girl brought. "I shall definately have to speak with her," he whispers to Lucius. "This isn't something that needed my attention right away and it's something that could have been sent with a memo."
Lucius doesn't say anything more. The meeting is over and he'd like some lunch so Lucius nods at Hadden then gets up and leaves, only briefly wondering what Hadden's daughter would think of her father started dating someone younger than she is.
Getting Information
Author: Nymphadora Tonks
Date: 03-31-07 12:58
Tonks arrived at Azkaban and went through the procedure of having her wand examined as well as submitting to a brief scan of her person, in the off chance that she was actually someone else trying to bring in contraband to aid a prisoner in escaping. After passing the examinations, she went into the visitor's room, where she sat down at a cubicle and waited for the prisoner she intended to meet to be escorted into the room.
Abu Ababwa came in a few minutes later, led by one of the guards. He sat down opposite Tonks.
"You're wasting your time," Ababwa said, before Tonks could say anything herself. "I won't tell you anything further about the Algerian office of the Resistance."
"That's not why I'm here," Tonks replied swiftly, producing a piece of parchment. She couldn't slid it over to him, because there was an invisible barrier between them, but she held it up so that he could see it. "We found this in the office after we raided it. Can you tell me what you know about it?"
Ababwa's eyes slid over the spider map of the other suspected offices of the Resistance. "And why would I do that?"
"Because aiding me might prove rewarding," Tonks answered. "Fancy knocking off a few years on your prison term?"
When Ababwa didn't reply, she continued. "We interrogated every wizard we picked up during the raid. We know a little more than what's on this parchment, thanks to the handful who were in the know, but most of the wizards we arrested hardly knew anything to speak of, even of the projects within their own office. With your position as one who determines whether someone like Donal Douglas is worthy of your collaboration, I would think that you are one who is in the know. So, tell me, Ababwa, what do you know about this?"
"I imagine it is the London office that has you most interested. Unfortunately for you, I can't tell you anything about it. I can't tell you, not because I won't, but because I don't know. It's mere speculation that the office even exists. It's also strongly rumored, though never verified as far as I know, that the London office is actually headquarters for the Resistance."
"Where have you heard these rumors?" Tonks queried.
"Everyone in the business has heard them. I can't tell you who specifically said it or how many times it might have been said. It's just one of those rumors that circulates now and again. As for your other branches..." Ababwa seemed to deliberate about whether or not he'd truly be cooperative. Finally, he relented. "I'll give you Paris, as I've been to that office before, and I'm not very fond of the French. They're underground."
"Underground?" Tonks repeated questioningly. "Can you be more specific?"
Ababwa looked around suddenly and then gestured for Tonks to lean in closer.
"This is what you have to do..."
Headline
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 03-31-07 13:24
Feeling on edge ever since his interview with Brent Trentson, auror with the Ministry of Magic, Lysander feared daily that Trentson would return with a whole group of law enforcement officers and cart him off to Azkaban for the murder of Sebastian Taite. Then, while under the pressure of interrogation, Lysander would fully confess to also doing in Vladimir and Ivanka Stolojan and Augustine Ravenscroft. He might even admit to the death of Bastian Ironside, even though he hadn't had any part in that.
And what would become of Charlotte while her father rotted in prison? At least Lysander knew that Julian would take care of her as if she were his own daughter.
It had come as a welcome and most surprising relief when Julian showed Lysander a copy of a sensational newspaper that neither wizard had a subscription to, but that some customer had left behind in Twice Told Tales.
EX-GIRLFRIEND OF SEBASTIAN TAITE SUSPECTED IN FALLEN SINGER'S MURDER blared the headline on the front page. Next to the article was a photograph of Aralyn Fox behind held protectively by a man labeled as her husband. She mouthed some sort of obscenity at the photographer over and over again.
"What do you think?" Julian asked Lysander, as he leaned against the counter and occasionally admired the backside of a particularly pretty customer who was bending over to peruse books on a bottom shelf.
"I think she certainly has the most cause against him," Lysander replied cautiously. They were in a public place and he didn't want to incriminate himself in front of anyone who might be listening. "He mistreated her and accused her of terrible things. You and I both know that she was somewhat unstable in the short time we became friends. She had plenty of psychological issues from her past, and accumulated many more while dating Taite. That she would leave behind her child..." Lysander shook his head. "I could see her snapping and doing something terrible, such as this." He tapped the headline with his finger.
"Me too," Julian murmured. "I'm surprised she married. You indicated to me that she seemed like all she wanted in the end was isolation, much like Taite himself." He then wandered over to help the pretty young witch find a book.
Lysander, meanwhile, wondered whether he could consider himself off the hook for at least one murder.
Gathered Together
Author: Majandra
Date: 03-31-07 22:13
Maj hands Arthur then Molly cups of streaming tea. Ginny and Fred sit on either side of Arthur as if keeping him propped up. George sits by Molly and Maj takes the other seat next to her mother-in-law that was recently vacated by Percy. Penny and Blossom sit Hendrika while Harry and Janine flank Hermione. Fleur is currently with Bill in his room. Though Bill is awake, he's in some pain and not up for more than one or two visitors at a time.
Maj, doing her best to keep the fear off her face that something will happen to George next, touches the hand her husband has around his mother's shoulders. Molly stares down at her tea, trying not to start crying again. With a voice that's strained and scratchy she asks, "What of the children?"
"Don't worry, Mum," George reassures. "Miranda's with Eliza and Paul. The triplets are with Garrett and Azara. Aaron Miller, his wife, and his mum have Schuyler and Little Arthur. Briar offered to help with any and all of the kids if we need."
Molly nods then directs a question to Hermione, "Your father is doing all right, dear?"
"Yes, ma'am. I was just up to see him."
"You should be studying or resting. All of you with jobs and studies should be preparing for classes or getting some rest."
At Molly's comment, Arthur looks around at them all with red rimmed eyes, "Everyone should stick together. The Burrow might be cramped with so many but no one should be alone. Hermione, you should stay there too. Harry, Janine, you're all right at your home? Perhaps the Burrow for you two as well."
With Ron and Charlie missing, and now with Bill's having been attacked, Majandra understands perfectly well why Arthur would want everyone else to stay together. From the expressions on the others' face, she can tell they don't have to ask why Arthur's made such a suggestion. Even so, she's a little surprised that Percy doesn't make some sort of snarky comment about how everything this week is probably related to the Weasleys' involvement with the Order of the Phoenix. Things are definately bad when Percy knows to hold his tongue about that!
Warning Percy
Author: Bill Weasley
Date: 04-01-07 11:27
It had been Aberforth Dumbledore who'd found a writhing and semi-unconscious Bill on the ground outside the Hog's Head Pub yesterday. He'd immediately taken Bill to St. Mungo's and notified the family. It had taken quite some time before the first, Fleur, had been allowed to see Bill. The healers had found themselves completely stumped regarding Bill's ailments and had attempted every avenue to see if they could figure out what afflicted him before allowing him his visitors.
Bill, having recovered his voice, was able to describe the powder that debilitated him to the healers. They tried to extract some of the particles in its purest form from his body, but most of it had already dissolved. They took samples of his various fluids instead and send the vials to the lab, hoping to figure out what the mystery substance was. Whatever it was, it affected Bill gravely.
He shook in his bed and had aches and pains the length of his body. It wasn't coompletely unbearable, at least not yet. Mostly, it felt like a dull throb that traveled up and down his legs and arms. Even his baby toes felt uncomfortable. Bill sweated constantly, though he felt both hot and cold intermittedly.
Yesterday, law enforcement officials had stopped by his hospital room to get a proper statement. Bill told them everything that had occured: how Khalid Adallah had immobilized him and charmed his voice away so that he couldn't call for help, how Khalid had produced the small snuff box with the dangerous powder inside, how contact with the powder caused Bill to experience his current symptoms. Again, Bill described the powder, so that law enforcement could perhaps also track down what it was and if there was an antidote for it.
A day later, Bill didn't feel terribly different from yesterday. He still had the shakes and needed his forehead mopped occasionally. His limbs felt stiff and ached when he shifted them to attempt a more comfortable position in the bed. The healers had given him pain killers, so perhaps Bill's pain would have been worse off without them. At least, he felt of sound mind.
"Fleur," Bill murmured to his wife, who'd hardly left his bedside since yesterday. "Can you see if Percy is here? I would like to talk to him about what happened yesterday."
Fleur, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying, nodded her head of white-gold hair and rose from Bill's bedside to fetch Percy. Bill had seen Percy yesterday, but Percy had come into the room with Penny and Billl hadn't wanted to turn Penny away to speak with Percy in private. Percy was the only other of the Weasleys to have had any contact with Khalid Adallah. Bill wanted to make it clear that Percy should watch his own back, should Khalid seek revenge on him too.
Percy came into the room a moment later.
Bill managed a small smile, but it almost hurt his lips to move them upwards. "I feared you might already be at work."
"The Ministry is my next destination," Percy replied. "Mum is waiting outside. She wants to see you."
"Send her in after we've talked," Bill said. "Listen, I know you already know everything that happened yesterday. I'm not sure Adallah has a problem with you, but you might be the first Weasley he thinks of after me if he's considering further revenge on my family. He kidnapped you from my flat in Cairo to get even with me. Of all of us, you're the only other one who's ever had any dealings with him. Be careful, all right?"
"I will be," Percy replied. "If it helps you to know, the Ministry is searching for Adallah. The prison he escaped from has already been contacted. Omar Nawif is being interrogated as we speak. I feel confident that Adallah will be found before he causes anyone else any harm." He added, almost hesitantly, "And we'll learn from him what he did from you so that you'll be right as rain again."
Bill didn't feel so confident, but he tried smiling again. "Just remember what I said, Percy, and send Mum in on your way out. Thanks for the visit."
Percy nodded and filed out of the room, only to be replaced moments later by Molly, who babied and coddled Bill as if he weren't 30 years old but a young child instead.