bait_backup | Come let the truth be shared

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Come let the truth be shared

*With yesterday's Dementor attack still fresh in everyone's mind, the Order assembles quickly and without even a breath of chit-chat, as Moody has been demanding of them for months. This improvement, coupled with copies of the Leisure Centre incident files on the coffee table, is enough to keep the room at large subdued. Most of the victims had been much too young, so many of wizarding Britain's children shuttled off to swimming lessons early Monday mornings without any mandated primary school to attend, and their small bodies lie almost completely still in the water, backs breaching the waterline as their lifeless eyes look down toward their dangling feet. Moody breaks the silence.*

Well. Time's come.

We need to use what we've got and what we know or this'll happen again, just somewhere else. The Death Eaters haven't claimed any of these, Crouch has been pointing fingers at werewolves all along, but no matter who did this, we've got to get everyone's facts on the table, see the big picture to do any good.

No more handling things on your own, or keeping sources secret. Everyone works, everyone reports. Out with it.

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*Alice had originally been sitting quietly, listening. But as the conversation went on, and safety became an issue, a horrible thought had struck her.

She'd been fighting herself quietly, but now with Hestia's idea, she feels it might be best to say it.*

There is a safer way.

*She looks down, then nods and looks around the room.*

We could Imperius someone. Someone he trusts, like Barty Crouch Jr.

Imperius, Alice?

*Alice shakes her head.*

It's the safest way I can think of. We Imperius him, make him talk to Regulus, and when it's done we wipe his memory.

Our other option could be Polyjuice, but...

*Sirius shakes his shaggy head.*

Takes months to brew, and if we buy it outright then whomever hands over the galleons is in a lot of danger.

She's right.

The safest option for everyone is to Imperius someone. And the best option is it Imperius Barty Crouch Jr.

*Lily stares at Alice and Sirius with a look akin to horror.*

I don't like that idea. I don't like it at all and I think we should stay away from relying on Unforgivables.

*Gideon frowns. He's not about to jump down Alice Longbottom's throat--the woman is more than an asset, she's a miracle, he knows that--but this rubs him the wrong way, badly, and he's inclined to agree with Lily.

He speaks calmly, reasonably, not betraying his discomfort.*

Is there a better option?

Erm.

*James glances at Lily.*

I'm not sure there is, is the thing. Not if we want to be quick about this.

James...

*Lily is not entirely surprised that he's not on her side about this, but she can't help but feel like the only one who has an objection to all of this. Biting her lip, Lily scans the room.*

Does anyone agree with me?

James is right. We have to be quick with this. Who knows what else I might have missed in there? This research might be months old. We know what it says but we don't know what it means. There might be an attack tomorrow and we'll be scrambling for all the good these papers do us without any kind of context.

We need to move and move fast. This endangers the least number of people.

*He'd rather keep his mouth shut, but it doesn't sit well with Gideon to let Lily be the only voice of dissent. He also knows that, as an Auror, as damned unfair as it is, his opinion might carry a bit more weight.*

I'm not particularly happy about this either, Lily. But there's a real possibility that this is the best tactical choice, the one that keeps the most people safe.

I think it's important, though, that we truly consider all our options. The house-elf thing is out, sure, but what about a coded message? Blackmail? Is that tack no longer of interest?

*Emmeline folds her arms under her chest, unhappy with this new idea.*

You do realize who we're thinking of Imperiusing, correct? From my brief... *Her lips involuntarily twitch unpleasantly at the reminder of her New Years Eve fiasco.*... meeting with the Minister of Magic's son, he seems difficult to control.

*Lily perks up immediately. Though her objections against this idea lean more towards moral objections and her frank opinion that unforgivable curses are cowardly, she grasps at anything to sway the others.*

Yes, he's...well frankly he's just a complete mystery.

There is that.

Well, it may help, actually. If his behavior is unpredictable to begin with, it'll be more difficult for anyone to catch on.

*Alice looks at Lily apologisingly. She knows what is happening now is hurting her.*

Look, the Runes aren't finished, we'd have to wait for them to be done. They'd be a great tool in communicating with Regulus, but they need to be finished first. And blackmail reactions are unpredictable and risky.

The only thing we'd have to worry about is Crouch throwing the curse off before we get the chance to Confound him.

This is Dark Magic.

*Lily's eyes dart wildly around the room, resting on James, Sirius, and Alice longer than the rest.*

Do we realise that this is Dark Magic? One imperius here, maybe another there, what's next? We're going to become more and more desperate and more and more impatient until we just use this rubbish as a fucking shortcut. This is the kind of shit that corrupts you.

*Gideon sighs. She is, unfortunately, completely correct, and he looks at her solemnly.*

Lily, I don't like this any more than you do. I think it's cowardly and unethical and yes, evil, the kind of thing we'll have to leave out of the schoolbooks. But if we're the ones writing them, and not his kind, then it may be worth it, yeah?

*He sighs again, bitterly.*

What I want to know first, is have we, truly, exhausted our other options.

*Her voice is wavers slightly, anger not properly vented.*

Well I for one refuse to take part in anything of the sort.

Fucking ridiculous...

*What Sirius wants to say is, That's lovely for you, we'll just win the war without your help. But he doesn't.*

Then what are our other options, Lily? Trust Reg to come over to us with blackmail and risk tipping our hand to him? Polyjuice, which might nullify any advantage these papers give us by taking too long? Why do we have to be better than them? We just have to beat them. It's not like one Unforgivable and suddenly I'll want to set you on fire.

*Alice shoots Sirius a look. Sometimes his hyperbole is too much.

She goes back to Lily and bites her lip. She knew the look she'd find would be dark, but Lily's looking at her like she doesn't know her now, and it hurts.*

Lily, we can't rely on Unforgiveable Curses for everything, but this is a war. I'm not saying we do this lightly. We are talking about using an Unforgivable Curse on the Minister of Magic's son in order to gain information from a Death Eater.

But I can't think of a more efficient or safe alternative. The information we have could already be outdated. Morals and ethics aside, we still need to win this war.

Do we really want to stoop to their level of using dark magic to get what we want? I just...if we do it once, we're kidding ourselves if we don't think we'll condone it again. And we'll keep making excuses for ourselves. "We're not them, so it's okay."

Bollocks.

If winning this war is going to rely on using dark magic against our enemies...You know, fine. Just fine. But don't expect me to participate in anything to do with dark magic. Ever. Count me out.

I'm with Lily. I'm not helping if you're doing it like that.

*If he'd gone serious before, Fabian's absolutely grim now. He's had this conversation a thousand times at the Auror office, and it wears on him to have to have it here, too. Much as he loves Alice, much as he respects her as a friend and colleague, he will never, never see eye to eye with her on this.*

I think -

*Remus speaks up carefully, shooting for diplomacy in the middle of the mess, though his own mind's made up.*

- I think, if everyone's amenable to this, participation in this particular mission needs to be strictly optional. Using Dark magic for our own ends is one thing; forcing someone else to is another entirely.

*Arthur looks no happier about it than anyone else. Rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses, he shakes his head.*

I'm afraid I'll have to sit this out, too. I'll do something else to compensate and help pull my weight, but Molly's under enough stress already. I need to be able to look her in the eye and promise her I'm not taking more risk than is absolutely necessary.

*To say nothing of being able to look his sons in the eye, when they're older, and tell them their father didn't use Dark magic during the war. It sounds too judgmental to say aloud, but that's the real reason - Molly's going to be stressed no matter what he does.*

Come let the truth be shared

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