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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*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.*

I haven't heard anything to convince me that this potential intelligence is crucial enough to merit Unforgivables--or that Dark magic is our last option, yet. The easier one, maybe, but that's not enough. Shouldn't be enough.

*It's not an answer, exactly, but it's the truth.*

But I think Remus has the right of it.

*This was no clean cut decision of morality for Emmeline. They had to tip back the scales somehow, even if it was only to balance them. And, even though she didn't care for Regulus Black personally one bit, Emmeline felt that leaving him alone despite everything he's possibly done might be a bit cruel... if not dangerous.*

I'll help you, Alice... though I have to admit that I have no experience with the Dark magic. I just believe that if we let this opportunity pass us by, it'll be worse than if we undergo this plan and and find ourselves with no results. Let's face it, we are in dire need for more information and it's ideal if we secure more than one source. I doubt that none of the Death Eaters have thought of the connection between Lily and Severus Snape.

Exactly, Emme.

*Still playing the voice of reason, Remus turns to Gideon. He isn't trying to win anyone over to using the spell, but if they do this, everyone needs to be clear on why. Besides, Remus can always respect that kind of rational inquiry.*

If Regulus has been looking into Voldemort's past, he has a reason for it. That's too dangerous to do on a whim. And, since he's kept this particular project a secret from the other Death Eaters, we can assume he's most likely not doing it on orders from Voldemort himself - why would he be? Which means that Regulus is snooping around behind Voldemort's back, which means he has some reason to have doubts. The information's obviously worth hiding, which means it's worth knowing for us. At the very least, this could potentially gain us a spy.

*The man's making a lot of sense, and while he isn't any more comfortable with the idea, Gideon nods, mulling it over.*

So that's what's at stake here. A potential spy; potentially dangerous information about Voldemort.

And code is no longer an option..? Blackmail? I'm not sure how Barty Crouch would be more effective, exactly.

I think - and someone correct me if I'm wrong - that the concern with blackmail and the code would be getting to Regulus without any of us being exposed. Polyjuice is the most dependable means of disguise, but it takes too long to brew, and we need to act on this quickly. Regulus is...skittish. At best. The longer we wait, the more chance that something will go wrong before we can get to him, if you ask me.

*Even though the papers have been sitting in their flat for a good while. Remus, wisely, neglects to mention that part.*

Understood.

And who would perform the curse? And what is the plan if Crouch throws it off?

I'd guess it needs to be one of you, actually, an Auror. You're the only ones who have an alibi if your wand is ever tested for Unforgivables. As to Crouch....

*He trails off, looking to Sirius and Alice and shrugging.*

He's unstable. He's mad. Have you ever really met the kid? When he's away from his dad, I mean. Not all there. I don't think he has enough wits about him to throw off the curse, and any strangeness from trying to throw it off--well, that's just how he is. Weird.

*Lily doesn't much feel like participating at all anymore, but at this she has to speak up.*

He may be strange but that doesn't mean he can't fend for himself, or that he isn't intelligent.

I'm not saying he isn't. I'm saying that if he managed to throw it off--we could handle it. Better than if we got to someone who makes sense with any kind of regularity.

*But he's not mad. Lily's really thinking about it, discussing it, not shutting the idea down outright, and that's something to be thankful for.*

*Moody's eyes have darted around the room as he remains unusually quiet. Being such a brutally blunt man, always campaigning for action, it's not rare for people to overlook just how much insight Moody knows how to gain of a situation by watching and listening.

He had expected this conversation to come up among them. The morality of if Dark magic can ever be an acceptable means to an end is a debate with no clear right or wrong answer, and he's known decent wizards with both views. Still, it tells him a lot about who to keep an eye on as well as who would be willing to go to the most extreme lengths to gain a much-needed advantage.*

When we do this... we're going to have to be damn sure first. About everything, before anyone lays a finger on that boy. I don't care if he's mad as a hatter, he's Crouch's son, that's more dangerous than any Unforgivable.

I agree. I think we'd need to consider Obliviating him as well, after, if we do this. Carefully, of course, there's no need to harm him. And then there's the question of how to mitigate the risk of Regulus mentioning it to him later.

*Alice nods to Remus, then looks along the table to Moody.*

We will definitely have to Obliviate Crouch afterwards. And I think whoever is operating Crouch will have to reveal that he is not himself at some point, preferably after we've extracted the information. It's the only way to protect Crouch and Regulus - I don't think it's in Regulus's nature to attack his friend, even if it is just his body.

Whatever we do with Crouch, the instructions will have to be incredibly specific. We need someone who knows both of them to help create and carry out the assignment. And Sirius is the only one.

*Alice turns to Sirius.*

I don't think you should Imperius him, but you'll have to be on-hand to help whoever does.

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