bait_backup | So I will walk through the fire, 'cause where else can I turn?

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So I will walk through the fire, 'cause where else can I turn?

*They have put up tents half a mile from a werewolf camp. It's probably the most idiotic thing Fabian has done in years, which is truly saying something, but Alice was right - all they can do is use this opportunity to try and get to the bottom of things for the Order, even if the Ministry is barking up a seriously wrong, cannibalistic tree. Greyback's folks are a problem either way. Fabian isn't happy about being here - there'd been another uncharacteristically serious conversation with Gideon this morning, and a goodbye that'd hedged on a little too final - but if they're here, they're here. He's going to do a good job of this even if Umbridge is a sadistic cow.

So. They're going to make this work. He's left Sirius and Alice to finish setting up camp while he goes to get water from the nearby river, which he's just now coming back with. They're a few miles from the village of Halkirk, but if they can stay out of the Muggles' notice, that'd be best all around. They've got a few hours left to nightfall and, Fabian's hoping, they can maybe get some poking around done before dark. As he re-appears up the hill levitating about five buckets of water with him, he flashes the pair of them a smile that's nearly up to his usual standards.*

Everything coming together alright?

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*It's a good question, and Fabian's perfectly aware of why Sirius is asking. He's got much the same concerns about Alice - he trusts her with his life, and he's terribly fond of her, but they have some fundamental differences when it comes to methods. He gives him a nod that's just this side of significant.*

Veritaserium. Exactly. I brought some from the office, it's in the tent if we need it.

*Sirius' head just catches the nod, and he barely acknowledges it, looking further. He could have sworn he heard something rustling, out there, somewhere in the brush, but it's probably just a rabbit. Or a deer.

Or a werewolf.*

--Did you hear that?

*Going from mildly serious to all business in a heartbeat, Fabian goes very still, looking around at the thickening trees. He shakes his head once but doesn't verbally answer, listening closely.*

*Alice doesn't stop, she doesn't want to make it look to obvious if there is someone out there. She gets her wand at the ready under the cloak, treading more softly.*

*Sirius keeps walking, treading carefully, and finally shakes his head.*

It's probably nothing.

*Fabian catches up, not looking particularly sure.*

Maybe. How sluggish should we be expecting them to be, two days out?

Not sluggish at all. Snappish. Hyper-aware, kind of, like you are when you're annoyed and hungry but not tired.

*Or, at least, Remus is, and that's why Fabian is asking anyway.*

They get sluggish after the moon, not so much before. But it takes everyone different, so I can't say for sure.

Oh, good. Grouchy cannibals. This'll be fun.

Maybe next time we can invite her along to join the party.

Oooh, can we? She can go in first. Since it's her party anyway.

Oh, you know she'd just spoil the fun. I would bet five Galleons she was the kid who cried at other children's birthday parties because she wasn't getting all the attention.

Just five?

*He's relaxing again, flashing Alice a grin and twirling his wand between his fingers.*

And you're assuming she was ever a child. My money's on her being spawned from something unholy and altogether gross.

You mean the most pure and honourable house of Black?

You forgot noble. They like to stick noble in there too.

Hah! Point Longbottom. You see, this is why I needed you two, this right here. Werewolves. Pfft. It's just too hard to take the piss about Umbridge if you're solo. That's the thing.

*Alice laughs and puts her arm around Fabian.*

That, and I actually did bring cake.

You did no such thing.

You're brilliant. Not already full of serum, I hope?

I'll never tell.

At least, not until after we've started eating it.

That could be either hilarious or humiliating. Or both. I'm not going first.

Then it'll have to be Sirius.

Eh. I don't think there's much to get out of me.

*Except Remus, and about the deal with Bella, and--*

Besides, you give me a slice and I'll take the rest, and we'll need the rest to feed to them, if it comes to that.

Domestic bribery turned to weaponry. My, how I have grown.

*Fabian snorts and starts to make a retort about cupcake explosives, but the words fall flat in his throat. Up ahead, right where their intel had said it would be, is a clearing, and in that clearing, the camp.

It's rudimentary at best. Everything is makeshift, the tents roughly cobbled together from canvas and tarps and clothing and cardboard, held up with sticks, or suspended from low branches. There are clear signs of habitation - the remains of campfires that look no more than a day old, piles of animal carcasses, and the like. At least Fabian is hoping they're just animal carcasses. Slowing, he pauses just outside the camp, looking around carefully, wand at the ready. There's food, shelter, fire - so where are the people? The whole place (maybe some twenty-odd shelters in all) is deserted and there's an eerie quiet, as though the animals in this forest know better than to get too close. Something about it's definitively not right.

On edge and ready for a fight, he stalks slowly forward into the camp, gaze darting from tent to tent.*

*Alice follows Fabian, her eyes taking in any clues she can find.

At the centre is the firepit, with some still-burning embers. Alice squats, not looking down but instead using her hand to feel the heat. People have been here, but it's been at least an hour since someone was using this fire.

Alice jumps up, looking from tent to tent. The hair on the back of her neck is rising - she could swear someone is watching.*

*Fabian's reached the same conclusion. He signals for the other two to have a look around, while he takes off ahead a bit, deeper into the camp. There's one tent bigger than the rest, makeshift flaps down, that he can't see into at all.

There's probably a protocol for this, he thinks. Somewhere in the Werewolf Capture Unit's files, there is probably a thick handbook on How to Invade Werewolf Camps. If there is, Fabian hasn't bothered to read it - what do that lot really know, anyway? He brushes away the thought - and the certainty that Gideon would tell him off right now for this - and slips forward, pulling back a tent flap and peering into the darkness inside.*

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