War became a job, and love became a mystery, and heart and head were rent into two

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*It's been a long day for Sirius. At least he's back on real Auror duty, and working hard despite being the greenest member of the squad still. He's taken initiative, even brought in this man--one Gilbert Kenniwick--on a variety of petty charges. Trafficking in restricted artifacts, trafficking in restricted creatures--kid stuff, enough to earn him a sentence but not really enough to interest the Auror office. It all could have been dealt through other channels if Sirius had not also been tracing a series of tenuous connections related to giant attacks. His confessed movements in and out of giant territory point right at him being involved somehow in attacks. Twice now, right after he has left giant territory, a major attack has gone down on a Muggle town. It's been more than a month since the last one and they caught Gilbert trying to catch a Portkey to Latvia this morning. Sirius'll be damned if he gets there.

But it's been five hours now and Gilbert isn't talking. His bag full of various treasures are his own, he says, and he's not taking orders from anyone. It's time, Sirius knows, to bring in someone who might just know what they're doing more than he does.

He approaches Alice's desk and drops the file on Gilbert in front of her, crossing his arms.*

Got a minute?

Comments

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Gilbert looks terrified, but he's given up on Sirius for help. He screws up his face with determination.

"I'm not scared of you."*

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Alice echoes some of her first words with a different inflection.*

Not yet?

*The flat side of the blade ghosts across one cheek, then the other.*

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Kenniwick freezes, rigid in his chair, not even daring to twitch when she touches him with the knife. But when the sharp edge doesn't cut him, he lets out a hoarse little giggle.

"You can't hurt me, I'm a suspect--"

Sirius, finally finding the volition to move, takes out his wand and holds it at his side, waiting for--something.*

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Alice's eyebrows are up again, her face a mask of are you really this stupid.

Her hand brings the knife down to his left thumb.*

I can do anything I like because you're a suspect, Gilbert Kenniwick.

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Kenniwick tries to stretch his thumb away, but there's nothing he can do: the bonds are tight.

"Fuck you, fuck you--"*

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*She is almost certain that if he knows anything, he's about to crack. All she would need to do is to cut just deep enough for stitches and he will talk.

She makes a show of it, raising her shoulder and sliding the knife; it looks more like she's about to cut into a loaf of bread than a thumb.

And then there is a little blood and a lot of screams.

Alice stops.*

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Even after she stops, Kenniwick keeps squealing for a few seconds, and then dissolves into whimpers.

"All right, I was--I'm trying to--import things. Illegally. All right? Importing. That's it, I swear--"

But Sirius isn't even listening. He's horrified at the screaming and the blood--Kenniwick can't wipe it away, his hand is streaming, and Sirius doesn't even know what to do with his wand.*

Alice--

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*The tone of Sirius's voice tells Alice he wants her to stop. She looks down at the cut. It's shallow, it wouldn't take more than two minutes to heal. She Summons a small cloth from her bag and wraps it around the thumb to stop the bleeding in the meantime.

Finally she turns around to see the shock on Sirius's face, and it confuses her. This is certainly not the first interrogation he has seen, and can't possibly be the worst.

Looking him up and down, she frowns, but gives her assessment of Kenniwick.*

I don't think he did it. But you could try sweating him out in here. Trust your judgment, he's your suspect.

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Sirius' face has managed to arrange itself into something like impassivity again, but he's never been very good at hiding disquiet.*

Can we talk for a minute? Outside?

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Nodding and now worried, Alice packs up her Healer kit, then follows him out.*

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Sirius is trying to arrange some kind of reasonable response. After a moment, he settles on tackling it head-on.*

Hell, Alice, since when do you carry a knife that you use on suspects?

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*It's actually a more personal question than he knows, but a fair one.*

After I dropped my wand in Scotland and was Disarmed by Rosier, I bought one. They're actually a bit more effective, if your suspect is already scared. Wands might scare them too much - they don't know what spell is coming. Knives present a concrete and obvious threat.

*In some way she feels like she's giving a lecture to a trainee instead of a colleague.*

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

So you're trying to be a better Auror by copying a Death Eater's tactics?

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Taken aback, Alice folds her arms across her chest.*

The same method is used in interrogations all the time with wands and nonverbal spells.

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*She's not wrong, but it seems different--worse, somehow, that she's not even using magic.*

Is that how we do things now?

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Alice is acutely aware that when Sirius is upset about something he harps and attacks, and if these questions are in any way connected to what happened in the room, she is no mood for it.*

What is this about, Sirius?

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

What's it about? It's about Xeno and the Death Eaters and everyone else who doesn't work in this place saying that we're the bad guys, and you're making me think they might not be completely wrong. You were--

*He wants to say out of control but that's not true. She was precisely in control at all times. That's what makes it so terrifying.*

--You told him your name and he acted like you were a fucking Dementor.

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*Alice's body actually moves back a little this time. The words sting, but nonetheless she keeps patient.*

I have worked here for three years, I have a reputation with Dark Wizards, same as everyone else.

And Xeno's opinion comes from Umbridge's DRCMC and Death Eaters believe that Voldemort is the better alternative. Do you honestly think those are the most rational views?

[treefeller.livejournal.com]

*Gideon's been working on the incident report for the Gamp house all afternoon and into the evening, and he's just now put it into triplicate with a wave of his wand, stamped each report with his personal seal, and sent three little purple aeroplanes off to the appropriate recipients. He's heading straight to Hestia's from here, so it's with a bit of a spring in his step that he packs up his other paperwork and moves to leave. But there are raised voices--familiar voices--in the hall just outside the interrogation rooms and he can't help heading over. He's friendly with both Alice and Sirius, and it's immediately and effortlessly that he steps into his usual role as general peacekeeper. It wouldn't be the first time tempers ran high in this room.*

All right over here?

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

*Sirius had been about to say, I don't know what to think, but with Gideon appearing he clams shut.*

Everything's fine.

[treefeller.livejournal.com]

*And there's Sirius, shutting up like a sullen scallop. Gideon's gaze flickers from him to Alice.*

Sure?

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

*While she's hesitant to bring in another person in, Alice still doesn't understand what they are arguing over.*

I don't even know what this conversation is about yet.

[fleasaremurder.livejournal.com]

It's fine. I'll take Kenniwick from here. Alice, you're right, he doesn't know anything, I was wrong about the connection to the giants. I'll turn him over to the right people in Improper Use of Magic, all right? This is just a regulatory offense at this point. It's not for us.

[gummymummy.livejournal.com]

Sirius, what is wrong? You asked for my help, you know me and my methods, and you know how interrogation goes.

*Alice knows he's green, but that isn't much of an excuse anymore. He has been an Auror for almost a year now, and this behaviour isn't acceptable.*

[treefeller.livejournal.com]

*Gideon's gaze flickers again between the two of them--and he knows, now, what's been going on with Kenniwick. He's aware of Alice's methods (she and Frank both) and utterly opposed to them; he won't use them himself and never has. But they're good people, the two of them, good Aurors--great Aurors, his best friend and his wife besides--so, well, that is that. Some subjects they don't bring up. Some questions Gideon doesn't ask himself.

So it's easy enough for him to shrug, now, to smile, to try and defuse whatever Alice is trying to restart.*

If it's just Improper Use of Magic, Alice, it's not worth bothering with, is it?

I was just heading out, come with?