Bait and Bleed - An AU War RPG

*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.*

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

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

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

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

Is that how we do things now?

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*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?

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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.

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*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?

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*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?

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

Everything's fine.

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

Sure?

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*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.

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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.

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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.*

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*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?

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*Sirius rubs his forehead and tries to relax his tone, hoping to at least sound grateful.*

I'm going to fill out some paperwork, transfer him to the right people, get him patched up. Thanks for your help.

*He nods to Gideon, and starts off down the hall.*

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*Watching him go, Alice is reminded of being back at Hogwarts - his behaviour is so frustratingly juvenile sometimes. Her annoyance at his professional actions grow too, when she realises he is leaving his person sitting in the interrogation room bound to a chair and with no clue about his fate.

She sighs, then looks up at Gideon.*

One second, yeah?

*Quickly she goes back into Kenniwick and heals his hand and nose, tells him he'll be transferred to the Improper Use of Magic Office, and loosens his ropes a little before she goes back to Gideon.*

Headed home, then?

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*It's more than a second-- it's a few minutes actually, long enough for Gideon to shift from foot to foot a bit, to wonder uncomfortably what Alice is doing alone with Black's suspect after they've just had a dispute over methods. By the time she returns he's half-wishing he hadn't said anything at all, and hefts his armload of paperwork with obvious relief as he walks with her out of the office.*

Hestia's, actually.

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Oh? How's that?

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It's going. She's a great girl.

*It's said with a small shrug as they step into the elevator together. It's a bit crowded, and doesn't seem the place to chat about either Hestia or whatever Alice was at it with Sirius about, so as the smooth female voice announces each floor in turn he falls silent, holding his paperwork to his chest and trying to think about the former rather than the latter. Sirius was green, still, or greenish, and could be a jumble of nerves even on his best day--but what had she been doing in there--*

We're having dinner at her place, doing our respective homework. Exciting world of dating an Auror.

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*It's no secret that the twins and the Longbottoms do not agree about what Aurors should and should not do, but it's a topic that neither set broaches. Alice can guess that Gideon's thoughts are still back in room three, but she knows better than to bring it up. Her tactics were not extraordinary, not even individual to herself. People in the office do far worse everyday, and for much less. But Sirius's reaction doesn't add up. As a trainee, he observed probably every Auror interrogate at some point, and Alice's brutality is not unheard of. She can't understand what triggered it.

As they step out of the elevator, Alice returns to the conversation.*

I remember those days...well, I'm sure you remember too.

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