Participants:
| Scene Title | On the Warpath |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Tonks tells Sirius about Holly and Remus being kidnapped. |
| Location | London - Grimmauld Place |
| Date | Jan 10, 1995 |
| Watch For | Temper and Threats |
| Logger | Deputy Dawg |
It's been about five days since Holly went missing from Grimmauld Place. To be honest about it, Sirius didn't notice until about two days in. Mozambique was still roaming the gloomy home, and he didn't think Holly would leave and not take her cat. There's also so many places here to hide. But when the American just didn't come out of hiding? Sirius got worried, and has stayed that way since. Sure they had a tiff, but it wasn't that bad, was it? Mo's leg is healing fine, Kreacher has been leaving the cat alone.. where did that blasted woman go? Black has even disguised himself a bit with some transfiguration to go looking for Holly, but he hasn't seen hide nor hair of the woman and he's getting more than a little concerned by now.
At the moment, he's sitting down in the kitchen, eating a dinner he's prepared himself, seeing as Kreacher is practically useless. Mo is seated on the table, and he's sharing his meal with the cat. Even talking to her, "I'll go out again in a bit, when it's a little darker out and go looking for Holly. She wouldn't have gone far without you, I'm sure of it."
It goes against her better judgment. Especially when words like 'Full Moon' keep bombarding that haphazard haze her mind's been in ever since Umbridge yanked her into that cell to gloat. Oh, it did it's job well. It took every fiber in her being not to just bolt the moment she woke up from the stunning spell and go running for help. The voice of reason in her head (sounds suspiciously like ol' Mad Eye) reminded her she'd probably be watched like a hawk. So, she waited a day. At the most. Kingsley's already been made aware of the situation (vaguely, really vaguely) because she said she wasn't going to come in the following day. And she didn't. No, she spent the rest of the night of the visit, and a good portion of the following day, apparating all over freaking England, in a bazillion different manners of appearances (thank Merlin that her ability is divine-proof; as far as she knows anyway), to shake off any trailing before Grimmauld was sought.
And so, so sorry, Sirius, but Tonks' rather rough, loud banging at the back door's going to wake up your mother, she's sorry.
"FILTH. SCUM. CREATURES INHABITING THE HALLS OF MY FATHERS! FLESH OF MY FLESH, YOU VILE BLOOD TRAITOR!!!"
The wailing of his mother's portrait is what alerts Sirius to the disruption of the meal down in the kitchen. He pats Mo on the head, leaving the cat to finish off his plate as he dashes up the stairs, wand out and completely ignores Walburga as he makes for the back door. "Holly?" he asks as he throws open the door, before noticing that it's his cousin. "Tonks? What in the name of Merlin's beard.. get in here." He reaches out to usher the woman inside before she's seen at the door.
Ow, stupid portrait. She's ushered, and her hand reaches to her head as if trying to ward off the screaming of the portrait. "I'll help you quiet her," Oh god, make the screaming stop… how bad of a witch IS Umbridge anyway and how'd she get where she is if she couldn't even master a simple obliviate? "I made sure I wasn't followed," she's pretty sure of it.
"FREAKS. ABOMINATIONS!"
"Shut it you old hag!" Sirius roars as he throws a stunning spell at the portrait. Now the yelling is on his nerves as he leads Tonks inside. "C'mon, down to the kitchen.." He puts an arm around Tonks's shoulders, not liking how frazzled she looks. "What's wrong?"
Okay, stunning it just works. Oh hey, Mo. Tonks just moves towards the kitchen. Sitting down, she winces as she tries to push the fog away from her head. Botched Obliviates hurt. "Umbridge has Holly." She manages to get out. "And Remus." Just trying to force these thoughts to the forefront of the fog hurts, but at least she's able to. Unlike the location. She can't get the location to come forth.
Sirius shuts the door to the kitchen after Tonks. Mo is still sitting on the table, lapping up the remains of dinner. He doesn't make it very far into the kitchen before Tonks speaks and her words slowly sink in. The expression that appears first on Sirius's face is akin to being smacked with a sackful of bricks. Then a look of well, murderous rage appears and he advances on Tonks, "Where are they!?" He's pulling out his wand, and looks ready to charge out of the house.
"Ow, shouting." It's not quite said in a whimper, but she's plainly making a case that her head /hurts/. "I…in a cell. Somewhere. There were bars between them. Umbridge brought me there to gloat, I'm sure. Rub my nose in it I guess." Because, to be honest, Tonks is the /only/ one out of that fiasco who's managed to stay successfully in the open without (much) whiplash for the escape incident. Holly, Jack and Sirius became fugitives… Remus just guilty by association.
Livid doesn't begin to describe the emotion Sirius is displaying. There's no apology for the shouting as he reaches to grab Tonks by the shoulders. "Cell? Somewhere? Where is it?" Sorry cousin, he doesn't seem to be picking up much that Tonks seems rattled and not by normal means. He's not even mad now that Holly slipped off, and apparently with Lupin, why else are they caught together? He's furious to say the least that they're now in Ministry hands.
She tries to focus on what she /can/ remember versus what she /can't/. "The moon, it was mentioned. I'm not sure Umbridge'd stoop that low but…" Tonks shakes her head, "That's about all I can remember. HOlly didn't say anything, not before I got stunned." So she's pretty sure Holly kept tight lipped.
The blood drains from Sirius's face when Tonks mentions the moon. He thinks quickly a moment, "Eight days.. full moon.. that.." And what follows after 'that' is a string of words that are foul, none too kind, and mainly involving what Umbridge is and what she can do to herself. ".. We have to find where they're held. We need a list of places the Ministry would stash them. Hopefully we can find them in time."
Tonks shakes her head again, her hands coming up to curl into the plain brown locks of hair. Damn, her head hurts. "You don't have anything for a monster headache do you?" She lowers her hands, her eyes seem to be misty… "I can't remember. It hurts every time I try. I know I got obliviated, whoever did it though did a piss-poor job."
Sirius lets go of Tonks's shoulders and steps back. "Sure. There's bound to be something," he says all too quietly, which should be a bad sign. He moves to rummage through the cabinets and finds some headache remedy to hand to Tonks. "When I get my hands on the person responsible…" That's it, when you're accused of mass murder, threaten more murder!
Sirius is given a grateful smile, and for the first time in twenty four hours, Tonks allows herself a moment of relaxation. Just enough to let the tension out of her shoulders. "I'm right next to you," she says quietly. "They used the Cruciatus on Holly… they're probably subjecting the same treatment on Remus. Or worse. She kept calling him things like 'animal' and 'monster'." Yup, there goes the neighborhood, two pissed off Blacks on the warpath.
Sirius hands Tonks the mug with the remedy. Sorry, it's sort of a medicinal tea. Now see there Tonks? That's not helping. Telling him things like that. "They did what!?" He roars loud enough to startle poor Mo and gets a feline glare for his shouting. Wand in hand, he stomps for the door. "I WILL KILL HER."
OH HAY MEDICINAL. For some reason, the 'tea' part doesn't register and she just begins gulping it down. At least it wasn't like just off the kettle hot or anything. There's an unlady like belch, and she just waits for magic to happen. And Sirius is out with his wand, threatening murder. "Where will you go?" There's an odd twinge in her words. Don't mind her.
Sirius stops at the door. Dammit Tonks, you just had to go and ruin his mood. "I'm going to find that cow." If he'll even stop to think about using a disguise .. before y'know .. marching into the Ministry on the warpath.
"I'm trying. I"m trying to remember. It's incomplete, the modification." WAGH Where's Brandon when you need him!? "But it hurts. It's just like a fog that won't go away. I feel like I've got the worst hangover… And we need to get to them before the full moon." Tonks wrings her hands. "For both of them."
"That's the obvious timeframe we have to work in," Sirius says with a fierce growl as he punches his fist into the door. That's gonna hurt later. "You're just going to have to go back to the Ministry and find out where they're held. I'll also disguise myself and help." Yes. Disguise and marching into the Ministry. The man will not be able to hold his temper long enough to be effective.
"You won't!" Tonks is standing up now. "Going in there's suicide. I've got Kingsley on the job already. He's got their /trust/, he'll be able to maneuver easier than I will." She rubs her hand under her nose, "Losing you's not an option." Sorry.
"We don't have /time/ for this! I can disguise myself well enough to not be noticed!" At least until Sirius has Umbridge cornered and wetting herself in fear. In his mind, this is a nice plan. It gets straight to the point. "They're not going to keep holding onto Remus and Holly!"
"No, we don't. We also can't afford to give them what they want!" Tonks' hands slap on the surface of the table. "How can you be sure that they don't have the location kept secret save for a few people? /Think/ Sirius…" She turns her head away, frowning.
THINK? Now is not the time to think! Sirius is livid and never was one for sitting still when he's turned up to 10 on the anger dial. "They're /not/ getting away with this Tonks!" For the moment, it doesn't appear that he's going to go off and storm the castle.
Now is the ONLY time to think! With Kingsley they're only real bet in getting the safehouse location, they can devise a plan for the actual assault. "I know!" Softer, "I know. She's hurt him—them, I want to hurt her back. But we can't just go running in there without a plan. Please, you have to realize this."
"I will put her head with the house-elves upstairs!" Not really, but Sirius has to say something as he's fiercely blowing off steam… seeing as Tonks won't let him go attack things. He doesn't even need to transform to pull off the snarling dog routine.
Of course, Tonks realizes there's a missing piece here. "Why wasn't Holly here?" Obviously the Ministry didn't ransack the Black's home, where Tonks last knew Holly to be. And was she with Remus? There's a knot in Tonks' throat. Not quite knowing the cause, she just works on swallowing it.
"Damned if I know!," Sirius snarls as he sets to pacing the room, glaring daggers at his surroundings. He's silent as he growls to himself when finally after a few minutes, "We had a bit of a row a few days ago," he admits grudgingly. "I thought she was merely sitting by herself in a quiet part of the house up until three days ago. I presume she's been gone since just after the fight. I didn't think she would take off and leave Mo behind."
That would explain it. Easily answered. Where she went, it's obvious Sirius doesn't know. "Okay," is all she says. Tonks seems to realize that badgering him for information, information he likely doesn't even have a clue about, will only make his mood worse. "If they picked up Remus along with her, they probably used the WCU. It was a posted memo, actually." The capture that was. "Maybe the persons who were part of the capture know. Easy enough to find," she pauses, "and get addresses for." So Sirius can go terrorize people OUTSIDE of the ministry building.
Sirius will gladly terrorize. "Fine. Get me addresses. We need to get started on this /now/." Time is wasting, and the man is getting antsy. "They must have picked them up together.. unless Holly was by herself. Maybe they got Remus from work."
"I would've heard about it sooner if he had," Office gossip. "I'll let Kingsley know when I'm safe to do so." They have planned meeting hours to throw glowy animals at each other you know! The next interval should be soon. "Otherwise, I think I'm going to sit here, nurse my headache, and cry my eyes out because … I don't know. So…If you'll excuse me…"
Sirius merely looks uncomfortable when Tonks looks.. weepy. "R.. right.. Take your time." He gives his cousin an awkward pat on the shoulder before finding her a hankie to use. Get this out of your system, because warpath, they'll be on one soon.
*HOOONKK* The hankie is well received, obviously. It really is the stress of trying to think through a botched memory charm, in combination with everything else. Tonks just rests her head on the table. "Stupid pink cow."