1 Nov 2009
1:30 am

Handcuffs.  Handcuffs.  Niobe stared down at them in her lap with a frown of abject humiliation and horror.  Her mascara was dried in streaks down her cheeks and her Halloween horns were askew atop her be-dreadlocked head.  How could this have happened to her?  How could she have been so stupid?  And where was Dominik anyway?  They'd been separated as soon as they arrived at the Ministry of Magic; her wand had been boxed and locked away, then Niobe had been photographed, questioned, and then sat on this bench.

Sat on this bench with her hands cuffed in front of her on lap.  She was dejected.  Slumpy. Ashamed. And afraid.  She'd ruined everything good in her life.  She was going to lose her job.  Lose her flat.  Lose everything.  She hadn't meant to hurt anyone.  It had just gone too far.  One step over the line and then it had just gotten easier to follow Dominik and had felt so badass to impress him.  She bumped her head back against the wall at the thought.  "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she mumbled through gritted teeth. 

She didn't know what to think.  She'd been parked here what seemed like an hour ago and told to wait.  As if she would go anywhere.  No.  She had no wish to provoke the red-robed Aurors and make things worse.  But they hadn't told her what came next and her foggy, hung-over, shame-filled mind  couldn't remember what came next in the process even though she'd reported on it many times. 

She let her head hang again, and when she opened her eyes there were boots standing in front of her.  She looked up and almost looked hopeful.  A familiar face. 

"Ed?"

Well well well wasn’t it an interesting figure who’d been brought into the ministry on this all hallows eve. Eddie stood before her staring down with a disapproving expression. She’d certainly landed in the excrement this evening. He’d expected better from Miss Thursby. Despite the fact that she had the audacity to stick her nose where it most certainly didn’t belong, she was a nice enough witch. She wasn’t a malicious one, certainly. She wasn’t one to do this.

The witch’s puffy eyes were the origin of smeared makeup travelling down her humourless face. They finally glanced up at Ed once they’d spotted him and the Auror’s eyebrows rose as their gazes met. He wasn’t there to question her or lead her to her cell. The hitwizards could send her there later. Ed was there to, in all senses of the word, bother her.

“You’re not bangin’ yer head hard enough, Nobby.” The northerner bluntly muttered, skipping greetings. He looked tired himself. The last day of the month meant paperwork deadlines. The first day of the month meant hiding from your superior if you had failed to hand in completed reports and it was safe to say that Eddie had been tracked down by an angry boss countless times on the first of the month. So this month Roh and he had remained behind to catch up on their reports in time for the morning. Unfortunately there had been a lot of catching up to do since neither partner much enjoyed the delights reports bring with them.

“If you want to forget yer idiocy, yer gonna need to bang it much harder.” Ed shrugged and took a sip of the coffee her was presently cradling between his fingers, his lifeline for evening work. “But most people don’t get to the stage of bangin’ their heads against brick walls until they’re locked up in Azkaban with rats and damp for company.”

Niobe's hopeful expression was gone soon enough as she realized that Ed wasn't here to be a friendly face, a bastion of comfort in this cold, horrible, judgmental venue of her self-vindiction.  He was here to be a Pratt.  She shifted on the bench and sighed darkly at him. 

"Don't say that," she mumbled at him.  She couldn't even think about Azkaban.  That couldn't be a possibility.  Unless they'd actually hurt someone.  Her imagination had been running wild these last few hours, that somehow one of their harmless pranks had gone wrong and a muggle was maimed or dead and she and Dom were both bound to the northern island fortress.  She swallowed down a gagging lump in her throat.

"Are you letting me go?" she asked him, dumbly.  Why else would he be here?  To let her go home and return the next day for more.

“Nope.” Ed bluntly responded. “Not my place to let ye go. You, Nobby dear, get to partake of our 5 star accommodation in the Department of Law Enforcement’s very own Bed and Breakfast.” The auror made it sound like a delightful experience the witch had just won. He even threw in a smile for good measure before that vanished and he took another sip of coffee, once more looking serious. Because what she’d been arrested for was, or what he’d been told in the office was. But why would Thursby be so damn stupid?

“You’ve got to wait for the morning before we see if yer goin’ anywhere. Yer sittin before the wizengamot first thing.”

Beside him on a table, Eddie deposited the coffee cup and delved into the expanded pocket of his red auror robes. He was rifling for a few moments before he finally pulled out a brown paper bag and offered it to the department’s newest resident.

“With it bein’ middle of the night the icecream place ‘ent open, so I had to improvise.” When he said improvise, Eddie did in fact mean going through leftovers in the headquarters and stealing the trainee’s food to put together a delightful pineapple sandwich covered in kelpie sauce. Auror training to work with what you had in difficult situations definitely paid off. “Well take it, I ent got all day…night.”

Stupid question.  Niobe sighed a shuddering sigh, disgusted at herself for being so exposed in front of Pratt who looked comfortable and at ease.  And why wouldn't he.  This was his turf.  He was at work.  He was as easy and in control as Niobe would be on the floor of the Daily Prophet.  But he was a guardian of the peace, and she'd broken ages-old magical law.  She sighed again at the thought. She couldn't even smile at his stupid joke.

Right.  The Wizengamot.  She finally remembered what she could probably expect.  She'd been arrested.  Questioned.  A laywer had advised her.  And she'd be held until she was charged.  In the morning the Aurors would ask the court to charge her with crimes and then they'd decide if she'd be allowed out until trial.  Oh Merlin.  A trial?  Would she plead? What if someone had been hurt.

But Ed was talking about ... food and offering her a lunch sack.  She looked at him skeptically, but he insisted.  She had to raise both her hands together to retrieve the bag - the clinking of the chains linking the cuffs together was grating to her.  Didn't allow her to forget this stupid mess she was in.

"What is it." She undid the crinkled back and looked inside. Her mouth was dry and bland and the last thing she wanted to do was eat.  But she probably should.  She reached it.  It was a sandwich packed in plastic. 

She peeled back the plastic and smelled kelpie gravy and... pineapple.  Oh god, their date at Fortescue's.   Oh god. 

"Thanks," she said blandly but made no move to take a bite.  She held the sandwich loosely in her hands, resting on top of the crumpled paper bag.  "I guess."

"Ed, you have to tell me.  They wouldn't."  Maybe they hadn't been allowed.  Maybe they didn't know at the time.  "Did anyone get hurt?" 

Well if Eddie had known Nobby was going to be so picky about the food he gave her he wouldn’t have bothered sourcing it or coming to see her. In fact he wasn’t sure why he had abandoned Roh and wandered over to speak to Nobby. It wasn’t as if he even liked her. Their date had been interesting, yes. But Niobe had stuck her nose somewhere it definitely hadn’t belonged shortly after and despite it probably having helped push him towards the right decision, he wasn’t grateful for it. She’d made him quite furious.

And now she’d gotten herself into some very big trouble. Ed wanted to ask her what the hell she’d been thinking of. As an acquaintance rather than an auror. But he was in the department, his red robes were hanging off his shoulders and his badge gleamed brightly on his lapel. Eddie was every bit the auror and right now she was the detainee, the accused criminal.

“I don’t know.” Ed breathed with a sigh, frowning down at the witch in shackles. She looked more vulnerable than the famous Nobby Thursby, fearless reporter should have been. But she was facing some serious charges. After releasing another sigh Eddie reached down to his waist, brushing red robes back to reveal his holster. From it he withdrew his wand and stepped in close to Niobe. Larger hands grabbed hers and the wand was pointed at the handcuffs, each in turn. The lock unclicking was heard and Eddie removed them from her hands.

“How the heck were you so stupid, Nob?” The auror asked as he plonked himself on the bench next to her, resting the cuffs in his lap. “What kind of sick delusions go through your head to go along with that then?”

Niobe just looked at the floor.  Ed said he didn't know anything.  She just had to wait and wonder.  She wondered if she'd see her lawyer before tomorrow morning.  She had a feeling that the early hours of the morning were going to crawl by.  This indefinite waiting was crawling on her nerves, warping the passage of time.  What was going to happen next and when would it occur?

The constant stream of thought seemed to get an answer when without any prelude, the Auror quietly took out his wand and took off her handcuffs.   Niobe had always thought it was strange how everyone was always depicted rubbing their wrists in a moment like this, but it's exactly what she did.  Then stuffed her hands across her chest into her armpits self-consciously.  The sandwich sat in her lap.

But Eddie's questions brought the tears back.  Her throat got all tight and her eyes all watery and Merlin's Bones she felt like an idiot.  Blubbering like a school girl caught cheating on a test.  She choked back the lump in her throat rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. 

"I don't know," she shrugged and crossed her arms.  "I was drunk.  It was Dominik.  I'm horrified.  It was funny.  At first, I mean.  So stupid.  He did it first and it seemed harmless.  They never notice us, you know?"  It was ages old.  The subtle conflict that colored everything about the Wizarding World.  Their entire society was covert and the affects were insidious.  There seemed to run, some people said, inside every modern witch and wizard a level of resentment at hiding.  Not at the Ministry who enforced it, but at the unwitting muggles whom they were all hiding from.

"They'd never know, right?"  She gulped and shook her head.  "But it went too far.  I let it go too far." 

One would think that after years of being in this career and dealing with the crying and tearful reactions of convicts and relatives would have made Eddie less awkward around tears. That after being married for a decade and having kids, he could handle crying like a professional. One would be incredibly wrong. When tears surfaced, Eddie instantly felt awkward. He didn’t deal well with the obvious emotions of others. So he just sat there in awkward silence after his question made Niobe resume her crying. She’d brought it upon herself by doing something so stupidly cruel and as far as Ed was concerned, she could cry. He didn’t know how to, nor was he there to comfort her and tell her it would be ok.

“You definitely did.” The auror responded coldly. In no way was he even close to condoning what she had done. It was barbaric, irresponsible and most importantly, illegal. Of course Eddie broke the law; he’d spent a night in a cell[1]. But he never hurt anyone doing so. He never took advantage of the vulnerable for his own pleasure.

“You broke the law and endangered innocent muggles, Nobby. Yer boyfriend doin’ it first don’t make no difference.” Eddie turned his head to glance over her face. “Yer a bloody idiot, ye know that?”

1.	Let the Game Begin

Eddie's tone stayed cold, and his words gave voice to the horrible things Niobe was thinking about herself.  The voice she should have listened to, naggling in the back of her mind.  The voice that rang in her ears now. 

"I know that!" she snapped with a raised voice. "I fecking know that. Ungh!"  She rubbed her face hard with her hands and sank down on the bench.  She resented him for saying.  For rubbing her nose in it.  But he was right and she deserved more than a scolding. 

"Shit on everything, I know it," she mumbled behind her hands. 

Her head swam.  The regret was nauseating.  It wasn't who she was.  She'd been so weak and eager to impress.  To be seen by Dominik as edgy and game.  She'd put him over what she believed was right.  It wasn't Dominik's fault.  It was her fault. 

Another deep sigh and she let her hands down and just stared at the floor.  "I wish I could fix it."

But the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophies would never allow it.  The people she'd hexed would get care by their doctors, and the Obliviators would cover up the fall-out.  Perhaps that was part of all this shame.  Her victims would never have a voice in their courts, Niobe would never get to fix what she'd done.  She would be punished, but her crime would be concealed.  Erased. 

What a world.

Nobby’s voice rose, snapping at Ed but he didn’t flinch or really look that bothered by her emotional outburst. Instead he just kept his green gaze upon her, questioning himself for even having come to speak to her and give her the sandwich when she hadn’t touched it and was getting arsy with him over something she’d moronically done. Ed felt like he should have continued to question her motives and tell her what an idiot the witch was but she seemed to be quickly realising that by her present situation and future punishment. Ed didn’t want to continue to beat her down even more. They’d been on a date together after all! They’d shared in ice cream and she’d been for a ride on his shoulder(something every witch should aspire to).

So Eddie decided to do a fatherly thing.

“Swearin’ ent gonna help ye fix it, lass.” He stated rather bluntly. “Ye’ll just make yerself sound worse.” Probably not the bit of amazing advice or comfort Thursby needed right then.

“Although,” The auror smirked slightly, “Shackles are a good look on ye. Maybe I shouldn’t have removed them.” And the smirk turned into Edward Pratt’s trademark cheeky grin.

"Pratt!  You get those forms..."  Zora rounded the corner looking for her partner.  Bloody stupid first of the month and Halloween at that - worst day of the paperwork year where did she find her partner?  Having a chat with - !

That reporter that Trevelyan and Eleor brought in with Wiedman?  Wiedman had been a handful, but this one, she'd heard, had blubbered the whole way in.  What the hell was Ed doing having a sit-down with her?

"What are you doing!" she hissed, quickly coming over.  "Why are her cuffs off? My god, man, she's being booked for muggle-baiting," she said.  She took one look at the tear-streaked soggy witch sitting there with a sandwich in her lap before deciding that she hadn't stumbled on a glaringly dangerous security breach.  But she didn't like it. 

"Just finish up with her, alright?  We've got work to do."

Niobe resented Ed's admonishment sorely, but she was beyond defending herself.  She almost would have preferred a stranger rather than to feel humiliated in front of someone she knew.  Someone she used to have a good reputation with.  Well, good as in not a horrible, shameful mess.  Good as in a witch with a future ahead of her.

But wait, was he?  Niobe cracked a smile in spite of herself and her situation.  He was messing with her.  Now, of all times!  She gently bumped him with her elbow, but her retort was cut short.  A grouchy Auror had come upon them and immediately any hint of reprieve vanished and Niobe tensed.  The last thing she needed was more trouble.

Like a storm, Zora Roh appeared around the corner, walking at her ridiculously quick pace and wasting no time in hissing at her partner because of the situation he was presently in. The blond auror’s smile vanished and he stared at Roh, making the simply move of raising his eyebrows. Was she seriously questioning him removing the handcuffs of a crying reporter that obviously had made no attempt to escape or hurt him?

Roh deserved more than the disapproving look that Eddie gave her but she very quickly changed tact and told him to hurry up.

“We’ve got all night.” The auror bluntly responded before frowning. They had a lot of work to do. He couldn’t sit with Nobby and avoid it forever by distracting himself with judging her. She wasn’t his catch. So the auror stood himself up and watched his partner. “I’ll take her down; she needs to sleep off whatever she’s been drinking.” Ed wasn’t having Zora stick her bossy nose in anymore. Or finding out about his past blind date with Thursby.

“Come on, Nob.” Ed bluntly muttered, indicating for Niobe to rise.

"Fine." 

Whatever Ed was doing, she just wanted it to be finished.  She might not have cared otherwise, but she wanted to get their paperwork done and get home.  She had her own Halloween fun to be had with Iona.  Having been Ed's partner for awhile now, Zora knew the man had a heart all tangled up in all his sarcasm and impertinence.  But protocol was important and if he wanted to get casual he was just asking for a massive rebuke. 

She gave him a look before leaving him be. 

Niobe hated being spoken about like she was a piece of furniture, a bit of luggage that needed to be sorted.  It made this whole situation all the more upsetting, that everything that would happen from here on out would be out of her control.  She sighed a shuddering sigh, trying to keep it together as the grouchy Auror walked off leaving her with Ed, who seemed to be remembering his duty.

She set the sandwich on the bench as she stood up.  She really wasn't in a position to fully appreciate the personal gesture of a strange sandwich arranged just for her.  Her stomach was too busy knotting itself up, her mind to focused on her own self-pity to pay mind to Ed's feelings.  Auror Pratt's, rather.  For at this moment, he wasn't her chum, no matter how either of them might have preferred that.

"Let's go then," she said, almost eager to move onto the next thing.  Sleeping would be a welcome reprieve from the cyclone of self-doubt and anxiety filling her head right now.  If she'd be able to have a lie down and shut off her brain, she could sink into those few hours before it started again next morning.