ambivalence

In the end, Burke arrived mid-morning the next day, looking like he had rushed though several floos and aparated. Needless to say he looked, disheveled. Walburga wasn’t particularly happy about that - the time of his arrival nor his appearance - but with the man’s endless grovelling of being caught up in ‘an unfortunate family affair’ as he put it and being unavailable until that very moment she relented and let him in with not what she would call a huff, for she - a pureblooded lady - would never do such a thing, but a disdainful sniff. He was very good at his job after all, or so she had heard as she had never needed his expertise until now. She led him in to the very same sitting room in which she waited and sat down on one of the two parallel couches facing each other, with a low coffee table between them, the very place often used for business by many of their esteemed family. As she settled herself into the couch she observed the man called Aurelius Burke. At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about the man nor did he have the demeanor of one who would be such an excellent lawyer, he wasn’t tall, only slightly above average height and wasn’t especially portly nor lanky, and had a messy crop of light brown hair, (however it wasn’t clear if that was simply because of his speedy travels or his regular appearance). He was simply one of those people who would be lost in a crowd.

Burke made himself comfortable across from her and pulled out a few sheets of parchment and a note taking quill to take any relevant information down. She was pleased with this as quick-quotes quills were always a nuisance, especially with reporters who tended to exaggerate their stories at best.

“Lady Black,” He began, nervousness clear through his practiced accent, “not that I’m not honoured to be called here but may I ask what the nature of your summons is?” He fidgeted more as Walburga looked him up and down. After what she thought was an appropriate amount of uncomfortable silence she spoke.

“Mr Burke, I assume you read yesterdays papers?” She waited until he had nodded, “Good. I have called you here today as I think it is abhorrent that my son, a member of the most ancient and noble house of Black, and its heir mind you, was arrested with so little evidence published.” She looked to Burke to try and gauge his reaction. His brows furrowed slightly.

“Lady Black, while I completely understand what you are asking me to do, I am just slightly confused.”

“Go on,” She said, slowly keeping eye contact until he looked down.

“Well…it’s just that…” he stumbled over his words slightly, trying to find the right way to say it. “You famously hate your eldest,” He finally decided on but his tone gentle now, “It is common knowledge amongst the noble houses that your son ran away at 16 and you burned his face off of your tapestry. I am simply confused on why you wish to exonerate him.”

Walburga stayed quiet for a few moments, and took a few silent breaths to calm herself, it was becoming harder and harder lately, and began with her voice calm and measured but cold and sharp as ice.

“You do not completely understand then, if you ask why. My son is my son, and he is a member of the house of Black.” She stood up at this, towering over that man sitting before her. “Our familial relations are none of your concern and irrelevant. What is your concern is freeing him from that ghastly prison and having him pronounced a free and innocent man.” Everything she said was in a soft, even whisper but was as loud as a dragons roar.

Though the man was correct, in some capacity. She could admit, to herself at least, that she did despise him, if only slightly. The boy had bent he knee to Albus Dumbledore of all people. The man who had systematically erased wizarding culture and traditions. The man who had removed any and all classes on their culture and etiquette. The man who had replaced all the pagan holidays with the Christian ones. She was betrayed. Her son had called that man his leader. (Perhaps this was an opportunity to set some things right.)

She lowered herself back down once more, her posture straight and regal and her head poised, looking down at the man who sat in front her, seemingly deep in thought. She stayed like that until the man had straightened and looked at her.

“My apologies, Lady Black. I should not have pried.” She nodded at this, “Before we begin, would we please be able to discuss the matter of my payment?”

Walburga raised a perfect eyebrow at this. “I believe you have your rates listed, would those do? Along with any extra boons that we can discuss at a later date.”

“I find that acceptable. Now, if we shall get down to business, I assume you wish to completely clear Heir Black of all charges?”

“Yes as I truly do not believe he could possibly follow Voldemort outside of an imperious and even then, his head might explode from his sheer stubbornness.” Burke nodded - looking slightly sick at the mention of the dark lord by name - and his quill started writing a few things down on his parchment.

“Very well then, there are multiple steps to even begin to prove his innocence. For starters we would need as many witnesses and statements as we can commending his character and his actions against you-know-who to possibly even begin to convince any amount of people. We would also need to find a way to explain how the events of that night occurred, as well as gathering the evidence itself to refute every single possible charge. Against the ministry, who would most certainly fight us at every turn, no doubt trying to protect their image, doing so would be very difficult.”

Walburga considered this and nodded her head. There was, after all, no fault she could find in the man’s words or logic. “I agree.” She said simply. “Where should we start?”

What followed this was a long discussion on whatever information was presented in both that day’s and the day before’s paper, with kreacher appearing every now and then to provide snacks or refill their tea that he had brought at the beginning of their conversation. The slow realization that there was even less evidence, than what she had previously assumed, stated in any article was an interesting development, however.

“This is all very suspect,” Burke said after a half hour of combing through every one of the many articles that had already come out in the span of a day and a half on the topic of her son. “There is very little actual evidence listed in any of these. There being this little in the papers and that he was thrown into Askaban immediately seems to point to there being very little evidence at all.”

“Would that not make it easier to disprove the aurors and ministry?” She questioned, tilting her head slightly.

“Not necessarily,” he answered, minutely shaking his head “In ordinary circumstances it would definitely be in our favour, however, this specific case has the scrutiny of the entire country. Nobody would want to admit that they arrested someone for being the right hand man to the dark lord but then have him be proved innocent because of lack of evidence. Even if the aurors and ministry believe him to be innocent they will try to keep him incarcerated for their own image, possible creating false evidence or simply ‘forget’ to grant him a trial”

It was a grim speech, but again, not one she could find fault with. She seethed. She was used to the deep rooted corruption of the ministry, however, it being used against her was most certainly a novelty.

“So how do we get around this?” She asked. She was well aware of the many different types of methods to getting what you wanted in the ministry - bribery, manipulation and threats being the three favoured - but this was a delicate situation, so not all previous methods would work.

“Ttt,” This was a very annoying situation.

“I believe our best chance is to present overwhelming evidence along with possibly a few well placed threats and or bribes. However, overwhelming evidence is key. We must provide indisputable proof that Heir Black is an innocent man. So our first step, is to find out who, if not Heir Black, is responsible for…the incident.” He paused at this but it was clear he had something more to say. After a few moments of silence he continued. “I believe the best way to accomplish this is…to visit you son, Lady Black, and find out his account of the events as I doubt there has been anyone who has asked.” The last part was added quickly, as a sort of explanation. The nerve, to think he still didn’t understand.

She sat there, perfectly still, for a moment before sweeping up off of her seat and towards the center of the room. “You must not have completely understood my earlier statement then, Mr Burke, our relationship is irrelevent. My son, my heir, Will. Not. Be. Imprisoned.” She looked behind her, tilling her head back as she locked eyes with him. For a moment, just a moment, she showed him why House Black had always been feared, the true reason, not because of the money or status. No. She showed the insanity that had always been part of her accursed beloved house, the insanity that had been there even before the inbreeding that had caused the madness, commonly confused for each other, now possibly one and the same, but both serving her purpose in that moment nonetheless. Burke froze, and she could see his fear; just for a moment, but that moment was enough for her.

“Kreacher! Get me my cloak” She turned around, fully this time, and looked to the lawyer sitting - still frozen - on one of her couches. “Let us go, Mr Burke, no time like the present.” This seemed to snap Burke out of his stupor, and he abruptly got to his feet.

“And, might I ask, where are we going, Lady Black?”

She looked at him similarly to how she would look at one who couldn’t tell their broom from their wand. Silly man. “Why, to Askaban, Mr Burke.” She said, her demeanor changing to visibly fake and sickly sweet. (She knew how to put on a nice mask thank you kindly.) “Where else?” With that she snatched the offered cloak that kreacher had brought and marched towards the fireplace, with Burke scrambling to follow her while gathering all the papers that lay strewn around the table.