Ruffling Feathers
Ruffling Feathers
It was after midnight by the time Barnaby returned home. Alexi was still sleeping but Merula, Ismelda, Diego, Chiara and myself were all wide awake and on our fifth pot of coffee. We had been deep in discussion about our two major problems, Fenrir Greyback, and Ben, and were anxious for information when Barnaby finally joined us.
"Well, Ben is alright. Mr and Mrs Tonks were wonderful, got him cleaned up and dried out without asking many questions. But I'm afraid I don't have good news. The problem is Ben's attitude, he's gone completely mental, I feel like I don't even know him." Barnaby told us, sitting down heavily next to me and rubbing his eyes.
I handed him a fresh cup of coffee and asked, "You mean he's sobered up and still acting like he was at the Leaky Cauldron?" Barnaby nodded. "Worse actually. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you guys, but Ben's become a complete bigot. I don't know how long he's been thinking like that or when it started but he seems to genuinely believe that all Werewolves are evil. Cut and dry, no exceptions. He said he's going to report Alexi and you, Chiara, to the WCU tomorrow. He doesn't think he's done anything wrong at all, he kept trying to justify his actions tonight, it was pretty disgusting to listen to. Tonks and her parents are keeping him there for the night but they won't hold him prisoner. If they can't change his mind by morning we're going to need to make sure we're there early to intercept him."
"Report me for what exactly? I'm already registered with damn Ministry!" Chiara exploded, standing up from the table and kicking her chair back in frustration. "This is all because he's jealous, sick and jealous! He just wants to ruin Alexi's life because he can't handle I've moved on from him! It's so childish, he's unbelievable. I can't believe he's doing this."
I'd never seen my usually soft spoken friend so angry before. Chiara had gone red in the face and was physically seething with rage. I could see that comforting words were clearly not what she needed but I was also afraid to rally behind her too much, lest she go off to have round two with Ben before she got control of herself.
"We need to decide what we're going to do, and we don't have long. I thought he'd listen to me and Tonks once we removed him from the situation and got him calmed but it was like talking to a very disturbed brick wall. I'm just glad none of you had to hear the horrible things he was saying tonight." Barnaby told us sadly.
"What about staging an intervention?" Merula suggested. "Not here, obviously. And Chiara and maybe Diego probably shouldn't come, but with the rest of us. Maybe at Penny's flat? I think what he really needs is a good slap if I'm being honest, but a friendly confrontation might work too."
Diego was frowning as he gave his opinion. "And what if he doesn't listen to us? Or he pretends like he's come around and then runs off to the Ministry right after? Tonks and her parents are right, we can't hold him against his will. And we can't make him stop being a bigot. Gross as it is, that's his choice. We'll just have to deal with the fallout of trusting the wrong bloke if Ben decides to betray his friends."
Chiara huffed angrily at Diego. "I suppose you'd like that would you? Let Ben expose Alexi so he's ostracised from society and has to stay home with you under lock and key for the rest of his life? He doesn't want that Diego! He never asked for any of this, I'm not about to let Ben ruin his life. And as I'm the only one here who's actually qualified to speak on the matter, I will tell you, the discrimination I face every day being registered is hard enough. But calling a spade a spade here, I'm a woman, it's not quite as bad for me because people just don't feel as threatened by me. And I work in a hospital where people generally are more compassionate. It would be completely different for Alexi and not his choice, if he wanted to be registered he'd have done so." Chiara finished her rant and sat back down, glaring daggers at Diego.
"I think you're wrong too Diego." Ismelda spoke up. "We do actually have some options. Not any I feel particularly wonderful about mind you, but there are ways to keep Ben from talking. And I don't just mean by removing his tongue, although that would be rather satisfying."
We all just stared at her. "Ismelda, do you have to be so.. creepy?" Barnaby asked in disgust. She simply shrugged in response and carried on. "Alright, say we do the intervention, and he resists. Or he plays along and tells us what we want to hear. We'd need to sick our little mutant mind freak on him to find out the truth for a start." Ismelda nodded at me as if she'd given me a lovely compliment before continuing. "And if Samhain doesn't feel the authenticity of his remorse, we just Obliviate the slimeball so he forgets what we don't want him to know. Or there's also the Fidelius Charm, but I'm not sure if it would work if the secret is already common knowledge between nearly twenty people."
I looked around the table at my friends, waiting for the moral outrage and objections to come. But they didn't. No one looked thrilled by the idea, but none of us, including myself shot it down. That's how desperate we were to protect Alexi.
Finally Merula broke the silence. "We'd need the whole Circle to agree on this. I'm not saying I'm against it or anything, because I'm not. But at least everyone who knows Alexi is a Werewolf needs to be part of this. If this is to work, everyone needs to be aware that we've Obliviated Ben, and one of us needs to be the Secret Keeper of that information. Ben can never find out about this. And we need to decide, fast, how much exactly we need to make him forget."
I looked at the clock again, it was 2:20am. "Dawn is in about three hours from now. We need to get everyone together immediately and we can decide as a group on the finer details. I guess we'll just fill them in on the way and vote when we get there. So everyone, pick a fireplace and get ready to ruffle some feathers." I said it decisively.
"Who's going where?" Diego asked. "I think I should stay here with Alexi.. just in case." Chiara snorted, and rolling her eyes pushed past him into the living room to the fire. "I'll go to Penny's and get them ready for guests. You lot bring the cavalry as fast as you can and when everything is sorted I'll come back here and stay with Alexi, since we're both Werewolves and don't need to be there for Ben's bloody intervention." She said it to all of us but she was looking only at Diego.
"Okay, that's Jae, Andre, Penny and Tulip covered. Chiara, can you contact Talbot from there too?" I asked her. "I think Barnaby should probably be the one to bring Ben and Tonks over when we're set up. You can fill her in quietly and make up some excuse to make Ben go with you." Barnaby nodded, understanding his was the hardest assignment. "Merula, Brazil. Go get Liz. Ismelda, France to pick up Badeea. I'll go to Romania to get Charlie and Rowan, you can get B-" I froze. Everyone was staring at me with sympathetic eyes. Rowan wasn't there. Of course she wasn't, because she was dead. I knew that. I did my best not to let the pain and exhaustion overwhelm me. I couldn't afford to let myself breakdown. I shook my head, still flustered. "Nevermind, I'll get Charlie and Bill. That's everyone who knows right?"
"Lupin knows, but he's not part of the Circle. This is our decision. We can trust him not to tell anyone." Chiara said it very firmly, and I agreed with her. Lupin might be cowardly but I did trust him. And he had just as much to lose as Alexi did.
Everyone except Diego and Alexi who was still asleep stepped into our many fireplaces. I gave Barnaby a quick kiss before we left and we both said, "Be safe" at the same time before departing.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I spun around and around in the cool emerald flames. Hoping we'd be able to pull this off, and worrying about what a high handed decision we would be making with our friends memories. It wasn't something I'd ever thought I'd do, and if there was any way we could get through to Ben I knew I'd call it off.
I didn't find the Memory Charm simply distasteful, I actually despised it, and feared it. I'd had to stop Talbot from using it once on Merula, when she'd found out about him being an unregistered Animagus. I thought back to that day again and my uneasiness grew, and it had only a little to do with how fast I was spinning.