Interlude in the Nexus with courtneycrumrin
Moody leans in a corner of the Nexus, bowler pulled low over the magical eye, and a heavy text in his gnarled hands. From Courtney’s angle the book obscures his face, so that all she can see is a tall figure in a heavy coat and bowler derby reading a book titled ‘Entrapment and Obliteration of Desembodied Entities’.
She does a double-take, startled by the similarity to her uncle’s mode of dress, then approaches hesitantly. “Uh… hello?”
The figure grunts, but does not move at all. “Yes?”
“Uh. Nice book. What dimension is it from? I could use a copy.” She stands out of arm’s reach and just watches warily.
“Mine. I can pick you up a copy next time I’m in Flourish and Blott’s if you pay me back.” He growls absently, nudging the bowler off his eye with the book, which he then lowers to survey her with both eyes. The impact of his face is far worse in person than in any book illustration.
She jumps, definitely startled, but recovers quickly and stands her ground. “Oh! Oh, okay. Uh… I could go for that, only I don’t do the whole galleons-sickles-knuts thing.”
“Ah. I don’t deal with Gringotts for money exchange.” The magical eye swivels up and down, taking her in quite thoroughly while the normal one watches her steadily.
She leans against the wall, looking thoughtful. “Would you take a trade?”
“I’d consider it. What do you have in mind?” The magical eye darts away abruptly, attention caught by something else.
She follows his gaze briefly, but doesn’t pick up on what he’s interested in. “I dunno. Information? I’ve been around the Nexus a while. I won’t answer questions about Snape, but anything else you wanna know… or I have access to a few herbs and stuff you might find useful.”
“Information is always useful… why not about Snape?” His normal eye continues to watch her piercingly.
“Let’s just say I owe him. I don’t like many people, but the ones I do like, or who do something for me at least? I stand by them.” She shrugs.
“Will you tell me how many of him there are in this place?”
“That’s kind of a tricky question, actually. For anyone. Different versions of him have come and gone.”
“Consistently, then. I’ve only seen one so far.”
She looks thoughtful. “Y’know, I note that we haven’t made any formal agreement yet…”
He cracks a faint smile and nods very slightly. “You never demanded one.”
“My bad.” She smirks. “So I answer a few questions and you get me a book?” She offers a handshake.
He eyes her hand, but makes no move to touch her. “I think we should agree on the nature of the questions first.”
She folds her arms and cocks her head. “Okay.”
“I don’t know which questions you’re most likely to have useful answers to… I’d like to know more about this place, and the alternate realities crossing here- the ones that involve people I know, in particular…”
“I can do that. There are also some powerful people around you might want to know about before you run into them.”
“Fair enough. I won’t ask about Snape, but I want whatever you can give me on those two topics…” The magical eye swivels back again suddenly, fixing on her once more. The normal one narrows slightly. “Plus one other question…”
“And that would be…?” She raises an eyebrow.
“…Who pried their way into your magic by the back door recently? I get the feeling the answer pertains to your interest in this book…” The pupil of the magical eye has dilated slowly as it studies her again.
She looks truly startled. “Holy shit… Uh. You’re good… well, I guess it’s not a huge secret or anything. His name’s Templeton Wrathum. Was, rather. Had his mortality burned off, angry bastard, has it in for me and me uncle, yada yada yada.”
“Ah, no one I’d know…” He grimaces slightly and rubs at his magical eye abruptly. The pupil contracts again and it spins away to resume studying the whole Nexus. “Not entirely corporeal anymore?”
“No… you can stab him, but it doesn’t kill him. Anyway, you’re not likely to run into him. He’s… uh, focused.”
He nods slightly. “I’ll consider that question part of our deal. Now about the other two…?”
“Right. Well, I don’t know who you have and haven’t seen already, but… There are at least half a dozen Lupins, and almost as many Sirius Blacks, one of whom is only six. There are two Tonkses. There’s a Harry, a Hermione Granger, and a Ginny Weasel, all three from after the war ends…”
“…Which tells me you know a hell of a lot about where I come from.” He bends forward to lean closer, smiling slightly.
“Good thing; otherwise my information wouldn’t be nearly so useful.” She grins.
“But if I asked how you know, that’d be a bonus question.” He grins back.
“It would, but I might be willing to answer, anyway.” She smirks. “There are also two Draco Malfoys. One is sixteen or so, I think. He’s trying to figure out who erased his memory and why. Apparently he’d decided not to join the Death Eaters, and it didn’t fly with someone. The other Draco is nineteen-ish. Been in hiding under Durmstrang for a few years. You want to watch him especially. Something’s strange there. And I hear he’s somehow got a forked tongue. I don’t really want to know how that came about.”
“Met him… he’s definitely been into something…” He nods and straightens, relaxing marginally by leaning against the wall again. “Met Potter, too.”
“There are LeStranges around, too. I can’t keep track of them. I do know one version of Bellatrix was killed. There’s a Dolohov, but he’s very young, and very gay. I don’t think he’s into anything dangerous, but I could be wrong.”
“She was killed here?” One eyebrow rises.
“Not in Sages. There’s a no-violence field and all. There are branches that are still part of the Nexus where violence can happen, though. But she might not have been in the Nexus. I’m not sure. Ask the teenage Sirius if you’re curious. The one that’s dating Lupin.”
He blinks just once, with both eyes, then nods. “This no-violence field, that wouldn’t extend to poisoning and the like, would it?”
“It gets tricky. You can get people to ingest mind-altering substances and crap, but I don’t think you could poison someone lethally, here.”
“But something mind-altering has the potential to be just as dangerous, only more indirect.” He looks thoughtful, nodding slowly.
“Well, yeah. And then there’s the gender-switching…”
“Gender…?” He shakes his head. “That happen a lot here?”
“More often than it should. Oh! You should know about the mirrorverse. There were some people a while back from a universe that was sort of a mirror to yours.”
“Mirror as in ‘home of the great Death Eater Moody’?” He pulls out the hip flask, unscrewing the cap and sniffing the contents once before taking a drink.
“Yeah, probably. We saw an evil Lupin, a living-and-evil Lily Potter… I don’t really know who else showed up. But there’s always a possibility one or another of them could find their way back.”
“Hm. You give me a heads-up if you see any of those about?”
“Sure. I’m not as likely to recognize them as some of the other people here, but I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“You’re not my only contact, but I don’t say no to an extra pair of eyes.” He puts the flask away.
She looks tempted to crack a bad joke, but think better of it. “The only other thing I can think to mention about people from you world… there are two Tom Riddles here, but neither of them are Voldemorts. One’s a teenager with a crush on James Potter, and the other’s only six years old.”
“…All right… Question is who they’ll become.”
“No way of knowing that, really. The little one’s sort of moved into the Nexus and been adopted by one of the women here.”
“what kind of woman?”
“Nice lady. Her name’s Leela. She’s very popular.”
“Hmh…” He nods slowly, but looks suspicious. “I’ll remember the name…”
“I mean it about her being popular. There are a lot of people that will defend her if it looks like you’re a threat.”
He looks amused. “And? I don’t plan to be a threat to her unless she strikes me as a threat herself.”
“Well, some of them are gods. Anyway, she’s basically a sweet person with a tendency to collect boyfriends.”
“Which may or may not bode well for his development.”
“I dunno. I’d rather have a mom like that than… than one who doesn’t pay any attention…or whatever.”
He studies her sharply with the normal eye and nods slowly. “The grass is always greener… being doted on can leave one with an alarming lack of self-reliance.”
She looks embarrassed. “Yeah. So, there are gods around… Hermes, Thoth, Loki…”
“Two tricksters and a scribe. Interesting…”
“There are plenty others you won’t have heard of. Zhilbar’s a dragon-god… mm, Ori’s the goddess of spoons. Mack’s the god of blades. Haven’t… seen him lately.”
“Friend of yours?” He shifts to lean on the walking staff, tucking the book into his robes.
“Yeah, he was teaching me to use a sword.”
“You any good?” He looks interested.
“Considering I’m a short, skinny thirteen year old? Not half bad.” She smiles a little.
“We all have our weak points. Better to know what they are. You’re powerful for your age… not real controlled though…”
“Thanks… I‘m working on it. Having a hell of a time meditating, though.”
“Do you have a good reason to?”
“…I was possessed a while back and I don’t want a repeat of it.”
“That’s an angry reason. Easier to focus on a reason without so much emotion attached.” He looks distant and thoughtful.
“Like what?” She sits next to him, looking curious.
He shrugs. “Different things for different people.”
She thinks a minute. “I must attach emotion to too much crap.”
“Maybe. Probably the age.” He nods a little.
“So if I focus on my math homework…”
He gives a harsh laugh. “Then you’ll probably fall asleep.”
“Damn.” She sighs.
“Better to focus on a goal, just one that doesn’t make you want to break things.”
“Oh.” She is quiet for several minutes, deep in thought.
He waits patiently, silent as he continues to study the Nexus. He does shift his weight on the walking staff once, the clawed wooden foot scraping the floor.
“…What about a blade? Sharpening it, or just the edge, even?”
“Not bad… not a bad focus at all…” He smiles slightly. Possibly. It’s hard to tell.
She beams, pleased. “Thanks.”
“Killed anyone with the sword yet?”
“I’ve only fought two people seriously, and they were both immortal. I got Mack in the chest. He says it would’ve killed him, but it looked too high to me. Anyway, he sort’ve got me at the same time. I ran Templeton through the midsection. Between the lower ribs. He didn’t die, though.” She looks peeved at this.
“Did he look affected at all?”
“It hurt him, but he didn’t act affected otherwise.” She stifles a shudder.
“Hmm… He still after you for revenge?”
“Oh, hell yeah.” She folds one knee up to her chest.
He sighs and rolls the normal eye, reaching into his traveling cloak again. The heavy text thumps to the floor beside her.
She jumps slightly, then looks surprised. “Seriously?”
“I can pick up another copy later.” He shrugs.
“Thanks. Um, I’m Courtney Crumrin, by the way.”
He nods once, glancing down at her. “And you have the advantage of me…”
“Yeah, I’ve read the books. I guess I shouldn’t have just assumed you’re the real one, though…” She looks mildly embarrassed.
“The real who?” He grins, raising an eyebrow and leaning over her.
“Alastor Moody…?” She tilts her head back to look up at him.
“Is that what they call me…?” The magic eye swivels down to watch her.
“Well, no. Mad-Eye Moody, then. I was trying to be polite, but I guess you don’t care.”
“Not especially, no.” The grin vanishes and he watches her a moment more before straightening up again.
“You wanna borrow the books? They’re mostly about Harry, but…”
“Yes.” He answers instantly, magical eye roving again, but the normal one fixed on her.
“Okay. There are six. There’s supposed to be seven, but the last one isn’t published yet.” She stands. “I’ll go get them.”
“Can’t you just find someone from a world where it has been?” He watches her, relaxing minutely again.
“I could… if I knew anyone from there.” She looks apologetic.
“I’ll settle for six, then…”
She nods and moves off a short way, opening a doorway home. She returns a few minutes later with a bagful of books and a soda and a bag of chips. She sets the bag by his feet and returns to her seated position next to him. “Keep in mind, they’re pretty biased. Mostly from Harry’s point of view.”
“Hmm… could still be useful…” He leans over with a soft creak and pulls out the first book, clearly curious.
“Check ’em however you want, just don’t destroy them, if you don’t mind.” She opens the soda and chips. “I’d offer to share, but I don’t know if you’d be comfortable with that.” She indicates the chips.
He shakes his head absently, thoroughly distracted by the book. The normal eye scans the first few pages furtively. “Which… ones am I in…?” It is a quieter growl than usual.
“The fourth, fifth, and sixth. Uh… the fourth is kind of… well… it’s the year you were supposed to be teaching.”
His normal eye twitches, just once, and he nods. Stiffly he leans down to trade the first book for the fourth.
“You want me to go and let you read?”
“Mm… I won’t destroy your books. Promise.” He growls softly, nodding as he scans the back cover.
“Okay. See you around.” She gets up again and wanders off with her snack.
Moody’s magical eye does not stop watching the Nexus furtively, even as he finds a corner to retreat to and actually sit for a change. Still on guard, perhaps moreso than ever, he begins to read.
She does a double-take, startled by the similarity to her uncle’s mode of dress, then approaches hesitantly. “Uh… hello?”
The figure grunts, but does not move at all. “Yes?”
“Uh. Nice book. What dimension is it from? I could use a copy.” She stands out of arm’s reach and just watches warily.
“Mine. I can pick you up a copy next time I’m in Flourish and Blott’s if you pay me back.” He growls absently, nudging the bowler off his eye with the book, which he then lowers to survey her with both eyes. The impact of his face is far worse in person than in any book illustration.
She jumps, definitely startled, but recovers quickly and stands her ground. “Oh! Oh, okay. Uh… I could go for that, only I don’t do the whole galleons-sickles-knuts thing.”
“Ah. I don’t deal with Gringotts for money exchange.” The magical eye swivels up and down, taking her in quite thoroughly while the normal one watches her steadily.
She leans against the wall, looking thoughtful. “Would you take a trade?”
“I’d consider it. What do you have in mind?” The magical eye darts away abruptly, attention caught by something else.
She follows his gaze briefly, but doesn’t pick up on what he’s interested in. “I dunno. Information? I’ve been around the Nexus a while. I won’t answer questions about Snape, but anything else you wanna know… or I have access to a few herbs and stuff you might find useful.”
“Information is always useful… why not about Snape?” His normal eye continues to watch her piercingly.
“Let’s just say I owe him. I don’t like many people, but the ones I do like, or who do something for me at least? I stand by them.” She shrugs.
“Will you tell me how many of him there are in this place?”
“That’s kind of a tricky question, actually. For anyone. Different versions of him have come and gone.”
“Consistently, then. I’ve only seen one so far.”
She looks thoughtful. “Y’know, I note that we haven’t made any formal agreement yet…”
He cracks a faint smile and nods very slightly. “You never demanded one.”
“My bad.” She smirks. “So I answer a few questions and you get me a book?” She offers a handshake.
He eyes her hand, but makes no move to touch her. “I think we should agree on the nature of the questions first.”
She folds her arms and cocks her head. “Okay.”
“I don’t know which questions you’re most likely to have useful answers to… I’d like to know more about this place, and the alternate realities crossing here- the ones that involve people I know, in particular…”
“I can do that. There are also some powerful people around you might want to know about before you run into them.”
“Fair enough. I won’t ask about Snape, but I want whatever you can give me on those two topics…” The magical eye swivels back again suddenly, fixing on her once more. The normal one narrows slightly. “Plus one other question…”
“And that would be…?” She raises an eyebrow.
“…Who pried their way into your magic by the back door recently? I get the feeling the answer pertains to your interest in this book…” The pupil of the magical eye has dilated slowly as it studies her again.
She looks truly startled. “Holy shit… Uh. You’re good… well, I guess it’s not a huge secret or anything. His name’s Templeton Wrathum. Was, rather. Had his mortality burned off, angry bastard, has it in for me and me uncle, yada yada yada.”
“Ah, no one I’d know…” He grimaces slightly and rubs at his magical eye abruptly. The pupil contracts again and it spins away to resume studying the whole Nexus. “Not entirely corporeal anymore?”
“No… you can stab him, but it doesn’t kill him. Anyway, you’re not likely to run into him. He’s… uh, focused.”
He nods slightly. “I’ll consider that question part of our deal. Now about the other two…?”
“Right. Well, I don’t know who you have and haven’t seen already, but… There are at least half a dozen Lupins, and almost as many Sirius Blacks, one of whom is only six. There are two Tonkses. There’s a Harry, a Hermione Granger, and a Ginny Weasel, all three from after the war ends…”
“…Which tells me you know a hell of a lot about where I come from.” He bends forward to lean closer, smiling slightly.
“Good thing; otherwise my information wouldn’t be nearly so useful.” She grins.
“But if I asked how you know, that’d be a bonus question.” He grins back.
“It would, but I might be willing to answer, anyway.” She smirks. “There are also two Draco Malfoys. One is sixteen or so, I think. He’s trying to figure out who erased his memory and why. Apparently he’d decided not to join the Death Eaters, and it didn’t fly with someone. The other Draco is nineteen-ish. Been in hiding under Durmstrang for a few years. You want to watch him especially. Something’s strange there. And I hear he’s somehow got a forked tongue. I don’t really want to know how that came about.”
“Met him… he’s definitely been into something…” He nods and straightens, relaxing marginally by leaning against the wall again. “Met Potter, too.”
“There are LeStranges around, too. I can’t keep track of them. I do know one version of Bellatrix was killed. There’s a Dolohov, but he’s very young, and very gay. I don’t think he’s into anything dangerous, but I could be wrong.”
“She was killed here?” One eyebrow rises.
“Not in Sages. There’s a no-violence field and all. There are branches that are still part of the Nexus where violence can happen, though. But she might not have been in the Nexus. I’m not sure. Ask the teenage Sirius if you’re curious. The one that’s dating Lupin.”
He blinks just once, with both eyes, then nods. “This no-violence field, that wouldn’t extend to poisoning and the like, would it?”
“It gets tricky. You can get people to ingest mind-altering substances and crap, but I don’t think you could poison someone lethally, here.”
“But something mind-altering has the potential to be just as dangerous, only more indirect.” He looks thoughtful, nodding slowly.
“Well, yeah. And then there’s the gender-switching…”
“Gender…?” He shakes his head. “That happen a lot here?”
“More often than it should. Oh! You should know about the mirrorverse. There were some people a while back from a universe that was sort of a mirror to yours.”
“Mirror as in ‘home of the great Death Eater Moody’?” He pulls out the hip flask, unscrewing the cap and sniffing the contents once before taking a drink.
“Yeah, probably. We saw an evil Lupin, a living-and-evil Lily Potter… I don’t really know who else showed up. But there’s always a possibility one or another of them could find their way back.”
“Hm. You give me a heads-up if you see any of those about?”
“Sure. I’m not as likely to recognize them as some of the other people here, but I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“You’re not my only contact, but I don’t say no to an extra pair of eyes.” He puts the flask away.
She looks tempted to crack a bad joke, but think better of it. “The only other thing I can think to mention about people from you world… there are two Tom Riddles here, but neither of them are Voldemorts. One’s a teenager with a crush on James Potter, and the other’s only six years old.”
“…All right… Question is who they’ll become.”
“No way of knowing that, really. The little one’s sort of moved into the Nexus and been adopted by one of the women here.”
“what kind of woman?”
“Nice lady. Her name’s Leela. She’s very popular.”
“Hmh…” He nods slowly, but looks suspicious. “I’ll remember the name…”
“I mean it about her being popular. There are a lot of people that will defend her if it looks like you’re a threat.”
He looks amused. “And? I don’t plan to be a threat to her unless she strikes me as a threat herself.”
“Well, some of them are gods. Anyway, she’s basically a sweet person with a tendency to collect boyfriends.”
“Which may or may not bode well for his development.”
“I dunno. I’d rather have a mom like that than… than one who doesn’t pay any attention…or whatever.”
He studies her sharply with the normal eye and nods slowly. “The grass is always greener… being doted on can leave one with an alarming lack of self-reliance.”
She looks embarrassed. “Yeah. So, there are gods around… Hermes, Thoth, Loki…”
“Two tricksters and a scribe. Interesting…”
“There are plenty others you won’t have heard of. Zhilbar’s a dragon-god… mm, Ori’s the goddess of spoons. Mack’s the god of blades. Haven’t… seen him lately.”
“Friend of yours?” He shifts to lean on the walking staff, tucking the book into his robes.
“Yeah, he was teaching me to use a sword.”
“You any good?” He looks interested.
“Considering I’m a short, skinny thirteen year old? Not half bad.” She smiles a little.
“We all have our weak points. Better to know what they are. You’re powerful for your age… not real controlled though…”
“Thanks… I‘m working on it. Having a hell of a time meditating, though.”
“Do you have a good reason to?”
“…I was possessed a while back and I don’t want a repeat of it.”
“That’s an angry reason. Easier to focus on a reason without so much emotion attached.” He looks distant and thoughtful.
“Like what?” She sits next to him, looking curious.
He shrugs. “Different things for different people.”
She thinks a minute. “I must attach emotion to too much crap.”
“Maybe. Probably the age.” He nods a little.
“So if I focus on my math homework…”
He gives a harsh laugh. “Then you’ll probably fall asleep.”
“Damn.” She sighs.
“Better to focus on a goal, just one that doesn’t make you want to break things.”
“Oh.” She is quiet for several minutes, deep in thought.
He waits patiently, silent as he continues to study the Nexus. He does shift his weight on the walking staff once, the clawed wooden foot scraping the floor.
“…What about a blade? Sharpening it, or just the edge, even?”
“Not bad… not a bad focus at all…” He smiles slightly. Possibly. It’s hard to tell.
She beams, pleased. “Thanks.”
“Killed anyone with the sword yet?”
“I’ve only fought two people seriously, and they were both immortal. I got Mack in the chest. He says it would’ve killed him, but it looked too high to me. Anyway, he sort’ve got me at the same time. I ran Templeton through the midsection. Between the lower ribs. He didn’t die, though.” She looks peeved at this.
“Did he look affected at all?”
“It hurt him, but he didn’t act affected otherwise.” She stifles a shudder.
“Hmm… He still after you for revenge?”
“Oh, hell yeah.” She folds one knee up to her chest.
He sighs and rolls the normal eye, reaching into his traveling cloak again. The heavy text thumps to the floor beside her.
She jumps slightly, then looks surprised. “Seriously?”
“I can pick up another copy later.” He shrugs.
“Thanks. Um, I’m Courtney Crumrin, by the way.”
He nods once, glancing down at her. “And you have the advantage of me…”
“Yeah, I’ve read the books. I guess I shouldn’t have just assumed you’re the real one, though…” She looks mildly embarrassed.
“The real who?” He grins, raising an eyebrow and leaning over her.
“Alastor Moody…?” She tilts her head back to look up at him.
“Is that what they call me…?” The magic eye swivels down to watch her.
“Well, no. Mad-Eye Moody, then. I was trying to be polite, but I guess you don’t care.”
“Not especially, no.” The grin vanishes and he watches her a moment more before straightening up again.
“You wanna borrow the books? They’re mostly about Harry, but…”
“Yes.” He answers instantly, magical eye roving again, but the normal one fixed on her.
“Okay. There are six. There’s supposed to be seven, but the last one isn’t published yet.” She stands. “I’ll go get them.”
“Can’t you just find someone from a world where it has been?” He watches her, relaxing minutely again.
“I could… if I knew anyone from there.” She looks apologetic.
“I’ll settle for six, then…”
She nods and moves off a short way, opening a doorway home. She returns a few minutes later with a bagful of books and a soda and a bag of chips. She sets the bag by his feet and returns to her seated position next to him. “Keep in mind, they’re pretty biased. Mostly from Harry’s point of view.”
“Hmm… could still be useful…” He leans over with a soft creak and pulls out the first book, clearly curious.
“Check ’em however you want, just don’t destroy them, if you don’t mind.” She opens the soda and chips. “I’d offer to share, but I don’t know if you’d be comfortable with that.” She indicates the chips.
He shakes his head absently, thoroughly distracted by the book. The normal eye scans the first few pages furtively. “Which… ones am I in…?” It is a quieter growl than usual.
“The fourth, fifth, and sixth. Uh… the fourth is kind of… well… it’s the year you were supposed to be teaching.”
His normal eye twitches, just once, and he nods. Stiffly he leans down to trade the first book for the fourth.
“You want me to go and let you read?”
“Mm… I won’t destroy your books. Promise.” He growls softly, nodding as he scans the back cover.
“Okay. See you around.” She gets up again and wanders off with her snack.
Moody’s magical eye does not stop watching the Nexus furtively, even as he finds a corner to retreat to and actually sit for a change. Still on guard, perhaps moreso than ever, he begins to read.