O, let me not be mad, not mad

[eyevigilant]

Who: Mad-Eye Moody and you!
When: October 21st-24th; pick a time
Where: Sector 3, by the library, or Sector 2, by the police station there
Summary: Meet a paranoid old cranky wizard scouting things out in his version of recon.
Warnings: None yet.

Comments

Library, 21st, afternoon!

[believesbeyond]

Books were not Luna's favourite source of information. There was something rather unsatisfying about reading all about someone else's experiences and research, knowing that they would have most likely gone about it all in a very particular way to prove a certain point, or to conform to a specific point of view

[believesbeyond]

"Oh." Luna looked a little put-out by that realization, but her face soon regained its usual dreamy expression once more. "I hadn't really thought of it like that before. It seems like an unnecessarily negative way of looking at the world."

It really was, she decided. Unsettled by that thought, she abruptly changed the subject by way of a question. "Can I ask you something? It's about your old line of work."

[eyevigilant]

"Negative, maybe," Moody growled, "but not unnecessarily so. No, not at all." He shifted in his chair to look more closely at her. "That's how Dark magic works."

Still, he accepts the subject change with a grunt. "Yeah?"

[believesbeyond]

She gazed at him pensively for several moments, not saying or doing much at al. While it almost looked as though she'd forgotten what she was doing, that she was in the middle of a conversation at all, she was actually thinking very deeply about some things that had happened several years ago. Hogwarts was Hogwarts, and as such, there were rumours about almost everything. Sometimes, people mentioned that they didn't know what they could believe. Luna thought the answer to that was fairly simple: everything.

To that extent, she in fact had several questions for Moody, and this was just the beginning. She wondered where she should start, then decided the simplest question would do. "For how many years did you work as an Auror?"

[eyevigilant]

Moody eyed her curiously. It seemed like a non sequitur, all right.

"Forty-three," he said, simply, waiting to see where this was going.

[believesbeyond]

Luna matched the curious look in return. In fact, it was more of a stare than anything else, with very little in the way of actual blinking. "Did the Ministry change much over those years?"

[eyevigilant]

He paused. It was a rather long pause, in fact, one which might have made normal people feel a little awkward. "Attitudes changed with the times," he said. "After the First War, the Ministry wanted to move on. Cut the Auror force. Went back to business as usual. 'Course, their thinking on other topics hasn't changed in centuries."

[believesbeyond]

Luna, however, took the length of the pause as an opportunity to look at Moody very carefully, watching him as he appeared to think. "Maybe they were worried about the Aurors," she added serenely, giving a small nod as well as though this validated her answer.

[eyevigilant]

"Worried? Yeah, worried that we were too expensive." Moody snorted. "Typical politicians, really." His expression shows no particular sign of interest, though.

[believesbeyond]

Luna shook her head slowly, from one side to the other, before replying. "No, not that kind of worried. Maybe I ought to have used the word 'frightened'?"

[eyevigilant]

"Frightened of the Aurors?" Moody said. His eye whirred over her as if questioning, then he barks a laugh. It attracts a bit of attention, considering it's, well, a library. "What for?"

[believesbeyond]

Luna didn't seem to mind the attention Moody's laughing attracted, but apparently mindful of it, she lowers her voice until it's little more than a whisper. "Well, that you were fighting against them."

[eyevigilant]

Moody stared at her for a moment. He was paranoid, certainly; that was a point of pride. But all things told, he had no idea of what suspicions lurked under Lovegood's surface, apparently.

"Not sure where you're going with that," he said. "I don't think more than half the Wizengamot's got a persecution complex." Pretty rich, coming from him, perhaps.

whoops accidental tense change!

[believesbeyond]

Her eyes slid left to right then left again, as though she was half-expecting someone to come out of hiding from the walls behind them. When that didn't happen, she answered, "I'm talking about the Rotfang Conspiracy, of course."

[eyevigilant]

If there were a leaky pipe, there would be a suddely high consciousness of a dripping sound in the ensuing quiet confusion.

Finally, Moody speaks up again. "What?"

[believesbeyond]

Of course he wouldn't answer her directly; it would be silly of her to think so; such Ministry secrets didn't remain hidden for so long because its workers had loose lips. "You can't talk to me about it, can you?"

She paused for breath, and to give Moody a reassuring smile. "But it's okay. We already know."