RP: Looking for Trouble

[shh_gilderoy]

Date: November 13, 2004
Characters: “The Posse”: Gilderoy, Cormac, Wayne, Hestia
Location: Out on the Town/in the Country
Status: Semi-Private (they might visit a farm or two)
Summary: Gilderoy forms a posse and goes out looking for “Trouble” in the wake of the terrorist attack on Rosemerta’s lovely home and respectable establishment.
Warning:

Comments

[shh_cormac]

Cormac turned and gave Lockhart his best Auror gaze. "Yes, this is a terrible travesty. Someone, someone troublesome, has committed a dreadful act of vandalism." He nodded toward the destruction. "I've searched outside and noticed a few sets of tracks headed southeast, and they seem the most suspicious. There's nothing that way but a farm, and where better for troublemakers to hide out than an abandoned barn?"

He turned the rest of them. "I'll need some help, tonight, men (and, er, women). I can deputize a few of you temporarily, if you've a willing hand and a steady wand." He thought. "And as long as it's recognized I'm in charge, as the Senior Auror on the case."

[shh_wayne]

Wayne had been surprised to drop by the Five Alarm and find it vandalized. It gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his belly as he surveyed the scene. The war was over. This shite shouldn't be happening, and especially not someone to as sweet as Rosie.

However, when he heard Gilderoy and that rather attractive auror bloke start talking, the sinking feeling became dread as he easily imagined a dozen different ways Gilderoy could get into mischief with this mess. Hell, he could get himself killed, especially if Mister Arrogant Auror was involved.

"I can help," babysit, he offered reluctantly, exchanging a "God, can you believe this" look with Hestia.

[shh_hestia]

Hestia still wasn't sure how she had gotten talked into this. Cormac was just such a git. He had annoyed her when she had been an Auror and he annoyed her now.

She shared a mutual look of dismay with Wayne. If anyone could fall into trouble it would be Gilderoy and Cormac.

She sighed and started down the road. Perhaps they could get this over and done with. Yeah, right. She rolled her eyes at herself.

[shh_gilderoy]

"I shant be more than a few moments," Gilderoy promised his posse members. "I'm just going to go run and grab my cloak and hat, and we can be off!"

He ran up the stairs, taking them in twos to save time. Opening both of his closet doors wide in a grand gesture, Gilderoy pulled out a houndstooth cloak in a deep mauve and plum and a matching deerstalker's cap. (After all, those badges were gold, and everyone knew (or should know) that violet is the complimentary color of gold.)

It took him an extra moment to nuzzle Myffles and promise her that he would, indeed, return alive and triumphant to give her her kibbles in the morning. Donning his cloak, he rushed back out into the hallway, down the stairs and out to the door.

"Shall we progress, comrades!? Time is of the essence! We must bring these evil-doers to justice!"

Lockhart nodded importantly at Cormac and strode out the door with his cloak billowing behind him.

[shh_kingsley]

That was one motley crew, if ever Kingsley had seen one. He squinted. Then cursed under his breath. Loudly.

Fucking McLaggen.

And was that Wayne? He really needed to thank him for the word about the farm. He'd just finished an afternoon of helping Susan do more mulching and was on his way home to get into something not covered in dirt.

Whoa. Someone in the group appeared to be going for near florescence. All of that mauve was... disturbing.

As they approached, he called out, "There's nothing much at the end of this road, you know." Just cows. Which kick. he added mentally. It was still a sore spot. A crowning disappointment.

[shh_wayne]

Oh, thank fucking god. A voice of reason. Wayne gave Kingsley a 'help!' look.

"Someone vandalized the Five Alarm and stole some stuff," he explained to Kingsley. "Lockhart and Auror Boy here decided that it would be wise to rush off to seek the evil doers," he lowered his voice and muttered, "complete with wardrobe change."

"I told them that Susan's place is the only farm on this side of town, but they wanted to investigate," he added. He rolled his eyes and grinned. "Rosie's have my hide if I didn't 'help'."

[shh_gilderoy]

Well, if it wasn't... oh, that man who comes down to Socks every now and again. He really should have asked the man his name the last time he saw him.

"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class," Gilderoy showed Kingsley his badge, making sure the words on it lit up enough for him to read every bit of the Deputy Auror of the Ministry of Magic for Britain. "Now, sir, if I might inquire of you, where were you at the time of the incident?"

There were few times in his life that Gilderoy regretted not taking up the pipe, and this was one of them. Oh, how elegant he would look with a cherrywood pipe to gnaw on while interrogating the witness. Let that Auror boy do what he wanted with his authority, Gilderoy Lockhart was well on his way to solving this crime, and apprehending the criminals - and would make a better photo subject for the following newspaper article to boot!

[shh_cormac]

If Cormac weren't 25 years old, he might have stomped his foot like that little boy Liam. Lockhart was totally stealing his glory! And in front of Kingsley Shacklebolt, who'd been a legend when he was at the Academy. It wasn't fair.

Well, he didn't have to stand for it. "Lockhart, you don't have to question Shacklebolt, man. He's an ex-Auror, and definitely didn't have anything to do with this unpleasantness."

"Now, we've spent enough time dilly-dallying. Let's go get those Chickens."

[shh_lucius]

It was not the way Lucius Malfoy had envisioned himself being set free.

He didn't even want to think about the terms and conditions of his release. The only thing that mattered at the moment was reaching his new flat - which he had to walk to - and making sure it was inhabitable enough. Luckily, the last Malfoy house elf had gone on ahead to make sure it was ready when he arrived.

He had just turned a small bend in the path leading into town when he saw them - a group of people, bumbling through the night, clearly out for trouble. Lucius had heard there were vandals in town. He just hoped if they were former Death Eaters they retained enough residual respect for him to get past them and reach his new home in one piece.

It would have helped if he'd had something more than his traveling robes and cloak, but most of his finer things were either lost in the main Malfoy vault, or safely held with his other belongings. In any case, it seemed they had spotted him.

[shh_kingsley]

Kingsley was going to need some serious time at the bowling alley to get over all this. Right now, McLaggen was the headpin, Lockhart was that pesky 7-10 split, and Lucius-fucking-Malfoy was the pocket.

He had to restrain himself from slamming the pocket. Fist-first. How the hell did that man get out of prison? Probably slithered his way under the Muggle bars.

He knew should have apparated home. And, honestly. He'd seen some bling in his lifetime, but those - badges - took the cake. And what the hell? Rosie's place had been vandalised?

Staring blankly between Lockhart, McClaggen, and bloody Malfoy, he managed a weak, "Chickens?" With a snort, he added, "What you're liable to get is a blast of saltpeter to your arse, if you're headed anywhere near Susan Bones' farm."

[shh_gilderoy]

Gilderoy wanted to pay attention to the tall brown bald man, he really did... but then someone with glowing white hair came up the road. It was just so hard to take his eyes off of his shiny long white tresses...

"I think that," look at the way it's flowing in the wind "having saltpeter in ones arse," it's gotta be charmed that way "in ones' arse is not..." if so, it's quite the glamour charm. Perhaps he's part veela "not very nice at all, Mr..."

Lockhart turned away from the bald man with an angry face and looked into Lucius' face. "I must ask you - do you use glamour charms on your hair, or is it naturally that brilliant?" he whispered so only Lucius (hopefully) could hear.

Oh, no! this wasn't right at all! Gilderoy stopped himself with a stunned expression on his face. He straightened himself up and tilted his head back slightly. "So, where were you at the time of the incident, you tall person with shiny (amazing) hair?"

[shh_lucius]

Lucius drew himself up to full height. If there had been any clear way around these... persons, he would have taken it, but Lucius Malfoy does not cut through fields. He looked down his nose at the ragtag group - this was his reception party, after eight years in prison?

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said haughtily. "Stand aside and let me be on my way."

[shh_gilderoy]

Gilderoy waved to the angry bald man and the one who was too shy to talk about his girl problems, and nodded to the rest of his posse. Well, at least there were four of them again, and everyone knew one needed four members to be a true posse.

"Alright men, and woman, follow me! We'll go find those vandals and give them what for!"

He lead onward down the road toward the... um...

"Say, does anyone else know where that farm is where we're going? I'm afraid I haven't been this far away from home yet."

[shh_cormac]

Cormac considered which direction to go in. Perhaps through the fields would be best? "We go that way men, and er, Hestia. Once more into the breech I say." He turned to Malfoy. "And if you try any funny business, Mr. Malfoy, I will hex off certain bits of your anatomy that you haven't been able to use since you've been, you know, in prison."

Cormac strode ahead, certain that everyone would follow along behind him, as he was, of course, their Leader. "The Chickens won't know what's coming," he murmered. "We'll be able to roost them out of their nest no problem."

[shh_lucius]

This was not an encouraging turn of events. For one thing, Lucius did not care for that boy's tone of voice... but it did seem that they were all part of what passed for "the law," and without his walking papers - bound up as they were with his belongings, which should be at his flat under the watchful eye of Roddy - he really didn't see the point in making all of them angry at him.

Although he did wish Lockhart would stop looking at him like that.

"I really do need to be getting home," he called out as he followed along, however reluctantly. "You're detaining an innocent civilian who has pressing business elsewhere, I hope you realize."

[shh_gilderoy]

The one terribly distressing thing about going across country rather than in the road - well, at least one of them- is that one never knows what kind of animals one will encounter while traipsing through their pasture.

In the case of the Posse, the closer they got to the farm houses, the closer they got to both the sleeping cows, and the gaggle of geese that had been attempting to sleep in front of that alpaca house thing with hay in it.

"Oh, Um, Auror Cormac, I think you might want to look where you're--"

[shh_gilderoy]

"Well, that wasn't very sporting of you at all, was it?" Gilderoy chastised Cormac. "I'll make sure your superior officer hears about this one, Buck-o! And after all I've done to help you! Why, you would have just come down here on your own and snuck around with no backup whatsoever to deal with those chickengeese if it weren't for me!"

He pushed himself up out of the mud and limped over to the solid ground.

Gilderoy nodded... "Or perhaps you mightn't have made it all the way down here at all! Had you thought about that? Well I should think next time, you'd think twice before calling on Gilderoy Lockhart... I mean, no, you should have... oh, buggerall." He turned to hobble home.

He was cold, muddy, one of his boots was broken, he had bruises from the fall, goose bites on him, and a scrape on the back of his hand and on his cheek. And he still hadn't had the opportunity to see catch the vandals, or see the alpaca house!

[shh_cormac]

Now Cormac felt badly. Lockhart had only been trying to help, after all, and was a good man, in spite of the mud incident.

He turned to Susan and said, "Again, I'm terribly sorry about the trespassing, but if you do have any information in the future on the Trouble Makers, would you please inform me at once? And your geese should be fine in the other pasture."

He turned to squelch after Lockhart. He'd be needing to send a report soon anyway, and really, he was embarassed enough for one night after once again leaping before thought and making an arse of himself.

[shh_hestia]

There was no way Hestia would let those two walk back alone. Gods only knew what kind of trouble they would get into.

"Night, Susan. Owl me if you need anything." There that should pay her debt. She turned and followed Cormac and Gilderoy. It had been a long night.

[shh_susan]

Susan sighed as they all left. She was shaking slightly, and she bit her lip. She was disturbed more at her own actions that night than anything else. Would she truly...?

She propped the gun against the barn, and went forth to gather her geese from the far pastures. No telling what might become of them out there.