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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 11, 2008 20:23:50 GMT -5
"Wonderful," Ted murmured, finding himself with a list in his hand, and his feet carrying him through rows of graves. "This isn't creepy at all."
He had stalled and taken some time off before he started on the asignment that Angelique had given him. He felt he deserved that much, and they had given him the lowest, most distasteful job they had. He figured he could wait a few days before he started.
He stopped by the first grave on his list, a grave missing a body. There wasn't much he was expecting to find, to be honest. They all suspected dark arts involved, most likely stealing the dead bodies to make an army. Which of course made everything creepier.
Ted just had to find out who, and where, and if they were wrong, why. Maybe he could find a clue at one of the graves. If not, he was going to have to start digging deep... pardon the expression.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Nov 12, 2008 13:36:26 GMT -5
Claudia was nothing if not dedicated. Her Lord had requested corpses to be used as Inferi, the fresher, the better. The girl who had been murdered at Hogwarts had been buried a few days ago, and Claudia had been monitoring the steady stream of mourners that had been passing through the cemetary as if on a pilgrimage. Most of them, she was convinced, didn't even know the wretched child.
She had the perfect vantage point, standing by Isaac's grave with a large bouquet of roses. She was dressed all in black (as she usually was, anyway), and wore a hat with a lacy black veil over her face. She looked to all the world like a widow in mourning.
Today, so far, no one had been to see the girl's grave. Perhaps the interest in the girl had died out at last, and tonight would be safe to extract the corpse from its grave. She was pleased; the girl would make a charming addition to her army of inferi. After the way her face had been splashed all over the papers, Claudia was certain that there wouldn't be anyone who wouldn't recognize her.
A movement caught her eye, and she turned to see a man walking around. He held a piece of paper in his hand and he checked it before stopping in front of a grave. She might have recognized it as one of the ones she had previously emptied, if not for the fact that she had already emptied so many.
Intrigued, she stood motionless for a moment, watching him.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 12, 2008 15:25:53 GMT -5
Nothing.
He should stop by the grave of the girl killed at Hogwarts. That would be the next logical body to take, wouldn't it?
How absolutely brilliant, he thought. It was a sickening thought, but he had to admit that the man behind all of this, the Dark Lord, was an incredibly intelligent leader. If nothing else, Ted could give him that. He knew how to get an army one way or the other, he knew how to instill fear and doubt into the minds of the public, and those who followed him were loyal to a fault.
He sighed, moving on to the next grave, where there was also nothing. This was going to be a fruitless search.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Nov 12, 2008 16:02:00 GMT -5
Claudia continued to watch him as he moved to several more graves. It rather seemed that he was looking for something, and it set off alarms in her head. To give off the appearance of a grieving widow, she sniffled loudly and dabbed at her eyes with a monogrammed handkerchief. If she tried hard enough, she might even be able to work up some fake tears. Isaac would have laughed at the irony of it.
As the man moved, she found herself admiring his form. It had been a while since she'd been with a man, but that was her own choice. Still, a woman had her needs and it didn't hurt to indulge them once in a while. Of course, standing over the grave of her dead husband in full mourning garb was hardly the best way to meet willing partners, even if said husband had been dead for 8 years.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 22, 2008 3:04:51 GMT -5
Forget it, Ted thought, frustrated. Whoever had done this was obviously very good at covering their tracks, and Ted wasn't going to learn anything by looking at holes in the ground. None of the names had anything in common, so far.
So the best he could do was figure out what the next likely bodies were, and keep an eye out.
He moved towards the freshest grave in th cemetary... Katie Lawrence, a student at Hogwarts. She had been far too young to die, and he just hoped that the rest of the students were safe from the murderer.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Nov 22, 2008 11:41:53 GMT -5
When he moved toward Katie's grave, Claudia frowned. Either he was some kind of voyeur interested in death, or he was thinking along the same lines she was... or he was from the Ministry and was sent to check up on things. Her instinct told her it was probably the latter. He was now relatively close to her, and she could see him a little better. There was something familiar about him... she was sure she had seen his face before, even if they had not met in person.
If there was going to be a ministry person watching Katie's grave, it would seriously impede her plans. She couldn't have that. But first she would have to find out what the deal was with this guy.
Reaching into the small clutch she carried, she pulled out a small vial. The potion was her own creation and would induce blinding tears. She had used it many times after Isaac's death. It had helped her get through the harsh interrogations from the Ministry who had (correctly) suspected her of murdering her husband. Gulping down half of the vial, she waited a few minutes while the potion took effect. During this time, she watched him carefully, her eyes narrowed. What exactly did he hope to see?
Her eyes began to burn and swell and she felt the first of the tears leak out. Slowly she got to her feet and began to walk along the path towards him. She adjusted her veil, then let out a sob as she approached him. She could barely see him now; he was just a shape up ahead. She passed him, then cast a silent trip jinx on herself, so that she would fall on the stone path just past him.
The jinx was particularly effective. Her ankle turned and her heel broke off of one shoe, sending her face down to the hard stones below.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 23, 2008 1:32:37 GMT -5
Ted looked up, calmly. He had learned when he was on duty never to act startled or caught off guard, and as horrible was this job was, he was still on duty.
He moved to the woman and helped her to her feet, trying not to make a snap judgement of her. Something in his head gave him a red flag, but he was being too paranoid. For Merlin's sake the woman was crying her eyes out.
First, he fixed her shoe... easy enough with magic.
"You knew... Katie?" Ted asked, sympathetically, assuming that she had been headed towards the girl's grave.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Nov 23, 2008 23:51:42 GMT -5
Claudia sniffled and adjusted her veil, lifting it as if to see him better. "Thank you," she said, opening up her purse and taking out a handkerchief to dab at her wet, puffy eyes. She looked at him gratefully, and was able to see through her enchanted tears that the man in front of her was extremely handsome. And she had definitely seen his picture before. In the Prophet, perhaps?
Glancing toward Katie's grave, she shook her head. "Katie? No... oh, no... is that the poor girl who was killed at Hogwarts? What a dreadful affair that is... Honestly, you would think a man like Albus Dumbledore would be smart enough to arrange proper security to protect the children." She dabbed at her eyes again, although the tears were already starting to clear up. She had, after all, only taken half a dose. "I was actually visiting my dear departed husband... he's been gone for 8 years, but I miss him as if he died yesterday."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 27, 2008 5:13:30 GMT -5
"Oh, I'm very sorry," Ted said, frowning a little. "Is it the anniversary of his death?" She was crying awfully hard for a death that happened years ago. It was strange to him... but he was in Auror mode and overanalyzing everything. He picked up on clues easily enough about people, he just didn't always hold to them.
"At least let me walk you the rest of the way," he offered.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Nov 28, 2008 2:10:13 GMT -5
She caught the little suspicious tone in his voice. Curse him for being so alert. She couldn't lie and say yes, no matter what she might have wished, because it would be all too easy to go back to Isaac's grave and check the dates. "No... no, it's not. Although, his birthday would have been this week." This much, at least, was true. Hopefully it was enough to ease his doubts.
Dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, she nodded. "That... that would be nice of you. Thank you. I'm staying at the Three Broomsticks." She kept the room at the Broomsticks for just such an occasion. "My name is Claudia," she said, extending a black-gloved hand.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Nov 29, 2008 4:17:40 GMT -5
Ted had meant the rest of the way to the grave, but she was obviously leaving. He glanced back at Katie's grave and nodded. Honestly, what was going to happen in the time it took to walk the woman home?
"Well, Claudia, it's nice to meet you, though I wish circumstances would have been better. I am sorry for your loss. I'm Te... Theodore." He didn't know what stopped him, but no one except his parents knew him as Theodore, and he felt safer giving her that name. Besides, he was investigating missing bodies... he had a duty to be suspicious of anyone in the graveyard.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Dec 9, 2008 9:02:39 GMT -5
Claudia gave a slight smile, but it took a lot of effort to not look like her usual ice-queen self. Even with the tears that were still trickling from her eyes, her usual demeanor was, at times, difficult to mask. "It's a pleasure meeting you, Theodore. You're a true gentleman, to walk a lady home like this. There are so few gentlemen left these days."
She eyed him carefully. The potion's effects were lessening slowly and she was able to get a better look at his expression. He was suspicious of her, as well he should be. Her instincts warned her that he was most likely not here to grieve for Katie Lawrence or anyone else. He was checking up on things. "Did you know Katie Lawrence?" she asked. "Such a shame... the girl was so young."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Dec 21, 2008 3:59:04 GMT -5
"I had ties to Katie, yes," Ted replied, brushing off her comments about him being a gentleman. He wasn't lying, necessarily, though it wouldn't have mattered if he was. He had ties to the girl now, if only because she was part of his investigation.
"Where am I walking you to, Claudia?" He asked, knowing he needed to finish up at the cemetary as soon as possible.
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Post by Claudia Morley on Dec 21, 2008 13:29:41 GMT -5
It was a good thing he wasn't looking at her just then, because he might have been suspicious of the frown that creased her face. He claimed to have ties with Katie, but why had he been looking at the other graves. Were they all people he knew? Or was he lost? Or was there some other connection? She wondered to herself whether she would be able to go back and investigate later, to see if there was a connection between the different graves he had visited.
"Oh, just to the Three Broomsticks," she replied. "I always stay there when I'm visiting town... it's really quite a pity that there isn't a proper hotel in town."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Dec 21, 2008 17:30:44 GMT -5
Ted nodded. "If you're sure," he replied, but he was secretely glad for it. The Three Broomsticks was close, and he could get back to the gravesites sooner. "I just want to be sure that you make it safely. What did you say your husband's name was?" He asked, thinking he would check out that grave as well when he got back.
For now, he was doing it under the pretense of smalltalk.
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