Chapter Fourteen
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteNovember 19-22, 1997
"There is only power, and those too weak to seek it"
Zara Wong apparates back to her London flat soaking wet and ready to murder the first thing she sees. She's been a part of the Muggleborn Retrieval Initiative, or Fugitive Recovery Unit, or whatever they're calling it these days (she's heard whispers in the halls calling them the Snatchers, and she actually quite likes that one. It's suitably intimidating) for two months and the entire operation is a disorganized mess that's had far more failures that successes (see above name change that was both pointless and a waste of time).
And it's all the fault of the idiot they'd put in charge. Zara makes a face just thinking about the tiny Japanese that's supposed to be her boss (gag). Yurina has never once been out in the field, always too busy goofing off at the Ministry to bother actually doing her job. Not that Zara is all that surprised, really, considering the woman isn't from England. Of course she wouldn't bother putting in proper effort for a country that isn't her own.
She hears shuffling from one of the hallways and spins to glare at whatever it is until a chunky black tabby plods into view.
Zara huffs out a breath and finally puts her wand away, dropping her dripping cloak onto the floor to dry later and leaning over to pick up her cat. Princess purrs sleepily and bats at her nose, and Zara finally cracks a small smile.
"Hey beautiful, you here to comfort your mom after a rough day at work?" She coos. "Of course you are, you're the greatest kitty in the world, aren't you Princess? You want some special wet food?"
"You spoil her far too much." A voice reprimands her as she steps into the kitchen, setting Princess down so she can fetch the food.
Zara looks over at the stout little woman standing by the stove, clearly halfway though preparing dinner. "Oh mother, I do not. She deserves every bit of love she gets."
Huiying Wong purses her lips in clear disagreement as she watches Zara spoon cat food into one of their nicest bowls and place it on the floor for the cat. "Did I hear you mention work went poorly?" She says after a moment of watching the tabby demolish the meal.
Zara groans and drops herself at the table, finally kicking off her shoes so she can put her feet up, ignoring her mother's disapproving stare. "Horrid. I wasn't with Rowle at least, the absolute idiot, but the woman I was working with today let our quarry escape like an absolute rookie. It feels like I'm the ony competent person ever out in the field, but no one listens to my orders because I'm too young or whatever." She glowers at her damp socks. "Honestly we'd have all the Fugutives rounded up and in Azkaban where thieves and Mudbloods like them belong if I was in charge, but no Yaxley picks perfect princess Ga Mui Yurina just because the Dark Lord liked her work on something entirely unrelated."
Her mother huffs an amused breath and flicks her wand at the counter to move the dinner process to the next step before taking a seat beside her daughter, magically pushing Zara's feet of the table as she does so. "Tell me about your day then." She instructs briskly, settling back in the chair.
Zara wrinkles her nose and places two fingers on her wand so she can finally magically dry herself off before slumping further into the chair and rattling off the details of their completely botched assignment.
"For one thing everyone I've worked with is untrained and unmarked - I'm the only real Deatheater out there in the field but since none of them have learned basic respect they don't get that they have to listen to me. And then they go off and clomp about, make enough noise to scare of anyone in a twenty foot radius. And Yaxley wonders why our numbers haven't been great." She grimaces. "Though he hasn't given us much of a budget either, which isn't fair at all. I'd like to see him try to do half as well as I do with what I've got to work with."
"Well it sounds like you should talk to Yaxley." Her mother says idly. "Inform him of all this. In fact, is that little Corban Yaxley you're speaking of? I recall him from the first war, the man is desperate to prove himself and his family. If he thinks something will make him look bad he'll fix it, no questions asked."
Zara snorts. "I don't know if I'd call him little mother." She smirks. "But that certainly sounds like him. Perhaps I'll take an audience with him tomorrow, show him exactly what a mistake he made putting Yurina in charge of something a true English Deatheater ought to be leading."
Her mother smiles proudly. "I know you will dear. Now, you practice on me. Pretend I'm Yaxley, what are you going to say?"
Zara clears and quickly sits up as her mother stands and returns to monitoring the kitchen utensils as they prepare dinner.
"Mr. Yaxley I am here to speak to you about the Fugitive Recovery Unit and the utter failure of the current-"
"No. Again." Her mother interrupts, and Zara scowls at her back but complies. Her mother has never steered her wrong, and she knows Huiying only wants to see her succeed.
She thinks over what she had said and tries again. "Mr. Yaxley, I am here to speak to you..."
It goes on for over an hour, Huiying regularly cutting Zara off and having her rework the speech over and over again. It's infuriating, but when her mother finally lays out their dinner on the table, nodding in approval at Zara's latest attempt, the young witch has to admit that her pitch sounds quite good. Yaxley won't be able to ignore her request regardless of her age or his attitude.
This is why her mother is the best.
The next day she puts on her cleanest, darkest robes and strides purposefully through the Ministry to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, her speech on loop in her head as her six-inch heels clip determinedly along the marble floors. The robe is parted slightly at the top, showing off her best assets in a way she knows is getting her looks from the male Ministry workers she strides past.
Good. Attention is exactly what she's going for.
She brushes straight past Yaxley's frazzled secretary and shoves open the door to his office, slamming it behind her just to be sure her entrance has been heard and noted. She meets the annoyed gaze over the desk with a quirk of her lips and a challenging eyebrow raise.
"Good morning Mr. Yaxley, I'm here to speak to you about the Fugitive Recovery Unit. I would suggest you hear me out as the current numbers from the group, which I'm sure you're aware of, are an utter embarrassment on this department."
Yaxley gawks at her, glaring, but Zara's mother is right - he can't argue against what she's said, which means she gets to keep going.
So far so perfect, not that she'd expect anything less from herself. She is a superior being after all, and the hard-won mark on her left forearm is proof of that.
"Naturally, if you were in charge of the Unit directly it would be running flawlessly as we both know, but as you have to organize the entire Department it's quite unfair to expect you to run everything alone - one would think you could rely on a fellow Deatheater to coordinate a team as simply as the Recovery Unit."
Add on some flattery - Zara's known that trick since she was five and it works just as well now as it ever has in the past. Yaxley is nodding along slightly, probably unaware he's even doing it, which is again, perfect.
Zara nods gravely, matching Yaxley's movements. "Thus I am here to propose a shift in leadership for the Unit. Clearly Yurina intends to make a joke of your otherwise brilliantly run department - as a member of the Unit I've seen first hand that she puts coordinating us at the bottom of her list of priorities. She prefers messing with Ministry workers and planning for our inevitable European expansion, which is of course well and good but a shame she'd try to make you look bad just because her own Department is rather immobile at the moment."
Yaxley is scowling now, but not at Zara. Rather, his eyes are unfocused and gazing at the wall behind her, and Zara knows with that that she's won. Yaxley hates Yurina, same as many of the other Deatheaters, and by pinning blame on her Zara now has him on her side. The enemy of my enemy and all.
"Perhaps if a powerful man closer to the action were to explain to the Dark Lord how difficult it's been for Yurina to balance the Unit with her other duties, that members of the Unit itself have spoken up about not having clear directions, surely our great Lord and Master will see fit to let you choose the new leadership."
Yaxley smirks at her. "I assume you think that leadership should be you, Ms. Wong?" He drawls.
Zara preens slightly that he knows her - it's to be expected, really, but often times the higher ranked Deatheaters from the first war look down on the new generation. "I've worked in the field repeatedly and have an in-person understanding of how a lot of the other Unit members work. I already have ideal team ups written up for submission and several tactics that have proven effective in the field before. I think I certainly would be a logical choice Mr. Yaxley. I want this Unit to thrive, and I want those filthy Mudbloods out of the public where they can damage good wizarding society. So yes, Mr. Yaxley, I do think the leadership should be me."
He leans back in his chair, fingers steepled, clearly considering her proposal. "Submit these team ups to Ms. Nakayashi before the end of the day, and inform her that if she hasn't improved her numbers by week's end I will be reassigning the organization of the Unit elsewhere."
Zara nods briskly, keeping her expression professionally neutral until she's exited the office and gotten halfway back to the lifts, at which point she breaks out into a grin.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. By week's end she'll be calling the shots and she'll finally be able to prove to all the upstart fuddy-duddy old men exactly why she should be far more feared than she is currently.
She doesn't actually have her own desk at the Ministry, just the room in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that's been dedicated for the Recovery Unit's use, so her proposal is sitting at home on her desk. She Floos straight there and rushes to her room to find the parchment.
Her mother is standing at the bottom of the stairs when she reappears, triumphantly clutching the team list.
"Well?" Huiying prompts, raising an eyebrow pointedly.
"It went brilliantly mother, I'll be in charge by the weekend. Thank you for your help." She adds, pecking the tiny woman on the cheeks. "I have to get back now, Yurina probably has me paired up with more idiots to go traipsing about the woods with this afternoon. See you for supper."
She returns to the Ministry and first checks the Department of International Affairs on the off chance Yurina is actually where she's supposed to be for once. Having crossed that off the list she heads to the lift and begins on the third floor before working her way up. Yurina tends to wander the Ministry during the day, and honestly Zara can appreciate the fun the other woman has putting the sniveling Ministry dogs in their place but it's still rather boorish in her opinion. Zara prefers destroying her enemies physically where she can, and putting them to use when that's more applicable.
The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes is pretty quiet, as it usually is these days. Quite a bit of the Department had been Mudbloods who are now safely locked away, and the few left have little to really do. Zara ignores the hesitant greeting from one of the older secretaries on the floor as she scans around for either Yurina or someone crying, since the Japanese woman usually isn't far from a scene like that.
But the floor is quiet and she doesn't bother checking individual offices - the whole place is small enough that she'd be able to hear it if something was off. So she heads back to the lifts and goes up a floor to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
She rather likes this floor and these offices, namely because if she hadn't joined the Dark Lord she likely would have ended up here, keeping track of vermin and protecting good Wizarding culture. She'd decided this a month before when she'd met one of the employees in the lunch room and heard about the Werewolf Registry. There's a desk job she could agree with.
Though her current employment is obviously leagues better.
She looks around the Department, taking more time to snoop in each office as it's much larger and more inhabited than the ones on the floor below, and soon enough she finds Yurina leaning against the wall in one of the private offices, smirking at an older woman who's clearly struggling to find something to say.
"Ms. Nakayashi?" The formality is bitter on her tongue, but Zara forces it out anyway. Only two days and she's in charge, she reminds herself as the Japanese woman turns to face her.
Yurina is one of the few people who stands at about the same height as Zara (she isn't sure exactly how they measure against each other - they both regularly wear tall heels) but she has a way of staring at people that makes them feel small. Zara has seen it directed both at others and at herself, but unlike the cowards of the Ministry Zara doesn't shy from the calculating gaze.
"I have some team placements to submit to you, on order of Yaxley." She says briskly, holding out the parchment as she maintains steady eye contact with the other woman. She doesn't bother elaborating on the requirements associated with the order - Yurina can decide herself whether to use the teams or not, and when she doesn't the Unit will finally have proper leadership.
Yurina raises an eyebrow and accepts the papers without looking at them. "If that's all Zara?" She says, her voice lilting and mocking all at once. "I have important things to be doing and your ridiculous attempts to not be a bottom-feeder are interrupting them."
Zara growls slightly but catches herself, shoots a glace at the other woman in the room who still look terrified, and turns briskly to head back to the Department of Law Enforcement to see what her assignment for the day is.
She's matched up with Fenrir Greyback, which is disgusting but she'll be in charge soon enough and for now she's more than capable of being the beast's handler for the afternoon.
"We'll be taking the Eastern border of the Forest of Dean." She tells the werewolf briskly as he leers at her.
"Gotta say you're much nicer to smell than the others I've been with." Fenrir practically purrs, trying to move close but Zara touches her wand under her cloak and throws up a shielding charm. Otherwise she ignores the come-on. One has to keep a firm hand with the mutt, only letting out enough leash for him to strike at the proper prey - otherwise he'd go after just anyone like the animal he is and that's no good for proper society.
They reach the forest by air - Zara isn't touching a werewolf, no matter if Apparation would be much faster. Fenrir lands on all fours, already sniffing around for any Fugitives in the area. Zara leaves him to it - she knows locating is Fenrir's forte so she'll focus instead on capturing whoever they come across, assuming they find anyone at all.
She scowls at the frost-heavy branches above them as she follows the werewolf into the woods. Too often these days the teams sent out come back empty-handed. Zara knows it's because they tend to be sent to different locations and thus can't prepare ahead of time, something she'd complained about plenty to her boss with no change.
"Hey, got somethin'." Fenrir grunts.
"Then go get it. I'll back you up." Zara snaps irritably, and the man gives her a grin that's more bared fangs than smile before taking off after whatever trail he's picked up. Zara keeps close behind him, eyes a bit more alert and her wand now out and in her hand. Usually when they do run into Fugitives they're underfed and desperate, so having her weapon on hand is just good form. Never confront a cornered animal unarmed after all. She should make brochures when she's in charge with tips like that. Maybe some of the other Snatchers would actually learn how to do their job decently.
Fenrir catches up to their quarry, and Zara gets a glimpse of short, strawberry blonde hair before whoever it is spins and catches sight of them, yelping and Apparating away mere moments before Fenrir pounces onto where she'd just been.
"Ugh, why am I surprised. You can't just go racing around the woods making enough racket to wake the dead!" Zara shouts angrily.
Fenrir spins on her, eyes gleaming. "I didn't see you doing anything useful. Though I could fix that, I'm owed dinner." He growls threateningly only to be smacked across the face with a stunner.
"I'm a cat person." Zara sniffs distastefully at the prone figure before sighing and deciding to head home for the evening. Mutt-boy can find his own way back.
She drops her cloak by the front door and goes straight to the kitchen to tell her mother about the successes of the day as well as practice the proposals for her plans to get the Recovery Unit working properly that she'll be presenting to Yaxley once he transfers control of the Unit to her on Saturday.
Huiying is monitoring the dinner preparations as she always is, and Princess is seated on the kitchen island watching the utensils fly around with detached curiosity.
"Zara. You said it went well?" Her mother prompts without turning around, and Zara grins as she drops onto one of the seats by the island so she can scratch Princess behind her ears.
"Perfectly." Zara confirms, and proceeds to give a far more detailed overview than she had during their momentary passing earlier in the day. She also begins listing the ideas she'd had about the Unit and how she intends to implement them within the first week of her leadership.
"That's all very good, but how do you plan to sell it to Yaxley? You have to make him think it was his idea after all." Her mother observes as the food serves itself and the two women begin to eat, Zara passing the occasional bit of chicken to Princess on the chair next to her.
"Why do you think I'm telling you all this?" Zara replies cheekily, and her mother sighs.
"I think sometimes I raised you too well." She says wryly, and Zara can only laugh.
The next day she takes a morning shift so she can spend all day out in the woods, that way the experience is fresh in her mind for tomorrow. She's paired with two witches which is good - the women are almost always more competent than the men.
They trudge through the woods and Zara slyly slips her ideas for the Unit into casual conversation, grinning when the other two witches eagerly agree that they would be wonderful additions. They come across a few Fugitives and take down one of them, but the other has a friend that they hadn't seen and they both get away, much to Zara's frustration.
"This would happen far less if we had a clear list of who's out here." She observes idly to the woman still with her - the other had taken off to return the Fugitive they'd caught to his proper Azkaban cell.
"Oh absolutely." The woman agrees with a groan. "Honestly you should tell all this to Ms. Nakayashi, I think she forgets she's even running this Unit with everything else on her plate."
Zara forces herself not to glower at the name-drop. "Maybe someone else should be put in charge then." She suggests idly. "So that they can put all their energy into this and Ms. Nakayashi can put everything into her other projects."
The woman hums thoughtfully. "That's a pretty good idea." She admits after a moment, a bit hesitantly. "I don't know how Ms. Nakayashi would like it though."
Zara shrugs. "I imagine she would understand, she's a faithful follower of the cause after all. Surely she'll see reason if the leadership were to be placed elsewhere." Frankly she doesn't care what Yurina will think, and frankly hopes the other woman will be pissed off by Zara's rise to power, but Zara knows that good leadership requires obedient followers, and nothing inspires obedience like agreement. She needs this woman to like her.
It works - the woman is smiling less tentatively now. "You're right." She agrees after a moment. "Also I think I'm ready to go home, I need to make dinner for my kids."
Zara tilts her head in acknowledgement. "Of course, you can get going, I'll do one last sweep and head out myself, my cat is probably lonely."
The woman laughs and waves, and Zara wonders if she should have bothered to remember her name but it's a bit late now. So she shrugs, does the sweep, and goes home.
The next day she's summoned to Yaxley's office, and she grins as she strides to the door. Yurina hadn't implemented the teams so Zara is finally getting her proper recognition. She's gotten all dressed up for the occasion in her sharpest six-inch stilettos and a figure-hugging black dress that shows off all her best assets hanging underneath her open Ministry robes. She's dressed to kill and ready to take on the world.
Yurina is already in the room, looking bored and impatient all at once, and Yaxley is seated primly behind his desk. Them Zara had expected. But there's a third party in the room and she has no clue what he could be there for.
The young man - probably older than her, but everyone in the Ministry is for the most part - has a shock of blonde hair on top of a body that looks like it came right out of witch weekly, compete with the chiseled jaw and dark blue eyes. He also looks incredibly bored and Zara already doesn't like him one bit.
"Ms. Wong, excellent, you're here." Yaxley drawls. Zara scoffs - she's only two minutes late and the circumstances demanded an entrance, something she couldn't get if she wasn't the last to arrive. "As you know I have been considering redistributing the running of the Fugitive Recovery Unit in light of Ms. Nakayashi's already considerable work load."
Yurina rolls her eyes but otherwise keeps quite - clearly she wants this over as much as Zara does.
"With that in mind I have decided that the best option for the Unit at this time is to put people more familiar with the field in charge of running the direct operations of the Unit."
Zara's smile freezes on her face. That doesn't sound like she's being put in charge of everything. That sounds like bull political talk for-
"So while Ms. Nakayashi will still have full veto power over the activities and actions of the Unit, direct control of organizing, training, and dispatching teams will be delegated to Ms. Wong and Mr. Yaxley, the former due to her time working directly with the Unit and the latter due to his excellent standing as a top Hit Wizard. Regular reports of Unit activity will be submitted to Ms. Nakayashi every Friday. Any questions?"
Zara has questions alright, as well as quite a few complaints. "How exactly is Mr. Yaxley supposed to be of any use considering he has no knowledge or understanding of the workings of my Unit?" She points out irritably, knowing her mother would be horrified by the phrasing but not giving an arse just then. This is an affront and she'll respond to it as such.
"Theodore is a very skilled Hit Wizard, better trained in hunting down criminals than anyone in the Recovery Unit." Yaxley replies dryly, arching an eyebrow. "And you're far too young to be running things alone anyhow."
And there it was, the real reason she hadn't been given her proper due. People look at her and can't see past her nineteen years regardless of how much more effective she is than people with far more time under their belts.
Theodore Yaxley smirks at her from the chair he's still sprawled over. Yaxley. Obviously he's been chosen due to nepotism and is going to be supremely useless. "I'm just in charge of getting you all into shape, you can handle the paperwork. Writing essays isn't something I've had to do recently, so you'll probably be better at that anyway." He drawls.
Zara very much wants to punch him, but Corban Yaxley doesn't give her a chance.
"Now then we all have work to be doing so that will be all. Ms. Wong you'll show Theodore the Fugitive Recovery Unit's office spaces and bring him up to speed on the workings of the Unit. I look forward to seeing your progress when Ms. Nakayashi submits your first report next Friday."
Zara nearly bites her own tongue off in her effort to not snap back. Yaxley is, unfortunately, in charge of the entire department. He could take away her role and give everything to his... son? Nephew? She has no idea how Theodore is actually related to the Department Head. But she'll hold onto the power she's been given and take the rest later. Patience, her mother always says.
"Fine, come on." She grunts at Theodore, who rolls off the chair far too smoothly and prowls after her out of the office.
They walk in silence the short distance from the office to the Unit's room, Zara continuing to chew viciously on her own tongue the entire way. Once they're inside the room though she lets go.
"Let's get one thing straight here Theo," She hisses at her new - ugh - partner, "I'm in charge. I know this Unit inside and out and I know what will make it work. You just sit down and look pretty so your dad in there stays happy."
"He's my uncle." Theodore says idly, scanning the room and clearly only half-listening to her.
Zara growls and slaps him. That gets his attention.
"For 's sake I don't care about your stupid power trip or this Unit. Do what you want and I'll sign at the bottom." He snaps. "Not like I expected a child dressing up in mommy's clothes to know how to play it smart."
Zara sees red and her fingers brush her wand under her robes so she can fling a silent stunner at Theo - who blocks it silently and effortlessly. He smirks infuriatingly at her glare.
"My uncle wasn't lying that I'm a highly trained Hit Wizard you know. Top of my class. Don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. But give me a reason?" He leans down and lowers his voice threateningly. "I will make sure you're stuck on the bottom rung forever with no power whatsoever. Are we clear?"
Zara takes several deep breaths and resists the need to summon a knife to stab him in his stupid smug face.
"Clear." She grits out once she's calmed herself enough to keep her voice level. "I'm going to reorganize the teams and divide our hunting grounds into sectors."
Theo leans back and it's like a switch has flipped - he's back to the smarmy arsehat she'd seen in the office. "Sounds fine to me kid."
Zara growls under her breath but decides to simply ignore him for the time being. He said he'd keep out of her business, and since her business is running the Unit that means he'll keep out of it. And it will give her time to figure out how to get rid of him entirely - or at least ask her mother for advice on the situation.
Zara spends the day writing up new plans for the Unit while Theodore Yaxley flirts with every single female that walks into the room and is generally aggressively unhelpful. It's a long, draining day and nowhere close the victory Zara was supposed to have. She does manage to finish her proposals and reluctantly submits them to Yurina - or rather, leaves them on the woman's desk since she'd apparently gone home early for the first time ever.
Small wins are still wins, even if they do nothing to make Zara feel better about the situation.
Her mother is finishing dinner when Zara gets in, but she's not hungry and says as much to Huiying. Her mother raises an eyebrow knowingly and doesn't comment, simply turning back to the kitchen while Zara scoops up Princess and retreats to her room to cuddle her cat and work out how to fix her new problems.
Obviously she'll fix the Snatchers first, but once that's done? Theodore Yaxley has to go.
Author's Note: TRIPLE UPDATE WEEKEND! School is closed starting Monday (thanks Coronavirus) so I had to use my remaining library time wisely since I don't get anything done at home ^^''. So I wrote two essays and three chapters in five days xD Next chapter will be up tomorrow at midnight, and the third one will go up on Sunday at midnight (EST as usual)! And then we'll be fully made up for the concussion and be back to our usual schedule next week~
So I'm thinking I might do a final 'afterwords' chapter to share my thoughts and feelings on writing this story, if that's something people would be interested in? I'm also open to answering any lingering questions people might have there as well!
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