Chapter Thirty-One
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteMarch 2-8, 1998
"What matters is the part we choose to act on"
Two months after he'd sent Logan back to Hogwarts Aiden is still worrying. He exchanges regular correspondance with his ward so he knows Logan is alive, but they both have to dance around topics of resistance and punishment in their letters so Aiden doesn't know if Logan is safe or unharmed in addition to still being breathing. He can only hope.
For his part, he doesn't have much to share. Although he's been keeping his eyes and ears open for any possible opportunities none have arisen, at least not that he's caught wind of.
Which, logically, is clearly a good thing. If something is going on and he can't figure it out then it's likely no one else could either. However, it's frustrating after two months. He'd said he would try and do something, and while he knows Logan likely won't hold it against him if nothing comes up, Aiden will be disappointed in himself if his trying doesn't amount to anything.
So he starts working late, taking on extra projects, trying to be a little more social with the other people in the Authority. He's always liked them well enough, so it's not too jarring of a shift for him or anyone else. Which is, of course, the plan. If he altered his habits too much people would get suspicious.
It does help that the Floo Authority mostly runs on its own, separate from the crux of the takeover. Heck, Aiden had been working the day they'd killed the Minister and he hadn't heard about it until the paper announced his abrupt retirement the next day.
("Retirement" hah. Anyone who'd had any contact with Rufus Scrimgeour knew that was a lie - the man was the sort to die before he relinquished control of anything. So.)
There is one semi-regular face in the offices that doesn't belong to an official Authority employee, so Aiden had been a bit more cautious about her, but Branwen Avery has proven herself a lovely young woman with an excellent work ethic so Aiden has taken to greeting her comfortably whenever he sees her. She's always happy to stop and chat with him as well, discussing the latest Floo techniques and Branwen occasionally complaining about her creepy ex who apparently has reappeared recently.
Aiden had impulsively offered to help with that on a morning when Branwen had shown up with a boquet of flowers and an extremely flustered expression, and Branwen had smiled and promised to tell him if it got any worse. That conversation had left Aiden feeling quite good about himself - clearly he's seen as trustworthy and skilled if a woman he's only known a few months is willing to ask him for help with what is clearly a personal matter.
But still, it's a very small victory in the face of what feels like quite a large defeat. Especially when considering how much danger Logan must be in on the day-to-day, Aiden's own struggles feel miniscule.
He's at least getting quite a bit of work done - Channer Lindberg has commented on it a few times, and they're even doing some work together on potentially doing another major overhaul of the Network, this time to the North. It's this precise job he's working on late Monday night when the opportunity he'd been looking for finally comes knocking.
It must be nearly eleven at night, and the offices are entirely abandoned save for himself and his boss, who's holed up in his personal office running the numbers for their potential Network reset. The first round had been a massive hassle, but it has also been massively successful - there haven't been any issues with that sector since.
Mind, Lindberg had also set some people to watch over Yaxley's monitor group, which may have also contributed to the success of the endeavour.
Still, it's late and Aiden is getting tired, and he's just about ready to call it a night. He packs up his things and gathers his work bag, double checking that nothing has been left behind or out of place before heading for Lindberg's office to tell the younger man that he's heading home.
Lindberg's office is one of the nicer ones in the Department - soundproofed and walled in with opaque glass, it's the spitting image of privacy. But this late, when most lights are off, it's possible to see sillouhettes through the thick windows.
And tonight there are two figures inside the room.
Aiden freezes, his hand still poised in the air to knock, and stares at the figures. One is obviously Lindberg - the man is tall and lanky in a way that's rare enough to be easily distinguishable - but he doesn't know the other. It's female he thinks, based on the long hair, though the body shape isn't quite defined enough for him to say with confidence that it isn't a man with long hair. The two are obviously arguing, the long-haired one waving her - Aiden's going with her - hands in the air and Lindberg's long fingers rapidly tapping against his desk in a way that's very familiar to Aiden from long, exhausting department meetings.
It isn't until the unknown person turns to the door that Aiden realizes he ought to move away. He quickly retreats to his desk, which is out of eyeline of the office door. It is not, however, out of earshot.
"I can't believe you're still refusing." Yep, definitely a woman, and young if her voice is anything to go by.
"I don't know what you're speaking of Adeline, I've said this already." His boss says in clear frustration. "Now if you could manage to stop interrupting my work hours with frivolous-"
"Frivolous? Channer, I'm asking you to save lives, that is not frivolous!" The girl's - Adeline, Aiden supposes - voice drops to a scant whisper, but it carries easily in the empty offices. "All we need-"
"All I need is to finish these files Ads. Please." Lindberg sounds incredibly worn, and Aiden winces in sympathy. They've all been there before.
Adeline seems to get the memo, as she huffs and turns around, storming away.
"So what is it you need?" He asks, and ten seconds later he's frozen in place and staring down the wand of a very pretty young brunette.
"Who are you?" She hisses. "What did you hear?"
"Just the last bit." He says, and thenk blinks in surprise at his ability to speak. "Is this a partial freezing spell? And you cast it nonverbally?" He grins, impressed despite his situation. "That is very cool."
Her frown wavers from furious to something more wary. "Who are you?" She repeats.
"I want to help. My name is Aiden Case and I work here in the Authority as one of the top Floo Network Engineers."
Adeline eyes him cautiously, a frown still tugging at her features. "Case... I think Channer has mentioned you." She says cautiously. "So you say you want to help. What exactly are you offering and what makes you think I'm the person to offer it to?"
Aiden tries to shift to a more comfortable position before remembering he's frozen in place. "I heard the last bit of your conversation with Mr. Lindberg." He replies honestly, figuring that's going to be his best bet here. "I very much would like to help save lives, as you stated, and as you're asking my boss for assitance I assume it has something to do with the Floo Network. Which, again, I'm an engineer for, have been since graduating."
Adeline regards him for a moment longer, then bites her lip and flicks the wand that's still pointed at him. Instantly Aiden feels his limbs unlock and he nearly stumbles with the sudden weight of them.
"Much oblidged." He says, rubbing at his arms to get the blood flowing again. "So what do you need me to do?"
She shakes her head, glancing back at her brother's office. "Not here. I put up a sound dampening spell in the area but that won't be enough." She holds out a hand, expression almost daring, and Aiden thinks of another young woman with dark hair and sharp eyes that crinkled when she laughed and sparkled when she loved.
He takes Adeline's hand, and the room vanishes around them.
He needs a moment to reorient himself when they land, but once he does he immediately turns to Adeline. "How did you Apparate within the Ministry walls?"
She grins. "Trade secret, need-to-know basis." She says cheerfully, and it's amazing how being in this room completely strips off her earlier stress and hesitance. Clearly wherever this is, it's home base for her group. "Anyway, you said you wanted to help, so take a seat and listen up. I'll tell you what we need, and you tell me if you think you can do it."
Aiden finally looks around the room properly, and notices a worn out bed pushed to the side of the room, which he sits down on as instructed.
Adeline hums. "Okay, full honesty you're the first person I've recruited myself." She says. "So bear with me on this, I'm not as practiced at giving the introduction speech."
Aiden nods, trying to go for comforting or supportive, though Adeline isn't really looking at him. She paces the room a few times before nodding and starting to speak, her movements never ceasing as she explains.
"Basically I work for this group called the Underground, and we help smuggle Muggleborns out of the country." She says, hands flapping through the air as she speaks, feet still working a line into the already worn carpet. "We have safehouses where we keep the Muggleborns until they can be moved out of the country. What I've been trying to get my brother to do is set up a private Floo connection between the safehouses so we can move between them and communicate with each other without the Ministry listening in."
Aiden nods. It's smart - the Floo Network Monitors had been one of the first things set up by the Deatheaters so using it has been out of the question from day one. He assumes Adeline had known that due to her relationship with Channer. Speaking of.
"If you don't mind my asking, what is your relationship with Mr. Lindberg?" He prompts, and her pacing stutters a moment before pausing entirely so she can look over at him.
"That's a bit of a non-sequitr." She points out, her words taking on a suspcious undertone. "Why do you ask?"
He holds up his hands. "Just curious, you don't have to answer. I'm an engineer, I like seeing how things fit together is all. You say you need a Floo system unconnected from the main Network, correct?"
Adeline relaxes slightly, and the pacing resumes. "Yeah, can you do that?"
"I'll need a base to work from - one main fireplace to serve as the central port. For the Network that's obviously the Ministry."
Adeline nods. "You can use my place." She says, but Aiden frowns.
"I don't know if that would work." He admits. It's a gut feeling, but he quickly figures out why the idea doesn't sit well with him. "We didn't know each other before tonight, and I'll need to be at the central point quite a bit during set up. From there each individual can connect on their own easily enough - I just need to give them access, again from the central point. Unless you can come up with a reason I'd be at your home so often we'll need a different location."
Adeline chews on her lip as she walks, clearly trying to think of something. After a long few minutes she sighs and stops moving again, turning to face Aiden. "Okay yeah, I can't think of anything either. For now I guess I can teach you the basics and we'll think on it? Maybe you could meet witih Lion, she's in charge of safehouse communication right now so maybe she'll have some ideas."
'The basics' includes introducing him to the Underground's Messenger system and having him select a code name so he can create a messenger of his own. He of course first considers using 'Bloodhound', as that's his actual patronus and one he'll easily remember. But it doesn't feel quite right, especially as he hasn't successfully cast it since Tanner's death. Seeing the silvery dog would probably trigger some less than positive feelings.
So he thinks on it while Adeline fills him in on the rest of the team - or at least the people he might need to know.
"Obviously, unless we've met and used the code phrases with each other, we don't know actual identities, but I can tell you the codenames and roles of the other people working inside the Ministry so you can reach out to them if you need them for whatever." Adeline says briskly. She's pacing again, hands trying to illustrate her points in the air. "So obviously there's Lion, she's in charge of the Ministry stuff for the most part. There's Chickadee who does most of the file scrambling and then Dolphin is somehow involved with the Wizengamot though I'm not sure on details. Again, you should talk to Lion since she's in charge."
Aiden nods uncertainly, the code names mostly buzzing in one ear and out the other. He's sure he'll learn them as they interact so he's not too concerned about memorizing everything now.
"As for the safehouse coordinators, I'm Bat, and since I live right in the city my house isn't really a long-term stop for Muggleborns, just somewhere to stay temporarily while waiting for it to be safe to go into the country. Tarantula and Boar live out there, and their neighbor Rabbit also helps us out. He's Muggle but his kid's magic and he knew about Tarantula and Boar so he was pretty excited to help however he could. Owl and Fox live just outside the suburbs, and they're a smaller house for now. That definitely could change since they aren't as poorly located as I am, but we need that Floo System."
Aiden nods. "I'll see about arranging a meeting with this Lion then, so we can work out how I can proceed without drawing unwanted attention."
Adeline hums. "Right, good. I suppose that's it then? Have you picked your code name yet?"
Aiden huffs. He has not, but he'll need to give one before they leave so he can contact Lion and set up a meeting. He nearly goes with Bloodhound despite his reservations, when it hits him.
Just use mine Moonsong, honestly. You're so dumb sometimes.
"Gryphon." He says. "I'd like to use Gryphon."
That had been his secret nickname for Tanner, what he'd call him in notes written during classtime so they wouldn't get in trouble should the communication be intercepted. In turn Tanner had called him Moonsong. Considering this entire endeavour is happening in honor of his friend, and his friend's son, Aiden thinks it's appropriate.
Adeline is laughing. "Oh man that's way cooler than Bat! What can you do though." She nods. "Alright then, let's get you set up."
Aiden gets home (from the Hog's Head, as he learned) around three in the morning. He has work in six hours and a meeting to set up as well, but he's actually feeling good. He's finally going to be able to keep his promise to Logan - he's going to help.
He messages Lion first thing in the morning, and he can't help smiling as his silver Gryphon soars into the post-dawn sky towards London. He imagines it's Tanner's spirit, bounding off to help people as Aiden knows he'd want to.
Lion gets back to him just before he leaves for work.
"Usual spot, just after work hours. Welcome to the team." is all her Messenger says before vanishing, and Aiden hums an unheard acknowledgement. He's honestly bolstered by the quick response - the faster they move on this the better, and it's clear Lion agrees on that front.
Work that day is hectic as ever, and he continues working with Channer on plans for the Northern reset. There is a moment of note, when he goes down to the Records room to collect the full list of names of people connected to the Northern Floo system.
As usual it's Eloise Taylor behind the desk, looking tired but as irritated as ever.
"You're the only one who ever comes down from that department in person. Those arseholes from the Monitor just send memos demanding certain files." Eloise grumbles. "Entitled cads, don't realize I have better things to do then run up and down the lifts for them."
What happens next is impulse, stemming from memories of Adeline saying the Underground had someone working files on their roster. And Eloise did set him up quite well to try out one of the code phrases.
"They want to be natural, the anti-social little beasts." He's regretting the words as soon as they leave his mouth - they may be a decent enough reply to Eloise's complaints, but it's entire out of character for him to-
"They just don't realize everyone's good depends on everyone's cooperation." Eloise says, and it's airy and dismissive but it's the response phrase.
Eloise is Chickadee then, and the two share a brief, knowing smile before Aiden leaves with his files. He's feeling better now as well, having a concrete face within the Ministry walls who he knows is on his side.
The rest of the day is uneventful, and he packs up his desk alongside everyone else when the clock strikes five.
"Leaving on time for once Case?" One of his coworkers, Malcom Waters, jokes, and Aiden gives him a grin that feels rather awkward on his face. He may have somehow developed a repore with most of the department in the past few months but it's well beyond him how he'd managed it.
"I was here nearly to midnight last night, I think I've earned it." He replies, and the other man laughs.
"Was that doing your work or was it catching up with things you left to the last minute?" He asks knowingly, and Aiden's grin becomes rueful. It's a fair question - he always gets things done on time but quite often they get left to the last minute.
"Bit of both?" He replies, honestly, and Malcom laughs again.
They head to the lift together, and the Chief Network Regulator catches up to them just as the lift arrives.
Aiden politely gestures for her to enter first, and Madame Edgecomb gives him a tense, tired smile in response. She's an older woman, just past her fifties, and with the new Monitor group essentially taking over her previous job she's been regulated to a figurehead position. Aiden doesn't envy her at all - at least he still gets to actually do his job, she doesn't even have that to distract her.
"Good day gentlemen?" She asks, voice as tense as her posture but still attempting politeness.
Malcom smiles and shares a grand story about chasing down a lost file that's funny in all the right places, and again Aiden wonders how he managed to secure such a friendly relationship with the younger man despite his own... him-ness.
He separates from Malcom and Madame Edgecomb when they reach the ground floor and heads for the apparation points. He won't go straight to the Hog's Head, of course - he isn't really in contact with the Apparition Offices but he doesn't doubt that they're being monitored as carefully as possible, and he doesn't want to take any risks.
So he Apparates home first, and even takes some time to change out of his work clothes before grabbing up his wand again and focusing on the dingy room from last night - this morning? - as he spins on his heel.
There's already a young woman standing in the room, leaning against the door and looking bored.
"Lion, I presume?" Aiden asks, offering a handshake.
She hums, standing up and accepting the gesture. "That would be correct. Gryphon? Bat filled me in a little, you're going to help us with the Floo setup?" She sounds cautiously hopeful, and Aiden doesn't blame her. This is probably something they've been trying to accomplish for a while now, so they'd want to make sure he's the real deal.
"That's the plan." He agrees giving what he hopes is a confidence-inspiring smile. It feels strained though, so he drops it quickly. "I did mention to Bat that I would need a different central location to use. She said you'd be the person to talk to about that."
Lion huffs out a breath, nodding. "I would be, but I've been spinning it in my mind all day and I can't say I've come up with much. At best we may have to bring in a friend of yours, someone you could visit without suspicion. Is there anyone you know who would want to help?"
Aiden blinks. I do, but he's dead I'm afraid. It's why I'm here and not him. He doesn't say that, but his silence seems to speak for itself as Lion sighs.
"Okay, okay, that's okay. We'll work on it and keep you aprised then? In the meantime I can tell you a little about how else you can help, if you want?" She almost looks hopeful that he'll accept. He wonders what exactly she's trying to avoid, being here. It's obviously something, considering her veiled desperation to extend the meeting time.
"Yeah, that would be good." He says, and she smiles, relaxing slightly against the wall.
They chat for nearly an hour - she tells him a bit more about the structure of the organization and teaches him a few additional spells that Adeline hadn't covered that morning, including the silent partial freeze.
"These are absolutely brilliant." He tells Lion as she demonstrating the wand movement. "Did you create them? They really are ingenious."
Something hurt flashes in Lion's expression, and she doesn't try to hide it. "No, our founder created all the spells we use. None of them were patented, so no one else knows about them. And probably no one else ever will, since she's dead."
Something in Aiden stutters at the harshness of the word, said with far less gravity than he would have given it. But the anguish in her expression is real, and he needs to remember that everyone processes grief differently.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He says quietly. Lion shrugs.
"I didn't really know her. Not well. But you know." She gestures vaguely. "She was the first person I knew who the war took away. Plus she was brilliant, like you said. Just wanted to help. It... it wasn't fair." Her voice is catching now, and she turns away.
For his part Aiden doens't know what to do other than stand there awkward and useless, pretending he doesn't know that she's fighting back tears. He's the adult here, and he's lost someone too, so why is it he can't think of a single thing to say?
They wrap up shortly after that and Aiden returns to his empty house feeling a bit hollowed out. The meeting had gone well though, objectively speaking. Though there is still the problem of a central location to work from, but he thinks that he'll sleep on that. Right now he just wants a hot shower, a hearty meal, and a good book.
The next few days are back to the usual routine, though he does ease up on chatting with his coworkers, worried now that he'll reveal something without meaning to and end up hurting things when he's trying to help. Because wouldn't that be just like him?
Waters seems to notice this and pushes a little, even asking if everything is alright at home, and Aiden thinks he does alright redirecting the guy but only time will tell on that front.
His main concern isn't really Waters though. He's more preoccupied trying to work out where he could create a central Floo port.
He could, of course, just use his own home, and that is certainly a backup plan in case they can't think of anything better. The main issue lies in the fact he's far from centrally located, and despite what people generally think distance does actually play a factor in Floo setup. The more geographically central the main port is to its connecting Network the easier and quicker everything can be set up. And time is very much of the essence.
He isn't doing nothing, at least, which helps make him feel less like a failure as he continues to be stumped on the Floo side of things. He sends daily reports to Lion about the Floo Montiors and which sections they're focusing in on. He isn't sure what the information is being used for, but he knows quite well the power of knowledge and so does his best to be as detailed as possible with his messages.
It's about a week later that he finally comes up with a possible soultion to their problem, and he asks Lion for another meeting.
She looks frazzled when he arrives, but her smile is a bit brighter. "So you have a location you can use?" She starts with no preamble.
"Maybe." He says quickly - no need to get her hopes up too high just yet. "I knew someone in school who had ties with the Order back during the first war - there's a good chance he'll be willing to help out. Plus, as we're old schoolmates it won't be odd for me to pay him a visit."
Lion nods, sagging slightly but still mostly pleased. "Sounds good, just keep me up to date on your progress. If you manage to get him onboard I'll arrange a meeting with Python so we can figure out how long this will take and how it will affect our current systems."
Aiden nods and she huffs out a slight breath before nodding back. Aiden doesn't ask who Python is, figuring he'll learn when he needs to.
They say their farewells and Aiden goes home. He needs to plan his approach carefully - Gareth Dearborn is a nice bloke, but not the sort who's going to appreciate Aiden showing up out of the blue. He'll need to plan his opening statement very carefully in order to even get inside the Dearborn mansion.
The next day is Saturday, and he's got the weekend off from work which for once he's thankful for. He spends the day putting together the spells he'll need and rehearsing what he wants to say once he arrives at Gareth's house. It's particularly difficult as, despite getting along decently enough during their school days, the two of them hadn't been friends even then, nonetheless twenty years and no contact later.
Still, he remembers where the Dearborn mansion is, and it's not difficult to Apparate just off the property the next morning with his briefcase in hand and speech on repeat in his mind.
He strides up to the front door, intentionally staying in plain view. He's giving Gareth a chance to tell him to leave before their conversation begins - the other man has plenty of time to see him. But Aiden makes it to the front door with no difficulty, though it does take a few minutes for the door to open after he's knocked.
Gareth looks different than Aiden remembers, but he hasn't seen the other man since they were both eighteen so some extra wrinkles and facial hair isn't exactly surprising.
"No solicitors." Gareth grunts, and Aiden raises an eyebrow.
"You don't recognize me then?" He guesses. Gareth scowls.
"'Course I do Case. You work for the Ministry, and I'm not interested in what they're selling."
"Well I'm not here on behalf of the Ministry." Aiden says, transitioning into his pre-planned speech and hoping it's a smooth shift. "I represent a group that's trying to make things better. We don't need you to be involved yourself, but we'd appreciate if we could use your home as an access point. I can't say more than that in the open." Heck, he probably has already said too much out here, but he's rather confident no one is keeping tabs on the hermit in front of him.
Gareth eyes him suspiciously. "If you're lying I'm hexing you." He warns, stepping back to allow Aiden entrance.
Aiden breaths out a sigh of relief as he enters and follows Gareth to what must be the sitting room. There's a massive fireplace standing at the center, and Aiden immediately focuses on it. That will be perfect, if Gareth agrees to help.
"You've got five minutes. Talk." The man says gruffly, and Aiden quickly explains the Underground and their need for a central Floo.
"You won't even need to have any Muggleborns here if you'd prefer it." He finishes. "There's very little risk to you and you'd be helping a lot of people."
"Helping 'em die." Gareth says, which is not the response Aiden was hoping for or expecting. "Your little group is probably putting a bunch of people in danger who don't need to be."
Aiden blinks, unsure of what to say to that for a moment, before he thinks back to Christmas and Logan's conviction as he explained why he fought with the DA.
"We choose to help people because it's better than standing aside and letting innocents die needlessly. We're in a position to help those who can't help themselves. We're not helping people die, we're helping them live."
"He's right Gareth." A woman's voice sounds from the door, and both men jump. Aiden notes how nervous Gareth suddenly looks.
"Scorcha I told you to stay upstairs." He says tightly, and then winces when a blonde head pops out from behind the woman in the doorway.
The girl is young, definitely not past her teens, and she looks almost hurt. "Why would you protect me and mom but not help anyone else?" She asks, eyes wide and just a touch wet. Aiden doesn't envy Gareth being on the other end of that look. "You wouldn't be risking anything more than you already are."
"Honestly I'm dissapointed you'd even think to say no." The woman - Scorcha - says firmly before turning to Aiden with a smile. "Sorry about that dear, I'm Scorcha Roy and this is my daughter Philomena."
"I prefer Menna." The girl says with a smile. "And we'd love to help Mr. Case. I don't sleep well knowing that there are other Muggleborns out there and in so much danger."
Aiden looks over at Gareth, who's slumped into his seat in defeat. The other man catches his gaze and sighs.
"Well Case, looks like you've got your Floo whatever. Just don't blow up my house."
Aiden grins. Attempt successful.
He messages Lion that her Floo Network will be up within the month and then gets to work.
Author's Note: How's that for some good news? :D And here marks the start of double update weeks~ See you all on Sunday!
Next Time: No matter how you try, some people just won't be controlled
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!
Comments