Chapter Six
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteEarly October, 1997
"I'll be [...] making no noise and pretending I don't exist"
Odette Grimond has always liked order. She likes lists and deadlines and properly filled out forms - she'd made a life out of it at the Ministry. And then that Ministry turned around and used her forms and deadlines against her.
She'd been reluctant when her best friend had told her to run back in August. The Muggleborn Registration Commission hadn't been announced publicly at that point, but as a member of the Daily Prophet Zoe Wentworth has always been privy to information ahead of time.
It had taken all night, but finally Zoe had convinced her to pack a small bag and vanish into the night. Odette had stayed close to civilization the first two weeks, using the money she had packed to pay for meals and shelter, quietly convinced she was going to have to show back up to work in September and explain her abrupt, unannounced vacation.
Then she gets hold of a Daily Prophet out of a bin and she's finally forced to realize that Zoe hadn't been wrong at all.
There's a list of Undesireables on the third page, and her name is there with the accusation of stealing magic and important Ministry memos and running off. It's then, staring at her own face on a wanted poster, that Odette finally has to accept that her Ministry isn't hers anymore.
She became more cautious after that, wishing she hadn't been quite so lax with her spending habits as she now has to stretch the little budget she has left for an indefinite amount of time.
By the time September has passed, she's out of money and has taken to begging in small Muggle towns to avoid recognition. She's also stopped counting the days - it's both exhausting and disheartening at this point.
So she doesn't know exactly what day of October it is when the sky opens up and drenches her begging corner, soaking her in the process. She just knows she's cold, wet, and hungry, though at least the rain might have washed away a bit of the smell that's started lingering around her recently.
She's huddled there when a woman stops in front of her and Odette looks up warily. No one has found her yet, but she closer to wizarding territory than she normally would be and it would be just her luck that the first time it's rained on her would also be the day she's caught.
"I don't have any cash on me at the moment, but I could buy you some food if you like." The woman offers, a brusque London accent giving away that she's not from the area.
Odette relaxes slightly - just a well-meaning Muggle then. "I... if it wouldn't be imposing." She says uncertainly.
The woman laughs. "I wouldn't have offered otherwise. Come along then." She offers Odette a hand up and after a short hesitation the assistance is accepted.
They go into a Muggle coffee shop - "can't afford anything fancier, sorry." - and Odette is floored by the stranger's kindness. Why the Dark Lord and his followers hate Muggles so much she'll never understand - she's met far kinder Muggles than wizards in her time.
"I'm Odette." She offers quietly once they've settled into one of the booths.
The woman smiles. "Artemis Cadwallader. I haven't seen you around town before."
"I move around a lot." Odette says nervously. "Um, Cadwallader is a Welsh name isn't it? You don't-"
"Sound Welsh, I know." Artemis laughs. "Married a Welshman though, we live up in London. I'm just down visiting my sister for the weekend, but there's a lot more foot traffic around than usual." She eyes Odette curiously, and then clears . "I have to be honest, my offer to help wasn't entirely above board. I saw a few shifty-looking characters snooping around nearby and one of them said something about looking for people. Human trafficking is a thing so I figured getting you inside might be a good idea."
Odette stares at her for a long moment, honestly stunned. "I'd say that's more above board than most people would be." She says after a moment. "Thank you. I'll be leaving town soon but I'll be careful."
The woman smiles, somewhat sadly. "Be sure you do. I need to get back to my sister - you take care of yourself Odette."
Odette is left in the booth feeling like she might have missed something, but she pushes down the thought for the moment and enjoys her hot chocolate.
She heads back out of town once she's finished, keeping her eyes peeled for the shady characters Artemis had mentioned. She doesn't see any, but she still decides her luck has been pushed far enough in this town and resolves to pack up and move out the next morning.
The rain at least has let up by sunrise so Odette risks a quick drying spell (she's trying to avoid too much magic use - you never know if people are watching) and then packs up her makeshift home and heads out, moving through the forest rather than risking the road, especially after Artemis's warning.
She's been on the move for quite a few hours - the sun is nearing it's peak point in the sky - when she catches a whiff of something cooking.
Her stomach whines hopefully but she pushes it down - she's still hungry but she's not going to steal from some innocent Muggle campers. She's better than that.
Still, she finds herself inching towards the smell, keeping herself small and her steps light to prevent detection. As she approaches a clearing in the woods she's startled to find that she actually recognizes the man sitting next to the fire.
He's broadly built but lean, dirty blond hair a tousled mess that's grown just a bit too long to keep organized.
Odette very nearly smiles as she stands up and walks over to the fire. "Good morning Mr. Cresswell, I don't suppose those reports from Ragguff are in yet? We really do need his statement for the Wilby trial."
Dirk Cresswell startles, pulling his wand on Odette before he recognizes her and relaxes. "Merlin's balls Grimond, you never stop thinking about work, do you?"
Odette had first met Dirk nearly a year earlier, when a goblin had been a key witness in an Improper Use case that had gotten all the way to Wizengamot. Dirk, only recently promoted to Head of the Goblin Liaison Offices at the time, had a lot to prove and was thus pressured quite a bit by Odette's department Head to get the testimony in time for it to be admitted as evidence for the trial. Odette had ended up being the secretary in charge of getting that testimony, so she'd spent quite a few weeks down in the Liaison offices every single day for hours at a time.
And despite the fact that Cresswell being here means that he's in trouble too, she's beyond relieved to see a familiar face.
"What brings you to the Forest of Dean?" She asks instead of responding to his tease, sitting next to his fire and stretching out a bit.
"Same as you I imagine." His grin drops slightly. "You were smart to run when you did. I barely avoided Azkaban myself."
Odette stares into the fire as she processes that. Cresswell is known for being kind, hardworking, and genuine - he's from Hufflepuff same as Odette after all, the House that wears it's "fewest Dark Wizards produced" badge with enough pride that even a Gryffindor would probably tell them to tone it down. Picturing him in Azkaban just brings home exactly how far gone her beloved Ministry really is.
"I had help." She says after a moment. "Maybe other people will get help too? People... people are good, for the most part. I've always thought so anyway."
Cresswell hums. "There are good people for sure, but I'm not sure there are as many as you'd like to think Grimond. You're a rare case of human goodness."
Odette rolls her eyes. "I do what anyone would. Though I suppose I'm not helping so I get your point."
"That isn't-" Cresswell cuts himself off with a sigh. "Nevermind. Here, want some fish? You look like you've lost ten pounds since I last saw you."
They eat in silence, Odette fighting to not scarf down the entire meal and leave Cresswell with none of his likely hard-earned catch.
Once the food is gone and Cresswell's makeshift camp is packed up he turns to face Odette. "So did you want to travel together? Would be a lot less tiring with two people I'd think."
She blinks, and then nods. "That sounds like a plan to me. Fair warning though, I'm not much of a camper."
He laughs. "Tell you what Grimond, I'll teach you. It'll be like a family camping trip."
This time Odette does smile.
They spend most of the rest of the day hiking, but Cresswell - "You can call me Dirk. This isn't work anymore." - fills the time with various chatter, from updates from the Ministry (or at least, updates from September when he still worked there) to survival tricks he'd learned as a kid as part of the Boy Scouts.
"I honestly didn't know there was a boy branch of that. I just remember the Girl Scout cookies, my Mum always got more than we could eat." Odette laughs. "So you guys what, lived in the forest and skinned bears?"
"Something like that." Dirk agrees cheerfully. "Though bears are thought to be extinct on the island - it's wolves to look out for around these parts."
"Oh, much better then." Odette replies glibly and Dirk laughs.
They walk until they come across a small stream, and Dirk decides they should set up camp for the night.
"Always stay close by running water." He explains. "The human body can survive days without food, but not nearly as long without water. And running water is usually cleaner than still water."
"Good to know. I'm glad I ran into you, I probably would have drunk out of a lake at some point and given myself algae poisoning." Odette jokes lightly and Dirk grins over at her.
One day becomes several and Odette continues to learn from Dirk as they live together beside the little brook. He explains to her how to pitch a tent properly, though she fails to actually help with putting it up, and tells her about his wife and kids back home. In turn she talks about her childhood dream of iceskating and her tuxedo cat Mortimer who Zoe had promised to take care of.
"He's quite picky, I'm sure he's miserable with Zoe. She's never had a pet and always said I spoiled him too much." She grins while Dirk sets about making a fire to cook the day's catch over. Odette hasn't quite gotten the hang of fishing yet, and she's not sure she wants to as the whole affair makes her a bit squeamish. She's almost able to cleanly debone the skinned fish though, which she's quite proud of.
"My boys have been begging for a pet for years now but I keep telling them they'll get owls when they graduate from Hogwarts, and the family owl is more then enough for now." Dirk responds with a grin. "You want kids someday Odette? If you don't mind my asking."
Odette shrugs. She of course has thought about it before but work has always come first and she says as much to Dirk. "I mean, if I find the right person I wouldn't be against it of course." She adds. "Your boys do sound darling."
"Only because I miss them. In reality they're utter nightmares." Dirk laughs and Odette grins as well.
They eat their fish mostly in silence and then settle into the tent as they have so many other nights, and Odette is again thankful she'd run into a familiar face. Being a fugitive isn't quite as scary with someone else around.
"We should probably pack up and relocate." Dirk suggests after they wake up the next morning and have the scraps from their nighttime meal for breakfast (Odette is admittedly getting a little tired of fish).
"Sounds good to me. Further into the forest or stick closer to the edge? I do decently begging in smaller towns but it's not much fun." Odette states as she begins pacing around their tent in hopes it will become obvious how to take it down.
Dirk raises an eyebrow in amusement and simply flicks his wand, letting the tent fold itself up. "I think we should stick close to the stream here - no need to run away from a perfectly good water source I always say."
"Do you now?" Odette laughs. "Well it's a good thing you do or we might be rather lost out here. Stream it is then!"
Talking is easy for them now, and Odette hopes that when everything goes back to normal she and Dirk can maintain this friendship they've built - though she always gets along with her coworkers she doesn't really have any close friends outside of Zoe who isn't technically part of the Ministry at all. She does still talk to her other school friend Adeline but they've drifted since graduation so she isn't quite sure if that even counts as a full friendship anymore.
"You got quiet all of a sudden." Dirk notes as he packs up the rest of the camp. "Everything alright?"
Odette blinks. She hadn't realized she'd zoned out for long enough that it was noticed. "Oh, yes, apologies. Is there anything left that I can help with?"
Dirk eyes her but lets it slide. "Nah, we're just about packed up. I'm thinking we head upstream, see if we can find the source. If it's a lake or pond it may have other streams going off it we can follow later."
"It's a better plan than begging." Odette agrees. "Though don't you think you use your magic a bit too liberally? We may be over the age of the Trace but I'm pretty sure that can still be tracked with effort." She adds with a slight frown as Dirk shrinks the entire camping setup so he can fit it into his jacket pocket.
He shrugs. "They'd have to be both smart and organized for that, and you probably don't remember the first war but the Deatheaters aren't exactly known for being much good at either of those things." He grins and Odette offers an unsure smile in return.
They infiltrated the Ministry this time though. They didn't manage that in the last war. She thinks nervously to herself. But on the other hand Dirk has obviously been doing this from the start and he's still around, so perhaps Odette is being overly cautious.
She still lets him do all the wand work though, her own wand left unused in her robe's pocket.
It's sunny today at least, so the walk is for the most part pleasant, if a bit difficult thanks to the total lack of a path to follow. Odette is frankly surprised she hasn't tripped on any of the loose stones along the bank yet.
Odette is mostly focused on her footing so she's letting Dirk control most of the conversation, which naturally leads to him bragging about his boys. Then the conversation turns, so suddenly Odette thinks she must have missed something.
"I'm worried about them. Their mum is a half-blood, long line of magical folk in her family, but I might be counted against them by those awful new teachers." His usual easy-going smile has faltered and he's frowning at the river.
"At least they're safely at Hogwarts. How much bad can really happen there?" Odette offers quietly. "It was the safest place during the first war, I know that much."
Dirk gives her a smile, but it's strained and looks wrong on his soft features. "Because Dumbledore was there. I know I'm probably worried for nothing but I think all this would be a lot easier if I knew they were okay."
Odette thinks about Zoe snooping around the Prophet publishing house to get the information needed to warn her friend about the impending Registration Commission and thinks she can sort of understand - though Zoe is a grown woman and an excellent dueler compared to Dirk's sons who are only twelve, thirteen, and fifteen and can't use magic outside of school.
"All the more reason we need to stick together and fight to the end, right?" Odette offers, and this time the return smile feels a bit more real.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry for getting serious there, things are bleak enough without talking about it." He says, and Odette hums.
"You're a good father, I'd be more surprised if you hadn't ever mentioned being worried." She says with a gentle smile. "So which OWLs is Trevor going for? You mentioned Charms and Defense but you said he doesn't want to be an Auror?"
That eases the conversation again, and they keep trekking until the sun is dipping dangerously close to the horizon again.
Dirk waves for them to stop and pulls out the camping equipment. "Well, no source but there's a clearing just ahead that should be good to use for a few days?" He suggests.
Odette again tries and fails to help with camp setup - she does watch Dirk very closely though and is determined to figure it out the next time they make camp. She does successfully get a fire going without her wand though, which she's very proud of.
"You can just use magic for that." Dirk points out in amusement. "I'll go see about getting dinner, shall I?"
"You know how I feel about excessive use of magic." Odette calls after him with a grin before settling down to watch the fire and keep it from spreading past the stone perimeter she'd set up. This at least is one bit of camping she's figured out. As she settles in and watches the sun dip below the tree line she decides that in the winter she'll teach Dirk about ice skating and see who looks silly then.
The night is cooling quickly now that the sun is gone, and the crackling of the fire is joined by insect noises and the shuffling of nocturnal animals just waking up and starting to nose around for their own meal.
Odette relaxes and keeps one ear trained on the fire and another on the surrounding woods. Dirk shouldn't be away for too much longer, he's impressively quick about fishing.
Sure enough it's only a few minutes later that her companion trundles out of the wood and tosses her a small fish.
"They aren't as large tonight, we must have passed the migration." He sighs. "We can probaly scour the area tomorrow for berries or other things to supplement these."
Odette shrugs. "It's better than nothing at least." She points out. "But I like the scavenging idea - we can collect extra rations if we find them."
They prepare and eat their fish quietly (it's a bit weird to Odette how quickly she got used to skinning her own food, but she thinks after having to eat out of trashcans a few times before running into Dirk her squeamishness has dropped significantly), just enjoying the stars overhead.
"Alright, I'm turning in." She declares. "You coming?"
"I'll kill the fire first, be there in a moment." Dirk agrees, and Odette crawls into the tent and curls up on her side of it. She's asleep before Dirk even joins her.
She feels like she's barely slept at all when she's yanked out of her slumber by a deep sense of foreboding. She sits up slowly, eyeing around the tent. There's a trace of light coming in through the front flap that's too pale to be anything other than dawn light, and Dirk is still out cold on his side of the tent.
Odette is about ready to rejoin him in sleep when she senses something shift outside the tent and her unease ratchets up. She remembers Artemis's warning all those days ago about people eyeing her, and she decides she ought to check things out, just to be safe.
She grabs her wand and kicks Dirk lightly, just to get him stirring in his sleeping bag so if things do go badly he'll be half awake already and hopefully be able to quickly get to helping.
She pulls open the flap and finds the campsite undisturbed. She steps out, her wand held tightly in her fist, and slowly scans the surrounding area for anything out of the ordinary.
Nothing is moving, and for a moment Odette thinks she might have had a nightmare that transferred to her waking consciousness.
Then she realizes that there's no noise.
"Protego Maximus!" She shouts, jumping back and lighting up a shield charm that surrounds her and the tent. She hears Dirk stirring but keeps her focus fully outward, almost certain that someone is lurking just beyond the tree line. Over a month in the woods has taught her that it's never completely quiet - only a silencing charm would so completely mute their surroundings. And a silencing charm needs a caster.
"Odette? Everything alright?" Dirk still sounds a bit drowsy as he climbs out of the tent, but he's awake and has his wand out which Odette is glad for.
"Whole area is dead silent." She reports. "There's someone out there, and they don't want us to hear them coming."
Dirk frowns, his eyes sharpening as he processes her words and his alertness level rises. "I'll go around the other side of the tent then, see if I can spot anything from that direction."
Odette nods tensely and watches her friend circle the tent out of the corner of her eye, most of her attention still focused on the surrounding forest.
This is definitely worse than begging on street corners. At least there you might get some money - this is just hollow tension that very well might be nothing. Odette doubts that it's nothing, but her brain still helpfully reminds her that she could be entirely wrong and wasting both their time.
Then Dirk shouts and Odette's shield drops as her focus immediately spins to her travel companion. She races around the tent and finds him firing spells towards one of the trees.
"Three of them from what I saw, we're only barely outmatched and we took away the element of surprise." He reports breathlessly when Odette gets the shield back up. "We should be able to drive them off and get away before they can track us."
Odette nods sharply, her stomach turning. Where had these people come from? Are the really trying to hurt them? She again remembers Artemis's warning and wonders what might have been different if that random stranger hadn't decided to help her. Would she be in Azkaban right now?
Her panicked thoughts are interrupted by a projected voice from the trees. "Surrender and you shall be spared. We don't want to kill you if we don't have to, but we will if you make us." It's a female voice, sharp and cruel, and Odette doesn't think for a second that the owner would be all that upset about killing.
"Yeah! Surrender!" A male voice shouts, and Odette spins sharply.
"They're surrounding us." She mutters to Dirk, who nods.
"We'll need to cover both sides when the shield drops." He breathes, barely loud enough for Odette to hear him. "I'll get the girl on this side, she seems to be the leader. You got the other end?"
Odette presses her lips together and jerks her head in vague agreement. She isn't that confident, but they don't have any other choice.
"On three then."
They go on two and things get hectic fast. Odette is out of practice with her wand and she spends as much time diving out of the way of spells as she does remembering to deflect them. It doesn't help that the last time she did anything even remotely resembling dueling was a magical snowball fight her fourth year.
Luckily her opponent doesn't seem like the most competent duelist either so they end up mostly evenly matched.
She's so focused on her own fight that she misses if Dirk yells a warning before the tent goes up in flames. Distracted by the sudden inferno at her back, Odette fails to deflect a blasting curse and swears as the top of her arm gashes open. She throws up a shield and scans desperately for Dirk but all she can make out are the flames of their former shelter.
She makes a split-second decision and takes off away from the burning tent, dropping the shield charm and firing off several spells at random that make a lot of noise but would do minimal damage if they actually hit anything. It seems to work as there's no return fire - Odette assumes her attacker dove for cover as she'd hoped.
She makes it into the trees safely and then lowers her wand completely to focus on running. She knows she's making noise on the dead leaves starting to blanket the forest floor but she doesn't care - if she's fast enough she'll be able to move far enough before the sound gives away her location.
And the leaves' crackling do have the advantage of giving away her opponents' position as well. Or positions - she can definitely hear two pairs of feet.
A burst of adrenaline pushes her faster, and she gets far enough ahead that she feels comfortable pausing, casting a silencing charm, and Apparating herself to the top of a tree that still has a decent amount of leaves left to hide among. Then she drops the charm and focuses completely on slowing her breath down so it doesn't draw attention.
It feels like both an eternity and no time at all before her pursuers burst into the clearing below her tree.
"Bullocks, I think she's gone. Zara's gonna be pissed." One of the two men grumbles.
"Well whose fault is that?" The other one snaps.
Odette bites her lip and focuses entirely on making her breathing silent and locking her muscles so she doens't shift and give herself away.
The larger of the two men, a hulking blond who looks almost cowed by his smaller companion's anger, is standing directly under Odette's tree and Odette prays he'll keep his eyes on his feet. "Sorry Antonin." He mumbles. "I thought I had her."
The older dark-haired man, Antonin apparently, sighs and run a hand through his hair. "Well obviously you didn't. We'll just hope Zara duffed it up as well - she already set the damn tent on fire which wasn't part of the plan at all."
"The plan was toast the moment the girl figured it out. I got identification on mine - Dirk Cresswell." An almost comically tiny woman with distinct curves wearing a crop top that shows off defined abs (and how isn't she freezing in that?) storms into the clearing and jabs a finger at the blond who shrinks back further.
"Um..." He looks hopefully over at Antonin, who rolls his eyes.
"Calm down Zara, it's our first failure and it's just two low-level Undesireables. We tell Yurina and she'll laugh at us and that will be that." He grimaces as he mentions the name - whoever 'Yurina' is he obviously doesn't like her or the fact she'll be laughing at them.
Zara obviously doesn't like it either. "No, we tell Yurina she needs to fix her damn playbook or let us build our own. It's not like the little is out here herself - she has no idea what we're facing, she's too busy messing around in the Ministry."
"You know I agree with you - frankly I have better things to be doing than hunting down Muggleborns." Antonin scoffs loftily. "But the Dark Lord favors her."
Zara's eyes narrow. "For now he does." She grumbles. "Oh quit moping Rowle, you look idiotic." She snaps at the blond, who jumps and proceeds to look even more upset.
"We need to get back to the transport, these two were just a lucky find. Let's go." She storms off, but the two men take a moment longer.
"Relax Thorfinn, mistakes happen and Zara didn't succeed either. No one's going to be angry at you over this. And I bet that we'll be off this child's duty soon enough and helping with more important things." Antonin says softly to his companion, who looks up a bit hopefully.
The two men leave shortly after that, and Odette can't help feeling a little bit bad for the blond - he's obviously terrified of someone or something and whatever it is is on his side, not hers.
Finally letting herself breath, she climbs down the tree manually and begins walking back to where she thinks their former campsite is, treading carefully around the dead leaves as she goes and keeping her wand up, just in case.
She makes it back to the clearing with no incident, but other than a fresh pile of ash and smoke there's nothing there. Dirk has left.
Odette grits her teeth and sits down next to the stream. Back to being on her own then, at least for now. She uses the water to wash out the cut on her arm before grabbing a bit of tent that hadn't completely burned up and using it to bind the area. No healing it magically until she's certain she's put space between herself and the group of Muggleborn hunters - she still doesn't trust they can't track it somehow.
She stands up, a bit waterlogged, and begins walking upstream again. Her bag and remaining rations had burned up in the fire, but she doens't let herself linger on that thought for too long.
She'll find Dirk upstream and he'll know what to do. She has to believe that.
She doesn't want to be alone again.
Author's Note: I made it! And I even edited it (and thank goodness for that, I'd flip flopped on Dirk's life story a couple of times so that should all be coherent now >~>) Anywho we've just about met every POV character (both as POVs and as side characters who shall return) except the one who's intentionally being left out until later :P If I'm not being brain-dead and misremembering we'll have met everyone by the end of October~
Next Week: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting
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