open → i've run campaigns against the light;

[scinlac]

a → the ministry

( the time deviants registration department is open for business, and true to its nature as the unholy lovechild of the dmle and the dmac, its main defining trait appears to be 'ruthless efficiency'. well, that and being a little bit understaffed, considering that some parts of the registration seem to be held not just by your betters, but by your way betters.

like bellatrix, yours truly, who completely missed the seminar on work-life-balance, but definitely attended the one on dedication to the cause several times over. she can be found just about anywhere – maybe she just got done snapping at some poor sod, maybe you're unfortunate enough to share an elevator with her, maybe you're sitting across from her at one of the registration desks and looked at her a little funny, maybe you're someone who knows her well enough to be able to tell that she's been on her feet for forty-eight hours and counting –– or maybe you have an actual magical accident to report. whatever the case, she is going to be there, sharp and all cool politeness: )

And what would your problem be?

( and better make it a good one, because getting the trace only really hurts if you annoy her. )

b → wizarding london

( sooner or later, even she will be done professionally oppressing people for a living she doesn't even need too make –– and what better to do with all this fortune than spend it? odds are the actual purchase was made in knockturn alley, but maybe she is en route to some other shop. can't live off of dark artefacts alone now, can you.

anyway, as fate will have it, she manages to walk straight into you, or vice versa, and the newly-acquired item, an especially cursed manuscript wrapped carefully in spell-woven cloth, does as things do when affected by the basic law that is gravity: it goes tumbling. and since bella can't tell if the thoroughly warded cloth is still sitting snug in all the right places, all while being in no position to be involved in someone's rather public maybe-death... )

You mustn't touch it, unless you have a death wish.

( her tone all but implies you do, regardless of whether she was the one to cause the accident or not. )

Comments

b

[cottaged]

[ Bill's on his way back to the Cauldron from Gringotts, where he's just been let go. Not only was he fired, but the goblin who had initially given him his job was fired as well for ever having done so in the first place. Needless to say, he's not in the best mood, and not particularly looking where he's going.

When he bumps into her, he looks up. Bellatrix Lestr-- no. It would be Black in this time, wouldn't it. Great. One of the last people he ever wanted to run into. But he hides his grimace and reaches for her dropped item, stopping short when she warns him and looking back up at her warily. Slowly, he withdraws his wand and wordlessly casts levitate on the manuscript. ]

Cursed, is it? I could remove that for you, for a price.

[scinlac]

( She does see the flicker, working in the department that tends to hear the largest amounts of increasingly bizarre lies does the trick –– but she doesn't nail it down as anything remarkable. People know her, by virtue of her position or her blood, plus he looks just about the right age to have attended Hogwarts at around her time there as well.

He also looks a great deal like a Weasley. She nods an affirmative at it being cursed. )

Name your price.

( Bellatrix Black, bless her heart, could very well do that by herself, but that is rather not the point. The point is that the people who do your work for you often wind up the people who commit your crimes later on – plus, in this reality, she isn't entirely given to the murder of blood traitors yet. There is redemption, for those willing to take it. )

[cottaged]

[ Bill would normally never offer to do anything for Bellatrix --Lestrange or Black--, but he's out of a job and desperate enough for money that breaking one curse is worth going against his principles slightly.

That doesn't mean he isn't going to try to gouge her on price. ]

That depends on the difficulty of the curse. Do you know any details about it?

[scinlac]

( It isn't curfew yet, so the alley is still fairly busy, and Bella doesn't need to let on too much about her clandestine interests, now, does she. )

How would I? I suggest we discuss this – and the price – somewhere more private?

( Not that she will put on much of a fight over the price. If she has enough of one thing, it's money. )