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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 9, 2006 10:42:08 GMT -5
She sat down on the dusty floor, folding her arms across her chest, pondering over his words. Oione was a bit disappointed to hear that Seth did not care much alongside whom he was going to be knighted whereas she was rather interested from practical matters. Maybe they had invented some way of concealing the blasted tattoo and could share. Either way, Oione had to go and it was not only because of the Knights but also Tom Wilkes since they were going to meet him in Munich (which she fully intended to her own advantage). "Fine, then"
However, the mere mention of her becoming a Knight of Walpurgis unnerved her a little. "You know I don't want to be a Knight" Having never been considered pure-blooded Seth could not understand what it meant to a girl like her. For Oione Mireault being a Knight meant that her whole life would slip out of her fingers, her parents would expect her to become a Death Eater later on and of course arrange a pure-blooded marriage for her since that was a common custom among the families (and it made Oione cringe because....the choice really was limited). And even though she did not have anything against Death Eaters Oione wanted a different life. One that, above all, would be her own, one that would not resolve around throwing dinner parties and drinking champagne like her mother's one. However, it was clear to her that she couldn't keep on running away forever. "I don't know what to do anymore, Seth"
For Seth this was a chance to become someone respected, nobody would really be particularly eager to insult him once he became a Knight. She shouldn't have yelled at him back then in the Owlery when he first told her about his plans. Oione sighed heavily, doubt and helplessness growing inside her like a bubble. "Concealing spells don't work on marks such as these" she shook her head. They would need to find something good fast. They could always bandage the forearm and pretend he hurt himself in a fight (which was quite convincing in Seth's case) until they found something better.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 10, 2006 12:22:32 GMT -5
Seth sighed, leaning heavily against the wall. He knew it would be pointless to even try to force Oione into seeing things his way. She would make her own decisions about the Knights, and the most he could do was hope they were the right ones. They had been friends for ages, and Seth knew how arguements with Oione Mireault ended - he lost, of course. Every time. The French were known for their way with words, Augustus said, and no amount of Blarney stones or any such thing would ever help Seth Silver. He was fighting a losing battle on that.
'I worked that out after a few trips to the library,' he scoffed. 'None of it is any good. I mean, we've got long robes, and jumpers, and oxfords and everything, and I could try some sort of potion, if Snape'd help me. That might work. Snape knows 'n all, and he promised Augustus he'd be lookin' out for me now. He could help, if I asked him.'
His eyes were hopeful, but Seth was beginning to doubt everything. He was headed straight for Azkaban if things didn't start looking up soon. And Azkaban .... Augustus had told stories. His father, Augustus Sr, had been imprisoned there ages ago - during the war with Potter. And Augustus had spent some time there himself, when he was seventeen. He was always holding the threat of Azkaban over Seth's head when the boy was too cocky. Be subtle, don't go shouting family ties to the world. We don't need everyone knowing who is a Death Eater.
'Say,' he ruffled his dark hair, eyebrows raised. 'I could ask Wilkes. We're meetin' him in Munich for the money, anyway, and he's always got the best ideas. If Snape don't work out, Wilkes'll have something. He'll be in Krakow anyway, and he's always helped me before.'
Why was Wilkes always helping him out? Oione's curiosity had dug out a side of Seth that had been buried for years. A thirst for information was beginning to wake inside him. Why was Wilkes so good to him? He'd never done anything for the man, and just being familiar didn't seem good enough suddenly. It was curious. He shook his head. There would be more time to ponder the mystery of the Wilkes family later, much later, after everything was over. He needed to worry about the Knightship first. That was most important. After all.
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 11, 2006 12:38:18 GMT -5
All the verbal arguments the two of them had led over those many years they had been friends ended in only one way-Oione triumphed. It was mainly because she developed superb tactics; when yelling and spelling the point out to Seth did not seem to work the girl swiched to a more sly and subtle strategy of persuation, giving him a false sense of security and then attacking once again. Unknown to Seth Oione doubted she could achieve victory in that fight, it was because she doubted if she was right in the first place. Not that she would admit it to him, couldn't let Seth get too cocky, after all.
Oione liked to think that maybe...maybe it wouldn't be so bad, after all. Perhaps she would be more like Bellatrix (minus the "barmy as a bat and looks like one too" part) instead of following the steps of her mother and a Amerelia Rookwood and achieve real power and skill in the Dark Arts, be feared and respected and not treated like a little girl anymore. That definitely sounded tempting.
"Yes, Snape might be useful" she said thoughtful. "I can see why he's so valuable. Not bad bloke when he doesn't act like a right git" Oione Mireault would have never suspected that one day she would think of despised Severus Snape as of an ally, but he was the only one who provided her with real information in the midst of all the lies her parents wanted their daughter to believe. Besides, once a Knight himself, Snape was bound to come up with a solution to their problem. And then, there was Wilkes. A Fairy Godmother to Seth's misguided and nearly six feet tall Cinderella. By the tone she could tell that the curiousity buried deep inside him, the normal consequence of being told to shut up one time too many, was slowly beginning to surface. Oione decided to tug at it. "Haven't you ever been wondering why he does that?"
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 11, 2006 15:25:41 GMT -5
Had there ever been a time at which Seth questioned the generosity of the Wilkes family? He wasn't half surprised to realise that, no in fact, there hadn't. He had accepted that Wilkes liked him for some reason, and felt the need to provide or what not. It had never seemed odd before now, when he believed Tom was the only one making contributions toward the welfare of Amerelia Rookwood's bastard. But Richard too? It did seem horribly curious, especially considering the fact that the man had a family of his own to be looking out for. And then there was Oione's curiosity to consider....
'Never really thought much about it, really,' he answered, shrugging. 'S'that odd or soomink? I mean, I sort of just thought maybe he was the lonely type, ye know, like in books and what not - needed to go spendin' his vast fortunes on a poor by out of Limerick, only, I'm not so poor if ye think of all Augustus'll be leavin' me when he finally decides to snuff it.'
And though this excuse had worked for years, Seth found that the burning curiosity was not satisfied. Why? Why did Wilkes send him a broomstick, or pay his tuition, or any of it? Why did he sent clothes and money for set books and cauldrons when Augustus had enough to feed a small country? And that was excluding the money his mum had inherited from her own family! It was a sudden change, and not at all one that seth enjoyed thinking about. He didn't like to question things. It was too much like school. Why does this spell turn a rat into a toad, or this ingredient create a sleeping draught? Why does this rune mean this, and not this? Why the hell was he suddenly questioning this?
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 11, 2006 19:11:04 GMT -5
Oione thought so. Seth did not have a habit for questioning things, he accepted them the way they were and that was where the matter ended. Oione herself, was a completely different story, even if not openly she never failed to scent suspicion in the air and could deduct, calculate and plot endlessly. When she planned to save Seth from another summer spent in the Rookwood's estate the boy just accepted without any sign of protest, he took everything life got in store for him without inquiery whereas Oione knew she wouldn't be able to accpet some things no matter how much she tried.
"Well, I don't think you'll be getting rich anytime soon as Augustus doesn't seem to be very keen on snuffing it, as you call it" Oione sneered carelessly, looking particulartly focused on her fingernails and pretending she did not find the goings-on in the household of the Wilkes' family slightest bit interesting, though she was doing it in a clearly theatrical and therefore not really convincing way. "But I wouldn't mistake you for a lovable orphan from Cambodga, really. Aren't you even a little curious?" she quirked her eyebrow in a polite show of incredulousity. "Why a man, who has a two kids and a wife and lives in France chose you out of from all the poor wizarding children out there? Especially one that actually doesn't like the French" Oione added the last bit with a sort of bitter haughtiness.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 11, 2006 20:37:49 GMT -5
It seemed he could do naught but shrug tonight. Why did it matter that Wilkes had helped him out before? Seth's concern ought to be keeping the cash rolling in, and not frightening it away with his curiosity. But, the questions kept coming. Why did Wilkes do anything for him? Why? Why was Augustus so odd about the winter holidays? Why did he bloody care? It took the boy a moment to ponder the answers of these questions, and another to realise he was being manipulated into asking them by his friend. Accusing brown eyes turned to Oione, eyebrows raised quizzically.
'Who says I don't like the French, hm? I speak the language, don' I? And that's another - ' Why had mother pushed French on him when Augustus loathed the language to the high heavens? 'Hey!' Seth suddenly grew very excited, practically on tip-toe, and whispered conspiratorally, 'what if my mam knows everything?'
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 12, 2006 17:02:36 GMT -5
In was Oione's turn to congratulate herself on such brilliance, she had Seth exactly where she wanted not to mention that all the rusty, neglected machinery of his brain must have moved a little. She didn't expect Seth to as much as lick the truth but she was happy with what she had received, the girl did not need any fiery enthusiasm and excitement until confirmation came, either from Tom Wilkes or any other source.
"Oh, don't make me count all the times only insulted me or Cecil because we're French" Oione raised herself in the most royal of all royal indignations, however she restrained herself from saying anything more. It was, after all, that the point. Taken aback by Seth's sudden bounciness she simultaneously became interested in what was there going on in his head, albeit when it came to daylight she just couldn't help but smack her forehead in a gesture of hopeless disappointment. "Of course, she knows everything" normally she'd add 'you moron' but resisted the temptation. "The problem is she's not telling" Pity, really. If Seth had taken his tendency to blurt everything out without even being asked any questions from Amerelia the case would have already been solved. Though, obviously gifted with such loose tongue she'd probably be disowned, divorced and left with nothing long time ago.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 12, 2006 17:19:40 GMT -5
Seth seemed to shrink a little, sliding down the wall in disappointment.
'Of course my mam knows everything,' he moaned, his face the epitome of dispair.
Why had he never thought of this before? There were ways to get information from Amerelia Rookwood, this the boy knew. He'd done it before with ease, and he had no doubt that it would be simple to find out everything he needed to know in a relatively short amount of time. For all her good looks and money, his mother was incredibly stupid. Almost criminally so, when he really got down to it. A pity, though, that he would not be seeing her except for Christmas. He needed more time to plan his inquisition, and Oione of course, to tell him just what they were trying to find out.
'What's this got anything to do with, anyway? I mean, he's just some nutter right? Not really so important to me.'
It was with this reasoning that the questions in Seth nearly buried themselves once again, but a tiny part of him hung on, screaming for him to use his thick head. It sounded remarkably like Snape.
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 12, 2006 19:55:55 GMT -5
Oione got up from her Indian-style position and walked up to him, her expression far from Seth's own beyond disappointed face, as a matter-of-fact she was smirking rather smugly as she peered down at him.
"You know what's the best in it?"she gave Seth such a grin that it would send the Prince of Hell running away and whimpering. Undeniable sign that whatever the girl planned was going to effect in earthquakes or other natural disasters. "We don't need her to tell us"
Honestly, Oione was no fool and Amerelia could try all she wanted. Mrs. Rookwood's sudden illness wasn't definitely a result of Limerick's horrible winters but more likely the effect of a warning. Oione could swear to everything that her own mother had warned Amerelia the minute she received the girl's letter with the inquiry about Richard Wilkes. And Augustus so caring and loving, preferring to be near his beloved wife instead of taking part in the Knighting ceremony. How very touching.
Albeit, Amerelia would have proved worthless to Oione on a longer distance, because she not only wanted to know the answer to the thing that had been ailing her for such a long time now, if she wanted to succeed she needed a bit more, something that Tom Wilkes alone could provide her with. As for the less significant bits...she could always ask Snape once again, he wasn't directly involved in this and had already told her more than she expected.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 12, 2006 20:07:48 GMT -5
'Does it matter?' Seth whined, not half sounding like a petulant child. 'What the feckin' hell has this got to do with anything?'
No matter how much he waved his arms or made himself pink in the face, Seth knew the inquiry did not stop in this room. Oione was going to carry it on until she was satisfied, for whatever reasons, and a small, neglected bit of his brain was fully interested in helping her. Despite what he tried to believe, Seth found all of this entirely fascinating. He liked the mystery of the Wilkes family, and his own involvement in it. It was like a story, really. And Augustus was the horrible villain, while Seth and his faithful sidekick solved the mystery and exposed all of the villain's nefarious doings.
'Look,' he reasoned, swiping his hair, 'Snape is a buggerin' git, but he's no eejit. He's not going to just tell us things for noothin', and mam's took ill, and Wilkes don't never tell me nought, just smiles and gives me his latest joke, the bugger, and yeer own fam'ly don't approve o' me anyway, and the other Wilkes is over in buggerin' France wi his shtoopidt wife 'n what not, and what the hell're we gettin' from all this in the first place, hm?' He paused, eyebrows raised comically, looking both exasperated and somewhat furious with himself for opening his mouth in the first place.
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 13, 2006 14:03:21 GMT -5
Oione concluded that if Seth would have been paid for being annoying and dumb they would have been able to buy half of Europe and Australia for themselves by now. Unfortunately, he wasn't. She dropped on the the floor once again, this time in front of Seth, inhaling sharply and trying not to show him how much exactly she was exasparated with him. "It does matter." she rolled her eyes. Whatever Seth Silver might have inherited from Richard Wilkes it couldn't have been brains, because the boy showed none at the moment. However, a small light of hope had already been lit as Oione knew that somewhere deep inside that thick skull a part that could achieve brilliance had been awoken...or at least it stirred in its ancient sleep.
Eejit. He tended to overuse this word (or..er, whatever it was ) lately, she wondered what it could mean but shrugged it off, Seth's vocabulary wasn't acceptable for the average human being. "Snape already told us enough" Oione said with a bored yawn. At this point she actually withdrawed from her idea of questioning their potion master. She was hit with another and she hoped a better idea. Why hadn't she thought of it earlier? This was so obvious it was as if someone lit a neon sign right before her eyes. Bellatrix. "Tell your bedridden mum that I wish her a fast recovery" Oione murmured sardonically, too lost in her own thoughts to listen about Amerelia Rookwood's made-believe fatal disease.
"I want to be a Knight" the girl announced out of the blue. She would have to write to Bellatrix so that she could learn the Rite of Passage and smugle her questions about the younger Wilkes brother in between the lines. On cloud nine, the woman would be too happy to oblige, she may a be a great fighter and a powerful witch...but she was also reckless, Oione was going to take advantage of it. "Of course, Wilkes won't tell you" she smirked, looking rather self-assured. "He must have been a fool to do so. You couldn't even keep your joining the Knights a secret for more than two weeks, after all" As for Tom Wilkes, he wouldn't have much choice since Oione Mireault knew exactly how to pin him against the wall in this one and no jokes were going to help him, because even refusing to answer would mean 'yes'.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 13, 2006 14:28:29 GMT -5
If Seth had a knut for every time he felt intellectually inferior to Oione Mireault, he'd have bought half of Europe and Australia by now - and a sizable portion of Asia, though why anyone would want that....
'Then be a feckin' Knight,' he grumbled, lips pulled into an obnoxious pout. At nearly sixteen, Seth was too old for pouting like a child used to getting his way (which he really wasn't). The mater would have slapped him across his mouth, as was customary of her, the mad old hag. He hated this being a step behind Oione business. She was the blood sidekick, dammit! Wasn't he the one who was supposed to have all the brilliant ideas? How come Wilkes wouldn't tell him? Wilkes liked him, after all, and Seth was confident in his powers as an inquisitor. He might as well have been King Ferdinand.
'And Tom Wilkes will so tell me. I'm amazing, and he likes me anyway, which is more than ye can say, ye blayden' feck. I might as well have been in th'Italian Inquisition, I'm that good. Torturin' all the Moogles into tellin' me they're Cat'lick or what not, and then soom. Feckin' bastardts....'
It was, of course, the Spanish Inquisition, but Seth could hardly be bothered to remember such trivial details. He'd gotten the continent right, hadn't he? It made him feel clever again to use history as an agent with which to prove his obviously superior intelligence. Oione was only a woman, after all, and what did women know besides tormenting their husbands and sons? And Seth was a man, or, soon to be. That made him better by default. He smirked, imagining what the mater would say to that. She may as well have been leader of the Feminists or something, for all the shouting she did. Nearly every time she glanced her son she muttered her usual greeting, 'men should be castrated, the filthy bastards.'
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 13, 2006 16:39:34 GMT -5
Oione simply radiated with smugness as she folded her hands behind her head in a manner of someone who had just been vacationing on an exotic beach somewhere in the Caribbean, with a refreshing drink right next to them. There, she told Seth enough to keep him at bay without actually giving him any hints, he was bound to stay somewhat calmed down for the next few days, given the impression that Oione included him in her investigation.
"Oh, yes" she said with a patronizing smile as though Seth was a child of four who was stubbornly trying to convince her that Santa existed. "You sure are amazing. In fact you never cease to amaze me." With all those ways you use to make an arse of yourself, but she refused to say that aloud. Merlin only knew how she needed peace with the boy right now, after weeks and weeks of constant arguing she was truly exhausted. Not to mention that torturing Muggles mindlessly didn't really make him look smarter in Oione Mireault's eyes. "Wasn't it the Spanish Inquisition, anyway?" she furrowed one brown in bored interest. "I didn't know that Italians had one too" Well at least he still knew it was somewhere in the Mediterranean area.
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Post by Seth Silver on Dec 14, 2006 0:16:25 GMT -5
'Of course it was the Italian Inquisition,' Seth sneered, glaring at her condescendingly. He had entirely missed the patronising tone, but had interpreted her words for sarcasm and was even more furious. 'The Italian Moogles did everything, you dimwit - The Reqoncayster, all their shtoopidt wars, that whole thing with Helena of Troy and Rome, and Brute-ass, and Catholics, and the Crusades, and the 100 War Years, and the invention of paper, and then that bloke what discovered th'Americas, and The Italian Inquisition of Spain and France, and just about everything the bloody French hadn't already done.' He ticked off each on his finger, clearly pleased with himself for remembering hours of history lessons crammed into a stuffy room with a tutor in Manchester. He had been younger, of course, when all of this was taught, and since when had everyone decided it was the fecking Spaniards what did the Inquisition? Seth happened to know for a fact that it was the Italians, his tutor had said so quite clearly. The Italian Inquisition of Spain and France. Oione must be mixing up her history.
'And anyway,' Seth paused, glaring sternly for good measure, 'The Spaniards couldn't do a single bloody thing as they're all Buddhist and don't kill noofink cos that Ghanda man told 'em they had to, before he died in the second world war when he killed the pope. It's all history, mon amie, and history can't never lie when you've got the best tutor yeer mam could buy to shove it all down yeer throat.'
And that was that.
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Post by Oione Mireault on Dec 19, 2006 20:34:37 GMT -5
"Whatever you say" Oione murmured airily from her comfotable spot on the floor, her mind miles and miles away from Seth, his over-active Italians and the invention of paper and the chamber she was bodily in.
As Oione begun to reply things in her head, which was her standard way of recalculating her doings, something became sharply clear to her...She, indeed had made a mistake that could turn out to be pregnant with consequences. To make matters worse Oione had made it at the very beginning. The girl cursed heavily under her breath as she rolled on her stomach. Moving had always helped her think, though shows of violence such as punching the walls was something she must have picked up from Seth or at least liked to blame this primitive habits on his bad influence. At the moment she really felt like punching one.
"Are you sure he was the best tutor out there? I bet he just gave your mum fifty per cent off, seeing as you were a hopeless case to begin with" she sneered in spite of herself, more to keep Seth occupied with something than anything else.
Oione realised that the letter she had sent to her mother couple days ago, which probably was the source of Amerelia's sudden sickness must have also alarmed Augustus, the last person Oione wanted to make suspicious. She got to her feet and started pacing to and fro in a nervous stupour. Asking Bellatrix was out of the question, it would be too risky and even though she might have gained some information that way there was no certanity that Bellatrix would not mention Oione's abrupt curiousity to Rookwood. The role Augustus played in this circus was a hidden wonder to the girl, how much did he know? However, it was not the most urging matter. Oione glanced around as though searching for an answer in the school's ancient walls...and the solution came. In the person of Seth Silver himself.
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