TBAY: Operative!Arthur Attacks Auror!Arthur

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 45423

"Aren't you supposed to be studying?"

Abigail startled and let out a sort of strangled yell.  She spun 
around in her chair to face the owner of the all-too-familiar voice 
that had seemed only inches from her left ear.  "What are *you* 
doing here?" she panted.  "How long have you been reading over my 
shoulder?  How'd you find me?"  

Cindy smirked and straightened.  "Well, you said you were typing at 
the computer farm on campus.  What other campus could you possibly 
be talking about other than Canon College?" 

Abigail gaped at her.  

Cindy leaned over Abigail's shoulder again and studied the 
flickering screen.  "I just wanted to stop by and tell you that you 
threw down some fine TBAY yesterday.  Really first-rate.  Oh, you've 
really got a knack for this."

Abigail blushed a deep scarlet.  "Really?  You think so?  I mean, it 
took me forever to write it, so I might never do another –- "

"Oh, Abigail.  That's what everyone says after their first splash in 
the Bay.  But you know what?  They come back.  They *always* come 
back for more.  It's a *drug,* TBAY is.  Ya gotta be careful, 
though.  You can really *hurt* yourself if you do too much too 
soon.  So pace yourself, OK?"

"Maybe I could manage just one more . . . " Abigail said doubtfully.

"I see you're still plumping for Auror!Arthur."  Cindy eased herself 
into a chair in the next cubicle.  "Looks like I'll have to pull out 
a few more canons for Operative!Arthur and *blast* Auror!Arthur once 
and for all.  Now what is this Auror!Arthur argument again?"

"Uh . . . " Abigail swallowed.  "Auror!Arthur is firmly grounded in 
Elkins' assertion that the Wizarding World is in deep denial about 
the years of Voldemort's reign of terror.  That the taboo on 
mentioning those times extends well past the whole He-Who-Must-Not-
Be-Named thing.  It is not considered at all proper to discuss 
Voldemort or anything having to do with him.  I admit that Imperius!
Arthur lends further credence to Arthur's silence in the intervening 
years, but he's hardly *necessary* --"  

"Imperius!Arthur is unnecessary!" Cindy broke in.  "Why, I couldn't 
have said it better myself!  Just don't tell Veronica that he's so 
very SCOW-worthy.  She'll be crushed."

"Uh, I won't," Abigail said.  "See, I think that Arthur could have 
been an Auror and kept it a secret.  If Arthur cherished his home as 
a sanctuary from the ugliness of his work, he might never say 
anything about it in front of his children.  Or he might have made 
it clear after [Voldemort's] fall that he wouldn't brook any 
discussion of his previous job with the younger children, and Bill 
and Charlie would have caught the hint."

"But doesn't that canon collapse under its own weight?" Cindy 
asked.  "As you say, Arthur took Charlie to the office once.  So if 
Arthur were really an Auror, he wasn't working very hard to hide it."

"Well, if Auror!Arthur goes down in flames because of that canon, 
he's taking Operative!Arthur with him.  Because that means Arthur 
didn't mind if Charlie knew what he did at the office as an 
Unspeakable, either."

"Not at all!" Cindy cried, flinging her arms upward.  A half-filled 
cup of coffee skittered across the cubicle and plopped to the 
floor.  "That's why Operative!Arthur is so much better than Auror!
Arthur or Imperius!Arthur.  Operative!Arthur is an *operative!*  
He's a spy, covert, deep undercover, you know?  Every part of his 
professional existence is geared toward covering up the fact that he 
is working at the highest level of MoM intelligence.  So sure, 
Charlie went to the office all right.  Charlie went to the Muggle 
Artifacts division, where Arthur has an office and all the trappings 
of a plain old bureaucrat.  But Charlie never saw Arthur outside of 
his deep cover.  None of the Weasleys have."

"But don't Aurors maintain their secrecy, too?" Abigail asked.

"There's no evidence of that in canon.  In fact, Charlie seems to 
suggest that the identity of Aurors was widely known –- so well 
known that Aurors like Moody became paranoid because of the very 
real fear of retaliation."  Cindy reached over to Abigail's keyboard 
and punched up "Aboard the Hogwarts Express":

*********

"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie.  "I met 
him once when Dad took me into work with him.  He was an auror – one 
of the best . . . a Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harry's 
blank look.  "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him.  He 
made himself loads of enemies, though . . . the families of people 
he caught, mainly . . . and I heard he's been getting really 
paranoid in his old age.  Doesn't trust anyone anymore."

************  

"See," Cindy continued.  "I envision wizarding law enforcement as 
similar to muggle law enforcement.  You have Aurors, who are like 
FBI agents, you know, cops of varying degrees of skill and 
training.  Then you have Hit Wizards like the ones who apprehended 
Sirius Black -– they would be like SWAT teams or anti-terrorist 
specialists.  I think the Unspeakables are one level more elite.  
They do the deep undercover stuff -– the James bond kind of stuff."

Abigail frowned.  "I dunno.  I do seem to remember that when the 
Unspeakables were introduced during the QWC, not only did everybody 
seem to know what (if not who) they were, but they avoided them as 
well."

"Well, I wouldn't say that.  Arthur seems to know the two 
Unspeakables, but no one else really reacts to them,"  Cindy paged 
backward on Abigail's computer to "Bagman and Crouch":

************
" . . . and that's Bode and Croaker . . . they're 
Unspeakables . . . "

"They're what?"

"From the Department of Mysteries, top secret, no idea what they get 
up to . . . "

***************

"So no one avoided the Unspeakables, and Arthur did know who they 
were," Cindy said.  "I think Bode and Croaker are Unspeakables who 
simply work in that department.  Operative! Arthur, on the other 
hand, is an Unspeakable who lives a life in deep cover and keeps his 
real and very dangerous and important missions a secret."  

Abigail rubbed her chin thoughtfully.  "I just don't think Operative!
Arthur is very... Bangy."

Cindy threw her head back and laughed openly.  "Ha!  You're just 
trying to get a *rise* out of me with that, aren't you?  Nice try, 
Abigail!"  

Several bystanders glared, and one irritable woman shushed them.

"Oh, I'm dead serious," Abigail said evenly.  "We know nothing about 
Unspeakables except that they work for the Department of Myseteries, 
which tells us absolutely nothing.  By your own standards, Cindy, 
they belong on the GARBAGESCOW."

Cindy tipped backward in her chair, catching herself before she 
toppled over.  She pressed her hands to her cheeks, her eyes widened 
with shock.  "Unspeakables belong *on the SCOW!*  WHAT?!?  Hold on 
just a minute there!  Unspeakables are with the Department of 
Mysteries, right?"

"Right."

"Well, who else do we know from the Department of Mysteries? 
*ROOKWOOD,* that's who!  ROOKWOOD, from the Pensieve!  Rookwood, who 
is so Big that he is the only piece of information that is important 
enough to spring Karkaroff.  The very mention of Rookwood's name 
draws *murmers* from the crowd.  And there is no more significant 
red flag to signify Banginess than when a crowd *murmers.*  Oh, 
Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries Bang even when they're 
trying blend in.  *No way* are Unspeakables SCOW-worthy."

"Well, I'm still not convinced," said Abigail.  "You have to explain 
away the very best canon for Imperius!Arthur.  That Crouch/Moody 
calls on Harry, Neville and Ron in "The Unforgivables" is a *huge* 
clue for Imperius!Arthur.  You thought I'd forgotten, hadn't you 
Cindy?"

"Yes, that's a mighty big canon, I'll grant you that," Cindy said 
with a grimace.  "But this is where I use my secret weapon:  Eloise."

Cindy reached over to Abigail's keyboard, and with a few quick 
keystrokes, Eloise's post lit up the screen.  "Ah, here it is.  
Eloise explained that Sirius reports that Crouch Sr. authorised the 
uses of *the Unforgivables* against suspects. He doesn't say that it 
was only the Aurors who were allowed to use the Unforgivables. That 
means that other MoM employees were permitted to use the 
Unforgivables, including Imperius. So maybe Arthur wasn't a *victim* 
of the Imperius, but actually *used* it himself. Not only that, but 
we have evidence that Ministry wizards *could* use the Imperius - 
Crouch Sr. uses it himself, on his son."

Cindy looked up from the screen, smiling appreciatively.  "Oh, that 
Eloise is a *genius,* she is! Besides, it is quite possible that 
when Crouch/Moody says that the Imperius Curse gave the Ministry a 
lot of trouble, he could mean that Operative!Arthur's mission was to 
sort out who was acting under Imperius and who wasn't.  That would 
explain why Arthur is so very irritated at Lucius Malfoy."

"But why does Arthur have to be an operative with MoM?" Abigail 
mused.  "Maybe he was an operative of some other organization –- 
like The Dark Forces Defense League!"

"Well, that's possible, it's possible.  But there are some 
problems.  Unspeakable Operative!Arthur explains so much –- how 
Arthur knows so much, how he has the ear of the Minister of Magic, 
how he gets around the prohibition against flying cars.  The Dark 
Forces Defense League, though?  What the heck *is* that, anyway?  
The fact that Gilderoy Lockhart is an *honorary member* sure 
suggests that the organization itself is suspect.  I mean, how savvy 
can they be over there at the Dark Forces Defense League if they 
give an honorary membership to a fraud like Lockhart?  And if we're 
thinking Crouch authorized Ministry officials to use the 
Unforgivables, it certainly helps if Arthur is an official 
Unspeakable rather than some kind of weekend warrior.

"So then," Cindy said, offering Abigail her Big Paddle.  "Are you 
ready to dispatch Auror!Arthur in favor of Operative!Arthur?"

"Well, I dunno.  There's still the matter of that lame acronym you 
have.  'CLOAKANDDAGGERARTHUR [Covert Liaison Operative Arthur is 
the Key to Assured Non-violent Destruction of Diabolical Axis, with 
Global Governance and Equilibrium at Risk, from the Ascension of 
Ruthless Terrorists with Homicidal, Unspeakable Resolve].'"  Abigail 
rolled her eyes in disapproval.

"What's wrong with it?" Cindy asked, her hands curling into fists.

"I'm with Eloise on this one.  'Non-violent?'  Non-violent is 
*Bangy?*  I profess myself disappointed, Cindy."  

"OK, OK.  Let me see what I can do."  Cindy reached for Abigail's 
dictionary and hurriedly flipped to a page in the middle.  "Hmmm.  N-
word, I need an N-word.  Um, 'Nasty'?  Maybe 'Nauseous'? How 
about 'Nativism?"  No, wait!  I've got it!"

Cindy slammed the dusty dictionary shut.  She rose from her seat 
and cleared her throat significantly:  

"CLOAKANDDAGGERARTHUR [Covert Liaison Operative Arthur is the Key to 
Assured Nerve-racking Destruction of Diabolical Axis, with Global 
Governance and Equilibrium at Risk, from the Ascension of Ruthless 
Terrorists with Homicidal, Unspeakable Resolve]."

Abigail blinked at her.  

"Isn't it *great?*" Cindy asked, beaming.

"Oh, Eloise will be Ever So Pleased," Abigail said dryly.  

*****************

Cindy

****************

For further explanation of the acronyms and theories in this post, 
visit Hypothetic Alley at 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/Admin%
20Files/hypotheticalley.htm 

and Inish Alley at 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/database?
method=reportRows&tbl=13