TBAY: Operative!Arthur Attacks Auror!Arthur

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 45507

"**FREEZE**!!!  Hold it *right* there!  I SAID *BREAK IT UP*!!!"

Two men dressed in black, one bald and the other burly, flashed 
their badges at the foursome that had assembled on the deck of the 
Imperius!Arthur Trimaran.  "You heard me!  Drop the paddles *right 
now!*  Up against the wall, *all* of you!"  

Veronica, Ethanol, Eileen and Abigail backed away from Cindy, who 
was curled on the deck in a fetal position, her trembling hands 
protecting her vital organs.  They threw their pink plastic 
Parallelism paddles to the ground in disgust and raise their empty 
hands over their heads, avoiding eye contact.  The agents hustled 
forward, spinning the women to face the nearest wall.  

"Who *are* you?" asked Vernonica over her shoulder.  "And what are 
you doing on *my* Ship?"

"We're Hit Wizards, ma'am," said the bald agent flatly.  "From the 
Department of Creative Theorizing."

"The Department of . . . " Ethanol mumbled vaguely.

"We received a report of a Dog Pile here on the Trimeran – *with* 
Special Circumstances," added the burly agent.

"Special Circumstances?" echoed Abigail.

The burly agent narrowed his eyes.  "That's right, special 
circumstances -- *Acronym Envy.*  Something about a four-way attack 
on one poor theorist who has some really great canon for a new 
theory.  We can't allow that here in the Bay.  I'm going to have to 
run you all in."  He turned to the crowd that had assembled to watch 
the commotion on deck.  "Move along, folks.  There's nothing to see 
here."

"Wait!" Veronica cried.  "We had no idea we couldn't gang up on 
Cindy.  I mean, she *likes* it when people gang up on her."

"A likely story," the bald agent sneered.  He pulled Cindy to her 
feet, catching her when her knees buckled and she sagged 
momentarily.  She leaned heavily against the deck rail, taking deep 
breaths, her hands shaking so badly that her Big Paddle slipped from 
her grasp and thudded to the deck.  

"Captain Cindy, we're going to need a statement."

"Um . . . " Cindy wiped a thin layer of sweat from her forehead with 
her sleeve.  "Uh, right . . . OK . . . um, I'm not sure I can 
remember everything they said.  It all happened so *fast.*  They 
were talking all at once!"  She gave a small shudder.  "It -– it was 
*horrible!*  It's all a blur, Officer, you don't know what it was 
like --"

"Don't worry, Captain.  They can't hurt you now."

"I know, I know.  OK.  Well, the problem here is that these -– these 
*theorists* -- aren't buying Operative!Arthur.  They prefer Imperius!
Arthur.  And Auror!Arthur.  And Fillicide!Arthur.  And now something 
called "Auror by Night, Operative by Day, Imperio'edOccasionally," 
which seems somehow lacking in focus, if you want my –- "

"Just the facts, ma'am."

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there.  Well, first of all, these 
Imperius!Arthur adherents are giving me a really hard time about the 
whole idea that Operative!Arthur would have kept his identity as an 
Unspeakable a secret.  They have some kind of problem with that idea 
for some --"

"I'm not leaving here without some *answers!*" Eileen broke 
in.  "Like why does an ex-auror like Moody know about Arthur's 
Operative status? It says in Fantastic Beasts that all Departments 
are answerable to Magical Law Enforcement, except perhaps the 
Department of Mysteries.  I just don't see the point of letting the 
aurors scrutinize the operatives."

"You're talking about Fake Moody's lesson on the Unforgivables?  Oh, 
that's easy," Cindy said, as the agents scratched feverishly in 
their notebooks with their quills.  "Fake Moody may have known about 
Arthur's status as an Unspeakable during that lesson.  But there are 
two things that might be going on.  Either Crouch Jr. got the 
information out of real Moody, or Crouch Jr. knew this information 
on his own.  I think it is quite possible that Crouch Jr. learned 
about Arthur's covert status from his DE colleagues, from his time 
in Azkaban, or –- and I prefer this last one -– from his many years 
spent under an invisibility cloak while his father was in Magical 
Law enforcement or later when his father was socializing with people 
like Fudge.  No, Crouch Jr.'s knowledge of Arthur's true avocation 
isn't a problem at all.

"In fact," Cindy said, "I have no problem with the idea that Arthur 
and Real Moody have some sort of special relationship.  We've talked 
about that before -– it just seems so odd that the Muggle Artifacts 
guy is so tight with a top-notch Auror.  It gets less odd if Arthur 
and Moody worked together during the Voldemort years, with Arthur 
supplying the intelligence and Moody supplying the firepower.  That 
would explain Arthur's protective feelings for Moody."

The burly agent exchanged knowing glances with his partner, nodding 
appreciatively.

"I know what the real problem is, though," Cindy went on.  "It's the 
Filicide!Arthur crowd, isn't it?  They keep whipping their 
FEATHERBOAS through the air, agitating for a dead Weasley Seventh 
Son.  Fine, I say, they can *have* a dead Weasley Seventh Son.  
Whatever."

"Ma'am, you expect us to believe that Operative!Arthur can exist 
without Imperius!Arthur and still deliver up a Seventh Son corpse?" 
asked the bald agent.  

"He has a point," added Ethanol.  "See, the basic problem of both 
Unspeakable!Arthur and Auror!Arthur is:  why does nobody, especially 
the younger Weasleys, know about Arthur's secret life? Well, there 
are two compelling reasons why somebody keeps silent about his past: 
shame and guilt."

"Ah, but there's a third and fourth potential reason for Arthur's 
discretion about his secret life," Cindy countered.  "There's Duty, 
and there's Fear.  It seems logical that an operative would be sworn 
to secrecy for life, so that's Duty.

"But personally, I like Fear as Arthur's motivation, myself.  It's 
Bangier."

"Fear?" Ethanol asked.  "Like the fear I had when I first dipped my 
toe in the Bay?"

"Well, sort of," Cindy allowed.  "Moody is paranoid and fears for 
his safety, worried about the families of those he apprehended, 
right?  Well, maybe Arthur also made some enemies in his covert 
operations work –- particularly if that work was in a partnership 
with Moody.  Maybe a few of those enemies penetrated Arthur's cover 
and learned he was really an Unspeakable.  And maybe they made him 
pay.  Oh, they made him pay Big Time.  Maybe they killed Seventh Son 
as an act of revenge or intimidation, with Arthur coming home to 
find the Dark Mark over his house.  So Seventh Son didn't die by 
Arthur's hand while under Imperius.  I mean, come *on!*  No, if 
Seventh Son was killed by anyone, he was killed by Arthur's enemies. 

"And that, Officer, is why Arthur has never revealed to anyone the 
extent of his undercover work as an Unspeakable.  Part of it is 
guilt, all right.  But part of it is Arthur's desire to maintain his 
cover to protect what remains of his family.  A desire based in 
plain old fear of reprisal."

"No way," said Ethanol, shaking her head defiantly.  "Arthur is an 
Unspeakable under Fudge's reign?  The same Fudge who is confronted 
with Harry's eyewitness account and the body of AKed Cedric and 
*still* doesn't believe that Voldemort is back.  So why would they 
plant a secret operative in the MoM?"

"Well, Dumbledore is clear that not everyone sees things the same 
way as Fudge," Cindy said.  "Dumbledore says, 'All those that we can 
persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and [Arthur] is 
well-placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as 
shortsighted as Cornelius.'  Oh, there are plenty of people in MoM 
who are willing to believe in Voldemort's return, and I think 
there's reason to believe Dumbledore is talking about those who 
fought Voldemort last time around.  There'd be no reason to send an 
urgent message to anyone else, right?"

"Nah, I'm not buying it," said Eileen.  "Crouch Jr. would have blown 
his cover big-time if it got out that Moody was exposing Ministry 
operatives to a bunch of 14 year old students. Twisted he was, but 
stupid he was not."

"Uh, gee.  Fake Moody uses Imperius on students right there in the 
classroom in front of God and everyone over Hermione's objections, 
and you think he is the least bit worried about blowing his cover?"

Eileen hesitated.  "Yes, it's got Bang. Definite Bang. Both past, 
present, and future. But I'm not going to take an Operative!Arthur 
that Crouch Jr. feels comfortable chatting to the class about."

"What?!?" Cindy cried.  "Where exactly in canon does Crouch Jr. feel 
comfortable chatting to the class about Operative!Arthur?  None of 
the kids works out this parallelism at all.  They never put the 
parallelism thing together.  *Elkins* put that together!  That 
*hardly* makes it canon!"

There was an audible gasp from the bystanders.  Several of them fell 
to their knees, mumbling about repentance.

"I didn't mean that," Cindy said quickly.  "I don't know what got 
into me there.  *Of course* something is canon if Elkins says it 
is."  Cindy shook her head sharply.  "Take that out of my statement, 
Officer.  I must still be in shock or something to say such a thing."

"Look," Abigail said impatiently, "what does Operative!Arthur 
accomplish that Auror!Arthur doesn't?"

Cindy paused, rubbing her temples thoughtfully.  "Well, Operative!
Arthur isn't going to be hacked to bits by Occam's Razor, for one 
thing.  See, Auror!Arthur requires a towering heap of canon leaps to 
work.  First, you have to negotiate the whole Unforgivable Trilogy 
Parallelism gymnastics.  Then you have to run the gauntlet that 
Arthur would keep his role as an Auror secret and that he would 
later allow himself to be shunted aside into Muggle Artifacts.  You 
have to bungee jump off of the "Why did Arthur take Charlie to work 
and pose as a Muggle Artifacts guy way back when" bridge.  Then you 
have to dodge hostile fire to establish some Major Guilt motive for 
Arthur to maintain this whole big secret for all these years.  
Finally, you have to saddle up and ride the whole "Dumbledore seeks 
out Arthur upon Voldemort's return knowing Arthur is vulnerable to 
Imperius."  Imperius!Arthur is a complicated mess, he really is.

"Now, Operative!Arthur makes this journey without all of that.  The 
idea is simply that Arthur has always been an Unspeakable.  His job 
is and was to gather intelligence on Dark Wizards, passing it along 
to folks like Moody who would do the actual dirty work.  He was 
never under Imperius, and he may or may not have used it in his 
work.  He didn't slay his own son; if Seventh Son exists, he was 
killed by bad guys.  

"You want more Bang?  Oh, Operative!Arthur is a Random Bang 
Generator.  See, Arthur has stayed in the Unspeakable Department all 
these years hoping to someday avenge his son's death.  That's his 
life's work –- he'll *never* give it up, he'll never rest, until he 
has done right by Seventh Son.  

"What's that?  Still not sold?  Oh, this is a tough crowd.  Fine.  
You can have Arthur staying as an Unspeakable because he still 
loathes Lucius and hopes to nail Lucius.  Because he thinks Lucius 
had something to do with Seventh Son's death, but Arthur just can't 
prove it -- yet.  Which makes Lucius' remarks about the Weasleys 
having too many children all the more heinous and cruel.  

"Hey, if you want, Moody can have lost his leg and eye in an ambush 
of the very people who murdered Seventh Son –"

The burly agent reached into his pocket and pulled out a single, 
crisply folded Yellow Flag.

"Well, you get the point," said Cindy quickly.  "Besides, I'm not 
off canon with Operative!Auror.  Not yet, anyway.  Dumbledore had 'a 
number of useful spies,' right?  No one on this list has come up 
with a very good theory on who these spies other than Snape could 
be.  I say one of them was Arthur Weasley.  Operative!Arthur 
Weasley."

"Wait!" cried Abigail.  "What about my three-pronged attack?  Don't 
I get any credit for my three-pronged attack?  At the QWC, Arthur is 
awfully casual about Unspeakables Bode and Croaker.  I mean, he up 
and volunteers that information."

"Not a problem," Cindy said.  "Remember, Arthur is in deep cover 
*and* posing as a Muggle Artifacts guy.  He's supposed to be popular 
enough and well connected enough to get Top Box tickets for his 
whole family and guests.  Obviously, the *existence* of the 
Department of Mysteries is hardly a big secret.  The crowd in the 
Pensieve certainly understands its significance.  So when Arthur 
sees Bode and Croaker -– two low-level guys who aren't undercover at 
all –- he naturally identifies them, but doesn't reveal what the 
Department of Mysteries *does.*  Just like any good operative posing 
as an affable, popular Muggle Artifacts specialist would."

Abigail seemed non-plussed.  "Think about the connotations 
of 'Unspeakables' -- unspeakable crime, unspeakable horror.  That's 
hardly something you'd like to be associated with Arthur Weasley."

"Hey, that's pretty darn good, Abigail!" Cindy allowed.

"Why thank you!" Abigail said brightly, adjusting her handcuffs.

"And I thank you.  Because it makes Operative!Arthur even more 
Bangy!  Oh, he deals in the dirtiest, lowest, darkest depths of MoM, 
handling the worst of the worst.  No wonder he has a family clock 
with 'Mortal Peril' as one of the settings.  Fits right in, I'd 
say," Cindy said, grinning broadly.

"Well, I'm not worried," Ethanol said.  "I must make a confession. 
I'm an ambassador from Elkins."

"You're asserting *diplomatic immunity* now?" Cindy scowled.  "Oh, 
this is too much!"

"Yep," Ethanol replied.  "Elkins sent me here on a mission to 
salvage Fillicide!Arthur.  We say Auror!Arthur was imperioed, 
causing directly or (more likely) indirectly Missing Weasley child's 
death.  That would be more guilt and shame than anyone can ask for."

"You know what you and Elkins have there, Ethanol?" Cindy asked 
patiently. 

Ethanal stood frozen, her gaze fixed on Cindy.

"You have a theory that is *too* Bangy.  I never thought I'd hear 
myself say that, but it is true.  That Filicide!Arthur theory is Way 
Over The Top.  It's not just Bangy in the normal sense of the word –-
 it's like a Neutron Bomb of Creative Theorizing.  You wanna know 
why?  Because if Arthur killed his son, Imperius or no Imperius, he 
wouldn't behave the way he does when the Dark Mark is discussed.  
Any parent who has suffered the death of a child for any reason is 
*devastated.*  And if the parent somehow *killed* the child, that 
parent wouldn't be able to function very well when the subject comes 
up, even 10 years later.  Yet look at Arthur's discussion of the 
Dark Mark:  'Mr. Weasley winced.'  That's it.  Sorry, but that 
reaction just isn't convincing enough for someone who killed his own 
child.  

"Unless," Cindy smirked, "you want to toss in a Memory Charm to help 
poor Arthur get over this little bit of trauma.  Yeah.  We can toss 
that into the cargo hold of Imperius!Arthur, but I don't see how the 
thing can stay afloat with all of this *baggage* it requires.  Oh, 
Imperius!Arthur does not travel light, does he?  Not at all!"

"All right, that's enough," the bald agent said abruptly.  "You're 
all going downtown.  Tell it to the judge."

"You're going to *arrest* me?" Abigail cried.  "But I'm *new* to the 
Bay.  I had no idea about the prohibition against Dog Piles!"

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse, ma'am," the burly agent said 
evenly.  "Now, are you going to go quietly, or am I going to have to 
call for back-up?  They have a new canine agent who is eager for 
some field work.  Goes by the name of 'Prank,' I'm told."

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

Cindy

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

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