The Traditional Greater Good

Lorcan read the newspaper and the latest Ministry releases. He was infuriated. Someone there was insane. Clearly. He could read between the lines, even if Potter was an idiot. He was sitting at the potions table at Slugs and Jiggers, making some rather tricky, expensive potions. He had potioneers to make the usual stock. But the high ends, specialty items took a delicate touch.  He needed to do those himself, if they were to be done right at all.

He had read the account, days before, of the assassination attempt on the Minister. There was nothing to go on there. He had been waiting for more information. He thought it rather likely that an older wizard wasnt' generally taken by surprise--unless it was by someone he knew. So Lorcan waited for more information

And then, when Potter had come to the wrong conclusions, Lorcan had seen the fiery response by Michael Tremaine, a childhood friend of the Minister's, and Tremaine's defense. Tremaine always joined the Lupins in protecting their privacy. The only reason Tremaine would speak out now so publicly that Lorcan could think of was one reason alone. Robert Lupin was innocent of Potter's accusations.

"Potter is an idiot," Lorcan told Du Hunt as he chopped his hers finer before tossing them into the cauldron in front of him.  "I rarely agree with an Order member, but Tremaine is right. Minister Lupin wasn't involved in this. Its against anything that he believes in. Nor is it in our beliefs.  So--we have a choice. We let them dilute the pureblood line and destroy us all. Or, as I see it, we find what rock Khaat Lupin is hiding under and offer to help her, and in exchange preserve our world.  Unless, of course, you have a better plan?"

"Potter his hardly an idiot," Katrina-Carlotta retorted, with just the slightest hint of fondness hidden in her tone. "He knows that Lupin is innocent, but he also knows politics. Well enough, anyway. Potter's a Rebel, he's just trying to cause as much damage and chaos in the Ministry as possible. He saw the perfect opening, and took it."

"You know I don't have a better plan Lorcan," the witch stated dryly, "or I already would have come to you with it. We need Robert Lupin back in power. Despite his horrifically light tendencies, it's the only way we'll get rid of this ridiculous marriage law."

Shifting in her seat, she watched Lorcan slave away over the caldron. Katrina-Carlotta had never been particularly good at potions. She was hardly bad, and there were many useful potions that she could brew in her sleep, but she'd always been more proficient with her wand than anything else.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier. The Rebels were allied with the Order, but that's been remedied. In fact, the Rebels happen to be more aligned with us than anything else, if you happen to have use for them," Katrina-Carlotta mentioned off-handedly. It hadn't exactly been her intention to cut the ties between the Order and the Rebels when she'd gotten between Jack Dyllan and Albus Potter, but she was hardly complaining. Lorcan thought very little of the Rebels last she'd checked, but Katrina-Carlotta saw potential. Lots of potential.

"Well, if you had a part in breaking up that little alliance, well done," Lorcan said, stirring the bubbling brew. It didn't take long to get this brew to come together. It was all in the precision of the measuring that made this potion tricky. He watched carefully to see it change into the precise shade of lavender that he wanted and waited for the slight scent of lilacs before he extinguished the heat beneath it.

"New glamour potion," he told Du Hunt. "Seems to be the newest rage in Paris, and its selling faster than I can make it here." He passed the cauldron off to a potioneer for bottling.

He heard the little brass bell of the shop ring and looked up through the leaded glass window that separated the front of the store from the back potions lab. And the figure he saw browsing the shelves peeked his interest.

"Will you look at that?" Lorcan mused very softly, watching the tall blond man in the expensive tailored black suit. "We seem to be in Merlin's good graces today. Do you know who that is, Du Hunt? That man is Marcus Belby. He is Khaat Lupin's primary bodyguard at the moment. He supposedly never leaves her. Clearly, that isn't entirely true. What in the world would he be doing here?"

Lorcan frowned, watching where Belby was looking in the store, hoping to get a clue about what Belby might be wanting. "Bulk herbs," Lorcan remarked. "Some of the harder to get things, but nothing exceptional. Interesting. You know, if anyone knows where the Lupins are, its that man right there. He's one of our biggest obstacles, and yet he's probably the one who can give us quickest passage to Khaat. Why don't you go try to negotiate some sort of meeting, Du Hunt? See if you can get us an audience of sorts with Ms. Lupin."

"Why thank you, it made sense at the time," the dark witch replied, eyes following the D'Eath's deft fingers as he expertly brewed the potion. Katrina-Carlotta was not arrogant or blind enough to think that she would ever be able to brew with such smooth efficiency. Watching the half-vampire put out the flame, the woman couldn't help but wonder if she should have put more effort into the subject as a young girl, before sharking off the thought. Potions had never been and would never be her forte.

"Sounds interesting," the dark-haired woman admitted. She rarely relied upon potions, but it was never a bad idea to have something like that in your back pocket for emergences. She'd have to look into it, perhaps even get Lorcan to give her some.

The door to the shop opened, and then Lorcan began to speak. Marcus Belby, interesting. They certainly had gotten lucky, unless this was a trap of some sort, but Katrina-Carlotta figured that was just her being paranoid. It was quite possible, a healthy dose of paranoia was necessary for the survival of someone like her.

"I'll be in contact," The woman promised, standing smoothly and starting to make her way towards the man whom had just entered the store. Mentally digging up anything she could figure out about the man based upon his appearance and what Lorcan had told her, Katrina-Carlotta strode towards the man at a leisurely pace. Going after someone quickly made them feel cornered, and that would be far from a good idea.

"Mr. Belby, it is quite the pleasure to meet you, and I would love to spend time exchanging pleasantries, but I'm afraid I have something of a very serious matter to discuss with you," the European stated firmly upon reaching the man. She'd jumped in, hoping to catch the man slightly off-guard. She doubted such a simple trick would accomplish much, but it was in Katrina-Carlotta's nature to always fight for the upper hand.

Marcus had been sent for a couple of ingredients for the estate potions lab.  The lab was being used almost around the clock these days in the Lupin compound by someone or another. And that mean that the supply of ingredients were being used, sometimes in unexpected quantities. He had selected a couple of bezoars and had dropped them into a paper bag before looking for the second item.

It took him a moment, but he found it. He opened the glass jar and took out a quantity of Wiggentree bark.  He sniffed it, and it smelled fresh enough.  He wasn't an expert at potions, but it wasn't his first time doing something that was more the task for a conciere. He heard footsteps but paid little attention to them--until a woman's voice spoke to him.

He replaced the lid on the jar and turned to face her.  He always noticed people, but this woman would have been hard to miss even if he hadn't had an eye for women. She knew him by name, but he didn't recall ever meeting her.  That wasn't entirely unusual. Because of the caliber of people he protected, his photo was often in the papers. He was, most often, not noticed, though. He had become accustomed to being merely part of the background.  For someone to notice him enough to speak, that was a bit different.

The brunette preferred to get straight to business.  What business could she have with him?  Her tone did infer that it was rather important.  

"I'm sorry, have we met?" he said, flashing a bit of a cordial smile. "How can I help you?"

He hadn't recognized her. Well, either that or he was exceptionally good at not letting such emotions show on his face. It was rather refreshing, when she thought about it. Despite it all, Katrina-Carlotta was still an assassin at her core. Until recently she'd never stayed in one place for very long. She'd never allied herself with any one group for very long either, and the witch had always found politics rather dry. The change of lifestyle had been easy enough at first, but after a few months had gotten ridiculously draining. Her month-long stint in France had helped, but not quite as much as Katrina-Carlotta had hoped it would.

The fact that Mr. Belby didn't recognize her face, reminded her of her mid-twenties. The days where she truly had just been a faceless and nameless shadow that lurked in the nightmares of the few she met but did not kill. Those days were long over. Her life really was so much simpler when she could just kill people instead of having to reason with them.

"I apologize for my abruptness, Mr. Belby," the dark witch said smoothly, "we haven't met, it's just that your reputation proceeds you." Katrina-Carlotta honestly hadn't known whom he was until just a few minutes prior, but there was no reason for the wizard to know that.

Leaning in slightly and lowering her voice just a tad, the witch stated, "to be blunt, it's rather important that I speak with Khaat Lupin. I have a feeling that she may appreciate what I have to say." Katrina-Carlotta re-straightened her spine, and sent the man a small smile, furrowing her brows just so, to appear stressed and slightly worried.

So there it was.  She wanted to see Khaat. Marcus wasn't entirely surprised that people were looking for her.  There was a lot of rumblings about people wanting to know where the Lupins were.  Marcus suspected it would be a matter of time before someone started to ask questions.

Marcus was one of the few people who rarely ever left Khaat.  Today had been one of those blue moon exceptions. He had been with her the night she was nearly killed by James Blood, and he had been with her almost every moment since.  He had actively kept copies of the newspapers from her when it had been dangerous for her, but that hadn't lasted forever.  

And the truth was that Khaat was beside herself now.  She had a whole list of questions, but she had no ability to ask them.  Marcus knew she was in the habit of trying to do her own legwork and investigating. She was in no condition to do that at the moment, and so she had been forced to simply watch rather helplessly.

He was prepared to give this new woman the standard-but-polite brush off. He certainly wasn't about to bring this to Khaat's attention before he knew more about who he was dealing with and what her concerns were.  Or whether he could trust her any farther than he could see her.

"Ah," Marcus said slowly. "I see.  I don't know if you've read the papers, but Ms. Lupin is injured. She's on medical leave and temporarily away from her post. If this is a ministry matter, perhaps you should make an appointment with Deputy Minister Krum. I'm sorry, Miss."

The man wasn't cutting her even the slightest bit of slack. It was rather frustrating; Katrina-Carlotta scarcely found herself on this end of the equation. The witch was practically always the one that people wanted things from, and she wasn't exactly comfortable with the reversing of roles.

The woman could tell just by looking at him, that the male wasn't the type that could be easily bribed. Or at least, wouldn't be in this case. Aware that another possibility was now unusable, the European let out a sigh that was slightly more dramatic than necessary. Shifting her weight, Katrina-Carlotta looked back up at the wizard's face.

"Respectfully sir, this isn't a ministry matter. If it was, I would already be in a meeting with Mr. Krum," she stated, keeping her tone carefully level. Merlin knows what Lorcan would say if she let this chance slip through her fingers. She very well might never hear the end of it, in one way or another.

"I am aware of Ms. Lupin's injury, and would certainly be up to meeting her wherever she'd be most comfortable," Katrina-Carlotta admitted, "this business effects not only Ms. Lupin, but other members of her family as well. I would not ask to speak with her if it wasn't important."

The dark witch shifted her weight again, this time favoring one leg. A portion of her weight was now being supported by her left hand, which was resting against a wooden table. It was only slight, but Katrina-Carlotta was casually blocking his route towards the register.

He eyed her and then sighed. He was getting a clear view about her.  She wasn't just any ordinary witch.  She had connections to someone, or contacts.  He knew power or influence when he saw it.  This wasn't going to be a simple brush off, but then again, he hadn't sized her up as someone easily brushed aside.  She was anything but simple.  Alright, he thought, let's talk.    

"Okay, you don't do much partner dancing, do you?  You'd prefer to lead. So, let's you and I stop dancing here, shall we?" he asked quietly.  "You're obviously a professional, so you should know how this goes.  I would not be much of a bodyguard if I let anyone and everyone through to my client.  So far as I know, you don't even have a name."

He did suspect that there might well be something significant that Khaat needed to know about, but Marcus was, if nothing else, efficient.  He couldn't promise that he could arrange a meeting, but if the issue were important enough, he knew Khaat would be interested.  But he wasn't going to let her go into it blind.

"It doesn't matter to me which side of the law you're on," Marcus said, "but you don't get in until I know who you are, who you work for, and what this really is about.  If you can't be straight with me, you don't get to her."

Katrina-Carlotta let her head fall backwards a little as she laughed softly. "You're right, of course. I'm not exactly a fan of this sort of dance; never had the patience," the witch confessed.

"My name is Katrina-Carlotta Du Hunt," the witch stated after only a moment or two of hesitation. She had smiled as she spoke, it was rare that she met bodyguards that were as decent as this one. While the European was often the one that bodyguards ended up fighting, she still had a certain respect for any whom did their job well.

"And I work for no one," the assassin continued smoothly. The statement was true enough in Katrina-Carlotta's mind. Sure, she was currently doing something because Lorcan asked, but he wasn't her boss. While she was certainly neck-deep in Death Eater business, the woman wouldn't hesitate if she thought that leaving the group would be more advantageous. She just couldn't see that happening anytime soon. The witch supposed that one could say she worked for her friend Marie, killing anyone whom got on the French witch's bad side, but that was more favors than anything else. All in all, Katrina-Carlotta worked for one person. Herself.

Removing her left arm from the table, the woman rotated her wrist in a quick circle so that it cracked loudly. She'd never really been one for giving out the whole and honest truth to people, but the woman figured it was safe enough. It seemed to be necessary if she wanted to get to Khaat. Besides, she could always kill Belby or manipulate his memory a little if things went too wrong.

"I want to talk to Ms. Lupin about a few things; her father, the Ministerial position, and the new Marriage Law. Not necessarily in that order," Katrina-Carlotta admitted just softly enough so that she wouldn't be overheard by anyone lurking nearby.