The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.12 | Mind Manipulation

The holding cells were grey and small, built under the four levels of the French Ministry of Magic, and smelt rather dingy. A single bench was attached to the wall next to a small basin, and the occupants were provided with a gooey substance for dinner from the flap under the bars. A wizard stood guard outside the whole time.

When Margaret imagined coming to France, she had not pictured spending her first night in a holding cell.

She had got caught in the atrium, not even a whole minute after she teleported up there, and she knew resisting or trying to fight back in a situation like that would only do more harm than good.

However, she had not anticipated that they would keep her and Charlie there the whole day, throughout the night and up until the next morning for a simple case of underage magic. What was more was that all of their belongings, including their wands, had been taken to conduct a thorough search.

The more time that passed, the more Margaret feared that they had read the documents she had taken out of the Xenakis locker. She had no clue what was in them. If she was found possessing anything connecting her to Grindelwald then she could kiss her freedom and future goodbye.

Margaret had not slept the entire night, sitting in a corner and staring out into the grey abyss absently. From what she knew by reading the guard's mind, Enzo the archivist had reported Margaret for trying to steal and then disapparating, even if the Ministry had anti-apparition charms all over it.

Charlie was kept in the cell opposite hers and she could see him pacing once every little while. Since they were not allowed to talk to each other, Margaret had taken to speaking in his mind – first startling him then apologising endlessly before realising that he wasn't mad at her but at the situation. They had been trying to come up with plans to get out of this as whatever they said, their stories needed to be the same.

A wand tapped on the bars of Margaret's cell, making her look up.

"C'mon out," says a wizard with a gruff moustache, unlocking the door with a spell. "It's time for your interrogation."

"This is insane!" bursts Charlie from the other cell. "She didn't even do anything! Even if there was a case, it's just underage magic-!"

"Silencio," says the wizard, flicking his wand and shutting Charlie up, who instead took to hitting the bars out of anger.

Margaret shot a reassuring look towards him as her hands were magically bound behind her by another witch.

"No matter what happens, stick to the story," she says in Charlie's mind as she was led away.

Margaret truly felt as though she had done much worse than making a mistake to say 'Ambrosius' in the Records Room. She had not had permission to look for anything other than her own vault, hence why the alarm had gone off. Despite the wave of dread threatening to overwhelm her, she tried her best to keep her cool as she was taken into a small room off on the other side of the basement.

This room too was grey. There was only a metal table with two metal chairs, and a light in the middle of the ceiling.

"Sit," the witch orders, undoing the spell to untie Margaret's hands. "Monsieur André Rousseau iz an auror. 'E will be questioning you."

Margaret almost rolled her eyes. An auror. Wow. Either they were blowing things way out of proportion or they knew something Margaret didn't. She really hoped it wasn't the latter.

The two guards stood behind her chair, out of her view, just as the door clicked open. In strode a tall and thin wizard with a stern face, holding Margaret's bag. Cowering after him was a mousy-looking witch who promptly shuffled to the corner. She extracted a roll of parchment and a self-inking quill out of her purse and looked nervously around the room.