i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

20

TWENTY

" the good
and wise
lead quiet
lives. "
- euripides

THE MORNING after the incident, mari received a comprehensive description of not only how to discover the tournament clue within the golden egg, but what in fact the clue was. all had been scrawled on some parchment and slid underneath mari's door, with a personal note from karkaroff, explaining in graphic detail what had persuaded him to give mari all the information he knew. the norwegian immediately ripped the note from the report and burned it, wishing never to see such words written about her body again.

mid-afternoon, mari found herself walking hand-in-hand with lee in hogsmeade. she had shied from all his affections, but managed to bring herself to clasp his large hand.
she'd been to hogsmeade a few times, and found immense comfort in the similarities between the village and her home one. as a young couple walked past her with a heavily clothed infant in arm, mari wondered if her birth parents had ever taken her to a village as an infant, before her mother had died. she had never looked into her parents much, she found no use in doing so, she knew enough of her mother to feel as though she was knowledgeable enough on the subject.
   "mari!" the silky voice startled mari, causing her to step abruptly away from lee. he didn't seem to notice why. "mari," fleur repeated softly, coming to stand in front of her. it was the first communication between the two girls since their dance; since ingrid had said such mean things to mari.
   "er—yes?" mari felt awkward, standing with both of the people she was growing to love immensely.
   fleur smiled, her white teeth sparkling. she didn't seem bothered or upset that they hadn't talked—did she know why? had ingrid told so many people it had gotten around to fleur? was fleur acting as if nothing happened because she was ashamed? or because she knew mari had been going through a tough time?
   "i just came from ze—er—three broomsticks, i theenk that is what it is called, and mister bagman is there and wishes to speak to you..." mari's heart thudded, and her hands began to sweat. bagman perhaps knew more than mari wished him to, and it scared her.
   "okay... perhaps i should go see him, then... thank you, fleur." fleur smiled again, then squeezed her hand with affection and waltzed away. mari turned to lee and apologised, before excusing herself to go see bagman.

☇ ☇ ☇

the three broomsticks was a cosy and homey bar full of staff, students and various residents of hogsmeade. upon entering, the warmth and sweet smell of butter beer engulfed and relieves the norwegian.
   ludo bagman was seated in the far corner, almost hidden from the other bar patrons. his choice of seating made mari sure he wanted to talk about things she did not. as she made her way over to him, she gripped her three disks, hung from her pants, with fierce intention.
   she nodded to the man, eliminating his intention to shake her hand, and sat across from him. she sat straight and in an uptight manner, her instincts worried the man may know exactly what happened to her, and may wish to take advantage of her. mari wondered if she'd ever be trusting of male authority figures again.
   bagman opened his mouth to speak, but the girl cut him off. "before we begin," she said, unhooking her disks from her clothing, "i would like to remind you that," she placed the three disks on the table in front of her, "like many ministry workers, you have enemies, whether you know of them or not," she began to tap her disks, then looked at the man, her one blue eye focusing in on a spot above his head, "and that," she looked him in the eye, "i would do very well to deliver you an irreversible fate."
   bagman wiped his forehead quickly, then smiled nervously, understanding quite clearly what mari meant by an 'irreversible fate'. all ministry workers did. "ms mckinnon, you need not threaten me, i wish you no harm."
    "harm may not always be intentional," mari replied bitterly.
   bagman sighed. "would you like a drink—?"
   "no."
   he sat back in his chair. "very well. i shall get right to it, then. i wanted to talk to you, because i wanted to tell you of a person i once knew."
   mari frowned.
   "a young ministry worker, fresh out of durmstrang. she was a golden child; very talented, very driven. it was odd for the girl to come work for the british ministry, given she was a foreigner, and that due to the then-still-recent war, karkaroff was not a very trusted man. durmstrang has been very quite for a long time, due to the headmasters convictions, and no student had been able to get a very good job, for most wizards believed all durmstrang attendees were followers of you-know-who."
   "that's stupid!" interrupted mari.
   "i did not say that it was a fair belief, i am just telling you what it was like at the time. anyway, this young girl and i became friends, for i too was a very young man at the time, and associated with death eaters unfairly. eventually, i asked the question i had been wanting to for quite some time: 'how did you get this job?'. it was a simple question, one birthed from innocent curiosity. i did not know what terror it would bring the girl. immediately she was different. she became distant and frightful, it took a lot of comfort to calm her down. i, of course, apologised and told her she didn't have to tell me, but when she came to she told me she would if i promised never to tell anyone. i promised, and have kept that promise until now."
   "why are you breaking that promise for me?"
   "because you need to hear this; because i want to help you. she told me, hesitantly, that karkaroff had pulled many strings to get her the job. she told me that he had put a rather large amount of effort into to getting it for her. when she told me this, i failed to see why it was upsetting for her, so i asked her so. she told me, then, that karkaroff had only done it in exchange for other things. immediately i realised what she meant, and reacted badly. i did not see, then, that he had taken advantage of her as a young student, and thought that she had brought it on herself. it was a terrible mistake that ended our friendship, rightfully so, and that i will never forgive myself for. as she walked away from me, she spoke to me one last time, the last words she would ever say to me: 'he forced me to.'. i then understood perfectly. i tried to talk to her again, but she left, and never returned to the ministry." he took a deep and shuddering breath. "my mistake was foul, but it wasn't the point of this story."
   mari's face was hot. "what is the point, then?"
   bagman looked at her with grief. "karkaroff assaulted her, and i want to know if assaulted you too."

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