| Details for One More Into the Fray |
| Summary: | Elijah comes to check in on Niamh and Gideon after hearing the news, and begins an investigation. |
| Date: | 26 October 1937 |
| Location: | MacDiarmarda Apothecary |
| Related: | It's dead and Tending the Stricken |
| Characters |
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MacDiarmarda Apothecary (#1058R) Diagon Alley
Mon Oct 29, 1937 ((Tue Oct 23 13:50:05 2012)) (B,2 SE)
It is a fall day. The weather is freezing and fair.
Built in the late 1700s, MacDiarmarda Apothecary has been in business from the building's inception. Windows line the walls facing the street, a fireplace creates a cheery atmosphere within. Shelves line the walls from floor to high ceiling, dusty wooden boxes of who knows what are held there. There is a large library ladder on wheels that helps the proprietress gather ingredients that may be out of her grasp normally. A counter stretches across the back of the store, a door behind it. There are two work areas, one next to the other. One is purely a 'cutting up' and preparing area, the table showing marks from use over the centuries. The other is the actual creating of a potion area- cauldrons, distillery and various sources of heat.
The store's interior is packed full of goods, with barrels of Purple Toad Warts, Flobberworm Mucus, Leech Juice and other large quantities of potion ingredients on the floor. Shelves that line the wall are filled with jars and old wooden boxes that contain Knotgrass, Aconite, Newt Eyes.. and many, many other herbs, roots and powders. Bunches of feathers, fangs and claws hang from the ceiling, and in some cases the unwary customer may knock into them. The combination of smells coming from all these different ingredients PLUS the age of the shop itself, creates an overall.. stench of bad eggs and rotten cabbages that permeates every corner of the room.
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It's been a long.. morning, and it's time to open the shop. As all around her say, the shop has to open or there will be people who think things are amiss.. and the reputation will be at risk. A potions establishment is only as good as its reputation.
Behind the counter, Niamh looks far from well rested, and with tea in hand, is probably not looking like she'll be selling too many rejuvenation potions if she looks like that! Still, she's got her hair back and is reasonably put together. She's got a book in hand now, a botany book on herbs, and her lips are moving as she reads a passage, and looking up to the ceiling, she repeats what she's just read in the attempt to consign it to memory.. over and over..
A voice rings in from the other side of the counter, asking, "Do you mind if I smoke, Niamh?" Leaning against the counter is Inspector Elijah Bartholomew Lovegood, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, waiting to be lit. "You look a bit tired."
Looking down, and there he is! Niamh exhales softly, and puts a hand up, briefly startled. "Aye, y'can." Closing the book, she leans on the counter, hazel eyes studying the man across. "I might look tired, but ye look great, Elijah," she smiles. "Look at ye." It's actually the first time she's seen him without the wild look in his eyes, the disheveled hair.. and it gives her that happy gleam in her eyes. That.. other time, he must have been right at the edge of needing another potion. How else does one explain the rudeness of earlier? "Do ye approve?"
Elijah smiles at her and lights up his cigarette, "Do you smoke? Would you like one?" He takes a drag from it and begins to look around the apothecary, nodding to her, saying, "Yes, I'm a fan. They're incredibly helpful, I must admit." He then gets straight down to brass tacks, as he examines every square inch of his surroundings with his eyes, asking, "What happened, Niamh?"
Right now? A cigarette would be lovely, and she nods, "Keen knows the mix, an' I know Adamantus knows of it." But, obviously, not the mix. "I'll have it written down for ye at your request." Just in case. Now why would that come to mind again? "An' yes, please, I would."
Swallowing heavily, Niamh makes her way from behind the counter; she's told this before, but for Eli? There's obviously a little more that goes in, and it can easily be blamed on forgetting details in the wee morning hours by a distraut woman. "We were upstairs, an' there was a noise in the shop down below. Adamantus heard it first.. an' he was first on the stairs down." If there was any question, let it be dispelled now! Of course, admitting to.. such things in public isn't done, and thankfully there's no one else about. "I followed, an' it was dark. Around about 2 am.. an'.. oh Elijah.. it was horrible. First, I thought that it was.. someone stricken, lookin' for help." That does happen in this shop. "Then, we saw the spike in its ear.. an' it came out his eye." Taking a deep breath, Niamh just isn't used to seeing such sights.. and she's obviously now trying to be brave, trying to recall the horror that was before her..
Elijah walks around the counter and rests his hand on her shoulder comfortingly as his other hand offers a cigarette to her. He'll of course light it for her when she's ready. "I see. And where is Gideon now?" There's no judgement in the man's tone, as he's less than pure in the same regard. He'll kneel down next to her chair, those dark blue eyes looking her over.
Niamh takes the cigarette, now lit, and draws a breath with it, coughing lightly at the smoke that tickles at her lungs. Another drag is taken, and finally letting it out, she nods. "It'd been dead, Eli.. an' it was animated. I have no idea why it came here.. I really don't. It had the same poison as Sloan had- a broken phial in its pocket.. an' Adamantus touched it by mistake, I think. Keen came.. I got him.. an' he's recovering." She looks beside him, and smiles tiredly, and more than a little worredly, "Upstairs. He's fine now, but tired an' I left him sleeping; I know how to deal with it, but there's no antidote. All we can do is draw it from the body before it can do damage." Nothing like mixing pronouns in a tired, jumbled recounting! "If ye want to go up, ye can. Mind the mess, if ye please, though."
Elijah nods nods to her and moves back around to the front of the counter, "This is going to be a hell of a doozie to figure out, that's for sure." He takes a drag of his cigarette, his eyes resting on the floor of the building, "No, I think I shall let him rest. I can't imagine he'd be in high spirits if I woke him." Is Gideon ever in high spirits?
Niamh nods and takes another drag before she deals with her ashes by tapping them onto the floor. "I don't know, Eli.. I don't know if it was comin' for me, because it's my shop, or for Keen because he's upstairs too? Or.. for Adamantus because he's here a.. little more often an' someone knew that." Not knowing scares her. "It was the same poison as Sloan's, Keen said.. an' the only thing I know that Sloan's made remark of is the Repeal thing.. an' I'm no fan of the talks either. Neither is Keen." But, in all's involved lines of work, it could be something out of left field.. and she knows it.
A soft chuffed laugh sounds, "He's not in high spirits, no.. spent the night over a bucket, gettin' out the last of the poisons.. an' it was a long night.. the aches, pains o'such." In fact, she's surprised she hasn't heard her name bellowed from upstairs yet.
Elijah hikes his trousers up a little bit as he kneels down and studies the ground, dragging his fingers along it and giving them a sniff. His head will then go on a swivel and he'll lean down to pluck something out from under the counter. A shard of broken glass is picked up and he gives it a once-over, sniffing it aswell. He'll stand back up and says, "The poison, then?"
Niamh's eyes widen when Eli picks up the glass, and she about looks as if she'll fall off the chair. "Eli.. it's very dangerous.." She takes a deep breath, and runs in a mad dash to find a dish for him to put it in. "Please," and she looks as if she'll beg him, "Be careful.." Taking a deep breath, she begins again, "Mungos has a sample o'the poison, as does your office." She brought them there herself. "An' I have one m'self, too.. an' that's what I'll be doin' today. Studying it until I fall asleep.. an' I'll be takin' my own potions, so sleep won't come for days until I've got it." If he thought he was obsessive, or even Gideon? Seems they're three peas to the pod.
Elijah eyes the piece of glass once more and sets it down on the counter, rubbing at his jaw, "I imagine the Aurors are going to want to take this one. I won't be letting them have it so easily, though, that's for sure." He looks up at Niamh and says, "There's no signs of blood anywhere in the store. He was dead for quite some time, wasn't he?"
"I don't want ye to give in, Eli," Niamh says softly. "I'm afraid of it, an' I'm torn. But I want to know what's what on it. I need to know why." Not the how, mind, of how one animates a dead body. She nods and hands the dish over for the shard, "It was dead. When it came in, it.. it didn't try an' do any damage. There was movement, as if it was just a normal person comin' in an' looking for something." The way shoppers do, or someone driven to locate something does.. in the dark. "No lights on. So, it wasn't tryin' to destroy the place." If that helps at all? It may be something, it may not. "I don't know if it was headed to the stairs or not. Adamantus got there first an' put a bind spell on him.." It.
Elijah rubs at his chin again and looks up at her, saying, "I won't. Though, I may have to go off the books for this one. No way that the Aurors would have me working with them." He ponders something and tilts his head, asking, "Did it attack?"
Niamh offers a tired, grateful smile, and nods her acknowledgment of what Elijah feels he must do. "If ye need aught from me, Eli.. anything.." which obviously means her potions. At the question, however, she sits again on her stool and stares at the man, though she's actually more.. thinking of the recent past. "We lit the shop with Lumos, an' the thing went for Adamantus.. which is when he put the bind spell on it. When that was lifted, though, the thing fell to the floor." Timed re-animation? "It could have been reacting to the light, or.." and she has no idea.
Elijah nods to her and says, "I know, Niamh. Right now all you need to do is keep an eye on Gideon. Don't let him get his hands on this case. It's become to personal for him and it could get him in trouble." Gideon's not exactly the stealthiest. "I'll see what I can dig up in the meantime."
Niamh could hug the man, and as a matter of fact, she moves to do just that. "It'll be hard, Eli.. y'know that. Moreso because it's personal. He wants us t'be safe, an' I want the same for him." She chuckles softly, cheered in measure. "Okay, thank ye.. an' I mean it. I'll do what I can to help."
Elijah just stands there straight as a board as he's hugged. He clears his throat after a moment to indicate to her that the proper time allowed for hugging has been all used up. Once he's released he'll say, "It's no problem, Niamh. Just keep Adamantus safe."
Niamh chuckles at the clearing of the throat, and remains a moment later to let it move into the 'awkward' stage, at least for him. Once she lets go, she nods, "I'll do what I can, I promise." At that, she steps back and crosses her heart in that 'cross my heart and hope to die' gesture. "If I have t'take him away with me, I will."
Elijah clears his throat once more and pulls at his collar before straightening his coat out. He clasp his hands behind his back and says, "Fair enough." He gives another look around and takes the piece of glass, tucking it into his breast pocket and having another look around, "Well, I must be on my way, then. Enjoy you day, Miss Niamh."
"Take care.." and Niamh looks behind her and up the stairs briefly. Did she hear a stirring? Turning about, now, she begins to take the stairs, a wave given behind her, before she's up now and checking on her patient..