milliways_bar | (no subject)

*approaches with tray*

Evening, sir. Fancy some crisps or nuts?

Um. Crisps would be brilliant, thanks.

*selects large bowl and places it carefully accessible to Wensley's right hand*

There you are, sir. Enjoy.

Thanks.

I'm Wensleydale. I don't think we've met...

*extends hand*

How do you do? I'm Gil, the cook. I'm usually in the kitchen at this time but I'm waiting tables tonight until the waiting staff come in. Pleased to meet you Wenslydale.

*shakes his hand firmly*

Good to meet you! The food here is amazing.

*goes pink with pleasure*

Thank you sir! If ever you fancy anything in particular just let me know. I can usually manage it.

*glances at the menu*

Wow. I think I'll be just fine with the specials tonight, thanks.

Angelo, talking to the Man with No Name, notices Wensley checking out the room and eyes him curiously for a moment, wondering what he's up to. Superhero instincts die hard, or something.

[OOC: Wah! He's only looking for his girlfriiiend!!]

[ooc: awwww! don't mind Angelo, he's just naturally suspicious. ;)]

Peter steps into the bar from the House of Arch, and, spotting Wensleydale, walks over to the young man's table and places Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

"That was pretty good," he says in a surprised tone. "I knew a lot of it--I heard Harry's version of what happened in the Chamber back in Gryffindor Tower, and once I arrived here, I heard about Tom and the basilisk from...well, Tom. But it was interesting to see everything put together."

He gets a conspiratorial look in his eye. "Though for the record--Gilderoy Lockhart was even more of a git than in the book. And he was just as bad when he was younger. He was in Slytherin, you know. I felt a bit sorry for his housemates--it's no great pleasure to be in a house that's noted for producing tons of Dark Wizards and Witches, but to be stuck in that same house with an utter fool...

"And Fudge was always an obsequieous toady. Another Slytherin, I'm told, though I don't know him personally; he's a generation or two my senior. Bloody idiot joined Voldemort six months ago, or so I heard from Tonks and Crowley. Wanted to be on the winning side. Well, he's gone now, thank God, and safely in Azkaban. And Amelia Bones is running things as interim Minister of Magic. Nice to have someone competent in charge for a change.

"At least Fudge did one good thing--by confessing to being a Death Eater newly marked by Voldemort, and by showing the Wizengamot and the press his Dark Mark, he completely destroyed the 'Voldemort is safely dead' theory that the Ministry's been cultivating for ages."

Gilderoy Lochhart was a Slytherin?

*Wensley considers this for a moment*

I suppose that shouldn't really surprise me, actually. From what I know, I doubt he had a very easy time of it though.

Wait... Fudge is a Death Eater? When did that happen?

*Jeremy leans forward, his eyes alight with interest*

"Lockhart was a Slytherin, and no, he didn't have much of an easy time. Snape and Remus both roundly detested him--I think that was the closest they ever came to agreeing on anything. Neither one had much use for incompetence and vanity. Most of Hogwarts tried to ignore him, I believe. Never made much of a dent in his ego, I'm afraid.

"Fudge joined the Death Eaters about six months before his recent exposure by Tonks and Crowley. So say February or March of 1996. Though he was collaborating before that--trying to stay on Voldemort's good side in case Voldemort and the Death Eaters won, just as he was trying to stay on Dumbledore's good side in case the Order won. Utter slime.

"Tom remembers him from school; Fudge was a couple of years ahead of him. Very proud of being a pureblood with money and an influential family, Fudge was. A bit of a bully, too, with a tongue like a whip. Didn't like halfbloods or Muggleborns, not at all. And he thought Muggles were lower than animals.

"But when Tom started becoming a fairly powerful Dark Wizard--which he did fairly early, around thirteen or fourteen--Fudge did a 180 and started being the lickspittle toady we all know and despise."

Peter frowns. "Tom said that he put Fudge under the Imperius curse early and often, mostly for humiliation or revenge. Fudge had NO resistence. But the Wizengamot and the Aurors checked Fudge when he confessed; and there's no trace--well, no recent trace--that he was Imperius'd or otherwise cursed prior to becoming a Death Eater. He joined Voldemort all on his own."

*Jeremy gapes*

Wow. That's interesting. I bet none of that will end up in the books. What a load of... wow.

"Well, it wouldn't be in any of the books that exist now. He was only exposed as a Death Eater in the past month.

"The next book, though..." Peter looks doubtful. "Sirius and Remus and I should be in it. And I'm not sure how much anyone knows about us, or about all the seemingly impossible things that happened in Harry's third year. I mean, I'm supposed to be dead. And I don't know if anyone but Sirius's friends ever believed he was innocent." Peter pinches his nose and sighs. "The third book could be bad, Wensley. Horribly, nightmarishly bad."