Expose

Marcus knew that for Khaat, being in the spotlight, was against everything she believed in.  She loathed it.  She had been hiding now, as was her father, for the past eight months. She had been disfigured by James Blood, and the scars on her face were something she was self conscious of.  They ran down her left cheek and her neck. Her left arm was paralyzed because Blood had crushed her shoulder.  Marcus had seen the hideous scars that covered her arm and her shoulder, stretching across her back.  Blood had nearly killed her.  The constant pain was only tolerable with the strongest pain potions Robert knew how to brew, and Robert had issues of his own.

Marcus understood why there had been a request for her to do an interview, an expose of the inner world of the Lupin family in order to answer the questions everyone had been asking.  Where were they? For a family that seemed to have everything, why were they so affected? And was this only directed to them, or were the others in their world in danger too?  

If there were dangers, what were they and what was the Lupin family doing to try to restore order to their world?

It hadn't been an interview Khaat had wanted to do, but some of their allies were pressing upon Khaat and Robert to come out of hiding and say something. She had put the interview off, but after much debate and discussion, the Lupins had reluctantly decided to give the interview. Khaat was the only reasonable choice to do so.

And so, the room up above the Leaky had been rented again and furnished according to Ministry needs.  Formal furniture. Sofas, chairs, tables, beautiful lamps, rugs, tapestries, a fire in the fireplace. Tea in the kettle on the hearth, and a full tea tray.  Her own staff had come in and added fresh cut flowers simply because Khaat loved them.  It was redecorated as a ministry office with a sitting area, with some feminine touches that said the space belonged to a woman.

Marcus was relentlessly perfectionistic with security.  He was rigid, and he wanted to be sure that nothing went wrong. He set fierce protection spells around the room and posted guards inside the Leaky and out.  The only guard that would be with her, would not leave her, was Marcus himself.  He wasn't even bringing her until he knew this room passed his inspection.  

And once it did, he left the guards to secure the room, and left and brought Khaat.  She was recovering from having her twins just a few short days before. She had chosen a silk wrap dress in a beautiful tasteful spring floral, with long flowing sleeves. It was just chilly today, so she had worn a duster length crocheted off white sweater. She'd finished it with elegant beige heels and subtle jewelry.  There was no disguising the scars, but Marcus was very proficient at helping her with glamour spells for her makeup and her hair. Glamour spells had been a necessary thing that he had had to learn years ago when guarding other high profile clients. It wasn't usually good enough just to keep a client safe. Marcus had often been expected to make sure they looked good too.

He knew she was afraid when he brought her. He felt it.  

"Sit and breathe," he said to her. "It'll be fine.  The tea should be ready, and she should be here any time now, if she's on time."

"You're staying, right?" Khaat asked, knowing the answer already but needing to hear the words.

"Yes," he said, giving her a quick smile, "You know I am. It'll be fine."

Today was the day Pansy had been waiting for for a long time. Since before Khaat had gone missing, before the battle at Hogwarts and before Lupin had been rushed into St Mungo's. All reporters for almost all media outlets had desired an interview with Khaat Lupin and alas Pansy Parkinson-Nott had secured one.

It hadn't been easy. She'd wrote to the Lupin family once a month for the past eight months, she'd sent them bribes - not that they needed money - at one point Pansy had even offered to allow Khaat to proof read her article before publishing. Nothing seemed to sway the secretive family from their stance of 'no'. However since she had gone missing, and after watching her side apparate with Marcus Belby and Hallie Rookwood Pansy had written to Khaat every day. No doubt they were inundated with letters from other reports but Pansy didn't give up. Most of her colleagues sent one letter, maybe two at the most knowing Khaat wasn't one to give interviews but Pansy was determined to write an exclusive if it was the last article she ever wrote. A part of her figured it wouldn't be so bad. If it did turn out to be her final article that would only be because the pureblood had been promoted to an editor. The thought made her eyes blaze with passion.

Rising early Pansy had remained her interview with Khaat a secret, she'd even booked a weeks holiday off from work. One day off work would draw questions but a week suggested a short vacation and with it being her birthday only last week her boss didn't question the matter. Everything was perfectly falling into place.

Wearing a tight grey pencil skirt, a white blouse beneath a professional looking floor-length cloak the witch apparated along with her quick-quotes quill and parchment pad before arriving in an alleyway from Charing Cross Road. Right on time Pansy strutted from the alleyway and past an old bookstore before arriving at the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron.

A man wearing a suit was standing by the entrance of the famed pub. Smirking to herself Pansy strutted past him, pushed open the door and stepped into the surprisingly normal Leaky Cauldron. There were the local oldies ordering their morning firewhiskey from the bar, a group of witches gossiping in the corner about something they'd read in witch weekly's and a waitress collecting glasses and forgotten breakfast plates. Everything appeared normal. Pansy figured that was the best disguise. If the entire pub had been closed then it would only arouse suspicion.

Striding across the bar Pansy walked up the wooden staircase, followed at a distance by a grumpy looking wizard with a walrus mustache. To anyone but Pansy they'd assume she was going to her room and he to his but the reporter guessed different. The death eater predicted him to be part of Khaat's guard, monitoring who goes up and down the staircase.

'I do know my way.' Pansy stated as she came to another security guard who was standing at the corner of the hallway that led to the private parlor where Khaat would be staying. Grinning flirtatiously at the guard (he was sort of handsome) Pansy cantered straight down the corridor and into Khaat's room without a knock.

'Good morning, Miss Lupin, Mr Belby.' Pansy announced as she shut the door behind her and made her way to a seat that had conveniently been set up opposite Khaat's. 'How are you today?' The witch added conversationally as she pulled out an acid green quick-quotes quill and a thick wad of parchment, allowing them to rest of a coffee table as an overly sweet smile spread from the corners of her lips.

"Good morning," Khaat said. "I don't know if you know my guard, Mr. Belby, but he will also be our host today."

"'Tea's ready," Marcus said, pouring the tea from the kettle on the hearth into a proper pot and bringing it to the tea tray on the coffee table. "How do you take your Earl Grey, Ms. Parkinson-Nott?"

He knew how Khaat took her tea. She typically didn't. She much preferred French Roast to tea. When she did drink tea, it was usually without cream or sugar either one. Just plain. He understood that. He had come to like it that way himself. There had been too many years where he hadn't had time for the folderol of milk and sugar. Now it was just habit.

For Khaat it had been a combination of persuasive letters from Lorcan D'Eath and Katrina Carlotta Du Hunt, along with Pansy's that got her to even show them to her father. There had been discussions--as much as Robert could discuss anything. And it was the result of those negotiations that had gotten this to come about. The Death Eaters had made reasonable points. Well worded logic that had been presented in a way to get past the Lupin rigid resistance to letting the public into their lives.

"I've gotten quite a stack of letters," Khaat said. "So I imagine you have a good many questions. Where would you like to begin?"

'I'm aware.' Pansy replied tilting her head forwards slightly as her dark eyes penetrated through Marcus. The reporter had made it her interest to find out who the important figures in society were and Marcus Belby, being Khaat's personal bodyguard, was high up on her list of people to know. It did make Pansy wonder whether Khaat paid attention to the prophet as she'd name dropped him in an article summerising the battle. Then again it wouldn't surprise the death eater if Khaat hadn't picked up the prophet in her life given her strong stance against the prophet.

'Five sugars please, Mr Belby.' Pansy replied, maintaining her adopted politeness. Five sugars was extreme, Pansy was aware as many of her friends had told her in the past. Not that it bothered Pansy, the sweeter the better it fueled her 'sour quill' as her husband liked to call it.

'First of all I'd like to thank you for meeting with me today after the many letters you received.' Pansy began, nodding at the mention of the letters. 'I think we'll get straight into the big questions shall we? Uncover what is behind Khaat Lupin and see if we can provide the nation with explanations behind the problems that had been plaguing our country? So. Why you? Why do you think Blood has taken a likening to you? Is he perhaps attracted to your power? Do you have something he would like?'

"Five it is," Marcus said. He put the sugars in the cup, poured the tea, stirred it and then passed the cup and saucer to the reporter. He poured a cup of tea for Khaat without cream or sugar and passed it to her. It was only then that he took is position in the room standing midway between the door and the window so he could have a good vantage of either.

"Thank you, Marcus," Khaat said. She turned her attention to Pansy again. "James Blood has several agendas. I am only one of them, and I am the least of them, actually. James was turned into a werewolf by Fenrir Greyback at a young age, and, from what I gather, has been quite the student of Greyback's desires to spread lycanthropy as possible.

"What makes Blood different in that regard is that he's added a page or two from his own playbook to that. Blood isn't just out to spread lycanthropy. He takes it a bit further. He appears to genuinely believe that werewolves are the superior species, and he wants to turn all of humanity to werewolves. Those who won't agree to being turned, he has said, will have to die.

"He is working to grow a significant sized pack--whether by turning humans or by, as he calls it, 'having cubs.' Once he gets new pack members, he educates them into how to be an animal in his pack and how to hunt and how to kill.

"James also has very precious little conscience. He kills, and he doesn't think twice. He's very mechanized about it. He lost his humanity a long time ago. He thinks like in a very primal way, and he acts that way. He should be considered very deadly and extremely dangerous.

"You asked, though, why me. I have asked myself that, and I've asked him. Werewolf slayer Edward Donohue has the only theory that seems to make sense. Edward believes that, first, I was merely a symbolic trophy. James resents that my uncle was a legend not for being a werewolf but in how he used his humanity. James has called my uncle a 'traitor to his own kind.' So, it sounds to me like perhaps Donohue is right.

"He theorizes that James would consider it quite the trophy to be able to say he either turned me to a werewolf or killed me. One or the other. Or at least that's what got James paying attention to me in the first place. His motives do seem to have shifted now, though. It has gotten immensely more complicated," she sighed. She took a sip of her tea.

It was surprising that the quick-quotes quill hadn't set the parchment on fire as it scratched furiously in an attempt to keep up with Khaat Lupin as she spoke about Blood, his motives and how she fit into his agenda.

Pansy hadn't realised but as Khaat had spoken about Blood believing that werewolves were the superior race the witch had pursed her lips and cringed slightly. Sure Fenrir Greyback had been a death eater, a recognised death eater, when Pansy was at school but back then she was simply that: a silly school girl. Of course her distaste towards halfbreeds had already formed but now, forty seven years of age, Pansy was even more anti-werewolf.

The reporter couldn't deny how fortunate she was to be in the seat she was sitting as she watched the quick-quotes-quill move onto a second piece of parchment. Not that Pansy would openly admit it, after all it was her hard work and determination that had gotten her here. It was her above the other reporters who hadn't given up writing to Khaat. She'd spent time and time attempting to catch an exclusive story and now it proved her reward was beyond what gold could buy. This certainly would be front page news.

'I see.' Pansy said as she took a sip of her tea not really knowing how to reply to Khaat's shockingly open reply. Thankfully this was an interview and Pansy had all the time in the world to bombard Lupin with more questions. 'So you're simply the cherry on the cake in his agenda?' Pansy summarised before pressing on to find more answers: 'Families are being torn apart, students have even become werewolves after that horrific night at Hogwarts, which I hope to get onto later, but if Blood is so dangerous what is the ministry doing to halt him?'

Pansy wanted to know more about the ministry's objectives and how involved the Lupins were with the ministry. Robert Lupin was of course the Minister, he had inforced the educational decrees but Pansy's insiders within the Ministry had told her the Lupins hadn't been seen at all. Was it that they were hiding from Blood? Or from someone else? Had they lost all power within the ministry? Attempting to steer the conversation more into those matters before returning to talk about the battle at Hogwarts Pansy continued to drink her tea whilst awaiting Khaat's reply.

"It would appear that way, wouldn't it?" Khaat said, knowing that it appeared that she was a mere trophy. "In James' case, his infatuation with me does appear to be more complicated. There is, apparently, a condition that sometimes does affect a werewolf so strongly that once he gets set upon a certain creature as prey, he no longer sees straight.

"In a werewolf's case, its a sort of bloodlust. James has, in every way but putting a name to it, has admitted this affects him when it comes to me. James and I have tangled before. The first time, I think it was more to annoy my father than anything else. Blood is a cheeky buggar. He has clawed me more than once. He now has enough of a taste for me that he has made it quite clear that he does not intend to let me go. The marks I have now were very intentional on his part. He marked me as a territorial gesture. He considers me to belong to him now because of it and he intends to take me one way or another. He isn't going to stop until he manages it.

"Make no mistake. This isn't about any sort of desire to make me a part of his pack. To him, I am merely prey that he isn't done hunting. Frankly, I have no intention of just handing myself over as a blood sacrifice. No pun intended. Especially when it would accomplish nothing. His agenda of turning the rest of the human race would remain. And when he gets done turning the wizarding world into werewolves, eliminating the muggles becomes decidedly easier for him. He's not seeing this as England being enough for him. He would much prefer to own the planet, and he has kidnapped and killed men, women, and children to prove his point.

"Anyway, because of my medical issues, I can't honestly give you a detailed briefing on what the folks in the Law Enforcement department are doing. I do know they are saying they are tracking down every single lead to try to find him and to try to stop him. I trust that they are. We also have a great many fighters, aurors, and other magical disciplines from across the globe who have come to join us, to help us try to put a stop to Blood before he kills us all.

"It is critically important is that no one should be going renegade in trying to get him themselves. There is no outstanding financial reward or guarantee of fame to try to entice anyone to go out to nab him in some bid for wealth or glory. That's been quite purposeful to try to deter the public from something that is sure to be utter folly.

"James' pack is growing all the time. Even by himself, James is nearly unstoppable. Did you know that he stands almost 7 foot tall? And when he's transformed into werewolf form he's bigger yet. He is a bodybuilder, so every inch of him is solid muscle. To catch him and his pack is going to take a force of highly trained specialists working together."

Her own multiple memories of James and his horrors were vivid. She tried to maintain her professional distance, but the fear and pain she'd lived through was something that no human being should ever have lived through. Not ever. She had been trained from some of her earliest memories to know how to fight, to know how to handle fear, and to know how to survive. But James--James was worth the trouble it took to being afraid of him.

"I cannot impress upon your readers enough," she said quietly, "this isn't a game. We will always welcome more support working with us, but we certainly do not ever want someone trying to do this on their own. They'll have no realistic idea what they're in for. It is..unimaginable."

She was distracted right at that moment by Marcus adding a log to the fire and moving it into place in the grate with the fireplace poker. She glanced at him, actually grateful from the distraction. It allowed her to regain her emotional distance before Pansy's next question.

Two more piece of parchments had been covered in ink and Pansy was finding it even harder to hold back her deliciously pleased smile. Khaat was divulging more details than Pansy predicted. The reporter had thought she'd need to fight to obtain the nitty gritty information but that wasn't the case. What a treat.

In spite of the reporters secret glee on how big this exclusive would explode she was starting to feel sick. James Blood was a monster, a monster with a target. He wanted Khaat's blood for the pure sake of it, because he was mentally deranged and after that intended to take over the world. Pansy doubted he would get that far but if he were to capture and kill Khaat no doubt he would feel invincible. What would become his next target? Hogwarts? Take over the student body and form his own army of werewolves? Pansy shuddered. Her children were at Hogwarts.

She was rather disappointed on how little information Khaat had about the ministry but maybe there were still some secrets her Father knew, after all he was supposedly the minister of magic.

'Well I can say after the interview is published I think people will start to take Blood more seriously.' Pansy replied, not in an effort to ease Khaat and provide hope that Blood would be stop but for her own comfort. Her children were at Hogwarts and if they were to become werewolves - Pansy didn't like to dwell on that.

'That explains why Blood stopped his attack on the students at Hogwarts when you arrived.' Pansy began, returning to the topic of Hogwarts. 'I've spoken to eye witnesses, even people involved but the information the public received about the matter was a little foggy. You may not have read my article about the invasion but, to help bring clarity to the subject, would you be willing to give me a blow by blow of everything at happened?'

"Ah," Khaat said, "That was a piece of history that, I admit, I didn't see coming up today, but if it does alert the public to the sort of danger we're all in, then that's all I care about.  Our former Deputy Minister of Magic, Thaor Elldir, fell ill a year or so ago.  We discovered, much too late to help him, that he was bewitched.  He went on the run, and we weren't able track him to help him.  

"You need to remember that Thaor was a very powerful wizard, and his skill level was a good part of the reason he had earned his post in the Ministry.  That night--the night Thaor died--the night the school was breeched, he literally blew the gates off their hinges at the school, deluded into thinking he still was the Headmaster there.  

"My mother was in Hogsmeade that night, visiting friends, and when the gates were breeched, the explosion was loud enough that they all responded. They were forced to engage in a battle with Thaor, and it was that breech of the gates that made it possible for James to enter and kill some students and take others and turn them for additions to his pack.

"I wasn't there that night--not until my friends asked me to come. It was their thought that, because James wanted me more than he wanted to cause mayhem at the school, if they offered me up as bait to James, they might be able to lure him off the grounds.  So that's what we did.  I offered myself to him, on the condition that he claim me off the grounds.  Once we had James off the grounds and he knew he wasn't getting me, he had nothing more to gain by being there, and he left.

"We had to do whatever it took to get him and his pack off the grounds," she said quietly. "Had to stop the killing and stop him from taking any more students to join his pack."  

She remembered she was still critically ill enough that night from her injuries from James that she was not able to stand. Belby had been with her that night too.  He had been the only reason she had been upright. She remembered distinctly ordering her bodyguard to be sure he himself killed her if he could not keep James from getting her.  Marcus had sworn he wasn't going to let that happen, and he had kept his word.

As it turned out, she had been one of the most powerful weapons the Ministry had that night in fighting James. Those who were involved in the quest to stop James knew that his bloodlust for Khaat was, to date, his deepest flaw.  She was the one thing he was willing to take any risk to get.  She was still the best weapon they had for defeating him, and that meant they had to make sure they protected her, at every cost.  

There had been a very small pause in the room. There was as much in what she didn't say as in what she did.  

"Makes all this family privacy and high security make a bit more sense, doesn't it?" Khaat said in a bit more of a personal tone, as a bit of an after thought.

A gleam spread across Pansy's face. Given how prepared she presumed Khaat to be it felt somewhat pleasing to catch her off guard, ask her something she hadn't thought about. Not that her answer provided much more clarity, the general gist of the incident was already know but the juicy details on Thaor would provide for an extra flavour to the article the reporter would soon be working hard on.

Any normal person would have held more respect for Lupin, giving herself up as bait in her already ill condition was noble. However Pansy wasn't a normal person, or she wasn't a self-giving person to be more precise. Had it been her she would have fled, allowed the aurors to drive Blood from the grounds to save her own neck. Although a part of Pansy was appreciative of what Khaat had done. Sure she didn't like to admit it, but it was perhaps because of the woman before her that had kept her own children alive. They'd been in the boats, sailing away. The death eater didn't like to think what would have happened had Khaat not arrived and offered herself as a trophy for Blood...

'You certainly will have the nation behind you after this interview.' Pansy stated as she drained the last of her tea. 'I don't envy you.' the reporter added, 'Having to hide away, stay out of sight because you never know where danger could be waiting.'
What was that? Pansy didn't know, she hadn't mean't to say it it had simply escaped from her lips. It wasn't a mark of gratitude, nor was it a mark of respect it was... It was something Pansy hadn't expected. Moving quickly on Pansy fired another set of questions at Khaat:

'So we've discussed the battle at Hogwarts, the dangers of James Blood the next thing I was hoping you'd talk about is the marriage law. What is your stance on this matter and can you give our readers an in depth reason behind this law?'