Subjective Identity

Gideon checked his pocketwatch. It was time to go. Dropping the watch in his pocket, he picked up the hotel room key and left the hotel, dropping the key in his pocket. He was dressed, uncommonly for him, in a charcoal colored muggle business suit. Aside from his general distaste of muggle suits, he was typically meticulously dressed.

He left Madrid's Hotel Orfila and walked out of the hotel into the morning sunlight. Things were typically busy with muggle traffic and nonsense that Gideon did not like. One of the valets offered to get him a cab.

"Thank you," he said, "But that won't be necessary. I'll walk." It was a good mile or so, and he followed an irregular path of side streets, through art galleries and other things in a round about path to get to the older section of town, in some well maintained but very old small houses with stucco facades. This was a small wizarding side street. Such side streets were spiderwebbed through the city, and held small shops that muggles very rarely knew anything about.

He found the wizarding apothecary and went in. He hoped his order was ready. After all, he sent his owl days ago. Inside, it smelled like herbs and potions, and the shelves were crowded with all manner of bottles and jars and tins.

A lot of things had changed for Hallie since she slipped through the hands of the dementors of Azkaban. For a start she had dyed her hair brown. There were a couple of reasons for this. One being that she simply wanted a fresh start, a change. Another was to remove any link that she still held with Theodore Rookwood. Blondie, is what he had called her and everytime she looked at her blonde hair it had only reminded her of his face that day he walked out of St Mungo's and leaving her alone to grieve. Her hair wasn't the only difference. Hallie had developed a slight tan from living just outside of Madrid and she had cut herself off completely from the magical world.

Of course Hallie still had her wand but this was used rarely. Both Amelia and Hallie had adopted muggle identities upon their escape to Madrid. Amelia becoming a muggle teacher whilst Hallie had found a job in a flourist in the older part of town. It was a quiet life. Nobody knew of her, nobody stopped and stared, nobody whispered behind their hands. Nobody knew anything about her and it was refreshing. For the first time in a long time Hallie finally felt free from the mess that she'd landed herself into back in Britain.

Each day was still another step although time had healed. Hallie had come to accept her miscarriage, come to accept her derailed marriage and how Gideon Pierce had won. She wasn't one to give up but giving up, only for a moment, was what Hallie had needed to keep herself strong. So the wizarding community of Britain would be under the thumb of Pierce, placed in marriages that were doomed to fail. At least she was free, had escaped and was rebuilding her life - even if that mean't she couldn't be an auror.

Was Hallie disappointed that all the hard work, the effort she had put in studying for her NEWT's and Auror Training was a waste? Yes. Although it had brought her to where she was today and, in all honesty, Hallie realised being an auror wasn't what she really wanted after all. A part of her was simply doing it to remain close to her Father and follow his legacy, to be like him. Hallie wasn't like her Father, in more ways than she didn't know, but she wasn't Robert Cooper. She was his daughter.

Hallie's shift at the flourist was due to start around ten o clock, however something delayed her. A man, a man with a charcoal business suit, dark hair and a satan-esque glare across his face. The sight of the man caused Hallie to freeze in her tracks. Thankfully he hadn't seen her, Hallie was free to continue walking through the side streets to the flourist but instead her feet carried her in the shadow of Gideon Pierce.

Gideon was the minister of magic what on earth was he doing in Madrid? Especially the older part of town, the part where... Hallie had never really thought about where the wizarding sector would be but no doubt it would be found within the older part, not unlike Diagon Alley.

Hallie watched as he entered an apothecary. How had she not seen the apothecary before? The witch had walked through this area multiple times before. Regardless Hallie quickly glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She was recognisable, her hair was brown but her eyes gave her away too much. Well, Hallie would have to keep her head down.

Pushing the door open, with a jingle of a bell, Hallie quickly turned and walked towards the wall opposite from Gideon making sure to keep her back from him as her eyes fixed on a jar of pufferfish hearts whilst her ears were fully focused on any conversation Gideon would be having.

The bell in the shop rang shortly after Gideon entered. He turned, always suspicious, his hand on the wand in his pocket, and saw a dark haired woman perusing a shelf of love potions. Loser, he thought. Love potions were almost always for desperate losers. She wasn't worth his attention.

An old wizard came out from a back room. The old man was dressed layers of all black robes. He wore large onyx rings on every finger.

"Well, well," the wizard said, unafraid. "So, you finally need my help. Your father thought he could handle things on his own too."

"My father is a vegetable," Gideon said coldly.

"I know," the man flashed Gideon a sinister smile. "You did a fine job, that."

"He deserved a lot more than he got. Do you have my order ready?"

"I said I would, didn't I? This is a lot of polyjuice, though. You've depleted my stores. I told you it would cost you extra. Do you have my money?"

Gideon sighed. The money was a mere detail, nothing more. He drew out a large envelope, crammed with bills. He turned it over to the old wizard, who took his time counting every single one. Satisfied, he tucked the envelope into his black robes.

The wizard drew out a large valise from under the counter and placed it on the counter. Gideon opened the valise and found it was stuffed full of small, identical bottles, all with blank labels. He picked one up and opened it and smelled it.

"No one has ever requested that much polyjuice in one order, but its all there, all packaged in small pocket sized bottles, as you requested," the wizard said..

"And you will make more," Gideon said.

"Of course. As you requested, but it should take you a long time to get through all that."

"Perhaps," Gideon said. "Perhaps not." He shut the valise.

"The ingredients are hard to find," the old man said. "Especially in those amounts. The next supply will cost you more."

"No," Gideon said with an eerie threatening tone in his voice. "It won't. You'll make it, and I won't give you one sickle more than the agreed upon price. Are we understood?" He flashed the old wizard a smile. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Gideon picked up the valise and had intended to turn to the door.

"Pierce," the old man called him back. "What are you intending to do with that much?"

"Cleaning up loose ends," Gideon grinned.

"And let me guess," the old wizard said quietly. "Robert Lupin is a loose end you want to be rid of."

"One of several," Gideon said.

Hallie picked up the jar of pufferfish hearts and let it roll in her palms as she pretended to examine the label on the back all the time paying close attention to the conversation across the shop.

His Father was a vegetable? Pierce had done a fine job? What did that mean exactly? That Pierce had landed his Father in St Mungo's with permanent mental damage? Hallie had heard of that being possible before. The legendary Longbottom aurors had been sentenced to such a horror at the wand of Bellatrix Lestrange, surely Pierce wasn't as adept as Lestrange at dark magic?

Hallie almost dropped the jar, quickly stooping to catch the jar before it smashed. Thankfully she was able to pass off the motion of crouching and reaching for a leaflet about the ingredients of love potion that the shelf held. Not that they were of any interest to Hallie. What she was more focused on was what Gideon had just purchased: Polyjuice Potion.

Surely he could acquire polyjuice potion much more easily than having to a sly dealing in Spain? Surely Pierce had an arson of people working for him to brew up enough potions for him to do whatever it was he wanted. Unless he didn't want anybody to know, especially if it involved Robert Lupin.

"Robert Lupin is a loose end you want to be rid of-"

"One of several."

People were in trouble. Whatever Gideon was trying to hide was clearly rather destructive, possibly illegal for him to come to Spain to acquire polyjuice potion. Wasn't he supposed to deputy minister, practically minister now? Unless things had changed back in Britain - that was the only viable explanation for Gideon's being in Spain.

Of course Pierce could have been visiting the Spanish minister and had decided to pop in on his return to Britain, however something was telling Hallie this wasn't the case. Gideon planned to return here. If he was still powerful, still had people tied around his finger they would happily go along with whatever plan Gideon was brewing?

I need a newspaper. I need to know what's going on. Hallie had shut herself away from the magical world for too long. It was needed but now she was healed and it wasn't until this moment did Hallie realise how healed she was for now she'd gotten past the troubles that haunted her, the brunette wanted to return to Britain and warn someone, help in any way that she could. Either Hallie was going crazy or Gideon really was up to something although Hallie was most certain on the latter.

Hallie, unaware, was tapping his foot anxiously against the stone floor her eyes staring right through the leaflet in front as faces flashed across her mind: Toby. Maura. Ryo. Khaat. Marcus. These people were people she cared about, sure the latter were ones that Hallie wasn't close to but they'd helped her and her them. It had made a bond between them and Hallie had no idea how they were or how their lives were.

Theodore. She hadn't thought about him for weeks now. The first month in Spain he was all that she'd thought about but in the process of shedding memories of him Hallie had gone brunette. His dark features, his strong jaw, the narrow eyes, the thin lips. For the first time in a while his face didn't cause her pain. Hallie could return. Hallie needed to return. Spain was lovely, tranquil, therapeutic, but it wasn't her home. Spain wasn't where the witch was mean't to live out her life.

"You never stopped hating old men, did you?" the old man laughed.

"No."

"Why is Lupin so important? He's not Luther, you know."

"No, but he thought he was undefeatable. So does Lupin."

The old man narrowed his gaze at Pierce as if he were a boy. "I've never known of him to claim any such thing."

"I will defeat him," Pierce said, his hatred more than apparent.

"And, if you do, what do you get out of it?"

Pierce looked at the old man as if he were stupid. "Why, I win the game. That's what I get."

"You're doing this because you want to win the game," the old man repeated.

"No," Gideon said. "I'm doing this because I can."

"So," the old man was interested in shifting the subject. "Will you be visiting your parents while you're here?"

"Not this time," Gideon said. "I have things to do."

"Does that mean you'll be turning down Agatha's invitation for dinner?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Gideon smiled, the first hint of any warmth in Pierce's eyes.

"I'll tell her, then."

Gideon nodded and turned. The dark haired woman was still there. Gideon rolled his eyes. He walked over to her. Cow's looking on the wrong shelf, he thought. He picked up a bottle of glamour potion.

"Try this one, Darling," he said, his charming tone deliberately working to hide the derision he wanted to put forth. "You use this one first, you might not need the second."

So Gideon was up to something, something regarding Lupin in the fact that he wanted to destroy him. Win the game. Hadn't Gideon already won? He'd essentially dethroned Robert Lupin, unless of course things had changed in Britain. Had Lupin returned to power? That would seem the only explanation other than Lupin had announced himself well and Gideon was now working under Robert. However, for some reason, Hallie didn't see that happened. Robert Lupin wouldn't allow such a thing given Pierce's actions over the past year.

Maybe coming to Madrid was a bad idea after all. Sure it had healed Hallie but now she was faced with a problem, a problem the witch would have only occured back in Britain. Evidently she couldn't escape the life that she had wanted to leave behind. That life was in her blood. It was fate for her to continue breathing the air where she'd tried and failed, felt love and felt heartache, found friendship and clashed wands. Hallie had to return now more than ever for there were people to warn.

Each hair on her body shot up. A cold chll had frosted across her skin leaving nervous goosebumps whilst the vessels in her neck began to throb furiously. Gideon was besides her, handing her a bottle of something that she needn't care about. He was going to see her, stare into her eyes and discover her identity. Why hadn't she used a tad bit of human transfiguration before entering the store?

'I'm just browsing.' Hallie muttered in a failed attempt at a Spanish accent, quickly turning her head away from Gideon and hurrying towards the door. She needed to leave, find her Mother and return to England before Pierce caught on to who she was.