#norah is so lily coded

[daiziesssart]

nick and norah’s infinite playlist jily au…… think about it

[mccallofthemoon]

The New Order or whatever name Teddy and his cousin had settled on for their group had taken to meeting in smaller groups, staggered at odd times recently, better for schedules, better for staying inconspicuous. There were still be big assemblies sometimes too like there had been in the summer, but there were now more splinter groups and different levels than there had even been  originally, and change was one of the only constants in how things were run. Astrid would have teased Teddy about turning into one of those paranoid old aurors who couldn’t so much as take a breath without imagining ten different traps that had been set or a dozen villains lurking around them if she wasn’t sure that it was mostly Roxanne’s twitchiness that caused the many shake-ups and if it wasn’t actually very well advised considering one of those fingered by Lara Avery--the one that acted most guilty, becoming little more than a ghost since the event and one whose father had been put down by Astrid herself at the Selwyn wedding using dark spells--had been part of one of their splinter groups until  that event.

Wards and passwords, meeting times and procedures, and other manner of security had been changed since then, and then had come the different theories on how to be even more unpredictable but, if anything, Astrid wondered if it was enough.  They used other places, yes, but still running half their meetings out of a location a possible enemy, a likely enemy, knew well wasn’t the most strategic decision. Those concerns had been raised in May though and now by October it was a shelved battle that likely wasn’t going to be discussed again unless a problem arose.

A problem wasn’t what Astrid was expecting, not any more than usual of any wary--but in no way old and paranoid--auror would be, as she made her way to the house shared by several of the university students who Roxanne and Teddy treated as a support team. They were supposed to be arriving in different ways. Astrid knew Professor Thomas and a few others were apparating into the back gardens where they would be hard to spot entering, some coming through floo from Madam Puddifoot’s, fireplace having been disconnected from the larger network for the day but left hooked to the tea shop, two from the house for sale across the street, and Astrid was supposed to come by foot, walking with Roxanne and Charlie from the construction site around Weasley Wizard Wheezes (The rebuild was really coming along. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were ready to reopen by November) and taking a feigned detour when Roxanne would remember something she needed to pop in to her friends’ house for and tell them to come with her instead of continuing on without her. A lot of pretense for no audience, but Astrid was willing to play along.

The different points of entry were a clever move however, as was the idea the arrivals were all supposed to be staggered. Those apparating into the empty property across the way were supposed to be last, which was why when Astrid caught what seemed to be a flash of movement in one of the windows out of the corner of her eye a full fifteen minutes before anyone was supposed to be there when passing by she found it worth checking out even when she looked back and saw nothing, not even a shadow,

She entered the house with Charlie and Roxanne at first, making hr excuses of not feeling well on the stairs and leaving them to go up to the attic while she went “down to the kitchen to get a glass of water and see what the kids had for headaches” and promised to grab Charlie what she could find even if it was the lamentable beer dear Ed Corner kept trying to pass off to him. She knew if she said she saw something off and was going to investigate both of her companions would have charged across the street, wands ready and fire in hand before she cold say the word “unsubtle,” so she didn’t feel any compunction about the minor deception. She slipped back out the back door and wound her way to the other house after casting a disillusionment charm on herself. It was far from perfect invisibility but it would keep her from being noticed until she got close if there was something or someone to be noticed by. She kept her steps quiet, and went for the back door and a whispered alohomora  The door made noise when opened, but she didn’t need to worry about attracting attention with the slight sound, not because the house was empty as suppose to be after all but because she could see, looking beyond the kitchen to the great room that could be seen due to the open floorplan of the building that the two figures inside were engrossed in their own affairs, backs turned as they were stationed at the front windows, disillusioned themselves or just keeping to corners, chanting incantations she recognized snatches of from training and though she could remember exactly what magic they were supposed to summon forth she knew it had been covered under terrorist situations, some large scale curse from Magicks Most Evile or the like. It would be lie to say she even remembered how to reverse or halt the incantation, except for the obvious: no spell was easy to complete when concentration was broken.

“Hogsmeade auror’s department, stand down!” She shouted the requisite warning, but didn’t wait to be the one shot at except perhaps a token second of delay she could call forth if there was a conduct trial later to prove she had paused and the targets refused to halt their spellcasting before she fired the same kneecap shattering spell she’d used to incapacitate the troublesome Mr. Willow at the Selwyn wedding  at the female target before the girl yelled and turned enough as she fell that Astrid saw she was Willow’s daughter, the possible Jonathan Marks accomplice. Fitting.

The light that had connected Elektra’s wand to her partner’s and then shot out the window toward the house where the Head Auror and several other Hogsmeade residents with ties to the resistance were dissipated immediately and the male spellcaster turned and raised his wand higher. He got halfway through the word avada (awfully strong to come out with right out the gate. Intent to kill an officer of the law wasn’t going to look good for him, not that there wasn’t enough on him already just from the other incantation Astrid had heard the guy--Felix Yaxley, law student whose brother had been murdered last year, she would place the face in a second--and Elektra Willow using when she walked in) before Astrid had him locked down with a wordless body bind. She dodged a beam of light from the injured Elektra and then repeated the body bind. A stunner for each would-be mass murder followed and then she felt confident after a visual sweep of the area and a casting to search for hidden trap spells to approach and take their wands.

She fired off a patronus as a final act and dictated. “Luca, Norah, whoever is in today, we have situation on the south side of town. My patronus will lead you there. Code 374. Attempted multiple homicide by what I would judge as category two restricted magic. Perps incapacitated and contained. Bring handcuffs and elemental containment fields for transport. I’m alerting Head Auror Lupin as well. See you soon.”

As the silver-cast lynx bounded off, she placed a hand to her stomach and took a moment to breathe heavily now that the danger and activity had passed. Thank the God she half believed in and all other powers she’d seen them poking out the window and she acted instead of counting herself as seeing things.

Every once in awhile, things went right.

[Imagining your possible moment of panic seeing that cheesy, misleading graphic and seeing the Beth is an asshole trigger warning I used for all the other deaths is the most fun I’ve had in awhile, so the trigger warning is true. Asshole. Admin Beth and Admin Lily love you all. Victory for the light side. ]