I Will Remember Before I Forget [Poe]

[Deleted]

Diagon Alley, February 23, 2024

Addison was sitting on the ground up against the wall of a scarcely used area of Diagon Alley. She'd remembered it on a few of her more recent trips because it was near an old and much less popular bookstore that she liked to frequent because it sometimes carried rare books on spells. It had seemed like the perfect place for what she had planned. The scar on her lip had been healed and her broken leg and arm from the explosion had been mostly healed but she still carried a few aches and pains whenever she did anything too taxing on her body. Even just sitting upright seemed harder than usual; she was sure that had everything to do with her extended stay in the hospital. Royal probably would have scolded her for even being out right now because it hadn't even been a week since she'd been released. Her mind was always racing now. It was racing before but now it was a constant distraction. She knew she wouldn't be the same. Abby was gone. She was staring off into space now, that thought still stinging at the forefront of her mind, but she was waiting on someone to arrive. She needed him to arrive. She had plans, and she wouldn't even be able to get them off of the ground without his help. She didn't even want to talk to him. She didn't even know him, just knew of him from Royal. But she needed him to get to where she wanted to be. Now she was waiting.

Tag; @poet

[Deleted]

The owl that Poe had received that morning was… cryptic, at best. It didn’t have a signature – just his name at the top, followed by a request – no, a demand – to meet, with a time and a place. The purpose for the meeting wasn’t even written. If he was honest, the owl set off all sorts of warning bells for Poe. He knew that it was poor planning to go walking into a meeting without any idea of who he was meeting or why, but Poe was feeling a bit… well, cocky. He knew that he could handle most threats, and besides, the meeting was going to take place in Diagon Alley. It wasn’t a widely travelled area of the alley, but it was a public enough location that Poe wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t be heard if he shouted for help. So, that morning, he departed for the meeting place, wearing a leather jacket that was similar to the one he had given Finn, but not quite the same. His hands were shoved in his pockets as he ambled along, trying to figure out who he was supposed to be meeting. When he got to the appointed place, Poe looked down for the first time in a block. “Shacklebolt.” He didn’t need to ask it as a question – Addison was the spitting image of her now-deceased twin. “Why the secrecy?” It wasn’t like Poe was inaccessible to her, so he wasn’t entirely sure why she had insisted on the meeting, and not signing her note. Poe didn’t dare question yet what she wanted from him. That would come in due time.

@addie

[Deleted]

Sounds. Everything was just sounds and light. Noise and lights. She'd thought sitting on the ground would make things easier. Or maybe she had sat there because she knew she was going to get overwhelmed and it was safer to already be on the ground than to fall onto it. Her body was still aching, she didn't need anymore pain. The thought of pain shot her back in time to the explosion and she felt like she was going to die again. She clenched her fists to keep herself from clawing at her throat, her eyes widened, and she forced herself to take two deep breaths. They didn't help. Instead, she pulled out the flask that she kept deep in her hoodie's pocket and took a small sip of the nerve calming potion it contained. Small sips meant she wouldn't end up like before. Small sips meant not overdosing herself. Just then she heard the sound of footsteps so she put the cap back onto the flask and shoved it back into it's place. Looking up, she saw the man she'd been waiting for, Poet approaching. He didn't notice her at first but when he did, he asked her about the mostly blank letter she'd sent. "Before that, I need your sworn secrecy." she kept her words to a minimum, the potion hadn't taken its effect yet and she was trying really hard not to scream. They were all going to be mad at her for this. She couldn't find it in herself to care either.

Tag; @poet

[Deleted]

The first words out of Addison’s mouth being a demand that he swear himself to secrecy did nothing to help Poe’s uneasy nerves about the situation. Now that he knew her identity, he was slightly less inclined to be worried about whether or not she could hurt him – unlike her sister, she hadn’t been in training to be an Auror – but Poe was definitely worried about Addison’s mental state. He didn’t know how well she had taken her sister’s murder, but this meeting wasn’t giving up much hope in her having taken it gracefully. There wasn’t really a good way to take a murder, he knew, but asking for private meetings in secluded areas and then swearing people to secrecy? Not a stellar way to prove mental health. “Okay, I swear.” Poe said easily, continuing to look down at the Shacklebolt girl to try to gauge how he ought to play the situation. If she really wasn’t in her right mind, then he had to tell someone, but who was the question. Maybe, Poe thought, he was jumping to conclusions, or projecting himself onto Addison. He certainly hadn’t been in the best state after Rai had become a vampire, and they weren’t even fractionally as close as the Shacklebolt twins had been. “Can you tell me now, or do you need a blood sacrifice as well?” He joked, trying to lighten the mood but also a little afraid that Addie was going to ask him to do something of the sort.

@addie

[Deleted]

Her precious potion was taking its sweet time kicking in but she felt the effects start to seep into her blood right before the urge to begin hyperventilating again arise. She took a deep breath just as he told her that he swore he wouldn't speak. She didn't want to be this stupid. Somewhere deep down she knew that his words weren't enough, that his words shouldn't be enough and she shouldn't accept them as enough. Royal trusted him. Abby had trusted him enough clearly if she'd joined up with their band of vigilantes. Or should she call them that? They'd been successful in the previous war and her fagther had been a member as well. She suddenly wondered if she should make him go through an Unbreakable Vow instead. No. That wouldn't do. They would need a third person to complete it and she didn't want anyone in her business that didn't need to be. The man, Poe, then asked if she wanted a blood sacrifice. She knew he meant it as a joke of some sort but she didn't laugh. It wasn't actually funny. Rather corny actually. I guess I don't have any other choice. They're going to place me under witness protection," the first part she mumbled to herself. The second part she said just as she felt the potion fully kick in. No more panic. No more anxiety. Nothing. Sweet nothing took over and she finally felt like she was able to talk. "Before that, I want in. And you know what I mean by 'in'." She hadn't come to him for just anything. She wanted to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She wanted the ins and outs. She wanted the information and the connections. She wanted to see that Elaine was going to get what was coming to her. She couldn't do that alone.

Tag; @poet

[Deleted]

Addison said something, but all Poe managed to catch was that she was being placed under witness protection. He blinked at her. “I have the feeling I’m not supposed to know that.” The more people who knew that Addison was changing her identities, the more danger she would be in. it was likely that her family members and whoever had arranged the identity change were the only ones who were supposed to know – and, depending on who had arrange the change, it was possible that it was all within Addison’s family. Poe wasn’t sure why he was being told that, but he had a feeling it tied into this strange meeting and its mysterious circumstances. Things were so murky… until Addison said one more thing. Everything crystallized, becoming entirely, awfully clear. “Royal told you.” Poe said, trying not to make his voice accusatory but failing rather epically. What had gotten into the kid, thinking that telling his obviously disturbed younger sister about the Order of the Phoenix was a good idea? Addison obviously knew that it existed, and even that was slightly disconcerting. What was the point of being a secret organization if people thought they could just talk about it willy nilly? Poe forced himself to calm down. Royal obviously trusted his sister, and under normal circumstances, that would have been enough, but… “Why?” Poe asked. He wasn’t going to let Addison do something if it was just some glorified suicide mission.

@addie

[Deleted]

She was better now. Calmer. Able to talk at will now that the potion had kicked in. Just because she had the ability to didn't mean she needed to. He realized that he wasn't supposed to know that bit of information about her. She didn't confirm or deny, there was no reason to. He knew, and unless he obliviated himself or had someone else do it for him, he would always know. Moving forward. She watched him process her words, realize that she knew about the Order. And then he accused her brother of telling her of organization, which wasn't quite true. "No." she stated simply, though she did not expand more than that. It wasn't Royal that had introduced the Order to her. Not originally anyway. But she didn't want to talk about Abby right now. The potion had kicked in, yes, but just thinking about her had memories of her beloved sister flooding her mind. She couldn't take thinking about her. Not right now. Not during this. She knew it had been coming, the dreaded question of why she wanted to join. He was every bit as skeptical of her as she figured he would when he inquired too. She'd thought about how she would answer it for days and the answers she'd compiled included the truths of her own agenda. He would be looking for any imbalance in her, looking for any reason to tell her no if he thought she was doing it for anything other than the good of others. It wasn't that she didn't care about others. Her sister just mattered to her more. "I'll be safer that way. They've placed me under witness protection, but if I'm in the Order, I will always be accounted for. I'll have the Order's protection, even if the Order doesn't know it's me they are protecting. I don't want to die. Nor do I ever want to be as close to death again as I was last month," she answered very logically. It was one of the many sides of the truth.

Tag; @poet

[Deleted]

Poe narrowed his eyes at Addison when she said that it wasn't her brother who had told her about the Order. There were a lot of people who had connections to the Shacklebolt girl, however tenuous, through her father or - oh. It was probably Abigail who had told her about the organization, which was only natural, considering the twins' relationship and Abby's own run-ins with the Purifiers and her subsequent reactions to them. He waited patiently for the answer to his question, and when the answer came, Poe nearly smacked himself in the face. He wasn't sure whether or not the Shacklebolt girl was manipulating him into thinking the Order was what was best for her - his Auror instincts were still returning, and he hadn't had to interrogate anyone as of yet - but he honestly couldn't find a flaw in the logic. The Order was good at compartmentalizing information, so what she said about the Order being able to protect her without knowing it was her was true. And technically, she had gone about it the right way, since he was one of the recruiters and therefore one of the easier ways to get into the Order (though definitely not the only way), but there was still something that felt so... wrong. Poe knew he was letting his own opinions about the situation color his perspective of letting Addison into the Order, but he couldn't help but be biased. He didn't want to help lead another Shacklebolt to slaughter. Poe felt complicit in Abigail's death, because he had... what, allowed her to do what she wanted? He didn't know anything other than he felt responsible. But Addison was right, and forcing her out of the Order - and especially making her think she couldn't trust anyone within it - had the potential to be just as dangerous. "I can't promise anything. But I can promise we will try." And really, when the best and brightest of the Order put their mind to a concrete task, it got done. They could move mountains. "Consider yourself in." Poe sighed. He was going to regret this.

@addie
(Do we need any more? Or can we end here?)

[Deleted]

Addie waited and watched as he mulled the idea over in his head. She wasn't nervous, thanks to the potion, so she just inhaled and exhaled waiting for him to give her an answer, a clue as to what her next step would be. She had come this route first because she thought it would be the best and easiest to execute. She wasn't solely dependent upon it but she would have rather gone the easiest route. The words came at last. She had succeeded. He agreed, saying that they would try to keep her safe and that she could consider herself a member of the Order. She exhaled deeply then and nodded."That's all I'm asking for. I want to feel safe. I want my family to be safe." she spoke and her words didn't sound nearly as pathetic and frightened as they should have. She was worried about Royal and her mother. With her being in witness protection, they wouldn't be able to place any specific protection on her without it catching the eyes of those they didn't want getting to her or looking deeper into who she was supposed to be. Royal was all they had. With the Order behind her, she would be safer. But, that wasn't all she would have. She stood up then from the ground, brushing the dust and dirt off of her backside and her hands before turning back to the man. "Thank you. Now we just have to convince the minister and everyone else that this is the right thing to do." she commented simply before she started walking back towards the crowds. "I'll owl you," she called over her shoulder.

Tag; @poet
(Addie end~)