Order Only: Private message to Frank Longbottom

[alt_bill]

Dad told me that you were one of the aurors on the case. When Gideon and Fabian died.

Tell me. He and Mum won't.

Comments

[alt_frank]

yeah.

I was.

do you really want to know?

because I'll tell you if you do. but you've got to be sure. it'll be hard to pretend to be nice if you ever run into him face to face, and working with rosier, you will.

you'd be better off if you didn't.

[alt_bill]

You're probably right.

Tell me anyway.

[alt_frank]

right.

they were brilliant, you know.

as a pair, best duellers I'd ever seen. they'd keep up this stream of hexes and shielding charms and you couldn't tell who'd cast what but it would just keep coming without a pause. fabs fabian was so damn fast. and gideon was the strategist. a regular chess player when it came to fighting.

we used to

they were

we were mates. back in the day.

when I got word that they'd been killed, I made sure I got lead on the case. found a witness who was terrified out of her mind, and we managed to piece it together based on what she managed to tell us and the scene.

they were cornered by five death eaters. don't know who started the fight, or why, but we could sort out who finished it. there was a lot of blood. most of it was theirs, but there was a significant amount that matched the blood of Yuriy Levkov, a suspected protege of Dolohv's. there was enough to suggest a mortal injury, but we never found a body.

based on what was done to the bodies afterwords, as well as the spells that we could trace that were used during the duel, all signs pointed to Dolohov as the primary instigator. before we could charge him, the ministry collapsed, things went to shit, and al and me had to go into hiding.

Dolohov was a nasty son of a bitch when he got angry.

we couldn't tell which one was which. there was too much damage on their faces. it was done to them post after they'd died. there were other things too. he put a galleon under their tongues. posed them face down, and broke their arms so they were palm up. carved 'nice' on one and 'try' on the other right where the dark mark would have been.

when we brought him in, dolohov had an alibi -- playing dragon poker with four friends who'd swear he was there all night -- and the fucker offered to show me the bag of galleons he'd won. smiling.

[alt_bill]

God, Frank.

[alt_frank]

your mum had them cremated and buried in the same plot.

they were why she and arthur ended up joining up.






sorry.

[alt_bill]

God. No wonder they couldn't bring themselves to tell me.

[alt_bill]

"Thanks" isn't quite the right word.

But...

Thanks.

[alt_frank]

yeah.