Order Only: We have a situation here

[alt_arthur]

Frank and I arrived at Maldon to speak with Bellatrix Peploe's parents, and I'm afraid things went downhill quite rapidly. As in, Frank has both parents in a petrificus totalus and is continuing to plead with them while I'm writing this.

I think it's quite safe to say they didn't pick the name `Bellatrix' because they're interested in astronomy.

They support the regime 1000%. We've seen all sorts of reactions when telling parents that their child has magic, but this one we've never witnessed before. When informed that Bellatrix was a witch, the father astounded us by immediately attacking his wife. In fact, he tried to choke the life out of her, all the while yelling that she must have been the one to 'steal the magic.' We were so surprised that we fumbled with our wands for a moment before blasting them apart, but fortunately we stopped him before he managed to crush her larynx.

Our usual script, of course, is completely out the window at this point. They aren't going to give us permission to take her. In fact, I'm afraid that unless we separate the father and the mother (by which I mean I'll have to arrange to have them assigned to different work camps), he'll just attack her again once we're out of sight--unless we memory charm them to forget our visit altogether. But if we leave the baby with them, little Bellatrix is doomed to be outed as a mudblood eventually. If I send off the mother by herself with the baby, what's to prevent her from hurting the child, once Bellatrix's magic manifests? And if we don't bring her to Moddey Dhoo, what do we do about the Book?

Frank is arguing privately to me that we have to take the baby and memory charm the parents so they think she has died.

Can anyone come up with a better idea?

Comments

[alt_bill]

Bloody hell, Dad.

[alt_arthur]

Exactly.

[alt_kingsley]

This has never happened before, I take it?

[alt_arthur]

Well, we failed to snatch Dennis Creevey, remember. And there has been a time or two that a parent has turned us down, because they were afraid. But to turn us down because they believe the regime, believe that muck about muggleborns are made because someone has stolen magic, no, that's never happened before.

[alt_molly]

But Arthur, if we take the child without the parents' permission, that's kidnapping. And think of their anguish, because they will think their child died! And they'll never see her again, never know what happened to her!

[alt_arthur]

Well, I know that, Molly. Obviously.

[alt_kingsley]

Do you think it's better to have her taken away from them in four years or so and made into a slave?

[alt_molly]

Of course not, but...

Oh, this is dreadful!

[alt_arthur]

Yes it is, but we don't have the luxury of a lot of time to figure it out. We only have so much polyjuice.

[alt_bill]

Is Frank making any headway in arguing with them, Dad?

[alt_poppy]

A great deal could happen in those four years, Kingsley. None of us can see the future. In the present, however, you are encouraging Frank and Arthur to play a part not far removed from the worst abuses this regime commits. And to act that part against a couple who are already victims many times over of abuse by wizards.

[alt_kingsley]

Well, of course a great deal could happen in four years. The kid could die of typhoid or cholera, along with both of her parents. The camps could be liberated by an army sent from France, Morocco and Brazil. A dragon could escape and flame them all into cinders. Lucius Malfoy could get bored one night and personally butcher every one of them.

What Frank and Arthur have to decide is right here, right now.

I think the ethical thing to do is to take her.

[alt_poppy]

Yes, and the child could die of typhoid or cholera at Moddey Dhoo.

You are telling us to play gods with the lives of these people. I still say that if you cannot persuade the parents to give permission, you've no right to force your will upon them.

[alt_arthur]

Hermione's made the decision for us, Poppy. We're not going to leave her with the risk of being killed by her own parents, and if she survives that, a life as a slave.

[alt_poppy]

I quite agree, Molly.

On top of that, it's no small matter to memory charm two people to selectively forget or re-remember several months of their lived experience. That sort of obliviation is not merely a matter of a quick swish and flick, is it?

[alt_arthur]

Well, then you'd better hope for all of us that we do a bloody good job.

[alt_bill]

I have some Firewhiskey at my flat, Dad, if you want to stop by after work.

[alt_arthur]

Thank you, son. Although I will have to go home and face your mother eventually.

[alt_poppy]

Arthur.

I don't know quite what to say, but I do urge you not to do anything rash.

You say the husband attacked his wife, suspecting her of having stolen magic for the child. (Of course, he knows he's not done it.) What has the wife said for herself? Does she suspect him in turn? Can you not use that to help them see neither of them has done any such thing?

Have either of them threatened the child at all? You say you're worried the mother would harm the child, but is there really reason to fear that? Do either of them show any sign of blaming the child for its magic?

[alt_arthur]

She suspects the husband. He was just quicker to act. And both of them are looking at the baby now as if she were a basilisk about to turn around and strike them dead.

It's heartbreaking.

[alt_poppy]

If you are really talking obliviation, the simplest thing, surely, would be to remove their memory of your visit and leave them to make their own decisions over time.

And in the meantime, we may all redouble our efforts to see that the future that child will face is not today's situation.

[alt_arthur]

I really do think they might kill the girl, once her magic manifests, Poppy. Could you live with that decision?

[alt_poppy]

You are guessing at future decisions of two people you do not know, Arthur.

Yes. I will live with their decision. It is theirs to make.

[alt_frank]

well I cant

and I wont.

they gave up that decision when they put her life on the line.

[alt_arthur]

And besides, YOU wouldn't be the one living with the decision, Poppy. Or, morely likely, dying for it. Bellatrix would.

[alt_arthur]

And I'm sorry to be brusque about it, Poppy. I have to admit that being called a blood traitor doesn't do anything for my temper, either.

[alt_alice]

I hate this too, Poppy.

I do think that it is important that Arthur asked in the first place -- that he didn't assume automatically that the parents didn't have any rights or choices.

It's also important that we you here, to provide a voice for people that don't have one, and to make sure we are fully aware of the implications of what we do.

I believe that Muggles ought to have rights, that they ought to be able to make decisions about their lives and their children. Bellatrix? She has a right to live. And that's more important right now.

[alt_poppy]

It seems to me you are saying that Muggles have a right to make decisions as long as they make a decision you approve.

And we've no idea what those parents would do if they'd not been surprised by a pair of ham-fisted baby snatchers who popped a piece of information on them out of the blue.

By the time the child's magic would have manifested the parents' reactions and the parents' situation would be different from today. We don't know what they'd do, no. We don't. And now they will never have the chance to make those choices for themselves. No chance to live those months with their child. And the child with them.

We've made their choices for them. Abruptly. Because we wouldn't want to put Frank or Arthur in danger by taking time to educate or persuade or even to consider what to bloody do in a case we didn't anticipate.

So in our panic, what did we do? We swished our wands and hexed a Muggle couple, used force on them, plundered their brains and stole their child.

In the name of the child's interest, yes, but it needn't have been accomplished this way at all.

[alt_alice]

Things always do tend to clarify from a distance.

Frank and Arthur have ten years of face-to-face experience working with parents. So I don't think it's a matter of their abilities to approach the situation with understanding, but we must recognize that this was a very unique circumstance. They had to make a quick decision, and the decision they made was for the immediate safety of the child.

But now that we know about this new possibility -- even though it might be rare, Muggles have been fed propoganda for so many years that it might crop up again -- we can certainly come up with a plan for the future that would respect the parents' rights and work in multiple contacts to give them as much opportunity as possible to fully understand what we're asking of them (and sort out fully whether the child would be safe). We're living in a poor substitute for an ideal world, and the important thing is to make sure this doesn't become the standard to which we hold ourselves, but an exception that we can learn from and handle more evenly in the future.

And we've respected parents' rights before, Poppy. The Creevys for one. The Swithins, too. They chose to keep their children. This is different.

[alt_poppy]

Alice, I apologise for speaking intemperately before. And I quite agree with you that this is a miserable substitute for an ideal world. And you are right, Alice, that what's done is done save for the lessons we may draw from it.

I don't entirely agree that this situation was different from the others in theory, but I was not present, so I cannot judge the pressures Arthur and Frank faced in the moment, nor can I evaluate, except from their description (which was offered for our advice), the danger posed by the father to the mother and perhaps to the child.

I do think this episode shows that we need to re-evaluate our methods for springing this information on unsuspecting parents. I don't believe we've any right to assume that the father would have reacted violently in other circumstances, at least not without giving him the opportunity to show himself responsive to a better-gauged approach.

Perhaps it wasn't possible today to have handled things differently, but I agree with you that we now have an opportunity to learn and prepare and to respond better ourselves to nasty shocks when they spring up against us.

[alt_mcgonagall]

Book be damned. If we begin to destroy their choice -

Well, I wouldn't want to be no better than a Death Eater. We can't. Even if we memory charm them, we must abide by their decision. Isn't it that, exactly, which the Lord Protector takes away from Muggles and Muggle-borns, which is so objectionable?

The thought of baby Bellatrix growing up as a Mudblood, though. That makes me shudder. Hermione, what would you have them do?

[alt_arthur]

That's a very good point. I think Hermione's voice should be weighed more than any of ours.

Hermione, what would you have wanted us to decide? If these had been your parents, and we had to decide to take you without their permission?

[alt_hermione]

Take her.

[alt_hermione]

I don't care if it means you're worse than Death Eaters, I don't care at all, it doesn't matter in the least little bit, because otherwise she'll end up like Dennis Creevey or she won't have a master who's so nice or anybody to prevent her from being hurt or - and if she was a boy it might be different but not like this.

I think my dad would have said the same thing if he were still alive.

[alt_arthur]

Right, my dear. Thank you. We shall take her then.

And....I'm so very sorry we weren't able to do the same for you.

[alt_molly]

Oh, Arthur!

[alt_frank]

choice and safety are two different things min.

and this girl isnt safe in this home.

itd be different if they just didnt want her to come along and wanted to try their chances knowing what would happen. Id disagree with them but Id respect that choice. but she wouldnt be safe if we left her here and her magic came out. not with parents like these.

[alt_kingsley]

'No better than a Death Eater? Minerva, you are a Death Eater. That mark on your arm reminds you of that every single day.

[alt_molly]

Kingsley! That's...that's a horrid thing to say.

[alt_kingsley]

The difference is, she's a Deatheater with a conscience.

This regime has made all of us do dreadful things. But sometimes you have to choose between two dreadful things, and you are forced to decide on the one that is just a little less dreadful. That's what Minerva did for us, taking the Mark. It was the right thing to do, and I'll always be grateful to her that she was brave enough to do it. I mean that, Minerva.

And that's why I think taking this kid to Moddey Dhoo is the right thing to do, too.

[alt_mcgonagall]

Thank you, Kingsley. It had somehow slipped my mind.

[alt_kingsley]

I meant what I said, Minerva. I do honour you for that sacrifice.

[alt_frank]

theyre not budging man

the woman called me a blood traitor. bloody hell.

at the very least we've got to put memory charms on them so they wont spill the whole story so that parts a given

and there is no way in hell I am leaving this child with them. thats all there is to it.

[alt_arthur]

I think Hermione has made our decision for us.

Alice, stand by. We'll do the memory charms, and we'll be bringing Bellatrix to you shortly.

[alt_alice]

Right.

Be careful, both of you.

I'm sorry it came to this. How awful. But I agree with Frank -- she just wouldn't be safe.

[alt_lupin]

Goodness, managed to miss all this today.

For what it's worth, Arthur, I think you did the right thing. As a parent to be, if I one day found myself making a decision that would condemn my child to a life of misery and suffering, I damn well hope someone would be there to stop me the way someone.