Order Only: Interrogating Ellie Summer

[alt_arthur]

I dropped by Laszlo's at midafternoon today, and frowning in my very best obnoxiously officious Ministry manner, I proclaimed loudly that I was there to interview the mudblood Ellie Summer, to determine how she was settling in. (Thank you, Remus, for not laughing. Very heroic of you; I'm sure it must have been difficult.) Tonks ushered us to the small back office and snapped her fingers to coax 'Sinbad' to leave, but he just cocked his head and gave her a look of total doggie incomprehension. Bea obligingly set up a convincing wail right at that moment (wonderful timing; I suspect that Remus stuck a pin in her) and so I waved Tonks off irritably, saying that I supposed the hound could stay. And so Sirius sat in on the meeting too, curled up at Ellie's feet, just as we hoped.

I started out with the sorts of intake questions she has been forced to answer for years: name, place of birth, age her magic first manifested, date of her removal to 'proper' Ministry custody, age of first menses, what was known concerning her family history, confirmation that she has not had any contact with them, etcetera. I had brought along as props my briefcase stuffed with parchments, a clipboard, and one of the more intimidating department forms to fill out. That allowed me to play on her nerves a bit by taking long pauses to make reams of incomprehensible notes in indecipherable shorthand (it's actually a form used to requisition workers by blood type for various assignments, but Ellie naturally didn't need to know that). The give and take of familiar questions seem to steady her somewhat, although I noticed that when I took particularly long pauses she reached out absently to stroke Sirius's ears. At which point I was hard put not to laugh myself.

I then asked her about her present assignment, doing my best to make the questions as insulting and condescending as possible. ('How long after your masters eat are you permitted to eat? Is the food they give you spoiled in any way? Are you allowed blankets for sleeping? Have you acquired any infestations of lice or other vermin since your work assignment began? Where do you toilet? You DO? They actually allow you to share the family's facilities rather than use a chamber pot? Hmm' [a stern look and more copious notes]. 'Have you ever soiled your sleeping quarters at night before they unlock it in the morning? You haven't? My goodness, you're quite well-trained then, aren't you?') She merely blinked at every question, no matter how impertinent, and answered each in the mildest possible voice.

I turned a page over on the form, looked down my nose at her, and asked her to tell me about Mr and Mrs Ponds. What was her impression of them?

She stared off into space for a long moment, and her expression changed not a jot, but I noted her fingers tightening a bit on Sirius's collar. She muttered something about how of course it's not her place to judge her betters. 'Yes, yes,' I said impatiently, 'but the Ministry prides itself on making the best possible placement for all Mudbloods placed within its custody, and so we must take your impressions into account of course. How else can we learn whether your masters were the right sort or not? The Protectorate naturally must make use of every pair of eyes and ears, even the most insignificant, to monitor what happens within its borders.' I let the pause spin out even longer until she licked her lips, looked down at her feet and mumbled that she was sure that Mr and Mrs Ponds must be the right sort, because Mrs Ponds beat her when she broke a glass, so she knew that they wouldn't stand for any stupid mudblood nonsense.

It's a good thing she wasn't looking at me right then, because I'm afraid my face would have scared her. Fortunately, Sirius grabbed her attention at that point by suddenly sitting up and starting to lick her hands. (Good save, Sirius). When I had regained control of my expression, I probed a bit more, but she adamantly resisted all my lures to be a talebearer. Mr and Mrs Ponds were model citizens, she was sure, 'quite strict, really.' I asked her whether they have put her in charge of Bea, and she said no, because of course she has to prove herself trustworthy first.

So, anyway, that's what I gleaned from our meeting. She showed some 'tells' of nerves, which would probably be apparent to an experienced interrogator, but despite significant pressure from me she stuck to her story in the most inoffensive way and defended you.

Sirius, can you add anything more?

Comments

[alt_gredforge]

Cor, Dad. Sounds like you were channeling Percy.

[alt_arthur]

I suppose I was. In a way.

[alt_gredforge]

Poor kid.

Terry once talked to us about why it always felt natural to him for muggleborns to lie to their masters. 'You have to do it,' he said, 'if what they want on the outside doesn't match how you feel on the inside. If you want to stay sane.'

Guess it's understandable, given who his 'master' is and the company he keeps. Meant that Terry saw a pretty skewed sample.

[alt_lupin]

She lied to protect us?

That's certainly promising.

[alt_arthur]

Yes. But also a reason to be wary until you get to know her better.

The point being that she IS willing to lie.

[alt_nymphadora]

She said I beat her?

[alt_arthur]

I'm quite sure it's what she thought I wanted to hear. That it would make less trouble for you.

Merlin. That says a lot, doesn't it?

[alt_nymphadora]

It's awful.

[alt_nymphadora]

But it says a lot that she lied to a Ministry official to protect us. You're right.

Do you know, Arthur, that the first days here, she was terrified of Sinbad? She's got over that, I guess, too.

You were perfect. Though, I expect that doesn't make you feel any better than I feel about her saying I hit her.

[alt_arthur]

It was a role I didn't enjoy playing, believe me. But it was necessary. And it did teach us something, that the girl is already showing loyalty to you.

I know you'll treat her kindly, and surely that will help her heal. In time. I regret that, due to the part I had to play, I couldn't assure her of that myself.

[alt_alice]

Well, that's fairly good news, isn't it?

Our Muggle born young people, the ones who were in service, have had a wide range of challenges. Tim had a very positive experience with his... well, I wouldn't call them masters. They were more like adoptive parents, really. And then there's the experiences of our dear Portia, and Zachary and Nicholas, who were all just brutalized by their owners. I'm sure she's heard horror stories aplenty, and knows that she's got a better thing going on than many.

Remus, Sirius, Tonks, from what I've seen with our people at Moddey, it's taken a good long while to gain trust and to establish healthy relationships. I suspect it'll take special care with Ellie, because even once you sort out what's really going on, she'll still be pretending to be a servant, and that can be a hard thing to turn on and off again. That, and she'll be a bit out numbered, which cannot really be helped.

I think it's promising, very promising that she was willing to lie about her position and how she was being treated, and that she didn't reveal anything illegal she overheard. But we still ought to be careful, because it's a different thing to cover up minor infractions to stay in a place where people treat you nicely, and to keep very big secrets that could get people killed. That changes the equation a bit.

I hope it all works out, though, and that we're going to be able to do right by her.

[alt_nymphadora]

That's it, exactly. That's what I hope. That we can make her life better and do the right thing by her. Not use her or make her twist herself in knots for us.

Do you know that when I came home from work this morning, she plonked down on the floor at my feet and

she took off my shoes and started massaging my feet, Alice

it was--I don't even know--

I could hardly sit there and let her do it, but if I'd jumped up and shown how shocked I was, she'd have thought I was angry and she'd have been terrified, but, well.

It was just so--

No one should have to do that for another person, at least one they're not intimate with, and then they don't have to do it, if you see what I mean. It was just--

I couldn't help wonder if it was what the woman she'd worked for before had made her do or if it was just that she was so utterly frantic to show me that she wants to be here and will do anything we want just to convince us to keep her.

I still don't feel right about it at all.

[alt_alice]

I think there's a lot going on there, Tonks.

Part of it is doing what she thinks she ought.

Part of it might be because she wants to show her appreciation and doesn't know how.

The young people we have here -- it's hard sometimes, because we don't want to give orders or make them feel like they must do something, or even that they'd be punished if they didn't do their work. But that's their default setting, even though we've been working between us to sort things out. It's slow going, no mistake.

I think the fact that you, Sirius and Remus have all three been working on how to create a place where you're all on equal footing will help with Ellie. She'll not be linked to Bea in quite the same way, of course, but you've got practice talking through your problems and sorting out ways where everyone can have a say and can reach some sort of mutual agreements, and that's a good model for Ellie too. And I think it'd be different if she had a wand of her own, too, and was able to learn how to use it. That has a way of equalizing things, and restoring something that should by all rights belong to her.

I know you're not nearly there yet, but you're certainly moving in the right direction.

[alt_gredforge]

You know, we don't know if we would ever have become as good friends with Terry Boot as we did if it hadn't been for a sheer fluke. That git Carrow turned him into a dog once as a punishment. Terry got away from him and we found him and sort of adopted him as a pet. Brought him into the Gryffindor Common Room, had him sleep by the fire, fed him choice bits of beef stew we sneaked out of the Great Hall, generally made a fuss over him. He told us later that it was the first time anyone had ever treated him decent, and until then he didn't even know that it was like. Lavishing him with affection, he said, 'without expecting anything in return.' That last bit was what was what seemed most significant to him, we think.

Of course we're not suggesting you transfigure Ellie Summer or anything! There are some Muggleborns who get treated like pets (Dennis Creevey springs to mind), and it doesn't do anything but convince them they're subhuman.

But just treating her decently will probably go a long way. As long as you make it clear it's because you think she deserves it as a person, and not because you're expecting extra work out of her.

[alt_sirius]

I think something else that will help is when she sees how we treat the other muggleborn who come in to the shop. She's started figuring it all out; I can tell.

And you're right, Dora, she's completely overcome her fear of 'Sinbad' so that'll help us gauge how she really feels about things.

But as to Terry: He's been transfigured into an animal before, you say? Hm. That ... could mean something.

Have to check a reference. If I can remember which book it was in.

[alt_gredforge]

Oh, wow. We didn't even think of that.

Yeah, and what's more, he stayed in that form for almost a week. Professor McGonagall spotted him when we brought him to a Quidditch game and immediately knew he was a human, and so she changed him back, forcibly.

[alt_sirius]

Right.

I mean to say, the principle's different when someone is forcing a form but it might create a mental model for him.

I think it's in Wycliffe. Of course, I don't have my copy because I hid it in my old bedroom and then left home with it still shoved into the back of the wardrobe. I'm sure it's still there but currently as you know I'm

[alt_sirius]

Sorry about that. She started coming up the stairs. Barely had time to change back to Padfoot.

I was saying (rather appropriately) that the other delay here is that we're not getting back to Grimmauld Place as often as we could do a week ago.

I'm spending almost as much time as a dog, lately, as I did last year, in fact. Now that Ellie's over her fear of Sinbad, she's grown a bit obsessed with him, actually. Wants him around and tries to find him when she hasn't seen him in an hour or two. I think she might believe that his protectiveness of the family might just extend to her, now that he's 'used' to having her about. Sad thing is, she's right. At least until she gives us a reason to act otherwise.

I could only change back because she's fixing Dora and Remus their supper now. Remus had to tell her that it's all right to let Sinbad out of the back of the garden, that he likes to ramble about the neighbourhood and that it's better for them since he can sometimes find his own supper that way.

But the good news is that that gave me the chance to find an open Floo and visit Grimmauld. I can't stay long but I'll get that book and take a look at it tonight, after Ellie's asleep.

Well. Maybe I'll stay long enough for Kreacher to make me something to eat.

[alt_alice]

I think another person who can weigh in on all of this would be our Hermione, of course. I'd bet she'd have an insight or two that could help shed some light, and some suggestions for how to proceed.

[alt_sirius]

No, Arthur, I think you've summed it up. She was definitely nervous and afraid when you started interviewing her; I could smell it. But then about halfway through she became ... defiant, I suppose, is the best way I could describe it.

But like you said, we don't know yet whether that's really out of loyalty to Dora and Remus or if it's just a product of not telling the Ministry anything. I think some from the camps would have trouble admitting that it's raining even if a Ministry official were offering them an umbrella.

[alt_bill]

Interesting.

It's definitely helpful to have an animagus on staff.