章節 24: Suspicions
"Well, you've gotten better at that. Now, we don't have a lot of time. How are you holding up? I am sorry I didn't think about how my speech this morning would affect you. I don't think anyone else noticed how pale you got, but I am sorry."
"It's okay, I understand. I think it was good that you said that in public. Now I know exactly how much about this situation is known to the others. I do hope we can keep what happened to Scorpius a secret. Especially here, where the Death Eaters might hear of it. Where are they, by the way? Have you considered keeping them there permanently?"
"They are held in the same place as last time, in the temporary holding cells where people await trial. I got ten Aurors on shift guarding them. It is not a good long-term solution, as it takes up a lot of resources. That is what prisons are for. I do hope that with some basic changes here, this will once again be a secure prison. It seems like most of the guards here are quite good. I am surprised at their discipline, considering their incompetent commander."
"Oh, I don't think Perrot can take much credit for that. Rumour has it, that is mostly Barnsby's work."
"Barnsby?"
"Yes, the second-in-command?"
"The second-in-command? There is no such thing. There are Perrot, then the heads of the different wards and kitchen staff. Barnsby is not one of those. He is a regular low-level guard, with no access to the top-security ward. He claimed no knowledge of any breaches of security, but then, no one claimed any knowledge of that. He was one of those who most strongly defended Perrot though."
"From what I could glean from the conversations last night, the only reason he is not the leader of the prison is because he didn't want to be. He was already on my list of people to watch; this makes him even more interesting."
"Hmm, yes, that is interesting. Maybe I will offer him the top job and see what he will do. After all, if all the guards look up to him that way, he would be a natural choice."
"My hunch was that he set up Perrot as a fall guy for when the prisoners escaped. Putting him in charge might be a bad idea."
"Yes, but that is only a theory. He might also be exactly the person we need, if this disciplined crew is his work. I'll have another talk with him, to assess his skills." Her mother hesitated. "How good are you at Disillusionment charms?" she asked.
"What? What does that have to do with anything?"
"We have already talked for a while, but there is more I need to discuss with you. Can you do a Disillusionment charm to sneak away to a secure location where we can talk less obviously?"
"I can do a decent Disillusionment charm. But I have something even better." Rose replied. "James lent me his Invisibility Cloak. He seemed to feel that I needed it more than he did." Her mother looked startled. "Did he now? Good. I seem to remember that you have free time after dinner? As soon as it is possible for you to get away, get up on the second top floor. We will create an illusion in one of the cells there and we can talk for an hour or so. Make up an excuse that you need to be alone."
Rose nodded. "So, what have we been talking about in here?"
Her mother smiled. "Well, I am very impressed by your efforts, and I will recommend you for one of the newly available positions as a top-security guard. That is why we talked this long. You can choose whether the idea horrified you or excited you."
"It horrified me. I had never even considered being given that much responsibility, and certainly not so soon. But I am also flattered. Oh, and I don't know if you are aware, but all the recruits that arrived with me seem to have connected with you. Your touch on their shoulder made it seem like you see them and value them. I think they can all be trusted to be on your side, if there is an issue."
Her mother blinked. "Really? That is interesting. Well, it just goes to show how little it takes sometimes, to build someone up. Most of these people have little to no family, or structure in their lives. Maybe I should place a few more of them in the top-security ward. Anyway, we need to finish now. Hopefully we will meet later."
Rose nodded and got to her feet. She gave her mother a quick hug before she became Kevin again. As she left, she drew a sigh of relief, as she had seen many of the others do, as they left her office. Thomas was there, waiting for her. He had had to clean up after lunch in her stead, but that didn't seem to have irritated him. In fact, Rose couldn't think of anything that irritated or annoyed Thomas. He was a comfortable and relaxed person.
"How did it go?" he asked. "Was she mad at you? Why are you looking so put out?"
"She's not mad at me. Quite the opposite actually. She wants me to work in the top-security ward. With the most dangerous prisoners."
Thomas gasped. "Really? What did you say?"
"I was shocked. I really didn't expect anything like that, certainly not so soon. I don't even know how long I stood there. I must've looked like an idiot. But then she repeated the request, if you can call it a request. I think she means for more of us new people to work there. Maybe because she trusts us more than the others. We weren't here, after all, when they escaped last time."
"Wow. I don't know what I'll do, if she offers me that. I mean, that means we will get to be face-to-face with Dark Wizards, won't it? I don't know if I'm up to that."
"They're not dangerous when they are in here. They're prisoners, and we're guards. I would be glad if you were assigned there with me, but obviously it's not our decision. She pretends I have a choice, but she's not an easy woman to say no to."
Thomas chuckled. "I hear even her family rarely says no to her. And fewer still of those outside her family."
"Her daughter managed. After all, she got the Malfoy boy out of prison, after the Minister arrested him. And they're even married now I hear."
"Shh," Thomas said, horrified. "I wouldn't talk about that anywhere she could hear. I've heard she hates being reminded of that event."
Rose looked ashamed. Well, it was true, her mother didn't like to talk about that. None of them did. But she thought others would talk about it anyway. But maybe not right outside the Minister's office door.
"Well, it is still true. But that is a little different, I s'pose. Either way, I took this job to challenge myself and find steady employment. If I do a good job in top-security, maybe I'll even get a job in the Ministry in some years."
"You'd really want that? Go to work in an office every day?"
"Not all Ministry jobs are office jobs. But I don't know. For now, I'm just happy to get any job at all."
Thomas nodded in agreement. They went back to their duties. There was a list where each of them had different chores. She read down the list.
"Cleaning the bathrooms?" she said with disgust. "What've I done to deserve that?"
"I suspect no one else has done anything to deserve it, so we get to do it, as the youngest recruits." Thomas said. He had gotten bathroom duty as well, but as usual, he didn't complain. "Come on, we need to get started."
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