Anomie

Chapter Three: Stories

'Damn elevator's broken again,' stated Fairfax as he pressed the up button for the fifth time. It lit up for a few moments, but the elevator didn't come, and eventually the button dimmed again. 'It looks like it's the stairs for us...seven flights of stairs.'

Rue and Fairfax had changed back into their robes and were now ready to ascend and face the day's work. Fairfax grumpily walked them back around the lobby and opened the door to the stairwell. He raised his head and stared straight up, his shoulders slumping. 'It's usually working on Mondays,' he said with a hint of whining. 'Why didn't the Sunday shift fix it?'

Mischievously, Rue grabbed him on the shoulder and said, 'Somehow we'll make it. The journey will be long and arduous, the perils great, but -'

'Oh, shut it already. You've got young legs.'

'Race you to the top, old man?'

'Not on your life. I'll be walking, thanks.'

Rue wasn't at all unhappy about having to walk up the stairs since it gave her more time to quiz Fairfax. He had cut her off despite saying that he'd answer all her questions, claiming that they couldn't expect Ajit and Vale - the fourth on their shift - to hold down the fort forever.

'So tell me about Ajit and Vale. I've never heard of them before,' Rue called behind her as they walked up the stairs. The stairwell was narrow, and she was outpacing Fairfax.

'You wouldn't have; they're not Aurors. We don't have enough Aurors to have four on every shift, so there are plenty of ordinary Magical Law Enforcement staff who pick up the slack - after taking a supplementary Auror course or two at Ministry expense. The pay is good, so there are always plenty of applicants for the so-called "Mystery Job" working alongside the Aurors.

'Ajit, well, he's a good sort of fellow. Really loves his kids. I'm sure he'll show you pictures and you'll hear about everything they've done since birth soon enough. He's absolutely invaluable here, as you'll soon discover.

'Vale - first name's Aeron, and that's what Ajit calls him, but I just can't get that familiar with him - well, he's an odd bloke. I don't much like him, to be honest, but he gets the job done, and I can't get him fired or transferred.'

'Why not?'

'Don't ask. I hate talking about management. They're bastards, whoever they are. Can't get anything reasonable out of them.'

Rue frowned, but kept walking. 'You don't know who management is?'

'Not allowed to. Security reasons. Another long story there; I'm sure we'll get round to telling you eventually - actually, I ought to let Ajit tell you about the Oven Incident. He loves it so.'

'Oven incident? What's--'

'Rue, please. No more questions, I beg of you.'

'Fine, fine.' Their feet pounded noisily up the metal stairs, occasionally eliciting a loud creak from them, but nothing worrying. They continued until they reached a metal door marked with a peeling white number seven at the top.

'Here we are,' said Fairfax. He pushed the door open.

The seventh floor hallway was completely different from what Rue had seen of the apartment building so far. It was very clean, with well-kept, dusty rose coloured carpet running the length of the hall and smoky green triangular light fixtures lining the pale peach walls. The combination wasn't entirely attractive, but nor was it offensive.

'He lives in room seven-oh-three, mostly,' said Fairfax. Rue could barely make out the doorway from where she stood in front of room seven hundred six. 'Ah, there's Ajit!'

Ajit had just turned the corner. 'Ramsden, there you are!' said Ajit in a deep, warm voice.

Rue stood up straighter and stared at the man, who looked to her more like a giant than a human. He was tall, brown, and muscular, with a head that looked almost absurdly small on such broad shoulders. The narrowness of the hallway only made him look larger, and Rue couldn't help but feel intimidated.

The large man strode toward them and slapped his hand over Fairfax's shoulder with enough force to make Fairfax tilt to the side. His eyes were wholly focused on Rue. 'Ah, and this must be that girlfriend you were telling me about!' Ajit took his hand off Fairfax and held it out to Rue. Her hand was swallowed by his in the handshake that followed.

'Good to meet you,' said Rue, her voice abnormally timid.

Ajit must have noticed, for he smiled at her kindly and said, 'There now, I don't bite. You're a sweet little thing, aren't you?'

'Not usually,' Fairfax replied, smirking. Rue frowned in mock indignation and elbowed him. The impolite comment managed to break the ice, though, and Rue found herself relaxing. Aside from his size, there wasn't anything about Ajit that made Rue feel unwelcome.

'I'm Ajit, one of the Senior Guards on Shift One. That's us,' he said.

'Ajit's also on Shift Five because he's crazy,' added Fairfax.

'You take two shifts? Why?' asked Rue. At Fairfax's disapproving look, her face reddened; it was hardly her business, after all, having met the man about a minute ago, but she couldn't help but be curious. Their shift was already forty-eight hours each week; who would take on more voluntarily?

'Oh, don't give her that look, Fairfax. She's only curious,' Ajit scolded him. Rue brightened up. 'It's a shorter shift - only another twelve hours - and the money helps. I've got eight kids, five at Hogwarts, and another on the way, so I do whatever I can to provide for them. And my Annie needs a new broom for Quidditch next year; she's Keeper and Quidditch captain. Only the best for my Annie.'

Ajit's smile was large, toothy, and sweetly sincere. He didn't seem to have the slightest regret about his work schedule. Fairfax was shaking his head subtly in a way that Rue knew meant that he disapproved far more than he was letting on - but he didn't know anything about having to provide for a family, did he? Rue was annoyed with him.

'That's wonderful,' said Rue, gushing more than she would have otherwise to let Fairfax know that she thought it was nice that Ajit thought so much about his family.

Fairfax, out of boredom rather than from having picked up Rue's signal, changed the subject. 'How's his mood today?'

There was no question at all about who Fairfax was referring to. Ajit automatically became more business-like, with his expression indifferent and his tone mechanical. 'Reasonable. He's been in with Aeron for the past half hour, though, so it might have changed. He tends to have mood swings.' The latter bit he clearly said for Rue's benefit; he was looking at her squarely. 'Be careful with him. He doesn't like it when his routine changes. He might give you a hard time until he adjusts.'

'She's been warned. Let's go,' Fairfax said, steering Rue around to face in the direction of room seven hundred three.

Ajit pressed himself against the wall so they could pass him. 'I'll stay out here so he doesn't get crowded. You'll probably want to send Aeron out too.'

Rue and Fairfax reached the door. It looked like ordinary solid wood, but Rue could feel that it was somehow enchanted. Fairfax didn't do anything but reach for the doorknob and turn it, though, so she supposed the spell or spells couldn't be affecting entry.

The door creaked loudly as it opened. Rue picked up a sliver of the conversation going on within, but it stopped too suddenly for her to make out anything cohesive. Fairfax stepped in ahead of her, blocking Rue's view almost entirely.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to the man sitting in a chair facing the wall to her right, but she couldn't make out much of him, so she acknowledged the man standing in the corner, who she assumed was Aeron Vale because he was holding a wand. Vale nodded; his eyes were dark, and he wouldn't look at her directly; his fists opened and closed several times, and his jaw moved back and forth in the same rhythm.

It was as though he wanted to hit her. Not hex her, but hit her. Or maybe Fairfax? She shook such thoughts out of her skull; he was probably annoyed about being interrupted, that was all. Either way, he made Rue's skin crawl.

'Voldemort,' said Fairfax coldly, looking at the man in the chair. Rue shuddered instinctively, and Aeron did not disguise his smirk. 'Wipe that smile off your face, Vale. Get out. I'm taking over in here.'

Aeron responded, with only the barest civility in his tone, 'Yes, sir,' and stomped out, intentionally bumping Rue's shoulder on his way. Fairfax moved further into the room after Aeron left, and Rue managed to move out from behind him.

Her eyes locked onto him instantly. In Auror training, Rue had learned the important steps for sizing up someone she was seeing for the first time. For a split second she found herself looking for his wand before she remembered that he wouldn't have one and moved on. She glanced at his eyes but couldn't look into them as he seemed to be deliberately avoiding eye contact.

She strayed away from her training about determining his height and build and other basic features to examine his face - the face of the most notorious murderer in wizarding history. He was very pale, reminiscent of a vampire Rue had met once. It was usually difficult to determine the age of a wizard, but this man looked as though he were living every age at once: his hollow cheeks were twenty, the tilting corners of his lips fifty, and his roving eyes at least a hundred years more than that. Rue knew, intellectually, that he was around eighty, but there was something about him that was utterly inhuman, and thus utterly immune to any human concept of age.

Yet at the same time he was more human than she had expected in his appearance. Rue had heard rumours about him having catlike red eyes and a slits for nostrils, like a snake, and bone-white skin, but none of that was true at all. She supposed that it must have been embellishment for scary children's tales. No, he looked human to the untrained eye; the difference was more subtle than that.

Voldemort didn't take his eyes off Rue as he said, clearly addressing Fairfax, 'You brought me a present. I like it.' He licked his lips.

'She's the new guard,' said Fairfax harshly. 'And she happens to be spoken for.'

Rue, still watching his face, saw the corners of his mouth barely twitch, and she felt more than knew that Fairfax had made a tactical error. Casually, he continued, 'Yours, then, is she? A little young for you, I think. If I'd known you were into that sort of thing, well, I could give you the names of some people...'

She could sense Fairfax's mind sputtering like an overheated cauldron before he even opened his mouth. 'That's quite enough!'

Not clever enough to best him. And she almost smiled because she knew that he was almost smiling, even if he wasn't showing it. But then he looked up into her eyes, and she was startled so much by them that she reared back, blinking rapidly. They were an unremarkable brown colour, but that was where the dullness ended; there was brilliance there, and sharpness, and she almost thought she saw a tint of red in his eyes for a moment. And then, just like that, his eyes shut off, the shutters on the inside closing even though his eyelids remained open and unmoving. His expression was as neutral as a doll's.

'Hello, little girl. You needn't look at me like that - I don't bite.' Fairfax snorted, but Voldemort ignored him entirely. 'What's your name?'

'Rue, sir. Rue Moreland.'

Fairfax raised an eyebrow and mouthed 'Sir?' incredulously.

'You are related to Muireadhach Moreland, I take it?'

'He was my father, sir.'

'He was a good Auror. Aside from being alive, of course.'

'You can stop calling him "sir", Rue,' said Fairfax, clearly annoyed.

'I like it,' said Voldemort, waving his hand to dismiss Fairfax's comment. 'She shows the proper respect for her elders. I prefer "Lord", but one has to start somewhere. And where do you hail from?'

'Edinburgh.' At first she consciously left off the 'sir', but she could tell that displeased him, and Rue didn't see the point of making him angry. 'Sir.' She had moved from Edinburgh when she was a toddler, but her father had always been proud of his Scottish heritage, and he would string her up by her toes if he heard her give any other response.

'Edinburgh,' stated Voldemort mildly, giving no indication of whether he approved of this or not. 'Have you ever been to the Orkneys?'

Fairfax raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering where this line of questioning was going. Rue was curious as well. 'No, I've never visited there.'

'I went to one of the smaller northern isles once when I was your age to perform a spell. There was no one there at all...it was wonderfully singular. Then I went back in 1981, and what do you suppose I found?' He waited a few moments, and then his mood change remarkably quickly to fury, and he almost yelled out, 'Well, girl, don't stand there slack-jawed! Ask me what I found!'

Fairfax looked as though he was about to step in when Rue said, 'What did you--'

'Muggles! Everywhere! Two of them!' Voldemort held up two fingers. He sounded annoyed (not angry, at least) and didn't seem to want a response, so Rue held her tongue when he paused. He continued, calmly, 'So I killed them, obviously. First I killed one - the old man. The old ones don't scream very well, you see...their vocal chords degrade along with the rest of their worthless husks...then I set upon the boy who was with him. I must say, I was fairly impressed...I think he held the record for the amount of time for a Muggle to be under Cruciatus before going insane. You can always tell that they're insane when they stop trying to scream...that means they can only scream on the inside anymore...'

He held onto the arms of his chair and leaned over towards her, and Rue felt ill as she looked into Voldemort's eyes. There was nothing but calculating evil in them now, and his smile was unnatural. 'And that is the only warning I shall ever give you, girl.'

At first she thought he meant the scolding he had given her, but quickly realized that he meant the story itself.

'Okay, you've just used up your creepy quota for the day,' said Fairfax, looking not at all phased by Voldemort's tale.

'I have to pee,' said Voldemort, just as casually. Rue could hardly believe this exchange was happening so rapidly after the story; she felt completely left behind, and struggled to push it out of her mind so she could catch up.

Fairfax's shoulders slumped. 'Now? You know Ajit is making lunch. Can't you wait?'

Voldemort looked away from both of them and turned his gaze toward the ceiling and leaned back in the chair until he was almost lying down. 'I have to pee-eee,' he said in a sing-song voice. 'I have to pee-eee, I have to pee-eee, I have to pee--'

'All right, all right!' Fairfax threw up his hands in defeat. 'Rue, you don't know where the kitchen is yet, do you?'

Rue shook her head.

'You could just let me go on my own. I promise I'll be a good boy,' said Voldemort. His smirk said otherwise.

'You could at least try to lie.' Fairfax sighed and turned to Rue. 'I've got to go get Ajit, Rue,' he said in defeat.

'Why can't you take him?' she asked, panic evident in her voice. You said you wouldn't leave me alone with him, she wanted to say, but it didn't seem right to quarrel in front of their prisoner. It sure doesn't seem as though he's the one imprisoned here, though.

'I'll only be a minute. No, less,' said Fairfax as he ambled backward toward the door. 'Just hold your wand on him while I'm gone.'

Rue took out her wand and looked worriedly back at Fairfax as he shut the door behind him. She could hear his quick footfalls moving away from the room.

Voldemort pushed himself gracefully out of his armchair, standing up to his full height. There was such a dignity and command to his presence at that moment that Rue couldn't believe that he was the same person who had been singing about having to pee less than a minute before.

He stood still, his hands in the pockets of his robes, and Rue kept her wand trained on him. Voldemort did not appear to feel at all threatened; he held his head high and looked down at her with a bizarrely peaceful smile. 'You have potential,' he said approvingly. 'Yes, I think you can stay.'

Rue's eyes followed him exactingly as he paced around his armchair. He didn't seem as though he desperately needed to use the loo. His expression was predatory. 'You should be alone with me more often if you want to learn. You did come here to learn, didn't you?'

He was staring into her eyes, and Rue felt as though she were an open book to him. Yes, she was intensely interested in him, and at that moment she knew that he would have the answer to any question she asked about anything. 'Yes, I know why you're here. Everyone comes for different reasons, and I always know. We'll talk some time soon. I have many more stories.'

Then Voldemort sat back down in the chair, and an instant later the door opened. Rue jolted in surprise and swivelled around. She stiffly moved her wand arm down to her side.

Ajit walked into the room, followed by Fairfax. Voldemort stood up again immediately. 'Let's have a look,' said Ajit. He was halfway towards Voldemort before he turned to Rue. More gently, he told her, 'If he ever needs to go to the bathroom or do anything else that he wants to be alone for, then I need to inspect him first.'

He crossed the distance between himself and Voldemort and stared the smaller man in the eyes. Rue was struck by the size difference; Voldemort had seemed larger than life only a few moments before, but Ajit could make almost anyone look tiny. How was it that the situation here seemed to change so drastically minute by minute?

His gaze still locked with Voldemort's, Ajit continued, 'I need to check his intentions using Legilimency. If he means to do any harm to himself in there, I'll know.' Ajit gestured towards the hallway in the room. 'The bathroom is in the door on the left. He's the only one who uses it. We use the one in room seven-oh-one when we're on this floor.'

Voldemort seemed unimpressed. Their eyes stayed locked for several moments more. Then he tore his eyes away from Ajit's. 'Can I go now, then? Are you satisfied that I'm not going to drown myself in the toilet bowl?'

'I'll walk you there,' Ajit replied. He sounded oddly kind and patient as he spoke, as though he were talking to a child.

Voldemort sat back down on his armchair. 'I don't need to go to the bathroom anymore. You may go.'

Ajit rolled his eyes and walked out without a word. Fairfax came up behind Rue and whispered in her ear, 'Now you see what we have to put up with.'