Menage a Quatre

Chapter 3

The Quarte stared at Dumbledore, dumbstruck. Antoine idly wondered if the rest of the Quarte were thinking what he was thinking. This guy's nuts, he thought. To use us in a war we really have no part in...this guy's nuts.

"I see you need convincing," Dumbledore said quietly, "even though Voldemort sent his newest servants after you to prevent you from coming to me and sharing what you know. Very well. I am prepared to pay you one hundred and fifty Galleons, in advance, to deal with the trolls." The Quarte weren't the only ones looking at Albus Dumbledore in shock now. "If you feel, at any time, that your involvement is not necessary in this war against Voldemort, after dealing with the job at hand with the trolls, we will never have to see each other again. To prove my good faith, to facilitate your mission and to ensure your trust, I will have two of the Order of the Phoenix accompany you, Remus Lupin and Rubeus Hagrid. However, if it turns out you agree with me and there is no place to hide, and you wish to join the Order, you will return here. Do we have a deal?"

Krystoff in almost a whisper tone, "And if we refuse to commit ourselves to this job?"

"You will leave here unharmed, on my honor and the honor of the Order of the Phoenix. I promise you that none of us will harm you as long as you don't harm us." Dumbledore nodded.

"They know our base," Snape snarled. "What if they reveal where it is to the Dark Lord?"

"I trust these people, Severus," Dumbledore said carefully, "and they are not Secret Keeper for the Order. I am."

The room was pregnant with the silence that followed. Thaddeus was the first to speak. "We need to talk, in private, to make this decision. If you'll excuse us."

"Of course,"--Dumbledore nodded--"take all the time that you need to make this decision."

Stunned by these developments, Antoine walked outside with the Quarte.

Thaddeus was the first to speak as he closed the door behind them, after Veridian nodded that she had enacted her Sound Bubble Charm that allowed them to speak freely, but rendered all noise outside it as static, and all noise in the bubble as static to those outside.

"From a practical standpoint," Thaddeus said slowly, "it's a good deal. The Ministry would maybe pay a hundred for the same job. Can we refuse it?"

"Same job, minus the possibility of Death Eaters," growled Antoine low. "You DO make a good point, though. That's the best offer the Ministry of Magic would make."

"That's not the real question," said Veridian, looking at all of them nervously in the eye. "The question is, can we walk away from this?"

"Why not? Do you think Dumbledore would renege on his word and try to kill us or curse us anyway?" Krystoff asked nervously.

"No, that's more of a Snape thing," Verdian said calmly. "Antoine, how do you feel about all this?"

He knew what she meant. "We aren't in danger here, or from anyone in that room," he said calmly. "I sense danger, a lot of it, if we go, but I can't tell you that's the 'oh, we're dealing with trolls,' danger, or the 'we're dealing with depraved followers of You Know Who,' danger."

"Then I reiterate the question, can we walk away from this?" Veridian asked. "If it was a town about to be destroyed by trolls, and they had no money, would we help them?"

The male members of the Quatre all looked at each other, and Antoine said, "What does THAT have do with our current situation?"

"Picture, then, Antoine, hundreds of towns being overrun by trolls. Or goblins, or dragons," Veridian continued relentlessly, "all because of this war, and all because we didn't agree to help Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. The reason why he has faith in us, gentlemen," she said, looking at all of them in various states of thought, "is we will do it, because good conscience leaves us with no choice. No choice at all."

* * * *

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Dumbledore and the Order were resuming their meeting.

"Why do you trust them, Dumbledore?" Snape said in a bored tone. "They will work for anyone with money and a monster problem. Why should the Order trust them at all?"

"Not everyone thinks like you, Snape," said Lupin, coldly.

"He's got a point," said Moody, growling. "Don't look at me like that, Lupin. When you have a profit motive installed in what you do for people, your motives are questionable, no matter how noble you may be."

"Has it occurred to you, Lupin, that if they knew what you are," Snape said calmly, "they might want to do something about it? You are a dangerous monster, after all, and they are monster hunters.."

"Calm down, all of you," Dumbledore said calmly. "Remus, I wouldn't worry too much about Antoine and his friends. First of all, Antoine is a skilled potion maker, so I hear from Madame Maxime, and it's a known fact that the Quatre tends not to kill werewolves unless absolutely necessary. Secondly, Severus, I know Antoine and his friends will do what they say, and that they will join the Order. If you need a reason why, it's the same reason I trust you."

Snape looked at Dumbledore, long and hard. He didn't really know the reason why Dumbledore had such faith in him, and he was about to ask, but thought better of it. Some times, you're just not ready to see the truth.

After an hour of deliberation, the Quatre walked back in, looking at each other and nodding.

"We agree to take the job under your terms, Dumbledore, on two conditions," Thaddeus intoned. "The first is you give us details, everything you know, and that you will answer our questions..."

"Indeed, if I can, I shall." Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "And the second condition?"

"That you show how to do a Fidelus Charm, for our headquarters," said Thaddeus with a gallows smile. "It only took one dementor to realize how unprotected we were."

"One is enough," smiled Dumbledore. "Agreed, on all parts. What do you need to know?"

"The first questions are really ones to satisfy our curiosity. Why are you in this house for a headquarters, of all places? It looks like some Dark Wizard built it," said Antoine, scratching his head. "And the second one is, how did You Know Who get back to life? He was dead, wasn't he?"

"Voldemort never really died," Dumbledore explained. "He had researched on how to cheat death, to never die, and through his experiments, he did. He used a ritual to bring himself to full life in the presence of one of his Death Eaters and Harry Potter during the Triwizard Tournament, but he was never dead, he was always just between death and life, waiting in a limbo of never being either. As for the house, it was donated from a member of the Order." Dumbledore's eyes grew sad, and Antoine marveled at the pain there. "The first causality of the Second War of Voldemort. Sirius Black."

Antoine blinked, and then started to say something very fast in his native tongue, then realized what he was doing. "Sirius Black? Didn't he kill thirteen people?!"

"No. One of Voldemort's servants, the same one that killed Lilly and James Potter by telling Voldemort of their whereabouts, framed Sirius," Dumbledore said quietly, "He never got to see his name cleared." Antoine looked around the room. Most of the faces were impassive, or sad, and when Antoine looked at Lupin, he thought he saw a tear there, in those eyes that were haunted by pain.

Silence filled the room, until Krystoff said, "So...where are we going?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Sherwood Forest."

"Like in the Muggle story?" Krystoff grinned, thinking that Dumbledore was kidding.

"Like in the Muggle story. It exists, you know, it's just most of it is Unplottable, and you will find," Dumbledore said, "when it comes to Muggles and magic, most stories they tell are true in one way or another."

"Wow. So there was really a Wizard of Oz?" Krystoff was practically hopping up and down with excitement.

"Not all Muggle stories are true," Dumbledore said slowly, "like not all Seers need to see the future." Antoine's stomach lurched as he knew who that was directed at. "The Order is dismissed. The Quarte and the members of the Order going with them will need to be here by sunrise the next morning. Good day to you all." And one by one, the Order filed out.

"Antoine, we've got to get ready," said Thaddeus, seeing the look on his face. "Don't be too late getting back. Come on, Mice Breath, Sugar, let's go get some ice cream!"

Antoine sat there for a long while afterward. Not all Seers need to see the future. What was that supposed to mean? And what the hell did it have to do with him? Screw it, he thought. I'm going to go get some fresh air, and not think about cryptic old men. And with that, he walked out of 12 Grimmauld Place.