Stray Dogs

Things weren't going well for Mali, evidenced by the way that Meg leaned against the door frame. It was essentially blocking her out but she couldn't get up. This was too important, the whole 'mission' had cost her too much to just shrug her shoulders and give up. No, she couldn't come in. Meg even said it, with confusion written across the blonde's face. Normally this would provoke a response along the lines of her heart dropping into her stomach or pangs of discomfort in her chest but instead she just got annoyed. Mali rolled her eyes, more at herself than at Meg. She couldn't come out and say it plainly, Mister Lupin's paranoia over the post had began to seep in. They were watching The Three Broomsticks, there was nothing to say they weren't watching the people who worked there. The witch glanced over her shoulder and up the country lane, half expecting to see the ripple of an invisibility cloak. There wasn't really anything she put past the Ministry anymore.

When she looked back to Meg, she was chewing on her lower lip. Her attitude eased and her face softened. "You know, the stray dogs that come poking around at night..." Please, don't make me say it. Something must've clicked for Meg because her demeanor changed from confused to cautious, prompting her to step aside. Mali hurried inside the moment Meg was out of the door way, setting the basket on the nearest hard surface and whipping around to face her.

This was no easy conversation and no matter how many different ways she recited it in her head, it never went well. Her insides squirmed uncomfortably now that she had Meg's attention. It made her feel sick, her own face dropping. "I know--" she felt overwhelmed and a little bit dizzy. Mali was someone who wanted to be liked, who was bothered when people didn't like her. Meg didn't like her, but there was nothing personally she'd done to the woman. One would think that the youngest Ashland would've been thankful for what she'd done for Theo. Who knows what would've happened if Mali hadn't stumbled across the scene? If she hadn't fought for the patients or been there to pick Theo up when he fell to pieces after? But no, Meg apparently saw her as trouble and what she was about to say wasn't going to improve that impression.

This was all trouble, and she was pulling Theo into it headlong with her. "I---need to sit down." Dizzy and nauseated, Mali shook her head and showed herself into the living room and onto the couch. The house was familiar to her anyway, she'd been here so many times with Theo. When Meg joined her, Mali's elbows rested on her knees and her head was in her hands. She could do this, it was to help others. Meg might even be reasonable if she cared for whoever she was helping to hide. "I know there are werewolves at The Three Broomsticks." The Enforcers weren't dumb. If there was that many rumors floating around about the pub, there had to be some truth to it. "It's all the Enforcers talk about anymore. They're going to close in on it. I want to help them, but I need you to put me in contact with them."

The sound of the basket hitting the floor made Mali jump and her heart skip several beats. Loud noises brought her back to several places, The Eye and The Apothecary being the two main ones. Her throat felt suddenly tight and her words got caught up in there for a moment before she could push. The Hufflepuff in her urged her to her feet with the intention of helping Meg clean up the mess but after swaying from foot to foot for a thoughtful moment, Mali sat back down. Meg didn't like her and she didn't necessarily want to get closer to the woman while the blonde was having her own crisis. A hand went to her neck, rubbing at it without thought. It was an idle tick now, occasionally a stress tick. There was no trace of the Death Eater's hands on her neck, not a single bruise or mark but his grimy putrid fingers felt like they were always resting there, unshakable and waiting for the perfect chance to finish squeezing the life out of her.

When Meg made it back to her feet she was down right scary. The blonde was obviously angry and Mali sat up, shifting uncomfortably on the couch as the woman approached. Her body language half mirrored the older woman's and she crossed her arms over her own chest, but her shoulders were slumped and she drew inward, making her look even smaller than she was. "Meg..." Theo was a very punchy person, Meg might be too. She eyed the woman's crossed arms apprehensively and was glad that they had the length of the couch still between them. When she spoke, Mali felt a weird mix of anger and compassion.

The witch stood, drawing herself up to full height. Even the shortest Ashland still dwarfed her, but standing offered a minuscule confidence boost. She opened her own mouth, unsure if her tone was going to come out angry and tasting bitter. "Because Theo trusts me." Surprisingly, her voice was very gentle. She understood the frustration Meg was facing and it washed away any trace of temper. She took a cautious step forward, posture relaxing into something friendlier. Her arms uncrossed, hanging by her side. "Betraying you would hurt him, and I wouldn't do that to him. I love him." Stress intensified the feeling of invisible hands around her throat and she moved to rub away the phantom grip on her throat again. "I don't think you'll believe me, but what happened---I took care of him the best I could, but we were both terrified. Running seemed like a good idea, then talking felt like a good idea. It all worked out, didn't it?" There was no use trying to recruit Meg to help her in her werewolf crusade with such a large and uncomfortable thing hanging inbetween them, there was no better time to clear the air.

Mali wasn't really sure that she was afraid of Meg. Would Meg hit her? That was an unknown. Theo was very prone to physical altercations, even with friends (looking at you, Tristan.) and the siblings were very alike. The tense feeling winding up her spine managed to relax a bit when Meg moved back, allowing her to breathe a little easier in the space. Mali hesitated on her feet when Meg raised her eyebrows but then she squared her shoulders. On some level, the hesitation and protectiveness made sense but Meg was standing in the way of her mission, stalling the redemption that she so desperately needed.

A frown weighed down her normally bright features when Meg spoke about Theo. Mali was no expert on siblings, being an only child herself, but she always thought that they had a close bond. Theo certainly seemed to be close to his sister, remember the big bear hug? And then Meg went there... she didn't know if this was worked out? Mali propped a hand up on her hip, making a show of her head swiveling this way and that to check out her surroundings. "This doesn't look like Azkaban. I'd call it worked out." The witch was cycling through several emotions, Meg always brought out the worst in her. When the blonde laid it all out on the table it pushed her from sass to defensive and maybe a little irritated.

She recrossed her arms, though not in a way that folded her up or made her small. She had an advantage here.. Facts. "You've never tried to get to know me, that's hardly fair." Mali was all about fairness, it was her inner Hufflepuff. One didn't lose that when they graduated. Hopefully some of that meant something to Meg, she'd been a badger afterall. And then she disparaged Theo some more and Mali furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Theo thinks so highly of you." They didn't talk about Meg much, but nothing Theo'd said about her had been bad. "How is it that I can believe in him more than his own flesh and blood? That doesn't seem right. Your lack of faith in him is sad, he's really an amazing person." Enough about that, Mali closed her eyes for a moment, bracing herself. It was time for her to lay it all out, tell Meg all of her secrets. It could work against her, to be tangled up in something that could potentially go very wrong while she led Theo into the thick of it. The guilt sometimes caught her by surprise, involving Theo. "Besides..." She started carefully, looking Meg right in the eye. "We have resources. My roommate and I are brewing Wolfsbane. It's only going to get harder and harder to get. We're not just brewing it, we're improving it. We're making it better, easier to take and more effective at mitigating the worst of the transformation symptoms. I can cover it all up on the registry. I've been fudging it for weeks. Betraying them would assure that Eoin, Theo and I all go to jail."

She shifted uncomfortably, uncrossing and recrossing her arms. In a way, this was her own little brand of The Order. A network of people who were pushing back against tyranny and risking a lot to do it. "You can help me. You can tell the Minister and all of her precious enforcers to sod off, all while helping your werewolves get the potion that they need."

Whatever? It prompted a huff from Mali, who normally had patience coming out of her ears but couldn't muster an ounce of it up for the blonde. "That's so very mature of you." Neither one of them were the epitome of adulthood here. They were all eye rolls and dismissive 'whatevers' and pouty huffs. Both were well versed in the art of sass and it was bleeding into Mali's blood, coloring every word spoken. Her own attitude abruptly changed at Meg's suggestion. "No.. No. Absolutely not." Maybe Meg could pretend, but Mali would never be able to. She was very serious now and very very somber. A frown weighed down her features. "That's an insult to the memory of Mister Longbottom and Mister Fischer. No one wants to be forgotten when they're gone." Besides, too much had changed. It created a debt that could never be repaid and left marks on her soul that could never be fully mended.

Mali's sass wasn't all gone. She propped a hand up on her hip, tilted her head and knit her eyebrows. "Sorry? What are you mumbling?" Apparently, the sass wasn't gone for Meg either, especially when she hit on a nerve. The change in the blonde was so abrupt and startling that she took a foot sliding step back and eyed the balled up fists. While Mali didn't want to get punched today, she couldn't just let the words go unchallenged. "Obviously you won't, you're insistent that I've got to be your enemy when it would be so much better for him if we could get along. And I'm not thick. I know him and trust him with my life, because he's proven himself worthy of that trust. You won't see it because seeing it means you'd have to admit that you've been a brat and you're too bloody stubborn for that." As much as she adored Theo, his stubbornness was one of his more frustrating traits and it was one that apparently ran in the family. Each one seemed progressively more stubborn than the last and as youngest Meg must've been the most stubborn of them all.

Meg turned away and there was a twinge of guilt in the pit of Mali's stomach. She didn't want to upset Meg, she just wanted to help the werewolves. She nearly opened her mouth to apologize but thought the better of it, the last thing one wanted to give a stubborn mule was any shred of validation. When she turned back around suddenly, Mali flinched but held her ground. It wasn't so much that she was afraid of Meg as a person, she just knew how prone to getting punchy Theo was and Mali wasn't a fighter. The blonde must've calmed down because her tone was more even, less angry. "Sometimes morality and legality don't see eye to eye." she said, lifting her chin a bit to boost her own confidence. Her answer seemed very... wise.. if she did say so herself and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for it. "Besides, I'm pretty sure failing to report unregistered werewolves is illegal now, too."

The question was a hard one, a question that she often fretted over herself. It was like a house of cards, one wrong move, one strong wind and the whole thing would topple over and everyone was going down. She bit on her lower lip and shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno, s'long as we can, I guess." Mali was certainly very resourceful when things felt important. Her position at the Ministry was a very helpful tool in the grand scheme of things. "You don't need any help?" Mali asked, folding her arms over her chest. She shifted her weight back onto one foot giving her the look of an irritated teenager who hasn't gotten her way. "Right... So, you're going to brew it yourself then? Got yourself a potioneer in your pocket? Stacks of galleons burning a hole in your vault at Gringotts?"