Order Only: Private message to Sirius Black and Severus Snape

[alt_lupin]

I spent about an hour last night chatting with Lucius.

I shouldn't find him infuriating, at this point. Dangerous, sure, but infuriating? the man's our prisoner. But -- he kept asking me what we wanted from him. And everything about the way he asked made me think he was grasping for any scrap of power he could, because if we wanted something from him, he could hold it over us.

That said, of course we want things from him. Information. I'm not sure specifically what; I don't know what specifically he knows that would be of use to us. And, of course, we can hardly ask him if he has any thoughts on things Voldemort might have turned into horcruxes without explaining the whole business with horcruxes to him -- not that it's going to be news to him that Voldemort can come back from the dead, given that he was actually there when it happened.

What do you think I should be asking him? The next time I go talk to him, that is. Which will probably be at Saltash.

Comments

[alt_sirius]

Honestly, it's a miracle he even deigned to talk to you - a halfblood and a werewolf. Though I suppose he knows his choices are really one indignity after another with us: disgraced purebloods, former Aurors, halfbloods and muggleborns and so on. Maybe he wisely determined one curse was as bad as the next.

Anyway, I'm not surprised you found him infuriating. Good thing I wasn't there, I guess. I'd have likely resorted to physical means of persuasion.

[alt_lupin]

Yeah, I actually told him that we were not going to torture him.

Because we're not. We're the good guys. If we really need to know something he's not telling us, we'll see if Hydra or Severus can read it out of his mind.

Anyway, he might very well have given me a straight answer if I'd asked him a straight question.

[alt_sirius]

Well, you could ask him about artefacts or objects that Voldemort prizes, or places he holds in high regard. That's how Draco and Hermione were trying to trace the locations or types of horcruxes. We can find out about that without getting into the why.

I suppose it might also be useful to find out if he knows where the inferi factory is.

We could ask him about who was in favour and who was out, but his information would be old on that sort of thing. Though he might know who else was less than happy with the state of the court - no one who'd started to doubt Voldemort six months ago is going to feel more disposed toward the bastard now than they were then.

[alt_lupin]

Those are all good questions. Probably better to ask him who had doubts about Voldemort, that he knew of, than who's in favour or not. He went to Azkaban in early summer, and His Noselessness is a changeable sort of despot.

[alt_lupin]

I'll note that some of what he did say suggested strongly he had his own doubts about Voldemort, but thought rebellion was hopeless.

[alt_sirius]

Well, that puts him in Regulus's category, then, if that's really true and not a trick.

[alt_lupin]

Yes and no.

Regulus rebelled anyway. Despite his belief things were hopeless.

[alt_severus]

If you did not find Lucius infuriating, I should think Azkaban had broken him completely.

Asking about the Horcruxes is probably our best bet to gain something useful from him. You are correct that we may need to resort to Legilimency; I will give it a try.

[alt_lupin]

It occurs to me that if we do want to legilimise him we won't be able to do it at Saltash.

I still think it's the best place to hold him, though.

[alt_severus]

Undoubtedly, yes. And I had not thought of that.

When is the transfer scheduled?

[alt_lupin]

Currently Monday. We could talk to Alice about putting it off again. The risk, of course, is that he'll get his hands on someone's wand. (No one's giving him pepper with his eggs, at least.) At the moment, he's so weak and drained from Azkaban I doubt he'd be able to manage an apparition even if he did get a wand -- I also pointed out to him that if he returned to Voldemort, he'd be legilimised, and Narcissa's role in the Azkaban breakout would be revealed.

We've currently got him under a spell that slows him down. Movement, reflexes, all of it. So if he did make a grab for a wand, it shouldn't be hard to dodge.

[alt_severus]

I shall endeavour to visit him tomorrow, then.