The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

Bargaining

Ethel Needlemire sat at one of the booths in Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor, playing a game of muggle checkers with Edgar Odair as they waited for Jasper's shift to come to an end.

Edgar was kneeling on his chair, biting his lip and making a show of the game. Checkers, he thought, were rather rudimentary compared to Wizard's Chess, but Ethel was nice and he appreciated she was taking time to play with him. He rather liked her and recognized that she was good for his brother, who hadn't smiled so much as he had since meeting and courting Ethel. She treated Jasper with kindness, and loved Edgar dearly. They formed a strange, but loving family.

Jasper ran the wash cloth over the counter, other wash cloths danced over tables by magic, too. The sun was setting outside over the pikes and peaks of Diagon Alley, and Jasper was whistling a tuneless melody as he worked, turning to cover the barrels of ice cream with the glass freezer door.

The door opened, a chiming of bells sounding through the shop.

"I'm sorry, we're closed for the evening," Jasper called out, "Open again prompt in the morning, though, mates. You come back then and your cone is on the house."

"Shame," said a low, rasping voice. "I really had my heart set on something delicious tonight."

Jasper looked up from the freezer and found himself looking at a tall, lean man in a Death Eater's mask. Jasper froze. The cloths on the table tops stopped, falling limp as Edgar and Ethel looked up from their game. Jasper took a deep breath, reaching quietly under the counter for his wand. "I'm very sorry," he said, "But we closed several minutes ago."

The Death Eater walker slowly across the room, his heeled boots clicking on the tile with every step. "The Dark Lord seeks information," he said lowly, "Information that he knows you can give, Jasper."

Jasper shifted uncomfortably. An unknown, masked enemy using his name like that was quite unnerving and he discreetly tightened his fist around his wand, calculating the Death Eater's distance from the table where Ethel and Edgar sat. "What information is that?" Jasper asked.

"We recently lost many - many valuable bodies in our inferi army, it seems," the Death Eater crooned, "Burnt up by members of the Order of the Phoenix."

Jasper had heard, of course, and he'd heard about the battle in the atrium in the Ministry that had followed, about the dementors freed in the Minister's office, about the missing Caradoc Dearborn... He shifted uneasily. "And I know the Order lost at least one member themselves," he said. "What's it to do with me?"

The Death Eater smiled mundanely. "Well, you are a member of the Order of the Phoenix, are you not?"

Jasper didn't know how to answer, so he stayed silent.

The Death Eater chuckled. "I already know the answer, friend, you may as well speak up."

"Yes," Jasper said, "I am. And you are a member of the Death Eaters, are you not? One of the cowards who hides their identities behind masks and You Know Who's power?"

The Death Eater hissed.

"If you know so much about me," Jasper continued, "Then what information is it that you're needing that you think I can assist you with?"

The Death Eater walked closer, stepping right up to the cash register and smiled perfect rows of shining white teeth at Jasper. "Less information, I suppose, and more... an offer. An offer for you."

Jasper shook his head, "I don't make bargains."

"No?" the Death Eater pressed.

Jasper shook his head.