Caught Red-handed (Tag: Alexandra)

After a quick visit to the Three Broomsticks, Madison happened upon the Hog's Head. She had quietly changed into a cloak before entering, and she took a seat in the back of the room. She needed to sort out her thoughts before she returned to the Order, and what better place than this dingy old bar, with suspicious loiterers?

Striding into the bar, Alexandra glanced around warily, trying to find those few people that she had spoken to a few days earlier. Most of their lot had promised that they would have confirmation on whether they could help her or not by the end of the week, in other words today, and she was impatient to see who could actually help or if she would have to sneak into the Ministry again. This time however, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get away with it. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught and not have a back-up plan.
She adjusted her hood a bit so that it would shield most of her face. To those who knew her well though, it would not provide much help against detection since her movements were still distinctly 'Alexandra-like'. Her eyes slid over Madison, who in the dimness of the bar, looked just like any other hooded figure. A grand mistake that she would look back on in the future for fear of repetition.

She ordered a fire whiskey for show and put down a few coins on the counter then sat on the edge of a bar-stool, tapping the pads of her fingers against the counter, not making noise. This was for two reasons: first was the logical reason, drawing attention to herself at this bar would be stupid; second, the personal reason, she was extremely uncomfortable by such a large crowd of potential and suspected criminals. As useful as she may be to the Order, this is one place where her first class education failed to teach her. Alexandra wouldn't admit it, but she suffered a bit from the things she had been taught as a child with not mixing with bad people. Having been completely isolated from anyone but 'good' people, she was prone to anxiety in unfamiliar situations.
It had taken quite a bit of courage for her to simply go up to people the other day and ask whether they'd be interested in helping her. Alexandra had to come here several times just to watch how other people would do it before doing so herself.

Ah. There was one. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she took a small sip of the whiskey as she examined the bar again. It had taken at least ten minutes, but now she could distinguish the sorts of people better. Luckily for her, most of the people she had spoken to had their hoods down and were chatting openly with others. Time to start speaking to some of them. Taking in a deep breath, she forced herself to relax and put on a small smirk. Smirks seemed to be the trade-mark look for: I'm relaxed and totally fine with kicking your ass if I have to. No wonder why Slytherins liked to smirk so much. Made them seem far more confident.

Obviously Madison found no need to tell Michelle how she had learned of Cassandra, the only question was, would Michelle accept the intel without knowing its source? Of course she would; Madison might not have been the most honest member of the Order, but when it came down to stuff like this, Michelle seemed to willingly trust her, despite whether that was good for the Order leader or not. Better still, rounding up a truth sirum seemed like a mighty idea indeed. Would Luke really carry something like that though? Madison had her doubts, but she wouldn't doubt what Leo had told her; not when she was still trying to stubbornly prove a point.

But now, Madison had something else to amuse her for the time being. A young lady, with familiar posture came in, hood on, and head low. Compared to everyone else in the bar, this young lady didn't seem all too comfortable, but who was Madison to come swooping in and ruining the girl's silly attempts to make herself important? For now, Madison would simply watch.

(Told you I'm right about Slytherins smirking:3 OOOH ALLITERATION)

After simply staring steadily at one of her potential... colleagues for only a few seconds, they realized that someone was watching them and met her gaze before nodding slightly and scooting over on their bench to make room for her sitting there. Anywhere else she would have been surprised by such a fast reaction to mere staring, but she had to guess that it was how they survived in their rather competitive working environment. The competition usually being to stay alive or not. She grimaced internally as she walked over and took a seat next to her first candidate. It was difficult for her to come to terms with the fact that becoming familiar with how street-life and the black market worked was essential, and then having to deal with the fact she had a lot to learn. In some ways it reminded her of school, not Hogwarts but a far more brutal school than even Durmstrang, where you learn and live or fail and die.

Discussing the job in very quiet voices, they didn't cast muffliato for fear of drawing attention or the other person threatening them under the protection of the spell. It seemed that this woman would like to do the job, but her expertise was not going to help much. In other words, if they both wanted to stay alive and benefit mutually from this exchange, the woman wouldn't work for her and Alexandra could definitely find, the woman assured her, someone here who knew more about the Americas. Nodding slightly to show her thanks, Alexandra passed a small bag of coins into the woman's hands in punctuate the appreciation of the woman's effort. She guessed that it was better to be a bit generous and more easily find people to work for her than to suffer from being cheap. The service of the people here was not cheap by any means.

Standing up quietly, she drifted to another table where a stick-thin man sat languidly across an entire bench with a mixed drink in hand. Personally, she stayed away from mixed drinks since she could not guarantee how mixed alcohol would influence her and was extremely sure that this was not the place to find out. Alexandra sank to the bench opposite him and began to speak quietly as well, discussing the whether he could work or not. She didn't know it but Madison sat only a few meters behind her and if the woman tried, she would be able to over-hear the conversation.

(Knew you were stalking again xD And that 'school' ur talking about.... Nadya can sort of relate :3 Oh and by the way, no finding trails on Timothy~ Plz ^^")

Madison dropped her gaze as Alexandra sat down nearby, her hood making it effortless to blend into the environment. Her sharp ears caught every word Alexandra and her acquaintance were saying. She had to admit, Alexandra was playing this somewhat better than Madison had expected, but still, if it were Madison, she would have gone to relatively trustworthy sources, but then again, Alexandra wasn't likely to have such reliable sources at such a young age. If anyone else were in Madison's current position, they would probably feel concerned about the risk of Alexandra slipping information about the Order, but for Madison herself, she trusted the young witch.

This man was her last and best candidate. All the others she had spoken to had said that they might be at the bar on this night, suggesting that if they weren't interested, they wouldn't come. So it all would come down to whether or not this man agreed to work or not. If yes, then Alexandra would be able to progress and focus her energy and him, if no, it was back to square one and she would have to look in other places. To be honest, if this failed, she had not clue where else she could go to find someone and being Alexandra, she wasn't going to give up this investigation in a hurry.

Having finished re-confirming a few details from their last encounter, the man stopped sprawling across the bench and sat properly, leaning forward slightly. He had the faintest scent of vodka and lemon, having taken his drinks quite well, he hadn't started sweating or smelling of vomit yet. Alexandra sat up straighter, not quite comfortable with the sudden closeness. The man seemed to ignore the straightening of her spine and spoke, "This is all very well, but how do you intend to pay me? It's going to take more than a little coin for me to say yes." he murmured, watching her intently.

Madison had scootched slightly to the left so she could better see Alexandra (assuming its the man has his back turned on Maddy and not Aly) and, in a sort of curious way, Madison leaned forward at the same time as the man, possibly invoking Alexandra's attention, though her posture was a bit more sophisticated than the man; her legs crossed, her finger laced in front of her, and a sly smile crossing her lips- the only part of her face the hood didn't hide. Her smile was a sort of Maddy's way of silently asking, 'Now how far would you go for information, Miss Leoine?' If Alexandra wasn't too busy trying to nail a potential 'colleague', it would be quiet simple spotting Madison's defintite posture, quite in the same way Madison had identified Alexandra.

She raised an eyebrow from the recesses of her hood and scanned the man's face and position for any hints as to what sort of payment he indicated. His gaze was not lustful but simply calculating, the words he had used were probably to test her and see what her reaction would be. Alexandra knew that if she misinterpreted anything, it was going to be a one-way ticket back to square one and utter cluelessness as for what to do. His hands were clasped around the flask and not trying to inch across the table. Definitely not a sexual favour he needed and not one that she would grant even if he wanted it. The girl had adopted a rather strict moral code once she left Hogwarts; 'no playing around with possible danger' was on the top of her list along with 'keep self-dignity'.
All that was left was information in exchange for information or some powerful magical artefact. But whether she would give the first or pay with the latter, Alexandra intended to know specifically. Since there was no delicate footing around the matter, she launched into a very blunt question.

"What payment do you accept then if not coin?" the man's eyes flashed with slight bemusement before the emotion went into hiding again.

(I'm glad Madison is never put in the situation of dealing with creepers ;3 ... and don't get any ideas >.<)

Alexandra was certainly determined if she had been too busy to notice her former History professor, and yes, she seemed cautious about the man she was speaking to, but what of the other people around her? If Alexandra hadn't even noticed a woman who was right in fron of her- well across from her, but still within sight, how could she possibly hope to keep her guard up around any potential threats? Madison dropped her smile, but kept the rest of her graceful posture, watching the two with a calculating gaze. For someone who was thinking so critcally of a younger witch, she sure wasn't paying too much attention herself. Slightly more, but still.

A rustle of material and the changing in someone's posture drew Alexandra's eye away from the man momentarily and her eyes widened at the sight. Madison was sitting only a few meters away and had probably heard every bit of the conversation. Yet she couldn't help but note that the woman hadn't stopped her or tried to help at all, merely sat there and listened to Alexandra dig herself a grave in the Order's unofficial code of honour. Despite the horror of this discovery, the man continued on, HIS attention unwavering.

"There are some things of power that I could have great use for..." he caught the girl's attention being directed else-where. "Perhaps you would like a moment to think first?" without letting her answer his question, he slipped away from the bench and table, moving towards the bar to get a refill.
The bench opposite Alexandra was now empty and she stared at Madison from the shadows of her hood.

As Alexandra finally took notice in her, her sly smile returned once more. She kept an eye on the man for a moment as he moved over to the bar for a short while, and then fixated her gaze upon Alexandra once more. She really was cruel enough to just let things continue, to just sit here, and listen to the entire exchange between Alexandra and the shady man, but Madison was getting ahead of herself. She already had the information that Michelle had asked for, and Madison wanted to finish with timothy as soon as possible. And that meant there was no time to draw this out as she would have liked.

So, instead, with a quiet, inward sigh, she rose to her feet without a sound and circled around to Alexandra's table. She extended a hand out to Alexandra, as though meaning to escort her out, "I already have what we need. Can we move on? Unless you would like to proceed talking with that..." She looked the man over, who glanced over from the bar subtley, "...thing?"

To say that she was surprised was an under-statement which drew from her exactly what she had been looking for. Unwise but she couldn't help herself from asking in a very amazed voice, "W-what? You've got Leo's background?" she was completely motionless as she sat on her bench in shock.

Madison sighed, taking another glance towards the bar; the man seemed like the impatient type, but that was simply a quick judgment courtesy of Madison herself, but whether it was accurate or not was another question. She then irritably looked back down at Alexandra. From this angle, Madison still couldn't get a good look at Alexandra, but Alexandra could plainly see Madison's face.

"Why won't you two just drop this silly little sharade with Leo!" She hissed, stubbornly sitting down across from Alexandra, despite the look she received from the man at the bar, "We've got enough crap going on already, and you two are pointing fingers at the wrong guy!" Those her tone was snappy, her voice never raised, not once. For someone like Madison, she didn't need to do so to get her point across.

She couldn't help but wince at Madison's harsh words. Coming from someone that she respected, it hurt quite a bit to have someone tell her that her endeavours to gather information on this fellow was childish and, from Madison's tone, irritating. But the fact that the woman opposite her mentioned the Head of the Order also having doubts, some of her determination returned.
"I will explain to you later then. For the moment I have a deal to make." her tone was icy. It was the only way that she could hide her sadness due to Madison's words. Alexandra stood up from the bench and went over to the bar where the man waited. His eyes flitting around showed that he was getting impatient and probably had better things to do. But this halted as he noted his client's approach.

"I am a trader of sorts." he continued as she stood next to him at the dusty bar. "Get me a fresh Erumpet horn and you have yourself a deal. I come here every night for a drink, so if you have one, you should know where to find me." then he left her there at the bar and moved through the tightly clustered tables and out the door.
Alexandra nodded in consideration then walked back over to Madison. "Meet me at the HQ to talk in more detail now." there was no way that she was speaking of anything closely Order related in public. Her cloaked form ducked through the same doorway that the man had left through but in a whirl of dark cloth, disappeared.

Madison sighed as Alexandra went to the man willingly, and it was only until she had come back and told her to meet at the Order that Madison became responsive again. She watched the young witch walk out, and as she glanced, slowly but carefully around the Hog's Head, she finally got up and walked out.