9th September, 8am. Parliamentary Cell

[therealpm]

*Peter sits at his desk, steadily working his way through the mound of briefings on his left and occaaionally transferring on to a much smaller pile on his right.  They would be more balnced, but he is not permitted a computer, and Cable has conveyed the view that spiky, scribbled shorthand requires an unacceptably long time to translate.  Peter is therefore writing everything out painstakingly in longhand, a task about which his wrists have been complaining bitterly for the past couple of days. 

He takes a sip of the potion and grimaces at the taste.  Its effects, along with the return of some of his magical ability have made transformation a far easier (though no less painful) process.  Occasionally Peter transforms, just for the variety of seeing the cell through wolf eyes, but there is little to do (he refuses to play with the squeaky toy Sally bought) and he soon turns back to return to the briefings. 

John has been absent, since the inspection.  The only members of the Speaker's office Peter has seen have been occasional glimpses of the deputies through the bars.  One of them, Lindsay, at least tries to speak with him, but Dawn just fumes in silence and a small Tory with whom Peter is not familiar cowers so far back against the corridor wall that Peter nearly didn't spot him at all.

He meets regularly with Jo- she is pleasant company, though never misses an opportunity to remind him of what she perceives as Labour's deficiencies on a number of issues.  He wears a suit and tie to hide the collar when she visits, and if it seems odd to her, she never comments.*

Comments

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Dawn arrives for her shift, relieving a very jumpy Nigel. Part of her mind makes a mental note that they should change the rota so that Nigel doesn't get assigned a night shift again - they'd thought it'd be less difficult, since Peter would be sleeping, but apparently it spooks Nigel.

Most of her mind, however, is still angry. Angry about this imposition on her already beleaguered time, angry that John is completely unorganised about everything, angry that procedure has not been followed and DEFRA has not taken the werewolf. She has nothing against the werewolf, but this has gone on quite far enough.*

Good morning, Peter.

*Nothing good about it.*

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter looks up from his work and wanders over to the door.*

Good morning, Dawn. Did you sleep well?

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*There's no use in being harsh to the werewolf. He has nothing to do with John's incompetence. Dawn takes a deep breath to calm herself.*

Tolerably. You?

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John arrives through the fireplace to try and talk to Peter about the collar issue. He spots Dawn as he steps through the other side*

Ah, Dawn, good to see you're on duty. I've been rather too lax about checking up on the rota, I must remember to do that more often.

*John nods through to Peter.*

Hello, Peter, how are you?

*He returns to Dawn*

I trust you're well?

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Ah, John has decided to finally deign to appear. She would have preferred to have had this conversation away from the werewolf, but needs must.*

No, John, I am not well at all.

You informed us by text of the werewolf's continued presence in Parliament. You have been conspicuously absent for the entire weekend. I have had to make rearrangements to the rota myself in your absence, so that your werewolf can be properly guarded.

*She takes a breath and remembers to lower her voice a bit. She doesn't want to be sacked - although actually under the new rules he can't sack her, so that's a relief. But he could probably make her life miserable.*

I was under the distinct impression that your werewolf would be handed over to DEFRA. Why has this not happened? We do not have the facilities, manpower, or capability to supervise your werewolf for any length of time, and it is not our job.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John is slightly taken aback by Dawn's sudden tirade.*

DEFRA conducted the required interview and check of the cell which resulted in the recommendation that, for the time being at least, Peter should remain here rather than be taken under government control. DEFRA seem to think that we have the facilities, manpower and capability for the task.

You're right, of course, it is not your job and I would never dream to suggest that it was. I have asked you to participate in this. If you really, truly believe that the best course of action for Peter, yourself and everyone else is for you to leave your guard duty - a guard duty, I would add, that is only likely to last 2 months worth of shifts - and allow DEFRA to take away, torture and finally kill Peter Mandelson, then by all means feel free to walk out that door right now.

If, however, there is even the slightest bit of doubt in your mind then may I humbly suggest you stay, if even just for a little while longer?

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Damn the man. Damn damn damn fuck him.*

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter sips his potion and looks at the two of them, silently, deciding that discretion is the better part of valour.*

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Now, unless you have any other queries, I do have work to be getting on with.

*John nods to Peter again*

Goodbye, Peter. I shall be back later.

*He tries to give Dawn a look and fails.*

If you do decide that leaving would be the best course of action, would you at least extend the courtesy of informing me so that I can arrange for someone else to take over your shift?

*John doesn't give Dawn time to reply and instead flounces off through the fireplace.*

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Dawn calls out after his retreating back but gives it up as a lost cause.

She looks at the werewolf.

It's not that she's not sympathetic to his plight, of course she is, and she does think that she's been excessively polite and sensitive. She bought him meat and books. She always calls him by his name and never addresses him simply as "werewolf", even though legally he doesn't have a right to his name any longer. And she uses his preferred pronouns - he/his - not the correct ones - it/its.

She is practically a bleeding heart.

That doesn't mean she's happy with the situation. Not at fucking all.*

So. Two months?

*Two months is an immense imposition and abuse of John's power. It's two months longer than the one day the werewolf should have been in their custody. It's two months of having to smell the stench of fear whenever the boys are around. It's two months in which she will be unable to give her full attention to the very important job that the taxpayers are paying her for.

Lord, she's beginning to sound like a Tory.*

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter looks up from his cup. There are bits in there that he doesn't particularly want to think about. Piching his nose, he gulps the last of it down, and shudders.*

A little under that, yes.

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Despite her own better judgment, the werewolf does look very much like a human. And she did know and almost like him in his previous life.

Dawn feels herself weakening.*

And then you will be cured?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter wanders off to the bathroom to wash out the cup and get himself some water. He calls back*

Or dead.

*Mug in hand, he returns to the door*

Vince has indicated that he will not attempt a second brewing, should the first one fail. Therefore either it will work and I will be cured, or it will fail and I will be dead, or it will fail and I will survive to be carted off by DEFRA to find out why. Probably by dissection.

*He smiles faintly*

Nice weather we've got at the moment, isn't it?

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Dawn brightens. The idea that the situation will be permanently solved appeals to her.

Of course, if she simply tells the truth when DEFRA returns, Peter will in all likelihood be immediately carted off. John is by no means a responsible pet owner.

But if she tells the truth John will also probably have to face proceedings in magical court for his conduct towards herself and Nigel and Lindsay. Coercion into a situation such as this would not be taken lightly.

Dawn hesitates, torn.

Accept the current situation and face two months of werewolf guard duty and all the associated inconveniences? Tell DEFRA and bring down John and throw the Speaker's Office into chaos (he'd probably have to resign to face the charges, and even if the general public didn't find out about the magic, there would still have to be a new Speaker and probably new deputies as well)?

It's not the threat to her job that finally decides her, oh no, it's the threat to the organised workings of Parliament. It's been thrown into disarray too much in the last five years already.*

Fine. I'll do it. But not for you. For Parliament.

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter raises his eyebrows at that statement, mentally replaying the conversation to find some sort of clue to what she might be referring to*

...right. Thank you.

*He shoots her a puzzled look, then goes to sit at his desk and get on with his work. *

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

*Apparently the werewolf's mental processes are a bit scrambled by the process. She'll have to spell it out.*

I'll support John in his decision to keep you here for two months, and I'll deal with the rota, since it is abundantly clear that John cannot. Furthermore, I'll deal with the DEFRA inspector when she returns.

*She gives the back currently turned to her an acerbic look.*

You just stay out of trouble and don't attack anyone, do you understand? If someone gets bitten it's curtains for everyone.

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter bites the end of his pencil to prevent himself from responding to her patronisng tone in kind, then lies it carefully on the desk and takes another sip of water. There was no sense in antagonising her, none at all. He chooses his words carefully.*

Of course, Dawn. Thank you.

[msdeputyspeaker.livejournal.com]

All right then.

*She turns to punctuate her words by walking out, before belatedly remembering that she's still on shift until Lindsay turns up.

She sighs and conjures a desk so that she can do her own work. It blocks the corridor, but so fucking what. At this point, she doesn't give a single solitary damn.

Time to settle in to work and try to ignore the werewolf as much as humanly possible. Just two months to go.*