The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Free Bird!

"I bet there's rich folks eatin' in a faaancy dinin' car! They're probably drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigaaaaars... Well I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free... but those people keep a-movin' and that's what tooorrrtures meeeee..."

Mad-Eye Moody had had enough.  Gideon and Fabian Prewett stood just a bit behind Mad-Eye, shaking their heads and marveling at Sirius's tenacity. It was something to be admired, Gideon thought sadly, that the boy was able to keep up the singing despite every tactic that Mad-Eye had tried to get him to talk. And blimey he'd run the gauntlet. He had slammed around the holding room, banged on the table, clunked his foot, spoken gently, bellowed, threatened, promised, made offers, and generally done everything a bloke could do to try and get the blithering idiot that was Sirius Black to talk and yet --

"Well if theyyyy freed me from this prison if that raaaailroad train was mine... I bet I'd move it on a little farther down the liiiine ... far from Folsom Prison, tha'ts where I want to staaaay and let that lonesome whistle... bloooow my bluuuues awayyyyyy..."

"BLACK YOU'LL STOP SINGING RIGHT NOW OR I'LL ---"

The door burst open and in walked Mr. Underhill. 

Moody turned about, lowering his wand, and stared at Mr. Underhill. 

At the sight of Underhill - even Sirius Black went silent.

"By jove, he's stopped!" Gideon said in surprise.

"Free Bird!" cried Fabian, clapping.

Mad-Eye and Underhill both turned and glowered so hard that they both shut up and looked quite abashed.

Underhill stood in the doorway for a moment, then said, "Your old questioning techniques failing you, are they, Mad-Eye?" 

Gideon and Fabian shared a look. Everyone in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement knew there was a strange relationship between Mad-Eye Moody and Mr. Underhill. The pair of them had been nemeses for as long as anyone could remember, and when Moody had been given the position of Head of the Department, Underhill had been up for it, too, and the Minister for Magic had crated a special new title just for Underhill to appease the amount of competition that had built up in the Department over the two of them. The only thing that really made Moody more powerful was the fact that he was Albus Dumbledore's man through and through and had the pull of the headmaster as a back-up card to play in times when he needed to get that extra step ahead of Underhill.

Underhill, however, had a particular knack for patience that Mad-Eye had never possessed. And it was this patience that gave him an "under upper-hand" as he often worded it.

This was one of those times that his under upper-hand would come in handy. 

Underhill cleared his throat and Mad-Eye turned about to look at the other man. "Go and play at having another evacuation drill, Moody," Underhill said, "I'll take care of this from here."

"It was my man that's brought him in - Longbottom," Moody grunted, I'll book him just fine without your help."

Underhill glanced at the Prewetts, who were leaning against the wall, arms crossed and watching with amusement. "Seems you've got back up."

"They let themselves in to observe."

"Yeah we're observing," nodded Gideon.

"Loads of observing going on here," Fabian agreed.

Underhill said, "Well you pair can observe elsewhere." He nodded to the door.

Gideon and Fabian glanced at Moody and he nodded at the door as well. "I observe we're unwanted here," Fabian said.