Hi another Harry Potter fic. Please let me know what you think. Delving into the Order is fun and I wanted to write a slash fic so...

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A Stolen Moment of Peace.

Caradoc/Benjy slash. Caradoc comes home after a brutal battle with the Order. Benjy and him try to make sense of the madness in the aftermath. Contains Slash.

If it wasn't for his stupid ribs Benjy would be out there fighting. The last fight that had ended with at least three of the Death Eaters dead had been nothing short of chaotic and brutal. One of the bastards had sent a bone crushing spell at Benjy and he'd been on the end of four shattered ribs and one pointing dangerously in the direction of his lung.

Caradoc had been nothing short of furious. It had been the only way to mask the terror Benjy knew he had felt.

There was another fight coming and Benjy had been all but ready to go but apparently three weeks wasn't a good enough time for his ribs to heal straight (according to Molly Weasley) and neither Molly, Albus, or Caradoc would hear of him leaving Edgar's mansion which was being used as base.

It wasn't like he was the only one. Lily was now four months pregnant and was being confined to the house by a very overprotective James backed by Remus and Sirius. Molly had gone only as the qualified healer but she too was just showing and Benjy knew Arthur was worried even despite the knowledge that Albus would be the one keeping her safe. Molly's boys were all here as well. Fred and George the babies were asleep in their matching cribs, Percy and Charlie were sharing the upstairs room. Only Bill was still awake though he looked in danger of falling asleep.

Finally Lily had had enough and put the eight year old into bed herself.

But that didn't stop the worry churning around Benjy like poison. Caradoc was out there. He couldn't stand the fact that should Edgar fall the house would lose its Secret Keeper and that left both Lily and him defending the house full of children.

Judging by the expression on Lily's face she didn't like that image either. She was rubbing her belly and biting her lip. "Tea?" he offered standing and wincing as pain shot through his side. Lily jumped up at once. "Sit back down" she snapped seeing him "Car will kill me if I let something happen to you and then James will kill Car and nobody needs that"

He grinned at her as she bustled around.

"You know what you're carrying yet?" he asked to distil the silence. Lily rolled her eyes. "Molly thinks it's a boy" she confessed "But then she would. James wants a girl I think but he would love a son"

She bit her lip again as the kettle magically poured itself "I won't stand another five months of this" she confessed quietly "Him being out in the thick of it and me being here useless"

Benjy nodded hating himself for not being fit quickly enough.

"Have you and Car thought about children?" Lily asked conversationally and he knew that she was doing it to hide her fear that James wouldn't be coming back. He blinked.

"We…we never really discussed it" he confessed. "I mean I know our world is more tolerating than the Muggle one but…I think it's dangerous and…" he trailed off as Lily looked away "Sorry…I didn't mean to…I suppose we always hoped the war would be over"

Lily nodded her hand stroking her belly "I thought that" she confessed "But James said we didn't know when the War would be over and there was no reason why we shouldn't keep living, besides" she sat up straighter "If we stop living our lives then it's like he's won isn't it?"

Benjy nodded thoughtfully. He thought about a sweet little baby like Fred or George Weasley with their big eyes and laughter. He even thought about children, a girl maybe like Percy Weasley smart and eager to please always carrying a book, ready to learn. The next (hopefully) untainted generation of wizards. He didn't want to stop living because one wizard said it was wrong. He couldn't do that. He shouldn't have to do that. Nobody should.

He leaned back in the chair wining as his ribs twanged. The seconds seemed to tick by and each minute seemed to stretch for hours. When the clock finally chimed midnight and it was three hours without even a patronas and Benjy didn't even have to look at Lily to know she was silently terrified. Standing and wincing with pain he refiled the teapot and got her a blanket. He could handle the cold.

Then finally the silver dog that was Sirius appeared in the kitchen. "Coming back prepare for casualties. Make sure the kids are upstairs" the dog said before disappearing.

There was a split second where neither one of them moved. Then Lily jumped up her wand silencing the door upstairs. "We should shotgun everything" she muttered "The lot" she shot him another look. "You shouldn't move" she instructed "Car will flip if you put your ribs out again" he stood anyway ignoring her. "You might need the table for healing" he muttered and she bit her lip again. Benjy knew that she was thinking about James and how it was Sirius who had sent the message and not James.

"Sirius would have mentioned if there was something wrong with James" he muttered wrapping one arm around Lily and pulling her into his side. She nodded biting her lip before taking a deep breath. He hoped that Sirius would have also mentioned if there was something wrong with Car but in that moment he couldn't be sure. And that scared the shit out of him.

It was Albus who appeared first with Molly Weasley who looked like the world had been knocked out from under her. Lily made a move as if to reach out for the other woman looking stricken but Benjy stopped her with a grab of a hand. He reached for his wand but Albus raised his hand. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts and the leader of the Order of the Phoenix and my favourite jam is raspberry"

Benjy dropped his wand his ribs feeling like they were on fire. "What happened?" he asked still not moving from where he was stood in front of Lily.

"Half of the Inner Circle" Dumbledore said looking grim. "From where I don't know but…they had a whole town of muggles hostage…We got six in custody and three dead but some managed to escape when they knew they were losing…the rest of them are there now waiting for the Ministry to arrive"

Benjy licked his lips feeling sick suddenly "Whose…Sirius said to prepare for casualties…" he looked at Molly before back at Dumbledore feeling Lily grip his arm.

Dumbledore sighed "Alice is a bit hurt. Turns out she was pregnant and hiding it so she could fight…I don't know who was more shocked Frank or Alastair" he shook his head. "Marlene has a couple of broken bones and Amelia was on the end of a rather nasty curse but she'll make it" he looked them both in the eye. "Caradoc and James are both fine" he said firmly.

Lily gave a small moan and Benjy felt his knees wobble in relief.

"But…" he asked shooting another look at Molly who seemed to be locked in her own little world. Albus sighed heavily.

"We lost Fabien and Gideon" he said quietly.

It was like the world had lost the air. All thought and speech seemed to have disappeared…Benjy remembered Fabien and Gideon when he'd been in St Mungo's. They had tried to give him a toilet seat they stole from the Weasley home until Caradoc and Molly had made them take it back both claiming it was unhealthy. They had been the best of the best and they had loved their nephews with all they had. And now they were both…gone…

Lily sobbed once crossing the room to wrap Molly in her arms. The two women stood there sobbing and hugging. Albus sighed again. "Sit down Benjy" he said finally "You shouldn't aggravate those ribs. I'll make us some tea…and some of Edgar's firewhiskey I think" he paused "I take it the children are all in bed?" at Benjy's nod he nodded "Good. The young need to be protected as much as they can from such horrific events" he bustled around making tea but Benjy noticed he kept his back to the still sobbing Molly.

A second later Sirius, Remus and Arthur appeared all three of them sporting cuts and burns. Arthur went straight to his wife hugging her into his lap as she cried into his shoulders. Sirius took the nearest whiskey downed it in one and poured himself another one without pausing for breath. "James is on his way soon. He had to speak to Amelia about something when she woke up and Rufus is on his way to deal with the Death Eaters…Crouch will have a field day when he sees this" Lily sniffed before nodding looking close to breaking point. Remus sat down heavily looking more worn and exhausted than he had the last full moon.

"Bad one" he muttered taking a gulp of tea "They had the Muggles under the Imperious Curse and the children locked in closets crying…" he trailed off looking sick. "Took five to kill them both, never seen anything like it" he shook his head closing his eyes and Benjy knew he was talking about the twins.

With another pop. Alice and Frank arrived. She looked furious and him irritated and exasperated but whatever argument they were having seemed to drain away. Mad-Eye followed shooting dark looks at his workmates before taking an offered glass from Sirius. Edgar and Amelia arrived followed by James who went straight to his wife pulling her into his arms and…Caradoc who looked windswept, dirty and exhausted. He still however managed to give Benjy that sweet smile that he had fallen in love with all those years ago when they were just to boys in Hogwarts.

He crossed the room in three paces and was suddenly there in front of him. Caradoc wrapped his arms around him pulling him into a hug. They were never the most affectionate couples when in public they preferred to take their time when they were at their own flat but when Caradoc pressed his face into the soft shirt that Benjy was wearing he found out that he couldn't care less.

Caradoc's blonde caramel coloured hair was streaked with dirt but he still smelt the same. The vanilla shower gel he used because he didn't care what people thought of him and the strawberry shampoo he used. Caradoc had never really cared about the products he used other than the fact that he smelt nice.

"I love you" he whispered into Benjy's ear "I couldn't stop thinking about you…I…all I wanted to do was be home with you and then Avery tried to disparate and James had to throw himself at him in case he ended up here and then Fabien and Gideon got themselves cornered and…" the trailed off kissing the side of his neck even as Benjy tightened his grip on him.

"I love you so much" Caradoc whispered "As soon as we can let's get home"

Benjy nodded wanting nothing more to do but to sink into a hot shower and their warm bed.

James took that moment to come over "Thanks for keeping Lily calm" he muttered his eyes sad. "Arthur's just gone to check on the boys but I think we're all gonna go home soon, Lil needs to sleep and Molly…" he trailed off. "We got three pregnant women here so I think Albus is gonna reconvene in the morning"

Benjy nodded pulling Caradoc's hips against his and tucking his head under his shoulder.

They appeared straight onto the doorstop of their flat hidden past the secret enchantments. The apartment sprang to life the minute they walked in the fire roaring, the bath running and the enchantments spinning back into action. Benjy turned to grab Car by his face and kiss him finally letting all the tension break free. "God I love you" he said finally "You scared the shit out of me…you scared the shit…I am going with you the next time regardless. My ribs don't even hurt that much" he punctuated this statement with kisses and Caradoc smiled at him.

"You scared the shit out of me when you fell last week" he confessed as the water stopped running. "You fell and you didn't get up and if Frank hadn't kicked me out the way to take over my duel with Travers then I would have fallen to"

The stripped silently and climbed in the bath together Benjy leaning against Caradoc the other man silently holding him.

"Who got them in the end?" he asked quietly and his body moved as he felt Caradoc shrug. "Not sure" he confessed "Dolohov got Fabien first but I suspected Gideon didn't take long. You could hear him scream for miles…" he stopped speaking and Benjy felt something wet fall into his brown curls "I was so glad you weren't there"

"Lily spoke to me today about why she and James chose to have a child" he said quietly. "She said it was because she didn't want to let HIM have control over their lives…same with Molly. It took us three hours to get her eldest to go to sleep he was terrified and now Alice is pregnant..." he chuckled "Bet Frank took that well"

"I'll tell you about that in the morning" Car said shifting slightly in the water "But Lily is right" Benjy nodded "She asked me" he paused before carrying on "She asked me if we had ever thought about having children?" he carefully didn't look up from where the water was magically sucking the dirt away from Caradoc's arm.

"Do you want kids?" Caradoc asked sounding surprised. "I wasn't sure…I…you never mentioned…"

Benjy shrugged "I didn't think the war would last for nearly eleven years" he said bitterly. "I thought that…I thought we'd just leave Hogwarts, get a couple of jobs, live together and raise a couple of kids. Maybe a little boy who read a lot like you or a girl that liked to help us bake cookies without magic and you'd never let date anyone…I thought that everything would be ok…" he shrugged "Suppose that makes me naïve"

Caradoc pulled him up to face him the water moving and still not spilling over the sides. "It doesn't make you naïve" he said roughly leaning forwards so that their faces were pressed together. "It makes you the same man as the one I fell in love with in fifth year…" he paused "If something should happen I would want you to still have that…" but Benjy cut across him. "Nothing is gonna happen" it was an empty promise but he knew neither one of them cared.

"Let's go to bed" he said wincing again at the pain in his side. "I wanna sleep for a year"

Caradoc kissed him again as their pyjama's appeared In front of them warm and cosy. "I love you Fenwick" he said gently standing up and getting dressed and helping Benjy out of the bath and into his pyjama's. Benjy grinned back kissing him again "Love you to Dearborn"

And with that they crawled into bed and carried on with their small stolen moment of peace.

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