This story is irrevocably connected to the seventh of my seven-book Albus Potter series; it takes place in between two points in Chapter 9. As such,this story has an ENORMOUS level of spoilers in it for my Albus Potter series.
Please do not read unless you've reached up to Chapter 9 in Book 7! Not just for the sake of spoilers; a lot of the discussion and action that occurs in this chapter won't make as much sense or be as intense without the context.
Also, "warning," I guess? The heroes happen to be gay and in a relationship. If it bothers you too much to be reminded that gay people exist and are people, you are free not to read!
Thanks, and hope you enjoy!
Louis and Gil, Private Aurors
After leaving Albus and his company, and shortly after departing from the hideout of Harry and his company, Louis and Gil had brushed themselves off after tumbling out of a chimney in the South African Flooport. Gil looked around eagerly for their greeting party, while Louis subtly pouted.
"You don't have to be jealous," muttered Gil out of the corner of his mouth.
"Yes I do," muttered Louis in the same manner.
Rosco Loft, son of one of the Loft-Mason School's founders, who happened to be Gil's charming and handsome ex from Louis and Gil's seventh year, finally caught sight of them. He ran over and hugged Gil tightly, then shook Louis's hand.
"You told me he wasn't your boyfriend," said Rosco, huffing exaggeratedly, but he cracked a genuine smile.
"He wasn't," said Gil, smiling back. "At the time. Let's head to your car."
Rosco nodded, and they exited the South African Flooport. Louis looked around nervously, but Gil strutted confidently forward alongside Rosco. They reached a dusty-looking hatchback in the Muggle parking lot nearby, and Rosco gestured to it proudly.
"Are you sure it's in okay condition to drive—with all that dirt?" asked Louis. "I can clean it up for you if you'd like. I'm very well-practiced with Scourgify…"
Gil smirked.
"It's proof of all the miles I've driven," said Rosco, "and, ag, I like the rugged look it gives."
His desire for rugged looks was starkly contrasting with his pink shirt and pink silk scarf. Louis shrugged and got in the back seat as Gil climbed into the front.
"I'm so glad you finally accepted my invitation," said Rosco. "It's so good to see you again, how has life been after—"
"Hold up," said Gil. "Sorry to cut short the niceties… but this isn't really a nice visit we're making. And I hope you'll forgive us for this, but…"
Rosco's confused look turned to shock as he was hit in the back with a nonverbal Stupefy from Louis; he collapsed over the steering wheel, and Gil caught him to prevent injuries or honking horns. Gil leaned him back, tilted his head back, and administered a small dose of Veritaserum. Louis removed his wand and restrained his hands as Gil revived him from the Stun, and then Louis set to work casting protective spells all around the car.
"I hate doing this to anyone, especially people I for the most part trust," said Gil, "but the most reliable people to us lately have only been acting so reliable to get our guards down, and I hope you understand the need for caution. So I have to ask… What do you know about what your father is doing under the Loft-Mason school?"
Rosco raised an eyebrow. "He says the workers constantly streaming in are working on a power source to provide enhanced magical energy for the school premises," he said calmly. "I haven't bought that story, but I haven't poked around in there because the security is too tight. I assume he's working on some big personal project that he doesn't want anyone to interrupt or mess around with, or steal his secrets—it wouldn't be the first time he's acted crazy on that fear."
"He doesn't know," said Gil, turning to Louis. "I told you…"
"It's always best to confirm," said Louis, releasing Rosco's bonds, "rather than go through the whole already stressful ordeal worrying that our guide is going to stab us in the back…"
"No, I agree."
"What ordeal are you talking about?" asked Rosco, his dark face darkening further with worry. "You want me to guide you to something? What's… what's happening with my father?"
"We're almost entirely confident that your dad is taking part in an attempt to exterminate all of the Muggles on the planet," said Gil, and Rosco choked on the air he was breathing. "I know it may come as sort of a shock, but…"
"Not as big as it could have been," said Rosco, grinding his teeth. "My dad hasn't been shy about showing disdain for Muggle-borns."
"We need you to get us into the school and down to whatever sealed chamber your dad is working behind," said Louis.
Rosco began to sweat. "I… I gotta let Eloa know," he said, holding out his hand to Louis in expectation of his wand.
"No," said Gil, grabbing Rosco's wrist gently. "No, Rosco, she might know and she might be involved."
Rosco shook his head. "That's impossible. She wouldn't."
"We've claimed that same thing about an impossible number of our own friends already," said Gil. "Believe us… It's possible. And time may be running out. We just talked with Louis's uncle, Harry Potter—you know him? Harry said they'd intercepted communications suggesting that Helio Wilcox might be planning to set this thing off in the middle of Adelina Nelson Day."
"Which, if you hadn't noticed, is today," said Louis. "No time can be wasted right now. You have to get us in and out as soon as possible."
"Hop in the boot," said Rosco, jabbing a thumb at the back of the car. "I promise you, they won't check in there. They've never checked my car. I'll drive right in."
"They might if their security is increased on the last day," said Gil. "Can you think of another way in?"
Rosco grimaced. "There's an entrance that the workers use," he said. "But it's well-protected. I've tried to sneak in there before."
"A worker's entrance is probably closed now if they're done working on it," said Gil. "Think, okay? Just think. Something that can help us get on the grounds unnoticed."
Rosco screwed up his face in concentration. Then he lit up.
"The greenhouses," he said. "They were growing fields of Floo flowers. They harvest them in the greenhouses to sell to the Flooport here."
"What about them?"
"They enchanted the fields," said Rosco. "When a Floo flower gets pollinated, it usually teleports away to a different location to scatter its seeds. But they enchanted the fields so the Floo flowers will always teleport into the greenhouse, so that we can harvest them there. If we grab flowers and pollinate them…"
"We'll teleport to the greenhouse," said Louis. "Perfect! You're absolutely sure it won't teleport us to some random island halfway around the world like Floo plants usually do?"
"I'm sure," said Rosco. "One hundred percent—my dad was bragging about how perfect his spellwork was to get it that way."
"Genius," said Gil. "Thank you!"
"No problem," said Rosco. "Here, I'll drive us to the fields…"
"No time, let's fly," said Gil, and he and Louis extracted brooms.
Rosco blanched. "I don't fly," he muttered.
"All right," said Gil, "hop on the back of my broom—"
"No," said Louis sternly, "hop on mine, please."
Gil and Rosco chuckled as Louis's face stayed deadly serious; they lifted off, leaving Rosco's beloved car in the parking lot.
"It'll get towed," pouted Rosco.
"Oh, what a global tragedy that would be as compared to the alternative," jabbed Louis as they lifted off.
"Personal feelings towards each other end once we land," said Gil. "Okay?"
"Tacit," mumbled Louis.
Rosco shrugged. "I haven't done anything wrong."
"Keep it that way," said Gil. "Direct us."
"You'll see it really soon, we're not far from the school and the fields aren't far from the school either. Straight ahead—little to the right—see it? That black dot in the distance, that's the fields."
In just a couple of minutes, they had come upon the field, where the field of half green and half black Floo flowers were quivering at the wind that the three wizards brought with their landing. A few flowers sizzled and cracked and disappeared.
"Grab a black Floo flower, those are the ones that are ready to go," said Rosco. "But we might still have to pollinate them."
"How do we do that?"
"Come over here," said Rosco, pulling up a flower. "I'll rub mine against yours and we'll pollinate each other—"
He quailed at the look Louis was giving him after that statement.
"Jesus," laughed Gil, and he pulled up a flower as well. He brushed it against Louis's and then against Rosco's, but it seemed unnecessary; the flowers were already shivering after being picked.
In seconds, they all burst into the greenhouse, buried neck-deep in dirt, since they were clutching the flowers at eye level.
"Ascendio," said Louis, bursting through the soil, then helping Gil and Rosco up out of the dirt as well. "Keep on guiding us—no time to waste!"
"Right," said Rosco. "We'll be going through this hallway—you'll want to use Disillusionment or something, wouldn't do to have you spotted—ah, you're already doing that, good. Walk with me, we're headed towards the basement in the center of the building, there's a door that leads down more stairs and it's always sealed and you can't dig through the ground."
"Leave that to us," said Gil.
They were approaching the stairs in question when someone stepped into their path, whom Gil recognized as Rosco's mother, Aeona Loft.
"Rosco!" she said, sounding surprised. "You… when did you get back?"
"Just now," said Rosco.
Aeona glared. "Try again. We've got maximum security at the moment and they wouldn't even have let you in."
"Why do we have maximum security?" asked Rosco. "Is something wrong?"
"That's not the question I'm asking you now," said Aeona.
"But it's a little more pressing!" said Rosco loudly. "What's happening—should I be worried?"
Behind his back, he gave a little wave, telling Gil and Louis to go ahead.
"The reason I'm asking you this question is to determine whether or not I should be worried," said Aeona. "You didn't tell us you were coming today."
"Claim the Imperius Curse afterwards," whispered Gil ever so softly into Rosco's ear as he passed.
"Why… are you covered in dirt?" asked Aeona, her skepticism visibly growing.
As the discussion between Rosco and his mother continued, Gil and Louis snuck down the stairs, the sounds of their footprints and breathing masked by spells. They stepped down to the sealed door.
"I hope Rosco doesn't pay for this on our behalf," said Gil softly.
"We'll get him on our way out if we can," promised Louis. "Ready?"
They each downed a large bottle of Acropotentia, a potion that briefly enhanced magical ability. With this high a dose, there would be side effects later, but this wasn't the time to worry about those. They next extracted their second wands, and aimed them into position. Together, they shouted, "Cumaestis Eculumos Petomaximus—Expulterris!"
They angled their Shatterbolts slightly into each other's, and the spells Telescoped into a blazing, thunderous explosion. The ground beneath them, magically sealed, was nevertheless obliterated beneath their feet as a large section of the school crumbled and collapsed in on itself. Gil and Louis cast protective shields on themselves as they plummeted downwards into a large empty chamber below the school.
"Was it here?!" asked Louis, Stunning a surprised face as a door opened; he slammed the door shut and sealed it. "Was it already moved?!"
"No—can't you hear it, the mechanical grinding sound?" responded Gil. "It's in here, somewhere, one of these doors!"
"That one!" said Louis, pointing as a guard burst from another door; in the brief glimpse they caught of that room's interior, they could see a machine pounding and whirring.
Two spells later, the guard was blasted to the other end of the room, and Gil and Louis rushed for the door. Isaac Loft, father to Rosco, emerged from the door next, along with a woman whom Gil recognized from photographs as Erin Mason, the other founder of the school. Caradoc Slade and Lynwood Chinch appeared next—but weren't they both in prison? Evidently they could no longer be sure that anyone who was supposed to be in prison was actually there...
Slade and Chinch disappeared into the room with the Shadow's Engine to guard it—or possibly to move it before anyone got to it. Louis and Gil sprang into battle against the two remaining foes. Gil easily overpowered Isaac early, a frailer man than he looked, but Mason was younger and full of fight. She wasn't winning while she fended off both of them, but she was stalling their advance to the machine, and if the machine was evacuated before they got there—
A Stunner sped through the air over their heads and struck Mason right in the throat; she choked and toppled. Rosco had appeared. He nodded to them, then turned to duel his mother who had followed, descending upon him in a fury. Gil and Louis nodded and downed the rest of the Acropotentia. This was going to burn them out and affect their ability to fight for a week afterwards, no doubt, but it needed to be done. They aimed their wands slightly towards each other again and yelled the incantation once more for their Shatterbolts.
The door blasted open and Slade and Chinch were blasted aside; they cast extra protection over the already shielded machine as they soared away, but there were no stopping the Telescoped Shatterbolts. They tore into the machine and shredded it like wet paper. Louis raced in to investigate; almost nothing from the machine was left intact.
"Let's go!" shouted Louis, running back out, but he already felt the lethargy from the overdose of Acropotentia; it took a lot out of them to cast Shatterbolts twice. He reached for Gil's hand, and they extracted their brooms from their bags, but Louis suddenly dropped onto the floor. He couldn't even lift his leg onto the broom to drag himself out.
This wasn't normal for Acropotentia-related magical exhaustion. Something else was happening. A strange green haze was filling the room. Louis had been in the room, and he was succumbing to this poison.
"LOUIS!" shouted Gil, running over to him, and Louis tried to wave him away from the poison, but he couldn't move his arms. Then Gil looked up to see Slade and Chinch emerging from the ruined room with the Bubble-Head Charm over their faces.
Louis turned his eyes towards a Frostflame fire that was roaring inside the room with the machine. The vaguely green smoke that was choking them was drifting out of the fire. Some sort of new poison that they'd never seen… He and Gil had been breathing it in far too long already. Quickly, Gil cast the Bubble-Head Charm on himself, but couldn't reach Louis once the duel started.
Louis glanced down; with the way he had fallen, one of his arms was in front of his head, and his wand was almost directly in front of his face. He took in as deep a shuddering breath as he could as darkness was closing in around him, even knowing that he was breathing in more of the toxins, and he blew on the tip of his wand; a bubble blew out and wrapped around backwards to encase his head. Maybe this would save him from dying instantly, but it didn't revive him; he'd already breathed too much in. He slipped into unconsciousness as Gil continued to duel Slade and Chinch, defending his fallen boyfriend beside him.
"No," whispered Gil as he felt the effects of the poison sinking into him as well; he hadn't gotten the Bubble-Head Charm off fast enough to avoid it. His arm slackened, and he ducked out of the way of two Stunners from his foes but he hit the ground afterwards and could not pick himself up.
"Damn it," seethed Chinch. "This could have been the largest step we've yet taken… How did these two find us?!"
"They must have met up with Albus Potter," said Slade. "I told that 'Man in the Shadows' that Potter was more of a trouble than he cared to admit, but he continued not to care to admit it. But it's not the worst setback we could have had—don't forget about the other two smaller Engines."
"Don't say that around them!" snapped Chinch.
"Why? They're goners." Slade stepped forward and moved Louis's arm with his foot. "If the poison doesn't kill them, that's even better—we can have a little interrogation time. I'll move them to the lowest chamber."
"Are they fully incapacitated?"
"Petrificus Totalus," said Slade, pointing his wand at Gil, and next at Louis. "Petrificus Totalus. They are now."
O
Louis slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw—and he suspected, probably one of the last things—was Gil.
But there wasn't anyone else he'd rather have seen last.
Gil was looking at him as well, and he smiled when Louis's eyes opened. His cheeks were wet with tears.
"Louis," whispered Gil; his voice was scratchy.
Louis felt a rawness in his own throat as well. The memory started fading back about the poison, and about where they probably were right now.
"Louis," repeated Gil even more scratchily, and the tears were flowing at full force now. "I love you."
"I love you too," whispered Louis back.
He realized suddenly that Gil's hand was wrapped around his own, as Gil started squeezing it.
"If we die," said Gil, "I'm glad I died with you."
"Me, too," said Louis.
"That's so sweet," said a different voice behind them both.
There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and someone standing up and walking. Caradoc Slade swept into view in front of them. Louis finally accessed his senses fully and realized that he was sitting in a chair to which he was tied. Gil was in the same situation. Louis's head was tilted to the side—towards Gil—but when he tried to move it to acknowledge Slade's presence, he felt intense pain. He instead kept his head oriented towards his boyfriend and they continued to stare into each other's eyes.
"Time to find out where Albus Potter is," said Slade, reaching over and dangling a bottle of Veritaserum in between their faces.
Louis's mouth teased up in a very slight smirk for a moment. They'd erased the memory of exactly where Albus and company had gone for this exact reason.
An alarm started blaring somewhere in the building where they were being held. Louis's eyes widened—did someone know where they were? Was someone coming to rescue them?
"You go," said Slade, and there was another movement behind them—Louis could only assume Chinch. A door behind them opened and slammed shut.
And then suddenly, Slade had thrown his arms around both of them. But he wasn't strangling them, or forcing anything down their throats, or hurting them at all. He was… hugging them.
Slade leaned back again, and extracted two ordinary-looking gloves from his pocket. He placed one into each of their hands.
Louis stared at the glove in his hand. Is… this… a Portkey…?
"This will take you back to Harry," said Slade. "Give them my regards. Especially Victoire."
Louis's jaw dropped.
It was Teddy.
"I've been various people in this base for a while," whispered Teddy in his disguise. "Looking for Desulgon and keeping tabs on the enemy. I'm doing well. Here's an update—"
He slid a letter into Gil's hand.
"And don't worry about me," said Teddy. "Just take care of yourselves after this ordeal. Rest. Recover. Eat some Fire Crab—best remedy for that poison. And tell Victoire I still love her just as very much as always, and that I'll see her soon."
Louis and Gil nodded.
"Do you know where Albus is now?"
They shook their heads.
"Well, if you see Albus again," said Teddy, "tell him I'll bring Desulgon back where he belongs if I find him. He'll know what that means. And tell him there are two more Shadow's Engines—being built on a much faster schedule, so they're smaller, but each could still kill tens of thousands of Muggles. That's in the letter, too. But I don't know where the other engines are yet."
Louis and Gil nodded again.
"You two are two of the bravest people I know," said Teddy. "Stay away from the fight until you're back in full form, though! And keep an eye out for any albino lunatics!"
The Portkeys activated, and the couple was pulled out of the room and into safety. All that was left were empty chairs and a man who looked exactly like Slade, who Stunned himself to give the impression that he'd been overpowered.
Outside, the crescent moon shone overhead, but no one in the building would have believed that on the other side of that moon, there were soon to be four boys combining their intellects to play chess against a dog (and losing).