A/N: Much thanks to ladyrayne13 for reviewing. I look forward to your review every chapter!
Short one for y'all this time ;-)
Chapter 9: The Dangers of the Job
Ashley Potter was sitting across from her brother in a bar and grill at six in the morning. She had entered the bar for dinner with her brother eight hours previously. But once news came on the television of the bomb in Tel Aviv, no one had left the bar. And the owner hadn't closed.
"He'll be ok," John said, rocking Charlotte next to him on the booth. Ashley had just hung up the phone with Albus in Tel Aviv. He'd been in the blast zone.
"Yeah," Ashley said with a sigh. "He always is." John's dog was asleep next to her. She wasn't quite sure how that switch had happened. "I'm just worried. I love the man."
"I thought you were angry with him," John said.
"Angry, yes. Not a death wish," Ashley said.
"There's a difference with women?" John chided.
"Comments like that are why you have a dog and not a child," Ashley said.
"Actually, I think you've got the dog and I've got the kid right now," John said. Ashley didn't comment.
"They're not there anymore," Ashley said a few minutes later, nodding toward the television behind the bar.
"Where?" John asked.
"There," she repeated. "Al was in that park there and now he's gone."
"Maybe he came back to London," John suggested.
"Maybe," Ashley said.
"I'll watch Charlotte if you want to find out," John said.
"No," Ashley said.
"How about some breakfast then?" John said. "There's a great little place about a block from here."
"Sure," Ashley said. They extended the legs on Charlotte's stroller with only a small stir from the girl and then woke the dog. The dog was much less pleasant about being woke up. He almost blew the magical cover they'd placed on him when they'd entered the bar. Ashley was glad that John had trained him not to bark. Or magically prevented him from doing so, she wasn't sure which.
They walked out the front door and turned back toward John's apartment. John motioned to a small alleyway toward the back of the bar. He believed it was a significant short cut.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Ashley said, pushing Charlotte between her and John.
"I do," John said.
"He doesn't," a woman's voice said. There was movement in the shadows and Ashley instinctively pushed Charlotte against the wall and placed herself over her daughter. "Don't try anything stupid," the voice said again as a woman stepped out with a wand pointed directly at them.
"What do you want?" John asked, fear creeping into his voice.
"You can go for all I care," the woman said. "She's what I want."
"What do you want with me?" Ashley asked.
"Not you, the girl," the woman said.
"Why?" Ashley asked again. Her eyes were slowly taking in the situation; seeing slight, almost robotic movement in the shadows. She was glad to realize that her Gryffindor nature was coming through. She had no fear. Nerves, yes; fear no.
"Let's just say your husband is doing too well," the woman said slowly advancing toward Ashley. "He needs to be controlled."
"And taking Charlotte will control him?" Ashley asked. Her eyes met John's for a brief moment but it was enough. He wasn't doing anything until she moved.
"Only if he loves her," the woman said, shrugging her shoulders.
"He does," Ashley said.
"Then it will work," the woman said. She was only two feet away now.
"Too bad you'll never touch her," Ashley said.
"I think I will," the woman said. "What are you going to do?"
"Tell me, what house were you in?" Ashley asked. The sudden change of subject caused her to stop moving.
"Ravenclaw."
"Well, that's strange," Ashley said.
"Why's that?" the woman said.
"My husband always said Ravenclaws were smart," Ashley responded. She activated the wand holster that Albus had given her and her wand dropped into her hand. The quick draw stunned the attacking woman. John pulled his wand as Ashley sent a disarming spell at the woman. She blocked it.
John attacked the woman, who reluctantly turned her attention to him.
Ashley heard a gun cocking to her right and she just managed to cast a force field like shield before a machine gun opened fire. The bullets ricocheted off the shield into the walls of the alleyway. The shield began to fail. She recast it, smaller this time, and ducked underneath it shouting "Expelliarmus." The spell illuminated the alley as it streaked through the air, somehow managing to hit her assailant, but it did no good. The shooter was a six-foot tall robot with the gun as his left arm. The robot reminded Ashley of a Super Battle Droid from those Star Wars movies John couldn't stop watching. Its arm didn't come off and the robot just stumbled back.
"Reducto!" Ashley yelled. The spell hit the robot before it could fire again and it crumbled apart into hundreds of pieces.
"Ashley!" John shouted from the other end of the alley. She turned, fearing the worst.
It was worse than she had feared. John was locked in a duel with the woman and seemed to be holding his own. But Charlotte was unprotected and two more robot men were closing in on the parked stroller.
"Impedimentia!" Ashley yelled, finding new strength to run to her baby's side. The white spell hit the far robot square in the chest and he flew back and out of sight. The second robot turned and prepared to fire his weapon, but Ashley wasn't waiting around. "Reducto!" she positively screamed at it and it exploded into the alley. Ashley was barely able to conjure another shield to protect Charlotte from the shrapnel.
Pain shot through her right arm as pieces of the robot cut their way through her upper arm. She managed to catch herself before she dropped her wand. The last robot came back into view. Charlotte began to cry, waking up. Not now, Ashley thought as she attempted to raise her wand, but it was no good. The robot raised its weapon and pointed it straight at Ashley's chest.
The gun hand folded in upon itself at an impossible angle. The right leg swung up and kicked him in the stomach. The robot was lifted from the ground, the head folding back into its back. The robot started to convulse, short circuiting and sparking from multiple locations. When it started to resemble a large metal ball, Ashley finally took her eyes from the robot.
Charlotte was laughing now, rolling her hands as if she was playing with silly putty; the robot following her every move. "That's my girl," Ashley said. Then John shot past her, clothes glowing with tiny flames as he flew down the alleyway. Charlotte dropped the robot. Ashley didn't have time to see if he was all right. She tried her right arm again, but it didn't respond. She raised her wand with her left.
"Brave," the woman said. Ashley noticed that she looked quite roughed up and felt a little pride in her brother. "Brave indeed, but foolish. Surrender now."
"No thanks," Ashley said, moving between the woman and her daughter. She kept her wand pointed directly at the woman's chest.
"You're injured and you can't beat me," the woman said. "And we've sealed off the alleyway so no one's hearing this; no one's coming to help."
Ashley took stock of the situation. She was no good at dueling to begin with and her dominant hand was hanging limp at her side. That reduced the spells she could use as she wasn't used to the motions with her left hand. Her only hope was to surprise the woman. She needed something strong; something that fed off her strong, motherly anger.
"I hope you don't like your face too much," Ashley said, pointing her wand at the woman's face. A questioning look crossed her face, and the woman fired a protection spell over her face as Ashley yelled "Reducto!"
It was exactly what Ashley wanted her to do. The spell went directly where Ashley wanted it to; her anger sharpening her accuracy. The woman's face was fine. Her wand turned to dust in her hand, hit squarely with Ashley's spell.
The woman stood stunned for a moment before she turned to run. Ashley moved her wand and shouted "Petrificus Totalus!" The woman face planted the asphalt. Ashley ran to John.
He was alive, which was the good news, but he wasn't doing that well. Ashley removed the stunning spell from him and let him roll onto his side, putting out the fires as he did. He got up slowly, finally accepting Ashley's help. John dusted himself off before the two of them moved over toward the mysterious woman. John kicked her over, her eyes showing the fear pulsing through her body.
"You got some Truth Potion?" Ashley asked her brother. He retrieved a bottle from a sack on his dog's back. The dog had cowered in a corner during the battle, but had moved to John's side after he was stunned. He had stayed by John's side after that. A true Hufflepuff that dog.
"Why are you holding your wand in your...Good Lord what happened to your arm?" John asked, noticing the cuts for the first time. Blood had soaked her jacket.
"One of the robots exploded," Ashley said.
John touched his wand to the wounds and they closed themselves up. Feeling began to slowly return to her arm. "Thanks," she said. "Maybe you should be a healer."
"And have to deal with Scorpius every day?" John asked with a smile. "Something's blocking the healing." He examined the arm and took off the wand holster. He put it in the bag on his dog's back and finished the healing spell again.
"The potion," Ashley prodded. John poured the potion into the woman's mouth. Ashley put a leg-locker curse on her and then removed the full body bind. It was easier to talk that way.
"Who are you?" Ashley asked.
"Jessica Fremont," the woman said.
"Who are you working for?" Ashley demanded.
"I don't know his name," Jessica said.
"What were you going to do with Charlotte?" John asked.
"I was to take her to our base in Missouri, USA," she said, clearly trying to fight the potion. Apparently, John was better at those than Ashley thought.
"Where in Missouri?" Ashley demanded.
"I don't know," Jessica said. "I only see a bunker."
The two siblings looked at each other, silently asking if there were any more questions. Ashley really wished Albus was here. He'd know what questions to ask. "Are there any more of you?" John asked.
"I've only ever seen my boss, me and the robots," Jessica said.
"Very well," Ashley said. She began to head back to Charlotte.
"What do we do with her?" John asked.
"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.
"She'll keep coming until she completes her mission," John said.
Ashley returned to his side. "We can't kill her," Ashley said painfully. She really wanted to.
"We could wipe her memory," John suggested.
"I can't do that spell," Ashley said.
"I can," John said.
"Wait! Please! No, I'll stay away, I promise!" Jessica shouted.
"She promised," John said, clearly not backing off the plan.
"She also threatened my baby," Ashley said. John just smiled as he performed the spell. The two of them walked back down the alley. "I think I'll take your offer to watch Charlotte now," she said. "Maybe Harry will send some aurors over too. I really don't want to leave her, but I need to find out what's going on."
"So much for that innocent walk we took," John said.