The next morning Barty was woken by something heavy pressing against his chest, and he took a long, shallow breath. Looking down he saw a grey cat, which he immediately recognised as Scarlet's, staring up at him complacently, through it's amber, orb-like eyes. The cat was purring so loudly he was surprised he had been able to sleep at all. Barty sat upright slightly, and the cat slid down further and further down his chest until it landed in his lap, the embodiment of insolence. Barty sat there for several minutes, stroking the cat absentmindedly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to light. The night before he had not really noticed his surroundings, which were drastically different from either his or Scarlet's homes.
He was in what appeared to be a small hut or cabin, and Barty thought he could make out trees through the thin curtains which barely obscured the window. There was scarce space to move inside it, though Barty could just make out two doors, one of which led outside, and the other he hoped would blessedly lead to a toilet, thinking idly that he would not relish having to take a piss in the woods.
In addition to this Barty could make out a small wooden table with two chairs, a sink, an armchair, a rather undersized fireplace, a stove, a radio and a kettle. Crammed into the room there was also a small sofa, upon which a sleeping form lay, the silence punctuated by it's vague snores. Barty identified it immediately as Redric, due to the tuft of dark hair stuck out of the top of a rather moth eaten blanket. He had not seen him the day before, and Barty guessed he must have returned some time during the night. Barty had been lain on the only bed in the room, which he was surprised to see was a double, if a little on the smallish side. With a frown he noticed that Scarlet was no longer sat in the chair by his bed, in fact, she was nowhere to be seen.
His joints were a lot less stiff now he had had a proper night's rest, but he still felt frustratingly weak. He looked down at his bare chest, but could not see any mark of the wound which had inflicted so much pain. In fact, there wasn't a sign that any damage had been done at all, apart from the long scar which ran diagonally from just under his shoulder almost to his hip, but he had sustained that a long time before. He shivered, and where before he hadn't noticed the temperature, he felt a sudden chill. Looking to the end of his bed, he saw the clothes he had been wearing the night before. Or was it longer than that? He had no idea how much time had passed. Swinging his legs carefully round the edge of the bed, he levered himself up and tested his footing on the hard floor. A wave of nausea flooded through him, and he flopped immediately back onto the bed. Even this small action illustrated his helplessness, something which he found incredibly frustrating, and a little disquieting. Agitated, he tried again with greater success, with the help of the bed post managing to right himself. With further difficultly and a lot of fumbling, he managed to get dressed. Exhausted, he sat in the armchair that not so long ago, Scarlet had vacated. Just as he was again, wondering where she had got to, the door furthest from him clattered open, and a voice enquired, "How is my little invalid?"
Looking up he saw Scarlet unwind a long purple scarf from her neck, before bolting the heavy lock on the door behind her. The cat meowed imploringly at her feet.
"Alright" Barty greeted her, relieved that his voice had lost it's roughness, and sounded as close to normal as possible. "Where've you been?"
"Here and there" she replied, smiling as she unbuttoned her coat. "How long have you been awake?"
"Not long" Barty said, frowning.
Scarlet looked in the direction of her brother and shook her head, "So much for an early start."
Barty rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Why? What time is it?"
Checking her watch she walked over and sat on the arm of his chair, "About half past nine."
"And that's not early?" he asked her, raising a doubtful eyebrow.
"Well, we were supposed to be sorting out where Redric and Dad are going to go." Scarlet answered, matter-of-factly. She leant back, her hair brushing against Barty's shoulder. "But seen as though none of this is really his fault, I thought he deserved a few extra hours sleep."
Barty winced, "Yeah… Sorry about all of this."
"Oh, no one's blaming you!" Scarlet said, quickly. "Well, okay, Redric does. And I suppose Dad does too. But I don't. It's my fault, I should have been more prepared."
He looked at her aghast, "Because of me, a couple of Death Eaters quite literally banged down your door, tortured your brother, and destroyed your house. Yet, you're okay with that?"
Barty was sure he saw a dark frown cross her face fleetingly, before she shrugged it off, absently, "We won't get anywhere by arguing about who's to blame. It's done now, we have to focus on what we do next."
"Yes, but…" Barty reached across, and placed a placating hand on her knee. She stared at him for a second.
There was a groan from the nearby couch, announcing a rather grumpy Redric had awoken, "I can't believe you went without me."
"You were listening I take it?" Scarlet asked, nonchalantly, turning away from Barty to look at her brother.
"Of course" Redric sat up, his long hair standing out about his face, like a lion's mane. A light bruise covered his right cheek and there was a somewhat painful looking cut across his right eyebrow, but apart from this, he seemed relatively unharmed.
Scarlet slid off the chair arm, brushing Barty's hand away as if it were never there. Thankfully, Redric failed to notice this preoccupied as he was with stretching languorously. He looked at Scarlet expectantly, "Well? What did Dad say?"
"Well. You're probably not going to like it…" Scarlet replied, arms folded, a reserved look on her face.
Redric grimaced, "What did he say?"
"Dad agrees with me. He thinks that you join him at Aunt Ava's."
"Wait a minute, what's all this about?" Barty interjected, confusedly.
"What? How will we be any safer there?" Redric asked, talking over him.
"It makes sense, a muggle household is the last place they'd expect you to go to, and I don't think anyone even knows about her. I mean, I'm not sure there are even any records about her being related to us." Scarlet answered, hurriedly.
"Still, it doesn't sound like the best of ideas, we'd just be putting her in harms way if we got caught." Redric responded, grudgingly. "Besides, you see her all the time, the Death Eaters probably know all about that!"
"It's only recently that found out I've been helping Barty, they won't have been compiling a case study on me, for Merlin's sake!" Scarlet retorted, exasperated.
Barty noticed the mention of his name only seemed to make Redric angrier, and he couldn't help but feel detached, as though he were encroaching on a private conversation. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Redric was determinedly ignoring his presence, refusing to even look at him. Barty supposed he deserved this treatment.
"I still think it's too much of a risk." Redric replied, adamantly.
"Do you really think I would deliberately put any of you in harms way? I'm trying to do what's best, and you're just making it all the more difficult" she glowered at him, hands on her hips.
"Well clearly your judgement has become somewhat skewed of late, Scarlet, because most of the decisions you've made recently haven't exactly been good ones, have they?" Redric replied, scathingly. Barty didn't doubt Redric was referring to him. Evidently, this hadn't escaped Scarlet's notice either.
"This isn't about what's best is it? This is about Barty. Again. We've already had this conversation, and I haven't changed my mind."
They were both stood, barely a few inches apart, glaring at each other. The family resemblance was startling, but Barty didn't think now was the right time to point this out.
"I just don't understand your reasoning over this! I know you feel indebted to him in some way, because you used to be friends or whatever. But is it worth putting us all in danger?"
Scarlet sighed, "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I didn't want you to get involved in this."
Redric scoffed, "You should have at least seen this coming."
"You're right, I should have, and I really am sorry" Scarlet shook her head. "Nevertheless, there's nothing we can do about that now, and I need you. I need you to look after Dad."
A look of understanding passed between them, and the hostility in Redric's attitude seemed to evaporate as the atmosphere in the room melted away. Barty felt like he had missed something, it was as though the entire argument had never happened.
"Alright." Redric replied at length, sounding slightly apologetic. "But I don't like it."
"I told you, you wouldn't" Scarlet grinned back cheekily, her relief palpable.
Barty felt if there was ever a time to remind them of his presence, now was probably the best.
"What exactly are we going to do?" he asked, addressing Scarlet.
She looked over at him contemplatively, "Well…"
Redric shifted uncomfortably, "It's probably best that I go. The quicker we get sorted out the better."
Scarlet nodded, "Oh, wait. I should probably check the wards around the cabin, while you're here, just in case I need help strengthening them."
"Scarlet, I'm sure they're fine. I mean you are an Auror…" Redric replied, doubtfully.
"It'll just take a minute" she answered, already halfway to the door. "Don't murder each other while I'm gone."
There was an awkward silence after she left, as what she had said seemed to resonate.
Barty couldn't help himself. He had to say something.
However, Redric beat him to it. He turned where he stood, his hands still bunched in to small fists, as though he were struggling to internalise his thoughts, and his anger.
"If I hear, anything… Anything at all has happened to Scarlet, don't doubt that I will do everything in my power to kill you" Redric hissed through his teeth, the bitter look in his eyes unfitting with the rest of his face.
"Look, if you've got something to say, by all means say it to me. None of this is your sister's fault" Barty answered affably as he stood, and met Redric's eyes. He quickly decided this had been a bad idea however, as he hadn't realised how tall he was compared to Redric. In the small cabin he seemed to loom over him, the overall effect being much more threatening a gesture than he had meant.
"I don't really understand what hold it is you have over her, in fact, I don't think I want to know; but she's decided to stay with you, so I hope you fucking appreciate it" he continued, seemingly gaining a better control over his emotions, this perhaps was spurred by the fact that the odds were well and truly against him if they were to get in a fight. In addition to his height advantage, and despite being lean, Barty could certainly pack a punch, something they both understood all too well.
Barty looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean, she's staying with me?"
Once more, Redric shifted awkwardly, "Look, I don't know all the details, but I'm sure you realise that thanks to you, we're all in trouble now. Me and Dad, well, we'll be alright, we aren't exactly their main objectives, if we keep our heads down they probably won't come looking for us." He paused, clearly thinking over his words carefully, "As for you and Scarlet… Well, I'm assuming you've more than pissed them off now. And she refused to abandon you, despite anything I've said. So you're in this together, for better or worse. I hope you're happy with yourself, because, like I said, if anything happens…"
Barty held up his hands appeasingly, "Yes, I heard you the first time. No need to reiterate that cliché. But, I'm curious. Don't I have a say in any of this?"
Redric shrugged, offhand, "It's nothing to do with me. Ask Scarlet, but bear in mind that I will be keeping in touch with her, and if…"
"Yes, I know." Barty said, growing weary of the subject. "Don't worry, I'll look after her."
Redric snorted, "Well, you've done a brilliant job so far. I'd say it was pretty much the other way around, but looks can be deceiving I suppose."
Barty sniffed, "Quite."
In truth he wasn't sure how he felt about this whole situation, neither was he sure what he had actually expected when he woke up that morning. He supposed that Scarlet's plan did indeed make sense, the Death Eaters would be after them, both of them, and it made sense that they stuck together… But he found the ease in which Scarlet had made this decision, particularly in his absence, a little unsettling. Although, perhaps he was wrong, after all he had not been awake at the time. Besides which, he could not help but feel somewhat comforted, it meant he got to spend more time with her. He told himself this was probably because she was the only person who could look at him without snarling, but he feared this was the not the case, and that it relied solely on something much deeper, much more profound. This would not do.
Shaking his head, he decided to focus on the more pressing issue of Scarlet's over-protective little brother.
"To say you wanted to rip my throat out a few minutes ago, we don't seem to be getting along too badly" he prompted, coolly, after the uncomfortable silence once again became almost unbearable.
"That's because I'm doing this for my sister. I think she needs you just as much as you need her, for survival's sake, I mean. If it weren't for that, you'd be on your back."
Redric said this smartly, and with complete conviction. Barty had to admire him, the kid had guts.
Barty raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't be so sure."
They frowned at each other for a few seconds.
"Besides we, were friends right? In days gone by…" Barty continued, hastily.
He said friends, more acquaintances really. Since their families had been friends, it had meant they had got to know each other quite well, but it was always Barty and Scarlet who were best friends. Redric had tagged along with them frequently, but since he was significantly younger than them (having began his attendance at Hogwarts just as they left), this didn't last forever.
"Yes, we were friends. More fool me, I suppose" Redric muttered, leaning against the table in what he obviously considered was a suave fashion. Barty however, thought he looked like an idiot.
The door clattered open as Scarlet entered the cabin, once more, rubbing her hands together for warmth, "To say it's July, it's freezing. It makes no sense…"
Her voice trailed off at she noticed the looks on both mean's faces; that of sheer grumpiness. A look which can only be attained by being stuck in a room with someone whom you intensely dislike, but are incapable of doing anything remotely horrid to for fear of hurting someone you like very much indeed.
"Maybe it's time for you to go, Red" Scarlet said, with an expression of something nearing amusement.
Redric nodded, embracing his sister, "I think you're probably right. Take care of yourself."
"Oh, wait a minute" Scarlet reached down and picked up the cat which was currently winding it's way around her legs. "I know it's a pain, but can you take Malkin with you?"
Redric blinked, taken aback, "But, he's yours…"
"If I can trust you to look after Dad, I think you can handle my cat." Scarlet nodded, with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. Barty thought she was a lot less happy about this than she was letting on. "It's not like he can come with me. Please, Red."
Redric nodded, "Oh, alright, if it means that much to you."
Somewhat grudgingly, he took the cat from her, and turned towards the door. Scarlet looked at Barty, and grinned a grin of utter relief. This was short lived, however.
Redric had paused halfway through the doorway, "Scarlet. Don't forget to get in contact with Joel, you should probably warn him."
All the blood in Barty's veins seemed to freeze, simultaneously.
Scarlet however, appeared to find this all very disinteresting in comparison to a knot of wood she had found in the door, which she stared at determinedly. Her cheeks however, flushed a darker shade of red.
"Besides. I think he misses you."
And, quite possibly knowing he had left a bombshell (or at least a hand grenade) in his wake, Redric left.
Scarlet closed the door behind him, taking an unnecessary amount of time to check that it was locked correctly.
Barty wasn't fooled by her stalling.
At last, she turned, leaning back against the door with a sigh. Scarlet looked over at Barty, and arms folded, he stared back at her.
"Scarlet… Just for interest's sake, who is Joel?"