Battle for the Compound
For nearly three days straight James kept himself shut up in his room. He said he needed to study, though Ginny was certain his newfound studious side wasn't a result of a sudden surge of concern for his O.W.L.s.
"James, are you coming out for dinner," Ginny asked. His books were strewn across his bedroom and the half of his clothes that weren't on the floor, hung from posts on his bed and desk chair.
"No, I'll get something later," he said. He laid back on his bed, releasing a snitch he was playing with, watching it buzz in front of his face and catching it over and over.
"I know that Imogen would like to see you." Ginny stepped through the door, kicking aside a pile of clothes she knew she finished cleaning that morning. "You can't just hide."
"Sure I can," he said, not looking up. "I can't sit there pretending. I can't lie to her."
"Just… don't ice her out. She's been through losing both parents and she just wants to be there for you." Ginny bent and picked up a few shirts as James thought about this and nodded, but didn't move. "And if you're going to stay in here, let's get it cleaned up."
Ginny tossed the shirts to him and walked out to join the others, immediately understanding what James meant as Peter walked in the door. If only she could use the excuse of upcoming examinations to duck into her room for the night. Peter took a large salad bowl from Mrs. Gertrude, bringing it to the table and finding a seat across from Ginny, chancing a glance at her.
"Is James coming out?" Imogen asked. Her eyes were wide and hopeful. Ginny hoped James was able to grapple with the situation soon.
"He's not feeling well, dear," Ginny said sympathetically. "He'll come around."
Imogen didn't seem encouraged by this and Fritz looked irritated on her behalf as he gave a side hug to Imogen, kissing the top of her head. He whispered something into her ear and she nodded sadly. This meal was similar to that of the night before: quiet and contemplative. Charlie gave a curt nod to Peter, but Ginny noticed his jaw was tight.
Ginny concentrated on her food rather than allow anger to rule her, pushing it in patterns across her plate, occasionally taking a bite. As much as her and Charlie kept telling James he had to play the part, in only 72 hours it had already worn on her. Additionally, panic now settled over Ginny at strange moments, prompting her to check the clock over and over, seeing that Harry was still alive. Still waiting.
"Ginny?"
She looked up. She could have sworn dinner just started, but everyone else was bustling around, some exiting the back door, others cleaning dishes, and others still were taking instructions from Mrs. Gertrude in storing the left overs. Imogen was filling a clean plate, which Ginny could only imagine was meant for James.
"Ginny, are you all right?" Peter asked her.
She looked around and saw Charlie walking into the hall. The night of Peter's lie, her and Charlie realized they couldn't keep acting overtly suspicious. She pulled the Spy Glass from the closet where it was still stowed and altered it to follow her amid questions from James about why his own face had been there a moment before. Charlie kept it in his room, though this was the first time they would test its effectiveness.
"I'm," she sighed, then looked up at him,"doing the best I can under the circumstances."
"How did Lily and Albus take the news," he asked, leaning in.
She had taken a trip to Hogsmeade under the guise of going to tell her other children that their father was dead, though she used the opportunity to pass the latest information to Neville and make contingency plans involving him. "It was hard," she lied. "I want to see if we can get Harry's remains before we hold a funeral." Even though she knew this wasn't true, the very thought made her cry again.
Peter put his hand on top of hers and Ginny pulled it away, wiping at her tears. Peter looked hurt. "It doesn't dishonor his memory to let me be a friend, does it?" he asked.
"But that's not what you want," Ginny replied quietly.
"No," Peter admitted. "No it isn't."
He stood and strode down the hallway, leaving through the front door.
"Charlie!" Ginny shouted. It was a quarter past eleven at night and she had just let in a flittering owl tapping at her window.
His feet pounded in the hallway and he burst into her room. "What is it?"
"It's from Ron," she said, ripping open the seal as the owl left. Her hands shook. Another week had passed and Ginny felt consistently short of breath. James came in behind Charlie.
"'What we scored before Harry did'," Ginny read aloud the password clue.
"What does that mean?" Charlie asked.
"Something to do with school, I think. Like the last one," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes and thinking. When she understood what it meant, she pulled out her wand, writing with the tip.
450-140
"What does that mean?" James asked as the ink changed.
"It was the first time your dad kissed me," Ginny said. She couldn't help but smile at the memory. It was like Ron chose clues that kept his messages safe, but also created a rallying cry for Ginny to hold onto hope. "Right after Gryffindor won the Quidditch final."
Charlie and James came around to read the short note over her shoulder.
Ginny,
Neville passed along your message. Arrests on the 5th at 2:00 pm your time. New Zealand will respond once their business is resolved.
Stay safe,
Ron
"Two days," Ginny said quietly. She looked up at Charlie. "I need to go talk to Peter now."
"I'll come with you," Charlie said.
"No." She reached into the closet, grabbing her travelling cloak. "Watch the glass, but this needs to just be me."
Throwing the cloak's hood over her head, Ginny walked quickly out the front door. Ron's note still hung from her hands as she walked the three blocks to Peter's small bungalow. She'd never been here, though the location as common knowledge among the group and Taylor had pointed it out when they'd gone out for groceries together one afternoon. There was a light on in the front room and she could see Peter's silhouette sitting behind the widely slated blinds with a glass in his hand. She closed her eyes to set herself to the task ahead, then stepped up to the door and knocked.
When Peter opened, his wand was pointed at her chest. He froze, blinked, then looked around. "Come in," he said, ushering her, placing a hand on her back. For the first time since his indiscretion in the desert, she didn't shrug it off.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked.
"No," she replied, pulling down her hood. "I'm here on business."
Ginny held out the parchment and Peter took it, taking longer to read it than Ginny expected. He inspected every word. "Who's Neville and what message did you pass?"
Ginny paused for a moment—maybe even just a single moment too long for her cover to be completely believable. "I told him about Harry's passing," she said. "Neville is an old friend who has been the go between for me and my brother, Ron. He's the one Harry sent his initial message through. He also agreed to host Mrs. Gertrude and the others staying behind, should anything happen."
Peter's eyes were narrowed, scrutinizing her before he looked down again. "So what does this mean?"
"We need to act the day after tomorrow."
"No," Peter said, agitated and shaking his head. "No, we aren't ready yet."
"Everyone is as ready as they're going to be. If we don't get in there before the arrests are made, Godfrey will have a chance to destroy evidence of the compound and you know he won't hesitate to murder everyone there."
"So you want me to send Ainsley and Eben and you in there to die based on a decision Godfrey might make? I don't think it's a good idea," he said. He turned into the front room, walking to a large wooden desk, setting the message down.
He sat in the chair, pointedly not looking at Ginny. She stood opposite him, leaning with her hands against the edge. "After all of this you're just going to let dozens, maybe hundreds, of innocent people die? Many of them children and teenagers? Like Bradley?"
His eyes flashed as he looked up at her. "Don't use that against me."
Ginny swallowed, but held his gaze. "Please," she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Please listen to reason. Charlie, Taylor, and I will going regardless. The plan will work with everyone, but we have to try even if it's just us three. I can't sit here while more people are killed."
Peter's eyes darted back and forth, worry settling into his features. Slowly, he started to nod and looked back up. "Okay," he said. "I'll take tomorrow off and we can solidify plans."
"Thank you," Ginny breathed. Peter stood as she took the note, folding it. She pushed it into her pocket.
"Can I walk you home?" he asked.
"No, I'll be fine on my own," she said, stepping towards the door.
Peter caught her elbow and, again, Ginny knew she couldn't pull away as she had recently. She turned to him, looking up into a desperate and uncertain face. "Ginny, I—" he faltered, raising his hand to her cheek. "I'm truly sorry."
She reached up, grabbed hold of his hand and gently pulled it from her face, giving it a squeeze. "Thank you," she said, then let it go as she opened the door to leave.
At one in the afternoon on the fifth, everyone stood in a large circle as Peter reviewed everything discussed the day before. "If you see anything like what Ginny described from Godfrey's defensive band, drop. Look for anyone wearing a metal band as well, though it's unlikely we'll see it. By the time we get there, the majority of people will be set to work. Children will be in classrooms for afternoon lessons. We need to move quietly to the square. It will mean minimal forces until we have control."
"Eben, you're still confident you can get the doors open again?" Charlie asked.
Eben nodded. "As long as they didn't change anything since last year." He was the only one among them that had gotten past this before. When Fritz and Taylor had gone to steal wands, Harry had been the one to get past the doors. "Just keep me covered."
"Got it," Charlie nodded.
"And remember, we aren't aiming to kill. Those you fight aren't in control of themselves," Ginny added. "If the spells they're using escalate, retreat. We will meet in the northwest corner of the compound."
Everyone nodded. They'd been over this a dozen times. Ginny, Charlie, and Peter each held identical metal buckets that Peter had turned into portkeys. "Fifteen minutes to get to your locations."
Ginny turned to where James stood next to Charlie. "If we aren't back by nightfall, or we don't send you a message by mine or Uncle Charlie's patronus—"
"Take Mrs. Gertrude, Nellie, and Imogen with me through floo to Neville's."
Ginny nodded. "He's expecting you. You know where your father's cloak is if it's needed and make sure to close the connection behind you."
"But what if—"
"Close it," she said firmly. "There may be no reason to worry, but we aren't risking it. Am I clear?"
James nodded again. He'd tried a couple times since discussions started the day before to interject, but bit back each argument when he'd catch Imogen's eye. They were as thick as thieves again, since Ron's message arrived, and Ginny was glad. His desire to stay with Imogen seemed to have a strong enough effect to keep James from arguing. Ginny kissed his cheek and pulled him into a tight hug. "We'll be back," she said. "Let's go," she added to those waiting for her and she lead them out through the shed.
Taylor, Miles, and Leighton all followed, each with their own broom and blazing looks of determination. Fourteen minutes. They strode quickly, Taylor taking watch as they turned corners and made their way to an open and abandoned park.
Ginny's heart throbbed, looking around the circle, then down at her watch. "Alright, everyone needs to put at least a finger in," she said, though they already knew this. As everyone put a hand in, Leighton was shuffled and stumbled, straightening herself. "You got your balance?" Ginny asked her.
"Yeah," she said.
"One minute," Ginny announced.
They stood, breathless, until the large bucket glowed blue and they were all pulled away, landing in the desert. "Stand back," Ginny said, breaking through the group and throwing the bucket to the side. Holding out her wand, she stepped carefully forward. When the tip hit the field, the green curtain appeared. "One at a time," she directed and each person from the group went through. Ginny stepped in last and let the green curtain drop.
Miles was already performing his disillusionment. Ginny turned her wand on herself when there was a collective gasp. She turned towards the field where a large, door-like opening appeared, edged in green. She pointed her wand over, eyes darting in the sky. The only time she'd seen openings that wide was when Godfrey's security was chasing them to the edge.
"I don't see anyone," Taylor whispered.
Ginny stared where the opening now closed and noticed a disturbance in the sand nearly 50 feet away from where the group stood. She thought of how Leighton had stumbled and how they didn't know how Imogen had gotten past the field without a wand. The looks between the two teens in the group and James's sudden obedience every time he looked at Imogen. Realization hit her like an anvil falling onto her head and Ginny walked over to where the trail of sand ended, reached out and snatched the invisibility cloak beneath her fingers. Every nerve stood on edge as James stared back, frozen, his eyes as wide as Galleons. He blocked Imogen with one hand and held a broom in the other.
"You," Ginny was shaking and stopped herself from screaming herself hoarse at the pair of them. She clenched her jaw. When she spoke again it was slow, deliberate, and trembling with anger. "You are grounded for the rest of your natural life."
"Ginny," Imogen's quiet, nervous voice came from behind James's protective arm. "Ginny, it was my idea—"
"Don't worry, you're next, young lady," Ginny turned on Imogen and she closed her mouth, looking up at James as though he could diffuse the bomb in front of them.
Taylor came up behind Ginny, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ginny, we don't have time."
She was right. And Ginny was sure that's what James and Imogen had banked on. The bucket couldn't be used as a portkey again and even if it could, Ginny hadn't created enough of them to feel confident she could direct them back to where they needed to go. She took a single, steadying breath. "No matter what happens, you stay under that cloak and directly behind me," she said, her voice still held a tremor of explosion beneath the surface. "Do you understand?"
They both nodded enthusiastically and scrambled under the cloak again.
"Everyone else get ready," she directed. They all followed orders as though any one of them may become the next target for her fury. Ginny disillusioned herself, mounting the broom. "Ready?"
Each person called out a "yup" like a roll call from behind her, Imogen and James close as they kicked off. She concentrated, leaning forward and tried to put aside the terror that arrived with her son. Any risk that she'd known existed, suddenly increased an hundred fold. In a surreal moment, Ginny knew she owed her mother an apology; one that was at least a couple decades overdue.
They made it to the shaded space behind the cafeteria and landed. She turned, feeling James's shoulder behind her as the others undid their charms. She took hers off last. They stacked their brooms against the wall and Ginny touched each one, making them invisible against the whitewashed concrete. Everyone lined up against the building, Ginny keeping her arm against James and Imogen beneath the cloak, watching to her right. Fritz, Grant, Dakota, Eben, and Charlie came into view one-by-one on the far end of the building. Charlie nodded at her. She wished she could communicate James's and Imogen's presence. She could only imagine what Fritz's reaction might be.
Instead she nodded in return and they turned away from each other, following the two sides that lined the cafeteria. As she peeked around the corner, there were two people talking to each other against the wall. They both wore the plain linen clothing all of the captives here wore. Ginny looked over to Taylor, raising two fingers.
Taylor lunged out and Ginny turned, each aiming a stunning spell and the two fell as one. The group rounded the corner and Miles disillusioned the stunned figures, pushing them up against the wall to save them from being stepped on by passersby. They moved away, taking a right fork into a small alley. Ginny reached out, pushing James back as a guard passed the opening on the other side. Everyone flattened themselves on the edge, but the tall, thin man stopped. He stepped back, looking into the alley, wand up and walking straight in the middle. "Confundo," Ginny whispered. He was struck, immediately blinking, then turned and continued the direction he had come.
As they moved again, another sound echoed through the corridors. "Intruders! Intruders!"
Ginny's heart sped as their tactic changed, running in the direction of the sound. Ginny stunned another two people from behind, both, like them, running towards the warning call. When they arrived in the square, there were nearly two-dozen people fighting against them. Charlie's group was already formed into a semi-circle around Eben, who was working feverishly on the door. "Protego!" Ginny shouted. The shield was thrown up the moment the jinx hit its barrier.
Peter was in front of his group, throwing spells left and right, Ainsley directly behind, and the others spreading out.
Those they fought against moved with frightening speed—as though they didn't have to think of what to do, but were there to throw one curse after another in machinelike formation. Leiza barely missed one jet of light aimed at her and was hit in the face by a second, doubling over as her nose bled.
Ginny moved closer towards those in front of the door. Whoever was leading the counterattack understood their weakness, concentrating their forces towards Charlie and the others. "I'm trying!" Eben yelled. Ginny sent a body-binding jinx towards someone about to attack Leighton and blocked another attack from her right.
Just as they gained the upper hand in the square, reinforcements poured in from every side. "Form up!" Peter yelled from his side of the square.
Ginny found herself shoulder to shoulder with Taylor, the two of them knocking down one person after another as Miles migrated farther right. Leighton was in the middle of the crowd and soon fell. "Leighton!" Ginny shouted, but she didn't stand and those in linen ignored her as they turned toward others still fighting.
Across the way Ginny saw Colt raised into the air, his limbs stretched until he screamed. She directed the counter jinx at him before a white hot pain slashed across her left cheek and threw her sideways.
"Everte Statum!" James shouted from behind Ginny and she saw the jet of purple light fly over her shoulder and hit the woman that had just attacked her, throwing her back into three others.
Blood coating her palm, she stood. "Protego!"
She looked over. The first door was open and Eben was gone. More people still came into the square. "Move," she pulled Taylor out of the way of a stunning spell, making their way closer to Charlie. If they could just protect that building… if they could keep hold of it… they could release this army from their stupor.
Progress was slow. Ginny created a barrier to the alley as they passed. Ten people piled up against her charm, pressing uselessly against the invisible wall. She looked over just as a blinding blue light made its way towards Dakota, who was blocking another spell.
"No!" shouted Fritz as he threw himself in front of it. It hit him in the chest, throwing him brutally into the concrete wall behind him with a crack. His body fell into a limp pile on the ground.
"Fritz!" Imogen yelled and ran from under the invisibility cloak. Ginny had just enough time to grab James, holding him back as Taylor stepped in front of them.
"Imogen! No!" James shouted, trying to push past Ginny. "IMOGEN!"
Dakota emitted a shrill cry, throwing consecutive curses, stopping one person after another as she wailed. Imogen ran through the crowd using her hands to block each curse and jinx that came towards her, falling beside Fritz's body. Ginny blocked a curse, sending it skyward. "Charlie!" she called, struggling with James.
Then there was a cry that made the ground tremble. "Stop!" Imogen's yell echoed in the din of the square. Its sound vibrated and crashed against the walls and rumbled. Ginny threw up another shield, but those directly in front of her shook. The look of waking up washed over them. Some of them dropped their wands. Others looked confused. Ginny watched in amazement.
"Where are we?" a frightened woman in front of Ginny asked. "Where are we?"
James stopped fighting, though Ginny hung onto him, the cloak's fabric wrapped up in the fist of her non-wand hand. Imogen lay over Fritz, who still hadn't gotten up and Dakota had made her way through the confused crowd, kneeling on his other side. Those with Peter made they way through, and Ginny closed her eyes in relief as they pulled Leighton up, Leiza and Trenton supporting her from either side. Charlie turned and followed where Eben had gone while Grant took up the position as guard at the entrance.
The crowd grew restless. More confused and panicked people piled in where they were able, calling out names. Taylor ran towards the middle, stepping up onto a platform. "Listen to me!" she shouted.
Everyone turned and fell silent. "We are here to help you," she said. "Anyone who is injured, to the north of the square. Those looking for family, to the south!"
Taylor continued to conduct as Ginny and James pushed through until they were beside Fritz's body. With a pain in her stomach, Ginny realized he wasn't going to get up as Leighton had. Dakota was holding his hand, stroking his cheek. Imogen sobbed into her hands over his chest as James knelt beside her wrapping an arm around her as he, too, began to cry.
Ginny left them there, running into the building and up the stairs. Eben and Charlie stood on either side of the final door. Ginny stood beside Charlie, wand at the ready. With a loud crash, the door flew inward and Ginny entered. There were six staff members in what looked like a viewing room. Their empty hands were in the air—their acknowledgement of defeat. Charlie created bindings for each of them as Eben and Ginny kept their wands trained on the others.
The room was circular, looking out into the square through a long panel of glass. She watched the crowds below, moving in an exodus towards a southern exit. It was clearing as families found one another and were moved to the storage areas. The others were all congregated around Fritz now: a quiet vigil in the midst of chaos.
"Where's Peter?" Ginny asked, noticing his absence. She looked all around the square, then over to Charlie.
"Go!" he shouted, leaning over to push her out the door, though she didn't need it.
Ginny flew down the stairs. Her heart pounded hard again. She ran out into the crowd, fighting its flow as she searched for the corridor that led west, where Peter had once said Harry was being held. She had to find him first. It was all she could think… she had to find him first.
