Hello all! Thanks for the reviews, I stand by my belief that that was a simply horrid chapter but it was also unavoidable to get the story to where I wanted it to be. I can honestly say I don't know how much longer the story will be, but things are going to start picking up quite rapidly in these next few chapters. Preetoaka – I absolutely love your reviews and advice girl, so it kills me to tell you this baby will not be born on April 1st, nor will it be a twin. But, that's all I'm saying about this one. After all, Hermione does want four kids and who's to say that one of them won't be born on Fred's birthday, or a twin for that matter. I'm already considering a sequel so I'd appreciate feedback on whether or not that's a good idea. It would take place anywhere between 5-10 years in the future.
I have a new poll up on my page regarding my next story (not the sequel) so go check it out and cast your vote. I already have a few ideas in my head and I would love to have them in the works.
Also, look for the first chapter in a four part song fic series I will be posting. It will be much less intense then this and there will be a song for four couples – RonxHermione, HarryxGinny, GeorgexAngelina and DracoxAstoria. It will be canon compliant and fairly short but it should be a nice distraction for me and hopefully somewhat enjoyable for all of you.
Anyway, enough of this A/N nonsense… Here's Chapter 12!
Expectations, Truths and the Tale of Beedle the Bard
Chapter Twelve
"Fred what on earth is going on here?"
Woken from a peaceful slumber by her son's shouts, Molly Weasley appeared at the foot of the stairs in her paisley nightgown, shock covering her sleepy face. Arthur was right behind her, cleaning his glasses on the corner of his shirt.
Fred was a wreck, blood speckled his white t-shirt and he was holding Hermione close to his body, sobs wracking his thin frame.
"What's happened?"
Fred was speechless, laying Hermione down on the couch and falling down next to her, driven past the point of speech.
His parents stood over the two, studying the scene before them, Molly had already succumbed to tears and Arthur was bewildered.
"Tergeo." He whispered, cleaning up both his son and daughter-in-law, "Fred what's going on?"
The story came tumbling out, only partially coherent between Fred's choked sobs.
Kneeling, Arthur took a closer look at Hermione, checking her pulse and heart rate. "I think they've used a silencing charm on her, something that would knock her out perhaps. Let me try something." He mumbled a series of words under his breath and instantaneously the body below him stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open and her voice was raspy, "Fred?"
He reached out, taking both her hands in his own, he had stopped sobbing but tears still soaked his cheeks as he looked over her in relief. The image of her lifeless body being held up and pawed at by those men was imprinted in his brain and he wanted to break something.
"Oh dear!" Mrs. Weasley pulled Hermione into a tight hug, crying loudly as she fussed over her, "Fred and Arthur get Hermione upstairs and I'll bring tea for the two of you. Hurry on you two!"
Fred picked Hermione up, cradling her close to his body and she complied, relaxing in his arms as the three made their way up to Ginny's room on the second floor.
Arthur pushed open the door, saying a few spells to enlarge and make the bed before patting his son on the shoulder and leaving the two alone. Once he had Hermione settled under the covers, perched back on the pillows he sat down in the chair by the door. She didn't look at him, didn't say a word and he studied his hands until his mother knocked on the door, a tray with two cups and a kettle in hand.
Mrs. Weasley was uncharacteristically silent, setting the tea down for them and leaving them alone without a word. Only once the door was closed behind her and he could hear her ascending the stairs, did Fred speak.
"Hermione, I'm sorry. I should have been there."
"Shh. Don't. Please don't." Her voice was broken and tight, she was holding back tears.
Fred stood and walked towards her, but his anger got the better of him and he turned away, slamming his fist through the wall next to the door, letting out a strangled yelp. "I want to kill them for touching you! I want to break their bloody faces!" He punched the wall again, putting another fist-sized hole into it. His knuckles were raw and bleeding but he didn't care.
Hermione shrunk back at the reaction, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her head. Her body shook with silent tears and Fred felt awful for scaring her.
"Hermione, please, tell me what they did to you."
She raised her head slightly, shaking it vehemently.
"Hermione I have to know… Did they touch you?"
She nodded, her face flushing with embarrassment and shame.
"Did they -"
She shook her head, "No. They didn't. They just, they took off my shirt, but they put it back on after. Then I don't know, I heard you coming and then nothing, everything went black."
So she had not been under the spell as long as he had thought.
Fred sat down next to her on the bed, shoulders hung low. He kept his head down so she would not see the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"Fred say something."
He turned towards her; she had relaxed her position a little, her legs pulled away from her chest and her arms hung limply at her sides. For the first time he noticed the bruises and scratches marring her face. He shuttered at what he would find on the rest of her body.
"Hermione take off your shirt."
She looked shocked at the request, bringing her arms up to cross her chest.
"Hermione I need to make sure you're ok."
She contemplated this for a minute before bringing her arms down to the edge of the shirt, pulling it over her head. Once she discarded of it she let her head fall back, squeezing her eyes closed.
His fingers traced the bruises on her ribs lightly, in more than one place he felt what he was sure was a broken rib. He and George had perfected healing charms over the years; so he picked up his wand and laid it against her stomach.
"Brackium Emendo." He heard the sick crunch of bones healing and watched as she twisted and shuttered in pain. "Episkey." The cuts on her stomach disappeared and the bruises lightened but did not fade.
He brought his wand gently up to her face, "Episkey." The bruising was now faint and almost undetectable in the dark of the room.
"Thank you."
'Hermione, I…"
She took his hand in hers, holding it up to her chest, "Feel that Fred? It's still beating. I'm ok. What I would really like right now is to sleep."
He nodded, sitting up from the bed as he headed towards the door.
"Where are you going Fred?"
He turned, "Downstairs. I didn't think you would want me in bed with you after, well, after tonight."
"Please stay with me."
He was sure the relief was obvious on his face as he joined her on the bed, laying flat on his back his arm just grazing her.
She made the first move, scooted her body over so that she melded into his side, her head on chest. He lay awake for hours, listening to her uneven breath as she tried to fall asleep. The rage in the pit of stomach came and went as images from that night played repeatedly in his head. His parents would contact the minister in the morning, he was sure, but would it matter? The damage had already been done.
He was just succumbing to sleep when he was struck with another horrifying thought, what had happened to their baby?
Four Hours Earlier
Hermione had her them whispering before she even opened her eyes. Her stomach dropped as the sickening realization came over her; they had come to take her. She heard them mention Knockturn Alley more than once and finally she was able to place the voice. Amycus Carrow – she was supposed to be searching for him, not the other way around.
"Hurry up Avery, get her before the blood traitor gets back."
The men were whispering in the corner, deciding what to do with her. She struggled to move quietly, grabbing a quill and scrap of paper from her side table. She had left her wand in the sitting room, she was defenseless.
"You grab her Rodolophus; she's going to be yours."
Her heart sunk, Rodolophus Lestrange was the final member of the trio. He was Bellatrix's wife and was sure to have a grudge to pick with her. What did they mean she was his though? She wrote Knockturn Alley on the paper, crumbling it up in her hand as she slipped out of the bed; her only chance was to summon her wand.
"Accio –"
And then she was speechless, the three had turned on her now, using a soundless spell to take away her voice. Rodolophus was the one to grab her, his eyes sparkling underneath his overgrown greasy black hair.
She could hear Fred coming down the hall; his footsteps were heavy as if he was running.
She said a silent prayer and then dropped the piece of paper, tensing for the familiar feeling of apparition. They landed hard on cement. As her eyes adjusted, she realized they were in a dirty alleyway.
She had kept her cool to this point, but when the man she recognized as Amycus Carrow ripped her top from her body, she lost it. Tears stung at her eyes and she prayed Fred found them. Avery was pawing at her stomach, whispering vile things in her ear about how badly they were going to "give it to her" and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rodolophus undoing his pants.
She squeezed her eyes shut praying it would be over soon and then she heard the footsteps, her heart leaped a bit, she had just caught sight of a flash of red hair rounding the corner when everything went black.
Present
She woke with a start, fighting against the arms pining her to the bed. As she thrashed she became more tangled in the sheets, waking up her bedmate in the process.
"Hermione, love, it's me, it's Fred. Shh. Calm down, it's only me."
It took a minute for his words to register and she began to calm, breathing heavily as her hands dropped. "Oh Fred, I'm sorry."
Fred was seeing red again, as he detangled himself from the sheets, "I'm going to find them."
"Fred don't!"
"No Hermione, I'm going to find them now. Owl Shacklebolt, tell him what happened. Tell him I'll keep Carrow alive because I know he's important to your case, but the other two…" He trailed off; he didn't even know who the other two were. He wouldn't have known that Amycus had been there if not for Hermione calling his name out her in sleep.
"It was Avery and Rodolophus. Fred, please don't do this."
He shook his head, "I love you." And then disapparated.
The wood was heavy and unfamiliar in Ron's hand. Too thick to be a wand and a foot long, with a sharpened tip. The books Hermione had provided them with stressed the importance of using a stake to kill a vampire. It was the only way.
They had tracked down Carmella Sanguina the night before; she was staying in the house of her son, a fellow vampire who simply went by Sanguina. He had been present at Slughorn's Christmas party.
Sanguina's castle was a drafty place, smaller in size than Hogwarts but even more mysterious. It was surrounded on all sides by woods and nobody left during the day. Harry had been checking the perimeter of the forest when he stumbled upon it. Hiding in a tree, he had seen Carmella descend from the wall of the castle.
She was a terrifying sight, nearly six feet tall and lithe, pale white skin and cascading black hair. She was gorgeous, but in a terrible way.
They had watched the castle for days, realizing by the third day that Carmella Sanguina was cocky, she left the castle at the same time every night and was careless, and she feared nothing. Their original plan was to question her, but several owls of correspondence with Shacklebolt later and they had decided killing her and her son was the only way.
Tonight was the night they had decided. Harry and Denton would sneak up on the vampiress when she ventured into the woods. They would hold her down while Ron drove the stake through her heart. They would enter the castle then and kill her son.
Denton was patrolling in the mean time, leaving the two to themselves. Harry was writing Ginny a letter in the kitchen and Ron was laying on his bed, the stake in hand. He had only written Patricia twice since they had left, once the second week they were gone and once on Christmas day.
He didn't miss her much, he missed being with someone but he didn't miss being with her particularly. She had not participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and didn't understand what the others had been through.
She wouldn't understand what he had to do tonight. He wouldn't be able to tell her, or anyone for that matter. He wondered briefly what she would say if she knew, but it was only a passing thought. Mostly he was worrying about Fred and Hermione. They were set to leave for Wales today to find the Carrow's.
His brother was a powerful wizard he knew and half genius and Hermione was even better, but still he worried. He couldn't bare loosing either of them and he knew they couldn't stand to lose each other either.
"Alright there Ron?"
Ron looked up to see his best friend enter the room, sitting down on his twin bed across from Ron's.
"Just thinking. You think they're ok mate?"
"Fred and Hermione?"
"Yeah."
"Hermione's strong and the most brilliant person I've ever met and Fred's no Lockhart, he can more than handle himself."
Harry was right of course, the two of them were probably better equipped than he was even with his auror training. He passed the piece of wood from hand to hand. "Tonight then?"
Harry nodded, "Nervous?"
"Yeah."
He ended up back in Knockturn Alley, he didn't know where else to look for them. With two men missing limbs he was sure they were either dead or being taken care of in the privacy of a fellow death eater's home.
He found the alley easily, it was cleaned up – they had come back. The only trace of the early morning fight was a dark stain on the pavement, blood. Fred turned and slammed his already bruised fist into the brick wall of the building to his right. They could be anywhere, plotting how to get her back. He had to find Shacklebolt.
Closing his eyes, he remembered the night before, the blood that had spilled at his hands. He had killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, several death eaters and he had nearly been killed, crushed under a fallen brick wall. This experience was different, it was personal and he had been cruel in his retaliation. Avada kedavra was a silent, quick death, ripping someone's limbs from their body was not. He didn't regret it.
"Mr. Weasley, I thought I might find you here."
The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it, he turned slowly to face his new companion. He was shocked to see Alaric Aleel; they had met briefly in the past but were barely even acquaintances, never mind friends.
Aleel was a short man, 5'8" at the most, and too skinny. Born in Saudi Arabia, he had moved to Britain as a youth and attended Hogwarts with Bill – a Hufflepuff he had no lasting impression. Most people had been surprised when Shacklebolt had named him senior undersecretary.
"Can I help you?" Fred asked, annoyed with his company. He couldn't understand why Shacklebolt would send Alaric Aleel in his place if he had received Hermione's letter.
Aleel laughed, "You've been a very bad boy Weasel. Thought you could get away with it didn't you?"
"What's going on Aleel?"
The other man had taken his wand out of his pocket and was passing it from hand to hand, slinking towards Fred with a grin on his face; he looked manic.
"Poor Rodolophus, nothing we could do for him, lost a bit too much blood. Avery will be ok though, so there's only one life sentence in Azkaban for you. Then again, once you receive the dementors kiss it won't matter much."
Fred backed up, hitting the wall, horror-stricken.
"It will be your word against mine of course, unless you want me to finish you off here that is." Aleric lifted his wand, poising it at Fred's throat, "And all for a stupid girl. It's a shame really, a pureblood like yourself getting involved with filth."
"That will be enough Aleric." Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared from under an invisibility cloak, just behind Aleric Aleel, he had been following him.
Aleel turned slowly, "Ah minister, so good of you to join us. I was just tellingMr. Weasley here the punishment for murder."
Shacklebolt nodded, "And you are aware of the punishment for aiding and housing convicted death eaters aren't you Aleric? I'm sure you will see Mr. Weasley's transgressions are miniscule compared to your own. Come now friend, bring me to Carrow and Avery. I'm sure you know where they are."
Aleel cackled, a deranged look crossing his face, "I don't think so Shacklebolt." Then he turned back to Fred, "Ready Weasley? Avada kedav-"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" A stream of green light flashed through the air, exploding into Aleric Aleel's body. He instantly fell limp, all the life leaving his body.
Shacklebolt and Fred looked down to the end of the alley.
"Percy?"
Percy stood, wand in hand, whole body shaking. He had on his ministry work robes, looked as if he was on his way to the ministry.
"Hermione owled me."
"Now how are we going to find the others?"
Hermione was pacing Ginny's room; she had owled Shacklebolt and Percy hours ago and had heard nothing since. Molly and Arthur were both out, him at the ministry; her at George's helping him and Angelina settle in with the twins.
Fear coursed through her body. Fred had been seeking revenge when he had left that morning and she knew how dangerous the Carrow's were. She hoped her owl reached Percy in time. She had her suspicions about Aleric Aleel and how said so in her letter to Percy.
She wasn't used to waiting around, with Ron and Harry she had always been in the middle of the action, now she had to wait. She turned to look at herself in Ginny's mirror, the bruises had faded but were still evident and her eyes looked hollow. Only hours had passed since everything had transpired and she still she felt as if she had aged ten years in that time. Her hand rested on her stomach, she would have to make an appointment with a healer at St. Mungo's, and they would need one anyways, if the baby had survived.
The baby. The reality of it all hadn't dawned on her until she found herself alone and at the mercy of death eaters in the alleyway. She was responsible for another life now. It was a boy, she could sense it, Gideon James – he felt like a Gideon and it was Fred's middle name.
Sitting back on Ginny's bed she wondered about her son, if he would look more like her or Fred, if he would be a rule breaker like his father, or fearless like them both. She had convinced herself she wasn't the maternal type and then this had happened.
Knock, knock. She turned, praying it was Fred, but it wasn't.
"Feeling better dear?" Mrs. Weasley entered hesitantly, "I owled work for you this morning, I didn't think you'd be up to it." She didn't ask where Fred was, the look on her face said she already knew.
"Can I sit down?"
Hermione nodded, making room for the older woman.
"His name is going to be Gideon James, Gideon for Fred and your brother and James for Harry. I can tell it's a boy."
Molly Weasley smiled fondly, "Yes I'm sure you can. I always knew with my own. I could sense their personalities too; Fred and George were fearless troublemakers from the start. Ron was a little bit of everything, a very undecided baby. Poor Ron, he got lost in the shuffle more than I would have liked, the twins had each other so they were ok and Ginny was my precious baby girl."
"I think Gideon is going to be quiet. He seems calm. I need to make an appointment with a healer, if you could help?" Hermione could've easily done it all on her own, but she knew asking for help would speak to Mrs. Weasley's nurturing side and make her feel involved like she sorely needed.
Without warning, Mrs. Weasley hugged Hermione close to her body, her voice weepy as she promised, "Of course I can help. I'm owling St. Mungo's right away."
I know – it's short, but it's packed with a lot!
