{I'm so sorry for the huge delay! My life got hectic, but I managed to get this update finished. It was originally supposed to be two chapters, but I decided to combine them into one long one. I hope you all like it! ~ CM}
Abraxas began the next chapter.
Chapter 19. Dream Telling
On a cold winter's Wednesday Tonks had to take Sirius and Saoirse to the Ministry.
Sirius winced, and casted his gaze down in shame. Shizuka put her small, pale hand around his comfortingly.
Aries has been missing for a week. Grimmauld place was despondent, and as charming as a graveyard. Saoirse and Sirius were both impatient, and growing more and more frantic as Aurors kept failing to bring the Ravenclaw home.
Sirius constantly growled about how useless the new Aurors were.
"It shouldn't take this long," Charlus grumbled. Moody agreed fully. A couple tracking charms, maybe a couple broken spells, but it never takes this long.
"Don't you dare try anything Sirius," Saoirse ordered when she got fed up with his complaints. "Last time you tried to find someone on your own, you spent a decade in Azkaban."
Sirius stopped complaining as much. At least around her.
"That was really uncalled for," Remus objected.
"She does have a point though," Lily apprehensively retorted.
Harry and Leo took to sleeping in Aries's room. Leo stayed awake every night, trying to ask the ghosts if they knew where he was. All he'd gotten from that were dark rings under his eyes.
He curled in on himself, under Aries's bed covers, mentally berating himself. He was alone, Leo downstairs with Kreacher. Harry often took to caring for Tawny who seemed to sleep constantly now. Mordred rarely left Leo's side, the large owl constantly pecking at his and Harry's hair.
Harry just felt so…useless. And he hated it. If he was stronger, if he was smarter he could have stopped that wizard from snatching Aries. He just knew it.
"Oh, Harry…" Liliana murmured, her whisper sullen and her eyes glistening.
Thud thud thud. The door creaked open, but Harry didn't turn to see who it was.
"We've got company," Leo said.
Harry didn't move at first, but after Leo wrestled him out of the bed he willing went down stairs. And standing in the living room, still a bit sooty were two grim faced Weasley twins.
"What are you two doing here?" Harry questioned. "You should be at the Burrow."
"Exactly," Septimus chimed in.
Fred waved his questions away. "Look, need to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Black," George replied. "It's urgent."
"They're at the Ministry for the day," Leo said, stepping into view. His eyes were silver and glowing.
Fred spat out a particularly filthy curse. "What's so important?" Leo inquired, raising a single eyebrow coldly. Harry shuddered. He'd never seen Leo this distant.
"It's about Aries," Fred answered. "And if we don'-"
"What!?" Many voiced echoed in the Room of Requirement. Even Abraxas looked surprised.
Leo went rigid, and his eyes shone brighter. "What about Aries?" His voice carried the echo of someone else. It had a thick accent to it, all washed out sounding as it mixed with Leo's voice. Harry thought it was a Japanese accent.
Shizuka jumped in her seat. Her face mirroring the guilt she feels about possessing her only child.
Fred and George jumped back, eyes wide with shock. "Leo?" they both asked, staring at him cautiously.
"Later," the ghost replied, voice stern and demanding. "What do you know about Aries?"
The twins shared a glance before turning back to Leo and Harry. "What is it?" Harry insisted, staring hard at the two. It was George who started to speak.
"We think we know where he might be,"
"But we don't know for sure if he'll be there for long," Fred continued.
"WHAT!?" The occupants echoed again.
"Wait, you two know where he is!?" Harry screeched, face going pale in anger. "You should be taking this up with the Aurors! Aries could be home by now if you two had-"
"No one believes us!" the two shouted in unison.
Harry's mouth snapped shut. The twins went ragged, and they only calmed down after they had grabbed each other's hands.
"We tried to tell Mum, but she didn't believe us," Fred said, voice thin and brittle. "She wouldn't let us tell Dad. Perce and Ron thought we were jokin' and Gin didn't help. We thought Mister and Missus Black would help us but-"
Septimus looked a little heartbroken at those words.
"How did you two come by this information to begin with?" A grave voice called from behind them. They all looked around, but there was no one there.
"I'm here you wretched brats!" the voice spat impatiently. They followed the sound only to find the portrait of Sirius's mother glaring back at them, a single gaunt finger tapping her crossed arm.
"What the fucking hell!?" Sirius shrieked in shock and horror.
Kreacher was fidgeting next to the frame, no doubt being the one who brought the portrait up after it being given to him (along with the chunk of wall it was charmed to). "You may go now Kreacher." And the rickety house-elf scuttled away in a happier mood.
"Why is she helping you!?" Sirius screamed. "She hates me! She wants me dead!"
Narcissa wore a pinched and contemplative expression on her face.
"Erm…" Harry spluttered. Fred and George leaned away from her ghastly portrait.
"How did you learn my grandson's location?" She questioned, voice almost a threatening hiss. "And don't you dare lie to me."
"We-" George stammered. "We dreamed it."
Everybody in the Room (sans those from the future and Lily Evans) went rigid and still.
Harry gaped at them. "You…dreamed it," was all Leo managed to say, his eyes back to normal.
The portrait looked a bit surprised but nothing more. "They say twins have a unique magic to themselves," she drawled thoughtfully. "You two are Weasleys, correct?" All four nodded.
Septimus looked ready to take on whatever crap she spewed from her mouth, a challenging look.
"Are you descendants of my once-aunt Cedrella?" She questioned, spitting the name as if it tasted as foul as Skelegrow.
"She's our Grandmother." George answered hesitantly. "Why?" Fred wondered.
"It means as your cousin thrice removed," she began in a snarl "you will listen to my words."
"She was disowned," Narcissa blurted.
"She refuses to even listen to a single word about her, what gives?" Sirius wondered aloud.
The boys remained silent. Harry thought she would demand they leave instead of staying, if 'once-aunt' meant disowned. Why was she telling them to stay and listen?
"That's a good question," Arcturus murmured to himself.
She sighed before looking at them. "You two have precognitive dreams. Dreams of what has yet to come to be. If memory serves me well, the Weasley clan has a tendency to produce …unorthodox diviners."
Harry and Leo mirrored the shocked looks Fred and George were giving.
"Really?" Lily asked, a touch of skepticism in her words.
"Remember Fred saying they'd have to wrestle a troll in their first year?" Lucius of all people drawled. "Been lots of reports of Weasley diviners, but none have been a seer like that Trelawny woman."
"Which means you four have time to bring my oldest grandson home," she definitively said.
"But were kids!" George protested, arms flailing in a gesture to the four boys.
"From what I can tell, the Ministry is even more incompetent than the one during my life."
"Don't you put them in danger, you hag!" James snapped, starting to froth with rage.
Hary grimaced. "I thought you hated the lot of us," he accused. "Why do you want us to find Aries? Is it because he's Regulus's kid?"
She gave him a cold, steely glare. But to his surprise it gave way to a softer, sadder look. Leo balked and leaned back, and Harry was too shocked to move.
Sirius went pallid and like he was possibly going numb in the brain. Narcissa and Arcturus both looked surprised but kept their regal statures.
"We're Blacks, and forevermore will we remain. And no cowardly bastard is going to get away with this insult!" Is what she croaked, but Harry had this nagging feeling there was something else she wanted to say.
"Now tell us what you dreamed," she ordered, her dark eyes boring into the twins.
"Seems like a Twilight Zone episode," Sirisha whispered to her double.
"Erm…" George eloquently started. "I saw…a large manor house. Snow covering the lot. It had a crest on the door. Shaped like a shield, it had an armored hand holding a wand, and some two headed bird..."
"Inside a dark, messy room was a big trunk that had seven locks and seven compartments. The bottom space went down about ten feet and that's where I saw Aries," Fred interrupted. "He had a book and a pencil with him, and a stuffed rabbit."
"That's rather specific for a prediction," Lily said.
"Not as much as you'd think," McGonagall replied. "Precognitive dreams are notorious for happening at a much later date. And they tend to be rather selective, never showing the big picture."
Harry blinked at the two, while Walburga Black just nodded.
"Wait," Leo cut in. "You two dream about the same thing?" He looked at the two in a mixture of fascination and shock.
"Well, we dream about different parts," George answered. "I can see where it takes place."
"And I can see what goes on there, but I have no idea where it is," Fred added.
Those from the present are staring expectantly at the pairs of twins in the Room of Requirement, but they were given no words.
"This crest you saw," Walburga interrupted impatiently. "You said it was an armored hand, a scroll and four wands?"
George nodded, warily. She tapped her finger against her chin in thought. "And this manor house, was there a tree growing on the left side? An old tree?"
"Yeah, nasty looking thing. Looks sick and over-pruned."
"Tell them whose house it is if you know it for Godric's sake!" Moody spat impatiently.
"Unfortunately that doesn't limit it down a whole lot," Augusta groaned. "Many pureblood manors have a tree out front. Usually of the wood the majority of the family's wands are made of."
Harry remembered the garden at the Burrow. All the various plants growing about and thriving madly. The twins must take care of the garden to a certain extent then to tell that about a tree.
"That crest," Walburga said thoughtfully. "An armored hand holding a wand is only found on the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
Leo opened his mouth to speak up. "What's the-"
"KREACHER!" Walburga wailed. "PUT ME IN MY ROOM YOU USELESS HOUSE-ELF!" With a silent pop Kreacher grabbed the portrait before vanishing out again, muttering about pleasing his mistress.
"You could have helped more!" Dorea snapped impatiently. "Oh… when I get my hands on that crone of a woman…"
"What's the Sacred Twenty-Eight?" Leo asked, insistently looking at the twins.
"It's a list of pureblood families," they intoned.
"Is there anyway to figure out whose crest that was?" Harry butted in.
"That's why we came here!" Fred said quickly hands waving madly about as he gestured to Grimmauld Place. "There's got to be a book here about crests lying around here somewhere!"
"Several," all the Blacks answered.
"But we gotta hurry! We don't know if Aries is at that house yet or not!" George interupted. "Time is of the essence here!"
"When exactly did they dream this if time is of the essence?" Auggie questioned.
"Must have been quiet a bit of time if their mom and brothers can shoot them down about it." Lucas replied airily.
Leo and Harry were already running up the stairs and to the library before George finished speaking. It was an entire room shelved from floor to ceiling with various books, tomes, or boxed scrolls. It had a single large window, an ornately carved desk of ebony and a single ladder that spun about.
Harry was scaling the ladder, slipping and hitting his jaw on one of the rungs in his haste.
"Ouch…" Jamie hissed as he rubbed his jaw.
Leo had forgone library etiquette and scaled the shelves like a monkey.
Leo's daughter and nephews giggled and shook their heads.
Harry's mind singularly focused in on titles.
Secrets of the Darkest Art. Magick Moste Evile.
Moody shifted his eyes to the Black family patriarch.
He spun the ladder to another section. Grammatica. Numerology and Grammatica.
"Those were so boring to read," Sirius groaned.
Spin. New section. Magical Theory. Olde Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes. Moste—
"NATURE'S NOBILITY: A WIZARDING GENEAOLOGY!" Leo bellowed.
"Your family library has everything doesn't it?" Alice asked. Sirius and Narcissa nodded.
Harry looked behind him and saw Leo waving a small black book madly, while still on the shelves.
To his surprise, the twins came in then to see Leo's flailing causing the Puff to lose his grip on the shelf.
THUD. The twins and Harry all hissed and grimaced at the sound. Leo's hand shot up, still holding the book. "GOT IT!"
"You okay?" George asked, helping the fallen Hufflepuff up as Harry carefully hurried back down. "It's only my pride," was his response.
"Made of stronger stuff than he looks," Dorea whispered to her husband.
"Let's go!" Fred shouted, bolting towards the door. George was quickly following behind him, but Leo hesitantly looked to Harry.
"How are we supposed to go anywhere?" Harry questioned. "We're underage. And I doubt this place you dreamed of will have an open floo connection."
"Dad has Sirius Black's motorbike." The twins answered.
There was a bright gleam in said Marauder's eyes.
"I thought Hagrid had it?" Leo questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Dad's borrowing it to study," George said.
"We reckon he'll build one himself over the next year or so. Five galleons on it." Fred said.
Septimus found himself agreeing with his grandson's bet.
Leo grinned for the first time since that day at the train station, and handed the book to Harry. Harry followed the twins out, and back to the fireplace. "So what's the plan? Take the motorbike, find the house and bring Aries home?" Harry inquired.
The twins shared a look before giving him and in sync nod. "Shouldn't take too long. We should all be home by Christmas for some mince meat pies." Fred said reassuringly ruffling Harry's messy hair.
"Please, please please…" Frank prayed while he crossed his fingers.
Leo came down the creaky stairs, arms laden with winter coats, scarves and hats. "What?" He asked, at the looks he was receiving. "I don't want to relive my near encounter with frostbite again, thank you very much."
Harry fully agreed with him, and took his clothes from Leo. The twins, he saw, did a double take when they saw the sweaters their mom knitted. "You still fit those?" George asked.
"Pretty much, yeah." Harry said as he pulled his head through said Weasley sweater. His was a deep green, and Leo's was black with a yellow L on the front.
"AWW~!" The mothers cooed.
"Why do you have a third sweater?" Fred asked, pointing to the knitted garment in the Hufflepuff's fists. It was a dark blue and had a copper colored A knitted into it.
"It's Aries's." He murmured. "When we find him, he might need it. It's cold outside." Harry smiled and hugged his god-brother tightly.
"Their too precious, I can't wait for them to be born this time around," Dorea gushed.
Sirius and Shizuka went a deep ruby red at her words. James was an equal shade of red and whined "Mum!" Liliana hid her face behind her hands, but her ears were bright red.
"Let's go." The twins chorused. The four moved towards the fireplace, and Harry opened the jar of floo powder. They all crammed in, as Harry grabbed a handful. He joined them, and with a determined glint in his eye he said "The Burrow," and dropped the powder.
Abraxas looked at the pages curiously.
The whirling green flames stopped, but there wasn't a moment of peace. Loud booms and bangs shot through the house. Blasts of magic shot every which way. Knickknacks and furniture splintered and shattered. Screams came from upstairs.
"NO!" Many screamed.
"Dad!?" George screamed, voice panicked. "Mum!?"
Fred bolted out of the fireplace, and would have been hit with a bolt of magic had Harry not tackled him to the ground. A bright red blast was going straight to the fireplace.
A tall redhead ran between the blast and the fireplace, wand up as a shield was casted. Harry saw that the shield looked like an actual shield rather than a bubble. But he shook his head and refocused.
Arthur? Septimus wondered.
"Perce!?" Fred exclaimed, face slack with shock. It was Percy, he had some cuts, splotchy bruises, and a bright red burn on his shoulder.
Jaws dropped. "The ponce saved tem…" James breathed.
"We gotta go!" he bellowed as he returned the unseen opponents three blasts of his own. "Ron and Ginny are upstairs!"
George had come to help Harry and Fred, standing behind Percy's protective stance. Leo looked coltish for a moment, but he gripped Aries's sweater tight and made a beeline for the stairs. A spell aimed for Leo missed by a hair, and destroyed the fireplace into smithereens.
"Shit!" more than one teenager cursed.
Harry dropped the book on Fred and followed his god-brother, ignoring the screams of the Weasley brothers. Bullets of magic shot past his ears, one blue stream singeing the hem of his pants leg. Stairs splintered about as he made his climb up, but me managed to get to the second floor.
He ignored the minor stings of splinters and faint burns from spells that got too close for comfort. Harry slid out of view into the closest room he could find. He scrambled up against the wall, heart pounding in his chest.
Many listeners were on the edge of their seats.
"H-Harry?" Ron's voice croaked. The boy swiveled his head, and saw Ron and Ginny. The two were huddled together on the floor shielded by an overturned nightstand. Harry carefully slid by them, as a loud crack echoed the splintering of something outside.
"What's going on!?" Harry fervently whispered, couching low instinctively. Ron moved closer to his friend but gave an awful hiss. Harry looked and he spotted that Ron's leg was broken.
"Oh no!" Several people gasped.
"Mum and Dad went to the Ministry," Ginny began to whimper as she scooted closer to Harry's side. "Then they showed up and started destroying everything."
"I got Ginny out of the way, but on our way up I got hit in the leg," Ron tacked on through gritted teeth. His freckled face was pale and screwed in a grimace as he tried to scuttle on the floor. "Percy took to dueling them downstairs, but he can't fight all of them on his own."
"Who?" Harry asked. "Who did this!?" He looked imploringly between the two. Ron looked like he swallowed a lemon as he averted his eyes.
Ginny, while pale with fear, kept her brown eyes trained on Harry's face. "Wizards in red cloaks," she breathed.
"THOSE BASTARDS!" Sirius bellowed, slamming his fist down onto the table.
Harry went rigid, and stared at nothing. "Harry?" Ron asked, tapping his arm in concern as his knuckles went white.
"Psst," a welcome voice called from the doorway. Leo had slunk inside, surreptitiously scooting a box in with his hands; crawling low amidst the rubble.
"I got the twins' wet-start fireworks," Leo whispered hurriedly, his eyes grim and steely. "Why don't we blast these bastards back?"
"Do it," the Marauders egged on in a grave tone.
Harry should have been more alarmed at that sadistic smirk Leo sported, but he ached to get back at the Red Cloaks who took Aries away.
Ron and Ginny were in the room with half of the stash of fireworks, shielded by the overturned furniture; as Leo and Harry shoved a desk onto its side, and moved that as their hallway shield.
The two third years took a firework in hand and peeked over the edge of the desk. Percy was exchanging colored blasts with two wizards in blood red cloaks, as he stood in front of the twins. Harry spotted one red cloak making their way up the stairs, wand drawn. Harry nudged Leo, and pointed silently to the approaching figure.
Leo gave a menacing snarl, and wetted the fuse. In an instant the multicolored firework sizzled and banged as it made its mark square in the torso. Whoever they were stumbled back with a winded wheeze, and fell down the splintering stairs with a bone chilling crunch.
Many shuddered at the scene.
One of the two downstairs, turned away from the duel, and vanished with a loud POP. The pop sounded again in Harry's ear as the wizard stood behind him and Leo.
Harry chanced a peek over his shoulder, and saw the wand trained at Leo's head. "Don't you move now," the mysterious wizard ordered.
Remus gave a haunting growl and his raking nails left scratches on the arms of his chair.
Leo furiously whipped around to glower at this assailant. "Trouble maker, aren't ya?" the red cloaked wizard chided in a tut- tut sort of voice.
Harry glared and focused on a barrier between the two. It was fuzzy looking in most spots, and not solid enough to make Harry sure it would keep Leo safe.
"All you purebloods are," they continued. "Always thinking you're above the law, and free from any consequences you incur." The wand tip began to glow with a bright green light. Harry focused more, and his head began to drum and ache. "But the Newbloods are going to make everything right."
As the tip of the wand began to glow brighter, Leo's anger began to turn to fear. "AVA-"
Harry spun and started the firework. This wizard was knocked down to their back, a deep smoldering patch coming from their neck-area. When it became apparent they they were down for the count Harry grabbed their wand and snapped it.
Everyone wore shocked expressions.
"He," Shizuka struggled to speak. "He was going to kill my baby?" she asked hollowly. Sirius pulled her into his arms, and whispered kind words and promises while his eyes were still hauntingly scared.
As he threw the pieces aside, Leo tentatively went to remove the hood of the cloak. He gingerly lifted the red fabric off to reveal the face of a young wizard. He was tan, with some acne scars, a square jaw and blonde hair.
"I recognize him!" Leo breathed, limbs limbs shaking. "He graduated last year. He used to date a girl in my house!"
"What!?" Harry hissed, not noticing the faint trickle of blood from his left eye. Leo nodded mutely, staring at the knocked out wizard in fear.
McGonagall hid her eyes with her hands in shame. What was happening to her students?
A scream and a crash brought their attention back to living room duel. Smoke dissipated to show a standing, but battered Percy, and an immobile, unconscious red cloaked wizard.
Harry turned and spat a curse. The stairs were nothing more than a few precarious boards and loads of splinters.
"Percy!" Leo called as he scrambled to look past Harry. "You okay!?"
"I'm fine," he groaned, holding his shoulder and giving a loud curse. "How are you all?"
"Ron's got a broken leg," Harry answered, grim faced. Percy grimaced, and apparated next to them in the blink of an eye. He pulled each of them in for a hug. Percy rushed for Ron and supported his leg as the two shambled out of the room. Ginny tailed after them, eyes flickering expectantly back to Harry every now and then.
"So what now?" Frank wondered.
"The floo's broken," the elder Weasley ground out as he shifted Ron for more support. "You apparate Ron and Ginny first," Harry insisted. "You can go to our place," Leo added. "Our owls are home so you can get word to your parents."
Percy looked at the two of them with shocked eyes behind his skewed glasses. "Thank you," he said with a warm and genuine smile. "You four wait together and I'll be back after owling Dad," Percy said in an authoritative, but not unkind voice.
Leo gave him a warm grin as he dusted off Aries's sweater. Ginny grabbed ahold of Ron's arm, and the three were gone with a pop.
"C'mon, we don't have much time to get that motorcycle," Harry barked quickly.
"What!?" Augusta screeched. "Go back home!"
Leo's grin dropped like a sack of bricks, and the two faced down. The railing was still relatively intact.
"Can you two catch us?" Leo asked the twins. "Not like you two weigh anything," was Fred's response.
"I'm taking that as a yes," Harry muttered before climbing to the other side of the railing. The two third years were standing a tad precariously over the railing. The twins were standing under them, arms outstretched, and freckled faces serious.
Harry and Leo shared a brief look and jumped. The twins really didn't have much trouble beyond a stumble or two, and the two boys were carried out to the backyard of the Burrow, much to their chagrin.
"Why must they be tiny?" James asked Sirius.
When the two were finally put back on their feet, Fred was pulling a tarp off of a large black motorcycle, fitted with a large sidecar.
"Sidecar's new," the dog animagus tacked on. "Wonder why Hagrid fitted one?"
"Do you two know how to work that thing?" Harry questioned. "Have been since Dad brought it home. Been grounded loads for it by Mum, but Dad goes easy on us for testing driving." George reassured as Fred tried kick starting it.
One good kick, and a rev of the handle, and the motorbike roared to life.
"Maybe I should teach them instead of this trial and error thing," Sirius inputted a tad nervous.
"Get in!" Fred crowed as George sat behind him.
Leo clambered in the sidecar and dragged Harry haphazardly on top of him.
One more monstrous rev, and they took off. Fred took them past the slightly smoldering Burrow, down the road, when they started to go up in an incline.
The winter air stung his cheeks, but Harry couldn't help smiling. They were bringing Aries home!
"I have several concerns…" McGonagall mentioned as she raised a finger.
"You're not the only one Minerva," Augusta sighed.