Disclaimer: Harry Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Rated T for language
A/N: I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten! Thanks, guys! You're the best!
Chapter 25
Audrey paced the length of the room, walking back and forth, back and forth. She was sure that she was wearing down the floor, and soon she would be standing in a little rut in the ground. Finally, the door opened, and a confused, tired-looking Lynn stepped inside.
"Lynn!" Audrey gasping, coming to a halt. "Thank God!"
"What happened?" Lynn asked, closing the door and leaning on it. "You sounded like you were really panicking!"
Audrey sighed, slamming her side against the wall and resting her forehead on it. "It is! It's… Percy."
Lynn's eyebrows shot up to dangerous heights. "What did you do?" she asked edgily.
Audrey smiled sheepishly. "Uh… him?"
"Oh Merlin!" Lynn's hands flew to her face. "Audrey, you had me really worried! I was scared it was something really bad. So you slept with him? I thought you wanted to. And I can tell Percy likes you too. So what's the big deal?"
"Well, I don't know," shot Audrey back, feeling peeved. "It's the middle of a war! It's not the time to go around jumping into bed with people. All you ever hear about times like this is that people start rushing into relationships because they think they're about to die. It's true!" she added, seeing Lynn roll her eyes. "Admit it; you said that that almost happened between you and Percy!"
Lynn shook her head in an irritatingly patronizing way. "But it didn't, did it? And besides, not every couple forged in wartime is doomed to fail. Often, they're actually stronger."
"Name one," Audrey retorted.
"Uh… Percy's parents? He told me that they got together in the heat of the first war, and they've been together for decades and had seven children."
"Oh… right." Audrey nodded slowly. "Okay. I…I think I've calmed down now." She sat down, sprawling across the floor. She sighed again, heavily. "But you should have seen the way Percy dealt with that baby, though…"
Lynn's eyes widened. "Wait, what? What baby? Is there something I should know about? Do I get to be Godmother?"
"What? No! Jesus, no! Not my baby!" Audrey shook her head in horror. "One of the muggle-born's kids. It was crying and sobbing and no one could calm it down. Then he just came along, held little Simon, talked for a while and everything was fine. It was just… it was just really incredible."
Lynn smiled softly.
Charlie Weasley gazed up at the hot sun, wiping sweat from his brow. He had been out for hours and hours, dealing with the dragons. It was clear to every wizard and witch on the reserve that the Death Eaters were looking for dragons to consolidate their Dark power, which made Charlie's job of capturing, healing and containing the huge beasts even more important. But his current problem wasn't the Death Eaters—he was trying to put that out of his mind for now. No, his current problem was a defiant, ridiculously intelligent Hungarian Horntail named Titus.
Right now, he was wheeling above the dragon pens, roaring and blowing concentrated streams of fire at any workers who dared venture to close.
Charlie let out a grunt of frustration just as one of his coworkers, a rather eccentric wizard named Terri, appeared beside him, in a similar state.
"Isn't there anything we can do to keep that monster under control?" Charlie asked him through gritted teeth.
Terri gazed past him out at the dragon for a few seconds, in time to see several dragon keepers thwarted in their attempt to subdue him. Without moving his gaze, he replied seriously, "Ever get the feeling that it's smarter than we are?" Terri sighed and turned. "Didn't you say you knew the woman who trained him?" Charlie nodded. "Can't you go find her?"
Charlie stamped his foot angrily. "No! I barely know who she is, much less where she is. The only chance of getting her here is if she comes on her own for a visit."
"Yeah…" Terri said solemnly. "Well, we better hope she shows up soon, or—"
There was a resounding crash, and the terrified screams of workers mingled with the startled roar of the dragons as a wall of solid blue-white light slammed into them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Half an hour later.
Percy was pacing restlessly in the safe house when Audrey came running it, a smile on her face and an adventure in her head. He was actually kind of glad for the distraction, even if it came it the form of a wild, impulsive outing. He really hated being cooped up inside, even if most of his brothers would say otherwise. He preferred being inside, of course; when he knew he was allowed to go out. So when Audrey came sprinting in the room spouting she wanted to go see Titus at a reserve that had taken him in, he was more than happy to comply. Even if it meant that he could possibly run into one of his brothers. After talking to Bill and Fred, the prospect didn't seem so scary anymore.
"All right, Audrey, I'll accompany you," he replied patronizingly. She beamed at him, and they disapparated, appearing seconds later on a sloping green hill overlooking the reserve. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw several dragons lumbering across the ground, grumbling. They seemed overly lethargic, almost sedated. The ends of Percy's mouth curved down in a deep frown. Something is off here…
He felt Audrey touch his arm, and turned to face her, still uneasy. "Listen," she said. "I feel I should warn you. This is the Romanian branch where your brother works and—"
She broke off as Percy, noticing some strange movement by one of the dragon pits, walked a few paces away from her.
"Percy, wait!" Audrey whined, trailing after him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I thought it was about time you—"
"Shh!" He grabbed her arm, giving her a gentle squeeze. She fell silent as he pointed across the reserve, towards where a group of black-cloaked figures stood grouped on the edge of the pit.
"Oh my God…" whispered Audrey as they slowly lowering themselves to the ground, out of the line of sight of the people. "What are the goddamn chances!" she hissed, suddenly infuriated. "What are the goddamn chances that the one day we choose to come the place is under fucking Death Eater attack?" As Percy desperately tried to quiet her, Audrey rolled back on her heels, shaking her fist at the sky. "I bet you think this is really funny up there, don't you?" Percy could only assume that she had lost her mind, was talking to God, or, most likely, both. He chose to ignore her.
Percy could see the dark shapes of Death Eaters, who appeared to be forcing a group of three others down into the pit. They must be dragon keepers, Percy realized,mouth dry. Hurriedly, he scanned these people and saw… shit. Red hair, shockingly head hair reflecting the sun, hair that topped off a muscular stout body. There was only one person in the world that that description could apply to. The Death Eaters had his brother. NOT. GOOD.
He could hear Audrey's breath beside him becoming shallow and labored. "We need to get out of here, Percy," she said, pushing herself up into a crouching position, ready to spring up and flee. "There are too many of them; they're going to see us and we'll be done for."
Audrey was right, of course. There were far too many Death Eaters for them to take out on their own, and the dragons were obviously drugged, so that wasn't an option. But it was his brother, down in that pit with the other keepers, like sitting ducks. They could be so easily killed from that vantage point. They were already in their own mass grave. How could Percy let that happen?
The look on his face must have been giving away what he had been planning on doing, because he had barely risen to his feet when Audrey said in a low, warning voice, "We need to leave, now. Don't even think about it."
Percy nodded slowly, following her up a few steps up the hill. Then he paused and looked back. Audrey caught the movement. "I'm serious Percy. You'll get yourself killed. Even you couldn't be that stupid."
"I know…" Percy replied, his brow still furrowed.
"Good," Audrey breathed, sounding relieved. "For a second there, I—"
She abruptly stopped talking as Percy sprinted past her, down the hill and towards the dragon pens…. and towards the Death Eaters. Audrey gnashed her teeth in frustration. What the hell was wrong with that boy?
"You're killin' me, Percy!" she yelled, rushing after him. "You—are—killing me!"
Percy reached the back of the reserve building before he couldn't run anymore and leaned over the railing of one of the dragon pens, panting. He really needed to start working out. Peeking around the edge of the building, Percy could see the shapes of the Death Eaters milling about the pit. As he watched, one of them slipped down the embankment and out of sight. Percy swallowed hard. He needed to get down there! But how? He was badly outnumbered, and they were too far away for him to curse them from where he stood well hidden. Maybe he could—
And as a warm cloud of breath touched his face, Percy realized that the Death Eaters weren't the only thing he was close to. A huge, sleek, red-orange dragon lay slumbering in the enclosure next to him, a constant stream of smoke and little plumes of fire billowing from its nostrils, making the scars on Percy's cheek tingle painfully. Another gust of moist breath slipped past his face, blowing his hair back. Percy gulped as it hit him that the dragon wasn't fully asleep. Through half-closed lids, he could see dull yellow eyes gazing out at him.
"Staring contest?" A voice snarled behind him. Percy jumped and turned but it was only Audrey, her hazel eyes hard and angry. "What the hell was that? I told you—"
"Look." Percy cut her off sharply, no longer caring about the dragon huffing behind him. "That's my brother down there? What am I supposed to do, leave him and the other dragon keepers to die? No! I'm going down to help them! You can help or not; I don't care." Percy pressed his back against the Reserve building, pulling his wand out and preparing for a fight. He lifted his gaze to Audrey's, searching for an answer.
And the look on her face told him she wasn't about to let him go by himself. Immediately, Audrey had her wand out and was by his side in a second.
"Okay," she said briskly, suddenly all-business. She glanced from the dragon pits back to Percy. "By my count, we have four Death Eaters to deal with."
"And at least one in the pit with the dragon keepers," Percy responded quickly.
Audrey gave a jerky nod. "Do we have a count on the dragon keepers?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. I think five."
"All right Perce," Audrey whispered to him. "I have a plan. We go through the Reserve building and come at them from the flank. We'll have to be fast. I hope you can cast from far away, because—"
Percy was barely listening to her. It seemed like a good plan, but it was going to take far too long. And other black-cloaked figure had slipped into the empty dragon pen with the keepers—and Charlie. "No time," he bit out. "We have to go. Now."
"What?" Audrey sounded alarmed. "We can't—we'll never make it! They'll see us long before we get close enough to hit them, and surprise is our only chance to win when we're outnumbered!"
"There's no time! Those keepers are practically sitting in their own mass grave! I was the best sharp shooter in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I can do it—with or without you!" Percy turned and starting sprinting across the sandy ground, weaving through the snoring dragons. Audrey was at his heels.
Percy counted twelve seconds before he was close enough to attack. With a slash of his wand and a jet of purple light straight to a Death Eater's foot, the cloaked figure crashed to the ground with a howl and a spurt of blood. Audrey leapt up and started shooting off spells of her own, causing the remaining Death Eaters to scatter.
Percy caught the motion of a Death Eater, whipping around so fast his hood was blown off, revealing—Rodolphus Lestrange? Husband of the woman who had tortured the Longbottoms to insanity?
Percy felt a wave of boiling rage rushing through his body, making his skin crawl and heart pound. He hadn't felt this way since Marcus Flint called his girlfriend a mudblood.
Or since that night with his father.
Percy dove to the ground and sprawled onto his back as a stunner flew by him. Audrey leapt over his body, engaging with Lestrange in a heated duel. By the time Percy was one his feet, they had moved a dozen meters away from him.
"Go!" Audrey shouted at him, stopping one of Lestrange's green curses and throwing a bright orange one back. "Get the guys in the pit free! I'll take care of this idiot!"
Lestrange roared in anger at her jibe and jabbed his wand at her. Fire burst next to Audrey's feet, in brilliant cascades of red and orange. She stumbled backward, glanced up and saw him coming towards their duel. "Go!" she screamed again, leaping behind the fire, stopping Lestrange from getting any closer.
It killed him to leave her, but Percy knew that Audrey could handle herself. He ran to the edge of the embankment, feet kicking up clouds of dirt. Through the screen of dust and dirt, Percy could make out several figures in the bottom of the pit. There seemed to be a struggle going on between them.
Percy raised his wand and was about to slide down and fight when a shadow fell over him. Percy had started whipping around when he felt a hand seize the back of his robes and throw him forward, down into the pit. Percy's wand was ripped from his hand and he crashed face first into the sand. Pain exploded in his mouth along with the warm, metallic taste of blood. He was desperately trying to get up when a boot pressed into his back, holding him down.
"Stop!" a shrill voice commanded above Percy's head. "Stop fighting and line up against the wall or I kill him!" It was undoubtedly the person who had Percy pinned down—every word was punctuated with stomp on his back. Percy gagged, trying to raise his head to spit the blood out of his mouth. Through the broken veins of his glasses, Percy could barely make out the shape of five people being lined up on the side of the pit by two more black-clothed figures with their hoods down. Squirming under the weight on his back, Percy struggled to lift his head all the way up. Bloody hell! he thought. This is one fucked up rescue.
"Percy?"
Percy saw one of the keepers—one with bright red hair— surge forward. That was more than enough to tell who had spoken, but Percy didn't need it. He would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Charlie.
"Let him go!" Charlie snarled, pushing forward again. One of the Death Eaters pressed his wand into Charlie's chest, but it was easy to see, even for Percy, that he was intimidated by the burly dragon keepers.
"Stand down, Weasley, it's over," the shrill voice above him snapped. He slammed his foot down on Percy again and Percy groaned loudly, coughing and spitting up more blood.
Charlie went berserk. "I said let him go, you bastard!"
Suddenly, a flash of blue light smashed into the grass, sending up a wave of plants and dirt and sand. There were several screams and the sound of pounding feet and Percy felt some of the pressure on his back alleviate. Seizing the moment and acting on pure instinct, Percy rolled over and grabbed the leg of the Death Eater who had been on top of him, pulling as hard as he could. The man slammed into the ground next to him. Percy hoped it hurt a lot.
Someone grabbed Percy's arms and hauled him roughly to his feet. He swung around, ready to fight back, but recognized Audrey.
"You okay?" came her concerned, earnest question as she jammed his glasses back on his face. "You really need to put some sort of charm on these things."
As the world came into focus around him, Percy saw that the dragon keepers had reclaimed their territory. The Death Eaters had been cursed down, unconscious on the ground. He watched as Audrey gave an angry kick to the Death Eater who had had him pinned to the ground. He let out a pitiful moan.
"I knocked out Lestrange up top," Audrey told him briskly, handing him his wand. "I saw the struggle going on down here and made a distraction. Those guys are great, without wands or anything they took care of the rest." She grinned slightly, glancing back at the dragon keepers—Charlie plus three others—running through the shapes on the ground, stripping wands and other weapons. Percy's cheeks went red and he felt ridiculously foolish. He was supposed to be doing the rescuing and instead he had needed his brother and his brother's friends to bail him out. Percy felt like he was back in school, futilely trying to impress the Ravenclaw girls.
"Perce!" Charlie leapt at him, grabbing his shoulders. Audrey stumbled backward. "Are you all right?"
Percy stammered out what he thought was a yes.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Charlie demanded. Percy stupidly opened and closed his mouth, about to respond when Charlie let out a gasp, causing everyone in the pit to jump. "What happened to your face?"
The scars. Damn! Percy swore to himself. He had gotten out of the habit of casting hiding spells on them.
"Hey!" Audrey cut in, sparing Percy the need to explain. "Haven't seen you since, what was it, Christmas?"
Charlie's grip on Percy's became suddenly nonexistent. "You! What are you doing here? What are you doing here with my brother?"
"It's a long story," Audrey said quickly. "Look, we need to get out of here. More Death Eaters are on the reserve and there're coming, so we need to go."
Another one of the keepers stepped forward. "They came for the dragons," he said seriously. "They drugged them. We need to get them out of here to another reserve so the Death Eaters can't use them."
"Yeah, Terri, that's a good idea." Charlie turned slightly. "We need to get them out of here, and us too."
"Scotland?" suggested a keeper hurriedly.
"Sounds good," Terri replied. Percy watched in slight amazement as the dragon keepers suddenly became a perfect team, splitting and scrambling up the embankment. He heard snatches of their conversation as they tried to determine exactly how to deal with the sedated dragons.
Audrey sped after them. "We need to be fast! There could be more Death Eaters coming!"
Charlie pulled Percy up to the grass. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Rodolphus Lestrange, sprawled across the ground. He was covered in little, disgusting black and purple growths, leaking pus. Percy experienced a new wave of affection for Audrey. Brilliant spell caster. "What do you mean, we?" Charlie questioned wearily. "There's no 'we'."
"I'm helping," Audrey said firmly. It wasn't a question. "Percy too. Where's Titus?"
"What now?" Percy gasped. He had had enough of dragons for a life time.
"Percy, what's going on wi—" Charlie began to ask, but was cut off abruptly as, simultaneously, there was the shrill ring of Audrey's cell phone and the keeper Terri shouted:
"Up there! By the building!"
They all spun around to see another legion of Death Eaters spilling out onto the grounds. Percy whipped out his wand, ready to fight. This time he would be able to fight for himself.
Percy raced out with Charlie and the dragon keepers, throwing out a first wave of spells before diving behind the relative cover of a small grove of trees whose leaves had been stripped by the dragons.
Percy realized just then that Audrey hadn't joined them on the charge. It wasn't like her. Percy turned back to where they had just been, seeing Audrey crouching behind a small rock and talking on her cell phone. Percy started getting angry at her—how could she be using her cell phone at a time like this— and then noticed the look of panic on her face. He had to find out what was wrong.
Percy rose slowly up onto his heels, ready to run.
"Percy…?" It was Charlie, sounding alarmed at his movements. "What are you doing…?"
Percy, seeing his chance, shot off across the ground and threw himself into a less than graceful roll at Audrey, coming up to rest with his back against her rock. Glancing back, Percy saw several smoking spots in the sand that told him he had nearly avoiding being hit.
"Audrey, what's wrong?" he gasped, holding his wand to his chest, and staring at Audrey. Her face was completely bloodless and her hands were shaking as she put the phone away. Her hazel eyes were darting back and forth rapidly, almost as though she were trying to figure something out, solve a difficult puzzle. After a few seconds of excruciatingly painful silence, Audrey whipped around to face him.
"You need to go back," she forced out, voice trembling ever so slightly.
"What?"
"You need to go back to the station now," she said, eyes wide and searching his face desperately.
They both cringed as a huge explosion shook the earth and blew a huge crater in the ground between them and the Death Eaters. "Why?" Percy gasped.
"I got a distress signal from Carl right now!" Audrey wailed. "He needs help. You need to go!"
Percy could hardly keep his jaw from dropping. "No! Not by myself! Come with me."
"I can't! Your brother and these guys can't take on all these Death Eaters, and we can't let those bastards get the dragons! You go back to the station and help there and I'll take care of things here!"
She looked as though she had thought through every possible scenario and this was the only one that could ever work. Percy knew Audrey would be better for fighting out here, in the open, and if the station really was under attack then someone needed to go help. Percy felt panic swelling in his chest. Why did everything have to go wrong at once? He didn't want to leave Audrey, not where she could get hurt.
"I'll be fine!" Audrey burst out, as if she could read his mind. "I'll make sure Charlie is okay. But you need to go help them—Lynn and Simon and Magnolia!"
Percy's head was spinning. He didn't want to leave; he knew he had to leave…
Another giant blast made the ground rock like a full-scale earthquake was going on. Audrey's and Percy's cell phones began blaring their alarm tones.
"Okay," said Percy, his voice coming out unusually rough. "I'll go, but you promise me that you'll come back safe, okay? Promise me!"
Audrey showed a shaky grin. She lifted herself upwards and their lips crushed together in an awkward, passionate kiss. "I promise. And I'll bring Charlie with me, too." They kissed again, but the moment was short lived as spells and curses began to explode like firecrackers above their heads.
"Go!" howled Audrey.
Percy spun in place, still on the ground and disapparated on the spot.
Yes, I know, another cliff-hanger. I'm sorry! We're in the homestretch here, the story's almost over. Just hang in there.