May 9, 1998
Theo carefully picked his way through the rocky beach, following Luna toward the water's edge. The smooth, round stones were treacherous underfoot, but Luna seemed to float above the shingle, sure-footed even with her eyes drawn to the line on the horizon where the sea and sky merged.
Ronald Weasley emerged from Shell Cottage and broke into a jog to catch up, stumbling and stomping his way through the stones. "Bloody hell!" he swore, as he stubbed his toe on an especially pointy one. "Oi, Luna! Wait up! You know you're not supposed to be alone with the Death Eater. And don't take him too close to the boundary wards, or he'll slither across them and away!"
Luna blithely ignored him, paying the yelling ginger no more heed than the shrieking shorebirds wheeling above. She cast a waterproof Cushioning Charm on the ground and sank down, gracefully arranging her gauzy skirt and removing her incongruous Muggle combat boots to allow her toes to be tickled by the incoming waves.
She looked up at Theo. "Please, sit with me," she invited, patting the spot next to her.
Theo did as requested, happy to be out of the stifling cottage, filled as it was with too many angry and mourning redheads eager to deflect their grief into him. He pulled his knees up, keeping his long legs clear of the water, and breathed in deeply, inhaling the salt air and Luna's bluebell perfume.
"Are you worried about the Order meeting?" she asked, her blue eyes meeting his with an uncanny directness. The girl was not a Legilemens - Theo felt no sensation of intrusion in the back of his mind - but there was something about her that made him want to tell the truth. He was terrified about the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix - what remained of it - that was being convened later that evening. Bill Weasley had grimly informed Theo that his attendance was mandatory.
"Yes," he admitted. "They are my enemies. My value to them is limited to this little black stone, which I haven't even figured out how to use." Theo's eyes were drawn to it, set in the ring on his finger. Using Luna's wand, he had tried every opening charm and spell that he knew, but nothing had worked. "I don't understand why they wouldn't just kill me and take it."
"Because we're not a bunch of murdering Death Eaters?" Weasley suggested from behind them, having finally caught up. "We're the good guys!"
Luna shook her head slowly. "Good people will kill for the right reasons. Or a powerful enough incentive. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective."
Theo stayed silent, but he thought she had the better half of the argument. He would have added that he had no reason to think the entirety of the Order was comprised of good people, but he did not wish to set Weasley off on another one of his tirades.
Luna reached over to pat his knee in reassurance. "None of us in the Order want the Resurrection Stone, Theo, because it's more dangerous to its owner than to anyone else. There's a terrible temptation in seeing someone you loved come back through the Veil, to leave this world and join them."
Theo could see that, particularly if the person had died recently enough for the loss to still be raw. In a way, he was fortunate that he had lost his mother at such a young age. His memories of her were misty and the sense of loss had faded over the years. While he was curious to see her, he was not desperate.
"Oh, I dunno," Ron said carelessly. "I would want to do it, just to say a proper good-bye to Harry, and my parents and Fred. And Hermione," he added as an afterthought.
"I don't believe she's dead," Luna said quietly.
"Merlin's hairy arse! We've been over this a dozen times, Luna," Ron said in exasperation. "Hermione hasn't responded to any of the messages we sent to her D.A. Galleon and she hasn't sent a Patronus. The battle was a week ago. If she was alive, we would have heard from her by now."
"I'm sure Hermione's alive," Luna serenely contradicted the redhead. "I would feel different somehow if she had died. Like there was less rationality in the world."
As Ron made a rude, scoffing sound, Theo felt compelled to come to Luna's defense, even though he thought it more likely than not that Granger had not survived the battle at Hogwarts or its immediate aftermath.
"She might be a prisoner," he suggested quietly. "She wouldn't be able to send a Patronus, not without her wand." Theo had observed the steady stream of silvery animals streaking in and out of Shell Cottage bearing messages - incredibly useful, and it made him wish he could cast the Patronus Charm - and he knew Granger's otter had not been among them.
Luna smiled. "I'll keep sending her messages, then. Hermione's very clever - even if she's a prisoner, she'll figure out some way to respond."
Weasley, however, looked horrified, his freckles in stark relief on his pale face as he loomed over them. "She'd be better off dead, with what they'll do to her," he said bleakly. "Have done, probably."
"That's for her to decide, not you," Luna said with unusual sharpness.
"I never should have left her behind," Weasley moaned.
"Probably not, but what's done is done," Luna said with a philosophical shrug. "You showed a surprising sense of self-preservation, but that's not a terrible thing."
Theo hid a smile. Weasley looked positively revolted at having displayed such a Slytherin trait.
Luna cocked her head to one side, reminding Theo of a robin. "I don't think Hermione's your true love, though, Ronald. Then you never could have abandoned her."
"You're right, Luna. I think I might be in love with someone else." Ron gave her a sincere, melting look that made Theo want to clench his hands into fists and pummel the Weasel's stupid, freckled face, even though he usually preferred to rely on brains over brawn.
"It's wrackspurt mating season. That's probably why you feel that way," Luna concluded, after a moment's clinical examination of the gangly redhead. "It should pass once we get to June."
Theo laughed out loud, in mingled amusement and relief.
"Shut it, you Death Eater prick!" Weasley glared at him. "I told you not to make fun of Luna!"
"I'm laughing at you, not her," Theo said, still chortling. "Luna's brilliant."
Ron pulled his wand. "I don't know what you're playing at, but - "
"Put that away, Ronald," Bill Weasley said, stalking towards them with an uncanny quietness. Theo chalked it up to the lupine influence.
"It's time to go," Bill announced.
"To the Hollow?" asked Luna.
Bill nodded. "I'll Side-Along this one. Ready, Nott?" he asked as a matter of form, since he had already grasped his forearm. Theo's chin still was dipped in a nod when Bill spun in place, triggering the disorienting darkness and squeezing of the Apparition spell.
"Where are we?" Theo asked, staring at the ruined cottage before them. There was a lingering hint of Dark magic and something else, even more ancient and powerful, which made his teeth ache.
"Potter Cottage, in Godric's Hollow," Bill growled at him. Theo did not take it personally - with the full moon only a couple of nights away, Bill was growling and snapping at everyone.
Luna Apparated in with a soft pop and smiled at Theo before wandering away to examine some of the glowing graffiti that wizards and witches had left around the ruins. "I wonder if anyone's written anything new," she said vaguely.
Ron, whose Apparition had been both louder and less graceful, dusted himself off and trotted after her, first giving Theo a nasty look.
"Don't go outside the boundary wards!" Bill warned his brother. "There's a lingering bit of sacrificial magic that makes it safer for us than most places," he explained in response to Theo's questioning look.
A large, dark-skinned man stepped from the shadows, pale wand at the ready. "It's still far from safe, though."
"Kingsley," Bill greeted the man with a firm clasp of the hand.
Peering into the darkness, Theo could make out at least a dozen other cloaked and hooded figures, all with their wand out, wary of a trap. He kept his hands out and visible, not wishing to give anyone an excuse to hex him.
"Weasley," the man named Kingsley acknowledged, his voice deep and slow. He turned intense, dark brown eyes onto Theo. "I thought Nott would be incapacitated by Lily's blood wards. Isn't he Marked?"
"Not anymore. An acromantula got at his Dark Mark during the battle. Physically, it's been chewed off and now it's magically null," Bill explained.
Theo studied the remnants of the wooden plank floor beneath his feet, trying not to look insulted that they were talking about him as thought he was not standing right there.
"From the venom, I presume?" Kingsley inquired.
Bill nodded. "Luna thinks it might work for other Death Eaters, if we developed a potion with the venom as a base. There's a Muggle tool called a syringe we could use to inject it directly into the Dark Mark."
Kingsley glanced over at the blonde girl, tracing a glowing bit of graffiti with a seemingly aimless finger. He looked distinctly skeptical. "Even if Miss Lovegood came up with such a potion, I doubt it would accomplish much. We just would be giving a group of hardened criminals and gleeful sadists free agency, out from under the Dark Bastard's thumb. Most of them aren't like young Nott."
Theo looked up, meeting the dark man's intense gaze.
"Don't look so surprised, Nott," Kingsley laughed gruffly. "I've been an Auror since before you were born, and I can tell you're not a Dark wizard."
"Thank you, sir," Theo said quietly. "I appreciate your ability to grasp nuances."
"I'm certain you do, after a week spent amongst crude Gryffindors," Kingsley said with a sardonic smile. "And Miss Lovegood, of course."
"Your subtle insults are lost on me, Kings," Bill said good-naturedly. "All I know is that you can take a snake out of the dungeon, but you can't take the dungeon out of the snake."
Theo blinked at the intimation that Kingsley, an Order member and Auror, had been in Slytherin.
Once again, Kingsley caught the minute shift in Theo's expression. "I'm a Shacklebolt, Nott. We can trace our magical lineage back further than the Notts, almost as far as the Malfoys. Of course I was Sorted into Slytherin," he proudly confirmed. "However, I have learnt that heritage is not destiny, and so-called purity of blood has nothing to do with magical ability."
Bill nodded in agreement. "Like Dumbledore. Or that half-blood madman who put his Mark on your arm, Theo. He may be insane, but there's no doubt he's powerful."
"It is ironic that the Dark Bastard has a Muggle father," Shacklebolt smirked. "Speaking of which, Xenophilius has that special edition of the Quibbler ready to go. He'll publish it tomorrow, both to maximize readership and because it will be more difficult for the Ministry to seize the newspaper from private homes on a Sunday morning."
Theo thought it was a clever idea. He had found the proofs of the Dark Lord's Muggle parentage that Luna had shown him to be compelling. If that was his reaction - a former Death Eater and the son of one of members of Voldemort's innermost circle - he could only imagine that the average witch or wizard would be persuaded after seeing the evidence of Voldemort's hypocrisy on the front page of a newspaper, even if it was the Quibbler.
"That's very good news," Bill said, in a soft growl. "I got an Owl from Charlie. Penny Clearwater's contact in Magical Transportation came through. The refugees arrived safely and have been settled in at the Dragon Reserve, all twenty of them."
"Excellent," Kingsley hissed in soft satisfaction. "Any chance they'll come back to fight for us when the time is right?"
"Some will," Bill said. "Others are too young or too hurt, but those who can wield a wand will be here when we're ready, once we figure out how to kill the Dark One."
"I thought an Avada to the chest would do it," Kingsley grumbled. "Believe me, I meant that Unforgivable."
"He's not immortal, though. He can't be - it's magically impossible," Bill insisted.
"He said he had mastered death, though. Perhaps he has a magical amulet or some cursed object to protect him," Shacklebolt mused.
Theo stayed quiet as a mouse and listened carefully. While there were rumors passed among the rank and file Death Eaters that Voldemort was immortal - after all, he had already been resurrected once - the inner circle spoke in quiet whispers about the objects that prevented their master from passing through the Veil.
"If that's the case, any curse can be broken, given the right knowledge and enough time," Bill said confidently. "But I need to know what I'm dealing with."
Shacklebolt pinned Theo with another intense, dark look, now making him feel like a mouse spotted by a hungry hawk. "That's where you come in, Nott. Bill tells me you have a stone that allows you to bring back the dead."
"I do have the Resurrection Stone," Theo admitted with reluctance, fighting the urge to tuck his hand into his pocket or behind his back.
"Is it a genuine Deathly Hallow?" Kingsley asked, an avaricious gleam in his eyes.
"I believe it to be. The enchantments are old and very strong, like nothing I've ever seen," Bill replied for Theo.
"You'll use it to bring back Albus Dumbledore," Shacklebolt stated. It was an order, not a request. "He can tell us what we need to know to win this war. Nothing's gone right for the Light since he died."
"But I have no idea how the stone even works," Theo protested, aghast at the idea of bringing his murdered headmaster back from the dead. It just seemed wrong.
"Then you'd best learn, boy," Kingsley advised, the threat barely concealed by his bright, white smile.
