Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Bernard smiled to himself. Melissa's badly burnt body had been sent to St. Mungo's with a one-way, untraceable Portkey. Everything was going according to plan.
Bernard had been planning on getting rid of Melissa for a while, and her recent screw-up gave him the perfect excuse for doing so. Not only had Melissa been an annoying brat, but she also wasn't cut out for some of the more grisly work that the job sometimes entailed.
Melissa was most likely being taken care of and asking to see Harry Potter. Too bad the last thing she would remember was her breakup with Scorpius, and her juvenile feelings of animosity towards Rose Weasley. She wouldn't remember anything about the Brotherhood and her involvement with the group.
Bernard had shot Melissa with his own, specially devised version of Fiendfyre. Normal fiendfyre is extremely hard to control, and it would burn and consume everything in sight until nothing was left in its path. Bernard's version was purple, and much easier to control. It also wasn't deadly, unless he wanted it to be.
Bernard didn't want to kill Melissa. She had after all been somewhat useful. Besides, there were some punishments far worse than death. One such punishment was perpetual pain.
Fiendfyre is cursed fire imbued with Dark Magic. The only way to counter any variation of Fiendfyre was to create more Fiendfyre, a trick that most people did not know or understand. In fact, Bernard was almost 100% sure that no one had ever attempted to stop the use of Fiendfyre or its long term effects by using more Fiendfyre.
Melissa's burns would only reopen as soon as the Healer's managed to get them halfway healed. Melissa would be in perpetual pain until one of the Healer's used Fiendfyre on her, which they would never think to do. Fiendfyre was extremely uncontrollable, and Melissa was being kept in the largest Magical Hospital in England. Using Fiendfyre in a place full of sick and injured people who would not be able to outrun the flames was not a good idea.
"Bernard. Hendriks says that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley have arrived at St. Mungo's," Erasmus said as he entered Bernard's private study.
"Excellent. Potter and Weasley will be preoccupied for a while trying to get Melissa healed and talking. Too bad she doesn't remember anything," Bernard said as he twirled his wand between his fingers.
"Bernard..." Erasmus hesitatingly said.
"Is there a problem?" Bernard asked slowly as he stopped twirling his wand. Erasmus looked almost pained.
"No, there isn't a problem... But… Was shooting Fiendfyre at that girl really necessary? Her family had had no part in the war. They had moved from America when she was a baby, and you know how hard the American Wizarding Ministry tried to keep the war in Europe a secret. I'd say 99% of the American Wizarding population didn't know about Voldemort. She was innocent. What you did is almost reminiscent of what Voldemort would have done," Erasmus said bravely.
"DO NOT COMPARE ME TO HIM!" Bernard roared as Erasmus backed away in fear. "I am nothing like him! He worked to destroy everything while I am working to destroy what he created! The world has no business knowing about prejudice or hatred from a mad-man with warped ideologies! When will you learn that no one is innocent! Everyone is guilty. We need to keep that in mind, or we will become mad! It is best to not think too far into these things. Right and wrong do not apply here. Right and wrong have been corrupted for too long," Bernard said as he scratched his left arm.
"So what do we do now? We can't help Melissa now anyways," Erasmus said dejectedly.
"We plan. As I said before, Potter and Weasley will be sufficiently distracted for a while. So we plan while they chase after a dead-end lead," Bernard said as he looked Erasmus in the eye.
Harry Potter thought he had seen it all. The war had shown him many horrible things that he had wished he had never seen. But somehow this was different.
Maybe it was because he was an adult with children the same age as Melissa. Maybe it was because the only visible part of her body was her mouth: the rest of her body was covered in white bandages. Or maybe it was because no kid should ever have to go through the pain that she was obviously still going through.
Harry and Ron had stopped to talk to Dean before they entered the Burn-Unit. Dean had said that Melissa's burns were from Fiendfyre, but that it wasn't the normal Fiendfyre. Dean had never seen the version Melissa had been burned with before.
Dean said that Melissa would burst into controlled purple flames whenever the burns would start to heal themselves, which made sure that she was in a constant state of pain. It was almost too dangerous for the Healers to go in and attempt to heal her.
That made Harry and Ron's job that much harder. They only had a fifteen minute window in which they could talk to her before she became engulfed in flames.
The first fifteen minutes had been a bust. As soon as they went into the room, Ron ran back out because the smell of burnt flesh was too overpowering in the enclosed room. Harry could hear him barfing over the sounds of his own gags.
The second meeting hadn't gone well either. When Dean had gone up to talk to Melissa, she had kept asking for Harry Potter. Even after Harry had made his presence known, she had still continued to ask for him.
When Harry had questioned Dean about this, he had said that Melissa's mental state had gone through as much trauma as her body had. Dean has said that Melissa might not be able to form coherent thoughts or sentences for a week, or possibly a month at the longest. It was both heartbreaking and frustrating.
"Ron, I don't think we should stay here. Dean said that she might not be able to think clearly for a week, or possibly longer. I think our best course of action would be to put Melissa under Auror protection, and ask Dean to notify us immediately if there is any improvement. In the meantime, we should call the Order together once again. We need to be prepared. We also need to notify Melissa's parents and Headmistress McGonagall of what has happened tonight," Harry said wearily.
Ron nodded in agreement as he sent off his Patronus. "I invited the old DA members who weren't part of the Order to the meeting as well. We're going to need all the help we can get. I have a feeling that the only way this is going to end is through another war," Ron said sadly before he and Harry apparated away.
Rose knew something was wrong the moment she woke up. The Manor was silent, even more so than usual. At first Rose attributed the weirdness to the events of last night, but by the time she had showered and got dressed she knew that something else must have happened.
Rose tiptoed into Scorpius's room to find him sprawled eagle-legged on his stomach still fast asleep. Rose couldn't help but smile. Scorpius would still attempt to sleep in on Christmas morning.
Some thumps in the other room and a girlish squeal that could only have come from Lily made Rose realize that everyone else was just getting up. Except for Scorpius who was still snoring. Rose would just need to change that.
"CANON BALL!" Rose yelled as she jumped onto Scorpius's bed.
Rose couldn't help but laugh as Scorpius's body shot up from the force of her landing. Rose completely lost it when Scorpius's body missed the bed on the way back down and instead landed on the floor.
"WHAT THE FUCK YOU DAMNED WOMAN! Can't you see I was getting my beauty sleep?!" Scorpius yelled irritably.
All of a sudden the Scorpius's bedroom door opened to reveal, Hugo, Lily, Lorcan, Lysander, Mei, and Albus, all of whom traipsed into the room to sit on Scorpius's bed.
"Merry Christmas!" Lily said cheerfully as Lysander cuddled her from behind.
"Oh yes. A very Merry Christmas," Scorpius said sarcastically from his place on the floor, prompting everyone to laugh.
"Oh yes. Just laugh at my misery. Haha, hilarious," Scorpius drawled as Albus helped him up.
"Rose, why are you dressed?" Albus asked as he pointed at Rose's leggings, camisole, and wrap.
Rose blushed guilty. She knew that it was Weasley tradition to go down and open presents in their PJs, but she had felt uncomfortable this morning which had prompted her to put actual clothes on. That and because she was in someone else's house. She didn't know if Scorpius's family had different morning traditions than hers.
"I don't know. I just felt off this morning. Something didn't feel right. I got dressed because I didn't feel comfortable," Rose said truthfully.
"Yea, I felt weird too. Don't you find it weird that we're the only ones here? You'd think that James and Fred would have pulled a prank or something by now. Or at least that had been the plan," Hugo added.
Now everyone was starting to look a bit weirded out. Usually Christmas with the Weasley family was loud and rambunctious. Being in a different house shouldn't have changed that too much.
"There's really only one way to find out what the hell is going on. Flower knows everything that goes on in this maze of a house," Scorpius said as he called out to Flower.
"You called?" Flower asked as he apparated into the room.
"Yes. Flower, do you know what happened? Where is everyone?" Scorpius asked.
Flower looked conflicted for a couple of moments before he spoke. "Draco and Astoria have explicitly told me that I cannot relay the events of what happened after you guys fell asleep to you because you are not in the Order. What I can tell you is that all of your parents, and your older siblings and cousins are at an undisclosed meeting place with the Order to discuss an incident that happened last night. They were all called away by Ron Weasley's Patronus at around three this morning. Narcissa, Molly, and Arthur opted to stay behind with you kids. They are currently moving the presents under the tree and preparing your breakfast with the help of the kitchen elves," Flower said.
"But Rose, Albus, Mei, and I are of age! Why didn't they ask us to come with them! We would have joined the Order! I can't believe father didn't tell me about this," Scorpius said. He was rather put out and hurt.
"Scorpius, your father did not want you to join the Order while you are still at Hogwarts. He knows you are of age and are at the legal age to choose to be in the Order if you desperately want to be. However, your father, and the rest of your parents wish for you to finish your education before making that decision. They told me that you four have the option of finishing your education, whereas they did not. They are asking you to respect their decision to wait until you graduate in June before joining the Order," Flower said.
"But what about us! What are we supposed to do?" Lily asked angrily as she gestured to herself, Hugo, Lysander, and Lorcan.
Flower turned to address Lily and the others. "I have a message from your mother. She says that she knows how frustrating it is to be the youngest in a large family, and how it absolutely sucks not being able to help because of your age. However, Ginny also said that there are things you can do to help without being on the front lines of the impending war," Flower said as he paused for breath.
"War? Our parents think there's going to be a war?" Rose asked worriedly as she shared glances with Scorpius, Mei, and Albus.
"Sadly yes. However, Ginny said that she, Mr. Longbottom, and Mrs. Scamander were able to keep the DA alive and ready within the walls of Hogwarts during Voldermort's occupation of the school. Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and every former member of the DA have asked you guys to start a similar organization with students from forth year and up who are willing to learn both offensive and defensive spells. Harry as already cleared it with Headmistress McGonagall, and she has given her full support to the idea. Harry also has a message for Scorpius, Rose, and Albus. He said, 'Remember my last.' I'm sorry, but I have to go. Narcissa is requiring my assistance with a particularly large present," Flower said as he disapparated with a crack!
"Remember my last? What does that mean?" Lysander asked as everyone turned to look at the trio.
"My dad approached the three of us a little while ago about starting a similar organization to the DA. We're going to be the leaders, and we're going to prepare for the war," Albus said.
"What about when you three leave in June?" Hugo asked. He was already thinking ahead.
"Well, Uncle Harry was hoping that you, Hugo, and Lysander will have learned enough to step up and lead the students since we wouldn't be in school anymore. He has also suggested that Mei and Lorcan be our consultants," Rose said.
Hugo, and Lysander looked excited about the new prospect and their ability to help while Lorcan looked indifferent. In fact, he was looking up at the ceiling of Scorpius's bedroom. Lily had already known about the new organization.
"Did you know that there are Nargles in your bedroom? Someone hung garlands of mistletoe on your ceiling. Nargles love mistletoe," Lorcan said while continuing to stare at the ceiling.
Scorpius grimaced as he saw all the mistletoe. "It was my mother. She burst into my room yesterday before the party and went crazy with the mistletoe. She said that they were extras and that my father threw a hissy fit when she attempted to hang them in their room. So I guess my room was the perfect alternative. God forbid we throw away the extra mistletoe!" Scorpius said as he threw his hands in the air.
"I think it's good that you didn't throw them out! Nargles can't survive in the extreme cold!" Lorcan said.
Everyone turned to look at Lorcan in surprise. Even Lysander didn't know that about Nargles.
Scorpius's reply was cut off by Molly Weasley, who was yelling for them to come down to brunch and to open their presents.
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