Hickory Dickory Dock
As soon as Moody had stunned and tied up the Death Eater, Harry dropped his shield around Mrs Jordan and fell to his knees beside her.
She was exhausted and had a cut on her cheek but seemed to be fine otherwise. She smiled at Harry while panting.
"It does feel good to dish out a little punishment to those cowards, boy!" she puffed.
Harry forced a smile back in return and tried to help her up.
"It was a set-up, Mrs Jordan," he said with a grunt.
The woman raised one eyebrow in an elegant curve before brushing herself down.
"I guessed as much when the 'Auror' tried to kill me, Harry."
"Oh well, yeah, sorry!" Harry shrugged.
Moody was manhandling his prisoner roughly and Seamus accidentally trod on the man's fingers, breaking them with a crunching sound that set Harry's teeth on edge. Tonks and Shacklebolt were making sure their surroundings were secure while Percy and Fleur joined the others as they crowded around something on the floor.
"Meezter Moodee!" Fleur called out, looking pale. "Over 'ere, zere eez a bodee!"
Harry's face paled and he lurched forward but Mrs Jordan held him back sadly.
"It's the Clerk," she said before sighing deeply. "The Killing Curse. He was the first. The Death Eater who tricked us here attacked him first and then others came and took Bianca and that sweet chirpy little boy."
"Dennis," Harry said blankly.
Mrs Jordan nodded. Seamus jogged over to them and gently put his hand upon the shoulder of the witch who had been so determined not to go down without a fight.
"Come back teh the Embassy with me, Mrs Jordan. Me ma will take a look at that cut for yeh."
Mrs Jordan put her hand to her face and hissed as her fingertips touched the cut on her cheek.
"Mrs Jordan," Harry called as the woman nodded to Seamus that she was ready to go with him. "You said that the clerk was the first, does that mean...? Where are the others?"
Mrs Jordan drew in a deep breath and shook her head.
"They weren't killed Harry. They were taken."
"C'mon," Seamus said as he guided the woman away slowly.
"Did anybody know his name?" she said suddenly, turning around and looking at the startled crowd surrounding her.
"What?" Moody grunted, throwing the bound Death Eater over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"The clerk, that young man who came with us and lost his life," Mrs Jordan said, looking fierce as she pointed to the body at the Belby's feet. "Did anybody know his name?"
Harry and Seamus looked at each other and then to the ground. Percy cleared his throat and Fleur put her hand over her mouth as her eyes widened.
"Jamie," Tonks called out as she emerged from the trees with Shacklebolt. "He introduced himself to Remus and showed him where the bathroom was on our first day here. He said his name was Jamie."
Mrs Jordan gave a slight smile and a nod before turning back to Seamus and moving away with him again.
Harry shuddered.
What if Ron was just 'that tall guy with red hair'?
What if Ron died alone and unappreciated?
What if Ron, like the clerk at the Embassy, died thinking he didn't matter to anyone?
"Let's get to work on this brute, Kingsley," Moody said bracingly as he stepped beside Harry with the unconscious body dangling limply over his shoulder. "And Damocles, Geoffrey, would you be so kind as to bring the...Jamie back with us?"
The Belbys nodded silently.
That was when Harry made his decision. He supported whatever Moody was about to do if it meant getting Ron back.
Lee pressed himself flat into the ragged wall of the hole, their newest prison, and winced at the sensation of Fergus' elbow poling him through the shoulder as everybody crushed together.
Dean steadied himself so Colin could stand up and grab hold of the bars above and pull himself up enough to see what state the others were in.
Lee glanced at Ron as he squinted around at the walls, possibly looking for a foothold, and felt thankful that at least Ron couldn't be snatched away from him without him knowing. Not down there, it would be impossible.
Colin made a straining sound before beginning to speak.
"Hello? Hey you lot, it's me...Colin."
Lee threw Dean a smile of sympathy as the tall wizard rolled his eyes.
"Down here, in the hole!" Colin stuck an arm through the bars and began to wave frantically.
"They know where we are, you prat!" Dean grumbled, looking uncomfortable with a foot on each shoulder and dirt toppling down sporadically onto his head.
"Hey, Col," Ernie Macmillan's voice sounded close by and very subdued.
Lee looked up and saw the silhouette of Ernie's head leaning over the hole.
"He didn't hurt any of you did he?" Ernie asked; his voice was quite calm compared to his usual gung-ho attitude to adversity.
"We're fine, Ernie," Ron called up. "What about you lot?"
Ernie's head turned to look back at something and his shoulders fell with a deep exhalation before he returned his focus to the five trapped down the hole.
"Krum got his hands and feet tied together so his body's all twisted up unnaturally. Marcus is trying to cut through the ropes with a stone. I should really go and help him."
Lee grimaced at the mental picture he had in his head of Krum and hoped it wasn't as bad as that in real life. Ron nodded rapidly, seemingly eager for Ernie to go where he was needed. Colin reached through the bars and patted Ernie on the arm.
"Chin up, Ernie," he said, that eternal Creevey optimism still burning brightly. "We'll just keep fighting, eh?"
Ernie stiffened for a moment before his shoulders moved back and his chest puffed out a little. "Yeah," he nodded, "I'll go and help Krum."
"Um, Ern?" Fergus called out as the dark shadow rose into a standing position.
"What?"
"Sam?" Fergus enquired nervously.
"He's with Jack." Ernie said, emptily.
Dean looked as if he was about to drop Colin and stared up at the opening to the hole with wide eyes.
"He's still here? They left him here?"
Colin looked down and bit his lip before nodding. Ron squeezed Dean's shoulder.
"I'm sorry mate," he mumbled.
Lee knew what it felt like to lose a former cellmate. He glanced at Fergus, who knew how it felt to lose both.
"It's good he's here with us," the Irish wizard nodded. "We can bury him or something."
"Not here," Ernie interrupted with determination. "Jack Sloper will not be buried in a cellar!"
Fergus' jaw flapped, mouthing wordlessly for a while, and Ernie's footsteps faded as they thudded against the earth above.
"I didn't mean...I meant he gets a respectful send-off. I wasn-" Fergus said when he finally found his voice again.
"S'okay Fergus," Lee said getting cramp in his arm from where the Irish wizard was still leaning against it in the tight confines of the hole. "There's no right thing to say anymore. We know what you meant."
"Gah, Col..." Dean suddenly grunted, "I'm gonna have to let you down. It's killing me here!"
Dean tried to crouch but there wasn't enough room to bend his knees and only got about a third of the way down before Colin yelped and squealed, falling against Ron's chest and sending the two of them sliding down the wall and hitting the uneven ground.
"Oof!" Ron exclaimed as Colin thudded down onto him heavily.
"Shit, you alright?" Lee hissed, feeling blindly with his mobile arm for Ron or Colin.
"Get off me, Col!" Ron strained to speak.
"And go where?" Colin squeaked.
"Just do anything to get your knee out of my rib cage!"
Lee felt a foot kick him in the ankle, both Colin and Ron apologised before Fergus swore under his breath and hopped directly onto Lee's foot.
"Agh, blessed be to Merlin! You're wearing boots you bastard!" Lee cried out in pain.
"Right stop!" Ron yelled from the ground. "Everybody stop everything!"
For a moment there was no sound or movement at the bottom of the deep hole in the ground other than the heavy breathing and moaning of five uncomfortable wizards. Ron took several calm breaths to compose himself before speaking.
"Colin," he said, still sounding as if Collin had a foot in each of Ron's lungs, "lie back and wriggle along the ground through Fergus' legs. There a space for you to sit up and lean against the wall there."
Colin moved and Ron seemed let out a relieved moan as the pressure was gone from on top of him. Lee felt Colin's arm brushing past his leg and saw Fergus tense up as the small wizard made his way between the Irishman's legs. Colin let out a little huffing noise and then called out cheerfully.
"Done it!"
"Right, pull your knees right up into your chest for the time being so there's room for everybody else to move about," Ron instructed.
Lee felt Ron sitting himself up and pressing himself against the dirt wall behind him. He glanced down and saw Ron was pulling those long legs in towards himself as much as he could.
"Right. Fergus, you can take a step back now and you won't be treading on anyone." Ron sounded very tired; Lee thought that he still wasn't fully recovered from the hexing.
Lee reached down and settled his hand on the back of Ron's head. Ron glanced up and smiled, mouthing 'I'm fine' and looking back at their limited space with a frown of concentration.
"Dean, you can side step to the right about four inches."
Dean did as he was told, managing to straighten his stiff back with a sigh of satisfaction.
"Bloody hell, Ron, I'd love to see you play Tetris one day," Dean chuckled.
Fergus and Colin laughed. Lee and Ron stared at each other blankly.
"Why, what does he play?" Ron asked.
Dean waved his hand dismissively as much as he could in such a confined space and shook his head.
"Sorry, Muggle stuff. I forget sometimes."
"Oh, okay," Ron said with a frown before shaking his head to regain focus. "Right, does everybody have a bit of wall to lean their back against?"
"Yeah." Lee answered.
"Yup." Dean said, flinging himself backwards to illustrate his point.
"Err...no." Fergus said from his spot in the middle of the hole.
"Okay, well Dean and Lee slide down the wall and tuck your legs in the same as me and Colin." Ron ordered, rubbing his face roughly.
Dean and Lee were now sitting down. Lee was squashed beside Ron and Fergus was still standing in the space in the centre looking down at them all.
"So what do I do?" Fergus frowned.
Ron shrugged before grinning and clapping his hands like an emperor.
"Dance for us!"
Colin chuckled and Lee elbowed Ron in the ribs. Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Think yer funny, do yeh?" Fergus huffed. "Me 'erse y'are!"
"You're the most Irish person in the world aren't you Fergus?" Lee grinned up at the disgruntled wizard.
"Shut it you. I watched yer brother fer ya while you were off in cloud cuckoo land remember?" Fergus snapped impatiently.
Lee's face fell and Ron gave Fergus a disparaging look.
"Now, now let's all stay civil shall we?" the redhead said before shifting along a little, right into Lee's side. "'Kay so you sit down in the middle and put your legs between me and Dean, just here."
Ron patted the small space he had created to the side of him. Fergus squatted down and did as he was told, after much shuffling, swearing and grunting. Then Ron scrunched up his face in apology to all the others.
"Then we all kinda spread out all over each other, I'm afraid." Ron shrugged before stretching his legs back out and draping on over Fergus' shins and another behind his back.
Dean stretched his legs out next and one of his legs criss-crossed with Ron's and the other reached all the way over to Colin's ankles. Colin lifted his legs so Dean could stretch the rest of the way while Colin's own short legs slid down to scuff against the side of Ron's knee and his other leg crossed over it. Finally, Lee straightened out his legs to make a kind of bridge over both of Colin's and he slid a little further down the wall to make it more comfortable.
They looked like a bunch of spare parts at a mannequin factory, and mostly legs at that.
"Well, isn't that better?" Ron said sarcastically.
"Anything's better than having Colin on your shoulders," Dean said, fidgeting a little to get comfortable. "I never want to feel another man's groin pressed against the back of my neck for as long as I live."
Somebody outside the hole chuckled softly.
They all looked up at the sound and listened for a moment before looking at each other once again. Now they had the problem of coping all jammed together in the confined space sorted out they were faced with an even bleaker prospect.
They had to get through the night.
Julie ran her hand over Tommy's shaven head. It was so furry feeling. He was cleaned up now. He wore a fresh set of clothes. He wasn't dirty or bleeding. His lips were still a little chapped and his fever still worryingly high but he was alive.
Her Tommy was alive.
She held onto his hand as the Belbys carried the dead body of the young, nervous clerk inside. They looked very solemn. Julie had to look away. As her head turned, she saw one of Molly's many boys standing in the doorway and cleaning his glasses on his robe. This one was the quiet one who didn't stay at the Embassy; he only dropped by from time to time. Julie's own family hadn't been able to stand the waiting either.
Evil witches and wizards and dead children showing up every day was too much to bear.
She looked down at her boy again and leaned over him to plant a kiss on his forehead. He was her miracle, her Houdini, and he had fought all the odds to stay alive for her.
"Moody hasn't arranged the transfer to St Mungo's yet?" Molly's boy said as he pushed his glasses back onto his face. "I'll speak to my superiors and get him the best care available, Mrs Painter."
He suddenly lifted his chin and swelled in stature, as his officious side kicked back in like an autopilot.
"Mr Lupin said something about the Finnigans being more than capable of taking care of him here and keeping his survival a secret for now," Julie called after him as he turned to leave.
The young man seemed to think that this was ridiculous and stepped inside the temporary hospital-cum-morgue with an authoritative look on his face.
"Well Mister Lupin is hardly in the chain of command here, is he?"
"And you are are you, Perce?" Fred and George said, appearing behind him and folding their powerful looking arms across their broad chests.
The man, Perce, seemed to shake with annoyance and spin around to face his brothers.
"I have contacts in high places," Perce snapped at them, "and I want this fellow taken good care of and recovering quickly so he can tell us exactly where our brother is. Now if you want to waste my time with petty family feuds, then wait until Christmas comes around and you can ruin everybody's day."
George looked as if he'd just been hit in the face with an ice-cold jelly while Fred looked like he wanted to pound Perce's face into a pulp. The bespectacled Weasley turned back to Julie and smiled graciously.
"It really is not rouble to get Thomas the very best of care. The Ministry want to do everything they can to help as far as this situation is concerned."
"Situation?" Fred exclaimed with disgust. "You're calling your brother being kidnapped and tortured a situation?"
"I am calling the unconsciousness of the only person who might know where Ron is a situation. Now shut up for once in your life, Fred Weasley!" Perce snapped, his whole body shaking with anger as he spoke.
"Boys," Julie called across the makeshift ward softly.
The three fiery redheads turned, faces flushing crimson, and Perce managed to smile at her again. Julie was stunned at his handle on his anger; she'd never known somebody so gracious and polite in her life.
"Mrs Painter?"
"The idea is that there could be a leak of information if Tommy were to be taken to St Mungo's alive. We don't want it to get back to the Death Eaters and have them kill somebody else in his place. If the Death Eaters think Tommy is dead then a life is spared for one more day...maybe your Ron."
Perce's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat and the red rage that burned in his cheeks drained so fast Julie feared that he might pass out.
"Well," Perce said, his voice sounded lost and vacant, "um...no, that's fine. I'll see if the Finnigans need me to stealthily liberate any potions or...anything from St Mungo's for them, to make him better you know?"
"Stealing from St Mungo's, Percy?" George said, clapping a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're not qualified for something like that."
Percy, or Perce, turned around to face his brothers with a weary sigh just as Fred smiled defiantly and nodded.
"Yeah, you need professional mischief-makers for something like that."
"Very well," Percy sighed, his shoulders falling. "Let me speak to the Finnigans and find out what we'll be borrowing."
"Borrowing," Fred smirked and shook his head. "Whatever you say Perce!"
"Fuck!" Lee mumbled grumpily as he tried to roll over unsuccessfully. "Foot gone numb."
Ron couldn't see a thing. He shifted a little but was trapped under a mass of legs and one of Colin's feet was pressing into his bladder making him ache for a pee.
"We're gonna need to dig a toilet," Ron whispered, so not to wake the others.
Lee, who was resting his head on Ron's shoulder lazily, smiled as his hands tried to pull his leg out of the limb soup and move it on the top.
"Y'know I came up with a plan?" the dreadlocked wizard said softly.
"You did?" Ron raised his eyebrows.
"Uh-huh," Lee said with a nod. "We pull all the dirt off the walls and throw it on the floor, filling the hole, and then step up on the new floor and pull more dirt off the walls and on and on until we dig ourselves out."
Ron snorted and his chest shook with stifled laughter. The movement made Lee lift his head off Ron's shoulder, the jiggling being too much to ignore, and looked at Ron wearily and shrugged.
"Not worried about the walls collapsing on top of us then?"
Lee scrunched up his nose and shook his head.
"Already bin buried alive. I'm looking for a new challenge."
Ron looked around at their present circumstance and sighed.
"Well mate, I think you got it."
Lee cleared his throat and closed his eyes before settling into Ron's side again. Ron fidgeted and snuffled and Lee gave a tut.
"What is it now?" Lee grumbled.
"Your dreads are tickling my nose."
"Maybe your long nose is sticking into my dreads."
"Oh shut up, ya git!"
Lee was chortling when a squeak made him swallow the sound and hold his breath.
"S'only Colin," Ron tutted as he squirmed against the wall behind him, his back begging him to lie down. "Squeaks more than a rusty gate that one."
"No," Lee said, body rigid against Ron's side. "Colin's asleep. What made that noise?"
Ron listened for a moment and heard nothing.
"Maybe it's somebody's nostril. Harry gets this thing sometimes where his left nostril squeaks while he's sleeping. Annoyed me so much that I got out of bed and crossed the room to shove his finger up his nose to shut him up."
Ron was about to chuckle at the memory of a sleeping Harry with his own finger jammed up his left nostril and his mouth hanging open when he heard it. It was a squeak, a definite non-Colin squeak.
"You heard that one?" Lee said hurriedly as he squinted into the darkness anxiously.
"I heard that one." Ron said distractedly as he leaned over, pushing his arm behind Lee and running it along the edge of the hole.
"What are y-" Lee began.
"Shhh," Ron said as he wriggled his shoulder behind Lee and felt further along, almost touching Colin's limp arm before feeling something soft and fury. "Got it!"
"Got what?" Lee said, flinching nervously.
Ron withdrew from behind Lee's back and the soil wall with great difficulty while clutching a squirming mouse in his hand.
"'S a mouse." Ron smiled as he picked the mouse up by it's tail and set it upon his thigh before cupping his hands around the little dark coloured mouse, letting it scamper over his fingers and over the palms and the back of both hands while Ron turned them to keep the mouse from falling.
"How d'you know it's not a rat?" Lee said, uneasily.
"Well, funnily enough Lee," Ron said, dripping with sarcasm, "I happen to know what a rat feels like."
"Oh right." Lee said, relaxing slightly. "What d'you think it's doing down here?"
"Dark place isn't it? Probably looking for food. Crumbs or whatever." Ron held the mouse up to his face and tried to get his eyes to adjust enough to the darkness to make out the mouse's face. "You're out of luck mate. We're all out of cheese."
"Oh don't say cheese," Lee groaned. "I'd love some bloody cheese."
"I want some chocolate," Ron muttered into the darkness wistfully.
The little mouse squeaked and ran up Ron's arm and to his shoulder.
"You want chocolate, too?" Ron smiled, trying to turn his head to see where the mouse was now.
It ran around the back of his neck, under his shaggy hair, and onto his other shoulder. Ron shivered at the sensation and smiled.
"Is it tickling you?" Lee sniggered.
"Yeah," Ron nodded as he lifted his hand to his shoulder to try and gather up the mouse, "look you can search me all you want but you won't find any shocolate!"
Ron yelped and half swore, half spoke, as the mouse dove for the neck of his t-shirt and scurried inside. It scampered against his skin and made its way down his chest to his stomach. Ron managed to clamp his hands over it before it burrowed into his jeans. Lee was laughing quietly as Ron struggled to hold the mouse under his t-shirt with one hand while gathering it up under the material with the other.
"You little git!" Ron huffed as he lifted the mouse in front of him again.
"You said it just wanted to be somewhere dark. Maybe it's looking to nest for the night." Lee suggested, greatly amused.
"Well it ain't nesting in my underpants!" Ron snorted.
"Where did your rat used to like to be?"
"It wasn't a rat," Ron mumbled darkly.
"But where did it like to sleep at night?" Lee persisted.
Ron thought for a moment.
"In my bed. I don't have a bed right now little fella," Ron said sadly to the mouse. "Little Shocolate mouse."
The mouse squeaked again and dropped off Ron's palm and scurried into the pocket of his jeans.
"There ya go," Lee said. "Everybody's happy now."
"What d'ya mean?" Ron huffed. "If I roll over I'll squish it!"
"And you have room to roll over, do you?" Lee asked.
"You have a point." Ron conceded with a nod. "'Night Lee."
"'Night Ron."
There was a short pause before they both sniggered.
"You want to don't you?" Lee laughed.
"Yeah, you?" Ron smiled and looked at Lee.
"Yep."
They both leaned in to the other and settled into as comfortable a sleep as they could manage. Both of them muttered two more words before going to sleep.
"Night, Shocolate."