Life Agendas

by Windseeker2305

SEQUEL to Life Renovations and 2nd book of Life Cycle trilogy. Harry and Draco's 7th year has started and along with that, a new order is rising. The Wizarding World will never be the same again. DM/HP,along with other pairings. Completed.

36. To Battle!

Life Agendas

Chapter Thirty-Six

To Battle!

Similae was stretched out on his back on top of the counter within the twins shop in Wizarding Way, currently dropping small squares of chocolate in his mouth. He was alone at the moment, waiting for the twins to come back from the vacant neighboring store. "This chocolate is sooo good," he murmured to himself. It was way better than any muggle chocolate. He liked that word. Muggle. It was so boring. Matched the non-magical humans perfectly.

With a sigh, Similae dropped another piece of chocolate into his mouth, reminding himself to thank George for giving it to him.

"You eat that as if you've never had chocolate before?"

Similae whipped his head to the side, and was unable to stop the look of disappointment clouding his face before chasing it away to a respectful look. He hopped off the counter to give the Emperors' sister a bow. "Not this kind," he answered after straightening and tried looking as if he weren't actually taking great study of her. She had a pleasant smile on her face, and from the soft look in her eyes, Similae believed she thought the best of people before they gave her reason not to. Knowing this was the mate of that dour Headmaster of Hogwarts, he wondered how she could ever get along with her mate.

Hermione for her part liked what she was seeing of the twins' new friend. He'd been completely relaxed lying there on the counter. So engrossed in eating the chocolate and thinking, that he hadn't even sensed her approach. They hadn't been formally introduced before this. Hermione only caught a glimpse of him at the Nest before she and her brothers disappeared for a meeting. But now she was getting a better look. She knew what to expect, having had Severus complain to her about him. So his short stature was not a surprise. She liked the look of him. He did have boyish looks; timeless as was the case for all of their race, but Similae was very youthful looking. It was the eyes though. They immediately clued her in on his age. Looking into them, it was hard to see him as the adolescent he resembled. "You looked disappointed. Were you expecting someone else?" she finally spoke.

Similae shrugged and shoved his hands deep into pockets. A light blush appeared on his cheeks. "If you're looking for the twins, they are next door, my lady."

"Are they? Well, yes. I am looking for them. But also you as well."

"Me? What can I do for you?"

"First you can relax. We're not a formal bunch around here. And you calling me 'my lady' was just plain weird." She was glad when the tension left his slim shoulders and he grinned a little. "Secondly, I've come bearing a writ from Harry and Draco and some tokens." Hermione pulled out a scroll and handed it to him. "In it contains a summons from the Emperors. A message asking all Ukatae to take up arms and fight with us. A summons to return to the realm. It's a nice command," she said with a wide smile as he unrolled the parchment to take a look.

"I'm to show it to all those we come across during the recruiting mission," Similae surmised.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. And we've also decided should any Ukatae fail to pledge loyalty," she paused when Similae's eyes met hers. Her gaze turned cold, ruthless, "then you and the twins are to dispatch them. Those who forgo loyalty to the new blood have no place in any world. So says the Mother. The time has come for all or nothing."

Similae's grin stretched from ear to ear. Oh, he liked her. "It will be done," he answered without hesitation and with a brightness that had her smiling. And his eyes changed too to a point that had she not known his age, she would have pegged him for a youngling. Hermione blinked at the change. It was no wonder George had a thing for this one.

"Thank you, Similae."

"You said something about tokens," he asked as he rolled up the scroll and stuffed it in his back pocket.

"Several. For you and--"

The front door opened then cutting off her words. Fred and George returned along with Pansy, Angelina, and Ginny.

"Hermione! Come and see what these wonderful boys did!" Pansy cried as she and Ginny ran to the front and started dragging the Gryffindor Head Girl back to the door. "They bought us a store! A store!"

Hermione laughed at their exuberance, but she planted her feet, as she wasn't finished with Similae. "A store?" she asked.

The three girls nodded rapidly. "For our clothing line." Ginny announced.

"A fashion boutique!" Angelina supplied as she watched George quickly move to the blue haired boy standing a little away. She looked on, curious, as George slung an arm around the boy and grin at him. The boy's mouth twitched in what she surmised was a small smile.

"That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed. "You three go back to the store. I'll be along in a moment. Need to speak to these three alone."

When the three girls left, Hermione faced the twins and Similae as she withdrew a black satin pouch. She opened it and withdrew three Galleons, passing one to Fred, George, and Similae.

"These look a lot like those DA Galleons, Herm," Fred commented, studying his.

"Same basic principal, except they are a way for us to contact you should trouble arise. The Galleon's will glow and grow warm to alert you that we are in need of assistance, and the serial numbers will reveal the place we need you and your recruits."

"Expecting trouble?"

Hermione smiled at George and shook her head. "It's just in case. Anyway, the bag is filled with Galleons. Pass them out to your recruits. You'll choose those who have leadership qualities and pass those out on them. I'll leave you three to decide how to meet with everyone before moving on to the place you're needed."

Similae fingered the Galleon. "Fantastic idea. How fast to do they work?"

"It only takes seconds for your Galleons to react after those here are activated. No matter where you are in the world."

"That's good. We'll be going to some remote places… far from here," Similae murmured.

George sighed, "tell me it's not a barren wasteland, Similae."

Similae remained silent, though he did smirk, leaving George to groan and look skyward.

"At least I'm taking you to the Caribbean first."

George's grin turned wicked and he pressed into Similae's side. "Maybe there are other nice places you could take me?"

Similae replied with a blank face and an even tone, "maybe if you're good and behave yourself."

"Similae. Anything you want from me, you can have," George said seriously, and then he glared when Fred laughed at him.

"You couldn't behave even if you tried, bro!"

George continued to glare before sighing. "True," he then turned to Similae and swept eyes down shorty's body. "I do love being naughty," he elaborated in a low tone backed by the serious look in his eyes. Similae flushed- a first that the twins had ever seen- and stepped away while adverting his gaze. George's grin widened at that pleasing reaction. Shorty wasn't so immune.

"One more thing," Hermione spoke up, interrupting the amusing scene she'd just witnessed. "I've already told Similae about this, but your orders have changed a little bit."

"How?"

Similae removed the scroll from his back pocket and handed it to George.

Hermione smiled winningly. "You two have yet to get your hands dirty… do you think you can kill?"

"Oh sure. Wanted to kill Falde hundreds of times," Fred answered. "In fact we tried to attack when he kept us in that fucking Chamber till morning."

George grinned. "Falde thought it was funny. Especially when he put our attack down in seconds."

"I'm being serious." Hermione said, taking the scroll and waving it in their faces.

Similae turned to the twins. "Have you never spilt blood before?"

"There are so many blood thirsty elves around here that we never get the chance."

"Well now you get to," Similae said with an excited grin. "We get to kill anyone who refuses to pledge loyalty to our Emperors!"

George watched Similae and leaned into his brother's side. "Thinking wicked thoughts again."

Fred laughed. "Can you please try and pay attention?!"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, you will take care of those who are not loyal. But… don't just ask them and then immediately kill them if they say no. Try to persuade. Find out why they refuse loyalty. But in the end, if you can't bring them over, then they will need to be killed. Can you two do that?"

"Can and will, Hermione!" The twins exclaimed, giving her a muggle salute.

"Alright then. Should you three have any questions, come see me before you leave."

"Will do." Hermione gave them a smile before turning to leave, heading next door.

"Simi," George said, throwing an arm around his shoulders again and leading him to the counter. "You didn't eat all the chocolate I gave you, did you? Cause, ya know… I laced it with a ton of potent aphrodisiacs… then again, if you did eat it all… Hurray for me! Let's go, my bed's up--"

Smack!

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"Hate to say it," Bill murmured while stoking the fire he and his brother had going, "but this is boring."

Charlie nodded in agreement. They'd been told they would be dropped off in Taeneen. A place known by the inhabitants of the realm as a cursed forest that was beyond volatile. They were also told to expect danger right from the start. From Demai'Tah's forces especially. But the two Weasleys had been there in the same clearing within Taeneen for a week and they'd yet to see any army of darkness nor come across any dangerous creatures out for Ukatae blood. Charlie had a sinking suspicion that this wasn't Taeneen and that he and his brother had been dropped off where Theo and Rich were supposed to have landed. Charlie wondered what kind of trouble that Saen would get into when Harry and Draco found out. But more than that, Charlie and Bill worried for the younger Ukataes' safety.

Charlie fell onto his back and crossed his arms behind his head. "Let's move on. In the morning. The chance of meeting anyone will be greater if we move around instead of staying in one place." Bill agreed to that. After a moment, Charlie continued, "we should do something… about Richard and Theodore."

Bill glanced over at his younger brother. "What are we supposed to do? They're leagues away. All we can do is wait until they contact us."

Charlie supposed that were true and that subject was laid to rest as the two settled down to sleep, prepared to leave at next morning, with the sun hardly up, the two quickly dismantled camp and set out as they had discussed. And a week passed. A week came and went and still no sign of rebels. No sign of rebels, raiders, or the Mindless. However, they did come across a small village three days after leaving the original camp. The village was one in few not yet touched by the darkness that was Demai'Tah.

The eldest Weasley siblings found it all so very strange. There was something skittish about the villagers when they'd walked through, but other than that they were received in a pleasant manner. No avoided gazes, no sneers, or pulled swords chasing them out of the village. Bill had been surprised at how well they'd been greeted. There were even some shop vendors who tried to sell wares to the brothers. It struck an odd chord to Bill. He and Charlie were strangers after all and he figured after everything going on within the realm, any citizens not under Demai'Tah's thumb would automatically be suspicious of strangers. Especially when Demai'Tah continued to round up anyone who opposed him. Killing or turning them into raiders or the Mindless.

They left the village quickly, but remained in the area for two days after that, watching the village. If it truly were free from Demai'Tah, the brothers figured it would be prime location for rebels to congregate; to pick up supplies, or even rest somewhere that wasn't a tree or ditch. But they saw no one leave or enter the village, no suspicious activity, or anyone they hadn't seen on their walk-through the first day.

And now, a week later, both were thoroughly frustrated, traversing through a forest that was probably as big as Britain itself and seemed to hold no danger whatsoever.

"At the rate we're going, it'll take years to find them," Bill muttered as they trekked through a dense sea of giants made of bark and thick foliage. He was feeling utterly frustrated by this point.

Suddenly a thunderous roar carried around them on the wind, interrupting Charlie's reply. Bill watched his brother instantly perk up. There was another roar, and then another and Bill started to shake his head as a smile bloomed onto Charlie's face.

"Don't even think about--"

But Charlie had taken off already. Bill rushed after and he thought it a blessing that at least Charlie was using the training they'd had and the rush through the forest was a stealthy one. But with Charlie being preoccupied with trying to find where the sounds had come from, Bill took it upon himself to extend his senses out around them to make sure they weren't about to fall into some death trap.

An hour later they were climbing to the top of a tree perched at the crest of a hill. When they got to the top and were able to look down, both looked on in awed surprise. Charlie's delighted surprise came from seeing three dragons below. Three dragons of a species he'd never seen before. Bill's surprise was more apprehensive because he discovered it simply wasn't a hill they were on top of. A huge crater had been created, at least a mile in diameter and the round border was made from what looked like massive jagged rocks spearing out of the ground. The magic he felt around had Bill thinking this rock bowl was Ukatae made. The crater wasn't the only thing of interest. Beside the dragons, the bowl was also teaming with raiders and the Mindless. All with red bands striped with black around their biceps. The armbands were Demai'Tah's calling card of sorts.

"We need to get out of here," Bill whispered, pulling his gaze away from the deep basin in order to sweep the area around, knowing there had to be raiders or Mindless patrolling the area.

Charlie started growling and claws dug into the tree branch in front of him. Following his brother's line of sight, Bill immediately saw what had his brother seething in fury. The dragons were separated from each other; kept at opposite edges of the bowl. They were in the process of being chained down to the ground. By their four limps, tail, and three sets of chains secured tightly over the back and tightened until the dragon was forced to lay on it's belly. Also some type of metal covered their eyes. One dragon had already been chained thoroughly and against the creature's gleaming metallic blue scales, Bill could see that it was bleeding profusely from several wounds on it's hind quarters and around it's mammoth head. The other dragons began to roar again, and soon it became clear how the blue dragon gained its wounds. A dozen Ukatae surrounded the two creatures that had yet to be chained completely. One shining scarlet dragon and another a rusty brown; all the elves had long thick spears and took turns piercing the dragons, shoving the spear tips up under the armored scales.

"What are they doing that for?" Bill murmured. And then he had the answer.

A dozen figures drenched in black surrounded the blue dragon; the only one completely in chains. The figures tightened the circle and raised hands into the air, all palms out and facing the dragon. Bill squinted as his ears picked up the murmuring of an incantation. And then he saw the glow of markings drawn on the ground around the dragon. Markings glowing a dark green and he realized exactly what was happening. "They're cursing the dragons… pulling them into control. Probably to use them against the realm."

"We have to do something," Charlie hissed.

Bill managed to pull his gaze away from the captivating sight."What do you suggest? There are two of us and a whole lot of them."

"We could try releasing the other dragons… Cause a distraction. Something!"

"Cor, Charlie. Keep your bloody voice down!"

The murmuring grew in volume and power and the two could feel dark magic building up and swirling around the area. The scarlet dragon was slowly losing energy, sagging against the floor in defeat, nothing but low growls escaping its large maw and the growls grew pained as the curse surrounded it. As this was happening the other two dragons roared with enraged defiance. Bill knew Charlie wouldn't walk away from this. And with the certainty that these dragons were going to be used against the realm, that meant Bill wouldn't walk away either.

"We'll have a closer look. Slow and quiet, bro."

Once back down on the ground, Charlie turned to Bill. "We've got that potion Tom gave us. A drop here, a drop there on the right chain links, we could have the other dragons off. There's the distraction… no amount of metal magic can withstand Tom's potion."

Bill nodded absently, running his tongue over his fangs in thought. After a moment he said, "this type of cursing… it'll take some time for it to be complete. I can maybe undo the curse. It wouldn't take much as the ritual isn't complete yet. But… how do we even get close to them?" Bill looked to the ground, his brow furrowed in thought. He ignored the tug on his sleeve. "Can't think of anyway to get close to those dragons without it being suicide. If they don't stomp us flat, the raiders would kill us for sure…" another tug. Bill swatted Charlie's hand away. "Maybe if we can create some type of disturbance away from the basin— Bloody hell, Charlie! Stop! Trying to think here!"

"Look you idiot!"

Bill looked in the direction his brother was pointing. A moment later, he was pressed against a tree beside Charlie, peeking around the huge trunk to watch a troop of Ukatae passing through the trees yards away, slinking through the shadows quickly and quietly, an assortment of weapons in hand. They looked ready for battle. These elves lacked the signature red and black armbands. But they didn't look like warriors of the realm either.

"Rebels?" Bill whispered.

"Looks like it."

A soft whistle drew their attention above into the canopy of the tree they stood against. No less than five Ukatae were perched upon the branches, each one with bows drawn and aimed at Bill and Charlie.

"Should've chosen Slytherins for this job," Charlie whispered as he and Bill raised hands in surrender. "We suck."

Bill didn't see it that way. At least now they had found rebels. Rebels who looked like they were preparing to be a distraction. "Let me do the talking," he whispered in a barely audible tone. Charlie nodded just as a tall female with midnight black hair appeared before them. Their hands remained in the air as she had a sword in hand, pointed at them. Three other Ukatae stood behind her, all with weapons drawn, and none of them looked particularly pleased with Bill and Charlie's presence.

"You," the female thrust her sword at Bill, the tip of her blade softly poking his chest. "You claim you can undo the curse on the dragons."

"If we can get them to stop soon. Don't think I can do it if the curse has been completed."

"And we can free the dragons if we can get close to them," Charlie put in.

The female dropped her sword slightly and stepped back. She turned her head to the side. Immediately one of her companions stepped up. He said something into her ear before they were both looking back at the red heads. And then she nodded and looked up into the tree. She raised a fist into the air and made a circling motion. Charlie looked up in time to see the five archers jump from that tree to three trees over, easily blending in with the foliage.

"You will come with us."

Charlie seemed to perk up. "Are you going to help us save the dragons?"

"You will help us," she replied. "If you can do what you say you can."

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Ozemir burst into the Head Boy's bedroom around the same time Bill and Charlie had finally met rebels. "Young ones! I've figured it out! It's taken me far too long! But finally I understand!"

The two inside paused in their packing and waited for him to elaborate. Ozemir waddled further inside and sank down onto the foot of the bed. "Come here, young ones!" he exclaimed excitedly, pulling out a scroll and waving it around.

Harry and Draco easily recognized it as the scroll the Mother had given the Scholar. He really did carry it around with him at all times. And lately the Scholar had had violent fits because he couldn't understand the words printed upon it. The same distortion spell never wavered no matter how many times he tried dispelling it. The Scholar had even broken down and taken the scroll to Luna for help. But the Ravenclaw had been no help at all, though she promised all would work out in the end, as she usually did. Ozemir had been less than pleased with her reassurance.

The two Emperors hurried over and sat on either side of Ozemir, waiting a bit impatiently. Ozemir's smile was horribly wide as he unrolled it and held it out for the two to see. Draco blinked in confusion. "Still can't read that," he murmured, watching as the words blurred in front of his eyes, teasing him with understanding and then pulling just out of reach when he thought he'd caught on. Harry simply huffed in frustration.

"Let me explain," Ozemir chuckled, patting Harry's head. "The first part of the scroll we can understand. It tells of the Mother's sister. It is a warning of sorts."

"Where did she get off to?" Harry wondered.

Draco leaned forward to glare at his mate. "Stay on track, Harry."

"Well excuse me! That's kind of important! Evil goddess loose and all!"

"Moving on!" Ozemir loudly interrupted. "Studying the scroll, I noticed I could read certain words. They would blur and then suddenly pop out at me and I'd begun to wonder why only certain words were intelligible. Why was it only the words 'new blood and Empire'? If the information were so important, one would think that at least you two, as the new blood, would be able to read it. And then I realized that was the answer. It's not for anyone else. These words are meant for your eyes only."

"But…" Draco eyes scanned the scroll, "we can't read that."

"Fingers please."

Harry, having quickly caught on, held a finger out. Draco slowly mirroring the action. Ozemir brandished a dagger and deftly pierced each of their fingers.

Harry eyed the dagger as he pressed his index finger against the old parchment. "You've got to tell me where you keep that."

"Trade secrets," Ozemir murmured as Draco added his blood to the scroll.

All three sat back suddenly when the scroll erupted in a bright red glow. The words upon it began soaking up the small amount of blood and soon was glowing a blinding white. After a moment, they leaned forward over it. Harry and Draco's eyes widened upon seeing the words, while Ozemir smiled smugly. "You see?" he said after a few moments and then beamed. "I'm a genius!"

"Yeah!" Harry leapt from the bed, hurried to the bedside table and pulled out the dream journal. "The scroll holds directions. My dreams make so much more sense now! And," Harry turned to Draco with a wide grin, "we know exactly how to get in!"

Draco took the scroll, eyes falling on the words Harry was talking about. "Thank Hirsha. I did not want to have to do this without knowing anything."

"Still leaving tonight?" Ozemir asked softly. He knew they were, but them leaving made him nervous. He would worry about them. Worry until they were reunited. But at least he had Caellum's care and his own son's impending birth to take up most of his time.

"We'll come back as soon as we can," said Harry as he went back to packing. "Hopefully when we do return, Borsteria will be protected and we can all move into the realm. I'm really hoping we can activate the protections on this trip. Have a feeling something's coming…"

Draco nodded. "Falde says Demai'Tah's forces are going underground… disappearing."

"You don't think that's a good thing?"

"Do you?"

The Scholar shook his head. No, Demai'Tah would not give up until he'd drawn his very last breath, so if he was pulling back his troops, that meant the clan master was preparing for something. "He hasn't disappeared. He's pulled his forces back enough to have fallen below detection… not that they were easy to detect in the first place."

"He's doing something he doesn't want us to get wind of until it's too late…" Harry murmured as he packed the dream journal and scroll into the travel bag they were taking. Harry abruptly left the room when he heard Caellum crying from the common room.

"Wish I were going with you," Ozemir whispered, staring at Draco morosely. "I could help! I could…"

"Don't cry," Draco sighed after seeing the Scholar's bottom lip trembling. He returned to his seat beside Ozemir and slung a comforting arm around his shoulders. Silently he chuckled when Ozemir snuggled into his side. "We'll be back soon, and besides we need you to stay here with Caellum and the others."

Ozemir pulled away and stood, dashing a hand across his watery eyes. He gave Draco a trembling smile. "You must take care, Draco. Take care of your mate, too. And come back… bring Caellum to my rooms before you leave. Brumek and I will be staying with your father until you two return. Caellum would like to spend time with his grandparents." He hurried away before Draco could reply.

The Slytherin stood and returned to packing. They were taking a few potions, once of which was a new potion Tom had created in his free time. The Dark Lord was very proud of it and he had given two vials of the stuff to each of those who were on infiltrator missions within the realm. Once the bag was packed, Draco went to change into Ukatae garments. Black trousers and a black tunic. He grabbed a dark cloak, the bag and headed into the common room, to find Harry rocking Caellum to sleep and fingering his soft black tuffs of hair.

"Go change, love."

Harry handed Caellum over to his daddy, before going to change. Putting on clothes similar to Draco's, and soon the three were ready to go and Shadowed into the warriors' quarters. Ozemir was nowhere in sight when they arrived, but by the look on Brumek's face, they understood why.

"He's so attached to you two, I hope you realize. So you had better come back in one piece," the burly warrior warned. "Because I don't think I could stand a lifetime of his constant whining and sorrow. And I'm not ready to take over your son's guardianship. Do you understand me?"

"Geez, Brumek…" Harry grinned. "All you had to say was you're going to miss and worry about us."

The warrior scowled. He gently took Caellum before snatching the little prince's bag out of Harry's hands. "Go. And remember your training."

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"Well… here we are. In our world," Harry murmured, standing on the edge of a pier with Draco, overlooking the Gleaendestyn Sea.

"Doesn't look like much," the blond mumbled, staring out at the sea, his brow furrowed because he couldn't see anything but thick heavy fog.

"Draco… honestly. We haven't been here five minutes and already you have something negative to say. Prat."

The blond sneered at the water lapping against the pier. "I'll say something positive when I see something positive."

Harry shook his head and turned to the two silent Ukatae behind them. "Guess this is where we part."

"I don't like it, Highness," Vendyl murmured, staring out across the dark waters.

Draco faced the Saen with a raised brow. "You believe we can't take care of ourselves?"

"It's your first time in the realm. You are unfamiliar with the terrain, Highness."

"I'll have you know we've been studying the realm for months. We know about every forest, lake, mountain range, jungle, oceans, and rivers… Even the bloody ice caps in the East! We are not unfamiliar."

"It's not the same," Vendyl returned. Draco sneered and turned away, heading for the small ladder leading down to the boat tied to the pier.

"We'll be fine, Vendyl," Harry assured. "The shores are being patrolled by Falde's forces… He's even out there... somewhere. And you can't come with us anyway. I think something horrible would happen to you if you tried entering where only Royal blood is--"

"What the bloody hell is this?! I'm not going out there in this!"

Harry sighed and gave the Saen a wave before joining his husband's side, looking down to find a small dinghy rocking softly with the waves. Without saying anything, Harry climbed down the ladder and settled on one of the small creaky benches. Harry adjusted his cloak around him and stroked the black snake lounging around his neck. All right, Lovely?

Yes, master. Your neck has always been comfortable.

Harry smiled and looked to where the blond was still standing on the pier, sneering down at the boat. Draco, come on. Stop being a baby! Look, there is nothing wrong with this thing. Harry started bouncing on his seat. The boat rocked harder, but that was about all it was doing.

Finally Draco descended the ladder, once he was settled across from Harry, he gave the green-eyed brunet a stern look. Don't do that when we're out there.

How did you ever survive the first years' boat ride?

Draco glowered as he vanished the rope keeping them at the pier and then waved his hand for Harry to get on with it. Harry gripped the sides of the boat and breathed in deeply. "Cami duneal wuodnli."

With a small lurch, the dinghy sped away from the pier, away from the silent Saen standing on the edge of the pier like statues. The boat sped west into the gulf where their destination lay; a mile wall of cliffs taking up position as one part of Borsteria's borders. On the approach, Harry and Draco could see large hulking shadows at the top of the cliffs- presumably buildings or homes- but nothing was clear and most was obscured from view by the fog around. Both were disappointed not being able to see their future home more clearly, but were placated by the fact they would not leave the realm before the mission was complete. They didn't plan to leave the realm this visit without Borsteria protected.

Finally they closed in on the cliffs. The boat stopped some distance away so as not to get caught up in the tide. They did not need the boat crashing into the cliffs. Harry pulled the scroll out and moved to sit beside his stiff husband. "This says there should be a sea cave in that cliff… makes perfect sense really. The cave entrance is far enough away from the palace since it's in the middle of the city, and yet its on the edge of the city…"

"True, but I'm not seeing any cave. Not sensing one either. At least not there. And I'm sure these cliffs have been explored. The scroll says only those of Royal blood know about the cave."

Harry looked away from the scroll, staring at the jagged rocks making up the cliffs. "One thing for sure… I feel a pull."

"Me as well."

After a minute of contemplation, Harry suddenly stood, causing the small boat to rock haphazardly. Draco's hands shot out to clutch at the little dinghy's sides in a death grip while he glared at his husband. Harry grinned as Draco's face turned a bit green.

"Be right back," the brunet said. "Going to have a closer look."

Draco watched Harry discard his cloak and stretch out his wings. "Don't do anything stupid. Keep an eye out."

"Always." He smiled fondly when silver eyes rolled at him. Harry unwrapped Lovely from his neck and passed her over to Draco before dropping a kiss to his husband's lips. "Promise to be careful."

"You better." Harry nodded before turning and stretching out his wings. "Potter?" Harry looked at him from over his shoulder. "I don't want to get wet."

"I won't need saving." And with that he lifted off into the dark star filled sky. Draco watched him, his chest tightening as his husband flew away towards a section of the cliffs. He took a moment to marvel Harry's flying form and the magnificent wings as the effortlessly carried his lover through the air. After a moment he cursed the tide for not allowing the small boat to be able to get close to the cliffs. He'd rather explore them with Harry instead of having to sit there worrying about the Gryffindor. Nor did he care to sit there snakesitting and worrying whether this blasted little boat would last much longer.

Draco raised his wrist eye level. Lovely had wrapped around his wrist. Tightly. And the blond had the suspicion she wasn't enjoying the boat ride either. "Why did he dump you with me? If he's simply flying around… that doesn't…" Why did you leave Lovely with me?

…

What the hell are you doing?! Draco demanded.

Erm… I noticed something earlier. How the tide was crashing against the rocks. Something seems off. Like the water is dipping, being pulled down and inside… think the cave is underwater.

Draco thrust his hands into his blond hair with a soft groan. You do remember our lessons, right? About the creatures that live and swim in this realm.

I'll be careful.

Right. Sure… right.

Harry landed near the base of the cliff, gripping a short thin ledge with his hand, watching the water as it nearly crashed onto his boots. Looking off into the night, he could see Draco's hair gleaming like a beacon. You make a fine target, lover.

Moment's later the glimmer of blond hair was gone as Draco lifted the hood of his cloak. Harry's attention returned to the dark water beneath him. So dark and not inviting at all. And yet his green eyes were bright with excitement. Below him he watched the waves crash upon the rocks, but at a certain spot near him, the water gurgled and dipped, spinning around in a small whirlpool each time the tide brought it towards the rocks. There was something down there. He could feel it.

I'm going in, he announced even as he wove powerful magic around his lungs. A brilliant spell allowing him to swim without fear of drowning. They'd had plenty of practice with that spell in the Great Lake. The spell wasn't comfortable the first few times used and one had to get passed the feeling of their lungs burning and aching for air. It was mind over matter in this spell's case. It had taken Harry several practices within the lake before he'd been comfortable with it. The spell wasn't permanent, but it did last a good bit of time. Enough to allow Harry time to explore and search for the cave he knew was beneath the water.

From the boat, Draco watched with held breath as Harry released his position on the cliff and took off into the air again. Instead of diving right in, Harry flew out over the sea before folding his wings back in and free falling, diving into the water. Draco thought it was a blessing that at least Harry had been smart enough to not do that right off the cliff because there was no doubt he probably would have been caught in the tide and smashed against the rocks himself.

I'm not a complete moron!

Harry couldn't see it, but he knew his husband was grinning in an annoying fashion.

The water was pleasantly warm. Harry vaguely thought he should have taken his clothes off first, but he'd been in a hurry to get on with this… he ignored Draco's mental response to that thought.

After a few minutes of silence, Draco asked, can you see all right?

Not really.

Because it was night, the water was darker then normal, and despite his night vision, it was of course obscured by water as well as shadows from the sea plant life and fish. However he stretched his senses out and couldn't find anything larger than himself in the vicinity. But there was that pull again. Stronger now. The pull was almost hypnotizing. Harry decided he'd let this pull do all the work. Closing his eyes, Harry allowed himself to be pulled forward slowly and it wasn't long before he hit something. Something that wasn't hard and jagged as he expected. Something that was slightly slimy and cold and… moving. Green eyes flew open and then widened upon being faced with huge haunting red eyes, reminiscent of Lord Voldemort, which burned into his. Eyes nearly as large as his head.

Obviously his senses weren't in top form because this creature was alive and larger than himself. The serpent shifted again, drawing Harry's attention to the sheer mass that was this sea snake. It was easily the length of ten full-grown Ukatae, and as it was coiled numerous times, Harry surmised that its body length would go on forever. He'd never seen a creature like this. Not even the Basilisk could compare to this sea serpent.

Frankly he was too shocked and in so much awe of the creature he couldn't find room for fright; until a big huge mouth opened and he was suddenly being drawn to a mouthful of sharp saber like teeth along with the water around him. Shit!

Harry, what's going on?

Harry was too busy trying to swim out of the serpent's current to answer. All his strength was put into twisting around; his wings, legs and arms moving frantically to pull free. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He chided himself. Should have been paying more attention. As he struggled, little fish flew by him, quickly being pulled into the serpents' mouth. As Harry struggled and finally broke free, he looked over his shoulder and almost stopped when he spotted a passage in the rock behind the serpent.

Guardian. The unbidden thought came to him and his fear completely dissolved into excitement. This was it! The serpent was guarding the cave. And the only way to get in without having to battle this brilliant creature was to lure the serpent away. And he really didn't want to kill it. Who knew how old it was? It would be a shame to kill something so magnificent.

What's magnificent? Really getting tired of asking unanswered questions, lover.

Harry ignored the small annoyed reprimand. There was no more time for thought. Seeing his prey was away from its death current, the serpent suddenly struck out at Harry. Amazingly it uncoiled its long scaled body in seconds. Harry took off towards the boat. It was far enough away that the distance should help along his plan. He sped through the water, delighting in the fact his wings helped with the speed of his swimming. He'd never swum with his wings before, but he'd never thought they would be an asset anywhere but in the air. This was not the case. Without his wings pumping water away from him, the serpent would have caught up to Harry already.

What was that?! Something splashed out of the water! Harry!

Harry didn't bother looking over his shoulder; knowing the serpent was following. He could feel the water swirling around him as the serpent's long body slithered through the water as easily and quickly as Lovely could slither over land.

Grab Lovely and the bag! Now! He burst out of the water several inches from the boat and deftly landed in it. Draco stood there wide-eyed and completely ignored the rocking of the boat. His eyes scanned his husband's body quickly for any sign of harm before lifting to Harry's face.

Harry said nothing. He simply lunged forward and wrapped tight arms around the blond. Happy to see Draco had grabbed Lovely and the bag without having to be told twice. Hold on! And shot into the air.

"Harry!"

Draco's terrified screech had Harry laughing, even when the serpent lunged out of the water, directly under the dinghy, shattering the small frail boat into pieces. Harry pumped his wings as hard as he could as the serpent continued to rise into the sky. Fuck, he's long! Look, lover. Look at the huge fucking snake trying to bite your legs off.

Draco's was scrabbling for purchase anywhere he could get. This was a particular experience they had never tried. Harry flying with Draco as passenger. "Harry, you know I love you… but I'm going to kill you for this," he hissed into Harry's ear, his arms locked around Harry's back and squeezing while his face was planted firmly against the brunet's shoulder.

Harry grimaced. Hold that thought—Hurry and put a bubble around Lovely, waterproof the bag, and charm your lungs.

What are you doing?!

Don't have time for questions, Draco! Found the cave, but that monster is guarding it. We need to go in now while its away from the cliffs!

Draco recognized the urgency and stopped his complaining and did as Harry asked. Luckily the black snake was coiled tightly around his wrist. He spun the magic easily, leaving a bubble of air around his wrist and waterproofing the bag. If I drown, you're coming with me.

Well, duh, lover. Don't want to live without you.

Draco lightly bit his neck. You can't live without me, idiot.

Harry laughed as he dived in. That too. Tell me if it's coming.

Better idea, Draco thought after adjusting to the new wet environment and suddenly being underneath his lover as they sped through the water. You steer. I'll push. However he did look behind over Harry's shoulder while thrusting a hand out. A light pulsed from his palm, and even though he realized he'd just given their positions away, the magic was working and the power from his palm propelled them forward faster.

I see it! Harry said of the undersea cave.

Hurry! Draco had just caught a set of gleaming red eyes and sharp teeth within the dark waters. The beast's eyes were intelligent and glimmered with rage at being outsmarted.

This might have been a bad idea… Harry thought suddenly as they made it to the opening of the cave. Let's hope it can't get out of the water.

If it weren't imperative for Harry to keep concentrating on steering them, Draco would have strangled Harry at that moment. I really do hate you, Potter.

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While Harry and Draco were currently swimming for their lives from an angry sea serpent, Bill was in the process of wondering why the rebels were seeking help from him and Charlie regarding this raid. Surely the rebels had others who knew more about curses and could help. He wasn't even sure he could do what he'd said. He hadn't been a Ukatae long, after all. And even though magic came naturally for elves, there was a reason why young ones went to the Academy for several years; curses of this sort took years to master. Really, Bill hadn't thought this through. Even if Zynfrae had given him a crash course on curses that enabled him to break Ukatae ones, this cursing was extremely dark and on such a large scale and he felt it right to doubt his ability. Despite all this, he would not voice these thoughts. Because it was probably imperative the rebels believed he could follow through.

However he couldn't remain quiet on another matter. After the initial meeting with the rebels, he and Charlie had been taken prisoner- in a way- and the rebels separated to different positions around the crater. Charlie was whisked away before Bill could even blink, while he had been kept close to the apparent leader and she always had a narrowed suspicious eye on him. Bill was not even allowed to linger a foot from her and the group of ten he was with. "Where have you taken my brother?"

"Silence!" she hissed.

"No," Bill hissed back lowly. "Where have you taken my brother? He's my flesh and blood and you'll tell me what's going on!"

"You'll give our position away if you do not shut your mouth. Perhaps you'd like me to shut it for you?"

"You could try."

She rolled her dark eyes at him. "For the time being, your kin will be safe. As long as he keeps quiet and does what he's told. However I can't guarantee anyone's safety after the battle starts."

Bill pushed away the fear that bloomed at that. "What exactly are we planning on doing?"

"You can't keep quiet, can you?!" she hissed.

"No. I'd like to know what's going to happen so I'm not running in blind. I'd like to live through this day. Is this a spur of the moment attack for you and your group?"

She gave him a derisive snort. "We've been patrolling this area for weeks. Since they made the crater. But it wasn't until today that we were able to get so close. It wasn't until today we discovered they had imprisoned dragons."

"What changed?" he elaborated when she raised a brow in question. "To allow you to get closer. What changed?"

"The crater was heavily guarded. The outskirts heavily patrolled. Until today. The bowl was filled with three times more of the Kibosh forces until today. They've pulled out over the last two days. Heading somewhere else."

"Do you know where?"

"Borsteria," she replied grimly. "Demai'Tah is attacking the capital. This time with a much greater force than before. This is why he wants the dragons. This is why we can't let that happen. We can't give the clan master more power."

"Have you been sent by the Empire? You do not look like warriors."

Bill only realized his mistake when he felt the point of a dagger digging up under his chin. He was sure she'd cut flesh. "Where do you come from?" she asked lowly. "I've never seen you or your brother before. None in my command has seen the two of you."

"Have you seen everyone in the realm before?"

She hissed in annoyance before withdrawing her dagger. "We're fighting for our lives, and the lives of the creatures he seeks to bind to him. If Demai'Tah should control even one dragon, we might as well go on and dig our own graves right this very minute. So we shall do what the new blood should have been doing these past few months. Unlike the new blood, we do not intend to roll over for the Kibosh clan master."

Bill had to bite his tongue in order to keep from speaking up in Harry and Draco's defense. Because they had good reason, and once the realm knew about it, they would agree with the new blood on why they kept away. It still burned though to hear her talking about them so disrespectfully when she knew nothing of the circumstances.

His thoughts must have been etched plainly on his face for she moved closer with both steel in her eyes and her hand. "You do not feel the same way."

"I agree something should be done about the dragons."

She rigidly shook her head. "You have loyalty for the new blood."

"Who says?"

"You never did say who you are or where you come from."

What to do? What to say? "Does it matter? Anyway, I'm not completely loyal to the new blood. Haven't met them, have I? But I think you and everyone else are jumping to conclusions about them. I don't think they're hiding and doing nothing. I think they have good reason for staying away."

"Staying away while we die here."

"We've been dying for hundreds of years…whatever your name is. Since the Royal massacre, the civil wars have been claiming immortal lives. Don't blame the new blood for someone else's doing. I noticed some of your rebels are gathered around, sitting and meditating to the Goddess. To our Mother for guidance and protection during battle. Do you do the same?" When she remained silent he smiled smugly. "You do. If you still have faith in our Mother, than how could you believe She would bestow upon us rulers who could not and would not protect us?"

She was silent for a moment, her steely gaze not once leaving his face. Bill stared back, though he also watched the hand with the dagger as well. He honestly thought she wasn't going to say anything to that, but as another rebel approached and she inclined her head to the side to acknowledge his presence, she finally spoke. "My name is Raelu."

After that there was no more time to say anything as the 'distraction' began. Bill was relieved. He was sure Raelu would have continued to question his home and name and even though he and Charlie had perfectly good cover stories, Bill was sure Raelu wouldn't have believed a word of it. He believed she wouldn't believe anything he said just on principal. Which made her a smart lady in his opinion.

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It started with a volley. Arrows arched into the air from all around the crater, spiraling down from the trees with deadly precision to take out those who wore red and black arm bands. The arrows continued to fly and after the first attack wave, the rebels streamed into the crater as if there were no opposition at the bottom. As if they had no fear of death or anything really. Charlie feared and he wasn't afraid to admit it. But he also figured he had a right as this was all new to him, being in a battle. Though he thought he should get used to it, knowing this wasn't going to be a one-time occurrence. Until Demai'Tah was defeated, he and everyone else loyal to the Empire would see many more battles. Probably battles worse than this one.

Charlie craned his neck to search out his brother as he was carried along with a small group of rebels amongst the fighting; stealthily moving along, seemingly invisible to the battle at hand; which seemed utterly ridiculous as the crater teamed with Mindless and raiders. Though to be fair, the raiders had no archers on hand and the rebel archers had already made a huge dent in the opposition. Charlie thought it odd how easily they were able to infiltrate the bowl, but he'd been told Demai'Tah's forces had been moving out to Borsteria and those left behind were the least amount that could handle the capturing of the dragons. It was odd and yet highly advantageous for the rebels. He also supposed the clan master thought no one would dare mess with his plans.

He was quickly ushered toward the nearest dragon. A scarlet dragon that hadn't yet been completely chained. The cursing of the other dragon was still going on, and by the pitch of the enchanters and the heavy weight of the dark magic pressing down on everything in the near vicinity, Charlie knew they were almost done. The dragon was still and silent now, breathing heavily into the dirt and he hoped Bill would get to it in time.

Soon he was pulled from his thoughts when a hulking form obscured his vision and suddenly he found himself amidst another fight. One with which he was a participant. It didn't take much to get his blood boiling and the fear to vanish. All it took was to see the pain the dragon was in and the blood dripping from its head and flanks. All it took was to be faced with an opponent and a fight that was all or nothing; life or death, and Charlie began to fight as if he had nothing to lose. Lucky there were only a dozen rogue Ukatae restraining each dragon, and none of them were Mindless. With over fifteen rebels suddenly attacking them, the raiders were easily dispatched.

It was all very strange. The way not one elf resorted to magic during a fight. But then again it was the Sacred Law and only Demai'Tah disregarded that law. It seemed he didn't even allow his subordinates to break that law. Charlie figured it was a way for the clan master to stay higher than the others. Really, Charlie couldn't wait to see Tom, Hermione, Harry, and Draco work the Kibosh Clan Master over with their magic.

"Release the dragon," someone told him with a rough push towards the dragons left flank where it's foot was shackled to a chain buried deep into the ground.

As Charlie withdrew a vial of the eroding potion, he sincerely hoped he'd walk away form this. There was no telling how the dragon would react once it was free to move at its will. Charlie paused with the vial and raised eyes to the mammoth head of the dragon. Watching as it bent its neck left and right, swinging its head rapidly in each direction as if trying to free its gaze from the metal blindfold. "We should remove the blindfolds," he said to the rebel kneeling beside him. He received an incredulous look for that. Charlie didn't know why he'd gotten that response. He'd learned dragons here were a bit more intelligent. And Charlie thought if the dragons understood and could see that they were being helped, then there was a less likely chance of the rebels inadvertently getting hurt once the dragons were completely free of the bindings.

"You're welcome to do it," the rebel finally said, smirking in a way that Charlie thought was bad for him. But the redhead stood by his thoughts. If the dragons knew what was going on, the entire endeavor might be made easier. So Charlie slipped the vials back into his pocket and leaped onto the dragon's hind leg, and then onto his back before running up the length of its spine and to the top of its head. He dropped to his knees and grabbed onto the long curvy horns protruding from the skull as the dragon reared its head back and started shaking it violently with a roar, trying to dislodge the unwelcome rider.

"Oi!!" he yelled over the cacophony of roars, metal clanging against metal, and furious battle shouts. "I'm trying to help, dragon! Do you want to see?"

Apparently the dragon was more satisfied with trying to dislodge Charlie from his head and the world continued to bounce and swerve in the red head's eyes in a dizzying manner that had Charlie thankful he'd skipped joining in the last meal. But as he'd been in the same position on a Hungarian Horntail before, Charlie was easily able to keep most of his equilibrium and move forward until he could reach the fastenings of the blindfold. And the bindings were, to his absolute horror, bolted right into the dragon's flesh. "This is certainly going to hurt the both of us. Probably you more than me…" he murmured to himself as he gingerly reached out to touch one of the bolts, expecting it to have some sort of repelling hex on it.

"Make haste!" Someone shouted from below just before the sound of swords clashing reached his ears.

Charlie steeled himself before wrenching out the first bolt. He threw himself over to pull the second out as well before the dragon could even really react to the first. Surprisingly the dragon didn't make much noise. When the blindfold dropped off, Charlie quickly jumped down and pulled out the vial of the eroding potion. He was vaguely aware of a huge head hovering over him and even more aware of the fact the rebel Ukatae sent to watch his back now had a spear in his back and was without a head. Charlie tried not to look at the body slumped beside him as he knew he'd probably throw up the non-existent food he had.

He was very aware the dragon was watching his every move as he uncorked the vial and gingerly tipped it, watching as a few drops of the clear liquid dripped onto the reinforced steel binding the creature in place. The liquid sizzled and smoked as it came in contact with the metal and in only seconds the metal was being eaten away by the acidic potion, easily bypassing the magic that made it impossible for the dragon to free itself. Charlie quickly stood and backed away as the scarlet dragon yanked at the chains with a mighty force and was pleased when it was able to free its leg. All it needed was one break in the chain and its strength would be enough to free itself from the rest of the chains.

Standing up, Charlie looked around at the blood and carnage around him. The battle was still going on, but it seemed now there were more rebels than before. And he noticed with shock, more rebels were spilling into the crater. None of which were part of the group he and Bill found. And, the most important part of all this was that he saw Richard and Theo Nott were amongst these new rebels, and he wondered how in Merlin's name did those two end up here.

The chanting had stopped by this point and Charlie assumed his brother was in the process of reversing the damage already done. Charlie ignored the goings around him took a step away from the dragon, heading across the cavern to the next one. He'd only taken a step before a white nearly blinding pain took hold of him as someone's sword slashed across the back. The scarlet dragon's outraged roar filled his ears as he stumbled to the ground. A ground that trembled as the dragon moved around, nearly directly on top of him. Charlie pulled in a ragged breath, and despite the pain in his back, he rose onto his knees to turn and look behind him. And since he could do that, he realized the wound couldn't be that bad. At least his spinal chord hadn't been injured.

But the raider who'd attacked Charlie was now flattened beneath a massive claw. The dragon leaned down and with its massive jaws, tore the head right off before spitting it away. And then something red and gleaming like jewels slithered up underneath Charlie and he was suddenly lifted into the air. Charlie had only a moment to gape like a fish before he was deposited on the dragon's back between the row of horns. The dragon snorted in an odd manner before lurching forward, causing Charlie to grab for purchase wherever he could, which was one of the dark brown horns lining the creatures spine.

As the dragon crossed the crater with massive strides, Charlie saw that it intentionally stomped on any Ukatae who had red and black armbands, both dead and alive. And it was a testament to how much intelligence this creature had that it could distinguish between friend and foe… and Charlie sensed vindication as well, because some raiders were treated with extra hard stomps and then twisted beneath its claws like bugs being squished. The red head wondered if those particular elves had been the ones to inflict the spear wounds on this scarlet beauty.

And then all at once the battle stopped when a low horn sounded in the distance; a sound that was dark and sent chills down Charlie's spine, bringing back attention to the fact he was probably severely damaged, even if he couldn't manage to find the time to worry about that at the moment. But now the raiders and Mindless were scurrying away like ants; the horn being a call, a signal that Charlie surmised was a retreat, but he also thought there was more to it. Perhaps Demai'Tah had gotten wind of the loss and was summoning the rest of his troops to Borsteria because it was obvious the rebels were winning this battle.

By the time they reached the other dragon, a dark brown, Bill was in the process of releasing it from the rest of the chains. The scarlet dragon moved until its muzzle was pressed against the blue's. Charlie jumped from one dragon to the other and proceeded to remove the metal blindfold from the brown. That was easily done and once Charlie returned back to the scarlet dragon, the brown wrenched away from the rest of the chains and immediately raced over to the blue, mindless to the Ukatae scattering out from under its massive form. The metallic blue dragon was still down and hadn't moved an inch since Bill and other rebels interrupted the Dark ritual.

"Did you save it?" Charlie yelled as he carefully slid down the dragon's forearm.

"Hope so." The elder Weasley then watched in astonishment as the scarlet dragon craned its neck and lowered its head until it could nuzzle the side of Charlie's body. Charlie smiled and took the gesture as a thank you. He then watched as the creature went and joined the brown and blue dragon. Moment's later, the brown roared something fierce and rose into the sky, it's long wings flapping rigidly, fire spewing out of its jaws as the night sky quickly swallowed it.

Bill blinked up into the sky where dragon was last seen. "What was that about?"

"Okay… and I'm just guessing here, but I think the brown and blue are mates. The brown has probably taken off to seek revenge since the raiders and Mindless ran away," Charlie said as he watched the scarlet curl around the blue. "These dragons seem to reflect the human world dragons… they have familial units… but that makes sense as they are more intelligent… though I could be completely wrong… Can't wait until I have the time to seriously study the dragons here!" With that said, Charlie spun around, preparing to go and join the two downed dragons, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Bloody idiot! You're injured!"

"It's nothing. Probably looks worse than it feels. Honestly."

"It looks like someone sliced your back open with a great big knife you fucking idiot! Mum'll kill me!"

"Let go, Bill. I want to go study those dragons!"

"That's all you ever want to do! How can Pansy stand it?"

Charlie smirked. "I don't talk dragons when I touch her where she wants to be touched."

"Is this really the place for such a discussion?" a monotonous voice drawled.

Theodore and Richard stood only a few feet away, both sporting wounds from the recent battle. Theo cradled a bloody arm against his chest while Richard's left thigh sported a deep gash. Both were also the proud owners of several battle bruises on their faces.

"Thank the gods you two are still alive!" Bill exclaimed as he rushed over to them and started patting their shoulders.

"And why wouldn't we be?"

"Because you were dropped off in the wrong spot," Charlie whispered after joining them. The four squeezed in tight so that their conversation wouldn't be over heard. "We were supposed to end up in Taeneen. Not you."

"We're here now so none of that matters."

"How'd you get here anyway?" Bill wondered. "Taeneen is leagues away."

"Apparently the leader of your group knows the leader of ours and sent a message for help on a raid. So we all traveled here by Circle and here we are," Richard explained.

Charlie ran a bloody hand through his hair. "We should really get you two healed…"

Richard laughed. "You look worse off than we do. How are you still standing?"

"I've had a dragon maul my back before. That hurt much more than this."

"Think you're full of shite," Bill murmured and then he said more firmly, "what we need to do is get you three healed. And then we should probably go and help protect the city."

"Can't do that," Theo said softly. "We do that and it'll be obvious who we're loyal to. It's not part of our mission. Our mission is to stick with the rebels."

Richard nodded. "We'll lose track of them if we leave for Borsteria now and we'd only just found our rebels three days ago…" The blond trailed off when noticing a woman standing behind the Weasley brothers, staring hard at their backs. Bill and Charlie turned inward slightly and then spun around and tried smiling charmingly at her.

"Healers are in that tent," Raelu announced, gesturing a hand to a tent across the crater that had not been there before. Then she pointed at Charlie, Theo, and Richard with her sword. "I suggest you three have a visit. You," she said to Bill, "will stay and explain how you know these two, whom I know came here with Teku's group."

"Oops," Richard murmured as he and the other two went off to the healer tent. Looking around Bill noticed more tents being erected and surmised the rebels planned to make this a temporary camp for the night. Made perfect sense actually. Since there were many wounded, and more than that dead that needed to be buried. And he had a feeling these Ukatae were prepared to stay and protect the dragons that didn't go off. Charlie was going to love it here.

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Sitting alone under a tree by the lake, Luna's eyes were transfixed on her sketchpad. Hand clutching a pencil tightly, it raced across the pad at a phenomenal speed as the vision appeared on paper. "You wont," she murmured, "you wont. It can't. Can't happen…" a sob broke free as her hand added the last touches onto the funeral pyre she was sketching. "No… no. No death. No. Stay away."

Seconds passed and the sketch was finished. Tears cascaded down the Ravenclaw's pale cheeks and she tossed the sketchpad away from her. Luna jumped to her feet and began running for the castle. The wind whipped around her and her limbs seized. She breathed in deeply and tilted her face to the sky, her eyes going a pearly white. "NO!"

Luna Lovegood dropped where she stood into the damp grass, her eyes wide opened, unseeing. Her chest still, no breath able to escape.

It wasn't long before Tom Apparated out to the edge of the lake, scowling at the setting sun. "Where is that blasted girl?" he growled after seeing Luna wasn't under her favorite tree either. "Doesn't come when called… what was the point of her taking the Dark Mark? She was aware we planned to go to the manor."

Tom was about to spin away from it when he caught sight of something lying on the ground. Immediately he knew what it was and summoned it to his hand. He stared at it for long moments, trying to wrap his mind around what he was looking at. Luna had a habit of drawing visions, things to come… but he didn't want to believe he was looking at this particular vision. There were many cloaked figures, all with blurry faces, standing around a funeral pyre. Wood stacked high and flames licking at a body swathed in ceremonial wrappings. He couldn't see the faces of the mourners. But obviously this funeral was for someone important. But who? He didn't like it, but fear for his friends clawed at his heart. Fear for his sister, his brothers… it wasn't Caellum. The body was that of an adult.

"Luna?" he croaked; eyes lifting from the cursed drawing as it dropped from his hand, quickly scanning the area. It was then he saw her, sprawled in the grass yards away. Tom sprinted and he was beside her in seconds, dropping to his knees. He choked back a pained cry when he saw her face. Saw her eyes were open and unblinking. He grabbed at her hands, unconcerned his own were shaking. Tom pulled in a deep breath. He would not panic. This couldn't possibly be real. A misunderstanding. She was only meditating or something. Luna was not allowed to leave him. He'd ordered it. She never disobeyed an order. She was his perfect queen. Luna listened…

"Luna?" he whispered, tapping her cheeks softly. "Luna, your juvenile games do not amuse me." Seconds ticked by and nothing changed. Tom looked over his shoulder where his Saen stood. Stiff and looking on in horror at the apparently dead Mother. Turning back, Tom thread fingers through her hair. "Luna… please…" Still nothing happened. Her chest was still. Her eyes wide open. He could hear no heart beat… and a torrential landslide of anguish washed through him.

The ground began shaking along with the balance of his control. As the pain rolled through him, so did the rage, bringing rolling dark clouds along with it. There wasn't anything he could do but feel this overwhelming helplessness. He couldn't even think straight. Couldn't call help, couldn't speak, could do nothing but drag Luna to his chest, tip his face to the sky and bellow his fury, cracking the ground wide open in some places around him.

Tom's Saen pulled himself together in time to keep from falling into one of these crevices. The Saen lunged forward, dropped a hand on Tom's shoulders and Shadowed to Malfoy Manor where he knew the healer currently resided.

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Malfoy Manor was once again no longer a silent somber place as the gang frequently visited with the kids. And today was no different. Ozemir, Brumek and Caellum were also in attendance that evening. Sirius was home as well, because just like Brumek, the wizard was hardly away from Lucius' side. His blond husband could hardly move without assistance. And Lucius enjoyed his presence for obvious reasons.

But Sirius remained home for other reasons that weren't so obvious to others. Lucius' business affairs. Sirius had jumped at the chance to oversee Lucius' work when the blond had asked him since the blond was spending most of the last leg of his pregnancy in bed. Kaego's orders. For the next two weeks, Kaego confined Lucius to bed rest until the babies would be born. Lucius followed the order… for the most part. But Sirius occasionally found him out of bed within the nursery, making sure every last detail was in order. The triplets would share Caellum's nursery. Which meant the room had to be enlarged to accommodate all four infants possessions. Sirius found it funny that his unborn children now had far more possessions than he did and they weren't even born yet.

Currently Lucius was not in bed and was instead within the nursery along with Ozemir. Not an odd occurrence. This happened quite frequently.

"Lucius, you should be in bed," Sirius chastised softly as he walked in, noticing Ozemir sat sleeping in the rocking chair with Caellum curled up in his arms. Sirius thought it a blessing that at least his husband was also seated, having taken position on the window seat across the room.

Lucius continued to gaze out of the window as he replied, "and you should know by now, Siri. I'm not in the habit of wasting away in bed… unless you are there with me."

Sirius grinned. "If I were in bed with you, there would be no wasting away." Lucius turned away from the window to smirk at his husband. Sirius only made it a few steps towards his husband before Kaego suddenly appeared, rushing into the nursery and looking frantic.

"I'm in need of assistance. Lucius, you are a good friend of Tom's, correct? He needs you now."

"What is going on?" Lucius said, moving slowly to the door with Sirius beside him, a firm hold on his elbow.

"Something has happened to the Mother," Kaego answered as he led them out. "And Tom is in no state to be alone. His magic is… volatile."

Sirius stopped and tried to keep Lucius from moving further. Lucius wrenched his arm free with an exasperated look. "Our babies will protect me, Sirius."

"She's not dead," Kaego was saying as they caught up. "She looks it, but her body temperature has not dropped and there are strong mental vibrations."

"What's that mean?" Sirius asked.

"Brain function is still normal… above normal in which is always the case with our Mother. If she were truly dead, her body temperature would drop and she would go stiff. There would be no brain patterns…"

Entering the room, they found Tom standing like a statue at the foot of the bed, staring at his mate. Fists clenched tightly at his sides, Tom didn't even look to be breathing, but his nostrils flared, and Lucius could immediately see and sense the fury and despair pouring out of the Dark Lord.

The blond turned to the healer. "Did you alert Severus and Hermione?"

"No."

"Well… go do that," the blond hissed. "Really, that should have been the first priority. Tom will need his sister."

The Healer departed but was back in ten minutes and during that time, Tom hadn't moved an inch. Until Kaego stumbled forward, his clothes charred, blood leaking from his nose and ears.

"Merlin, what happened to you?" Sirius asked as he rushed forward to help the injured healer into a chair.

"Hogwarts is under attack. I was unable to Shadow through. But I could probably try again. Now that I'm prepared."

Lucius glanced from Luna to Tom and strode out of the room as quickly as he could, headed for the Floo in his office. Kneeling on the cushion set before the fire, Lucius called to Severus' office and waited.

He was soon faced with Severus visage. "Lucius… and I was only about to contact you. Hogwarts will soon be under attack."

"Yes, I've just heard... any details?"

"The Saen sensed intruders. The clan master has sent over one hundred raiders to the school. But that's only half of our problems, Lucius. The Ministry and Diagon Alley are also under attack."

"We need you here, Severus. Both you and Hermione." Lucius went on to explain the situation with Luna and in the background he could hear Hermione's trembling gasp.

"Knew something must have happened. Hermione found Luna's sketchbook lying out in the lawn…." Severus was obviously torn, by the look of indecision on his face. He paused before answering, turning to look over his shoulder at Hermione, whose legs Lucius could just see. Finally Severus faced him. "We cannot leave, Lucius. The students must be protected. This is our territory. We'll not be the weak ones and retreat. All we can do now is alert the twins and call for reinforcements and you can try and keep Tom calm."

"Severus, you should see what he's like right now…"

"I'm well aware of what that girl means to him," the Potions Master sighed and ran a hand over his face. "We'll try and come soon… and Lucius, you also must remain calm. Get off your knees and go sit down. You've had years of practice dealing with Tom at his worst. This shouldn't be any different."

"This is different! This is teenage Tom who is clearly in love with a girl who appears to have been killed! The skies are darkening as I speak, Severus! Not by any natural occurrence. And it's becoming increasingly harder to breathe with each passing moment."

"That explains the wide open gaping holes littering the lawns," Severus murmured. "Lucius, deal with it. Hermione and I shall travel to the manor as soon as we can. But we can't abandon the imbeciles here, now can we?"

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The Caribbean was a complete success. As was Asia. Every single Ukatae in both locations had quickly pledged loyalty. Though some had to be coerced after the initial meeting. But it wasn't long before Similae was able to talk everyone into joining. The twins learned something on these trips. Similae was at ease with his status and gifted with inspiring people with words. It was easy to see now why the Ukatae in the human world looked up to him.

Currently the twins, Mila, and Similae were holed up in a beach shack back in the Caribbean. It looked like a beach shack on the outside, but inside it was massive. Where on the outside it looked like a one room hut, the inside was two stories with four bedrooms, a dining room, parlor, kitchen… it was quite like wizarding tents. The four of them had gone back for a night off to celebrate gaining over fifty more Ukatae in Asia before they were to move on.

Similae laughed at the twin pouting faces. "You're honestly upset because you didn't get to kill."

"Want to know what its like," Fred answered.

"Yeah, but you're so damn good with talking people into doing anything, Simi," George complained. "No one would ever refuse to pledge loyalty. I'd probably sell my soul if you asked me to!"

Similae ran a finger across the top of George's hand. "Don't look sad. I'll find someone for you to kill."

The move surprised Fred. And by the look on Mila's face, she was surprised too. So far only George had been making those types of moves and usually they were taken with a grain or salt of pushed away as an annoyance… though whenever Similae did the latter, it seemed like he was only playing. But Fred hadn't seen anything to suggest Similae was being affected by George's obvious intentions. As George had said, it only seemed like Similae was humoring because he liked George as a person and not as boyfriend material. In fact their friendship seemed to have grown. Fred often caught them play fighting and on more than one occasion, Similae could be seen hitching a ride on George's back as if they'd done that forever—but Similae never allowed anyone but those currently in the room to see that.

However despite all this, nothing looked at all like they were romantically involved. And yet that move just then had been intimate, and by the way George was staring at Similae, he too was surprised by the move. Similae went on as if he didn't notice the stares and sudden silence and picked up the bottle of beer in front of him.

"Going for a walk," George announced suddenly. He didn't look at his three table mates as he left the house. Stepping off the porch and into the sand, he was unsurprised to see a few number of Ukatae lounging about the beach. This patch of land belonged to Similae. George wasn't sure how many acres there were, but shorty and Mila bought a whole lotta land years and years ago and more than one hut/hidden house resided on the property where Ukatae refugees were allowed to live. So when they arrived in the Caribbean, it quickly became apparent why Similae had been so certain of the loyalty of the elves they were to meet. Every one of them would do what Similae asked. It was because he took care of his own kind even when he didn't need to. He could have turned his back on the refugees, ignored them as he ignored the humans, but Similae made it a mission to try and help other Ukatae get by in the human world.

George's little Ukatae was a dictator too. It was really a sight to see. Because of his willingness to help and the respect he received, Similae was not afraid to use that to get what he wanted from others. He wasn't shy about it and didn't go about it sneakily either. He wanted something, shorty would come right out and say it and expect immediate subservience. And all of that was mixed together in a great little package that George could not resist no matter how hard he tried… though he really didn't try too hard. He craved the Ukatae's body sure, but after seeing him work his magic with other dark elves, George craved everything about him.

Still it seemed his desire was one sided. Even after that little display in the house just now, George knew it couldn't have been anything significant. It was just as Fred had said that day in the diner. Similae was way out of his league and that had become more obvious after watching Similae work his diplomatic magic on this mission. Even so, he did enjoy the friendship they had. And he wasn't going to go depressive and try to push Similae away just because Simi didn't want him like he wanted the older Ukatae.

"Fred? George? Hello!"

George pulled from his inner musings and turned to find Aramel running towards him with a bright smile on her face. Aramel had been one of the first Ukatae they met upon coming to the Caribbean. She was slim, had pretty chocolate brown hair and caramel skin. Her eyes matched the color of her hair. She was nice enough, though more often than not, a little manipulative. She always had a manipulative gleam in her eyes… like now. But George had long since been able to steer clear of any manipulations, so she didn't really bother him too much.

"Ello, Ara. George," he announced, finding it funny that only Similae could tell him apart from his brother. He found it funny, but it also pleased him Simi could tell the difference when to everyone else, there was none.

"What are you doing out here? It's odd to see you alone. Usually you're with Similae and Fred."

"Taking a walk. The others are inside."

After this announcement, Aramel immediately latched onto his arm. "You don't mind company on your walk, do you?" she said and steered him along. George shrugged. Neither noticed the narrowed blue eyes on them as they moved farther away from the beach shack.

Fred and Mila pulled away from their discussion when the front door slammed shut. Both witnessed a flurry of blue hair in the hallway as Similae strode quickly passed the living room and up the stairs. Moments later the sound of things being destroyed had Fred wincing and Mila raising an eyebrow. The two sat in silence, listening to the torrent of destruction, and only moved when everything went quiet several minutes later. Then as one they left the table and bounded up the stairs. Reaching the room at the end of the hall, Mila gently pushed the door open. They found Similae's bedroom trashed from top to bottom. Even the bamboo fan had been targeted and now lay on the floor in splintered pieces. The culprit of the destruction was perched at the open window, glowering out at the night with a cigarette hanging from his lips.

"This happen often?" Fred whispered to Mila.

"No," she replied, staring at the room in shock. "Never."

"Mila." Fred and Mila's attention snapped back upon hearing the low growl. "Go now and intercept Aramel."

"W- what do you want me to do with her?"

Similae didn't answer. Instead he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, and with a rough tap, ashed it. Mila blew out a resigned breath and vanished from Fred's side.

Fred gaped like a fish at the creature crouched on the windowsill. Here was the Dark elf. Nothing about Similae was cute at the moment. Fred could literally feel the hate, fury, and bloodthirsty animalism pouring off in waves. And did Simi just order a death?

The red head quickly backed out of the room when Similae glared at him from the corner of his eye. "What the hell was that about?" he wondered once downstairs again.

Similae returned some time later. "We're leaving. Now. We shouldn't linger. We need to find as many recruits as possible. There are many in the Americas."

"You okay, mate?"

"I'm fine. Find George and Mila. You passed out the Galleons, correct?"

"Yep. And those with them know what to do if they go off."

"Great," Similae replied flatly as he walked passed Fred.

"Listen, if you want to talk--"

"I want you to go find your brother and Mila!!" Fred raised a brow and stared at Similae's back, watching as the short Ukatae's fists clenched at his sides. "I'm sorry," he said after blowing out a breath. He sounded genuinely repentant. " I shouldn't speak to you so disrespectfully."

"Oh come off it, Similae! You're the expert here. We don't mind following your orders, even if we are the new blood… Anyway, something's bothering you."

"No. I'm alright."

"Then what's with the shredding the room to bits? Why did you tell your sister to go kill Aramel?"

Similae turned and gave Fred an innocent look. "I don't believe I said anything like that."

Fred couldn't help but laugh. "You didn't need to say anything, shorty! We felt the order. So… care to tell me what's going on?"

Fred wasn't sure if Similae was going to confess, but he didn't get the chance. Suddenly George returned, looking bewildered.

"The weirdest thing just happened. I was with Aramel and we were walking down the beach talking. And then Mila appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Aramel, and dragged her away. Forcibly. Mila looked… murderous."

A light when on in Fred's head and he looked to Similae with a raised brow. Similae had a sweet innocent look on his face and refused to acknowledge Fred's questioning eyes. Fred turned to his twin. "Think Mila dragged Aramel away to kill her."

Similae glanced at George to gauge his reaction. George looked curious. "Why?"

"Bad blood I think."

"Oh… well sucks for her," George chirped as he crossed to the table where his now warm beer sat. He missed the maliciously pleased grin on Similae's face. But Fred didn't.

"We're off to the Americas," Similae announced.

"What? Now?"

"Yes."

"Wicked! Always wanted to go there, haven't we Fred?"

"Yup." Fred couldn't help but grin knowingly at Similae, who quickly fled the room to get away from that grin.

"Simi!" George was up from the table and after him. "We want to go to Hollywood!"

Fred chased after them. "We can get in to see them make those films!"

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"Do you know where we're going, shorty?"

"No! I'm only leading you in circles for the fun of it!"

"Someone's cranky," George murmured, tugging on the loose blue strand covering one of Simi's eyes.

Similae smacked his hand away. "I am not irritable!"

George snickered and dropped an arm around the cranky sounding Ukatae and was relieved when Similae didn't push him away this time. The twins spent silent moments studying the area. Currently they were walking along a road in downtown Los Angeles; it was the dead of night and still the entire city seemed awake. Did no one sleep here? "Ya know… thought I would like it here. But I don't."

"Yeah," Fred chirped. "It's too loud. Too many people. Too bright. Can't think straight. And what is that unattractive smell in the air?!"

"Smog," Mila answered. "I don't like it here either. Which is why we never really come here. But Similae has a friend who likes it. His friend knows other Ukatae here… Can't see why any elf would live in a place like this though. Willingly."

George looked down, peering at shorty's profile. Similae had been uncharacteristically silent the last few hours. When the last few days he'd hardly shut up. And currently Similae's face was a drawn blank mask. George worried something was bothering him. "Simi," he began.

"We're here," Similae interrupted and pulled away from George's arm to sharply turn and enter the high-rise building they'd been walking beside. George paused before going in; Fred stopped to stand beside him and watched Mila go after her short big brother.

"What's up?" Fred asked. George shrugged, his eyes trailing up until his head was tilted back as far as it could go in order to see the top. "Um… George," he began with uncertainty. George looked at him in question. "Back in the Caribbean… how would you feel- hypothetically speaking of course- if maybe Aramel was killed because shorty ordered it?"

"I'd wonder what she did to Similae to deserve it."

"What if… what if he did it only because he saw her walking down the beach with you?"

George frowned. "I'd be flattered," he responded slowly, "but… Simi doesn't care enough, so that can't be the reason. She must have done something else he didn't like. Something that has nothing to do with me."

Fred had figured George wouldn't have a problem with Similae spontaneously killing people. That was the thing about Ukatae that made living an immortal life in the realm hazardous. It was probably why the population never became too crowded before the Royal massacres. Crimes were settled by death. Most serious disputes were settled by duels to the death or plain murder. It was the Ukatae way. But Fred wondered if he should come out plainly and tell his brother that he knew for a fact it was because Simi had seen him and Aramel walking together. But then he thought, as George finally entered the building, that maybe it would be more fun to watch this play out. Because he'd noticed some Ukatae watching Similae with the same eye George did. But his brother hadn't caught those looks yet. Fred was eager to see George's reaction when he finally did.

"C'mon, slow poke!" George yelled as he held the door open for Fred. "They're waiting in the elevator."

"So," George began as the elevator doors closed and the contraption rose. "You sure we'll have the cooperation of the Ukatae here."

Similae's eyes moved to look at George's reflection on the elevator doors and gave a sharp nod before his gaze moved away from him to Mila. She gave her brother a searching look, but he ignored that as well.

"Why can't we Shadow into this person's flat?"

"You'll end up dead trying to do that," Mila answered. "Curo likes his privacy most times and he'll spend any means protecting it. He's a bit… prudish in that aspect, I guess you could say."

Similae made a sound that could have been a snort as the lift doors opened and he slipped out.

"Also he's very theatrical and most times utterly fake," Mila continued as she and the twins followed Similae down the hall. "Often he steps on my last nerves. I don't know how Similae could have ev--"

Similae spun around, one blue strand swinging to land over an eye. His glare was harsh and he flicked the strand of hair away so that Mila received the two-eyed glare, effectively getting the message across. Mila shut her mouth with a snap, convinced that she should keep it closed. Similae turned on his heel and returned back to his fast paced stride until he came to a door at the end of the hall. As soon as shorty faced the door, it swung open, as if the person inside had been waiting. Which they probably had.

Once inside the furnished and modern flat, Similae led the twins to a sofa and motioned them to sit down before he did so himself, sitting in between George and the arm rest. Mila took up position beside Fred on his armrest after shutting the door. She sighed to herself. "He's being dramatic again," she whispered, her tone full of annoyance. Fred looked up at her with a grin. Mila rolled her eyes.

"Similae, a very pleasant surprise."

Similae stood as a male Ukatae finally entered the spacious living room.

"We've seen this movie," Fred whispered into George's ear as they studied Curo, who was decked out all in white; leather trousers, white silk shirt, and even a long white leather jacket that ended at the ankles. He had a head of long brown hair and lavender eyes.

"Yeah," George agreed. "The Matrix."

Both twins burst out laughing. The corner of Similae's mouth twitched, but other than that he stood perfectly still and waited for Curo to approach him. A white dazzling smile appeared on Curo's handsome face as he took in Similae from head to foot; a smile that put George on edge and had him wondering why he was suddenly grinding his teeth.

The twins watched as Curo placed hands on Similae's cheeks. "So good to see you, Similae." And then to George's horror, the bastard leaned down to press his lips softly against Similae's and shorty didn't push him away. He actually smiled against the other Ukatae's mouth after a few moments. George's claws were back to pressing into his palm.

Fred had thought this kind of thing would be funny. To watch George burn with jealousy. But instead Fred couldn't help but think, "how dare that bastard touch what belongs to my brother?" And that thought shocked Fred. He hadn't any idea where it came from.

"It has been almost two years, Curo," Similae replied softly and in a way that had the twins certain that at one point those two had been lovers.

Looking over, Mila realized the twins should have been told about the relationship Similae and Curo had had at one time. Because both wore faces of complete surprise and their eyes were so very cold. George's more than Fred's. Her gaze lowered and her lips parted in surprise when she saw blood dripping from George's palms. Mila stood quickly and grabbed his wrist. Forcibly pulling him to his feet.

"Come with me," She whispered, tugging at him. "Please."

George let her pull him away, though he paused outside of the hallway. "Fred. Give him the order. This is not a social call," he roughly stated. Fred nodded and was immediately on his feet, pulling out the Royal summons. Similae turned halfway and caught George's eye. Similae looked surprised at the harsh tone he'd used.

Curo smiled at Simi's back and placed a hand on top of his head. Before George could snarl and move to rip the bastard's hand off, Mila started tugging him again until they came upon a door down the hall which led to a spacious bathroom, white everywhere. She pulled him in and shut the door and then placed herself between it and the seething redhead before grabbing his hands to heal them.

"Never seen you two look so serous… so angry. You're always grinning. Even over death." George said nothing. He was glaring over her head at the door. "Would it help to know they are no longer involved? That it was never emotional on Similae's part?"

Finally some response. George looked her square in the eye. "Didn't look that way to me. Simi never smiled when I kissed him."

"You have no idea why he was smiling. Maybe," Mila smiled softly, "maybe my brother was seeking confirmation about something. That smile was one of understanding. You shouldn't jump to conclusions. Similae likes to experiment. I think he found the result to his liking…"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" George yelled incredulously.

"Sometimes stubbornness equals stupidity," Mila returned, her frustrations rising along with her voice. "You are misunderstanding me."

"Whatever. None of my business anyway," George replied dejectedly. Mila opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when someone began to bang on the bathroom door.

"The Galleons are going off!" Fred yelled.

They quickly vacated the bathroom, pulling out the tokens as they did so. The serial numbers were now replaced by flashing words. HOGWARTS. DIAGON ALLEY. MINISTRY. URGENT!!!

George's prior worries disappeared as he clutched the coin within a fist. "We need to go now. Three places. We'll need reinforcements."

"You two go," Similae said, rushing to their sides. "Mila and I will gather the others we've recruited and meet you there."

"Hurry!" Fred implored. "There aren't enough Ukatae at Hogwarts to protect all three places."

"Will there be a battle?" Curo inquired, coming to stand right behind Similae. "Delightful." He placed a hand on Similae's shoulder. "Shall we gather the Ukatae here before joining your friends?"

If they weren't pressed for time, George was quite sure he'd explode. He now knew what it felt like to want to take a life. To want to and enjoy doing it ever so much. But then Similae was staring at him and shrugged the hand off his shoulder. His eyes had gone wide and he looked both delighted and wary. George only had time to wonder how shorty could pull off such a conflicting expression before Fred grabbed him and they Shadowed away.

They landed in the Headmasters office in a painful daze after who knows how long- though the twins were sure the trip lasted longer than it usually would have. They fell into a bloody heap on the cold stone floor where they were immediately surrounded by six swords and a dozen or so wands.

"It's us!" Fred croaked as he tried to move off George.

"What happened to you?!" Hermione cried, knocking Severus sword away and dropping to her knees in order to look over their wounds. Lucky the wounds were only superficial. The blood only made it seem worse.

"We were in Los Angeles when we got the call," George started.

"Shadowed straight here. Whoever is attacking…"

"Is waiting for those Shadowing to and from."

"They cursed us on the way in," Fred ended.

The professors dropped their wands while the Four Founders and Severus dropped the swords before helping the twins up. "You know what to do," Severus told the Founders and professors. Everyone confirmed that they did before quickly leaving the office, leaving Severus, Hermione, and the twins alone.

Severus gave the twins a look over. "Looks like you handled the cursing well."

"We fought back," George announced with a grin.

"They'll have to try a lot harder than that to get rid of us!" Fred agreed.

"And where are the reinforcements?" Severus inquired lowly. "Surely you've done something worthwhile on your trip."

"Similae went to round them up. Tell us what's going on."

"Hogwarts has not been breached… yet," Severus began. "But a large number of Ukatae are present within the boundaries. Ginny, Blaise, and Pansy are setting up protections for the students in the Room of Requirement. Diagon Alley is in the process of being attacked. A large number of raiders are there. No Mindless though, so that's a blessing. Neville, Dudley, and the Lestrange brothers are there. Luckily, Dudley sensed the attack before it began and most of the customers were either sent home or ushered through the portal into Wizarding Way before the attack. We haven't Harry or Draco here to help. They've gone to the realm. And Tom…." Severus lifted a hand to rub his face. The twins were surprised to see he looked mournful.

"Something happened to Tom?" George whispered fearfully.

"Luna," Hermione murmured. "Something's happened to Luna. Tom found her outside lying in the lawn. She wasn't moving or even breathing…" she broke off and pressed her face against Severus' chest when his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Severus summoned the sketchbook lying on his desk and passed it to them. "She's envisioned a death."

"Hers?"

"At this point we don't know. For all intents and purposes, she looks to be dead. But we've received word from Malfoy Manor. Luna's temperature hasn't dropped and her brain function is normal. All her organs have simply frozen. As if she's been put under an odd stasis. And her eyes… they are white. Whatever is happening to her, it has to do with the Mother."

"This," Fred murmured looking at the picture, "is for someone else. One of us is going to die tonight."

"Let's get on with it then," George stated. "Where do you want us?"

"George, don't go losing your head just because shorty kissed the Matrix guy," Fred said firmly.

"Fuck. Off. This isn't about him. Where do you want us?"

Severus wasn't even going to ask. "The Ministry. Your parents are there."

The twins' eyes widened comically. "Mum's there?! Fighting?"

"She," Severus went on with a sneer, "nor her friends could be stopped once they heard what was happening. The Ministry is under full attack at this very moment. Seems to me the Ministry is being hit the hardest."

"We'll pop into Dad's office," Fred said. George nodded. Hopefully there would be no enemies in there. "Similae will probably come here with the reinforcements."

"What are you going to do about the bastards hiding in the forest?" inquired Fred.

"Wait for reinforcements," Severus answered. "It would be idiotic to try and intercept them at the moment."

"Simi wont take long," George assured. "He'll be here as soon as he can."

"You two stay safe!" Hermione pleaded as she jumped forward to embrace them.

"Take the Floo," Severus instructed once she pulled back. "I don't believe they know anything about the Wizards' Floo system… Remember your training. Do not prove to me Falde wasted his time on you two."

"Ah, Sev. It's so good to see you worrying about us." The twins- with crafty smiles- tried to lunge forward and hug him. Only to be stopped by the point of his sword.

"Go," he growled. The twins grinned and backed away to the Floo.

When they were both gone, Hermione's eyes widened and she rounded on her mate. "Severus! They don't have any weapons! They've gone to battle without being armed!"

The headmaster sighed and grabbed her arm, leading her out of the office to find Blaise and Ginny. "Those two don't need steel to cause damage. I must admit, they are very creative."

"Why do you think they are waiting? In the forest. Why not attack now? Why give us time to prepare?"

"A diversion, love. This is all one elaborate deadly diversion."

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Similae and every single recruit found appeared in the Slytherin common room by Ukatae circle. The common room was empty and he couldn't sense any humans, which was troubling. But there were so many elves that it was also a blessing the common room was empty; there were so many recruits now that it was impossible to breathe without bumping into someone. "All of you await here for orders."

"Who put you in charge?"

Similae ground his teeth as he turned to lock eyes with those of Duran. And while Similae sensed Mila, Curo and several others moving to stand in support behind him, those behind Duran began to back away. Especially after Similae's sword suddenly appearing in hand.

"Are we really going to do this here? Right now?" Similae asked softly. Duran watched him with silent determination. "Fine. We'll settle this in a mature fashion. Who here feels Duran should be in charge?"

Several elves behind Duran raised thier hands- the ones who were always at Duran's beck and call- until Similae's blank stare landed on them. He grinned with menace and those hands fell limply back to their sides.

"No one?" Similae didn't bother looking around at all the tense faces. "Seems the matter is settled, Duran." Finally he turned away from the nuisance. "As I said before, all of you await here for orders."

"I'll tend to those who need healing," Mila announced.

Similae gave her a small smile before turning and parting the crowds with a glare and strode towards the common room entrance. He'd only taken a few steps out of the room before the headmaster and his mate appeared before him.

"How many have you brought?" Severus asked at once.

"Nearly two hundred. I must confess that's more than I thought escaped from the realm. And we haven't even gone to all the places I wanted to check."

For once the dour Headmaster looked pleased.

Hermione went on to describe the situation. "The clan master has posted forces in our forest. Diagon Alley has been infiltrated, but from reports we've received, causing harm to the structures seems to be his only goal at that location. The Ministry is another matter. Wizarding Ministry workers are being targeted. He wants to destroy the working order of things."

"Seems to be his favorite past time," Similae murmured. "But why target the humans?"

"We don't know," Hermione answered. "But we can guess. He's angry. And destroying the world Harry and Draco grew up in seems a good way to get back at them. Attacking this school, killing the students… he's under the assumption we haven't any power to stop him… that's our fault. We've been giving Weasley false information to back that up. Should have known that would come back to bite us when we least expected it."

"Regardless of that, after this Harry and Draco will not be able to keep their status as the Ukatae Emperors a secret," Severus hissed. "The Wizarding world will demand answers. They'll blame Harry and Draco because this society is fickle. They'll blame Tom. This causes us so many problems. Weasley must have told him about that as well…" Severus trailed off seeing the blue haired elf in front of him shifting from foot to foot. His lips were pinched to thin white lines and he squirmed where he stood. The Headmaster raised an eyebrow and had the incredible urge to ask if Similae needed help to the bathroom, knowing the little whelp wouldn't appreciate the insinuation at all. Hermione's sidelong glance stopped him from saying it though.

"Am I boring you?" he asked instead.

"Where are the twins?" Similae burst out.

"Gone to the Ministry where their parents are fighting."

"I'm going there!" Similae said forcibly. "Someone needs to show me the way!"

"Very well," Severus said with a raised brow. "Take half your recruits. Ginny Weasley will go with you. She's had plenty experience babysitting-"

"Severus!"

The Headmaster smirked before spinning on his heel and striding away. "I'll send Ginny to you as soon as I find her."

"Show me the recruits, please Similae. I'll need them separated into archers and infantry before sending them out into different locations."

"Of course, my lady."

Suddenly Hermione stopped right outside the common. "Thank you for reminding me…" she said, trusting her bow and sword into his hands and setting the full quiver she had onto the ground beside her.

Similae cocked his head to the side in confusion when she remained quiet and closed her eyes. A moment later she was standing there wearing a long white tailored tunic and soft brown trousers. Similae itched to touch the fabric. It was obviously Ukatae made and it had been so long since he'd worn anything made from his own people.

"Can't go in there looking like a school girl, now can I? Not when I'm the sister of the Emperors. What kind of first impression would that make?"

"Ah, going formal now then?"

"Now is the time for it." She took back her sword and sheathed it in the scabbard at her waist. Similae bent to pick up the quiver filled with arrows and handed it to her. She took and shouldered it. With a hand on the hilt of her sword, she motioned to the Slytherin Entrance by waving her bow towards it. "Shall we?"

They were once again blocked from entering by Hermione's Saen. She sighed and waved him foreword. Within the common room, everyone paused and quieted when the wall slid open to reveal the Saen. The Royal guard's eyes swept around the room and not one person was left out of his sight before he stepped aside to reveal Hermione, closely followed by Similae.

"Attention, please! I need anyone who has experience with a bow to please go out into the hall behind me." Nearly half the recruits lined up and filed out of the common room. "Right. Now then, those of you who do not have weapons on you, please congregate to the left of the common room." A quarter of the remaining Ukatae moved. "Splendid. Those without weapons will be led to our armory and we'll equip you with your weapon of choice."

It was then Blaise and Ginny appeared and they had also changed from their school uniforms into clothes similar to Hermione's, though Ginny wore a cloak over her shoulders. The Head Girl thought that was perhaps in order to hide the girl's wing sacs, as she was slightly self-conscious about those.

Hermione turned to Similae. "I've been told there are no archers at the Ministry, so we'll keep ours here- we'll need them- and you and Ginny will go now with those already equipped with weapons. Blaise, take this group," she pointed to the Ukatae without weapons, "to the armory." Hermione turned to the group at large. "Your orders are simple. Kill any Ukatae wearing a black and red armband. You will not kill humans and should you have any questions… please hold them until the battles have been won."

Ginny and Blaise shared a quick good bye before Blaise left with his group. Ginny took her group by Circle along with Similae. Mila remained behind at the castle. She was very good with a bow.

Hermione led the remaining twenty or so Ukatae out of the common room to join with the archers waiting in the hall. As she strode down the single line, Hermione pulled out a two-way mirror and activated it. "Pansy."

A few seconds passed before Pansy appeared, draped from head to foot in a dark cloak. Her face was barely visible within the hood of her cloak. "Here."

Hermione looked over her shoulder to make sure the recruits were following, and they were, before replying. "Any Mindless or raiders in the village?"

"No," Pansy replied, sounding surprised. "Not one. They are keeping to the forest. This must be a strictly Hogwarts invasion." The Slytherin snorted, "horrible tactics if you ask me."

"Good for us though. We'll be joining you shortly."

"Wonderful," Pansy drawled, not seeming the least bit interested. Hermione smiled as the mirrors disconnected. Severus was there to meet her at the top of the stairs with half the professors.

"I could use Neville's help here," Hermione murmured once she'd joined her mate's side. "To build a wall. He's better than Harry building walls of thick vines…"

"Unfortunately we do not have Neville--"

"Excuse me, my lady…"

Hermione turned around to find a girl with long red hair who was in the process of curtsying to her. "But I could help you with that. Curo also," she said, gesturing to the male beside her. "We're trained in earth magic."

Hermione bounced on her toes and smiled up at Severus. He nodded to the two standing before him. "Good. Now we have a complete plan."

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Harry had not expected the cave to have a long flooded tunnel leading into it. Lucky he and Draco had charmed their lungs before entering the water, otherwise they would have drowned long ago- though the charm was slowly beginning to fade and Draco's claws were beginning to sink into his neck with impatient trepidation. The tunnel went on for what seemed like miles, but at least it was also too narrow for the guardian to fit and chase after them. Which angered the serpent, for Harry could feel the walls of the tunnel vibrating, and Harry was sure that was due to the sea serpent ramming against the cave entrance in fury.

Finally the tunnel opened up into an underground pool, the water here was crystal clear and didn't sting his eyes so much. Harry flew out of the water, barely noticing that the surface shimmered as they emerged. As he landed and Draco jerked away to fall on his knees, Harry thought the pool must have a spell over it, keeping the sea from crashing in and flooding the rest of the caves.

"We made it! We made it, we made it," Harry sang, dancing around before facing the pool they'd just climbed from. "Take that you big arsed serpent!" He turned back to Draco. "That was bloody wicked! Did you see the length of that monst--"

Harry's mouth snapped shut when he suddenly found himself pressed against the cave wall by a seething wet blond Ukatae, whose eyes were promising retribution for his current discomfort and prior scare. Upon looking into those wide smoldering silver eyes, Harry lost it. He snorted before breaking down and giggling.

Suddenly Draco poked the center of his forehead and grinned. "You are mental, Harry!"

"And you're kind of heavy," Harry laughed. "Almost didn't get out of that boat."

Draco spun away from him and unwrapped the trembling snake coiled tightly around his wrist. "Something is seriously wrong with you!"

"Calm down, lover. We're good," the brunet replied as he stripped off his tunic and lay it on the ground before starting on his pants. Draco quickly following suit. Performing drying charms on clothes was best done when not on the body. It kind of left the skin sticky when you left your clothes on. Once they had dried their clothes- and thoroughly cleaned them on Draco's part- they redressed and sat down facing each other. The pool to one side, where Draco's eyes continued to drift in case the monster somehow made it through the tunnel, and on the other side there were four tunnels leading further underground.

The blond watched as Lovely took up her favorite position around his lover's neck, squeezing tighter than usual. Draco smirked. Lovely hadn't liked the past experience one bit either. "We're probably right under the palace," he murmured as Harry reread his journal entries while caressing his familiar in order to get her relaxed.

"Could be," Harry replied absently.

Draco shook his head. "That flooded tunnel was long enough to have reached the city center," he said with assurance.

Harry shrugged and turned eyes onto the four tunnels. "Maybe we should split up…" he said after a moment.

Draco's responding look was all-around flat. "And maybe you should shut up with the insane ideas."

"Fine. Let's go down that one," Harry pointed to the middle right tunnel.

"The scroll says the one least expected. The middle seems pretty obvious to me."

"Yes, which seems the least expected."

"Think we should go down that one." Draco pointed to the far left tunnel. And before Harry could argue, because he would have, Draco stood and strode towards it.

"Git."

When he caught up with the blond, Harry was disappointed when the tunnel didn't light up at their presence. But he gave it some more time before saying, "this isn't it."

"We haven't taken twenty steps, Harry."

"No. This isn't it. Doesn't feel right and it's curving the wrong way."

Harry was staring at him. Silently begging for trust. The blond sighed. "Explain."

"In my dreams I could sense things. One thing I could sense was the direction. In my dreams the tunnels were heading southwest. This tunnel is leading us up and east, which makes no sense. Going east leads us back to the cliffs, back to the sea."

"Okay." Draco grabbed his hand; they turned around and returned to the stone room with the crystal pool. Draco immediately led them to another passage; not the one Harry wanted to go through.

They walked in silence until the cave walls started trembling and dust began to fall down from above. The two looked up in surprise. "That can't be the guardian," Harry thought aloud.

Draco was silent. Soon they could hear resounding booms accompanying the tremors of the tunnel. "The city is under attack."

As soon as he spoke, Harry gasped and started rummaging around in the bag until he found what he was looking for. Moments later he had the enchanted Galleon clutched in hand.

"He's attacking everywhere!" Harry snarled, throwing Draco the Galleon. Draco studied it a moment then clutched his fist around the metal.

"We can't go back. We can't go back to help, Harry."

"But… Caellum. Draco, they'll need our help!"

"Our son is safe at the manor. He's safe with Ozemir, Brumek, Father, and Sirius. This has to be finished tonight, love. That's the only way we can help anyone now. He's dividing our forces, thinning our power by attacking so many places."

Harry nodded and they took off. A sense of urgency guiding their actions when before the search had been done at a leisurely pace. But though Harry allowed the urgency to take over completely, Draco kept a cool head, which was how he was able to save his mate from certain death.

"Harry, stop!" he called to the brunet who was running ahead of him.

"What? Why? This tunnel leads in the right direction."

"Just stop and take a moment to breathe, okay. Something feels… wrong."

Harry stopped. Draco found a stone lying close to his feet and picked it up. His silver eyes danced around the seemingly safe cave beyond Harry as he tossed the stone from hand to hand. "Something feels terribly wrong." In that he felt like hands were pushing his shoulders back, as if he needed to leave the cave immediately. His heart was beating rapidly, his chest felt clouded and his breath wasn't coming easily. He wanted Harry to return to his side immediately. "Harry, come here," he ordered in a hard firm voice that always had Harry jumping to follow the command. Harry loved that voice.

And Harry did as he said. Once Draco had a tight arm around his waist, holding the brunet against his chest, Draco tossed the stone down the tunnel where it landed a foot from where Harry had been standing. As soon as the stone landed, a deafening roar surged around them as the ground dropped. The two jerked away as the air in the tunnel was sucked down into a bottomless pit. Harry gaped as Draco dragged him away. Not even his wings would have been able to fight that air current. He would have been lost.

Once out of that passage, the two leaned against the rocky wall, taking deep breaths. "Well," Harry murmured, "two down. Two to go… the others must have some sort of trap too."

"Probably… but this place was made for us. I think if anyone other than Royal blood comes down here, they wouldn't be able to sense the traps."

"Stupid scroll could have warned us. In fact, why doesn't it just tell us exactly how to get there! This is stupid!"

"Are you really mad about that or the fact I just saved your life."

Harry scratched the back of his neck and turned away to study the other two passageways. "You know the answer to that."

Draco did in fact know the answer. He knew Harry liked it when the blond saved him. "Whatever," Harry said with an eye roll at the smirking blond. "Let's go down this one." He pointed to the second middle one. The one he'd wanted to go down in the first place.

Apparently that was the right one. After fifteen minutes of walking and no tarps, they finally walked out of the narrow passage into a round polished cavern lined with more passageways. Above each passage was a stone plaque with worn out ancient Ukatae drawings upon them. Harry grinned smugly when the room instantly lit up upon their first steps into the round chamber. Old, dusty and cobweb covered sconces burst into life and the walls seemed to pulse along with their heartbeats. Designs similar to the ones on their arms appeared on the walls, fading in and out like waves here and there, swimming around at a leisurely pace.

Harry glanced at his mate with a cheeky grin. Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, fine. You were right in the first place. But let's see you pick the right tunnel this time." The blond waved a hand around to encompass the dozen passages surrounding them.

Harry grabbed his hand and pulled Draco straight across the room into the tunnel directly opposite them without any hesitation. "This is the one. Dreamed of this one. Of that picture," the Gryffindor said, pointing to the plaque as he tugged his husband beneath it.

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The Ministry of Magic was an odd underground compound made up of many levels. Numerous levels in which many witches and wizards were still trapped in and being hunted by the raiders. When Similae arrived he and the others quickly spit up, taking different ways. Similae left on his own after a time, looking for the twins and killing any raiders he came across. He'd been told about those deranged Ukatae the clan master had begun to change that were now being called the Mindless, but so far he hadn't come across any of those.

It wasn't easy going by any means, but Similae had trained enough at the Academy and since then kept up with training exercises that he made a formidable opponent. He'd have to be since whenever he made threats they were never bluffs. As he ran through, descending lower into the complex, he passed many humans who'd already lost their lives. They didn't really concern him, though he understood the Emperors would feel differently. Honestly the only people Similae cared about were his own people, the twins and the family belonging to those two. He worried about their sister as well since she was very young and couldn't have been in training long. Though from what he gathered after spending a short time with her when they first entered into the battle, Similae understood she was a smart one and would not go down easily.

A quarter of an hour passed before he found them. He came to a sudden stop, finding the twins at the end of the hall he had just turned in to. Fred and George were peeking around the far corner, their gazes set on three raiders who were terrorizing two witches. He watched the twins chant an incantation, which caused the ceiling to cave in over the raiders heads and the witches were able to scuttle away unharmed. But that wasn't the last part. Once the ceiling was down over the raiders heads, the twins darted forward and dragged the three dazed rogues out and stabbed them in the throats with their own swords; twisting to make sure nothing could be done to save them.

"Awesome!" Fred exclaimed as he dropped the sword onto one of the raider's still chests.

"Yeah, well done!" George returned. They jumped and high-fived each other before taking off towards Similae, though they had yet to notice he was there. They were dirty and had several gashes over their bodies, but other than that Similae was relieved to see they were unharmed. And… he had to admit to the excitement coursing through him at seeing them well. And more than excitement seeing George relatively unscathed. And the devilish grins on both boys' faces were contagious. Obviously they were having a lot of fun.

"Simi!"

Said Ukatae was shaken from his thoughts when arms wrapped around him tightly, pulling him off his feet into a bone-crushing hug.

"You're not mad at me anymore?" he murmured against George's throat, wrapping arms around the redhead's neck to hold on just as tightly.

George stiffened at feeling those lips against his throat. "Killing rogue Ukatae is very therapeutic," he responded hoarsely.

"And he was never mad at you to begin with. Might want to keep Matrix guy away from him though," Fred said with a snicker. "Anyway, come on. Put shorty down, bro. We got more defenseless humans to save." George deposited back to the floor and they started off.

Similae jogged directly in front of George. And because he hadn't missed the red head's reaction to the brush of his lips, Similae adopted a smirk and suddenly stopped running and braced himself. George barreled right into him. That's nice, Similae thought, feeling the red head's arousal against his back. George wrapped an around Similae's waist to keep them both from tumbling to the ground. And shamelessly pulled the blue haired Ukatae against him until not even air could find room between them.

"We're in the middle of an attack! You do realize that, don'cha?" Fred asked in exasperation.

"Your parents?" Similae asked as he pulled away, seemingly oblivious to George's current predicament.

"Dad was attacked early on," Fred answered as they began to jog down the hall.

"Injured, but he'll live. Right now he's running around somewhere with Kingsley," George elaborated. "And Mum…" the twins grinned at each other. "She took her revenge with the gang's help. It's so weird…. Those four are scary, mate. Scary."

"Wish Tom were here," Fred said. "He could take these bastards out in no time with one spell."

"He's that good?"

"You have no idea. His magic is as powerful as it ever was."

"Where is he?"

Before an answer could be given, they were quickly occupied in a battle with five raiders. Similae whipped out his thin blade and charged two of the rogues. His height was a definite advantage in this situation as he engaged in battle, placing himself between two raiders and crouching just as one swung a sword at him. As he crouched the sword missed him and pierced the other raider in the gut. Similae spun away and behind the injured Ukatae. He turned to the wall, jumped and ran up it before spinning around and swiping his sword across the back of the injured rogue's neck to behead him. Similae shouldered the dead body away before it could even fall and faced the other raider.

"Is this all he's sent? Easy targets?" he scoffed as they faced off. The raider attacked silently and instead of ducking as the enemy expected, Similae jumped high into the air. The blade of the raider swiped inches under his feet and Similae simultaneously drove his sword down into the raider's chest. Hissing in pleasure as his blade tore into the treasonous heart. Similae landed with a smug smirk. "Expected more."

He turned to see how the twins were faring or in need of assistance, only to find them standing still and gawking at him. The Ukatae they had been fighting already dead at their feet. He pouted a little. He'd wanted to see their fighting forms. "What are you staring at?"

Again, before they could answer, four raiders all armed to the teeth interrupted them ran into the corridor. Two males, two females. These four didn't look to be looking for a fight though. It looked like they'd been in too many already and were ready to retreat.

Similae glanced at the two beside him and noticed something very important. "Where are your swords?" he whispered.

"Swords?" Fred asked innocently before looking to his brother.

George smirked darkly. "We don't need swords, mate."

Just as he said that, the four raiders jerked as their skulls were suddenly cracked open by large pieces of rock that had been forcibly thrown at their heads from behind. Again, Similae looked to the twins, expecting that this was somehow their doing, but Fred and George looked as confused as he did. Seconds passed and the raiders stumbled and fell. Similae shot forward and brandished his weapon, swiping it from one side of the hall to the next.

The four ladies who'd been standing behind the raiders cringed when the heads of the four raiders rolled cleanly off their shoulders.

"Mum!"

"Fred, George!" Molly exclaimed happily, and jumped forward to embrace her sons. But when she moved back, the Weasley matriarch leveled a severe glare at them, making the grins of her sons slip a little. "You two will procure swords and keep them on you… THIS INSTANT!!!"

Similae couldn't help but laugh hysterically at their cowed expressions as they rushed to grab two swords from two of the beheaded raiders. He pulled himself together a moment later then moved around, giggling a little as he studied the two remaining blades. "Ah, this one's nice. Where did she get this?" Similae murmured as he bent down to snatch up the thin curved blade from the dead female. "It's mine now-"

Two arrows struck him in the side out of nowhere. A tiny surprised gasp escaped his lips as he lost his balance and began to fall over. George lurched forward to catch him while Fred's stunned gaze scanned the hallway before them, searching for the attacker and finding him at the corner. He saw strands of yellow hair whip around the corner and out of sight. None of the raiders here had bows, that much he knew. So it had to have been one of the recruits. And there was only one he knew with hair that color. And only one who seemed to really have problems with shorty.

"Duran!" Fred bellowed as he took off running, knowing his brother would see to Similae and get shorty some help.

Duran pulled back from around the corner, cursing his carelessness at being caught and he didn't sense her until it was too late. A long curved dagger swept into his line of sight and he only had time to widen his eyes in realization before it was all over. Ginny held the hilt of her long curved dagger tightly with two white knuckled fists as she swung it with a loud angry shout. Her strike was so hard that the blade passed through the bastard's heart and embedded into the stone behind him. Duran's yellowed eyes were wide with surprise and pain, and the bow in his hand slipped from his grasp to the floor.

"My brothers are very fond of him," she hissed as she finally retracted her dagger. Fred skidded to a halt, seeing his baby sister had already dispatched the treacherous arsehole.

"Nice job, Gin," he murmured.

"Wish I'd been closer to stop him though," she hissed and kicked Duran's body. "When did he steal that bow anyway? We left almost immediately from Hogwarts…"

"Unless he ducked back to the school after arriving here… I don't know. Don't care either. He's dead now."

When he and Ginny had rejoined the group, Similae was laid out on the floor and despite the pain he must be in, the short Ukatae looked more pissed off than anything. "Stop fussing," he groaned. "The wounds aren't lethal. Duran couldn't kill a mouse unless it was lying right under his boot."

"Honey, you lie still and keep quiet," Alice said softly as she and Amortia fingered the arrows, preparing to pull them out. "You've still been severely injured."

"You let us be the judge of how bad it is," Molly went on with a nod of agreement to Alice.

"We're still in the midst of a battle," Similae breathed heavily. "You can't stop everything only for a small wound!"

George ground his teeth. "It's not a small wound and I'm taking you to Kaego right now."

"No!" Similae struggled to sit up, but George's hands were deeply imbedded into his hair, keeping his head in the redhead's lap. George's mother and her friends were holding him down as well. "Just pull the arrows out! I'll wrap the wounds. I'm not leaving till this battle is over!"

"It's over, Similae. We're going to win this one," Ginny said with a grin. When she had every ones attention on her, she went on. "That's why I'm here. To find you and tell you Tom's arrived. And he's not happy." As soon as Ginny finished speaking, the ground began to tremble and Fred inhaled deeply.

"Oh yeah. That's Tom. Can taste his magic from here."

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Indeed Tom was at the Ministry of Magic standing before the water fountain within the Atrium. Standing tall, proud, and determined while surrounded by several Death Eaters as he carved out runes around him in a circle with the tip of his sword. The Death Eaters were there as his protection, allowing him to finish with his task without being interrupted. Although at the moment the Atrium was currently lacking any battles. There were only dead bodies lying around. But he could still hear the sounds of battles from many floors down and deeper in the ministry. He was only halfway done when Kingsley literally fell out of one of the elevators across the room.

"One of you go and help the Head Auror," Tom murmured without taking his eyes away from the ground. Kingsley was helped over and only when the last rune had been etched into the ground did Tom look to find the Auror being held up by another Ministry worker. "You've survived. Wondered if you would."

"Ukatae are hard to kill, but being creative with spells gives us somewhat of an advantage," the black Auror grimaced in a way that looked like he was trying to smile around the long gash down his face. "Took some notes from Fred and George."

"Hmmm," Tom returned his attention to study the runes, making sure they were perfect. "Someone fetch one of the raiders armbands. The red and black fabric on the arm."

When he had the armband, Tom instructed those around him to back away and to remain still and silent. Kingsley only moved a few feet away, curious and wary as to what the Dark Lord was planning to do. He'd given his answer to Harry weeks ago. The Auror decided to willingly join the new regime, but he was still wary of Tom and figured he had every right to be. Tom Riddle was still very powerful; his power rivaled that of his brothers and should the Dark Lord go back to his old ways, the world would be lost. Tom was already at the top. There would be no way to bring him down. Kingsley figured he would always have that worry with him until the day he died.

The Dark Lord took a deep breath before backing up and dropping the armband dead center of the small rune circle. A moment was used to summon up his strength before ramming the tip of his blade into the armband and embedding the steel far into the ground. The show of physical strength had everyone looking on in shock and backing away further.

Tom ignored those around him and split his senses three ways. To his sword; a conduit into the earth. Then to the armband. And the rest on the runes surrounding him. He began to breathe deeply, preparing for the massive amount of power needed to complete the ground began trembling softly underfoot as the sword vibrated within his hands. The runes began to glow a dark blue-almost black- as the sword directed his magic into the ground and infused the runes with the power spilling from him. Tom had to make sure to push any excess emotions away. Becoming so ensnared in his current feelings might lead to the spell breaking free and lashing out at those beyond the intended targets. The spell could break free from his control and consume even himself if he weren't careful.

The uneasiness Kingsley felt tripled as the ground began to quake and the expressions on Tom's face evaporated, leaving cold hard eyes. Tom's grip around the hilt of the sword tightened as the runes began to glow. Those around him shifted nervously as the power from the Dark Lord saturated them. Kingsley understood this spell was intended for harm and so was prepared for the darkness of the spell mingling with his magic and making him feel ill.

Tom spoke no words. Only continued to breathe deeply and gaze steadily at the armband beneath his blade. The runes continued to glow, the bright light intensifying until Kingsley had to look away. It was the fact that his breathing became labored under a heavy pressure, and not the collective round of gasps around him that he realized the spell was nearly to its peak. When he opened his eyes again, a cylindrical wall of light surrounded Tom. Dark and heavy and bright all at the same time. Glowing orange and white like fire spewing from a volcano.

All the Auror could see of the Dark Lord's face were his eyes; glowing brighter than the rune circle around him. And then Tom's eyes slid shut and the barrier pulsed, sending a shock wave of invisible power out, knocking everyone standing in the Atrium down off their feet. The shock wave traveled out and through every passage and through every wall and when Kinsley could see the light of the shock wave no more, the barrier around Tom dissolved, and the Dark Lord sank to his knees. No one moved from their felled positions as after a few seconds, they saw the raiders who were already dead around them begin to smoke, skin peeling and cracking. The cracks gave way to smoldering fire until all the bodies began to burn from the inside out. Burned so fast they were ash within seconds.

"Merlin help us," Kingsley whispered. Just what kind of being had they willingly put in charge?

Tom shifted to look at him, a tired smirk on his face. "You'll need Merlin no longer."

All throughout the Ministry, anyone wearing the red and black striped armbands suddenly stopped moving. And then all at once started screaming. Fred pulled his eyes away from watching George fuss with a stubborn Similae just in time to see two raiders running towards them, as if they were trying to escape something. The two stumbled and fell onto their stomachs a few feet away. Fred and his group watched with fascination as the raiders internally combusted. The other bodies of the raiders doing the same.

"Merlin's balls!" Fred exclaimed. Molly narrowed her eyes and clocked him beside the head.

"Language, Fred!"

"But… Mum! Look what Tom did!"

"Never mind that!" Molly said as the shouts of relieved victory began to rebound around the Ministry "Let's get you up and home, dear," she said to Similae. She, Alice, Petunia, and Amortia helped shorty up.

The twins wanted to go as well to make sure their new friend would be fine, but Similae shook his head as he leaned against the wall. "You don't need to follow after me. Go and round up your rebels and lead them to the school or wherever else you need them. I'm fine." He proved this by poking the now wrapped wounds, flinching when he did more harm than good.

"Now that was just stupid," Amortia said when the wounds began to bleed again.

Similae stamped his foot. "It was not!" he whined just as the gang grabbed him and Shadowed him to Malfoy Manor.

Fred laughed outright while George found humor in Similae's attitude, but couldn't help but be worried about him.

"He's in good hands," Ginny reassured him. "Come on. Sure Hermione and Sev need our help… maybe. Though by now it's probably all over."

"What about Diagon Alley?"

"Are you kidding?" she asked with a raised brow. "With Neville and Dudley there working along with the Lestrange brothers. Working with magic against raiders who only want to do structural harm?"

"So that fight should pretty much be over by now," George surmised with a laugh. Fred nodded.

"Dudley probably went berserk seeing the buildings he's already had to rebuild once go down again. And then you know what happens to Neville when he's severely pissed off…."

"Okay!" George chirped. "That fight's been won! On to Hogwarts!"

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At the time Similae was being forced back to the manor, Ozemir lay in a chaise lounge within the nursery and reading to Caellum who was cradled against his chest. He read softly, trying to keep from worrying too much over his young ones. The ones in the realm and the others who were right this very moment fighting Demai'Tah's forces in London and Hogwarts. Ozemir had faith in the young ones abilities against the raiders at Hogwarts and in London. They'd been taught by the very best after all, and the clan master did not know about the recruits recently brought to their side. Not only that but Demai'Tah did not send enough forces to really vanquish anyone. He merely sent enough to create a distraction.

And because Ozemir had a good idea what that distraction was, the Scholar sent his mate away to the realm to find and help Falde and Talyn, who were no doubt deep within battle trying to protect the capital city from being overrun before Harry and Draco could activate the border protections. Oh, Brumek had ranted and raved and at first refused to go, especially since something had happened to the Mother. But Ozemir reasoned he knew Demai'Tah would not give up this time without having secured Borsteria for his own. Perhaps the clan master wanted to keep the young ones occupied so that they wouldn't think to try and travel to the realm and find a way to activate the protections before he could lay claim. It was a good plan, but unfortunately for Demai'Tah, Harry and Draco were already in the realm. So if that was the clan master's plan, his tactic was severely wasted. Brumek finally went, knowing this would only end if the Emperors could get the job done without being distracted. And really, the warrior had been itching for a battle. He'd been going stir crazy lately.

Tom had gone out to fight when after the Scholar woke up and learned about Luna, he surmised Luna was in her own battle against an unseen force, meaning she was battling her sister in another plane of existence. And then Tom went out to win the London battles all on his own in a storm of rage. Ozemir had no doubt that the Dark Lord needed many targets to release the fear and helplessness he had at finding his mate seemingly dead. Even Kaego had gone to join in the battles, Shadowing to Diagon Alley to offer assistance.

Sirius tried to go as well but Lucius would have none of it. The blond even admitted he was being selfish and that he didn't care. He wouldn't lose his husband and the father of his children. The guilt trip had worked wonderfully, especially the faked fainting spell bit. Ozemir chuckled softly against Caellum's black hair. That was funny, watching Lucius flawlessly manipulating his husband. But the Scholar agreed with Lucius. Sirius was still human and he hadn't any battle training yet. The Animagus was safer within the manor for the time being. They needed someone quick on their feet to watch the children who were over from the Nest. And he and Lucius needed someone nearby in case the unthinkable happened and one of them went into early labor.

Ozemir sighed and closed the fairytale book. It was no use. He was sure he'd read the same line ten times. "It's okay, little one," Ozemir whispered, shifting the baby so Caellum was reclined against his belly in order for them to be face to face. Golden eyes gazed steadily at him. Ozemir ran a finger down the cute little nose. "Your parents will return soon. You'll see. They are very good with taking care of each other. I've been told they always have been, even if the way had been a little unorthodox. And they love you more than anything. They would never leave you without them for long." Caellum gurgled and reached out for the Scholar's finger. "What do you say we go and sit with our Mother? Offer silent support… now then, how to get up on my own."

In the end it took him a few minutes to climb to his feet with the baby in his arms, but he did it, and beamed brightly as he carried Caellum up to Luna's room, where Sirius was already in attendance, leaning against the wall near the bed. But once the wizard saw them, he smiled, pushed off the wall and summoned a chair and placed it next to the bed.

"Thank you, Sirius," the Scholar chirped. As he sat down, Ozemir rubbed the heel of his palm against his chest, feeling a slight pain there and thinking maybe he'd eaten too much earlier and was now being subjected to heartburn. Kaego had warned him of that. As he asked Sirius for a glass of milk, Caellum became restless in his arms and started trying to wiggle out of his arms.

"Hush little one," Ozemir murmured distractedly as he felt his chest tighten to a near painful degree.

"Here, let me…" Sirius came forward to take Caellum, but the prince made it plain he wanted no one but Ozemir's arms holding him; a direct contradiction to the way he squirmed in the Scholar's arms. Sirius grinned and backed away with his hands raised until Caellum's cries died to mere whimpers. Ozemir shifted his little body close to his chest and Caellum buried his face against the Scholar's chest. Ozemir smiled tightly and ran a hand over Caellum's black locks.

"He really is attached to you," Sirius laughed in good humor.

Ozemir was about to reply that the feeling was mutual, but instead of being able to speak all he could do was pull in a sharp breath as the feeling of being poked in the chest with a hot poker took over every one of his senses.

The pained expression on the Scholar's face and the sudden wails coming from Caellum had Sirius back beside Ozemir in seconds. Caellum was standing on the Scholar's thighs now while clutching the white tunic in his small chubby fists, crying in Ozemir's face.

"Ozemir? Hey, what is it? Are you going into labor?"

"Hoi tu'eni. Tu'ena su…. Demai'Tah," Ozemir gasped out, a stricken look on his face.

"I can't understand you. Don't know your language, Ozemir," the wizard reminded patiently as he knelt beside the Scholar.

"He calls," Ozemir repeated. "Calling me." He looked at the baby in his arms; the infant still crying and clinging to him with a grip that was surprisingly strong. "He's called me and I must go."

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A/N: Another long chap. Hopefully you're not too confused by this point and if you're not confused at all, that's great! And for clarification, yes i left some things hanging on purpose. You'll have to wait and see how things turn out...

Really sorry for the long wait, but it took me some time to get back into the a routine after moving and i didn't want to rush through this chap because it is a fast paced chapter and i didn't want to leave anything out... and things I did leave out is probably done on purpose.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it and I'll try and get the next chapter out pronto. So until then, have a great week! :D