[A/N: I apologize for the gruesomely long wait between chapters. This one is really short, but it's been sitting on my computer for over a week now waiting to be lengthened, and I figured I might as well post what I have. I also apologize for still apparent lack of blood. Heh, heh.]
56. Treachery
Llian didn't see Neville at first. He circled around the campsite, keeping well above the trees, without a glimpse of his friend. Finally he broadened his search and found him and Carol half a mile away, with several other figures. He landed warily, not certain what to expect.
Neville's mouth dropped open when he saw Llian land. "What the hell are you doing?" he shouted. "Get the bloody hell out of here!"
Llian was confused. Was Neville in trouble? He was standing between Quentin Weasley, the Auror, and Gwen. Carol stood to the side, looking back the way they'd come, towards her lost friends. He didn't move. "What? I came for you, Neville." Wasn't that the way it was supposed to work?
"You bloody fool!" Gwen fumed.
"Shhh!" Carol tried to calm her. The middle-aged witch's voice was distant and calm. "He didn't know any better."
Neville approached Llian, talking slowly and distinctly. "Go back to the Volari settlement quickly. You can't stay here, you're in danger."
Llian's mouth flew open. "You're in danger! There's a maniac throwing knives from the trees!"
"And he's after you! Whoever it was disappeared as soon as you left – they took off after you. If they managed to track you they'll probably be back."
"You're putting us all in danger by being here!" said Quentin, rather frantically. His red hair stood up as if he had been electrocuted. "Whoever it is'll be back."
"Whoever it is? You don't even know who's after us?" Llian asked.
"We have our theories," said Gwen, "but we don't know for sure. There hasn't been any open conflict, just backstabbing."
"Well, we know everyone here is trustworthy. Whoever it was went off after Llian; we found Gwen and Quentin over here coming from the opposite direction," Carol stated.
"Unless they're working with whoever killed Malia," Neville said, his face set in stone.
"That's always a possibility," Carol said, "but they haven't made a move yet."
"Unless they're using us as bait to draw Llian back," Neville countered.
"This is besides the point," spat Quentin. "We told you to leave, now go! Make sure you're out of wand point."
"Can you fly?" Carol asked. "Are you strong enough?"
"I flew back here," he answered defensively. A bit clumsily, but he had made it.
"But can you make it back to the Volari?" Carol asked. "Honestly?"
Llian sighed. "I doubt it. I would have to stop...probably twice." He flexed his wings and winced. Make that three times. He pulled his wings back into his body. They would be useless out and only get in the way.
"Fine, we'll all stick together," Carol said. Quentin looked ready to burst. He glared at Llian, as if somehow the Haran had orchestrated the entire catastrophe himself. "We'll go back and find Moody," she added, starting off without a glance back.
"Wait!" Llian shouted. "Neville and I have portkeys. Why don't we all use those to go back to Hogwarts?"
Gwen turned around. "Take it off!"
"What?"
"The portkeys – both of you take them off and give them to me." She advanced on both of them.
Llian stepped back involuntarily. "Why in the world would I do that? I don't have any reason to."
"Those portkeys have been passed around to half the members of this group. There's no telling what could have been done to them – we're not going to risk it."
"No way! I'm not giving it to you," Llian said.
Neville clasped his necklace portkey in his hand, looking back and forth between the two. "Look, none of us know what's going on. Let's get back to the rest of the group where we can watch out for each other. Let's just find Moody. Meanwhile we can keep the portkeys incase we need them."
"But they could be sabotaged!"
"Then we'll only use them if it's already a life or death situation."
Gwen pulled out her wand in a flash. "Don't be stupid, I can summon them from you."
"I can say the incantation quicker than your magic can reach me," Llian countered. They glared at each other.
Neville reached out and touched Llian's elbow. "Look, both of you, we're not getting anywhere. Llian promise not to use your portkey until we find out more of what's going on; and Gwen, you leave him alone and trust him, okay?"
They finally stopped sending death glares at each other and followed Carol and Quentin into the scrub that lined the clearing. "Edan checked these out," Llian tried to argue.
Gwen turned around so quickly she was a blur for an instant. "And where is Edan? Is he here? Do you see him?"
"He's not...not..." Llian pictured Edan's limp body lying besides the campfire.
"He's not dead, you stupid boy," she said heatedly. "No one knows where he is."
"Shut up!" Quentin suddenly said. "Where's Aleta and Graff, for that matter? You can't pin blame on people just because they aren't here." They both grit their teeth and continued walking. It was obviously an argument that had been going on for some time between the two.
"Gwen thinks this is Edan's doing," Llian whispered to Neville, "doesn't she?"
Neville looked at him warily, almost tripping over a rock he didn't see. They had dropped back a few feet and were walking a bit behind Carol and Gwen. Quentin took up the rear. "Don't hold it against her," he begged.
Llian knew what Neville was trying to say, but he couldn't stop the heat of hatred from flowing through his chest. Gwen hated Edan; Llian had to hate Gwen. "She doesn't trust the portkeys because Edan was the last one to look at them. And we can't prove her wrong because there's only one way to find out – by using them."
"Or we can give them to her. She's just as talented as Edan is with portals, remember?"
"I don't trust her."
Neville practically hissed at his friend, "Now is not the time to be acting like a stubborn prick. This is...this is dangerous. We could be killed."
"I know, but I can't help what I feel."
"I don't care what you feel. I feel like rolling up into a ball and wishing it would all disappear, but considering the circumstances that would be the stupidest thing I could do!"
"You have to rely on your instincts. We don't have time to sit around analyzing everything."
Neville snorted. "And people talk about how cool-headed you are, how you never let emotion flood your reasoning."
"Emotion and reason are interrelated," Llian shot back. "You can't have one without the other."
Neville jumped and let out a small screech when a figure suddenly appeared beside him. It was Moody. Llian could see Neville biting his lip with embarrassment that he had let his guard down so completely as to not even see the man, but Moody didn't pay attention enough to chastise him.
"He's after Llian," he said in a low voice.
"Who is?" Quentin immediately asked.
Moody glanced at Llian. "Never you mind. We don't know for certain anyway. Follow me. We're meeting Graff." Without another word he charged back through the scrub, surprisingly nimble for a man with a wooden leg.
"Graff?" Llian asked, confused. Memories of vague uncertainties flooded through him. All the small looks Graff had given him, the small signs he had shot towards Aleta when no one else was looking, the mysterious disappearances, and midnight walks when Graff left the group and set out on his own. "Are you sure he can be trusted."
"You can trust him if you can trust me," Moody said, not slowing down.
Llian stopped so suddenly that Neville almost ran into him. "Can we trust you?"
Moody stopped and stared at him. "What have you gotten up your sleeve, boy?"
"How do we know you're not an imposter taking Polyjuice?"
Moody winced at the bad memories. Before he could say anything, Graff appeared behind him.
"What was taking so long?" he demanded.
Llian's wand was instantly in his hand. "What are you doing here?"
Graff looked over towards Llian as if he was a log lying in the middle of the path. "What is the little boy saying?"
Llian grit his teeth. Carol was the one who spoke first. "I think Moody's paranoia has rubbed off a little too much on Llian. He's not feeling so hot. We need to get him somewhere where he can lie down." Graff nodded and reached out towards Llian.
It happened so fast it was over before Llian knew what he was doing. Magic flowed through his wand and hit Graff in the chest, knocking him backwards, his mouth open in shock. Llian hurdled over his body and sprinted into the trees. He didn't look back; he knew Neville would have the sense to follow. For a while there were shouts and heavy footsteps, but eventually they fell back and all he could hear behind him was Neville's steady stride.
After jumping over a dried-up creak, he finally stopped. He could have gone twice as fast were he in better shape, but Neville was probably sprinting full speed just to keep up with him.
He turned around, ready to discuss what to do next, only to be unexpectedly slapped across the face. Already disoriented from the numbing fatigue remaining from the Ceremony several days ago, he spun in a half circle and stumbled to the ground. Neville dropped into a crouch besides him.
"What the bloody hell are you doing? Why did you stun Graff? Are you completely insane? Even if, in a worse case scenario, one of them was the back-stabber, where is it safer to be: out here in the woods by ourselves where anyone can break away from the group and find us or with a group of people who can all watch out for each other?"
Llian's mouth dropped open wordlessly. This was definitely not the reaction he had been expected. Something more along the lines of, "Thank you for saving my life." His cheeks burned. "If it was so stupid to come out here then why did you follow?"
Neville's face twisted and curled. "Why do you think? You're sick, you're not thinking straight, and there's some psycho after you. I'm the only one who was in good enough shape to keep up with you; I couldn't let you go off by yourself." He picked up a twig and bitterly started shredding it into pieces. "I've half a mind to stun you and drag you back there by your hair."
Llian tried to control his breathing. Not only was he no longer the hero he had supposed himself to be, but he had just wrecked what was left of the party and had also dragged his best friend into the worst of dangers. "I guess we go back." He dusted off his backside as he lifted himself off the ground and followed their footprints.
Neville reached out and grabbed his arm. "Haven't you been listening to Jonathan at all? Don't walk directly on the footprints, walk over to the side. We don't know who will be following us. Geez."
Llian found himself following Neville's lead. Was he mistaken or was Neville now the one rescuing him? "Since when did you become so confidant?" Llian asked, half angrily. "When I first met you you would have been scared of a flobberworm." He winced. It was a horrible thing to say to his best friend, but it was true.
Neville didn't answer for a while. "I still am. Scared, that is."
"I don't believe you. Neville Longbottom, fearless hero of the Wizarding world."
"I'm scared shitless, okay? I'm so terrified I don't even know which way is up and which way is down."
Llian looked over at his friend curiously. "Really? It doesn't show."
Neville shrugged. "I'm better at...well, things still scare me, but...nothing really turns out as bad as it seems. I mean... You know that book June has, Dance Macabre by Stephen King? The author says at one point that the reader's imagination of what's lurking behind the door is always worse than what's really out there."
"Oh, I remember that passage. Something about if the writer shows a ten foot lizard behind the door, the reader will have been dreading a twenty foot one? Good stuff." He shook his head. "Wow, I haven't really thought of June since before the Ceremony. I haven't been thinking too much about Hogwarts at all this trip." Much of that was probably influenced by Edan. He couldn't bear to let thoughts of Cho and Hogwarts float through his mind when he was enjoying being close to the Seer.
They heard someone running towards them on the trail. "Get down," Neville whispered.
Llian leapt over a bush and crouched down beside his friend. They peered out between the leaves. Neville suddenly gripped Llian's shoulder and pointed to where the Hufflepuff had been: his wand lay on the ground several feet away. The Gryffindor pulled out his wand, ready to summon it, but the footsteps were too close and whoever was out there was in view of the wand. They would just have to hope that whoever it was passed over it.
They seemed to be out of luck. The footsteps stopped. "Whose wand is this?" asked a female voice.
A deep male voice answered, "I think it's one of the boys'."
Behind the bush, the two friends looked at each other simultaneously. "Jonathan," Llian mouthed to Neville, who nodded. He started to stand to announce himself, but Neville quickly grasped his arm and held him in place. "Just wait," Neville breathed in his ear.
"Shit!" the female voice answered. It sounded like Viola. "Lost in the woods with bum portkeys, no adults anywhere, a homicidal maniac running after Llian..."
"Shhh, it's okay. We'll find them."
"And one of them doesn't have a wand. Looks like Llian's, doesn't it?"
"Mhh. Carol said that he's a bit out of sorts. I hope he isn't hurt."
"Neville will take care of him."
"If they're still together."
"Unless I see Neville's body, there're still together."
"I just hope we find them before-"
"Ouch!" Llian shouted out. Something had bit him on the back of his neck. "Fucking flies." He stood up, waving his arms around. "Why is this place infested with flies?"
"You never cared about flies when you were running," Neville commented, also standing.
Jonathan looked relieved to see them but Viola seemed full of disapproval. "What the bloody hell did you think you were doing?" she demanded. "Running off by yourself? It's more dangerous for everybody to be split up looking for you! What-"
Jon stopped her and motioned them all forward. "Come on, we've got to keep moving. If anything happens, you two make your way back to Gwen. She'll either check these portkeys or make you new ones. You two aren't staying here a second longer than possible."
"What if we find Edan?" Llian asked.
Jon frowned. "Edan hasn't been verified, and until he is, keep away from him at all costs. Understand?" He looked searchingly into Llian's eyes.
Llian looked right back at him without giving any sign of acquiesce.
"Fine," Jon said after a few seconds of silence. "Let's go."
Llian followed Jon without complaint, but he stayed back with Viola while Neville walked besides Jon. Jon leaned over and whispered to Neville several times; from the quick looks Neville cast over his shoulder, Llian was fairly certain that their conversation referred to himself.
Suddenly Jon stopped and held up a hand to hold Neville back. "It looks funny ahead. All of you stay here." He gave a look at his wife, who nodded in silent understanding. "Take it easy," she said softly to his retreating back.
Llian watched him curiously. There was a clearing right ahead – they had stopped just at the outskirts of it. Jon tracked through the dust and weeds on the ground, several times crouching down for closer examination. "Some one else has been here since the last time was passed through." Llian squinted at the ground. He couldn't see how Jon could make any sense of the jumble of footprints and trampled grass. If June were present, she could trace the magical energies left as residue from whatever wizards had recently passed through. For not the first time in his life, Llian wished he had June's talent too. Perhaps if he had been trained properly he would catch a glimpse of the colored auras that June had lived with all her life; but the priority during their early training had always been on developing June's talents, not his. Not that he was complaining – June certainly needed more help, but he couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret.
Jon disappeared behind some trees at the other end of the clearing. He heard Neville whisper behind him, "Does Dumbledore know?"
He turned around to find Viola's face completely white, but also strangely calm. "What are you two talking about?" he asked.
Neville and Viola ignored him. "How did you find out?" Viola asked, her voice a whisper.
It irked Llian that they were ignoring them. For a spiteful instant, he felt like going on on his own, leaving everyone behind. First they treat him like he was incompetent, then like a child, now everyone was ignoring him and talking behind his back – even his own best friend! How could they expect him to make the right decisions if nobody gave him the correct information – scratch that, nobody had even given him a word about what was going on. The orders were simple: follow me, leave here, go there...
He didn't hear Neville's answer, but he heard Viola's loud and clear, despite that she was barely making a sound. "We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl yet – it's too early. We didn't say anything to Dumbledore because we weren't sure yet. We didn't want to get our hopes up."
Llian swirled around. "What?!" he yelped. "Are you two talking about what I think you're talking about?"
"Not so loud," Neville cautioned, giving him a disapproving look.
"You're...you're pregnant," Llian whispered in awe. "Holy shit!"
Viola rolled her eyes. "He says it like it's a disease," she commented to the trees limbs above.
"What are you doing out in the middle of these bloody islands with...with-"
"For Merlin's sake," Neville said. "Leave her alone. You think all pregnant women should just stay at home for almost an entire year and do nothing but drink mint tea?"
"No, it's just...weird." He looked at Viola, who was keeping an eye on where her husband had disappeared. "So, can we be godfathers?"
"Llian!" Now Neville was the one who rolled his eyes. "She just met us, don't be stupid." The Gryffindor's face turned a splotchy red.
Viola turned back towards them and smiled. "Actually Jon and I were talking, and both agreed that Llian was an exceedingly cool name." Llian blinked. Viola was decades younger than the adults he was used to seeing at Hogwarts, but it was still weird hearing an adult use phrases like "exceedingly cool."
He grinned. "Awesome. You should have triplets, and you can name them all Llian. And they will multiple and inherit the earth." He threw his head back in mock laughter.
Viola snorted and continued, "We just hope they won't pick up on any of your dubious personality quirks."
"What if it's a girl?" Neville asked.
"We were thinking about Lisa." She turned back towards the clearing to see Jon emerge from the trees. He was clutching his stomach, almost bent over double. "Jon?"
Neville started towards him, but Viola held him back. Jon looked up at them, his eyes wide and frantic. He opened his mouth as if about to speak, but instead of words, blood came pouring out. "Run," he whispered, his voice scratching their ears.
Viola didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed Llian by one arm and Neville by the other and they took off sprinting instinctually. Neville ran right behind him, breathing down his neck. "If you even think about stopped I will hex you into oblivion," Neville whispered. It sent chills down his spine. Jonathan was hurt! How could he possibly be thinking of anything other than stopping.
"What the fuck is wrong with everybody!" he screamed at Viola, who pulled them onwards, away from the clearing. "Brother abandoning their sisters, friends thinking it's okay to leave each other, you – you!" Viola ignored him. "Yes, you up there. Your husband! Your fucking husband! What the hell is wrong with you people? Let's just leave him to die, shall we? Let's just leave him to bleed all over the ground, lying there in agony. What the fuck? Fuck! Fuck!"
Neville punching him in the back of the head, making him stumble and almost fall face-first onto the ground. His vision blurred to whiteness for a second before clearing. "Shut up Llian. You have no idea what Viola is going through right now, so don't even start to act all-"
"Act what? Fuck! Your husband!"
Viola stopped at the top of a hill to catch her breath. Although her face was blank, her eyes were red. "I want you to fly to Moody." She shielded her eyes from the sun and pointed. "Go almost directly west. We'll continue north and then west, and meet up with Moody – tell him at 'the usual place.'"
"Fly? Leave you two behind?" His eyes burned with anger.
"Look, I know you think you're being brave and doing the right thing by trying to stay behind to help everyone, but the fact is, you're not. Whoever's out there has made it clear that they are after you. You're the reason people are being killed left and right. So if you don't mind I'd rather you didn't mock their deaths so self-righteously." Her words were soft and even, but Llian was rooted by the anger Viola pinned him down with.
"We don't know that he's dead," Neville said softly.
"It's a possibility."
"Yes." Neville's answer was little more than a sigh. If Neville and Viola had stayed they might have been able to heal Jon.
"Listen, I know this is hard. It's scary to go on by yourself, and scary to leave us by ourselves, but the fact is you're putting us in danger by staying. Someone or something is after you, and the sooner you get to Moody and Gwen, the better."
Llian's hands were shaking as he grew out his teal wings. He could feel the leathery material on his back trembling too. Viola watched his transformation wordlessly. Llian knew from watching June transform that it was a beautiful spectacle. He was sure his eyes were glowing as deeply as his fingernails now were. "Are you two going back? For Jon?" Viola had just said that they would meet him later, but he still had the nagging suspicion.
"Yes," Neville answered immediately. "We're Healers."
Viola looked like she was about to protest, then nodded.
Llian was suddenly unsure. "I don't know if I have enough strength to get off the ground, or even above the tree-line."
"Look where we are," Neville said.
Llian looked. They were at the top of a hill, the easiest place for a Volari to take flight. As he stood there soaking in hot beams of sunlight, his wings grew steadier. He smiled sadly and took off, and in less than a minute was soaring above the trees.
* * * * * * * * * * *
[A/N: Sorry LisaViola for injuring your husband. His fate has not yet been decided.]
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