17
HE didn't know how much more of this he could take, the waiting at their home for news. Frank stared absently at the fire in the hearth, hating the newfound darkness and sheer vast emptiness in his and Alice's home.
Though the worst part was the absence of feeling his wife's presence alongside him. The heartbroken husband and soon-to-be-father in another eight months or so put his head in his hands as he heard the thunderstorm outside rage war on the outside world, the pattering of the rain on the roof and windows almost sounding like hail.
His wife may have been optimistic about her chances at apprehending Barty and bringing her former boyfriend in for questioning about suspected Death Eater activity, but Frank knew damn bloody well that his Alice was entirely too naïve.
Even as an Auror, she clung to the false hope and hung her shreds of sanity on the hopeless notion that her ex-boyfriend could ever possibly change, and because of her.
Frank let out a haggard sigh as he looked around his empty living room. Without Alice, it was no longer anything, a hollow space filled with just the memory of her.
"I'm going to save you, Al, darling, I promise…." As Frank Longbottom whispered this to himself, he failed to hear the familiar sound of a pair of footfalls calmly approaching up the front porch steps of his home.
As the front door jerked open right as a clap of thunder resounded outside and drowned out the noise of the door flying open, Frank sat up straighter in his chair and peered over his shoulder to see none other than Albus himself standing in the now-open doorway of his house, with his arms folded, grey beard tossed over his shoulders.
His appearance was slightly disheveled, which was a rarity for Professor Dumbledore, but apart from that, the grey wizard looked virtually the same as always, making it hard for Frank to believe that the aging old warlock ever suffered a day in his long life.
"Alice, Albus, is she—" rasped Frank in a hoarse voice as he half-rose from his chair, but Dumbledore silenced him as he stepped over the threshold of the front porch's entryway and into the hallway of Frank and Alice's home, all the while lifting his left hand while doing so.
"Do not worry about your wife, Mr. Longbottom. She is safe, I think. I can sense it and you will see her soon."
"You—you call this progress?!" scorned Frank, his lips curling downward into a twisted sneer as he collapsed back into his armchair in front of the fireplace.
He refused to move from his position as Albus drew closer, more, or less inviting himself into their home without even waiting for Frank's permission and took a moment to perch himself in the armchair opposite him.
"Yes," Albus answered solemnly as he cautiously studied the flustered and highly agitated younger wizard over the rims of his silver half-moon spectacles. His blue eyes, though normally twinkling and mischievous, had now dulled a little and seemed to have lost their luster. "Frank," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I would not have suggested this assignment to your wife unless I was certain that she would succeed. She is intelligent and if anything has any inkling of hope of breaking through to Barty's son, it's her. I know of their, ah, their history, shall we say…"
"You want her to fail, Albus, don't you?" retorted Frank, his voice steadily rising as he collapsed his head back against the headrest of his chair. "You view her and Barty's relationship, in the past though it is, as an embarrassment, a stain on your Order of the Phoenix!"
"My dear man!" exclaimed Albus tiredly in response. "Your accusation could not be further from the truth, and you and I both know this, so please, don't go there."
He twiddled with his thumbs as if their conversation were already over, though it was only just beginning.
Dumbledore looked across the way at Frank and sighed. For once, Albus genuinely looked and felt old.
"What's done is done, Frank. Your wife made her decision. You should try to get some sleep. Barty Crouch Sr. sent me an owl ahead stating per his son's instructions, you may visit her tomorrow at nine o'clock. She was attacked, as I'm sure you well know, in the Forest. Vampire scratches. They will take some time to heal. I was informed via the letter of at least a month."
"I don't want to sleep!" yelled Frank, grasping hold of the sides of his armchair and leaning forward. "I want my wife back! I was there, Albus, I saw those vampires hurt my wife, and if you think that I can just…idly stand by until morning, sir, you're sorely mistaken. My wife is pregnant!" Frank replied haughtily, unable to keep the indignation and the bitterness out of his tone as he shot Professor Albus Dumbledore a withering, rueful glower. "If you're not going to help me, then I'll go alone! Why did you even suggest such a suicidal idea to Alice in the first place, Dumbledore? You as good as killed Alice!"
Dumbledore stared contemplatively at Frank as if contemplating on what to tell the reeling Auror. After a long and heavy awkward pause during which he listened to the distressed husband, Albus finally interjected him.
"I have my reasons," Albus said in a low, controlled voice, his blue eyes turning solemn and serious, almost warning Frank not to contest his choices as he spoke.
"What reasons?" Frank shot back pointedly, his temper flaring, his gaze unwavering as he glowered at Albus.
In response, Dumbledore heaved a tired sigh and merely rose from the armchair, wincing at the stiffness in his joints as he did so, and instead spoke to Lupin.
Frank blinked owlishly at Remus standing in the corner.
When did he get here? Why didn't he say anything? Frank looked at Remus, feeling incredibly offended and hurt, feeling as though the people meant to be on his side were horribly betraying him like this.
"Make sure he stays here tonight, Mr. Lupin, please. Use force if necessary. Goodbye, Frank. I shall be in touch. You will receive correspondence from Barty Crouch Sr. in the morning when to Apparate to his son's house location. He will give you the address. It was instructed and advised that you go alone. I suggest for your wife's sake, that you follow this advice."
Without so much as a second glance or even a "Goodnight," Albus Dumbledore quit the place in two swift strides, leaving Frank alone with Lupin, who awkwardly walked over and perched himself on the armrest of the chair that Albus had just vacated and proceeded to stare at Frank.
Frank seethed, gnashing his teeth together and turned his head sharply away, staring into the grate of the fireplace at the logs crackling and settling, the tongues of the fire flashing red and orange and yellow reflections all throughout the room, though the warmth did not reach Frank Longbottom's face or his soul.
It was as if without his wife by his side, he felt…cold. Empty. Hollow. He wondered if this was what Dementors felt.
Forgive me, Alice. I let Crouch take you away. I wasn't fast enough. Forgive me, Alice, darling, he thought to himself, before Remus's reserved, guarded voice pulled Frank from his thoughts, causing him to look up in surprise.
"Go, Remus. Leave, I don't need to be babysat like I'm some little boy. I'm not going to try anything, Remus. Not while Alice's life is at stake. I'll wait until the morning," Frank spat, venom in his tone, during his moment of self-pity, coupled with anger and despair.
"You're not a prisoner, Frank," Remus calmly informed him in that infuriatingly collected manner of the werewolf that ordinarily, Frank would have welcomed, but it only stoked his anger with Dumbledore further.
Frank resisted the urge to pull his wand against Lupin, though the fingers of his wand hand twitched with the effort to restrain himself, somehow, he managed it.
Alice's husband shot Lupin an incredulous look of disbelief and scoffed. "You call this freedom?" Frank asked in disgust as he gestured with a wave of his hand.
"Yes." Remus held steadfast and firm, unwilling to kowtow to Frank Longbottom's growing temper.
Though he could not blame the man. If this were his wife were in the clutches of a Death Eater, he would want to do whatever he could in order to see her safely returned to his arms and by his side. He could not imagine the agony that must be flitting through Frank's mind.
"You call locked windows and doors and an Order member outside my house all night, protection?" Frank mocked in disbelief as he quirked a brow Lupin's way.
"Yes," Remus repeated. "It's the best thing for you, Frank. You are not a prisoner. Dumbledore, and not to mention the rest of the Order that knows, doesn't want you to do anything stupid. You could hurt Alice if you try to go over there now prematurely," Lupin pointed out.
Frank thought he saw a shadow of shame cross in front of Remus's scarred face and in the man's light hazel eyes. He sat back in the chair and studied his friend for a moment in silence.
"You won't try anything?" Frank questioned, his face a mask of confusion as he waited.
Lupin shook his head. "No, Frank," he sighed, sounding tired. "I promise that you're safe with me. For now," he added, almost as an afterthought. "As long as you stay in this room." But Remus's answer was cryptic and only fueled Frank's annoyance that he was more or less being forcefully held to wait to see his wife until the morning.
"She's going to be just fine, you know. Albus was right." Lupin's calming voice stated across from him.
Frank stiffened and drew in an aggravated breath as Remus leaned over and felt him put his hand lightly on his shoulder and give the appendage a reassuring squeeze.
"Alice is a tough woman. Tougher than any of us give her credit for." Lupin smiled weakly, though even Frank could see that it was strained. He was worried for Alice, perhaps just as much as Frank was. "I don't think you have any reason to be worried. Despite her and Barty's history, I think that he would…take care of her if something were to happen," Remus stammered.
Frank forced himself to look into Lupin's eyes, no small measure of indignation and disbelief in his dark brown eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better, Remus?" Remus was silent. Frank huffed. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to keep you company tonight. Because you're my friend," Lupin answered steadily, a note of annoyance in his voice now.
Frank sat pensively. "Then help me, Remus," he pleaded in a whisper, his breaths barely leaving his lungs.
His mind turned over the possible tortures that his wife could be subjected to under Barty Crouch's hand if she didn't cooperate with the deranged psychopath and return his affections in the way that Crouch wanted her.
He had to know. "Help me, Remus." He repeated his request, though it might as well have fallen on deaf ears. Frank's tone was deadly serious as he slowly lifted his gaze and looked to Remus, whose expression was as grim as a graveyard.
Frank hated even considering the idea that Crouch was actively doing his best to garner his wife's attention and affection while he stayed here trapped under house arrest.
Had Barty succeeded while he'd not been by her side? Had he finally managed to win over Alice's heart? It was a possibility Frank refused to even entertain. Frank stared blankly ahead of him and voiced his fears.
"What if the bastard's already gone off with her, Lupin?" he stammered, swallowing hard down past a lump in his throat that was constricting his breathing. "I can't…I can't just sit around and wait. Alice, she's—"
"—One tough nut to crack. And your wife is smart, Frank. I think she can manage to survive one night in Crouch's company while you make a plan to get her back in case Barty doesn't cooperate with you when you get there, don't you think?" Lupin asked in as calm a voice as he could possibly muster.
Frank merely nodded and stared down at the gold wedding band on his hand as he twisted it around his finger in a fit of sheer anxiousness. He didn't even have to look up to see that Remus was frowning at him sharply, his lips pursed into a thin line. Eventually, the heavy silence that lingered in Frank and Alice's living room was weighing too heavily on his shoulders and in his heart and mind to be ignored any longer.
"I should have gone with her, Remus," Frank murmured dully. "Merlin damn Dumbledore for insisting she tries to confront Crouch alone. I just…left." His voice cracked and broke as he trailed off, feeling hot, salty tears form in his lids.
Never once in his life had he run away from his problems. He'd always faced them head-on, sometimes to an unhealthy extent. But once Lupin had revealed the possibility that Alice was pregnant, and he had left his wife alone to fend for herself in the Forbidden Forest, a terror previously unknown to Frank had seized control.
This wasn't something he could fight, the Auror had realized a fraction of a second too late.
Whatever happened to his wife and his unborn child while she remained under Crouch's roof for the night would be outside of his control, and if Alice were hurt and he stayed here, there was nothing Frank could do for her.
He'd fail as a husband and as a father to their baby before he'd even really begun.
"I was a fool, Remus, I shouldn't have let Alice go alone like this," he cursed himself. Frank laid his head mournfully in his hands and stared into the fireplace as though he could not feel Lupin's stare piercing a hole straight through him and saw again Alice's pained expression just hours ago when he had left her to fend for herself in the woods.
"Merlin's testicles," he swore through gritted teeth. "How I hurt her. Merlin, but how Alice must hate me."
Remus let Frank have a moment to himself before his practical nature took over again and he attempted to quell the sense of defeat and self-hatred in his friend. "You made a choice, Frank," he told his friend stoically. "You left your wife…"
"It was the wrong choice, Remus. I know that now." Frank's eyes filled with bitter tears as he looked over at Lupin and tried to blink them back and swallow the lump in his throat, though it was becoming difficult.
"It was," Lupin agreed, though not unkindly. "But it was still your choice to make, Frank," Remus confronted Frank. "Just as Alice has made her choice. She chose to go after Frank, and we have to trust in your wife that she can survive on her own for at least another night," he told his friend, Remus raising his head in certainty. "You need to honor that choice, and wait until morning," he warned, his jaw steeling with determination. "You've no right to disturb her plans to try to bring him in…Just talk to her tomorrow, see how she's doing. Ask her what she wants, Frank. If I know Alice, she'll want to do this her way, not yours." A smile crossed Lupin's face in spite of himself. Though the expression only infuriated Frank.
"I am the one she loves, Remus!" Frank shouted, unable to hold his ire any longer, slamming his hand down forcefully on the armrest of his chair. Remus watched with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as Frank Longbottom's expression changed to that of a mad man. "I'm going to find my wife, Lupin. With or without you," Frank seethed. "I'm bringing my wife home tonight."
Lupin furrowed his brows into a frown. "Don't. You'll destroy everything that Alice has managed to do for herself if you go over there tonight prematurely, Frank, which, I have to admit, we don't know if she's managed a breakthrough with Barty, but I'm willing to give my friend the benefit of the doubt. She's your wife, Frank. Don't you want to trust her on this, Frank? If anyone has a hope of reaching Crouch, it's her, not you. For once in your life, stay here, please listen to Albus, and wait for Crouch Sr.'s owl with his son's address on it. Don't do it, Frank," he begged, his voice trailing off as he quieted and waited for his friend to respond, hoping that Frank wouldn't go.
Frank sat quietly as the weight of Lupin's words sunk into his flesh like a smothering, humid rain that seared his skin. Darkness flooded his face and cast a horrible dark shadow upon his already pale features, his soft expression fading at the thought of seeing Alice again. It was Crouch who Alice had loved first, before him.
Crouch with whom she had given her first kiss, not him. Crouch kidnapped his pregnant wife. These thoughts burned a hole in the man, leaving a horrible, aching cold void that froze his veins to ice and could only be filled by holding Alice in his arms once again. Frank sat in his armchair across from Remus, his face twisting and contorting into a mask of pure rancor. His hands writhing into clenched fists, the fingers of his wand hand curling around his wand's handle.
Remus felt his entire body stiffen as he reached for his own wand.
"Don't," Lupin warned Frank, not wanting to use magic and force against one of his closest friends.
Frank shook his head as if struggling to clear the soft resignation that had begun to seep its way to the surface of his mind. He knew that he couldn't wait any longer.
He remembered resting in the darkness just a couple of nights, under the covers of their own bedroom, his arms filled with Alice's comely form. His heart burst for the love he held for his wife that he'd cherished these last few years. He'd finally learned what it was to be happy the day that Alice had said that she would marry him.
Then Crouch had destroyed that, had gotten Alice attacked by fucking disgusting leeches, vampires, and now…there was no telling if his wife was alive or not.
"No, Remus!" Frank bellowed, slamming his fists against the armchair, and bolted so fast from the piece of furniture that in his anger, he accidentally overturned it. Stifling a growl of frustration, he waved his wand once and righted it. "No! I know Alice loves me!" Frank proclaimed. "Dumbledore is wrong. She doesn't have to do this alone, and if Albus thinks he can tell me what to do, then the man's an even more of a mental bit than I was led to believe," Frank growled bitterly.
Remus sighed mournfully and in frustration. "Frank, please," the werewolf implored. "I'm begging you. Please don't make me keep you here." His light hazel eyes bore into Frank as if he thought that could will the man back to his senses.
Frank drummed his fingers on the chair's armrest, finally deciding the course of action to take. He would see it through or die trying to get her back.
He would go to the Ministry, pull Crouch's address from the archives, he'd bribe the witch in Administrations to pull his name if need be. What difference at this point could it make?
His body tensed as he strode down the hallway, clutching his wand tightly in his hand, Remus right at his heels.
"You'll see, Lupin," Frank vowed passionately. "I'm going to bring Alice home." He was practically shaking with conviction at this point. "Crouch has haunted her footsteps for too long."
He almost smiled at the vision of her face in his mind's eye at his wife seeing him alive and well.
"Frank!" Remus tried to stop him as Frank stalked his way towards their home's front door.
Frank turned on his heels and paused, turning to smile sadly at Remus before leaving, his wand only half-raised and pointed at Lupin's chest.
"Just wait, Remus," he muttered, his calculating mind already racing ahead a dozen or so steps. "The next time you see me, Alice will be home. Please don't even think of trying to stop me." Here, he shot Lupin an apologetic look. "I don't want to have to jinx you. You can tell Dumbledore that I overpowered you. I'm…sorry. But this is the only way. I can't just sit around here not knowing if my wife is alive or dead."
Before Lupin could raise his own wand against him, he wrenched open the front door of his home and turned on his heels and Disapparated, though Lupin was already running fast on his feet, though by the time he reached Frank, his friend had already Disapparated to Merlin knew where.
"Frank! Frank, come back!" Lupin shouted into the night desperately, cupping his hands around his mouth.
He yelled for his friend, though he already knew it was hopeless. He ran out onto the Longbottoms' front porch of their home, only to find the Auror had already vanished as if he'd never been there.
Lupin's immediate distress over Frank's admittedly stupid and reckless plan gnawed at him as he restlessly paced the wooden floorboards of Frank and Alice's living room and drained several goblets of Fire Whiskey that he saw fit to help himself to from their own fridge.
He loved Frank like an older brother, and he wished that he could have come to their house tonight to find Alice here back where she belonged by her husband's side.
However, Lupin also recognized that Frank's wife and his friend was more than justified in making her own decisions, and if anyone had a hope of bringing Barty in quietly, it was Alice, and by Frank thinking he could stop into Barty Crouch Jr's home with his wand at the ready, thinking he could take on Crouch alone, he was sorely wrong.
It was a suicide mission, is what this all was. He understood that Barty Crouch Jr. was still, even a few years after their graduation from Hogwarts, still deeply in love with Alice and not over their breakup.
And as despicable as a thought as it was, perhaps there was a part of Alice that recognized that, deep down within the recesses of her heart, and she would be willing to use it to her advantage if it got the man to come in quietly.
Frank had no right to storm his way into Crouch's home and get himself and Alice killed.
What he was planning to do, whatever it was that he thought he was going to get away with, was sure to wind up getting himself and maybe even Alice killed in the process.
He had no right to disturb Alice during her mission for Albus.
Remus knew he only had one choice.
There was no other way to stop the disaster that promised to occur if he stayed silent about Frank leaving. He walked assuredly to Frank's writing desk in their living room and took a small piece of parchment paper from the top drawer, clicking his tongue to call over Hermes, Alice's little dwarf owl that was roosting comfortably on her perch.
On the paper, he wrote down Frank's intentions and begged the recipient of the letter for help.
Once his letter was composed and sealed in an envelope, he tied his letter to Alice's owl's leg and gave the bird owl treats, and sent his warning off to Mrs. Augusta Longbottom, praying that Frank's mother would help him.
You didn't think I could craft a Fralice and Crouch story without bringing in & featuring Mrs. Longbottom, did you? :)
I do love writing for the cantankerous vulture-hat-wearing, carries a red handbag witch. Her involvement should be quite entertaining and I'm looking forward to it! :)
This story is more or less turning into a culmination of an all-out war between the Aurors, Death Eaters, and maybe even a few creatures from our favorite Forbidden Forest! Stay tuned for more!