For replies to reviews see the Voice Of Alexian review listed for ch34
Beta by Kristine Thorne
Chapter Summary – Harry and Severus visit Will at Sgoil Dhubh
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Chapter Thirty-Four – Black Magic Part One
Harry and Severus had set off early in the morning, they didn't want to be arriving on the road to Sgoil Dhubh with the likelihood of a car suddenly seeing them appearing and the owner driving it into the loch through shock. They had portkeyed to a position equidistant between the village and Sgoil Dhubh and so had to begin walking along the road. It was going to be a lovely day though, Harry observed as they walked, there were a few clouds in the sky but it was going to be sunny when the sun rose high enough and only a little morning mist remained. Harry suspected that he might get rather hot wearing Lucius's cloak after all. They were both dressed in their usual robes and Severus had his cloak on too, if they had found that it was windy and about to rain they would have needed them and even though it had been sunny when they left Hogwarts you could never be sure what you were going to find even twenty miles away.
"I am glad in a way that I don't look too pregnant yet," Harry commented as they walked along, "Can you imagine having to start the visit by having to explain that."
"That would be a bit awkward," Severus agreed, "But being a Muggle I don't suppose it would occur to him to consider that it is anything other than being overweight."
"I don't want to be called fat by Will," Harry grumbled, "It was bad enough when Malfoy did it."
"It might help if you got used to calling him Draco," Severus pointed out.
"It might help if he would stop calling me 'Potter'," Harry added.
"We should be able to sit in the garden while we're there, we never did that while we were here before," Severus said to change the subject and in anticipation of their visit.
"Hmm," Harry agreed, "Though we're still a bit early to be able to pick fruit for pudding."
"Will said that he was going to grow strawberries this year, should be about right for them."
"Oh, strawberries, that would be nice."
"This is so different to before, hard to believe that it was so cold, though when we first came here it was hard to believe that we would ever be warm again," Severus observed.
Harry and Severus continued to chat as they walked along and as they did the sun rose over the mountains to the east.
They found the house easily enough; the tall hedge was distinctive even in the distance. As they approached Harry began to get quite excited.
"This is going to be so much fun," Harry chatted as they walked the last hundred yards, "He'll be so surprised to see us after all this time and I can't wait to show Judith the bootie I finished."
"After all this walking I'm just about ready for a cup of tea," Severus added.
When they reached Sgoil Dhubh Harry crossed the road and approached the gate. He noticed that although they could see the house and it seemed the same as it had done before, the grounds appeared to have fallen into disrepair.
It was summer and this didn't fit in with what they had known about the running of Sgoil Dhubh and all the people who lived there. Everyone paid their way that was how Severus and Harry had ended up cooking and sleeping in Will's kitchen. The garden should have been brimming with vegetable plants by now, not dead and forgotten as it appeared to be. There had been more lively vegetation in the winter, Harry remembered.
Severus crossed the road too and joined Harry by the gate; Harry looked up at Severus and frowned.
"This is strange," Severus had to agree.
It was their first sign that all was not right but they didn't know what to make of it. They entered the garden through the gate and in an echo of earlier days; they approached the house from the side where the kitchen door was.
They edged round the garden slowly and cautiously, Severus taking the lead. Harry could tell that Severus was on edge as if he sensed that something other than just a neglected garden was going on at Sgoil Dhubh, he held his hand to near where his wand was so it was within reach.
"Whatever could have happened here?" Harry whispered to his Kin not really expecting him to provide an answer, "I hope that Will is all right."
As Harry and Severus got round the side of the house they noticed through the window what they thought was the form of a man slumped in a chair by the kitchen table.
Severus went first with Harry close behind him and clinging closely to his sleeve.
"Take your wand out, no swords, he's only likely to be a Muggle, whoever he is." Severus instructed as he took out his own wand and held it at the ready.
"Surely you're overreacting?" Harry queried.
"Will and his visitors have been safe here since 1976, Lucius passed by this house and never stopped due to the ward surrounding the house, and now there is the smell of danger all around, there is no such thing as overreacting."
Harry had to admit that he too was greatly concerned by the situation so far and did as he was told.
Severus went forward and opened the kitchen door; it made a loud creak as it swung back.
It was Will sat at the kitchen table, Severus immediately noticed, he began to look up as he heard the squeak of the door. What Severus also noticed was the shotgun propped up against the kitchen table. Will's wild eyes rested on Severus with an expression of anger and fear, he went for the gun.
Will was quick, even as Severus was becoming alert to the fact there was a gun and what it might mean, he had the gun raised and pointed at Severus, his finger on the trigger. Severus however, was fortunately just as quick and he had entered the kitchen with his wand already drawn.
It was all over in a split second but the time seemed to stretch. Severus reached behind him and felt his hand on Harry's robes; he pushed Harry back with his other arm even as he was speaking the words of the immobilisation spell and pointing his wand directly at Will. As he pointed his wand at Will and the green light emitted from it, he was staggering back out into the garden, forcing Harry along with him.
Will started to go down onto the floor and the gun fell with him, his hand had been grasping it tightly. Severus shouted at Harry to get down and pushed him towards the ground, following himself. The gun fired with a deafening bang and then there was silence. What had seemed to take at least a minute was over in a second or two.
Harry lay on the ground breathless with shock; Severus had still retained some presence of mind as events had unfolded and had fortunately managed to throw himself to the ground without crushing Harry.
"Lie still," Severus instructed Harry, reaching out a hand to check that everything was all right. With a sigh of relief Severus found that Harry had made a soft enough landing and there was no harm done. Harry reached out to Severus and reassured himself that Severus was fine too.
"I immobilised him, I just need to get the gun, something has obviously happened here." Severus announced.
Harry was shaking as he lay on the ground watching Severus lying close beside him, he didn't know what to say or do but was vaguely aware that they were wasting time that should be spent making sure that they were safe.
Harry breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm himself, "You have to get rid of that gun, don't just take it, transfigure it," He said to Severus noticing that at least his Kin wasn't quite as shocked, "Did you manage to hit him effectively with that spell?"
"I think so, I will transfigure the gun into something else but I will have to get a lot closer to do it." Severus replied.
"I am being really useless lately," Harry had to admit as his hands still shook and he felt suddenly like he wanted to vomit his breakfast.
"You're doing fine," Severus tried to reassure, "It's not as if we were expecting it."
Harry didn't want Severus going back in there but he had to trust that he knew what he was doing. Harry drew his sword anyway and was more than relieved when Severus followed suit.
"Why couldn't we just pop in for a nice cup of tea?" Harry grumbled as he followed Severus a short distance behind, "Why does my life always have to be like this?"
Severus and Harry had seen the shotgun at the same time, only Severus had been quicker at utilising his wand and had had Will lying powerless on the floor of the kitchen before Harry had finished gasping in shock. He felt like such an idiot for not being as quick as Severus, but Severus had been right, Harry allowed, it wasn't exactly as if they had expected their former friend and housemate to be brandishing a lethal Muggle weapon.
Severus rushed over to Will, eager to take custody of the gun and ensure that Will was otherwise unarmed, he couldn't risk Harry's safety. They had worked so hard to build their life together and he didn't want it all ending with a gut full of lead shot.
Severus knelt at Will's side, only just starting to feel quite shaken by the unexpected danger; he checked that the curse had hit him correctly. Although Will stared wildly at him Severus was sure that he couldn't move.
"Is everything all right?" Harry asked his voice betraying his shattered nerves. Harry could comprehend quite well what could have happened and couldn't yet show relief at Severus' quick reaction. He looked up and found the ceiling had taken the brunt of the damage from the gunshot.
"The spell worked fine," Severus confirmed. He pointed his wand at the shotgun and transfigured it into a cuddly fluffy toy dog, which he handed to Harry, hoping that the humour of it would help him to calm a bit.
Harry hugged the toy dog, "That is so cute Severus."
"In light of the whole Muggle gun incident I suggest that we search the rest of the house," Severus said as he stood up and made his way to the hallway door, "Will will be fine there for now."
Harry followed his Kin after he had put the dog down on the kitchen table and they both stepped out into the hallway, looking all around them as they did, so as to avoid further surprises.
They crossed the hall and went into the living room first, it was deserted and a selection of CDs lay strewn all over the floor, the layers of dust suggested that nothing had been disturbed in months. They had only been gone for four. They moved upstairs next, some bedrooms had personal possessions in them, some didn't, Judith's room had been completely untouched for some time as if she had just gone out one day and had never come home. All but one bedroom had an undisturbed layer of dust. Even in Will's room things were not right, dust was everywhere although it had clearly been disturbed on a regular basis and disorder prevailed.
Harry and Severus made their way downstairs again, quite certain that there was nobody else there who could attack them but with minds more full of questions than answers. There was only one man who could provide them with any answers and they found that they were going to have to be very careful with him in order to get them.
"They all left for some reason, I wonder what happened," Harry said as they both made their way back down the stairs rather slowly. Neither man was looking forward to the confrontation since they would have to take the curse off Will to be able to talk to him and he had just tried to shoot at them with a Muggle weapon. They each knew that if Will attacked one of them, they wouldn't even think about it as they killed him and that wouldn't help them answer any of their questions.
"I will try to explain to him that we don't intend to harm him or whatever else he thinks is going to happen, keep your wand pointed at him, take the curse away, if he goes for me try to immobilise him again. Try not to kill him," Harry instructed as they stood outside the kitchen door.
"I can't promise anything and I don't think you should get that close, not in your condition," Severus protested.
"And what condition would that be Sev? The same one you are in? Why should I allow you to take greater risks than I am? If anything, I should be taking the lead."
"Why? Because I am older? I am the one with the quickest reactions after all," Severus grizzled but he had no sensible reply.
"Won't do any good at close range. Just be vigilant and we will be very careful, chances are he just mistook us for somebody else," Harry suggested.
"Like who?" Severus asked gesturing to their distinctly wizard like robes, "If any of the Death Eaters had managed to get through the wards he wouldn't have been there today."
"Come on, let's just do this," Harry said opening the door.
Will still lay where they had left him, both Harry and Severus had put their swords away to minimise the Kin effect but they both had their wands drawn.
Harry knelt beside Will on the floor; it was easy to see why they hadn't recognised Will from a distance through the window. He had allowed his beard to grow and he had lost weight too. His clothes were dark in colour but they still managed to look dirty even though they wouldn't have shown it very easily. It was obvious that for some reason, he hadn't been having a very happy time for quite a while.
"We just came to see you, you do know who we are, it's Alex and Richard," Harry began as best he could considering that he didn't know what Will had been frightened of, "We want you to explain to us what happened to you and what happened here and we will tell you where we have been all this time and why we were able to stop you from shooting us. We can stop you from moving again so when Richard lets you go you mustn't try to attack me, just slowly sit up. We won't harm you, I promise."
"Do you smell rather a lot of alcohol?" Severus asked Harry.
"Yes, he has been drinking, I can smell it on him," Harry replied, he wrinkled his nose, "I can smell a few other things too."
Severus waved his wand over Will, "Bi sobarra! There that will help us communicate with him at least, we'll deal with the rest later."
"Right, take the immobilisation away," Harry said, trying to be poised enough to defend himself if he ended up needing to.
"You probably need to explain why we're here again, since he was drunk before," Severus suggested.
Harry sighed but he went ahead and explained everything again. Severus raised his wand and removed the immobilisation. Both Harry and Severus kept their wands trained on Will as he slowly pulled himself up and backed up against the wall eventually coming to rest propped up against the wall but seemingly unwilling to get up off the floor. At least, they thought, he was taking a defensive approach rather than an offensive one.
Will didn't say anything but he sat and stared instead. His eyes were wild despite the removal of the drunkenness and his breathing was becoming increasingly erratic as Severus and Harry watched him.
"You recognise us don't you?" Harry asked, hoping to get some form of recognition.
Will nodded but it was clear that the recognition didn't bring him any comfort, quite the opposite.
"I know that some things might seem a little weird at the moment but we are still the same people who stayed here last Christmas, why don't you come sit by the table and we'll have a chat over a pot of tea," Harry told Will.
"Just get it over with," Will at last spoke, his voice was shaky and filled with panic.
Harry was puzzled, Will seemed to be frightened of them for some reason and yet they had never given him a reason to be.
"Get what over with?" Harry asked.
"You came to deal with me too? You know what I have, just do it." Will continued.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry continued while Severus concentrated all of his attention on watching Will's movements so as to anticipate trouble.
"I was THERE," Will continued as if it should mean everything to Harry, "I KNOW."
"I still don't understand."
"Culloden."
Harry had to admit that it had been a long while since he had been as surprised as he was when Will said the name 'Culloden'.
"I see that I have jogged your memory after all," Will said with fright and bitterness.
Harry could only wonder at how much or how little Will knew and how on earth he was going to explain it all.
"I'm not drunk anymore," Will added as if just realising.
"Did you see us at Culloden?" Harry asked.
"No," Will admitted, "But I was there afterwards, in the morning."
"There are some things that we must explain," Severus spoke, "We don't mean to harm you but if you attack us we will have to react."
Will surprised them both by suddenly jumping to his feet; he went into the pantry and lifted the lid on the chest freezer, Severus only just managing to restrain himself and not curse him for moving so suddenly. Will promptly returned with a couple of carrier bags containing what appeared to be frozen meat, he put the bags down on the kitchen table with a bang, "Why don't we start with these?" He suggested, flinging himself into one of the wooden chairs by the table.
Severus and Harry had kept their wands pointed all the time but they were unsettled by Will's strange behaviour, despite the fact that they knew that he couldn't possibly know what had happened at Culloden, unless he had been there as it was happening. He still seemed to be frightened of them but he had a wild look in his eye and had dredged some courage up from somewhere, it all added up to him being rather unpredictable.
"Will, I still don't understand," Harry said trying to make something out of the bags that he had placed on the table but finding that he was unable to see more to them than he had at first thought.
"Don't you?" Will asked clearly becoming upset by Harry's lack of comprehension.
"No," Harry said calmly while keeping a firm eye on Will.
"I saw..." Will began but then trailed off, he put a hand to his face and turned his head away from Harry, "I wasn't there but I saw, your sword, over and over, blood everywhere, pain and death. Many, many lives."
Harry was virtually speechless, "How?"
"I see things, know somehow," Will said beginning to cry and burying his head in both his hands, drawing his knees up to his chest and beginning to rock himself, "Partly why they all hate me so much. I see death and the dead, always have, you, I saw it in you at New Year and I did nothing."
"Will, we really need to explain what happened," Harry tried to begin.
"Make it all better? How do you explain that?" Will continued to sob and rock backwards and forwards on the chair.
"What is in those bags?" Harry asked.
"Bits of flesh, dead bodies, some of them have little bits of bone in them, chipped bone, every one with a story, found lying on the moor the morning after," Will explained without looking up, "I found them."
"Oh Severus!" Harry said turning on his Kin, "I thought you said that you had cleared it all up!"
"I did!" Severus defended, "Every last bit."
"Not quite."
"I swear I did, I wouldn't leave that sort of thing lying around for a Muggle to find," Severus insisted.
"Well how did they get there? I suppose they just crawled back up out of the ground?" Harry continued.
"I have waited for this moment," Will interrupted, still rocking, "I thought about it, planned it, imagined what it would be like to confront you about what I saw you both do, but I never expected this, never expected that you would just bicker about it, as if one of you has just forgotten to unplug the iron or something."
"Sorry," Harry said returning his attention back to Will.
"I suppose they must have crawled up," Will said giggling to himself in a disturbing way, "They weren't there the first time I looked and then the voice in my head made me go back and there they were and I picked them up, singing a nice song all the time like I was picking blackberries at the end of August."
"Who was the voice?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Will mumbled, "He followed me home and he wouldn't go, he made me put those things in the freezer and he wouldn't leave me alone, he was playing music."
"What happened next?"
"I shouted out in the garden and the voice disappeared but so did everybody else one by one till I was on my own."
"So the voice belonged to a man?"
"No more!" Will suddenly shouted, "You were supposed to be explaining all this shit to me, I am not telling you anymore, you had better tell me who the hell you both are and how you've been doing these things to me!"
"We haven't done any of those things," Harry protested.
"I couldn't move! And you're dressed like.... Like.... Why did you come here?"
"We dropped in for a cup of tea," Harry answered knowing that it sounded ridiculous now in the circumstances.
Will laughed, still sounding decidedly unhinged, "A cup of tea? You've killed hundreds of men and women but at least there's still time for tea! Put the kettle on then!"
"They had to die for a very good reason," Harry tried to defend.
"Really? Well that's all right then, I'll have a coffee if you don't mind," Will responded, his voice now so loud that it made Harry flinch.
"Really, if I hadn't they would have killed me, that was what we running from when we came here the first time, you tried to shoot us with a shotgun and you were stopped because we are wizards and with an immobilisation curse from our wands we could make you stop," Harry said knowing that he had to be blunt about it, there was no easy gentle way, "That day at Culloden, they were going to kill me, I had no choice."
"Right, wizards! I suppose you fly on broomsticks and send messages to each other with owls do you?" Will snapped, falling back on the stories his long ago friend had told him.
Harry and Severus managed to look suitably shocked at Will's words but before they could think of a reply they saw Will's expression change from anger and fright to one of stunned disbelief. There was a distinct tapping on the kitchen window.
Harry turned to see what it was while Severus kept an eye on Will. It was one of the school owls and he was sitting on the exterior window ledge and had been responsible for the tapping. He had a message tied to his leg so Harry opened the door to let him in. As the owls usually did when they had a message he flew in and landed neatly on the table so that Harry could remove his message and formulate a reply after he had read it.
Harry looked at Will, he was still staring at the owl, Harry wondered why he hadn't thought to mention Severus' brother before, although he hadn't known that Alexian had told Will anything about being a wizard and it seemed that he definitely had. Telling him about Alexian now seemed like a good way forward. He took the message form the owl and read it.
"Who is it from?" Severus asked.
"Ron, he must be bored already," Harry replied as he looked around the room for something to write a reply on. He came upon a notebook and pen on the kitchen bench and tore a sheet out of the pad to write on. Once he had the reply he reached in the biscuit barrel for a small tit bit for the owl before tying the message to his leg. The owl looked tired so Harry told it to take a rest in one of the trees outside before returning to Ron when it was sure that it was ready, the message was hardly urgent.
Harry turned back to Will once the owl had gone, "You had a friend called Alexian," He began.
Will still stared at the place where the owl had been, "Yes, when I was about eleven."
"Alexian was my brother," Severus informed Will.
Will turned his attention away from where the owl had been at last and Harry saw that he relaxed ever so slightly, his eyes filled with tears again, "Little Sevvie?"
Severus cringed noticeably at being referred to as 'little Sevvie' but he managed to answer, "My name is Severus but my brother did have a tendency to refer to me by that pet name."
Harry noticed that although Will seemed to relax a little his hands were shaking and he was grasping them together trying to make it stop. He had to wonder if this was all rather too much for a Muggle to take in one go, "I think we should have that cup of tea," he suggested.
Harry made the tea while Severus continued to keep watch over Will. Will accepted his tea, grasping his shaking hands around the mug as if he was trying to grasp onto life, he drank the hot liquid readily without it crossing his mind for a second that it might be poisoned.
Harry and Severus both sat down at the table too but Severus remained ready with his wand as he lifted his mug with his other hand.
"I swear that we had to kill those men," Harry tried to explain, "I will try to tell you why, one of them was responsible for killing Severus' brother, another was responsible for killing my family, another for showing him where they were. Many of them had tried to kill my friends back at home while we stayed here with you over Christmas. They all came to Culloden to kill me."
Will looked genuinely upset at the news, "Alexian is dead? They killed him? When?"
"Many years ago now," Severus answered sombrely, suddenly shaken by Will's fresh grief.
"How long?" Will persisted.
"Before Harry was born," Severus added.
"Who's Harry? Did Alexian have a son?" Will asked.
Harry had to laugh, it had been many long years since somebody he had known of had not known who he was, "I am, and no I am not Alexian's child," He replied.
"When did they kill the others?" Will asked.
"They killed my family when I was one year old, many other deaths occurred while Severus and I were away in hiding, we had to put an end to this," Harry replied.
"Why didn't you just kill them before, why go into hiding?"
"Two hundred men was too many, Severus helped me with a special power that I didn't have before and when I was ready I told them where to find me. There was a Prophecy that meant that I was the only one who could do it, the only one who could kill the leader anyway," Harry tried to explain.
Will looked like he was trying to take it all in but it was understandably hard, "You were ill when you came here," Will remembered about Harry and Severus' arrival the previous Christmas Eve.
"You told Harry that you saw what he did, but you also said that you didn't see us at Culloden, how exactly did you know?" Severus asked.
"I see things when I'm close to people, when I touch them. I laid my on Alex, sorry, Harry at New Year and I knew. There were no images then but I knew. I knew I had the so-called gift but I thought that I was losing it, that it was showing me things that couldn't possibly be true. That was until I followed you both to Culloden in April. I suppose I am what would be called a 'medium'," Will replied, "I touched them," He continued pointing to the remains in the plastic bags, "I saw a vision of their deaths."
Harry stood up and approached Will holding out his hand, "Use this gift that you have to read me now," He offered, "Search for anything that you need to know to find out that we are very much your friends, that the battle was just."
Will backed away from Harry and looked horrified.
"Just hold my hand and use your gift, I won't do anything," Harry reassured.
Will reluctantly and cautiously reached out his hand and closed it around Harry's. Will was quiet for so long that Harry wondered if anything was happening at all.
"I see them threatening to kill you," Will said after a while, "Severus tries to trick them and then there is the most amazing battle, you go to a castle after that and live there and..."
"And what?" Harry prompted.
Will hesitated, "Then things get very weird, I don't think it's working right, maybe I've been drinking too much lately."
Harry smiled to himself realising what the problem might be, "Don't worry about how weird it sounds, and just tell me what you see."
"You're both wizards and you live in a school that teaches magic and Harry, you're... erm... pregnant?" Will reluctantly said.
Harry couldn't help smiling broadly, "Yes, I am."
"You are bigger," Will had to admit as he looked Harry over feeling more than a little bit stunned.
"We are two powerful wizards with some very special powers and Harry is indeed pregnant," Severus confirmed.
Will looked Severus over, "You've gained even more weight than Harry, are you pregnant as well?" Will asked.
"Yes," Severus answered.
Will nearly smiled, "Can you all do that?"
"No, it's just us two, we have something that makes us different to other wizards," Harry replied glad that Will was beginning to feel a little bit more calm about things.
"What about a talking hat?" Will asked, he was breathing heavily but he seemed to be coping more effectively now that Harry had been open with him.
Harry was puzzled for a second till he realised what Will meant, "The sorting hat!"
"It does something on the first day of school," Will added.
"Did my brother tell you everything about our world?" Severus asked, a bit irritated at the disregard for security that even a Muggle lover wouldn't normally entertain.
"I don't know, I wrote it all down, you can see if you like," Will offered before his eyes rested on the wand that Severus was still pointing at him, "That's a magic wand isn't it?"
Will seemed to be more fascinated than frightened now, so Severus lowered his wand, "Yes it is," He answered.
Harry and Severus allowed Will to go and get his papers and the photograph album and Harry put the kettle on for another cup of tea.
"At least he doesn't seem to want to kill us now," Severus commented to Harry as he waited for the water to boil.
"He thought we were nothing better than murderers, he saw all of the horror and none of the context. I sometimes wonder if that is Trelawney's trouble sometimes, that she says what she sees, and what she sees are only snatches of what actually happens," Harry discussed as he was making the tea.
"Sticking up for Trelawney?" Severus added, "Ron and Draco will be friends next, will nothing ever be the same again?"
Harry smiled at his Kin and handed him his tea, "The grumpy potions master might start being funny and then we'll know that all is lost."
Will returned with his papers and the photograph album and put them on the table. They all sat close together to have a look.
Will flicked through all the pages in the album and went straight to the picture of Alexian. He turned the book towards Severus.
Severus looked at the picture for a few minutes.
"You all right Sev?" Harry asked.
"It's unsettling, seems strange to see the picture still like this and so old looking, so faded," Severus said after a while.
"I didn't see any of those moving pictures although I was told about them, I suppose Alexian didn't really want me to believe that it was all real, he wanted me to think that it was just a story," Will told Harry and Severus. He laid the papers in front of him, "Alexian told me these things and I wrote the stories down after he left and I drew pictures."
Severus and Harry could tell from the stories that were written on yellowing A4 size lined paper that they had been sketched out by Will when he was still a child but they were intriguing none the less. They flicked through the pages, although there were errors in accuracy they could recognise everything. The drawing of Lucius as a seventeen year old boy was particularly amusing and showed that Alexian had described him in detail although in the stories he had changed his own name.
The last page Will showed them was another drawing but this time it was drawn in another hand. Severus reached out a finger and touched the drawing.
"This was Alexian's drawing," Will explained.
Although neither Severus nor Will said who the figure in the drawing was meant to be, Harry could tell straight away, it was Severus as a child.
Severus drew his wand and tapped the picture with it and it came to life. What had been a still line drawing now ran around the page like a young child might do in familiar and happy surroundings, Harry couldn't help laughing at the sight.
Harry wondered if Alexian was there somewhere watching over all of this. He tried to call Alexian in his head realising that he hadn't heard from the spirit of Severus' brother in quite some time. Alexian didn't appear to be there, not even in Sgoil Dhubh where Harry had heard him the most, where Alexian had led them to stay. Harry then wondered about everybody else that was missing but didn't know if it was the right time to ask Will about it.
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Severus and Harry answered quite a lot of Will's questions over many more cups of tea and Will seemed to become much more relaxed although he was very much in awe of what they were telling him.
Harry was really drinking more tea than he was happy with and he tried to make it weak and drink very slowly. It was essential however that they continue to accept Will's hospitality openly.
The question over whether Harry should ask Will about the other occupants of the house became more urgent when Will suddenly invited Harry and Severus to stay the night and go out with him in the Land Rover to get something for dinner. Although they had originally intended to stay a few days that had been altered by the pointing of the shotgun and the discovery of the house and gardens in such a run down state. Harry knew that they had no choice but to find out what had been going on before they committed themselves to anything, indeed it might seem strange to Will if they didn't comment upon it seeing that it was so obvious.
Severus decided that he was going to put the body parts back in the freezer before they melted too much and while he was in the pantry Harry decided that he would tackle the subject.
"Where is Judith?" Harry began.
Will looked down, "She left."
"What happened to the others?" Harry asked hoping that it wasn't a long and complicated story.
"They left too," Will shrugged.
"Don't you know where they went?" Harry persisted.
"No," Will answered, "I don't know what happened exactly, I was drunk and there were some arguments, I don't know what was said but in the morning, one by one they were gone."
Harry wanted to ask something that he didn't really want the answer to, "You didn't use the shotgun did you?"
Will laughed, "It's funny to be asked that in such a hesitant way by somebody who, by his own admission, has racked up quite a body count himself and only took a day to do it."
"Did you?" Harry persisted.
"No, they all walked out on me," Will replied.
"Isn't it weird that most of them left their possessions?" Harry asked.
Will began to look upset at having to recall things, "I know it is, I was hoping that you two would be able to tell me what happened. I know what it looks like but I didn't do anything, they just left and disappeared. Judith said she was going shopping."
"You argued didn't you?" Harry asked an idea starting to form in his head.
"Yes."
"Did you tell them to get out?"
"Yes, but I didn't mean it," Will replied.
Severus rejoined them at the kitchen table, "It wouldn't matter, you have a ward around your garden and it doesn't protect the house, it protects you. My brother Alexian must have raised it to keep you safe and if you told them to go then they wouldn't have been able to find their way back. They would have walked away, just like the postman who never brings the mail further than the gate," Severus explained.
"What is a ward?" Will asked.
"It's a magic defence," Harry answered not sure if he was going to explain it very well, "Usually put up around buildings, it's to control access and is adaptable to circumstances. In your case the ward focuses on your will and the intentions of others towards you. You must never have wished us to stay away or we would never have got here. In addition, you can be sure that nobody who comes here can possibly wish you harm."
Will began to look upset again, "How can I get them back? How can I get Judith back? Can I break the ward?" Will asked.
"You can't just summon people back," Harry explained, "They could be anywhere by now. I don't advise breaking the ward either, you have to reverse your angry intentions and let it continue, it has provided safety here for a very long time."
"How do I reverse it?"
"Just invite all the people that you shouted at back, if they are ever passing this way then they will come to see you," Harry told him.
"You were halfway to reversing it, when you said that you didn't mean it," Severus encouraged.
Will stood up, "All of you, as long as you weren't one of Harry's evil killers, I invite you back," He spoke, caught up now in Harry and Severus' truths and not feeling in the least bit silly.
The CD player in the living room switched on at full volume and began to play Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven'. Will immediately shrieked and ran out of the kitchen and into the hallway with Harry and Severus following closely behind.
"What is the matter?" Harry shouted after Will.
Will froze outside the living room door and turned round, "What is the matter!? Do CD players come on by themselves all the time where you come from?"
"No, we don't have electricity," Harry explained.
"What is the matter, is that it's the voice in my head, it's back! I told him to go and now he's back, messing with my CDs, he was the one that made me pick up those THINGS!"
'Alexian!' Harry called in his head.
'This one was for Severus,' Alexian answered back in Harry's head.
"This one was for Severus," Will spoke.
Harry looked to Severus and he seemed to be looking rather stunned, "Stairway To Heaven," Severus spoke, "This was where he learnt the Muggle tune, your 'voice' is my brother and your friend."
"The voice was Alexian? Why didn't he just say? Why did he make me do those things?"
"I suppose he was trying to help us at the time," Harry tried to explain though he couldn't really know, "Even as a spirit he couldn't have got past the ward if he meant you harm."
"He used to play music to me when I was a child, when things had been bad, it was comforting, this song in particular," Severus added.
"He learnt that here, I can play it too, Little Sevvie! I can't believe it!" Will suddenly gushed, stepping forward and grasping Severus' hand tightly.
Severus grimaced again in embarrassment, "Can we come to some sort of arrangement whereby we agree to be your friends and protectors forever in return for you not calling me 'Little Sevvie' ever again?"
Will dropped Severus' hand as quickly as he had taken it up, he was speechless, he had been reading Severus during their brief contact and he was completely lost for words, "What would you like me to call you?" Will asked after a while.
"'Severus' will do well," Severus replied.
"We'll get some more tea and then we'll go out for some food, I'll put the fire on in the living room and we can have some more comfortable chairs," Will suddenly started to chat without pausing for breath, "I know it's the summer but the sun only falls on this side in the evening and it never seems to get very warm."
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Harry and Severus became very glad that they had sobered Will up when he led them out to the Land Rover and they found that it had been parked at a very odd angle the last time that it had been driven. The roads were quite quiet where Will lived but he could still have ended up in the water, Harry thought as he vowed that they were going to look after Will from that point on. By picking up those body parts he had become unwittingly and irreversibly embroiled in the affairs of the wizarding world and he needed them as much as they needed his freezer to keep the Dark Lord and his followers under control.
Both Severus and Harry had ridden in the Land Rover with Will before and they found that he took a lot longer than usual to drive up to Fort William, probably because he was driving like a normal person would. Harry remembered being flung all over the last time and he had been a bit wary of going, but it seemed that Will had the sense to be respectful of their pregnancies, even if the news hadn't really sunk in yet.
Will parked the Land Rover in the supermarket car park and while he went inside to begin shopping Severus said that he was going with Harry to get some money. The possible implications of being a wizard hadn't occurred to Will yet, so he didn't think anything of it and let them wander off down the street.
"Do you still have the card?" Harry asked as they walked. They were getting some very strange looks from passers by but then they had all just seen them get out of Will's vehicle so they would no doubt file their appearance away in the same folder as everything else that they thought was weird about Sgoil Dhubh. Not that Harry actually found that he cared. He wasn't bothered about being stared at because he looked like a wizard, although he had taken his cloak off and a knee length robe could look like a long suit jacket if you weren't looking for anything else.
Severus walked stiffly beside him, "I do have the card and hopefully nobody was left to clear the account after they had finished trying to track us. Will hasn't been working and I don't think it's right that he should be doing this," Severus discussed with his Kin.
To Severus and Harry's relief the card worked and they soon had a nice thick handful of Muggle cash. They rejoined Will in the supermarket and found that he hadn't put very much in the trolley. He had put some whiskey in but Severus swiftly removed it while Will's back was turned and Will didn't say anything as they continued to walk round together.
Will took a plastic bottle off one of the shelves, "I suppose you probably have an equivalent for these," He began, "But if you haven't they could be helpful."
"What are they?" Severus asked managing to sound both intrigued and suspicious at the same time.
Harry took a look at the label on the bottle, "Their vitamins for use during pregnancy," He explained quietly.
"Hmm, solidified potion?"
"Yes," Harry replied, "You swallow them with a drink of water."
Severus took the bottle and attempted to read the small print, "All these things can be found in food."
"They're a supplement to eating well, it's so you get all the right things without having to hunt for exactly the right foods," Harry explained, he knew a little about the subject since Dudley had been fed them all through his childhood on top of all the food he had been given. In Dudley's case though it might have been to make up for the fact that their were very few vitamins in the kind of food he ate despite how much of it he had managed to get through.
Severus didn't normally like to accept a Muggle solution over a wizard one but he put them in the trolley anyway, when it came to the pregnancies Severus would do anything that would ensure they went smoothly.
"We need to get plenty proper food too," Severus announced as they headed for the meat, "We're not the only ones who need to be eating well," He added pointing out that Will had hardly been looking after himself, "I said what I would do if you stopped calling me 'Little Sevvie', and I meant it," Severus added to make sure that he gained Will's compliance.
They bought vegetables and meat for several days and after Harry nagged for a fruit pie and other hot puddings Severus added items that would be needed to make those too. They added plenty of milk to the trolley and when the Land Rover was finally allowed to return to Sgoil Dhubh its suspension was tested to the limit.
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When they got back to the kitchen at Sgoil Dhubh it was turning into a nice hot summer's day. They kept the back door open as Harry made a fresh pot of tea, Will made them some sandwiches for lunch and Severus put the shopping away. Some of the meat had to go in the freezer and he was very careful to keep the food away from the other things that they had to keep in there.
After lunch Harry decided that he was going to make a pie and Will stood just outside the kitchen door having a smoke and drinking his tea. Severus didn't ask if he was cooking the dinner but the job apparently lay open for him and he took it.
Harry was happy that things were beginning to turn out a bit more like they had expected them to and Will seemed to be feeling a lot better and much more like the Will that they remembered.
Sometime in the afternoon Severus and Harry found themselves on their own as Will suddenly seemed to realise something about himself and announced that he was going upstairs to take a bath.
Severus had the cooker on to warm up for the meat and Harry had the fire heating the range so that he could bake his pie.
"I am so hot," Severus complained stepping outside for a minute, with the sun beating down though he found that it was just as hot in the garden.
"Take your robe off, you have a shirt on underneath there don't you?" Harry suggested thinking that soon he might do that too.
Severus looked at him as if he were mad, "I can't!"
"Why not?" Harry asked.
Severus looked quite self-conscious but he was having trouble verbalising a sensible reason.
"We've already told Will that we're both pregnant and he's fine, he knows that you're bigger," Harry tried to persuade.
Severus began to unbutton his robe but he still didn't feel very happy about it, "I am not used to being on show like this."
The shirts they were wearing underneath their robes were light summer ones and were only made from a light grade of muslin. They were consequently quite see through.
"Think how I will look," Harry attempted to distract Severus, "I have the Talisman bandaged round my chest, how is that going to look? He'll ask about it."
Severus stood in just his shirt and pants, "You'll have to wrap it lower down," He suggested.
"Where?"
"Around your thigh maybe? You can't have it round your abdomen or it'll dig in when you bend over."
"You had better help me get it done before Will comes back," Harry said hurriedly unbuttoning his robe.
Only a minute later Severus and Harry were in a position that would have appeared very interesting to anyone who had walked in on them and didn't know what they were doing. Harry was still without a shirt and was standing with his pants round his ankles while Severus attempted to bandage the Talisman to his thigh, retying the only bandage they had with them and trying to get it in a comfortable and secure position as well.
Severus was kneeling down on the floor to save having to bend over while he did the bandaging and when he finished he found that he was far too close to Harry's warm and soft skin to resist temptation. He closed the short distance and laid his head gently on Harry's belly, listening.
Harry put his hand on his Kin's head and stroked his hair but he was the voice of reason, "We don't have time for this now, Will won't be long when he knows that he has guests."
Severus planted a small kiss on Harry's belly and then handed him his shirt, "Later you are mine."
"All yours," Harry replied kissing Severus full on the lips after he had stood up again.
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When Will returned to the kitchen he was dressed in a clean t-shirt and chino pants, he'd had a shave too and he actually now looked smarter than usual and Harry had to consider that these were the only clean clothes that Will had been able to find.
Harry had his pie in the range oven and it was baking nicely, the meat was also in the cooker and very soon there would be an irresistible smell in the air. As they sat down at the table for a glass of milk that Severus had poured for them all, Severus also began to hand out the vegetables and some knives with which to cut and peel them. It seemed that he wasn't prepared to be cook on his own. It also appeared that he trusted Will enough now to let him have a knife.
"What are we going to do with the things in the freezer?" Will asked suddenly as they chopped and peeled.
"I hadn't thought," Severus admitted, "Though I think we have only two main options considering the nature of the thing that we are discussing."
"Which are?"
"Either they stay where they are or we dispose of them in some way, perhaps burning them might be the most effective since we know what happens when they get buried. The question is, do we need them for anything?"
Harry assumed that the question was at least partly for him to consider, "If there is any information to be gained from them we could do that and then destroy them," He suggested.
"I am not touching them again!" Will suddenly burst out sounding extremely distressed at the prospect.
"I meant magically," Harry reassured, "We don't expect you to."
"You can do what you like with them but I don't really want them in my freezer anymore," Will insisted.
"We'll think of something," Harry continued to reassure.
"Well that leaves out leaving them where they are, why don't we leave it for tonight and think about it in the morning?" Severus suggested.
"I don't want to think about it at all," Will said feeling a bit calmer but shivering as he said it.
"Have you got any new films to watch?" Harry asked to change the subject.
"I haven't bought anything since..." Will began, "I'm sure I can find something you haven't watched before."
"Great," Harry enthused, "We haven't seen a movie since the last evening we were here."
"I'll go have a look," Will said with some enthusiasm before abandoning his vegetables and dashing off to the living room.
Harry took over cutting Will's share of the vegetables and looked up at Severus just as Severus was looking up at him. They smiled at each other and then carried on peeling. It was still a strange experience for Harry to see his Kin look so unguarded in expression but he enjoyed it a lot.
TBC soon
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Chapter Thirty-Five – Draco and Ron reach an uneasy truce due in part to boredom, they play chess, they get wasted and words get said, but will it be all right in the morning.