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"I have an instinct for survival, for self-preservation." – Julian Barnes
Chapter Forty-Three – Ghastly Grandparents
A tense silence reigned over the occupants of the room. Ankaa did not dare to turn her head towards the sound of her father's heavy breathing, lest her crazed grandmother put her wand to use. Ankaa continued to keep her eyes on her grandmother's reflection. Her grandmother straightened but did not remove the wand from Ankaa's neck. With a victorious smirk, Alice nodded.
Ankaa wished she could see her father at this moment, to take comfort in his presence and calm her wildly beating heart. In the past fourteen years, Ankaa had determined that her father was a warm man, down to his core. In fact, she had often contrasted Henry with Lucius. But today, facing the woman Ankaa had seen only in her nightmares, Henry Rhyther was a different man entirely.
"Alice," His harsh voice sounded far too loud to Ankaa's ears, "Welcome back."
From the corner of her eye, she saw Henry take a step into the room. Ankaa spotted Alice's hand twitch reflexively and she gripped her wand tightly, her eyes keenly assessing the man at the other end of the room.
"Ankaa was just telling me about how she's at the top of her class at Hogwarts," Alice turned back to her granddaughter. Her free hand ran down the back of Ankaa's head, and her mouth turned downwards in distaste at the sight of the wayward curls. "I see you let her have free reign about how to conduct herself, Henry," Alice looked down her nose at the girl with a stern gaze. "No matter. Come, let Grandmother fix it up for you and then we can all head for lunch—"
"It's fine. Ankaa." Henry commanded softly, "Come along." Ankaa quickly stood and made her way over to her father, standing beside him dutifully. "I'm afraid we might miss our reservations if we take any more time. Perhaps you two can bond another day?"
Alice considered the duo carefully. Ankaa could almost hear her thinking. She was no doubt trying to discern whether it would be beneficial to throw a hex at Henry. Alice Archer did not seem like a woman who liked to be denied anything. In the short while that Ankaa had been alone with them before her father had arrived, Ankaa had been disarmed and stunned in a matter of seconds. But if Alice was holding back now, it most likely meant that she considered Henry some sort of threat.
"Of course," she said, her voice eerily soft. Her brown eyes then turned to Ankaa, "We have the rest of our lives, don't we?"
Henry smiled at the woman, but it did not reach his eyes. Stepping aside, he gestured for her to go first. Henry watched as Alice pocketed her wand and ventured ahead, strutting confidently through the halls as if she had lived in Rhyther Manor all her life. Henry watched her go with barely concealed worry before turning to Ankaa.
"Where's your locket?" He whispered, keeping an eye on Alice's retreating form.
Ankaa only frowned, shaking her head solemnly.
Ankaa watched the green flames disappear after her father left for the Ministry. She turned back to the table and ate her breakfast while flipping through the Daily Prophet. Most of it was about Fudge denying Voldemort's return, and then some other smaller pieces about tensions between the Giants and the Ministry. The Prophet hardly interested her anymore, knowing that almost every piece of 'news' in there was completely and utterly fabricated to push a political agenda.
"Tipsy," Ankaa called distractedly, flipping open to another page in the Prophet, "Has Father told you to get a Christmas tree yet?"
"No, Mistress. Master Rhyther did not want one this year."
Ankaa nodded. Turning to the elf, she told her, "Go get one right now, okay? Take Blinky with you."
Tipsy nodded before Apparating away. Ankaa retreated to her bedroom after breakfast, awaiting the arrival of a brand-new Christmas tree. Ankaa retreated to her room for the time being, knowing it would be quite a while since the new Christmas tree would come home. She traced her fingers against the walls, passing by Ceph's room. Coming to a stop outside his room, she wondered if the house-elves had been cleaning his room as well.
Ankaa's head snapped towards the end of the hallway at the sound of a crash.
Quickly pulling out her wand, Ankaa held it steady as she headed towards her room. Her fingers gingerly gripped the handle of her door and she quickly threw it open to catch the intruder off-guard. Her wide-eyed stare came to rest on Pigwidgeon, who bounced excitedly against her window with a letter clutched securely in its talons. With a great sigh, Ankaa hurried forward to let him in. She knew the small owl was exerting tremendous effort to carry the letter, given that he usually did not even fly any letters, and probably could not fly for too long.
The owl settled itself on her desk, startling Zeus, who was perched on his sill calmly. Pig dropped the letter off on Ankaa's desk before surging forward excitedly and settling himself beside Zeus, bouncing on his feet and blinking up at the bigger owl. Zeus glanced in Ankaa's direction, looking highly affronted that she had let this intruder into her room, before hooting. With a great flourish of his wings, Zeus made sure to whack Pig before soaring out of the room.
Pig only turned back to Ankaa before bouncing away from the sill and onto Ankaa's desk in search of treats.
Ankaa frowned at him before opening the letter. It was from George. He seemed incredibly put out that she had left without telling anyone and the fact that no one seemed to know for certain when she would be back. Ankaa rolled her eyes when she spotted Fred's name in his letter, a few paragraphs down. At least George had the sense to only mention Fred at the end. He most likely knew Ankaa would stop reading the moment she saw his name.
I think you two should talk about it, was all George's letter said concerning the matter. Ankaa gladly folded it up and put it away. Pig, who seemed in no hurry to fly back, was eagerly jumping about the table doing a wild dance that had Ankaa staring in amusement. For his troubles, Ankaa passed him a few treats.
She wrote him a reply, essentially telling him that she had left because she missed seeing her father. Ankaa knew George wouldn't believe it at all, but he was sweet enough not to pester her about it. While Ankaa's decision to leave Grimmauld and spend at least a part of her Christmas Break at Rhyther Manor had, at first, been motivated by her need to get some space from Fred, she could not think of going back to Grimmauld so soon, especially if it meant leaving her father all alone in this giant house.
Ankaa folded the letter neatly and turned to Pig. The owl dodged her quickly, flying around the table and eventually zooming around the room so that Ankaa couldn't catch him.
"Will you please stop!" Ankaa finally snapped. Pig continued zooming around, hooting happily. He came to an abrupt stop, stopping mid hoot when Ankaa immobilized him in mid-air. Smirking, Ankaa clutched him securely in one hand before returning him to normal. The ball of energy buzzed in her hand, continuing to hoot happily as if it was just a game to him.
"Take this to George," said Ankaa holding up the reply. "And don't come back here, or I'll feed you to Zeus."
Pig blinked before hooting, and Ankaa took this opportunity to stuff the letter in his mouth. She opened the window and just about threw him out, watching as Pig started flapping his wings wildly and flew side to side as if he was drunk.
Just as she was turning away from the window, another loud sound from the living room drew her attention. Ankaa left her room quickly, excited to see the new tree Tipsy had brought back. What she saw, however, made her pause at the top of the bannister and reach for her wand immediately. A couple stood on the main floor below, underneath the grand chandelier, looking haughtily at their surroundings. Ankaa recognized the woman almost immediately.
The man beside her, however, was entirely new to her. Although the duo looked equally severe and slightly unhinged, the man did not instil nearly as much fright in Ankaa as the woman. He had deep-set eyes, and a mouth set in a firm line that seemed to have been frozen that way for quite some time.
"Ah, there she is!"
Ankaa started at the shrill voice. Her grandmother was looking up at her with a wide smile. For a moment, Ankaa was almost fooled by how absolutely normal she looked. But then the teenager glanced at the woman's eyes, and she realized how crazy her grandmother really was. Almost reflexively, Ankaa's hand reached for her wand.
"Stupefy!"
The duo jumped apart, neatly dodging the attack. Before Ankaa could even blink, her grandfather had shot a spell her way without a word. Ankaa wordlessly brought up her wand as well, casting a shield to block the spell, but she knew she could not last long. Her grandmother and grandfather took turns throwing spell after spell at her, in quick succession, knowing that speed and quantity would be too much for her to handle.
"Expelliarmus!"
Ankaa's wand flew out of her hand, and the next spell hit her right in the centre of her chest throwing her back a few feet and into the hallway. She could hear steps racing up the marble staircase. Ankaa knew she did not have enough time. If she tried to Apparate in this state, she would no doubt end up getting splinched. Not to mention the slight possibility that her grandparents might discover the headquarters as well.
Her silver locket, the Christmas gift from Sirius last year, had tumbled out of her shirt as she sat up. While it was a viable option to call for help, Ankaa knew she did not have enough time to contact anyone. She could not risk her grandparents finding out about Maya and Sirius. As quickly as she could she opened the locket and pulled out the two incriminating pictures, leaving only Ceph's photograph in the centre. Ankaa hastily stuffed the other two pictures of Sirius and Maya in her socks.
A moment later, Ankaa gasped as she was hauled up by the back of her shirt and made to stand before her grandmother. Her grandfather's grip remained steady and strong on the collar of her shirt, tugging threateningly when the young girl tried to wrench herself away. While the man remained stoic in nature, Alice Archer stood before her granddaughter, grinning widely.
With a pleased sigh, she ran her long nails down her granddaughter's cheek before gripping her jaw tightly. "How I've missed you, dear one," she said. Alice squeezed Ankaa's jaw marginally, enough to make her wince in pain before her hand reached for the silver locket gleaming against her chest. With a sharp tug, Alice pulled it away and flicked it open.
The woman clicked her tongue, her lips turning downward in great displeasure. "Such a shame," she sighed, "Your brother had so much potential, didn't he darling? Though, I suppose it is a great honour that he died for the Dark Lord."
It took all the willpower Ankaa had to keep her mouth shut. She wanted to badly to refute that statement and let her crazed grandmother know that Ceph hated everything about the Dark Lord and that he had died to save Harry Potter so that the young boy could return to Dumbledore and avenge his death.
"Such a tragedy." It was the first time Joseph had spoken.
"Yes," Alice snapped the locket shut forcefully. "I'll hold onto this, I think. I miss my grandson quite terribly, you see." With a wave of her hand, she commanded, "Let the poor girl go, Joseph. She's hardly foolish enough to try anything. Although, I do doubt that she would try to go against her own grandparents, isn't that right?"
When Ankaa did not answer, Alice's grip on her jaw tightened tenfold. The guise of happiness melted away for a split second, and her natural savagery shone through.
"I see my useless daughter was not able to teach you proper etiquette." Just as quickly as she had lost her composure, Alice's face regained a happy smile. "No matter, sweetling, your grandparents are here. Now, tell me, where is that mother of yours? I quite long to meet her once more. We've got some unfinished business."
"She's missing."
"Missing?" echoed her grandfather. "I doubt that. Must be with her bloodtraitor friends."
Alice only nodded, never once moving her eyes away from Ankaa. It unnerved the young girl deeply, looking into brown eyes that were the same as her mother, and yet did not hold an ounce of affection or warmth. Ankaa remained still, holding eye contact with her grandmother until the older woman suddenly smirked, as if she had emerged victorious from a great battle, and let go of Ankaa's jaw with a harsh snap of the girls' head.
"Let's talk, sweetling." Alice's hands now clamped down on the girl's shoulder, her fingers digging into the flesh in a not so subtle warning. "We've got loads to catch up on, don't you think?"
The moment Ankaa finished, Henry exhaled deeply. With one quick glance down the hallway, Henry quickly pushed Ankaa back into her bedroom. Closing the door behind them, he turned slightly before pointing his wand at the fireplace, which immediately roared to life.
Turning to Ankaa then, he spoke in a hush, "Destroy anything that might link you to the Order, or anyone from the Order."
Ankaa glanced at the books on her shelf, some of which had been especially hollowed out to be used as a storage space for letters from Fred, George, and Ginny. Ankaa reckoned she even had a few from Harry in there. Henry traced her line of sight and immediately pulled the book down, flipping it open to find a few photographs as well as some letters.
"Is this all?"
Ankaa shook her head. "There's more scattered across the room." She said in a daze, her fingers tracing over the topmost photograph of her, Fred, and George, sitting in the Astronomy Tower during the winter.
"Get rid of them all," Henry said with urgency. "I'll go downstairs and distract them. They're probably snooping about right now."
"I don't understand, why can't we Apparate out of here and—"
"Anti-Apparition charms around the house and gardens," Henry answered distractedly as he looked through some of the other shelves and easily pulled out the storage books Ankaa had kept. Without any hesitation, her father threw away her cherished memories into the fireplace. Ankaa watched the flames burn bright as they swallowed her favourite photographs, her favourite letters, and some mementos she had collected with Fred and George over the last two years or so.
"Ankaa," Henry took her shoulders in his hands and gently, yet firmly, turned her to face him. "I know this isn't easy, but please, we have to do this. Alice most likely already suspects us as being traitors to the Dark Lord, and if we give her more proof we'll be dead before we know it. Trust me, love. I've had to do this before, please."
Pull yourself together, she heard a voice in her head say. It's either this or you die.
Ankaa quickly emptied the book, tossing away all her things in the fire without a second thought.
"Go downstairs," She told her father, turning her head only slightly to see him by the door already. "One of us needs to keep an eye on them, right?"
The worst part about this ordeal was that Ankaa could understand exactly why her father would ask her to do this. They had no way out of the Manor without attracting any attention. They could not Apparate, and the Floo Network was too obvious. There was no way Ankaa could send for help without being obvious either, now that her locket was in the possession of her grandparents. Using Zeus was too risky, as her grandmother would no doubt shoot her owl out of the sky.
The Rhythers had no choice but to play along. At least until an opportunity presented itself where they could distance themselves from the Archers enough to Apparate away.
Ankaa lingered by the fireplace for a moment longer, watching the last of the letters shrivel and burn away into nothingness. She knew that brute strength against the Archers would not be enough to get away. Whether she liked it or not, her father and she were now involved in a delicate game of chess. If the Archers found anything that might suggest treason towards Voldemort, Ankaa and her father were as good as dead.
Think, she told herself. Think.
Her eyes snapped away from the burning embers when a wild idea struck her. There might be hope just yet.
After another ten minutes of waiting, Alice glanced away from the bookshelf in disgust. Tossing another ridiculous book into the fireplace, she turned to the stairs when the sound of footsteps echoed through the house. Her granddaughter had a bag slung over her shoulders. Looking the girl up and down, Alice scowled. There was certainly a lot to be improved. Ankaa hardly seemed a pureblood in high society with her casual style of dressing, but Alice was sure she could turn things around.
"Ah, good," the woman remarked, "let us hurry then. We cannot be late."
"I didn't think the reservations—"
"We're not going to lunch anymore, sweetling," said Alice, taking Ankaa's hand in her own as she rounded the last steps, "at least, not to a restaurant." Glancing at her husband, who stood emotionless beside Henry a few steps away. "There's somebody I would like you to meet."
Ankaa glanced back at her father, noticing the slight stiffening of his shoulders. Ankaa's mind ran a thousand miles per minute, trying to discern who her grandmother could possibly know in England when a fleeting thought made her blood run cold.
"Seems like you've figured it out, sweetling," Alice glanced down at her granddaughter with a sadistically giddy smile. "Come, let's go see the Dark Lord."
"Alice—"
"You too, Henry. The Dark Lord has business with you as well. I am sure he's noticed your absence as of late."
Joseph and Alice walked towards the door first. Henry quickly came over to Ankaa, taking her hand gently in his own and making following after his in-laws. Ankaa could feel her chest tightening in discomfort, and she had a feeling her father picked up on her mounting anxiety and fear as well, for he gently placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side.
Alice turned from the bottom of the last step of the porch. With her wand at the ready, she pointed it up to the father-daughter duo.
"Send your house-elves to Malfoy Manor, Henry," Alice commanded Henry. "I don't want them spewing secrets to anyone who comes about."
"They're loyal, they wouldn't—"
"They're loyal to the Rhythers. If your wife comes around after she's had her fill of the bloodtraitor, I'm sure your loyal house-elves will tell her everything she needs to know."
Henry turned his head and called for Tipsy. Immediately, the house-elf Apparated to the main door. Ankaa grasped her father's hand. She had barely drawn a breath before a large warm hand grasped her jaw and snapped her head back with such ferocity that it made her breath catch in her throat.
Her grandfather loomed over her, gripping her jaw and digging his nails into her cheeks. His other hand was poised in the air, and Ankaa could feel the tip of his wand digging into her throat as a warning quite distinctly.
"Quick one, aren't ya?" He glared down at her. "Go on then, ask the little runt to take you away. I'll come along."
"I was just going to give her some things from my bag," Ankaa said uncomfortably, twisting her head to get out of his firm grasp. Her grandfather raised an eyebrow, and Ankaa clarified, "If we're going to meet the Dark Lord, I won't need some of the things in here."
"Like what?"
"Ceph's spell book—" Ankaa grunted, pulling herself free of Joseph's grip. Her fingers reached down to haul Ceph's book out of her bag. "I had it in here in case we were held up at the restaurant, waiting for our table."
Joseph glanced at Alice, who walked up the stairs slowly. She held her hand out, and Ankaa passed her the bag. Her grandmother went through it carelessly. Her eyes, cold and calculating, found Ankaa's and she stared at Ankaa long and hard. With a quick narrowing of her eyes, Alice threw the bag at Tipsy, who caught it a few seconds before it could hit the floor.
"You won't need to bring anything with you," said Alice. "Come now, Henry. Deal with the house-elves and we can be on our way. The Dark Lord does not like to be kept waiting."
Ankaa and Henry shared a swift look. Ankaa turned to Tipsy and gently handed her the book. The girl was acutely aware of the grip her grandfather still had on her, lest she tries to Apparate away with the house-elf. But Ankaa passed the book to Tipsy, and told her, "Put it away in Ceph's room, will you?"
Tipsy nodded.
"See to it that the rest of the house-elves go to Malfoy Manor, Tipsy," her father commanded. "And once you're done with what Ankaa says, you will join them there as well, yes?"
"Yes, Master."
Satisfied, Alice and Joseph each gripped a Rhyther by the arm and pulled them down the stairs and down the gravel pathway, towards the towering wrought iron gates. With a wave of her wand, Alice willed the wrought iron gates to open and the quartet stepped through the threshold.
"Now then, are we ready?"
Ankaa gripped her father's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. A brief second before her grandparents joined hands and Disapparated, Ankaa turned her head to the Manor and spotted Tipsy in the window of Ceph's room, clutching the spell book securely in her hands. A split second before her world twisted and turned, and before she was whisked away from her home, Ankaa looked up at her house-elf and mouthed the words:
'Open it.'
"I can't believe you still haven't written to her," George reprimanded his brother, adding in a glare for some added effect. "You two are so stubborn."
"I'm not stubborn!" Fred exclaimed. "I was more than willing to talk to her and sort it out and apologize, mind you, before she packed up and ran away."
"Can't exactly blame her, mate," retorted George. "With the treatment you gave her at breakfast, if I had been in her place I would have done the same."
"I wasn't trying to ignore her, George," sighed Fred irritably, immensely tired of hearing the same thing from George and Ginny for the past three days, "I was just waiting to bring it up at a later time. I didn't think she would want us to talk about it in front of everyone else."
"But you insulted her in front of everyone else," Ginny chimed in, flipping a page in her book innocently. Fred glared at her, but deep down he knew that he had insulted Ankaa quite deeply.
"Look, you two, I know I hurt her and I'm more than ready to apologize and sort this whole mess out. But—" Fred gave Ginny another pointed look when she took a deep breath, no doubt to interrupt him and comment about how he should have written to Ankaa and apologized profusely already, "—we all know that the moment she sees my name on the envelope, or my handwriting in a letter, she's going to tear it into pieces or toss it straight into a fire."
There was a moment of silence before George snorted and nodded. "Can't argue with you there."
The three siblings continued to work on their respective activities in silence. Ginny continued reading through her book, pausing frequently and scowling at something in the text. George continued his work on the Headless Hats, concentrating on making his notes at every step of the process. Fred, while he too had one Headless Hat before him, could not concentrate on completing his portion of the work. George glanced up after a minute or two to find his brother lost in thought with a deep frown on his face.
"Don't think so hard, Fred," commented George offhandedly. "You've only got half a brain and if you work it that much, it might not survive." He tossed a cheeky smile over his shoulder when Fred threw a cushion his way.
"I'm just worried she might not forgive me."
George shrugged, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"They could break up," speculated Ginny, finally turning away from her book to look at Fred with a frown. "Though, I wouldn't recommend that, Fred. I think she's incredibly smart and talented, and I'm honestly surprised that you two—"
"Okay, thank you, I get it."
"—I mean she's so… and you're so…" Ginny trailed off purposely, sharing a mischievous glance with George who grinned. Fred, on the other hand, was not at all amused. He had not even considered that this argument between them could be big enough for them to stop speaking to one another.
"I'm sure Freddie can bounce back."
Fred looked offended that his brother would even suggest such a thing. When he turned to his brother, he noticed the wide smirk on George's face. Ginny, who had now abandoned her book entirely, was also grinning at Fred. Looking from his brother to his sister in confusion, Fred asked, "What?"
"You like her!" Ginny laughed, sitting up eagerly.
"Of course, I bloody like her," said the boy, "Otherwise I wouldn't be dating her, would I?"
"No, no," Ginny amended quickly, "You like-like her."
"I'm lost."
Ginny opened her mouth to explain before George cut her off with a smile. "Don't worry, Ginny, he'll catch on soon enough. But for now, I think it's best we leave you to your thoughts, Freddie." George gathered his things and stood up.
"Wait, what's going on? What do you mean? Ginny!"
"Bye Fred!" Ginny called joyously as she bounded out of the room and up the stairs to her own bedroom.
Fred turned away from where Ginny had vanished and turned his intense gaze to his brother. "George," he threatened, "Tell me."
"All I have to say is that: There are plenty of fish in the sea mate," George laughed, clapping Fred on the back, "but you've gone and fallen for a crocodile." With a gentle squeeze of his shoulder, George left his brother to his thoughts and headed up to his room.
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