In His Memory
Part Nine: …Hope Found
By WeasleyTwin2
Bravely we hope against all hope
There is so much at stake,
Seems our freedom's up against the ropes.
Burning Heart
Survivor
We can never be certain
What the future may bring
In the land it is winter
But we hope and we pray
For spring.
The Land of the Fathers
From the Musical: Martin Guerre
"We must do something…" said Ron, his voice trembling. "We have to save them…somehow."
We all stared out the window at the approaching group. Bill had fallen and we could see Seth-Ra's creatures getting closer, shouting in triumph. I watched Ron and noticed that his eyes mad glint in them. Suddenly he whirled around and sprang for the door attempting to wrench it open. It took Sirius, Remus and I several minutes to clam him. He struggled against us.
"We can't let them know we are here," Sirius growled, with sadness in his eyes. "We can't afford to be found."
"WE MUST DO SOMETHING! WE CAN'T JUST STAND BY AND…LET…" said Ron in a vehement whisper, sorrow coloring his voice.
"There is nothing…" I began, but the sorrowful and pain filled look Ron gave me stopped me in mid-thought.
We stood in silence, watching and trying to come up with some plan that would save them while keeping our presence here a secret. I could think of none and was about to say so when Hermione's eyes lit up.
"The cloak…" she said turning to Ron, hope alight in her eyes.
She ripped open her pack and pulled the silvery invisibility cloak from its depths. It glowed slightly and shimmered in her hands as she threw it over her shoulders, pulling the hood over her head. She disappeared from our sight with only a barely audible swish of the cloak to tell where she was.
"Hermione…no!" Sirius yelled, but the door had already opened and shut. She was gone.
We turned back to the window and watched. Bill had gotten to his feet and he and the twins were running again. They were still headed toward the house as fast as Bills wound would allow but Seth-Ra's creatures were gaining on them. We could hear them, their howls of triumph ringing in the air. Suddenly, those howls became cries of pain as one of the creatures ignited into a blue column of flame. It's companions inched away from the one that was ablaze but that one ran in to their midst screaming its blood curdling scream. Soon there were five columns of blue fire, their screams filling the air around them. The rest tried to flee from their fellows but found themselves surrounded by a wall of energy. They howled in rage at their inability to reach their prey. Bill and the twins slowed from a frantic run to a walk. Soon they had gained the relative safety of the house. The kitchen door opened and the four of them entered, panting from their run. Then Fred, George and bill slumped to the floor, trembling with a combination of fear and exhaustion. Hermione unclasped the cloak and folded it neatly before putting it in her pack once more. She looked very pleased with herself.
Sirius, however, looked angry. "That was a stupid thing to do! Now you've given away our location! We'll have to leave now…"
"Don't worry, I've put a spell of silence on them and a charm that blocks the enemy from seeing the fires. It will drive them away. I wasn't Head Girl for nothing. We will be safe here for the moment."
She looked deep into Sirius' eyes. Sirius started to say something but Lupin stopped him before he started.
"She's right, Sirius," he said with a chuckle.
Sirius shrugged but his eyes reflected his concern.
" We should still keep a watch…"
"I'm not disagreeing with you Padfoot, quite the opposite in fact. We'll gladly do whatever your comfortable with," said Lupin with a faint grin.
Sirius nodded as Hermione went to where the twins and Bill sat slumped on the floor. All three of them looked terrible. Their vivid red hair was shaggy and matted and their black robes were in tatters. Bill looked worse then the twins. He was extremely thin and pale and there were circles under his eyes. His long, flaming red hair was a mess and his face and clothing were smudged with dirt. His eyes had a haunted look, as if he had seen great evil done right in front of him and had been powerless to stop it. His wounded leg was thrust out in front of him. There was a long jagged gash that traveled from his knee to his foot on it that was bleeding sluggishly. Bill grimace and his eyes flashed as Hermione examined the wound. It looked worse then it really was though. Hermione cleaned it and bound it up in strips of cloth.
"Thank you," Bill said to her as he closed his eyes.
Ron's mouth worked but no sound would come out. After a few minutes Bill opened his eyes again and looked at him. Fred and George rose from the floor and began to stretch and moan. I watched them all careful, sensing something vaguely familiar and my senses on the alert. There was something…
"We thought you were dead Bill…We were told that you fell in battle… How…? What happened…" said Ron, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
The story that Bill and the twins told was one of horror. Bill had been held captive ever since Seth-Ra's tomb had been opened. He had been a part of a team of wizards who had been called in to break some powerful curses on vaults and tombs in Egypt that had begun to affect the local Muggle population. They had been in the middle of a curse breaking session when the area around them was rocked by a magical explosion. When Bill woke up, some time later, he was the only one left alive. Seth-Ra had tried to drain him of his powers, as he had the others, but had been unable to for some reason. He had kept Bill a prisoner in a camp all this time and it was in a camp nearby that he had run into his brothers. Together they had plotted an escape and, after be-spelling some of the lesser guards, had managed to get several miles outside of the camp before they were missed. They soon discovered that using magic brought other, more horrible creatures of Seth-Ra on them. These creatures gave chase.
"If you hadn't saved us… our souls would now be dust," said Fred, shivering at the memory.
"Those creatures… the Serpens-Animus… have the power to drain a person of their powers and to destroy the soul completely… That's what they were ordered to do to us if they caught us."
"Rest now. We'll decide what to do in the morning," said Lupin in soothing tones.
The three of them lay down and soon they were fast asleep. We sat nearby, unable to sleep, and discussed our situation and theirs. It was obvious to us that they could not travel in their condition. So it was decided that we would send them back to Hogwarts with whatever information they carried via the secret passage. It was our only hope and Hogwarts would be somewhere they could rest and recover at. We would continue on our journey the next day. Sirius hoped to reach the Castle in a week, if all went well.
"I know all the hiding places and the quickest paths along this route, " said Sirius pointing it out on the map that was open before us.
"What about these creatures…these Serpen-Animus…" I asked, hoping someone had considered them.
"We must do all we can to avoid detection…here is what we will do."
Lupin outlined a plan that called for us to masquerade as Muggles on a tour of the country. It was such a simple plan and we readily agreed to it. We talked far into the night finalizing our plans for departure and all the while I had a sense of foreboding and felt as if someone was watching. When I turned around to look, there was nothing in the room but the sleeping Weasleys and ourselves.
All too soon the sun rose, though the sky above remained wreathed in a shadow that blocked out the sun's light. As we made ready to leave, Bill and the twins were also getting ready for their journey. We saw them off at the door that lead to the underground passage back to Hogwarts.
"There are some of Seth-Ra's creatures nearby," said Bill. "Be safe and I'll see you when it's all over."
Ron hugged him then and told his twin brothers to be careful.
"You know us…" said George with a wink and a ghost of a grin.
"…we are ever the very heart and soul of caution," finished Fred with a grin.
Then the three of them were gone as if they had never been here. I felt faintly uneasy but said nothing as we shouldered our packs and left by the kitchen door. Looking back at the house of Sirius Black, I hoped that the three of them would find safety within Hogwarts' walls.
* * *
Our journey to Castle Gryffindor began uneventfully but soon it became apparent that someone knew where we were going and perhaps also how we were disguised. We were blocked from our goal at every turn, Seth-Ra's minions always laying in ambush at every crossroad. I was only just able to sense them in time to avoid disaster. We were forced to go several miles out of our way which caused a week's long trip to turn in a trip of a month as we struggled to find some clear path to our goal. None of Sirius' safe places were safe any more; Seth-Ra's forces had overrun them all. Our provisions began to run out and we were reduced to living off of what we could hunt. The one blessing in all this was the fact that the Wolfsbane Amulet worked just as it was supposed too and we spent the night of the full moon unmolested for there were few creatures that would bother a werewolf. They all knew it was suicide to try so all creatures left us alone.
I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched and followed everywhere we went. I felt as if there were eyes everywhere, watching us. I tried also to shake the feeling of doom that had begun to descend upon my heart. If the others felt as I did, they gave no sign. I felt myself grow weaker and weaker as the weeks passed. Soon I became discouraged and I saw the others around me were beginning to lose hope.
We had all but given into our despair when we arrived in a clearing a mile or so north of Godric's Hollow and got the first glimpse of our objective. The ruined castle, its fallen stones laying a jumble on the ground, still towered above us. From a distance to looked to be a fair sized ruin, with most of the building still intact. We breathed in air that had suddenly grown warm.
"Castle Gryffindor!" Lupin breathed in awe.
The ruins were bathed in a faint, white glow and for a moment I thought I saw not the ruin but the castle as it was; the walls pure white instead of dull gray, the light from it suffusing everything around it instead of the faint glow that huddled near the castle's walls.
Taking every precaution possible, we began to head toward it. We moved slowly at first and then faster until we were practically running into its warm and welcoming light. My heart was pounding in my chest and fear began to overwhelm me. I turned my eyes from the gray wall in front of me and looked back over my shoulder toward the woods from which we had just come. I saw to my horror that a large band of Seth-Ra's creatures was running toward us. Their numbers were so great that they looked like a sea of darkness drowning all light before them. My scar began to burn and I felt suddenly weaker then I had ever felt before. I grew dizzy, the world around me faded in and out. I pulled out Harry's wand and pointed it at them, readying the first spell that came to mind.
Set Serpens Mordre Eternus
It was not a spell that I was familiar with and I had no clue what it would do but I had to do something and fast or all would be lost. Through a haze of pain and fear I raised Harry's wand and began to speak the words that burned inside my head. Seth-Ra's creatures were upon us then and I heard the sound of an explosion nearby. This shattered my concentration and I looked around behind me in time to see a door open before me that had not been there a moment before. I called out to the others and they followed me through the open door, which slammed shut behind us. The pain in my scar grew for a moment worse and I felt myself slump to the floor. Before I lost consciousness completely though I saw a bright gold light and thought I heard a deep voice say, "Welcome my heir." Before I could reply, I fell into darkness.
* * *
Several hours later, I awoke on a makeshift pallet in a somewhat cold and drafty room. I felt extremely weak and slightly dazed. Had I really heard what I thought I had heard? I could hear the others talking quietly and smelled food cooking nearby. I raised myself from the floor and found that we were in a large oval room that was covered from floor to ceiling with a painted mural that ran the entire circumference of the room. There were candles in silver scones along the walls and a roaring fire in fireplace. It looked like we had reached out goal at last. Soon we would have the answer we sought, but I still wondered how we would get the information back to the others who waited for it. Would we get it back to them in time and why did I still feel as if someone or something was watching our every move. I lay back down to sleep some more with these questions in my head.
Sorry for the delay in posting this but I was busy reading Goblet of Fire and I couldn't think of anything else for several days after. I promise to post more regularly now. Coming soon~In His Memory Part 10: Battle of Wills. Please Read and Review and if you've forgotten the story feel free to read the rest of it first.
WeasleyTwin2