Chapter Six - Revelations

Charlie breathed inward sharply. "I can't do that, Ron."

Harry pointed his wand at Charlie, although he kept an eye on Tracy. "You don't have a choice. We need to find Hermione."

"There's nothing that I can tell you that will help."

Harry answered quickly, "I think we may need to be the judge of that. You can use a memory charm on me later, if you have to, but we need to find her."

Tracy looked at him, a gleam in her eye, "So, what's with you and this girl, anyway?"

Ron snickered, "We've all been trying to find that out since second year."

Harry glared at Ron, "I'm not the one that asked her to the ball in fourth year."

"Well, you should have been," Ron said. "If she'd said yes to me, she would have been just as miserable as the Patil sisters. Besides, she never kissed me."

Harry flushed, "That was just in friendship. She was just happy to see me."

Ron shrugged, "I don't know how many times I wished she was that happy to see me."

Harry retorted, impatiently, "That doesn't matter now. We need to find her, and we need to know what we're dealing with."

Charlie nodded, "Okay, but we can't talk about this here."

Ron pulled another small box out of his pocket. "I thought you might say that."

"A Port-key? Where to this time?" Harry asked.

"A vacant room at St. Mungo's. I asked them for it when I was getting the Healers, before. I thought we might need it before we were done."

Charlie looked at him appraisingly, "I'm surprised, Ron. That was a great bit of thinking."

Harry nodded, "Well, he was always the chess master. As long as he doesn't have to deal with emotions..."

Tracy chided him. "From what I hear, he's not alone in that."

"If you're through discussing my shortcomings," Ron interrupted, "Can we get back to business? There are only a few hours until daylight, after all." He flipped open the box, and they saw a small brass cross. Harry noted absently that the cross reflected both Tracy and Charlie; wasn't there something about mirrors? He'd have to ask later.

"All together now," he commanded, and they all reached in together. A moment later, they all vanished.

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The room was completely empty, except for a small pallet. Ron reached over and locked the door. "So," he began, "What's all this about?"

"War," Tracy said, succinctly.

"What?" Ron and Harry chimed in together.

"You remember how I said that we usually avoid open warfare between our groups?"

Ron and Harry nodded obediently.

"Well, this is the exception. We know where something is that they want, they know we have it, and they want to kill us for it."

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"Let's see if we can avoid that for now," Charlie said delicately, "The point is, if they get it, they win."

"So, how does your side win?" Ron asked.

"We don't," Tracy answered. "We can't use it... we won't use it." She was looking down, her large, liquid eyes showing hidden depths.

"Don't you have some sort of goal? Other than not being an entree?" Ron asked, disbelieving. "You can't mean that you're just playing for a stalemate."

"We don't have a choice," Charlie said. His jaw was set in Weasley stubbornness.

"Don't be an idiot," Ron stated bluntly. "There's always a choice."

"I've told you there isn't," Charlie responded, "We're wasting time. I've already told you..."

Ron interrupted, "We came to a secure location so you could break the news to us that you have something, somewhere, that someone wants, and you can't do anything about them. That's a real help, Charlie, thanks." Ron's tone was sarcastic. His voice held a clear challenge, not the complaint of a child to his elder, but the statement of an adult to his equal.

Charlie's response to the challenge was extreme. His nostrils flared, his lips lifted to bare his not-inconsiderable canines, and his hair started to stand up. Before he could say a word, it was clear that he didn't intend to let others challenge him. Harry knew this wouldn't end well, but he stepped between the two of them before Charlie could speak, holding his hands out against their chests.

"That's enough. If I have to get your Mother here to referee things, I will, but you had better not make it necessary. Give us a straight answer, Charlie. What do they want, and why can't we do something about it permanently?" Harry tried to be the voice of reason, usually Hermione's job, but he wasn't going to explore that thought right now.

Charlie took a step back. Tracy was by his side, now, holding his hand tightly. He seemed to be breathing deeply, cooling down. Ron's expression hadn't changed. His jaw was stone, his eyes ice. It was obvious he knew that he'd been close to a physical confrontation with his brother, and his own anger was evident. Charlie seemed to be studying his younger brother, and he seemed to nod slightly at what he saw.

Harry put his hands down, looking between the two of them. They were just breathing, but Charlie finally spoke. "Well, then. If you insist."

He continued, not quite meeting his brother's eyes in what seemed to be almost a gesture of submission. "They're trying to get the Dubh-Sgòrr. It's a Druid Stone."

"A what?" Ron asked.

"A Druid-Stone. A really big pointed rock, which in this case has some power to it. Look, I'm not going to go into the History of Magic, but there are a few things that Binns never taught, and one of them is how much magic you can put into a really big rock."

"You're telling me that our friend is in danger because of a piece of shale?" Harry asked, his eyebrows lifted. "And you weren't going to tell us about it?"

"It's not that simple," Charlie said. He was silent for a few moments, and then he admitted, "Well, it's almost that simple. It isn't shale, though. It looks more like obsidian."

"I'm sorry I asked," Harry replied. "What do they want this stone for?"

"It's hard to walk around some parts of the UK without running into a bunch of standing stones, or what's left of them. Stonehenge is just the most famous one, but there are quite a few around Scotland. You know what most of them were for, right?"

"Predicting weather?" Harry asked.

"Doing magic?" Ron guessed.

"You're both right," Charlie confirmed. "They used some of them as just big calendars, but many of them had magical significance. Well, there's one in particular in Scotland that no one cares much about any more. Most of the stones have been carried off, and all that's left are a pair of boulders. That's enough, though, if they find the missing stone that goes in the middle. The spot is tied to a form of ritual magic that hasn't been seen in ages." Seeing the boredom on the faces of the younger men, Charlie cut to the chase. "It can turn off the Sun."

"What?" Ron and Harry reacted visibly.

"Well, not exactly turn it off. But it should cut off most of Great Britain from the Sun."

"That sounds real useful," Ron snorted. "Do they have one for Seattle? I hear they really need one of those things. Charlie, I know you haven't seen the Sun lately, but you know what? Neither have I. We. Live. In. England." He annunciated each word patiently, as if he was talking to a particularly difficult child.

Charlie continued patiently. "Vampires like us don't just hate daylight, we can't operate while the Sun is up. It's not a matter of whether or not it's cloudy outside. Or, around here, just how cloudy it is. If they activate the rocks, we'll be free both day and night. I'll admit it won't be as obvious as if it were somewhere like California, but that's part of the point. Don't you see? Vampires will be able to walk the day as well as the night."

"So, that's bad for us," Harry confirmed, "Why don't you want to use it?"

"Because, we're not into wholesale slaughter," Charlie said. "If the stone is returned, Carnifex and his gang will feast."

"So, again, the stone's bad news," Harry repeated. "Why can't you get rid of it?"

"The boulders are warded and guarded by Carnifex' men, so we can't go after them. The rock, we hid. It's a really big rock, and it's resistant to most magic. We can't seem to find a way to blow it up."

"Can we make him think we have?" Ron asked. "I mean, would Carnifex know you can't destroy it?"

Charlie hesitated for a minute. "You know, he might not. We'd still need to find a way to hide it, though."

"We can worry about that later," Harry said. "We've had some experience with things being hidden. For now, assume that we can fool Carnifex into thinking that we can destroy it. How do we use that?"

"We send him a message," Ron said grimly. "We tell him we'll exchange the stone for Hermione, and that we'll destroy it if she's hurt. Then we make him think we've destroyed it anyway."

"He's not going to trust us," Charlie answered. "And we can't trust him. I don't want him to even lay eyes on the stone."

"Then don't let him," Ron shrugged. "You know what it looks like, right?" Charlie nodded, and Ron continued, "Then just transfigure something to look like it. We can destroy whatever it is after that point."

Charlie nodded. "That might work. We'll need something big, though. Something that weighs about a half-ton."

Tracy smirked, "I think I can help with that."

Ron gave a curt nod, "Good, then we just need to find a way to meet with him. What do you think?"

"Would he recognize the rock?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Charlie confirmed, "He's got an old photograph of it."

Harry replied, "So, let's just be very obvious about it. He knows where I live, he's probably got half a dozen vampires watching it."

"You know, if that's true, we probably could have just asked them in the first place," Ron said. "We didn't need to mess with chasing down the abductors."

Everyone looked at him, open-mouthed. He shrugged, "Alright, forget I said anything."

"So," Harry asked, "Is there anything else we should know about him, or about defeating vampires in general? I mean, I noticed that the whole mirror thing was a legend, what about crosses, stakes through the heart, that sort of thing."

Charlie looked at him in disbelief. "Don't you think it's a little cold-blooded, talking about killing us like that?"

Ron snorted. "You're one to talk about cold-bloodedness."

"Enough!" Tracy nearly shouted. "You know, I think one Weasley at a time is just about enough."

"I tend to agree," Harry said, looking at Ron, who seemed to be more ready to verbally spar with his brother than to resolve their problem. "But I'm still interested -- what can we do if we run into Carnifex? Am I going to have to shoot him and incinerate him again?"

"Well, we don't like fire, much," Charlie reluctantly confirmed, "and most of Carnifex's folks have some of the traditional weaknesses, and you know, mirrors and all that stuff."

"Silver bullets?" Ron asked.

"No, that's werewolves. They do hurt, though, especially if you get us somewhere sensitive."

"Well, that's something," Harry said. "You said most of Carnifex's people had those weaknesses. How about him?"

"He's got the whole ## gamut," Charlie confirmed. "The most vain vampire in the world, and he can't look in a simple mirror."

"I think I can use that," Harry said, "when we've got Hermione back. But that's the focus right now, not the stone, agreed?"

Ron nodded instantly, but Charlie and Tracy were both a few steps behind. Harry would take their agreement, even if it was reluctant, because he knew there was no way he would get her back without them.