DISCLAIMER: J. K. Rowling created the Harry Potter universe, Hogwarts, Sirius, Severus, Harry, and yeah, all the characters you recognize. Those you don't... aka the Gatewood House residents... are mine, and please ask me permission to use them. Feel free to archive this anywhere, just send me a link so I can visit the site too! -- Aurora M.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for the lack of updating... please understand that this year has been particularly hard on me. I've been dealing with some illnesses, and it's taken time, plus school and work and family and friends and a wonderful 600-mile long-distance romance that just reached it's one-year anniversary. Needless to say, life has been hellishly busy. Anyway... please enjoy!
Sunday afternoon, June of 1999, on the road from Gatewood House
Sarah was fuming mad, drained, and driving way too fast. On the floor of the passenger seat of her black Stratus sat a cooler, filled with bottles of water, juice, Vanilla Coke, whiskey and vodka. On the passenger seat itself lay some guns, knives, and a few other odds and ends. The back seat was filled with black-wrapped packages, and the trunk contained some other Muggle equipment.
Royally pissed off, she'd smoked a pack of cigarettes already and was starting on her second. She had the music cranked up high, playing Nightwish. She scowled at the road ahead of her, hating that her vision blurred sometimes. She knew her body was slowly giving out... she just couldn't let it yet. She had to make it a bit further first...
She'd stopped back at Gatewood House earlier just long enough to grab some clothes, kiss Nadia goodbye, toss her an off-hand warning about Sirius, and leave. Lady Bryn had nearly collided with her as she ran to her Stratus, which had been packed and delivered right on schedule. That had been six hours ago.
She hoped that her appearance and outburst at Hogwarts had stirred Albus to do SOMETHING. He couldn't just leave it all up to her this time, he had to realize that! She didn't know how much longer she was going to last in this kind of a game... her last round with Voldemort had left pieces of her destroyed and shattered beyond repair. And he had not even acknowledged her and Gatewood House's help. He'd just looked at them like they were strangers, too prim and proper in the official light of the Daily Prophet's cameras and the Ministry's press conference to admit that he had enlisted THIER help. She could have strangled him for the pain he brought to Nadia and Magen's eyes. They had lost the most. They had suffered the greatest. And he couldn't even bring himself to tell those two precious women that the friends and family and lovers they had lost during the war had bought them Victory... had bought them time. The stupid motherf.....
Sarah swerved severely to the left to avoid a head-on collision with a truck. She drove off the road and shoved the car into Park. Sighing, she leaned her aching head back and closed her eyes, trying to ease the dizziness and blurring vision. A prickling sensation at the back of her neck snapped her to attention again.
High above the highway she was on, dead ahead of her about ten miles down, the Dark Mark burned green in the sky.
Sunday afternoon, July 1999, Gatewood House
Nadia was cooking with a ferocity that could level buildings. Magen had already cleaned the house twice by the time Gabriel got back from a reconnaissance trip to Little Whinging, and was starting it all over again. It was their way to deal with what they could not. He looked at them as he set his backpack down on the floor. He felt pain.
Passing through the kitchen and heading up to his bedroom on the second floor, he passed the Weasley children. Even their bright red hair seemed dulled. Sirius, he thought, it's got to be Sirius. And he'll be bringing Remus with him, of course. At least Nadia and Magen aren't in the field right now...
His thoughts were interrupted when he entered his room. His wife Chloe had left it a mess, which meant she felt the disaster about to erupt. Anything Magen did to deal with Remus, Chloe dutifully un-did. It was a strange relationship, and it worked for some reason.
Kind of like how Sirius and Remus operated, too. One wild, one calm. One too smartass for his own good, the other too wise for his age. Combine the two, add a violence best left simmering and ignored, and you had Sarah on a nice day. Good God, Sarah; that poor bitch did far more the cause than most people. She did the most damage, caused the enemy the worst pain, and cost them far too much to keep fighting her in the end. She also was the worst wreck he'd ever seen when she was through doing what it was she did. Gods, he didn't want to know what she did. It was far better for him to just do the small things she asked him to do on rare occasions when she couldn't do them herself.
Like his recent reconnaissance trip to Little Whinging. Gabriel knew she'd have gone back herself, but that she had too much to do right now. When she'd burst into the kitchen, eyes frantically searching for anyone with enough guts to get near her, he felt his heart sink. She was already looking strained, and readily moving towards looking like hell. Gabriel got up and asked her what she needed without hesitation. She looked so grateful for a split second that he wasn't sure he'd missed something important. When she filled him in on the situation, he was glad he was the only one in the kitchen at that moment.
When he'd come back down, an overnight bag packed, his black leather jacket hanging off his shoulders and his old bandana around his head, Sarah's black Stratus was still parked in the driveway. Nadia and Magen were putting away groceries. He'd kept his mouth shut about Sarah, said he was heading to Little Whinging, kissed them both and fled the house.
He'd made it to Little Whinging in record time, thrumming his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the Celtic rock booming on his stereo system. He parked across the road, locking the doors to his truck and crossing the street. He ran into Arabella Figg, and received an enthusiastic hug that took him by surprise. Apparently she was still on their side, which was good to know. He caught her up on events, and they had both been startled by the sudden appearance of the head staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the front lawn of Number Four Privet Drive.
He leveled a cool stare at the Headmaster, calling out a carefully friendly greeting to Remus and Sirius. Unlike most, he had never believed that Sirius was guilty, and was glad to have his suspicions confirmed. A tall dark man in the back, nose hooked and eyes glaring daggers at everyone, had met Gabriel's eyes unflinchingly but without repulsion.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Hawkins?" the Headmaster had inquired coldly.
"Reconnaissance," he had answered shortly, and added, "Harry's at Gatewood House, recovering nicely. He'll return to Hogwarts at the beginning of term, and not a moment before. Look," he'd help up a hand to stall the Headmaster's protests, "I'm not here to cause trouble. Sass was a bit messy when she left, and was too busy keeping Harry safe and alive to return and clean up. So I told I would. Just let me do my work and leave."
The Headmaster hadn't responded, but the dark man in the back charged ahead and knocked on the door. It had been a long day after that—after FINALLY gaining admittance (THAT had took a lot of magic), Gabriel stayed out of the way and repaired what he could of Sarah's damage. It had been exactly what he'd been expecting, and hadn't taken too long. He had left before the Hogwarts crew, stopping only to briefly shake hands with Remus and Sirius and fill them in properly. The dark man had been tagged as Severus Snape, potions master and spy in Voldemort's circle. Gabriel left them with orders to get him to meet Sarah as soon as possible, and left.
Two weeks later, Sunday evening, late July 1999, on the road
Sarah sped up, flooring the gas pedal and bracing for impact. She heard the thud of the body before the shock of impact reached her and she saw the body of the Death Eater go airborne. Skidding on the pavement slick with blood, she gained control of the car and swerved to avoid a particularly well-aimed nasty curse.
"FUCK!" she swore as a Dementor flung itself at the passenger side, knocking the car's already precarious alignment completely off and making her slide into some trash cans that were the only innocent bystanders in the alleyway. She felt a burning build behind her eyes, reaching through her veins and traveling down her skin into the palm of her right hand. Blood dripped from a cut finger, and the drops sizzled with red sparks. Sarah flung the ball of energy through the open window, and the Dementor's face burst into flames. Screeching, the thing immediately flew off into the night. Sarah felt the rush of energy diminish, leaving her skin and veins aching.
She made it out of the alley and onto the open road, immediately coaxing the beaten car into top speed again. Two Death Eaters, one limping heavily and the other with blood soaking through the white cloak, gave chase on foot. Crabbe let loose a stream of white-ish light that aimed true, and shattered her back windshield. Sarah winced as she felt glass bite into her neck and scalp. Slowing down suddenly to twenty-five kilometers per hour, she pulled out one of her pistols and aimed her last bullet at him. In the darkness of the evening, most of the streetlights damaged in their fight, neither Crabbe nor Goyle could see her. Sarah fired, and Crabbe fell. Dead or not, she didn't care.
She made to the freeway without further incident and flew down it with a vengeance. She pulled some of the glass out of her neck and scalp, wincing again at a sprained wrist. Everything ached; the world spun several times and her vision kept blurring at the edges. Sarah pulled off the freeway onto the next exit, taking back roads she hadn't had to travel in six years. She headed East, heading home.
Gatewood House was only five more hours away.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Again, thank you for waiting so patiently for the next chapter. I didn't want to post rubbish, so it's taken me a while to shift through my raw ideas and get it ready for posting. Hope you enjoyed it. Please, REVIEW and let me know what you think. Feel free to email me too.