Author's Note: Though technically the end of this story, there is still more to the story. I'm about halfway (okay maybe not that far) through a sequel. I really hope people will stick with me through that. Thanks for reading, I love you all! Be sure to leave a quick hello in review form!
Chapter 15: The grand finale
The eclectic group of friends gathered in Hogsmeade that evening. Harry, Hermione and Ron snuck through Honeydukes under an invisibility cloak whereas the others just quietly convened at the pub. It was a dark and starless night. The sky was deep purple velvet, perfect for cloaking their behavior. Oliver sat in the pub hitting his fingers against the table trying to calm his jumpy nerves. The first to arrive was the always-punctual Percy followed shortly by the twins who kept cracking jokes at the expensive of their more conservative brother. Next they heard a distinct shuffling of feet and despite the fact they couldn't see them they knew the trio had arrived. Harry, Ron and Hermione emerged from beneath a silvery cloak. The three seem anxious for some space, they were growing up quickly and soon a single invisibility cloak wouldn't be enough.
"What is this, a Weasley family reunion?" Ron rolled his eyes and stretched his cramped legs.
"Shut up," Hermione hit him in the shoulder gently. "So you're absolutely positive Mr. Doyle is out of town?" Hermione, being a natural planner, got straight down to business.
"Positive. He left for a Quidditch meeting that he must attend," Oliver reassured the most careful participant. Even though she'd grown more daring over the years, she held a great reverence for rules, schedules and organizations deep inside her heart and that was unlikely to ever change.
"Then what's keeping us?" Fred asked.
George then added, "Let's get this adventure started."
"You know it's not that simple," Hermione's voice suddenly turned into prefect mode. "What were doing is dangerous and risky. It's not just some huge practical joke. It's something important."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist. We know how serious this is," Fred tried to put on his serious face, which only made him look goofier.
"Let's just get this over with," Hermione's patience was wearing thin. "We've already broken at least a dozen rules."
"It's okay Hermy," Despite turning pink Ron grabbed her hand. "We're prefects. We can break rules."
"Eww, none of that now," Fred jumped in while George separated their hands. "No school children love on my watch."
"Get a life you two. You're practically still school children," Ron rolled his eyes at his aggravating brothers.
"Actually they're worse," Hermione said in her uppity voice, "They're dropouts."
"Bickering isn't going to get us there any quicker," the quieter Harry jumped in. "Let's just head over to Mr. Doyle's house and work out the rest there." Oliver had sat silently through this entire exchange thinking only about Izzy. He didn't know what would happen once they'd freed her. The thought of freeing her was all that was consuming his mind. The plan was pretty simple; break into Mr. Doyle's house and free Izzy. He'd already told Percy and Hermione (the two brightest) of any roadblocks he knew, such as the unknown spell on the door. Between those two, they had the entire Hogwarts library memorized so cracking spells shouldn't be too terribly hard.
The familiar cobblestone path to Mr. Doyle's mansion seemed different on this night. He walked with fear and anticipation for the coming events. No longer was he merely a pawn in Mr. Doyle's plan. Instead he had chosen to take control of his own destiny. Fortunately for Oliver, he didn't have to do it alone. Everyone surveyed the mansion in silent awe. It was an overwhelming sight, especially tonight because they were prepared to battle the house.
"Should we knock?" Ron broke the silence.
"Alohamora," Hermione muttered and with a click the lock unlocked.
"Apparently not," she proceeded with caution towards the door. Walking in she looked around, "That was easier than it should've been."
"Lumos," Oliver took the lead from Hermione.
"Can you imagine living in a house like this," Ron quickly walked next to Hermione. Even in the darkness the luxury of the house was evident. Wherever they turned their wands (which they had all lit with lumos) gold glittered and marble gleamed. The golden chandelier hung lightless in the dark hall as the group filed in.
"This is nice!" George sat in an armchair.
"The color simply want do though," Fred quickly turned the Slytherin green chair Gryffindor maroon. Hermione scoffed at their antics and returned the chair to its original color. "What it looks much nicer the other way!" Fred exclaimed
"Except we aren't trying to get caught," Hermione pointed out.
"Do you still have to act like a prefect? We aren't on Hogwart's ground anymore," Fred always got a kick out of tormenting Hermione. "We aren't even Hogwart's students anymore!"
"Being a prefect just ruins a person," George joined the fun. "No offense little brother."
"Let's just get Izzy and quit arguing," Oliver's anxiety was rising. He led the way through a doorway and down a dark hallway. Oliver had constructed a map of the house in his head. Even though everything looked different in the dark, he could see every corridor before they reached it. No locked doors blocked their path. Instead of stopping to ask questions Oliver proceeded into the dark bedroom. From there he opened the closet door. No wards or spells blocked the secret entrance. Hermione and Ron looked at Harry and shrugged. The whole scenario was very curious.
The seven wizards proceeded down the staircase into the dark corridor. "This door was protected by some spell I'd never heard," Oliver explained to Percy and Hermione. The two brilliant wizards immediately set to work testing for spells and wards. "Revelio," Hermione muttered a spell to no avail.
"Lumsielle," Percy muttered an unfamiliar spell. This continued for about 20 minutes.
It was Ron who finally discovered a solution, "Has anyone tried the handle?" Ron asked bluntly and turned the handle meeting no resistance. Hermione's face was classic when the door opened, she felt completely dismayed and confused.
"That's really strange," Percy noted.
"No really is it?" Fred asked sarcastically.
Inside the dungeon all the lights burned brightly. Either Mr. Doyle left them on 24/7, or he was expecting company. Wands out, the group proceeded quietly down the corridor until they'd reached the end.
Izzy heard a noise behind her and turned around to see the seven wizards, "Holy shit," she jumped back five feet. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.
"Breaking you out. Unless you have a problem with that," George responded to immediately matching Izzy's tone.
"I'm not complaining. I just don't understand." Completely taken aback, Izzy tried to piece together the enormity of the night's events.
"Alohomora," the door opened with Hermione's word. "Come on, we should hurry out of here in case it's a trap."
"Hermione's right," Oliver grabbed Izzy by the hand. His entire body shook with nerves and excitement; they were so close but they weren't safe yet. The entire setup reeked like old tuna sandwich. Everyone knew the ease of the rescue mission felt strangely like a set-up. The only question in everyone's mind was: Who is he trying to set up? Setting up Oliver a week before the match made absolutely no sense. And there was no way that Mr. Doyle had known which eclectic bunch Oliver would gather. Deep within the minds Harry's closest friends, they wondered if Harry yet again was the target. Pushing such thoughts out of their mind they proceeded the way they had came, retracing their steps exactly to the front door. No hidden traps triggered, no alarms went off; they simply left through the front door.
"I don't understand why it was so easy," Hermione stood outside the mansion with her eyebrows furrowed.
"It's almost like he was letting her go," Harry noted.
"He did let her go," Oliver shook his head, "I'll never understand that man." Instead of leaving immediately for safety, everyone seemed content to sit on Mr. Doyle's front lawn and contemplate. Even Fred and George weren't cracking jokes, instead they were furiously whispering to one another and this time Hermione could tell they weren't plotting a practical joke.
"I don't give a damn about understanding him," Izzy sat on a bench. "He was a bastard to me and a bastard to my mother. Let's not sit here and contemplate his character and potential goodness. Let's just get the hell away from this place." She couldn't stand everyone sitting around talking about the demon that fathered her. She wanted to forget him and also forget this had ever happened. Whether he had voluntarily released her or not didn't really matter. He had voluntarily kidnapped her. Before that he had voluntarily left her as a baby, leaving her fatherless and bitter. She didn't need any more understanding to know she hated the man.
"You're right," Oliver sat down and wrapped his arms around Izzy. "It doesn't matter how evil he is. He's evil and our safest bet is to leave. We'll just go back to my apartment and let the ministry handle this."
"Your apartment Oliver?" Izzy moved away from him. "I thought I told you I couldn't go back to that world."
"Come on Izzy," Oliver stroked her arm. "Your still just upset. We'll figure this out later." He didn't want to fight, not now, not here and not in front of his friends. He couldn't believe that Izzy would force him to live in the Muggle world.
"Oliver I compromised my beliefs for you," Izzy pulled her arm away from him. "Look how that turned out. I can't live like this; fearing for my life and safety. In my world, things make a lot more sense."
"This is the only life I've ever known Izzy," Oliver looked around. "These are my friends, this is my career, why can't you understand how important that is to me."
"I do understand. That's why I tried in the first place," Izzy explained. "But Oliver look at it from my perspective. Today it's my father kidnapping me, tomorrow what if it's another death eater? Lord Voldemort is out there," everyone cringed at the sound of his name. "And that makes this world a very unsafe place to raise children. I want to raise our children in a nice house, somewhere in suburbia, where they can ride their bikes outside and go to soccer practice. Your world isn't that kind of world."
Oliver was aghast when Izzy said "our children." He simply couldn't believe that this young woman had already planned a family with him. "I understand all of that. But what am I going to do? I graduated from a wizard school, the only job I've ever had is Quidditch. It's impossible to start over now."
"Is it impossible?" Izzy asked pointedly. "Seems like a few months ago I started over." With that she walked away down the cobblestone path as the twinkling stars came out from behind the clouds. The little girl with bushy hair, inevitably hearing the argument, marched behind Izzy trying to catch up. Catching up with her about 10 yards away Izzy turned around rudely insulting Hermione, "What do you want? I truly doubt you understand us simple Muggles you damn witch."
"Actually," Hermione tried not to take her insult to heart. "I'm a muggle-born so I lived most of my life as a Muggle."
"That's suppose to make us best friends forever isn't," she mocked the little schoolgirl.
"No, frankly I don't like friends who spout negatively at every stranger they meet. I just wanted to tell you we have to go somewhere safe tonight so you can work out a plan for leaving."
"Somewhere safe meaning: somewhere magical?" Izzy got straight to the point. The little girl's brain was too big for her own good.
"Well yes. That way we can come up with the proper concealment spells and connections so you can safely leave," Hermione tried to explain the magical requirements to the Muggle girl.
"I don't understand why I can't get on a plane and leave!"
"Because," Hermione explained, "Your father might come looking for you. And do you have any idea where you're going? Where your job is going to be? Where you're going to live?"
"I could always go back to New York," her mind lingered on the big city she'd once called home. Apparently even Izzy thought about rewinding her life.
"I don't think New York City is a place where you can safely raise your children and where they can ride their bicycles," Hermione threw a jab back at Izzy showing the absurdity of her plan. "And besides, Oliver has to be briefed on what all a Muggle life entails."
"I could tell him…." Izzy couldn't stand loosing an argument to a sixteen year old know it all.
"Except Dumbledore needs to find him a good Muggle job and he won't be able to do that on his Hogwarts transcript," Hermione smugly corrected Izzy again.
"Okay you win this round. We'll go to your safe place for the night."
"She's agree to go to Hogwarts for the night," Hermione walked back to all the boys.
"Hogwarts! Then Dumbledore will know we broke the rules!" Ron, as always, really wanted to win the house cup.
"Do you really think we're clever enough to fool Dumbledore?" Hermione asked. "He always knows everything."
"She's right isn't she," Ron turned towards Harry.
"She always is," Harry answered and Hermione just grinned smugly. While everyone else regrouped, laughed and talked Oliver slowly made his way over to Izzy.
"Hey there," he said, "Want to take a short walk. I don't think the others will mind."
Izzy's rolled her eyes. "Sure Oliver," she added in a mocking tone, "I'm sure then everything will be alright and I'll see clearly."
Oliver didn't respond immediately, instead he took her hand and started across the grass back towards the village. The stars were twinkling overheard and the chilly night air surrounded them. "We'll leave," Oliver said simply without elaboration and contemplation.
Izzy froze in her footsteps. "We'll leave?" her voice shook. It was an unbelievable change; he was willing to leave everything for her.
"I've realized something through all of this Izzy."
"What," she asked eagerly drawing closer to Oliver.
"Quidditch really doesn't matter anymore." To someone who didn't understand Oliver Wood the answer would have seemed strange and anticlimactic. To anyone who had known Oliver, it was the biggest revelation of his life.
OoOoO
Dear Grandma,
Sorry I haven't been around at all the past couple of years. It's been a crazy time. I know you wanted to see me win the Quidditch Cup, but something more important came up. I haven't been keeping up with the papers, but I can imagine my disappearance caused a lot of speculation. Don't worry I'm safe and happy. Remember that girl from the paper? We'll I married her. We just have a daughter, Belle Olivia Wood. The name was her idea, said she got it from some Muggle movie. I enclosed a picture of my family so you can see my baby girl. If you wouldn't mind send a copy to the Weasleys; I think they'd be happy for me. I love you grandma, and I'm sorry I had to leave. Take care of yourself and maybe someday I'll see you again.
Love,
Oliver Wood
