Chapter 11: Hell Unleashed
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"What time are you leaving?" Ron Weasley asked his daughter, Julia.
"Probably around noon. Would you go with me?"
"What, you need me to hold your hand?"
"Yes."
"You don't need me."
"Yes, I do, Dad. I don't want to go by myself."
"It's just your sister-in-law's, you've been there before."
"I know, but not when Blake is there, at least recently. Please, Dad, then you can see Harry and Hermione again." Ron sighed and finally gave in.
"Alright, I'll go with you."
"Thank you so much, Dad." Julia gave her father a hug, and kissed him on the cheek.
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"Why do I have to go with you?"
"Because I would like you to go with me." James glared at his mother, angry that she even suggested going to see his family. James said,
"I don't want to go."
"What do have against the family, seriously?"
"I don't like them."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because isn't a good enough answer." James sighed.
"Because they're all mean to each other."
"No they're not."
"Yeah they are. I heard the fight between Dad and Grandpa Potter, and then the fight between Dad and Aunt Lily. They all fight with each other."
"Not always, James. They are about as close-knit family as you're ever going to find. And like it or not, you're one of them, you bear the name. Not only that but you're named after your great-grandfather. You're part of that family. And you should be proud to be." James didn't say anything for a little while, and then he said,
"Alright, I'll go along. But I don't want to."
"Thank you."
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The next day, around noon, Julia, James and Ron set out for Lily's house. They arrived just outside the door and Julia rang the bell. They heard laughter on the other side of the door, and heard someone coming to answer the door. The raven-haired owner greeted them at the door. She saw the other people with her sister-in-law and her face broke into a bigger smile than the one she was already wearing.
"Oh my God, Ron! It's so good to see you!" She hugged her godfather and he said,
"It's good to see you again too, Lils." Lily's gaze traveled onto her nephew, and the expression turned from joy to a soft smile.
"James, it's good to see you too." She held her arms out for a hug, and James hugged her back, but didn't say anything.
"Come on in you three." After the door was shut, Lily called to her parents,
"Mum! Dad! Come here, you'll never guess who's here!" Harry and Hermione came from the living room, and smiled when they saw their best friend. Hermione ran to Ron and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Ron! It's so good to see you, it's been too long." Ron smiled and said,
"Yeah, it has." Harry and Ron shook hands and Harry said,
"How come you and your wife don't visit anymore?"
"Well, I should ask you the same question."
"True." Hermione turned her gaze to everyone else who came in, and she smiled when she saw her oldest grandson.
"James." James smiled and said,
"Hi Grandma." The two hugged. Hermione said,
"I've missed you." Of all the people in the Potter family, his grandmother was the one that James missed the most. In all his seventeen years, he had never seen her angry, only every once in a while, and was always quick to forgive. James glanced over at his grandfather, who unlike his wife, wasn't so quick to forgive, and had a short temper. But he would never yell at any of his family members, occasionally a marital fight with Hermione every now and then, but other than that, usually never yelled. The only things that set him off were three things; fame, stereotypes about him, and pity, normally from the media. He smiled, and said to his grandson,
"Hey James. It's good to see you again." James said shortly,
"You too." They all heard a little pattering of feet running down the hall and saw Adriana coming to her grandpa. She grinned and said,
"Grampa!" Ron smiled and picked her up.
"Oh, little Adriana, my true little Weasley. And even then the hair isn't even Weasley red, it's Evans red." He looked at Harry like it was his fault. Knowing Ron was joking with him, Harry put up his hands in surrender, and said,
"Hey it's not my fault the genetics worked out that way."
"Isn't it weird though that your DNA overpowers everyone else's in this family?"
"Yes, it is weird." Julia smoothed down her daughter's hair and said,
"She'll look like her great-grandmother when she's older, she'll be beautiful. Even if that's not Weasley red hair." Everyone smiled and Adriana giggled. Julia's smile fell from her face when she looked over her mother-in-law's shoulder, and who she saw made the smile dissolve into a frown. Everyone turned, and saw Blake in the doorway of the living room. Everyone's eyes darted from the man to the woman who took his name. Lily bit her lip and said nervously,
"Maybe we should all leave these two alone to talk."
"No, Lily, Blake might want a witness here, just in case I kill him." Hermione sighed and said,
"There's no reason for that, Julia."
"Hermione, please, stay out of it. He's my husband, I'll say whatever I damn well please." Hermione said sternly, her eyes narrowed in anger,
"Well your oldest son and your only daughter are right next to you. Even though I know they're your kids, as long as I have anything to say about it, you will not do your fighting in front of them." Julia turned her glare from her husband to her mother-in-law. She sighed and said,
"You're right." Blake said,
"Let's go outside and talk on the patio." Julia followed husband outside onto the deck. Blake sat down and said,
"Well?"
"Well? This is the first time I've seen you in months, and all you can say is, well?"
"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to launch into yelling at you, because we're really good at that."
"Why the hell are you here?"
"My real answer I give you won't be good enough."
"Tell me anyway."
"I wanted to be with my family for Christmas."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard from anyone, and I work with lying criminals."
"Ok, I know it's not good enough, but I also came back for another reason."
"Why?"
"The family's in danger."
"Of what?"
"Resurrected Death Eaters."
"What?"
"Death Eaters that are recruiting to seek revenge on the vanquisher of Voldemort."
"Ok? How is your family in danger, wouldn't only your dad be in danger?"
"No, they're out to kill the Potter bloodline, just like Voldemort tried to do." Julia smiled evilly, the first time Blake had ever seen a smile like on her face.
"Good luck with that, sweetie. It's none of my concern, I'm not a Potter, I was just stupid enough to marry the son." She turned from her husband and walked to the garden wall and leaned against it. Blake said,
"You're wrong."
"Why am I wrong? What am I wrong about?"
"That it doesn't concern you. You forget, your sons and daughter are half Potters, or well, a fourth Potter, whatever; they have Potter blood in them. The Death Eaters are seeking every person with Potter blood running in their veins." Julia's face adapted a worried look and she turned to Blake, scared.
"See, it does concern you. Even if we didn't have kids, and you just decided to sit back and say it's none of your business, do you know how many people in your life you'd lose? You'd lose your best friend, you'd lose your father-in-law, he'd be the first. You'd lose your nieces, and your husband, but you could care less about him don't you? But it's even worse isn't it; your sons and daughter are at risk." Tears filled Julia's eyes.
"How do you know about this?"
"I've heard the Death Eaters talking over at Durmstrang. That's where the recruits are coming from. I've told Dumbledore about it already, and the only other people who know about it are Mum, Dad, Lily, that girl Isabelle and you."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know yet." A tear escaped and slid down Julia's cheek, and Blake wiped it away as a memory of former affection. He still loved his wife deep down, but the affection he felt for her was lying dormant in his mind. Julia inhaled a shaky breath, and said,
"Blake, I don't want to lose my children. I've stood by and watched Lily over the years. The pain of losing two children is etched in her face, and you can tell it's always in the back of her mind. I know it sounds selfish, but I don't want that to happen to me." Blake nodded and pulled his wife into his arms.
"I know. I know. It'll be all right."
"How do you know?"
"We're Potters, we won't go down without a fight."
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"Ok, we all need to talk. All of us adults." Julia glanced at Evan and Isabelle who were sitting in the kitchen along with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Lily. Lily said,
"Alright, what do we need to talk about?"
"Um…I really think this is a private matter, between our family." Evan and Isabelle were about to get up, but Lily said,
"No, sit down you two. Trust me, Jules, it concerns them too." Hermione said,
"How do we know we can trust them?" Blake said,
"Believe me, Mum, we can trust them." Evan and Isabelle looked at everyone, looking for the go ahead to sit back down. Lily tugged on Isabelle's sleeve to get her sit down, and she and her brother took their seats. Julia said,
"Ok, we need to talk about this Death Eater threat and what we're going to do about it." Blake said,
"Could we maybe try the Fidelius Charm?" Hermione glanced at her husband, whose expression darkened at the mention of the charm. Harry said,
"If we do use that, we have to make sure the Secret Keeper is someone we know we can trust, someone who doesn't have a chance of going over to the Dark side. Because otherwise that person might betray us and we'll end up like my parents."
"Ok, Blake, tell us everything again."
"The Death Eaters that haven't been caught yet are recruiting new Death Eaters to avenge Voldemort's death, and they're mostly from Durmstrang. Their first target is our family, and who knows where they'll go from there." Hermione said,
"Well, we can't really decide anything right now without knowing the whole situation. We need Dumbledore to call an Order meeting. Then we can see what the spies have heard, and anything else anyone else knows." Everyone nodded in agreement. Isabelle bit her bottom lip in anxiety and gave a worried glance over at her brother, who returned the expression.
A/n: Hey there! Here's the eleventh chapter of Fate's Never Ending Cycle. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far and have stuck with my story even though I've had that really long downtime between updates a few chapters back. Keep it up, please keep reviewing, there's still lots more to come!
Husker-fan-2006