"It won't work, I'm telling that it simply will not work." Nott was trying desperately to convince Charlie that his plan was futile.
"Why not, give me on good reason." Charlie was determined to go through with it anyway.
"Look mate, you and I work well together, we've become what you might call friends, and I simply cannot let you get yourself killed. You cannot go through with this."
"You still haven't given me a reason." Charlie sat back in his chair, balancing it on only two legs.
"I thought certain death was a pretty good reason." Theodore sighed and rolled his eyes.
"That all depends on whose certain death we're talking about." Pansy entered the room and tossed a few clean articles of clothing at both boys.
"His." Theodore indicated Charlie with a sweater before beginning to fold it.
Pansy had been in a relatively good mood. They had sounded like they were half joking a minute ago and so she had joined in, but this ruined everything for her. Her face was suddenly stern and she stood up. "Charlie Weasley, if I ever hear of you doing anything reckless and stupid I'll…" she threw the clothes she had kept to fold herself at his head, "kill you myself!" She stormed out of the room.
Charlie watched her go with a looked of utter amazement on his face. He turned to face Theodore who had started chuckling. "You did that on purpose!"
"It was a lot safer than your plan, mate. She would have killed you for sure. Now get you sorry hide up those stairs and assure her that you are immortal."
He was still chuckling to himself a moment later when Ginevra entered the kitchen. "What was that about? Pansy comes flying up the stairs, slams the door to her room, and not a minute later Charlie almost bowls me over on the stairs." She studied Theodore's face a second before getting a large smile on her face. "You finally did it!" She sat down and started folding the abandoned laundry. "You finally set him up!"
"He was going to get her a necklace or something sappy like that. I couldn't let the guy get himself killed so I made sure she thought he was about to. The rest took care of itself." He neatly stacked the third sweater he had folded on top of the other two.
Ginevra shook her head and laughed softly. "A necklace? He wasn't going to say it was something to remind her of him while he was out in the field, was he?" Theodore nodded. "She would have torn his head off!" They both laughed again but stopped abruptly when Snape entered the room.
Theodore stood and led their old professor to a chair while Ginevra jumped up and got him a drink. Snape looked like he had just walked off a battle field from a loss. "We lost Shacklebolt." His words were a whisper the others barely caught. Ginevra sat down hard. "Tonks had to take Ares and Miles to St. Mungo's. I was made. The others must be warned, all my intelligence is worthless. They will be walking into traps."
Theodore left the room to alert the others. Ginevra moved over to Snape. "Let's take a look at your wounds." Snape tried to argue and pull his arm away. Ginevra grabbed his wrist and looked him in the eye. "Look! You came here to spread the word, to save lives, and for that I'm grateful, my father and brothers are out there, but you are wounded. You have done everything you can. Bleeding to death won't help them any more. Now let me look at your wounds." He relaxed his arm and she went about treating him.
By the time she had finished Pansy had come down stairs and had a good start on dinner. Theodore and Charlie were going over every bit of Intel they could, trying to ascertain what they could use and what would be too dangerous. They wanted the meeting that night to get started as quickly as possible.
Molly Weasley was the first to arrive and began helping Pansy with the dinner while Ginevra went to help the boys after making Snape lie down. Tonks arrived next, followed shortly by Lupin, Fred, George, and Thompson. Siren, Carlisle, Goyle, and Bill stumbled through the door just as dinner was being served.
Everyone sat around the table. Ginevra had relented and allowed Snape to join them. There was no banter or efforts of diversion tonight, nor was there discussion and speculation. There was still one group missing. Arthur, Silas, Mallory, and Longbottom were still out. The meal was finished and Lupin was about to begin the meeting when Mallory stumbled into the room, covered in blood.
Ginevra ran to him, helped him sit, and tried to assess the damage when he managed to speak. "No, the others, they need it more." He looked toward the sitting room. She nodded.
"Tonks, Pansy, Siren, and Thompson, get the others to the hospital. If they're worse than this I'm not good enough to handle it." The four she had spoken toimmediately left the room. Ginevra returned to Mallory and quickly decided which wounds were the worst and began addressing those.
"Arthur, he…he didn't make it." Mallory finally managed to break the news. Molly broke down and the twins went to hold her. Bill's face drained of all color and he sat down quickly. Charlie squeezed the mug he was holding so hard it broke. Ginevra hesitated only a moment in what she was doing.
"Theodore, I need you over here. I don't have enough hands. We need to get him to the hospital." Theodore silently moved to help her transport the wounded man to St. Mungo's. After they had released him to the healers, Theodore turned to his friend.
When he looked her in the eye she started to shake so he reached out and cupped her face with his hand and she collapsed into him.
He apparated with her back to the headquarters where he passed her off to Bill. After doing so he looked up at Lupin who nodded. Everyone who did not have red hair silently left the room. The meeting could wait until morning. Losing Shacklebolt was bad enough, he was a friend, but Arthur was a husband and father.
Ginevra was running again. She had almost lost her pursuer three times already. She needed to focus. The running felt so good, so free. Finally she stopped, turned, and tossed her wand aside.
"You got Silas and Siren, they were valuable to us, you know."
"So I imagined. Now they are valuable to us."
There was something about her eyes that was different this time, and she hadn't smiled.
"Well, is this time you kill me? Is this the time you decide?" It had only been two days since the loss of her father. She didn't feel like playing mind games right now.
"What's the matter, Firebird, getting tired of this dance?"
She laughed a very dry and mirthless laugh. He didn't like it, it didn't sound right coming from her. "Firebird? Never mind. How many times are we going to stand here? How many times are you going to stand before yourself and run away? I am nothing here. My words mean nothing; my face means nothing; I am a vapor. Here you meet yourself. Here I stand a mirror. Will you finally face what is within you? Will you finally make a choice? Or will you run? Will you continue to hide?"
Her words stung him deeply. He wasn't hiding! He ran from nothing, from no one! He had refused to kill her in the past because of honor. She was a warrior; he had seen her on the battlefield. If he killed her it would be a death that was earned, a victory he had won. It would be honorable. But something inside him flinched as she spoke. Something inside him knew there was more truth in her words than he was willing to admit.
"You stand so high and pure. You would offer this chance to anyone, would you? Would you offer it to the man that killed your father?"
All color drained from her face and there was silence between them. She met his eyes, though, and he could not look away.
Slowly she began to walk toward him. She took one step, and then another, until she stood at the tip of his wand. Her eyes never left his. Her eyes, so sharp, so piercing, so deep.
"If this is the wand that killed my father let it kill me without remorse. If that is the tongue that formed the course let it apologize and be forgiven. If you are the death eater that broke my heart take my breath. If you are the man that broke my family come and let us hold you." Her voice was low and her words were strong.
He could not break her gaze. How could she stand there? How could her eyes be so sharp and yet so soft? How could she say the things she said and mean them so sincerely?
Finally she released him and lowered her eyesfor half an instantand stepping back. She put about a foot between herself and the end of his wand. She spread her arms out wide and tilted her head to the sky. He watched intently. Eventually she lowered her head and arms and looked at him, a very sad smile on her face. "I'll see you next time."
He watched her gather her wand and walk off. Why did he get the feeling that she had done so simply to spare him from having to run away again? Why did that feeling not make him angry?