The Distance to Here
A/N: Just a couple of notes before we get started. a) Hi Eowyn, nice to have new readers, actually, we started this fic before OotP was published, and I've tried to make necessary changes, ie. Having the OotP disbanded, but started up again under a new name to account for the "rebels", etc. But having said that, Sirius is alive, and there's nothing I can do about it, so bear with me. But I did read OotP the day it came out, finishing 2 days later in a flood of tears.
B) Hi Kika1, I read our "review of your fic" it was kind of harsh, but I was a hardcore purist at the time...I still am, but I'd like to think I'm a little older/wiser now, and resigned to the whole mary sue thing. I'm glad you like our fic...well, my fic now.
C) I'm really happy about all the compliments I've been getting, you guys are fabulous, and I hope you like this one. It's a week later, I'll have you know!
Chapter 14: Return to 12 Grimmauld Place
Days passed that were full of stress and new challenges for the Rebles. Sirius and Remus traced an important package transferred by Muggle Post to Albania by a Mortimer Ludlow. Scarcely believing Ludlow's sloppiness, and his good luck, Ron immediately asked Sirius and Remus to track the package.
"I got you a wand, Sirius," Ron said satisfactorily. "Ollivander is an old friend of the family, he doesn't ask questions. Take it, but when you're in dog form please make sure that Remus has it. And for you, Professor," he inclined his head towards Remus," I had Severus Snape make up a store of Wolf's Bane Potion, just in case. Hopefully you won't be there too long, and it won't be necessary."
"It shouldn't be a problem, but thank you, Ron. You probably want us travelling by Muggle means, do you not? Plane?"
"Yes. Sirius doesn't have a licence to Apparate, and I don't want you under any circumstances to take risks. Remember, stealth is everything. No one knows this is happening, and I really don't want you caught, you're both valuable."
Sirius nodded, and smiled almost sarcastically. "It's okay, Ron, we've been doing this for a long time. Before you were born, for example."
Ron looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, I'm being a prat. I sound like Perce used to. I'm just....nervous. This is my job, my life. Shit." He ran his hand through his hair. "There's no way, though! If I don't do this, who knows? I might not have a job, a life, in five years. But it still all depends on Harry." He sighed. "Thank you, Professor, Sirius. You can contact me when you get there in the usual way. Postcard to the Wheezes. If there's a problem, jump on a plane. You have the credit card? Good. Good luck." After they had safely left, Ron apparated to the Ministry to deal with the fifty owls that were hovering and sitting around his dropping- filled office.
~*~
Sirius and Remus made their way back to 12 Grimmauld Place by Muggle means. After much debate and careful thought, (and in Ron's case, carefully controlled anger,) it was decided that Draco and Hermione as his keeper, would stay with Remus and Sirius at the Black house. Ron, after many years, was still fiercely protective and jealous when it came to Hermione, and was very reluctant to stick her in a house with only Draco for company. But with a firm word from Remus, promising to keep an eye out for her, he conceded, albeit grudgingly.
Remus was civil and borderline friendly with Draco, accepting his loyalty and turnaround as fact. Sirius, on the other hand, had almost come to blows with Malfoy on several occasions. James' death and Peter's treachery had created a streak of insurmountable distrust in him, and he was ever suspicious. With Remus and Hermione stepping in incessantly, they had come to an uneasy truce. It would be good for Draco and Sirius to get some breathing space.
"Hermione!" Sirius called as he opened the door. Draco was standing in the front hall.
"Where's Hermione?" Sirius asked impatiently. Draco narrowed his eyes into slits.
"She's asleep," he said abruptly. "We were going over the Rebel's list of Death Eaters and comparing it to the one I compiled, and she just dropped off." He smiled slightly, abstractly.
It was Sirius' turn to narrow his eyes shrewdly. He sprang up the stairs to Hermione's room, where she was sleeping quite soundly, not a hair out of place. He sighed, almost grudgingly, that she wasn't harmed. What a fantastic woman she had turned out to be. Sirius rounded on Draco, still out for blood.
"You were doing Rebel work in Hermione's room? I don't see any lists lying around!"
"Erm...no, I, er, carried her up here." A faint tinge of colour rose to Draco's cheekbones.
"Oh." Sirius took a deep breath. This was getting awkward for him. "Well, thank you. Remus and I are going away for a job. We don't know how long we'll be gone, but Ron will heep you informed.
"And Draco," he called as he walked out the door, "If anything happens to her you will have more problems than you could ever imagine."
But Draco caught a gleam in his eye as the door shut. Perhaps his credibility was rising. About bloody time, too.
~*~
Although there was by no means a bustling traffic coming through the Black house, occasionally Ron, Harry or Ginny would drop by to collaborate lists, write up reports, and to plan retaliations. Now that the shock of the "Ministry Burn" had worn off, England was calling for blood. Wizards everywhere were practising curses and jinxes, some on Muggles, even, and the Ministry was in disarray. Ron had decided that the only way to quell this outburst of hostility would be a display that the best and brightest of the Wizarding World were still alive, and brutally active. The next meeting of the Death Eaters would result in an upsurge of confidence for the Wizards of England. Slowly, they began to plan In the meantime, they would only wait, and watch, and in Ginny's case, stall.
~*~
"We meet in a grove, a very specific place in the woods around the Malfoy Manor. It's hard to find, full of detectors and concealment charms. It'll be tough,"Ginny said solemnly.
"Is it still an option to use cloaks?" Ron wanted to know. The Ministry had come up with state of the art detection of Invisibility Cloaks. Ludlow could possibly have transferred this technology to Voldemort.
"Yes. I'd say that we should use a Disillusionment Charm and also a Cloak. Just to be safer," she replied.
"What about methods of entry and escape?" Harry brought up. "What are our options? It's a wooded area, right? So that means lots of defense positions, natural concealment, which will help both sides, and limited overhead vision. At night it will be quiet. No Apparition, then."
"It'll have to be brooms," Hermione said, resignedly. She had a perpetual fear of heights, ever since her encounter with Buckbeak in the third year. "With limited overhead vision, it's the most strategic. It's soundless, and it won't be that hard to blend in with the sky. And we'll never have to dismount, we can do a flying attack."
"Of course, during the retreat, on leaving the wood, it might leave us open to targeting. We need state- of- the- art models," Harry said, not at all put out by the thought.
"Done," Ron said promptly. "I"m not keen on getting AK'ed, thank you very much. They're on me. Firebolt Three's alright with everyone?"
Harry grinned. "Do you mind if I keep if afterwards?" This considerably lightened the mood for a while as they discussed Quidditch and the latest game in the league, played by Harry's team, Puddlemere United, and Chudley Cannons. Oliver Wood was the star Keeper for Puddlemere United now, and scouts had tried very hard to recruit Harry as well, as he would have brought immeasurable publicity to the club as well as unparalleled skill. As it had turned out, he was content to watch and cheer with the rest of the population.
"We have a small glitch," Hermione was saying, a line creasing her pale, clear forehead. "Draco. He can't stay alone in the house, especially since Remus and Sirius are gone. I trust him," she said, looking imploringly at Ron, "but I'm afraid that Death Eaters might be getting close. Ginny, tell them."
Ginny looked at her rebelliously, and then turned to Ron. "I think Voldemort might be sending out others to find Draco, not just me. It will be my head if someone finds him first. So, it's my suggestion that Draco takes my place in the raid."
"No," Ron said immediately. "He could destroy everything. If he so much as yells or says something we could all be dead."
"Ron, you're not thinking. I'm supposed to be killing him remember? It's not as if he'll run to the Death Eaters and ask for forgiveness. Because he knows he bloody won't get it."
"Ginny's right, Ron," Harry said quietly, intruding on the red-hot glares being exchanged across the broad wooden table in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. "He should come. If only for us to keep an eye on him."
Ron opened and closed his mouth, eyes bulging comically. "But, Harry, even if he doesn't betray us, he can still get away on his broom and put Ginny in danger by being at large. There are a million things wrong with this, and you know it!" Seeing he was going to be overruled, and annoyed at everyone's apparent calm, Ron sighed. "Fine," he said irritably. "But if we die, don't blame me."
"Who's dying?" Draco asked, mid-yawn. He had been upstairs sleeping, and now appeared in the kitchen in flannel muggle pajamas and a t-shirt. His hair was still dishevelled from sleeping. He manually got himself a Butterbeer, glaring at the wands all lying on the kitchen table.
"Hopefully you," Ron muttered. More loudly, he said, "We're going to raid a Death Eater meeting, and we're not leaving you alone here. So the only other option is to bring you along, as the fourth person. Maybe the rear-guard," he said nastily.
"What makes you think I want to go to raid a circle of Death Eaters? I have spent the past few months trying to avoid their company, if you haven't noticed."
"Just sit down, before I hex you and listen to what I have to say." Draco stared icily.
"Please," Hermione said softly, and he sat, her cool hand on his drawing him down to the chair beside her.
A/N: Review, please!
A/N: Just a couple of notes before we get started. a) Hi Eowyn, nice to have new readers, actually, we started this fic before OotP was published, and I've tried to make necessary changes, ie. Having the OotP disbanded, but started up again under a new name to account for the "rebels", etc. But having said that, Sirius is alive, and there's nothing I can do about it, so bear with me. But I did read OotP the day it came out, finishing 2 days later in a flood of tears.
B) Hi Kika1, I read our "review of your fic" it was kind of harsh, but I was a hardcore purist at the time...I still am, but I'd like to think I'm a little older/wiser now, and resigned to the whole mary sue thing. I'm glad you like our fic...well, my fic now.
C) I'm really happy about all the compliments I've been getting, you guys are fabulous, and I hope you like this one. It's a week later, I'll have you know!
Chapter 14: Return to 12 Grimmauld Place
Days passed that were full of stress and new challenges for the Rebles. Sirius and Remus traced an important package transferred by Muggle Post to Albania by a Mortimer Ludlow. Scarcely believing Ludlow's sloppiness, and his good luck, Ron immediately asked Sirius and Remus to track the package.
"I got you a wand, Sirius," Ron said satisfactorily. "Ollivander is an old friend of the family, he doesn't ask questions. Take it, but when you're in dog form please make sure that Remus has it. And for you, Professor," he inclined his head towards Remus," I had Severus Snape make up a store of Wolf's Bane Potion, just in case. Hopefully you won't be there too long, and it won't be necessary."
"It shouldn't be a problem, but thank you, Ron. You probably want us travelling by Muggle means, do you not? Plane?"
"Yes. Sirius doesn't have a licence to Apparate, and I don't want you under any circumstances to take risks. Remember, stealth is everything. No one knows this is happening, and I really don't want you caught, you're both valuable."
Sirius nodded, and smiled almost sarcastically. "It's okay, Ron, we've been doing this for a long time. Before you were born, for example."
Ron looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, I'm being a prat. I sound like Perce used to. I'm just....nervous. This is my job, my life. Shit." He ran his hand through his hair. "There's no way, though! If I don't do this, who knows? I might not have a job, a life, in five years. But it still all depends on Harry." He sighed. "Thank you, Professor, Sirius. You can contact me when you get there in the usual way. Postcard to the Wheezes. If there's a problem, jump on a plane. You have the credit card? Good. Good luck." After they had safely left, Ron apparated to the Ministry to deal with the fifty owls that were hovering and sitting around his dropping- filled office.
~*~
Sirius and Remus made their way back to 12 Grimmauld Place by Muggle means. After much debate and careful thought, (and in Ron's case, carefully controlled anger,) it was decided that Draco and Hermione as his keeper, would stay with Remus and Sirius at the Black house. Ron, after many years, was still fiercely protective and jealous when it came to Hermione, and was very reluctant to stick her in a house with only Draco for company. But with a firm word from Remus, promising to keep an eye out for her, he conceded, albeit grudgingly.
Remus was civil and borderline friendly with Draco, accepting his loyalty and turnaround as fact. Sirius, on the other hand, had almost come to blows with Malfoy on several occasions. James' death and Peter's treachery had created a streak of insurmountable distrust in him, and he was ever suspicious. With Remus and Hermione stepping in incessantly, they had come to an uneasy truce. It would be good for Draco and Sirius to get some breathing space.
"Hermione!" Sirius called as he opened the door. Draco was standing in the front hall.
"Where's Hermione?" Sirius asked impatiently. Draco narrowed his eyes into slits.
"She's asleep," he said abruptly. "We were going over the Rebel's list of Death Eaters and comparing it to the one I compiled, and she just dropped off." He smiled slightly, abstractly.
It was Sirius' turn to narrow his eyes shrewdly. He sprang up the stairs to Hermione's room, where she was sleeping quite soundly, not a hair out of place. He sighed, almost grudgingly, that she wasn't harmed. What a fantastic woman she had turned out to be. Sirius rounded on Draco, still out for blood.
"You were doing Rebel work in Hermione's room? I don't see any lists lying around!"
"Erm...no, I, er, carried her up here." A faint tinge of colour rose to Draco's cheekbones.
"Oh." Sirius took a deep breath. This was getting awkward for him. "Well, thank you. Remus and I are going away for a job. We don't know how long we'll be gone, but Ron will heep you informed.
"And Draco," he called as he walked out the door, "If anything happens to her you will have more problems than you could ever imagine."
But Draco caught a gleam in his eye as the door shut. Perhaps his credibility was rising. About bloody time, too.
~*~
Although there was by no means a bustling traffic coming through the Black house, occasionally Ron, Harry or Ginny would drop by to collaborate lists, write up reports, and to plan retaliations. Now that the shock of the "Ministry Burn" had worn off, England was calling for blood. Wizards everywhere were practising curses and jinxes, some on Muggles, even, and the Ministry was in disarray. Ron had decided that the only way to quell this outburst of hostility would be a display that the best and brightest of the Wizarding World were still alive, and brutally active. The next meeting of the Death Eaters would result in an upsurge of confidence for the Wizards of England. Slowly, they began to plan In the meantime, they would only wait, and watch, and in Ginny's case, stall.
~*~
"We meet in a grove, a very specific place in the woods around the Malfoy Manor. It's hard to find, full of detectors and concealment charms. It'll be tough,"Ginny said solemnly.
"Is it still an option to use cloaks?" Ron wanted to know. The Ministry had come up with state of the art detection of Invisibility Cloaks. Ludlow could possibly have transferred this technology to Voldemort.
"Yes. I'd say that we should use a Disillusionment Charm and also a Cloak. Just to be safer," she replied.
"What about methods of entry and escape?" Harry brought up. "What are our options? It's a wooded area, right? So that means lots of defense positions, natural concealment, which will help both sides, and limited overhead vision. At night it will be quiet. No Apparition, then."
"It'll have to be brooms," Hermione said, resignedly. She had a perpetual fear of heights, ever since her encounter with Buckbeak in the third year. "With limited overhead vision, it's the most strategic. It's soundless, and it won't be that hard to blend in with the sky. And we'll never have to dismount, we can do a flying attack."
"Of course, during the retreat, on leaving the wood, it might leave us open to targeting. We need state- of- the- art models," Harry said, not at all put out by the thought.
"Done," Ron said promptly. "I"m not keen on getting AK'ed, thank you very much. They're on me. Firebolt Three's alright with everyone?"
Harry grinned. "Do you mind if I keep if afterwards?" This considerably lightened the mood for a while as they discussed Quidditch and the latest game in the league, played by Harry's team, Puddlemere United, and Chudley Cannons. Oliver Wood was the star Keeper for Puddlemere United now, and scouts had tried very hard to recruit Harry as well, as he would have brought immeasurable publicity to the club as well as unparalleled skill. As it had turned out, he was content to watch and cheer with the rest of the population.
"We have a small glitch," Hermione was saying, a line creasing her pale, clear forehead. "Draco. He can't stay alone in the house, especially since Remus and Sirius are gone. I trust him," she said, looking imploringly at Ron, "but I'm afraid that Death Eaters might be getting close. Ginny, tell them."
Ginny looked at her rebelliously, and then turned to Ron. "I think Voldemort might be sending out others to find Draco, not just me. It will be my head if someone finds him first. So, it's my suggestion that Draco takes my place in the raid."
"No," Ron said immediately. "He could destroy everything. If he so much as yells or says something we could all be dead."
"Ron, you're not thinking. I'm supposed to be killing him remember? It's not as if he'll run to the Death Eaters and ask for forgiveness. Because he knows he bloody won't get it."
"Ginny's right, Ron," Harry said quietly, intruding on the red-hot glares being exchanged across the broad wooden table in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. "He should come. If only for us to keep an eye on him."
Ron opened and closed his mouth, eyes bulging comically. "But, Harry, even if he doesn't betray us, he can still get away on his broom and put Ginny in danger by being at large. There are a million things wrong with this, and you know it!" Seeing he was going to be overruled, and annoyed at everyone's apparent calm, Ron sighed. "Fine," he said irritably. "But if we die, don't blame me."
"Who's dying?" Draco asked, mid-yawn. He had been upstairs sleeping, and now appeared in the kitchen in flannel muggle pajamas and a t-shirt. His hair was still dishevelled from sleeping. He manually got himself a Butterbeer, glaring at the wands all lying on the kitchen table.
"Hopefully you," Ron muttered. More loudly, he said, "We're going to raid a Death Eater meeting, and we're not leaving you alone here. So the only other option is to bring you along, as the fourth person. Maybe the rear-guard," he said nastily.
"What makes you think I want to go to raid a circle of Death Eaters? I have spent the past few months trying to avoid their company, if you haven't noticed."
"Just sit down, before I hex you and listen to what I have to say." Draco stared icily.
"Please," Hermione said softly, and he sat, her cool hand on his drawing him down to the chair beside her.
A/N: Review, please!