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Chapter 8 – The Rescue Mission II
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Harry stepped into Grimmauld Place after Sirius, the place was brightly lit, never had it looked more welcoming in the past. And he suspected that the non-existence of Kreacher had a certain amount of contribution. He walked into the kitchen, eager to meet that 'someone' Sirius had said he was to be introduced to. But instead of someone pleasant, who Harry met the first was his Potions Professor, Severus Snape, who was snorting as what he usually did. Harry glared at him; he still hadn't forgotten the indifferent manner Snape had shown in Umbridge's office when he told him Padfoot was in danger. But at the same time, he couldn't help wondering what business had he got in Sirius' house; Snape never stayed longer than he needed to.
"Trelawney's here already," Snape announced. Harry looked at Sirius round-eye and opened his mouth, but Sirius silenced him with a stern look and mouthed, "Not now, I'll tell you about that later."
"What about Percy then?" Bill asked immediately, closing the door behind him.
"Back with Kingsley, Arthur and Molly are asking him questions," McGonagall, who had just appeared behind Snape, said, "But Rainzzi haven't come back yet."
…
Lestrange waved his wand dramatically in front of Rainzzi. "Just the memory charm will do, but if you want a more exciting effect, I'd recommend adding the Cruciatus Curse. It will turn you into another Longbottom," he threatened, his eyes crackling with aggressiveness beyond reason. The other Death Eater laughed behind him.
"Our master knows, he knows Dumbledore will soon be suspicious that there maybe a spy in the Ministry," Lestrange said, "That's why one of us is always watching over this apartment."
"But still you lots lost Weasley right under your noses," Rainzzi whispered with a little laugh, because she knew perfectly it would anger him, when bright sunlight shone through the French door onto her face, dazzling her eyes.
"It may not be as simple as what you think," Narcissa Malfoy interrupted meaningfully. She pulled off her hood, revealing her face which was lit with satisfaction. "Indeed, we lost a Knut, but we gained a Galleon in the process. You're much closer to both Fudge and Dumbledore than Weasley is. I can ensure you that you'll be greatly of help."
"You'll have a difficult time if you want to force me into spilling the beans," Rainzzi breathed stubbornly, narrowing her eyes to hide away her horror. "You're being outsmarted," Rainzzi uttered nonsense, attempting to scare the Death Eaters, and a few sharp intakes had proved that it worked, "You'll just have to wait."
Only Lestrange didn't seem to buy her trick. "We can wait, but by that time you'll already have your memory wiped clean," he whispered menacingly. He rose a bit from her, but carefully not to release her.
"Didn't you say I'll be of help? Do you possibly think an empty shell would be helpful to you lots?" Rainzzi said unflinchingly. She was sure Lestrange was still considering flicking his wand a nanosecond before Narcissa grabbed him back. "Master wouldn't like to have her memory wiped, Rabastan," Narcissa said in her drawling voice. Lestrange thumped on the floor in frustration when a rush idea arose in Rainzzi's mind. "We'll have to play it slow," Narcissa continued.
Lestrange turned to his fellows and said unwillingly, "So, tie her up and bring her back before anyone comes then." He further rose from Rainzzi but still with his arm pressing firmly on her. In a split second, it looked as though she was ready to be co-operative with them but right in the next moment, she kicked hard at the gap between Lestrange's legs. He groaned loudly in mingled pain and anger while she grabbed his wand and threw him off her.
Rainzzi waved his wand and muttered the counter one of the anti-disapparating spell, but she soon found miserably that he was not the imposer of the spell, which meant the spell was still in effect. Rainzzi bit her lower lip; there was only one hard way to escape from the crew.
Narcissa was the swiftest in response; the other three surrounding Death Eaters didn't come to Lestrange's rescue and protest at once; whether they were really that clumsy or they were just not expecting a struggle, Rainzzi didn't have any time to spare a thought as Narcissa shot her a Stunning Spell. Panting slightly, Rainzzi rolled on the floor and ducked it. She got up quickly from the floor and dodged some more spells when she ran towards the blinding sunlight. She raised her arms protectively above her head while she kicked the French door broken and jumped down from it.
…
Harry sat side by side with Ron and looked around in total silence; Remus had been dead quiet, he was seated a few seats away from everyone, isolating himself, and had hidden his face behind his palms while Sirius kept pacing incoherently around the room. Snape was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest with a countenance of nonchalance when Kingsley, Tonks, Moody and the Weasley adults interrogated Percy at the other side of the room. (Percy was looking greatly ashamed and scared, and his unhealthy look had further exaggerated his ill being.) McGonagall had gone to contact Dumbledore, who was currently attending Fudge's press conference. Harry looked inquiringly at Ron and Ginny, but they were too busy peeking at their family.
They had stopped questioning Percy for no less than 5 minutes before Sirius eventually abandoned pacing. He had his face screwed up when he stood in the spot and kept muttering impatiently under his breath. Harry could hardly make out what he's murmuring, "Suddenly anti-apparation…and far behind schedule…" Sirius clapped his hand hard on his forehead for a few times and then…he started pacing again.
"Sirius, stop worrying. Rainzzi is very capable of looking after herself," Tonks suggested, "She may have decided to disable the accessibility in order to search the apartment undisturbed like she always does."
But Sirius didn't seem to be convinced. "But she should've been back by now."
"That's right. But there shouldn't be any danger as the coast was still very clear when I disapparated," said Kingsley, standing up straight to show that he was all concerned and serious.
"What if something happened after that?" Sirius demanded pessimistically.
"Black, stop muttering nonsense," Snape commented nonchalantly, with a very hateful look of someone enjoying the play, "We are here chaotic enough without your confusing murmurs."
Sirius turned and glared at Snape indignantly for a moment but his face was soon brightened up with brilliance as if he had seen the light at the end of the tunnel. "Snape, press the Mark," he said calmly but yet clearly.
"What?" Snape asked, apparently surprised, and he clutched on his left forearm, where everyone knew his Dark Mark was stamped, unconsciously.
"In case they've got hold of Rainzzi, pressing the Mark may enable you to be summoned there," Sirius said at once. Clinging on his hoarse voice was an evident amount of hopefulness.
Remus raised his face from behind his palms and also glanced up at Snape hopefully, but what Snape replied had the equivalent effect on him as if he was poured a basket of cold water right over his head. "That's impossible." Snape said loudly, taking a few steps backwards, away from Sirius and glared at him with a wrinkle of his big nose.
"Just try!" Sirius bellowed, grabbing Snape's collar and bumping him against the wall, and raised his clenched fists. Remus leapt forward to prevent Sirius from advancing when Kingsley pulled Snape back from the reach of Sirius. "Who knows what may happen to Rainzzi? Just press the Mark already and see if she was okay!"
Harry stared at Sirius blankly; he had never seen Sirius so angry and agitated, not even on the night when Snape had appeared in the Shrieking Shack uninvited and later mixed up the whole idea. He didn't who this 'Rainzzi' was, but whoever she was, Harry was sure she meant a lot to Sirius.
"I'm supposed to be on their side. Let's assume the Death Eaters have got hold of her, could I possibly just go there and help an opponent? And use your brains if you have any, Black. I shouldn't have known it otherwise, how could I ever explain when they ask why I know about it? Tell them 'I've just learnt from Weasleys that you've got Delanuit, that's why I come,' huh?" Snape spat fiercely, struggling against Kingsley firm hold in trial to free himself.
Remus looked from Snape to Sirius and back again, then he finally broke his muteness, "Sirius, should Rainzzi in mortal danger, she would've contacted the Order already."
"What if she wasn't able to?"
Sirius' eyes met Remus', and mutely they both arrived at the conclusion that something had to be done. But before they could do anything a loud crack was heard throughout the spacious kitchen, capturing everyone's attention. Lying in the middle of the room was the injured form of Rainzzi, bleeding slightly at various parts, with some broken glasses sticking from her hair and clothes here and there.
Ron nudged Harry slightly in the ribs and jerked his head towards the woman, and Harry's heart immediately gave an abrupt throb, something about this woman gave him an aura of familiarity, he felt like he had known her before.
There was a moment of dumbness in the room when neither anyone spoke nor moved. Being the first to have comprehended what had happened, both Sirius and Remus rushed to Rainzzi's side, and Remus, who had been standing way farer to her, accidentally shoved Sirius out of the way in his eagerness to reach Rainzzi. By the time Sirius approached her, Remus had already enfolded her in his arms. "God bless, you're back!" He hugged her very tightly.
"Don't! It hurts," said Rainzzi as she struggled to hold herself up on four.
"What happened, Rainzzi? Were you cornered by some Death Eaters?" Sirius asked all concerned and worried; this seemed to fully wake her up. Rainzzi opened her eyes to their full extent and glanced around the kitchen for the first time ever since she arrived in hunt of Dumbledore, "Where's Dumbledore?" she inquired quite impolitely.
"He's still in the Ministry, Dumbledore knew what had happened," McGonagall said, Harry wasn't sure whether she had walked in first or she had spoken first. "He heard from a Ministry official that the fake Percy Weasley, whoever he is, has just resigned half an hour ago."
Nearly all the people who knew of its meaning in the room groaned in unison. "Where's he then?" Moody asked in his hoarse voice.
"We don't know, but Dumbledore supposed some Death Eater has contacted him and have him sneaked out of the Ministry already," McGonagall answered shortly, then she turned to Arthur and Molly Weasley, "Arthur, Molly, move quickly. Dumbledore wants you two to bring Percy to meet him in the Ministry right now."
Arthur and Molly nodded promptly; one of them placed an arm around Percy's shoulder when the other grabbed his arm, helping their son up. Percy bowed his head and Harry could see him gasping embarrassedly in desperation before the three of them all Disapparated.
"What about me then?" Rainzzi asked in uneven breathes, "Perhaps I should go back to the Ministry, too, and convince Fudge I have found the real Percy Weasley in his apartment?" She got herself free from Remus forcefully and stood up, but she soon went weak with fragility and if Remus wasn't quick to retrieve her, she would have fallen down on the floor again.
"Rainzzi, Dumbledore asked you to stay here until he comes back," said McGonagall plainly, her eyes widened a bit as she took in Rainzzi's injured form.
"But Fudge wouldn't be convinced," Rainzzi said resentfully, "He would excuse the whole thing as a whole bunch of coincidences until they don't threaten his reliability to the public!"
"Dumbledore has his reasons, you don't have to worry, Rainzzi," McGonagall said harshly, pointing at one of the chairs to indicate that she should take a seat.
Discontented yet unconfident to challenge McGonagall's authority, Rainzzi faltered to the vacant chair moodily. Harry observed it when Sirius stood in his spot with a slight frown as Remus leapt forward to help Rainzzi settling.
"Tell us what happened back in the apartment after Kingsley left, Delanuit," Snape ordered in a manner very much like investigating a suspect or even a criminal. Sirius snorted slightly at him but he understood by heart it was not time for bickering and avoidable arguments. The others all focused on Rainzzi expectantly.
"Rabastan Lestrange came," Rainzzi said, skillfully skipping the part where she had been attracted by the dark artifact and had stayed for curiosity, "We fought. I nearly caught him but then he pressed his Dark Mark and summoned his fellows after he recovered from the unforgivable curse I used on him."
"I bet there were quite a few of them the Death Eaters summoned there? How did you succeed in escaping then?" Kingsley asked with his professionalism humbly displayed.
"A total of 5, Lestrange included. And Narcissa Malfoy was also among them, she pulled off her hood and I saw her in profile. I couldn't handle them single-handed so I soon got cornered, and one of them had performed the anti-apparation spell." Harry noticed there's a deep shade of crimson in her cheek as she lessened her volume; it was as if what she's going to say was doomed to humiliate her. "Lestrange pinned me on the floor and threatened to do it to me again…" Her voice trailed off to an undertone slowly.
Harry didn't have any idea what she meant, but judging from the angry voice from Sirius and darkened and sympathetic looks of the others, they did. "But Narcissa Malfoy stopped him because You-know-who wouldn't be pleased to have a useless empty shell, and I kind of dodged them all when they were least expecting it. And then I jumped down from the building and escaped."
Remus slid his hand comfortingly on Rainzzi's shoulder and rubbed it. Snape, on the other hand, didn't show any sympathy at all. Instead he resumed his chilly voice, "Why didn't you contact us, Delanuit? Have a weird thing for heroism?" Harry glared back as Snape shot him a meaningful glance of sarcasm.
"One more word, Snape!" Sirius turned to Snape and pulled out his wand dangerously, his eyes glinting with daggers until Tonks directed his attention back to Rainzzi.
"I was not trying to act the heroine," Rainzzi said coldly, "It's just that they immediately surrounded me after they had apparated there, I couldn't possibly conjure up a Patronus in front of them, could I?" She wanted nothing more than to hide in a hole, she was always reluctant to act as if she thought she was sacrificing for the Order, but unfortunately that's exactly how it sounded.
"Then did you spill any confidential information to the Death Eaters?" Moody queried, obliviously in a tone much like that of Snape's.
"Nothing. They don't even know Kingsley had been there."
Rainzzi gave a little dignified smile as McGonagall beckoned her mild appreciation. "Sirius," McGonagall turned to Sirius, "I think you should escort Rainzzi to a vacant room and take care of her cuts." Sirius nodded.
But Remus interrupted, "I'll do the job." His hands were still clutching tightly on Rainzzi's shoulder and his eyes had never left her ever since she's back.
Sirius looked at Remus very coolly, "No, thanks. She's my fiancée after all. I think you know better than that, Remus." Harry gawped at Sirius, thunderstruck at the mention of the word 'fiancée', Sirius had once told him he had a fiancée, but had let slipped nothing more. Harry looked at Rainzzi again, he finally knew who the woman was; the bridesmaid of his parents' wedding.
Sirius gathered Rainzzi up easily in his arms in one single swift movement and lifted her up; Rainzzi looked as if she would have protested if only she wasn't so delicate at that moment. Sirius strode past Remus like he didn't exist; he didn't slow down until he reached the staircase. He held her closer and closer to himself, endeavouring to fill every bit of space between them, hoping against hope that he could hold her eternally.
Sirius carefully avoided tripping over the troll leg and walked up to his bedroom. He set Rainzzi in a sitting position on his bed speechlessly, he almost felt exasperated at the inevitable disappearance of their closeness and then he summoned a flask of medicinal liquid and some cotton. Delicately he applied some potion on the cotton and pressed ever so softly on her cuts on her arms; Rainzzi neither winced nor made any sound at all. Sirius noticed his hand was shaking slightly as his finger made contact with her skin, and he soon realized he was engulfed once again in the sense of longing that had been haunting him so badly recently.
His thoughts trailed to Remus' expression he had on his face when he scrutinized Rainzzi, it wasn't a pure look of nervousness but one of significant anxiety. All the years, Sirius was convinced Remus had been so generous as to look after Rainzzi for him, but why, why didn't he ever considered the possibility of Remus liking Rainzzi and looking after her for his own secret ambitions?
Remus had forever been the non-committal guy that always benignly avoided acquainting with the opposite sex in fear of falling in love with them, but he had been in close bound with Rainzzi in the years when Sirius was wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban. Why would he have consented to waste his time on her when he was supposed to be in denial of anything and anyone linked with Sirius? And hadn't he been all nervous and agitated when Sirius told him they had stayed alone in the suspects' room?
Then, had love been the genuine reason why Remus refused to be the best man a long time ago after Sirius told him he was engaged with Rainzzi? Had Remus liked Rainzzi all along? Sirius marveled extravagantly. However, what really bothered Sirius wasn't merely that. The real problem was: what if the feeling, if there was any, was mutual?
Remus had been the only one in the old crew that Rainzzi had reaccepted after her memory was wiped, and they had stayed close in the years to have come. And didn't everyone agree that heterosexual couples made lousy friends?
Sirius pressed the last piece of soaked cotton on the cut on her cheek, he could feel her flinch before she awkwardly drew back. "I can handle that one myself," Rainzzi said, she reached for the cotton and applied it on her cheek, carefully looking the other way.
Had he not been so prudent of his emotions, Sirius would have already punched the air in frustration, he was sure if it was Remus who gestured to clean the wound for her, she wouldn't have withdrawn.
Sirius glared malignantly at the doorway as he heard someone turn the doorknob, but instead of Remus who he had expected, it was Dumbledore. Rainzzi looked at Dumbledore eagerly when she abandoned healing her cuts.
Dumbledore silently walked to them, "Minerva told me everything. Are you alright, Rainzzi?" he asked in a warm and fatherly voice.
Rainzzi nodded nonchalantly, "How did Fudge respond?"
"As anticipated, he refused to believe the truth-"
"He can't!" Rainzzi exclaimed, "He just cannot!"
"Rainzzi, just listen to me," Dumbledore interjected importantly, sitting on the vacant chair besides Sirius, "The fake Percy Weasley had resigned the first thing after he was notified of what happened in the apartment. When I went up to Cornelius Fudge with Arthur, Molly and Percy and told him his undersecretary had been a spy of Voldemort, he just regarded it as another attempt to discredit and publicly humiliate him. He refused to believe anything I said, in my opinion, he still hasn't got over the last time I proved him wrong."
"But he cannot just ignore the truth and get on as if nothing happened; he needs to publicize the incident. Who knows how much the Ministry has already leaked out?" Sirius said.
"Sirius, you don't know Fudge as well as I do," said Dumbledore calmly, holding the tips of his fingers together, "To put it simply, he is reluctant to get himself into scrapes ever again. He has just held a press conference, claiming that the Ministry had got some useful information which will come in handy against Voldemort, which I doubt if he had any, he couldn't possibly let anything to destroy the goodwill and hopes he has just created."
"But I'm an evident of everything, I can go convince Fudge," Rainzzi said, motioning to get out of bed immediately. Wordlessly and blankly, Sirius stood up and lifted her legs back onto the bed, but Rainzzi violently shook off his hold.
"No, Rainzzi, I'm afraid you can't," Dumbledore said unwillingly, "You're the only one among us that Fudge counts on, if you revealed your participation of anything related to me, we'll lose the access to the Ministry's unpublished news and plots."
"So we'll just let it pass underground?" Rainzzi asked resentfully.
"We need to take one step backward in order to achieve two steps forward," Dumbledore whispered with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes. He patted Rainzzi slightly on the shoulder and turned on his heels.
"Dumbledore," Rainzzi whispered suddenly, "Narcissa Malfoy said some suspicious thing that suggested You-know-who is expecting of someone of our side there. Do you think it's part of a plot?"
"I have no idea as of yet," Dumbledore shrugged with a furrow, which was soon replaced by a reassuring smile, "But I'll have Snape take care of it. Just take a rest, Rainzzi." With an inclination of his head to Sirius, he walked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone in silence again.
"I need to go back to the Ministry," Rainzzi said, extremely foiled. Sirius gently pushed her back down on the bed saying, "Dumbledore asked you to stay out of it."
"I'm just going back to resume my auror job."
"No, just stay and have a long rest," Sirius said caringly. When she wasn't convinced, he added, "If my being here bothers you, I'll just get out, but please, take a rest, Rainzzi."
Rainzzi evaded looking back at him and shifted distractedly when Sirius departed. How nice a 'No, stay with me, Sirius' would sound, Sirius wondered miserably as he closed the door. Then he met Remus right outside the room, "We need to talk, Remus," Sirius said.
A/N: Please review…Ch. 9 is nearly finisheddd…