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Nights of Light
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One minute you're
waiting for the sky to fall
the next you're dazzled by the
beauty of it all
Lovers in a Dangerous Time
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Hestia Jones was still keenly aware of the fact that there had to be someone watching over her. After eight months of living in Deception, just miles from an Extermination camp, she and her family and friends went on, undiscovered. True, Bill and Sturgis were quite good with their hexes and wardings. And true again, that their area had already been searched by Death Eaters before the remains of The Order of The Phoenix relocated there. Still, such was a miracle.
The morning that Luna was bidding farewell to Theodore, Hestia was standing in her small kitchen hundreds of miles away, watching as Bill Weasley and Sturgis Podmore piled firewood into their respective wheelbarrows and set off in opposite directions: Bill to the house just down the snow-covered street, and Sturgis to Hestia's front door.
She stepped outside just as Sturgis finished stacking the fuel by the door, holding out a mug of coffee for him. He smiled up at her, taking the offered beverage as he kicked the snow off of his boots, stepping inside around her and pealing off his gloves, "You're up early," He noted, taking a long sip and then holding his hands over the woodstove. Hestia let out a small laugh,
"Yes, and you can thank YOUR son for that," She retorted, fixing the displaced throw rug that lie on the cold hardwood floor, "Megan offered to rock him back to sleep though,"
"And you never could fall asleep in the mornings," Sturgis murmured back, kissing her lightly. Hestia smiled softly to herself, as he moved to add more fire to the woodstove. Glancing out the window of the cabin again, she sighed,
"How's Bill?" She asked quietly.
"Better," Sturgis said easily, though a look of concern crossed his face. It was not missed by his wife, who tilted her head, pushing back her dark hair. With only a raise of her eyebrow, she prompted him on, "He still wants to go looking for her, Hes."
"We've looked!" Hestia sighed, moving to the kitchen table and sitting down, "We've checked their records! Ginny isn't there, she's nowhere…"
"We checked old records," Sturgis corrected her gently, sitting down across the table from her and stretching his legs out in front of the stove, "He is thinking…" He went on slowly, "That the Camp would have the updated records. They update those all the time."
Hestia looked at him, mouth agape, blinking a few times. She shook her head, finally, "No, he can't be seriously thinking…"
"His wife and baby are dead, Hestia," Sturgis reminded her softly, "His entire family is on the Exterminated list, except for Ginny…"
"I know!" Hestia snapped rather loudly. She sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment, "But Sturgis that only means they hadn't found her yet, as of two months ago. And he wants to risk getting caught, when there are so few of us left anyway, just to find out if she's been killed yet?"
"He…doesn't think they killed her," Sturgis replied slowly. He looked up at his wife seriously, "Hes, you know what they've done with the girls…"…What had almost happened to Megan and Sally-Ann…
"Of course I do," Hestia bit her lip. True, Bill might just look up records to find that his sister was alive and well and some Pureblood's wife. She sighed, "What is he planning?"
"He wants to go off alone, within the next few days," Sturgis replied. Hestia gave him a sharp look.
"You're NOT going with him," She said pointedly.
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Deception Bay was a perfect middle of nowhere. Death Eaters had swept through within a day, finding almost no one as they did. A few short months later, after being on the run underground for weeks, the remains of the Order and those they had managed to save had settled there, in one of the tiny ghost villages.
Between them all, they only filled two houses. Bill Weasley had taken a house by the lake, along with Selune Sinistra, who'd survived the invasion on Hogwarts by the skin of her teeth. She watched over her two Gryffindors, first year muggle-born girls that she'd managed to smuggle out of the school when she'd escaped. Kevin Entwhistle and Celia Moon were also in her care, but neither was quite right in the head. Selune had found Kevin wandering the streets of London, after surviving three rounds of Crucio. Bill had rescued Celia from a Death Eater's kitchen, having been looking for Ginny.
And across the way, Hestia and Sturgis had their own brood to worry about. They too, had been fighting during the invasion on Hogwarts, which had only been a few weeks after they'd gotten married. Many, many of their peers had died in the school that night…Minerva right in Hestia's arms. Tonks had been taken out while her back was turned, and while she was pregnant. Hestia and Sturgis had gotten away though, having been able to save two of the Hufflepuff boys, Justin and Zacharias. Hestia's own daughter Megan though…she had gone missing.
They searched everywhere for her, and others of the boy's friends whose bodies had not been found at the school. Sally-Ann they discovered bound in a carriage in Knockturn Alley. She had told them that Megan was being taken to America, and Hestia snatched her daughter back just before she was spirited off to Antonin Dolohov. And then the couple had searched England for weeks, trying to find more of the kids' peers, at their pleading, but none could be found alive or able to rescue. Adele Runcor was killed in her home, Hannah Abbott was sold. The trail for Wayne went cold, and Ernie was found dead along with Alexander Lovegood, in Luna Lovegood's home. Megan had insisted that they find Luna, but by then she was locked away in Nott manor.
It quickly became too dangerous to stay in England, and so they were in Deception. Thus, the four teenagers…nearly adults…lived with Sturgis and Hestia still. Despite the highly inconvenient circumstances, Hestia and Sturgis had a baby the following December, a boy they named Charlie. It would have been Bill's son's name.
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"Your turn," Megan Jones yawned, thumping down the stairs and into the kitchen, passing her baby brother on to her mother, "He should stay asleep!"
Hestia looked down at her son, smirking, "Oh I'm sure, especially after you stomped down those stairs like an elephant,"
"I am a delicate flower!" Megan retorted, which caused her step-father to nearly snort his coffee. Charlie started crying again, and the domestic scene was complete.
"Way to go," Zach noted, following his girlfriend down the stairs, "You woke it up,"
"It's a he, thank you," Hestia corrected, resting Charlie on her shoulder and bouncing him a bit. Zach grinned, turning on the muggle toaster with a flip of his wand,
"Yes mam," He replied, poking Meg's side as he looked out the window, "We've got company," He said idly, "Sinistra is bringing Celia over,"
"You know, you can call her Selune," Sturgis reminded him. Zach shook his head, as did Megan,
"She's still a Professor Dad," She explained, quite matter-of-factly, eyebrows raised, "That fact shall never change in our brains."
The front door opened and Selune stepped inside, Celia following her silently. The former Slytherin never spoke, though she watched everyone, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Now she sat in the chair at the table furthest away from anyone, as Selune hugged Hestia,
"So sorry, but we're out of milk again," The redheaded former Astronomy Professor explained, and Hestia waved it off,
"No worries, eat with us," She said easily, and Selune opened their muggle icebox. Such was a regular occurrence, seeing that most of their supplies were in that house. She began mixing the dried milk, glancing over at the non-responsive Celia as she did,
"I swear, this girl has so inclination to take care of herself," Selune murmured, and Hestia nodded. Megan just looked at her toast, biting her lip,
"Would you?" She set forth the question into the abyss. No one answered, of course, though Zach wrapped an arm around her waist. More loud footsteps on the stairs announced the arrival of Justin, who sat right down at the table, yawning, and Sally, who gave Hestia a kiss on the cheek good morning and set about making her own toast.
It would be hard for one to believe that the jovial young people had all lived through the worst trauma their world had ever seen. That is, until Justin leaned over, looking at Celia, "…Good morning, Celia…" He said quietly. Hestia and Sturgis shared a look, as the silent girl looked up. Justin had always been the only one who could make the former Slytherin girl react to speech. But Celia still just glanced at him once, before turning her head and staring out the window again, her eyes vacant and dark.
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That night, the door of the house by the lake slammed open and shut in the calm darkness, as another snowfall began. A tall figure trudged through the snow, his head bent against the wind, the hair that he hadn't cut in months blowing out behind him. Of course, the lack of trimming was no longer intentional. Bill Weasley just didn't care. He pulled his scarf up over his chin, his boots leaving deep footprints in the snow as he left the village, heading toward the woods. It took him a while in the darkness, to realize that someone was leaning against one of the pines, waiting for him.
"I'm going with you," Hestia sighed. Bill stopped short, blinking,
"I didn't want anyone to go with me," He replied gruffly, pulling out his wand for some light as he pushed forward into the woods. Seeing as how the ground in those parts was so heavily warded, apparrating anywhere was fairly impossible, "And you're crazy, Hestia. You should have sent Sturgis, if you were intent on butting in."
"Oh yes, send all two of the grown men we poor defenseless womenfolk have at our disposal, that's wise," Hestia snapped back, following him. Bill shook his head,
"Zacharias, Kevin and Justin are grown men," He mumbled. Hestia laughed,
"Ah right, how could I forget?" She replied, "That makes the risk of the two of you getting yourselves killed far easier on my mind, thank you Bill."
Bill just mumbled in reply. The two of them pressed on, toward the last Extermination Camp still in operation in Canada.
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Author's Notes: Short, yes. The next chapter will be a bit longer, and very plotful. And the one after that, we shall return to Luna. Reviews feed my madness! And we all know that madness is where genius lies. Thus, Reviews More Story, hehe