Chapter 20 - Attack in Stonehaven

It was the longest walk of Daniella's life, but when they arrived at the condo, she wished it had been longer. She was still shaking, so Noah took the keys from her hands and opened the door. They stood back, waiting for her to take the lead.

Ezra was sprawled on the sofa, charming as always. It hurt to look at him. She tried to push the doubts away, tried to believe him even when the rest of the world pointed its accusing finger at him, like she'd done before, but she couldn't. Logan had left that horrible seed of doubt in her heart.

Words clogged her throat and she couldn't say anything. Noah moved behind her, in a position that allowed him to block the door but also reach the sofa quickly if necessary. Jo stood next to her. "Ezra?" She asked in a raspy voice. "What really happened in London?"

One episode of Crossroads had just finished and another was beginning when Ezra heard the key turn in the tumbler of the front door. He craned his neck, looking to see who it was, and saw his girlfriend and their two housemates file into the condo and shut the door behind them.

They all looked serious; Ezra was instantly aware that something wasn't right.

"You're home early," he said, lowly, cautiously. His brown-black eyes scanned her face, which was red and splotchy in places. "Have you been crying?"

She ignored him and asked a question of her own.

He stared at her a moment, perplexed. He shifted stiffly into a sitting position and knitted his brow.

"With Logan?" he said, to confirm. "I told you - I went to Gringotts, withdrew all the galleons in my account, and exchanged them. The goblins must have tipped off my parents; I don't know how he would have known otherwise, unless he was just waiting there, but he ambushed me in the alley. We had a duel, and he cursed me. I Apparated back here."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Why did everything suddenly feel so claustrophobic?

"What's going on?" he demanded, examining each of them in turn.

"You told me…" Daniella repeated, and suddenly she couldn't keep it inside anymore. She took a few steps closer to him, needing to see the truth in his eyes. "You gave me a report, alright. But you didn't explain to me why you suddenly felt the urge to get such a ridiculous amount of money. Or why would the goblins care if you were there or not?"

Daniella stepped closer to him, closing in, and he felt a spark of anger at being challenged all of a sudden. Why this, now? He had thought that his motives had been clear - he had been trying to help the others pay the bills in the only way that he was able.

"I beg your pardon?" he said quietly. "Because I couldn't find a job, and we needed the money. I knew it would be dangerous. I wasn't going to go to London unless I absolutely had to, but I had no choice-"

"How do we know you were actually looking for a job?" Josiah chimed in, shifting on his feet. Ezra gave him a stunned look that simmered into a scorching glare.

"Because I told you so," Ezra said hotly, his voice rising. "Because that's where I was. I didn't realize that all of my actions were suspect, so I didn't keep a time card, but I assure you - I tried."

He looked back to Daniella, his voice still rich with passion but his eyes full of a silent plea.

"I don't know if it was the goblins or not. Maybe it wasn't. But my parents could have paid them - goblins will do almost anything for money."

He searched her eyes.

"Why are you doing this?"

Daniella tried with all in her to keep her self-control, but it was proving very difficult. "Yes. You knew it would be dangerous! And yet, you went without a word, and who cares if Dan comes home and there's no sign of you, and who cares if you return covered in blood, as long as your ego isn't bruised!"

"I would've gone with you to London, Greengrass," Noah said, gravely. "Despite our differences, despite that argument, I would've helped. But you didn't say anything. Every day, you go out on your own, and you just expect us to take your word for it?"

Daniella met Ezra's eyes. She wanted to believe him, so badly it hurt. "Why? Because my brother told me a different story today. He told me you were going to run away with that money, he told me that you attacked him when he tried to stop you. Now, tell me, Ezra, who should I believe?"

Ezra managed to keep a leash on his temper until she brought up his ego. At those words, he hauled himself to his feet, incensed.

"My ego is the only thing keeping you lot in the green," he hissed, making a sweeping gesture with his hand at the three of them. "We would have gotten kicked out of here if I hadn't gone. The rent is due in two days. You know that."

He shook his head disbelievingly.

"You knew when you accepted me as your boyfriend - I don't take orders or ask for permission, and neither do you. I can't live on a chain, Daniella. I did what I thought was right, and I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you don't understand what it's like."

He bit back some harsher words before he said anything he would really, truly regret.

"You don't know what it's like to be the only one in the house who can't hold his own. You got a job in the first week, and you fell in love with it. Don't you understand?"

Ezra gave Noah a cutting sideways glance.

"Yes, that sounds like it would have been jolly good fun," he said icily. "If you had gone, he probably would have had your damn head. Be grateful I took that curse instead of you."

It was Daniella's admission, however, that stopped his heart for a moment.

"Your brother is here?" he said immediately, clenching his jaw. That son of a bitch - he'd known that Logan would find a way to track them down sooner or later. "How did he find us? I thought you said you put Charms on the condo," he said to Josiah, slightly accusatory.

"There's nothing wrong with my bloody Charmwork," Jo retorted, huffy. "He found Noah at work, that's how, but I don't see how that's any of your bloody business."

"It's my bloody business because he's going to kill you!" Ezra shouted, leaning forward with the intensity of his anger. "He would love nothing more than to watch your blood run on the pavement, Johnston!"

The sudden rise of his voice made the room seem eerily quiet afterward; he closed his eyes and tried to remember to breathe. Then, he addressed Daniella again.

"Look, I don't know what he told you, but he came after me. You know there is money on my head, Daniella. There has been for months. I don't know what you're implying, but I would never..." he trailed off, looking wounded. He had never been a particularly emotional person on the surface; perhaps the most frustrating thing about him was that he preferred to keep his emotions to himself. But to accuse him of trying to take the money and run... that was too much.

"There's a difference between living on a chain and sharing," Daniella said quietly, sadly. Was that really how he felt living with her? Chained? Didn't he know that she would rather live under the bridge, if it meant they were both safe and sound? "How would you feel if I disappeared without telling you were I was going, without at least leaving a message so you wouldn't panic when you came home, thinking I was dead on some gutter out there? Especially when there are people after us. Tell me, how can I understand, if you don't talk about it? You just say it's fine and change the subject."

She closed her eyes at the words about Logan. He was right. She knew he was. She didn't know if she believed her brother had been forced to do such things or not. She didn't know anything anymore. She nodded tiredly.

"Alright, Ezra," she said slowly, searching his eyes. She'd been avoiding this question because it hurt too much to think about it. "I just want you to be honest with me. Is there something you haven't told me? About why you ran away from home, maybe?"

"I was upset," Ezra replied, suddenly sounding and feeling overwhelmingly tired. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry."

He didn't understand why they were ganging up on him when Logan had shown up at Noah's workplace and was probably following their every move, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Daniella stared into his eyes, and he stared back. For a moment, he thought she was going to forgive him. Instead, she asked him a question that was so strange he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

"What?" he said, dumbly. "No, why would there be?"

He looked up and realized that they were all looking at him very, very intently. He sighed, exasperated.

"Whatever he told you - I know he's very persuasive, but I haven't done anything. I have no idea what you all are talking about. If you tell me what happened, maybe I can help you figure it out. Either way, we can't stay here. He's dangerous."

He looked sincerely lost. But her brother had looked sincere too. And both of them had a history of lying to her. She could believe Ezra's account of what happened in London, she could push away the doubts and put her heart in his hands once more. But the rest of what Logan had told her… She didn't know what to think of it.

"Oh, yes, he is persuasive. But so are you." She told him the rest of the conversation in a monotonous, tired voice. "Logan said he'd been forced to do some of the things he did, by someone, he doesn't know whom. And he said that when he found out about it, he started digging." She paused. She wanted to look at Jo for support, but she didn't want to miss anything Ezra's face could tell her.

"He found out that you had been receiving a special kind of training, for quite some time now," she forced the rest of the words out. "That you were preparing to join You-Know-Who. He implied that all this time when you were gone all day, you were meeting someone for that training, and not looking for a job."

The air could be cut through with a knife. Like everyone was holding their breath, waiting to see what Ezra would say.

"So, I will ask again, Ezra. Is there something you haven't told me?"

Ezra narrowed his eyes at Daniella, unimpressed by her tone. After all they'd been through… this is what it came down to. She didn't trust him. Maybe she never had.

He huffed out a small, hollow laugh.

"So that's how he justified it," he said dryly, rolling his eyes. Oh, how clever! How incredibly, terribly clever. And untrue. "The Imperius Curse, he says? Funny, you'd think he would go to the Auror Department with information like that. They have ways of telling, you know. But no - I'd imagine he wouldn't want to do that."

His gaze settled on her, darkly.

They thought he was a Death Eater. That's what this was about. Logan had been furious that he'd gotten away, so he'd regrouped in London and come to ruin Ezra's life the slow, painful way. He'd lied to them, gotten to them before Ezra could protest, and planted the seeds that would effectively make him an outcast, thinking that he would come out of hiding if he had no other alternative.

Logan thought that, if he didn't have anywhere to go, he would go running home to his mother and his house elves.

Ezra couldn't help himself; he laughed again.

"You've made up your mind, haven't you?" he asked quietly. "Nothing I can say at this point will make any difference."

He shook his head.

"What are you planning at Stonehaven?" Josiah cut across him sharply, unable to contain himself any longer. Ezra raised his head and gave the other boy a long, hard stare.

"Well, I wasn't aware that I had any plans in Stonehaven, but since you asked-"

"Cut the shit," the Ravenclaw hissed. He had drawn his wand. Ezra stared at it as though it was only mildly interesting. "If you touch my family, I will find you, and I will make you pay."

They really had already made up their minds. He recognized a no-win situation when he saw one; gently, non-threateningly, he ran a hand over his front pocket to make sure that his wand was there. It was.

"I hate to say it, but you're probably going to regret this," he told them in a low voice. "And when you do - think of me."

He looked at Daniella; his jaw was set, but his heart was broken.

"Don't bother to wait up," he whispered. He cracked into a column of black smoke, and was gone.

Daniella's heart grew colder with each word he said. All she needed was one answer. One answer and she would believe him. If he said it was a lie, she would believe him. If he said it was true, she would help him get out of the situation. She would stand by his side; if he stood by hers.

He disappeared, instead. He left her. She stared at the empty space where he'd stood, so terrifyingly beautiful. He was really gone. She'd never felt so alone.

"See, he wouldn't even answer!" Noah said, furious. "He got scared. That can only mean one thing."

It means I lost him, Daniella thought, that terrible truth slowly sinking in. She didn't know what else was true in that story, but she knew that was true.

"Ezra?" She whispered, in such a low voice he wouldn't have heard her even if he was there.

She fell to the closest chair by the table – a chair he'd created – and buried her face in her arms. What had she done?

-/-/-

A week later

Avery put his thick-soled boots up on the long, glossy meeting table. He and Logan had rented a small conference room just for the afternoon in the Adelphi Hotel, right in the heart of Liverpool. Logan had told him that his sister would be coming; that was half an hour ago.

"They're late," he drawled, putting his head back in the stiff chair and closing his eyes. "Merlin's beard, I wish we could just grab her and get out of this hellhole. The Muggle stench is choking me."

He opened his eyes to survey Logan critically.

"What are we going to do if they don't come?"

"They'll come," Logan said impatiently, rubbing the knuckles of his fingers. "We have to do this right, or she'll just escape again. You don't know her like I do, she can be very stubborn when she wants to go against her family's wishes."

He returned the look irritably. "She'll come."

Daniella didn't want to be there. She hadn't shown up for work after what happened, she had barely gotten out of bed. Ezra's absence was an open wound in her chest that ached all day and all night. She had never thought she'd miss him so badly. She hadn't realized how important he was in her life, how necessary.

Earlier that day, she'd gotten two notes: one was a warning from her boss that she needed to focus or someone else could do the job for her, with more enthusiasm. The second note was from Logan, saying he had news. Urgent.

She'd shared the note with the others, and they'd decided it was worth checking it out. It could be about Stonehaven, so, for Jo, she agreed to go. He'd stayed by her side, she would stay by his side too. She couldn't stand to lose anyone else.

"This is it," she said, when they stopped in front of a large, imposing building with the words "Adelphi Hotel" out front. "Let's get this over with."

They were quickly guided to the right room. They were expected, the man in the uniform said.

Jo still wasn't sure this was a good idea, but Noah seemed to think that it was highly likely that Ezra was truly guilty. To be honest, he thought so too; the way he had just Apparated out of the condo without even defending himself properly was incredibly suspicious. Every time he thought back to that argument, he felt an odd little twinge in his chest that was a mixture of sadness, anger, and anxiety.

The hotel that Logan had told them to meet him at was massive, as was to be expected from someone like Logan. It was white, and it had pillars, and according to the plaque on the front it had been constructed in 1914 and had once hosted the Queen.

They passed through the ornate double doors, and he sighed with relief at the feeling of the air conditioner. A tall man in a suit who might have been security came up to meet them, and then led them down a small hallway and into a moderately-sized business room where Logan and Avery were sitting.

Josiah sat, too, trying to stay as close to Noah and Dan as possible. He reached over and gave Dan's hand an encouraging squeeze.

"What is he planning?" Jo whispered, after a long pause. "Tell me. Please."

Logan took a long, accessing look at Daniella. He concealed a victory grin. His plan had worked. She had dark smudges under her eyes from lack of sleep, her eyes were dull and distant and she looked about to either explode or burst into tears at the wrong word.

"Hey, Dany," he said softly, trying to reach her. She flinched, avoiding his touch and sat on the furthest chair from him.

At Johnston's words he had to discipline his face to not show his aversion. "Well, obviously, we have no way of knowing for sure," he said, leaning back and crossing his legs at the knees. "But he's been very busy this past week. There have been sightings of strange, dark creatures in the harbor, late at night. We couldn't get our sources to be more accurate, unfortunately," he added, as the Gryffindor and his sister raised an eyebrow at him. "Could be Dementors, could be something worse…"

He surveyed them all, one by one. "We do know it's going to happen today, though. That's why I sad it was urgent. We need to get there within the hour, or the whole village will be in danger."

Josiah furrowed his eyebrows at this response; he had not come all this way for Logan to suck up to Daniella and avoid his questions. They had taken his side, effectively. If he was telling the truth, and Ezra was the one responsible for these horrible things that were going to happen, he could at least pretend to care.

Somewhere deep inside of him, a tiny flare of doubt emerged.

"Your sources," Jo repeated hollowly. He took a brief moment to wonder who these sources might be. How many people were in this network? Were there other people like Logan and Avery, who had been under the Imperius Curse? Was there a group of people planning to fight Ezra and the Death Eaters outside of Ministry Control?

"Well, I'm ready when you are," he murmured, chancing a sideways glance at Dan and Noah. "What do you guys think?"

"I say we get moving," Noah said, decidedly. The last week had been so tense, he just wanted to do something and stop feeling like he was useless. If something was going to happen, he wanted to be there.

Daniella had her doubts. But then again, she'd doubted everything and everyone for the past week, so maybe it was just habit. It had all sounded odd, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Ezra had been very busy? Strange, dark creatures? "Who, exactly, have you been talking to?" She asked abruptly.

Logan exchanged a look with Avery. He needed to get them to Stonehaven now.

"We have contacts near Stonehaven. Come on, we can't waste any more time." He walked to the door, made sure no Muggles were coming in, and locked it from the inside. "We'll meet by the docks." And, without waiting for them to make any more uncomfortable questions, he Disapparated.

Josiah appeared in his own backyard with a crack; the others wouldn't be able to see him here, because the house was still Charmed, but that was probably for the better. Without skipping a beat, he put his forehead against the kitchen window and checked inside.

They weren't there. He sighed, relieved. Even if the harbor got destroyed somehow... it would mean they would have to find a new source of livelihood, but at least they wouldn't get caught in anything that would cost them their lives.

He made his way around to the front yard and, after a deep breath to steady his nerves, let himself out the front gate.

He knew what was wrong immediately after he stepped outside of his enchantments. A feeling of dread settled into his chest and stayed there, like a fifty-pound weight that wouldn't budge. It started to drizzle; he looked up at the dark gray sky, and what he saw made his heart jump.

Dementors. Almost a hundred of them, swarming overhead.

"Dan? Noah?" he called out, running for the docks. He found them and hurried over, whipping out his wand. "Merlin, they're everywhere," he said, slightly panicked. He looked around for Logan and Avery, wondering where they were.

More importantly, if this was all Ezra's plan, where was he?

"Do you see anyone?" he whispered to them frantically.

Daniella was staring at the sky in shock as Josiah came closer. Dementors? How on earth could Ezra control that many Dementors?! "This doesn't make any sense," she murmured, tightening her grip on her wand.

She met Jo's eyes. "This isn't right," she said, but a heavy, chilling sense of dread was starting to fill her. She hadn't actually felt a Dementor ever before, even if she knew what they did. Nothing had prepared her for that.

"Sweet Merlin's boots," Noah said next to them. He looked around, "I don't… there!" He pointed somewhere behind the others. "Logan and Avery are coming."

"Uh, Jo?" Daniella called. She hadn't turned around, she was still focused on the dark hooded figures coming down onto the roads. "How are we going to handle so many of them? What about the Muggles?"

"No, it doesn't make any sense," Josiah confirmed, suddenly highly suspicious of the two older boys running towards them. The rain picked up; more dementors were gathering overhead. It wasn't until Daniella mentioned the Muggles that a terrible thought popped into his head.

Muggles can't see dementors. But this many of them...

"Stay away from the roads," he told them firmly, lifting his wand up. "It's not safe-"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than there was the horrific sound of crunching metal behind them. Josiah turned to look; a nearby car had crashed into a large utility truck. The cars behind followed suit, piling up down the small street...

"Shit. Expecto Patronum!" he shouted, desperate. A silver-white light exploded from the tip of his wand and formed a large, spotted seal. It waved its flippers joyously, swimming through the air as though it were water. The dementors above them receded a few meters.

"I can't hold this many of them by myself," he called over his shoulder. "I can only keep them away from the harbor!"

Noah took Jo's shout as a call to battle. He clung fiercely to the lessons he'd gotten from Jo about Patronus and successfully conjured – after three attempts – his albatross Patronus. It took flight, after Jo's, pushing away a few more Dementors. He grinned, feeling some of the weight in his chest lift.

Daniella held her wand with shaky hands, trying to get over the awful sensation. She didn't think it was possible to feel worse than she had in the last few days. She was wrong.

Logan and Avery caught up with them and she saw an odd glitter in their eyes. "What's this, Logan? Ezra couldn't possibly control a hundred Dementors by himself!"

"Maybe he has help," Logan said, showing his lopsided grin. Daniella instinctively took one step closer to Jo and raised her wand, not sure at what or whom.

A horn blew for about two seconds, and a very loud bang made the ground under their feet vibrate. Just a few feet away, a van and a car had crashed. People were leaving their homes, flooding the streets, in a panic.

"We should split up, so we can get rid of all of them!" Logan said. "Dany, go with Avery to the main street, we'll clear this side and meet you there."

The seal and albatross flew in opposite directions, finally meeting in the middle as they completed their loop. They danced there for a few moments, examining each other, before continuing their work.

Josiah's concentration was waning.

"Good job, Noah," he said hurriedly, taking a few steps toward his father's boat. "Try to hold it for as long as you can - I'm going to try to get in here and call the Muggle police on the radio-"

His plan was thwarted, however, by Logan and Avery's entrance and a crash of metal and glass even louder than the one before. The dock shook; Jo lost his balance for a moment and stumbled away from the boat again.

"Go with him, Dan," Josiah said suddenly, as a wave of realization washed over him. They'd made a terrible, terrible mistake. "Noah, you have to help them. Make sure nothing happens to Dan…"

He took a few steps back, away from Logan, closer to the small gravel road that led to his house.

With sick accuracy, he remembered what Ezra had said to them just before he had Disapparated from the condo.

Daniella followed Avery, although it felt more wrong with every step. Why were they separating again? She looked over her shoulder. Noah had stayed a bit behind, hesitating between leaving Jo or her alone.

A Dementor closed in on her. She felt the chill and got goose bumps all over her right side. She tried to think of something, tried to think of Ezra, but that just made her feel worse. She would never see him again, or talk to him, or… There was a horrible sucking sound and the dark figure grew over her. "Expecto… P-patronum," she gasped, and white smoke left the tip of her wand.

She blinked, trying to focus. Happy. She'd been happy. The first time he told her he loved her. "Expecto Patronum!" It didn't have animal form, but the cloud pushed the Dementor away for a few seconds. She gasped for air.

Avery ran out toward the street, towards the sidewalk, just like he and Logan had discussed. His mind was racing, but in the good way; it always raced when he was about to kill, and he'd gotten express permission to take out the stupid Gryffindor before he left.

Unfortunately, however, the Gryffindor wasn't following as closely as Daniella was. Avery squinted, disappointed, but didn't see any way to get a good hit in before he had to keep his end of the bargain.

"Come here," he said gruffly, pulling Dan away from the dementors with one arm. She had been trying and failing to cast a Patronus; he couldn't cast one at all, so he would have to make this quick. "Don't be daft and try to fight, either. I haven't the time or the patience."

Logan wanted her alive, but if it turned out to be too much trouble, he figured that he could take Logan after the fact.

Josiah was still walking slowly backwards, not taking his eyes off of Logan. His wand was now pointed directly at the other boy; he didn't see any reason to keep up appearances. He had known as soon as the Slytherin had suggested they split up that it had been a ruse all along.

"I'm not going to make this easy for you," he whispered, feeling the fire of adrenaline swell in his chest. "I should have known. You were always so heartless."

Then, without warning, he flicked his wand and a white light - a stinging hex - exploded out of it.

Ezra didn't know how the people of Stonehaven expected a man to sleep with all this noise.

It was the loud cracks that woke him up. His eyes had opened instantly, wide and alert; he hadn't gotten much sleep over the past week, so it wasn't hard for him to transition to a fully awake state. He sat up stiffly in the small, cramped cabin of the abandoned fishing boat he had taken shelter in. It had a cover on it to keep the rain out, which had been a wonderful cover, if a little warm; nothing a good Atmospheric Charm didn't fix, though. There had also been provisions - two cans of beans and a bag of jerky - and a tattered sleeping bag.

It was dark, and it took him a moment to find his wand, which had rolled out of his hand while he was sleeping. He grabbed it and leaned over to the small window on the side of the boat, trying to better see what was happening outside.

Instead of the cheerful village scene he had become accustomed to over the past few days, he saw a swarm of dementors.

Well, that explained why he felt so much shittier than usual.

He had known that Logan had been planning something in Stonehaven just from what Josiah had told him; the boy never would have mentioned it if Logan hadn't brought it up. And the event was finally here, apparently - this was what he was supposed to have done. Not really his style, but even Logan had limits.

He squinted out the window again, trying to make out the figures on the far dock. His heart was thudding maniacally against his chest as he recognized Josiah, by his pear-like shape; then Noah, by his height and muscles, even from so far away; that meant the girl had to be Dan - yes, he'd recognize her anywhere - and one of them had to be Logan. But the other...

He squinted more.

"Shit," he said, to no one in particular.

Avery had always been his least favorite cousin by far, and the fact that he was running off with Daniella just made his fury burn all the hotter.

Daniella clenched her teeth when Avery's hand closed around her arm, so hard she would lose feel of it in no time. She tried to hex him, but it was her wand hand he was grabbing, so she had to use a different approach.

"Let me go!" She yelled, mostly to get the attention of the others that it was a trap. She twisted and pulled, but he was a lot stronger. So, she did what every girl does in such a situation. She kicked him between the legs.

She took the wand with the other hand as another dementor approached them. She was so pissed off right now, she somehow entered a hyperfocused state of mind and remembered the memory she'd been practicing with, in her lessons. "Expecto Patronum!" The ermine shot out of her wand, creating a safe space around them.

Or maybe not. She turned to Avery again as Noah caught up with them. They both pointed their wands at Rosier and stunned him.

"Sorry I took so long," Noah said simply, turning on his heels to run back to where Jo was, looking positively pissed off.

Logan, in the meantime, walked slowly towards the Ravenclaw, savoring the moment. Finally. "Oh, I hope so. It would be terribly boring otherwise."

He tried to dodge the hex, but it still hit his left arm. His face cringed with the sudden sharp pain. "You little…" He flicked his wand, trying to disarm the other boy, trying to make him walk back, closer to the water. With some luck, his next guests would grab the mudblood for him. He flicked it again, and again, throwing stunning and disarming hexes at the boy, keeping him busy. Then he pointed his wand, and murmured, "Time to suffer, kid. Crucio!"

Josiah almost smirked when he saw the pain flash across Logan's face, but his conscience was very active and quick to catch up. Instead, he furrowed his brow, waving his wand in complex little motions in the air in front of him.

He deflected the Disarming Charm with ease.

"Very predictable of you," Jo murmured wryly, throwing off a small jet of red light that exploded into tiny, sparkling lights that looked like wasps around Logan's head. More Disarming Charms and Stunning Spells, all counteracted with an incredibly solid Shield Charm; the jets of light from Logan's wand hit the white surface and dissolved harmlessly.

He narrowed his eyes at Logan's words, feeling a flash of anger for the first time as he heard Dan shout in the distance. He wanted to see what was happening over there, but if he took his eyes off of Logan for even a moment…

He saw the wand movement and went to funnel more magic into his shield, but this time the Charm did nothing.

Shield Charms didn't protect against Unforgivable Curses.

He dropped his wand with the shock of the pain; it blossomed in every cell of his body, like the worst headache he'd ever had, but in his stomach, in his fingertips... every nerve was on fire.

He screamed.

By the time he heard the scream, Ezra was already on his way out of the boat; the only problem was that the boat had other ideas, due to a horde of Inferi that had gathered under it and were now beating on the hull relentlessly. He pulled back the vinyl cover, poked out his head, and tried to wriggle out.

"Bloody Inferi! Don't you have better bloody things to do than beat on a boat! Like being bloody dead, mayhaps!" he shouted irritably, tumbling out onto the dock with a loud thump. He felt one cold, slimy hand around his ankle; the sensation sent shivers down his spine and made his stomach flip, but he managed to shake the monster off and get to his feet.

He stomped on the purple-gray hand with focused determination. Hard.

Not ten seconds after he had freed himself from the boat, he realized that there was another boat - a motorized one - heading straight for him with no signs of slowing down. The cabin was surrounded by dementors; the Muggles inside probably couldn't see them.

"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted. Nothing happened, and he didn't have time to try again - he half-ran, half-rolled out of the path of the oncoming boat. It crashed into his makeshift home with a spectacular, mind-rattling sound. The dock swayed nauseatingly, and Ezra looked back to see several mangled Inferi, a lot of broken planks, a lot of glass, and the sudden and bright-white light of the fuel tank exploding.

It threw him on his back, where he lay for a moment, dazed.

Daniella ran after Noah, but he was too fast for her, too agile. Years of Quidditch helped him zigzag through crashed cars, panicked people and dementors with great ease. She used her wand to remove some of the smaller obstacles, but she was still losing ground.

Noah, on the other hand, realizing Logan was closing in on Jo, ran faster, pushing people out of his way without ceremony. His boyfriend's scream pierced through him, made him grit his teeth and literally growl a hex in Hawke's direction. He missed, obviously, so he lowered his shoulders instead and lunged at the Slytherin.

The wind got knocked out of both of them as they rolled on the ground, in a mess of arms and legs. He'd dropped his wand at some point, but he was too focused on beating the crap out of that asshole to care now. He wanted to inflict as much pain as he'd inflicted on Jo.

Daniella ran past the two of them to get to Jo. "Jo! Jo, are you alright? What did he do to you?"

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped, and Jo stopped screaming. His throat was hoarse, he realized immediately. Also, he was crying. He hadn't realized he had been crying. He pulled himself out of a fetal position and sat, breathlessly, hugging his knees.

It was only then that he saw Noah and Logan, the former throwing so many punches that he couldn't count them anymore. The sound was horrific; it made Jo shudder. Or maybe that was just the after-effect of the pain…

"Noah," he said, hoarse. "Noah, stop, you're going to kill him…"

He reached for Dan's hand and squeezed it listlessly, indicating that he was alright.

"I'm okay, I just… he cursed me… I think… the pain…" he was having trouble forming coherent sentences. He also noticed that it was starting to get dark; it had been dusk when they arrived, and the moon was now shining brightly in a cornflower-blue sky, reflected in the harbor. He stared at the water, wondering if the ripples were just his imagination, because there was no wind…

"Oh no," he whispered, so quietly it was barely audible. The Dementors were mostly occupied with the Muggles nearby; the Muggle police had arrived, as well, but they were powerless to do anything. They, too, were caught in the trouble. Fog began to settle over the water with the chill. He heard slow, uneven splashing. He saw a skeletal hand reach over one side of the dock grasp fitfully.

"Inferi," he said, louder this time. He groped for his wand, but he felt as though all the energy had been drained from his body. "We have to get back. There are Inferi in the water..."

Jo's words made Noah hesitate, then stop altogether. Logan had his arms in front of him, trying to protect himself. He'd landed a half-decent punch while Noah scanned the ground around them for his wand, and his jaw still ached from it. But it was nothing compared to the swollen eye, busted nose and lips he'd gifted that asshole.

"Asshole," he spat out loud, getting off of him and finding his wand a couple of feet away, near the edge of the planks. He grabbed it at the same time another hand grabbed the edge of the plank. A grey-white hand, just skin and bone, the skin peeling off.

He stared at it for a few heartbeats. Then a head pulled out of the water, as Jo said those words. "Oh, shit!" He pulled back hastily, looked around, and found them. Jo was trying to raise his wand and Daniella…

Another of those things was coming out of the water, then another, then another. She dodged one, which brought her closer to another.

"LOOK OUT!" Noah called out.

One of Inferi grabbed her leg. She kicked and screamed, startled, but it wouldn't let go. Noah aimed at the head that popped out of the water and shouted "Stupefy!" but the thing didn't even flinch. It was slowly, but surely starting to pull Daniella away, into the water. He looked at Jo frantically. "What do I do, whatdoido?!"