Standard disclaimer: I own nothing except my car, which is rather like a dog. I have to feed it...wash it...take it out regularly...
A/n: As promised, Chapter Three! You finally get to see :slaps hand over mouth: whoops.
xXxXxXxXxChapter Three - It's Really Not Good For UsJames Black stretched his not-inconsiderable length along the bed in his bedroom of their suite and sighed.
"…says we're not…"
"Well, I don't…"
"…your voice down…"
James lifted himself up again almost immediately. He got up slowly so as not to make the furniture creak and pulled off his shoes. His socks whispered slightly along the floor as he got close enough to the door to hear the whole conversation.
"All things considered I think it's amazing we're even healthy enough to sit here in the first place." Said one voice, quickly identified as his mom.
"Well…that's optimistic." The voice of his dad said with a hint of sarcasm.
"I never said it was optimistic, I said "all things considered"."
"In all reality, Letha, I think we're lucky to be alive to sit here in the first place." That was Danger's voice.
"You think, or you know?" Asked the voice of his Uncle John.
There was a sigh, then, "I know."
"You had another true-dream and you didn't say anything?" His mum asked sharply. James winced on behalf of his aunt: he knew that voice. Lecture time.
But it never came. Instead the door he had his ear pressed against swung open and he went flying forward.
I have to stop listening at doors, he thought as he tumbled. It's really not good for me.
The man he addressed as "Uncle John" stood towering over him. Then again, sprawled spread-eagle on the floor as he was, this feat wasn't particularly difficult. His blue eyes looked half-amused, half-annoyed and he was in the stance that James easily translated to "stupid, idiot boys".
"How much did you hear?" Danger asked from her spot at the table.
James allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and then found an uncommon interest in the floor. "Not much."
"Liar." Came a voice from behind him.
"Meghan Black!" Their mom shouted.
"Oops." Came the voice from behind the door again.
"Good going, Meghan!" Said another voice. There was a long pause and then, "Oops."
There was a sound distinctly like someone's hand making contact with their forehead and then the door across the hall from his own swung open as well. Uncle John turned to look at the three silhouetted in the door.
Meghan seemed to find her fingernail delightfully interesting, Ray was apparently scratching a design in wood with his shoe, and there seemed to be a spot just above Uncle John's head that Jane found absolutely fascinating.
"Very well," Uncle John said finally. "If you want to hear the truth, better to hear the whole truth."
He led them back into the small kitchen area and waited until they found extra seats and sat at the table.
"You remember what happened," Aunt Danger started solemnly, "two days ago…"
Gertrude leaned back against her husband with a happy sigh as she watched their "cubs" amusing themselves. They were in the small clearing just outside Hogsmeade that they had once used to fly in during their days in hiding.
The same purpose was being used again. Except this time it was legal.
The day was perfect: clear blue skies and a light, crisp breeze. Not to hot, not too cold. You didn't get many days like this during the humid month of July.
Their sons were doing something on their brooms that involved a lot of dives and shouting. Gertrude, called Danger by her family, grinned. Their pale-blonde son had just turned sixteen and his counter-part, their dark-haired son, was turning the same age in…
She grabbed her husbands wrist and pulled it up so she could see his watch.
12 hours.
He grunted but didn't do anything to stop her, instead he placed a kiss to her temple. They both closed their eyes a moment and enjoyed the feeling of family all around and the delightfulness of peace, even if it was just for a moment.
And then the peace shattered.
Danger bolted up as Meghan let out a shriek. High above them, their dark-haired son had slipped from his broom and was falling faster and faster as his brother dove to try and catch him.
Her husband vaulted to his feet beside her and brandished his wand.
"ARRESTO MOMENTUM!"
The body of their son slowed considerably and he hit the ground with very little actual force. Aletha was there anyway, running an expert wand along up and down him.
"There's nothing physically wrong with him," she said finally, punching her husband's leg as he hovered. He glared at her. By this time Danger's brunette sixteen year old little sister (some people mistook her for Danger's daughter but, no, definitely her sister) had joined the group from her spot by the trees.
She leaned against her twin worriedly. "What's wrong Fox? What happened to Wolf?"
"Don't know Neenie. He just…fell." Fox answered tightly.
"I thought we already established this. Wolf doesn't fall and the only time he did was…"
"The bludger. I know!" Fox snapped. He glanced up guiltily a moment later. "Sorry Neenie."
Meghan placed a hand on Wolf's forehead and took it away quickly with a small shake of her head. "Nothing I can do. He has to wake up and tell us what's wrong."
"And in time for his birthday," Meghan's father quipped.
Wolf snapped up suddenly, throwing Meghan backwards and just missing colliding heads with Fox. His eyes flashed around wildly.
"We have to go, we have to get out of here!" He shouted as he scrambled to his feet.
"Greeneyes, what-?" Letha started, to be interrupted.
"No time to explain! Just trust me we have to go!" His green eyes pleaded with them.
"Alright," Danger turned to go get their things but Wolf grabbed her arm.
"No, leave the stuff! We have to go NOW!"
As if sensing his desperation her husband grabbed Wolf and pulled him close.
"Side-along Apparation. Everyone grab a kid."
Letha grabbed Meghan, Letha's dark-haired husband grabbed Fox, and Danger grabbed Neenie.
"Let's -" Danger began. She never finished as a bolt of sickly orange light shot out of the trees and impacted Wolf.
Her steadfast son fell screaming to the ground; her own husband followed a second later. Four more bolts of light, four more crumpled. Danger turned and shielded Neenie with her own body. As the orange light hit home she understood why the others were screaming.
It was like someone had replaced her blood with acid and it was determined to eat its way through. It was like someone was breaking, one by one, every singled bone in her body. It was worse than the Cruciatus. The pain was so intense that she barely even heard Neenie dropping beside her. She had long since lost the feeling of the ground beneath her.
But that's because the ground beneath her. It was slipping away, like sand, between her fingers. She cried out and seven answering cries reached her ears through the pain. Their were moving; being pushed or tugged or both.
Desperately she grabbed what she had of her wild magic and threw it like a net, concentrating her whole mind on keeping them close and keeping them together. Somewhere in the link Meghan was throwing out her own net of magic, keeping them alive, keeping them sane.
They impacted solid ground at a speed that no normal person could live through. Meghan's power flared as it kept them from being mortally wounded. The little girl passed out first, exhausted, even as the others added power to keep her awake. Danger was the last one to fall, and the last thing she saw was five pairs of bright, familiar eyes staring at them before her world was black.
Sitting beside her in the small kitchen, Neenie-Jane shuddered. Fox-Ray reached over to grab her hand.
"That was horrible," Meghan said in a small voice.
"Yes, well, we've been a thorn in Voldemort's side for far too long." Meghan's dad said gruffly.
"Dumbledore isn't here, cubs," Letha said quietly. "He's off finding You-Know-What's. So we just have to hold out for a few more weeks. Maybe the first week or two of school."
"Think you can do that?" Danger asked. Four determined heads nodded.
"Good," Danger's husband said grimly. "Because our getting home depends on it."
James-Wolf shook his head, his eyes twinkling. He turned to look at Fox.
"Fox, what is it with us and almost dying every year?"
"It's a habit we do need to shake," Fox replied, nodding sagely. "Not good for our health."
Danger just laughed.
"We're telling you Remus!" Harry Potter said urgently, almost seconds after Remus Lupin entered the Gryffindor Common Room, "There's something weird about these people."
"They fell out of the sky, Harry," Remus replied, "That already constituted them as weird."
"Yes, but…how do you know this isn't a trap?" Ginny asked.
"Minerva sent Fawkes with a message to Dumbledore almost as soon as I told her. Dumbledore says not to worry and that he's on his way back. He says they're okay."
The air was still thick with tension. Remus sighed.
"Do you trust Dumbledore?"
He caught and held every pair of eyes in the room as they nodded, finally resting on Harry's. After a moment of reluctance, Harry nodded too.
"Good," Remus said sternly, "You should. If he says it's alright, it's alright." He smiled. "Now go to bed. It's late and you have only a few weeks until school starts."
He left as they shouted "Boo" at him but did as they were told. His smile faded as he stepped into the corridor and headed towards the rooms he had been given. They all wanted Dumbledore back, he thought, and the sooner he gets here the better.
But three weeks passed by with barely a word from the wizened old Headmaster. It was finally the night of September 1st and still no one had seen hide nor hair of him.
Harry and his friends including, unfortunately, the sneering form of Draco Malfoy grabbed onto the Portkey that would bring them to King's Cross. To avoid suspicion they would ride the train like any normal student. James, Jane, Ray, and Meghan also had a grip on the Portkey.
When McGonagall had first said that the new "visitors" would be joining them Harry had argued. He had been overruled, thoroughly. All in all, it was a tense train ride up in which very little talking was done and very little laughs were shared.
When they got to Hogsmeade station the "visitors" went with Hagrid and the first years. They didn't seem very happy about this.
And to Harry's surprise and happiness, Dumbledore was sitting on his golden throne when they arrived.
The First Years filed in, wet and soaked, and at the very front stood their…well, not their friends. Their acquaintances.
After the Sorting Hat listed and described the four Houses, it went into a new part of its song:
But though we are not all the same,
Nor should be, truth to tell,
We need each other, one and all,
To live and to live well.
So yellow, blue, and red and green: Lay down your ancient strife,
And join as one to face the threat
To liberty and life.
Forgive old grudges, let them go,
And welcome strangers in,
For only thus comes any hope
That you can ever win.
McGonagall unrolled the list as she motioned for the four visitors to come forward.
"Gray, Reynard."
The boy leaned back on the stool and placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
And that's where I'm leaving you, for the moment. Not particularly suspenseful, but you never know what ideas I'll come up with during now and my next update (maybe Monday or Tuesday, depending).
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Thank you so much Anne (whydoyouneedtoknow) for the Sorting Hat Song. Also, Hestia, if you're reading this, GREAT IDEA! I'll start working on it right away.
And ha, now the rest of you are just wanting to know what the idea was…