Sloth: Hi there everyone. I'm really glad people like this story. I'd like to thank Live2SK8, Silvermoongurl01, hpswst101, Reno-Sky, Brookslocklear, Blood Shifter2, and lilithaniaXD for reviewing my story this week. Reviews really do help my self-esteem towards writing. And for those you favorite or putting the story on your alert, I appreciate it.
Well, I'm not going to repeat the disclaimer, because I obviously don't own Harry Potter or the concept of Shikai. Ya'll know that.
Enjoy, and don't forget to leave some criticism
Family Issues
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The air was filled with the sound of a hissing dragon, and as the smoke cleared, metal chains reflected the light. A strong gust of wind cleared away the smokescreen, revealing the ten foot long chain encircling the four protectively. It floated in the air, slithering around like a living creature. A metal spike, shaped like a dragon's head, at the end of the chain was aimed at Lucius. The other end of the chain was connected to the hilt of Bleach's sword, his grip tightening around it.
"How's this for an answer?"
The chain lashed out like a dragon's tail, sweeping Death Eaters off their feet. Using this distraction caused by the weapon, Autumn, Raven, and Red went on the attack. Swords drawn, spells forgotten, they started slashing at Death Eaters. A snarling Greyback jumped forward, sending a hex at Raven's head. The former Potter made an upward cutting motion in an attempt to cut off the man's hand. Fenrir avoided the strike and countered by blasting at him. They took to continuing this assault, back and forth they went, neither scoring a hit.
Autumn made a run for a Death Eater, but was intercepted by Bellatrix.
"Not so fast! Crucio!" The curse was cleaved in half, hitting two Death Eaters instead.
"Does old age affect a person's aim?" she taunted. Angry, Bellatrix pressed forward, sending curse after curse, spell after spell. Autumn was first able to block and parry the spells, but soon had to turn to dodging. Ducting under a red blast, Autumn aimed at the floor under Bellatrix's feet and cried, "Reducto!"
"Ahh!" Satisfied that Lestrange went flying, Autumn went to attacking Death Eaters.
Red, against his better judgment, went straight to Rookwood and his estranged brothers. Rookwood stepped forward and fired a stunner from the wand he confiscated from George. Red ducked under the stunner and once again cleaved Rookwood's wand. He trained the blade against the man's throat.
"You need to get better wands." Red said smugly.
"You wouldn't dare. We've still got your brothers," Rookwood said, nodding his head where two Death Eaters held their wands at the twin's throats. "Put down your sword if you want them to live."
Red's expression never changed. He made no move either. They stared at one another, Red just briefly looking over at Fred and George. Fred was beginning to stir George told him to kick some ass. Then, slowly, Red lowered his sword, his free hand reaching into his pocket. Rookwood was none the wiser and was taken by surprise when he and his goons were enveloped by darkness. Metal cut through bodies and Fred and George were unceremoniously tossed out of the smokescreen. Rookwood was sent flying out a second later before Red calmly walked out.
"That was…"
"Completely..."
"Brilliant."
Red just stared at the two. "The next time someone tells you go, go. Idjits."
The battle between father and son waged on. Bleach swung the chain around like a whip, using it to deflect spells. With each flick of the wrist, the chain made a different move. It coiled and struck at Lucius like a viper. Lucius avoided the strike, watching it bury deep into the marble steps of Gringotts. Bleach pulled at the chain and it retracted, encircling its master protectively. Lucius raised an eyebrow.
"I'm impressed. Tell me my dear boy, where did you learn a trick like that."
Bleach smirked. "Anything's possible if you try hard enough." Lashing out with a battle cry, Bleach's chain struck again. This time Malfoy erected a shield, which shattered under impact. The blunt end of the dragon head rammed into Malfoy's gut, sending him into the air. However, to Bleach's surprise, the Death Eater landed gracefully on his feet. "How…?"
"You don't become The Dark Lord's right hand without some skill. Now I'll ask again? Will you and your friends join us? I'm being awfully generous. We'll even let you keep the Mudblood."
"Go to hell! Serpensortia!"
Magic seemed to flow through the chain, turning the metallic grey material to dark green. In one fluid movement, the chain became a metallic serpent, its dragon head coming to life. It struck at Lucius, fangs posed. At the last second, Lucius apparated away, letting the snake crunch into marble. The wizard reapparated to the left and fired a curse at his disowned child. Bleach pulled at Dragoon and it pulled back, devouring the magical blast. It exploded inside the metal head, wisps of smoke pillowing out.
The two stared each other down, an intense look on their face. Slowly, as they both calculated their next move, Dragoon reverted back to its original chained form and encircled Bleach once again. The seconds past by, the sounds of the others fighting filled the air. And then they struck again, Bleach's chain whip against Malfoy's torture curse. They met mid air, cancelling each other out in a white hot explosion. A burst of magical energy raked the alley, causing it to shimmer before a loud crashing sound filled the air.
"The wards broke!" Bellatrix suddenly exclaimed. "The Order is coming!"
And just like that, the Order of the Phoenix came into the fray. Death Eaters ran like rats.
"Malfoy, let's go!" Fenrir shouted, dodging Raven's sword swipe before apparating. Bellatrix followed suit, but not before casting a final curse at Autumn. The brunette managed to dodge the curse, letting it hit an escaping Death Eater. Rookwood used the remaining wand he stole from the Weasley twins to get away, much to Red's frustration.
"Bastard. I still owe him for singing my hair."
Raven ran over to Bleach's side, Autumn and Red joining seconds later. Malfoy looked at them and the Order members who finished off the remaining and or lagging Death Eaters.
"Very well children. But know this, side with the Order, and you will die."
"Don't count on it father."
Malfoy disappeared from sight and Dragoon returned to its sealed form. As the four made a move to leave, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by wizards, wands aimed at them. The four got prepared to attack when Fred and George came onto the scene.
"Wait!"
"Don't hurt them!"
"They're with us."
A man with a magical eye ball turned to the twins. "Fred, George, you know these kids?"
"That's our brother and his friends," the two said simultaneously. Arthur Weasley, who had just finished restraining some Death Eaters, rushed over to his boys. At the sight of the flaming headed man, Red stepped back, his hand reaching for a third Instant Darkness Powder.
"Fred, George thank goodness you two are ok. Didn't you try to break the ward? What would your mother say if anything happened to-" The man caught sight of Red's hair and stared at the boy. "Ron?"
Growling, Red threw the crystal, sending a thick smoke cloud into the air. Using the darkness, the Four Blurs booked it out of there. They passed Order members, pushing or knocking them out of the way. Once they cleared out, the teens ran at top speed, becoming blurs against the background. Once the Order members found themselves free from the darkness, Arthur frantically looked around.
"Ron! Ron!"
"What in blazes was that?" Tonks as she stumbled out of the cloud. It slowly evaporated, allowing the other Order members to finally see daylight. Fred and George turned to the metamorphmagus, smiling proudly.
"That our dear Tonks was the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."
"And our little Ronald stole them from our shop."
"We're very proud of him," they said simultaneously, which earned them a scowl from their father.
"Are you telling me you two saw Ron and didn't tell us? We've been looking for him for ten years, your poor mother has never been the same since, and you just so happen to forgot to mention him?"
"Well it's not like we knew he was here long," Fred defended.
"He just showed up in our shop when it was being raided."
"He took out Rookwood and three Death Eaters with nothing but a sword!"
"A sword?" Tonks asked thoughtfully. "How can anyone take out Death Eaters without a wand?"
"Well it wasn't just the sword."
"He used it like a wand. He had it shrunk about this long."
"In fact, they all did."
"Who did?" Remus Lupin asked. He, along with Sirius Black had been drawn to the conversation between the Weasley men. They hadn't had much time to obverse the four as they had been confronting Death Eaters. They had only caught a glimpse of four contrasting hair colors before they were enveloped in darkness.
"Ronald and his friends. Didn't catch the name of the girl, but the other boys…."
"They were Potter and Malfoy."
"Potter and Malfoy?" Sirius questioned. Something dawned on him and he stared at the twins. "You mean Harry and Draco?"
"But I thought those two were dead," Tonks said. "They had gone missing years ago."
"That's only because the Potters gave up hope and the Malfoys never gave a crap about them." Arthur replied bitterly. He had no ill feeling towards the Potters anymore for assuming their sons had died five years ago, but the Malfoys were another story. The thought of the two throwing away one child and replacing him with another was just sick. "Boys, can you tell us anything else?"
"Um, actually, Malfoy had this cool sword…"
"Turned the bloody thing into a snake."
"Actually, I believe he turned it into a chain."
"Ah, yes you're right about that."
"That's fine and dandy," Alastor Moody began, "but what were they doing here?"
"Beats me." The twins replied. Arthur sighed.
"Everyone, let's report to Dumbledore. He'll want to know this. But no one tell Lily or Molly about the boys. Lily already thought she saw Harry on Saturday and now she won't sleep. If Molly knew about Ron, she'll go mad."
"Right Dad."
Order members began popping away, returning to Headquarters. George and Fred stayed behind, turning and smirking at each other.
"Say George, you remembered to put those thief-tracker charms on the Decoy Detonators right?"
"Why, yes I did Fred. Yes I did."
.
.
.
"We are never going to Diagon Alley again," Red said as he slammed the apartment door. The others agreed. They weren't sure they had done the right thing. They blew their cover. They had been spotted by both Death Eaters and Order Members. They had to resort to having Bleach use his Release spell to save the Weasley twins, who saw everything. Most likely the twins were giving away information on them to the Order by now. Red was particularly pissed off because he had to save his brothers twice. He wasn't the only one who was seething. Bleach kicked the couch, knocking it forward.
"Malfoy…that annoying bastard. I can't wait to let Dragoon tear him apart the next time we meet. I mean, offering us to join Moldywart? Who does he think he is?"
"An obvious diplomat." Autumn commented, going to fetch some drinks for her two friends. They normally don't drink the hard stuff, but the two boys obviously needed it. "He was playing it smart. Instead of rushing in, he made an offer for us to become his allies. That means he recognizes our skills. He could have also been testing us, to see what we could do. Remember, he pointed out Raven as the one who killed Crouch."
Bleach scoffed. "Bastard still should have kept his nose out of our business. No one needs to know how we learned the Shikai." He took the drink Autumn handed him and Red and gulped it down. "More."
"I'm not surprised though," Raven said from the couch. "It's not something wizards in London are familiar with. Hell, if we never even met Boss, we wouldn't know it either."
"Not to mention some wizards here might consider it Dark Magic since it has a fifty six chance of completely crushing a person's core just to get it the first time." Red added in, taking a drink. He slammed the cup on the counter. "More."
"If you two get drunk again, you're both sleeping outside." Autumn warned before refilling both their glasses.
Raven chuckled as he watched the both chugged their glasses and telling the girl they knew the consequences. Those two had three or four more cups before they were drunk off their asses. At least they'd be able to sleep peacefully tonight. Sighing, he thought about the first time they had learned about the Shikai technique. Their teacher, who they nicknamed Boss, had been a traveler. He had found the four after they attempted to steal from him. However, instead of punishing them, Boss took them in, setting up this apartment, and teaching them the Shikai, or Release Spell in English. They had been warned about how difficult it would be to achieve, but they were persistent. It took them about a year to completely master it.
A sudden knock at the door drew their attention and they instantly became very alert. Absolute no one ever knocked at their door. Not even the landlord. They never expected visitors and never told anyone where they lived. They looked at one another, fingers easing around their wand-sized swords. Another knock and Raven cautiously stood up. He walked to the door, his hand gripping the handle. He turned to his friends, nodding to them. They each drew their blades and trained them at the door. Raven pulled the door open, sword raised.
"Don't shoot!"
"It's only us!"
….
"Shoot them."
"Red!"
"What? They know where we live now!" he argued, "They could go to the Order and rat us out."
"Now Ron, we wouldn't do that." Fred claimed.
"We're your brothers."
"Lot that ever did," Red growled. "And the name's Red. I stopped being Ron Weasley years ago."
"Oh, well then…"
"Seems fair enough…"
"What are you doing here anyways?" Raven asked, cutting in between the family banter.
"Ah yes…well, why don't we come in and explained?"
"No." the four said plainly.
"Touché, but understandable."
"You see," George began, "you lot owe us."
"How the hell do we owe you?" Red asked, "You should owe us for saving your asses."
"I think he's still bitter about you turning Mr. Teddy into a spider."
Bleach sniggered and grinned at his hot tempered friend. "Mr. Teddy?"
"Shut up Blondie!"
"Look, it's very simple Ro – Red. You stole from our shop…"
"And you chopped my wand to bits…"
"We just think you should do us a favor."
"We're not joining the Order." Raven spoke up. "We're planning on staying neutral in this war."
"Oh no, no need to worry about the Order. What we want…"
"Is for you to work at our store."
There was a long pause as they all stared at the twins. Finally, Autumn said what was on their minds.
"What the bloody hell?"
Quick Character Trivia: Draco Malfoy, now going by Bleach, is a childish young man. He can be considered the Sirius of the group. His father disowned him for standing up for his abused mother and he has a younger brother. His Shikai's name is Dragoon, a pun on his original name. The command is a reference to the spell Serpensortia and the fact that the snakes conjured slither about.
Next Chapter: Shikais will be explained and we'll get a glimpse of the lives of Raven and Red's former family. Also, the fate of another character.
It'll be a while before I update the next chapter. I need to focus on school and my Percy Jackson fanfic before the next chapter goes up. Until then, I hope to hear more from you readers.