London 2
Bill and Charlie stood, shocked. Charlie keeping a tight grip on the twin's hands, the tightness telling the little ones that something was wrong, so they were quiet. Bill subconsciously clutched Ron closer to him, playing with Percy's curly hair to reassure himself that his little brother was still beside him, small hands holding fistfuls of his pyjama bottoms.
"Bill…?" Charlie trailed off, unable to think of a single thing to say.
Bill stared at the scene before them, chewing his bottom lip. He had no explanation why. This was not the place he remembered visiting with his parents when he and Charlie were younger.
Diagon Alley looked as if it had been hit by a bomb.
He had been so sure they would find one of their parent's friends here who could help them. But now… the shops windows were broken, the goods littered across the street. It was silent. Now Bill didn't know what to do.
He and Charlie had discussed where they would go last night in the forest. Percy, who had yet to speak a word, had handed Bill a small sack, which they had quickly identified as floo powder. Bill had been relieved, because their father had taught he and Charlie a simple spell that would connect any fireplace to the floo network for a short time. Bill had decided that they should go to Diagon Alley--that they would surely find someone there who could help them. They had found an old abandoned cottage that very morning and had flooed to the alley.
Only to have their hopes dashed.
It was nearing midday--there should have been someone here. But it was silent.
"Bill… what do we do now?" Charlie asked, his voice hushed, a detectable quaver to it.
Bill looked back at him, noting that the twin's were starting to shiver in the cool wind. "Find some clothes to wear, and maybe some food. Then we can start looking for someone to help us." he said, hopefully sounding more confident than he felt.
Charlie nodded, glad they had a plan.
The small group made their way through the littered street until they came to a clothing shop. Inside the clothes were lying haphazardly on the floor, robes, causal clothes, everything all muddled up. The twins gave a squeal of delight and dived straight into the mess when Charlie released their hands.
"I'll keep watch, you get them dressed." Bill said. "Me and Ron will get dressed after you."
Even the confusion of last night, the feelings of loss at their parents, and the shock of Diagon Alley could not stop Bill chuckling as Charlie tried to get two playful three year olds into some clothes. Percy had dressed himself silently, with no fuss, normal enough, but Bill kept an eye on him, more worried than he liked to admit about his normally talkative little brother. He didn't like to think about what had made him so quiet. Finally, Charlie was finished and took Bills place while he got ready.
It wasn't as difficult as Bill had thought it would be to find clothes that would fit him, and stuff for Ron. He changed quickly, realising, partway through dressing Ron, that they would have to get baby things, like nappies, bottles, and that he would have to learn how to work them.
"I'm Hungry!" the twins complained in unison.
"We'll go find food when Bill's finished!" Charlie told them.
"Bu' I'm hungry now!" they whined.
Bill finished up quickly; they didn't need the twin's to start crying. He returned to the front of the shop where Charlie was standing, looking a little harassed, twins sitting at his feet, Percy a little to the side. They went back out into the silent street, looking for somewhere that had sold food. It didn't take long; Bill remembered a little café they had all visited once.
This shop too, had been ransacked, the display cases broken, cakes and sandwiches on the floor. Some had survived though, hiding beneath a collapsed shelf. Charlie, Percy and the twins began moving unbroken chairs round a single table, the only one that remained upright, while Bill salvaged the sandwiches and cakes under the shelf.
True to form, the twin's didn't even notice what they were eating, they just ate, which was good, because Bill didn't know what he would have done had they been picky eaters. They ate in silence, Charlie trying to think objectively, knowing it wasn't fair to make Bill take complete charge. Bill because he was trying to feed little bits to Ron as he ate himself. Percy was picking at the sandwich in front of him, tearing little bits off, but not eating them.
"Percy, eat." Charlie said, drawing Bills attention to his silent brother.
Percy obediently put a piece of bread in his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then went back to tearing strips off and setting them back on the table. Bill shared a concerned look with Charlie, before turning back to Percy. "Percy, you have to eat all of it." he said gently.
Again, Percy obediently put the piece in his hand in his mouth, chewed and swallowed, not looking at any of them, the next piece followed the same way, and he finished the sandwich. Bill didn't know what to think, so he left it for the moment, wishing his parents were here.
"What are we going to do now?" Charlie asked.
Bill shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping to find someone here, a friend of mum and dad's who could help us. But…" he kept his tone low, the way his parents had when they didn't want them to hear what they were discussing.
"I know." Charlie said, mimicking the tone. "But no one's here. Is there anywhere else?"
Bill thought about it. "Hogwarts." he said finally.
"School?" Charlie asked, surprised.
"Well, mum and dad always said it's the safest place to be." Bill shrugged.
"But how would we get there?"
That stumped Bill, they couldn't floo there, he remembered someone saying something about how it had a special system to protect the pupils.
"We'll need something to carry food in." Charlie said, trusting Bill to find some way to get them to Hogwarts. But while he did that, Charlie could think about gathering food and stuff for them. It was always good to be prepared.
Bill looked up at him, seeing the decision made on his face. He nodded, grateful.
"Ok, me, Percy and the twins will go gathering. You stay here and think of a way to get us to Hogwarts." Charlie said, pushing his chair back. "Come on little brothers, we've got work to do."
The twins leapt at the chance to do something. Percy followed more slowly. Bill moved round the table until he had a good view of the street, so he could keep an eye on his brothers. He turned his attention to the problem at hand, absently rocking Ron as he thought. The others returned sooner than Bill had thought they would.
Charlie had found five bags, like school bags, and had packed them full of clothes to change into and whatever food he could find that would keep, which unfortunately consisted mostly of 'Berty Botts Every Flavour Beans' and other such sweets, but it was the best he could do. He had filled one full of baby stuff that he had found in another shop close by.
"Bill?" he asked quietly.
Bill looked at him, summoning a smile from somewhere. "We need to get to Hogsmade, that's close to the school. The train goes there from Kings cross station." he said slowly. "We cant go into the muggle world, so we'll have to travel on our own until we find someone we know."
"Walk to Hogwarts?" Charlie asked, shocked. It took all day by train to get to the school. There was no way they could possibly walk all that way. It would take weeks! And there could be Deatheater's anywhere.
Bill shook his head. "No. That's not what I meant. I think." he sighed, he honestly didn't know what to do. "It's just that we don't know very many wizarding communities in England. But I figure any of them are probably going to be close to the Hogwarts express rail track. We get to King's Cross station, follow the tracks until we come to a town, or a village or something. There, hopefully, someone will be able to give us the name of somewhere in Hogsmade, and we can floo the rest of the way."
He was reaching, and it was obvious. But Charlie had no better ideas. And it was a sound theory anyway. Surely, there would be a town or something close to the tracks somewhere, and it was more likely that it would be a wizarding community.
It was the only plan they had.
Kings Cross station, and platform 9 ¾ it was then.
Um… yes, it is a rather slow moving story, and shall most likely continue to be so. I'm trying to get the brother's dynamics, the pressure put on Bill as the eldest, the fact that six young boys have to survive in a world that could very well kill them, with no adults that the know can help them. Wary of any strangers. Etc. etc. I do hope you enjoyed it though, and please review. I'd appreciate it.