Chapter 2

The Crimson Sunrise

Jon fell asleep almost instantly, but it was a tortured sleep, he couldn't get the image of his father standing over his mother's lifeless body out of his head. Drakan kept laughing at him and he jumped from the ledge and fell forever.

Morning had never seemed so good to Jon. After finally being woken by Jude he was a way from his nightmares. He sat up and got out of bed quickly, and followed Jude downstairs. Rubbing his eyes Jon stepped into the living room where he had first appeared there were a few witches and wizards in the living room, Horbey was one of them.

"I see that you are finally awake Jon. How did you sleep?" Horbey asked cheerfully. Jon squinted in the light and took a look at the people in the room. One was sitting in a golden arm chair to his right; he shared some resemblance with Horbey. Jude had taken a seat next to the witch he recognized as Liza her long blonde hair hid most of her face, though some wrinkles were still visible. On her other side of the couch sat Horbey he had on the same dark blue robes and wizards hat that was tilted giving him a clumsy look. Leaning against a wall with a steaming cup stood a short pudgy wizard; he nodded at Jon and took a short sip from his cup. Sitting in a rocking chair sat a man who was laughing profusely at a newspaper. Another man entered from the kitchen, this man was very tall at least 6'6 and had a nose that seemed much to large for his face, after taking a good look Jon could see that the man had red eyes, the man looked like some kind of evil. The last person in the room was a witch who was only a foot away from him sitting on a coffee table, she too was old. She seemed extremely ancient, and gave a soft greeting to Jon when he looked at her. Jon nodded to her before he answered Horbey.

"Not very well thanks now I was wondering if I could have some answers to some questions" Jon said taking a minute to stretch. Horbey smiled and said,

"Why of course you can have some answers, I don't doubt you are wondering about a few things right now, and I will answer your questions as best as I can." Horbey said happily. Jon sighed and quickly set into his questioning.

"What is the Crimson Sunrise, and why did I have to leave so quickly last night?" Jon said quickly without hesitation. Horbey took no time in answering.

"The Crimson sunrise is an organization that seeks to bring down Drakan before he manages to take over the Ministry of magic at his dark lords bidding. We had to get you out of the house quickly because Aurors were on there way and they would have taken you in for questioning and you would have been in grave danger in the ministry, it is an extremely unsafe place. Drakan's spies are all over the ministry." Horbey finished and stared and Jon with a blank smile in his face waiting more questioning.

"Why does Drakan want me dead?" Jon asked quickly. Horbey once again answered quickly.

"Well that is kind of a dumb question. He wasn't able to kill you, I know Drakan and he will want to finish you off to prove he is stronger. This house is the only place that you will be completely safe." Jon looked down before asking his next question.

"Can I join the Crimson Sunrise?" Jon asked quickly. Horbey laughed.

"Why of course you can boy, we were gonna offer if you hadn't asked, we could use someone as adept a dueler as you kid. You did amazingly against those death eaters after monitoring your actions we are sure of where your alliances lie." Horbey said happily. Jon Smiled and looked up. All the other witches and wizards were smiling.

"Well now that your in the rise its time I introduce you to the most active members of it." Horbey said standing up. "Of course you know who Jude is." Jude waved quickly. "This here to my left is my good friend Liza" the old witch on the couch waved happily. "Leaning against the wall over there is Arq and he will be helping you out as a personal guard for you protection." The short pudgy wizard with the steaming cup smiled and then took a short sip from his cup. "This numskull sitting in the chair is getting on my last nerve, no that's not his name" Horbey said laughing at his little joke. "This here is Clelch." Clelch didn't look up from his paper but laughed hardily at it again. "This Strapping older gentleman here is my best friend Waros." The sinister looking man with the red eyes shook Jon's hand gently. "This kind young witch is Obeth she is another one of my close friends." The old witch waved at Jon. "And this last man is my dear brother Teges." Teges took Jon's hand into a lively shake and greeted him kindly. "Now after all these introductions it is time for Breakfast!" Horbey exclaimed happily. Everyone proceeded to the kitchen where they were served waffles and bacon by an extremely kind and happy half elf named Portnoy. The elf bounced around the kitchen happily to an unknown beat happy to do the bidding of all the people sitting around the table it the lightly colored kitchen. Sunlight lit the room and made the entire place seem happy and carefree. Paintings of old smiling witches and wizards waved and laughed in there paintings.

Happiness struck Jon halfway through his third waffle that Portnoy served him while bobbing his head to the unknown beat that the awkward house elf always seemed to follow. He had forgot the tragedy of the night before for a brief while he had been at peace and happy. Jon closed his eyes biting back the tears. He felt guilty, guilty that he was so happy and carefree while his mother was dead and his father, the murder was on the loose.

People were laughing as they ate and drank; Jon seemed the only one that was not happy now. Sitting to his right Horbey seemed to realize that something was plaguing him.

"It's not an insult to your mother to be happy, I knew of her and she would have wanted you to be happy." Horbey said quietly.

"You knew my mother?" Jon asked.

"Not personally no, but we have had members of the rise watching your house for sometime and we realized that she was a good person, we didn't expect her of willingly helping your father." Horbey said honestly.

"If you knew what my father was up to then why didn't you do something about it?" Jon said aggravated.

"You have to see Jon that we were not sure, we couldn't act till we were sure, and sadly that wasn't till I was too late." Horbey said lowering his head. Jon took a long drink of orange juice and lowered the glass down to the table empty. Horbey stared at Jon looking deep into his eyes. Horbey seemed to be studying Jon's emotions examining him. After a quick cough Horbey leaned in to say something.

"I understand your feelings but you mustn't go after your father. Revenge is understandable but right now it's much too dangerous." It was as if Horbey had been reading his mind he couldn't understand how he knew exactly what was running through Jon's mind.

"He killed my mother, there is no way I will rest till I have my father dead at my feet, and if I can manage it Drakan also." Jon said with a strict tone of hatred that surprised even himself. Horbey lowered his gaze from Jon as if in disappointment. When he spoke next it was not to Jon but to the entire table.

"Now that we are all full w may proceed on to business." Horbey said and instantly everyone silenced. Portnoy was now gathering all the plates while whistling a happy tune and bobbing his head up and down to the beat. All had become quiet and everyone looked serious. Jude was the first to speak.

"Waros you have been monitoring the ministry, what is there status?" Waros looked grave the nature of what was about to be said was obvious. Even when Waros looked sad he stilled had a rather sinister look about him.

"We have lost the head of the auror office; Edward Delirium has been put under the imperious curse. And with him gone I don't see how long the ministry will stay in control. He contacts the minister directly." Everyone understood that they were losing the war. But it only seemed to make them more determined, Horbey spoke next.

"Very well, I will talk to Justarius, he must know of this information, perhaps if we can convince the minister with this then we can avoid Drakan taking over for a little while longer." Horbey seemed confident unlike Jude who had lost any happiness in his tone when he spoke next.

"Obeth Any word among the Giants as to their allegiance?" Obeth also looked rather unhappy and once again the nature of her news was obvious.

"Sadly I think we have lost them to Drakan. He can promise them, things they want, destruction, violence. Sadly we had no chance of persuading the giants away from Drakan." Liza finished and all the room seemed to have gone cold. Where the sunlight seemed dim no longer providing the exuberant light it had before.

"This is most awful news; the giants will be able to cause much destruction. But you are right my old friend we never really had a chance of the giants joining our side." Horbey said his deep voice seemed to carry and linger in the room providing an even darker mood if that was even possible.

No one spoke again for what seemed like hours possibly even more. Arq looked at his watch and decided that he had to leave to visit his wife. Next to go was Clelch. He simply stated he had other places he needed to be if they were done with the meeting. Quickly everyone was gone except for four witches and wizards no including Jon.

Waros still sat at the table turning his wand between his long fingers. Liza had stayed she seemed to be interested in her hair. Teges stayed and was standing near his brother they were deep in a private conversation no one else could hear. Obeth had stayed in the house but merely went to her room to deal with some business with her job at the ministry.

The murmurings between the brothers were growing louder and more heated. What they were discussing seemed to be discussing seemed very important. Every once in a while Jon would catch a single word like "Traitor". It was easy to figure out what they were talking about. They believed there was a double crosser in the rise.

It did seem that Horbey was against the idea of a traitor in the rise. Jon wondered quickly who it could have been. His mind ran quickly to the most obvious of who could be the traitor. Waros obviously looked the part. But Jon's grandmother had been a muggle and recalled one of the sayings she used to always tell him

"Don't judge a book by its cover" Even still, Waros looked so evil and dark, he wondered why no one else even suspected the man. After what seemed like an eternity to Jon Horbey and Teges stopped arguing. Teges had left the house saying something about needing to meet some contacts about the location of Drakan.

Horbey did not seem happy when he spoke next, yet his tone still seemed calmed.

"As I am sure many of you know my dear brother seems to think we have a traitor in our midsts. But I would like you all here at the table that I trust you completely." Horbey finished then excused himself and invited Jon to have a private word with him. Jon was utterly surprised and followed Horbey to a room.

The room was on the first floor of the ancient house and was rather immense. Paintings of old wizards hung and moved about in there paintings. The bed was well kept, but the desk next to it had papers scattered all over it. Everything but the desk and bed were dusty and seemed unused for weeks.

Jon I have to ask you to do me a favor. Jon had known Horbey for not even a day, yet Jon admired the old wizard and would do anything for him.

"Of course anything you like." Jon answered eagerly. He hoped it was a mission that could change the course of the war. Perhaps he could change the momentum and help.

"I need you to go out and find your father. I know for a fact at your house you have a clock that tells the whereabouts of your family." Jon thought envied the chance to meet his father, and destroy the man who had killed his mother. "I do not wish you to fight him, quite the opposite actually. I need you to convince him to give us Drakan's location. If I can capture the death eater's leader then we may be able to end this war quickly before it becomes too violent." Horbey finished and turned away from Jon to look at one of the paintings on the wall.

"Of course I can do that. But I need to fight my father; I need the revenge for my mother." Jon began. But Horbey quickly silenced him.

"You cannot fight you father! At most I need you to stun him and bring him to me; I will get information from him. I am accomplished legilemens." Horbey said. Jon almost continued to pursue the argument but decided against it. He had an important mission and revenge can wait.

"Of course Horbey, when would you like me to leave?" Jon asked quickly. Horbey took a minute to think things over.

"Tomorrow morning, I will inform Arq of this mission. He will accompany you as a guard and give you any assistance you need. He is a very capable wizard and will help you a lot." Horbey finished and walked out of the room. Jon followed and went up to his room. He could hear Obeth rummaging things in her room as he passed; she seemed to be frantically upset about losing a certain object.

The only members of the rise that stayed the rest of the day was Liza and Waros, they seemed to have nothing to do now that they had both given up on their missions. Horbey left minutes after giving Jon his mission to discuss things with the Minister of Magic.

Jon lade down in his bed and fell asleep quickly. He did not wake till night. He once again had the same tortured sleep that left him completely unrested. Downstairs people seemed to be in a heated discussion. He could hear Horbey's deep voice clearly and decided to go downstairs to see what they were talking about. Horbey still had on his cloak he had just gotten back.

"I don't understand what has gotten into Justarius! I fear he has already been put under the death eater's control. And if that as happened we are in quite a bit of trouble!" Horbey said loudly in a panic.

"How could he not believe you? He must understand how easily Voldermort penetrated the defenses of the ministry last time, how could he think it would be any different over here this time?" Waros said angered. Liza was on the couch, they were the only other people in the house now. Everyone else had gone. Horbey was storming back and forth around the room. Waros was standing still taken with anger and Liza seemed rather calm on the couch. Everyone stared at Jon when he entered.

"What's wrong?" Jon asked shakily. He knew the answer but still asked merely to break the awkward silence that had hung itself so unwelcomely over the room. None of them answered. Waros walked over and sat next to Liza, but at the same time Liza got up and left to go upstairs. Horbey sat next Waros and told Jon what was wrong.

"I talked to Justarius the minister of magic about how Edward was under control, he refused to believe me. He did not understand. It is very upsetting and the mans ignorance is gonna cost us much trouble I fear!" Horbey said. His voice was much calmer this time when he had spoken. Horbey quickly retreated to his room leaving only Waros and Jon in the room. Silence fell like a heavy blanket over the room. It was strange; Jon had not a clue what to say. Finally the silence was broken.

"Horbey told me of your duel with Drakan. From how Horbey described it you were amazing! Simply surviving a run in with Drakan is a feat in itself, but you took him on and survived. That's rather incredible!" Waros spoke excitedly. He seemed to have wanted to talk about this all day the way it came bursting out his mouth.

"It's not as great as it sounds. Most of it was simply luck and instincts rather then skill." Jon knew this not to be entirely true, but he had always believed modesty to be the best path.

"Don't give me that young man! You took on three other death eaters and won that duel. Then survived a duel with Drakan. Luck and instinct doesn't take you that far, somewhere in there skill had to take over. I was told you were a fairly decent quidditch player. Quidditch training helps greatly for dueling. Helps the reflexes and all." Waros was smiling and enjoying the conversation. Jon knew that what Waros said was correct.

"I merely survived the duel; if Horbey and Jude hadn't saved me I wouldn't be alive right now. He is much better then I am. And even now I will have to look over my shoulder constantly wondering if he is about to attack me." Jon said. He had known he was in danger from Drakan, but the fact hadn't seemed real to him till that moment. It hit him on the face quickly.

"Ya, I understand what you are saying, and you will be high on the damn dark wizards list, few wizards ever escape the bastard! You will be right up there on the list next to Horbey, though I daresay you should be more worried then my pal in the next room. I reckon Drakan isn't quite confident in his ability to kill old Horbey. They dueled less than a month ago and Drakan nearly lost. It was magnificent the duel was! Lasted nearly two hours before Drakan Dissaparated. He lost a few death eaters that night, had to sacrifice his companions in order to escape. I think if he hadn't left Horbey would have left Drakan dead. And we wouldn't have to deal with this war." Waros finished his speech and took a breath. Jon had never seen an older man say something with such excitement. Waros seemed like he was a teenager discussing a game he was happy about. Jon said goodnight to Waros and walked up to his room to go to sleep. But Jon would not be able to sleep, whether it was the haunting dreams or the excitement of his mission, or if it was that he had slept all day he wasn't sure, but Jon did not sleep at all that night. He sat up at day break to Jude coming in to tell him to get ready and to come downstairs and eat some breakfast. Arq was waiting downstairs with a cup of coffee eating something goopy that looked but did not smell like oatmeal. He gave a Jon a nod as he entered the kitchen. Jon nodded back and sat down. Portnoy quickly gave him a bowl of the oatmeal like food and Jon reluctantly dug in. The food tasted better then it looked and when Jon was about done Horbey came in.

"Alright Jon, I gave you the vague version of what I wanted you to do but here are the finer points." Horbey said. Portnoy left the room and Jon and Arq leaned in to hear better