A/N - WOW. So. Last time we posted was JUNE. And now it's... October. I
don't know what to say but what a crazy summer we both had! We both missed
writing this story and were having a lot of trouble working through plot
issues and working out what we wanted to do about the characters... ok ok,
AND we got lazy. But would you believe that we were getting reviews and NEW
ones for this all the way up to the end of August? It's really amazing. One
of the biggest reasons (aside from the Charlie/Bill fun Jenni and I have
when we write this) we really pushed to finish this chapter is you guys. So
thanks. And let us know you're reading, ok?
Thank Yous - (chronological order in case you were wondering... there were a LOT of 'em!)
Zoe - 2x4?? Humph. I mean really. You'd think this WHOLE thing wasn't ALL Charlie's fault. *realizes people are listening* Right, er... Look! Another Chapter! Right down there!
Lily - Lily? *dusts off a stone statue labeled 'Waiting Expectantly' that looks REMARKABLY like Lily* Wow. It has been a while, huh. Well, maybe George can make it up to you... *angelic look*
El - shaddup. I'm depressed. Ok, so that excuse is only valid as of yesterday, but STILL. Here it is, and it's good, and I read your stories and... yeah. :)
Heather R. - here's hoping this is still on your radar! We're working on things... I think you'll like this one. I really do. Hmm, no, Harry and Hermione (shh Lily) do not have a thing in this story. But we haven't really been pushing the kids, since they're not the main characters, you know?
Alya - so this was a flame, huh? Never gotten one before. Just so the rest of you know, it was for chapter 18 the fight. Now, this chapter has taken a long time to write because of many things, but one of them was really wanting to resolve some of the tension in a realistic way, because I was very proud of that fight. Hmm, but anyway, I guess I'd just say explanations for Nancy's flipping out follow, and I count you as a very lucky person if you've never had a fight slip out of your control and turn into something a lot nastier than it should have been. ;)
Jazzy - WOO HOO! New reader! Well, a new reader from a long long time ago. GEEZ, we've got to work on this three and a half month delay thing.
Quilly - my that's quite a rant there. Don't you look familiar?? No lamp breaking. ;) Just read on for answers to your questions.
LOUISA - *tackles her for a big ol hug* If you're wondering why just go read her chapter 20 review... bring popcorn and a comfortable chair... it's almost as fun as reading the story, for goodness sakes. Ok, well, um... no towels in this one, but... how about Harry-in-a-kitchen? Didn't think that'd be the same... oh well. ;)
Ronspawn - talk about being behind on stories! I should go catch up on yours. Anywho... I'm glad you like Noelle, and Fred will never live down his adorableness in THIS chapter. Read on.
Psiana - oh PLEASE tell me you haven't forgotten about this story!! We'd HATE to lose your reviews, they're SO MUCH FUN. Anywho, one can of wizard whup-ass coming right up! Or is there... ;)
Fracindy - HMM. I dunno if I can back you up, I'm sort of busy with the Charlie detail, here... you might have to deal with Percy on your own. ;) ANY way... nice long fun review and I hope you like this one.
Margaret - remember us?? *hopeful look* Hope this update doesn't give you a heart attack!! Er... fluff. Right. You want FLUFF. *skims chapter* Hmm. *looks at Jenni* Well... maybe? How about this I LIKE this chapter.
Jess - DAMN it. You win. Three months. Shut up and read now. And send me tea. For no good reason, just cause.
Mkt - another new reader! "now, is it going to be Nancy or Charlie who finally gets some sense and has a real talk instead of fighting over nothing!" THAT my friend is a very good question. :) And... moving on to your review of 20... we're really two people. Although, you just have to take my word for it. My word on MY love of redheads. ;)
MrsPitt - HI! My real name is ALSO Nancy. Oddly enough. ;) We Nancy's rock. And Jenni and I both wanted to say thanks for the compliment about our writing. It's always nice to hear.
Pantherocker - Not too much happened... *looks at Charlie and Nancy on the ground in Knockturn Alley* Well, if you say so. ;) I know what you mean, though... we're working through something in the story and it DID get a bit bogged down despite our best efforts. I think this will be a better chapter.
Jennifer M - I don't think you reviewed ON ff.net, but I did get an email from you, so HEY, I figure I'll include you in the thank yous. :) THANKS for reading and I know this took forever but I hope you enjoy!
TABBY! - yo, girl! :) I'd forgotten that you'd reviewed! Luv ya!
BMW - I don't mind saying that you gave me a mild heart attack when you said that our story had stopped LOADING... but it's all good. And I'm glad you enjoyed it! Glad to have another reader.
Aidenfire - LOL! You KILLED me with your little comment from Chapter 12 sturdy dragon tamer... STUDLY dragon tamer... such an easy mistake to make. ;) Hope you keep reading!!
Wolvesaremylife1 - Hello! Thank you so much for the nice words about this story... we've worked really hard to just have fun with it and stay realistic in terms of the characters. It's always nice to know that it's working.
Suzanne - Hi! Another new reader! Woo hoo!! I don't know if there's any way we can update SLOWER than we have been, so hopefully your wish will come true! ;)
Littlewolf - Hey, there! Long time no see! Waaait a minute, you're taking HIS side in this?? Humph. Typical - just cause he's a studly dragon man with red hair and blue eyes and is sweet and noble and funny and... ok ok, fine, I see your point.
Let the story begin!!!
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Bill made it back to Nancy's apartment in record time. His heart was pounding as he flung the door open and yelled for Jenni. Not hearing an answer, Bill went through the apartment calling Jenni's name as he opened each door. The knot in his stomach grew exponentially as it slowly sunk in that she wasn't there. In fact, Bill noted, the apartment looked exactly the same as it had when he and Nancy had left for the burrow.
"Damn!" Bill's voice echoed throughout the empty apartment. With a frustrated sigh, he sat on the couch and rested his head in his hands. He'd been so sure that he would find Jenni as soon as he opened the door, that she would be sitting on the sofa safe and sound.
Bill stood back up and began pacing the tiny room. Meredith had said Jenni had kept looking over her shoulder, like someone was following her. Had someone been following her? Was that why she hadn't made it back to the apartment yet? Bill shook his head furiously and muttered a few choice words. All this worrying was causing him to think irrationally. He was just being paranoid. Charlie and Nancy had probably run into Jenni in Knockturn Alley.
At the thought of Charlie, Bill turned to the clock and let out another round of four letter words that would have had Molly Weasley washing his mouth out with soap. He was supposed to have met Charlie and Nancy over 30 minutes ago. Grabbing the cloak he had hastily deposited on a nearby chair, Bill headed to the Burrow with a pop.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nancy felt them hit the ground with a thud, her hip throbbed where it crashed into the pavement. Taking a second to catch her breath, she took stock of the situation.
"Yellow... what's a yellow..." she was muttering out loud, racking her brain for a spell that would have a yellow beam. Charlie shifted slightly and moaned, and Nancy struggled to rein in her panic. He was obviously not DEAD. "That would be green..." Thus, identifying the spell seemed a little less urgent than...
"Nancy," Charlie's voice sounded rough and unused, "we have to MOVE."
...getting out of here. "Obviously. Problem is, you're sort of first in line for that." Nancy bit her lip as she realized that she was still snapping at him. Here she was, protected by his body, his hand cradling her head so that she didn't hit it as they fell, and she was still annoyed with him? "If... if you CAN move, I mean."
As she waited for his answer, Nancy turned her head to watch the feet make their way around the two of them. It didn't look like anyone had even noticed their fall. Had it been a hit and run? Maybe... if they were lucky, maybe the man was gone already.
A shower of purple sparks and an explosion of gravel to the left of them re- ignited her panic.
"Dammit, he's still there!" Nancy reached for her wand, but her hands were trapped under... "Charlie? Get bloody OFF of me!"
Charlie glowered down at her. "As much as I am ENJOYING this position," Nancy felt her face go bright red despite herself as he said that, "I would be glad to move. I just seem to have... lost the use of my arms."
"Well that's just fantastic." More purple sparks created a spray of gravel that was much closer than the last. "Bloody hell... ok. Legs still working?"
Charlie nodded tersely.
"Well, if you kneel I should be able to slide up enough to at least get to my wand."
"Don't do anything stupid," he grunted out as she pushed hard on his chest, helping build the momentum to bring him upright. Scrambling out from the VERY embarrassing position that left her in, Nancy dashed in front of him, red-faced but wand at the ready.
"Go! I'll hold him off for a minute!" She scanned the crowd, spotting their attacker in the upper window of the apothecary. "How'd he get up - STUPEFY! - there?" Groaning as her spell missed the man by about a foot, she glanced behind her. Charlie was right where she'd left him.
"Is there a reason you haven't moved?" A red bolt came so close to her ear that she could feel the heat of it whizzing by her. Behind her, she could hear Charlie cursing under his breath. "Right about NOW would be a good time... IMPEDIMENTIA!"
Her spell hit the white light that was heading for her and resulted in a burst of flame that sent even the stony-faced Knockturn Alley denizens scurrying for side streets and buildings. Charlie was edging sideways, but on his knees. Thoroughly exasperated, she spun around and grabbed his arm.
"UP! Get UP!" Helped along by the good yank she gave to his arms, Charlie shot to his feet unsteadily, leaving her with her arms around him. Amazingly, despite all the angry words and hurt feelings, she couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be right then. That was, until she realized that they were pretty much the only two in the street and that there was not only a nasty wizard shooting curses and hexes at them but a magical fire. Nancy regretfully stepped away from his warm body. Charlie swayed as she let go, making her look up at his face - it was contorted in pain.
"Charlie... what is it?" Hearing an explosion behind her, Nancy spun for a second, firing off a hex that finally shattered the window the jerk was hiding behind before leaning close to hear the words he ground out.
"It's getting worse. Some sort of... petrify. Spreading..." he looked past her at the fire and the shattered window before muttering low, "I need your help."
"You can't move at ALL?" She stared at him for a moment, the panic rushing into her system before a narrowing of his eyes and the pain of a severing charm hitting her arm brought reality rushing back. Blinking back tears, Nancy checked to be sure that her arm was still intact (it was... basically) and began revising her plan.
"Ok, how about this? I'm going to take off this stupid long cloak," Charlie glared at her and started to say something but Nancy ignored him, pulling it over her head as she continued. "And then I'm going to set that damn building on fire, and I'm mobilicorpusing your arse out of here."
"Unless..." She paused. Maybe, just maybe it hadn't been a dark spell and she could just reverse it. Pointing her wand at Charlie she muttered "Finite Incantatum" and held her breath. Nothing happened. Charlie's face fell and Nancy stifled a groan. Back to the plan, then.
She glanced across the street at the apothecary where the wizard was hiding. It WAS a criminal offense to destroy property... but she highly doubted that the owners of that store were victims of circumstance. "Probably both went to death eater camp together in their youth or something... Incendio!"
A couple of well-placed charms later, the building was burning heavily. Smoke started to pour out of the broken window, and there hadn't been any more curses thrown at them for a few minutes now. Her heart caught in her throat as she considered the possibility that the man was lying trapped in that upper room, dying by her hand, but she pushed it aside. He had probably just run out a back door or disapparated, damn him.
Turning back to Charlie, she paled. He could barely move his face now, and it was frozen in that incredibly pained look. He was staying upright from sheer force of will and good balance. "Listen... where should I take you? Who will know what to do?"
"Burrow. Nancy..." he paused, fighting another grimace of pain. "... just apparate."
"Charlie," she whispered, "you can't apparate, you'll splice yourself! It's safer to-"
"Use... use a bonding spell. You take us both."
Nancy had never used a bonding spell outside of practice with houseplants. They wouldn't teach them at Hogwarts since you had to be able to apparate to practice and you couldn't take your apparition tests until you'd finished school. Still... he had a point. Dragging him to a floo spot would waste valuable time, and might be dangerous on top of it.
"All right, but if you wind up missing any vital body parts, don't say I didn't warn you." Glancing around to make sure there was no one to interfere while she was casting the spells, Nancy muttered, "Here goes nothing..."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Bill reached the burrow and was headed for the door when someone's voice broke into his thoughts. Following the animated sound of one of his brothers in fine form, he went around the corner of the house and found Ron sporting an ungodly orange Chudley Cannons shirt with two large C's emblazoned across the front. He was retelling what he obviously thought was a spectacular quidditch play to Hermione who was rolling her eyes and looked about ready to make a run for it. Despite his sour mood, Bill smirked as his younger brother's antics before clearing his throat to announce his presence.
"Have either of you seen Charlie or Nancy?"
Hermione shook her head, and Bill fought back a growl of frustration. Ron shook his head also. "No, but mum's inside talking to..."
Bill's mood was bordering dangerously close to extremely irritated as he walked away, completely ignoring the fact that Ron thought he was telling him something important. He wasn't worried about visitors at the moment. He was only interested in finding Jenni and he had hoped Charlie and Nancy had accomplished that.
Heading inside, Bill ran smack into Fred and George, who'd been huddled together, conversing in hushed tones over something. Both boys jumped at the sight of their older brother and gave very practiced innocent looks.
Bill wasn't biting. "Charlie. Nancy. Seen them?"
Apparently the twins were expecting something quite different and took a moment to register the question.
Fred regained his composure first. His well thought out and intelligent response was, "You're looking for Charlie?"
Now beyond extremely irritated, Bill let his sarcasm out full force. "No, I just thought I'd ask if you'd seen him and then carry on with my life as if nothing had happened. Dammit, Fred, how about a straight answer?"
George elbowed Fred hard in the ribs causing his twin to wince and glare at him. "No we haven't seen Charlie."
"What about Nancy?" Bill couldn't think of a good reason that she would be here when Charlie wasn't, but he was desperate enough not to care. When Fred opened his mouth again, Bill held up his hand. "Yes or no, please."
"Well... no."
"Bloody hell. And Mum's where?" He pinned George with a stare.
"Er... upstairs, but she's with-"
Bill pushed by the twins with a sound of dismissal. His day was going from bad to progressively worse and his mood was going right along with it. He stormed through the doorway leading away from the kitchen and was just glancing up at the sound of the hands on the clock moving. Bill never had the chance to notice Charlie's hand moving from 'traveling' to 'mortal peril' because he was too busy turning towards the sound of Jenni's voice.
"...you really think so?"
One moment Jenni was standing up to follow Molly Weasley to the kitchen and the next minute she found herself surrounded by Bill's arms and his lips covering hers. Neither of them noticed Molly Weasley slip quietly into the kitchen. Bill pulled back from Jenni after a moment, holding her at arm's length and searching her face for any sign that she had been harmed.
"Are you ok? You're not hurt or anything?"
Jenni was rather pleasantly confused as to what the occasion for the kiss had been, but the look on Bill's face made his words register and worry unfurled in her gut.
"I'm fine, what-"
That was all Jenni managed to say before she found herself back in Bill's arms. She may not have been sure of what was going on but Jenni was positive that she felt Bill tremble slightly as he pulled her closer to him. In an effort to comfort whatever was wrong, she put her arms around him. He was kissing her with a tenderness she had never felt before and at the same time he was holding on to her as if afraid she would vanish into thin air. This time it was Jenni who pulled back from the embrace after a moment. "Bill, what is going on? Why did you ask if I was hurt?"
Bill looked down at her and then stepped back to stare out of the window. An uneasy suspicion was growing in Jenni's mind, as she considered the possible reasons Bill might have thought she was in danger. But it wasn't like he knew she had stopped by Knockturn Alley. Still, she wondered guiltily, could there be any other explanation?
"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? What I went through at Nancy's apartment when I realized you weren't there? What the hell were you thinking, sneaking around Knockturn Alley like that?"
Jenni blanched. How could she have been so stupid as to think that between Nancy and Bill, no one would figure out where she'd gone? And it was pretty evident that they'd figured it out, if the worry still lurking in his eyes was any indicator. She had never been good at ignoring her conscience and it was catching up with her fast as she briefly considered how she would react to Bill or Nancy running off to Knockturn Alley without backup. Never one to stint on apologies, she was opening her mouth to explain how wrong she'd been when Bill waved her off and continued shooting questions at her.
"Do you realize that Death Eater that attacked you at Nancy's apartment could have been there? And what would you have done if the same lunatic that attacked Nancy came after you instead?" Now that the relief of finding Jenni safe at the burrow was starting to ebb away, Bill's imagination was running free with the what-ifs, and each scene he envisioned in his head made him see red.
Jenni's head shot up, all thoughts of apologizing gone. "What do you mean, 'attacked Nancy'? What are you talking about?"
Bill narrowed his eyes. Surely Nancy had told Jenni about that. "The night of the party. Nancy was attacked here..."
Bill watched as an answering temper flared in Jenni's blue eyes. When she spoke it was with a deceptively even tone. "Oddly enough, no one mentioned anything to me. But that's totally understandable, really. I mean, it's not like I'm a mature, capable adult who has any stake in the situation at ALL. I'm sure that keeping me in the dark was entirely necessary."
"Jenni, it wasn't like that," Bill walked over to her but she pushed him away with a force that caught him off guard and caused him to stumble back a bit.
"I've had enough of this. I'm sick of all the lies and secrets." Jenni grabbed her cloak and headed down the stairs. "You'd think you were a spy, and I was on the wrong bloody side!"
Bill grabbed Jenni's hand as she started through the kitchen. "Jenni, don't go back to Nancy's apartment alone. Let me go with you."
Glaring at where he held her hand, Jenni turned slowly to look at him. "I'm not going to Nancy's apartment, I'm going to MY apartment. Alone."
Bill was about to say something else, when a loud pop made him look over her shoulder to where his mother was standing, white-faced. Charlie had nearly apparated on top of her, he realized with a grin - poor guy had never been very accurate. It wasn't until he started forward that he realized that Charlie wasn't moving, and that the arm that led to the other side of his brother belonged to Nancy, who was supporting his entire weight.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
The Weasley house had never been so quiet. That was the first thing Nancy registered as she felt her feet hit solid ground again. For a panicked moment she thought that she had apparated to the wrong house and she was going to have to apparate all over again - and waste precious minutes reworking the bonding spell. Charlie couldn't go through that again. She glanced up at him and saw that he was completely unconscious. The apparating must have been too much for him and now she'd gone and screwed THAT up...
"What happened?"
The stunned voice of Mrs. Weasley cut through her worries and Nancy twisted her head around to look at her. Behind her were most, if not all, of the Weasleys - their pale complexions looking even pastier than usual. She noticed Jenni standing next to Bill with an inner sigh of relief; at least something had gone right today. Out of instinct she tried to move towards them, but she stumbled as the full weight of the man she was all but carrying hit her.
"Bill! George! Help her, please!" Nancy could hear the tremble in the Weasley matriarch's voice, but Molly Weasley looked totally in control as she stepped forward to support Nancy. "Take him up to his room, I'll be right behind you." The two redheads jerked out of their stunned silence and moved up to lift Charlie's limp weight off of her. The other twin moved as if to follow, but his mother shook her head at him and he stayed where he was.
They all stood there for a moment, watching the three brothers disappear up the stairs. With each step they took, Nancy's self-control fell apart a little bit more - she'd gotten him home, that's what she'd promised to do. Surely they couldn't want the girl whose stupidity was to blame for his injuries to stay around. She couldn't believe they hadn't thrown her out already... if only she hadn't been so ashamed to ask for help. If she'd just THOUGHT about what she was doing, writing to Knockturn Alley for illegal potions ingredients! Or maybe, if she'd just kept her mouth shut today and let Charlie do the search his way... it had just been so hard to know what to do with him so cold and angry.
A sob rose up in her throat, and Nancy suddenly realized that the rest of the Weasley family was standing there, waiting for an explanation. She couldn't do it - couldn't tell these people how stupid she had been, how it really was...
"...all my fault."
A clucking noise from Mrs. Weasley told her that she'd spoken aloud without realizing it. Mortified and unable to hold the tears back any longer, Nancy whispered, "I'm so sorry..." and ran for the back door.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nancy didn't stop running until she'd reached the Quidditch field - the scene of one of her other memorable moments, if she recalled correctly. Thinking of that fight and Charlie coming after her at Hogwarts, making her talk to Jenni and work it out brought on another wave of guilt and frustration. Sobbing, she tried to think of a time when she HADN'T been a problem for Charlie Weasley to deal with - right from the start, he'd saved her from the dragon, bandaged her in mid-air, been there to scare the attacker away the night of the party...
Sniffing, she looked up, suddenly struck by how close that encounter would have been to her current hiding place. Nancy shivered and fingered her wand, knowing that there was no one around to help her if he were to show up again. Still, at least she had her wand. A little smile crept to her face as she remembered facing off with their attacker in Knockturn Alley... she'd always wanted to be an Auror, but her rotten vision had disqualified her. It had been nice to be in the thick of things for once, and not just writing about them after the fact.
Her mind drifted, trying to avoid the painful guilt, and she absently started composing a short report on the disturbance in Knockturn Alley. "A short duel between an unknown woman and an occupant of an apothecary of dubious nature..." What had the name of that shop been? It was on the list... she'd know it when she saw it. Hopefully the list was still in Charlie's pocket. "...resulted in a fire damaging the shop and disturbing the peace." Ha. Peace... like there was any of that on Knockturn Alley. More like - ". disturbing the uneasy quiet."
Satisfied with that, she moved on in a standard 'incident notice' format - the exercise was calming. "Both parties fled the scene before they could be identified, witnesses report that there seemed to be one casualty..." her voice faltered, and frustrated, she forced herself to continue. "One casualty, a red-haired man hit in the back with a curse before the fight actually erupted. The curse did not seem aimed at him, but at the other belligerent, and this reporter can only assume that if... if she'd gotten her bloody mouth in gear five seconds earlier... he'd be fine right now..."
A picture of Charlie as she'd last seen him, white and limp, his face frozen in a painful grimace, flashed through her mind and the tears started to roll again.
"He'd have tried to protect you anyway."
The soft voice startled her, and Nancy jumped up, wiping furiously at her eyes with her sleeve.
"That's how I raised my boys. They don't stand by and watch when trouble comes, Nancy. And Charlie..." Mrs. Weasley moved a few steps closer and smiled gently. "Charlie has always had a bit of a thing about saving people."
The older woman's face wasn't showing any of the anger or blame that Nancy felt she deserved, and she found herself crying harder because of it. "You don't understand... ever since we met I've been-"
"The only thing Charlie TALKS about, dear. Or, this last week, the only thing he couldn't bear to talk about because he missed you so badly." Mrs. Weasley reached out her hand to lead Nancy back to the house. When Nancy didn't move, she sighed and walked closer. "I want to tell you a story about Charlie. When he was little, we got him a play broom for his eighth birthday. He loved that broom. He'd zoom around the house, breaking glass and scaring his brothers... Bill never was that enthusiastic about flying. And Percy was so little, but just as broom-crazy as Charlie."
She paused and wiped her eyes, and Nancy realized what the time spent away from her son was costing her. "I'm sorry, you should go back, he needs you..."
"He needs us both, and I believe I was telling a story," Mrs. Weasley replied tartly, regaining her composure. "Well, one day I had to take Bill in for fittings and such at Diagon Alley, for Hogwarts, you know... and Arthur was working so hard. So I left Charlie in charge of Percy for the afternoon with the firm admonition that he was NOT to play with the broom without me there."
"Oh no..." Nancy could picture a pint-sized redhead nodding at his mother until the door closed, and then... "He disobeyed?"
"Not exactly, no. HE didn't play with the broom, but he relented and let Percy play with it - outside where he couldn't break anything. Well, Percy was better with the broom than anyone could have expected, and before Charlie could figure out what was going on, his tiny brother was 40 feet in the air and heading for the forest. By the time that Charlie found him... well, the broken arm healed fast enough but Percy never got on a broom if he didn't have to after that."
Nancy noticed suddenly how dark and cold it had gotten outside. When had the sun gone down? The lights from the Burrow seemed to invite her back, but she still didn't feel like she could face the Weasleys.
Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to notice any inner struggle Nancy was having, and if she did, she didn't mention it, just continued the story.
"Charlie never forgave himself for failing his brother, because at least in his mind that's what had happened. Ever since, he's been the first to run when someone yells for help... or even when they don't ask. He can be a bit pushy about situations that seem dangerous to him." The sideways look she was giving Nancy held a question, one that Nancy could only answer with a grimace.
"Ignoring the fact that his job isn't necessarily on the 'non-dangerous' end of things..." Nancy sighed, only to be interrupted by a grinning Mrs. Weasley.
"A fact I never fail to mention to him."
"... he's been right every time he's been worried about me."
"But just because he's right doesn't justify his take action first, explain later methods. He's never understood that, really. I've never seen my son more frustrated than when he has to 'waste time' explaining his actions or reasoning with someone in order to move them out of danger."
Nancy was starting to feel that Charlie was being unfairly criticized, especially when he wasn't able to defend himself. "But... but sometimes you can't EXPLAIN. Sometimes, people just have to trust you!"
Mrs. Weasley whirled around, her kind face intent and her eyes bright. "You're right, you know. Trust is incredibly important. Do you trust my son, Nancy?"
"Yes..." Nancy was surprised by the question and even more surprised that the answer rolled right off her tongue.
"Then why haven't you spoken to him for the last week? What made you shut him out during that fight? It isn't like you, not as far as I know or from what Jenni has told me."
Nancy's emotions were raw and aching, she could feel the pain of the last week coupled with the fear and confusion of tonight wearing down the careful wall she had worked so hard to build. It wasn't fair, Mrs. Weasley couldn't possibly understand! She was so scared... scared that she would really commit herself to caring about Charlie and be left in the dust when he found someone new to save. Scared that the string of bad luck she'd been having was catching and would reach out and hurt him and his family worse that it had already and make him hate her. Scared that by trying to stay away and protect him she would lose everyone else - even Jenni.
"I... the fight was stupid, over nothing. It just got out of control so fast, and... mostly my fault." Too embarrassed to look into Mrs. Weasley's face as she talked, Nancy started to pace. "I was scared and frustrated, and... just took it all out on him."
"Scared - why? Because of Jenni's injuries?"
"Yes... NO! No, that's not true. She was doing pretty well by then. I was scared because, well, because I'd walked in and overheard something, and it just drove home how bloody DEPENDENT I am on him." Nancy stopped short - she hadn't been prepared for the hoot of laughter.
"Nancy," Molly Weasley fought down her mirth and moved in to make her point, "do you enjoy other people's company? Can you make decisions about food, or clothing, or which book to read, or what to work on, or who to talk to without consulting him first?" At Nancy's roll of the eyes, she pressed on with a grin. "Have you ever taken a personality test?"
"What? I don't understand..."
"Two weeks ago, before the fight, Charlie and Bill snagged one of Ginny's girly magazines while she wasn't looking. They paid for it later, of course, but before she toad-warted them they managed to run through a 'Which Witch are You' test - using what they know about you and Jenni. Apparently, you were firmly in the 'so independent you could have figured this answer out yourself' category."
"It's just a stupid magazine... it doesn't mean-"
"Young lady, if there's anyone outside of my favorite pseudo-son Harry that deserves to be in that category for sheer single-minded stubbornness to do things on your own, it's you." She walked up and took Nancy's shoulders. "And now, you're so terrified of being a burden or a bore that you're refusing to trust Charlie with your fears and problems. You don't need to run to him every time you're stuck on work or can't find your wand under your bed. But you do need to understand that when you bring him a real problem, he is not going to be burdened or bored. And if he acts that way, you have his mother's permission to deck him."
"When he's better, I might just do that anyway. To clear the air, you know?" Mrs. Weasley smiled, and Nancy gave a watery sniffle. "It's just... he started out that night we fought by being concerned about my safety. And it was sweet, except that he kept pounding it until I felt like he didn't have any faith in my common sense or ability to take care of myself. And then... hearing him say all that, all the while KNOWING that he'd be leaving soon anyway to go back to Romania, it was just too much."
Mrs. Weasley cocked an eyebrow. "He said that, did he?"
"No, it's just... that's what I overheard him say. And then he tried to brush it off... he was telling JENNI. That's what hurt most, was that he couldn't even have the heart to tell me first."
Trying to hide her all-knowing mother's smile, Mrs. Weasley gave Nancy a quick hug. "Well, I can tell you one thing."
"What's that?"
"When he wakes up he's going to want to see your face, and when he sees your face you have a perfect opportunity to deck him and inform him that no way, no how is he going back to Romania, and that's final." Nancy's choked laugh was enough of an agreement that she continued. "But the only way you're going to be there is if we head back inside and you help Bill figure out how to counteract what happened."
Nancy straightened suddenly, a wild, worried look in her eyes. "Oh no - all this time that we've been standing out here, I forgot! Can you believe it? I didn't tell anyone about the yellow, and what happened, and... oh God, what if we're too late?" Wiping her hand quickly over her eyes she took off for the house.
Mrs. Wealsey waited a moment after Nancy left and then waved her wand, making three numbers appear in the air. "8 minutes 47 seconds... not bad, Molly," she said to herself with a grin. She doubted that her boys had had time to do much more than get Charlie changed and into bed while she had calmed Nancy down. Besides, she was well acquainted with the spells that killed, and paralysis was not part of any of them. Still, her heart was uneasy as she followed Nancy to the house.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
As Bill and George carried Charlie up the stairs, Jenni watched Mrs. Weasley hurry off after Nancy with a feeling of stunned uselessness deep in the pit of her stomach. It was a feeling she had seen echoed on Fred's face as he was gestured back by his mother. Jenni could sympathize - she wasn't used to being left to wait quietly in a crisis. She should have been the one running after Nancy so that Mrs. Weasley could go up and take care of Charlie, but as she watched the older woman stride purposefully after her friend, she had the oddest sense that she'd just be in the way. She was staring blankly out the window after them when a whisper shook her back to reality.
"What happened to Charlie? Is he going to be okay?" The youngest Weasley was so white, and her voice so small that it took Jenni a moment to realize that this was the same Ginny who so often got the best of her prankster brothers.
"I'm... I'm sure your brother will be just fine." Hoping that her voice didn't betray her fear, Jenni glanced around the room at the other faces. The rest of the siblings along with Harry, Hermione, and Noëlle were uncharacteristically quiet, all of them looking as stunned as Jenni felt.
"What can we do?" This time it was Harry who spoke, and Jenni couldn't help but notice that his voice was tinged with frustration and anger. When everyone but Fred turned in her direction, Jenni realized that she was the ranking adult - and obviously was expected to have some sort of plan. She knew the best thing would be to keep each of them busy so they couldn't brood about what was going on, but how on earth would she find enough to keep seven people she barely knew busy? Jenni glanced back out the window and noticed that the sun was setting. It was going to be a long night. Well, first thing's first.
"I need someone who can sit still and do some research," Jenni started off. She looked over at Percy, but to her surprise he reddened and shook his head. Noëlle put her arm around him and whispered something into his ear that had him sending her a grateful look. Jenni was sure it wasn't especially comfortable for him to discover that he didn't feel able to offer himself as the best choice. She turned to the rest of them and was met by several looks being aimed specifically at the second youngest girl, and as if on cue Ron and Harry blurted out, "Hermione!"
Jenni glanced at the girl with bushy hair who was giving death glares to the boys and couldn't help but notice the look of pride that had swept across the young girl's face, or the approval on Percy's. "Are you good with gathering information and facts? This will be pretty boring - lots of lists, and cross referencing, and..."
Ignoring the snort of laughter coming from the opposite end of the room, Jenni watched expectantly as Hermione nodded. "Excellent! Now, I need you to write down anything that might have happened to Charlie - that would give him those symptoms. We need to know if it could have been a curse, a poison, a simple spell, anything that might help us figure out how to cure him."
The brown eyes sparkled, and Jenni felt confident that the young girl knew exactly what she was up against. Now if only she had a library to send her to...
"I've got some books that may be useful." Jenni looked up and wondered if she had voiced her thoughts out loud when Percy continued. "I have all of my books from Hogwarts still, and I've also got several books from the Ministry that might be helpful."
"Leave it to perfect Percy to be a walking library in a time of disaster."
Jenni glared at Fred. She was almost positive he was the source of the muttered insult as well as the earlier laughter, and since she could understand his frustration at being left behind while his twin got to be useful, she decided to ignore the comment. If she reacted, it would most likely turn into a much bigger problem.
"That would be wonderful Percy, and when you come back down - I'll need you to owl your father." She watched as Percy nodded and left the small room followed closely by Noëlle. She had to wonder if he'd be able to lend his considerable brainpower to that endeavor, or if he was so distracted that he needed to do something more physical to take his mind off of what had happened for a while. Something that had always been a great detention when she was head girl at Hogwarts had been to make boys move heavy furniture for no apparent reason without magic until they were too tired to be anything but asleep. But maybe it wouldn't come to that...
"That would be WONDERFUL Percy.."
In a flash Jenni whipped out her wand and with a well aimed "Silencio!" left Fred blinking rather stupidly. To hell with not reacting.
"Now then..." Jenni silently replaced her wand, ignoring the look of shock on Fred's face as he realized that she had no intention of undoing the hex. She winked at Ginny and continued her sentence. "..does anyone know how to cook?"
Fred crossed his arms and had a rather nasty scowl on his face, so Jenni supposed that was a 'No.' Ron and Ginny simply looked at each other and shrugged. Jenni sighed, prepared to try and recreate the spaghetti dinner recipe she'd looked up for Nancy - oh dear lord, the spaghetti dinner she'd started today and then LEFT ON THE STOVE! She was so busy mentally kicking herself for being so foolish - she'd probably started a nasty kitchen fire in Nancy's apartment - that she almost didn't hear Harry volunteer.
"I guess I know how to cook, I just... well, I don't know where everything is here." Harry ran a hand nervously through his already messy hair, making it stick out even more.
Jenni gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she debated the wisdom of letting a fifteen year old boy loose in the kitchen alone. "Don't worry about that. We won't need anything difficult. Just some sandwiches, soup, and maybe some tea." She looked over at the three remaining Weasleys. "Besides, I'm sure someone can help find the ingredients."
She noticed that Harry looked first to Ron, who grinned and muttered, "I just eat it, mate, I don't pay attention to where it comes from." Fred remained stony-faced, and Ron gave his younger sister a shove forward. With a roll of her eyes and a shrug, Ginny shot back, "I don't want to hear one WORD about women's work, Ronald Weasley. Honestly."
"Hey, I'll have you remember that I'm the one who volunteered in the first place!" Harry protested, making Ginny grin and follow him into the kitchen.
Running through the catalogue of necessary items to be dealt with in her head, Jenni turned to the two remaining Weasleys. Food - check. Medicine - well, the research that would lead to medicine - check. Clothing - no one had any trouble with that. That left... shelter. There were at least three extra people in a house that had already expanded to hold Charlie, Bill, Harry and Hermione. Now she, Nancy and Noëlle were joining the crowd. Fred still looked as if he would be happier ignoring her so she turned to Ron. "Any idea where all of these excess people are going to sleep tonight?"
Ron raised an eyebrow at Jenni's question and she could see him counting in his head. "Fourteen... whew, there really are a lot of people in this house."
It was more of a statement then a question and Jenni could only nod her head in agreement. She knew that under the current situation no one was going to get much sleep. "Well, since you're much more familiar with the floor plan than I am, maybe you could see what you can do about putting up beds in the rooms that have space?"
Ron seemed about to protest, but then Hermione looked up from her reading to glare at him and he shrugged, heading up the stairs. He was almost to the first landing when he looked back at Fred. "You coming or what?"
Fred rolled his eyes and pointed at his mouth. Jenni grinned at him. "It should wear off in a few minutes anyway. Go ahead."
He narrowed his eyes at her as she gave a quick wink and shooed him up the stairs. "Of course, a brilliant prankster like you surely already knew that," she couldn't help adding, winning a reluctant grin from the boy as he stomped after his younger brother.
Jenni sat down with Hermione to see if she could help organize the research, but found herself distracted and couldn't help getting up to look out of the window to where darkness was falling outside. What had happened? Danger seemed to be following them around lately... Jenni couldn't help but wonder if that was some ironic side effect of getting close to the Weasleys - two of whom, at least, would do so much to help keep them safe. Half-smiling at the paradox, she turned around to see Percy and Noëlle coming down the stairs with loads of books in their arms. They headed straight over to Hermione with them, and Jenni had taken a few steps back across the room when Ron and Fred, both empty-handed, came clomping downstairs.
"All the sheets are dirty," Fred answered her raised eyebrow with a triumphant grin and a rather rusty voice - an after-effect of being silenced magically.
Jenni only smiled back. "That's ok. You two can go ahead and clean them so they'll be ready for tonight."
Ron groaned and elbowed Fred. "I told you we'd have to do it."
"Well, I thought it would work." Fred's voice was a low mutter as the two of them trudged back up the stairs. "Besides, I really think people should make up their OWN beds..."
Jenni's next words brought them to a halt half way up. "What's the matter, boys? Making the beds too girly a job for you?"
Hermione looked up from her book and smirked. Jenni noticed that Ron's face went red at that. Harry and Ginny had stepped out of the kitchen to see what was going on, and both were wearing carefully neutral expressions.
"Well, considering that you probably have MUCH more experience in these matters than we do... it would certainly go faster if you did it." Fred's expression was speculative. "I'm sure I could take over down here."
Jenni just grinned. She knew what would happen if she went upstairs after that remark. She'd come down and find a bunch of overgrown canaries destroying the first floor of the Burrow, all in the interest of cheering people up, of course. So, Fred Weasley thought he was the only one who could lighten the mood with a prank, did he? Well, she wasn't best friends with Nancy Gwin for nothing. With a quick flick of her wand, both boys were wearing bright pink aprons with frills. Across the front, in shiny cursive letters, it read:
MANLY BED DUTY
"There, that should help. Go ahead and get started," she giggled, feeling only a little bad when she saw Ron's aggrieved look. He hadn't really done anything wrong... with another flick she made his apron blue. His purpled face moved a few shades back towards normal and she gave him a wink.
As Ron and Fred gave up and went upstairs, Jenni turned to find Hermione, Harry and Ginny trying to suppress their laughter. Percy just looked smug, but Noëlle had given in and was laughing hysterically. "Percy..." she gasped as she tried to get her breath back, "Je ne crois pas... I don't think the men of your family should wear pink!"
At this, everyone let loose. Percy just rolled his eyes and left the room, but Jenni had the feeling that he was trying to get out of sight so that he could laugh without his siblings knowing about it. Jenni was grinning after him when George came bounding down the stairs.
"How is he, George?" Ginny's smile faded slightly as she stepped forward, her small face pale.
"Not much change... Bill said there wasn't much I could do, so I should go find the rest of you and see if Nancy is around." At Jenni's quick shake of her head, he sighed. "Ok, then. I'd better go tell him. Hey, before I do though, does anyone know where I can sign up for Manly Bed Duties like Fred and Ron? Sounds like fun."
It was a few minutes before everyone finished wiping tears from their faces and managed to control the laughter enough to explain to George what exactly "Manly Bed Duties" entailed. As soon as understand dawned, George switched gears and started drilling Jenni on which transfiguration spell she had used to get that particular effect with the aprons. "It could be useful, you know... prank gift - say a sweater that turns into something else after half an hour of wearing it! The possibilities... We'd sell hundreds!" He was halfway up the stairs when he suddenly turned to Jenni with a serious look. "Do you think I could still get one of those aprons?"
Jenni blinked, momentarily taken by surprise. "Sure, but I get to pick the color."
George seemed unfazed by this news and shrugged. "That's ok. I'm not worried about the color. I just want an apron."
Jenni grinned and with a wave of her wand, George was sporting a pale lavender apron with just as many frills. This did nothing to dampen his spirits and as he lifted the edges of the apron and read the cursive writing his grin broadened. "Excellent! She'll love this." With a wave, he headed upstairs.
Still smiling, Jenni turned to Noëlle. "Did Percy go to owl his father, because-"
Suddenly everyone in the room jumped when a fairly loud explosion accompanied some purple and blue smoke out of the kitchen doorway. Her heart racing, Jenni pulled out her wand - visions of over-dramatic villains who apparated in clouds of flame made her voice sharp as she ordered, "Stay BACK!" and rushed into the other room.
The smoke was so thick that her eyes were watering, but Jenni could tell that there wasn't anything wrong in the kitchen besides some overdone toast by the smell of burnt bread that hung in the air. Relaxing, she put her wand away and turned to tell the others it was safe, almost stumbling over Harry who was directly behind her with Noëlle, Ginny and Hermione crowding behind him. Everyone started talking at once.
"Harry, I TOLD you that thing wasn't a normal toaster!"
"Well, you didn't know what ELSE it was, so I thought we could at least try..."
"Honestly, haven't you two heard of DIRECTIONS?"
"Mon dieu... quelle catastrophe! And we're supposed to eat what they make?" Noëlle's voice was dryly amused as she met Jenni's glare.
"I THOUGHT I told you all to wait outside," she snapped.
"Well, yes, but you're in a house full of Gryffindors - the last thing you should expect here is for someone to listen to orders," Noëlle rolled her eyes in the direction of the smoking toaster-like device
Jenni sighed and tried to take stock of the situation. "Well, I'll help you two clean up... Noëlle, can you track down Percy and ask him if he'd mind helping? Maybe then you can work with Hermione for a few minutes?" The blonde gave her a quick smile and headed out of the smoky kitchen behind Hermione, who looked a rather relieved to not have been drafted for kitchen duty.
Harry and Ginny set to collecting the charred bits of toast from around the room while Jenni opened a window and said a gentle wind spell to clear the air. She was just closing the window when Noëlle came back through the doorway, dragging Percy behind her.
"We'll finish in here, you should go back out and help Hermione," she said, giving Jenni a look that didn't allow for argument. Jenni considered protesting the sudden usurpation of her role as boss of the kitchen, but as she watched the four of them at work, she figured that she really would be one pair of hands too many and headed out to see about the research.
She was halfway across the room when footsteps made her turn to find Bill walking down the stairs looking worn and worried. Noëlle must have seen him coming, she thought with a smile - what a sneaky girl. She took a moment to just look at him, and despite all the worry and frustration and even the anger that still simmered between them, she had to admit that he was one fine specimen. He stopped just before reaching the bottom of the stairs and surveyed the room. His eyes glanced over Hermione still sitting at the table and stopped on Jenni.
"Have you seen Mum?"
Jenni noticed Bill's voice seemed rather detached and strained. Her insides lurched; what if Charlie's condition was getting worse? They couldn't let that happen. Jenni tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. "I think she's still outside talking to Nancy."
Bill nodded but instead of heading back upstairs or out the door to find his mum, he sat on the stairs and let his head fall into his hands. Not knowing what else to do, Jenni went and sat on the steps next to him - she had cooled down enough to know that the anger of earlier was something they could work through. It was still important to her, and she doubted she'd like some of the answers he gave her, but at the moment, getting through this crisis took precedence over her hurt feelings.
"How's Charlie?" she asked softly.
Bill slowly lifted his head from his hands. He didn't look at Jenni but when he finally spoke his voice was strangely calm. "He'll be all right once we figure out what happened. He's just in a lot of pain right now."
Jenni's heart sank. There wasn't a thing she could say to that, so she only reached over and took his hand, sitting quietly while he held on, lost in his own thoughts. When Bill spoke again his voice was lighter and held an edge of curiosity. "Where is everyone else?"
Jenni decided a quick play-by-play was the best route to take. "Ron, Fred and George are getting beds ready, Percy owled your father, and he's helping Harry, Ginny and Noëlle in the kitchen..." she trailed off, wondering if she should mention WHY there were four people in the kitchen right now. That could be embarrassing...
Bill shot Jenni a look of admiration. "You actually got that lot to listen to you? Mum will be impressed."
Jenni felt her face heating up and shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I only had to hex Fred once and no one else gave me any trouble." Her heart lifted when she saw that Bill was smiling.
"You hexed Fred? You do realize that could be very dangerous to your health?"
"In most cases, yes... but I think he and I have come to an understanding of sorts."
Still smiling, Bill reached over and brushed a wisp of hair out of her face. He froze for a moment, staring at her, before his grin faded. His face took on the worried look from before and Jenni felt her stomach clench with despair. She had no idea what to do or say, and there was an aching feeling of hopelessness knowing that short of curing Charlie there was nothing she could do that would take away his worry.
"Jenni, I'm sorry." Bill's voice had broken through the silence and Jenni slowly sat up straighter, lifting her head away from the crooked banister of the stairs she had been leaning against.
"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything." Jenni looked at Bill in confusion.
"For earlier. I thought that Nancy had told you what had happened that night. If I had known... I wouldn't have said anything. It wasn't really my place." Bill stopped talking and let out a deep breath.
Jenni stared at Bill. His brother was upstairs seriously injured and here he was apologizing... well, quasi apologizing. She fought back the annoyance that he didn't recognize what really bothered her - the fact that she wasn't part of the need-to-know team. This was really not the time, and yet, here he was, willing to sit with her and work it out. It took a moment for Jenni to find her voice. "We can talk about that later. Right now we need to concentrate on reversing whatever happened to Charlie."
Bill made a frustrated sound in his throat and reached over to pull her into his arms. Jenni sighed as she let herself snuggle closer to him, giving comfort even while she was taking it. They sat there in silence for a moment and then Jenni asked softly, "What do we know so far?"
Without releasing her, Bill said, "It looks like some sort of paralysis... slow or instantaneous, I don't know."
"Nancy will. She'll be able to tell us that, at least."
Bill nodded into her hair. "Yeah, if it's instantaneous than it's some sort of bastardization of the Petrificus Totalis... and it looks like they managed to cross that with a Crucio."
Jenni swallowed, hard. She remembered how that burned through ever fiber of your body. "And if it's slow?"
"That's the thing... I just can't put a finger on the spell they'd have used. It's possible that it's one I just don't know," he sighed, frustrated and worried.
"Listen, Bill..." Jenni stayed wrapped in his arms but twisted slightly so that she was looking into his startling blue eyes. "Nancy's good. She'll have noticed things that will help, I'm sure of it. Besides, I give her probably another two minutes before it hits her that Charlie needs her help and she comes running back through that door."
Bill pulled Jenni closer to him, tucking her head under his chin. "I hope you're right."
Jenni let herself rest against Bill's chest and listened to the slow rhythmic beating of his heart. "I'm right."
She knew from experience that Nancy's memory was excellent with the trivial - her best friend was a fount of useless knowledge most of the time. But, she also had a knack for remembering when it counted - Jenni couldn't count the number of times Nancy's photographic memory of Snape's classroom BEFORE she'd blown it to bits had eased the task of putting it back together afterwards. She'd bet everything she owned that Nancy had the entire scene of whatever had happened to Charlie frozen in her memory in sharp relief. She'd probably relive it in nightmares for weeks. No, she wouldn't have forgotten an important detail like how the curse had first affected Charlie. Mulling over those thoughts, Jenni's eyes landed on Hermione who was flipping determinedly through a rather large book.
As if feeling Jenni's eyes on her, Hermione turned around looking a bit embarrassed. "I... I overheard you two talking. I'm sorry. But it's given me an idea. I thought that maybe I could find something by cross- referencing petrifying spells with other spells."
Jenni reluctantly pulled away from Bill to see what Hermione had found. "Are you having any luck yet?"
"Well," Hermione pursed her lips together. "There are a lot of cases where it has been done. The tricky part is to determine exactly which two, or in some cases which three spells have been used together."
Jenni sat down next to Hermione. Those boys definitely knew what they were talking about when they suggested Hermione for research. "You can do that? With three spells I mean? I've heard of using two together."
Hermione shrugged. She looked back and forth from Jenni to Bill who had come to stand behind Jenni. "I guess it can be done. So far in the books I've looked in it mentions them briefly. Apparently it's very common in dark arts."
Jenni paled slightly. If Nancy and Charlie had rushed off to Knockturn Alley in search of her then they were very likely to encounter some very dark arts. Biting back her guilt she asked another question. "Have you found anything specific to Charlie's symptoms?"
Hermione shook her head. "Most of the spells I've crossed referenced have a lot of the same symptoms. The only difference is how fast or how slow the paralysis occurred. In other cases the amount of pain varied from very little to extremely painful. We really need to know the exact details. How soon the pain started, if the paralysis was immediate... that sort of thing."
"We can be almost certain that Crucio is part of whatever mix we're talking about." Bill's voice was tight, but he was watching them with interest.
"Yes, but the other spells that might combine with it are so varied that trying to combat them all would be impossible - we have to at least cut out the fast/slow factor..." Hermione looked down at her notes with a troubled expression.
"So basically we're at a standstill until we talk to..." Jenni sighed and slumped back into a chair, sharing a frustrated look with Bill. In the next moment, the door flew open to reveal a very anxious looking Nancy, her eyes wide and determined.
There was a moment of tense silence as everyone turned to look at her. Nancy raced for the stairs, and looked straight up at Bill. "Where is he? Listen - I'm such an idiot... You have to let me tell you what happened!"
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
A/N - Still there? Goood... now you know that your reviews rock and we love to get them. They're like payoff for THREE MONTHS of hard labor... *angel face* So do us ALL a favor and give Jenni something to answer in our next chapter (cause she is SO doing the thank yous and notes... it's VERY MUCH her turn) by clicking on that little button down there. :)
Thank Yous - (chronological order in case you were wondering... there were a LOT of 'em!)
Zoe - 2x4?? Humph. I mean really. You'd think this WHOLE thing wasn't ALL Charlie's fault. *realizes people are listening* Right, er... Look! Another Chapter! Right down there!
Lily - Lily? *dusts off a stone statue labeled 'Waiting Expectantly' that looks REMARKABLY like Lily* Wow. It has been a while, huh. Well, maybe George can make it up to you... *angelic look*
El - shaddup. I'm depressed. Ok, so that excuse is only valid as of yesterday, but STILL. Here it is, and it's good, and I read your stories and... yeah. :)
Heather R. - here's hoping this is still on your radar! We're working on things... I think you'll like this one. I really do. Hmm, no, Harry and Hermione (shh Lily) do not have a thing in this story. But we haven't really been pushing the kids, since they're not the main characters, you know?
Alya - so this was a flame, huh? Never gotten one before. Just so the rest of you know, it was for chapter 18 the fight. Now, this chapter has taken a long time to write because of many things, but one of them was really wanting to resolve some of the tension in a realistic way, because I was very proud of that fight. Hmm, but anyway, I guess I'd just say explanations for Nancy's flipping out follow, and I count you as a very lucky person if you've never had a fight slip out of your control and turn into something a lot nastier than it should have been. ;)
Jazzy - WOO HOO! New reader! Well, a new reader from a long long time ago. GEEZ, we've got to work on this three and a half month delay thing.
Quilly - my that's quite a rant there. Don't you look familiar?? No lamp breaking. ;) Just read on for answers to your questions.
LOUISA - *tackles her for a big ol hug* If you're wondering why just go read her chapter 20 review... bring popcorn and a comfortable chair... it's almost as fun as reading the story, for goodness sakes. Ok, well, um... no towels in this one, but... how about Harry-in-a-kitchen? Didn't think that'd be the same... oh well. ;)
Ronspawn - talk about being behind on stories! I should go catch up on yours. Anywho... I'm glad you like Noelle, and Fred will never live down his adorableness in THIS chapter. Read on.
Psiana - oh PLEASE tell me you haven't forgotten about this story!! We'd HATE to lose your reviews, they're SO MUCH FUN. Anywho, one can of wizard whup-ass coming right up! Or is there... ;)
Fracindy - HMM. I dunno if I can back you up, I'm sort of busy with the Charlie detail, here... you might have to deal with Percy on your own. ;) ANY way... nice long fun review and I hope you like this one.
Margaret - remember us?? *hopeful look* Hope this update doesn't give you a heart attack!! Er... fluff. Right. You want FLUFF. *skims chapter* Hmm. *looks at Jenni* Well... maybe? How about this I LIKE this chapter.
Jess - DAMN it. You win. Three months. Shut up and read now. And send me tea. For no good reason, just cause.
Mkt - another new reader! "now, is it going to be Nancy or Charlie who finally gets some sense and has a real talk instead of fighting over nothing!" THAT my friend is a very good question. :) And... moving on to your review of 20... we're really two people. Although, you just have to take my word for it. My word on MY love of redheads. ;)
MrsPitt - HI! My real name is ALSO Nancy. Oddly enough. ;) We Nancy's rock. And Jenni and I both wanted to say thanks for the compliment about our writing. It's always nice to hear.
Pantherocker - Not too much happened... *looks at Charlie and Nancy on the ground in Knockturn Alley* Well, if you say so. ;) I know what you mean, though... we're working through something in the story and it DID get a bit bogged down despite our best efforts. I think this will be a better chapter.
Jennifer M - I don't think you reviewed ON ff.net, but I did get an email from you, so HEY, I figure I'll include you in the thank yous. :) THANKS for reading and I know this took forever but I hope you enjoy!
TABBY! - yo, girl! :) I'd forgotten that you'd reviewed! Luv ya!
BMW - I don't mind saying that you gave me a mild heart attack when you said that our story had stopped LOADING... but it's all good. And I'm glad you enjoyed it! Glad to have another reader.
Aidenfire - LOL! You KILLED me with your little comment from Chapter 12 sturdy dragon tamer... STUDLY dragon tamer... such an easy mistake to make. ;) Hope you keep reading!!
Wolvesaremylife1 - Hello! Thank you so much for the nice words about this story... we've worked really hard to just have fun with it and stay realistic in terms of the characters. It's always nice to know that it's working.
Suzanne - Hi! Another new reader! Woo hoo!! I don't know if there's any way we can update SLOWER than we have been, so hopefully your wish will come true! ;)
Littlewolf - Hey, there! Long time no see! Waaait a minute, you're taking HIS side in this?? Humph. Typical - just cause he's a studly dragon man with red hair and blue eyes and is sweet and noble and funny and... ok ok, fine, I see your point.
Let the story begin!!!
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Bill made it back to Nancy's apartment in record time. His heart was pounding as he flung the door open and yelled for Jenni. Not hearing an answer, Bill went through the apartment calling Jenni's name as he opened each door. The knot in his stomach grew exponentially as it slowly sunk in that she wasn't there. In fact, Bill noted, the apartment looked exactly the same as it had when he and Nancy had left for the burrow.
"Damn!" Bill's voice echoed throughout the empty apartment. With a frustrated sigh, he sat on the couch and rested his head in his hands. He'd been so sure that he would find Jenni as soon as he opened the door, that she would be sitting on the sofa safe and sound.
Bill stood back up and began pacing the tiny room. Meredith had said Jenni had kept looking over her shoulder, like someone was following her. Had someone been following her? Was that why she hadn't made it back to the apartment yet? Bill shook his head furiously and muttered a few choice words. All this worrying was causing him to think irrationally. He was just being paranoid. Charlie and Nancy had probably run into Jenni in Knockturn Alley.
At the thought of Charlie, Bill turned to the clock and let out another round of four letter words that would have had Molly Weasley washing his mouth out with soap. He was supposed to have met Charlie and Nancy over 30 minutes ago. Grabbing the cloak he had hastily deposited on a nearby chair, Bill headed to the Burrow with a pop.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nancy felt them hit the ground with a thud, her hip throbbed where it crashed into the pavement. Taking a second to catch her breath, she took stock of the situation.
"Yellow... what's a yellow..." she was muttering out loud, racking her brain for a spell that would have a yellow beam. Charlie shifted slightly and moaned, and Nancy struggled to rein in her panic. He was obviously not DEAD. "That would be green..." Thus, identifying the spell seemed a little less urgent than...
"Nancy," Charlie's voice sounded rough and unused, "we have to MOVE."
...getting out of here. "Obviously. Problem is, you're sort of first in line for that." Nancy bit her lip as she realized that she was still snapping at him. Here she was, protected by his body, his hand cradling her head so that she didn't hit it as they fell, and she was still annoyed with him? "If... if you CAN move, I mean."
As she waited for his answer, Nancy turned her head to watch the feet make their way around the two of them. It didn't look like anyone had even noticed their fall. Had it been a hit and run? Maybe... if they were lucky, maybe the man was gone already.
A shower of purple sparks and an explosion of gravel to the left of them re- ignited her panic.
"Dammit, he's still there!" Nancy reached for her wand, but her hands were trapped under... "Charlie? Get bloody OFF of me!"
Charlie glowered down at her. "As much as I am ENJOYING this position," Nancy felt her face go bright red despite herself as he said that, "I would be glad to move. I just seem to have... lost the use of my arms."
"Well that's just fantastic." More purple sparks created a spray of gravel that was much closer than the last. "Bloody hell... ok. Legs still working?"
Charlie nodded tersely.
"Well, if you kneel I should be able to slide up enough to at least get to my wand."
"Don't do anything stupid," he grunted out as she pushed hard on his chest, helping build the momentum to bring him upright. Scrambling out from the VERY embarrassing position that left her in, Nancy dashed in front of him, red-faced but wand at the ready.
"Go! I'll hold him off for a minute!" She scanned the crowd, spotting their attacker in the upper window of the apothecary. "How'd he get up - STUPEFY! - there?" Groaning as her spell missed the man by about a foot, she glanced behind her. Charlie was right where she'd left him.
"Is there a reason you haven't moved?" A red bolt came so close to her ear that she could feel the heat of it whizzing by her. Behind her, she could hear Charlie cursing under his breath. "Right about NOW would be a good time... IMPEDIMENTIA!"
Her spell hit the white light that was heading for her and resulted in a burst of flame that sent even the stony-faced Knockturn Alley denizens scurrying for side streets and buildings. Charlie was edging sideways, but on his knees. Thoroughly exasperated, she spun around and grabbed his arm.
"UP! Get UP!" Helped along by the good yank she gave to his arms, Charlie shot to his feet unsteadily, leaving her with her arms around him. Amazingly, despite all the angry words and hurt feelings, she couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be right then. That was, until she realized that they were pretty much the only two in the street and that there was not only a nasty wizard shooting curses and hexes at them but a magical fire. Nancy regretfully stepped away from his warm body. Charlie swayed as she let go, making her look up at his face - it was contorted in pain.
"Charlie... what is it?" Hearing an explosion behind her, Nancy spun for a second, firing off a hex that finally shattered the window the jerk was hiding behind before leaning close to hear the words he ground out.
"It's getting worse. Some sort of... petrify. Spreading..." he looked past her at the fire and the shattered window before muttering low, "I need your help."
"You can't move at ALL?" She stared at him for a moment, the panic rushing into her system before a narrowing of his eyes and the pain of a severing charm hitting her arm brought reality rushing back. Blinking back tears, Nancy checked to be sure that her arm was still intact (it was... basically) and began revising her plan.
"Ok, how about this? I'm going to take off this stupid long cloak," Charlie glared at her and started to say something but Nancy ignored him, pulling it over her head as she continued. "And then I'm going to set that damn building on fire, and I'm mobilicorpusing your arse out of here."
"Unless..." She paused. Maybe, just maybe it hadn't been a dark spell and she could just reverse it. Pointing her wand at Charlie she muttered "Finite Incantatum" and held her breath. Nothing happened. Charlie's face fell and Nancy stifled a groan. Back to the plan, then.
She glanced across the street at the apothecary where the wizard was hiding. It WAS a criminal offense to destroy property... but she highly doubted that the owners of that store were victims of circumstance. "Probably both went to death eater camp together in their youth or something... Incendio!"
A couple of well-placed charms later, the building was burning heavily. Smoke started to pour out of the broken window, and there hadn't been any more curses thrown at them for a few minutes now. Her heart caught in her throat as she considered the possibility that the man was lying trapped in that upper room, dying by her hand, but she pushed it aside. He had probably just run out a back door or disapparated, damn him.
Turning back to Charlie, she paled. He could barely move his face now, and it was frozen in that incredibly pained look. He was staying upright from sheer force of will and good balance. "Listen... where should I take you? Who will know what to do?"
"Burrow. Nancy..." he paused, fighting another grimace of pain. "... just apparate."
"Charlie," she whispered, "you can't apparate, you'll splice yourself! It's safer to-"
"Use... use a bonding spell. You take us both."
Nancy had never used a bonding spell outside of practice with houseplants. They wouldn't teach them at Hogwarts since you had to be able to apparate to practice and you couldn't take your apparition tests until you'd finished school. Still... he had a point. Dragging him to a floo spot would waste valuable time, and might be dangerous on top of it.
"All right, but if you wind up missing any vital body parts, don't say I didn't warn you." Glancing around to make sure there was no one to interfere while she was casting the spells, Nancy muttered, "Here goes nothing..."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Bill reached the burrow and was headed for the door when someone's voice broke into his thoughts. Following the animated sound of one of his brothers in fine form, he went around the corner of the house and found Ron sporting an ungodly orange Chudley Cannons shirt with two large C's emblazoned across the front. He was retelling what he obviously thought was a spectacular quidditch play to Hermione who was rolling her eyes and looked about ready to make a run for it. Despite his sour mood, Bill smirked as his younger brother's antics before clearing his throat to announce his presence.
"Have either of you seen Charlie or Nancy?"
Hermione shook her head, and Bill fought back a growl of frustration. Ron shook his head also. "No, but mum's inside talking to..."
Bill's mood was bordering dangerously close to extremely irritated as he walked away, completely ignoring the fact that Ron thought he was telling him something important. He wasn't worried about visitors at the moment. He was only interested in finding Jenni and he had hoped Charlie and Nancy had accomplished that.
Heading inside, Bill ran smack into Fred and George, who'd been huddled together, conversing in hushed tones over something. Both boys jumped at the sight of their older brother and gave very practiced innocent looks.
Bill wasn't biting. "Charlie. Nancy. Seen them?"
Apparently the twins were expecting something quite different and took a moment to register the question.
Fred regained his composure first. His well thought out and intelligent response was, "You're looking for Charlie?"
Now beyond extremely irritated, Bill let his sarcasm out full force. "No, I just thought I'd ask if you'd seen him and then carry on with my life as if nothing had happened. Dammit, Fred, how about a straight answer?"
George elbowed Fred hard in the ribs causing his twin to wince and glare at him. "No we haven't seen Charlie."
"What about Nancy?" Bill couldn't think of a good reason that she would be here when Charlie wasn't, but he was desperate enough not to care. When Fred opened his mouth again, Bill held up his hand. "Yes or no, please."
"Well... no."
"Bloody hell. And Mum's where?" He pinned George with a stare.
"Er... upstairs, but she's with-"
Bill pushed by the twins with a sound of dismissal. His day was going from bad to progressively worse and his mood was going right along with it. He stormed through the doorway leading away from the kitchen and was just glancing up at the sound of the hands on the clock moving. Bill never had the chance to notice Charlie's hand moving from 'traveling' to 'mortal peril' because he was too busy turning towards the sound of Jenni's voice.
"...you really think so?"
One moment Jenni was standing up to follow Molly Weasley to the kitchen and the next minute she found herself surrounded by Bill's arms and his lips covering hers. Neither of them noticed Molly Weasley slip quietly into the kitchen. Bill pulled back from Jenni after a moment, holding her at arm's length and searching her face for any sign that she had been harmed.
"Are you ok? You're not hurt or anything?"
Jenni was rather pleasantly confused as to what the occasion for the kiss had been, but the look on Bill's face made his words register and worry unfurled in her gut.
"I'm fine, what-"
That was all Jenni managed to say before she found herself back in Bill's arms. She may not have been sure of what was going on but Jenni was positive that she felt Bill tremble slightly as he pulled her closer to him. In an effort to comfort whatever was wrong, she put her arms around him. He was kissing her with a tenderness she had never felt before and at the same time he was holding on to her as if afraid she would vanish into thin air. This time it was Jenni who pulled back from the embrace after a moment. "Bill, what is going on? Why did you ask if I was hurt?"
Bill looked down at her and then stepped back to stare out of the window. An uneasy suspicion was growing in Jenni's mind, as she considered the possible reasons Bill might have thought she was in danger. But it wasn't like he knew she had stopped by Knockturn Alley. Still, she wondered guiltily, could there be any other explanation?
"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? What I went through at Nancy's apartment when I realized you weren't there? What the hell were you thinking, sneaking around Knockturn Alley like that?"
Jenni blanched. How could she have been so stupid as to think that between Nancy and Bill, no one would figure out where she'd gone? And it was pretty evident that they'd figured it out, if the worry still lurking in his eyes was any indicator. She had never been good at ignoring her conscience and it was catching up with her fast as she briefly considered how she would react to Bill or Nancy running off to Knockturn Alley without backup. Never one to stint on apologies, she was opening her mouth to explain how wrong she'd been when Bill waved her off and continued shooting questions at her.
"Do you realize that Death Eater that attacked you at Nancy's apartment could have been there? And what would you have done if the same lunatic that attacked Nancy came after you instead?" Now that the relief of finding Jenni safe at the burrow was starting to ebb away, Bill's imagination was running free with the what-ifs, and each scene he envisioned in his head made him see red.
Jenni's head shot up, all thoughts of apologizing gone. "What do you mean, 'attacked Nancy'? What are you talking about?"
Bill narrowed his eyes. Surely Nancy had told Jenni about that. "The night of the party. Nancy was attacked here..."
Bill watched as an answering temper flared in Jenni's blue eyes. When she spoke it was with a deceptively even tone. "Oddly enough, no one mentioned anything to me. But that's totally understandable, really. I mean, it's not like I'm a mature, capable adult who has any stake in the situation at ALL. I'm sure that keeping me in the dark was entirely necessary."
"Jenni, it wasn't like that," Bill walked over to her but she pushed him away with a force that caught him off guard and caused him to stumble back a bit.
"I've had enough of this. I'm sick of all the lies and secrets." Jenni grabbed her cloak and headed down the stairs. "You'd think you were a spy, and I was on the wrong bloody side!"
Bill grabbed Jenni's hand as she started through the kitchen. "Jenni, don't go back to Nancy's apartment alone. Let me go with you."
Glaring at where he held her hand, Jenni turned slowly to look at him. "I'm not going to Nancy's apartment, I'm going to MY apartment. Alone."
Bill was about to say something else, when a loud pop made him look over her shoulder to where his mother was standing, white-faced. Charlie had nearly apparated on top of her, he realized with a grin - poor guy had never been very accurate. It wasn't until he started forward that he realized that Charlie wasn't moving, and that the arm that led to the other side of his brother belonged to Nancy, who was supporting his entire weight.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
The Weasley house had never been so quiet. That was the first thing Nancy registered as she felt her feet hit solid ground again. For a panicked moment she thought that she had apparated to the wrong house and she was going to have to apparate all over again - and waste precious minutes reworking the bonding spell. Charlie couldn't go through that again. She glanced up at him and saw that he was completely unconscious. The apparating must have been too much for him and now she'd gone and screwed THAT up...
"What happened?"
The stunned voice of Mrs. Weasley cut through her worries and Nancy twisted her head around to look at her. Behind her were most, if not all, of the Weasleys - their pale complexions looking even pastier than usual. She noticed Jenni standing next to Bill with an inner sigh of relief; at least something had gone right today. Out of instinct she tried to move towards them, but she stumbled as the full weight of the man she was all but carrying hit her.
"Bill! George! Help her, please!" Nancy could hear the tremble in the Weasley matriarch's voice, but Molly Weasley looked totally in control as she stepped forward to support Nancy. "Take him up to his room, I'll be right behind you." The two redheads jerked out of their stunned silence and moved up to lift Charlie's limp weight off of her. The other twin moved as if to follow, but his mother shook her head at him and he stayed where he was.
They all stood there for a moment, watching the three brothers disappear up the stairs. With each step they took, Nancy's self-control fell apart a little bit more - she'd gotten him home, that's what she'd promised to do. Surely they couldn't want the girl whose stupidity was to blame for his injuries to stay around. She couldn't believe they hadn't thrown her out already... if only she hadn't been so ashamed to ask for help. If she'd just THOUGHT about what she was doing, writing to Knockturn Alley for illegal potions ingredients! Or maybe, if she'd just kept her mouth shut today and let Charlie do the search his way... it had just been so hard to know what to do with him so cold and angry.
A sob rose up in her throat, and Nancy suddenly realized that the rest of the Weasley family was standing there, waiting for an explanation. She couldn't do it - couldn't tell these people how stupid she had been, how it really was...
"...all my fault."
A clucking noise from Mrs. Weasley told her that she'd spoken aloud without realizing it. Mortified and unable to hold the tears back any longer, Nancy whispered, "I'm so sorry..." and ran for the back door.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nancy didn't stop running until she'd reached the Quidditch field - the scene of one of her other memorable moments, if she recalled correctly. Thinking of that fight and Charlie coming after her at Hogwarts, making her talk to Jenni and work it out brought on another wave of guilt and frustration. Sobbing, she tried to think of a time when she HADN'T been a problem for Charlie Weasley to deal with - right from the start, he'd saved her from the dragon, bandaged her in mid-air, been there to scare the attacker away the night of the party...
Sniffing, she looked up, suddenly struck by how close that encounter would have been to her current hiding place. Nancy shivered and fingered her wand, knowing that there was no one around to help her if he were to show up again. Still, at least she had her wand. A little smile crept to her face as she remembered facing off with their attacker in Knockturn Alley... she'd always wanted to be an Auror, but her rotten vision had disqualified her. It had been nice to be in the thick of things for once, and not just writing about them after the fact.
Her mind drifted, trying to avoid the painful guilt, and she absently started composing a short report on the disturbance in Knockturn Alley. "A short duel between an unknown woman and an occupant of an apothecary of dubious nature..." What had the name of that shop been? It was on the list... she'd know it when she saw it. Hopefully the list was still in Charlie's pocket. "...resulted in a fire damaging the shop and disturbing the peace." Ha. Peace... like there was any of that on Knockturn Alley. More like - ". disturbing the uneasy quiet."
Satisfied with that, she moved on in a standard 'incident notice' format - the exercise was calming. "Both parties fled the scene before they could be identified, witnesses report that there seemed to be one casualty..." her voice faltered, and frustrated, she forced herself to continue. "One casualty, a red-haired man hit in the back with a curse before the fight actually erupted. The curse did not seem aimed at him, but at the other belligerent, and this reporter can only assume that if... if she'd gotten her bloody mouth in gear five seconds earlier... he'd be fine right now..."
A picture of Charlie as she'd last seen him, white and limp, his face frozen in a painful grimace, flashed through her mind and the tears started to roll again.
"He'd have tried to protect you anyway."
The soft voice startled her, and Nancy jumped up, wiping furiously at her eyes with her sleeve.
"That's how I raised my boys. They don't stand by and watch when trouble comes, Nancy. And Charlie..." Mrs. Weasley moved a few steps closer and smiled gently. "Charlie has always had a bit of a thing about saving people."
The older woman's face wasn't showing any of the anger or blame that Nancy felt she deserved, and she found herself crying harder because of it. "You don't understand... ever since we met I've been-"
"The only thing Charlie TALKS about, dear. Or, this last week, the only thing he couldn't bear to talk about because he missed you so badly." Mrs. Weasley reached out her hand to lead Nancy back to the house. When Nancy didn't move, she sighed and walked closer. "I want to tell you a story about Charlie. When he was little, we got him a play broom for his eighth birthday. He loved that broom. He'd zoom around the house, breaking glass and scaring his brothers... Bill never was that enthusiastic about flying. And Percy was so little, but just as broom-crazy as Charlie."
She paused and wiped her eyes, and Nancy realized what the time spent away from her son was costing her. "I'm sorry, you should go back, he needs you..."
"He needs us both, and I believe I was telling a story," Mrs. Weasley replied tartly, regaining her composure. "Well, one day I had to take Bill in for fittings and such at Diagon Alley, for Hogwarts, you know... and Arthur was working so hard. So I left Charlie in charge of Percy for the afternoon with the firm admonition that he was NOT to play with the broom without me there."
"Oh no..." Nancy could picture a pint-sized redhead nodding at his mother until the door closed, and then... "He disobeyed?"
"Not exactly, no. HE didn't play with the broom, but he relented and let Percy play with it - outside where he couldn't break anything. Well, Percy was better with the broom than anyone could have expected, and before Charlie could figure out what was going on, his tiny brother was 40 feet in the air and heading for the forest. By the time that Charlie found him... well, the broken arm healed fast enough but Percy never got on a broom if he didn't have to after that."
Nancy noticed suddenly how dark and cold it had gotten outside. When had the sun gone down? The lights from the Burrow seemed to invite her back, but she still didn't feel like she could face the Weasleys.
Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to notice any inner struggle Nancy was having, and if she did, she didn't mention it, just continued the story.
"Charlie never forgave himself for failing his brother, because at least in his mind that's what had happened. Ever since, he's been the first to run when someone yells for help... or even when they don't ask. He can be a bit pushy about situations that seem dangerous to him." The sideways look she was giving Nancy held a question, one that Nancy could only answer with a grimace.
"Ignoring the fact that his job isn't necessarily on the 'non-dangerous' end of things..." Nancy sighed, only to be interrupted by a grinning Mrs. Weasley.
"A fact I never fail to mention to him."
"... he's been right every time he's been worried about me."
"But just because he's right doesn't justify his take action first, explain later methods. He's never understood that, really. I've never seen my son more frustrated than when he has to 'waste time' explaining his actions or reasoning with someone in order to move them out of danger."
Nancy was starting to feel that Charlie was being unfairly criticized, especially when he wasn't able to defend himself. "But... but sometimes you can't EXPLAIN. Sometimes, people just have to trust you!"
Mrs. Weasley whirled around, her kind face intent and her eyes bright. "You're right, you know. Trust is incredibly important. Do you trust my son, Nancy?"
"Yes..." Nancy was surprised by the question and even more surprised that the answer rolled right off her tongue.
"Then why haven't you spoken to him for the last week? What made you shut him out during that fight? It isn't like you, not as far as I know or from what Jenni has told me."
Nancy's emotions were raw and aching, she could feel the pain of the last week coupled with the fear and confusion of tonight wearing down the careful wall she had worked so hard to build. It wasn't fair, Mrs. Weasley couldn't possibly understand! She was so scared... scared that she would really commit herself to caring about Charlie and be left in the dust when he found someone new to save. Scared that the string of bad luck she'd been having was catching and would reach out and hurt him and his family worse that it had already and make him hate her. Scared that by trying to stay away and protect him she would lose everyone else - even Jenni.
"I... the fight was stupid, over nothing. It just got out of control so fast, and... mostly my fault." Too embarrassed to look into Mrs. Weasley's face as she talked, Nancy started to pace. "I was scared and frustrated, and... just took it all out on him."
"Scared - why? Because of Jenni's injuries?"
"Yes... NO! No, that's not true. She was doing pretty well by then. I was scared because, well, because I'd walked in and overheard something, and it just drove home how bloody DEPENDENT I am on him." Nancy stopped short - she hadn't been prepared for the hoot of laughter.
"Nancy," Molly Weasley fought down her mirth and moved in to make her point, "do you enjoy other people's company? Can you make decisions about food, or clothing, or which book to read, or what to work on, or who to talk to without consulting him first?" At Nancy's roll of the eyes, she pressed on with a grin. "Have you ever taken a personality test?"
"What? I don't understand..."
"Two weeks ago, before the fight, Charlie and Bill snagged one of Ginny's girly magazines while she wasn't looking. They paid for it later, of course, but before she toad-warted them they managed to run through a 'Which Witch are You' test - using what they know about you and Jenni. Apparently, you were firmly in the 'so independent you could have figured this answer out yourself' category."
"It's just a stupid magazine... it doesn't mean-"
"Young lady, if there's anyone outside of my favorite pseudo-son Harry that deserves to be in that category for sheer single-minded stubbornness to do things on your own, it's you." She walked up and took Nancy's shoulders. "And now, you're so terrified of being a burden or a bore that you're refusing to trust Charlie with your fears and problems. You don't need to run to him every time you're stuck on work or can't find your wand under your bed. But you do need to understand that when you bring him a real problem, he is not going to be burdened or bored. And if he acts that way, you have his mother's permission to deck him."
"When he's better, I might just do that anyway. To clear the air, you know?" Mrs. Weasley smiled, and Nancy gave a watery sniffle. "It's just... he started out that night we fought by being concerned about my safety. And it was sweet, except that he kept pounding it until I felt like he didn't have any faith in my common sense or ability to take care of myself. And then... hearing him say all that, all the while KNOWING that he'd be leaving soon anyway to go back to Romania, it was just too much."
Mrs. Weasley cocked an eyebrow. "He said that, did he?"
"No, it's just... that's what I overheard him say. And then he tried to brush it off... he was telling JENNI. That's what hurt most, was that he couldn't even have the heart to tell me first."
Trying to hide her all-knowing mother's smile, Mrs. Weasley gave Nancy a quick hug. "Well, I can tell you one thing."
"What's that?"
"When he wakes up he's going to want to see your face, and when he sees your face you have a perfect opportunity to deck him and inform him that no way, no how is he going back to Romania, and that's final." Nancy's choked laugh was enough of an agreement that she continued. "But the only way you're going to be there is if we head back inside and you help Bill figure out how to counteract what happened."
Nancy straightened suddenly, a wild, worried look in her eyes. "Oh no - all this time that we've been standing out here, I forgot! Can you believe it? I didn't tell anyone about the yellow, and what happened, and... oh God, what if we're too late?" Wiping her hand quickly over her eyes she took off for the house.
Mrs. Wealsey waited a moment after Nancy left and then waved her wand, making three numbers appear in the air. "8 minutes 47 seconds... not bad, Molly," she said to herself with a grin. She doubted that her boys had had time to do much more than get Charlie changed and into bed while she had calmed Nancy down. Besides, she was well acquainted with the spells that killed, and paralysis was not part of any of them. Still, her heart was uneasy as she followed Nancy to the house.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
As Bill and George carried Charlie up the stairs, Jenni watched Mrs. Weasley hurry off after Nancy with a feeling of stunned uselessness deep in the pit of her stomach. It was a feeling she had seen echoed on Fred's face as he was gestured back by his mother. Jenni could sympathize - she wasn't used to being left to wait quietly in a crisis. She should have been the one running after Nancy so that Mrs. Weasley could go up and take care of Charlie, but as she watched the older woman stride purposefully after her friend, she had the oddest sense that she'd just be in the way. She was staring blankly out the window after them when a whisper shook her back to reality.
"What happened to Charlie? Is he going to be okay?" The youngest Weasley was so white, and her voice so small that it took Jenni a moment to realize that this was the same Ginny who so often got the best of her prankster brothers.
"I'm... I'm sure your brother will be just fine." Hoping that her voice didn't betray her fear, Jenni glanced around the room at the other faces. The rest of the siblings along with Harry, Hermione, and Noëlle were uncharacteristically quiet, all of them looking as stunned as Jenni felt.
"What can we do?" This time it was Harry who spoke, and Jenni couldn't help but notice that his voice was tinged with frustration and anger. When everyone but Fred turned in her direction, Jenni realized that she was the ranking adult - and obviously was expected to have some sort of plan. She knew the best thing would be to keep each of them busy so they couldn't brood about what was going on, but how on earth would she find enough to keep seven people she barely knew busy? Jenni glanced back out the window and noticed that the sun was setting. It was going to be a long night. Well, first thing's first.
"I need someone who can sit still and do some research," Jenni started off. She looked over at Percy, but to her surprise he reddened and shook his head. Noëlle put her arm around him and whispered something into his ear that had him sending her a grateful look. Jenni was sure it wasn't especially comfortable for him to discover that he didn't feel able to offer himself as the best choice. She turned to the rest of them and was met by several looks being aimed specifically at the second youngest girl, and as if on cue Ron and Harry blurted out, "Hermione!"
Jenni glanced at the girl with bushy hair who was giving death glares to the boys and couldn't help but notice the look of pride that had swept across the young girl's face, or the approval on Percy's. "Are you good with gathering information and facts? This will be pretty boring - lots of lists, and cross referencing, and..."
Ignoring the snort of laughter coming from the opposite end of the room, Jenni watched expectantly as Hermione nodded. "Excellent! Now, I need you to write down anything that might have happened to Charlie - that would give him those symptoms. We need to know if it could have been a curse, a poison, a simple spell, anything that might help us figure out how to cure him."
The brown eyes sparkled, and Jenni felt confident that the young girl knew exactly what she was up against. Now if only she had a library to send her to...
"I've got some books that may be useful." Jenni looked up and wondered if she had voiced her thoughts out loud when Percy continued. "I have all of my books from Hogwarts still, and I've also got several books from the Ministry that might be helpful."
"Leave it to perfect Percy to be a walking library in a time of disaster."
Jenni glared at Fred. She was almost positive he was the source of the muttered insult as well as the earlier laughter, and since she could understand his frustration at being left behind while his twin got to be useful, she decided to ignore the comment. If she reacted, it would most likely turn into a much bigger problem.
"That would be wonderful Percy, and when you come back down - I'll need you to owl your father." She watched as Percy nodded and left the small room followed closely by Noëlle. She had to wonder if he'd be able to lend his considerable brainpower to that endeavor, or if he was so distracted that he needed to do something more physical to take his mind off of what had happened for a while. Something that had always been a great detention when she was head girl at Hogwarts had been to make boys move heavy furniture for no apparent reason without magic until they were too tired to be anything but asleep. But maybe it wouldn't come to that...
"That would be WONDERFUL Percy.."
In a flash Jenni whipped out her wand and with a well aimed "Silencio!" left Fred blinking rather stupidly. To hell with not reacting.
"Now then..." Jenni silently replaced her wand, ignoring the look of shock on Fred's face as he realized that she had no intention of undoing the hex. She winked at Ginny and continued her sentence. "..does anyone know how to cook?"
Fred crossed his arms and had a rather nasty scowl on his face, so Jenni supposed that was a 'No.' Ron and Ginny simply looked at each other and shrugged. Jenni sighed, prepared to try and recreate the spaghetti dinner recipe she'd looked up for Nancy - oh dear lord, the spaghetti dinner she'd started today and then LEFT ON THE STOVE! She was so busy mentally kicking herself for being so foolish - she'd probably started a nasty kitchen fire in Nancy's apartment - that she almost didn't hear Harry volunteer.
"I guess I know how to cook, I just... well, I don't know where everything is here." Harry ran a hand nervously through his already messy hair, making it stick out even more.
Jenni gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she debated the wisdom of letting a fifteen year old boy loose in the kitchen alone. "Don't worry about that. We won't need anything difficult. Just some sandwiches, soup, and maybe some tea." She looked over at the three remaining Weasleys. "Besides, I'm sure someone can help find the ingredients."
She noticed that Harry looked first to Ron, who grinned and muttered, "I just eat it, mate, I don't pay attention to where it comes from." Fred remained stony-faced, and Ron gave his younger sister a shove forward. With a roll of her eyes and a shrug, Ginny shot back, "I don't want to hear one WORD about women's work, Ronald Weasley. Honestly."
"Hey, I'll have you remember that I'm the one who volunteered in the first place!" Harry protested, making Ginny grin and follow him into the kitchen.
Running through the catalogue of necessary items to be dealt with in her head, Jenni turned to the two remaining Weasleys. Food - check. Medicine - well, the research that would lead to medicine - check. Clothing - no one had any trouble with that. That left... shelter. There were at least three extra people in a house that had already expanded to hold Charlie, Bill, Harry and Hermione. Now she, Nancy and Noëlle were joining the crowd. Fred still looked as if he would be happier ignoring her so she turned to Ron. "Any idea where all of these excess people are going to sleep tonight?"
Ron raised an eyebrow at Jenni's question and she could see him counting in his head. "Fourteen... whew, there really are a lot of people in this house."
It was more of a statement then a question and Jenni could only nod her head in agreement. She knew that under the current situation no one was going to get much sleep. "Well, since you're much more familiar with the floor plan than I am, maybe you could see what you can do about putting up beds in the rooms that have space?"
Ron seemed about to protest, but then Hermione looked up from her reading to glare at him and he shrugged, heading up the stairs. He was almost to the first landing when he looked back at Fred. "You coming or what?"
Fred rolled his eyes and pointed at his mouth. Jenni grinned at him. "It should wear off in a few minutes anyway. Go ahead."
He narrowed his eyes at her as she gave a quick wink and shooed him up the stairs. "Of course, a brilliant prankster like you surely already knew that," she couldn't help adding, winning a reluctant grin from the boy as he stomped after his younger brother.
Jenni sat down with Hermione to see if she could help organize the research, but found herself distracted and couldn't help getting up to look out of the window to where darkness was falling outside. What had happened? Danger seemed to be following them around lately... Jenni couldn't help but wonder if that was some ironic side effect of getting close to the Weasleys - two of whom, at least, would do so much to help keep them safe. Half-smiling at the paradox, she turned around to see Percy and Noëlle coming down the stairs with loads of books in their arms. They headed straight over to Hermione with them, and Jenni had taken a few steps back across the room when Ron and Fred, both empty-handed, came clomping downstairs.
"All the sheets are dirty," Fred answered her raised eyebrow with a triumphant grin and a rather rusty voice - an after-effect of being silenced magically.
Jenni only smiled back. "That's ok. You two can go ahead and clean them so they'll be ready for tonight."
Ron groaned and elbowed Fred. "I told you we'd have to do it."
"Well, I thought it would work." Fred's voice was a low mutter as the two of them trudged back up the stairs. "Besides, I really think people should make up their OWN beds..."
Jenni's next words brought them to a halt half way up. "What's the matter, boys? Making the beds too girly a job for you?"
Hermione looked up from her book and smirked. Jenni noticed that Ron's face went red at that. Harry and Ginny had stepped out of the kitchen to see what was going on, and both were wearing carefully neutral expressions.
"Well, considering that you probably have MUCH more experience in these matters than we do... it would certainly go faster if you did it." Fred's expression was speculative. "I'm sure I could take over down here."
Jenni just grinned. She knew what would happen if she went upstairs after that remark. She'd come down and find a bunch of overgrown canaries destroying the first floor of the Burrow, all in the interest of cheering people up, of course. So, Fred Weasley thought he was the only one who could lighten the mood with a prank, did he? Well, she wasn't best friends with Nancy Gwin for nothing. With a quick flick of her wand, both boys were wearing bright pink aprons with frills. Across the front, in shiny cursive letters, it read:
MANLY BED DUTY
"There, that should help. Go ahead and get started," she giggled, feeling only a little bad when she saw Ron's aggrieved look. He hadn't really done anything wrong... with another flick she made his apron blue. His purpled face moved a few shades back towards normal and she gave him a wink.
As Ron and Fred gave up and went upstairs, Jenni turned to find Hermione, Harry and Ginny trying to suppress their laughter. Percy just looked smug, but Noëlle had given in and was laughing hysterically. "Percy..." she gasped as she tried to get her breath back, "Je ne crois pas... I don't think the men of your family should wear pink!"
At this, everyone let loose. Percy just rolled his eyes and left the room, but Jenni had the feeling that he was trying to get out of sight so that he could laugh without his siblings knowing about it. Jenni was grinning after him when George came bounding down the stairs.
"How is he, George?" Ginny's smile faded slightly as she stepped forward, her small face pale.
"Not much change... Bill said there wasn't much I could do, so I should go find the rest of you and see if Nancy is around." At Jenni's quick shake of her head, he sighed. "Ok, then. I'd better go tell him. Hey, before I do though, does anyone know where I can sign up for Manly Bed Duties like Fred and Ron? Sounds like fun."
It was a few minutes before everyone finished wiping tears from their faces and managed to control the laughter enough to explain to George what exactly "Manly Bed Duties" entailed. As soon as understand dawned, George switched gears and started drilling Jenni on which transfiguration spell she had used to get that particular effect with the aprons. "It could be useful, you know... prank gift - say a sweater that turns into something else after half an hour of wearing it! The possibilities... We'd sell hundreds!" He was halfway up the stairs when he suddenly turned to Jenni with a serious look. "Do you think I could still get one of those aprons?"
Jenni blinked, momentarily taken by surprise. "Sure, but I get to pick the color."
George seemed unfazed by this news and shrugged. "That's ok. I'm not worried about the color. I just want an apron."
Jenni grinned and with a wave of her wand, George was sporting a pale lavender apron with just as many frills. This did nothing to dampen his spirits and as he lifted the edges of the apron and read the cursive writing his grin broadened. "Excellent! She'll love this." With a wave, he headed upstairs.
Still smiling, Jenni turned to Noëlle. "Did Percy go to owl his father, because-"
Suddenly everyone in the room jumped when a fairly loud explosion accompanied some purple and blue smoke out of the kitchen doorway. Her heart racing, Jenni pulled out her wand - visions of over-dramatic villains who apparated in clouds of flame made her voice sharp as she ordered, "Stay BACK!" and rushed into the other room.
The smoke was so thick that her eyes were watering, but Jenni could tell that there wasn't anything wrong in the kitchen besides some overdone toast by the smell of burnt bread that hung in the air. Relaxing, she put her wand away and turned to tell the others it was safe, almost stumbling over Harry who was directly behind her with Noëlle, Ginny and Hermione crowding behind him. Everyone started talking at once.
"Harry, I TOLD you that thing wasn't a normal toaster!"
"Well, you didn't know what ELSE it was, so I thought we could at least try..."
"Honestly, haven't you two heard of DIRECTIONS?"
"Mon dieu... quelle catastrophe! And we're supposed to eat what they make?" Noëlle's voice was dryly amused as she met Jenni's glare.
"I THOUGHT I told you all to wait outside," she snapped.
"Well, yes, but you're in a house full of Gryffindors - the last thing you should expect here is for someone to listen to orders," Noëlle rolled her eyes in the direction of the smoking toaster-like device
Jenni sighed and tried to take stock of the situation. "Well, I'll help you two clean up... Noëlle, can you track down Percy and ask him if he'd mind helping? Maybe then you can work with Hermione for a few minutes?" The blonde gave her a quick smile and headed out of the smoky kitchen behind Hermione, who looked a rather relieved to not have been drafted for kitchen duty.
Harry and Ginny set to collecting the charred bits of toast from around the room while Jenni opened a window and said a gentle wind spell to clear the air. She was just closing the window when Noëlle came back through the doorway, dragging Percy behind her.
"We'll finish in here, you should go back out and help Hermione," she said, giving Jenni a look that didn't allow for argument. Jenni considered protesting the sudden usurpation of her role as boss of the kitchen, but as she watched the four of them at work, she figured that she really would be one pair of hands too many and headed out to see about the research.
She was halfway across the room when footsteps made her turn to find Bill walking down the stairs looking worn and worried. Noëlle must have seen him coming, she thought with a smile - what a sneaky girl. She took a moment to just look at him, and despite all the worry and frustration and even the anger that still simmered between them, she had to admit that he was one fine specimen. He stopped just before reaching the bottom of the stairs and surveyed the room. His eyes glanced over Hermione still sitting at the table and stopped on Jenni.
"Have you seen Mum?"
Jenni noticed Bill's voice seemed rather detached and strained. Her insides lurched; what if Charlie's condition was getting worse? They couldn't let that happen. Jenni tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. "I think she's still outside talking to Nancy."
Bill nodded but instead of heading back upstairs or out the door to find his mum, he sat on the stairs and let his head fall into his hands. Not knowing what else to do, Jenni went and sat on the steps next to him - she had cooled down enough to know that the anger of earlier was something they could work through. It was still important to her, and she doubted she'd like some of the answers he gave her, but at the moment, getting through this crisis took precedence over her hurt feelings.
"How's Charlie?" she asked softly.
Bill slowly lifted his head from his hands. He didn't look at Jenni but when he finally spoke his voice was strangely calm. "He'll be all right once we figure out what happened. He's just in a lot of pain right now."
Jenni's heart sank. There wasn't a thing she could say to that, so she only reached over and took his hand, sitting quietly while he held on, lost in his own thoughts. When Bill spoke again his voice was lighter and held an edge of curiosity. "Where is everyone else?"
Jenni decided a quick play-by-play was the best route to take. "Ron, Fred and George are getting beds ready, Percy owled your father, and he's helping Harry, Ginny and Noëlle in the kitchen..." she trailed off, wondering if she should mention WHY there were four people in the kitchen right now. That could be embarrassing...
Bill shot Jenni a look of admiration. "You actually got that lot to listen to you? Mum will be impressed."
Jenni felt her face heating up and shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I only had to hex Fred once and no one else gave me any trouble." Her heart lifted when she saw that Bill was smiling.
"You hexed Fred? You do realize that could be very dangerous to your health?"
"In most cases, yes... but I think he and I have come to an understanding of sorts."
Still smiling, Bill reached over and brushed a wisp of hair out of her face. He froze for a moment, staring at her, before his grin faded. His face took on the worried look from before and Jenni felt her stomach clench with despair. She had no idea what to do or say, and there was an aching feeling of hopelessness knowing that short of curing Charlie there was nothing she could do that would take away his worry.
"Jenni, I'm sorry." Bill's voice had broken through the silence and Jenni slowly sat up straighter, lifting her head away from the crooked banister of the stairs she had been leaning against.
"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything." Jenni looked at Bill in confusion.
"For earlier. I thought that Nancy had told you what had happened that night. If I had known... I wouldn't have said anything. It wasn't really my place." Bill stopped talking and let out a deep breath.
Jenni stared at Bill. His brother was upstairs seriously injured and here he was apologizing... well, quasi apologizing. She fought back the annoyance that he didn't recognize what really bothered her - the fact that she wasn't part of the need-to-know team. This was really not the time, and yet, here he was, willing to sit with her and work it out. It took a moment for Jenni to find her voice. "We can talk about that later. Right now we need to concentrate on reversing whatever happened to Charlie."
Bill made a frustrated sound in his throat and reached over to pull her into his arms. Jenni sighed as she let herself snuggle closer to him, giving comfort even while she was taking it. They sat there in silence for a moment and then Jenni asked softly, "What do we know so far?"
Without releasing her, Bill said, "It looks like some sort of paralysis... slow or instantaneous, I don't know."
"Nancy will. She'll be able to tell us that, at least."
Bill nodded into her hair. "Yeah, if it's instantaneous than it's some sort of bastardization of the Petrificus Totalis... and it looks like they managed to cross that with a Crucio."
Jenni swallowed, hard. She remembered how that burned through ever fiber of your body. "And if it's slow?"
"That's the thing... I just can't put a finger on the spell they'd have used. It's possible that it's one I just don't know," he sighed, frustrated and worried.
"Listen, Bill..." Jenni stayed wrapped in his arms but twisted slightly so that she was looking into his startling blue eyes. "Nancy's good. She'll have noticed things that will help, I'm sure of it. Besides, I give her probably another two minutes before it hits her that Charlie needs her help and she comes running back through that door."
Bill pulled Jenni closer to him, tucking her head under his chin. "I hope you're right."
Jenni let herself rest against Bill's chest and listened to the slow rhythmic beating of his heart. "I'm right."
She knew from experience that Nancy's memory was excellent with the trivial - her best friend was a fount of useless knowledge most of the time. But, she also had a knack for remembering when it counted - Jenni couldn't count the number of times Nancy's photographic memory of Snape's classroom BEFORE she'd blown it to bits had eased the task of putting it back together afterwards. She'd bet everything she owned that Nancy had the entire scene of whatever had happened to Charlie frozen in her memory in sharp relief. She'd probably relive it in nightmares for weeks. No, she wouldn't have forgotten an important detail like how the curse had first affected Charlie. Mulling over those thoughts, Jenni's eyes landed on Hermione who was flipping determinedly through a rather large book.
As if feeling Jenni's eyes on her, Hermione turned around looking a bit embarrassed. "I... I overheard you two talking. I'm sorry. But it's given me an idea. I thought that maybe I could find something by cross- referencing petrifying spells with other spells."
Jenni reluctantly pulled away from Bill to see what Hermione had found. "Are you having any luck yet?"
"Well," Hermione pursed her lips together. "There are a lot of cases where it has been done. The tricky part is to determine exactly which two, or in some cases which three spells have been used together."
Jenni sat down next to Hermione. Those boys definitely knew what they were talking about when they suggested Hermione for research. "You can do that? With three spells I mean? I've heard of using two together."
Hermione shrugged. She looked back and forth from Jenni to Bill who had come to stand behind Jenni. "I guess it can be done. So far in the books I've looked in it mentions them briefly. Apparently it's very common in dark arts."
Jenni paled slightly. If Nancy and Charlie had rushed off to Knockturn Alley in search of her then they were very likely to encounter some very dark arts. Biting back her guilt she asked another question. "Have you found anything specific to Charlie's symptoms?"
Hermione shook her head. "Most of the spells I've crossed referenced have a lot of the same symptoms. The only difference is how fast or how slow the paralysis occurred. In other cases the amount of pain varied from very little to extremely painful. We really need to know the exact details. How soon the pain started, if the paralysis was immediate... that sort of thing."
"We can be almost certain that Crucio is part of whatever mix we're talking about." Bill's voice was tight, but he was watching them with interest.
"Yes, but the other spells that might combine with it are so varied that trying to combat them all would be impossible - we have to at least cut out the fast/slow factor..." Hermione looked down at her notes with a troubled expression.
"So basically we're at a standstill until we talk to..." Jenni sighed and slumped back into a chair, sharing a frustrated look with Bill. In the next moment, the door flew open to reveal a very anxious looking Nancy, her eyes wide and determined.
There was a moment of tense silence as everyone turned to look at her. Nancy raced for the stairs, and looked straight up at Bill. "Where is he? Listen - I'm such an idiot... You have to let me tell you what happened!"
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
A/N - Still there? Goood... now you know that your reviews rock and we love to get them. They're like payoff for THREE MONTHS of hard labor... *angel face* So do us ALL a favor and give Jenni something to answer in our next chapter (cause she is SO doing the thank yous and notes... it's VERY MUCH her turn) by clicking on that little button down there. :)