THE LAST SUPPER
Aurora's House
Venice, Italy
November 26th
2022 A.D.
Although Athena had be around Teddy before, it nevertheless caused people to worry when it was announced that he was coming to Aurora's house. Albus and Teddy weren't exactly best friends but given everything that was happening, it was more than easy for him to tolerate Teddy's presence. Athena was a different matter.
She had only been around him when the army were attacking Hogwarts and her instincts to survive had completely overtaken anything else. Now she would have to be around him in a non-combative environment and it was almost certain that his smell would instantly offend her and may cause her to get aggressive. It was for this reason that Albus was staying very close to her.
But, yet again, Athena surprised everyone. Albus and Lincoln easily picked up on her body language. She didn't like Teddy in the slightest, not because of anything he had done but simply because he was stronger than a human and there for more of a threat. But, amazingly, she didn't show any signs of being hostile towards him. It obviously took her quite a bit of effort but she was nevertheless, quite civil and pleasant.
Then again, she had been acting like that for a while now. She had a sort of strained kindness about her, like she was doing her best to get people to like her even though she hated not being who she was deep down. Draco's confession had clearly stirred something loose inside her. Her attitude towards Albus had been affected as well. She was very distant and stand-offish with him when others where around but when they were alone, she would flash him gentle smiles and often stare uncontrollably.
She seemed to realizes that even though she had tremendous power, it was her choices that made all the difference in the world...just as the Prophecy had stated.
Unfortunately, Albus's strange dreams about her persisted. They didn't always include his brother, now they sometimes included Scorpius and Lincoln as well. And every time she would show even the slightest of affection towards them, Albus would feel his anger bubble to the surface.
She was beautiful in every way except her mind. That, he just didn't understand but he refused to believe that he was developing feelings for her. He loved Aurora and always would. Nothing in this world could ever stop him from loving her.
Of course, his personal feelings, like everyone else's, were pushed to the side for the moment. There were far more pressing issues at stake, including the continued training of his friends and family. He needed them to be ready and since the threat had been elevated so much since they last practiced, it was only fitting that they up the training as well.
Albus floated a huge metal box that barely fit through the door frames of Aurora's house into the living room and set it down in the middle of the carpet. It looked like a giant green sarcophagus. Everyone gathered around to see what he had brought. Lynx and Violet stood on opposite ends of the room, throwing the occasional ugly glare at each other.
It was a shame but both of them were way too stubborn to simply admit that they might be wrong and ask for an apology. They stopped shooting nasty looks at each other long enough to watch Albus.
"Christmas comes early for you lot this year." he stated as he popped the locks on the sides of the crate. "These little beauties aren't even available to the military yet but will become standard issue as soon as they cough up the cash."
He lifted the lid on the crate, reached in and came out with a very slick looking rifle. It had a much bigger front end than most rifles and a large carry bar across the top. It also had a clear digital read out display just above the trigger.
"This is the M40A1 phase plasma pulse rifle. Ten millimeter armor piecing rounds, thirty millimeter underhand pump action grenade launcher, digital display, auto cooling and it's based on a Glock loading shaft so it's water tight and will never jam. It can pump off twelve hundred rounds a minute but unfortunate you only get sixty in the clip. It's made of light weight carbon porcelain alloy but don't let that fool you because this thing has enough kick to break your collar bone if you hold it wrong. Compliments of a very friendly Russian arms dealer that really likes money."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and even Draco looked very worried at what Albus was about to propose. The rest of them on the other, excluding Rose who looked a bit cautious, seemed pretty thrilled that they were about to move into the big leagues of fighting and defending.
"I've also got reinforced titanium plated combat Armour for you lot. Basically, it's time you lot looked and acted like soldiers." Albus stated. He wasn't oblivious to the looks that the parents were shooting him but as usual, they didn't faze him at all. "Now Lincoln is going to be teaching you how to move, respond and act like a soldier. He'll also take you through how to use these new rifles -"
"No!" Hermione shot out loudly. "No! I've seen what those kinds of weapons can do and I will not allow my children to go near them!" she sounded more scared than angry.
The room was silent and only Albus and Hermione were standing in the middle. He cocked his head and gave that well know and well fear sadistic grin. It was time to educate her.
Albus suddenly snapped his hand open and at the same time, every single wand in the room shot out of it's keepers holster or hand and hit the roof, then fell to the ground.
Harry, Ron, Ginny and Teddy were shoved backwards by an invisible force and practically nailed to the wall by their waists. They struggled with their arms and legs flying all over the place but couldn't break free. Hermione had been left in the middle of the room, disarmed and alone.
"Amelia, beat her until she gets the point." Albus commanded.
Amelia seemed to hesitate for a second but then simply shrugged and started walking towards the defenseless Minister.
"Albus!" Ginny shrieked.
"Albus don't!" Teddy yelled.
"What are you doing?!" Harry cried.
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Ron's scream was the loudest.
"Ahh, Ron you still care, isn't that sweet," Albus growled, ignoring the objections of his family. "Rip off one of her arms, then she might get the point!"
Amelia shrugged again. She suddenly grabbed Hermione by her left wrist and place her free hand against her left shoulder, ready to pull it out of her socket. "Sorry about this honey." she smiled.
The was a loud chink of metal and everyone, include Albus and Amelia had frozen.
"Let go of my mum, Amelia!" Hugo hissed with the M40A1 pointed directly at her head. He was breathing like a swell of waves and had sweat dripping from his head but he wasn't backing down. Rose was stood right behind him looking just as scared but no less determined.
Amelia turned to look behind her and as soon as she saw the sight she smiled and turned to Albus. "I'm really starting to like him." she grinned.
Albus grinned victoriously. She slowly moved between Hugo's rifle and Amelia's head. He very carefully took the rifle away from Hugo as Amelia released Hermione, still smiling.
"Well done, Hugo. But you still got the safety on." Albus said happily. He flicked the safety off and pulled the trigger. The bang was so loud that it made that horrible ringing sound overtake everyone's ears. Luckily the barrel had been aimed at the roof.
"Hey! Don't shoot my ceiling!" Aurora yelled.
"I'm sorry sweetie." Albus said instantly.
He pressed the clip release then cocked the loader allowing the live round that was chambered to fly out into the air. He caught it easily and then tossed the emptied weapon back to Hugo. Even now, he was still smiling as everyone looked on in shock.
"Anyone tell me what just happened?" Albus asked as he released his hold on the others. No one answered. They were either too shocked or confused to say anything. "Hugo was unarmed and facing a much more powerful enemy and he still went for the nearest thing at hand, which happened to be an M40A1 and tried to stop someone from getting hurt."
Albus flicked his fingers and Harry's Phoenix core wand shot into his hand. "This little piece of wood is not your life! It's not your only weapon and you cannot rely on it save you all the time!" he tossed the wand back to Harry. "When Alexander the Great was conquering the middle east, his Macedonian warriors were taught to never stop fighting unless ordered to. If they lost their spears, they use their swords, if they lost their swords, they use their daggers, if they lost their daggers, they used their shields, if they lost their shields, they picked up a rock from the floor and used it to crack the skulls of the enemy! And if that rock happened to break, they pick up a severed head and start using that!" he looked at each and every person in the room. "the moral of the story is that you never give up! You loose your weapon, find something else! That is why we are going to teach you how to use a gun. You might loose your wand and never get it back...what are you going to do then?"
Albus waited for someone to say something but he already knew they wouldn't. His point, however brutal was true.
"Now, Lincoln and Amelia are going to train you lot how to use these weapons. You will do what they say when they say it or they will make you regret it." Albus looked over his shoulder. "They're all yours."
Just as everyone broke their silence and started to talk about the Muggle weapons training that was on the way, Albus took Lincoln aside and spoke to him quietly.
"Listen, if something goes bad, we're gonna need a means of evacuation. Something inconspicuous that can take a lot of people, defiantly non-magical. Think you could sort something like that out?"
Lincoln nodded. "I'll talk to Vlad, I'm sure he can get us something."
"Good...oh and Lincoln, don't take it easy on any of them." Albus grinned.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll make em hate me." he smiled.
Lincoln walked back over to the group while Albus looked towards his peers. Ron was actually staying quite close to Hermione taking a very silent protectors roles while Harry and Ginny simply exchanged worried looks.
"Sorry about that Hermione, but you know what they say; The most important lessons are learned the hard way." Albus smiled before catching the look on his fathers face. "You don't approve?"
"Well, it really doesn't matter what I think does it, Albus?" Harry said calmly.
"You may not like what I'm doing but I think you need to understand that if the shit hits the fan which it will, this stuff might save their lives!" Albus barked.
"That's funny, I though that guns were just used to kill people." Harry growled.
He marched off over towards the small balcony behind the large double windows of the living room. Albus waited a second wondering how to handle this situation before following him out.
"Let's see...Voldemort returned on June twenty forth, nineteen ninety four, died May first, nineteen ninety eight, thats...one thousand four hundred and seven days, give or take...take away the sixty seven percent fatality rate due to natural circumstances...I'd say about...four million people died during that time in Africa alone. World wide, maybe twenty five million. And not one of them ever came into contact with a Witch or Wizard...kinda puts things in perspective doesn't it." Albus said conversationally.
"I'm sorry, what's your point?"
"My point is...no matter how much good you do, there will always be evil. Not matter how many lives you save, people will always die. And no matter how good your intentions are, in war, if you can't defend yourself, you will get killed." it was so strange to both of them, having their roles of mentor and student reversed all over again but Albus knew what he was talking about. "Yes, guns kill people but they also kill the enemy. In war time, learning to kill will keep you alive. And that is exactly what time it is."
Harry didn't speak. He simply stared out into the distance with a strange sadness on his face. For some reason, that sadness hit Albus hard. He felt the need the truly justify himself. To let his father know that this wasn't some mad quest for revenge, that this was to save the people he loved.
"I know you never wanted this for any of them...but it's here now. I can't stop it. And when it starts, would you rather have them prepared...or ignorant?"
Harry actually grinned. "This is your show Albus, not mine, my time is over. And like you said, this is unavoidable. I fought my heart out, I died, to make sure that none of you would have to go though this kind of thing...but here it is, all over again...so, I've not only failed as a father and a husband...but I've also failed as a hero too."
Albus felt a sting of guilt move through him. He was to blame for his fathers thoughts.
"You haven't failed. You've just been put on the ropes a lot lately."
"The ropes?" Harry asked sounding a little confused.
"I thought you grew up in the Muggle world? Boxing? You don't know what that is?"
"I know what boxing is. Why am I not surprised that you know what it is?"
"Oh, it was part of the implant or at least somebodies hobby that got filtered in with the other memories." Albus explained. "Anyway, the saying they have is; Every body's got a plan until they get hit and I think you've just been hit. Now...you can either stay down on the deck or you can get up and start swinging."
Harry chuckled. "Well, I've never been known for quitting."
"Good. Don't." Albus smiled. "I'm not trying to mold them into...mini-Colossuses-sis-si-sus...okay, I'm not sure of the plural on that but, the point is...I may not be around to protect these people when they truly need it so all I can hope is to make them smart enough and strong enough to protect themselves." he said honestly. "You think I want anymore like me?! One's too many!"
"Really? I thought you were suppose to be the big hero of the world?" Harry smiled in an almost Dumbledore like way.
"Hero," Albus snorted. "I'm a lot closer to being a monster than a hero. I took this so much further than I ever wanted to. I never want this..." his voice had shallowed and he was now imitating Harry, looking into the distance, the future.
"The world looks to you for strength, Albus."
"And what can I give them? The knowledge of an impending war...one that I'm not even sure I can win! I've ripped these people out of the lives that they deserved and pulled them into the nightmare that surrounds me! I've killed...more people than I even want to think about...and now...I'm suppose to be a father as well?!" he sounded desperate. Like he was finally starting to crack under the pressure of it all. "God help my child...it's in for a world of pain!"
He actually seemed to have tears forming inside his eyelids. Harry wasn't a stranger to this. Remus Lupin had acted the exact same way, just as Draco has confessed to feeling only a few days ago. Fathers fearing for the lives of their children because of their own misdeeds. Misdeeds that may one day find a way to punish the innocent child.
And even now, Harry still couldn't stand it. "Don't talk like that."
"Why not?! It's the truth! What kind of a life will that poor baby have?! It won't need to be read bedtime stories...not when it can just hear about some more horrible shite that I've done on CNN! It'll learn to count by tallying up the bodies that I've created!"
Harry actually looked scared. His son was breaking down in front of him. The Colossus was suppose to be the driving strength of the world at the moment. As long as they had him, they were tough. Aurora, Scorpius, Rose, James, Hugo, Lily, everyone, what would they think, to see him like this?
"I can't do this! I should have made her get rid of it!" Albus was looking towards the heavens, begging for some kind of support. "I'm not ready for this!"
WHACK!
The punch had come so hard and fast that he never had a chance to raise a shield. He looked around to see his father breathing hard with his fist still clenched.
Albus's imitate response was anger. He prepared to smash the crap out of Harry but before he could land a blow, Harry had latched his arms around his son and hugged him tightly. He moved close to Albus's ear and began to whisper.
"You don't get a choice anymore Albus! You gave up the right to think about yourself the moment you became the Colossus! The moment you got Aurora pregnant!" Albus didn't like what he was hear, mainly because it was the truth. "No matter how bad your life gets, no matter what you loose, no matter what you're afraid of, you need to carry on! It's not enough to simply get them ready to protect themselves, you have to be there, fighting by their sides!"
Albus felt himself caving in and breaking apart from the inside out. His body wash being washed with ever emotion that he had struggled to keep locked away.
"They look at you...and they see hope! You can't take that away from them! Whatever life your child has in store...as long as it is loved, it will be alright! We need you to stay strong! No matter what!"
Albus suddenly clutched hold of his father and pulled him in tight and then he wept.
He cried for everything that he should have cried about long ago. Every horrible thing that had happened to him, every horrible thing that he'd done, every horrible thing that lay in store for him, he cried about.
"I'm sorry...I am so sorry..." he yelled, loud enough for everyone else to finally notice. "God, I'm so sorry!"
The pain and sadness and despair simply wouldn't stop. He squeezed Harry so hard that he could have broken his ribs. His tears flooded over his shoulder almost as if it were pouring with rain.
Then Ginny was there. She wrapped her arms around both Albus and Harry and held them both just a tightly.
"I'm so sorry!" Albus cried over and over again even though he knew it would never be enough.
"It's all right...I love son." Harry whispered but it only caused more tears to pour out of Albus's eyes.
Ginny cried too but only half of the tears were shed in sadness. They others were joy. She was so grateful and happy to know that her son was still in there somewhere. Her innocent, gentle, kind and loving little boy was locked away, deep down inside that all powerful, driven machine called Colossus.
Behind them, Aurora had tears falling down her cheeks. She wanted to join them, to tell Albus how much she loved him but this was all about family at the moment. Next to her, Hermione looked just as bad, only she had Ron's hand to squeeze tightly.
Rose was holding onto Scorpius for dear life while everyone else looked almost glade at the sight of Albus's breakdown. He was the strongest, most powerful person on earth but deep down, he was just a teenager. And the fact that he was just as scared as the rest of them seemed to let them know that no matter what, he was still the Albus that they all knew and loved.
Behind the rest of the group, Athena stood. Pale white and trying so hard to keep her tears back but failing. She looked at them as saw everything that she'd ever wanted. A loving family, loyal friends and a perfect partner. All of which she would never have.
Aurora's House
Venice, Italy
December 25th
2022 A.D.
During the next few weeks, Lincoln made good on his statement. In fact, after about three days everyone (except Hugo) was mumbling swear words under their breath which were all directed towards him. He was pushing them harder than any teacher at Hogwarts ever had. It was like training for Quidditch, seventeen hours a day! He taught them how to move, how to cover each other, how to check the surroundings and how to 'Flash and Clear' a room, even though they didn't use real Flash Bang Grenades.
He taught them hand to hand techniques and weapons handling. They did target practice in the bottom floors of Aurora's house (after the room had been sound proofed) and would then practice reloading within a time limit. But the entire time, he would scrutinies them for any mistake. Failing to check a corner, give a correct hand signal or even moving too slowly would result in a shock to the ass which Amelia would administer.
All of the training was carried out in full combat armor that weight about as much as a extra large cauldron. The only pep talk they got was; "Maybe you'll actually put some muscle on."
All the time, Lynx and Violet would stay as far away from each other as possible. Unfortunately, in a confined house, that wasn't easy. Especially since both would run to Aurora for comfort. She had become a sort of liaison between the two whist trying to keep her own hormones under control. It wasn't easy. She had broken down into tears on more than one occasion, sometimes for serious reason while others were for just plan silly things like not being able to get a can opener to work.
Nobody spoke about Albus's emotional release and it was doubtful he would talk about it even if they did. He had reverted back to being the all knowing, no flinching leader of the pack but was now much more affectionate towards his parents. On top of that, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione seemed to have forgiven each other for their mistakes.
They were often caught giving each other wild grins and suggestive looks and the moaning during the night (that was only picked up by the Anomalies in the house) was a pretty big give away that they had gotten back together. One thing that had given Hugo a lot of displeasure was finding out just how loud his mother was when being intimate with Ron.
Of course, he had joined in with the many crude jokes that Draco had said the next day. With Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny reunited, Lynx and Violet seemed to almost want to try the same but yet again, their stubborn sides refused to let them get to that point.
Athena remained the same way she had recently, ever more cheerful and helpful and friendly but with a strange distance between herself and everyone else. Like there was part of herself that she was keeping locked up. She only ever seemed to truly relax around Albus but she also seemed to be getting more friendly with James.
This left a bad taste in Albus's mouth. He was sure that it wasn't jealously. He simply didn't want Athena to become yet another one of his brother conquests which would then be left heart broken later on. He wanted to warn her about his brothers previous antics so that at least she had a heads up but every time he tried he couldn't seem to find the right words.
Eventually someone mentioned Christmas and that caused a bit of trouble. Given that it was deemed too dangerous for any of them to simply leave and go on a shopping spree or start sending out Christmas cards from the secret location they were living at. After a lot of moaning, they agreed that presents would be skipped this year simply because if they did have to leave suddenly, they wouldn't be able to take any of them with them.
However, they came to a compromise in which they would defiantly be having Christmas dinner together. Almost as if they were one big family. After a lot of security talk, they had managed to get Scorpius's mother to the house by using the Vanishing Cabinet in the Hogs Head. They had also 'borrowed' quite a few bits and pieces from Hogwarts to make it a proper meal.
And that's where they sat.
The dining table had been enlarged and covered with a simple white table cloth. On top was a huge golden Christmas turkey with all the trimmings. There were potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, bread sauce, steamed vegetables and even pig'n'blanket. Aurora, Rose, Hermione and oddly enough Draco had done all the cooking. He seemed to have developed a strange little hobby when it came to cooking. But when asked about it, he simply described it as being very similar to surgery which usually stopped the conversation dead.
Although they weren't able to get a hold of a Christmas tree, they had managed to get some nice decorations and crackers for the table.
For Albus it felt strange. They all seemed to simply forget the fact that war was on the horizon but in an odd way, he was glad. He didn't want to put anymore fear into them than was necessary to get them to survive and they did deserve some peace and happiness together. It was almost a jolly occasion. They had been seated in the traditional, man-woman way just like a normal Christmas at the Burrow.
Just as Draco was carving the Turkey (in a very surgical way) Aurora's phone started ringing. Although everyone moaned for Albus to simply ignore it, he nevertheless reached out his hand causing the phone to shoot through the air and into his palm.
"Yes?"
"Hey, merry Clhristmas! You ask for tlransport, I get to tlransport! I send the details to Lincoln." the think Russian accent could only belong to Albus's favorite arms dealer.
"Well, merry Christmas to you to Vlad. Hope it wasn't too much trouble for you." Albus laughed.
"Hell yes, it was trouble! You have no idea what I went through to steal this for you but you lucky, you my favorite customer so I get for you!" he sounded so friendly over the phone, it was difficult to remember that he was wanted by customs for weapons trafficking. "my countlry men are going to be pissed!"
"Well, if you've checked your off shore accounts, you'll see I put a little extra in there for you. Consider it a Christmas present."
"Oh, they will get over it. God bless you my friend! But I can't help but wonder...what will you ask of me next? A clruise missile?"
"Why, you got one?" Albus chuckled.
"Call me in a few days." he said in all seriousness. "Enjoy the chicken, Albus."
"We're having turkey. Dosvidanya."
"Dosvidanya." Vlad put down the phone just as a Russian woman started yelling in the background.
Albus laughed as he put the phone away.
"That was Vlad. He's sending you some details about the transport."
Lincoln nodded and quickly got up to go to his room and retrieve his phone.
"What transport?" Aurora asked.
"Just some insurance sweetie, don't worry." Albus said, giving her a little peck on the cheek.
"We expecting to leave in a hurry?" Athena asked. She had become very good at ignoring Albus's affections towards Aurora.
"Maybe. I like to be prepared for everything." he said simply.
"So which one of these crackers contains Amelia because I'm pullin' that one to myself." Hugo said loudly.
"You do realize that she's sitting next to you, Hugo?" Bob One asked.
"Yeah, but she's got cloths on, the naked version should be in here somewhere." he said, feeling the weight of the crackers as if he was actually expecting a naked copy of Amelia to drop out of one of them.
"No need to ask what you want for Christmas then." Amelia smirked.
"I already told you that!"
"Yeah, well, that was before you pointed a gun at my head." Amelia said simply.
"You were about to kill me mum!" he objected.
"Was I?" Amelia grinned. She was never going to hurt Hermione.
"That's not fair!"
"Well, we'll get have to see how naughty or nice you've been lately, Hugo." she winked at him seductively.
"Naughty." Bob One stated.
"Very naughty." Bob Two added.
"Oi!"
Aurora's phone rang again.
"Ah! Doesn't anybody relax on Christmas anymore?!" Scorpius whined.
Albus answered impatiently. "What?"
"Al, it's Wells."
Albus stood up from the table and walked away trying to make the phone call a little more private but everyone could still here. "What's up?" he asked.
"This morning we recovered a body in shipping docks at Dover. It was hollowed out, organs were liquefied, bones were like glass, the skin was like jelly. It had only been there a few hours." he said gravely.
Albus's eyes widened.
"It's here."