Notes: I WATCHED DEATHLY HALLOWS PART ONE TODAY AND IT WAS FABULOUS! Anyone else watch it? :D I was like all throughout the movie OMG ARTHUR/KIKU/ALFRED/FRANCIS'S LIKE... RIGHT... THERE... XD;;
Part VIII
"Well, well, well… what have we here?" Fenrir Greyback smirked at Alfred and Kiku. "Perhaps… a little Mudblood that I can turn in for some gold…"
Kiku backed up in front of Alfred. "Don't touch him, you foul werewolf," he growled.
Greyback raised an eyebrow and bared his teeth. "Oh, it's the Japanese boy, being reckless despite the fact that his little English lover gave himself up to save him… Well, Honda, Kirkland's not here to save your delicious little throat now, is he?"
Kiku quaked a little. "Shut. Up," he hissed, jabbing his wand in Greyback's direction. "Don't you dare mention Arthur's name."
Greyback advanced; Kiku and Alfred backed away. "Let me fight him," Alfred pleaded. "Please?"
"I don't want you attacked," Kiku replied. "Better me than you."
"What! I'm the hero!" Alfred whined. "Stop blocking me!"
"You'll get bitten if you fight him, so don't be rash about it!" Around them, the afternoon was rapidly turning into night. Greyback let out a bone-chilling howl.
"Fuck, it's full moon tonight!" Alfred swore. Sure enough, the early evening stars were appearing and there was, behind a cloud, a distinctly circular moon.
A shiver – and not the pleasant sort – ran up and down Kiku's spine. "Im-Im-Impedimenta!" he screamed, pointing his wand at Greyback.
The werewolf was thrown against the sign. He fell to the ground and started convulsing, transforming...
"Run!" Alfred screamed as the werewolf's nose elongated into a snout. "Stupefy!" His Stunning Spell missed the werewolf by a hair as it stood up again, ready to give chase.
"Alfred!" screamed Kiku, already running away from the house. The American looked behind him at Greyback and broke out into a sprint as well.
They ran and ran, hearing the howls behind them and fearing for their lives. Finally, they came to the war memorial, where Francis and Madeline were. "Francis, Madeline, we've got to get out of here fast!" Alfred called. "There's a werewolf behind us!"
As if on cue, a howl rent the air. "Chez moi!" Francis yelled, turning on the spot with Madeline. Alfred and Kiku looked at each other, nodded, and they both followed Francis and Madeline into the dark.
"There was a werewolf attack at Godric's Hollow," Nataliya reported, and Arthur nearly dropped the chicken leg he was eating.
"What?" he gasped. "Who?"
"Fenrir Greyback met up with Kiku and Al –" Nataliya began, and Arthur sat bolt upright, the chicken leg landing back on the platter with a loud clatter.
"Kiku and Alfred?" he gasped. "Were they hurt?"
"They Disapparated before he really caught up with them," Nataliya hastily replied, and Arthur let out a sigh of relief, picking up the chicken leg again.
"Anyone else attacked, though?" he asked after a moment of chewing.
"Two little Muggle boys wandering out after dark," the Belarusian reported. "I heard the parents found their mangled corpses in the graveyard..."
Arthur shuddered. "Poor lads," he sighed.
He couldn't help but feel guilty about the thought 'better the little Muggle boys than Kiku or Alfred' currently running through his head.
Ludwig sighed as he looked at the mirror on his desk. When was Voldemort going to visit? Gilbert told him he was...
Maybe Gilbert was mistaken. Maybe Voldemort changed his mind. Ludwig unconsciously felt for his wand in his trouser pocket, feeling safer as soon as he had touched it.
He paced around the rug, taking care to stick to the edges. Feliciano had owled him the other day, asking him if he was going to visit him in Italy. He had told his boyfriend that he didn't know when he'd come to visit, that he needed to tend to some business... of course Feliciano had taken it all in stride but now Ludwig was seriously considering just setting out for Feliciano and Lovino's villa in Tuscany.
Yet he couldn't leave the Muggle landlady to her fate if Voldemort did come.
Bonnefois Villa welcomed them once again. Kiku grudgingly accepted the thought that it was starting to feel like his sanctuary.
"We'll have to go into hiding," Francis said decisively as they walked up the path to his house. "Even though we have pretty much every single defensive spell on these grounds, we still haven't cast the Fidelius Charm."
"Why would we need to?" Alfred asked. "I mean you've got that key thing..."
"There's been a Taboo placed on You-Know-Who's name," Madeline replied, and Francis nodded. "We heard from the Order after Kingsley used it and the Death Eaters came mere seconds after. The only thing that seems to prevent Death Eaters from entering any dwelling is the Fidelius Charm because the Secret-Keeper has to tell you the location for you to find it."
"So who's going to be the Secret-Keeper?" Alfred asked eagerly.
"Moi," Francis replied, and Kiku raised an eyebrow. He didn't comment, though – it was Francis's house, after all, and he had a right to protect it.
"When are we casting the spell?" Kiku asked.
"As soon as possible," Madeline said immediately. Obviously, thought Kiku as he and Alfred shot a look at each other, they had discussed this prior to their escape from Greyback.
"You know the incantations, right?" Alfred asked eagerly.
Francis nodded. "I don't quite remember it right now, but I definitely know the theory and I took notes on it last year in class when Flitwick covered them. Don't you remember? Arthur passed out in the middle of that class."
Kiku twitched slightly, looking away.
Francis chuckled and unlocked the door to the house.
"Ludwig, Ludwig, wie geht es dir?" asked the Muggle landlady at dinner. She looked at him concernedly. "You seem so quiet... well, more quiet than usual."
"I am fine, Frau Althaus," he replied stiffly, but she didn't seem to be convinced. Ludwig internally cursed his inability to mask away his feelings of anything other than anger.
"Ludwig, you know you can always tell me what's on your mind," Frau Althaus, whose name was Gisela, said kindly. Her two children, Hulda and Klaus, smiled and nodded from their places across the table.
"Ja, Herr Beilschmidt, we're friends, aren't we?" Hulda asked cheerfully. Her innocence dimly reminded Ludwig of Feliciano; he suddenly found great interest in piling his potatoes into a neat circle and stabbing them to death.
"Ja," he said, albeit hesitantly. They were so friendly and kind to him; it wrenched his heart to know that their lives were so quickly ending because of Lord Voldemort...
Don't be so certain, he reminded himself. Maybe you will be able to protect them.
But he didn't have a plan... Ludwig always believed in plans. But all he had for a plan this time around was just to protect Gisela and her children, no matter what the price was.
That was a noble plan, but it wasn't strategic. And yet, dying for Gisela, Hulda, and Klaus was the least he could do to repay all of their hospitality.
Gisela was laughing at something Hulda had said. Ludwig watched them, a tear forming in the corner of one blue eye. Did they know that their time here was now numbered? He wanted to tell them. But that would break the Statute of Secrecy, and Ludwig hated breaking rules.
Lord Voldemort will be breaking that whenever he comes to this house, a little voice reminded him. By killing Gisela and what she had left of her family, he would be flouting the Statute along with committing murder.
"Herr Beilschmidt, are you crying?" Hulda was looking at him, once again reminding him of Feliciano at his most beautiful. Ludwig stubbornly shook his head and wiped away his tears.
"Nein," he mumbled. "I shouldn't be."
"Why not?" Oh, how Ludwig hated the traitorous tears that sprang up at that question! "Is it because of –?"
There was a knock at the door. Ludwig stiffened.
"I'll get the door," he muttered, moving to get out of his seat.
"Nein, nein, Ludwig," Gisela said firmly. "You must sit and eat your dinner. I'll go and answer it."
"Frau Althaus –" Ludwig began to say, but it was to no avail. She was already heading down the darkened entryway.
Ludwig muttered a few German curses out of the earshot of the children as he got out of his chair and left the room.
"Is Herr Beilschmidt expecting anyone?" Klaus called after him as he entered the entryway. "Is it the Italienisch?"
Feliciano Vargas had just sat down to a delicious meal of penne pasta smothered in carbonara sauce when there was a knock on the door.
"I'll go get the door, fratello!" he exclaimed to his brother Lovino, almost bouncing with excitement. "Maybe it's Luddy!"
Lovino frowned. "Sì, sì, fratello. Just keep the noise level down, okay?" Next to him, Mabel Clouseau, Feliciano and Lovino's half-sister, and her cousin Aurélie Bonnefois giggled.
Feliciano paid them no heed, happily bouncing over to answer the door. There was a Beilschmidt standing on the other side of the door, but it wasn't the one Feliciano was expecting.
"Feliciano, my brother's in trouble," Gilbert said, hastily stepping into the house and warily looking behind him as he did. "I just escaped from the Dark Lord's unawesome manor. He's left for Germany – for Ludwig's house!"
"Veeeee!" screamed Feliciano, flailing wildly. "Luddy is in trouble? Veeee, what do I do?"
"Calm down, fratello!" Lovino yelled from the kitchen.
"But Lovi!" Feliciano exclaimed, turning in the direction of the kitchen. "Luddy's in trouble!"
"Ja, he is! Feliciano, you have to go help him!" Gilbert looked near hysterics as well, something that Feliciano had never seen before.
"I have to help Luddy? But how?" the Italian cried in dismay. "Will you come along with me, ve?"
"If I go, the Dark Lord will know I betrayed him and that would not be awesome at all!" Gilbert seized Feliciano by the shoulders. "You have to go, Feliciano!"
The Italian trembled. Everyone knew he was weak, didn't they? But he had to try for Ludwig, because otherwise... he shuddered at the thought. The Dark Lord was so scary!
"Bitte?" pleaded Gilbert. "I know it's unawesome of me to plead, but bitte, Feliciano? Just... check to make sure he's awesome, okay?"
"...S-sì..." Feliciano said after a moment, his voice weak. "But I need to eat my pasta first..."
"Gregorovitch?" a high cold voice demanded, sharply reminding Ludwig of a certain Chancellor of Germany. "I want Gregorovitch."
Gisela screamed, the sound sending Ludwig's heart jumping into his throat.
"Er wohnt hier nicht mehr!" she cried. "He doesn't live here anymore! I don't know him!"
"Where is Gregorovitch?" Lord Voldemort repeated, stepping over the threshold.
"Mama!" Hulda cried, as she and Klaus ran into the hallway. "Don't kill mama!"
"Das weiβ ich nicht! He moved! I don't know where or who he is!" Gisela screamed at the same time. "I know nothing! Please, have mercy!"
Lord Voldemort was not known for his mercy. He took out his wand, raising it.
"Stupefy!" Ludwig yelled, jumping out of the shadows. But Voldemort merely brushed it aside.
"Avada Kedavra!" he hissed. Ludwig dodged the Killing Curse – it hit Hulda.
Klaus screamed. "Hulda!" Gisela gave a scream as well, running towards her children. Ludwig gasped. Had he... had he really let a little girl die like that?
He conjured a straight line of fire, but Voldemort turned it into a snake. Gisela was sobbing loudly for her daughter. Guilt clouded Ludwig's mind as he turned the snake into a sword flying through the air. The sword became a fiery lasso, which became a river that Voldemort dried up with a flick of his wand.
Ludwig bit his lip, standing up straight and tall even as Voldemort sent another Killing Curse straight for his heart.
Arthur looked up from the Daily Prophet. "Snape, headmaster of Hogwarts?" he demanded.
Nataliya nodded. Arthur crumpled up the newspaper, shaking his head and muttering a long string of curses under his breath.
"I don't think Alfred will like the news any more than you," she remarked.
"That's an understatement," Arthur snapped. "Snape killed Dumbledore!"
"A fact that you have restated to me ad nauseam," Nataliya replied in a very unamused tone.
"Well, I'm sorry but it's the bleedin' truth!" Arthur grumbled.
There was a long period of silence.
"What's Vol – er, You-Know-Who up to?" Arthur asked after a moment.
"He's in Germany right now," Nataliya replied. "Gilbert told me before he..."
"Before...?" Arthur demanded, raising both eyebrows.
Nataliya sighed. "He's escaped from here. He's going to go into hiding in Italy or Hungary..."
"Is there a way to escape this cellar?" Arthur asked.
"No, the cellar's escape proof. The main part of the house, however, is a bit different – although the Death Eaters are tracking the Warsaw Pact's movements. Gilbert told Bellatrix – she's been left in command while the Dark Lord is gone – that he's gone to follow a lead on the Order of the Phoenix in Italy."
"That doesn't seem to be a very good excuse..."
"Well, Feliciano and Lovino live in Italy, don't they?" Nataliya asked, and Arthur didn't bother answering her.
Ludwig woke up in his room. For a moment, he vaguely wondered if it had all been a dream, and then he realised that he had apparently gone to bed in his normal clothes. Oh no, he'd have to iron them out again before he could wear them in public...
"Ve, ve, Ludwig, you're awake!" a voice exclaimed – a voice that Ludwig had longed to hear since the wedding fiasco.
"Feliciano!" he exclaimed, letting his emotions seep into his voice for once as the exuberant Italian engulfed him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Taking care of you, Ludwig! You were out for days! I thought you were dead!" Feliciano nuzzled Ludwig's neck, causing the German to blush profusely. "You weren't dead, were you? Oh silly me, of course not! You wouldn't be talking to me right now! I tried making you pasta, but all I found were potatoes and wursts! Luddy, you really need to stock up on your groceries –" He was cut off by Ludwig's unexpected kiss.
The German blushed again and leaned away from Feliciano after a moment. "W-where's Gisela?" he asked after a moment. "Where's Klaus? Hulda?"
Feliciano tilted his head to the side. "Who?" he asked, confusion clouding his face.
"They're not dead, are they?" Ludwig pleaded, springing to his feet and dashing out of his room.
"Ludwig, wait!" Feliciano cried. "Wait for me!"
Ludwig rushed into the one of the other bedrooms in the house, the one that belonged to Klaus and Hulda. He gave a cry of dismay when he saw them, lying on their beds with their features frozen in shocked expressions. Grimly expecting the same of Gisela, he ran to the master bedroom and wrenched the door open.
Gisela's corpse lay on her bed as well, the echoes of her last scream etched on her matronly face.
Ludwig fell to his knees before her bed, feeling pain and grief in equal measure. "Nein," he hissed, feeling hot tears of anguish well up. "Nein..."
"Luddy?" Feliciano whispered. There were footsteps and the Italian was embracing him, nuzzling against him in an attempt to comfort the grieving German. "Luddy, are they dead?"
"Ja, Feliciano, and it's all my fault," Ludwig whispered, bowing his head.