DISCLAIMER DON'T OWN POTTER
Anyways, so I think for the next part I'll just use longer chapters and longer spacing between until my exam season is up. My exams are a little over a month away, so school's getting my attention lately. This chapter is pretty depressing, and though I promised the Trials and stuff, it worked better this way in my head.
As well, about Hermione, I will have her in the story, but much later. She make a few cameo appearances as like a side character, well, actually, just one, in the middle, but I won't reveal much. It's not concrete yet so I can't promise, but I can tell you that she isn't due to show up until they go to Hogwarts, which is a long ways away. Enjoy the chapter!
PS: I made some edits to the part of the chapter that Trilonias pointed out were wrong, and also went back and re-explained the DNA concept.
Everything Turns to Smoke
Peter couldn't believe it. He had been relocated to a smaller Lestrange vacation home, given a thousand galleons and told to enjoy the rest of his life on the run by Malfoy. As if that wasn't horrible enough, Malfoy had shoved all the kidnapped children into his arms and sent him off. He wanted to scream in anger and frustration. The only upside was the plan he'd come up with. Should it work, then Sirius and Remus would never come after him.
That was his biggest concern at the moment. If Sirius and Remus ever got a hold of him, he shuddered at the possibility. They'd kill him. Without a doubt, he knew they'd kill him without mercy. And deep down, he was afraid of death. He couldn't die. Not yet. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was going to make it out of this.
"Sir, Aurors are barging the gates" said Dobby nervously.
"WHAT? I thought I told you to lock them!" hissed Peter angrily.
"I is sorry, sir," said Dobby, quaking in his boots.
"Damn it, they're early, check to make sure everything is set," said Peter, turning on his heels.
"This is it boys, we're going to get the son of a bitch today," growled Alastor to the four Aurors behind him, including his two personal trainees, Rufus Scrimgeour and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
After working with the two for months on this case, he was going to be sorry to see them go. Rufus had the strict ethics and understanding of human nature and politics that made him priceless. He handled people like the press with ease and set up a good front for the public. He had a knack for capturing the bigger picture, though a bit dim in the sense of the details. If anything, he kept away idiots from this precious, high-profile case. And he was good on the scene as well. Kingsley was insightful and had a way with dealing with the victims of a large crisis that drew folks to him. He was patient and though less at ease with dealing with the press, he knew how to spot things that were basic in human nature, things any other person would miss. He needed work with dealing with crowds, and training to notice the larger picture, but like Rufus, he held potential. Yes, Alastor would be sorry to see them go.
"Right sir," said Rufus with a nod.
"Stop!" squeaked a voice at the top of the stairs. All four men turned to see Peter Pettigrew, trembling as he pointed his wand at them. Too easy.
"It's over Pettigrew, stand down," growled Alastor, signaling the boys to raise their wands with him.
"Reducto!" hissed Pettigrew, blasting the ground in front of Alastor's feet.
"Open fire!" roared Alastor, sending a stunner up towards Pettigrew.
"Idiot," snorted one of the Aurors, sending a Blasting Hex at Pettigrew.
"Don't kill him, capture, we need to find the kids," roared Rufus to the group.
"Hold on a sec," said Kingsley, loudly, his eyes wide.
Alastor's own eyes widened in shock. Pettigrew was summoning large flames from his wand, and not just any flames, Fiendfyre. The idiot!
"Move back!" ordered Alastor, but it was moot at this point. The Aurors fell back as a large flaming chimaera descended upon the ground.
"Does he have control over it?" asked Rufus as they exited out the door, the flames tearing away at ancient tapestries. Behind them, a large flaming beam fell from the roof onto a small table. A flaming Peruvian Vipertooth dragon descended to burn it.
"Unlikely, he looked shocked at the power behind the spell," yelled Kingsley, blasting apart the doors to get the Aurors out.
"Shit," yelled an Auror, as part of the top floor fell just near him.
"Hurry up!" ordered Alastor, turning around as he attempted to blow the flame backwards with some wind to buy the Auror some time.
"What about the kids? What if they-
"Get out Scrimgeour! Now!" ordered Alastor, a sickening feeling in his stomach. What if- No, he couldn't think that way. He had to get the team out first.
As the Aurors barreled out of the house down the hill that Lestrange Mansion sat upon, they could feel the flames devouring the house, rising in spirals and burning the place to ash. The heat was hot on their trails, and the flames began to spread. The back-up Auror team was busy at work, conjuring the counter-curse water to try and douse the flames away, but the fast spreading flames were only contained by the water.
"Fuck this to hell, Team A, spread out and begin building a barrier, the counter is too slow, contain the fire, once it goes to hell then we're screwed, let it burn out! Team B, spread out, douse the flames that are heading towards the trees, to towns and anything, now!" roared Alastor over the panic. Immediately the Aurors moved to contain the mess.
"Damn it," roared Alastor in anger.
Molly Weasley watched her children play in the yard. The house was quiet, a sort of gloomy silence filling her kitchen. Her baby Ginny slept upstairs in what was once Charlie's room. Charlie, however, had moved into Bill's room since the two were afraid to sleep alone. Percy still crawled into her bed at night, and despite Ginny having her own room, the crib seemed to always end up being moved to her room, so she knew her baby was close.
It felt strange, having a girl after six boys. Ginny's birth had helped her to begin to move on with her life and return to being a mother after Ron's kidnapping, but the wound was still there. Her family could never be the same. Despite the attic being repaired and the ghoul being placed up there, she'd barricaded off the attic, and locked everything remotely connected to her son in the attic. She couldn't deal with it, not now, not after this. Only a picture of Ron in her arms at Christmastime remained on the mantle, and in her room. Every night she sobbed silently for her baby, a hopeless desire to hunt for him boiling in her stomach. However, Arthur and Fabian had expressly forbidden her to do so. After Gideon's death, Fabian had pushed for her to stay safe. Yes, her family was very much in grief.
"Mum!" yelled a voice, and she turned to see Charlie leading a man she knew very well up to the kitchen. The man was Alastor Moody.
"Alastor! What news do you have?" asked Molly, as she threw open the kitchen door to welcome him in.
"Ah, why don't you sit down, is Arthur around?" he asked carefully.
"Arthur's at work, what's the matter?" asked Molly as she rushed to brew a cup of tea.
"Charlie, why don't you go back to teaching Percy to fly?" suggested Alastor to the curious eight-year old boy.
"Kay," said Charlie, looking back curiously as he headed out the door, no doubt to call his brothers to spy on the meeting.
"Molly, please, take a seat, when does Arthur get back?" Asked Alastor.
"He's home in an hour, but really, Alastor, please, did you find him? Ron, his he alright?" asked Molly, her desperation lacing her voice.
"Sit down Molly," said Alastor in a firm tone, "We need to talk."
"What do you mean dead?" asked Xenophilius, staring at Kingsley as though his entire world had shattered, which, Selene knew, it had.
"The DNA samples taken from the ash brought up Luna's DNA alongside Susan Bones and Harry Potter's, Ron Weasley's and Neville Longbottom's has yet to turn up, but the tests should be conclusive any hour now," said Kinsgley quietly.
"But, there's still a chance, right?" asked Selene, "It could just be a stray hair or something!"
"Selene, Xeno, I'm sorry, the DNA test for identifying Fiendfyre bodies requires a large amount of DNA, well, more than just a few strands of hair at least, the house was watched the entire time, nobody saw anyone escape, and Anti-Apparition wards were set in place-
"NO! I refuse to accept this! Luna isn't dead! She's perfectly fine! The Gorbble-dooks I planted when she was born are a visual representation of life, they can only die if she dies according to the Armenian legend!" roared Xeno as he stood up, a deranged look in his eye.
"I- It's not true, Kingsley, she's just a baby, didn't you say that DNA potions can be faulty? It's relatively new and untested, "said Selene, tears entering her eyes.
"We can't trace magical signatures on babies Selene, they're signatures are too fragile and weak, and most kids don't develop a proper traceable signature until they turn five or six years old and accidental magic becomes a common occurrence. The DNA potions are faulty, but they trace to the nearest immediate family member, and well, if another member of Luna's family was amongst the ashes…" Kingsley trailed off, but the underlying message was still there.
No member of Luna's family was left besides her and Xeno. This was like losing Luna all over again. Her baby, her precious Luna, was dead. That wasn't possible. Just a few months ago, Luna was in her arms, babbling away in baby-talk. She was alive; those pretty grey eyes weren't just burned to pieces. Her Luna, her precious Luna. Oh Merlin, her Luna! Tears fell down her cheeks as she hunched over to breathe again. But what did it matter if she was breathing? She'd failed. She was dancing while her Luna wailed for her! What kind of a mother was she? Oh Merlin's beard, her poor little Luna!
"Selene, Xeno, I promised that I'd do my best, and I'm sorry, I really am," said Kingsley, pain evident in his voice.
But what did it matter anymore? Luna was dead. Her baby girl had been burnt to ash by a mad-man, a traitor. And she had been at home, unaware that her daughter was dying. Unaware that her baby girl needed her. Just like last time. Her breath hitched as she began to shake, her anger and self-loathing making her cry harder. She couldn't breathe. An arm came around her but she ignored it. Her poor Luna was dead.
"I'm sorry Selene, I am," said Kingsley with a tight voice, "The Ministry is holding a funeral tomorrow, and it's going to be a huge memorial for the war. They're calling it the Final Sacrifice Memorial, I think you should attend, to grieve."
"Just go, please," said Xeno quietly, and Selene knew from his strangled voice that he was going to lose his control in a minute, and cry. They'd both lost together. A strange sense of cracking seemed to be taking place. Another straw broke in their relationship. Would the two survive together?
"Welcome one and all to the Final Sacrifice Memorial! We call you today to mourn the loss of the Potters, Ronald Weasley, Luna Lovegood, the Longbottoms, and Susan Bones. These families and innocent babies were murdered as of last night, and their deaths bring forth the last era of mourning for the Wizarding World. We shall forever remember on this day of November second, the loss that brought forth a new dawn for the Wizarding World. The sacrifice made by these people, these innocents, is the final straw that we of the Wizarding kind can handle, and for that, we will honor this day as a remembrance to never fight a war again!" prattled the preacher at a podium.
All around the field, Sirius could see wizards and witches gathered to mourn his best friends and their child, his godson. He looked over to see Augusta Longbottom, her gray hair gone fully white in shock over the recent events. Beside her, a thin reedy man who was her husband clutched her shoulder, looking just as shocked and aged as his wife. There was another family that would never recover what they had lost in just twenty-four hours.
Sirius's eyes travelled to Molly Weasley and her husband, with their band of children in tow. The baby was obviously asleep, but the rest of the children were very much awake and traumatised by the events, and who could blame them? They were burying five empty caskets the size of cradles as some sort of memorial service. It was sick and perverse option to honor the sacrifices of James and Lily potter, whose own coffins were filled with their bodies.
Those five, innocent lives had been snuffed out by his ex-best friend. In just twenty four hours, Peter Pettigrew had managed to turn the entire wizarding world of Britian on its head and forever leave his mark. This sight which once held the home of his friends was now to be turned into a place of sorrow. A place he ran to in hopes of escaping the sorrow of the world was now the only place that mourned with him the loss he felt. Irony was certainly working its magic today.
"This is bloody hilarious," he muttered to himself, as he watched the minister head up to say a few words of honor for the dead.
"James would have blasted the ministry if he saw this," agreed Remus beside him.
That was one positive thing about this situation. If you could even consider it a positive. Remus was still there, still solid and beside him. Remus understood his pain, and wasn't going anywhere.
"I need a drink," said Sirius mournfully.
"I was certain between the two of us we almost drowned in alcohol last night when we got word," said Remus heavily.
"Remind me how we survived," muttered Sirius back.
"I believe Amelia Bones found us at the ministry shouting profanities and demanding to see the bastards who served Voldemort, apparently we were disarmed and stunned and detained in record time," said Remus.
"Right," said Sirius, his eyes searching for Amelia.
He saw her seated beside a friend. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she looked tired and strained. Far older than a woman in her twenties. She looked almost forty. He wondered if the words reached her ears. She looked like a statue, as she glared at the ground.
A few feet away were the Lovegoods. Both were dressed in dark black, which in itself was a big thing considering they usually dressed in bright odd colors that made Sirius chuckle. Even today he couldn't hope for a break. Selene looked angry and he noticed the tension lingering in the air between her and Xeno. Oddly enough though, despite the anger the two were radiating, they were holding hands, or maybe clenching each other tightly, for support. The two couldn't rely on anyone else but each other for this moment. They would be the only ones to understand each other, and the only ones to blame each other at the same time. It was a horrible relationship, and he wished the best for the two, they deserved a second shot at this whole parenting deal.
"And now, let us bury the coffins, and raise our wands in a toast, a toast to peace and to the Final Sacrifice!" said the Minister, raising his wand.
"Fuck this shit," said Sirius, raising his wand with everyone.
End of Part One