CHAPTER 14
Planning
"What do you mean you don't know directions?" Asked Ginny. They were sitting on the floor, plans spread out before them with various charms and potions that would assist them on their journey written on them. Ginny had just asked Harry what directions he would have to take to get to Vereor Nex, and had been somewhat surprised when he was unable to give him a step-by-step manual on how to get there. Harry sighed angrily,
"I'm going to try my best to recall what directions I took, but I was delusional and dehydrated half the time I was walking!" Ginny grabbed a few sheets of parchment in the air and waved it around is if making a point whilst she spoke,
"So, we could end up in freaking Australia, because you have no idea where we're going."
"Ginny!" Harry yelled crossly, "I may not know to every detail and turn, but as I said, I know it's in the North-Easterly direction, and I'm sure I'll recognise things as we're walking. Just lay off!" Harry noticed her clench her jaw; she dropped the parchment and rested her chin on a closed fist.
"I'm doing it again, aren't I?" She muttered,
"Being weird?" Harry asked, "yes." Ginny smirked slightly,
"Being a control freak runs through the blood of the Weasley women," George jested. He was sitting on the couch, the ankle of his right leg resting on the knee of the other.
"Alright, so," Ginny began, trying to change the topic. "We're probably going to need Polyjuice Potion." She sighed, "I have some, maybe good enough for four or five people – but we may need more. We also have quite a deal of Veritesirum left…" She cast Harry a sideways look as she said it.
"Potions are important, yeah," said George with a furrowed brow, "but what we're really going to have to consider is how we're going to infiltrate Vereor Nex when we finally come to it…"
"It's going to be virtually impossible," stated Harry.
"Well we could use the invisibility cloak," muttered George offhandedly.
"…My invisibility cloak?"
"Oh," said George, "yeah, Ginny has it." Harry had completely forgotten about his cloak until that moment; and now that he remembered it he sorely missed it.
"The cloak can barely cover all three of us let alone all the Aurors who are coming," stated Harry.
"Disillusion charms?" Offered George,
"Maybe, but they probably have protective spells against that around the perimeter," replied Ginny. The three of them frowned, considering their options.
"You have the element of surprise," said Mr. Weasley, walking into the room, he was once again reading, his glasses bobbing on his nose as he talked,
"You know dad, eavesdropping is bad," said George, Mr. Weasley ignored him and continued,
"There is no reason to render you all invisible." They all stared at him blankly, protests hung in the air. "Look," he said, taking off his glasses, "Death Eaters are stupid but they aren't that stupid – even with the invisibility cloak it will be painfully obvious that someone has breeched the boundaries… like when they set those Caterwauling Charms over Hogsmeade."
Harry had to admit this was true, although he had not heard any alarms go off as he escaped – the Death Eaters knew as soon as Ron, Hermione and his feet touched the ground that someone had attempted to run away. This thought crossed Harry's mind before he could stop it, and immediately, as if desperate to be remembered, the memory of escaping was flung into his mind. He saw hands gripping on earth and tree, spells being shot, the haunted… pleading eyes of Ron and Hermione, the begging.
"Harry?" He heard George say, "you still with us?"
"Hm?" He replied, shaking his head slightly and realising he had missed out on the rest of what Mr. Weasley was saying, "sorry, what was that?" Mr. Weasley smiled warmly at Harry for a moment.
"I was just asking whether when you were escaping and you looked back at Vereor Nex… if you could see it."
"I didn't look back," he muttered, Harry could still feel the tightness in his chest, his limbs falling underneath him, almost unable to support his weight. He had run until he literally couldn't run anymore. "Why?"
"Well, it's possible that it will be extremely hard to find again. Not only because of the navigation issue, but because I am almost certain they would have placed charms around it, so that it is invisible to everyone else – you need to know where it is to find it."
"Of course," said Ginny, slapping her forehead. She made a note on the parchment. "Well, Jack knows a few charms that might work on deflecting those," she muttered quietly to herself.
"Is Jack coming?" Asked George,
"Of course he is!" Said Ginny, with an indignant look on her face, "not just because he's my partner but he's also an Auror – he would be involved anyway." Harry swallowed, he admitted guiltily to himself that he was actually looking forward to having quality time with Ginny without Jack around. But he knew this wouldn't be the case, and shouldn't be the case for that matter. Ginny was Jack's now, not his – he had to keep telling himself that.
"Yeah I figured as such, no need to get defensive."
"Sorry." George frowned at Ginny's apology,
"…No problem, how's captain handsome reacting to this whole 'Harry Potter is alive,' thing anyway?" Ginny responded as if she didn't hear him, and instead focussed her attention on her father.
"Getting back to the point," Mr. Weasley was saying, now standing directly in front of them all. "There is a reason no one has been able to find Vereor Nex… why it is now considered a myth – because no one can find it. No one ever has, or otherwise has ever lived to tell the tale…" he nodded,
"Have the Ministry tried?" Asked Harry, who had never heard of the place before he was taken there.
"Oh of course!" Said Mr. Weasley, sitting down on the couch and resting the notes he was reading over on the floor. "Years ago, but their efforts never yielded any results so they soon gave up – said it was a myth and left it at that."
"Well as far as I'm concerned the most important thing for us to do is to get all the prisoners out and safe," Ginny muttered, then sighed, "but there could be any number of them… we don't know. There's just so much we don't know…" She sighed impatiently then quickly glanced at the papers Mr. Weasley had left on the ground. She frowned and picked them up,
"I received a memo about this," she titled her head, "the Dark Mark's appearance, why are you still reading over it?"
"There's just something … odd about it. I'm probably stressing I don't know."
"What's odd about it? Jack said it was pretty much an open and shut case."
"Well the Ministry suspects it was just an accidental spell casting – someone playing a practical joke… but whoever it was, they were overage."
"Adults don't make mistakes?"
"…No, I don't mean that," he said with a small laugh and a shake of his head, "I just mean if someone were to do it as a practical joke it would generally be a kid who had been dared or something." He shrugged, "also they did a double check around with the neighbours – and one of them pointed out that they had heard screaming from next door and had called the muggle police. Only when they arrived the man who was apparently screaming appeared perfectly fine – and then there was the Dark Marks appearance… It just seems odd, like we're missing something."
"Oh…" muttered Ginny, glancing back at the parchment as if she now saw it in a new light. Mr. Weasley saw her interest and was quick to take it off her,
"I know you have duties as an Auror Ginny, but you have more pressing matters at hand at the moment, I'll let you know if we discover anything."
"Arthur!" Came a call from the other room, Mr. Weasley smiled in departure and walked swiftly to where Mrs. Weasley's voice had been heard. Everything was getting frustratingly confusing for Harry, the riddles, the clues and the odd happenings… it was as if the world was playing a massive joke on him. Like it was batting him around to see what would make him tick, make him give up. With every possibility he considered for each of these things, the more annoyed he became that the answer didn't just present itself fully formed in front of him. Harry glanced out of the houses window – a bright light shone through the trees outside the window, creating dappled lights on the carpet. He became lost in the scenery, his eyes unfixed, his mind searching through potential explanations.
Suddenly, in such an instantaneous way that Harry assumed he had made the image appear from his own thoughts – he spotted a dark figure beyond the boundaries of the yard – staring at the house with cold and deadly eyes. Harry looked at it, his heart jumping as he realised that the figure almost appeared to be staring directly at him. He clenched his teeth, wanting to cry out and yet so certain that it was a figment of his imagination.
"Someone is off with the fairies today," laughed George, clicking his fingers as if trying to get Harry's attention, "come on Potter we need to think." Harry turned back to George, his mouth slightly agape, trying to comprehend what he had seen; he looked out the window again to find the figure had disappeared – swallowed by the garden.
"What is it Harry?" Asked Ginny, seeing his bewildered face.
"I thought I saw something," he said, frowning, "I guess I was wrong…" Harry assumed that his fears of being watched were perhaps getting to him. The figure in the garden must have been his mind playing tricks on him… but even as he, George and Ginny resumed their conversation – he could not help it that his eyes every so often darted to the window; both desperate and fearful to see it once more. The third time Harry did it Ginny had to ask,
"Harry, what is out there?" It carried an annoyed tone – probably because they had to keep repeating themselves every time he stared out the window. Harry couldn't see anything, and gave up, turning to Ginny,
"Sorry, just weird feeling."
"The weird 'there's a Death Eater watching us,' feeling?" Ginny squinted out the window,
"Yeah but I constantly have that feeling… ever since what the Minister said – got me thinking."
"I told you," said George, following Ginny's gaze, "the Minister is nuts… talk of those two people – Hector and Gregory?"
"Hansel and Gretel," Ginny corrected, she said it in such a Hermione-like tone that it made Harry recoil for a second.
"Well… yeah, who the hell are they?" Snorted George.
"Muggle story, two kids lost in the woods, leave a trail to find their way home…" Ginny responded almost immediately – her eyes not peeling from the window.
"…how do you know that?" George and Harry said in unison, Ginny looked up and laughed,
"Muriel once gave me a book of them for my birthday," and her eyes went back to the window.
"Look, Gin, I'm sure it's nothing – we should get back to –," Harry began,
"I think there is someone out there," whispered Ginny suddenly. She silently moved to the window ledge, her eyes focussing on one location in the garden. Harry knew better than to question her judgement and so kept quiet. Ginny slowly wound open the window, just enough to fit her wand through. With expert precision she muttered, 'Stupefy,' sending a jet of light towards the garden. Harry waited, and distinctly heard a muffled thump from outside just as Mrs. Weasley walked into the room, speaking as she walked.
"I was just telling Arthur that Charlie is coming back to…" she stopped walking suddenly and frowned, looking at Ginny crouching by the window. Ginny's eyes widened suddenly,
"Oops…" she muttered – a false innocence stealing its way over her usually hard features, she lowered her wand guiltily. George laughed loudly, clutching his sides as he realised what had happened.
"Yeah, welcome back Charlie!" He said through gasps. If looks could kill Ginny would have dropped dead that instant. Mrs. Weasley ran out of the room, through the front door and into the garden. Harry, Ginny and George followed – George still cackling away at his brother's expense. They got to Bill's side – his burnt face appeared peaceful – as if he was sleeping.
"Ginny for goodness sake – look before you shoot. Don't just fly spells off at anything that moves!"
"I'm sorry mum!" She said with a sincere apologetic voice. "But it was only a stunning spell… he'll be okay."
"Woah, what's going on here?" Came a voice from behind them, they all spun around. Jack was standing on the lawn, his hands in his pockets – looking at Bill's stunned form with curiousity. "Your work babe?" He asked Ginny, with slight amusement. Ginny frowned in response and walked over to him,
"How'd you…" she began, but then finished her sentence with a peck on the lips in welcome.
"I apparated in just a few seconds ago," he replied with a small shrug, "figured you needed the help." Jack didn't seem to notice the icy look he was getting from Harry. Harry couldn't help himself, every time Jack and Ginny's lips met, every time they held hands or embraced it was like a punch in the guts… and all Harry wanted to do was punch back.
Ah man I've had such a hell of a week. With a few 5am starts and late finishes … plus I broke my nose – it hurt! (I did a front flip and landed badly, but luckily it's the break you can't see… asides from the bruising) Oh, and I have so many books to read! Mostly by authors I really don't like the writing style of - so very very hard to get through.
So I'm sorry for the wait – it seems like I'm going to be doing the old 'posting as soon as I write' thing again.
Thankyou so much for the reviews I've been getting, they make me very happy! :)
And shh, my last chapter's title was totally original haha!
Pheonixxsong