Note: And here we have, I hope, a change in Carrie at long last...
I'm sorry about the confusion in the last chapter – I've never attempted such a scene before, so it was bound to be a bit on the ropey side! It probably wasn't terribly sensible to write a 'fic like this, come to think of it, but...well it's a bit late now...!
Thanks to everybody who took the time to review the last chapter!
There is one last chapter after this one and then this story is officially finished.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
17: Woodland Confessions
She'd known something wasn't right...somehow. She'd just known.
Dora Lupin didn't like to think that she had some sort of sixth sense when it came to trouble. That just sounded daft, arrogant even. No, what Dora had was paranoia that had a nasty habit of being entirely justified...
Not that she liked to think of it like that, either. Paranoid wasn't the right word for her, even if that was exactly what she was. It sounded far too...Moody...
It hadn't stopped her half-running the last few meters to the cottage door, where she very nearly ran into Neve who looked somewhat startled to be caught outside.
"I just went for some air," Neve told the Auror as Remus caught up with them. "I've such a headache! All this...all this drama...! Anyway, I left Samuel on watch. Did you find out anything useful?"
"A few things," Dora admitted as she reached to push the door open to lead the way inside. "Not a whole bunch of solutions, mind you..."
"You...you don't know what to do?" Neve asked, sounding positively alarmed, and the Auror muttered:
"We're working on it..." At the sight that met her eyes, Dora came to such an abrupt halt that Neve very nearly walked straight into the back of her. Raising an arm to point over at the figure sprawled upon the sofa, Dora asked: "What the bloody hell is he doing?"
Neve shuffled sideways to spot her son lying fast asleep, snoring loudly and utterly oblivious to the world.
"Oh Samuel!" the witch exclaimed, sounding utterly ashamed of him as she hurried forward, reaching to shake him awake. "You stupid boy! You're supposed to be keeping watch!"
Samuel groaned, face contorting in annoyance at his drunken slumber being disturbed, and Dora wasted no time in striding across the room towards Carrie's bedroom door. Things were going distinctly downhill. This wasn't how it was meant to go, it was frustrating, quite tiring even, she was sick enough of drama as it was. As she hammered a fist upon the door, Remus sighed heavily before consenting to following her.
"Teddy love?" Dora called impatiently. "Can we come in?" Not waiting for a reply she reached to push the door open, plastering a suitably cheery expression on her face, ready to pretend to Carrie that all was well...
Only for the sight of smashed glass and a gaping hole in the window to wipe the look clear away again. Her eyes instantly snapped over to the bed, where she spotted Teddy, who appeared to be fast asleep, and...
"Where's Carrie?" she breathed, reaching back to grasp hold of Remus by the arm as he peered past her into the room, his eyes widening in alarm. "Where is she?"
"Oh Merlin..." Remus practically mouthed, rocking back on his heels apprehensively, only for Dora to make a beeline for their sleeping son on the bed with a exclamation of:
"I'm going to kill him!" And with that she reached to seize Teddy by the shoulders, shaking him roughly as she demanded: "WAKE UP, THEODORE!"
Teddy's eyes blinked open and he gazed up at the bleary figure of his scarlet-haired mother to mumble:
"Wh...what?"
"WHERE'S YOUR BLOODY WAND?" the Auror exclaimed, releasing him so that her hands could fly to her hips. "Where is it? What did I bloody tell you to do with it? I said DON'T PUT DOWN YOUR BLOODY WAND!"
"It was right next to me..." Teddy protested feebly, head swimming as Remus wandered over to examine the smashed window, his expression positively bleak.
"Well that's not bloody good enough!" Dora cried, swinging an arm up to point over towards the smashed glass. "Carrie's GONE!"
"I...I only put it down for...for a few minutes...I..."
"Oh? And what was so important that you thought that was a good idea?"
"I...well...we were just..."
"You were just?"
Teddy's gaze dropped to his lap as he heaved himself up into a sitting position, face flushing as he explained:
"We were...having a cuddle."
"A cuddle? Oh, well then...!" Dora turned on her heel to stalk furiously over to Remus' side, scowling at the glass crunching under her boots. "That's just bloody fantastic, isn't it? So much for keeping natural, Sweetheart, I thought you'd had a big row!"
"Dora." Remus murmured meaningfully, reaching to press a calming hand to her shoulder, but the witch shook her head vigorously.
"We should've dragged her off to Hogwarts with us!" she complained. "If we want a job done properly, Remus, we'd better bloody well do it ourselves, next time!"
"I'm sure there won't be a next time, darling..." the werewolf attempted to assure her calmly, only for his wife to snap:
"This is Carrie we're talking about! Are you taking the piss?"
"Of course not." Reaching to pull her into a firm hug, his grip upon her tight enough stop her from yanking herself irritably free from him, Remus glanced back over at Teddy to ask:
"Are you alright?"
"He cursed me...Kit, I mean..." Teddy said, getting slowly to his feet, blinking the groggy blur from his vision. "We were just...just lying on the bed and all of a sudden he smashed the window and...and the next thing I knew, Mum was yelling at me..."
"Damn right..."
"Dora, be quiet. Don't take any notice of your mother, Teddy, she's just...well...worried. Besides, things didn't go terribly well at Hogwarts. We're pretty certain we know what's going on but we've not a clue how to fix things..."
"And now he's taken Carrie..." Teddy observed, face clouding in worry. "Oh Merlin...what are we going to do?"
"We'll get her back." Remus assured him, unnaturally calm.
"Then what?" Teddy asked, reaching to pick up his wand at long last. "We get her back and then what?"
The werewolf offered his son a rather grim smile.
"We'll jump off that bridge when we come to it." he said.
When she was finally pulled to an abrupt halt in the middle of the woods, some distance from the cottage from which she had been snatched, Carrie Winters very nearly collapsed upon the ground, utterly worn out.
She'd struggled the whole way there, having been released from the full-body-bind when her assailant had found her lack of movement more of a burden than a help. Some minutes earlier she had broken free of Kit Carter's vice-like grip upon her, but had only managed to run a couple of paces before he had grabbed hold of her again. The further into the woods they had walked the more furious Kit had grown, his breathing heavy and increasingly frequent grunts escaping his lips that Carrie thought quite possibly the oddest sounds that she had ever heard grace another person's lips.
As they came to a halt, Carrie found herself turned to face him and quite suddenly the steadily increasing panic that had been building up inside her faltered at the unexpected sight before her.
For Kit Carter was not furious in the slightest.
No indeed, the young wizard was crying. Sobbing, bawling, face pink and streaked with tears...
Carrie had never seen a more sorry looking soul in all her life. Carrie felt suddenly quite relieved, albeit bemused, and she let out a breath that she hadn't realised she had been holding. Before the muggle could think to say or do a thing, the animagus had reached to fling his arms around her, crushing her against his chest and burying his face in her shoulder.
"It's all RUINED!" he cried, voice hoarse from his hysterics, and despite feeling rather tempted to push him away from her, Carrie felt compelled to reach and pat him gingerly on the back.
"What...what's ruined, Kit?" she consented to asking, flinching a little when his grip upon her tightened to the point of being painful as he exclaimed:
"EVERYTHING! Everything's ruined! Everything's...everything's lost!" He paused to smother a sob into her shoulder and Carrie was beginning to think that perhaps he was far past the strange that Teddy had suggested and was fast approaching unhinged when his next words brought a flood of fear rushing back into the pit of her stomach.
"It's going to...h...happen again!" Kit complained woefully, positively trembling in grief. "He's going to...going to make it happen again like...like it did to...to my poor Sable!"
Carrie sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to steady her nerves and she tried in vain to lean back from him as she dared to wonder:
"What happened, Kit? Tell...tell me what happened to Sable..."
"I don't want to lose you!" the boy whimpered, his slumped weight against her making the muggle stumble, and quite suddenly Carrie found herself recalling their odd little romance and meeting in the woods that, now, felt entirely alien and strange to her, as if it had all happened to somebody else.
Clearly Kit had no inclination to think in such away, judging from his tight hold upon her, and at the thought of all that had passed between them recently Carrie felt the urge to push him away renewed with great ferocity.
She felt unclean. Dirty. Sick, being clung to in such a way, being seemingly obsessed over...
She managed a strained chuckle as she mumbled:
"I'm...I'm not really sure I'm yours to lose, Kit. I mean I...I think you're being a bit...well...well you barely know me really and then there's Ted and I and...well..."
"I love you!" Kit declared, the words half lost amongst a sob. But they were terribly clear to Carrie, they made her flinch.
"Yes but...but you see, Kit, I don't really see how you can...like I said you don't really know me all that well..."
"I...I do love you, I do..."
"I think you're...you're a nice boy and everything and I know what's been going on recently has been...well..."
"I don't want him to take you away!"
At long last Carrie gritted her teeth and yanked herself away from him, taking a good few steps backwards and folding her arms firmly across her chest.
"Listen!" she cried, frustrated at his unreasonable babbling. "I...I don't know what you think you're doing...smashing that window and hexing Teddy and...and kidnapping me like this! And I've tried to be nice, but you're just not listening to me! Now stop...stop saying such silly things and...and tell me what's going on! Who's going to take me away? What...what happened to Sable?"
For a long moment, Kit stopped sobbing as he stared at her, stunned. Carrie momentarily considered making another bid for freedom, but she didn't want to provoke any more hysteria, so instead she drew in a deep, calm breath and repeated:
"What happened to Sable, Kit?"
Kit rocked back on his heels with a sniff, reaching to swipe a hand across his watery eyes.
"She was beautiful." he whispered, gaze suddenly far away at the memory. "She was the most...the most beautiful and wonderful girl in...in all the village!"
"And she was your girlfriend, wasn't she?" Carrie prompted, nodding encouragingly, and the animagus admitted:
"Not...not to begin with, not at first. I...I used to...used to watch her when she went out walking. I'd...I'd sit in trees when I was transformed and...and just watch her...she was so lovely, my Sable, she really was!"
"She sounds wonderful." Carrie agreed, feeling a little more relaxed now that he seemed quite lost in his recollections.
"She was, she was! But...but she'd never have looked twice at a boy like me. That's what Uncle Alucard said. He...he said no girl would...would want me. Not a single one of them, not ever...he said I was too...too odd and...and scrawny looking..."
"But he was wrong, wasn't he? Sable wanted you, didn't she?"
"Uncle said I couldn't...I could ask her to be my girlfriend. He said it was a waste of time, she'd laugh at me! But he said...he said he could help me! He could help me make her love me...like...like I loved her!"
At this notion, Carrie's eyes widened apprehensively as she dared to ask:
"How...how did he do that?"
"With magic, of course!" Kit breathed, eyes widening too in awe at the idea. "Sable was enchanted! All...all I needed to do was make her drink the potion Uncle made..."
"Would you...would you like a drink? If you've been out here for...for such a long while..."
Carrie was pretty sure that she hadn't mentioned just how long she had been walking for, but she had to admit that she really was rather thirsty and it was a welcome distraction from their sudden awkwardness.
"Yes please...if you've got one, that is..." she mumbled, only to jump when Kit leapt to his feet.
"...and then...then I just needed a strand of her lovely hair. I flew into her room one night whilst she was sleeping and plucked one from the hairbrush on her bedside table..."
"You um...there's a..." He reached carefully forward to pluck something out of Carrie's hair, lips twitching shyly towards a smile as he finished: "...a twig in your hair." For a moment he held the offending piece of woodland debris out for her inspection before hurriedly dropping his hand back down to his side.
"And then Uncle Alucard made a...a doll, a figurine and he enchanted it and...and that was it! Sable loved me and I loved Sable and everything was perfect!"
"It's alright." she heard the animagus whisper, still smiling as he reached to brush the hair from her eyes. The movement made the muggle shudder.
And...it was alright.
It was all alright.
It was better than alright. It was wonderful. It was magnificent. Glorious...
Carrie Winters was sure that despite her hazy mind she could have thought of a thousand or more other words to describe just how serene and perfect everything was at that precise moment in time, but half a second later she felt too overcome by sensation of Kit Carter's lips against her own.
Carrie felt rather as if she might be sick, she could feel her stomach twisting into knots and she could taste bile in the back of her throat.
"Sweet Merlin..." the muggle breathed in horror, taking another good step backwards, only for Kit to let out an abrupt sob as he recalled:
"But...but then it was ruined! I...I ruined it, I broke the rules!"
"What rules?" Carrie cried, her disgust beginning to give way to fury that she had been manipulated in such a sickening manner. "What did you do?"
"I...I spoilt her! I ruined her, I ruined my Sable..."
"How? How could you ruin her, I don't under..." Carrie trailed off, reaching to press a hand to her mouth in near realisation as she recalled her first evening in the Vale, eavesdropping on Teddy and his parents...
"They used to say there was some sort of monster...an evil soul, they used to call it, that roamed around the woods."
"Cool..." Teddy muttered, only for Remus to mutter:
"It is isn't it? Just like Mildred and her mirror..."
"Supposedly it used to snatch children out of the woods surrounding the village." Dora went on, ignoring Teddy's shudder.
"Virgin maids, if I recall correctly." Remus mused...
"She was so beautiful!" Kit complained bitterly. "I...I just forgot myself, just once! It was only once, we were walking in the woods and we were all alone and...and...it just sort of happened! We lay down under a tree by the stream and it was wonderful and perfect and I couldn't help it, I had to do it, I thought...I thought perhaps it wouldn't matter! I thought she'd still love me but...but she changed! She screamed! She screamed and cried and...and hit me and tried to push me away and I...I didn't know what to do! I just didn't know! I had to put my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet! But...but then...but then Uncle Alucard came running and he...he shut her up!"
"What do you mean he shut her up?"
"He...he stunned her and...and dragged me away! He was furious! He said the enchantment was broken, that I'd ruined everything! It doesn't work on...on impure girls! I ruined everything! And...and then he said...then he said he'd have to put a stop to her! So she couldn't tell a soul! I begged him not to, I pleaded with him, I really did! But...but...!"
"But he murdered her, didn't he?" Carrie whispered, mouth growing dry, and Kit gave his head a feeble nod.
Carrie screwed her eyes shut, attempting to fight away the fear and panic that that one small movement caused. She could feel herself trembling as Kit whispered:
"And then you came! I saw you in the woods and I thought...I thought you were so beautiful! And then you fell in the stream and I dragged you out and you talked to me...you were so lovely! I knew I loved you from that moment on! I went and told my uncle and...and he said we could...we could try again just as long as I didn't ruin things again! He said I was to keep you pure or else! So...so I did, I was careful but...but then...but then he got his filthy hands on you and now it's all ruined! And now you know everything! My uncle will have to put an end to you, too!" Before Carrie could protest he had lunged towards her and thrown his arms around her again, hugging her fiercely as he complained: "I won't have you taken from me, Carrie! I won't!"
"Alright then," Carrie attempted to reason, struggling to pull herself free again only for them to stumble backwards until her back hit a tree trunk with a thud. "You don't have to lose me, Kit, you don't. It can all be alright, just...just let me go and...and let me go back to Edwin's house..."
"NO!" Kit cried, agitated at the thought as he lent to bury his face in her shoulder once again. "I won't have you leave me! I love you!"
"Kit, we need to go back to the village, there are people there who can protect me..."
"NO! They'll take you away from me! You...you're mine! You're my girl! N...not...not Ted's or...or anybody else's, you're mine! I love you!"
"I don't need love!" Carrie cried frantically, face contorting in fury and revulsion as his lips came to press against her neck. "Are you out of your mind? Your uncle wants to KILL ME! I don't need love, I need PROTECTION! Wands! Aurors! People who aren't...aren't completely and utterly out of their bloody minds!"
"I'll protect you..." Kit endeavoured feebly, only for the muggle to let out a somewhat hysterical shriek of laughter before crying:
"Like you protected Sable, I suppose?" At mention of his darling Sable again, Kit let out a fresh wail, only for Carrie to give him a firm shove away from her as she declared:
"Stop it! I'm going back to the village this instant!"
She was about to make a run back towards the cottages when a voice amongst the trees made her freeze in panic.
"Oh I'm afraid not, my dear girl." Alucard Carter called as he stepped out from the trees before her, his wand drawn and raised purposefully. "No, you won't be going anywhere at all..."
Teddy Lupin was beginning to feel unbearably frustrated.
Of course, the metamorphmagus mused as he hurried along just behind his parents as they stalked purposefully through the trees, eyes darting this way and that and wands clasped firmly in their hands, he had always known his mother could prattle on about anything for years without pausing for breath if the fancy took her, but in all honesty he didn't think now was really the time. She'd long given up on explaining to him precisely what she and his father had found out from their ransacking of the Hogwarts library and was now babbling mindlessly about whatever happened to come to mind.
"...obviously we've got no choice," the Auror was saying, speaking at such rapid speed that Teddy could barely understand her, "we'll have to get her to Mungo's...which means we'll have to get her back up the hill in order to apparate her away and that's a bloody long distance to leg it if we have to do a runner and..."
"Mum?"
"Not now Ted! If we're going to do that we'll need at least two of us because somebody's going to have to have hold of her and the other'll have to watch their back..."
"Mum?"
"I said not now, Ted! But of course if we split up we'll cover more ground..."
"But Mum..."
"Teddy for Merlin's sake be quiet! What d'you reckon, Remus? It'd be so much bloody easier if we knew how to break this enchantment..."
"Mum!"
"...or at least knew how many we're up against because of course it might not just be Kit, there could be others in on it too like that uncle of his...even though he's bloody ancient..."
"MUM!"
At long last Dora came to an abrupt halt, so sudden that Teddy narrowly avoided walking straight into the back of her as she demanded:
"For Merlin's sake what is it, Teddy?"
Teddy drew in a deep breath to finally spit out the words that he had been attempting to speak for the past ten minutes or so, only for the sight of both of his parents looking at him questioningly to make them die in his throat.
"Well?" Dora asked after a sizeable pause, fidgeting impatiently, and Teddy's hands reached to fiddle apprehensively with his wand as he explained:
"I...I don't think...I don't think we have to worry about...about breaking the enchantment. It's...it's already broken, I think..."
"It is?" Dora said, eyes widening in surprise, and Remus' brow furrowed as he wondered:
"How?"
Teddy opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out.
"Well..." he finally managed, grip upon his wand so tight that he thought it might snap in half. "I um...well..."
"You what, Sweetheart?" his mother probed impatiently. "Spit it out, Ted! We don't have all day!"
"D...does it really matter?" Teddy asked, gaze upon his shoes. "I mean...it's broken, I'm pretty sure Carrie said so, so...I don't think it really matters how it happened. It just...did..."
"Enchantments don't just disappear, Ted." Remus pointed out, and his son's face bloomed pink as he agreed:
"Well no, I know that but...but well...can't we just forget it? Move on..."
"How can you be sure?" Dora asked, folding her arms across her chest and fixing him with a stare. "Tell us what happened, that way we can know for sure!"
"I don't think I need to, really..."
"Of course you do!"
"No really, I don't!"
"Yes you do, Ted! If you don't tell us then how can...oh. Oh..."
At the apparent realisation in her voice, Teddy flinched.
There was a long, dreadfully awkward silence as Teddy wished the ground would open up and swallow him. Remus reached to rub a hand across his eyes and Dora pursed her lips firmly together before again mumbling:
"Oh..."
"Yes, oh!" Teddy mumbled back. "So um...can we...um...can we just..."
"Cuddling, right?" Dora half-whispered as if she had to be entirely clear on the matter, causing her son to complain:
"Mum!"
Remus cleared his throat loudly.
"Let's move on, shall we?" the werewolf decided, turning to lead the way on through the trees. "Like you say, Dora, we don't have all day!"
"I think we should split up." Teddy announced, because he'd like nothing more at that moment in time than to put a couple of hundred trees between himself and his parents, and apparently they felt similarly as they both agreed:
"Good idea!"
"We can talk about this later." Remus added, and before Teddy could protest Dora had rounded on him, eyes wide.
"Do we have to?" she asked, looking rather as if she wanted to snigger, and the werewolf admitted:
"Probably. Very briefly."
"Excellent!" the witch declared, both amused and horrified all at once, which Teddy would have thought an impressive mix of emotions to convey in a single word had he not been so horrified himself.
"I'll um...I'll go this way, shall I?" he said, and with that he turned and headed off in a direction at random, not waiting for a response.
Teddy's utter horror at the conversation that had just passed between himself and his parents was somewhat short lived, for he immediately became preoccupied with the task at hand: Finding Carrie.
He tried not to think about how long she had been gone or what might have happened to her in that time, tried to steel his nerves and banish the swell of apprehension in his stomach. He simply needed to concentrate. He needed to find her. Get her back to Edwin's safe and sound.
He'd done such a rubbish job of keeping her safe and sound previously, as his mother's utter fury at him back at the cottage had reminded him, that not only did he want Carrie to be rescued, but he wanted to be the one to do it himself.
Just to prove to his mother that he could do it. That he wasn't a failure. That he had inherited the right genes. Of course Dora had by no means meant to sound so damning when she had discovered his great blunder, Teddy knew full well that she had simply been panicking. But that hadn't stopped the young wizard developing a sudden and fierce desire to play the hero.
If Dora caught wind of such a notion Teddy was pretty certain that she would want to hex it right out of him. Because of course heroics had absolutely nothing about it, it never did with things like this. It was more about the simple fact of what was right, of what was necessary, and if one happened to be viewed as a hero in the process then so be it. Besides, it never did to attempt to label oneself a hero. It was, Dora said, big-headed and not to mention shallow...
And yet...it was all rather appealing...
Revenge was an ugly thing too. Remus was always dead set against it, which Teddy had reminded him was a tad hypocritical given what Remus and Sirius had planned to do to Peter Pettigrew upon becoming reacquainted with him in the Shrieking Shack all those years ago.
You were going to kill him in revenge! Teddy had pointed out, and Remus had shrugged rather unconvincingly and told him:
But I didn't.
Only because Harry intervened!
Maybe. But the point is, I didn't.
Well I wish you had, Dora had muttered, face contorting into a scowl, you'd have been doing the world a massive favour!
Teddy had to admit that his mother was right. And yet so was his father. Revenge wasn't pretty, no matter what it achieved (because in the case of Pettigrew Teddy had to admit that contrary to what Remus said it would have probably achieved a great deal.)
Revenge against Kit Carter probably wouldn't achieve anything worthwhile at all. After all as far as Teddy was aware the muggle-snatcher wasn't about to help orchestrate the rebirth of one of the most evil and feared dark wizards of all time...
And yet, despite all of this, revenge was awfully tempting...
Teddy's thoughts were cut off abruptly by the sound of voices, and he hastily made a dive for the nearest tree trunk, flattening himself against it. As he sucked in a deep, steadying breath, the young wizard mused that his thoughts had left him to wander quite some distance. He wondered vaguely quite how far he was from the village, how far away his parents were, and just how true Dora's musing about safety in numbers were...
It didn't matter, he told himself firmly. He was here now...
Assuming of course that here was where he wanted to be, that it had been Kit and Carrie's movements that he had heard...
Slowly, gripping his wand tightly, he leant carefully out from behind the tree, squinting searching through the woods before him, and promptly jerked backwards again at the sight of the tree figures stood amongst the trees; Alucard Carter stood with his back to Teddy's hiding place, wand pointing at the two figures cowering against a tree before him. Teddy could barely make Carrie out, for Kit was stood before her, his arms spread wide in an attempt to shield her as he cried:
"Uncle! Please!"
Teddy set about slowly creeping forward, pausing behind trees in an effort to stay hidden, fighting to resist the urge to make a mad dash towards the trio...
Carrie pressed herself back against the tree trunk, fingers digging into the bark as her heart hammered furiously in her chest. She wondered precisely what she ought say to the elderly wizard who had made such a mess of her life recently and who was now intent on ending it entirely. What did one say to persuade such a twisted mind to think differently? The muggle had come across a range of twisted individuals over the years, but had rarely had much luck pleading with them.
She'd done a spectacularly poor job persuading Ambrose Kraft not to obliviate her. The vague memory was a distinctly painful one, and yet Carrie found herself determined to think of it, to think of what went wrong, what she might have done differently. She was sure a man as unreasonable as Kraft would never have listened, but perhaps Alucard Carter would...
If there was even the slightest chance that she could talk her way out of this, in any way at all, Carrie was determined to swallow her fear and argue and plead for all she was worth. As a muggle she had little other defence.
"Step aside boy!" the old man demanded, "It must be done!"
"No!" Kit whined, his raised arms trembling nervously. "I...I won't...I won't let you do it!"
His uncle let out a disbelieving laugh, wrinkled features crinkling in amusement.
"What's a worthless creature like you going to do to stop me?" he asked, and Kit's pose instantly slumped, disheartened.
"Don't listen to him, Kit!" Carrie exclaimed, shooting the old man a scowl. "Don'y you listen to him! You're not worthless! Not in the slightest!"
"He's a disgrace to the name Carter!" Alucard snapped, only for Carrie to reach to snatch the wand from Kit's pocket.
"He's a brave and talented young man!" she insisted furiously. "He's...he's a kind and loving boy when he's given a chance! And that's more than can be said for you, Mr. Carter! What sort of a man tells his own nephew that he's a disgrace? Don't listen to him Kit! Take your wand! Stand up to him!"
"I...I can't..." Kit mumbled, grip upon the wand that she pressed into his hand so limp that she was forced to wrap her hand around his to keep hold of it.
"Yes you can!" she hissed, "You're not worthless, you're a talented wizard! You...you're probably one of the youngest animagi that there ever was! That's a big achievement! You're brave! You jumped into that stream and you dragged me out! Don't let your uncle push you around!"
"If she lives they'll all find out the truth about you!" Alucard snarled, "and then what? Then what are you going to do? You'll be in Azkaban by morning, mark my words!"
"Don't listen, Kit." Carrie hissed, yanking the young man's arm up so that his wand was pointing feebly in his uncle's direction. "He's poisonous! The Ministry will understand, I promise, I...I know it'll be alright...Ted's mum'll keep you safe, she's got influence, they'll listen to her! Please!"
"I don't know wh...what to do..." Kit breathed, "I...I don't know..."
"Don't let him disarm you!" Carrie hissed back, her grip upon his hand tightening. "Block him! Shield us!"
The last syllable left her lips as the final threads of Alucard's patience finally snapped, and within the blink of an eye the furious wizard had sent a flash of red light streaking through the air.
"Block!" Carrie shrieked, giving Kit's hand a firm yank sideways into the wide sweeping movement that she had observed on a number of occasions over the years, and she silently willed to hear the customary accompanying declaration of...
"PROTEGO!" Kit declared, a split second before the spell reached them, and it promptly rebounded off a sudden shimmer in the air, before hurtling back across the clearing, missing Alucard by a fraction of an inch...
Midway through making a run for still closer cover, Teddy was forced to throw himself sideways to avoid the spell, and his non-too graceful landing upon the floor caused a loud enough thud to give himself away. Alucard turned towards the source of the noise, and at the sight of the new arrival lying sprawled on the floor, he instantly raised his wand...
"STUN HIM!" Carrie demanded, nails digging into Kit's hand as she yanked his arm back to take aim, only to stumble as Kit thrust his arm forward with a shout of:
"STUPEFY!"
Alucard was forced to turn to block the spell, leaving both Kit and Carrie to dive out of the way again as the spell rebounded on them. They were just beginning to scramble back to their feet when a fresh burst of spells lit up the trees. Carrie turned to see Teddy on his feet again, a bombardment of stinging jinxes bursting in quick succession from his wand as he backed off a few steps, ducking when Alucard paused in his attempts to shield the attacks to send a flash of orange light in the metamorphmagus' direction.
"CARRIE, RUN!" Teddy shouted as he was forced to take refuge behind a tree, only to fire a couple more blind curses in Alucard's direction, one of which struck the old man in the shoulder, making him stumble. "BOTH OF YOU!"
Carrie reached to grab hold of Kit by the hand, and as Teddy sent an array of red sparks shooting up into the sky the muggle picked a direction at random and began to run, dragging Kit after her.
It was not long before they gave up holding hands, and Carrie felt utterly disorientated as they sprinted blindly through the trees, hearts hammering along to their thudding footfalls. Carrie had no idea where they were going, what direction they were headed, she didn't care, they simply had to put as much distance between themselves and Alucard as was possible...
CRACK!
No sooner had Carrie spotted the flash of light out of the corner of her eye, there came a sickening snapping sound and a shriek of pain. The muggle skidded to a halt just in time to turn and see Kit crumple to the ground, face contorted in agony as he gasped in another breath to let out a wail...
"Lie still and quit screaming!" a familiar voice demanded from somewhere to Carrie's left. "I was being soft on you!"
As Dora strode out from amongst the bushes, Carrie numbly looked down at Kit, his right leg hanging at a sickeningly impossible angle that made the muggle feel somewhat faint.
"Y...you've snapped his leg like a twig..." the muggle pointed out in horror as the Auror came to a halt beside the collapsed figure, looking down at her handiwork thoughtfully. "That's soft...?"
"I snapped a leg!" Dora muttered impatiently, "I left his other one, didn't I?" And with that, she raised her wand again, causing Kit to screw his eyes shut.
"Don't hurt him!" Carrie begged, springing forward to plant herself in front of the whimpering boy. "It's not what you all think! It's not his fault, not really!"
Dora pressed her lips firmly together in consideration before stepping forward, free hand reaching for Carrie's shoulder, pulling her forward.
"Look at me." the Auror instructed firmly, dark eyes piercing as Carrie obediently stared back at her.
"I'm alright, I'm...I'm me, I really am! I know you think I shouldn't defend him, but I'm not crazy, I'm really not!" Carrie insisted, fidgeting impatiently. "Did you see the sparks?" When Dora merely continued to gaze at her searchingly the muggle gave an impatient huff and asked: "I said did you see them? Did you see Teddy's sparks?"
At long last, Dora let go of the muggle's shoulder.
"Teddy's sparks?"
"He's duelling Alucard!" Carrie cried, and the Auror's expression grew instantly grim.
"Oh bloody hell..." she muttered, reaching to rake a hand through her hair. "I'd hoped he'd simply spotted you, that he was chasing after you..."
"No! No, Kit and I were running away from Alucard, not Ted! Alucard wants me gone, Dora! He wants me dead! Kit was...Kit was trying to protect me. He doesn't want me dead at all, it's just Alucard, he wants to keep everything a secret! He doesn't want me to tell anybody what's happened!"
Dora glanced back down at Kit, her expression distinctly regretful, only for both she and Carrie to spin around at the sound of rushed footfalls.
At the sight of Kit lying sprawled upon the ground, Remus came to a skidding halt, only for his wife to demand:
"Don't just stand there, Remus! Alucard Carter's trying to hex our son into oblivion whilst you're taking a breather!"
"Oh Merlin..." Remus muttered breathlessly, consenting to hurrying forward until he could look down at Kit. "What's going on here?"
"He was running away from me." Dora shrugged, and when Carrie frowned the Auror admitted: "Well...he was running past me, at least. Anyway turns out he's not the danger. It's his uncle, he's the one behind it all. Ted's duelling him, he sent up the sparks."
As the two adults set about murmuring hurriedly to one another under their breaths, Carrie dropped down to the ground beside Kit, reaching to lay a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright," she whispered, smiling at him encouragingly. "You'll be alright, they don't mean you any harm. They'll all understand, it won't be too bad."
"What about Uncle?" Kit asked as without a word Dora turned and bolted off in the direction of Teddy and Alucard's fierce duel. "What will they do to him?"
"I don't know, Kit..." Carrie admitted, frowning deeply, only for Remus to drop down at Kit's other side, expression bleak.
"What we do with Alucard entirely depends." the werewolf murmured as he reached to examine Dora's ugly work on Kit's leg.
"On what?" Carrie wondered, and as Kit let out a moan of protest at the werewolf's probing Remus muttered:
"On what Alucard does with Teddy."