Grimmauld Place
When it was bright enough, I padded down towards the bathroom and washed my face. I didn't want anyone to see my face streaked with tears. My eyes were still plenty red, but I hoped no one would notice. Looking in the mirror, I could swear I saw all of them around me still, pointing at me. I ran out of the bathroom and darted downstairs.
It must've been still pretty early, because only Lupin was in the kitchen. He was drinking a cup of tea and reading the Daily Prophet, the wizard newspaper. He looked up at me.
"You're up early. Hungry?" I shook my head and sat down at the kitchen table. I didn't feel much like talking, but I didn't want to be alone. I folded my arms on the table and laid my head down on them. I kept watching Lupin watching me.
"Are you feeling alright?" He got up and moved towards me, but I suddenly jumped back. I didn't want to be touched right now. He shrugged and said "Fair enough," and sat back down. He tried to read the paper more, but he kept putting it down to look at me. I knew he wouldn't bug me if I didn't want to tell him anything.
Not long after, Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen and started fixing breakfast. She was soon followed by her husband and Sirius. All of them looked at me and were about to say something when Lupin shook his head and interrupted them with something else. Pretty soon, the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione came down too. They all started eating breakfast, and, though nobody tried to talk to me much when I didn't respond, they kept giving me concerned looks.
I didn't want to talk about the dream. I didn't want it to be real, and talking about it would have made it more real. Maybe they'd agree that it had been my fault. After all, if I had been home, maybe they would've lived. Maybe Jake would've been able to go to Waverly first and beat the Death Eaters. Or just maybe, if I hadn't liked Jake so much, he never would've gotten involved with our family and the Death Eaters never would've come for us.
I was too tired and too scared to realize I was being dumb. Jake came in and gave everyone a big good morning. He gave me a pat on the back and said, "Heya, Maxy. Ready for today?" I shrugged and looked up at him. I wasn't sure if he was a killer or a savior. Jake looked over at Lupin who shrugged and said "He's been like this all morning."
"Probably just a little nervous, eh?" Jake looked down at me and ruffled my hair. I didn't move away from it like I normally would've. That was babyish, but I was still too spooked from the nightmare to care. "Well, you better get dressed. You can eat afterwards." I slowly stood up and walked out of the kitchen. I could hear them all start talking as soon as I left. I knew they were all talking about me.
Soon I was back downstairs in jeans, a t-shirt, and my white hoodie. Everybody stopped talking again when I walked in. Jake was in an athletic-fit brown tee and some faded jeans. Sirius pointed this out. "Don't you think you're going to run into a bit of trouble wearing Muggle clothes? Him too?"
"Nah, I'm looking to draw a bit of attention."
Mrs. Weasley glared at Jake, still obviously angry. Jake matched her glare for glare. "Don't start." He looked at everyone else. The kids had all gone to get dressed, and Mr. Weasley had gone to work. It was just Sirius, Lupin, and Mrs. Weasley. "We're going to be off. We'll be back later tonight." Everyone wished us luck and told us to be careful. I nodded but didn't say much and stayed near Jake the whole time so nobody would try and touch me again. I didn't want to be touched.
Soon we had stepped outside Grimmauld Place and Jake was taking me by Sidelong Apparation to a place called Knockturn Alley.
Knockturn Alley – Pub
Soon we were sitting in a dark, smelly pub. I didn't know its name, but there had been a picture of a snake with a forked tongue on a sign outside of it. Inside were several heavily hooded
wizards, one really big green thing, and a very pale man sitting in the back corner with the biggest fangs I had ever seen. He smiled at me when we walked in, and Jake had just shoved me into a booth. This was the third place like this we'd been to since getting to Knockturn Alley. Jake had said we were trying to "make contact" and that he needed to be seen a few places before that happened.
Pretty soon, a really pretty woman walked out from behind the bar. She was wearing dark red robes and had shoulder length brown hair. She looked like she didn't belong here. She looked nice. Like an older sister. I miss Alex so much. She came over to us and sat down on the other side from Jake and me.
"I can't believe how stupid you can be." She wasn't angry though. She was smiling slightly and shaking her head.
"So it's working then?" Jake took a light sip from his drink. He had been getting Firewhiskey in every pub we'd been to, but he had been barely drinking. He said the important thing was that it looked like he was drinking a lot.
"Working? If walking into all of your old hangouts to see if someone is actually going to try and collect on you is a plan, then, yeah, it's working. Honestly, I can't believe you sometimes." Jake smiled and shrugged.
"So who did your boss send word to?" He didn't seem upset at all.
"The Shangley brothers are on their way here, but, seriously, Jake, what if you aren't as good as you think you are? And who's the kid? Don't tell me he's yours…I might just get jealous. Maybe." She laughed. It was a really nice, quiet laugh. The sort of laugh that just made me smile. "Then again, maybe not."
Jake grinned and rolled his eyes. "Of course he's not mine. Look, do me a favor. Sit here with the kid for a minute." Jake got up and walked towards the bar. He sat down and raised a hand
towards the bartender. The bartender, a fat man in dirty brown robes, came over and poured him a shot of something.
The girl looked at me and smiled. "My name's Liz, cutie. What's yours?" She reached a hand towards me, but I jerked back before she could touch me. I shook my head. She looked worried for a second but then smiled again. "You don't like to be touched, do you? No problem. I don't need to touch." I stared at her. "So are you going to tell me your name, or do I have to start guessing?"
"It's Max." I whispered it. Liz opened her mouth to talk, but, all of a sudden, three large men walked through the door. The walked straight towards Jake. "Trouble's starting," Liz muttered. Her hand went into her robes, and she pulled out her wand casually. It would even have looked like she were just holding it to show if her knuckles weren't white from clenching it. The three men didn't notice.
"'Ey, we got a bone to pick with you, Jakey."
"See, we got a boss who ain't too happy with you."
"You 'member bosses, right Jakey-boy? The people who paid for your scum-hide." They all had their wands out, but Jake was still looking at the bartender. He just raised his hand and motioned, and the bartender pulled out another glass and started to fill it up. Jake turned around.
"Thomas, I've got no problem with you. I'm just here for a drink, so why don't you and your brothers walk away before somebody gets hurt, eh?"
"I don't think so, Jake. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Or," one of the other two pointed his wand towards us, "the fun way." The man flicked his wand and a stream of light came flying towards us. I screamed. Liz started to bring her wand up, but it was going to be too late.
Jake was there. Jake was in the way of the light and had his wand in the way. The light exploded in front of him. The other two turned around, seemingly only just aware that he had Apparated away from them. Jake flicked his wand and two of the barstools came alive, attempting to pulverize one of the brothers. Liz grabbed my hand before I could pull it away.
"Time to hide," she motioned under the table. I followed her down there. She waved her wand, and a shimmering barrier was suddenly in front of us. Jake had already Apparated out of sight.
"Where are ya, Jakey?" Suddenly, he Apparated back into view behind them. There was a deafening crack as he pointed his wand at one of the two as a bolt of lightning blasted through the roof of the pub and struck the man. He fell over, blackened and twitching. Thomas sent a black and red curse towards Jake, but he had already Apparated away.
Thomas looked towards us. "A shielding charm, eh? Think that'll stop me, Jake? Crucio!" He screamed and Liz dropped her wand and started screaming. I huddled up as far back against the wall as I could go. Tears were building up. The shield had dropped.
Jake was in the way again and had blocked the curse. The brother who had been getting hit by the stools was now free and pointed his wand towards Jake. He sent that same black and red curse towards an unaware Jake. The curse slammed into his chest, burning a whole through his shirt. He fell to the ground, screaming, his wand falling from limp fingers.
"Haha, nice one, Craigy. Check him." Craig's nose looked like it was broken, and he limped as he walked towards Jake, but otherwise he looked fine. Thomas kept his wand pointed at Jake. Craig leaned down, wand still held back, and started to check for a pulse. With a slight pop, Jake was gone before Craig's hand even touched him.
I looked over and saw Jake standing in front of a very surprised Thomas. His hand snaked out and pounded Thomas's throat. Thomas wheezed and dropped his wand. Jake punched him in the stomach with his other hand and then gave him a good one right in his face, shattering his jaw and leaving him a bloody mess on the floor.
Craig had already pulled his wand up and was about to curse Jake when his hand suddenly cut open and blood started to pour from it. Standing in the doorway was a short, thin man in black robes and a hood pulled up around his face. He flicked his wand again and Craig flew back into the wall and didn't move again.
"We're going before the Ministry gets here." Liz pulled me from underneath the table and we followed Jake and this new mysterious man outside the pub and down the long twisted streets of Knockturn Alley.