A/N: Hola! Hope you've all been well :) Here's chapter 21.
The moment Rachel jumped off the stairs she spotted four men, by the looks of their builds, in black robes and the creepiest masks covering their faces. Rachel quickly took aim and shot a Disarming spell towards the first one she spotted. The wand flew out of his hand and another one fell over from Sirius's Stunning spell.
The one that Rachel disarmed quickly recovered and picked up his wand, quickly taking aim at Rachel. A Stunning spell from her dad hit him square in the chest and the cloaked man fell to the ground.
The other two men left standing threw deadly curses at Sirius, Rachel's dad, and Rachel. All they could do was deflect their spells and hope for the best. Rachel's hopes were diminished even further when the other two men started to come to and grabbed their wands.
Rachel suddenly lunged forward and took aim on one of the intruders. "Incarcerous!" she shouted. The man was bound in rope. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and Rachel pulled her wand back, tightening the ropes.
"Obscuro!" Rachel heard her dad shout, causing a blindfold to appear over another man's eyes. Sirius quickly moved to Stun him.
Sirius turned to one of the two men still uninjured and took aim. "Aguamenti!" he shouted. A jet of water shot from his wand and propelled the man it was aimed at across the room, causing his back and head to slam into a wall and making the man go unconscious. The three turned to the last intruder still standing, but he was no longer where he had been only moments ago.
Rachel turned around quickly, trying to find the cloaked man. She spotted him running up the stairs and Rachel's eyes quickly widened. Her mum was up there. Rachel saw her just around the corner of the top of the staircase, fearfully observing the fight.
Quickly, Rachel took aim to the staircase and shouted, "Glisseo!" The steps of the stairs went flat and the man slid down, tripping and tumbling at the bottom and hitting his head. Before he could get up, Rachel tied the man up using the Incarcerous spell and proceeded to do the same with the ones that were still untied. She turned to look at her dad and her eyes widened when she saw him sitting down on the floor and leaning against a wall, clutching his shoulder.
Rachel ran up to him immediately. "Dad! What happened?" she asked urgently.
"That one there cut me with some odd spell," her dad replied, gesturing to the one that had slipped off the stairs and wincing as he removed his hand. The gash on his shoulder was large and blood was seeping from it at an alarming rate.
"Oh Merlin, this isn't good," Rachel said.
"It's fine, I just need to get to St. Mungo's," her dad replied.
It was then that Rachel heard footsteps on the cobblestone path at the front of her house. She looked up only to see some members of the Order. Among them were Dumbledore, who quickly rushed over to Dr. Fredricks.
"Pardon me for not coming earlier," Dumbledore said, helping up Rachel's father. "It couldn't be helped."
"Nice to see you again, professor," Rachel's dad greeted. "Would it be too much to ask to drop me off at St. Mungo's?"
"No, of course not," Dumbledore replied with a small smile. He looked over at Sirius and Rachel. "You two better come as well."
"What about my mum?" Rachel asked.
Dumbledore gave her a sad look. "Miss Fredricks, you know the rules."
"But she already knows anyways!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Yes, but they won't let her into St. Mungo's under any circumstances," Dumbledore replied.
"But, she's not safe here," Rachel sputtered.
"Professor, there has to be something we can do," Sirius stepped in.
"If she's not going, neither am I," Rachel stated.
It was only then that Rachel noticed Professor McGonagall. The Transfiguration professor stepped forward. "I'll take care of your mother," she told Rachel. "She'll be safe, I promise," the professor added with a smile.
After a small moment's hesitation, Rachel said, "Fine. Let's go then."
Dumbledore restored the stairs to their original state and Rachel's mum quickly ran down the stairs and barreled straight into Rachel, hugging her tightly. Rachel was shocked still, but she slowly wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her back.
Rachel pulled away and smiled at her mum. "You'll be fine, trust me."
Everything afterwards was a complete blur to Rachel. She remembered McGonagall leading her mother away. She remembered Apparating with Dumbledore, her dad, and Sirius. After that it was just people bustling about quickly, shouting orders and working. It was nearly midnight when Rachel found herself sitting in the waiting area of St. Mungo's, Sirius next to her, rubbing her back comfortingly.
Rachel stood up immediately when she spotted the one lone Healer heading towards her, a middle-aged man about her dad's age. "You must be Rachel Fredricks," the man stated. "Your father's fine, but you know how it is with magically-induced injuries, especially the bloody ones. And I suspect a bit of Dark Magic was in action, but it's under control."
"And the Death Eaters?" Rachel asked.
"They're in custody," the Healer replied. "Aurors are interrogating them as we speak."
Rachel let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as the Healer walked off. Sirius stood up and hugged her close to him, although Rachel was beginning to feel better. Relief flooded through her as she realized that, luckily, everything was fine.
"So this has been an interesting day," she heard Sirius whisper. "Definitely not how I expected it to turn out."
"Definitely not what any guy would expect when they're alone in a girl's bedroom," Rachel whispered back jokingly.
The two laughed. The Death Eater experience had definitely been frightening, but as Rachel reflected on the day's events, she was happy with some of the outcomes. And somewhere deep inside, she had the biggest wish of all
That she'd be able to reconcile with her mother again.
"Erm… is it an ass?" Dorcas guessed.
"What?" Rachel asked, clearly confused by Dorcas's answer.
"You know, a donkey," Dorcas clarified.
The look of incredulity remained on Rachel's face. "No, it is not a donkey, Dorcas," Rachel snapped. "How does that look anything like a donkey?"
"Well, what is it then?" Marlene asked, seeming more interested in her nails than what it actually was that Rachel had drawn.
"It's a monkey!" Rachel answered with a smile.
Dorcas, Lily, Marlene, Emmeline, and Mary all paused and sat in silence as they stared at Rachel's drawing. Lily was the first one to talk.
"I'm sorry Rachel, but that is not a monkey," Lily said, as kindly as she could.
"Of course it is," Rachel said. "I should know; I drew it."
"It actually does look like a donkey," Emmeline added, examining the drawing one more time.
"Exactly!" Dorcas exclaimed.
Rachel glared at Emmeline. "Thanks, Em."
Emmeline shrugged. "No problem."
The five girls were sitting on Rachel's bed and playing the most Muggle game they could think up: Pictionary. Clearly, Rachel's attempts at drawing were in vain and even Rachel herself admitted that she really couldn't draw as she passed the notepad to Marlene. Alice had also been invited to the little get-together, but, lo and behold, she was busy. To be specific, she was busy planning for her and Frank's wedding.
Frank proposing was truly only a shock to Alice.
Emmeline threw the notepad down in the middle of their small circle once she had finished drawing. "There, have fun guessing that."
"Is it a tire?" Rachel asked.
"I thought it was a ring," Lily admitted.
"It'd be a really thick ring then, wouldn't it?" Marlene added.
"It's not a tire or a ring," Emmeline clarified, irritated.
Dorcas glanced at the drawing. She shrugged. "I don't know."
Emmeline sighed exasperatedly. "It's a plate."
"Wow," Marlene said. "It's like you and Rachel are sisters."
Emmeline sent Marlene a glare and passed the notepad to Lily, who giggled at Marlene's observation.
"So, is anyone going to bring up Alice and Frank's sudden engagement?" Rachel said nonchalantly.
"Saw it coming," Dorcas replied.
"It must be so difficult to do all of this marriage stuff during the Wizarding War, though," Lily said.
"They know what they're getting into," Marlene assured. "I hope."
Rachel waved her hand dismissively. "They'll be fine."
"All right, I bet there'll be at least two more marriages before the end of this war," Dorcas said. "If I'm wrong, I'll give you ten galleons or you can dance on my grave."
"I'd say that's a safe bet to make," Rachel said.
"Well, all I know is that I'm not getting married during this ruckus," Marlene stated. "It's a fucking madhouse everywhere. My parents are going insane."
"War's a bitch," Emmeline replied.
"And, uh, what about you, Lily?" Mary asked.
Lily looked up blankly. "What?"
"Any… future plans?" Rachel clarified.
"Oh, come on—"
"Lils, they wouldn't be asking if Sirius didn't catch the two of you snogging in a broom closet at the Potters' last week," Marlene interrupted. "We're actually all very eager to see your beautiful children."
"Keep in mind that I was with Sirius when that discovery was made," Rachel added. "Honestly, you got Outstanding in Charms, Lily. Noise control should be fairly simple."
As Lily's face turned beet red, her friends couldn't help but laugh. Lily looked down at the notepad as she replied, "Whether or not James and I do get married, I'm also not particularly excited about the idea of doing that during a war."
"Well, then it's definitely going to be me who gets married," Mary said sarcastically.
Emmeline laughed. "Guys, aren't we forgetting someone?" she asked.
Dorcas turned her attention to Rachel with a sly look on her face. "Yes, we are, aren't we?" Dorcas added.
"Oh please," Rachel said with a roll of her eyes. "Me? Married? And are you honestly forgetting that we're talking about Sirius Black?"
"All right, good point," Marlene said. "But have you thought about it at least?"
Rachel shrugged. "Not really," she replied. "Surprisingly enough, it hasn't been my biggest worry."
"Okay, okay," Dorcas started. "So we've clarified what the price is if I'm wrong. Ten galleons each. But if I'm right, which I will be, the only fair price will be fifty galleons, ten from each."
"How on earth is that fair?" Rachel exclaimed.
"Because I'll be paying up fifty if I lose," Dorcas said. "Besides, each of you is only losing ten. So that's far better than my situation."
"Fine," Rachel said. "But the marriage has to be someone from the Order."
Dorcas smiled and said, "Deal."
That's that. I'll let you take your guesses at future chapters because I am not spilling anything :)
-Grammar/spelling?
-Favourite line?
-What do you think the next chapter will be mainly about?
Thanks for reading :)
