Call Me Home

Chapter Ten

Treason

Lily sighed as she put down the wedding brochures; internally bemoaning the amount of effort went into planning a ceremony. It was enough to make her want to just elope. Of course, doing so would cause both Ginny and Astoria to have aneurisms.

It was helpful that Scorpius and herself had used the recent state of events to postpone their wedding. They really wanted to enjoy engaged life for a while before taking the next big step, Merlin knew that they had missed out on each other long enough and it was only natural to her that they would both want to savour each part of their romance.

There was also the fact that she refused to get married whilst her nephew was being held captive. It was the hope she clung too, that fragile strand of belief that Remy was imprisoned because the alternative was too much to contemplate. She had been to visit Teddy and Victoire that morning and they had both been wrecks. Teddy had taken an extended leave from his post at Hogwarts as soon as he had heard the news and Victoire was on a forced leave of absence from the hospital after breaking down and assaulting Hugo Malfoy on the premises.

Lily would have chuckled at that but now was not the time for laughter. All she could think off when she saw Victoire that morning was what she would be like if Orion was the one in mortal peril.

The thought was too horrible to contemplate and she hurriedly shoved it from her mind and turned her attention back to the wedding. She already had her dress and the decor picked out and Draco had insisted they wed on the grounds of Malfoy Manor. She had consented to this only to find herself arguing with both her fiancé and his father when they requested that she wear the Malfoy bridal jewels on her wedding day. Whilst she thought the jewellery was gorgeous she had pointed out that she didn't really feel comfortable wearing them.

Draco had pointed out that every Malfoy bride had worn them for centuries. She had countered by stating that she was from this century and she had then also rejected her mother's offer to wear her wedding set. She really didn't want anything associated with her father to be present at her wedding.

Unbeknownst to everyone but herself, she already had the perfect set of jewels for her special day.

Her mind began wandering as she lazed back on her couch, yawning loudly as she picked up the next catering menu to skim through the list. It was all just so much work and Scorpius wasn't much help considering the nature of his job and the current dark atmosphere hovering over both families. He was also a man and sadly, men were completely useless at wedding planning.

At least Scorpius had already managed to sort out his best man and groomsmen. Naturally he had named Delphin, Hugo and a newly returned Xavier as his groomsmen. What had come as a surprise was his choice of having Orion as his best man. Astoria had protested, saying it was highly unorthodox but then again, when had Scorpius and Lily's relationship ever been considered orthodox in the first place?

She had kindly asked Alison to stand in as her matron-of-honour and she didn't have any other bridesmaids. She knew Alison the longest of any of her sister-in-laws and was closest to her. For a brief drunken period she had entertained the notion of asking Louis to be her matron-of-honour but he had just raised his eyebrow and stated that whilst he did like men, he also had external plumbing.

It wasn't her fault that she had no really close female friends to step in and take on the role. It wasn't her fault that other than Victoire and Dominique, the latter of whom was slowly alienating herself from the magical world, she really didn't see eye to eye with any of her female cousins. She had cringed when her mother had suggested her cousin, Roxanne, because not only had Roxanne Weasley slept with a large percentile of the guest list during her time at Hogwarts, she had also had a brief one night stand with the groom.

Therefore, Roxanne Weasley was definitely not going to be standing on that alter. She could have a seat near the back . . . but only because Uncle George, Lily's favourite uncle, was Roxanne's father.

Lily sighed, her head throbbing with the beginnings of a headache. It was all this wedding crap, her brain was so fuzzy that it was just latching onto thoughts and running with them, filling her mind with an annoying internal monologue of random thoughts.

I really should just elope.

(*)(*)(*)

Hugo Malfoy strode into the specialist MLE ward of St. Mungo's with a grim look on his face, his eyes softening slightly at the sight of Katherine Avery shivering upon the soft linen of her bed. Her eyes were closed, evidence that led him to believe she was asleep and in the grips of a nightmare, something he could well understand considering what she had been through.

Whilst the healers assigned to her case had been reluctant to divulge the details concerning her condition to him, they had found themselves agreeing with his point of view quite quickly once he reminded them that not only was he the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but that his wife was also the Deputy Head Healer of St. Mungo's.

The poor healer he had been questioning had almost broken down in tears by the time he was done but he wasn't going to waste time thinking about such trivialities. Katherine was more than one of his best agents, she was also a friend.

Worse still, he couldn't help but notice that Demitria Pierce and Remy Lupin had not returned from the mission with Kat and James. He had not seen the eldest Potter yet but he dreaded the inevitable confrontation, if there was one thing he remembered from his early years living as a Weasley, he knew how prickly the Weasleys became where family was concerned.

On the other hand he would rather face a furious James Sirius Potter than have to deal with Victoire Gabriella Lupin. Though she didn't carry the werewolf gene like the rest of her immediate family, there was no denying that she would rip him limb from limb without even blinking if she heard her son was in grave danger because he had authorised a mission.

But the fact remained that Remy and Demitria were both aurors who had accepted the mission. Hell, Remy had volunteered to go in after pointing out that his abilities would be invaluable for a spy. Kingsley had been against the idea but his hands were tied, familial connections or no familial connections, they were the MLE and their duty was to protect those they loved and the general public at all costs.

The door swung open behind him and Hugo took a step back in surprise, stunned by the look of anger on one of his best friend's faces. He was slender and wiry as ever, his sable hair falling in waves around an extremely haggard face but his eyes glinted with fury.

Hugo could understand his anger as he knew he would be feeling much the same way if it was Francesca who had been savagely tortured for two weeks.

"Xavier, I wasn't aware you were back in Britain," said Hugo cautiously.

"I got an owl from Draco this morning," Xavier Avery spoke through gritted teeth, "And I arrive here to find that my wife has been in here for the past five days . . . When were you going to inform me, Malfoy?"

"With her position compromised there was no way on knowing whether bringing you and the boys home would put you all at risk," shot back Hugo. Xavier was entitled to be livid at him but he worked in Magical Experimentation not Law Enforcement. He didn't understand that risks had to be carefully weighed in the field his wife had chosen before decisions could be made.

"She was supposed to have been undercover for two months," snapped Xavier, "You had her in that shithole for two fucking years!" The older man wiped a hand over his eyes and Hugo started, he had not realised that Xavier was crying.

"They boys haven't seen their mother in two years," he continued, "I spent every day for two years worried that my wife was being buried in an unmarked grave. You have no idea what that's like so don't you dare lecture me about risks. I was the one who had to take my boys into hiding whilst my wife risked her life, so don't you dare fucking give me your bullshit till you've walked in my shoes!"

Hugo was taken aback by the emotion in his usually cynical friend's words but he found himself understanding where the other man was coming from. It was the reason so many of Ghost Divisions' agents opted not to have families. The emotional strain was too much for their loved ones to have to bear. He thought of Lexi and what would he be going through if it was Fran lying in that bed, her body and mind tortured to the brink of insanity. If their roles were reversed, he may well have already launched himself on Xavier and pummelled him within an inch of his life.

"I'm sorry, Xav," he whispered, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder and feeling relieved that Xavier didn't shake it off.

Xavier nodded imperceptibly before going to pull up a chair beside the bed, clasping his hands around that of his wife's and whispering soft words that only she would be able to hear.

Hugo found a faint smile creasing his lips as even in her sleep; she seemed to respond and stopped shivering and muttering in her sleep. Love shone bright and strong between the couple and Hugo felt a strong sense that he was intruding on something private. Hurriedly he left the room.

He gulped upon stepping into the hallway, his first sight being Victoire Lupin storming towards him with a look of murder in her eyes. Violent sparks of red and gold flashed from the tip of her wand and her mouth was screwed into an intense snarl, hair crackling with her Veela temperament. It would seem she had just found out about her son.

In that moment, Hugo thanked Merlin that his wife was a professional healer.

(*)(*)(*)

Remy groaned as he came to, blinking to clear his head as he took in the dank cell he had been tossed into. Dully, he could hear Demitria stirring beside him, her sharp intakes of breath causing him to wince at the pain she must no doubt be failing.

True to form, the pair had not come quietly, rather they had held of the Cultists with wand and knife for as long as they could, and when they were disarmed they fought with tooth and nail. Remy now regretted their brashness as he took stock of their condition, Demitria could barely stand on her own and whilst he was faring better, he still sported half a dozen deep gashes across his body, some of which were still sluggishly oozing red.

"You ok, Demi?" he asked, wincing as the torn skin of his knuckles scraped across the dirt strewn over the damp floor.

"I'm fine," she coughed, deep wracking explosions of air that seemed to quake through her entire body.

"You don't sound fine," groaned Remy as he leaned back against the wall and began to examine his wounds. His mother was one of the best healers in the country and he had learned quite a bit from her over the years. From what he could tell, Demitria had possibly broken a rib or worse still, punctured a lung.

"I'm fine," she repeated, her voice slightly stronger this time as she dragged herself towards him, gritting her teeth as her broken ankles was twisted by her movements. She bit her lip to stifle a shriek of pain but Remy noticed it. Without thinking, he was on his feet and moving towards her, lifting her into his arms despite the protests of his entire body. Ignoring her raspy arguments to put her down, he carried her to the wall and set her down before collapsing beside her, exhausted from the ordeal.

"I could have made it," she said softly, too touched by his thoughtfulness to be angry at him.

"I know," he replied with an echo of his trademark grin, "You're stubborn that way."

"Remy . . . I," she began but fell silent, placing a hand on her hip and gritting her teeth at the gravelly feeling beneath her skin, evidence that her bone had chipped in several places.

"I . . ." she tried again, cursing herself for not being Gryffindor enough to confess her feelings to him because something told her they weren't going to be leaving this dungeon alive.

But why was this so difficult to confess that she loved someone? Was it because she had never thought that love could exist, that she would never be deserving of it?

She had viewed it as an abstract concept all her life, watching her parents cheat on each other time and time again. She had watched her father slap her mother across the face and then watched her mother slam a vase over his head in return. Their dysfunctional relationship had made her cold and distant, left her with no means to seek comfort and a sense of mutual caring in the world.

This had changed in her third year. The year she had made friends with Remy, the year she had finally realised that she didn't have to live life by herself and that there were people who truly and genuinely cared for each other. Remy had been her first everything. He had been her first friend, her first kiss when they had both been standing too close to each other on New Year's Eve, the first man she had seen naked – when she had accidently walked in on him in the prefects bath – her first lover when they had fallen drunkenly into bed that night in sixth year. Remy was as much a part of her as were her own limbs.

She loved him; she knew she did, so why couldn't she just say it out loud?

"Remy," she said quietly, finally, and he cocked his head to the side to look at her, "Thank you for being my friend." His grin came back in full force, though laced with a hint of sadness as he leaned in and pressed his bruised, bloodied, split lips to hers.

"I love you too, Demitria," he murmured, "You don't have to say it, I know it and that's what matters in the end."

(*)(*)(*)

"There are traitors in the MLE," whispered Kat, taking harsh breaths as her pain potion wore off. She knew that it was time for her next dose but she was taking advantage of her brief moment of lucidity to warn James and Hugo of what she had discovered moments before being captured.

"Who?" exclaimed James, as pieces of the complex jigsaw began falling into place. The Cultists had seemed to have a deep knowledge into their activities and families, the pictures had told him that much but he had been hesitant to voice his opinions that they had a mole. It was also deeply worrying that he had been discovered so easily when he infiltrated the woods guarding their stronghold in the first place as he hadn't tripped any wards of cast any discernible spells to give away his position.

Even Kat being compromised had raised several red flags in his mind. Her cover had been deep and she hadn't been with her family in two years, the pictures of the Avery family suddenly seemed highly suspect to have been included in the roll of film she had recovered and sent to them before being captured.

With a dawning sense of dread he realised that they had all of them been duped and that somebody had slipped those particular images into the other photos. There was no other explanation.

The MLE was compromised.

The only thing that they hadn't seemed to have known was that Remy and Demitria had been undercover as well and he put that down to the high amount of secrecy concerning their mission and the Unbreakable Vows taken by those who had been in the know to not speak of it except with those who also knew.

"I'll authorise Ghost Division to take out the moles immediately," said Hugo with a hard look in his eyes. He hated being played for a fool and he hated that he seemed to have been manipulated into putting four of his subordinates at risk. Kat and James had barely survived, the former had been tortured to breaking point and his two youngest aurors were probably already dead.

"That's the problem," croaked Kat as black spots began popping across her vision, her pain mounting, "Ghost Division is the Cult of Shadows. . ."

(*)(*)(*)

A/N: Thoughts? Also the sequence of events in this chapter does not occur chronologically meaning that Lily's scene takes place simultaneously with the closing scene.