(A/N): We're almost at chapter 300, woot!
Leo
We decided it probably wasn't the best idea to try to get in contact with Elaine's family right away, considering they were probably still recuperating from their recent encounter with her father, so we instead got to work on the communication charms.
For ease, I chose to use a knut as the base of the charm, and stuck it to the chain from an old necklace Jo found in- one of- the junk drawers in the kitchen with the sticking charm Epoximise, and set Herc to work.
"Okay, we've got the charm, we just need you to work your magic. We're gonna need..." I counted in my head, then recounted. "Eight. Three for the Folley's, five for the Ellwood's." Herc got to work straight away, aiming his wand at the improvised necklace laid out on the tabletop.
"Erecti Notitia." He looked at me. "That makes it give the alert." He turned back to the charm. "Coniunge Qui. That makes them connected, and will let everyone know exactly who is sending the message so you can react accordingly. Now, we just have to duplicate it. Geminio." A second, identical charm appeared next to the first, complete with chain. "Geminio." A third. "Geminio." A fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth charm followed soon after as he repeated the incantation, and soon enough, we had eight identical charms ready for use.
"We should test them." Jo said, and then immediately winced. "Not that we don't trust your abilities, Herc-" Herc waved her off, and threw her one of the charms to put on.
"I think you just volunteered, Pintosa." Jo rolled her eyes at him, and then disappeared from sight, though I could hear her running in the distance. A few seconds later, and the seven charms that remained on the table began to glow with a soft golden light.
"I guess that means we're in business."
We had Danniel deliver one of the charms to Lisbet where she was on guard duty at Elaine's house, and to inform her of our plan, before we turned in for the night.
After breakfast the next morning, I left Jo and Herc to look after Shari, and made the journey to Elaine's house to meet up with Lisbet and Danniel. We met maybe five minutes away from the property, where we could talk freely without fear of them accidentally stumbling upon us, or overhearing us, and upon my arrival, Lisbet immediately came over and hugged me.
"Danniel told me about your plan. Leo, are you sure you want to do this? We can think of a better way-" I shook my head.
"We don't know if or when he'll come back. There's no gurantee we'd be able to think of something else before then even if we did find another way, and we need to be able to do something about it the next time he decides to show up. Without telling them, we can't exactly just barge into their house and drag his arse out without majorly freaking them out. Yesterday, Danniel just had to stand there and watch Elaine's mother argue with him, because we didn't have a plan in place." I kicked the snow at my feet. "If telling them we're here keeps them from getting hurt, I don't see we have a choice." Lisbet almost looked like she was proud of me.
"Whatever happens next Leo, you know it won't affect the way Elaine feels about you." I hoped the icy winds were a good enough excuse for the flush on my cheeks.
"Speaking of which, while we're in there, I need you to be on your best behaviour." She put her hand on her chest, like she was shocked.
"What could I possibly say-?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"No insinuating my relationship with Elaine is anything other than purely platonic, no telling them I'm not good at using my words, or otherwise undermining me. We need to be a united front, Lis. Jay already thinks poorly of me, because he thinks I was the one who hurt Elaine when Jonothan-" I cut myself off. "Also, its probably for the best if you don't mention anything about you having been there before- or about shoving me through their bathroom window." Danniel flinched, and I remembered that since that incident was long before he and Jo had showed up, he didn't exactly know that Lisbet had nearly killed me when we first met. "That's a story for later." He hesitated, then nodded.
"Right. Well. Call me if you need anything." Only Lisbet and I were going in to talk with Elaine's family. I was a known friend of Elaine's, and Lisbet was the closest thing I had to a parental guardian at the moment, so she was the obvious choice.
"We will. And Danniel?" He looked at me. "Thank you. For everything you've done." His expression softened. "Being part of the clan doesn't mean you have to take part in things like this, and I'm really thankful to have someone like you- someone I know I can count on." I cleared my throat. "Right, okay. Let's go, Lisbet." I caught the amused look on her face before I started dragging her away, towards the house.
"That was awfully nice of you-" I let go of her, and shoved my hands back in my pockets in an attempt to keep them warm.
"Shut up." She laughed, and I almost laughed with her.
It was only a few minutes later, with Danniel following at a safe distance, that we came up on the house.
"Now or never." I muttered under my breath, and raised my hand to knock on the door.
(A/N): Erecti Notitia = Alert Notification, or Alert Information. Coniunge Qui = Join Together Who. The process is meant to be sorta similar to the protean charm Hermione uses for the DA in OoTP. Pintosa = a neutral term to say a person is attractive, without the speaker necessarily personally being attracted to them. Pintosa is the feminine version of Pintoso. Epoximise and Geminio are canon spells.