CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DISCLAIMER: J.K.ROWLING kwns Harry Potter.
Author's note: Unfortunately, I remain displeased with this chapter but I hope you enjoy it!
Friday, 25th October 1990
"Another attack!" exclaimed Gianna, pointing at the title of the Daily Prophet.
ATTACK IN LITTLE VILLAGE
"Three houses burnt, three casualties, happened around one in the morning," read Zachary, looking worried.
Reyna bit her lip. She remembered Rylan's words the previous day about McGonagall leaving early but somehow it didn't seem connected to this attack. A familiar hoot sounded from above and she looked up hopefully.
Aurum was flying towards her, his brilliant silver blue green feathers shining as the rays of sunlight reflected on them. Gracefully he landed across her, not even specking any food on the table before holding out its leg. Two letters, one for her and Rye.
"Hello boy, how're you?" she murmured, stroking him gently before he flew towards Rylan, who was looking impatient.
"I swear that owl is the most beautiful one in the school," sighed Gianna admiringly.
Reyna smiled before putting the letter in her bag, ignoring Delilah's raised eyebrows.
"Pass me the Prophet Gianna, I want to read through," said Reyna, taking it from her friend.
"Seems we can't go a day without seeing an attack nowadays," said Gianna with a frown.
"The death eaters don't have anything better to do," said Delilah, buttering her toast carefully.
"You'd know, wouldn't you, Rosier?" said Vaisey's friend, Nettie Camelot with a sneer.
Delilah looked up sharply," What's that supposed to mean?"
"Please, don't pretend like it's news to you that the attacks are more frequent," joined in Vaisey, rolling her eyes.
Reyna nudged her friend, muttering," Take no notice. They're trying to provoke you."
"It's certainly working," muttered back Delilah, though she did not retort, but instead continued buttering her toast a little more vigorously than normal.
Reyna pursed her lips, not taking part in her friend's conversations as she wondered about her mum's letter.
As soon as breakfast was over, Reyna left her friends to go back to the common room, saying she was meeting Rylan for a while and would catch up. Her twin was waiting for her in their fourth floor unused classroom which had been turned into their meet up place for a while.
He put up the silencing charms, made sure they were the only ones in the room before speaking," I read mum's letter, and guess what, there's a patrol duty set by Scrimgeour and she's one of the witches in the patrols!"
"What are the chances mum's assigned spot was the attacked village?" asked Reyna with a sigh, taking out her letter and reading it quickly.
She scowled once she was done," Mum didn't say which place she was put in but I'll bet it's that village."
"What else did she say?" questioned Rylan.
Reyna shrugged, scanning the parchment before grinning sheepishly," I asked her for candies for the both of us and she said Halloween's coming, which will give us enough stack of candies for a while, but-hang on-"
The envelope in which the parchment was in suddenly bulged as Reyna tipped out the contents on the floor. Six bars of Honeydukes chocolate, four sugar quills, four chocolate frogs, six acid pops, and Melinda's homemade strawberry cake carefully wrapped and cut into pieces, and two packets of gummy worms.
Rylan gaped," Merlin, mum must've thought we meant a feast," he said, looking awed.
Reyna grinned widely," You have your Queen to thank for that," she said with a small curtesy before dividing the treats equally.
"There's a note as well: This better last till my birthday, Queen and Rye. I'm not sending anymore till then. Lots of love, mum," read Reyna.
"Mum's brilliant! I won't have to starve till the next day for breakfast then," said Rylan, already starting on an acid pop.
Reyna rolled her eyes," You just had breakfast," she said admonishingly.
"Fifteen minutes is a lot," shrugged Rylan while his sister rolled her eyes.
There was a series of pops as the five Order members apparated to their assigned village.
"Seems quiet," commented James, looking round him.
It was quite secluded actually. The place they were in was quite a small cottage, more like hut in description. It looked very old and very dirty, and the small garden surrounding it seemed more like a miniature jungle with insects and weeds crawling everywhere.
Lily shivered, feeling a bit disgusted," I'm glad our garden is better," she muttered.
Regulus took a step forward before grimacing," There're some powerful charms put here, powerful, and dark," he told the other four.
Melinda took a step forward, her face concentrating before nodding," Regulus is right. I can sense a few common protective charms, like salvio hexia and repello muggletum, but that's about it," she said.
Lily took out her wand and waved it in a complicated movement," It's alright. We can pass through to get inside. I reckon the actual complications will start once we're in, so we'll have to be careful," she advised.
"I'll go first," said James, taking out his wand.
Regulus grabbed his arm before shaking his head," No, I think it should be me. I can sense any dark spells that could harm us and I'd warn us beforehand," he told the raven haired man.
Reluctantly, James agreed, following close behind as Regulus opened the door cautiously.
The door creaked as it opened and a smell hit their noises, forcing them not to gag. It smelled like rotten rats and eggs.
"Honestly, how can You Know Who keep a part of him in a rotten hut?" said Bill, wrinkling his noise.
"Search me. I've always thought he was crazy in the head," muttered James.
"Regulus, do you sense any powerful aura anywhere?" called Lily, who had gone towards a cupboard and was peering through.
"Lily dear, cast a charm before touching anything," said James hurriedly.
Regulus shook his head," Nothing. Albus said it was probably something very old but unique and with a large magical reserve. We need to check everywhere," he replied.
"It's a pity Snape couldn't get the object itself as well," muttered James, not out of earshot of his aunt.
"It's good enough that he got the location, James," said Melinda, giving him a look.
James winced before going in the direction of the kitchen.
They searched carefully for a while, muttering now and then and tapping with their wands. Once James tried to summon it with no luck. They were in a middle of calling it a day when Bill suddenly yelped.
Melinda was there first, asking quickly," What happened?"
Bill pointed across the wall where a painting stood. James took a closer look at it.
"It looks like…a painting of Gorman Hartwell," said Lily suddenly.
They all looked at her before Regulus snapped his fingers," The wizard who invented Ancient Runes," at some of their confused expressions he elaborated," Hartwell was an incredibly powerful and well known researcher of Ancient Runes and Charms. He dedicated thirty years of his life finding various runes and making them more powerful and introducing the new ones to the Wizarding World. He was a good fellow, but a few years later he started making the runes dangerous, adding dark spells and selling them. The runes became explosive and uncertain, you weren't quite sure whether they were safe or would explode in your face. In the end, one of the runes he was working on hadn't been carefully checked by him. He had neglected to take precautions, which caused a permanent damage to his wand arm, rendering him unable to quite do anything."
James whistled," No wonder Voldemort's got a painting of him in his hut."
Melinda turned towards Bill," Were you hurt?" she asked.
Bill shook his head," I felt a sort of magical force so I came here. When I tried to touch the painting to see if there was something behind it I felt a resistance," he explained.
They all looked up at it before Lily started doing the same wand movement as before. Her face looked worried as she finished," There are a lot of complicated charms surrounding the painting. I know most of them but others are tricky and need time to work through."
Regulus also tried seeing but shook his head, looking grave," Lily's right. It seems Voldemort cast some powerful charms around the painting to hide whatever it is that's behind it."
"Are we able to take them down, then?" asked James with a frown.
Lily nodded," I believe I can take down some of them right now."
"We should probably start now. Bill and I can take down the curse ones, Lily, you take down the charms ones, James, whichever ones you recognise, and Melinda…" Regulus trailed off, suddenly looking apologetic.
Melinda smiled at him," I'm not quite ignorant at spells. I think I can remove two of them," she said with a teasing smile.
So they got to work. It took careful concentration and the right sort of magic to take down the shields around the painting. Bill and Regulus worked together, merging the knowledge they have and taking down the dangerous spells and charms.
"Finally," said Lily with a relieved smile as the last of the charms were taken down.
James cast a quick charm to make sure it was safe to remove the painting before carefully prising it off the wall. They held their breath as the painting made a small creaking sound before swinging open. Nothing jumped at them. No more protection spells needed. The hole behind the painting looked bare and empty-save for the little silver trinket sitting innocently in the center.
"That's it? That's the thing holding a piece of that madman's soul?" James' voice couldn't sound any more incredulous.
"I think there must be something inside it. It looks like you could open it," said Melinda, looking at it carefully.
James transfigured a cloth before carefully taking the trinket and wrapping it, making sure no space was visible. He then handed it to Melinda," I think you should take it to Dumbledore, Aunt Linda, before the death eaters arrive."
"You can apparate now, there're no anti-apparition wards put in," said Lily quickly.
Melinda looked round them," We should apparate together befo-"
It was too late, pops had already started sounding as they had expected. James took out a small key, pushed the cloth gently into his aunt's hands along with the key and they watched as she vanished.
"She'll be furious, Potter," smirked Regulus.
James shrugged," Can't help it," he turned to Lily," Lils-"
"Don't even think about it James," said Lily before turning to the door and walking briskly as the death eaters started throwing spells at them.
"Careful you idiot! The Dark Lord said not to curse in case we hit something," yelled one of the Death Eaters.
Lily muttered the shield charm, making the three or so spells that had come at her rebound off quickly.
The other three joined her outside and started battling furiously.
"The only way to end this is if we destroy the cottage," said Regulus, shouting to be heard over the exchange of spells.
James and Bill nodded.
One of the death eaters tried to get inside but Bill blocked him. They started battling, with the death eater gaining in on Bill, who looked as though he might lose at any moment.
James looked anxiously at Regulus before saying," Try exploding the house while I cover you."
Regulus didn't waste a minute more. He turned back quickly after taking down his death eater, and bellowed at Bill," Get down!"
But Bill couldn't get lest he be killed. Throwing a shield charm at his back, the oldest Weasley ducked as Regulus did a complicated wand movement, muttering rapidly before the cottage exploded.
Luckily, James and Lily were quick enough to conjure up their full body shield charm-a charm Jasira had taught them back at school- as bits of bricks flew at them.
Some of the death eaters managed to disapparated quickly while the rest got severely injured and fell unconscious. The remaining ones standing were the Order members, though Bill was the only one actually hurt.
Just then Darrell, Melinda, Moody and Matthew apparated, wands out and ready to attack.
"Battle's over," said James dryly, gesturing at the ruined house.
"We'd better get out of here quick," said Darrell," Go to Grimmauld Place, Dumbledore's there with Snape and Marlene."
"Potter, we need to round up these death eaters before they regain consciousness," grunted Moody before conjuring ropes on each death eater and portkeying them to the Ministry.
James made sure Lily was alright before saying to the others," I'll be there soon."
Felicity was absolutely worn out. She'd had to give in a very detailed report of yesterday's attack by ten in the morning, before going to her training room with Kingsley. She noticed that Moody was not to be seen during her trainings, which was weird since he was nearly always there to keep an eye on things.
"Where's Moody?" she questioned Kingsley.
Kingsley looked up briefly before saying," He won't come in till later in the day."
Felicity nodded, though she noticed how he had tensed up slightly at the question and his suddenly alert eyes. She didn't quite think it out of the ordinary, but then she hadn't seen James since when she'd given in her report to Frank. He hadn't been around in lunch, and neither had Marlene either.
She frowned before remembering the time her parents had returned home the previous day.
Perhaps there was an Order meeting, she thought. Without quite knowing why, she suddenly felt a bit left out of things. Felicity pushed the feeling away as she concentrated on the antidotes that she was taking notes on.
James suddenly appeared, looking to be in a hurry. He caught sight of Kingsley, tapped him on the shoulder before muttering something in the man's ear and leaving.
Kingsley looked at Felicity before saying," That's enough for today Cade. You can leave an hour early."
Felicity simply nodded, not saying anything as she packed up her stuff and left the room.
The brunette witch waited impatiently for her parents to return, and when they flooed in Matthew came as well.
He smiled at his sister," I thought you might be waiting."
"Were you guys in an Order meeting?" asked Felicity, looking at their tired faces.
Her parents exchanged guilty looks but nodded.
"I'll go and make us a cuppa while your mother explains," said Darrell, hurrying towards the kitchen.
Melinda let out a sigh as she sat down, looking at her daughter's expectant face.
Matthew said instead," We found a horcrux," his voice was excited.
He looked smug as Felicity's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Good. It was hard surprising his older sister. He continued on," Today mum and some others went to a location where the horcrux was in and they found it! They found it Jas," he said excitedly.
Felicity frowned, much to Matthew's confusion," Aren't you happy? The sooner we get to getting all those horcruxes the better," he asked, puzzled.
Felicity nodded," I'm just, well, I can't believe Voldemort didn't hide his horcruxes as carefully as in the books. You mean to say you went to the location and found the horcrux? No spells? No curses? No enchantment?" she asked, tone skeptical.
Melinda pursed her lips slightly," Of course there were enchantments and spells. Quite dark ones as well, but we took our best ones there so it was easier and quicker. As soon as we got it death eaters appeared, and Regulus had to burn down the cottage for the battle to end. But your brother's right, Jas, it is a horcrux," she said.
Darrell came back, levitating four cups of milk tea and setting it on the table. He took his, took a small sip before saying," The reason we know it's a horcrux is because when the trinket was opened, a dark foreboding feeling surrounded us."
Felicity looked down at her steaming cup before asking," What exactly did it look like, the horcrux? And have you destroyed it yet?"
The three exchanged looks before Melinda said slowly," Well, the trinket sort of circular, and had a small hole where you opened it-don't look like that, Jas, of course we were careful when touching it- anyway, the horcrux itself was actually quite small. I didn't quite recognise it but Dumbledore knew immediately," her eyebrows creased as she went on," it was actually an artifact, a small bronze bell."
Felicity looked disbelieving as she said," Voldemort put a part of himself in a bell?"
Her mother let out a small laugh at her daughter's face but nodded," I admit, most of us couldn't believe it either. But the things is, the bell wasn't any ordinary bell. It used to belong to Gorman Hartwell-"
"The wizard who invented ancient runes?" said Felicity in surprise.
Melinda looked taken aback," You've heard of him?"
"Yeah, back in Hogwarts when Lily and I were doing an ancient runes project and our section was finding the wizard who, ah, continue," said Felicity with a small cough as Matthew rolled his eyes.
Looking amused, Melinda resumed talking," Well, it used to belong to Hartwell, as you mentioned, the wizard who invented ancient runes. Supposedly this bell belonged to him when he used to store a few crafted runes inside it. He only crafted the most powerful and the most important of runes, and it was a bell that aided him many times whenever he needed to get out of dangerous situations."
Felicity knitted her eyebrows," If he crafted them that that would mean he added a bit of magic in the bell to help him in the situation. And if he chose the most powerful ones then the bell must've had power at a certain point. Merlin, no wonder Voldie's chosen it as his horcrux," she said, looking a bit worried.
Darrell gave a small nod," Which means it won't be easy to destroy it. Atleast, not like Ravenclaw's diadem. No horcrux we've encountered holds as much power as this one, and coupled with Tom's soul…let's just say it won't be easy."
"It took us a while to open the trinket itself, thanks to more charms put in place, but it's the fact that basilisk fang won't help with this one," said Melinda.
"Why not? I thought basilisk fang was amongst the rare things used to kill a horcrux," said Felicity.
"The bell's not just any horcrux Jas, it's also almost unbreakable, so a basilisk fang'll be useless unless we fancy breaking an arm," answered Matthew.
"Well, what about the sword of Gryffindor?" demanded Felicity, looking at all those faces.
She looked at them before realization sank in and she groaned," It's not to be found yet, isn't it?"
Matthew grimaced," And I doubt it will come since there's no basilisk to kill," he looked meaningfully at his sister, who ignored him.
"What other options are?" asked Felicity, looking at them all.
They suddenly looked apprehensive and Darrell said quietly," Fiendfyre."
Felicity looked horrified," Dad! You know how dangerous it is," she said anxiously.
"That's why Regulus has volunteered to destroy it. He's the only one with the self-restrained and resilience to manage a dark spell like that, and none of us are stupid enough to try it without taking precautions," said Melinda.
Felicity turned pale as she thought of her brother in law," If he doesn't succeed…" she trailed of, stopping as she saw their sickened expressions. None of them wanted it either.
"When will it be done?" she asked abruptly, standing up.
"Dumbledore wants it out of the way as soon as possible, and Regulus says he wants to do it before sunset tomorrow," replied Melinda, before eyeing her daughter," Jas, where are you going?"
Felicity glanced at the clock. It was going nine. She hesitated before sitting down," I think I'll pop to Regulus' and Lucy tomorrow before training."
"What will you do?" asked Matthew, crossing his arms.
Felicity smiled faintly," Don't worry, little brother, I'm just going to make sure Reggie knows the full body shield charm so he can protect himself."
Her parents sighed and Darrell said," Well, we can't stop you protecting family."