Chapter 33 - Sometimes life is sweet and sour.
December 27, 2005

Everyone had stayed up very late after the dinner, dancing to phonograph records, playing the trivia game, and finally having a midnight supper of leftovers. And after that, Isabel insisted on her brothers and sister pulling out their instruments for an impromptu jam session. There was a bit of a discussion as they chose songs, since Catherine wasn't there to add in her fiddle or bass, but they finally settled on acoustic versions of whatever someone happened to call out. It would have looked silly to a stranger observing, Isabel in a slinky pink concoction with feathers pinned in her pile of golden hair sitting bare foot on the floor while she strummed a guitar. But to her big brother she looked perfectly happy and at home.

I should have reached out more, Gareth thought with regret. We were going through the same thing, doing what we loved, but all alone and slipping further away than we wanted or realized. He leaned over to George, sitting near him. "Hey, George, I was thinking," Gareth said in a quiet voice as he strummed his own guitar absently, muscle memory easily keeping him on tempo with Isabel. "About you and Izzy, I mean. If you need someone to go and talk to that guy, that promoter, you know, read him the riot act or put the fear of the werewolf into him, just say the word."

George cast him a sly smile. "It so happens that I have my own pack," he murmured. "I tell Fred that I'm off to California because some punter's making a play for my wife, and the next thing I know, he, Bill, Charlie, and Ron are all there." He huffed a quiet laugh. "It had never occurred to me how…dodgy we look as a group. Five good sized red-headed lads, but Bill's face is raked up from Greyback, Charlie's been burned by his work with dragons, Ron's got those wicked looking scars wrapped up and down his arms from his run-in with some brains at the Ministry of Magic, and I'm missing an ear. Fred's the only one unscathed, and he talked so fast and so outrageously about what we were planning to do to the man, that I just had to stand there. I'm not sure he wasn't convinced Fred was me, and so scared of us he about pissed himself." He shook his head, smiling. "But thank you. Isabel hasn't really talked about it with everyone, and it does mean a lot to know we've got you on our side. And if you ever need to borrow my brothers for anything, just let me know."

Gareth nodded an acknowledgment, wishing he could unleash the Weasley brothers as well as his own pack on the men who'd hurt Deirdre. He glanced over at her, still in her green dress, but also barefoot, and curled up on a massive floor cushion with one of Nana's shawls wrapped around her shoulders. Lina sat beside her, her fuller skirts allowing her to sit cross-legged. She was going over a list of things, Deirdre nodding periodically or pointing at something on the paper. He wished Lina hadn't dived quite so quickly or intensely into her training, but that was probably being petty. He was the one who had wasted so much time, and now all he wanted was to slow down and enjoy time with Deirdre with fewer responsibilities and distractions.

"Hey, G, you're up," Isabel said, nudging him with her foot.

He thought for a moment, then slowly began to strum. The others waited, and he knew they were watching, listening to get a sense of where he was going. It was a good feeling, how connected they were, that the instincts they had were still there. "Some day," he began softly, "when the world is cold, and I'm feeling old, I will feel a glow just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight.

Daisy joined in first, the piano as soft as his voice, then Josh with gentle drum brushes swiping over the skins. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Isabel set down her instrument and her voice added a sweet harmony to the lyrics. "Yes you're lovely, with your cheek so soft, and your smile so warm. There is nothing for me but to love you, and the way you look tonight."

He looked over at Deirdre again, and found her watching him, eyes shining and a smile curving her lips. He wondered if people were saying the same thing about him that he'd thought about Isabel, that sitting on the floor in a tuxedo, jacket discarded and tie undone hours ago, he looked happier and more at home than he had in years.


Deirdre was trying her best to pay attention to everything Lina was telling her about the important families in Peru, but it was so much information, and she was starting to get sleepy. The end of the evening had been much nicer than the beginning. Everyone dropped the characters they had assumed for dinner, even though they kept the clothing. She was certain they'd magicked the clothes somehow. An evening dress shouldn't be this comfortable. Nana had loaned her a shawl when she mentioned she was chilly, but the dress itself felt like a soft, close-fitting nightgown, and it was no bother at all to stay dressed up.

Jane and Hawthorne sat in the squashy double chair Gareth had made earlier, holding hands like a sweet elderly couple, though they were in no way close to elderly. Joel leaned against the side of the chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Gemma had fallen asleep, her pillow resting against his legs. Deirdre wished she could fall asleep too, but Isabel seemed in no hurry to wrap up the music and Lina kept talking, so she tried valiantly to stay with her.

"Of course, I should make you aware that you will never be alone," Lina was saying. "I'm able to have people in position to assist you, should that be required, at any event you are invited to, and naturally you can't be on your own now anyway…" The last was said barely under her breath, as though she were merely talking to herself, and Deirdre wondered if she was tiring as well.

"Maybe we could work on this more tomorrow," Deirdre finally said, trying to stifle a yawn. "It's got to be close to two and I can barely process what you're saying."

"Mmmm," was Lina's only reply as she made another note on her paper.

"Love, give the girl a rest," Sirius said, reaching out to jostle his wife's hand. "You can't change the timeline by driving her so hard."

Lina gave him a look, but then turned and patted Deirdre's hand, smiling. "You did very well tonight. You have the ability to appear calm even when you're nervous, and that will serve you well. Get some sleep now," she added, sounding a bit like a nursery governess.

Over his wife's shoulder, Sirius gave Deirdre a wink. "You ought to drag those kids away from their instruments, or none of us except Gemma here will get any sleep at all."

She smiled and obligingly rose from her cushion, dropping the shawl and shaking out her skirt. Looking over toward Gareth, she was surprised and pleased to find him watching her. As if he could read her thoughts, he said something to Isabel, who nodded, and they finished up the song they'd been playing. There were several minutes where the four of them stayed there, smiling and talking, presumably about the music or their instruments. It was so sweet to watch them together. Then Gareth set aside his guitar and ambled over to her.

"I'm beat," he yawned. "Are you going to change, or sleep in that?"

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "It's comfortable enough to sleep in, but not warm enough, and it sure wouldn't do the dress any favors."

"You should keep it," he said, stepping closer and wrapping his arms around her. "I wouldn't mind you wearing that again, even if it's just the two of us having dinner at home all alone." He ducked his head to look at her. "How was tonight, honestly? Did it feel like too much?"

She pursed her lips for a moment and then shook her head. "It was a lot, loads of details, but not necessarily too much." She laughed a little self-consciously, and looked up at him. "Apart from learning Spanish, I think the hardest part might wind up being having to pretend we aren't…more than we're supposed to be."

Gareth let out a long sigh. "I'll say. I'm tempted to just say to hell with propriety and take you back with me as soon as this storm lets up. But I think that might make things harder for you in the end." He sighed again. "At least we have tonight. The wind's changed, so I think the storm is about over. Go and change and I'll get a bed ready by the fireplace, your arms are cold," he added, stepping back and rubbing his hands over her arms to warm them. She slipped away and he added his wand to Joshua's as they rearranged furniture and gathered blankets for another night.


The snow storm finally ended just before dawn, leaving drifts six feet high around the dining hall and houses. Gemma woke early and stretched, working out a kink in her shoulder. Gareth and Joshua had given her a spot in the corner of the room, as far away as possible from Joel. She had pretended to pout and then gave in. They didn't need to worry, but it was sweet that they did. She got up as silently as possible and tiptoed to the bathroom, then to the kitchen. She was trying so hard to be quiet and not wake anyone, that she was in the kitchen and blinking at the bright lights before she realized people were already there.

Professors Snape and Price were sitting with Lina and Sirius, all four of them looking some mixture of angry and worried. The professors must have arrived the moment the storm ended. There was obviously some sort of spell at work, because Lina was in the middle of saying something, but Gemma couldn't hear a thing. She's wasn't unaccustomed to situations like that, Mum often used silencing spells when she wanted to talk to Dad and not have the kids hear. But since Lina and Professor Snape were supposed to working on a plan to help Deirdre…

Gemma pulled out a chair and sat beside Sirius, waiting for one of them to remove the spell. After a moment, Sirius gave her a wry grin and flicked his wand through the air. "Morning," he said, getting up and going to the cupboard to get another cup. He poured her some tea and took his seat again, sliding the cup towards her.

"So, I'm assuming there's some sort of problem with Deirdre, or this plan to turn her into a polished society lady," Gemma said, taking a sip of the tea.

"Not at all," Lina began briskly, but Sirius cut her off.

"You aren't listening," he said calmly, but without any trace of his typical jovial manner. "I'm done with people doing things on their own and trying to keep secrets because they think they're protecting others. It doesn't work. Think about the war. Severus needed you, the pair of you needed me and Artemis to know what you were up to. Harry needed the pack to sort out the horcruxes, hell, Severus needed the ghosts to find the diadem! My point is, we're stronger together. You have to tell them all."

Gemma watched, wide-eyed, as Lina's jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. She sure wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of her.

Professor Snape cleared his throat. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with him. While we were in Peru, Lupin mentioned that one of the things he and I learned from the war was how to trust people more than we had before. I think if you view the pack as assets instead of liabilities—"

"I don't even know who she is right now, let alone how to find her," Lina hissed.

"But we do know she's alive," Professor Snape said softly. "And we know what she wants. That gives us an advantage."

Gemma angled her head to look like she was listening intently, but really was trying to decipher the scribbled handwriting on the sheet by Lina's elbow. Probably still near Lima. Check Polyjuice suppliers. Bank accounts frozen, where is she getting the money? She pulled her tea cup closer and took another sip. Someone they thought was dead is still alive in Lima and maybe using Polyjuice… the truth hit so suddenly she gasped and choked on a swallow of tea. "Valen…tina," she coughed, noting Lina make a face at her. "She's alive?!"

"Presumably," Professor Snape said. "We are basing the supposition on a warning the warriors told Daisy about someone they called the Usurper."

"But you don't know where she is. Does that mean Gareth is in danger?" Gemma felt a cold prickle in her chest. "Does he know?! And Deirdre! He won't want her anywhere near him if he thinks Valentina is still after him! I've been waiting years for them to finally sort themselves out! What kind of a fairy godmother are you!?" Her voice was getting louder and she banged her tea cup down on the table for emphasis, sloshing tea over the side.

The Professor's eyes narrowed a fraction, but she didn't know if it was because of her outburst or her ridiculous title for him. "That hardly seems the most pressing issue," he replied dryly.

"So what are you planning to do, then?" She scowled back at him, crossing her arms.

It was Sirius' turn to make a face. "I hate the idea of setting a trap, or more specifically setting someone up as bait, but that's what we were discussing. Besides arguing about who to tell when."

"The key to setting a trap is to control as many variables as possible," Professor Snape said thoughtfully, tenting his fingers together. His mind was already at work on the idea, Gemma could almost see wheels and cogs turning rapidly.

"It won't work," Lina snapped at him. "She's tried the 'they're all conveniently in one place' attempt and it failed. She won't try that again. I've already misjudged her planning and abilities, and—"

"Stop comparing her to yourself," Professor Snape spit out. "She does not have the resources you have nor the contacts that you have cultivated, people who will work for you out of a sense of loyalty and respect. And," he added in an frigid voice, drawing himself up, "she was not trained by me."

It could have been a joke. It should have been a joke. Gemma waited several seconds for Sirius to burst out laughing or make a sarcastic comment. But he didn't. He was watching his wife, smoothing the ends of his piratical mustache.

"You…you lot beat Voldemort," Gemma whispered. "Why are you acting like Valentina is some all powerful witch?" A cold, icky fear crept over her. Lina was the most dangerous woman in the world, they all said so. They'd joked about it, her being able to start or stop a war if she put her mind to it. If all of these experienced, capable adults didn't know what to do…

Professor Snape turned towards her slightly. "That is a valid question. In a sense, the Dark Lord was more predictable, and his focus was divided. He wanted to take over Britain, and be immortal, and destroy Mr. Potter. We also had spies in his camp that kept us informed of his plans and his movements. This Valentina, on the other hand, we believe has a singular focus, to destroy Mr. Rodriguez. We do not know where she is, or even who she currently is, if she is using Polyjuice Potion."

"So you want to draw her out, that's why you were talking about setting a trap."

"I still don't think a trap will work until we know who she's pretending to be," Lina sighed. "It's probably someone at the company, but is that a family member or an employee? I'll need to recheck everyone, and I still can't get calls or texts out."

The cold, icky feeling was back in full force. "A family member?" she repeated. "You mean someone here, now?"

Sirius frowned. "No, of course not, she means…" His voice trailed off and he looked at Lina, suddenly pale. "You don't mean here, do you?"

"I don't know," she said, gazing determinedly at the table top. "It's more unlikely that it's someone here. Everyone's known each other for years, and would comment on odd little things like someone forgetting a common memory or not responding to things like they normally do."

Gemma swallowed. "Except Joel," she said quietly. "No one knows him well enough for that, not even his mum."

Lina covered her face with her hands and swore. "I just don't know." She looked up at Gemma, her face haggard. "I don't think it's him. I don't think it's anyone here, not really. If Gareth had been more involved in everyone's lives and back and forth to the UK all the time, then that would be one thing. But it makes more sense for it to be someone at the company, someone who interacts with him on a more regular basis."

"I agree," Professor Snape said, nodding. "And Gareth's invitation gives us the perfect excuse to be onsite. I am supposed to be getting a general sense of things to know how best to direct Miss McIntyre, and you," he inclined his head towards Lina, "are supposed to be setting up a private security force. That will give you access to everyone at the company."

"You have to tell them," Gemma said, staring intently at Lina. "Gareth and Deirdre can't go back and not know they're being…being hunted. And I think you ought to tell everyone. During the war, when they sent us away…well, it felt terrible to only have suspicions but not really know anything. Maybe that was the right thing for the younger ones, but I knew all of you were putting your lives at risk every day, only I didn't know when or how. And that made it worse. I would have rather known it all up front than to keep hearing things were going to be fine. It felt like everyone was telling the same lie."

"Hear, hear," Sirius said, thumping the table for emphasis. "Love, I think you've just lost your self-confidence for the moment. But we know you can beat her. And we're all ready and willing to do whatever it takes to help."

Lina looked at her husband, her eyes strangely bright. "All right then," she said in a husky voice. "Let's call a pack meeting."