Ascension of Blood - Blood and Bone Saga
Chapter 2
A Toast to Blood and Brotherhood.
"Destination… Determination… Deliberation", Ron focused for the hundredth time that day, "Destination… Determination… Deliberation". Ron turned left on the spot, a loud crack indicated his departure, another loud crack further up the field from the parade yard announced his presence some two hundred meters away.
Mad-Eye laughed suddenly, leaning forward in his chair he spat his drink over the floor just as the sight of Ron appearing then slipping, off balance as he landed on his rear. "Good on ya' lad", Mad-Eye bellowed, another fine landing, he laughed.
"Your boy's got two left feet", said a wizened old man to Mad-Eye's right. They sat taking tea, listening to the chorus of blue language filling the air. "But Merlin can he make some distance after such a short time".
"You're not wrong there Wilkie", Mad-Eye nodded to the much older Mr Twycross. The two went way back and Moody was pleased he was so willing to do him a favour. "Falls on his arse more than anyone, but as determined as they come". Mad-Eye had taken a gamble, approaching a Ministry official, but he knew Wilkie was not one for the modern age of blindly following the governing officials. He was a fierce Dumbledore loyalist and had been known on occasion to be up for going against the grain. He had welcomed the chance for some hell raising. The hell raising being, sitting and drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches in an abandoned government facility, within the Orkney Archipelago to teach a lowly fifteen-year-old how to Apparate out of Ministry view. Riveting stuff to a man in his hundreds.
"Wont this boy be taking his exam at the end of the year anyway?" Wilkie asked.
Mad-Eye huffed, God bless him, he loved the old fool, but he'd asked this four times now. "Yes Wilkie, but the old witch in the hotseat won't let him back in that school, until she has an unfortunate accident, or we just flat out off her", he grumbled hopefully.
"Dolores?" Wilkie shouted. "Oh yes, wayward little cow that girl, needs the stick up her rear removing". He giggled, forcing an eye role from Mad-Eye. This was the extent of Wilkie 'cutting loose', a mild amount of swearing and some words of rabble rousing, bless him.
There was a crack and Ron appeared; eyebrows angled in their usual moody state. "How have I landed in a bastard cow pat? There's no cows here!"
"You best hope that's what it is", Mad-Eye sniggered.
"What you reckon Mr Twycross?" Ron shouted with the air of speaking to a man of great age. "That a pass?"
Again Mad-Eye rolled his eyes. Wilkie had perfect hearing but liked to keep up the false pretence of a withered old man for sympathy's sake. Mad-Eye had watched for years the amount of assistance and paying-on joe public would do to assist such a frail old sole. "Frail my arse" he thought. "Old codgers got this sympathy thing down to a tee".
"I think that's some quick work you've made since last month…". Wilkie smiled.
"Last week Mr Twycross, we only started a few weeks ago… remember". Ron patted his arm gently, Mad-Eye shook his head again with a smirk.
"Well come on Wilkie, I best make sure you make it safely back to New Hampshire before we lose the light". Mad-Eye got up, giving him no chance to dawdle.
"Back to yours first, is it? Using that fancy charm on your cottage again are we lad?" Wilkie said brightly.
"So you can polish off the last of my red wine, I think not you old fart". Mad-Eye paused with a look of horror as he took in Ron's face. "Oh lord! Is this how Ron thinks when talking to me… no way, I'm old, but there's no way I'm that old". "No Wilkie, better we fall back on a bit of Dumbledor's good graces and use his Portkey.
Ron smirked at Mad-Eye, the few times he'd borrowed Wilkie for his expertise, it was only so long before his mentor wanted rid of him. It was enjoyable seeing him become irritated through no fault of his own. "The old fool".
"You good for the evening?" Mad-Eye turned to Ron, knowing he would be. So long as he kept him stocked up with food he had not a single worry for the boy anymore. His talents for picking things up was immense and he'd advanced well beyond where Mad-Eye had hoped he'd be by now.
"Sure, early night for me I think". Ron yawned, stretching his arms. His Bio-Magic-Mechanical arm, Mors Manus hissed as he flexed, jettisoning steam from the vent by the tricep.
Mad-Eye eyed him suspiciously. "Early night huh. First time for everything I guess". With a shrug he tossed the thought from his mind. "Well night lad, another good day all around".
Ron watched them both jerk into a spiralling suction of blurred limbs as they vanished to his eye. Walking back to the barracks he entered and found his bed nestled towards the corner of the great room close to the showers. The spot was the closest thing to cosy that he could manage and, his mentored tactical eye told him the most defendable. He'd made it his own though, it was closing in on a month he'd been here, and he had little to show for it in the form of possessions, but he'd found much he valued. He often raided the old library in the main building and even levitated a couch out and over to his nook. His collection of tactical learning books, defensive and offensive spells gave him much to read, but he longed for company now.
After some minutes Ron stripped and walked to the showers. He'd love a hot shower, murder a steaming bath, but he liked the cold showers deep down. This place was hardening and Ron had been long enough to appreciate the man it was making in him. He took in his reflection. Mors Manus flexed as he stretched.
He gripped the wrist of "Death's Hand," and twisted it in the socket left then right, then right again, there was an audible click and Ron slid it's drive shaft out of the cap on his shoulder. Laying it down on the side next to the sink it flexed on its own before settling.
His experimental prosthetic arm, crafted from the remains of a Hebridean Black dragon. It's muscular design made to mimic the natural musculature of a human arm, with black colouring and green oxidized copper-like tendons. The mechanical components integrated into the muscle structure, creating a seamless blend of mimicking flesh and metal. A glowing green energy core embedded in the forearm, pulsing rhythmically, now slowed as movement often intensifying it's flashing. Intricate engravings and etchings resembling ancient runes and symbols illuminated along it with a faint green glow, adding to its sinister and macabre aesthetic. The arm vented steam, exhaust-like, as it waited for Ron's essence to rejoin with it.
Ron stroked the arm, feeling a loss whenever he disengaged the drive shaft from the cap that connected his shoulder to the thing. Quite remarkably the thing was a piece of him now, he likened its removal to the loss of his real arm after the Death Eater attack some months back left him torn apart, his arm blasted off. He smiled affectionately down at it, this creation had given him his life back, it made him all the stronger. It didn't need removing for a shower, but once in a while it was good to be thorough.
Looking back to the mirror, his armless body meshed with the bronze and black leather of Julius Tonga's amazing work creating the 'Cap' that took the arm, meeting body with creation. But now his eye's trailed to his face. His blue eye piercing, his other, black and dead looking. No white within since the damage of the blasting curse, this eye saw only shadow now. Then trailing from his eye his fingers traced the lines of scarring, now healed that showed where the side of his face was ripped apart. It had all healed well, he was lucky, then again, he was lucky he lived.
"Fuck it", he snorted and braved the icy waters of the shower.
Finally returning to his nook he dressed, ignoring his lounge pants he dressed for the cold. When finished he collected up his cloak and a map that lay on his bedside. Feeling an overwhelming urge for Harry and Hermione to be there with him, rule breaking just didn't seem right without them. He left the barracks.
"What on earth have you been doing?" Arthur said in concerned astoundment.
Bill turned from where he had sat opposite his father, to look to the kitchen door, Charlie had entered. "Bloody hell", he exclaimed at the sight of him, "You look like you've had the piss beaten out of you".
"Poachers!" Charlie grinned manically. His teeth shined a sickening red as blood dripped down his chin. His face and shoulders ashen and burnt, some of the ends of his hair singed. He looked a mess. "Fucking good scrap too". He made his way to the sink and scooped an amount of water, throwing it against his face. He dried his somewhat clean features, now showing what cuts and bruising remained as he went to sit with his brother and father.
Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples in his hands. "How many… where… how much trouble are you in?".
"Cairngorms". Charlie froze a glass of water with his wand, then tipped the ice onto a cloth where he held it to his face. "The national park in the Highlands, our bit, not the tiddly million acres the muggles have access too. A group of seven or so, but I had Hamish and Raul with me and their good lads, love a good brawl. Ended up chasing them on our brooms after that, they didn't want any of us. Lost sight of them as we made it all the way to Loch…".
"… Fuck's sake! ... "
"… Ness", Charlie finished. "What?" he rounded on Bill.
"You and that fucking Loch, did they really go that way or did you just use it as another excuse to stalk the locals. At least if it were an actual human female you were stalking, I could understand it. Lunatic sexual deviant and all that, bless your tiny, warped mind. But no, it's some make believe female with scales… that isn't actually real!"
"Nessie's real you tit! I ain't being dragged into another argument on this. It's pretty much fact at this point, she's clearly a Tidebreaker, maybe even last of her kind".
"You're not being dragged in…". Bill began winding his hand, as though fishing. "But looks like I'm going to need a bigger boat", he laughed.
"Shove your bigger boat up your arse", Charlie gave him a gesture. "Facts are there to be seen, she's real, a Tidebreaker for sure, Leviathan class Hydrodrake. We know that particular Loch sustains multiple families of Kelpie, and that can't be true without an abundance of prey items. Tidebreaker's are very docile, never attack other creatures like the Kelpie or Merfolk, but their natural bio-radiation means it teams' habitats with life. She could create her own eco system that sustains the entire Loch, which is no small place by the way". Charlie put down his ice pack and crossed his arms, getting into his swing. "They've an ancient lifespan and the muggle sightings go back to the 6th century. Long powerful body, just like what they reported seeing, then there's the wizards that give even more detail descriptions of...".
Bill groaned loudly. "Alright we get it, enough please!"
"...descriptions of the bioluminescent markings on her scales, which match the sightings exactly. And don't forget the magical disturbances in the area, traceable right back to her. Every wizard and magical creature within a hundred miles knows that she's not just a myth. She's a legend, and I'll prove it one day!"
Arthur got to his feet and chuckled quietly. "Well, I'll prove one thing, I'm an astute seer". Both boys tilted their heads in confusion. "I predict come tomorrow, your buggered when your mother catches sight of you looking like that. Night boys".
They said their goodnights between them and once he'd been gone a few minutes, Bill conjured a bottle of whiskey. "Night cap?"
"Good shout Sir", Charlie said, summoning two glasses.
"Urgh… thought he'd never leave!"
Bill and Charlie sprung to their feet, with the speed of youth their wands were drawn and pointed over at the shadow that now loomed in the corner of the room. Heart's beating, they panted against the flood of adrenaline that hit them.
"Ron!"
"Surprise", Ron said sheepishly with his hands up in surrender.
"Merlin!" Bill gasped as he clutched his chest. "How long have you been there?"
"Do you really think the Loch Ness Monsters a Tidebreaker", Ron said in awe as he stepped out of the darkness.
"Fuck's sake", Bill groaned as he flopped into his seat.
"Never mind that". Charlie gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I can't say. But I'm here, so what does it matter. Get to spend time with my brothers don't I. And I haven't seen you since Christmas".
Bill and Charlie exchanged a look, the elder groaning into his hands as he dragged them over his face. "That doesn't sound good."
Charlie too looked sceptical; at Ron's head tilt he sighed. "Whatever it is it can't be good if you're blatantly avoiding it. And stop looking at that bottle!"
Bill narrowed his eyes, "you ever had whiskey Ron?" he asked with the air of a man with an idea.
"No, why."
"Really?" Charlie snorted, "Hogwarts has gone soft."
"Fancy your first glass with your big bros'," Bill shook the bottle lightly. Ron's eye's lit up, "then spill!"
"Urgh!... fine." He strode over and slumped into a chair. "I apparated. Been learning off old Wilkie Twycross at my place and I'm good at it".
"Are you fucking mad!" Bill shouted.
"Shh… please, mum will have a fit if she sees me," Ron stressed urging some quiet.
"You don't say," Bill hissed. "Ron that's like… seven hundred miles".
"Not to mention the five or six miles over open water you mad bastard," Charlie seethed.
"I had a map," Ron tried to argue his point. "I memorised the stepstones and I did it in increments. Took me two and a half hours in bite sized jumps. Used my memories of the train journey north to school to make sure I had an idea in my mind for each jump, to make it more manageable. Fucking nakard me out, but I did it…"
"But you shouldn't have done it Ron," Bill urged him to see sense. "That's an extreme journey for an adult, let alone a child with a weeks' worth of practice. Not to mention the trace!"
"So now I'm a child."
"No, you're a nob!" Charlie poured him a small whiskey. "You neck that down in one! I want you spluttering and crying your apology".
Ron took the drink and eyed Bill, then Charlie and tossed it back. It burned his throat, he knew it, but he showed them nothing. With a steely gaze he hummed. "Nice, I'll take another."
"Oh, you really are an arse," Charlie snorted. He conjured a third glass, sliding Bill a drink, he then poured Ron a second. He put his hand over the glass as Ron went to grab it, "slowly this time, oh great traveller."
Ron nodded and sat back with the two. "I am sorry though, honestly. And I won't make the excuse that I'm lonely up north because I've too much on to be sat around feeling sorry for myself. But I need to do something soon that might just kill me, so I need to be reckless and push myself. I don't have the luxury of not being a child!" He glared at Bill, but there was no bitterness there. His brothers just looked back, listening with concern. "So, a seven-hundred-mile trip, Apparating almost as many times isn't some dumb kid thing. It's a throw me in the water and watch me sink or swim thing. That, and maybe I did want this." He finished by gesturing to them all.
Bill sighed, but Charlie spoke up. "You're not to go to that manor alone Ron, promise us!"
Ron smiled apologetically with a sigh. "Can't do that big brother, I get it, I'd be saying the same thing to you too. But I can't make that kind of promise when I know that's the way I'm heading. Alone or not, I can't promise that".
Charlie pulled the glass away from Ron, irritated and Bill chuckled sliding it back to him. "Ron, were here, we want her back too. This isn't some lone crusade; this is about getting her out safely. That's why Dumbledore used the Light girl, why he's continuing to dig and plan."
"I know that" Ron urged. "I just don't want to lie and make promises to the two of you that I don't know if I can stick to." He took a small, slower sip of his drink. This time he coughed as it hit his throat. It was dry and strong.
"Not so easy now you're not trying to prove a point, is it!" Charlie sniggered. "This is mild too, a sweet blend, so just think on that while you're giving it the big'n".
Ron met his eye, making them both groan as he knocked back the rest of his glass. "Then I'll have to practice won't I". He couldn't hold back the strain in his voice. "Not sure I'd actively choose to drink this again, unless it gets better… but as were here". He took back his glass as Charlie reluctantly poured another, notably smaller one, "so what's new?"
Bill didn't miss a beat as he spoke up. "Charlie's hitting up that nurse of yours."
Charlie Spluttered as Ron choked, "Dick!" Thumping his sibling in his arm. "A couple of date's that's all".
"It's true?"
"It is mate," Bill said. "The boy likes your seconds", he snorted into his glass.
"Dick!"
"She wasn't my… we never did anything, we just played chess!" said Ron.
"See that Charles," Bill patronised, "she likes a boy with brains not dragon shit".
"Oh, you're a fuckin' peach you are," Charlie said, his voice a mix of exasperation and amusement. He was clearly irritated by Bill's teasing but couldn't help laughing along with it.
"So, any good?" Ron asked, taking another sip with a hiss as it hit his throat.
"Bloody hell", Bill choked laughing, looking at Charlie. "He does the deed what… twice? Gets his first glass of whiskey and now he's all grown up. So, what would you know about it, Casanova."
Ron eyed him with a sneer, but Charlie bounced back to his older brother's side now. "He's got you there, not like you know the difference between, any good, or not".
"That so?" Ron said as two smirked back at him. "Well, me and Pansy did a pretty good job of ruining each other. You two think I don't instantly know a good thing when it blows my mind. I'll happily double down and stick with what I've got. Unlike you two desperados in need of finding a new one every five minutes".
"Bugger me!" Charlie snorted. "Alright big man, but we'll see if your still sure in ten years or so. Anyway". He downed his last sip and brought his glass down that bit harder than needed. Bill and Ron jumped but Charlie held his attention. "You've been holding out on us little brother, and we've been patient with you, but you need to start involving us". Ron made to reply but Charlie cut him off. "Forgetting the fact that you nearly killed Bill, then me. We've put our lives on hold for you…".
Again, Charlie held a hand up, silencing him as Ron looked to argue. "We'd do it all over again Ron, just like you would for any one of us. But were invested in all this now. No one cares for Pansy like you, but we love her too, we both know everything between you is all sorts of mental, but we need more answers than what we've been given."
"Long and short of it mate," Bill said, "what happened at Christmas, start talking."
Feeling the weight of their stares, Ron exhaled sharply and began, his voice low but steady. It wasn't long before Bill was on his feet, pacing the room, his frustration etched into every step. Charlie stood leaning heavily against the stove, powerful arms crossed as he listened intently.
Ron's breath hitched as he recalled the red-eyed stallions and their nightmarish cries echoing through his chest, but he forced himself to focus on Bill's pacing and Charlie's sharp questions. He noticed the white of Charlie's knuckles as he gripped the top of the work surface as he told of a hoard of shadows. Each surging as one with nightmarish forms that screamed out in anger and frustration. The subtle way that Bill's pacing faltered as he told of a pale goddess. A figure whose insurmountable aura shifted from flares of eternal rage to bitter, consuming words and eyes filled with cosmic empathy. Finally the image that struck at Ron the most was one that made his head drop, noticed by his brothers. Ron begrudgingly told of a girl who saw through him, into a memory that brought her peace in her final moments.
Something bitter hit at Ron as he finished telling them of what he could about his journey with Death, he listened as they filled in the gaps from their end. What happened while his mind seemed to leave a reality where his body remained. More than once, he spotted the looks Bill pulled as he listened, he understood he couldn't believe it on his word alone. Pressing on he reached what had been going around in his head for some weeks.
'Wait, he said what! in the Umbra Court?' Charlie said straitening up.
Bill rubbed at his temples, "and you didn't hex him on the spot?" Charlie shook his head in annoyance as his older brother spoke. "Bugger me", Bill exhaled deeply with a shake of his head. "I don't know where to start…".
"…Welcome to my world," Ron muttered.
"…So that bastard Lestrange is seriously trying to make out he's Pansy's dad!" Bill said, mouth aghast. He shook his head again, "still can't believe Mad-Eye didn't blast their arses… what!"
"He's just told you," Charlie snapped rolling his eyes. "Umbra courts wards are powerful, neither could of moved against the other".
"Well, I've never even heard of this place, have I", Bill whined.
"I've been a few times, poachers get about in there a bit, always worth knowing what's going around. I'll take us down that way some time". Looking at Ron Charlie paused, coming back to their conversation. "What exactly did he say to you, Rodolphus I mean. Why are they after finding you. It's weird that they'd do that. It makes me feel like…"
"…Like he's telling the truth." Ron's hard expression faltered for a moment, until his resolve kicked in and the focus in his eye returned, fixed. "My thought's too, it just felt like he… like he wanted to get the measure of me".
"Why does that mean he's definitely her dad exactly, and not just a raving nutter?" Bill tried.
"…Because", Charlie interrupted. "That man is dangerous, and if anyone really was bedding his daughter, if he had one. I'd be expecting a visit from him too". He set his Jaw, "Ron, mate you have to stay away from those two. They're deadly."
There was a silence that lingered loudly against them. It pointed a finger at Ron for not answering with instant promises to stay away from them, just as it had with the warning not to go near Malfoy Manor. Not wanting more of the same Ron eventually moved first. His hand entered his cloak and withdrew a letter. "Pansy is my only priority now", he slid the letter over.
More silence followed more exchanging glances. Bill spoke first. "When did you get this?"
"An hour after I left Orkney", Ron said gravely. "I figure she sent that at Christmas, reckon there's an owl that's been missing for a while, searching for me until I resurfaced tonight. It found me after an hour."
"Do you have something planned?" Charlie accused rather than asked.
"No," Ron lied, "I don't", he said honestly.
"So Mad-Eye does?" Bill said.
Charlie watched as Ron dragged his hands down his face in a tired expression. Siding with Bill he wanted to force the issue, but seeing Ron, he pitied him and changed the topic. Though the subject was just as pressing in his mind as the rest. "Are we going to glaze over the fact he's met Death?"
"You mean thinks he met Death," Bill corrected, turning from Charlie to Ron. "You were practically comatose mate, you were deep in there, it just sounds like a fantastic dream…"
"There was nothing fantastic about that!" Ron's voice shook them both, sounding fatal. The two exchanged glances and Ron shook his head. "This isn't something I need to question Bill, it was real. I thought you believed me."
Charlie gave Bill a hard look. "What? Oh come on, I believe him, I believe you Ron," Bill tried, "but isn't this all just as likely to be something your mind constructed while you were healing."
"Lad!" Charlie tried to quiet Bill, "don't."
"I'm not playing any of it down," Bill reassured. He paused taking a second to speak nonverbally to Charlie. "Oh come on! You can't tell me it's not a little far out there."
"It's good enough for Dumbledore," Charlie suggested quietly.
"Well, yeah but still…"
"And what about the fact he's got that bull strength behind him. Then there's everything we heard from Pansy. She told us everything before he was awake, they can't fake that".
Bill looked ready to argue back when Ron spoke again with a chill to his voice. "I couldn't make up something so terrible," his voice low and distant. "Watching her realise she was dead… forgetting about those… things that were after her! I haven't been able to get her face out of my head. The way she looked… I've never seen anything so sad, even when she started remembering some memory that made her smile. It broke my heart watching her go, she didn't deserve that!"
Charlie and Bill held a long gaze between themselves before Bill spoke up quietly. "Ok mate, it's alright…"
"And it was my fault," Ron swallowed.
Suddenly his eye's seemed so big and Bill was transported to looking down at a four year old sibling. "Mate, no it wasn't your…"
There was a whaling that began to ring out through the house as a light made them all jump. Blue and brilliant white tore through the doorway. The light whirled, finding the three of them then the image of a Lynx formed and leaped onto the table.
Kingsley's deep voice resonated through the kitchen against the backdrop of screams heard from the hallway beyond. "Attack is imminent, await coordinates', little is known".
The Lynx leaped down and flashed away, through the door and up the stone steps. Now they heard the shouts from Arthur some floors above, confused as to old lady Black's screams. The three exchanged looks of shock and as the voice of their dad went quiet, each understood he too was hearing Kingsley's warning.
Bill and Charlie stood; jaws set. "What does that mean, someone's coming here, or?"
"An order members in danger," Bill said.
"Or they're about to be," Charlie made for the door.
"Take me with you, I can fight!" Ron's heart was pounding.
"Absolutely not!"
"Mum and Dad will find out I'm here," Ron pleaded.
"That's on you little brother."
"If you're not here I'm gonna make my own way back, in the dark… and before you think telling mum can stop me… who gave me Whiskey!"
Both brothers stopped at the door, they turned in stereo to look at him, "You fucker!" Charlie scoffed.
"You wouldn't dare" Bill's eyes narrowed.
"I can help, I know how to stay hidden, and the cloak will make me invisible to everyone."
"Just how does that cloak work anyway…" Charlie began, losing his focus.
"Lad!" Bill warned.
"Bill… Charlie…", They all turned hearing their father's hurried calls for them and the clatter of him rushing the stairs above.
"You're not coming," Bill finalised, "and before you start…" he looked to the table and the incriminating bottle, "I'll take my chances."
"Charlie!" Ron said angrily.
"Ron, no!" Charlie hissed. Then looking over his shoulder to where Bill had vanished, he grasped a collar full of Ron's t-shirt. "If I can't see you then you better be no further than one step behind me at all times… understood!"
A juvenile overexcitement lit Ron's eyes as he nodded that made Charlie second guess his rash decision, but Ron was already throwing his cloak over his head and pushing him up the stairs.
"Come on Charlie bloody hell," Bill shouted as he reached the ground floor corridor. He turned to Arthur, now nearing the bottom of the staircase, followed by Sirius who was descending with him. "Sirius are you mad, you can't!" his shouting louder over the wailing.
"FILTH, BLOOD TRAITOR… VERMIN!"
"What!" Sirius called back.
"ARGH AND THE SCORN OF MY WOMB."
"Someone shut her up for crying out loud," Charlie bellowed.
"BE GONE VILE SPAWN… ARGH AND THERE IS ANOTHER, BEGUILED IN SHADOW… YES, YES! THE HOUSE OF BLACK IS TOUCHED BY DARKNESS ONCE MORE", the crone called triumphantly. It made Ron's eyes bulge as she looked directly at him. She could see him through the cloak covering him. He knew he was hard against the wall, steeped in the literal shadow that the cloak fed on, invisible to all. Not so invisible to her it would seem.
Bill and Charlie exchanged a look in which Bill narrowed his eyes at him, peering over his shoulder. Charlie shrugged and tapped his temple, "Mental!" he bellowed, nodding his head at the portrait.
"Will you shut it you old cow…" Sirius barked. He raised his wand, "Lingua Mortua!" The screeching stopped. The curse sent her words back and away from the present. They were still there but now a faintly distant echo, as though she were trying to speak from a great distance, rendering her incomprehensible. The quiet that fell made the curtains of the portrait ripple to a halt where they closed after another twitch of his wand.
"How! ..." the fall of noise allowed the unbidden gasp to escape Ron's lips. His hand went to his mouth as he saw Sirius and his dad look around. Bill however looked directly at Charlie, eyes still narrowed. Again Ron saw him shrug at the eldest, it wasn't Charlie's best acting. Ron just made out Bill's lips mouth the words NO! as Charlie opened his mouth.
"Really glad you found that curse Sirius mate." Charlie said in a way that Ron knew was to quiet his audible pondering. It would seem they finally found a way to quiet the old crone.
"Rather find one that blasts her off the wall permanently," Sirius said with a dreamy smile, "can't be too long now." His eye's found Arthur's, "this is taking too long, we should have had word by now."
"You can't come," Bill repeated now the voice beyond the veil was barely a whisper.
But it was Arthur who spoke. "Sirius is an adult Bill and a member of the order both new and old. It's his choice. Dumbledore isn't as available anymore, and none of us are here to mind him. I for one would want his wand at my side in a fight." Sirius' smile widened as he heard this and nodded his head in appreciation.
Bill opened his mouth to reply when the front door glowed bright, an ethereal shape phasing through. Once inside it scrambled around the narrow passage, bouncing off one wall then another in a manic motion. Ron spotted it as another patronus.
This time in the shape of a Badger, the Patronus stopped its flurry of motion, cutting through the banter. "Wotcher, get to Bibury, the Cotswolds, quick time!" the badger called before vanishing back into the night.
Arthur turned sharply to Sirius; his expression dark. "That's Dedalus' charge. What the hell is he doing attacking Bibury?"
"Doesn't matter. We're wasting time standing here." Sirius' voice was grim, his shoulders squared.
"Right." Arthur took a step toward the door, already issuing instructions. "Boys, move. Sirius…" He hesitated briefly, but then: "We'll need every wand."
Before Sirius could reply, the sound of a sharp intake of breath made them all freeze. Arthur turned toward the stairs. Molly was there, clutching her dressing gown. Her wide eyes met his as the realization dawned, they were going into the fray, and she wasn't.
Ron, like the others found himself frozen under her gaze. He knew automatically that she wouldn't be going. If they were both killed then there would be no one for him, Ginny and the twins. Not that the other's would cope much better without them, adulthood or not. In that moment he realised what it meant to be trapped under the weight of responsibility as she watched her children and husband go off to place themselves into the firing line.
Setting her face in stone she nodded down at them silently, telling them to go. They all nodded back, Ron found himself doing the same, though he knew he was unseen.
Bill swung the door open, and Ron noticed Charlie hanging back. He knew in that moment he was changing his mind, deciding not to take him with them by blocking off the door to him. But Sirius gave Charlie a shove and patted Arthur through after him. If Ron was going to sneak his way out it was now.
The way clear, Ron made for the gap until Sirius' body filled the gap as he turned to look back up the stairs. "I'll bring them back to you Molly, safe and well, all of them… I promise." He didn't wait for a reply; he turned back to the door. As he did, he gripped a handful of Ron's cloak. His breath catching as Sirius' rough voice hissed in whispering. "Stay by my side, tight grip on my arm as we Apparate!"
The night air was cold, it was dark now, but no stars glimmered through the big city glow of London. Ron had no time to question how Sirius knew he was there or when he'd figured it out. Arthur gave the word and one by one they started to Disapperate in front of them. His hand gripped Sirius' bicep and Ron only had time to hear his victorious bark of laughter as he side-along Apparated them away.
A/N
If it makes for a good read then cool but if I do over do it sometimes, like with Charlie's over enthusiasm with Nessie, then I apologies'. But I lore and world building and could write that stuff for hours. It might not even have any bearing on this story, but of course Charlie, as a character, would obsessively think she's a dragon. I like details and I think sometimes, even if they don't matter they can make things pop.
Not much to say about this, once again its Ron, Bill and Charlie and again, I could write them for hours.
Hope it's well received, I hope to have the next instalment up soon. For the most part I broke my promise of one upload a week a while back for the better and posted multiple times a week. I'll revert back to that promise in the hope that that isn't too much of a wait, gives me some wiggle room and aim to get them in much earlier when I can.
This is the final book of the saga, everything comes to an end and all questions have answers and all destinations planned, so the story's complete in my head, I just need to get on getting it onto page.
L&L
Venom