Author's Note: This second half of this chapter heavily references MandyinKC's story Order of Mercy, particularly chapters 43 and 44, which are the Prison Van Raid Chapters (in which the Order of the Phoenix rescue a group of political prisoners) and was used with her permission.
~EA
.
.
Guy Talk and Morale Boosters
Kenneth didn't particularly want to check on the twins and Lee, but two nights later, Kingsley asked if he would. Which was how Kenneth found himself outside the safehouse, exchanging security questions with George, who was at least being somewhatsensible about the whole Alicia-Adrian 's opinion was greatly helped by the factthat Adrian had saved Angelina's life. Kenneth had known for a long time that George harbored feelings for Angelina, and he was rather glad that was working in Alicia and Adrian's favor.
Once inside, Kenneth waved his wand and a basket of food appeared. "Karen made you all dinner. It would be nice if you sent her a thank you Patronus."
George smirked. "I think we can do that."
Fred and Lee were in the kitchen. When Kenneth and George entered, Lee glared furiously at Kenneth before looking away. Fred merely rolled his eyes.
"Karen made dinner," George said to his twin,levitating the basket to the table. "Kenneth said we should be nice and send her a thank you Patronus. He's right, her cooking is way better than our own."
Fred had already cast the Patronus to Karen before George finished talking. "What've we got?" he asked, peering in the basket.
"Shepherd's pie," Kenneth answered.
"Excellent."
"It smells amazing."
As Fred waved his wand to summon plates and drinks, he added lightly, "You're such a lucky fucking bastard, snagging her. Kinda jealous sometimes, if you must know."
Kenneth ignored that comment and glanced again at Lee, who was still resolutely looking away from all of them.
Fred, never one to back down from conflict, went on conversationally, "Just ignore Lee. He's pissed at you because you're now friends with a snake."
"Shockingly, I guessed that for myself," Kenneth stated dryly.
The twins laughed, and George said, "You'll eat with us, yeah? It hasn't been just the four of us since Fred and I busted out of Hogwarts. It'll be like old times in the dorm."
Except, even after Kenneth sat down, it wasn't quite the same as it had been in their dorm, because Lee was still silently ignoring all of them, arms crossed over his chest, which left the twins to carry on conversation.
"So, what areyou doing in the Order?" Fred asked, dishing up shepherd's pie and levitating aplate to Lee. "Come on, Kenneth. You have to tell us."
"Yeah. And how has Pucey been helping you?" George took the next plate from Fred and passed it to Kenneth.
Kenneth had actually expected them to ask about his involvement in the Order a second time, because the twins wouldn't rest until they wheedled shite out of people. He had already decided he would give them a bit more information. Not everything, but a bit. Kingsley and Remus weren't around right now, and everything was bollocks. Besides, even though the twins were annoying, they wouldn't blab about something this important. They wanted to see Voldemort and the Death Eaters defeated, too.
He said, "I can't fight as well as the two of you can, so Dumbledore has me spying on Death Eaters instead."
"Spying?" Fred frowned. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"Isn't what we're all doing a bit dangerous?" Kenneth retorted.
"True," George agreed.
"Look. I won't tell you exactly what I've been doing, just that it's spy work, okay? It involves coded messages the Death Eaters set up. That's how Pucey started helping me. Dumbledore thought we would be able to decode things because we both took Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and Pucey was actually the one who cracked the code. It would have taken me a lot longer on my own."
Under his breath, Lee muttered, "Of course he did. Because he's a fucking Slytherin like the rest of them. He probably knew the damn code already."
Fred and George rolled their eyes and Kenneth gripped his fork a little too tightly; the metal dug into his palm.
He fired back, "Pucey's not double-crossing the Order, Lee."
Lee glared at him. "Everyone thought that about Snape, too."
Kenneth was going to lose his temper before this was over, he just knew it. "I've been working with Pucey since we graduated, damn it. And he saved Alicia and Angelina's lives the night Alicia's parents died. He wouldn't have saved them if he was a Death Eater, now would he?"
Lee couldn't seem to think of a reply to that, which made him even sulkier.
Kenneth tried to get his temper under control. "Angelina told me exactly what happened that night. Lee, I'm not kidding, they nearly died. Bletchley was going to outright murder them just like he murdered Mr. and Mrs. Spinnet. He even laughedabout killing Alicia and Angelina when he realized they were both there. Angelina said he considered killing them his fucking Christmas present," he spat.
The twins tensed and Fred growled, "Bloody fuck. Are you serious?"
"Son of a bitch," George hissed.
"He murdered Alicia's mother first — killed her in cold blood — and then he fired off a Blasting Curse that caused half the house to explode. That's what killed Alicia's father. Alicia and Angelina just did get a shield up in time to protect themselves. And after that, when Bletchley realized they were both there, he laughed, Lee, and sent three Killing Curses at them. Missed them by inches, damn it. Fortunately, Angelina just managed to get a Patronus off to Pucey, right at the start. And Pucey didn't even think twice. He Apparated straight there and killed his own classmate to save the girls. Why don't you think about that for a bleedin' second?"
Before Lee could answer, Fred jolted and looked a bit unnerved. "It'd be like one of us killing one of… us."
For a moment, all four of them looked at each other as Fred and Kenneth's words sank in. Even Lee looked a little disconcerted. Suddenly, they weren't nineteen and twenty-year-olds. Suddenly, they were eleven again, all sorted into the same house and looking around their dormitory that first night in Gryffindor Tower, knowing they were probably all going to become friends because there were only four of them — Fred, George, Lee, and Kenneth — the boys of the Gryffindor Class of '96.
George shifted uneasily. "No matter what a bastard Bletchley was — and he was absolutely a bastard — that would still be hard, I suppose. It'd be one thing for me to kill Bletchley or Montague, but another thing for me to kill one of you. Pucey basically killed someone he roomed with for seven years."
Kenneth was glad they'd cottoned on so fast. He added, "The truth is, Pucey hated Bletchley. He told me he'd hated Bletchley for years. But it was still really hard on him because they didroom together for seven years. We're only nineteen and twenty, damn it. This whole thing is bollocks, even for Pucey. And he really does love Alicia, you know."
At that, Lee's expression hardened. "Don't make me laugh. He's just using her for some reason, I'm sure of it."
"He isn't using her." Kenneth rolled his eyes. "They get on really well. They have since seventh-year."
"So you all keep saying. I just feel like there's something more, something else… Like I'm missing something…" Lee looked away again, thinking.
Fred turned back to Kenneth. "So what did you do with the information? The information the two of you decoded, I mean?"
Kenneth sighed. "We haven't been able to do anything with it, yet. We took it to Dumbledore, and he agreed there was nothing we could do about it right now. Pucey's mum told me it's important, and I need to hang onto it because at some point I'll be able to use it somehow, but…"
Lee threw up his hands and snarled, "Oh, wow, you're even on speaking terms with hisparents?"
"What arePucey's parents like?" George asked, even as Kenneth bristled a bit at Lee's remark.
Trying to focus on George's question, Kenneth said, "His dad's a brilliant potioneer, but he's very quiet and reserved. His mum is the complete opposite. She's really nice, actually. Nothing like my pretentious mother. She's very welcoming —"
"Who cares?" Lee interrupted. "What I really want to know is, how long has this thing between Pucey and Alicia been going on, exactly?"
Kenneth wasn't sure if he wanted to answer that. "I told you. They were friends for most of seventh-year. Pucey protected her from a lot of shite back then. Umbridge hated Alicia, so Pucey pretended to hate Alicia so Umbridge would keep pairing them together on patrols, and then he would watch out for her, make sure Bletchley and the others didn't try to attack her. I found all of that out just after we graduated. But I don't know exactly when they actually got together in seventh-year. I think it was sometime after Christmas."
He decided not to tell Lee he knew Pucey had given Alicia a Valentine's gift that year.
Lee suddenly stiffened. Kenneth could see the wheels turning in his head and braced himself.
"Oh, shite. The last Quidditch game…!" Lee said through clenched teeth.
"What about it?" Kenneth asked warily. He knew now where this was going, and no, he didn't like it. But it was like a runaway train; there was no stopping it.
"She was out of the Tower all fucking night that night!She said she went for a walk to get away from the noise and that she couldn't get back in because the Fat Lady had wandered off, but…"
Kenneth winced. Nope, there was no stopping this.
Fred whistled low. "Shite. She spent the entire night with him? Where? Room of Requirement, maybe?"
"That's one way to celebrate." George smirked at Fred. "Seriously, Gred. You can't sit there and tell me you didn't shag a few girls after we won a game."
"You're right, I don't have room to talk. And neither do you."
"Neither does Lee, for that matter," George added, giving Lee a pointed look.
"True," Fred said, arching an eyebrow at Lee, who's cheeks darkened at the implication. "Remember during our fifth-year, after the Slytherin-Gryffindor game? That was our best win ever, and you snuck off with Dawn Haywood to celebrate."
"Look," Kenneth said, trying to do damage control and knowing it was no good. "I don't know for a fact exactly what happened the night of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game our last year —"
"He got his dick wet, that's what happened," Lee snarled, rising and starting to pace.
That phrase rubbed Kenneth all wrong, but Fred interrupted and reminded Lee, "And you would have shagged her in a heartbeat too, if she'd come to you and offered. Like you shagged Haywood —"
"That's different! Dawn and I only hooked up a couple of times before I started really fancying Alicia," Lee protested angrily.
"It isn't different," Kenneth said exasperatedly.
George's lips twitched. "The only difference is that Dawn was in Hufflepuff and Pucey was in Slytherin. Though, honestly, if we're getting technical, Pucey was always the Hufflepuff of Slytherin."
"Kind of like Kenny was the Hufflepuff of Gryffindor," Fred chortled.
"Oh for fuck's sake," Kenneth complained, glaring at the twins. "Lay off, already!"
"Sorry, just taking the mickey," George laughed.
Fredsmirked. "Hard to stop now, you know."
Kenneth rolled his eyes. "It's also no different than Karen spending the night with me in Gryffindor Tower, Lee."
For a moment, there was a heartbeat of silence. Then…
"What?" Fred and George blurted.
"When the hell was this?" Fred demanded.
"Oh." Kenneth tried not to blush. "N.E.W.T.'s — but it was just one night. I'd been studying potions all evening and I was knackered. And Karen was excited about her Patronus —"
"Lee!" Fred barked, cutting Kenneth off. "You prat, you owe us five galleons!"
"Each!" George ranted. "We told youhe gave her the password to Gryffindor Tower!"
Fred snarled, "I specifically remember you said: but he's Head Boy, he wouldn't have the bollocks to break the rules like that!— and, what a surprise! — turns out he did!"
"We totally called that!" George added heatedly.
"Oh, shut up!" Lee blustered back at them. "Who the hell cares? Karen had been dating Kenneth for monthsby that point! Alicia —!"
"Alicia is older than Karen by two months," Kenneth snapped. "So don't go there, Lee."
"You shut up, too! That isn't the point! She slept with that fucking Slytherin after Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup —!" Lee nearly yelled.
"Which was her choice," Kenneth answered, going back to his food. "She was of age."
"A year over age, actually," George pointed out.
"That isn't the point either!" Lee slammed his hands on the table and glared at the three of them. "The point is, she slept with a Slytherinthe night after Gryffindor won! Why the hell didn't she just find me?! I've liked her since I was sixteen! It was a Gryffindor win, damn it!"
"How is that different from you shagging Dawn our fifth-year, again?" George muttered.
"It's not," Kenneth snapped, tired of going in circles. "Alicia spent the night with Pucey because she fancied him. And she's definitely in love with him now. I'm sorry, Lee. She didn't choose you, okay? You can't change that."
The twins winced.
"Take it down a notch, Kenny," George muttered.
Annoyed, Kenneth reminded them, "Angelina told him the same thing two nights ago! What the hell is the difference?"
"You're not Angelina?"
"Yeah, no one is going to cross Angelina."
Lee sank back into his seat. "I hate him," he seethed. "Merlin, I fucking hatehim! I kept hoping she would pick me, damn it!"
"We did too, mate," Fred said seriously. "But… she didn't."
"If we're being honest, Ikind of hate every guy who dated Karen before I did," Kenneth said stubbornly. "Even Fred."
Fred threw his hands up. "I only snuck out with Pickford twice in fourth-year! And we didn't shag!"
Kenneth ignored him and went on, "But it doesn't mean I'm going to take it out on them or on Karen because they were just a normal teenagers, dating around —"
"Except Alicia didn't date around," Lee threw back. "She just… hell, she hasn't gone with anyone butPucey! Has she?"
"How should I know?" Kenneth snapped. "I'm doing good to keep track of my own love life, damn it! And Alicia was one of the famous Gryffindor Chasers! She could have snogged some bloke in a broom cupboard back during third-year for all I know!"
Actually, he was pretty positive Alicia hadn't snogged anyone else, but there was no sense telling Lee that. Still — it had the effect Kenneth wanted: Lee stopped short and looked a little unnerved at the idea that Alicia could have hooked up with some other bloke at any point in third, fourth, fifth, or sixth-year, and never told any of them, because that was exactly Alicia's way. She would say it wasn't their business, and she would have been right. Lee looked at Fred and George, because if anyone would know, it would be the two of them, but they only winced.
"She could have."
"Angelina and Katie sure did."
"Alicia probably did, too."
"Probably don't bet on that one, Lee."
"Kind of like you bet Kenneth wouldn't give Karen the password to Gryffindor Tower. Still can't believe you thought he wouldn't."
"Sex always wins over rules. Even for Head Boys."
"Always."
"And Karen is fit as fuck. No offense, Kenneth. Just making a blatant observation."
Kenneth blushed. "Yeah, well, I certainly agree with that."
"Ten galleons, Lee."
"We won't forget."
Lee slumped back in his seat. After a long moment, he muttered, "I hate this. I hate that nothing I did made her want me."
Kenneth winced. "I'm sorry, Lee. I really am."
"The worst part is," Lee went on, not looking at any of them, "I want to hate him, and I do hate him… but he also protected our girls." For a moment, Lee looked unnerved again, as though he were thinking about what Bletchley had nearly done.
"If we're being honest," George said seriously, "that's what changed my mind on him."
"Same," Fred agreed, getting another helping of shepherd's pie. "He could have ignored Ang's Patronus. But he didn't. And Remus and Kingsley trust him a lot, too. That helped for me. They wouldn't trust just anyone, you know."
"Also," George added, getting some more food as well, "he hasn't double-crossed the Order yet."
Lee interrupted. "But don't you blokes see my dilemma? I fancy Alicia, which is why I want to hate his arse… but he saved her, too."
"He saved her because he loves her," Kenneth said quietly. "Not because he was trying to win her over or get attention. Because he'd be devastated if she got killed."
"And," Fred said thoughtfully, looking at Lee, "he said he'd help Kingsley find you a new place for the pirate station."
"He's only doing that to try and get on my good side," Lee muttered, crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Maybe." Fred shrugged. "But he still said he'd help."
Lee looked at Kenneth and asked abruptly, "In all the time you've been working with him, have you even bothered to look at his left forearm?"
Kenneth nearly dropped his fork as his anger spiked again. "I haven't paid that much attention, but I would assume Alicia would have seen something like that, Lee! It would be kind of hard to conceal your left forearm when you're naked in bed together, don't you think? And do you really think Alicia would be with him if he'd taken the Dark Mark?"
Lee did at least look ashamed at that. "No. You're right. She wouldn't have."
"So," Fred said briskly. "Not a Death Eater. Good point, Kenneth."
Lee toyed with his fork for a moment. "Look," he said abruptly. "It's going to take me a while, okay? I hate him because I fancy Alicia. I admit it. I just don't think I can be friends with him as fast as the three of you can."
"If it makes you feel better," Kenneth said, smiling a bit, "I nearly dueled with him the first night Dumbledore put us together."
At that, Fred and George burst out laughing and even Lee gave them a weak smile.
"Bloody hell, did you really?"
"Pucey would have turned you to muck, Kenny."
"He was the best in our class at dueling!"
"You're not bad, but you aren't at Pucey's level, either!"
Kenneth chuckled. "I know. Thankfully, Dumbledore walked in right before it happened, but Godric, Pucey pissed me off that night! I couldn't believe Dumbledore had actually inducted him into the Order. Like you," he looked at Lee, "I was sure Pucey wasn't really on our side. But the past year and a half taught me otherwise. Look, I didn't mean to become friends with him. It feels weird, you know. If someone had told me back in seventh-year that I'd be friends with him, I'd have hexed their bollocks off. But I guess, with Cedric gone and Gil at home since Jane's arrest, and me being around Pucey all the time…" He trailed off into silence and pushed some of the mashed potatoes around on his plate.
"Aww," Fred leered. "Best mates, yeah?"
Kenneth felt a spike of irritation, and deliberately twitched his wand under the table to very quickly fling mashed potatoes at Fred's face, where they splattered against his cheek. For a couple of prolonged seconds, George, Lee, and Fred stared in shock — and then, quite suddenly, the next thing Kenneth knew, they were all involved in a massive food fight.
In fact, they were laughing so hard, shouting and whooping at each other as they multiplied the mashed potatoes and flung them back and forth, even slipping in them on the floor (Lee landed on his arse and used Levicorpus on George in retaliation, and Kenneth flipped the table on end as a shield against a particularly large ball of mashed potatoes that Fred slung his way) that no one even realized Remus entered the room until the older man yelled, "FINITE!" and mashed potatoes splattered all around them to the floor. George crashed down with a yelp, and he, Kenneth, and Lee had to slip and stumble to their feet like twelve-year-olds instead of the adults the supposedly were.
Kenneth pushed his glasses to the top of his head; they were covered in potato. He wasn't blind without them or anything drastic, but Remus was a tad blurry on the edges and definitely pissed.
"Er, sorry," Kenneth said sheepishly. "This was my fault, I'm afraid."
"Bloody fuck," Remus said, closing his eyes to the sight of four young men covered from head to toe in potatoes and ground beef. "No one answered the door so I assumed the worst, and you four were just —!"
There was silence for a moment, but if Remus had hoped his words would shame them, they didn't. The twins, Lee, and Kenneth glanced at each other, covertly made eye contact,snickered togetherfor a second, and then burst out laughing again.
"Clean this up," Remus said, in a suffering sort of voice. "Merlin, you four are as bad as James, Sirius, Peter, and I were!"
"I'll take that as a compliment," Fred said cheerfully, waving his wand to vanish potatoes.
"And," George added, flicking his wand to put the chairs right, "that means that you have absolutely no grounds to light into us."
"No," Remus muttered in annoyance, as he turned back to the front hall. "I don't, unfortunately."
Fifteen minutes later, when Karen asked why the heck Kenneth had a bit of mashed potato in his hair behind his ear, he just started laughing again. He couldn't help it.
Merlin, it felt good to laugh for a change.
As the month of February melted into March, Kingsley was right: Alicia's services were, most unfortunately, needed more than once.
A skirmish broke out in Scotland in which several fighters were injured trying to protect some Muggles from attack. Alicia had to heal a fractured arm for Conall Galbraith, which was the least of her worries; one other Order member — a Gryffindor from a year above Conall — was severely wounded and lost quitea bit of blood. She and Adrian returned to Pucey Villa to let Alexander know they would need him to brew some more Blood Replenishing Potion, and Alicia was grateful that Adrian's father was willing to do so.
Then there was a skirmish in the south of England, where Death Eaters attempted to destroy a bridge and part of a roadway. Order members weren't able to stop it, and getting the few defenders out was a challenge. Several were injured and two were killed; Adrian remained Disillusioned the entire time, which was a damn good thing, because he had to kill at least one Death Eater just to get Alicia out safely. She'd been so focused on trying to staunch one man's severe bleeding that she hadn't even noticed she was in danger.
Courtney's packets continued to arrive every weekend, though she did start varying the mailings a bit: sometimes they arrived on Saturday and sometimes on Sunday. On the first staggered packet, she included a brief note, saying she was trying to change things up a bit because she didn't want her father catching on to what she was doing because he would absolutely punish her if he found out. She also told Alicia that the packages had a special, invisible mark that allowed them to bypass Death Eater inspections if randomly selected, which was why they hadn't been searched yet.
Alicia was slightly impressed and also slightly worried — but then, if Courtney were a Death Eater herself, she wouldn't be helping Alicia. It seemed she was simply using any means she could to achieve her ends, which — as Adrian pointed out — was exactly what Slytherins did best. Alicia seriously hoped Cecil Vanhausen didn't find out his pureblood daughter was helping a half-blood he hated.
For the week after the raid on Lee's station, Angelina stayed with Oliver at his flat as a precaution, while Kenneth kept an eye on Angelina's flat in Tansley Alley. After a few days, Angelina decided to go back to her place. No one liked this idea, but Angelina was independent like that. After much arguing, George ended up sleeping in Alicia's old room nights, just to make sure Angelina wasn't by herself, while Fred and Lee cautiously went back to the twins' flat above their store.
On top of that, Adrian had to help Kingsley and Remus find a new, safer location for Lee's pirate wireless station — which took a week, but they finally succeeded.
Before they met Lee at the new location, Kenneth confided in Alicia that he and the twins had had a long talk with Lee, and while Lee hadn't completely come around, he would at least be civil to Alicia and Adrian. Kenneth resolutely refused to tell her what the four Gryffindor boys had talked about in that conversation, but she gathered that Lee still harbored feelings for her and was upset because she chose a Slytherin over him.
When she and Adrian met up with Kingsley, Remus, Fred, George, and Lee in a secluded wood in Yorkshire where Adrian had found a shack in the woods for the station, things were still tense. While Lee at least wasn't yelling at them, he spent most of the time glowering at Adrian.
Kingsley tried to be patient. "He helped set this place up, Lee. You could at least be grateful. This is what you wanted, isn't it? The station back? You wouldn't have it back if it weren't for Adrian's help."
Remus frowned. "He's not double crossing us. Not all Slytherins are evil."
Lee stiffened. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard, okay? I don't want to magically be friends with him like everyone else. Sorry."
George twitched. "Remember, we told you that he hexed Bletchley in seventh-year —"
Fred crossed his arms. "Bloody hell, hekilled Bletchleyback in December."
"He protected both Alicia and Angelina that night. Bletchley would have killed them, you know he would have."
"He's been helping Kenneth for months, which honestly? Probably deserves a bloody Order of Merlin in and of itself —"
Alicia lightly knocked Fred in the back of the head. "Leave Kenneth alone!"
"Sorry." Fred grinned sheepishly. "Old habits, you know."
"Yeah," George snickered. "We've been taking the mickey on Kenneth for nearly ten years, Alicia. It's rather hard to stop at this point."
"And it's pretty entertaining to us that his new best mate is Pucey," Fred added. "Poor Gilbert Royle will be devastated."
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Leave Gilbert alone, too. He's devastated enough that they arrested Jane."
Adrian muttered under his breath, "Seriously? Towler and I are notbest mates."
"Nope, we know you are, Pucey."
"Definitely."
Lee was still struggling, and as he glanced at his reconstructed wireless station, he finally said in a defeated voice, "Damn it, Al. Why did you have to pick him?"
Alicia's shoulders dropped and she felt both a twinge of sadness and annoyance at the same time. "Lee. I've told you since sixth-year that I think of you as a friend. I'm sorry, but I was never interested in you that way. I never tried to hide that fact from you. I thought I was pretty honest, actually. I didn't want to hurt you. I like being friends with you. I just don't fancy you, is all."
"Yeah, I suppose you have been honest," he muttered. "But I kept hoping maybe one day you'd change your mind. Is it because he's taller than me, or just minted?"
Alicia glared at him. "Lee!Seriously?! It has nothing to do with him being rich or tall or anything else! He and I get on really well. We always have. I can't help that I fell in love with him! I just did!"
The bit about Adrian's height was an outright lie; maybe the only one Alicia had ever told Lee. But damn it, Adrian was a good seven inches taller than Lee, and she really liked standing on her toes, dragging him down, and snogging his brains out.
"Right," Lee complained. "You get on well. All those bloody patrols. I forgot. So did you sleep with him the night of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game? You were gone all fucking night. Think we didn't notice?"
At that, Alicia turned pink and she noticed Adrian did, too.
"That's none of your business, Lee," she said, crossing her arms.
"Which means you did," Lee snapped.
"Enough, Lee!"
"I'm seriously starting to wish I'd been our year's prefect instead of Kenny. Maybe then, we could have patrolled —"
At that, George and Fred gaped at him, and Fred blurted in a disbelieving voice, "I swear to hell, Lee, now you've just gone off the deep end! No bird is worth wanting to be a prefectfor! No offense, Alicia."
At the same time, George barked, "Pull yourself together, man."
"Lee," Kingsley interrupted. "Would you at least just be grateful Adrian helped set this damn station back up? Hate him if you wish about Alicia, but he helped get this to a safe location and he set up a number of protective charms around it."
"Thanks," Lee finally muttered. "I do actually appreciate that, even if I hate you, Pucey."
Adrian drawled, "Don't worry, that feeling is very mutual, Jordan. I hate you, too."
At that, Lee finally cracked a dark sort of smile. "Good to know."
Alicia sighed. She supposed two out of three wasn't bad.
In early March, Kingsley devised a plan to help boost morale, because morale was pretty damn low by that point. He had received word that the Ministry and Death Eaters would be moving a group of high-security political prisoners, and he wanted to try and free them using members from both the Order of the Phoenix and Fleur Weasley's Order of Mercy.
Alicia thought the whole thing was an extremely dangerous move, but Angelina and Oliver were quite interested in helping. Percy too, apparently. And naturally, because it was such a dangerous move, Kingsley couldn't plan it without roping Adrian in, which absolutely terrified Alicia.
It was decided that Adrian would Polyjuice himself to avoid detection, and Kingsley brought him a few hairs that would turn him into a young muggle from Glasgow who was about his height, but slightly broader, with brown hair and eyes, and a short beard.
"Merlin, thisfeels weird," Adrian had muttered, after transforming and having put on one of his father's shirts. He had a flask of Polyjuice in his pocket to make sure he stayed transformed for the whole operation.
"I don't like this," Alania said yet again, and Alicia rather agreed with her — because Alicia would have to remain behind for this particular Order operation. She hated that she couldn't be with Adrian; it didn't feel right. But, while she could certainly fight, Kingsley wanted her out of harm's way in case someone was severely injured. He also had Eilish MacMillan on standby. He didn't want either Eilish or Alicia in danger unless it was absolutely necessary — not after the skirmish in Southern England, when Alicia had nearly gotten killed trying to save an Order member.
A few days before the operation, Adrian attended his first Order meeting, which Kingsley held in an abandoned subway station. Angelina and Oliver were made aware that Adrian would be there in disguise, and Kingsley had decided that Adrian would take a French alias for the operation and speak with a French accent as much as possible to keep his true identity secret a while longer. It was helpful that very few people knew Adrian was fluent in French; no one would suspect him if he was Polyjuiced and using an accent.
On the night of the actual raid, Alicia and Alania waited on the bench by the cemetery to see if Alicia would be needed, and to worry together. Alexander told his wife she was going to worry herself into an early grave, but she merely ignored him and sat with Alicia.
Not knowing what was happening was horrible. It was quiet at the cemetery, with a light, cool breeze blowing that made Alicia's arms break out into gooseflesh regularly despite Alania's warming charm. All Alicia could think about was the sounds of the battle, wherever it was, and whether or not the Order members were successful in their attempt to free the prisoners, battle Death Eaters and Dementors, and get back to safety.
And then, after what felt like an eternity, Oliver's bulldog Patronus materialized before her.
Alicia, I need you to Apparate to Shell Cottagenow. Percy's badly hurt.
While Oliver's voice was seemingly calm, Alicia could hear the thread of panic underneath, and she sucked in a sharp breath. Percy was his best friend, damn it, and Oliver had already lost his two older brothers. She felt her stomach drop in fear, but she rose quickly and squeezed Alania's hand. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I have to help, Percy's his best friend. He's lost too much already."
"Stay safe, ma colibri. I'll be right here if you need me."
The prison van raid had been successful — all of the prisoners had been released and whisked away to safety, the dementors had been kept back by Angelina Johnson and Cho Chang's strong Patronuses, and Adrian had to admit, he'd actually rather enjoyed the thrill of battling Death Eaters,even if it had beenhorribly dangerous.
But no one had counted on Fiendfyre. Not even Adrian — who, afterwards, felt like he probably shouldhave thought of it.
Somehow, Adrian ended up at Shell Cottage alongside Oliver Wood, Remus Lupin, Bill and Fleur Weasley, and Audrey Sprayberry. She was the only one who didn't know about his involvement in the Order, so when his disguise wore off (because the last thing on his mind was drinking Polyjuice at that moment), she screamed. Bill and Oliver had to quickly insist that Adrian was a member of the Order, and Audrey turned bright pink and stammered an apology despite her panic.
It was Oliver who sent for Alicia, because Adrian was trying desperately to help Fleur save Percy's life. However, his and Remus's extensive knowledge of Defense Against the Dark Arts did not include how to heal someone who had been severely burned by Fiendfyre. He knew it was literally burning Percy away, and would continue to do so until it ate through his body. Percy needed a real Healer, and Adrian had a sinking feeling that Alicia wasn't going to be able to help.
Two minutes later, when Alicia stepped through the door with her medical bag on her shoulder, and saw Percy laid out on the butcher-block counter, Adrian could see the panic in her eyes as she realized the injury was way beyond her expertise. Oliver quickly explained what was going on and Alicia stood over Percy for a moment, checking the diagnostics, but in less than a minute, she shook her head and — after stunning Percy again to keep him unconscious — she dragged the group aside.
"I don't have knowledge for this," she said firmly, meeting Oliver's eyes. "We need an actual Healer. Your aunt is on stand-by. Adrian can go with you since Bridget is engaged to Atticus. I'll stay here and do what I can with Fleur until you can both get back."
"I'm going with you, too!" Audrey insisted in a panicked voice, as she grabbed Oliver's arm.
"Aunt Eilish doesn't know you," Oliver stammered.
"I don't care, I have to go, we have to save him," Audrey begged.
"Let her go with you, Wood," Adrian said. "We don't have time to argue. I'll stay here; you don't need me since you're more closely related to the MacMillan Clan."
"I'm going, too," Bill insisted.
So Adrian remained with Alicia, Fleur, and Remus, while Oliver, Bill, and Audrey Apparated to the north of Scotland.
Ten minutes later, the group returned to Shell Cottage, this time with Eilish alongside them. Like Alicia, she had braided her long, dark brown hair out of her way and was wearing jeans and a jumper instead of her Healer robes. She smiled when she saw Alicia.
"Missed seeing you this term, lass," she said. "Awful about your mam and ded. When this bloody awful war ends, I hope you'll reapply to the program. Let's see what you've been doing for this lad in the meantime, aye?"
Eilish was silent for a few minutes after that statement, and everyone waited anxiously as she began to work. Finally, she nodded and said, "You two kept him alive, and that's something. I'll need you both to assist me." Turning to Fleur, she added, "You've the real makings of a Healer, lass. Ever thought about it?"
To Adrian's surprise, Fleur Weasley shook her head and murmured, "Non. This is enough for me."
It took at least two hours of hard work, and Adrian stood as far back as he could while still watching, because he wanted to learn and because he wanted to see Alicia in her element. She was amazing, she really was. She didn't flinch or shirk away from the smoking, raw, red meat of Percy Weasley's back like Audrey wanted to do, and she helped Eilish with steel in her eyes, doing whatever was asked of her without question. He also thought Fleur would have been in Gryffindor had she gone to Hogwarts; she and Alicia had a very similar expression as they worked.
However, by the time Percy was in the clear, and Adrian and Alicia Apparated back to Pucey Villa, she was exhausted and he was just as tired. The adrenaline rush of fighting Death Eaters and saving Percy was finally starting to wear off.
His mother was still sitting on the bench under the oak tree, and she was on her feet as soon as they stepped off Chessy's grave.
"Dieu Merci," she gasped, hugging both. "Was the raid at least successful?"
"It was," Adrian said quietly. "All of the prisoners were freed. But Percy Weasley was badly injured."
His mother's shoulders sagged. "I'm glad you were not,mon fils. Alicia, were you able to heal Percy?"
Alicia shook her head. "I didn't have the knowledge to heal burns by Fiendfyre —"
Adrian's mother's eyes widened in horror.
"— but Oliver, Bill, and Audrey fetched Eilish MacMillan. She was able to heal him. He'll always have problems with his back, but… he's alive." She swallowed. "And I learned a lot. That's not one I would learn about in class. It's one you have to see done or really understand the theory behind it."
"Well," his mother said grimly. "Let's get you two inside so you can rest. Are you too tired to fly back?"
"No, that might actually be nice," Adrian said, summoning brooms.
Alicia nodded in agreement. Flying always helped clear one's head, and Adrian knew she needed it after having to help Eilish with Percy's injuries.
"Alicia and I will go back to the house shortly, Mum," he said. "We're going to fly a bit first, though. Even though it's dark."
Alania sighed. "Oh, very well. Be careful."
As they kicked off into the air, Adrian could tell by Alicia's expression that she was glad to be off the ground. She shot forward to arch over the lawns at breakneck speed, and he quickly followed, allowing the cool wind to calm his nerves.
Author's Notes:
1. Again, special thanks to Mandy for allowing me to reference her story with one major modification. As I did not want to dare try writing her OC Lance Pucey, I had to create another character to heal Percy (Eilish MacMillan).
2. This chapter spawned two outtakes, which are only posted on AO3. They are listed under my user name, and the story is Stolen Moments: Outtakes, chapters 8 (Meeting Bill) and Chapter 9 (Why One Should Always Knock Before Entering).
~EA