Chapter 20: Grim Trigger

Tulse Hill, South London
21st December 2009, 3.34pm

"Too hot?" Dudley asked as he poured the water over Pansy's head, careful to guard her face with his other hand.

"Perfect," she sighed, tipping her head back as he rinsed the conditioner out, her dark hair gleaming like oil. "Where did you learn to do this?"

Dudley swallowed thickly. "Before my mum died," he said. "I tried to do as much for her as I could, and I think she preferred me to the nurses."

Pansy's brushed her knuckles gently along the inside of his calf where it bracketed her waist.

"You don't talk about her much," she said softly.

"Not much to say," Dudley shrugged, settling his back against the curve of the bath as Pansy leaned herself against him, her hair slick against the angle of his neck and shoulder. "I didn't realise how bad things had been until she got ill and started to - to talk about stuff -"

"You don't have to tell me," Pansy said, when he had been silent for a few moments. "I know what it's like to have a difficult family." She turned her head and pressed her lips gently to the swell of muscle at the top of his arm.

"It isn't that." Dudley frowned, wondering how best to explain it. "It's more - there was so much I'd just never - so much I'd thought was normal until I realised it wasn't."

Pansy said nothing, but she looped one arm around his knee and began to run her fingers up and down his shin. "Why did you join the police?" she asked.

"It was going to be the Army," Dudley said. "But I wanted to be around for Mum, so this seemed a better option."

"That makes sense," Pansy nodded. "Always wanted to fight for a cause?"

"Hah." Dudley shifted uncomfortably, inhaling the clean, coconut scent of Pansy's hair as he leaned his cheek against her head. "That came on fairly late. I was an absolute shit at school."

"You're not the only one," Pansy murmured. "But admitting that - knowing you were wrong, and being sorry - that's got to count for something, right?"

There was a note of agitation in her voice, and Dudley wrapped his arms tightly around her, feeling her tense and then relax against him.

"I spend every day wanting to do better," he said quietly in her ear. "And I just have to hope that counts for something."

Pansy angled her head so that her mouth brushed his. "I think -"

She was interrupted by the doorbell, and Dudley sighed reluctantly as he began to extricate himself from the very pleasant bathtub situation. "If that's Theo, I'm going to kill him."

He heard Pansy laughing as he roughly dried his hair before looping the towel around his waist and starting downstairs. Through the frosted glass windowpane on the front door he could see a familiar shock of red hair.

"Weasley," Dudley nodded as he opened the door.

The tall Auror gave a start, then turned and frowned at Dudley. "Oh," he said. "Hi."

"Everything alright?" Dudley asked after a few moments, and Ron blinked, shook his head, then smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, long day. Can I talk to Pansy?"

"She's just -" Dudley started to gesture over his shoulder, then paused, turning back to look at Ron. "You never call her Pansy."

"Don't I?" Ron shrugged, though his smile had started to tremble at the edges. "First time for everything though, isn't there. Where did you say she is?"

He started to take a step inside, but Dudley blocked the door. "What do you want her for?" he demanded.

Ron's face contorted, and for a moment he looked at Dudley with an expression of bleak horror, before his hand went to his pocket and he lifted his wand. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Well in that case -" Dudley tried to slam the door, but Ron's foot was in the way. The wizard didn't even wince.

"Get out of the way," he said grimly.

"It can't be you," Dudley said. "You - what do you even want -"

"Merlin's beard." Ron rolled his eyes and gestured impatiently with his wand. "Dursley, at the very best you would be collateral damage in this, so I suggest you leave playing the hero to your insufferable cousin."

Ron's voice had lost its faint west-country softness, and his tone was sharp and unpleasant. Dudley suddenly had the very distinct impression that it wasn't actually Ron he was talking to.

"I won't let you have her," he growled. "How did you -"

"Oh I see." There was something disturbingly mechanical about the way that Ron tilted his head. "Charmed you, has she? Worn down your defences? She always was a sl-"

"Is that Theo?" Pansy called from behind Dudley, and Ron's gaze went past him. "Tell him -"

"Final warning," Ron muttered. "You're really not important enough for me to -"

"Weasley?" Pansy's voice had sharpened. "What are you -"

"Time's up," Ron sighed, and Dudley tried again to slam the door before there was a bright flash of light and a searing pain tore its way through his chest.

The last thing he heard was Pansy's scream.

oOo

Levisham, North Yorkshire
21st December 2009, 3.34pm

"There!" Teddy cried, lifting a hand from Harry's waist to point towards the sizeable crowd gathered around the Trilithon.

"Thanks Ted, hadn't spotted them," Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. "Both hands on me please," he added, feeling the broom attempt to lurch to one side as Teddy leaned past him towards the ground. Even in the gathering twilight he hardly needed the help to find the Trilithon; he could taste the thing's power on the air, palpable enough that he suspected he could probably have found it blindfolded.

"You're the one flying," Teddy huffed. "I bet I could let go with both hands if I wanted and you'd still be able to steer."

"Well," Harry said. "Yes, you're probably right. But -"

"And if you'd let me fly on my own then you wouldn't have to worry at all."

"Good point," Harry nodded. "But if you were flying on your own then we couldn't do this."

He pitched the broom sharply to the right, turning into a steep dive as Teddy whooped with exhilaration.

"Hold on tight!" Harry yelled, twisting the broom so that they began a tight corkscrew. The wind was powerful enough to draw stinging tears from his eyes, and he grinned to himself as he felt Teddy's fingers tighten to a deathgrip on his coat.

A dark shape shot past his shoulder, and Harry wrenched them out of their descent to chase Draco over a low hillock, toes skimming the frozen grass below.

"Get him, Uncle Harry!" Teddy shouted, and Harry obliged, leaning low over the broomhandle as he drew level with Draco. Draco looked over and raised a brow, before jerking his head to one side. Harry followed him into a neat synchronised turn and they looped the broad earthworks, before coming to a stop side by side at its edge.

"Not completely terrible," Draco commented, pulling out his wand and shrinking his broom, before stashing both in his pocket. He sounded the tiniest bit out of breath, and Harry grinned as Teddy leaped down beside them and immediately set off at a run towards Andromeda, who swept him into a hug.

"Do you think he's going to tell her about the ice creams?" Draco asked, looking slightly uneasy.

"I think it's the small fortune you let him spend in Wheezes that you need to worry about, mate," Harry said, shrinking his own broom and tucking it into his inside pocket.

"Don't call me 'mate', Potter," Draco sniped.

"Fine," Harry shrugged. "I think the ice creams are the least of your worries, dickhead."

"That isn't better!" Draco called after him as Harry set off, laughing, in the direction of the Trilithon and the assemblage of silver-clad witches and wizards.

He didn't realise that he'd been looking for Hermione among the crowd until she appeared from behind one of the pillars, and then it was as though everyone else simply disappeared as he strode towards her.

Harry was so used to seeing her in Muggle clothes, or one of his old jumpers, that the sight of her in a silver gown took his breath away. As well as the robes she also had a crown of holly twined into her windblown hair, and her cheeks were pink with cold.

She looked so glorious that he could barely think.

"You made it!" she said, grinning up at him as they drew level with one another.

"We're not that late," Harry protested. "I didn't think -"

Before he could finish his sentence Hermione took his hands in her own, freezing, ones, and Harry's brain abruptly short-circuited.

He could feel the magic on her skin, almost taste it on the air between them. Harry took a deep breath, and felt instantly light-headed; drunk on enchantment. It seemed to move through his whole body, moving like lightning as he dropped Hermione's hands and went to cup her face.

"Goodness me, Potter, Granger. Perhaps you should consider getting a room."

Draco's drawl cut through the fog in Harry's brain, and he drew back abruptly before he could press his lips to Hermione's, giving his head a slight shake as he returned to earth.

"I - " he started to say, still unable to think past her smile. She looked nearly as giddy as he felt, but her eyes darted to the side, and Harry realised they had an audience.

"Sorry," he said. "I don't -"

"I know," Hermione dipped her chin, and then looked up at him through her eyelashes. "I had no idea it would be so potent."

"Yeah," Harry nodded vaguely. "It packs a punch, I'll give you that." He glanced around, and saw a few people were still staring at them. Most of the eyes looked curious rather than surprised, and he found himself wondering just how far Kingsley's network of hearsay extended.

"Yule," Hermione said softly, and Harry looked back to her. She reached a hand up and pushed his hair behind his ear. "Yule for beginnings," she whispered.

"Is that -" he started. "Is that a thing?"

"According to Andy and Ciss- Narcissa." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Were you about to call her Cissy?" Harry asked, delighted. "What on earth -"

"They've asked me to be the third in their circle for the midnight rite," Hermione shrugged. "It seemed a bit too formal to keep calling her 'Lady Malfoy' after that."

"They have?" Harry asked, looking towards the Black sisters, who were standing together by the Trilithon. Andromeda met his gaze with a smile; Narcissa with the slightest of nods.

"Widow, wife and warrior," Draco remarked. "They've certainly decided to commit themselves to the old ways."

"Are you still here?" Harry asked irritably, and Draco rewarded him with a thin smile.

"You make an excellent point, Potter," he said, nudging Harry's shoulder before he set off towards the Trilithon, pulling the bag of shrunken Diagon Alley purchases from his robes as he went. "Mother! Did you actually want this crate of elf wine or was it simply an excuse to get me out of the house?"

"Have you had a lovely day with him?" Hermione asked, smiling slyly when Harry glared at her.

"Are you in cahoots with Teddy on all his little schemes or -"

"Only the ones I approve of," she replied. "You'd be surprised what I've talked him out of over the years."

"Christ," Harry muttered, deciding to throw caution to the wind and snaking his arm around her waist as they started towards the rest of the crowd. "So what does this evening involve, seeing as you're apparently an integral part of proceedings?"

"A rite of opening and beginning," Hermione said. "We've all bled to the Trilithon and so now -"

"Sorry," Harry said, stopping dead. "You've all what?"

"I know," Hermione said, lifting her hand to show him the freshly healed scar across her palm. "But if magic resides in our blood then it only makes sense that it's the most efficient way to restore a magical site."

"Mm," Harry pursed his lips. "Well I'm still not sure that -"

She was kissing him before he could finish his sentence, and Harry could taste the magic on her tongue, the same way he could taste wine when she'd been drinking.

He wanted to pull off her robes and lay her down then and there on the frozen ground. He wanted to run his hands over every inch of her skin and then let his tongue follow the touch of his fingers just for good measure. He wanted to -

"You see?" Hermione whispered, when she drew back, and Harry nodded vaguely.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Yeah I guess I -"

"Is that Pansy with Ron?" Hermione interrupted sharply, frowning over Harry's shoulder. "I thought she wasn't -"

"Ladies and gentlemen." Ron's voice boomed out from behind Harry, amplified by a Sonorous charm. "Sorry for the short notice, but there's been a change to the evening's proceedings."

It was Ron's voice, but it wasn't - the intonation was all wrong, and when Harry spun to look at him it was to see that his best friend's face was curiously blank - except for his eyes, which were wild.

"We'll be requiring your full attention," Pansy said, spinning a wand in her fingers. Though her voice was filled with satisfaction, her face was also expressionless, her eyes glassy as she shot a curse towards someone who had tried to make a run for it. Harry flicked a glance over his shoulder in time to see Percy Weasley crumple to the ground.

"Please don't think you can escape," Ron said. "You'll have noticed that it's sunset; the Trilithon's power will hold you all within its sphere until sunrise."

"Ron," Harry said, starting forward. Hermione hadn't let go of his hand, and he drew strength from her grip on his fingers. "Ron - you don't - who's doing this, how have you -"

"Ah, Harry." Ron's grin was a terrible rictus motion, ugly on his amiably handsome face, before it abruptly dropped. "Well I guess since the gang's all here, it can't do any harm."

Ron and Pansy both looked sharply towards the crowd around the Trilithon, and Harry and Hermione spun too, to where a cloaked figure was stepping forward from between the assorted witches and wizards, all of whom seemed frozen with fear.

"No!" Harry heard Hermione say; he could only shake his head, too stunned to form words.

"What?" Neville asked, shedding his cloak and rolling up his sleeves. Harry's eyes followed the curling tail of the snake tattooed up Neville's arm. "Not who you were expecting?"

A/N: Sorry for the delay, and hope you've all been enjoying the holidays!