Title: Nil Desperandum
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Most, if not all Nations. Asakiku, FrSey, USBela, and canonical Potterverse pairings.
Rating: R.
Warnings: Implied torture and all the trimmings of war. Also some sexuality.
Notes: This is set during the Potter era. The Nations are a year older than Harry and Co. This is the sequel to Blurring House Lines, and I strongly suggest you read that before this.

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."

–J.R.R. Tolkien

"Have hope… we're coming for you."

–Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Nil Desperandum

Part I

Pain. Blood. Tears.

Despair.

"Arthur! Arthur!"

Someone was yelling his name. He didn't care who or why.

Someone was pulling at him, forcing him to follow them.

Someone was casting spells – he can hear the incantations, the sound of spells hitting or missing targets…

He couldn't see, he couldn't feel; he could only hear the sounds of death and destruction around him and feel the pain, the blood, the tears… the despair.

Where was he?

Arthur Kirkland, the personification of England, woke up to darkness that was almost absolute. His hands were tied.

"Hello?" he called to the blackness. "Can anyone hear me?"

There was a faint sound of movement in the blackness. "Who are you?" a feeble voice asked.

"Arthur Kirkland. And you?"

"Ollivander, the wandmaker."

Arthur seriously wished he had his wand. "Can you free me from my binds?" he queried.

More shuffling, and suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and there was the faint sound of something cutting through rope. Soon, Arthur was free from the ropes binding him. "Thank you," he said to the darkness.

"It's no problem," Ollivander replied. "I remember you visiting my shop before."

"Really?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, yes. Your wand was eleven inches, royal oak, with a strand of unicorn hair. It had been lying about the shop for almost the longest time... it wasn't compatible with anyone else..."

"How did you end up here? The Prophet said you just vanished..."

"I was abducted." Ollivander sighed. Arthur could hear him walking away. He walked forward in the darkness, finally finding a wall of the room in which he was imprisoned. "The Death Eaters wanted me for questioning... they tortured me, trying to make me divulge the secrets of wandlore... they asked me questions I had no answer to..."

"What sorts of questions?" Arthur asked, leaning against the wall.

"Something about twin cores. You see... Harry Potter and the Dark Lord... their wands share a twin core. Phoenix feathers from the same phoenix."

Arthur gasped a little. "And the result of that...?"

"I do not know! But it apparently worries the Dark Lord, which is why he has brought me here..."

They fell silent for a moment.

"Why did you come here, Arthur Kirkland?" Ollivander asked after a while.

"Voldemort wanted me. The Death Eaters threatened to kill someone I cared for if I did not go with them. So I came quietly to save my friends," Arthur replied, feeling tears slip down his cheeks.

Dumbledore had been laid to rest; all the students were sent home after the funeral.

Kiku, Alfred, Madeline, and Francis had moved into a flat in London together, everyone contributing to paying the inordinate rent each month. Francis and Madeline shared a room; Alfred and Kiku shared the other one. They all set about trying to get jobs, but unfortunately they had not finished taking all of their NEWTs prior to Dumbledore's assassination. They hadn't recieved the results of the exams they did take, so it was impossible for them to get the jobs they aspired for.

"And we don't have qualifying Muggle education, either," Alfred F. Jones lamented as they sat around the coffee table after another hard, fruitless day of seeking employment.

"Yes, my bank account's starting to feel rather bare," Madeline Desmarais sighed.

"What are we even staying here for?" Kiku Honda wondered, staring out the window. "I want to hunt down those Death Eaters and rescue Arthur..."

"Ah, hell hath no fury like a sundered lover," Francis Bonnefois quipped, wrapping an arm around Madeline. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"We still need to attend Bill and Fleur's wedding," Madeline added.

Alfred chuckled. "Won't that be fun, Francis? Fred told me that Fleur's inviting some French veela cousins – maybe you ought to introduce her to Madeline..."

Madeline swatted at him with a fish-shaped cushion; Alfred laughed and tried to block it with his hands.

"We're also expected to escort Harry from his house over to the Burrow," Alfred continued, and Kiku frowned.

"Since when? I thought that Mad-Eye was taking him to the Burrow with Side-Along Apparition?"

"Since this morning," Madeline replied, holding up the morning's copy of the Daily Prophet. In huge black letters the headline read:

DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HEAD ATTACKED BY DEATH EATERS

Two unidentified Death Eaters attacked Erin O'Brian, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, last night at the Ministry.

O'Brian sustained heavy injuries, and will be unable to resume her job for at least a month, says Healers at St. Mungo's.

"Whatever they did to her is taking a while to mend," said Healer Samantha Wycklestern. "We are trying all we can but nothing seems to be working."

While O'Brian recuperates, Pius Thickenesse will take her place as department head. Meanwhile, investigations are underway regarding her attackers.

"I don't know who attacked my sister, but if I find them I will make sure they are locked away for the rest of their lives," said Liam MacDonald, brother of O'Brian and a worker at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. "I might sound overprotective, but these assassination attempts should be unsettling to everyone, not just the family members of the victims."

Other members of O'Brian's family either declined to comment or, in the case of Arthur Kirkland, were not available.

"What does that have to do with our plan?" Kiku wondered aloud as he looked up from the paper. "I mean, other than the fact that Arthur's mentioned... and it's his sister the Death Eaters attacked..."

He didn't want to think about Arthur. It brought tears to his eyes every time he did.

"It has to do with our plan because of Thickenesse's promotion to Erin's spot," Francis replied.

"Yeah, they say he has been friends with some Death Eaters in the past," Alfred chipped in. "He might be put under the Imperious Curse and stop us from using the usual modes of transportation to get Harry to the Burrow."

Arthur didn't know what time it was. He didn't even know what date it was. Time had no meaning when one was stuck in a dark cellar, after all.

"How long have you been here?" he asked Ollivander, but the wandmaker made no noise.

Maybe he's asleep, Arthur thought. Being trapped in a dark cellar tended to be quite boring.

He leaned against the stone wall. So far, no one had come into the cellar to interrogate him, something that only added to his anxiety. What would the interrogation be like? He was certain they would use the Cruciatus Curse on him. What else would they do? He didn't want to know.

He closed his eyes, but that was useless seeing that even with his eyes open he couldn't see in front of him anyways.

When he opened his eyes again it was because someone was wailing. For a moment he thought he was still asleep, but then he remembered where he was.

The cellar door swung open and Wormtail was there, silver hand gleaming in the light from his wand. "Silencio!" he squeaked, pointing his wand at the frail, emanciated form of Ollivander.

Arthur watched him leave, taking all the light with him.

"Francis! Bonjour, bonjour, mon ami..." Fleur Delacour, as beautiful as ever, swooped down on Francis in the Burrow kitchen, kissing him on both cheeks. Kiku looked away, suddenly averse to seeing gestures of affection.

"Fleur, ma belle fleur! C'est bon de te voir!" Francis smiled as well. "Comment vas-tu?"

"Je vais bien, merci," Fleur beamed at him. "Et qui est cette jolie fille ici?"

"Ah, Fleur, je te présente ma petite amie Madeline." At that, Madeline slipped her hand into the crook of Francis's arm.

Fleur kissed Madeline on both cheeks. "Enchantée," she cooed.

Kiku walked out of the kitchen, feeling rather nauseous. He looked out a window in the living room, watching Alfred and Ginny play a game of one-on-one Quidditch.

"Missing Arthur?" the voice of Hermione Granger asked. Kiku turned to look at her. Her bushy brown hair had been done up in a messy bun and her brown eyes were worried. "I mean... you seem to be the only unhappy person in this house and you were with him in the Astronomy Tower when it happened –" She stopped when Kiku put up a hand.

"Please, Hermione, I don't want to remember that," the Japanese said solemnly.

"Right," she whispered, falling silent. Kiku smiled a little.

"Should I act happy?" he asked her. "For your sake?"

"Oh, you don't have to," she mumbled, looking flustered.

Kiku looked out the window again. "I think I should. For Arthur."

But Arthur was anything but happy at the moment.

"You are pureblood, aren't you?" Voldemort demanded. Arthur refused to answer.

The Dark Lord glowered at him, and Arthur could feel the icy grasp of fear start to take him.

"Answer me, Kirkland! Crucio!"

Arthur screamed as the knives assaulted him, screamed as the pain overwhelmed him.

"Yes," he finally ground out. "I am a pureblood and distantly related to the other Nations of Europe whether by blood or by marriage."

"That's better," Voldemort breathed, letting the spell die. "But how is it that your family has never married into the pureblood families of Britain?"

Arthur glared up at him, wanting to deny him answers but fearing the Cruciatus Curse.

"Nations usually do not marry humans," he said, recalling his history. "It would cause unbearable pain to both, because the Nation would outlive the human and both will have to struggle against the bonds of time and death."

"Why not make the human immortal?" Voldemort queried.

Arthur frowned slightly. "Do I look like I can do that?" he retorted.

"Do not speak to the Dark Lord in such a manner, you ungrateful little blood-traitor!" Bellatrix Lestrange howled from her place next to the mantelpiece of the drawing room, where she had been observing the interrogation.

"Hush, Bella," Voldemort said smoothly, raising a hand to calm her. "Speaking of blood-traitors, Kirkland... I have heard that you have been fraternising with Mudbloods and half-breeds despite being in the noble house of Slytherin."

It wasn't a question; it was merely an accusation. Arthur said nothing.

"Why would anyone placed in Salazar's house ever wish to mingle with the scum of the rest of the school? Why would you? Answer me correctly, or you will face the wrath of the Heir of Slytherin."

Arthur bit his lip, looking away from Voldemort's snake-like pupils. Close your mind, he thought. Close your mind, you idiot.

"Not saying anything? We might have to resort to other things then..."

And then suddenly Arthur's life was flashing before his eyes.

"So this is the plan?" Alfred asked after Mad-Eye Moody had finished speaking.

The ex-Auror nodded. "Decoy Potters, you got that?"

"Yeah," the American replied.

The thirteen guards walked out of the kitchen of the Burrow, heading for a paddock not too far away. Tethered inside were two winged, skeletal horse-like creatures. Francis quickly saddled them.

They were a motley crew, the guards. There was the Italian Feliciano Vargas, looking at the skeletal thestrals with fear in his eyes. There were the other Nations: Francis, Alfred, Kiku, and Madeline. There was Hermione, looking pale but determined, and Ron, tall, red-haired, and freckled. There was also werewolf Remus Lupin, tall and balding Mr. Weasley, the Weasley twins, and half-giant Rubeus Hagrid. Most of the people assembled had broomsticks in their hands; Hagrid was standing next to a giant motorcycle with a black sidecar attached.

"Everyone partner up according to the plan," Lupin said quietly. One of the twins went to his side; the other stood by Mr. Weasley. Ron and Hermione mounted their thestral. Francis hopped on the other thestral and held out a hand for Madeline. Alfred and Kiku stood next to each other; Hagrid got on the motorcycle; Moody and Feliciano mounted their brooms.

"Disillusionment Charms, on the count of three," Moody said. "One, two, THREE."

Everyone seemed to waver and shimmer until they were invisible.

"We take off at the all-clear," Mr. Weasley said. He had barely finished speaking when green sparks appeared amid the clouds, sparkling like fireworks. The air around the guard began to waver and ripple; there came the distinct sound of a motorcycle engine starting; they were off.

"Brother, please. I do not wish to do this. None of us do."

Arthur regained consciousness underneath the drawing room table. The Death Eaters seemed to have forgotten him. He could hear two of them arguing not too far off and he listened in as well as he could.

"Sister, it's the Dark Lord's orders," Russian Ivan Braginski said solemnly. "You know you have to follow them or he'll kill you."

"Oh brother, don't you know? We're attacking our own classmates!" The speaker sounded like Ukrainian Yekaterina Braginskaya, Arthur thought.

There was a pause. "You have barely ever had contact with those classmates on my order, Kat," Ivan said quietly. "How is attacking them going to affect you?"

"They're still our classmates," she replied petulantly.

"That's not the worst of it," a third voice spoke up, and Arthur realised with a jolt that it was Belarusian Nataliya Arlovskaya, Alfred's secret sweetheart. "We're supposed to take Kirkland along with us."

Stunned silence permeated the room. Arthur blinked in horror. They were going to take him along with them to attack his friends. Why?

"But... how?" Yekaterina asked.

"The Imperious Curse," Ivan replied.

Fear coursed through Arthur's veins.