Five for Fighting
Part Four
Ginny
She left them by the fire, pretending to be going off to sleep. She was sure they knew that wasn't where she was going - Remus, in any case, and Dung - but she didn't care.
Harry's back was to the half-open door, and she watched him raise a bottle to his lips and let the firewhiskey pour into his mouth - and then he stopped, lowered the bottle, turned to look at her.
She took her hand off the doorframe and moved into the room, slowly. It was lit by only one candle, and a small one, at that. Its shadows made Harry's face look almost angry.
"You shouldn't have left school," he said softly.
"Oh, Harry," she whispered. "I didn't come so that you could yell at me."
"I didn't wait for you so I could yell at you, either," he said. "But I mean - I shouldn't have left. I should have asked Dumbledore for a teaching job. I could have taken Defense Against Dark Arts -"
"Snape's good at it," Ginny said, almost defensively. "He's not like he was teaching Potions. He's - he's fair about it."
"You didn't come to talk about school," he said, with a crooked smile.
"No," she agreed.
"Come on." He moved his hand and the chair to his right pulled out without its usual scraping sound. "Sit down. Let's talk."
She did, silently - sat and leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, for a moment.
"You sure about this, Gin?" he asked after a moment. His voice was uncharacteristically gentle. She looked at him. He looked extremely serious and almost sad. Almost. That was the kind of emotion he didn't really show anymore.
"I'm sure," she said. "You taught me well enough."
He winced a bit. "Don't," he said. "If you get hurt, you know I'll blame myself."
"It's stupid," she said. "But it's just like you. You always blame yourself. My choice, my risk, Harry. And I won't get hurt."
"How's your family holding up?"
"Decently, considering," Ginny sighed. "Mum thinks I'm going Fred and George's way. I had to leave without meeting Bill like I promised - I left him a note, but he won't really understand. Charlie's in charge of one of the dragon teams and he's sending word from the front. I imagine you've probably seen more of Ron than I have -"
A grim nod.
"- but Dad isn't good, Harry, he really isn't. They say at work that he completely blames himself and -"
"I'll talk to him," Harry interrupted. "He ought to know it's my fault."
"It wasn't," Ginny whispered.
"Let's talk about something else, then."
"How's the Order going?"
"Not very well. You know that, Gin. We've mostly broken up. Dumbledore's always off somewhere, Snape is busy at the school. Dung and Remus are occupied, obviously. Most of us are dead, and those that aren't -"
"Talk to Dumbledore about getting the Army to join," Ginny insisted. "Most of them would, Harry."
"So many are still in school -"
"It's like we said. Voldemort isn't going to ask how old anyone is before killing them. Even Zacharius -"
"I just don't think I can ask them to do that. They'd get killed, and - I brought them together, Gin. They're my people, they're my Army as much as Dumbledore's -"
"We need more people on the front and you know it. The five of us, and you, and Dumbledore, and a couple more from the order - Tonks, Kingsley - it's not enough. Maybe eleven of us, now, fighting actively. And only a few in any semblance of organization. You and Dumbledore, the Auror Order, and the five of us, now, too. We need more. A real army. Just talk to him about it."
"I will." A sigh. "Against my better judgement. I will."
"Owl me his response," Ginny said. "I can help with the recruiting. When the five of us have time."
"Ginny -" His voice broke a little, and in the dim candlelight she could see his eyes gleam. He reached out a hand slowly to touch her cheek. She gave a little shiver at how cold his hands were. "Don't get hurt, okay?" he whispered. "Don't do anything - anything foolish, or reckless, or heroic - Merlin damn it, Ginny, don't get hurt."
She stood from her chair so quickly it almost fell and put her arms around him tightly. The candle, already dimmed, flickered and died at the sudden movement. She heard a little gasp, and he stood too, slowly, his chair scraping back loudly, awkwardly putting his arms around her as well. He was still a bit taller than she was - but she hooked her chin on his shoulder and felt sobs rising in her throat. She could feel him, too, shaking a little, enough that she could tell he was still a man, that he wasn't impenetrable.
"We should both sleep," he whispered after a while into her hair, and she felt his lips brush against her cheek. And then she felt his arms pull smoothly away, and let hers fall to her side.
She saw him slip through the barely-open door, so thin he didn't even touch it. Just like a little ghost.
She stood in the dark for a long time before following him out herself.
Mundungus
He heard soft footsteps from the kitchen almost an hour after the others had gone up to bed. Ginny saw him by the fire and stopped.
"They've all gone to get some rest," he told her. "You should too. Is Harry still in the kitchen?"
"No, he's gone to sleep as well," she said. Mundungus felt his mouth twist. Of course, he wouldn't have heard Harry go past. Like a ghost, the boy was. Not boy. Man. Young man, perhaps.
And he very much doubted that Harry would sleep. He had come to know him better than to think that.
"Go on, then," he told her a bit gruffly.
"Don't brood all night," Ginny said. "It's not good for you to think that way."
She was gone, and he heard her footsteps on the stairs.
"Smart girl," he muttered to himself, and pulled himself out of the chair to go find a room of his own.
Karkaroff
It was difficult to sleep, in a house so clearly once dark. He was sure that Black, before his death, and Potter following, had cleaned out as much as they could. But neither of them had the ability to cleanse the aura that Karkaroff felt. Both Potter and Black, he was sure, had too much darkness in their own souls to do something like that.
He could feel it, like an thin sheen of oil on top of cool water. Like a sprinkling of dirt on a clean floor.
The Dark Mark burned angrily on his arm. He knew, somewhere across the country, that Severus Snape felt the same pain.
It was a house too large for comfort. He was sure there were things still, in the depths of unopened rooms and secret passages, that had not been cleaned, had not been moved.
There were no windows. Of this he was glad. Windows, after Egypt, would have made him uneasy. Windows were just another peephole for an enemy, just another way for danger to creep in.
He didn't like the blank portrait on the wall, because it seemed to be occupied.
He wished vaguely that, like some nights in the Circle, with a mission in the morning and plans in the night and excuses to cover, that he was sleeping with the protection of others around him. With his fellow Death Eaters - or now, others - what were they to call themselves? - sleeping or staring at the sky or into the fire, all around him. Knowing that when he slept, he wouldn't be defenseless.
Furthermore, he wished he could remember some warding spells, and wished that he could use the ones he had known without fear of killing his four new - companions.
Remus
It was hard to be in Grimmauld Place again. He had been many times before, but he hadn't slept there very often, and then it was always full with Order members, with people he trusted.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Ginny and Harry and Dung, but he missed the prescences of Kingsley and Nympha - Tonks - and more than anything, he missed having Sirius in the next room, missed hearing him toss and turn, missed going in to him and waking him up when he was having a nightmare, even. But that was neither here nor there - long ago. Three years.
God, oh, God, I miss him -
Remus squeezed his eyes shut to hold back floods that he had not let go of since the September after Sirius had -
- died -
And slept.
Author's Note: Thank you to my reviewers...
Ky-lin - Do you have a translation of your story from German to English? I always try to read my reviewers' material, and I tried to use a free translation site, but it went all wacko on me.
Next part should be up in a few days, I hope...
Part Four
Ginny
She left them by the fire, pretending to be going off to sleep. She was sure they knew that wasn't where she was going - Remus, in any case, and Dung - but she didn't care.
Harry's back was to the half-open door, and she watched him raise a bottle to his lips and let the firewhiskey pour into his mouth - and then he stopped, lowered the bottle, turned to look at her.
She took her hand off the doorframe and moved into the room, slowly. It was lit by only one candle, and a small one, at that. Its shadows made Harry's face look almost angry.
"You shouldn't have left school," he said softly.
"Oh, Harry," she whispered. "I didn't come so that you could yell at me."
"I didn't wait for you so I could yell at you, either," he said. "But I mean - I shouldn't have left. I should have asked Dumbledore for a teaching job. I could have taken Defense Against Dark Arts -"
"Snape's good at it," Ginny said, almost defensively. "He's not like he was teaching Potions. He's - he's fair about it."
"You didn't come to talk about school," he said, with a crooked smile.
"No," she agreed.
"Come on." He moved his hand and the chair to his right pulled out without its usual scraping sound. "Sit down. Let's talk."
She did, silently - sat and leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, for a moment.
"You sure about this, Gin?" he asked after a moment. His voice was uncharacteristically gentle. She looked at him. He looked extremely serious and almost sad. Almost. That was the kind of emotion he didn't really show anymore.
"I'm sure," she said. "You taught me well enough."
He winced a bit. "Don't," he said. "If you get hurt, you know I'll blame myself."
"It's stupid," she said. "But it's just like you. You always blame yourself. My choice, my risk, Harry. And I won't get hurt."
"How's your family holding up?"
"Decently, considering," Ginny sighed. "Mum thinks I'm going Fred and George's way. I had to leave without meeting Bill like I promised - I left him a note, but he won't really understand. Charlie's in charge of one of the dragon teams and he's sending word from the front. I imagine you've probably seen more of Ron than I have -"
A grim nod.
"- but Dad isn't good, Harry, he really isn't. They say at work that he completely blames himself and -"
"I'll talk to him," Harry interrupted. "He ought to know it's my fault."
"It wasn't," Ginny whispered.
"Let's talk about something else, then."
"How's the Order going?"
"Not very well. You know that, Gin. We've mostly broken up. Dumbledore's always off somewhere, Snape is busy at the school. Dung and Remus are occupied, obviously. Most of us are dead, and those that aren't -"
"Talk to Dumbledore about getting the Army to join," Ginny insisted. "Most of them would, Harry."
"So many are still in school -"
"It's like we said. Voldemort isn't going to ask how old anyone is before killing them. Even Zacharius -"
"I just don't think I can ask them to do that. They'd get killed, and - I brought them together, Gin. They're my people, they're my Army as much as Dumbledore's -"
"We need more people on the front and you know it. The five of us, and you, and Dumbledore, and a couple more from the order - Tonks, Kingsley - it's not enough. Maybe eleven of us, now, fighting actively. And only a few in any semblance of organization. You and Dumbledore, the Auror Order, and the five of us, now, too. We need more. A real army. Just talk to him about it."
"I will." A sigh. "Against my better judgement. I will."
"Owl me his response," Ginny said. "I can help with the recruiting. When the five of us have time."
"Ginny -" His voice broke a little, and in the dim candlelight she could see his eyes gleam. He reached out a hand slowly to touch her cheek. She gave a little shiver at how cold his hands were. "Don't get hurt, okay?" he whispered. "Don't do anything - anything foolish, or reckless, or heroic - Merlin damn it, Ginny, don't get hurt."
She stood from her chair so quickly it almost fell and put her arms around him tightly. The candle, already dimmed, flickered and died at the sudden movement. She heard a little gasp, and he stood too, slowly, his chair scraping back loudly, awkwardly putting his arms around her as well. He was still a bit taller than she was - but she hooked her chin on his shoulder and felt sobs rising in her throat. She could feel him, too, shaking a little, enough that she could tell he was still a man, that he wasn't impenetrable.
"We should both sleep," he whispered after a while into her hair, and she felt his lips brush against her cheek. And then she felt his arms pull smoothly away, and let hers fall to her side.
She saw him slip through the barely-open door, so thin he didn't even touch it. Just like a little ghost.
She stood in the dark for a long time before following him out herself.
Mundungus
He heard soft footsteps from the kitchen almost an hour after the others had gone up to bed. Ginny saw him by the fire and stopped.
"They've all gone to get some rest," he told her. "You should too. Is Harry still in the kitchen?"
"No, he's gone to sleep as well," she said. Mundungus felt his mouth twist. Of course, he wouldn't have heard Harry go past. Like a ghost, the boy was. Not boy. Man. Young man, perhaps.
And he very much doubted that Harry would sleep. He had come to know him better than to think that.
"Go on, then," he told her a bit gruffly.
"Don't brood all night," Ginny said. "It's not good for you to think that way."
She was gone, and he heard her footsteps on the stairs.
"Smart girl," he muttered to himself, and pulled himself out of the chair to go find a room of his own.
Karkaroff
It was difficult to sleep, in a house so clearly once dark. He was sure that Black, before his death, and Potter following, had cleaned out as much as they could. But neither of them had the ability to cleanse the aura that Karkaroff felt. Both Potter and Black, he was sure, had too much darkness in their own souls to do something like that.
He could feel it, like an thin sheen of oil on top of cool water. Like a sprinkling of dirt on a clean floor.
The Dark Mark burned angrily on his arm. He knew, somewhere across the country, that Severus Snape felt the same pain.
It was a house too large for comfort. He was sure there were things still, in the depths of unopened rooms and secret passages, that had not been cleaned, had not been moved.
There were no windows. Of this he was glad. Windows, after Egypt, would have made him uneasy. Windows were just another peephole for an enemy, just another way for danger to creep in.
He didn't like the blank portrait on the wall, because it seemed to be occupied.
He wished vaguely that, like some nights in the Circle, with a mission in the morning and plans in the night and excuses to cover, that he was sleeping with the protection of others around him. With his fellow Death Eaters - or now, others - what were they to call themselves? - sleeping or staring at the sky or into the fire, all around him. Knowing that when he slept, he wouldn't be defenseless.
Furthermore, he wished he could remember some warding spells, and wished that he could use the ones he had known without fear of killing his four new - companions.
Remus
It was hard to be in Grimmauld Place again. He had been many times before, but he hadn't slept there very often, and then it was always full with Order members, with people he trusted.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Ginny and Harry and Dung, but he missed the prescences of Kingsley and Nympha - Tonks - and more than anything, he missed having Sirius in the next room, missed hearing him toss and turn, missed going in to him and waking him up when he was having a nightmare, even. But that was neither here nor there - long ago. Three years.
God, oh, God, I miss him -
Remus squeezed his eyes shut to hold back floods that he had not let go of since the September after Sirius had -
- died -
And slept.
Author's Note: Thank you to my reviewers...
Ky-lin - Do you have a translation of your story from German to English? I always try to read my reviewers' material, and I tried to use a free translation site, but it went all wacko on me.
Next part should be up in a few days, I hope...