Disavowals

Chapter Seven - Ad Libitum

Anne scanned the children's end of the library with a growing sense of exasperation. She'd volunteered to take Nicola there out of what now seemed a rather misplaced sense of duty, and lost her as soon as they'd set foot in the place. Not that she minded looking after Nicola that much, but she did wish her youngest sister could try and keep within sight.

She finally spotted her over by the picture books, looking like a doll curled up in one of the armchairs. Her concentration appeared to be entirely on whatever she was reading. Anne hurried over.

"Come on, Nic, we've got to go and get these books issued."

"Can I read when I get home?" Nic pleaded.

"Of course you can," Anne told her, laughing. "Now come on, the library closes soon. We're going to meet Mum and come home with her."

"I know that," announced Nicola, climbing off the armchair. "Can you hold some of my books?"

Anne looked at the proffered pile of three books. Three small books.

"I think you can carry those, Nic."

Nicola made a face. "Let's go then!"

She was off towards the issues desk at a great rate of knots. Anne walked behind, allowing Nicola to work off energy. She shifted her own books from under one arm to the other. The library was familiar and strange at the same time. Familiar, because her mother worked here, and Anne had been coming in to get books or return them or meet her mother for years. Strange, because the worn carpet and cushions and still picture books were so different to the Hogwarts library, the one she was used to. Five years was a long time. The tree outside the library window had grown until you could no longer see the top. The cushion covers had all been replaced. Time had slipped by, and at Hogwarts, she'd missed it completely.

"Anne, you have to get your books!" called a voice from behind her. Anne realised she'd walked straight past the issues desk, and turned to go back.

"Sorry, Nicola. Here you go." Nicola took her library card with great care, and presented it to the librarian. Anne nodded hello to the woman; she'd known her for years.

They finished their issues, waved to their mother, who was shelving, and left the library. Outside it was blustery. Grey clouds were whipping across the sky, and Anne wondered where the summer was going. It was back to Hogwarts on Monday. Anne wasn't sure to be relieved or depressed; she'd miss her family, but Hogwarts was safe. Theo would be safe. It sounded like he was having an interesting time with his new relatives, but Anne couldn't help worrying.

"Wait up, Nic!" she called, picking up her pace. Nicola had run ahead and was swinging off a lamppost gleefully.

"Hurry up, Anne!" her little sister yelled back. "I can see Eddie!"

"I'm coming!" Eddie had gone into town with some of his friends. He was coming back on the bus to meet Anne, Nicola and their mother when the library closed at one o'clock.

Eddie reached Nicola first, turning to wave goodbye to one of his friends. Anne got to the lamppost a few seconds later to hear Nicola excitedly showing Eddie her books.

"...and this one's about some dogs, and Mum says she'll read some of it to me because it's too hard for me, and I found an Asterix one, and Anne's going to try and tell me what the Latin means. Have you read Asterix?"

"Yes, I have," Eddie told her in a superior tone. "I've read all of them."

"Oh." Nicola paused. "Well I haven't, so don't tell me what happens."

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Anne assured her. "Hi, Eddie. Did you get the CD you were looking for?"

"Yeah." He pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "Proper music, not the stuff you listen to."

Anne examined it critically. It appeared to be some rock band.

"Anything's better than what Terry likes," she said dryly.

"I like the Spice Girls too!" Nicola protested vigorously. "They have good songs!"

Anne and Eddie exchanged dubious looks.

"Mum's not going to be finished for a while," Anne said, "so I promised Nic we'd go and get an ice-cream. Coming?"

"Do you need to ask?" Eddie grinned, and Anne relished the moment of sibling intimacy.

He's been so on edge since Terry got her letter, I've missed him like this.

The three of them set off for the nearby café, Anne and Eddie chatting about music and Terry's regrettable tastes, Nicola running ahead. She'd cunningly palmed her books off on Eddie, who had had a soft spot for his youngest sister ever since Anne and Terry had started Hogwarts.

Nicola reached the café first, and stopped outside, waving at her older siblings to hurry up. Anne waved back, not walking any faster. She'd learned long ago not to bother keeping up with Nic - or Terry.

The hazel-wood wand in her left sleeve shifted down when she lifted her arm to wave (the other was occupied with books), and Anne felt a twinge of unease. Maybe it was just the blustery weather - she'd never liked shifting cloud - but the street seemed somehow too open. Nicola was too far away, too -

Ridiculous. Death Eaters aren't going to show up at the local café!

Still, other words came to mind. Harry Potter's.

Always carry your wand. I mean always. Not just when you're outside your House or home. And that means carry it on you. If you have to stop and get it out of your bag that's too long. A friend of mine also advises that you don't carry it in your back pocket, due to the potential for accidents, but I'll leave that up to you. As long as it's somewhere you can reach. If you need to use it, it will not be a duel. Nobody will wait for you to salute before attacking.

Theo had given her that advice, too.

Always carry your wand. If you got caught without it...carry it. Please.

She shifted her books from her right arm to her left. She could still reach her wand, but she could reach it with her wand hand, now, and that was more important.

"You're so slow," Nicola complained when they caught up to her.

"You're too fast," Eddie replied. "You should wait for your elders and betters."

Nicola rolled her eyes.

"You should wait for the people who have the money to buy your ice-cream," said Anne pointedly.

Nicola latched onto her arm. "I'll stay right here." She looked up with big, adoring eyes.

Anne smiled at her. "You're only doing it for the ice-cream."

"So can I have it now?"

"Shameless, you are," Eddie told her as they entered the cafÃ(c).

*

In any event, Anne, Eddie and Nicola ended up catching the bus home. When they went to meet their mother after her shift finished, she told them there'd been a problem with some overdue books and she had to stay to sort it out.

"Someone went and shelved the books without returning them, so now we have to do a shelf search," Mary Fairleigh sighed. "I hate to say it, but I have a feeling it was one of the students we hired for the holidays. They did seem to find their Walkmans more interesting than shelving. Have you three got enough for the bus home?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Eddie. "Anne?"

Anne mentally reviewed the contents of her wallet. "Should do. The next bus leaves at ten past, we'd better get to the stop."

"I don't want to go on the bus," Nicola started to grizzle. "I'm tired. I want to go home!"

"You're going home, just not with me," her mother pointed out. "Anne says you've been very good all morning, so can you be good for a little longer?"

"Maybe," sniffed Nicola. Anne exchanged a glance with her mother. It was as good as they were going to get.

"C'mon, we're going to miss the bus!" urged Eddie. "Let's go!"

"I should be home by three. See you at home," said their mother.

"Bye, Mum," Anne replied, dragging a reluctant Nicola out of the library by her hand.

*

Paul Amberley swore under his breath and crossed off yet another town. He cursed the idiots on the Knight Bus who couldn't remember where one boy had got off even under torture. He cursed his nephew for letting an attack of conscience get the better of him. He cursed the Dark Lord for insisting that someone go and find the boy when it meant checking every family in every area the bus had stopped in that had a child at Hogwarts. He hadn't even been able to find most of them, and he had to be back at work soon. Keeping up appearances.

He checked the next stop on the list. At least there was only one family in the suburb - a Mudblood one, too. No chance Theodore would be there, but he couldn't afford to not visit the place. Lifting his wand, he Apparated to the outskirts of Chelmsford, Essex.

*

The bus route didn't go past their house, and they had to get off a good ten minutes' walk away. Nicola started to complain when they were half-way there.

"I'm tired. These books are heavy."

"Give them back to me then," said Eddie in exasperation. "Just don't complain about the walk."

Mission accomplished, Nicola shut up for all of the next hundred metres. In this part of the town most of the gardens were bordered by trees that had grown roots under the footpath, breaking up the concrete. Nicola amused herself by counting them.

Anne shifted her books from one arm to the other. The wind from earlier had picked up, and it was whipping her unbound hair around her face. She reached up to push it back, and wished longingly for a hair-clip, like the one Theo had given her, which now rested on her dresser. Or a hair-tie. Anything, really.

"I hope cricket's still on tomorrow," Eddie said as they passed the house of one of this team-mates. "The weather doesn't look too good, and it's the last holidays game."

"I hate this weather," Anne said moodily, spitting another piece of hair out. "Stupid wind. It's always like this when the Quidditch is on. We all go out and freeze in the stands and the players nearly get blown off their brooms."

Eddie's mouth tightened. "I wouldn't know about your sort of sports," he said coolly.

Anne knew that nothing she said would sound right, so she didn't say anything.

They rounded the corner to the beginning of their street, and Anne felt a prickle run up her spine. There was a wizard standing on the corner. Or, at least, a man wearing dark robes. His back was to Anne, but he appeared to be scanning the houses on the street.

Anne reached for her little sister's hand, then changed her mind. She might need her wand hand free.

Oh...crap. Books in the wrong arm. Shift them. Catch Eddie's eye. Warn him to be quiet. Nic's still counting tree-roots, so leave her alone. He hasn't turned around. I'm probably making a huge fuss over nothing. Wrong sleeve. He's going to notice if I make a grab for my wand. Okay. Take it out. Eddie's watching, he knows I'm up to something. We're getting closer. Oh god. Slip wand up my right sleeve. It won't stay there long but it doesn't have to.

They were almost up to the corner. The man was turning around. Anne searched desperately for an inconsequential remark, but horror of horrors, her sister beat her to it.

"Are you lost?" Nicola asked.

The wizard smiled. He was a nondescript man with brown hair, someone you wouldn't look at twice in the street. Anne knew it was a normal smile really, but her overactive mind imbued it with menace.

"As a matter of fact, I'm looking for someone. Do you know a family called the Fairleighs who live near here?"

"I don't think so," Anne replied smoothly. "I'm pretty sure there's no-one called that here."

Nicola wore a puzzled frown, and Anne's heart stopped altogether when she opened her mouth.

"Do they have any kids?" Nicola asked. "I'd like it if there were more kids here."

"Two daughters," the man smiled. "One of them is not much older than you."

"Do they live near here?" Nicola turned to Anne and Eddie. "Eddie, do you know them?"

Eddie opened his mouth, then hesitated. "Wait...weren't they those people two streets over who moved in June?"

Anne forced herself to take the ploy and run with it. "Oh, yes, the Fairleighs! Didn't the older one go to our primary school, Eddie? Anna or Anne or something. They sent them to some posh boarding school in Scotland."

"Yeah, that's right." Eddie snorted. "This place wasn't good enough for the likes of them, oh no. Couldn't have us contaminating their darling daughters."

Anne saw something flash in the man's eyes. Contempt, maybe. Or something more.

"That's not fair, Eddie, they were nice enough," Anne argued. "Didn't they get scholarships?"

"I dunno," Eddie shrugged.

"Was there a moving truck?" Nicola protested. "You didn't let me see it!"

The man gritted his teeth, and Anne gave him her best worried smile.

"Look, I'm awfully sorry, but they're not around any more. We could find out if anyone knows where they've gone and tell them you're looking, though."

"I don't think so," the man said sharply. "You lot get on your way."

No charm now he can't get something out of us. Not us stupid Muggles.

He made to brush past them, but Nicola called out.

"Wait! Did you mean us? We're Fairleighs too!"

Everyone froze. The man turned around to face Anne, who stepped automatically in front of Nicola. Her heart was beating double time, allegro, she thought irrelevantly, no, presto - dear God, they've found us, we're going to be another headline -

"Those people who moved last week?" he said, drawing a wand from his robes. "You lying Mudblood, did you really think -"

The Death Eater was cut off short by Eddie launching himself bodily at him from behind and tackling him to the ground. The wand, held lightly in his fingertips, went flying and then rolled back to him along the uneven pavement. Eddie was doing his best to distract the man, though, seemingly determined to bruise him as much as possible.

"Anne, he's a wizard!" Nicola yelped. Anne dropped her books and made a frantic dive for the wand. I knew I shouldn't have worn a skirt today. She managed to grab it, but the Death Eater got a fistful of her hair and pulled. Anne lashed out with her foot, hitting him in the leg, and heard the crunch of something breaking as Eddie continued to settle things the Muggle way. Anne rolled away and caught a glimpse of Nicola, who was doing nothing to help but jumping up and down yelling "Hit him, Eddie, he was mean to Anne!"

Anne grabbed a fence paling to pull herself to her knees. The Death Eater wasn't very tall, but he was still bigger than Eddie, and he managed to throw her brother to one side, rising to his feet. Anne saw his eyes narrow, knew he was about to launch himself at her, and yelled the only spell that came to mind.

"STUPEFY!"

The Death Eater's wand clearly wasn't suited to her - it jerked in her hand - but part of the unsuitability seemed to be uncontrolled power surges, or maybe that was just her anger, because the Death Eater was flung backwards onto the footpath. His head hit it with a dull thud that would normally have made Anne wince.

Nicola stopped jumping up and down. "Yay, Anne, you spelled him!"

Anne staggered to her feet, brushing the gravel out of the graze on her left leg. Physically she wasn't tired, but her heart rate was still several times normal. She offered Eddie a hand up. He took it, wincing.

"Ow. I forgot how much it bloody hurts to hit someone like that."

Anne nodded, trying to calm herself. "Thank you. For trying to stop him."

Eddie shrugged, rubbing at his shoulder. "He insulted you, and since your wizard boyfriend isn't here to defend you⤦"

Anne bit back a smile at the thought of Theo in a fistfight with a Death Eater. "Er, well, I doubt he would have tried to kill someone with his bare hands."

"He's a wizard. You don't know anything about doing things the ordinary way. This guy's about three inches taller than me and he was losing because he didn't have his wand."

"Anne, Anne, was he one of the bad wizards? Why is he here?"

Anne frowned down at the unconscious man, surrounded by her scattered books. Her own wand was still up her sleeve, so she transferred his to the other hand and brought out her own. It was much more comforting.

"He's looking for Theo, I think."

"Mum!" said Eddie suddenly. Anne looked up at the street - thank god it had been deserted on a weekday afternoon - to see the family car pull up beside them. Her mother rolled down the window and leaned across the passenger seat.

"Anne, I sorted it out faster than I thought - what the hell is going on?"

"There was a bad wizard, and Eddie and Anne stopped him!" Nicola announced proudly. Their mother leaned back, got out of the car, and stalked around to view the Death Eater. He was quite a sight, Anne thought. Robes, a broken nose, and a large lump forming on the back of his head. Such an ordinary-looking man, too.

Mary Fairleigh put her hands on her hips. "I want an explanation for this." Her gaze transferred to her son, who had a bruise rising on his left cheek and was wincing every time he moved his arm. "Eddie, have you been fighting?"

"He hit the bad wizard!" Nicola said.

"Death Eater," Anne corrected wearily. "He's a Death Eater."

Her mother's eyebrows went up.

"I see," she said anxiously.

Anne knelt down and grabbed the wizard's left arm.

Left. Theo said it was the left, didn't he?

She pulled back the sleeve of his robe to reveal what looked like an ugly black tattoo, the snake and skull motif almost pulsing. It looked faded - Anne wasn't sure why - but it was there.

"A Death Eater," she said again, standing up. "He should be out for a while. I Stunned him, and he hit his head pretty hard - but - oh, Mum, they're looking for us. He was looking for us. For Theo."

Mary Fairleigh closed her eyes, biting her lip. "Dear God in Heaven. What on earth do we do with him?"

"I don't know," Anne admitted.

Her mother opened her eyes again. "Well. First we can pick up all these books. I'm not having books from our library treated this way, they get worn out fast enough as it is."

This was more like the mother Anne knew. Intellectually, Anne was well aware that her mother was next to helpless in this situation...but she steered well away from that thought.

"Sure, Mum."

They had loaded all the books and a still-chattering Nicola into the car when Anne heard the distinctive and dreaded pop of someone Apparating. She had her wand out even before a familiar-looking witch and a strange wizard appeared around the corner.

"Well, well, well," said the wizard in amused tones, gazing at the prone Death Eater. "Mr. Amberley. You finally tripped up."

Anne looked down at the Death Eater, who still wasn't moving, then up at the wizard. She didn't have far to look - he wasn't all that much taller than her. His grin widened.

"You must be Anne Fairleigh."

"Uh...yes?" Anne quavered. She'd finally placed the witch, who had completed her surveillance of the street. Her hair was long and black today instead of spiky pink, but she was one of the Aurors who had been guarding the school last year. Aurors. They were safe.

"No Muggles in sight, although we'll have to check the houses," the woman said crisply. "Hah. Paul Amberley. I knew we'd get him after those letters."

"Can I take it you two are some form of authority?" Anne's mother interrupted smoothly. "This...this wizard just attacked my children and according to them, he's one of those Death Eater people. What on earth is going on?"

The wizard changed gears swiftly, holding out his hand.

"Mrs. Fairleigh, I assume? I'm Hal Phillips, with the Auror department. That's roughly equivalent to your Muggle police. This is my co-worker, Nymphadora Tonks." The witch shot him a very nasty look and interrupted.

"We're here because we received an alert that there'd been defensive magic used in this area by an underage wizard, and with things like they are we tend to treat that as indication of an attack. This seems to be under control more than most, though."

Anne's mother put one hand on her hip. "I see. What does that mean?"

"No one's dead," Hal Phillips replied bluntly. He nudged the Death Eater with his foot, not very gently. "Mr. Amberley here has been under suspicion as a Death Eater for some time. We'd better get him in to the Auror headquarters. Tonks, do you want to -"

"You take him, I'll get statements," Tonks agreed. "I should see you back there in about an hour. Contact the Obliviators, too, just in case."

"We should check for -"

"If there were any others here, they'd have come to the rescue by now, I think."

"Right-o. I'll see you back at headquarters."

Phillips grabbed the back of Paul Amberley's robes, none too gently, and Apparated away, taking the Death Eater with him. Anne saw him look at her and shake his head, still with that amused grin, just before he vanished.

"Isn't it impossible to Apparate with someone else?" she asked out loud.

"Yes," Tonks said. "And then again, no. It's...what you might call a classified skill."

Nicola leant her head out of the car window and said in a loud and fretful voice "Are we going yet?"

"In a minute, Nicola," Anne's mother replied. "Ah...Ms. Tonks, if you need to talk to my children, it would probably be best to do that at our house. We're quite close by."

"That would be perfect," Tonks agreed. "We just need clear witness statements. The last thing anyone in our Department wants is some Death Eater getting off for lack of evidence."

"Sounds like it's the last thing anyone wants," Eddie said, rubbing his shoulder.

*

Theo studied his school trunk critically. He knew that everything he had fitted in there. He knew because when he'd arrived here, it had been after fleeing his aunt's house, and every possession he currently had had been in this trunk. However, there was now a pile of assorted books and odds and ends on the bed which stubbornly refused to fit into the trunk.

Sighing, he decided to just take everything out and start again. It was going to work. It was.

It was four o'clock on Sunday afternoon and he was due to depart for Hogwarts from King's Cross Station at eleven the following morning. This morning had been taken up with a visit from Jan Hayle, her husband, and her children. On further reflection, Theo had decided he definitely did like these relatives. His first impression of Jan had been surprisingly close to the mark - a firmly practical woman. He wasn't surprised to discover she'd been in Hufflepuff. Her husband, Richard, had given Theo no end of grief about being in Slytherin (himself being a Gryffindor) until Jan had rescued Theo by reminding her husband that both her brother and sister had been in Slytherin, and there was nothing wrong with it.

The children were, actually, if he was being held under torture and forced to admit it, rather sweet. Theo did not like that description. It was the sort of thing Anne would say. Not that that was a bad thing in itself, but it wasn't a word he would customarily use. Still, they were, he reflected as he pulled the last robe out of his trunk. Leonora, or Lee, was a talkative and stubborn three-year-old who reminded him strongly of Terry in her innocent determination to get into as much trouble as possible. Evan was a quieter but equally mischievous five-year-old, all the more dangerous because he did not signal what he was about to do. He just jumped on you from the back of the couch. Or crept up behind and yelled in your ear. Despite himself, Theo had been impressed at his young cousin's ability to stay quiet. From what he remembered of Lucas and Celia, they could certainly not have done so.

Theo pushed his hair out of his eyes, wondering how to go about this. Perhaps if he piled all the books at the bottom...but he'd want one or two for the train...wait a minute. He didn't have to sit with anyone he didn't want to. He could sit with Anne if he wanted to.

Theo made up his mind to do so. Preferably without company, if it could be arranged.

There was a knock on the door, and Theo reached back with his foot to hook it properly open.

Yes?"

"My god, are you sure no one's been letting off hand grenades in here?" asked his uncle.

Theo followed Callum O'Neill's eyes to the bed, which was now strewn with pretty much everything he owned.

"Er...yes," he said. He thought he knew what a grenade was. It exploded, didn't it? Like a type of bomb? "I'm just having some difficulty persuading my things they belong in my trunk. I know it should, because it all fitted in when I came, but..."

He trailed off. Callum looked serious. Too serious. "What's wrong?"

His uncle sighed. "Theodore - someone's put - no, I won't jump to conclusions, but...it's a good thing you're leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow, I think."

"Who-"

"Catriona. Our youngest. You haven't met her."

Theo realised his hands were clenched into fists. No. It wasn't fair. Leaving home had been a good plan. There weren't supposed to be consequences. He was supposed to get some peace.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," Callum told him, coming into the room. "It was probably opportunistic - Cat's a quarter Muggle, after all. They attacked her and a few others, walking through a Muggle part of London. She was lucky - managed to Apparate away - but she's in St. Mungo's, and -"

"She's alive?" Theo felt his spirits rise. Not dead. Hurt was bad, but if she wasn't dead, then it wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought.

"Oh." Callum blinked. "Did you think I meant that?"

Theo shrugged. "It's a war. What else would you mean?"

Callum shook his head slowly, eyes fixed on Theo. "You aren't that young, are you?"

Theo wasn't sure how to respond, so he shrugged again. "It depends on your definition."

Callum's lips quirked. "I suppose it does." His eyes closed for a second, and Theo saw the strain. Alive his cousin might be, but it wasn't easy. "Monique and I are Flooing there right now to see here. Do you want to come?"

Theo gaped, taken aback. "You want me to come?"

Callum eyed him quizzically. "You are family, and it's likely to be your last chance to meet Cat for a while. She was going to try and come this week, but she couldn't make it. All of our children were really excited about having you back, you know. You were their cute baby cousin, and they adored you."

Theo looked at the mess on the bed, just for something to do. Family who'd known him for a week and wanted to see him. He'd been prepared to lose all of that when he'd left the Amberleys. Somehow he hadn't, somehow he'd gained relatives, even if he'd still lost his father, and it was - frightening. He couldn't help feeling like he didn't deserve it.

"Sure," he said, looking back up and clearing his throat. "Sure, I'll come."

*

Theo regretted his decision as soon as they entered the hospital ward.

It must have been because of me. There's no other reason. If I hadn't come, they wouldn't have attacked her. I tried to save myself and I brought this on family I didn't even know I had. I can't face this.

There were so many people in the ward - so many injuries, with the war - which one was his cousin? The rake-thin girl lying unconscious to his left, the dark-eyed witch staring at nothing, or -

His aunt and uncle solved the problem by hurrying over to the bed nearest the girl. Apparently, disappointingly for his attempts at self-castigation, Catriona O'Neill was the ash-blonde witch with her left arm in a sling and a stunning bruise on her left cheek. She was not unconscious or staring blankly but sitting up in bed and making notes on a pad of paper. She looked up as Monique and Callum approached.

"Mum, Dad, I didn't expect you this soon!"

"We can go away again if you'd prefer it," her father suggested. Catriona shot him a dry look and laid quill and parchment on the bedside table.

"I'm glad you came," she said, reaching up to accept her mother's hug, and Theo heard a nervous quiver in her voice. She wasn't so old, was she? Only seven years his senior. "Sit down, Dad, the chairs aren't meant for decoration."

Callum O'Neill pulled up a chair beside his daughter's bed, and Monique perched on the end of it. Theo hovered near his aunt, feeling a strong desire to just go away. They didn't want him here. They didn't need him here.

"So you're the cause of all my troubles." It was said with a joking smile, but it didn't help much. Catriona's eyes fixed on him. "Hello, Theodore. You're most likely sick of hearing this, but you've grown a lot since I saw you last."

Theo stuck his hands in his pockets, feeling spotlighted.

"It has been mentioned once or twice. I'm sorry to say I don't recall you at all."

Catriona smiled. "And why would you? You can't have been more than Lee's age when Aunt Addie died."

"No. No, I wasn't."

"Cat, honey," said her father, "can you tell us what happened?"

"There's not all that much to tell," she shrugged. Then she winced. "Ouch. I was coming back to work from lunch with some friends when I got ambushed in a dark alleyway. It was Death Eaters - I was lucky, I suppose, they decided to beat me up. I...I assumed they were looking for information about Theodore."

"They must have been," Theo said morosely.

"It's not...necessarily...true." Monique's voice was thoughtful. "You're part Muggle, Cat. It could have just been an opportunistic attack. It probably was."

"But that doesn't make se-"

"It does," Callum interrupted Theo. "Think about it. If anyone knew where you were, you'd be dead now. The whole point of staying with us is that you never met us before, we have no known association with anyone prominent on Dumbledore's side, and your father's probably forgotten we exist, if he ever knew. We're no different from thousands of other half-blood families in this country. The same ones who are getting hurt in this war."

"This isn't your fault, Theodore." Catriona had a very soft voice, unlike her brisk-tongued elder sister. "I should have known better than to take that short-cut, but⤦"

"If they were looking for you that wouldn't have mattered, Cat," her father assured her. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"How did you get away?" her mother asked.

Catriona sighed. "I remembered to do what I should have done as soon as I saw them - Apparate away. They only hit me with a few spells, but they were quite nasty. Dislocated shoulder - that's why I've got a sling, it needs to be immobilised for a couple of days - broken eye-socket, that's the bruising, multiple lacerations on my arms and torso, and three broken toes. I'll be in here for another day, at least."

Theo tried to block out the casual recitation by staring at the wall, but it wasn't working. He shouldn't have come here. He shouldn't.

Callum patted his daughter's uninjured hand. "I'll pop in tomorrow."

"Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore!" she protested. "But that would be nice."

"Do you have any idea who it was?" Monique said, a frown in her voice. She shifted on the bed.

Catriona shook her head slowly. "No. No, definitely not. One was a woman - I know that - but the other two...with those masks, there's no way I could tell. I doubt very much it would have been anyone I'd ever met. Liam managed to get himself sent in to interview me, and I've already told him everything I know."

Monique turned her head abruptly to look at Theo.

"Cat's right, there's no need to beat yourself up about this. Once is misfortune, twice is coincidence, thrice enemy action, and this is once. Not thrice."

Theo must have looked taken aback, because Callum and Catriona laughed.

"You're just lucky Jan isn't here to see you look like that," his uncle told him, "she never could abide moping."

"I don't mope," Theo informed them indignantly. "I brood. I've been told off about it quite often enough."

Cat grinned, a brilliant smile that reminded him of Terry. "When Liam was about your age, he used to get into sulks over almost everything. Jan would barge into his room and haul him out kicking and screaming. It was always entertaining to watch."

Her parents exchanged looks. "Entertaining for you," her father said wryly, "you didn't have to patch over the damage afterwards."

"And I definitely don't sulk," Theo told his cousin.

"I'm sure you don't," she assured him earnestly. Possibly too earnestly. "Mum told me all about your great escape. You go back to Hogwarts on Monday, don't you?"

"Finally," he agreed. "That is - not that I don't like staying with you, Aunt Monique, but -"

"That's quite all right," she told him, eyes twinkling.

"How's your work taking this?" Callum asked Cat. "Have you let them know-"

Her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, no, I've forgotten to let them know where I am! Here I am taking notes and they probably think I'm skiving off - damn - I'll have to get the hospital staff to take the message to the post office -"

"What do you do?" Theo asked curiously.

"Oh, of course you wouldn't know. I do public relations for the Holyhead Harpies. Not much on at the moment, since it's the off-season, but we're gearing up for the coming season so I'm swamped doing media releases about all our new players."

Theo blinked. "Sounds like an interesting job."

"Oh, it sounds like it...I have to do the drudgework before I can get into the more interesting things. Fastest way to get promoted, though." Catriona's voice was cheerfully certain. Theo remembered that she had been a Slytherin.

They stayed and chatted for about fifteen minutes longer before a Healer appeared to shoo them away. It was bittersweet for Theo. On the one hand, it was so comforting to be caught up in the workings of a normal family, to have the acceptance that he'd been so certain he was losing forever only a week ago. On the other, it wasn't the family he'd grown up with, and the shadow of why Catriona was in hospital crouched on his shoulder, whispering blame every time she winced, every time he noticed again the bruises and bandages and shadows under her eyes. It was easier by far to say it was the war, the war's fault, the Dark Lord's doing, but he couldn't throw the responsibility away entirely.

I'm not responsible for this, but I helped cause it.

*

It took Theo another two hours to finish packing when they got back to the O'Neills' house. It wasn't that his things didn't fit, it was that his mind wasn't on the task. He ended up having to shove his socks any which way into the left-over gaps, but at least he got the damn thing closed. Then he flopped down onto the bed and just lay there, staring up at the ceiling.

Luck. I've been so incredibly lucky, or was I just not important enough to worry about? I'm alive. I have relatives who do not believe I need to be killed to maintain family honour. Anne and her family are safe...unless someone's attacked them in the last two days, at least, and I'm sure I would have heard about it.. My cousin got away with injuries.

So why am I feeling so disconsolate?

Apart from the fact that the rest of my family does think I should be killed, my father⤦God, I don't know what my father thinks, except I've done the worst thing I could to him short of murder, I've put a lot of innocent people in grave danger, oh, and I haven't touched a piano for a week and a half.

This is horrible. I'm brooding. It could be worse. It could be much worse. I could be dead. Anne could be dead. Monique and Callum could be de- this is far too depressing.

Time to think about something else.

As easy as it was to lie on the bed and wallow in self-pity, Theo made himself get up and find The Lord of the Rings. For one thing, he was determined to finish it before he saw Anne tomorrow. For another -

Hey, I'm going to see Anne tomorrow!

The world should not seem a brighter place because of one plainly obvious fact, but Theo had realised long ago that lo - that some things were hopelessly unreasonable, and you just had to put up with it.

He still felt much better, though.