Time For Change

Time For Change

Chapter One - Who am I?

To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world

--Unknown

~ > * < ~

Gina? No, that's not it. Holly, maybe. Jane, Helga, Melissa? No, not that either. Diana? Diana is a good name. She shook her head sadly and angrily kicked a stone into the water, so that the river's calm surface broke and sent small circles of valleys and hills dancing about. She watched the stone disappear into the dark water. She bent down to pick up another stone and threw it with all the force she could muster and saw it hit the other side of the stone bridge with a hollow Thump.

Satisfied that at least the rock told her some truth, she sat down against the underside of the bridge. She rested her head heavily against the cold stones and narrowed her eyes as she glared at the full moon and cursed the bridge for protecting her so poorly against the betraying light.

Why didn't they trust her? After all she had done for them? She was Fifteen years old! Why did they give her the watch when it was freezing outside, and on top of it, when the counsel held their meeting? It wasn't as if she had done something terrible. All she had done was to dump a bucket of river water on Riina. It wasn't as if she deserve it. That stupid girl had bullied her around for years just because she wanted to and because she could, besides, she had needed to cool down.

Nobody told Riina Greyham what to do or say, no one except her father. Riina took advantage for being their leader's firstborn daughter. Although, she knew many a people down there who only obeyed her wistful orders because they didn't want any trouble. If there was one rule in the underground society, that was it: stay out of trouble and you will stay alive. They couldn't afford any difficulties.

It was hard enough living underground, hiding from death eaters without them. But they had successfully avoided the death eaters in over more than one hundred years now. A hundred long years since the world was torn into chaos. No one knew the exact dates when it had all happened, because no one wanted to. But everyone knew that day: the fateful day when the Dark Lord fell and when Albus Dumbledore - the greatest wizards ever to live - disappeared.

There had been a prophecy that the boy-who-lived alone had the power to vanquish the Dark Lord forever. And with the help of ancient magic and a sword once wielded by Gryffindor himself, he did. But no one could have known - except for the centaurs in the forests - what the cause of it would come to be.

The centaurs had warned them all. They had told the wizard-kind what was written in the starts and - for once in their peaceful lives - begged for them to stop. But wizard-kind - being as stubborn as they are, had closed their eyes and banished the centaurs from their world. Where they were now, one could only guess. And when the Final War had finally come to an end, everyone believed it was all over; that they were finally safe.

Little had they known or cared about what the surviving Death Eaters. And many were they, since the Dark Lord had gained many mighty followers over the years. But who could blame them? When the centaurs were gone - who could have predicted that those Death Eaters would form their own circle of dark wizards: the Dragon's Guild. They had been warned, but they hadn't listened. That was the mistake with men. Seldom have they time to stop and listen to what is really important. And whilst the world was celebrating, the remaining Death Eaters had slipped in through the back door and stuck only after everyone had let their guards down.

For many years the Guild had terrorised England and even the unobservant muggles knew about the wizard world. How could they not, when signs were so obvious you only had to stick your head out from your window to see what was going on?

England's old School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was now nothing more than ruins and the Ministry of Magic hadn't existed since the last minister - Fudge - had freely given himself to the order in a desperate try to save his wife and children and died at the attempt. The Guild had taken over the building in muggle London and changed it into their headquarters. From there they had terrorised England with a strong grip on the wizard community. And the skies had screamed their agony and rain had fallen for 48 days, while the sun had been hiding from all desperate cries for light.

But when the Death Eaters started burning houses and killing muggles and muggleborns, there were many that had had enough. They - and the few muggles that where still alive - had therefore restarted the most famous order ever to exist: the Order of the Phoenix. They had fought the Guild countless times but never succeeded getting into the circle of dark wizards. And when they years passed and the Guild had gained control of not only England, but parts of Scandinavia too, the Order had been forced to hide. No one had seen them since and no one expected them to return either. And the rest of the world couldn't do anything at all: they were too occupied fending of the brotherhood's iron fists.

The ones who hadn't joined the Order, but still fought for freedom, had joined Riina Greyham's grandfather - Harold Greyham - in his younger days, and followed him down in some old underground passages. And here they were now, living under ground, accomplishing nothing but sticking small sticks in the Guild's wheels.

Lua cursed destiny's dilemma and brushed her dark brown fringe away from her eyes. She picked at the grass with her long fingers and watched the wind come down trough under the bridge and take them with it. It wasn't fair. Those bloody Death Eaters took what they wanted and left everyone else to starve, so that they had to steal to stay alive. And it didn't help any of them that Stealing was a death crime.

"Little one, what's on your mind?"

Lua looked up at the figure towering her and eagerly took the dry bread and water he was offering her. It was not much, but it was more than she had seen in a long time and probably for a long time yet to come. She said nothing, but was very grateful for the food. She tore the bread and then dipped it in the water and shoved it into her mouth with both hands and drank in mouthfuls of the iron-tasting water to put her thirst out. Lua dried her mouth with the tattered sleeves of her sweater. First then did she look up.

"Alex. You shouldn't be here. It's not your watch until the sun breaks," she said and eyed the youngster wearily. Alex Greyham looked down at her from where he stood and his dark eyes reflected the moon light as well as the water. He sat down next to her and pulled a hand through his dirty blond hair. He looks just like his father, she thought. But the eyes are his mother's.

"I know," he said. "I just thought that you might be hungry. The men came over a whole wagon with food and all kinds of stuff on its way to Oxford. It's more food than we have had in a month." He turned the golden ring on his finger, which he had received on his seventeenth birthday. Lua looked at it for a moment and licked her lips. No one else had such a ring in the underground. The little metal they found when they came across a wagon or two, where pots for food or for the making of new weapons. She stared at the water for a moment and watched the moon and the stars' reflection. Margaret is not all that bad.

"Lua, are you thinking again?" Lua looked up. Was that worry she saw in his eyes? She looked down and threw another stone in the river.

"No," she said shortly but then changed her mind. It was Alex she was talking with. "Maybe."

Alex snorted.

"Lua, there is no point, you're just wasting you time. And does it really matter? Mother's worried, you know," he pointed out and looked slightly annoyed.

Alex was Riina's older brother and he was the one who would be the leader when his father died. He knew what he would be later on and Lua knew he would make a great leader. He was both intelligent and brave and on the same way loyal and took responsibility for his actions. And an incredible friend, which she appreciated a lot.

Lua didn't really belong in the underground: she didn't belong anywhere and all day long she pictured herself at a huge mansion far away from here where she wouldn't be just Lua.

When she had been nothing more than a couple of months old, Lua had been found floating in a basket in the very same river they sat by, by Alex's father. With nothing more in her possession than the towel around her body, they have had no clue at all to help tell where she came from. So, when the counsel had insisted that they got rid of her, just in case she could hurt them in any way, Ronald Greyham had taken her in instead.

Lua had grown up as their daughter, and almost everyone saw her as theirs' too. And just as they had been the family she never had, Alex was her two-year-older brother. But then there was Riina who thought Lua was turning her family against her and took every opportunity she could to make Lua miserable. And that's why she was here tonight. Ronald had lectured her about right and wrong and then sent her out her to freeze to death because of a stupid prank.

Lua sighed heavily and looked down into her mug, half full with rusty water, so that she didn't have to meet Alex's demanding gaze. Merlin he was determinate. She studied her reflection but saw nothing more than a poor girl with dark brown eyes and tattered old clothes. Why her? Why had her mother and father thrown her away like something they wanted to get rid of? Hadn't they loved her at all? She sighed again in frustration and threw the mug hard down on the ground so that the water spilled and was lost to earth.

"I hate this! I hate to steal, I hate to fight. I'm tired of it all and I'm cold and always hungry. We do nothing at all down here!" she screamed in frustration and bent her head forwards so that her long hair fell and covered her face.

This was all so wrong, wasn't there anything they could do to put a stop on this once and for all? Anything at all? There had to be something - anything.

"Every day, someone down here dies, and all I can think of is that there's one mouth less to feed. Why? Does it really have to be like this?" she asked bitterly and looked and her dark eyes bore in to Alex.

He said noting but his lips where tightly pressed together and his eyes tired. He shook his head, as if he didn't know, and bent forth to pick the cup up. Was there no hope left for human kind? She prayed that so wasn't the case. Someone would come and make it all right, she knew it.

Right then Alex froze for an instant, and turned towards her with one finger to his mouth. Someone was coming. Alex crept back and they both pushed hard against the stones in the shadow. Lua felt blood rush to her ears as she strained to hear through her heart's fast beating. Wheels - horse clatter and wheels. A wagon.

"...-Ain't gonna be pleased, that's for sure," a man's voice said miserably.

"He'll be bloody maniac, that's for sure," a second voice answered, this one sounding more like an old man. "A whole wagon this time, they say. Those mudblood rebellions aren't anything but trouble. We ought to kill them all, I say."

"Aye, no jokin' there," the first said. "Wouldn't want to be in those fellows' shoes when our Lords gets their hands on 'em, no sir."

"I don't want be in our shoes either when he finds what he's lookin' for. I'd rather not be anywhere." The old man snorted.

"Hey, Bodger. Here we are." The wagon pulled to a stop on the bridge and Lua felt her eyes widen in fear.

"Alex," she whispered. "What are we going to do?" He gave her an annoyed look and hushed her. She bit her lower lip and took a firm grip on her dagger. If they found them, they would be dead - or worse: the headquarters would be found. That was if they didn't kill them first. It was not a beautiful thought, but she would do it, would it come to that.

The stones crunched under the heavy men as they hastily jumped of the wagon and walked to the back, as the horses scratched their hooves against the ground. Lua could almost imagine them laying their ears back and neigh in frustration.

The familiar sound of blankets being pulled away reached them as one of the men muttered quietly. It was quiet for some time and Lua could hear her own heart beat its way out of her chest, and was positive they could too. She swallowed hard and fumbled for Alex's comfortable touch. Her cold, small and shaky hand and found Alex's warm one. She held it tight.

"Heavy ain't it?" the first man asked. "Why don't we just use magic? You know Bodger, I could be home right now, having fun with me wife, ya?"

"Quit being such a muggle and help me out, would you? The faster we get over with this, the sooner you can shag you wife, for all I care," the old man said bitterly as the first man laughed.

"Aye, you have a point. Well, we better get goin' then. A one a two. Put in some strength, ol' man."

Both swore in frustration as they carried their burden between them. They went over to the stone railing and tipped something over the edge. Lua watched as something heavily wrapped up in grey blankets fell into the water and how it sank like a stone.

"Come now, before anyone comes," the old man said.

"Nay, old man. I'm tellin' ya. We have to make sure that 'tis rightfully done," the first man said promptly.

"Who do think will find it here? Didn't your wife wait for you?" the old man asked.

"You're right. Well, Bodger. Let's get movin'."

"I'm not going to do this again, no matter how angry he'll be, that's for sure. I'm old and the cold is getting to me a little bit too much for my taste." The men sat up in the wagon again and with a cry and a flick of a lash, the horses started pulling their masters away from the bridge.

Soon the wagon was out of hearing once again, and Lua relaxed and let go of the dagger. Alex's hand was a little harder to release, since he held it so tight it almost hurt.

She turned and saw Alex staring at the place where the thing the men had thrown had been. Her throat thickened with worry.

"Brother?" she noticed she was still whispering but couldn't help herself. "It there something wrong?"

Alex looked concerned and Lua caught herself fiddling with her dagger nervously. When Alex was worried, there really was something to worry about.

"Lua, I think they just threw a corpse in the lake," he whispered. Lua's eyes widened with realisation.

"Merlin, Alex, do something!" she urged. "Please, you have to!" He nodded and took his dirty shirt of and laid it next to his dagger on the ground. He looked at her.

"If I'm not back within five minutes, call for help," he said and dived into the river.

Lua leaned back and picked both the dagger and the shirt up and held it close to her chest. She didn't even know what to think. So much had happened in such short amount of time and her brain had a hard time coping. Her breathing came out hard as her eyes wandered on the surface of the water, searching for any signs of Alex's return. She began to worry even when she knew it had only been a few short seconds since he had disappeared in to the river.

The river was dangerous if you didn't know it and although both she and Alex had been there countless times, she still couldn't stop the panic spreading like poison through her body. After a few minutes she couldn't sit still. She begun pacing back and forth, not even aware of how hard she was holding on to his dagger, or how it bit into her soft skin and left small trickling trails of bright blood running down her sleeves.

Maybe he dived too deep and hit a rock, then what? What if he can't come up? But she felt that she had to worry, after all, he was the closest thing she had to a brother. What if he...? Many "what ifs" travelled trough her brain back and forth in so short a time and she had to concentrate to remember how to breathe.

Just when she couldn't stand it any longer and was about to run for help, Alex's face broke through the surface a bit downstream the river. Lua sighed in relief and the dagger fell to the ground. And she ran down to help him with the heavy load, which undoubtedly was a person. She knelt by the form and bit her lower lip. What would she find under the soaking wet blankets? What could such men do to someone innocent? Was he innocent, or a murderer? She drew a deep breath and quickly unwrapped the body as Alex recovered his breath.

She found her self looking at the face of a stranger dressed in rich green robes, that might once have been beautiful but now nothing more than rags. He had obviously been seriously beaten - she didn't need a healer to see that - and received small cuts of something sharp here and there. His blond hair was thick with dried blood and so was his face. A deep gash leaped across his cheek and contrasted horribly against his pale skin tone. His cheekbones where sharp and she saw a small graze on his chin. His eyes where closed and would probably be black before the sunrise. If he lives to see it.

She felt for his pulse first at his throat and when she found nothing, she withdrew her dagger and carefully held it to his torn lips. She felt another wave of relief run through her body when she saw the fog forming on the cold blade. It was not much of a sign, but at least he was alive.

"Help me carry him under the bridge," she urged a very wet and frustrated Alex. "Come on, hurry up." Alex muttered something under his breath but got to his feet and didn't object. He grabbed the stranger from under his arms and Lua took a hold of his legs. They carried him under the bridge and laid him down carefully. He didn't even stir. Lua sighed uncomfortably and placed the man's head in her knees as Alex fetched the dripping blankets and gave them to her waiting hand.

"Is he...?" he asked and sat down on his heals, looking at the stranger with concerned, but curious eyes. Lua nodded sadly.

"But just still... we need to get him down to Darla, mother will know what to do," she said and bathed his head with the wet blankets. They were all smudgy with blood, and the lake water was not the best there were to find, but it would have to do for the moment until she could get something better. She looked up and found Alex staring at her in disbelief.

"Lua, we can't take him down there!" He exclaimed. "We don't even know who he is! He might be anyone."

Lua narrowed her eyebrows at his unspoken statement: they both knew that if he were on the enemies' side, they would have to kill him. She could understand his worry for his people. It's a good description for a future leader: One stranger's life for a couple of hundreds. But now he's only being foolish. She knew she needed to be harsh with him, even if it would hurt him and his pride.

"I know what you're thinking, Alexander Grigory Greyham, but this is not the time for your foolish nobility, neither can we discuss this out here, or he will surly freeze to death before sunrise. Right now, he's almost dead and can do no harm at all. Not to your people, or to us. Look at him!" she snapped coldly.

She hated to do it but knew she had no choice. She looked at him. She saw him hesitate and knew that it was a good sign.

"Well?" she said hurriedly and looked around.

What if the two wizards decided they would come back and double check? There was no place to hide; not when the grass where the stranger had been, before they moved him, was all bloody and shone with the help of the moon. She glared up at it and knew it enjoyed their sticky situation.

"Lua...I..." he sighed in frustration and knew he was defeated. "I'd do anything for you, you know that? Even put the future of our people in your hands," He said as he looked at her from under his hair.

"Thank you." She breathed out and squeezed his shoulder. "Come on, we better get going." Alex nodded and dragged himself up.

He took the man by his arms and, with help from Lua, threw him across his shoulder, so that he could carry the stranger without damaging him more than necessary. He groaned slightly as Alex shifted him a bit to the right. Alex walked a few steps before he turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you coming, or will I have to tell father that you fell into the river?" he mocked. Lua nodded.

"I'll be right there," She told him and watched him round a bunch of trees. Lua gave the blankets an irritated stare and then picked them up. She walked to the river and dipped them into the freezing water. The water was cold and her hands stung. She shuddered. Someone would have to do the dirty job.

~ > * < ~

When she ten minutes later walked through the forest-path with the now only soaked blankets in her arms (she couldn't throw them away when they would probably need them), she sang softly to herself to keep fear from entering her as she walked through the dark. It wasn't as if she hadn't walked in the forest late at night before - because she had - but for the strange feeling nagging in her head, as if something had changed. She told herself that it was for the better good, and maybe it was. She shrugged to no one in particular and side-stepped a stone she else would have tripped on.

She reached a wall of rocks overgrown with ranks and bushes. It looked like any pile of rocks in the forest. She looked around for any signs that she was being followed. But she saw nothing, and heard nothing so she bent aside a few branches and stepped through the wall. She felt the thrilling sensation along her spine as she crossed the magic barrier and the cold as she found herself in an underground passage, not all born to nature. Welcome home to the underground Lua. She greeted herself sarcastically and grabbed for a torch fasted at the wall.

She walked briskly, her steps sounding hollowly against the floor, torch in one hand and blankets under her arm. She didn't care about the cold or the runes and symbols on the walls as she had when she had been a child. No one could read or understand it as the people before them had. The skilful art of reading had been lost for the rebellions long ago. Only to Ronald Greyham the mysterious carving meant something. But the honourable man didn't have the time to examine the "letters", as he called them. But Ronald only understood a few of them, and even if that was more than anyone else could, it apparently wasn't enough. Lua snorted. Who would need those kinds of skills anyway? Down here the only thing that mattered was survival.

She laughed. Where they really that different from each other, the ones above, ruled by The Brotherhood, and everyone down here? Where they learned to read and fear the Death Eaters, those under the ground learned how to fight.

She shook her head sadly and sighed as she reached an opening to her right. She stepped through it and fifteen minutes of walking later, she finally began to see the first signs of humanity. Men talking quietly among themselves, women laughing as they gossiped while they fixed some of the tattered old clothes they all bore. Small children ran around playing tag under the grownups' watchful eyes.

Lua waved as she passed a group of smudgy little children, and almost bumped into her stepfather's hard shoulder. She dropped the blankets in surprise and quickly fought down a squeak.

"Now, daughter, you have some serious explanation to do," Ronald told her and steered her through a thin curtain and in to a circular room. The room was full of shelves with strange objects and lit candles were fastened to the wall. A small desk filled with papers and letters stood in the middle of the room. A simple chair stood behind it.

Lua knew this room like the back of her own hand and had last been inside it only a couple of hours ago, when Ronald had lectured her earlier. It was Ronald's workroom and here was where anyone with any sort of problem could come in need for her father's advice. And boy, had she a problem, but not one she freely would be delighted to share, but apparently, she had no choice.

He grunted as he sat down behind his desk and dramatically rearranged a couple of papers to hide the signs of pain showing on his exhausted face. His old war-wound on his left side still pained him cold damp days, and this was one of those.

He sighed and met her gaze. Lua avoided his blue demanding eyes that had seen too much and were so different from his son's friendly dark ones. She immediately felt guilty for her actions and had a really hard time standing still. This is absolutely the most stupid thing you have ever done, Lua. She told herself as she nervously paced around the room. She turned and as she had expected, found him watching her with an intense gaze.

"Father, I... I really didn't mean to, I am so sorry. But I just-" Ronald raised his hand and she immediately fell silent. He sighed heavily again.

"Oh daughter, tell me, what shall I do with you?" she opened her mouth in protest, but he once again raised his hand, and she was silent. No one could say she hadn't respect for her father, although he wasn't her real father. "No, Lua, listen to me. What you and Alex did was very wrong. You brought a stranger into our homes, and so do risk hundreds of peoples' lives, and for what purpose? Did you really think daughter? This man can be anyone, even one in the Guild. Do you understand, Lua, what this may come to be?" he asked tiredly and massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer.

Whatever little hope she had had faltered when she saw Ronald's tired form. She had never seen him so worn out before, but what could she expect from a man with too much burden and deaths upon his shoulders? She shivered when she thought of Alex in his position, and knew what man he had to become. Yet they were so different. Whilst Alex was tall and proud and more like his mother, the only thing he had inherited from his father, except for his title and loyalty to the people, was his charming smile and strong, proud chin.

Lua bit her lower lip hard and looked down in shame. It had all seamed so right at the time. What had she really done? At least she could do something right yet.

"Father, I know that I have done wrong, and I apologise. I will fully take responsibility for all my actions, and I will accept any punishment you will find suit." She met his eyes with stern determination. "But I ask of you, father, not to blame Alex for any of this. It was entirely my idea and Alex didn't even want to-..." Was that a smile?

Ronald laughed and shook his head in amusement.

"Ah, Lua. I am glad - I have to say - that you regret your actions. Guilt can sometimes be more painful and of greater learning than any other punishment can. I am proud of you, daughter." There was a small pause, then...

"What! Father, you can't be serious!" Riina said angrily as she stormed into the room through the curtain and abruptly came to a stop. "She brings a complete stranger into our home, and you give her credit!"

Lua was amused to notice that her soft and curly golden red hair was still slightly damp, and from Ronald's strongly faked cough, he was more than amused as well.

She glared at Lua for a moment with her fiery blue eyes before she turned harshly to her father.

"I demand that you punish her."

"This is not your place, daughter." He regarded Riina carefully for he loved his daughter very much, and hated to see her angry with him. His strong bond with his children was something that he valued greatly. Riina's eyes widened.

"But father, I-"

"No, Riina. I will not have this conversation with you." But he was a fair man. "I punish as I see fit, and now you will tell me why you burst into my office without an apparent reason." Riina snorted and crossed her arms over her rich bosom.

"Mother wanted me to fetch Luana for her, and I reluctantly told her I would." Riina said with her head held high, as she made a great point ignoring Lua. Lua turned towards Ronald.

"Father, the blood on the ground, next to the river...?"

"Will be taken care of." Ronald Greyham leaned back on his chair and made a wide jest whilst a broad smile spread across his face. "Well daughters," Ronald said. "Of you go then."

~ > * < ~

Lua looked at Riina again, only to find her staring at her with piercing blue eyes for the tenth time. The two of them had been walking for about seven minutes in determinate silence, each ignoring the other. Although Lua had a great relationship with Alex, she and Riina had no such thing. They had always been on the opposite side of the line, no matter what the subject was. Lua had always tried to stay out of the golden girl's way, while Riina always seamed to do the opposite. But after minutes of having the other girl's death-glaring eyes in her neck, she had had enough. Lua turned and faced Riina.

"What!" she spat. "Haven't you given up the idea that staring at me will dig a hole through my neck, already?" Riina looked offended.

"Why would I stare at you when the floor is so much nicer, and to not talk about cleaner, than you?" she sneered.

"Yeah, why would you?" Lua asked angrily.

"I don't know, maybe I've always been fascinated in uncivilised animals," she offered with a slight smile.

"Oh, please spare me and go get a life."

"I happen to have a life, it's you who yet have to find one," Riina said with a wave of her perfectly small hand.

"But then," Lua suggested heatedly. "Why don't you take your 'perfect' life, and go bother someone else!"

Right then, a woman in her early forties came running down the corridor with an angry frown on her pretty face.

"Lua, Riina!" Golden blond hair, with only the slightest hint of grey, came down from a messy bun on Darla Greyham's head as she abruptly took a firm grip on each girl's arm.

"Ouch, Mother!" Riina complained and tried to loosen herself from her mother's firm grip. Darla ignored her and held her arm even tighter.

"Lua, such languish! Riina, I am disappointed in you. I sent you for a simple task, and see what you do. Now come here both of you, I don't want any fighting in the halls." She paused. "And Lua, what have you done with your hands? Haven't I told you to come directly to me when things like this happen? You should be more careful." She muttered under her breath.

Right now, Lua was more concerned with what would happen to her if she did come along, than if she didn't. She was pretty sure she would be in better condition without Darla's care, at least for the moment. Maybe she should return in a couple of hours instead, and hope that she had calmed down a bit then. Mrs Greyham didn't seem to think so.

But as they were half led, half dragged by the woman, she and Riina didn't have much of a choice other than to follow the old woman into the quiet little room, which worked as a waiting room.

The room was square round with only a couple of boxes as stools. Straw covered the earth floor. You could see the ground through the straw here and there, where it had disappeared after hundreds of peoples walking back and forth, patiently waiting for answers. Was she all right, could she see her?

From the opposite side of the doorway from which they had entered was the opening to the hospital room, wielded by brown fabric. Two lit torches sat on both sides of the supposed door and inside was her stranger. Was he alive, or was he not breathing?

"Riina, you stay here." Darla told her sulking daughter. "I will have a word with you later." She turned to Lua with a sad expression as Riina grunted and sat down. "Lua, you follow me." Lua caught her breath in her throat. Was he dead?

With heavy steps she followed the woman she had come to call her mother through the veil and into the room behind.

~ > * < ~

Lua hadn't been through that veil more than a couple of time, and she was grateful for it. The dusky room with its heave air made her nervous, for different reasons. For one, so many people had died in this room when her mother hadn't been able to help; people had suffered in here, with the knowledge that they could die. But this was too a room where magic was used frequently. Her mother was in possession of one of the few wands that they had access to in the underground. Darla was not a talented healer, and not even nearly as great as the healers on St Mungus. But she did all that she could.

The first thing that caught Lua's eyes was one of the beds in the corner of the other side of the small room. It took a deep breath and an encouraging nod from her mother, before she could walk up to the bed in which the stranger now slept. But sleep didn't seem to be fair to him, as his face was screwed up in a deep look of concern.

Lua looked back at her mother, only to see her disappear through the veil, obviously prepared for a violent conversation with her daughter. Lua turned back to the stranger and seated in the chair next to the bed. Lua could hear her mother's bickering on the other side of the veil.

His face had been cleaned from blood and the small cuts cleansed from any dirt that might cause infection, and thus put him in high fever and pain. Lua drew an uneven breath. She couldn't help but to notice that he was stunningly handsome, almost angelic even in his troublesome sleep.

Now that his hair was clean to, she saw that the hair that partly covered his face was even paler than she had first believed. She had a sudden urge to run her finger through his hair, and something she didn't understand told her that she had done so many times before. She resisted the strong need to touch his skin, to feel it under her fingertips, and placed both her hands in her lap to keep herself from trembling. Who was this person?

She was so tired, yet she knew she would have no peace before she saw his eyes open up, before she knew he was all right. Now that she felt warmth that the cold passages had refused her return to her, the dull ache in stiff body blossomed and the pain from the cuts in her hands roared to life. She ignored it all and sunk deeper into the chair while her eyes refused to let go of the stranger's face. He couldn't be much older than her self, perhaps a year or two. Lua hadn't moved an inch when Alex found her later on. She was still pondering over all the questions that blazed through her mind when he walked into the room and came to a stop a few steps behind her.

Lua knew he was there, but didn't care to turn and face him. She knew he had got in a lot of trouble for her. She had known him long enough to feel when he was uneasy. Without turning around, she could almost see how he stood, shifting his weight from one foot to another, his face set in deep concern, uncertain of what he should do with his hands. But Lua didn't feel like talking right now. Everything had happened so fast: the anger, the fear. She simply didn't know how to cope with it. But one thing she knew was that right now, she just wanted to be left alone, left drowning in memories of all the times she had felt that particular pain somewhere behind her chest. She turned anyway, not because she wanted to, or because she felt she owed him something, but just because he deserved better from her.

"Hi," she said fighting to keep tiredness to show on her face. She smiled slightly. "How much did he yell at you?"

Alex shook his head, his almost dry hair falling in his eyes. He had changed from his wet clothes to a simple white shirt and a pair of black woollen trousers. He sat down on one of the beds next to the roaring fire, and patted the space next to him. Lua rose ungraceful, thanks to her sore muscles, and sat down on the bed. She drew her legs up to her chest, feeling the fire warm her back and waited for him to say something. He didn't and for a while both Alex and she stared down at the floor in an awkward silence. Since when had she and Alex had any difficulties between them? She had always confined in him, even when there was no one else. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to apologise for whatever trouble she had got him into.

"No, don't say anything. Because if you do, I don't know if I can bring myself to continue." Lua lifted her head from where she had placed it on her knees, and met his eyes with a thin smile. It disappeared from her face almost immediately when she saw just how serious he was.

The fire licked his face, and made him seem almost like his father: always so full of responsibility. She knew this was important for him somehow, and that he was nervous, she could see it on how he licked his lips and how his eyes darted to the door, to the stranger, and back to her again. Lua nodded her head encouraging, beckoning him so continue. He seemed to brace himself. He fumbled for her hands and took them both. They looked so small and graceful in his big strong hands. Lua flinched at the touch and immediately wished she hadn't. Alex blinked and brought her hands up to his. He turned them carefully and grimaced when he saw the fresh cuts.

"Why didn't you clean them? They might be infected and you'll end up in fever, just like Martin." Martin was an old man, and had in his younger days been hit by a nasty cutting hex in his right arm by one of the Death Eaters when they had tried to rescue a family they had held hostage. He had refused to have it looked at by the healer and had insisted that it was nothing. Martin had lost his arm as the infection had spread through his arm and fever had caught him, but he had gained a wife. Old Mary had been a fair young woman when martin and his fellows had saved their family, and she had watched Martin day and night until he could again stand. They had married shortly there after. Now they were both old and happy, and they had two wonderful children and even more grandchildren. Lua had even watched them sometimes. When Lua thought of it, it hadn't ended up all that bad for the old man. Martin was one of Ronald's most trusted men, and Mary was the head of the kitchen, daily ordering the younger girls and lads around. Alex snorted.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked as he sat down on the bed again with a bowl of water and a cloth.

Lua lost the silly grin she wore and blushed furiously to deep scarlet. She had been so deep in thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when Alex had left the bed. It wasn't like her to let her mind drift. It must have been the tiredness the warm fire was causing her. She shrugged it of and watched as Alex dipped the cloth in the water and began cleaning her hands. He wasn't rough, but he held her hands and firmly pressed the cloth to the cuts.

"I have though about this a lot, over and over again I have spoken the words in my head." He spoke the words so quietly that she doubted she had heard him at all. Her hands had long since been cleaned but he kept on dabbing them carefully with the wet cloth. Lua looked at him with weary eyes, but he didn't meet them. It was all so strange and not at all like the boy she had grown to love as her own brother. She had never seen him this way. It was as if his whole life depended on this moment.

"When those men crossed the bridge today, I was terrified." Since when had Alex been afraid? Not once in her life had she seen him scared, yet that was what he was telling her and Lua grew more nervous with every second. "Not for my own sake, I don't care what happens to me, but with you, it's entirely different. I was sure that they would find us and I wouldn't be able to defend us both. I feared that they would take you away, and that I would never see you again." Lua regained some of her strength.

"I can take care of myself," she said angrily and pulled her hands away from Alex. "I'm not a little girl!" Alex didn't even try to hold on to her hands as she moved away from him and settled a bit from him.

"I know you're not, Lua," he said softly. He looked up and suddenly met her gaze. "But I was worried for you no less and as I carried the wounded man here, I began thinking. I realised that if something ever happened and we would be separated, I would never be able to tell you how I feel."

Lua felt her eyes sting, if it was from the heat or the sudden tears that threatened to drown her, she didn't know. She hadn't know that Alex cared for her that much. She felt guilty for being so angry with him. Here he was trying to be nice to her and she had to spoil at all as usual.

"Alex, I..."

"No, let me finish," he said "I've spoken to father, and... and he, has agreed to let me-..." A low moan came from the other side of the room and Lua immediately turned her head to the sound.

The stranger stirred, and pearls of sweat ran down his forehead. He was obviously in pain. Lua looked at Alex and shrugged. She darted over to the bed and started bathing his head with the cloth Alex had earlier cared her hands with. It felt like a long time had passed since then. She heard the stranger mumble something and leaned closer to hear.

"Water." The words were barely a whisper but she stood and ran to fetch some, and returned a minute later with a cup of water.

Alex was gone; he had left and the room felt horribly empty. She stood still for some time before she sat down on her knees next to the stranger and placed on hand under his head and held the cup to lips with the other. She tried not to think of it all too much.

"Here. Drink," she told him as she carefully poured water between his dry lips.

Some of it ran down his mouth and throat but most just ended up soaking the cover, but she dismissed it. He couched but swallowed it down slowly, as if it took a great deal of strength only to move.

She watched as he once again slipped into unconsciousness and she placed the half-full cup on the floor. Lua stood and walked over to the fire to allow it to warm her body. Maybe the changes really were for the better. She told herself it was not impossible, but didn't dare to hope for too much. But this time it really felt as if it would be, it had to be. Or else she'd better start praying.

~ > * < ~