Hunting For The Sun

CHAPTER FORTY

The Ones They Left Behind

'Have you ever seen her before?'

'I don't think so. Do you reckon she came from that Temple?'

'Well, maybe.'

'She is wearing black...'

'That doesn't mean she's one of them.'

'Well, she could be.'

'Shut up. Hey, what's that?'

'Looks like a pendant.'

'Try to take it off her.'

'No! I'd have my hand down her bra! Let's just wake her up...'

My groggy mind refused to compute the two male voices hovering over me like dandelion clock seeds on the breeze. I groaned slightly and heard them pause. A hand touched my shoulder and shook me. I peeled my eyelids open, already fully awake and suspicious. My hand slid down to my right pistol and closed around the trigger.

'Hey, what's your name?'

They didn't sound too harmful, so I kept going with the innocent approach. I opened my eyes and blinked blearily at them, going for a really untainted look to catch them off guard.

'Wass goin on?' I drawled, dragging a hand across my face.

'Come on,' one of them said, holding a hand out to me. He had red hair, the same shade as Perse's, and freckles and blue eyes. He was tall and thin, but clearly quite strong. I reached up to take his hand and pull myself to my feet. I examined him closely under the pretence of blinking to clear my eyes. He looked almost exactly the same age as Draco. There were a lot of Perse's features evident in his handsome-ish face. The other man was standing a little further away from me, looking wary. He had a round, boyish face and wide eyes.

'What's your name?' the redhead asked, slipping his wand back into his pocket. Oh yes. Hogwarts rebels, obsessed with wands.

'Rae,' I answered truthfully.

'Rae? Haven't I heard that somewhere before?'

'I know who it is...' the other man piped up.

'Shut up Neville.'

The red headed man pondered for a moment before sighing.

'Fine, well... what are you doing here?'

'I was with some others, then I got separated.' True enough. Best to go for the feeble little girl approach. Not eighteen. Fourteen.

'Are they in the castle?'

'Maybe...' I said groggily, coughing slightly and closing my eyes. I lolled deliberately, and he snapped his arms out to catch me, ending up in the position at the end of those ballroom dances or figure skating. His eyes searched my face, so I chose to look at him as though I didn't know what was going on. I heard him take a sharp breath, and his heart, which I could feel against my arm, was beating fast. I allowed an agonising moment of gazing into his eyes before coughing and shifting. He straightened, helping me up.

'Thanks,' I murmured, giving him a winning smile.

Wrapped around my little finger

... I smiled inwardly. It had been too easy.

'I need to find them...' I mumbled, starting to walk away. Neville reached out to grab my arm. I pushed at him hard. He stumbled back slightly, losing his grip on my forearm. I wrenched it away and broke into a slow run, wanting them to follow.

'Ron! She's getting away!' Neville whined. At this, I decided that I really could do with going a little faster. I forced my legs into reluctant motion, but that lanky redhead still caught up to me in no time. He grabbed me around the waist and spun me quickly. Stumbling, I grabbed his shoulders.

'Who are you?' he breathed. 'I know you...'

'You don't know me,' I whispered back, taken off balance by his puzzlement.

'You look like someone,' he murmured, shifting his grip on my waist. This served to press me closer against him.

'I look like a lot of people, I have a nose, two eyes...'

'That's not what I meant.'

Somehow, I couldn't raise my arms to push him away. There was something alluring... something I knew about him.

'I know you too,' I breathed. I could smell his skin, and it was starting to make me dizzy.

'Malfoy!' he spat, pushing me away. Unprepared, I crashed to the stone floor. 'You're a Malfoy!'

'Ron Weasley,' I hissed, moving backwards like a crab on my hands and backside, trying to find somewhere safe to come to a stand.

'How do you know me?' he demanded. 'I've never met you!'

'I've never met you, either, and I'm not a Malfoy. Far from it.' I suddenly harboured an intense dislike for him.

'What are you, then?'

'I'm someone who knows your sister,' I said simply.

'My sister is DEAD. She's been dead since the wars. We never found her body.' His eyes filled with hurt and anguish at my words, and he began to move towards me. My scrabbling increased its pace until I rolled over and did a sort of sprint-start onto my feet.

'She's dead, all right. Undead.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' he shouted, his face and ears reddening alarmingly.

I ran out of room to back up into, crashing into the wall.

'MALFOY! He's here, isn't he? He sent you, didn't he?'

'One right. He is here. I sent myself. I'm in charge.'

Watch the plans sail out of the window at this point. Here, I had planned to draw a gun on him and run off. Obviously, it didn't work that way. Hear me grumble. It still embarrasses me, how badly I failed at this point.

I went for my gun with my left hand, keeping my right free to hit him if need be.

'Accio guns,' he snapped, flicking his wand. The two pistols went soaring towards him. 'Petrificus Totalis.'

My legs and arms snapped together painfully, and I began to topple forwards. I couldn't move anything. It was like Botox on the highest level.

'Mobilicorpus!' he snapped. I drifted up into the air like a board. They began to march down the corridors. I couldn't see very much, as I could only move my eyes. I could feel my joints locking and my back settling painfully as I floated eerily along behind them.

Maybe wands are worth something. I'm not sure, but there you go.

Draco?

Yes?

Listen, I'm really sorry...

You were right to do it anyway. You're in charge. All is forgotten.

He sounded genuinely forgiving, so I smiled mentally.

Thanks. Listen, I fell asleep somewhere in this hell pit of a castle, and Ron Weasley found me, with someone called Neville...

Bloody hell. Those two are still alive?

So it would appear...

Longbottom especially. Poor old Neville never was much of an anything, really. So what now?

Well...

I blushed at the thought of revealing my abject failure to dear Draco. While I was asleep, Weasley guessed that I was a Malfoy, so he put me in the Full Body Bind. When I woke up, he released me long enough to put another one on me. I told him about Perse, and now he's got me floating along like a corpse after him. I don't know where they're taking me.

Hmm. Let's see. What does the corridor look like?

It's painted duck egg blue. There's a strip of blue Persian rug all the way down the middle. The floor's wooden. There are some pictures - portraits mostly - which look like old head masters and regal wizards, etcetera.

And out of the windows? I think I know where you are.

Um...

I waited until we turned a corner and I could see. A forest, a bridge and a lake.

I know where you are. Give us five minutes and we'll be right with you.

Thanks, and hurry.

I will.

A pause. I love you.

All the things I wanted to say, all the things I could say and all the things I should say raced through my head. I got a vivid recollection of kissing him, of touching his skin, knotting my fingers in his hair. My heart burned for him, and my stomach took several flips. I managed to hold it all in the private area of my mind. I know, I said finally, breaking the connection.

So I just waited. After a while of this torturous and painful journey, I heard voices behind and ahead. One of them, I could pick out as being Raven. Her voice did penetrate one's ears fairly well. Weasley and Longbottom stopped. From behind us came Draco, Raven, Skye, Cloud, Ori, Adura, Neit and Perse, her head and face shrouded in a hood and her hands hidden by gloves. Up ahead was a group of scruffy-clothed wizards. There were nine of them including Weasley and Longbottom, and nine of us including me.

'Finite Incantatem,' Raven murmured, waving a hand to me. I collapsed out of the air and crumpled to the ground. The two men turned to face us all as I composed myself and went back to the group.

'Is this going to deteriorate into a brawl?' I asked deprecatingly.

'Who are you?' one of them yelled. Cloud was standing pointedly behind Ori, hiding his face from them.

'I'm Rae Kelwaedd. This is Draco Malfoy, Raven Sarius, Cloud Fitzgerald, Skye Miel, Adura Philips, Neit Seraphim, Persephone Vespertilio and Ori Ivanovitch.

They seemed a little off-guard after this, so I cocked my head to one side.

'What about you?'

'Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Padma and Parvati Patil, Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown, Cho Chang and Terry Boot.'

I gazed at Granger and Weasley in recognition, and I could see Granger staring at Malfoy. Clearly, they didn't recognise me.

'Seamus?' the woman they had indicated as Lavender Brown asked faintly, snapping the silence as we faced each other. Cloud looked up.

'What are you doing there?' she demanded.

'This is the cause I fight for now,' he replied, looking at them all.

'What, the Death Eaters' cause?' Weasley spat.

Seamus glared at him. 'I'm still a rebel,' he answered simply.

'But against us,' Dean Thomas finished for him.

'That's not true. I'm an El Karem rebel, no matter what any of you may think.'

'They're just as bad as the Death Eaters,' Cho Chang scoffed, planting her hands on her hips.

'You're the ones who lost sight of their goals,' I snapped. 'All you want to do is dominate the people now. What happened to this eternal freedom policy? I bet that'll go right out the window when you see the money available.'

'That would never happen. Unlike you people, we're not easily corrupted.'

'What side do you think we're on?' I asked curiously, barely aware that I was leading our argument.

'The bad side.'

'Can't you see? There is no bad side.'

'Whatever side you're on is bad,' Ronald Weasley declared adamantly.

'What if we're on your side?' I suggested.

'You aren't.'

'Too damn right,' Draco put in. 'Who'd want to be on the side of a bunch of goody-two-shoes?'

'I'm afraid I don't swing that way,' Ori shrugged.

'What are you people anyway? What authority do you have?' Ron asked, falling back on the good old English priority theory.

'High Priestess.' Raven.

'Assassin.' Skye.

'Murderer, part time mercenary, ruler, leader.' Me.

'Ruler and Guardian. Head of the Death Eaters when they were worth leading.' Draco, of course.

'Lady.' Neit. That was a surprise.

'General.' Cloud. Well, I guess so...

'Queen.' Perse. In her own right.

'Lead guitarist,' Ori said. Then he looked around at the amused faces. 'What?'

'I'm just an urchin, but I never told you what to do anyway,' Adura shrugged.

'So where do we go from here?' I asked.

'You killed Harry, didn't you?' Hermione asked me. 'I thought I recognised you. You've changed since I last saw you, at the Ministry.'

'We all change. Harry took a change in his state of mortality,' I shrugged. 'I've changed my appearance a little. I'm older, dirtier and wiser. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.'

'Being wise is always a good thing,' Granger said carefully.

'I thought no one wanted a wise enemy,' I smiled mysteriously.

'You said you weren't our enemies,' she frowned, obviously trying to get things straight in her head before acting.

'Well, maybe some of them aren't, but I'm an El Karem rebel, Draco's a Death Eater, Cloud - Seamus is an El Karem rebel too. We certainly don't like you.'

'Well if you think we like you, then you're mistaken!' Ron shouted. 'You murdered our leader and my best friend!'

He was suddenly in front of me - those big long legs, I assume. He slammed a hand out and caught me in the chest. The air shot out of my lungs, too far to retrieve, and I fell backwards sharply, crashing to the ground. A fist came swooping down towards my head and I rolled as fast as I could out of the way. I heard him curse as he rescued his blow just in time, then felt a crushing kick to the back of my spine.

'Get your filthy boots off my girl!' Ori yelled, kicking Weasley in the stomach. I scrambled to my feet and leaned against a wall, clutching my throbbing and searing back. Then they all dived in. Everyone was fighting and the air sizzled with magic. I threw myself in after a pause for recovery, slashing my fingernails across Cho Chang's face.

'Ginny?'

The cry deadened all motion, and we turned to focus on Weasley and Perse, facing each other in the middle of the corridor.

'Ron...'

'I thought you were dead.' His eyes were light and overwhelmed with joy, searching her face like headlamps. She didn't seem nearly so happy.

'Well, I am,' she sighed.

'Rubbish,' he breathed. 'Take that hood off; let's get a look at you!'

She shook her head. 'I can't.'

'Why not?' he faltered.

'Because I'm allergic to sunlight. I told you. I'm dead,' she said sadly, stressing every word. He choked slightly, then ran towards her, flinging his arms around her neck.

'Weasley, NO!' I cried, running forward like a Thunderbird puppet.

Perse gave a wrenching scream and jerked spasmodically. Her teeth plunged down into the skin of Ron's neck. He screamed, but clung to her desperately. I covered my eyes and looked away, unable to bear it. I could hear blood splashing on the stones, screaming, and Perse's constant broken tears. I had to look. I had to.

I opened my eyes just as Weasley's limp body crumpled to the floor. Perse's mouth was stained with the blood of her own brother. She fell to her knees beside him and wept. I reached out a hand to Ori, who had his eyes closed and his jaw clenched tightly. Skye ran over to Perse and embraced her, pulling her away from Ron's body. Perse was shaking like hell, tears streaming down her face. The blood around her mouth soaked into Skye's milk-white hair, staining it scarlet, but Skye didn't seem to care. Perse buried her face in Skye's shoulder, trembling like a child.

Cho Chang dropped to her knees next to Ron, checking his pulse and using her shirt to mop up the blood. All the others were just staring at us now. We stood in a mismatched bunch, and I knew how we looked. Suddenly, the task ahead loomed like a storm cloud. How was I meant to stop an entire army of people like these? All by myself! What was going to stop them? I had been given the abilities to stop them, sure, but there was no guarantee that it was going to work. Bile rose in my throat at the very thought. I hate crowds enough, let alone standing up in front of them! What was I meant to do about that?

After a significant silence, broken only by Persephone's sobs, Draco looked up. 'So what do we do now?'

They all looked around. Cloud wiped some blood from his lip and sniffed quietly.

'There's no point in fighting anymore,' Hermione shrugged.

Draco paused for a significant length of time. 'Maybe you're right,' he sighed eventually, looking up and out through the stained glass of the windows, narrowing his eyes against the glare. 'Maybe you're right.'

Hermione Granger, or Garnet Micelles, nodded. She hesitated, then spoke again. 'I'm sorry that I had to deceive you, at the Ministry. I always thought, at school, that you weren't that bad. I stuck by Harry for a good reason, but I never meant to have to lie to you. I thought you were okay.'

Draco acknowledged the brown haired woman's words with a slight, stiff nod.

'Bit late for that now, isn't it?' Neit asked, arching an eyebrow.

Hermione selectively ignored this comment. 'I don't know what's happening now. I only know the bare bones of it, from spying all the time. I know that Rae has a long way to go, and one of you must be her opposite. I also know that there are two more people left for you to gather. They are both male.'

I frowned. I had thought that it was crushingly obvious that one of the two remaining would be that Russian woman's daughter. Clearly not. Maybe he was just something to do with Agafya.

'One of them is called Seth. He lives in El Karem right now,' Hermione supplied.

'Seth Traxton,' Neit added. I glanced at her curiously. She shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to talk about it.

Hermione nodded, and walked over to me and held out her hand. 'Our own armies listen to our encouragements, are steeled by our words and principals, but I know that, when they get to London, the looting and incipient power will go straight to their heads. They will most likely betray our cause and take the city for themselves. I want you to know that this was never what we intended to happen. It may look this way, but we share the same goals as the El Karem rebels. Our forces are not as loyal to us, though.' She looked at Draco, who stood a short way behind me, and Cloud at the back. 'You've all been to El Karem. You know what the soldiers are put through to get into the army. Just to find the place is enough. The fighters are fiercely loyal, and will report any breach of the rules to the generals and other leaders. It is not tolerated.' She sighed brokenly. 'In accepting anything the soldiers wanted to think, we have let them get out of hand. Now we have lost both of our main leaders, and the forces no longer respect anyone.' She grabbed my hand urgently. 'You have to stop them, Rae! They won't hear a word we say any more.' She gestured to her group of leaders behind her.

'I'll do my best,' I promised. Still, this added responsibility to an old friend seemed to weigh on my heart like a casing of lead, dragging me down. I took a deep breath through my nose, maybe hoping that the air would lift me; it didn't. I breathed again. 'I can't promise anything. You understand that, right? Once we've been to London and picked up these two people, then spoken to the El Karem rebels and the Death Eaters, I'll go and speak to your army. They're moving very slowly. Our sources tell us they've reached Nottingham in the past two days. We'll be able to catch them. It's my turn to tell them to stop this go around. There's no guarantee I can do it. As long as you know that, we'll be fine.'

Hermione nodded. 'I understand.'

The group picked up Ron, taking my guns from his pocket and throwing them across the floor. I slotted them into my holsters, and they all turned to go, nodding to each other respectfully. We turned to go back to the Common Room we had broken into. I walked slowly, draped in thoughts like heavy, black velvet curtains. I heard Hermione call my name.

'Good luck,' she called, then turned a corner and was gone.

I nodded bleakly and closed my eyes, touching a hand to Ori's shoulder so that I didn't crash into anything. I felt a hand on my left arm, then heard a voice.