The Dragon Keeper and the Secret Keeper

THE DRAGON KEEPER

and

THE SECRET KEEPER

~CHAPTER SIX~

~July 31, 1980~

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A shiver went down Charlie's spine. Thunder crashed appropriately outside. The shock was evident on everyone's faces, but James kept his head on straight. He shoved them all through the hall toward the door. "Go! GO!" He whispered urgently.

"No James, there are more outside!" Lily gasped, pointing through one of the small windows by the front door. Sure enough, a handful of hooded men stood on the porch. Charlie also noticed that it had begun to rain.

James swore and looked behind him. "Upstairs! Upstairs! Hurry!"

They all ran up the stairs, making as little noise as they could. From the kitchen they heard a second "AVADA KEDAVRA!" and the screams of Sara Adelwood were silenced. Clara began to downright sob.

"No Clara!" Lizzie hushed her, grabbing her hand and dragging her up with them.

Charlie stopped dead on the first landing. "Ron!"

James looked up. "Oh no."

Charlie began going back down the stairs in a panic.

"No! I'll take care of it," James held him back. "I hope this works... Accio Bassinet!"

The bassinet came flying up the stairs, and Charlie and James managed to keep it from crashing and making a lot of noise. Charlie picked Ron up out of it and they continued up after the others.

"Come on! My room!" Lizzie insisted, leading them all to the fourth floor and in her door. "Here," she ran across the plush carpet to another door. "Hurry!"

Charlie and James were the last ones in, and Lizzie closed and locked the door. A lot of good that'll do, thought Charlie.

"What now?" Lily looked to James.

"Well first of all, where are we?" James looked around the room.

"This room was here when we bought the house," Lizzie said. "When I lock it, the door blends into the wall on the other side. This is where the trapdoor leads." She looked up, and so did everyone else - there was the trapdoor, sure enough.

Charlie looked around. There was hardly anything in here. It looked like it was in the process of being painted. There were some paint cans and brushes, a ladder, and some rags, but that was all. There were no windows. There was just enough room for the seven of them (not counting Ron) to stand without being too cramped.

Wait... the seven of them... was someone missing? Lizzie, Clara, Megan, James, Lily, Himself, Jane, Michael... "Michael!"

"Oh no! Where is he?" Jane looked around as if he would suddenly be there somewhere.

"Was he in watching television with us?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know... I think he was... no, he went... oh... he went in the kitchen..." Jane bit her lip.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, still out of breath from trying to run up the stairs.

"Yes, he said he wanted to help with the dishes... oh no..." Jane buried her face in her hands, and Lily put a comforting arm around her.

They could hear several feet on the stairs now.

"Alright, they're coming. So what do we do?" Megan looked at James. Everyone looked at James.

James straightened up and took on a no-nonsense expression. "I can't take 'em all on, but I can try, if need be. Who here knows the spells Stupefy an' Expelliarmus?"

"I do," Charlie said, putting on a brave face.

"So do I," Lizzie, Jane, and Megan all said at the same time.

"I do too," Lily said quietly.

"No, you need teh stay back. You an' Clara."

"What about Ron?" Charlie looked down at his brother, who was looking curiously around.

"Lily, can yeh take Ron?"

Lily nodded, and Charlie handed him over hesitantly.

Charlie figured the Death Eaters must have decided to start at the top and work their way down, because he could hear footsteps above him.

"AUDREY!" Lizzie exclaimed suddenly, wide-eyed.

"What?" most of them asked at once.

"Audrey! It's rainin! I can send her teh get help!" Lizzie looked around eagerly.

"It's too dangerous --" James began.

"What then, should we jus' sit in here and wait for them teh find us? Come on, James. It's now er never. They're upstairs, I hear 'em."

"Alright. But I'll get 'er."

"No, she won't respond to yeh James. Only me."

James stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Alright. Be quick though! Go on, hurry!"

Lizzie opened the door and jumped out. "Audrey!" she called in a loud whisper. The bird flapped over to her. She spoke to it, too quietly for Charlie to hear. And in any case he was listening to the Death Eaters upstairs.

Just as the bird flapped out the bedroom window, the footsteps began thumping back down the stairs.

"Lizzie get back here!" James called, and she leapt back in and locked the door. They all listened to the footsteps on the landing.

"They went in the library!" Lizzie told them, leaning an ear against the door. "Let's go up through the trapdoor! They won' look up there again!"

"Very good Lizzie!" James crossed over to where the ladder leaned against the wall, and set it up below the trapdoor. He climbed up first, and leaned an ear against the door to listen for anyone who might still be up there. After a few moments he pushed it tentatively open, and looked back down and gestured that the coast was clear. Megan went next, and Lily passed Ron up to her so she could climb up. They could hear the Death Eaters enter Lizzie's bedroom. Jane went up next, quickly and quietly, and Charlie followed.

Clara was on the ladder when the Death Eaters found the camouflaged door. It blasted open, knocking Lizzie down. Clara screamed and gripped the ladder. Charlie and James reached down for her, but one of the hooded men grabbed her and pulled her out of the room, screaming and kicking. Meanwhile one of the other Death Eaters muttered something and pointed at the trapdoor, which slammed shut, almost crushing James and Charlie's hands.

Both of them swore vehemently. Below Charlie could hear Lizzie get up, and try unsuccessfully to fight them off.

"What do we do?" Charlie demanded.

"They know we're up here," Lily said.

Charlie recognized the strain in her voice. He'd heard his mother's voice sound like that a few times. "Lily, are you... okay?" he asked.

She took in a deep breath, and her hands gripped the rug. Then she let the breath out again. "I think I might be getting ready to have this baby."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Oh, think! THINK!" Jane cried. "We've got to think of something!"

There were footsteps and sounds of struggling coming up the stairs.

"We're cornered," James shook his head, trying again to push the trapdoor back open.

We're cornered, and they've got Lizzie and Clara... Charlie jutted out his jaw. "Right. Jane, stay here with Ron and Lily. Megan, James - come on. We've got no other option." He stood up with a look of complete determination. So did the other two.

"Be careful," Lily told them.

James led them to the doorway. Charlie's stomach felt like it would fall out. He pulled his wand out, and forced his hand to stop shaking. Remember your spells Charlie, he told himself.

Six hooded figures rounded a bend in the stairs, and looked up at the three of them guarding the doorway. James stood just barely in front of Charlie and Megan, looking ready and unmerciful. He pointed his wand down at them. "Stay back."

The Death Eaters stopped where they were, and were quite still. Charlie wished he could see their faces. One of them in the back was carrying Clara, and she was kicking at him in vain. Two of them were each holding one of Lizzie's arms, and they were having a good deal of trouble. She was swearing up a storm, kicking, and trying to bite them.

"Let them go," James said boldly.

The hooded figures remained silent a moment more. Then the one in front spoke, but to the other Death Eaters, not James. "Take them back down. We don't need the others, just these two."

They turned and went back the way they had come, pulling the Adelwood girls along. The one who had spoken backed down after them.

"LET THEM GO!" James called.

They disappeared around the bend in the stairs.

"DAMN!" James proclaimed. He shook his head and went to sit by his groaning wife.

"What do we do now?" Charlie asked.

"I don' know. I could go down there, but I don' know how far I'd get..." James kept shaking his head, and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "They must want somethin' from those girls."

Charlie wondered what Death Eaters could possibly want from a muggle child and a Hogwarts third year.

Lily let out a moan, and then from the floor below Charlie heard another sound, a sound that sent a chill through his bones.

"I don't know! I don't know any secret!"

"Oh no..." he turned his ear to listen.

There was another set of screams, these not forming any words that Charlie could understand.

"What the hell are they doin?" James looked toward the doorway. "Sounds like the Cruciatus Curse... but on the girls? Why?" His voice cracked slightly.

"Something about a secret." Charlie listened some more. He could just make out a low male voice.

"One of you knows," it said forebodingly. "One of you must know. You probably don't understand what it is, but you do know. Think very hard."

"I don' know anything!" Lizzie pleaded. "No! Not Clara! Please, leave her alone..."

The muggle girl's shrieks and sobs overpowered the other voices.

"That's it, I'm going down there," Charlie stood and made for the door.

"NO Charlie." James grabbed him and pulled him back.

"There were nearly a dozen of them," Megan sighed. "We're no match for them, Charlie."

Lily wailed and grabbed James's hand.

"We've got to do something," Charlie insisted.

"We're not even sure where they are. Otherwise maybe we could form some kind of plan." Megan winced as the screams echoed up the stairwell again.

Charlie remembered his dream. Lizzie had been lying on a wood floor. He pictured the rooms below them in his mind. They wouldn't be in the secret room. He remembered the plush carpet they had run across in Lizzie's room. That left the library. "They're in the library. Don't ask how I know, there's no time."

Megan gave him a puzzled look, but nodded. "Right. Well..."

They all sat and thought, and the screams from downstairs were met by more moans from Lily.

James was looking at the wall. He got up and walked over to it. It looked like he was searching for something.

"What are you doing James?" Jane squinted at him.

Charlie realized what he was looking for, and got up. "The second level of the library's right on the other side of this wall," he explained.

"Do you think there's a secret entrance?" Megan got up and joined them too.

"In a house like this there always is." James found a loose board. "I bet this is it."

"Don't pull it yet, we need to decide what we're going to do." Megan grabbed his hand and moved it away so she could look at the loose board herself.

"Lily, will yeh be alright with Ron by yerself?"

Lily didn't look 'alright' as it was, but she nodded.

"Good. I'll take the leader. Each of yeh pick one, use the stunnin spell. If yeh hit one, pick out another. Got it?"

Charlie, Jane, and Megan all nodded nervously.

"And stay down! They'll be throwin spells of their own. Ready?" James pulled the board, and sure enough, one of the bookcases on the second level opened and let them in. They were not unnoticed, however, and several shots of green light began bouncing off of bookcases and railings all around them.

Charlie ducked and followed James on his hands and knees to the edge of the balcony, where he stuck his wand between two posts and aimed at one of the Death Eaters. "Stupefy!" he cried. It worked! He picked out another. "STUPEFY!"

Just then he could hear the library doors burst open, and spells began hitting the Death Eaters from an unseen source below them.

"Aurors! Thank God!" James said nearby.

The Death Eaters were dropping all around. Charlie caught sight of Clara, crumpled and shaking behind the desk in the center of the room... and Lizzie, lying still on the floor nearby, her hair hiding her face from view.

The Aurors stepped out from under the balcony, wands outstretched should any of the hooded men arise.

"Thank God you're here," James called, standing up.

"James? What on Earth is all this about?" asked one of the Aurors

"I don' know, but Lily's gettin ready teh have the baby. We need to get her out of here."

"Right." The man sent two of the Aurors up to the second level. Charlie saw that two others were now comforting Clara, and three were turning Lizzie over. Lizzie looked terrible, but she moaned, so she was at least alive.

James was waiting for the Aurors to climb up. Charlie looked behind him. Jane was leaning over Megan, crying. He couldn't see Megan. He stepped around James to look.

"Oh no -" Charlie fell to his knees beside Jane. Megan's eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving.

"Looks like we've got another one," one of the Aurors called down to the leader when they reached the balcony. They pulled Charlie away while they examined Megan. More of them swarmed up and levitated Lily down the stairs.

"What about the Adelwoods? And Michael?" Charlie asked James.

James pulled one of the Aurors aside. "Frank, what about Ronald Adelwood and 'is wife?"

Frank shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid they're dead."

James lowered his head.

"How about Michael Lovegood? Tall dark-haired bloke, a little older than me?" Charlie asked.

"We've only seen the Adelwoods, and whoever's up here," Frank replied.

"Well then he's missing," Charlie informed him.

"I'll tell Davis," Frank said, and excused himself.

Charlie looked over at the men examining Megan.

"She's alive, barely," he heard one of them say. He sighed in relief and turned to watch the Aurors unmask the fallen Death Eaters.

"Who've we got?" James asked as he climbed down to go after Lily.

"Looks like Rosier," said the head Auror, Davis, as the first Death Eater was examined.

"Dead," said the woman who was checking Rosier.

They moved on to the next Death Eater, the one who had been leading the torture. "Wilkes," asserted Davis after the hood was removed.

"Also dead," the woman said after checking him.

They moved to the next one. Charlie was shocked to see the face under the hood.

"Don't recognize this one," said Davis. "Looks rather young for a Death Eater."

Charlie looked at James, and back at Davis. He swallowed. "That's Michael Lovegood."

* * *

The lot of them were sent straight to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Wizard children were not usually born in hospitals, but given the circumstances, everyone had thought it best that Lily be taken there. She'd had a boy, and named him Harry James Potter. Even though he was three weeks early, he was born perfectly healthy, and James and Lily were able to take him home the very next day.

The Weasleys were not so blessed. Ron was fine, though he refused to stop crying for some time. Charlie had barely a scratch on him. But Megan was out cold for several days. When she finally came to, it was clear that something was wrong.

"Where am I?" she asked first, which seemed a sensible enough question for someone who'd been knocked out and taken to a hospital.

"You are at St. Mungo's dear," Mrs. Weasley said with a reassuring smile.

"What's that?"

"The Wizard Hospital."

"Wizard?" she looked confused. Then she looked around the room. "Who are all you people?"

The mediwitches didn't know what to do with her. They weren't even sure what kind of spell she'd been hit with. They tried everything they could think of to help her, but Megan had lost all memory of who (and what) she was. She seemed to take all the talk of magic and wizards to be a sign that she was dreaming. Charlie noticed her pinching herself every so often.

"We're afraid the only thing there is to do is to leave her here," one of the mediwitches told them. "Perhaps someday we will know how to treat her. But at the moment, she needs constant care."

So that was that. Charlie left with his parents that day, and Megan stayed at the hospital. Not knowing who she was. Not knowing she would have been Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Not knowing she had a little brother who idolized her.

* * *

Lizzie reacted by showing no emotion whatsoever. Her father was given Order of Merlin, First Class. To this she replied blankly, "What 'bout my mother? Is she any less dead?"

The Weasleys helped with the settling and clearing out of the Adelwood estate. Charlie got the chance to talk to Lizzie while they were cleaning out the house, but she didn't really say much. She did give him a box full of books by muggles he didn't recognize. At the time he assumed she'd just wanted to get rid of them.

The Lovegoods were torn over Michael's death. They offered to take in Lizzie, and no one objected.

Clara was whisked off to Hogwarts. Charlie overheard his parents discussing it. Apparently Dumbledore wanted to keep an eye on her personally.

Charlie asked over and over what the Death Eaters had wanted that night. His father finally sat him down and explained. He left a lot out, however, and Charlie wasn't satisfied. It would be many years before he would figure it all out. In the meantime, there was plenty to keep him busy. Without Megan or Michael, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was just five third years and two holes. Charlie took it upon himself to set things right. He owed it to Megan.