Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

Chapter Six - The Enemy Within

The morning march came at a bad start. Everyone was cold and hungry because most of them had finished their canned food. Tom sighed then said, 'I told all of you that you had to eat little! Well don't expect me to find you food, go hunting when you can.' With that he turned and continued the march towards to the magical community that lay ahead. Even in the cold weather all Tom could think about was getting Harry to safety so he could enjoy a peaceful life - after Voldemort was dead of course…

Voldemort. Tom had not thought about Voldemort ever since he arrived to Hogwarts. His dream of killing Voldemort had disappeared and instead, he was stranded in a forest somewhere in Belgium trying to keep Harry alive from death. If Harry died now his reason to be in England would be a failure but not lost. He still had to find out about the rest of the Slytherins… Tom couldn't think now. Too much was going around in his head, all too much and what he needed was to spill it out… Harry would understand but the risk of him checking over his shoulder every five seconds is something he didn't need.

Only confusion, he told himself constantly. Tom continued to keep his mind straight without screwing up. However his thoughts were lost when there was an echo of a bang somewhere in the forest.

'Everyone down!' Tom yelled to the group.

He brought out his wand and kept watch. BANG! This time it came from his left. A branch of a tree was blown completely off, splinters flying out. Tom crawled to the tree and checked the dislodged branch. Picking it up he saw that it wasn't a bullet but hot air. It was magic. Whoever was around was a wizard or witch, most likely Death Eaters.

He brought up his wand aiming at the area where the jet was shot. Again he saw the gold flash of light shoot across the grounds. This time it almost hit him so he fell to the ground. Suddenly he realized that there were more than one foe but at least ten or twenty. The forest was filled with flashes of light coming from all direction. Out of nerves, he began to cast every spell he knew, light or dark magic.

'Wands out! Wands out!' Tom shouted as he let go of the trigger and pulling out his own wand, shooting curses across the field. 'Everyone, fight back! Stunning spells or whatever, I don't care! Fight back!'

Indeed they did. Soon all the Gryffindors and Slytherins had their wands out and firing stunning, disarming and other spells and charms across the field. However they had no aim to where they were shooting since they couldn't see the enemy. Tom ran from tree to tree trying to get a better glimpse at their attacker but to no success. He noticed however that the spells that the Gryffindor and Slytherin students were using were quite harmless if they wanted to defend themselves. Tom had practiced Dark magic more than once he was sure to use it now. The curse he was casting would kill if it hit them in a vital spot such as the heart or head. This curse, however, has no name and no incantation so the only way to use it was pure magic and thought.

After minutes of spells flying around the forest it seemed quiet. Tom spoke out after the dead silence, 'I'll check around, anyone want to follow?'

'I will,' said Harry walking to his side.

'Anyone else?' asked Tom, no one answered. 'Okay see you in a while.'

They both left into the depths of the forest. Tom could see the shreds of the pine littering the ground, splinters of the shattered wood sticking out of the earth and branches torn right off trees. 'Keep you eyes peeled,' Tom explained to Harry. 'There could be Death Eaters around I don't fancy fighting them handicapped - '

'What d'you mean handicap and what's that about Death Eaters here?' Harry asked although he too found that as the only reason for their attack.

'Well you know… it was probably the Death Eaters who nailed us out of the sky and attacked us just now,' Tom said looking around. 'For all we know they might be after - ' he paused then looked at Harry. He seemed to agree. The Death Eaters were after Harry and anyone around Harry was in danger. However Tom couldn't or would be least likely in any threat. He and Voldemort were related so Tom would have a chance to join his side or… die.

*

Would Tom betray Harry? He didn't know, it was too soon. Tom seemed liked a strong leader. Cool under pressure and keeping everyone calm in deathly situations. Soon enough though, Tom was tapping on his shoulder.

'See those two trees?' Tom said pointing to the crack between the two trees almost bound together. 'I'm going to take a look, you go over there.' He said pointing to another set of trees on the other side.

Tom walked carefully between the cracks of the trees not knowing what lay ahead. His wand was out, ready to defend him if needed and his Thompson was at his side if he was disarmed. The sounds of his footsteps were heard moving forward slowly. Looking around he saw Harry inspecting the trees and spaces between them.

Suddenly he heard a rustling noise above him - SMACK! Everything around him turned black…

*

'D'you think he's still breathing?' said a voice some where.

'I dunno… that hit looked liked it hurt,' a second voice spoke out.

'Oh jeez!' said another voice.

'What?' responded the first voice.

'He's a Muggle! Look at the patch! He's a Muggle!'

There were three people around him… 'He's not a Muggle Lynn, he's a wizard, see? - the wand shows it all!'

'How do we know?' said the second voice. 'Oh wait never mind - wand works.'

Tom opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by three boys, no older then ten, looking at him. All three boys had dark brown hair with deep gray eyes. 'Oh! You're awake,' said one of them, he appeared to be the youngest, 'I'll go get Mum!' With that he rushed off, sounds of his footsteps hurried down the stairs.

'Hey kid,' said the eldest one, 'how're you doing?'

Tom sat up and looked around. The room was clean, the windows were opened for the air to blow into the red walled room. 'I'm okay…' Tom said but suddenly he remembered how he came to be here. 'What happened? Where's everybody else?'

'You mean those friends of yours?' the one next to the eldest said. 'They're okay! They're downstairs with our Mum and Dad.' He said then paused for a while until he spoke again, 'Are you from Hogwarts?'

'Yeah…' answered Tom getting up. 'Our plane was flying into the country when it got shot down by Death Eaters I suppose - '

The eldest boy looked shocked. 'Death Eaters? There are Death Eaters in this area? No wonder why I saw that plane fly overhead of us in flames - '

'You saw?' asked Tom wanting to know. 'You saw what happened?'

The eldest boy breathed in deeply then said, 'I saw it. I saw four planes, two of them in flames and the other two escaped. We thought it was by accident, Muggle planes that fly over. We thought, whoever was in those planes must have died… but we were wrong. You and your friends downstairs all okay.'

'Well some died… Say? What's your name?' Tom asked.

'Hmm? Oh, I'm Otts Felsh and this is the second youngest in the family, Lynn Felsh. The younger one is called Hiersh or "Erse" Felsh.' Footsteps rumbled and soon their mother and the rest of Gryffindor and Slytherin appeared. Their mother brought hot soup and orange juice to Tom.

She put the plate down in front of Tom and introduced herself, 'I'm Claire, the mother of these three - ' she said indicating to her three sons ' - sorry for what happened. My husband and his friends found out that there are Death Eaters in this area so he set off. Again, I apologize for your injury.'

'It's okay Mrs Felsh,' Tom said. 'Well actually, I was just wondering… are there Death Eaters around?'

'That's the thing, I don't know and so does my husband,' Claire answered looking out the windows. 'He's off with his friends to search for them again, he'll be back by nightfall.' She closed the windows then started again, 'How long have you been living out in the woods?'

Tom answered after drinking down his orange juice, 'About five days or so after our plane went down.'

'Ah yes the plane… We thought it was a Muggle plane but no, just you Hogwarts students,' she said. 'I contacted your Headmaster by owl when we found you, a reply should come in a few days.'

'Thanks a lot Mrs Felsh,' Tom said gratefully. 'Say… where d'you think your husbands off too? What direction?'

She pondered for a minute then said, 'I think he's going back to where you were, off to the south direction from this house. Why?'

'Well I just want to see if I could help him, that's all,' Tom replied. 'Besides, maybe a couple of my friends want to tag along and check it out.'

Mrs Felsh hesitated and said, 'I'm not sure you would… my husband doesn't like to get accompanied by a bunch of strangers, faraway kids too… But I guess you can go since you survived five days alone…' With that she left the room and back downstairs with her sons following from behind.

'Nice lady hmm?' Tom asked Michelle. She nodded in reply.

'D'you really want to go 'Death Eater hunting' with a bunch of old men?' Michelle asked. 'I mean we don't even know Claire's husband for starters and we definitely have no clue where they could be now - '

'Yes we do,' Tom cut in. 'They're going back to where we were. All we have to do is follow the path back to the forest and we'll be able to find them - ' he finished then paused ' - but I don't want to go,' he finished shortly.

The evening at the Felsh passed smoothly. The Gryffindors and Slytherin explored the small village called 'Vasetown' due to the enormous amount of vases in the village. Tom noticed that each villager in the magical community of Vasetown had his or her own vase with different designs. He talked to the many villagers who talked English back but with a bit of an accent however they were very kind to him and his friends.

'Had to give us this many treats huh?' Ron said holding a handful of treats given by the villagers. 'It's like Hallowe'en but ten times better - and again!'

'I second that!' Harry spoke out, holding on to loads of Chocolate Frogs.

'I've never seen a village with so many Chocolate Frogs!' Hermione exclaimed. 'I mean I've seen a lot at Hogsmeade but… this is ridiculous!'

Michelle stared at her disbelieving, 'Ridiculous? This is the best! I say we check out some more - ' But Harry interrupted, he was looking around for something. 'Missed a Frog?' Michelle asked.

'Actually no…' he said paying attention but looking around. Michelle however did steal one of Harry's Chocolate Frog… 'Have any of you seen Tom? He was around a few minutes ago but he suddenly disappeared.'

'Where'd he go?' Ron asked thickly through a mouthful of Chocolate Frog.

'I dunno but we should go look for him,' Harry suggested.

With that the four of them departed to look for Tom. Travelling from house to house, they asked the owner if they had seen a boy their age, blue eyes and black hair around their height. However, from getting their answer needed, they received more Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties. After a while they decided to give up but soon enough, they found him.

Tom was located in the outskirts of the village alone. He looked ruffled up as though he went through a beating of some sort, but he didn't. There were no bruises on him or any sign of physical damage although he still looked dazed. The problem of this was solved at one look in his right hand -

'Red current rum…' Michelle said amused.

'Great son of a - !' Ron swore loudly.

'The hell you doing with that!' Harry asked pointing at the bottle. 'Give me that!' He pulled the bottle out of Tom's hands and squatted down next to him. 'Where'd you get this?'

'You want it?' Tom said lazily. 'You can have it, some shmoe gave it to me…'

Michelle sat down next to him and asked 'What's wrong? Why so down?'

Tom hesitated then replied, 'You know even if we do get rescued we're still in big trouble. The Death Eaters are more active than ever and plus - Voldemort's back. I say we're all dead by summer or he'll have us all hunted down one by one.' He coughed then continued on, 'You know the cause of this? It's so simple and so easy that anyone can guess in one shot. The reason for him coming back - answer is right in front of our face.'

'What are you getting at, Tom?' Michelle asked.

'It's you, Harry… You great prat,' Tom said shortly. Everyone was looking at him shock, Harry especially but Tom seemed to have came back to time and said quickly, 'What? Oh yeah, sorry about that Harry… just got carried away in my thoughts. You know that drink really loosens you up.'

'It's okay,' Harry said although a bit doubtful. 'Say… how 'bout getting back to the Felsh for a while, they said we could stay for the night.'

As they turned up to leave Michelle spoke out, 'Actually can I stay to speak to Tom - privately.' Everyone nodded and left off leaving Tom and her alone. 'Hey Tom… what's up?'

'I dunno… I feel kinda empty,' Tom explained. 'Ever since we crash landed I began to wonder whether we were going to get rescued and we have. But I wonder why we go through all of this just - '

Suddenly Michelle got the drift then butted in, 'Are you talking about last year? About that incident? Look… it's over and it wasn't your fault that it happened! Shit happens! I mean anyone could make a mistake and plus - we couldn't get to him or we're sure to be dead!'

'We could have saved him!' Tom broke out fiercely. 'I told his parents that if we ever encountered trouble then I'd take something back to them, but no! They got him now and he's dead! I promised them that before we left off…'

'C'mon... Harry, Ron and Hermione are probably waiting for us…' He stood up, looked around then headed off to the Felsh's house.

*

'Hey pipe down over there!' Harry said chucking his pillow across the room to Ron.

'It wasn't me!' Ron protested, 'It was Dean I tell you! Why won't anyone believe me?'

Tom watched as Harry threw his pillow at Dean who threw it at Ron and to Seamus, this pattern continued for quite a while until they noticed that Tom wasn't part of it. Putting his pillow down Ron asked, 'What's wrong?'

Tom looked at the crowd for a second then all of a sudden said, 'Why does everybody say that? I'm okay for the last time!' With that he pulled his covers shut.

'Does anyone notice he's cracking?' Ron whispered to Harry in the ears.

*

During his sleep Tom twisted and turned. The thought of last year was unbearable for him… He began to murmur, then twist and turned until he finally got his sleep he wanted. However he did get something else that he didn't…

June 3rd, 1995…

He stood there looking at that memory that haunted him ever since… Tom was standing on the grass ground watching him trying to save his friend who lay on the ground ahead of him bleeding. His friends had his hands over his throat, the blood seeping through his fingers.

'Stop! Stop moving! Stop moving, I'm coming!' Tom from the past said. 'Timmy stop moving!' Tom was stretching his hands trying to reach to him but failed. Somewhere there was wand blast coming from all over the place.

'Tom we have to go!' yelled a girl beside him, it was Michelle. 'We can't save him!'

'No! Tim's still alive! We have to go for him!' Tom shouted trying to reach out. 'We still have to - '

Michelle however grabbed Tom by the collar and shouted, 'He's gone! We can't save him or else we'll get killed too!'

'He's not dead! He's still alive - Tim stop moving! We're coming back!'

Tom woke up sweating. Looking at his wristwatch he noticed that it was only one o'clock in the morning. Tom remembered that day quite clearly… he was scared and felt guilty. Lee could be dead or he could be a Death Eater now. Tom knew that Lee would want revenge for not coming for him after they had to retreat to safety… all that in the last year…