Running AIAOY 7

"Muggles say these keep evil away."  Luna mentioned airily.  She and Draco were downstairs, sitting on the steps outside the door.  

"Really?"  Draco looked up at the tinkling shells moving with the slight breeze.  "They're just chimes."

"Well, they're wrong."  Luna looked at his arm and tilted her head.  "Does it hurt?"

"No."  Draco turned his arm over instinctively.  

"Eyes are the reflection of the feelings within."  She was quiet a moment.  "You're not a very good liar."

"It doesn't hurt, not really.  It...it hurts knowing it's there."

Bill called for Luna.  He and Fleur were compiling a list of supplies needed for the group of Horcrux hunters who would be leaving soon and for those who would be staying at Shell Cottage a while longer.

Fleur took Luna's seat and pursed her lips at the boy in front of her.  "And what about you?"

"Me?"

"You."  She nodded to him.  "Are you needing something?"

"No, I'm okay."

Fleur sat quietly a moment.  "You will stay here, with Bill and I.  The others...they've been here too long.  They will have to go."

"I can go, too.  Not with them, I know."  Draco winced as he kept talking.  "I can't know locations, not more than this one, I understand that.  But I can go too, off somewhere.  On my own."

"And what then?"  Fleur stood and brushed her hands off.  "You will stay here.  I'm putting together clothes, you need to get out of that.  But you will stay here."

Draco looked down at his tattered, torn clothes.  They had been cleaned, but the shredded pieces remained as proof that two weeks earlier, he and Rebecca had been tying themselves back into one piece.  "Fleur, I-"  He chewed at his cheek.  "I speak some French.  If you ever miss it.  It's been a while, but I could probably, you know, understand a little."

Fleur smiled.  "Thank you."

*******************************************

Rebecca stepped up the last stair as Molly had directed her to.  She wasn't surprised to find Harry at the end of the hall, looking down the length of the house to where Griphook's room was.  

"Underhanded, wasn't that?"

Harry grinned at her.  "Maybe.  But it made it so Molly won't fight even harder for you to stay behind, didn't it?"

Rebecca's jaw dropped.  "Sneaky.  I didn't know you had it in you."

Harry reached for arm and stopped her from going ahead.  "You know, you can stay if-"

"Let's go talk to Griphook, Harry."  Rebecca interrupted icily.

Hermione and Ron poked their heads out of a doorway midway down the hall, watching the exchange carefully.

"I'm just saying-"

"Well, there's no need to say because I am not staying.  I will be with you lot, that is that."  Rebecca caught sight of Hermione and Ron disappearing back into their hiding spot before joining the Potter twins, their hiding spot discovered.  "Backup?  Really?"

Ron nudged her with a smile as they knocked on Griphook's door.  It had become unspoken Weasley law that Ron's abandoning of the group was a result of the horcrux, that he had lost himself for a while.  Rebecca wouldn't have cared even if it had been talked about; Fred whispered every night how they were each other's, how their family was all around them.

Hermione stepped into Griphook's room first, checking if he was sleeping or not.  

Harry bent to look around her shoulder and saw that he was not only awake, but sitting in a chair by the window.  "How are you?"

Griphook looked over them slowly, pausing on Rebecca.  "Alive."

The group entered the room only a few feet more, lingering near the doorway.  "You probably don't remember, but-"  Harry began.

"I showed you two to you vault the first time you came to Gringotts?"  Griphook interrupted.  "I remember."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Even amongst the goblins, the Potter name dripped in fame after the Dark Lord fell.  Now though..."

"What do you mean, now?"  Ron asked.  As far as he knew, nothing had really changed besides the fact that their world was at the risk of complete destruction.  But, having known Harry and Rebecca for so long, that seemed to be a usual occurrence.

"A wizard bleeding for an underling?  Unheard of.  Word of what you did for the house elf will get out, if it hasn't already.  There will be a new layer to the Potter veneration."

"it can be heard of now, then."  Rebecca's tone had an edge to it.  Griphook's cynicism brought it out.  "Evil affects us all, not just wizards."

"Indeed, it does."  Griphook tilted his head back at her.  "But that doesn't diminish the gravity of your act.  You are a very unusual witch."  He gestured to the sword that leaned against his wall, the Sword of Gryffindor.  "How did you come by the sword?"

"It's...complicated."  Harry answered with a slight pause.  "Why did Bellatrix Lestrange think it should be in her vault at Gringotts?"

Griphook leaned forward in his chair.  "It's complicated."

"The sword presented itself to us in a moment of need.  We didn't steal it."  Harry didn't appreciate his words being used against him.  Not when he was already feeling that time was of the essence with their delay at Shell Cottage.  

Griphook mulled over Harry's answer before deciding it was the truth.  "There is a sword in Madam Lestrange's vault identical to this one, but it is a fake.  I was placed their this past summer by an acquaintance."

"And she never suspected it was a fake?"  Rebecca asked, looking at the ornateness of the one in the room.  A fake would have been difficult to perfect.

"The replica is very convincing.  Only a goblin would recognise that this is the true Sword of Gryffindor."

"Who is this acquaintance who put it there?"  Hermione asked.

"A Hogwarts professor, I believe he is now headmaster."

"Snape?"  Ron breathed incredulously.  "He put a fake sword in Bellatrix's vault?  Why?"

"There are more than a few curious things in the vaults at Gringotts."  Griphook spoke softly, his ominous whisper quieting their wondering a moment.

"And in Madam Lestrange's vault, as well?"  Rebecca questioned.  She felt ill using such a respectful term for such a monster, but she needed Griphook to help them.

"Perhaps."  Griphook answered without answering.

"We need to get into Gringotts--into one of the vaults."  Rebecca stated plainly.

"That is impossible."  Griphook said immediately.

Harry answered now.  "Alone, yes.  With you, no."

"Besides," Rebecca smiled.  "I thought you said I was a very unusual witch?"

Griphook folded his hands in his lap and stared between the four of them.  "Why should I help you?"

"We've got gold."  Harry said.  "Lots of it."

Griphook shook his head.  "I've no interest in gold."

Harry hated that the goblin was toying with them.  "Then what do you want?"  

Rebecca shifted beside him, putting her arm against him to warn him to be cautious.  Angry, Griphook was certain not to help them.

"That."  Griphook pointed to the sword.  "That is my price."

"We-"  

Harry's attempt at answering was spoken over by Rebecca.  "We can do that."  Harry stared at Rebecca as she kept speaking.  "You may have the sword after you get us into Gringotts."

"Then we have come to an agreement."  Griphook slid out of the chair and made his way towards the bed.  "Please leave me to rest before we leave tomorrow."

"Are we leaving tomorrow?"  Ron asked after a gasp of mock shock.

"It would appear so, unless you don't want to leave at all."  Griphook retorted before closing the door behind them.

"Ruddy goblin arse-"

"Ron!"  Hermione chastised.  "He may still hear you and we need him."

Harry turned on Rebecca as they went down the stairs.  "What are you thinking--giving away that sword?  We need that for the horcruxes!"

"I know."  Rebecca nodded once.

"Then why did you just agree to give it away!"  He wondered if Molly had given her a pain potion that left her without her wits.

"Because, Harry," Rebecca answered sharply.  "I didn't say when he would get it, only that he would.  Eventually.  That was his price.  We either paid it or didn't get to her vault."

Hermione realised the forethought in Rebecca's actions.  "And you think there's a horcrux in Bellatrix's vault?"

"She was bloody terrified when she thought we'd been in there."  Ron chewed at his lip.  "Kept asking what else we'd taken, it makes a bit of sense."

"I bet you anything there's a horcrux in there."  Harry added.

"Why bet?"  Rebecca stepped off the last step.  "We're going to see for ourselves and then we'll use the blade and destroy it.  We have more to do before we go though."  She knocked on a door at the end of the hallway, waiting for an answer before turning the handle.

"Come in."  The voice that responded was weak.

Filing into yet another room, the others found Ollivander by the window.  He looked exceptionally frail and had not yet improved in their reprieve at Shell Cottage.  

"Mr Ollivander?"  Rebecca began without pleasantries.  "We have a few questions to ask."

One of which was that the wand they had taken from Malfoy Manor needed to be identified.  There was dissent over whether or not Draco could be trusted enough to do so truthfully.  Rebecca was adamant that he could be trusted, but some argued that there was a chance he wouldn't.  

"Come in, children."  Ollivander looked small in his chair, but he smiled at them all the same.  "Anything, ask me anything."

"We need this wand identified, first.  To know if it's safe to use."

Ollivander held the wand in hand, turning it towards the light.  He sighed and brought the wand to his nose, giving it a small sniff.  "Walnut...Dragon heartstring...12 and 3/4 inches..."  He tried to bend the wand, to test its pliancy.  "Unyielding.  This wand belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange.  Treat it carefully, much darkness had spread through its core."

The next wand went through a similar test.  "This was the wand of Draco Malfoy."  Ollivander decided.

"Was?"  Rebecca asked.  "As in it isn't still?"

"I sense its allegiance has changed momentarily.  As is the way of the tides, you know."  Ollivander turned his attention back out the window.

"The tides?"  Harry echoed, confused.

Ollivander did not look away from the view out the window, enchanted by the magic of the planet.  "The tides go in and out, but remain part of the ocean.  We are all water, children.  Water in an ocean.  There are those who lose their way, those who will never find it again...but there are also those who will find it, and they will return to what is right."

Rebecca agreed, but felt their departure approaching with every minute passing.  "You talk about wands as if they have feelings, as if they can think.  How is it that wands allow bad things to happen?"

Ollivander leaned forward.  "I tell you now what I have told you--and every witch who has gotten their wand from me--the wand chooses the wizard.  That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wand-making.  The wand, while choosing the wizard, cannot choose what they do with it."

Harry, seeing how Rebecca was mulling over what Ollivander said, moved the conversation to their next topic.  "What do you know about the Deathly Hallows?"

Ollivander sat back in his chair.  "It is rumoured there are three: The Elder Wand, The Cloak of Invisibility, and The Resurrection Stone.  Together, they make one the master of death.  Few truly believe such objects exist."

"Do you?  Believe that they exist?"

"I see no reason to put stock into an old wives' tale."  Ollivander's eyes glanced between them all.

"You're lying."  Rebecca said.

"Rebecca!"  Ron gasped.

"No," Rebecca looked at the old man in the chair.  "He knows one exists.  He told him about it."  Harry stood next to Rebecca, piecing together the fragments she was talking about.  "He told You-Know-Who where he could go looking for it."

Ollivander looked at both Potter twins warily, finding the fact that they could know about things they were not there for ominous and foreboding.  "They tortured me."  He looked to Rebecca, knowing she would understand.  "I only conveyed rumours."

Hermione and Ron stepped forward, Hermione's hand brushing against Rebecca's with a purpose.  She was reminding her that they were all right there.  Rebecca zeroed in on the feeling, tethering herself to the present moment and not the memories that threatened to pull her into a downward spiral.

"Besides," Ollivander shrugged.  "There's no telling whether he will find it."

"He has found it, sir."  Harry looked away from Rebecca.  "I was waiting until we knew whether or not you were coming or not."  He told her quietly.

"And if I wasn't?  Would you have left me here not knowing something so important?"  Rebecca asked, but was ignored for the time being.

"There's just one more thing."  Harry exchanged the two identified wands and held out the bundle that contained his wand.  "Can you repair this?"

"I'm sorry."  Ollivander said after looking the pieces over.  "It cannot be done."

Rebecca rewrapped them up.  "Not yet, and maybe not by you," Harry watched as his wand passed from wand maker to his twin.  "But it will be one day, I know it.  I don't know how yet, but I'll find a way."  She looked at Harry and he knew that she meant what she said.  "I made a promise."

Hermione and Ron left the room first, and Ollivander called after the backs of Harry and Rebecca before they exited too.  "He's after you, both of you.  If it's true, what you say, and he has the Elder Wand..."  Ollivander visibly paled at the idea.  "You don't stand a chance."

Rebecca's jaw set, a look of defiance that usually came before trouble lit behind her eyes.  "He doesn't exactly have the best track record of beating us, now does he?"

Harry nodded, his eyes as steely as hers.  "I guess we'll just have to kill him next time."

The point Harry thought Ollivander failed to realise was that there wasn't anything they couldn't do, not together.  Together they had evaded Voldemort for six school years, each with its own attempt to get to them.  Not to mention that, through Voldemort's greed, he had failed to keep the Potter twin he had had in his possession.  If Voldemort had not tried to gain whatever powers Rebecca had, if he had been smart, he would have killed her the moment he had her.

Harry, right then, realised just how lucky he was that Voldemort was fueled by want and not logic.  He closed the door behind them and found himself startled out of his thoughts.

"What the hell were you going to do if I didn't go?  Not tell me about the Elder-"

"Someone really smart once told me that we shouldn't worry about the what-ifs, but instead be thankful for the what-ares."  Harry retorted.  Rebecca's mouth dropped open as she scrambled to come up with a response to her own wisdom.  "Besides, you needed peace to heal.  If I had told you and you worried, it would be less likely that you were well enough to come."

Ron stepped in, grinning at the return of Rebecca's words.  "Sort of sounds like you owe him a thanks, I reckon."

Hermione laughed, and tried to cover it with a cough as Rebecca looked at her.  "Why don't you go have a lie-down, Rebecca.  You look knackered and tomorrow will come sooner than we think."

"I'm still thinking."  Rebecca said over her shoulder as she walked down the hall to Fred's room.  "This is not over."

*******************************************

"You know he's right, right?"  Fred laughed at Rebecca's face.  "If you had known that he had the Elder Wand, you would have insisted on leaving immediately."

"I still think we should."  Rebecca grumbled.  "But I know waiting for morning will be best."

They lie together, Fred sat up against their pillows and Rebecca against his chest.  Though neither of them slept before dinner, they felt more rested when they went to the table.

"I've already packed food."  Molly said as Rebecca joined the three others who would be leaving the next day.  "And you have the poultice and bandages."

Rebecca nodded, finding dinner harder to stomach as she realised it would be the last one from home for who-knows-how long.  "You've made it so we're prepared."

"That's all a mother can do."  Molly laid her hand on Hermione's shoulder.  "Make sure you're prepared."

Remus stood and began taking cleared plates to the sink quickly, not turning around as Sirius brought him more and patted his back.  For Harry, that was the hardest thing to see; Adults crying at the thought of them going back into danger.  He didn't think it would ever not feel alien to be cared about.

Molly stepped out of the room, leaving those who would be leaving around the table with only George, Cedric, Fred and Draco left.  In the silence that grew, no one could think of anything to say that hadn't been said already.  Cedric, thankfully, remembered something that all who had known had forgotten.

"Bloody hell, that would have been a terror!"  George shook his head, handing the box to Fred.  "Thought you went mad last time, can't even imagine if we'd forgotten this!"

"Forgotten what?"  Ron asked, confused.

"Speaking of going mad..."  Rebecca's voice trailed away.

"We've been working on a few things."  Fred answered before Rebecca could continue, flipping the latches to the box Cedric handed to him.  Draco felt like they had forgotten he was there, but Fred caught his eye and offered a smile as he began pointing things out.  "These will make a cloud of fog that anyone who hasn't touched the pod won't be able to see through.  Same here, but for smaller areas..."

Cedric put his hands under his chin and grinned as Fred came to the last row.  "These little buggers are all mine."

George nodded proudly.  "Came up with the idea and perfected them all on his own."  He gave Cedric a peck before Ced pushed him away to begin explaining what he had designed, too excited for affection.

"Those little beauties are pocketable apparation."  Cedric took one and held it between two fingers so they could see it.  "Incredibly illegal, but could get you out of a jam.  Watch."  Cedric wound his arm back and threw the packet at the floor behind Draco.  A flash of smoke and Cedric appeared where the packet had been.

"How do you come up with this stuff!"  Ron gasped, gently picking up a packet from the box.  "It's all mental!"

Harry stood up and walked around the table, thanking those who had worked on the box.  Rebecca moved to follow Harry, taking the wand out of her pocket.  It had been her insistence that she be able to ask, despite Ron's issue with asking at all.

"He'll bloody give it to us or we'll take it!"  Ron had hissed earlier in the afternoon.  "The greater good needs it!"

Rebecca pushed the thoughts of Ron's input out of her mind and looked to Draco.  "Draco?"

"Rebecca?"

"You good?"

"If you are."  He answered back, as their routine called for.

"We need something happier."  Rebecca shook her head, thoughts for another time.  

"You lot are all off tomorrow."  Draco looked at Harry and Rebecca seriously.  "Are you ready?"

"Ready as we can be."  Rebecca laid his wand on the table.  "But there's a problem."

"You need to bring it?"

"Well," Rebecca chewed at her cheek.  "Yes.  Harry's has been damaged and Ollivander couldn't fix it, I haven't found a way yet.  I will though, I promised I would.  I know there'll be a way if-"

"Keep it then."  Draco chuckled.  "If you've promised to fix his, I know it will be done.  It's not like I need it here anyway."

"Will you be staying here?"  Harry asked.

"Yeah, for the time being."  Draco looked around the room.  "There wasn't much of a choice, not that I expected one.  I mean that in the best way, I didn't-"

"I understand."  Harry nodded for him to continue.

"I'm going to find a way to help.  There's got to be something I can do without a wand or needing to know much."

"It won't be like this forever."  Rebecca grabbed his arm and squeezed it.  "I never told you how happy I am that you're here."

Draco smiled.  "I have two people to thank for that and one's not here."

"Who?"

"The Hufflepuff, the loud one."

"Louis?"  Rebecca grinned at his description.  "When did you meet him."

"A while ago."  Draco thought about how harsh the boy had been, how severely he had called Draco out on his bullshite, how long Draco had thought over everything the boy had said.  "But I need to thank you, too."  Rebecca blushed and went to interrupt him, but he kept talking.  "You told me once that nothing just is evil, that it's our choices that make us what we are.  That's what I did.  I made a choice."

"Life is choice."  Rebecca echoed, hugging Draco tightly.  "I'm so happy you made this one."

"I am too."  He whispered over her shoulder.

As the groups began to disperse for the evening, Remus and Sirius walked back to the table as the night went on.  "It's getting late."  Sirius said softly, stopping behind Harry's chair and putting his hands on the boys shoulders.

"Don't want to start off not rested."  Remus added, standing behind Rebecca similarly.

George and Cedric had gone off earlier, bringing Draco with them as they had a pile of clothes Fleur had asked them to hand on.

Fred stepped away and said that he would be upstairs when they were done talking.  Sirius took the chair Fred left and looked over the four traveler's carefully.  "The four of you will need to be vigilant in all situations, do you hear me?"

"Things are not...not good in the world."  Remus shook his head.  "The Muggle news is filled with random attacks, violence, missing families, even they are starting to realise something foul is afoot."

Sirius smiled at the box in front of Rebecca.  "A lot of work has gone into this.  I hope it serves its purpose."

"Which is?"  Harry asked, confused.

"To keep you all safe."

*******************************************

<3