Cursed

Owen’s resolve seemed to galvanize them.  He and Toshiko went to prepare the cell for Gwen.  He made sure to bring in a mattress and a pillow and blankets, along with some bottles of water and energy bars while Toshiko took care of the final touches to the video showing the exchange with the alien without showing the alien and only showing a transcript of its dialogue.  She pretty much scrubbed everything except for Gwen’s replies to its offers from the video itself. 

Luna had looked at a first draft and deemed it safe, though to be certain, she had Toshiko go back and make some final edits, along with making it impossible to recover any of the deleted bits.  Toshiko did that, but as an extra failsafe, she included a bit of code that would tell her not to sail in dangerous waters.  That was always a message to herself not to pursue something (as Luna had said – occupational hazard), so she added that in as an extra line of defense.

Once they were ready, Luna positioned them.  The upward-pointing triangle that formed half of the hexagram would be occupied by the Weasleys.  The familial blood bond would add strength to the grid they were forming.  Ron, the strongest of the three, would take the top position, with Ginny at the lower left and George at the lower right.

The downward-pointing triangle that was the other half of the hexagram would have Luna at the top left position, Harry at the top right, and Ianto in the anchor position at the bottom, facing Ron.  Hermione raised an eyebrow at this, but Luna shrugged.

“Call it a hunch.  We already know he’s more powerful than we originally thought.”

“Yes, but the most powerful?”

“With Jack bolstering him, he’s the logical choice to anchor the hexagram,” Luna replied, not wanting to get into the wand measuring that Hermione sometimes found a bit too fascinating.

Hermione looked around and then nodded.  “No, you’re right.  This is the best layout.”

“Thank you,” Luna replied drily.  Hermione didn’t mean to be condescending, but sometimes…

They brought in two wooden chairs.  Gwen was sat in one, and Hermione pulled the one opposite close so she could take the Welshwoman’s head in her hands for a moment.  After getting her bearings, she released Gwen and sat back, gathering her defenses and preparing her offensive.  After a moment, she nodded to the others. 

“Ready.”

Ron’s wand moved in a motion that seemed to trace an infinity symbol horizontally in the air in front of him before pointing his wand towards George.  A red light streamed towards George as Ron brought his wand back to center, holding it before him in his left hand, like a candlestick.  George made the same motion and a red light streamed towards Ginny.  As he brought his wand back to center, it caught Ron’s light and held both the light he had sent and the light George had initiated.  Ginny made the same motion, sending light towards Ron and catching the light coming from George.  Ron caught Ginny’s light and they stood, holding together a triangular pattern formed by the red light of the spell they cast.  The three streams of light became one cohesive whole, moving clockwise from wand to wand.

Now Ianto made the motion of an infinity symbol with his wand.  He was stood with Jack plastered to his back and holding onto him.  Jack’s breath caught as a blue light travelled from Ianto’s wand towards Harry, moving over the flow of red light from George to Ginny and then under the flow from Ron to George.  Harry made the motion and sent a stream of blue light towards Luna, this time moving over the flow of red light from Ron to George and then under the light flowing from Ginny to Ron.  He held his wand out and caught the light from Ianto, locking in the connection.  Luna made the final infinity symbol and sent a blue light over the red stream of light between Ginny and Ron and then under the flow from George to Ginny.  She caught the blue light from Harry and watched as Ianto caught the final flow of blue light that she had sent.  The three streams of blue light now became a cohesive, anticlockwise flow.

Luna looked around and then spoke.  “Three, two, one, turn!”

As one, they turned their wands.  Ron, George, and Ginny, all holding their wands in their left hands, turned their wands to the right in a clockwise motion so they were now horizontal, held parallel to the floor.  At the same time, Ianto, Harry, and Luna, holding their wands in their right hands, turned them left, or anticlockwise.  The red and blue streams converged in a flash into a solid, unmoving purple light that now outlined the edges of the full hexagram.

“Oh, gods!” Ianto exclaimed, and Jack tightened his embrace, pressing his hands flat against Ianto’s chest and belly.  He could feel the younger man practically vibrating with the force of the magic moving around and through him.

“You alright?” Jack asked, his mouth close to Ianto’s ear.

Ianto’s head dropped back onto Jack’s shoulder.  His eyes were closed and his expression was ecstatic.  “Magic, Jack!” he whispered, and his words were filled with awe.

Jack could feel a tingle in the air.  Muggle he may be, but this was a massive spell that even he could feel.  He could only imagine what it felt like for those casting it.  He looked around and saw expressions of focus and intention, but none of the others had that look of profound joy that was suffusing Ianto’s face, making him look beatific. 

Jack put it down to the difference in how each of them was used to their magic.  Ianto had regained his magic weeks ago, it was true; but he had done very little in the way of using it – the Healers had discouraged it, actually.  But now, as the spell took shape – literally – Jack could feel along their bond the profound joy and exhilaration that Ianto was now feeling as the magic flowed through his being as it was meant to.

“Focus, Love,” Jack encouraged, understanding now why Luna had asked him to support Ianto.  He was not taking much of the younger man’s weight, though Ianto was definitely leaning into him.  But it would be unwise to let the thrill Ianto was now feeling distract him from anchoring the spell.

Jack’s words brought Ianto back into focus.  He opened his eyes and lifted his head, watching along with the others as Hermione began.  She cast her spell, and soon enough, she found the thread Luna had referred to and began to pull. 

Ianto had explained it to Jack as they had made their preparations.  The hexagram spell had a two-fold purpose.  First, it would generate enough magic for Hermione to draw upon so she could perform the complex obliviate spell without overtaxing herself.  With the additional power, she could afford to take her time and make each move with care and deliberation.  That would be safest for Gwen, as well. 

Second, it would shield the six witches and wizards and Jack (and the rest of the world, for that matter) in case any part of the alien was still hiding in Gwen.  The hexagram spell was powerfully protective and would keep the alien contained, should it be there and escape.  Hermione would be able to cast a shield charm to ward it off until the others could help, but Gwen would still be vulnerable.  It was not ideal, but they had to chance it.

There was no resistance, thankfully.  The alien itself was definitely gone from Gwen, and she was still out of it.  She wasn’t unconscious, but nor was she fully aware as Hermione extracted the nonexistent Adam from her mind.  The thread of memory was a long, dark wisp of smoke that floated through the air within the hexagram as she pulled it free.

The alien had been clever.  Hermione could see how it had embedded itself in Gwen’s mind.  As she pulled the thread, she saw the history it had manufactured, in reverse order.  Adam was a teammate at Torchwood, having joined from Heddlu not long after Gwen.  They had been through police academy together, and before that had attended school together, going all the way back to Year 1.

It was an elaborate story, in which they met on the playground on their first day of school.  The alien had been too weak to do too much external influencing, so it had spent the week burrowing deep and insinuating itself into Gwen’s memories.  Now, as Hermione extracted the most deeply rooted of the planted memories, Gwen began to stir.

“Oh, bother,” Hermione muttered, even as she pulled the last of the thread free.  She drew more magic from the hexagram and directed it at the thread, which ignited, a spark burning it away to nothing, inch by inch, like a long fuse.  At that moment, two levels above them, Toshiko noted that the containment unit in the secure lab gave a jolt.

Gwen’s eyes snapped open, and she looked around waspishly.  The green gaze narrowed with suspicion and distrust as she took in the purple light of the protective spell and Hermione’s wand.  She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she knew for certain that something vital had just been taken from her.

“What have you done?” she screeched.

“Gwen, you were possessed by a hostile alien,” Hermione calmly explained.  “It’s no longer there, but we need to ensure it is completely gone.”

“That’s not true!” Gwen protested.  “It wasn’t hostile.  I was helping it, and in exchange it was going to help me!”  She looked up and realized with a look of horror that everything she wanted was burning away.  “Give that back!” she shouted.

“Gwen…” Hermione tried to reason.

Gwen swung around and spotted Ianto over Hermione’s shoulder and snarled.  “You!  You’ve ruined everything!  Why couldn’t you just die?”  She reached behind her, and to everyone’s surprise, she pulled her weapon from the holster clipped to her belt at the small of her back.

“Shit,” Jack muttered, realizing that in the confusion, no one had thought to disarm her.

“Gwen, put the gun down,” Hermione tried to reason with her, but with a swift backhand motion, Gwen caught the witch upside her head with the gun, knocking her unconscious.

“Ron, do not break formation!” Luna ordered as the ginger wizard raged.

“It’s not fair!” Gwen wailed.  “Why do you get Jack?  You’re nobody!  Just the fucking teaboy!  You probably lied about being spellbound,” she ranted.  “Oh my God, that’s it, isn’t it?  You’ve been using your magic tricks to fool Jack, all along!”

Having heard more than enough, Jack angrily stepped around Ianto, but the younger man’s arm shot out, holding Jack back and preventing him from moving towards Gwen.  Jack looked at Ianto, curious.

“Don’t break the barrier,” Ianto warned.  “It’s the only thing keeping the memories from rejoining with her.  Until it’s destroyed, we have to hold the hexagram spell.”

“But Hermione…” Jack protested.

“Doesn’t seem to be the focus of Gwen’s ire,” Ianto muttered, staring at the Welshwoman who had continued to spew invective at him.

“So if I cross the spell, it will break,” Jack said, watching as Gwen climbed onto the chair to try to reach the burning wisp of smoke.  She jumped, but it was beyond her reach.  She landed back on the chair and jumped again, but to no avail.  “What if she crosses it?”

“She can’t,” Ianto said.  “Nothing organic can.”

“Nothing organic…” Jack trailed off as Gwen screamed in frustration and jumped down from the chair.  “But that means bullets…”  He turned to Ianto.  “Ianto?”

“We’ll be fine, Jack,” Ianto said.  His eyes strayed up.  Only another minute or so, and they’d be able to drop the hexagram and disarm her.  “Maybe you can talk her down?  Just don’t cross the spell.”

The hexagram was powerful, but it prohibited the six of them from sending a spell Gwen’s way, because that would break the barrier.  The alien memories (what was left of them) could then invade any of them.

“Gwen, look at me,” Jack said.  Gwen swung around.

“Jack!  Help me!  They’ve taken me hostage!”  She moved towards him.  She stared at the stream of purple light and – typically – reached out to touch hit.  A loud snap rang out, and she jumped back with a shriek, waving her hand before putting her stinging fingers in her mouth.

“Gwen, you’ve been compromised, but you’re going to be alright.  We’ll free you in a minute.”

“Jack, that’s a lie!  How could I be compromised?”

“You touched an alien artefact, Gwen.”

“That’s a lie!” she screamed, and the gun she was carelessly waving around went off.  She let out a shriek, but then she just stared at where the bullet had gouged the far wall. 

The far wall, outside of the hexagram.

“Gwen?” Jack held out his hands in a placating gesture.

She cast a triumphant look at Jack before turning a vicious sneer at Ianto, pointing the gun at him and firing.

***