Beneath the Wreckage
Evan hated the quiet, it all seemed like the moment before a bomb went off and threw everyone back into chaos and pain. The only thing Evan hated more than silence was the dark, it seemed to always have him in a grip like he never knew what was going to come around the corner and pull him away from the only things that mattered. He was highly aware that it was a childish fear, but the way he thought of it was that he wasn’t necessarily afraid of the dark itself but more of what was in the dark.
So when the blonde-haired boy found himself standing alone in the shadow darkness of an old forest outside of Hangleton, close enough to the cliffs of the sea he could faintly hear waves crashing onto the stone, it was safe to assume Evan was not happy.
Barty had tried to insist he was well enough to come with him, but Evan simply had to point out he could still barely walk across their kitchen without getting dizzy. It had been nearly a month since the pair had been discovered, and Evan was astonished that they hadn’t locked James away yet.
Regulus wasn’t awake yet, and all three boys were starting to fear he never would. Evan had spent most of his time in hiding researching how to destroy Horcruxes, unfortunately, there wasn’t much information on Horcruxs in general, much less how to destroy them. It was a dark enough piece of magic that it hadn’t ever been performed by more than a handful of witches and wizards, and Evan was betting that they’d gone to great lengths to destroy any public information on how to destroy them. He’d also been reading about healing quite a bit, thinking maybe he could find some way to free Regulus from his sleep and bring their star back to life.
Evan was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t heard the snap of a twig on the trail behind him, nor did he notice the shadow that crept up beside him.
“Hello, Evan.”
Evan almost jumped out of his socks, “fucking hell-” he reached for his wand in his pocket and swung around to see who had spoken.
“I see exile made you jumpy,” a familiar voice laughed softly. “Now are you going to hex me or hug me?”
Evan took a deep breath and dropped his arm, slipping his wand back into his pocket, “I thought you were going to kill me you wanker.”
Another laugh, “Yes Evan I’m here to brutally murder you because that seems so in character for me yes?”
“Oh shove off,” he shook his head with a smile, pulling the figure into his arms.
“Morgana I missed you.”
“I missed you too Pandabear,” Evan laughed and squeezed the girl tighter.
“You have no clue how happy I am that you’re safe,” Pandora smiled, pulling away from the embrace and looking over Evan slowly. “You need to eat more for Merlin’s sake, you’re a twig!”
“I’ve been a bit busy for eating Pandora,” he chuckled.
“You’re never too busy to eat,” she scolded. “I ought to come over and cook for you and Barty sometime.”
“You should, we’re going stir crazy in that cabin.”
Pandora smiled tightly back at him, “Once we figure all this out,” she gestured between them, and down the path toward the disheveled building they were there for. “Then we’ll all be together, you and I, Lily, Barty, Regulus, Dorcas, Marlene, James, and even Sirius and Remus and Peter if they want.”
“That sounds good Pandora…” Evan sighed, the picture of that group living close and having dinners together filled his mind. Sirius and Regulus would always bicker about nothing, the girls would be sitting around in some cozy living room laughing and talking, Evan and Barty would be cooking for everyone with frequent kissing… and for some reason in the back of his head, Evan could hear the laughter of children in the backyard.
“Let’s go then,” Pandora took a step forward and reached out for Evan to follow.
The two walked in silence along the narrow path and Evan allowed himself to indulge in the idea of having a family with his people. Images of a kitchen with a massive oak dining table and mismatched dishes filled his mind, couples sitting side by side, holding hands under the table like teenagers. Marlen and Dorcas would be picking off each other’s plates, Pandora and Lily would be having some kind of intelligent conversation about magical theory while Remus piped in whenever he had something to add, and whenever Sirius was getting just a bit too clingy. James and Regulus would have finally figured out their feelings and knowing Regulus he would be all over James… peter and Mary would be drifters, stealing chairs and just smiling with everyone, maybe they’d bring a date to their weekly dinner, but everyone was always happy to see the pair. Evan and Barty would be at the end of the table, just watching, finally glad for the peace in their lives.
Evan was painfully aware that more than half of the people he was picturing hated him, and to be fair he wasn’t fond of all of them himself. He only knew McKinnon from Dorcas, but he did think she was quite cool, Lily Evans was loved by Pandora so she must be perfect. Sirius would be the biggest challenge really, both Evan and Barty hated him for the pain he’d caused their star. He didn’t know Remus or Peter at all outside of a few boring interactions between classes, but to Evan, he fell into the same boat as the rest of the marauders; the people that had made his life hell for nearly seven years. He’d like to formally apologize to Macdonald, he’d been quite cruel to her at times, and he had no excuse to have acted that way. Truthfully he believed an Evan Rosier Apologoy Tour was in order.
“You’re not wrong Evan,” Pandora said flightly, snapping him out of his trance.
“Huh?” He questioned.
“About being a family, or needing to apologize to people.”
“Bloody Hell,” He groaned and scrubbed his face, “Sometimes I forget you can do that shit.”
Pandora just shrugged and kept walking, “When I first met you there was a lot of darkness surrounding you Evan... Far too much for an eleven-year-old, but then you grew up, and you started to lighten up… You’re not lost Evan, the paths aren’t flooded and washed away, you just have your eyes closed.”
Evan didn’t know how to reply, for all the time he’d known Pandora she never really made much sense. In a roundabout way, she was always right, and she always had your best interest at heart, even if the message wasn’t clear at first.
“We’re here,” she almost whispered, Evan squinted in the darkness and saw what looked like a crumbled stone cottage.
“This?” Evan couldn’t help but be skeptical. “This is where the all mighty dark wizard hid a piece of his soul?”
“Shush,” Pandora scolded him gently with a smack on the arm. “Yes this is the place, and you’d better give him more credit. There's lots of dark magic here… Whatever we find under those floorboards is dangerous, we mustn’t touch it understood? Bad things will come about if we do.”
Evan nodded, “And you’re sure there's no scouts here tonight?”
“I’m sure we’d already be killed if there were,” she shook her head.
“Fair point,” Evan glanced over his shoulder and felt a shiver roll down his spine. “Shall we?”
The two set forward, it was only a few meters off the path. An old cottage that the roof had fallen out of, the floorboards were rotting, and as Evan stepped through the stone arch with an old door hanging on by one rusty hinge his boot crumbled the wood with only half his weight.
“Fuck,” he hissed through his teeth, pulling his boot out of the molding splinters.
“Careful,” Pandora warned, stepping in behind him and taking careful steps across the small space.
Evan followed her into the darkness and tried to hold his breath, the place smelled of mildew and death.
“What exactly is it we’re looking for?” Evan whispered, checking behind his shoulder every few seconds. “It’s not like there's going to be some light-up sign that says ‘Horcrux here’.”
“That would be very convenient,” Pandora mused, her figure pivoted into a narrow hall and Evan followed her with a sinking heart. “There artifacts… They’ve got a darkness about them. If I can sense that darkness…” She stopped.
“What? What is it?” Evan’s head swiveled in every direction looking for the cause of the sudden halt.
“Here…” She knelt down, and with one more swipe of his head Evan fell to his knees beside her. “Light your wand for me please…”
Evan thought she would never ask… he smiled and sighed, pulling his wand from his pocket and lit the tip.
In the new lighting, Evan could see the house much more clearly, it looked as if a tree had caved the roof in and there were gaping holes in the floor and siding. Moss and mold grew profusely from the floor and cobwebs covered the walls. The flooring where Pandora was poking seemed out of place, the wood was firmer, less discolored, and lighter than the other boards.
“Be careful,” Pandora turned to Evan, “I need you to lift the board off the ground, and make sure not to touch anything beneath it.”
Evan nodded and leaned his wand up against a branch that had fallen through the ceiling and gripped the board. He’d expected it to just fall apart in his hand, but it didn’t, the nails were driven quite deep into the ground and it took a few yanks to get them lost. He pulled the board away from the floor and immediately scrambled back from the hole in the flooring. Beneath the wood was a great amount of rats, piled on top of one another.
“They’re dead,” Pandora remarked calmly, picking one up by the tail and setting it down beside her. “The curse really is strong.”
“The curse did that?” Evan felt his heart speed up, he crept closer to the pile of dead creatures and eyed their distorted bodies.
“The protection cast on these objects…” Pandora closed her eyes and placed a hand over the small corpse beside her. “It’s medieval, the torture… it was slow Evan.”
“Is that what will happen if…” Evan couldn’t even finish his thoughts.
Pandora seemed to understand nonetheless and nodded. “May I borrow your jumper? Mine is too thin.”
Evan nodded, reluctantly pulling the garment over his head and handing it to the blonde girl. It was one of Barty’s that he’d snagged during his fifth year at Hogwarts, Barty hadn’t particularly minded because of the growth spurt he’d had and Evan hadn’t.
Pandora pushed her arm through the sleeve and carefully pushed the rats off one another which Evan thought was disgusting… he didn’t like the creatures when they were alive, and he liked them far less when they were dead.
Under the rodents was a small stone, a black diamond on a dirt-covered gold band of a ring.
“Is that it?”
Pandora only nodded in response, examining it thoughtfully before reaching into the earth and plucking it from the mud. She made sure not to touch the metal or the stone, folding it into the sleeve of the sweater before slipping her arm out of the fabric.
“Somethings wrong,” she said, her voice deadly calm, but Evan could see the fear in her eyes.
Evan took his wand and looked around the rubble, nothing seemed alarmingly amiss aside from the darkness that seemed to be closing in. Then it was there like a bucket of ice had been dumped on their success; a blue wisp appeared in the distance and came toward them at an alarming pace.
“Well, shit.”
A blue stag was standing only inches away a second later, Evan knew James’ patronus like the back of his hand by now.
“Hi Prongs,” Evan’s voice broke.
You need to get out of there, if you don’t have it just leave it. They know.
I can’t lose them, James…
You won’t baby… Shit prongs go, run.
“Regulus…” Evan couldn’t comprehend the message. That was Regulus’ voice, but he wasn’t… was he? His mind raced as the blue dissipated and Pandora took a deep breath.
“We need to leave,” she got up, holding Barty’s jumper to her chest and picking her wand out of her pocket.
Evan just nodded, still not totally comprehending what was happening. Was Regulus awake? When did he wake up? Why didn’t James tell him?
Pandora gripped his hand, and he felt the strain of time and space close in on him. But instead of being thrown across the fabric of space, he falls right back onto the rotting floor of the cottage.
“What happened?” He started to panic.
“I don’t know,” Pandora rubbed her shoulder and clung onto the folded sweater tighter.
They stared at one another for a moment when they heard the sickening popping of apparitions outside.
“Fuck,” Evan groaned and grabbed his wand, gripping it until his knuckles turned white.
“Surround the house! Potter you’re with me, we’ll flush them out. Remember we want them alive. The dark lord wants to punish them for their disobedience.”
“They think it’s Barty and I…” Evan started breathing harder. “Pandora we need to get out of here.”
“We can’t apperate out of here,” she took a breath. “We’ve got maybe a minute…”
“Give me the sweater,” Evan demanded, his voice no louder than a whisper. He could hear footsteps in the next room.
“Rosier,” Lucias sang, “come out and maybe we won’t hurt your faggot boyfriend.”
“That piece of shit,” Evan growled, taking the sweater from Pandora’s outstretched hand. He had to work quickly… He ripped a piece of his shirt off with his teeth and unfolded the jumper which caused the ring to fall out and into the piece of folded fabric. “Take this and go.”
“But…”
“No buts Panda, I’ll get their attention and you crawl out that hole in the wall, take the ring somewhere safe okay? I’ll be fine and send you a patronus when I get home alright?”
“You’d better not die, Rosier,” she pursed her lips before taking the fabric from his outstretched hand.
“I won’t now go hide, you’ll know the signal,” he smiled nervously, slipping his family sigil ring off his index finger and holding it with the fabric.
Pandora nodded and crouched behind an old piece of furniture as Evan slipped his wand into his sock and picked up a twig.
“You don’t have anywhere else to hide,” Lucias taunted again, and Evan swallowed hard, he had to get his thoughts together. Lucius couldn’t get into this room, he’d see Pandora and everything would be hopeless.
“Maybe they aren’t here Malfoy,” James’ voice sounded groggy and Evan watched as their figures cast shadows onto the crumbling walls.
“Or maybe you’re still a bloodtraitor coward who doesn’t want to hurt his little friends,” Lucius snapped. “Remember you’re still on probation Potter, you make one wrong move and I have the go-ahead to make you wish you’d never been born.”
Evan bit his lip and gripped the stick in his hand, “Here goes nothing,” he said beneath his breath.
“What the fu-” James started to snap at Lucius when Evan stepped around the corner and pointed the knotted stick at the pair.
“Wow Malfoy you’re losing your bloody touch,” Evan snickered. “You honestly think Barty and I would trust that tosser?”
Lucius smirked, throwing a non-verbal disarming charm toward Evan - who flipped the twig out of his hand and knelt down to pretend to find it.
“Where’s your little pet Rosier?”
“He’s not my pet,” Evan snapped, the annoyance that coated his voice was far from fake. “And he’s not here.”
James scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Don’t even, you couldn’t have pulled this off on your own.” A wand connected with his temple and Evan flinched.
He was still knelt on the rotting floor, he could see James’ ratty red converse and the way his weight shifted from left to right nervously. Beside him, Lucius’ polished black flats stood unmoving and solid. Evan could tell it wasn’t the blonde man who had a wand to his head - which allowed air to flow back into his lungs, this plan was barely thought through.
“Well Potter,” Lucius took a step forward and Evan slowly moved his hand under his jean leg to pull his wand free. “What have you got here?” He yanked the sweater free from under Evan’s arm and carefully unwrapped it.
Evan took a few seconds of the outward focus to pull his wand from under his sock, he made brief eye contact with James before Lucius looked back down at him and Evan’s head snapped down.
“Considering I don’t have the pleasure of killing you,” Lucius knelt down next to Evan and held up the ring between the sleeve of Barty’s jumper. “I suppose if you had an accident… if you were to touch such a dangerous artifact and become infected…” Lucius held the ring closer to Evan’s cheek and he flinched.
“Do it,” James taunted, and for a moment Evan almost smiled, he and Barty had taught James such beautiful cruelty - even if it was just an act.
“Hmm,” Lucius mused, “Maybe you aren’t so soft Potter.”
“Dick…” Evan grumbled, kicking Lucius’ shin and leaping up from the ground with a pounding heart. He gripped his wand tighter than he ever had and shot a few half-hearted spells toward James.
“ROSIER!” Lucius bellowed, throwing unforgivable after unforgivable toward Evan’s body. This of course caused the rest of the death-eaters surrounding the house to jump into action. Even with James only trying half-heartedly to curse Evan, it was starting to be difficult for him to dodge all the spells coming his way. Unfortunately for him, Lucius was still holding the Horcrux that Evan had no intention of leaving without, “Impedimenta,” by some miracle the curse actually hit Lucius. His body slowed just enough for Evan to swat the sweater from his arm. The ring flew from the fabric and Evan scrambled to get it. Evan was hit with a stinging curse from James - who looked horrified, Evan faltered and fell onto one knee. Pain ripped through his body and he screamed, a scream so deep in his throat that it ripped at his vocal cords. He looked down and saw the ring had been right under his knee. Lucius was smirking and James was terrified looking, other death eaters had gathered behind them and Evan knew he had to do something, somehow he’d managed to hold onto his wand, so he wrapped the ring in his shirt sleeve and pulled himself off the ground. Evan pointed his wand at the low-hanging branch above the house and took a breath, “Confringo.”
Splinters and flames came raining down as a result and Evan made a run for it. His leg was flaming and throbbing, he yelled for Pandora to follow him out of the burning structure and the two made off into the woods, the explosion hadn’t held the group of men off for much longer, and in a few seconds, Lucius was on their tail.
Evan didn’t know how he was still on his feet, Pandora was practically dragging him along behind him by the time he felt the barrier fade into nothingness and the ability to apperate came rushing back.
Pandora wasted no time snapping them off the forest ground and the next thing he knew he was lying on his kitchen floor with Pandora screaming for Barty.