HPNSA - BOOK TWO

CHAPTER TEN
DESPERATE CHOICES

TIMELINE: JANUARY 30 – 31

(Jan. 30)


Martha remembered being told to get down before a bright light hit her with the force of a locomotive. By the time she came to, it was already dark and they were outside in the middle of a forest at the foot of a rather large mountain. Draco and Candice were tied to poles along with two other people – one was a tall man, the other a black haired woman. Martha realized that she was tied to a pole herself but her bonds were not that tight because she could still feel her fingers and if she squirmed a lot, her hands would be free in no time. But she did not dare move – before her there were five men and a woman and they all had wands so she concluded that they were wizards without the need for introductions. There was also one tall being with wings standing in the middle of their circle talking with a hooded individual that made Martha’s hair stand on end every time he hissed.

A young man, African-American, wearing a uniform that Martha saw in some of the Knights at Hogwarts during her stay there was on the snow-covered ground, gagged and bound with many thick chords. After what seemed to be a debate between the tall winged creature and the hooded wizard-leader the young man was then lifted by the winged being and Martha saw him take the gag off and placed his mouth over the younger man’s mouth. Martha winced a bit at the sight – how despicable, she thought – making out in the middle of a forest. She felt incredibly disgusted that these magic folk needed an audience for their orgies. When the younger man started jerking during the ‘kiss’ Martha realized it was not a romantic kiss at all.

To her horror the tall being with wings slowly turned into an exact replica of the younger male when he broke it off. He dropped the body on the ground where it continued twisting then he reached down and broke his neck. The crunching sound of several vertebral bones cracking made Martha’s mind reel in fear. She wanted to scream and throw up at the same time. Luckily her mind has not been wholly clouded with panic and so she was able to keep her mouth shut and her stomach in check. The winged being carried the lifeless body of the younger male and flew.

Horrified, Martha decided to play unconscious for the moment and just observe. Clearly she was witnessing some kind of ritual, she thought, and feared they would be offered somehow. How she loathed these people. She regretted ever getting entangled with them much less being one of them. Soon only one wizard was left to watch the hostages. He was a rather ugly looking wizard in Martha’s opinion with a nasty mark across his face as though he got burned.

“Ey! Hestia, you awake now?” He cackled. He approached the dark haired witch and pushed her hair back. She seemed unconscious and rather weak and there was dried blood all over her neck. She was wounded and magic or no magic Martha’s nurse’s instinct was pushing her to go over there and help her. She looked around for anything to attack the wizard with, and found that he had clumsily left a wand on the ground near the campfire. She knew she was not good enough to handle a wand against a grown wizard but she had learned some nasty spells that might do the trick. The first thing she tried to learn when she got the books was offensive magic – because Arthur told her they were at war and that she had to arm herself.

Gathering every ounce of courage she has, Martha decided to get herself untied. She carefully moved her hands about, getting the knots loose, it was an incredibly slow process but Martha kept at it until both her hands were free and she pretended to hang about her pole and waited for the watch to get tired or feel the call of nature which wasn’t that far off since he has been filling himself with some kind of alcoholic drink from the smell of it.

It didn’t take that long too. Convinced that none of his hostages were conscious enough to make a run for it, the wizard left and Martha saw her chance and she took it. Freeing herself with one long tug she then walked over to the campfire and picked up the wand that had been lying there and thought of the nastiest spell to conjure – but remembered she needed a specific state of mind to do it.

When the wizard returned she pointed the wand at him and pushed her mind to remember the night her parents died – the way they were murdered – the way she and her sister had to be transferred from one foster home to another, and she found the state of mind she needed. The spell was now easy to conjure.

“What the devil?”

“CRUCIO!”

The wizard howled in pain and twisted on the snow covered ground while Martha felt a dampening sensation in her body, like she was being covered by some kind of coldness that was numbing her inside. But after a while the sensation passed and she felt like doing the spell again.

“CRUCIO!”

This time the wizard went into a seizure, his mouth overflowing with froth babbled incoherently. Then he stopped jerking and just lay there like a dead thing.

“I killed him,” Martha gasped. She didn’t know whether to feel proud or not because even though she had meant to hurt him, she didn’t mean to kill him at all. She just wanted to get away from the place.

Shaken by what seemed her first kill, it took several minutes before Martha could move her numbing limbs. The steadily dropping temperature made her shiver and this prompted Martha to get a move on rescuing the rest of the hostages. She gulped for the third time and slowly gathered her senses together and after warming herself by the fire she went to those tied on the poles. She went to Candice first and checked if she was all right; she was breathing but barely. Martha looked around for anything to cut the chords with then realized she had a wand and can conjure magic to cut the chords. Soon Candice was on the ground and her leaning against a large tree trunk next to the campfire; the warmth of the flames seemed to do her a lot of good since she was able to recover faster. Then Martha went to Draco who was slowly gaining consciousness as well and was shivering from the cold.

“What…? Where…?” Draco chattered.

“It’s all right, Draco, it’s me. Martha…”

“Martha…?”

Martha went to the other hostages and checked them as well. The man was not so bad though he was very weak and had magical ropes instead of chords like the others. The woman was badly wounded and Martha took her down first and placed her near the campfire. She tore off a portion of her nightgown and tied it around the witch’s head.

“Martha?”

“Candice, I’m here…”

“Martha! Thank goodness, they said you were dead…”

“Who? Who said that?”

“The voices in my dream…Draco, where’s Draco?”

“I’m right here, Candice.”

“Draco, can you free him?” Martha said pointing at the wizard that was still tied to the pole.

Draco nodded and Martha gave him the wand. “Mr. Shacklebolt! Mr. Shacklebolt! Wake up!” Draco yelled. He shook him hard to wake him up.

Slowly Shacklebolt opened his eyes. “Draco! Where’s? HESTIA!”

“She’s badly wounded,” Martha informed him. “She needs a doctor.”

“I’m trying to free you, but I don’t know how to conjure the spell.” Draco explained.

“Draco wave the wand in small half circles and say, Expedium!” Kingsley instructed.

Draco nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate and did what he was told, “Expedium!”

Shacklebolt was free of the pole. He was too weak to walk and even wobbled while standing still. He looked at the Dark Wizard whose eyes stared blankly into space, then at Hestia and lastly he looked at Martha. He shook his head meaningfully then summoned his broomstick. Moments later a large black broom was floating near them.

“I will take Hestia to Hogwarts. Draco you have to take them to Hogwarts as well.”

“No, I can’t go back. Dumbledore insisted that I stay as far away as possible,”

“Dumbledore? But he’s…”

“He has returned. He and the rest of the Order have been waiting for the two of you. They’ll be glad to see you back there.”

Martha saw how shocked Shacklebolt was with the announcement. It took him a while and Hestia’s groaning to wake him from what seemed to be a trance. The awe turned to fear because now it was clear that they were going to be on their own in a forest with Death Eaters around.

“I do not wish to leave you here,” Shacklebolt said. “Not while Voldemort and the rest of his Death Eaters are nearby. They have taken refuge in these hills.”

“Where are we?” Martha queried.

“The Cambrian Mountains, the Eastern side.” Shacklebolt replied. “But I need to get Hestia to a hospital or she won’t last.”

“Then take her, we will find a way out, won’t we Draco?” Martha said.

Draco smiled at the vote of confidence. Wishing to stand up to this respect he’s established with Martha, he decides to take charge. “Besides, the last time I was with them, members of the Order said that Aurors are around these parts looking for Death Eaters. Dolohov and Goyle were captured here.”

“Do not trust in the Ministry anymore, they have taken over,” Shacklebolt said. “We were captured by the Dark Lord because we were lured deep into the mountains by Lancaster and Waite.”

“What is going on?” Draco asked his nerves suddenly dropped to ground level again.

“I am not sure, but it will take many minds and hands to solve this mystery. Hopefully we will not be too late,” Shacklebolt said. “What a fate! That I should be left to decide which way to take…” He hesitantly looked towards the skies, and then looked back at the three. “Alright. Go to the Western most part of these hills, as far as I can tell their stronghold is in the east. With luck I’ll be able to get reinforcements and we will meet you there. Do not under any circumstances go back to these parts or you will meet the Dark Lord and you are well aware of what he and his group is capable of Draco.”

Draco nodded and swallowed hard. Shacklebolt carried Hestia on his broom and kicked, and was soon in the air flying towards Hogwarts. Draco sighed deeply before turning towards Martha who was now shivering. “We need to get some warm clothes.” He went to the fallen wizard, “What spell did you use?”

“The Cruciatus spell.” Martha answered casually.

“The Cruciatus spell?” Draco asked.

“Yeah.”

“You conjured an unforgivable curse?”

“Unforgivable?”

“Yes, it’s one of the three that only his kind use,” Draco informed her pointing at the body that was stiff as a log.

“Well, it’s a nasty spell, and he deserved it. So…come on get his cloak.”

“Candice, can you move?” Martha asked.

“Yes, yes I can.”

“Come on, we have to get going.” Draco said taking the robe off the wizard. “Here, take this it’s very cold.”

Martha took the robe and noticed something hanging around Draco’s neck. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Draco said.

“That! That thing around your neck!”

“My neck?” Draco echoed, and then he felt his neck and felt the chain and tried tugging at it. “AHHH! Fucking hell!”

“Here, let me,” Martha volunteered. But she too felt the volt of electric shock shooting through her arms and down her spine. “Bloody thing won’t come off! Where did you get it?”

They both looked at the wizard on the ground and saw that he too wore the same necklace.

“Come on, we’ll worry about this later. Right now, we have to move. Come Candice.” And all three headed out.


***

(Jan. 31)


“Shhh!” Ron said. “I’m sorry son…Rio, where are you?”

It was already 11:00 in the morning and Archer had been crying madly on the bed for an hour now. They were inside a hotel in Whimple; Rio was out trying to get some food, milk, and some in his own words ‘dough’. Ron paced the room nervously and would hush Archer every now and then - but it couldn’t be helped, the baby was now very hungry and had been trying to get milk all morning. The whole hotel room had floating objects everywhere that would be hurled against the wall every now and then and once in a while the electricity would fluctuate; Ron tried to catch some of the objects when possible because the last time something crashed and broke the manager came up. He threatened to call the police but Ron gave him a look enough to make his blood curdle so he left and did not come back - yet.

At around noon, Rio returned carrying three paper bags with food, water, milk, baby bottles, nappies, and a large pink baby bag with some clothes big enough for a one-year-old. Ron looked at the items one by one and frowned when he saw four wallets with money in them – Rio had become a thief.

“Rio…?”

“Don’t ask. Here, will this milk be okay?”

It could not be helped, Ron thought. So he shrugged his shoulders and decided to mix the milk. He gave it to Archer who drank it so greedily that he felt sorry for him; this is not how he wanted his son to grow up. He did not deserve to be entangled in such a predicament and Ron knew had Harry been around he would be furious. If he belonged to ordinary parents – a father and mother who would take care of him properly, not two teenage Knights running from the law – he wouldn’t have to wait for nearly three hours to get fed. Ron knew he had to leave him with someone else, until his ordeal is over. But that in itself was enough to give him another headache. Who was there to trust? Everyone he could trust was currently inaccessible.

He can’t just leave his son with any magical family around the area since he was now considered a criminal – he had killed a hit wizard in the frenzy earlier and the Ministry will certainly not let him get away with that easily. Announcements will be made and no doubt a manhunt will most likely be done. He has become a wanted wizard and in their attempt to capture him, his son might just become a casualty.

He looked out of the window again trying to figure out what to do. His eyes strayed out into the shop on the other side of the street and noticed a woman with a young boy whining behind her. It reminded him of another family that would have been the last people in his mind to leave his son to. Harry would have fought with him had he even as much as suggested it but at the moment they were the only choice left.

“We have to go to Surrey,” Ron said.

“Surrey? You mean London? Why there, I though you wanted to go to Hogwarts?”

“Harry has relatives there,”

“Harry’s relatives?”

Ron sighed. “Yes, his aunt on his mother’s side – she’s a Muggle. Fucking daft bitch! She and her husband were the ones that adopted Harry when his parents died. Treated him like shit!”

“And we’re going there because…?”

“We need to leave Archer with them,” Ron said.

“You think it’s good for your son to be with those people?” Rio asked.

“No. But right now, Archer is safer with them than with me.” Ron said. “I’ve no other choice,”

“Since we’re going to London anyway, why not leave him with the wizards there?” Rio said.

“I can’t,” Ron said. “I just killed a hit wizard. They’ll arrest me if they see me.”

“You did it in self defense, he was going to kill your brother.” Rio disputed.

“I know that, but they don’t. They would imprison me and schedule a hearing and I need to get to Hogwarts before Sunday.” Ron said. “I can’t be detained by the Ministry, it takes them weeks to get the Wizengamot ready.”

“I don’t know man,” Rio said.

“We’ll leave as soon as it’s dark.” Ron said. “We’ll have to take the train.”




The two Knights arrived at Little Whinging at around midnight. Ron saw the house once more where Harry had to spend a tormented childhood and ached; how he misses him. The thought of being with Harry physically even for just a day after so many days alone was driving him nearly out of his mind and there was nothing that would stop him, nor delay him from that chance.

He knew he was taking a huge risk by leaving Archer with the Dursley’s, knowing how cruel they could be, so he devised a plan while on their way here. Luckily the one person who will be able to help him execute the plan flawlessly was now walking clumsily towards them not knowing they lurked in the shadows of his house.

Dudley took out the keys to the front door and was about to insert it when he felt the cold blade of a dagger pressed against the skin of his neck.

“Do as I say and you won’t get hurt,”

“Who are you?”

“SHUT UP! Walk slowly to the back of the house.”

Dudley followed the instructions though he was shaking terribly and whimpering in fright.

“Knock on the door.”

Dudley knocked.

“Who’s there?” Vernon bellowed.

“Answer or I’ll cut you,”

“Dad! It’s me!”

The upper level of the house lighted up and Dudley was pulled back slowly. Vernon was now turning the fifth lock on his kitchen door and when he opened it Dudley’s horrified face greeted him and Petunia who shrieked.

“Shut up!”

“Who are you?”

“Never mind who I am, now listen to me or I will cut him up in many pieces.”

“Alright, alright! Please don’t hurt our son,”

A whistle was heard and from the hedges a hooded person appeared carrying a small bundle wrapped with many thick blankets. Petunia’s gapping face turned deathly white.

“This is my son, you will take care of him for me.”

“Why us?” Petunia complained.

“Because if you don’t I will slice open this big fucking bastard before me,”

Vernon glared at the hostage-taker and Petunia kept whining that they couldn’t take the baby in suggesting that foster homes would provision better than they would.

“I am not giving you a choice. You will take care of him, or Dudley’s dead.”

“How do you know my name?” Dudley asked. The dagger was pressed against his throat. “Sorry! Just wondering.”

“Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him!” Petunia cried.

“I will not hurt him, if you take care of my son. If you as much as neglect him, I will know and I will hurt yours.”

“What? Are you kidnapping him?” Vernon asked.

“I will return here, and we will exchange sons, and everyone will be happy.”

Vernon and Petunia wanted to protest by knew it was rather hopeless. They both agreed and the other gave them the baby and as Petunia carried the child she couldn’t help but be reminded of Harry. She looked at the hostage taker now, trying to recognize him.

“You’re one of Harry’s friends aren’t you?” Petunia asked. Vernon’s eyes narrowed at the insinuation. There was no answer. Instead the kidnapper pulled back Dudley and soon Vernon and Petunia were left alone with the child.