The Lord of The Fae

~~~~`~~~~~`~~~~~`~~~~~`~~~Meanwhile in another part of the city~~~~~~~`~~

The girl was carrying a bag of food under her arm. Her head was down and she scurried around like a frightened mouse. Danny knew he was much better then her, he knew that in the game of snatch the object to wining was to choose the right target. Never choose men who looked up. When you looked up it meant you were looking, and if he was seen he would loose.

He felt a pang of pain clench in his gut. Aunt Angey had lost. Someone had seen her, where she was now if she was even alive they didn’t know. They had watched the watch men drag her away to stand trial. Trails Dean warned him were not like they used to be. Danny didn’t remember how things used to be, all he knew was the games and how things were now.

Now he had to bring food Dean might be worried that he had wandered off but he wanted to help. Dean and Lee were changing; they were skinny and coughed a lot in the January chill. They didn’t eat enough; they always gave him their food. Dean didn’t get up like he used to. In the mornings Danny had to shake and yell before he would open his eyes. He moved less and less and coughed more and more. He remembered some things from the before time. The time of stories and warm fires and blankets, when mother would tuck him in and the winter chills could never reach him.

Dean always tucked him in. He would wrap Danny in his cloak and keep him sheltered and warm with his own body. Dean was sick, sick because he gave Danny his food and his cloak. Well Danny was going to do something for him; the woman had food good food. She probably had blankets and potions that would make Dean better again. Danny was going to play the greatest game of snatch he’d ever played.

If Seamus were here he wouldn’t hesitate to play snatch with the girl, Seamus was brave and always had fun adventures. It would be just another adventure, and this time when he got back he would be the one to tell a story, and Dean would smile again and be warm and not so skinny. He wouldn’t go away like Mum and dad had done. Danny pushed away tears; there was no place for crying. Crying made people look at you and in the game of snatch that was dangerous.

He was just another homeless child; there were a lot of them now. Parents killed in raids dragged off the streets for trials, hidden away by parents who never returned for them. No one looked at him, no one offered to help. Why would they. The people who were well dressed who looked healthy were pure bloods. They lived in big house and were always warm and loved. But you wasn’t always that way, sometimes The Dark Lord got mad and decided you no longer deserved what you had.

Then you went from pure to dirty, a blood traitor. His dad had been a blood traitor, and they had been killed. No one wanted to be labeled a traitor; he could be muggel for all they knew. It was better for them to be safe, better for their families to be safe. He hated the pure’s. He hated them because they were warm and he was cold, they were healthy and Dean was sick. They were cruel and Dean was kind.

It was too dangerous to snatch from them. To do that he’d have to enter their houses something Dean had warned him never to do. The servants were easier to snatch from, because the pures sent them on errands. It was easier to snatch the food on its way to the pures house then when it was already inside. When he snatched the servant got in trouble, he knew it happened. He had seen a pure’s idea of punishment to his servant for loosing the food.

He didn’t want anyone to get in trouble. As he watched the girl, he really didn’t want her to get in any trouble. She had long blonde hair; even in the pale winter sunshine it was beautiful. It reminded him of Mother. She might get cursed like the other servant he had seen, he didn’t want that. She wasn’t even as grown as mother had been. She looked more like Andrew had been.

As he followed her he knew he had to make a decision, she was nearing a row of big houses and he knew one of them might be her pures house. She might get hexed, she might not get up like that other servant. She had strange eyes, they were like the merfolk in the stories Dean would tell him. She was walking up the steps it was too late.

Dean was going to go away if he didn’t get potions and food. He couldn’t let that happen, Dean was…was…

He barely remembered the before time. All there was was here and now. Here and now Dean was the only one who cared about him. Dean told him stories and kept him warm even though he was cold and tired from the telling. If he let her go inside and put the food down and people saw her then she wouldn’t be blamed when it went missing.

Dean had told him never to enter a pures house, that he would be dragged away to the trials or sent to the slave pits. He was good at snatch; he could do it he knew he could. It was early afternoon the pure man would be at work and the pure woman would be out or sleeping. He could do it, he knew he could. He looked around then balled his fists in determination. He could do it he knew he could.

```change of view`````

Gabriella had laundry to do, and then she had to sweep the floors upstairs. It had taken her longer to get supplies today because the man at the market had wanted more of her money then he knew was fair. She was just a muddy, what did he care if her overlord grew angry at her. It was no harm to him, and it was no better then she deserved for allowing herself to get fleeced by greedy men.

She had just finished putting all the food away, Martha who worked in the kitchens had yelled at her for being late. Martha meant well, she was just scared that Gabriella was going to get hurt or worse bring punishment down on all the servants’ heads. She couldn’t afford to waist any time.

Still she lingered by the window facing the side yard, it was a bright and sunny day and just this time last year she would have been outside making snow angels or playing with her friends. Now she and her friends were stuck inside or in school learning to be good servants.

Not all of them, some of her friends could still walk in the daylight and play with each other. Some of her friends were pure bloods. Her closest friend no longer acknowledge that she existed, her mother had snatched her hand and dragged her away when she had tried to wave at Gabby.

It wouldn’t do to be seen as a servant sympathizer. Everyone walked around in a shadow of fear. Not Gabby, she feared nothing. She wanted sunlight she wanted to learn magic. She wanted to rush outside and make a snow angel and call for mum and Simon to come look at it and have them smile like before. She would have that again, she knew she would. She saw everything, she saw more then anyone thought she did. And she waited.

Everyone thought because she was little and beautiful that her head must be empty. Her overlord talked of his plans in her hearing as if she was deaf. He scared her sometimes with his secrete smiles and his touches. But he talked, and Simon always wanted to hear what he talked about. She would have her world back again. Mum wouldn’t have to work on her hands and knees anymore. Simon could get his job back and read all the books he wanted. And she could go outside whenever she wanted.

It was a dream of hers, a dream that was fast fadeing. She clenched one small fist. Not if she could help it. Then something caught her eye. A small boy was slinking along the side of the house. His cloths were too big for him, cleary made for a child much larger then him. He looked no older then four and his hair was shaggy obviously uncut for a long period of time. He was dirty and his head darted back and forth clearly looking to see if he was being watched.

One of the many homeless children most likely; there were so many of them. He must be really desperate to try and rob there home in mid day. Martha would catch him and he would be sent to the slave pits. A child that small would not last a day.

Unless

Gabby jumped down off the window seat and scurried as fast as she could down to the kitchens. Martha was putting away the supplies, and humming quietly to herself.

“Martha I need help, carrying the water bucket its too heavy. I cant do it” Gabby squeeked from the doorway. She tried to look as innocent as possible, and as scared. If she didn’t finish her chores she would be punished. Even though she would be ten in a week she was small boned and looked younger. She could still pull off a frightened young girl as well as anyone. Martha looked at her with sympathy.

“I’ll fill it for you. How about we help each other, you finish putting these away while I do that. That way neither of us will get in trouble. O.K?” Martha offered giving Gabriella a warm smile. She felt a tinge of regret, when the food went missing Martha would be blamed. Unless she ratted out that she had left Gabriella to finish, for her sake Gabby hoped she did. As soon as Martha had left Gabby scurried to the door.

```change of view```

The house was big, but not as big as the woods. The woods were vast and had many places to hide. Here he was open, where could he hide if someone came. His heart pounded. Now he knew why Dean had warned him, it was dangerous to be here. His feet made prints on the shiny floors; they also made too loud noises. Any one could come around a corner and see him.

Then some one did.

The girl appeared out of a doorway just up ahead and too his right. He halted in his tracks preparing to turn the other way and run for his life, but was astonished to see her eyes brighten and have her wave him over.

“Hurry up! What are you doing just standing there! And why didn’t you brush the snow off your boots your making tracks!” She hissed. She marched right up to him grabing his arm and hauling him into a kitchen. Danny could do nothing but dumbly fallow. He said nothing as she threw items in a bag.

“Are you alone? Do you have siblings? How much do you need? Don’t just stand there! She could be back any moment! Lord your too stupid too live, I’d watch it if I were you!” She chattered in a stream of questions and demands, she thrust a bag into his arms and glared at him with those hazel blue eyes.

She was pushing him towards the door again, glancing around frantically. Danny’s brain seemed to hitch back on gear and he turned stammering “Wait, I don’t have any brothers or sisters but Dean and Lee need potions. Their sick”

The girl rolled her eyes in frustration as if he were some great hardship of her forbearance. “Why didn’t you say so right away then? We don’t have time. Here you take that! Where are you staying I can bring you some things later?” She fired off.

Danny was so thrown off his track that it didn’t occur to him that it wasn’t wise to lead this girl to where they where hiding. All he knew was that Dean was sick and she was offering help. She was strange and confusing but she was smart, she moved in whirlwind of thought and motion and it fascinated him. She could help, he knew she could. So he told her.

“I’ll be there, I might need Simon to help me but I’ll be there. Can you carry all that? How old are you anyway? Five? No wonder you don’t know what you’re doing! She’s coming get going!”

And she shoved him out the back door. He lay sprawled in the snow gapping up at the door where she had just stood. He shivered from cold and fear, what had he done. Had he just delivered Dean into the hands of the pures. He picked up his bag and ran, tears running down his cheeks. He had to get back. They had too move before the girl brought the pures down on their heads.
~~~~`~~~~~~`~~~Outside Servants flats~~~~~`~~~~~`~~~~`~~~~~`~~~

The street was dark and lit only by torches. Along a flat row of desolate and empty looking buildings, street lamps stood like the hallow skeletons of some great beast planted in a museum. They were reminder that this used to be a muggel neighborhood and a poor one at that. Everything looked hollowed out cheerless, there weren’t many people on the streets. The sun was setting and it wasn’t safe to be on the streets at night. Watchmen and patrols had been known to throw servants into the slave pits simply for their own amusement.

Seamus and Hermione kept their faces hidden and cloaks tight as they approached one decrepit looking dwelling. “This could be a trap, Lupin and Neville are standing by but we have to be careful Seamus. How do you know he isn’t going to hand you over to the Patrols the moment you step in there?” Hermione whispered.

Seamus sighed; they’d been through this a thousand and one times. He didn’t know for sure, all he knew for sure was that every day he felt Dean less and less. Time was running out and he needed to find him. He wasn’t going to loose him, he just wasn’t. If it was a trap it was well worth the risk.

“Because Hermione it would have been much easer to give me away on the street! Why some elaborate trap?” He reasoned as they walked up the steps to the flat buildings.

“Because this way they get all of us instead of just you” She pointed out as Seamus knocked. True. But not without a fight.

The door creaked open, a woman with dull blonde hair and blue eyes peeked out at them. She looked down trodden and weary. Her eyes were frantic darting back and forth, he breath came in shallow pants. The sheen of fear in her eyes faded when she saw that it wasn’t patrols at her door but two young people dressed in servant’s garb. However the look of frantic worry remained. She wrung her hands and gave them a tight smile.

“You must be the friends Simon mentioned. In these times it is rare to have visitors. I am happy he has found friendships, “she turned and called inward, “Simon your friends are here.” She moved away from the door, glancing out in the hall as if hoping that she had missed something. Simon emerged from a door way and greeted them with a smile. Then he turned to his mother with a worried smile.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep mum” he suggest placing a guiding hand on her shoulder. She shook her head and her shoulder shook.

“I won’t sleep a minute until she gets back.” She whispered but nevertheless allowed her son to guide her. Hermione and Seamus glanced back and forth at one another. When Simon returned from the small room in the back he gave them an apologetic and weary smile.

“I’m sorry about that, it’s just that my sister Gabriella has not returned from her post. We are worried naturally.” He sighed wearily glancing at the door. He looked different then Hermione remembered him. He had graduated Head Boy and best in his year, a year ahead of them. He had always been tall and blonde but now he was gaunt and pale.

He looked underfed and overworked. His glasses remained perched on his nose as always but the small silver frames had obviously been broken and repaired with wire and tape many times. His robes where shabby and unkempt, a far cry from the immaculate prestigious boy she remembered. Then their was the obvious factor that he was no longer seventeen and had, had the chance to fill out nicely into manhood.

He had a sort of bookish charm that appealed to a lot of women. He was the safe guy, handsome but kind with a good heart. His nose stuck in a book he might forget he left a cauldron boiling, or that the kid needed to be picked up from a friend’s house. He was the boy next door who all girls eventfully realized were right in front of their noses and thy had been looking in all the wrong places.

Utterly harmless in her opinion, she relaxed a little and cast him a sympathetic smile. “Of course we can only hope she is all right. We don’t have much time. What do you know about Dean?” She asked. Might as well cut to the chase, the less time the spent in the open the better. Seamus tossed her a look, which she ignored tapping one foot restlessly.

“You haven’t changed much I see Granger. I don’t know much about it, just what I’ve overheard. My overlords name is Hayworth and he’s a Death Eater. He’s in close to You Know Who so I hear things. I know for a fact that the dark lord was angry that Dean and another prisoner a little boy had escaped. The little boy was his only assurance on keeping a pure blood family in line. A family by the name of Engilton. That was eight months ago, the very night all this started to be exact.” Simon explained.

Seamus nodded, “so he’s being hunted have they any idea where he might be?” He didn’t know whether he should be relived when Simon shook his head no or disappointed.

“No, they lost track of him a month ago in a town miles from here.” He replied. Seamus sighed it was a start. They could go to this town and start making inquires.

“They fond a wanted woman, Angelina Johnson and she was put under questioning. She revealed that she was traveling with Dean the boy and Lee Jordan.” Simon revealed a flash of regret in his eyes. Seamus cringed. He didn’t want to think too hard on Angelina’s fate, she didn’t deserve that. He was however happy to know that Lee was ok, Lee had always been one of the more interesting older students. He’d missed his commentaries on the quiditch field after he’d graduated.

He was about to say as much when Hermione tensed drawing her wand. A moment later he heard it too. The sound of approaching footsteps, then someone knocked on the door. The three young adults eyed each other, Simon gestured for them both to be quite and hide themselves. He walked calmly to the door and opened it just a crack. Seamus felt a jolt of relief when Simon threw it open with a shout of anger and relief.

“GABRILLA WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!” His shout was loud enough to wake the dead but he was engulfing a small body in a tight and shaking hug. He griped her just a little too hard and she squirmed.

“it wasn’t my fault Simon. Danny needed medicine and I just wanted to help but the stupid boy got scared and they where trying to move. That just made him worse though. He’s real sick, coughing up blood. And its his own fault too because he doesn’t wear a cloak and sleeps in the snow."

And I had to light a fire because he was turning blue and Lee didn’t want to trust me and insisted on seeing if I was being fallowed, and I tried Simon but you have too come with me. The mans dieing and I don’t know how too brew potions!” The little girl rambled in a rush of words, a mix of apologies explanation and demands.

“Wait did you say Lee Gabby. You were helping a little boy and a man named Lee?” Simon asked, trying to be sure he’d heard her right. She yanked on his arm in frustration.

“Yes aren’t you listening, and theirs another one but he’s dieing and Danny kept crying so I didn’t get his name! I need you to brew potions. I’m sorry I was late but Lee wouldn’t let me go, he thought I would turn them in or something else stupid but he’s only getting worse and Danny started crying again and Lee said alright cause he’s dieing so come on!” The little girl pleaded in exasperation.

Seamus heart caught in his throat. The other one could only be Dean, he felt immense joy and fear wash his heart at the same moment. He’d finally found him, but he might loose him. Because his arrogant stupid lover thought he could survive on his own without a coat! Knowing Dean he’d give it to the little boy, he’d give him his shirt if he had too. He was so foolish sometimes. He was beautiful, he was the kindest man in the world and it was up to Seamus to save him from himself.

He motioned to Hermione, “go back for Lupin and Neville fallow us” Then he turned to Simone and the little girl. “Lets go.”