A Dark Time For The Light

6

Ginny and Draco were sitting nervously in Father Anselm’s study when the phone rang. He excused himself and answered it. The two of them heard bellowed speech. Father Anselm had to hold the receiver away from his ear a bit. He eventually thanked his caller and hung up. He gazed sadly at the two youngsters across from him, “I’m sorry, that was Alastor Moody. He was called to a hospital to see another of your people. Bit of an emergency, apparently He can’t come until tomorrow now, but he said he’ll be here earlier, about five”. He looked at their crestfallen faces. Draco shrugged, “Tomorrow it is, then”. They tried to hide their disappointment.

Next day they helped out in the garden, weeding and planting. Ginny, quite a capable gardener, Draco hadn’t a clue until Brother Andrew pressed a basket into his hands and asked how good he was at tree-climbing, only the early apples tended to ripen at the tops of the trees...

Draco needed no more encouragement and in moments his long limbs were snaking up a tree. Ginny watched, giggling, then returned to her task of planting potato seedlings. The Community enjoyed a simple lunch of thick soup and home-made bread then returned to their tasks. Ginny started to help prepare the evening meal taking solace in the simple act of peeling carrots and potatoes letting the tasks relax her for the first time in days. She cried a little for the child she missed and wondered how he fared.

Dennis sat beside her and saw her tears. She told him the whole story, from when she was snatched from her family to be married to Draco to the present day. He told of his brother, her year-mate, who worked as a photographer’s assistant, his own life in the Community helping the unfortunate, his Witch mother on the run somewhere, not with the Resistance, his Father still working past retirement age.

“It’s damaged everybody, hasn’t it?”, she asked, simply. He nodded, then told her of some of the other Magical folk who had passed through. Of parents and siblings lost. Families blasted apart by Voldemort’s genocidal laws. “There’s about a four hundred or so in the Resistance, altogether. More turn up all the time. There’s a network of Squibs and sympathetic Muggles helping out. Hogwart’s is closed”. Ginny’s eyes were wide in shock.

Hogwart’s!. CLOSED!!

“Why!”, she asked, aghast. “There were too few students after Voldemort decided who was ‘pure’ and who wasn’t”. She digested this information. “Then where are all the Staff?, the finest Witches and Wizards that ever were?”, she was clearly horrified at this news. “The staff refused to teach and lead under Voldemort’s conditions after Dumbledore was killed. The others agreed. Some are Underground, some have simply disappeared. Times are dark for the Light”. Her eyes were filled with tears as she nodded.

Just then Draco strolled in and took his wife by the hand. “Alastor’s here”. She grinned and rose, allowing him to lead her from the room, she cast a glance of thanks over her shoulder. Dennis winked.

The dowse was performed quickly and brutally. Moody’s style had no marks for subtlety or finesse, but by gods, it got the job done. If you were worked over in his inimitable way, you knew it. He shook his hands out, his eye revolving in it’s bizarre socket, “You’ll do. The pair of you. Welcome to the Light. Good to have a couple of purebloods in the ranks. But you’ll have to work”. Ginny shrugged. Draco looked a little more guarded.

Moody ordered them to get their belongings, he was taking them straight away. Father Anselm saw them out wishing them Godspeed and kissed the hand of each Witch and Wizard, “God be with you”, as the gate closed behind them. Draco and Ginny with their small packs on their backs followed Moody’s slightly hunched form into the early evening. “We must make a diversion on the way there”, the man said.

Draco was unsettled. Here they were, exposed in the middle of Muggle London and he was frankly, shit-scared. The man pulled a baseball cap over his roving eye and led them to a hospital. Ginny connected the dots first. “Father Anselm said you could not see us last night because you had an emergency to attend to in a hospital?”.

“Aye, and this is the boy. I think he needs to reconnect with his own kind”. He led them over to the flower stall and piled blooms into Draco’s bewildered arms, paid, and led the two inside.

Ginny entered the ward first. A sociable girl through school, Draco had elected her to figure out who it was they were supposed to be visiting. As a bit of a recluse through school, Draco thought he wouldn’t recognise the boy. It was when Ginny ran out of the ward laughing out loud and pushed Draco in with his arm full of flowers, that he skidded to a halt in front of...

Harry’s bed.

He had his chest bound, his arm in a sling, small cuts and bruises all over the place.

Harry had seen the blond hair before the flowers were lowered. His grin had tears in it. “Dragon?”. In a heartbeat Draco was beside him, his eyes shining. “Which bits hurt?”. Threading his fingers into Harry’s hair, a quick glance around. Everyone focussed on their patient.

Draco kissed his Harry for the first time in nearly two years, biting down hard on the desire that welled up as their arms wrapped around each other. As Ginny watched, she had tears in her eyes.

Draco determined that Harry was doing just fine, and in short order, by being an imperious git had had him moved to a private room where he could stay as his significant other, the hospital having an open policy, knowing patients recovered faster around their loved ones. He sent Ginny ahead of him with Mad-eye, after arranging for him to accompany them as Harry was discharged. Having just found his Harry, he wasn’t about to let go again.

She kissed her husband radiating goodwill for him even as a clench shook her gut, then left. Alastor led her onto the quieter Tube into the East End. Then to an emotional reunion with her brother. She pulled away, “She’s here, isn’t she?. I don’t care what state she’s in. I want to see her. NOW. Please”. She was led, hugged and greeted along the way by others of the Resistance. She figured the reactions would have been different had she entered with Draco. Right now, he wasn’t uppermost in her thoughts. She barely took note of her surroundings as she was led down dark corridors, Ron slightly in the lead. “Dean found her a couple of days ago, Gin and brought her to us. She hasn’t been dowsed or anything. She gave up her gear and fixings and asked us to put her in isolation. We have a space on another disused tube station. We call it the honeymoon suite cos it’s just one room with it’s own bathroom. It’s a bugger to get to, so you get left alone. Even homeless people haven’t found this one”.

“Where exactly are we, Ron”?. He held up the torch so he could see his sister’s face. “We’re on a disused bit of the Underground railway and we bagged ourselves a station. There’s still bunk-rooms from the Second World War when this place was used as air-raid shelters, so we’re slowly getting mattresses for all the beds. There’s a few glorified cupboards and offices as the couples’ rooms and we are using the old staff canteen as the main livin’ and eatin’ space. It’s a bit cramped, like, and getting worse as more join us. Altogether there’s about 60 of us down here”. They resumed walking, “So, what was it like being married to that git?”, Ron finally asked. “He’s not a git anymore, Ron. He’ll be here tomorrow. With Harry”.

Ron spun round and shone the torch at his sister. She winced and held a hand up. He lowered it a bit, “Sorry, sis. You’ve seen Harry!. Where is he?”. “He’s in Hospital, had a bit of an accident getting here, he’s a bit knocked around but he cracked a couple of ribs and broke a finger. He’s got nasty road-rash down one leg, but otherwise he’s fine. Moody’s dowsed all three of us and Harry should be released tomorrow. Alastor will bring them in the morning. Draco’s staying in the hospital with him”. He hugged her at this bit of news.

They came to a long spiral staircase stretching down into blackness. “We change lines here. Down we go”. He led the way. The narrow stairs went on and on and they emerged into a wide landing with a door set into the wall opposite. Ron checked his watch and held up his hand consulting a mashed up timetable that he withdrew from his pocket. Suddenly the space they were in was filled with a deafening roar. “We’re on a live line here. There’s another train in two minutes then we’ve nearly eight minutes. It gets a bit hairy if trains are late, but I know where the engineer’s shelters are”.

This was baffling Ginny but she followed obediently after her brother, “Don’t, whatever you do, step on that line. It’s the live line and will fry you to a crisp in seconds”. Ginny shuddered as they let themselves down onto the line and along the tunnel. Hugging the wall they crept along until Ginny could feel the space open out over head. Ron shone his torch at the wall and Ginny couldn’t quite read the name of the station. With a nimble leap, Ron vaulted onto the platform and held a hand out for his sister, she clambered after him. He pulled them away from the edge as a high-pitched whine from the rails told them a train was on the way and it shot past them at high speed. Ron flicked off the torch as it sped by.

He re-lit the torch and led them away from the platform, round a curve in a tiled corridor and up a short flight of steps to a door marked Station Master. He knocked three times.

“’Mione. It’s me, Ron. I’ve someone with me. Can we come in?”. They heard movement, “No, Ron. I don’t want to see anyone in this state. I can’t. I’m a bit better, but I’m still a mess”. The voice beyond the door was low and cracked. Ron smiled at his sister, “Your turn”, he mouthed.

Ginny knocked softly, “Baby, it’s me. Let me in, sweetie. I know. I talked to Sister Agnetha at the College. Please, love. I’ve missed you so much”, her tone pleading. A murmured, “Okay, then, but brace yourself. I’m not a pretty sight”. Ginny lifted the latch and went in followed by Ron.

A thin palliasse mattress atop two pallets lay on the floor, on which Hermione, shivering violently, sweating and sneezing, lay. In one glance Ginny knew she was seeing cold turkey close up. There was a sour smell in the room and Ginny knew it came from her junk-sick lover. Without a second thought, she sank down beside her beloved and held her, “’Mione, I’m here now. I’m yours, you’re mine. Forever, baby. Come back to me, love”. Somewhere in the horribleness, Hermione heard her and turned into her arms. “Gin!”. The redhead grinned, “It’s really me”, before scarred weak arms encircled her and Hermione turned and sobbed on her beloved’s chest.

After making sure that the girls had basic supplies, he handed Ginny a rather battered pack of sandwiches and left, “I have to get back, girls. See you in the morning, yeah?. Ginny, ‘Mione’s got the timetable and a torch if you need to get back. We’ll bring fresh supplies in the morning. You have brewing-up tackle here and fresh drinking water, there’s candles and the electric is connected for the plug socket, but no electric light”. Ginny rose and hugged her brother and let him go.

Hermione struggled to sit and raked her fingers through her sweaty hair. Ginny knelt on the makeshift bed and moved up until she had her lover in her arms again. She lifted Hermione’s sweaty tear-streaked face to hers and kissed her softly, then smiled, “I’m here now, babe. We had help finding this place and we’ve found Harry. Draco and him should be here sometime tomorrow.”. She held Hermione tight and laid them both down in the low light of two guttering candles and just looked at the skinny shivering woman in her arms.

She had lost so much weight, her bony knees peeking out from under the over-sized shirt she wore in lieu of a nightdress, her hair was stuck to her head, her cheekbones were prominent, dark smudges under her hollow eyes, a mish-mash of old and new needle marks on her forearms and around her feet.

Ginny felt a howl of anguish build as she held Hermione and let out the last weeks’ pain in loud sobs, the pair of them rocking together until they cried themselves out. “I’m going to be here when you wake, my love, forever”, Ginny promised as she felt Hermione slump in her arms. She watched her in sleep until she felt her own eyelids fall.