Black Orchid

Chapter 8 Unbound

The children falling out of the Floo was unexpected, to say the least. The fact that they recognized Draco and Severus as their fathers was reassuring yet surprising. The little girl that Severus could plainly see was his daughter recomposed herself faster than Draco’s son, who still sniffled a little before moving closer to his friend. Severus and Draco exchanged a look, but stayed calm. The children’s words had chilled them, and they knew that there was no time to waste.

Severus moved first, kneeling down in front of his daughter. No, her name is Sage… call her Sage. “Okay, Sage, I know you are frightened, but I need to know exactly what is going on. What men are hurting your mothers?” At the mention of their mothers, both children let out fresh sobs, and Sage flung herself into her father’s arms. Severus gave Draco a bewildered look as he wasn’t sure what to do with the child, but he didn’t want to upset her further.

“Umm, yes. Now, Sage, I need you to calm down so that we can help both your mothers; we don’t have much time.” The little girl sniffled again, but the sobs had died out. Thank Circe she is calming down, I am never sure what to do with crying women. Sage took a staggered breath, but grew calmer. Severus wondered if she was articulate enough to explain what had driven them to come all this way. He shuddered at the idea that Albus might have closed the international Floo and then the pair would have been good and lost.

Finally the little girl was ready to talk. “It happened maybe thirty minutes ago. Someone knocked at the door. Aunt Ginny went to open it, and the first thing she said was, ‘Oh, no,’ then she said, ‘Breadfruit…’” Letting out a deep breath, Sage continued. “Breadfruit is the code word for us to hide, so me and Dante ran and hid in the room that we are supposed to go to.” The memory made her eyes well up, and Severus was afraid she would start sobbing again. Kneeling at her side, he looked directly into dark eyes that were so much like his own.

“Sage, I need you to stay calm, that is the only way we can help your mummy and Aunt Ginny. Okay?” She nodded and continued with her story. “Mummy used some hexes and then she screamed. Mummy never screams like that, so I knows that the mens hurt her. I grabbed Dante’s hand and ran out, wanting to help Mummy. When Mummy saw us, she was lying on the floor crying, and she looked hurt. I wanted to go to her, but she shook her head and mouthed ‘office.’ I knew that she meant for us to go to the office, so we went through the Floo. I don’t think the mens saw us; they were hurting Aunt Ginny though.”

Draco stiffened at the idea of Ginny being tortured. He could only guess from Sage’s description that the attackers had used Crucio on the two women. At this point, Dante was finally calm enough to pipe up. “That’s when we decided to come here. I knew that my daddy would help my mummy.” He looked over at Draco adoringly.

Severus walked to the Floo connection in his room, taking some powder and throwing it in calling for Dumbledore. “Albus? We need to come through. We have two guests and a problem.” Nodding at the children, they went through the connection and into Dumbledore’s office. Albus was sitting behind his desk, and his only response to seeing the young children was to raise an eyebrow at Severus and lift the lid of his candy bowl. “Lemon Drop, anyone?” Only the children seemed happy with the offer and carefully took one each before taking a seat in one of the chairs together. Albus looked at the two men expectantly, waiting for an explanation, and Severus was quick to give him one.

“Their mothers have been attacked, and they came here hoping that Draco and I would save them.” Albus got an understanding look on his face before he turned to the youngsters.

“You two made the right decision coming here. Now I want to you think very carefully. Do you know the name of the people who attacked your mothers?”

Both children stilled and seemed to be in deep thought as their minds went over the past fourty-two minutes. Then Dante looked over at his father. “I think Mummy called one of them Nott.” Sage’s eyes grew wide, and she nodded furiously. “They were wearing all black robed clothes, and I couldn’t see their faces.”

The name brought back bad memories for both men. They had suspected the Death Eater had survived the final battle, but they hadn’t had a clue as to where he was hiding. Now it was becoming clear that he had gone looking for revenge and apparently found it.

Draco ran his hands over his face, hating the idea that Nott had found and was harming Ginny and Hermione. “How could he have possibly found them? It took us this long to find them, and that was an accident—unless….” Draco’s face went ashen as he considered that they might have led Nott and his companion to the women. “They must have been watching us. Damn it, Severus, we led them right to them.”

A hush came over the office as everyone digested this new information. There had never been any indication that either Severus or Draco had been monitored, and granted, until they came across the research done by Sarah Kendall, a.k.a. Hermione Granger, they almost never left the castle other than the occasional trip to Hogsmeade or Grimmauld Place. That meant one of two things: Either there was a spy in their midst, or Nott had known all along that the women had not died and thought that the Order knew as well.

“So then, Albus, we’re heading back to the cottage, where hopefully these children’s mothers are, and then we’ll be back.” The words sounded light hearted for the children’s sake, but Severus wondered if it would not be better to be upfront and let them know there was a good chance that their mothers were dead.


***


Severus and Draco took the same path that their children had taken, first going back to the Apothecary and from there, to the cottage. When they came through, they had their wands drawn, ready for an attack. The smoke was the first thing that hit them as they came out of the Floo. Draco stumbled over an upturned chair. The cottage was on fire, and from what little Severus could see through the smoke, he could tell that the girls had put up a fight. The idea that they wouldn’t go down without a fight made him feel a little bit better, but still they couldn’t possibly know all of the dark spells that the Death Eater knew. Both men cast a Bubblehead Charm on themselves to make breathing easier as they searched for Ginny and Hermione.

“Do you see anything, Draco?” Severus called through the smoke. The two men had moved in opposite directions, hoping to cover more area faster. The response was slow in coming, and that made Severus wary. “Yes, yes, I think I have found a body.” Draco’s voice cracked when he spoke, and Severus couldn’t tell if it was emotion or the smoke. Following Draco’s voice, Severus made his way to Draco’s side where he saw a burned hand coming out from under an overturned bookshelf.

“There is no pulse… should we?” Draco didn’t even know how to form the question, but Severus understood, bending down to move the shelving. It took some effort on both their parts to lift if off the body, but when it was moved they both released a relieved breath. The body didn’t belong to either Ginny or Hermione. On the downside, it wasn’t Nott either. “Nott must have had an accomplice who wasn’t up to par.”

It was obvious that the skirmish here hadn’t gone the way Nott had planned, and both Draco and Severus assumed that he had fled once he had lost his advantage. Still they didn’t spend much time thinking about this as they continued looking for the girls.

“I’ve found one, Severus!” came Draco’s almost jubilant cry from the remains of the sitting room. Severus had gone upstairs and was going through the less mangled bedrooms. It was there that he found a very injured Ginny Weasley. Her eyes fluttered weakly at him, and she tried to speak.

“Not now, Miss Weasley, we need to get you out of here. Don’t worry, your son is safe.” Severus cast a stasis spell on her for fear that moving her would be fatal. Then with a Moblius Corpus, he led her prone form downstairs where Draco was holding an unconscious Hermione Granger.

Draco’s eyes held a question that he couldn’t bear to ask, but Severus answered anyway. “She’s alive, but barely. We don’t have time to go back to Hogwarts, but Brisbane has the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Hospital. We’d better get them there now.” With mixed feelings, both men headed to the Floo with their precious cargo, hoping that it wasn’t too late.