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The Moment They Would Never Forget


Bilius turned, aiming his wand in the general direction of a large bush, his ginger hair looking nearly purple under the pale blue of the moonlight. “Watch it,” Derek hissed through the dark, knocking the tip of Bilius’s wand away from his chest.

“Sorry,” Bilius whispered, “I thought you were an Inferius. It’s too bloody dark to see anything.”

Chriselda said, “Shhh.”

The two boys fell silent.

They were in the trees near a field that lined the back of a small muggle farm house in the country, just north of London. The Inferius had been reported not far from there, and the members of the Resistance had spread out across a wide area in hopes of capturing the inferius before they could harm any of the muggles. They could just barely make out the shape of Ted Tonks and Professor Flitwick across the field.

“Did you hear that?” Chriselda asked, her voice barely a breath. She looked ‘round at Bilius and Derek.

Bilius listened. “I don’t hear anything.”

Derek hesitated, then shook his head, “No… No, Chriselda’s right. I do hear something.”

Bilius turned to cover their backs. “Something like a cursed dead body moving through the trees seeking human flesh to feed upon?” he asked, a nervous twinge to his voice.

Chriselda laughed quietly in spite of herself at the specificness of the question.

“Dunno if that’s exactly it, mate, but it’s a sound,” Derek answered. He raised his wand with his left hand and reached his other back to grab hold on Chriselda’s free hand. Their fingers intertwined.

A long, tense moment passed and then a branch moved and Bilius rose his wand high, taking aim, prepared to throw a hex when he realized it was McGonagall whose neck he was aiming at and he quickly lowered his wand.

“Anything, Professor?” Derek asked.

“Not yet,” she replied. She glanced back over her shoulder into the darkness where she’d left her search party - a small cluster that included Charlus Potter. “We’re going to be spreading out a wee bit more,” McGonagall explained, “We want you lot to stay here, guard the muggle home, and send a patronus if you need help.”

“Yes m’am,” Derek agreed.

“We’re not going too far, just over this ridge.” She pointed.

“We’ve got it covered,” Bilius said, saluting as though he were in a military.

McGonagall nodded and disappeared back through the trees as nearly silent as she’d been before. They heard a series of cracks through the trees - the party had disapparated - and Chriselda sat down on a fallen log with a sigh. Derek lowered himself beside her, pulling him into him so that her head rested against his chest as they waited in the dark, Bilius standing sentinal.

“So this has been going on nearly all term, has it?” Bilius asked, glancing at the two of them as Derek’s hand closed over Chriselda’s shoulder, holding her near.

Derek nodded, “Just about. I’ve been sneaking out after you and Alex had fallen asleep and we’d been meeting down by the greenhouses or in the little shed by the gates.”

“And nobody caught on to you, through all of that?” he asked, shaking his head.

“Well McGonagall did, around Christmas. That’s why I was put on probation,” Chriselda explained, “For seeing a student. It’s not technically allowed, you see. But then Derek came of age and he proposed. Once he was of age and we were engaged, then it wasn’t such a problem any longer and the probation ended.”

Bilius smiled and kicked Derek’s foot, “I better be your best man,” he said.

“Of course, you and Alex both,” Derek replied. “Even if you were prepared to hook her up with Professor Kettleburn.”

They all laughed, and in their mirth they’d nearly forgotten why they were there in the woods. They were just three friends for a moment again, like old times, when Chriselda had been at the school and they’d had their fair share of adventures and good times. It was good and comfortable and familiar and the moment would be one that none of them would ever forget, one of those that seemed preserved, like a flower pressed between the pages of a book.




Crack!

The horses shifted, uneasy in their stalls, hooving the hard earth beneath them and letting out a little trill of a whinney as the dark-bushy haired figure that had just appeared caught herself by the door of their stall, giggling manically. She clapped her hands around the narrow, whippy little wand she clutched with her thumb as she hopped about in excitement.

Crack! Crack!

One of the horses reared as two men appeared - one dark and calloused, the other tall and pale. “Shut up, Bella,” muttered Rudolphus, glaring at his wife and sending a silencing spell at the horse before the squealing cries it was letting out called attention to them. “Stop that noise before everyone in the bloody Resistance knows we’re here.”

Bellatrix Lestrange frowned and calmed, but she hissed, “I can’t help it if I’m excited. The Dark Lord has given us another important job, Rudolphus. Don’t you see? He trusts us!” She danced about silently, in spite of the glowering look that her husband was giving her.

Lucius Malfoy ignored them both, looking about the barn with a cool, level gaze. “Quiet, both of you,” he said heavily. Though he was much younger than either of them, his voice had been strong enough that both of the Lestranges silenced and looked to him.

“What is it, Lucius?” Bellatrix asked, sweeping closer to the pale-haired boy.

He was at the door, hidden by shadow, squinting out through the darkness that surrounded the barn, away across the field beyond. The blue moonlight flooded over the grass and cast shadow beneath the overhanging branches of the trees, but a flash of blue and a slight movement in the distance had caught his eye “There,” he pointed, “Under the trees.”

Rudolphus and Bellatrix both looked, too, and Rudolphus whispered, “All alone - youngin’s ain’t s’posed to be all alone. Poor things happen when you leave your wee ones alone, you’d think they would know better’n that.”

A very familiar laugh carried across the field then and look of euphoria crossed Malfoy’s face as he let out a breathy hiss, “Weasley.” Lucius grabbed the hemming of his hood. “I’ve been waiting for this for a very… very long time,” he whispered. “Let’s go,” Lucius commanded the other two, “And quietly… I don’t want this chance ruined.”




Bilius was laughing so hard that he was very nearly doubled over, clutching a narrow tree’s trunk for support. “Bloody hell,” he wheezed, “...Or… or remember the time… the time that Ravenclaw, Kingsley, he was such a know it all, we charmed all his books to rearrange their sentences!”

Derek slapped his knee, tears coming to his eyes as he hooted with laughter. Chriselda gasped, “You didn’t! Oh you’re horrible!”

“But Kingsley deserved it, you can’t say he didn’t!”

“Oh he certainly did! He was in my year, you have no idea what it was like for us! Every one of the ruddy Defense teachers would go on for ages about this one brilliant Ravenclaw and of course we all knew they meant Kingsley. And it was all the Defense teachers - every term! They all thought they’d discovered him, as though their brilliant term of teaching had made him what he was.” She rolled her eyes, “You know he ended up in the Auror program? He’s studying with Moody.”

“Good on him!” said Derek, “I’m glad he’s doing what he loves.”

“As should you,” Chriselda said firmly.

“I was just having that talk with him this morning at the N.E.W.T.s,” Bilius said, “Ridiculous this one’s thinking of giving up on his dragons. You were always going on about Dragons like a bloody fount of information about them, you were. I swear if I had to hear even one more ruddy thing about ‘em I would’ve hit you over the head with one! Even sent my brother Arthur a book on them for his boys when my nephew, Charlie, was born!”

“It was a fantastic book, too,” said Derek, “A pop-up! These little paper dragons flew up from the book and confetti fell from their mouths when they breathed fire. It was glorious. They’re lucky I didn’t keep it for myself.”

“You can’t give up on dragons,” said Chriselda.

“Yeah,” Bilius said, “Just because you lose somebody, doesn’t mean you give up on your dreams, does it?”

Derek shrugged, “You don’t understand, Bil, you’ve never lost anyone yet. It’s a lot harder than you realize to keep holding onto dreams when there’s an empty hole in you.” Derek took a deep breath as Chriselda put a hand on his knee. The laughter they’d been sharing suddenly became quite a solemn moment.

“I’m here for you, love,” she whispered. “You know I am. I can’t fill the hole… but I can bridge the gap.” She leaned over and kissed Derek’s cheek tenderly.

Bilius smiled for a moment - the sight of Chriselda and Derek together was comforting and hopeful, as though knowing that if they could have love then there was some goodness left in a dark and twisted world. He felt warm inside. Then, as they continued kissing, he said, “Aw c’mon you lot, don’t go snogging while we’re on assignment.”

“On assignment guarding an empty field!” Derek said with a frustrated guffaw. “They succeeded in keeping us safe after all. We should’ve known McGonagall wouldn’t let us actually help them fight off the Inferius.”

“Yeah - we aren’t going to ever see any real danger,” Bilius said resentfully.

“I would beg to differ on the matter,” said a cold voice through the trees.