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Demented Dementors
Author: Griffin Price
Date: 01-28-09 13:01
Griff knew just enough of Goen Bren now he knew when to best time arriving and leaving. Some of the information he'd gathered on his own during working visits to the prison community. Some of the information had come from the Resistance and the Order of the Phoenix. He knows those two groups are working on a plan of attack on Goen Bren but Griff can't wait for that. He'd promised Carys to have her free and safe by a certain date and couldn't bring himself to change that to fit in with those other plans.
By now used to have regular inspections made by the Department of Magical Transportation, the guard hardly bothers with flicking his eyes over the work order authorizing Griff to be there. Griss jerks his head towards the door. "Like usual, I'm going to check the non Floo fireplaces first and work my way back here."
"Sure, go ahead. Say, you didn't happen to hear the score of that French-German matchup, the Quafflepunchers and the Harriers?"
"Yeah, the Harriers blasted the Quafflepunchers right out of the stadium. 400 to 10."
The guard's jaw drops. "You're joking?"
"Nope. Huge upset from what I understand."
The guard grins. "Bloody right it is. I had a chunk of galleons on that match and someone's going to be very upset when he has to pay up. Cor, I can take the missus to Tahiti now. Been after me for years to go."
Griff slaps the man on the arm. "Sounds like you'll be celebrating tonight."
"My shift ends in five minutes. I'm going to collect my money, put in for my vacation time and then go book the trip. Damn right there'll be celebrating!"
Griff leaves the guard, whose practically doing a happy dance. Once outside, the wind immediately begins buffeting him and now the full soul sapping force of the Dementors hits him. If not for the happy thought that in a very short time Carys will be out of this, Griff would have instantly become depressed and morose. As he walks past a couple more guards, Griff wonders how they deal with it. The energy and happiness zapping of the Dementors doesn't pick and choose who feels the effects. He also feels pity for those from the Order and Resistance who have done undercover work here.
Turning the corner of one building, Griff starts searching for Carys. She'd told him where she'd meet him but that she might be delayed. As he passes a door, he hears his name called in a low, urgent voice.
"Griff! Griff!"
The door is open a crack, Carys just visible on the other side. Griff makes sure no one's about then slips inside. From underneath coat Griff pulls out an invisibility cloak that Ruth pilfered from black ops supplies. The plan is for Ruth to return it before anyone notices it's gone.
Carys gives Griff a fierce hug and once again Griff can feel how bone thin she is. Cary is also shivering, though whether from the icy rain and cold temperature or from fear, he doesn't know.
"Are you sure this will work? The Dementors won't notice?" Carys nervously asks, draping the invisibility cloak over her head and shoulders.
"We aren't trying to breach the perimeter so no, they won't notice."
Griff makes sure all of Carys is invisible then urges, "Stay close."
"What about the guard on the Floo?"
"His shift is ending about now. I'm hoping he won't mention to his replacement that Floo maintenance only arrived a few minutes ago. If he did, I have a story ready."
Griff turns to look out the door then starts through it, feeling Carys putting a hand on his back, sticking close. They are halfway to the building with the Floo when several Dementors come into sight. From behind him, Carys says, "That's odd. They usually just stick to the fringe, around the edges of the community."
One of the Dementors peels away from the others, moving at top speed for a guard walking across the quadrant. Griff flinches, indrawing breath when the Dementar grasps the guard, the hooded head moving to that of the guard's, so close it can only be for one thing - the Dementor's Kiss.
"Carys, do you have the wand I gave you?"
"Yes."
"Have it ready and give me your other hand."
"Won't it look odd to someone who might see you walking as if holding hands with someone?"
From all around Goen Bren come the sounds of Patronuses being cast as more guards are attack and as more and more Dementors stream in from the prison boundaries.
"We won't be walking," Griff says, grasping Carys's hand, hoping that in her weakened state Carys can cover the distance needed at a dead run.
Rescue
Author: Carys
Date: 01-28-09 17:59
Carys felt the air around her grow even colder than it already was. Only Griffin's hand felt warm, and when he gripped hers more firmly and gave it an urgent, yet gentle tug, Carys forced her legs to move, even when she hardly felt like she had the energy or enough muscle to run.
Blasts of light and silver patronuses came from all sides. Carys saw these things in her periphery but focused only on Griffin's back, which she saw through the filmy cloth of the invisibility cloak. The hem bounced as she ran and probably exposed her feet from time to time, but she doubted very much that anyone would pay the leg- and bodyless feet any mind. Everyone was obviously preoccupied with something else.
A dementor suddenly swooped in front of Griffin, causing him to skid to a halt and for Carys to collide into his back. She nearly bounced off of him and fell to the ground, except that he still held onto her hand. Griff didn't hesitate for a moment and conjured his patronus, an imposing griffin that sent the dementor fleeing.
Carys felt herself shaking with fear. It was only the second time that she'd been so close to a dementor, the first being when she saved Professor McGonagall from getting kissed. Griff tugged on her hand again and then they were off, wending their way to the floo Griff had used to arrive at Goen Bren earlier.
They reached it without any other trouble. Griffin pulled Carys so that she stood in front of him, directly in front of the fireplace and whispered urgently, "Your father's house in France."
Carys hesitated. "What about everyone else?" she said in a soft, worried voice. "Urania. She's my friend."
"She'll get rescued," Griffin explained quickly, "there's a plan to get everyone out, but I'm starting with you. Now hurry! Floo to your father's. I'll be right behind you."
Carys grabbed a handful of floo powder from the carved box on the mantle and threw it into the hearth. "Manoir Blanche!" she stated, and she stepped into the green flames and felt herself being pulled away, at last, from Goen Bren.
A few minutes later, she arrived, spinning, in the living room at the house her father had lived in before his incarceration. At first glance, it looked remarkably clean. Carys had expected a thick layer of dust, since it had stood empty for two years, or so she'd thought.
"Carys? Is that you?"
She turned her head and saw her grandfather Alun looking older than he'd ever been, and in his arms he carried Tristan. Tristan gazed at his mother curiously, but Carys wasn't sure if he remembered her anymore. Tears began streaming down her face as she moved to cross the room to greet her grandfather and son, but then a severe cramp tore across her stomach. She buckled, gripping her middle, and started to cry out in pain just as Griffin arrived behind her.
Searching
Author: Jet
Date: 01-29-09 09:08
His voice muffled by a stack of books he's shifting, Jet says yet again, "Why isn't this working?"
With this morning be another apparition lesson at Hogwarts, Hermione and Jet had decided to apparate to the small house they'd found and look around more. They'd been other times but the advantage of Saturday mornings for now is being able to apparate in and not have to rely soly on the cover of an invisibility cloak. Jet would have been here every day if he could have but there's his work, which affords a nice cover plus does earn him wages, and Hermione's got a lot to deal with. With her Wizarding Healing and Muggle Medicine background, Hermione was needed recently to patch up those injured during a raid on another of the prison camps, including Jet who, in addition to getting battered and bruised, had gotten a nasty slice along one arm.
Moving from the stack of books, Jet decides to work some in the bedroom with the large mirror. He starts with a chest of drawers, pulling each drawer out and checking each and anything in it thoroughly. Every now and again he stops to look over his shoulder. Jet keeps getting the feeling of being watched and of not being alone in the room. Every single time he looks and sees nothing, he returns to his work, chiding himself for being silly. Any sense of movement he's getting is from his reflection in the mirror behind him or from Hermione, wherever she is in the house.
Sitting down on the bed, Jet stares at the contents of the drawer, wondering who left the doll in it and whether that child missed the doll after moving. That has Jet thinking about how that child would no longer be a child. If the family here preceded Professor McGonagall's tenure at Hogwarts then the child whose doll this was is grown with children and perhaps even grandchildren. Still, the doll has a sad, lonely look that makes Jet want to find its owner and return the doll.
Impulsively, he tucks the doll into a pocket then finishes going through the chest of drawers. When done he returns to the other room to get a drink from the hamper they'd brought. Knowing how dusty the house is Hermione and Jet started bringing something to drink with them so help keep their mouths and throats from getting absolutely parched while they worked.
Hermione joins Jet at the hamper. "It would help if we had some sort of clue."
Jet grins, "Something like whatever it is we're looking for causing our fingers to tingle when we touch it."
"Exactly. So rude of the person not to make this easy for us," Hermione jokes though there's not much mirth in her tone.
Jet can tell that Hermione is finding this horribly frustrating. As brilliant as she is and as good as solving problems and puzzles as she is, she's as stumped as he is as to what exactly they are looking for.
Finishing off the last drops of the drink he'd poured, Jet says, "Back to the hard slog." He takes a step then stops to say, "We WILL figure this out, Hermione." Returning to the bedroom with the mirror, Jet repeats that to himself as if by saying it again he will make his doubts dissolve.
(Urania) Attack at Goen Bren
Author: Illyria
Date: 01-29-09 19:43
Urania had been scraping ice off the windows of the warden's building when a sinking feeling fell over her. With dementors always in the vicinity of the community, Urania never had high spirits (which were difficult to obtain at Goen Bren, even if the dark creatures weren't nearby), but the feeling was so much more pronounced now than ever before that Urania knew something was terribly, terribly wrong.
She abandoned the scraping of the windows and hesitantly stepped out of the building's shadow, allowing the increasing intensity of despair and fear to guide her in the right (or wrong) direction. It wasn't long before she saw the source of the bad feeling. Dementors, many more than she'd ever seen at one time near Goen Bren or indeed ever in her life swarmed the community. Some hovered over and in front of guards and prisoners and sucked them dry in what Urania knew from learning about the creatures was the so-called Dementor's Kiss.
But not all dementors had it so easy. Some of the guards fought back, and patronuses of all shapes and sizes chased away the dark creatures. Some of the prisoners defended themselves too, using wands that Dedalus Diggle had gotten from someone on the outside. Urania had one too, but she'd foolishly left it beneath the loose floor board under her bed. She couldn't protect herself from the dementors and knew that her only option was to flee.
She sprinted in the direction she'd come from, only to skid to an abrupt stop when she came upon one of the dementors standing over the warden himself. The foul beast had its boney hand around the man's neck, which was craned at a near-impossible angle. Despite this, he didn't appear to be dead. However, in a matter of minutes, if not already, he'd be as good as dead.
Urania didn't let herself feel good about the fact that the man who'd run Goen Bren was on the receiving end of a Dementor's Kiss. She concentrated on getting to safety so that she wouldn't suffer the same fate. Her feet carried her into the building that she'd rarely stepped foot in herself. The fireplace across the room nearly took her breath away. Could she floo to freedom with it?
She rushed to it and grabbed a handful of floo powder. Some of it trickled between her fingers and onto the floor as she debated going back for Carys. In the end, she decided to go and see if she could send help. The problem was, she didn't know where she could floo and not risk getting snatched again. Going home probably wasn't an option. And she couldn't go to the homes of her siblings or her parents.
Urania didn't know what to do, and the longer she delayed, the more her heart hammered in her chest.
Make a decision! she urged herself.
To her surprise, someone she hadn't thought of in a long time came to mind. Someone who wasn't even alive anymore. Urania hoped that his old house was still in his name or she might find herself in deeper trouble than she already was.
She took a deep breath and stated, "Eastwick residence!"
Galvanized Into Action
Author: Ginny Weasley
Date: 01-29-09 20:27
Ginny can't decide if she feels bad or not for what she'd said to Ron yesterday about Percy. On the one hand, Ginny understands better than most why Ron seems to only have Harry's rescue on his mind all the time. On the other hand, Percy is a brother by blood. Percy can be an arse but that doesn't make him any less related.
While she's mulling over whether to give Ron a little more time then go apologize to him, Ginny's camped out by the fireplace on the Floo Network. A couple of people are giving reports via Floo later and it's Ginny's turn to sit on duty. While it's true the Floo Network is something the Ministry can monitor, this location isn't on, what was that term she'd heard Harry use once? Rodar? Redar? Something like that. There's no reason for this particular Floo to be watched and given the shortage of Ministry employees, even within the Relocation Assistance Committe, having the entire British network monitored at all times simply isn't feasible. Hence, the Order and the Resistance both liberally use the Floo when it best suits the need.
Feeling a chill, Ginny checks the time. It's probably safe to go on and start the fire now. The first report isn't due for a little bit yet but Ginny can't think of anyone who might be arriving by Floo between now and when the the first person due to report sticks his head in the Floo on his end to give his report. She kneels down and adds a couple of logs to what's already there then turns to get some kindling. As she does, she's knocked over when someone comes barrelling through the Floo Network.
Griffin Price staggers from the collision but doesn't fall. Reaching to grab Ginny he exclaims, "Dementors are attacking Goen Bren!"
Ginny stares blankly at him, dimly aware of her rump hurting from where she hit it just now. Griffin gives Ginny a shake. "Did you hear me?"
"Yes," Ginny says about the time his words sink in. More energetically she says, "Yes! Others are here. Tell them while I get a fire going so I can alert other locations."
Griff nods and races from the room. Ginny first sends out her Patronus with a message then turns back to the fireplace, hastening to finish getting the fire going. Her Patronus will reach some pretty quickly but she should contact as many as she can verbally before leaving for Goen Bren - because Ginny IS going. Apparating to some of the locations would be quicker but some are distant enough that communicating using the Floo is best. Plus, after she alerts a couple of places then someone at those locations can further spread the word. Wondering if Bill was working undercover at Goen Bren today has Ginny spurred even more quickly into action.
Within minutes those where she is are ready to leave and people at other locations won't be far behind. Ginny puts out the fire so that those using the Floo may do so. Some are apparating to the perimeter of Goen Bren but Ginny's one of the ones going via Floo. Wand clutched tightly in hand, Ginny grabs a handful of Floo power and steps into the Floo, fully prepared to step out casting her Patronus at Dementors.
Through the Looking Glass
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 01-30-09 18:25
It bothered Hermione greatly that she couldn't determine what had happened to Dumbledore. He just had to be in that house somewhere, otherwise Jet's Blood Hound device wouldn't have led them there time and time again. Not ready to give up just yet, Hermione busied herself with one of the bookcases in what had once been a study or office.
Dusty books filled the shelves from end to end, with a few knick knacks and other objects here and there. A tin box of some sort sat on the very top of the case, just within reach of Hermione's fingers. She rose on her tippy-toes to retrieve it and brought down a rain of dust along with the box.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, now that dust clung to her hair and clothing. She gingerly set the tin box on a lower shelf and walked into the bedroom with the mirror, where Jet worked to find a clue about Dumbledore's current whereabouts.
"What happened?" he asked her, taking in her appearance.
Hermione crossed the room and stood in front of the mirror, where she saw herself with flecks of dust in her hair and on her sweater. She started brushing the dust off her head when she replied, "I removed a box from the top of the bookcase in the other room and got caught in a shower of dust."
Jet nodded his head in understanding, having dealt with his fair share of the stuff since coming to the house. He turned back to his scrutinous survey of the room while Hermione continued to brush the dust from her head.
In the silence that followed, Hermione thought she heard a whisper cut through the room.
"Did you say something?" she asked Jet, turning to look at him over her shoulder.
He stopped looking at a picture on the wall and turned toward her. "No. What did you hear?"
Hermione didn't say anything for a long time. She remained fixed in place and forced her ears to listen intently. After a moment, she turned her head in the direction of the mirror and met eyes with her own reflection. She listened intently again and then slowly drifted her head closer to the smooth glass. When her nose was just centimenters from the mirror, she turned her head and pressed her ear against it.
"Hermione."
She jumped back and gasped.
"What?" Jet asked, not having moved any closer until then. He stood next to her and looked back and forth between her startled reflection and her actual face.
"The mirror!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing at it. "Dumbledore's in the mirror!" And she pressed her ear against it again and listened once more.
The whispered voice she'd heard before spoke to her again, this time guiding her in what to do. Jet watched Hermione's face without questioning her, not even when she stepped back again and produced her wand. She pointed it at her own reflection and stated, "Patefacio!"
In an instant, Hermione's own image morphed into that of Dumbledore, who stood taller than she. His clothes looked wrinkled, and he looked thinner and older but above all he more or less appeared to be the same Dumbledore a great many had been missing for a very long time.
"Hello Hermione, Jet," Dumbledore said as clearly as if he were in the room with them. He raised his palms and pressed them against the inside surface of the mirror, as if he were placing them against a window and looked out at somewhere he longed to go. "What say you to helping me out of this infernal mirror? I believe I lost my liking for it long ago!"