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(Greece) Bad News
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 02-16-09 02:50
Someone knocked the door. At the table the whole family freezes. They weren’t expecting anyone.
“Luke, Felicia, Johanna, upstairs.” Demanded Aunt Angela. “And girls, make sure you have your wands ready.”
They did what they were told. They’ve practiced that situation a million of times in case the snatchers appeared.
The three of them waited in silence. Johanna holds her wand firmly. After a bit aunt Angela called.
“That’s ok children. False alarm. Johanna can you please come down?”
She went downstairs. In front of her was a woman that Johanna had never seen but that she recognized immediately. It was Isabel, John’s mother.
She was dressed with travel robes and there was no sign of luggage. She looked tired.
“Hello.” She greeted. Johanna noticed her accent.
“Please Isabel, sit down.” Asked Aunt Angela. “You too Johanna.”
The two witches sat on two opposite sofas.
Uncle Luke and Aunt Angela stayed on foot watching the scene with no expression in their faces.
“What’s happening ?” she asked in a rude tone to Isabel. It was her defense to the panic that she was feeling inside. Did someone die? Did John die?
Like she had reading Johanna’s thoughts Isabel said:
“John is alive. But I’m here to tell you he’s been snatched.”
“What? How do you know?”
“He planned to go visit you in his holidays. But first he was going to make sure no one was following him so he caught the wrong plane on purpose. He was arrested in the plane. I know all this not only because he wrote to me telling me his plan, but also because I asked my house elf to watch for my son. He had seen it all Johanna. I decided to come and tell you personally.”
“No…he’s a pure. They couldn’t have done that…”
In her mind images of the hard times of Happy Haven flashed in her mind. The suffering, the loss…And now his brother was going to feel all that too.
“John is strong. Wherever he is I’m sure he will deal with the situation well.”
“You don’t know…They tortured us. And we were only children! John is an adult. Who knows what they can do to him!”
Aunt Angela sat near her niece and hugged her.
Isabel didn’t say anything. She remembered in August when her son come and looked desperate because he didn’t know anything about his sister. Johanna was now reacting the same way. There was no doubt they were close.
She got up. Her mission there was done.
“I need to go now. There’s a boat I need to catch. I don’t want to use the Floo Network nearby to don’t cause suspicious.”
Uncle Luke accompanies her to the door.
“Please don’t forget that your brother is strong. You both are. “
Desperate Times
Author: Marzipan
Date: 02-16-09 08:59
A gale of wind sent a spray of water through the cracks of the rickety old building at community 14-15-14. Marzi shivered from the moistness that seemed to coat every inch of her clothing and exposed skin. She loathed being perpetually wet and longed for the day when she could wrap up in a full-body towel and unshrivel her wrinkled fingers and toes.
Just as Marzi gripped the push-broom and prepared to sweep out the water that had just come in from under the front door, Abner appeared and whispered, "It's time." He kept on moving with a few others in his entourage.
Marzi inhaled a deep breath. She had known this day would come since Abner first approached her some time ago, but thinking about and actually doing that which Abner proposed they do were two very different things. After all, how could they disarm a bunch of armed guards without any wands themselves?
Marzi stowed her broom in the closet and followed Abner and the others up the stairs. More and more prisoners joined Abner during the exact time when guards were changing posts so that few were around to notice the growing congregation. Abner had planned it well, even if Marzi wasn't sure they would ultimately be successful. She looked for Illyria in the crowd but didn't see her friend anywhere.
They met a guard outside the warden's office. He managed to stun one person before being overwhelmed by the crowd. They burst through the door, where they found the warden seated behind her desk, dealing with paperwork.
Abner himself had the newly confiscated wand in his hand and pointed it at the warden, who rose from her chair and made no move to draw her own wand.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded.
"I think you know, madam," Abner snarled. "Too long have we suffered here. Now it's your turn."
Marzi didn't like the sound of that. She had been under the impression that they would take prisoners but that they wouldn't stoop to their level and torture them. She looked around into the faces of those gathered around her and saw, for the most part, the same kind of expression. Their eyes were hard and possessed something slightly maniacal. They were, without a doubt, out for blood.
The warden actually laughed. "You think you will succeed here?"
"I know we will." And with that, Abner made a gesture with his wandless hand. As one, the crowd surged across the room, but not before the warden could draw her wand. She used the Killing Curse on one person, but as with the guard, she was vastly outnumbered. It became a physical struggle. She lost her wand, which clattered on the floor and got kicked in Marzi's direction, who along with Abner had remained behind.
Marzi picked up the wand and gripped it tightly in her hand. She wanted to stop the madness occurring in the office but she didn't know how. She also didn't think she could. Instead, hearing footsteps down the hall behind her, she turned and spied a pair of guards headed her way. Even though she was vastly out of practice when it came to doing magic, she instinctively knew what to do. She stunned one, using the doorframe as cover, and Abner, who'd come up behind her, stunned the other one.
"Grab their wands," Abner instructed, before turning back to the relentless mob.
Marzi swiftly entered the hall and grabbed both wands. In the meantime, the crowd that had surged upon the warden lifted her and carried her to the window. They pushed her through it, glass at all.
Marzi stood up straight, hearing the crash and the loud scream that immediately followed until it was abruptly silenced by the rocks below. She couldn't believe what the others had just done. She stood fixed in place by the prone figures of the stunned guards and started to shake.
Abner was soon by her side and plucked two of the wands from her hand. He passed them to two wizards in the crowd and said, "Let's toss these too."
"No!" Marzi exclaimed. "We can't kill them."
"Why not? They'd have done the same to us eventually," Abner retorted. "If not physically themselves, then they would have led us to it. Think of all the suicides that have happened here. They deserve to die."
Already, someone was dragging one of the bodies into the office and toward the window.
"I don't think it's up to us to decide what they deserve," Marzi replied in a shaky voice. "I think they should be bound and kept prisoner until justice can be served."
"Justice?!" Abner spat. "There is no more justice in this world. You know that!"
Marzi shook her head sadly. "You're becoming exactly what they are," she whispered. "You're murdering in cold blood."
She waved a hand at one of the prone wizards. "He can't even defend himself!"
Abner fixed Marzi with a hard stare, but then his eyes softened and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You've been under a lot of stress. You're emotions are running high. I think you need to rest. You can do that now. You can rest. No one will stop you."
Marzi shook her head but she realized there was nothing she could do to change the mind of Abner or anyone else. They wanted their revenge, and they wouldn't stop until they got back at everyone who had ever done them wrong at the community.
Can't Stop Yawning
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 02-16-09 12:14
Phin stifles a yawn, wishing he knew of some way to get out of going to class, but as he gets closer to the classroom no good, verifiable excuse comes to mind. Too bad this particular professor is one who insists on having proof of why someone misses a class meeting.
Sliding into his desk, Phin covers another yawn. Since early Saturday morning Phin's had very little sleep. Really, given that he hardly slept Friday night, the lack of sleep extends back a little further.
Phin had been one of the ones on the disguised to look like a bus RV. Drake Bennett and he had disguises using some stuff called latex that Drake learned about from Aaron Miller. Drake got more information on it from Aaron's Muggle family and together with Phin had come up with disguises using latex, special adhesive, paints, and make-up.
Only after the RV as bus was well out of sight from Camp Lollipop and the spell on the outside of the bus had changed so that it once more, from the outside, looked like a regular Muggle recreational vehicle, did Phin peel off the latex mask. The RV was pulled over at the time allowing Drake, who'd been driving, to do the same.
The inside of the RV still looked very bus-like at that moment so Drake had addressed those on the lower tier while Phin on gone to the second one. Phin let the kids there watch as he pulled away the mask and as soon as his real face was revealed his cousin Gloriaspasiana had squealed, "Phin!"
She'd thrown herself from her seat at him in a hug. Phin had barely gotten himself disentangled when cousins Barontaine, Cornington, and Leonine had thin, scrawny arms wrapped around him. He finally gave up trying to get them to let him go, instead leaving them clinging as he addressed the other children.
"My name is Phin. These four are my cousins and let me tell you, I am as happy to see them as they are to see me. You are all free now."
A smallish child sitting near him asked in a tremulous voice, "Does that mean we don't have to go back?"
"That's exactly what it means. We are taking you where you will be safe, warm, dry, and fed."
"Where's my mommy?" one ask.
Other similar questions piled on top of that one. Phin and the other adults upstairs required a number of minutes to get them quieted down enough to listen. From the sounds coming from the lower tier, a similar thing was taking place.
The RV got moving again, with those stationed upstairs and down answer questions, giving reassurances, passing out milk and small crackers in limited quantities so as not to make sick any of the children or the adults also rescued.
Everyone seem to be reassured, Gloriaspania had asked him, "How come your disguise is different from the others?"
"Drake downstairs and I volunteered to be able to quickly get rid of our diguises. I volunteered because of you and our cousins there," Phin said with a nod to where their three Marchbanks cousins sat together. "Drake has cousins rescued today too. If some of you knew us to trust us, then we hoped the others would too and believe you are really rescued and that this wasn't some sort of mean trick."
Questions came in a steady stream during the trip to France. Once they'd reached the first destination, everyone was off-loaded to a camp ground where showers and baths were provided along with clean clothes. Many of those who'd been on the bus to help with the rescue left from there. Others, like Phin, stayed to help with getting all the children to people who would care for them.
Only after thye'd made sure they had a full roster of names and most of the children and the rescued adults had gone off to new locations with more reassurances of safety, had Phin taken his cousins to their next place. Drake and Phin were taking their cousins across the Atlantic and Phin was also taking two children by the last name of Kegg. Some of Drake's would go to stay in the US and some were going to go on to Australia to stay with relatives there. Phin's cousins were, for the time being, going to stay at places Phin's dad and stepmother had arranged. The two Kegg children under Phin's, Margaret and Louis, are the children of Uncle AJ's ex-wife. Phin wass taking them to a distant relative of their father's who lives in Canada.
After seeing everyone to their destinations, Phin had gone to his father's for a quick visit and to see how the Green twins and Olive were doing. Phin's been very concerned about Olive's state of mind ever since Kody Reese-Emerson prevented Olive from killing the Happy Haven warden Alecto Carrow.
Phin hadn't gotten back until late Sunday night. That was about the time he remembered a big assignment due today that he hadn't quite finished. Phin spent what was left of Sunday night and part of this morning making sure everything on the assignment was completed and fit to turn in.
Now, all he wants is to get the assignment in, for the class to be over, and for him to be able to go and crawl into bed. Eyelids drooping, Phin expends what energy he's got left into staying awake during the droning lecture.
What Is That?
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 02-16-09 17:19
Gripping the mesh of a fishing net, I can't help but grunt from the effort of hauling it in. On the other side of the net, Phoenix Everard is grunting as well whereas on the opposite side of the small boat, Hagrid easily hefts the other net all by himself and without so much as breathing slightly hard.
Hagrid gets his net fully on board then moves to help Phoenix and I finish pulling our net in. As we're working to empty the nets into the small boat's equally small hold Hagrid says, "Ya dinnit say when ya think tha rafts'll be ready ter go."
"Unless we have a setback, we should have enough done for all of us to go by sometime next week. And I do mean all of us."
Phoenix asks, "Harry's still saying he'll stay behind as a diversion?"
Hagrid nods, his always shaggy head now a thick bush that practically hides his features. "Stubborn, 'arry is. Oi've said enuf times now, if 'arry stays then Oi be stayin."
I give Hagrid's back a pat. "We keep telling you that with the extra rafts we've been able to make, no one has to stay behind. There doesn't have to be a draw like when we thought we'd only be able to get one raft, maybe two made."
"I do want all of us to make it but what if Harry's right and he's too closely watched to risk jeopardizing the chances of the rest of us?" Phoenix asks.
"Then Oi'll be stayin' wif 'arry," Hagrid states matter of factly, throwing one of the nets back out.
"I'm telling you both for the last time, WE ALL GO!"
I've bent down to pick up the second net to throw over, fully expecting Hagrid to restate what he's been saying all along, that if Harry insists on remaining behind to create a diversion, then he's staying as well. Hagrid doesn't say anything though. He and Phoenix are both leaning over the railing, peering down into the water.
"What is that?" Phoenix's saying.
"What is what?" I ask, joining them.
An odd shape is coming up through the water, the net already there forcing it to go around so for the moment it's not getting any nearer to the surface.
Leaning over for a better look, I then ask, "Should we pull in the net, you think?"
"Dunno," Hagrid says with a shrug. "Ya think whathever hit is is gorna ruin tha net?"
"Let's wait a few seconds and see what it does," Phoenix suggests.
We all lean a little further over the rail, trying to get a better look at whatever it is and to track where it's going.
Desperate Measures
Author: Illyria
Date: 02-17-09 17:37
Illyria sat next to a stricken-looking Marzi in the room in which they'd slept ever since first arriving at 14-15-14. She had her arm around her friend's shoulders and murmured words of comfort, even when she felt anything but comforted herself.
Illyria had been outside on the rocks when Abner's mob had stormed the warden's office. She had witnessed the defenestration, from the moment the glass shattered, and couldn't shake from her mind the horrific scene of the warden lying broken across the rocks. The witch had landed so very near to where Illyria had been washing clothes.
The gruesome sight only worsened when several guards were dispatched in the same manner as the warden––only they didn't scream on the way down. Illyria later learned that the guards had been stunned before being cast out the window.
She didn't like it any better than Marzi that so many of the community members, no doubt led by Abner's fierce determination and convincing demeanor, could engage in such violent acts. After all she herself had been through, Illyria couldn't imagine killing anyone, especially not for the sole purpose of revenge. Still, it had been done, and it had changed everything at 14-15-14.
A few community members guarded the floo to take care of any guards arriving for a shift change, but many had already left to stay with relatives or friends or to just take their chances out in the real world again. Illyria knew that she and Marzi ought to leave, and the sooner the better, and had simultaneously spent her time comforting Marzi and thinking about where they could go and be safe. Unfortunately, she had no idea where any of her family was, and they weren't purebloods anyway and weren't safe from the Ministry of Magic's scrutiny.
Marzi finally seemed to come to her senses and said, "We should go."
"Yes. I'm afraid we've lingered too long already."
But for the battering wind and waves, the building had gotten quieter and quieter.
"I just don't know where we can go and not worry about being nabbed on the spot," Illyria stated.
"I know," Marzi replied without any hesitation. "We can go to my mother's house."
She and Illyria stood up and started heading to the fireplace, which was still guarded by a couple of individuals while some others ramsacked the warden's office, among other places in the rickety old building.
"Good luck on the other side," said one of the guards, as Marzi scooped up some floo powder in her hand.
"Georgia FitzRoy's house!" she said, and then she disappeared in flames of green.
Illyria didn't hesitate to follow. "Georgia FitzRoy's house!" she stated, and then she, too, left 14-15-14 behind, for what she hoped would be forever.
That Is Ron Playing Jaws
Author: Ron Weasley
Date: 02-17-09 18:03
After swimming for what seems like years, Ron questions whether he was the winner or the loser in being the one to make the trip. They'd all wanted to do it, even Janine who can sometimes seem tentative about such things. Then again, for weeks now Janine has appeared to be more confident with herself when it comes to doing anything with the Order and the Resistance.
What Ron won - or lost - was a contest to see who was the best swimmer for endurance. Hermoine, Janine, Ginny, Pinky, Sirius and Ron had poured over maps, studying the area that, thanks to Pinky, they have narrowed down to where Harry is. There are some islands that show up on some Wizarding maps but not on Muggle ones. That helped them pinpoint things even more.
As the days led up to liberating Camp Lollipop over the weekend, Ron had really thought that Dumbledore would be all for jumping in to get Harry. While Dumbledore does want to get Harry rescued as soon as possible, he's been so bombarded by other things that Ron supposes he's simply not had time to get much breathing room. Plus, he is still recovering from all that time in that mirror.
Ron had really wanted Dumbledore on in helping get Harry, as did the others in their little group, but hasn't been patient enough to wait. Sirius has been fairly antsy as well and Ron couldn't call Pinky the picture of patience either. Hermione, Janine, and Ginny have come across as being more restrained and patient but Ron knows they're just better at hiding it.
Ron had come up just far enough out of the water to get a bearing on where the boat is that he's aiming for. He was pleased to see it wasn't that much farther. He can make out movement on board but as yet can't see who it might be and doesn't want to call out in case there is a guard or two on board.
Ron dove down again, making steady progress towards the boat. He knew he was nearly upon it when he had to start negotiating around a fishing net. Ron pauses in his progress, looking up through the water, up the side of the boat, and at faces peering over the railing. Ron blinks a couple of times thinking that one of those faces looks like how Hagrid's image would appear if distorted by water. And if it were a whole lot hairier than what Ron remembers.
Ron swims a little closer to the surface, eyes narrowing in an effort to sharpen his gaze. That really looks like Hagrid. The three faces above lean further over the side of the boat. Certain that one of them is Hagrid, Ron chances rising close enough to the surface for Hagrid to see that it's Ron.
The shimmery, watery image of Hagrid looks confused, then startled, then breaks into a wide grin. He makes motions that Ron interprets to be an indication that it's safe for him to surface all the way. It's only when Ron's surfaced and is reaching up to accept an arm from Hagrid to be hauled on board that Ron sees that one of the others is Aaron Miller.
The gillyweed that Ron ate to be able to breath underwater makes breathing regularly again difficult. Hagrid doesn't help matters when he puts Ron into bone crushing hug. Just when Ron thought he'd be able to breath again, first Aaron then the other man grab Ron as well. When they've finally let go of Ron, the gillyweed's begun to wear off, so all in one fell swoop, Ron can breath somewhat normally again.
Ron can breath normally again but he suddenly feels smothered with questions, not that he can blame them. It takes several more minutes to get the three men to stop talking all at once and to give Ron a chance to give them the information they crave. Somewhere in those confusing few minutes, Ron learned that the third man is Phoenix Everard.
Sitting crosslegged on the deck, Ron finds out if either Harry or Hagrid had seen Pinky the couple of times the House Elf had been able to get through the magical barriers. Learning that they had, Ron goes on to explain how Pinky had been able to give them a general location on the map and since then they'd been working on narrowing down the local even more.
He ends with, "We brought a boat as close to where we can tell the magical barrier begins and began testing to see how deep it goes. It's fairly shallow but it's far enough off land that it wouldn't need to be very deep I guess. I have a pouch full of gillyweed, took some before I went over the side of our boat, swam under the barrier and started around for this cove. One of the times I surface to get a visual bearing, I spotted this boat. I wanted to see if I could tell if there was a guard on board. If there had been, I was going to keep heading in towards shore."
Aaron looks first at Hagrid then at Everard before saying, "We are nearly done with building rafts. We know about the barrier of course but hoped it was something we could handle once we reached it."
"And from there?"
Everard replies, "We were hoping that just before escaping, we could get hold of a couple of wands."
Ron reaches for another of the bags at his waist. "Wands I can help you with but do you think you still need the rafts?"
"Yer got uh somethin' else fer us, Ron?"
"Well, no. I mean, not yet."
"What if one of us goes with you back to your boat? Give you a layout of the buildings, how many are here, that sort of thing?" Aaron suggests.
"Yeah, but how do you explain who's missing and what about messages back and forth after that?"
Aaron grins, "We say he went overboard to untangle a net and got taken by a shark. We might be punished for allowing someone to get attacked and eaten but we or someone else will be out fishing again tomorrow and the day after. At least two people, but usually three, come out for a few hours every day."
Ron nods, "Sounds like it would work. Who comes with and who stays? And Hagrid, how is Harry? You've not said."
Hagrid shoots glances at the other two before replying, "They don' treat 'arry roight, wot with 'is reputation."
Ron doesn't have to ask what that means. From talking to people who'd been in other prison communities, Ron has a really good idea of how bad things could be for someone like the famous Harry Potter.
Aaron answers the other question Ron had. "Phoenix should go."
"Are you sure, Aaron?"
Hagrid bobs his head up and down. "Not leavin' without 'arry. Folks're lookin' ter Aaron ter lead. You go, Phoenix."
The man nods then turns, bending over one of the nets. "We should make some holes so it looks like it got snagged. And some blood. Ron, cut my hand with your wand. I'll smear it on the net. You can do a quick mend of the cut before we get in the water. Don't want to really attrack sharks, do we?"
The four work quickly then Ron hands over the wands he'd brought before Phoenix and he eat more of the gillyweed Ron has. Soon after, they're in the water, Ron leading the way back out of the cove and around the point.