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Author: Faelaern Story: Flotsam and Jetsam Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-DH Status: WIP Reviews: 9 Words: 46,036
A/N: Sorry this is so late, my laptop was being fixed again, but everything should be all right now. Look for Chapter Seven soonish. It was roughly an hour before they saw him – a grey-clad figure moving with silent speed and grace from rock to rock until he leapt from the cave mouth to the ground outside. Harry didn’t chance getting a better look at him than that – he met Viktor’s eyes, and with a nod to each other, the two of them kicked off into their air above the treeline and let out a great shout. Shutting their eyes tightly, they fled in opposite directions, away from the trail Jackob and the others were taking in retreat. After a minute of flight, Harry allowed himself to squint, so as to be sure he didn’t crash into any cliff-sides or outstanding trees in his path. He couldn’t risk much of a glance to see if he was being pursued; look at the wrong angle and the Nelapsi might just look straight back. Two minutes later, Harry was soaring away from the valley entirely and into the cloudy Albanian night sky. Suddenly, he saw a figure moving towards him through the clouds. Harry squinted his eyes and drew his wand. Jackob and the others would have mentioned if Nelapsi could fly, but Harry had no idea what other dangerous creatures stalked the clouds in this part of the world. The figure came to a stop not four metres away from him, and he saw that it was Krum. “D’you think we lost him?” Harry shouted. Krum flew up next to him. “Not so loud. Ve don’t need to be decoys any longer. And yes. Nelapsi, are fast, but Firebolts are much faster. Do you think ve should circle around and find zhem?” Harry shook his head. “The Nelapsi will be watching the skies; we could lead him right to them.” “Good point. I suggest zhen that ve fly over ze mountain and zhen Apparate to ze pass vhere ve came in.” Harry nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He wished he could get back to the others, rather than having them come to him, but there really wasn’t a practical way to do that without risking friendly fire or contact with the Nelapsi. Two minutes later, they were standing at the top of the mountain trail that led into the now-pitch-black valley. “Ve’ve got a long vait,” Viktor remarked. “It took us all day to get to ze bottom of zhat valley.” Harry shook his head exasperatedly. “I hate this. I hate waiting.” “Me too, but ve do not have a choice here,” said Viktor. They took to watching the darkened valley in silence, wands drawn, ears straining to pick up any noise that might indicate Ron, Hermione, and the others might be close. It must have been at least an hour before Viktor broke the silence, crying out sharply and muttering what were probably swear words in Bulgarian. “What? What is it?” Harry asked. “Smoke, in ze distance. Do you see it?” “I – no. Wait, yes. Just barely.” “I do not like it, Harry.” “No, me neither,” said Harry, picking up his broomstick. “It could be a trap,” said Viktor. “I’ll risk it,” said Harry. “Not by yourself, you vill not,” said Viktor, picking up his own broomstick. “Let’s go.” It took them five minutes of soaring over the darkened treetops before they reached the origin point of the smoke. As they neared, Harry could see an orange glow accompanying the smoke, which was rising in several plumes as opposed to the rising smokestack it had initially appeared from afar. Then they were directly overhead and Harry was looking down on his friends and allies in a tight battle formation on the ground. Maxwell and Aiden were standing on the right side of the trail, grenade launchers in hand. Harry could only assume that they were the source of the fire. Jackob and Sully were standing ten feet to the left of Maxwell and Aiden, respectively, with wands at the ready, putting them at about the centre of the trail. Ron and Hermione were crouched close together on the left side, wands drawn. Harry was about to call out to them when Maxwell moved suddenly, discharging a grenade into the woods in front of him, then throwing the weapon to the ground and drawing two of his flintlock pistols. A grey figure leapt out of the trees towards Maxwell, trailing smoke behind it. There was a sharp crack as Maxwell’s pistols went off simultaneously, catching the Nelapsi dead-on as he landed on Maxwell, knocking the Scotsman to the ground. Jackob aimed his wand and shouted, “Ferio!” but the yellow jet of light eluded its target as the Nelapsi leapt towards Aiden with a burst of speed. Harry found himself shouting, “Stupefy!” at the same time as Viktor, and the two red bolts caught the Nelapsi in midair halfway to where Aiden was standing. The Nelapsi was down for only an instant. He shook his head quickly and leapt to his feet, turning his gaze skyward to petrify this new threat, but Harry and Viktor had already shot off the trail and were circling around for another go. Aiden threw his grenade launcher to the ground, drew his long dagger, and charged at the Nelapsi with one arm thrown a few centimetres in front of his eyes to avoid being petrified. The Nelapsi hissed and moved with a burst of speed, meeting Aiden’s charge head on. Aiden feinted low, then stabbed high. In a blur of motion, the Nelapsi pulled Aiden’s knife arm into a lock, and raked knife-like claws across his throat. In the next instant there was a flash of green light as Sully’s Killing Curse caught the Nelapsi in the back. The Nelapsi was thrown several feet and lay very still. “Is he dead?” Viktor called. “As a doornail,” Sully replied. Harry flew straight down to where Aiden had fallen. His fears were confirmed when he saw that the light had faded from the werewolf hunter’s eyes, permanently. Nearby, Jackob was crouching over Maxwell’s stricken form. “Is he…” Hermione trailed off. Jackob nodded once, sharply. “I’m afraid so. He must have had his eyes open to shoot.” “Aiden… Aiden’s gone as well,” Harry said. Jackob sighed and nodded. Sully walked over to the Nelapsi and turned him over with a boot. The creature’s grey garments covered most of his body, with only slight patches of blue skin showing through the holes Maxwell’s pistols had blasted in his chest, and the area around his hands and face. His white eyes stared upward at nothing, his petrifying powers gone with his life. Harry looked up as Jackob walked over. “Thank you for coming back. Sully’s aim is superb, but that was as much a lucky shot as anything. If you and Viktor hadn’t have come back, who knows if any of us would be alive.” Harry sighed and forced himself not to look at the prone forms of Aiden and Maxwell. “I wish we’d been faster.” “That might not have changed anything,” said Jackob. “Be glad for the lives you did save, and take what comfort you can in the knowledge that they died well.” “How can you be so cold? They were your friends; they died for you!” This from Hermione, who was walking over with Ron and Viktor. “They were not my friends,” said Jackob. “They were my men, and they were fine soldiers, and I would have gladly died for them as they did for me. For us, as I should point out that the Nelapsi would not have spared you, had he got past us. But they were not my friends.” “They weren’t your friends? Do you have any friends?” Ron asked, incredulously. Jackob sighed. “I had a friend once. His name was Frank Longbottom. There’s not enough left of him to be anyone’s friend anymore. Since the night he and Alice were cursed, I’ve walked alone, so that others don’t have to. And so it shall be, until my dying day. Now come, we’ve bodies to attend to. Maxwell would have wanted a Catholic burial, and I intend to see that he gets one. We’ll see that done when our business here in Albania is concluded. Sully nodded and walked silently over to the Scotsman’s body. He put his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder for a second, then picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. “Get to where you can Apparate and take his body back to England,” said Jackob. “Sleep for a couple hours, then wait for us back at Liogat’s cottage.” The mercenary turned and walked up the trail without another word. “What…what about Aiden?” Harry asked, gulping painfully. He’d barely known the man, but death was never an easy thing to deal with, not for Harry. “He asked me to bury him wherever he fell.” Jackob gave a quick humourless laugh. “I guess we all know there’s only one way out of this business.” “And what business is zhat, Mr Filch?” asked Viktor. “Plenty of Aurors live to old age, with families.” “Oh, I’m not an Auror,” said Jackob quietly. “I’m the one who does the black things that need doing for normal witches and wizards to sleep more peacefully. I do the things Aurors don’t even want to think about, because if they did, they wouldn’t be able to feel quite as good about themselves as they do. Maxwell and Aiden understood that. And they were with me in that. I suggest you keep that in mind as we near our goal.” Hermione shook her head. “You’re an evil man, Jackob Filch.” Jackob tsked. “Better the devil you know, then, apparently, Miss Granger, or you wouldn’t be here, would you?” Harry took off his glasses and sat on a rock. He put his face in his hands and was silent for a long moment. Finally, he said, “He’s right. I hate it, but he’s right. We came here with a job to do. It’s not done. Let’s bury Aiden and get on with it.” Working together, they dug a six foot hole in the ground with their wands. Jackob did not conjure a pine box for Aiden, saying that the werewolf hunter had wished his body to be closer to the earth. Instead, they laid him on a single stone slab, minus the heavy backpack he had been wearing, which was still largely full of explosives. Jackob positioned Aiden’s right hand, which still gripped the long dagger, over his heart. His left arm was positioned at his side, with the RG-6 grenade launcher resting on it, aiming downward. From the bag Jackob pulled Aiden’s bow and quiver of arrows. These he lay on either side of the man. With a heavy sigh, he levitated the stone slab into the hole they had dug, and nodded to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Viktor, who quickly covered the hole with dirt. Jackob conjured a large pile of rocks to form a cairn over the grave, then stepped forward and drew a series of blue glyphs in the air with his wand. “What was that?” asked Ron. “A ward,” Jackob replied. “The forest will swallow his grave soon enough, but it will not be desecrated.” Viktor raised his own wand and ignited the body of the Nelapsi with a bright flame that quickly burned it to ash, emitting a sickly-sweet odour that made Harry gag. “He vas a vorthy foe, at least,” said Viktor, in response to Ron’s incredulous expression. “I did not vant to leave him to be eaten by scavengers.” “Very well,” said Jackob. “Let’s get moving.” It took them the rest of the night to make their way back to the valley’s bottom. Jackob had remarkably good direction sense, even moving by wandlight, but it was still slow going, though perhaps Harry noticed it more since he was walking this time around. Weariness ground through Harry’s bones as he walked, but he ignored it. He did not wish to sleep in this valley, full stop. The first rays of dawn were breaking into the clearing with the cave mouth by the time they reached it. “How do you suppose we should get down there?” Ron asked. “The easiest way would be by broom,” Harry said. “Viktor and I fly down there, then one of us flies back with both brooms, hands one off to you lot, and we repeat the process ‘till we’re all down there.” “Sounds like a plan,” said Jackob. “Shall we proceed?” Ten minutes later, they were making their way cautiously down the glowing tunnel they had seen before. The source of the glow tuned out to be a series of torches in brackets on the tunnel wall, each lit with a never-ending blue flame. They passed several side chambers, most of which were empty, but one of which was clearly the lair of the Nelapsi. There were bones strewn everywhere and the air stank of decay. They continued on, climbing a long set of stairs carved into the rock, at the top of which was a great stone gate, emblazoned with the Nazi swastika. “Not too subtle, is it?” said Ron dryly. “No, but subtle wasn’t Grindelwald’s way,” said Jackob. “Finding this place is tricky, but it’s clear he wanted those who did to know exactly whom this place belonged to. And if I’m not mistaken…Lumos.” Jackob’s wand lit the chamber much more brightly then the dim torchlight, and they could make out 13 smudge marks, arranged in a circle around the swastika. “Mmmhmm,” Jackob muttered. “Burn marks from where Grindelwald’s wards were forcibly removed – no small task, I might add.” “Are there any more wards?” asked Ron. Jackob shook his head. “No. The Dark Lord seemed content to trust in the secrecy of this place, and the nearby Nelapsi to protect it. I’m not expecting we’ll find a Horcrux here, though.” “Me neither,” said Harry. “Voldemort is always more sneaky when it comes to hiding things.” “Vhat are ve looking for, exactly?” Viktor asked. He’d been briefed earlier on the nature of their search, but Jackob hadn’t spelled out exactly what was in the library having to do with Horcruxes. “There is a spell that is required for the creation of a Horcrux,” said Jackob. “My guess is that Voldemort found it here, and if we’re lucky, we may be able to find a spell to destroy them.” “And if not?” asked Viktor. Jackob indicated the pack of explosives on his back. “We’re going to blow this place to kingdom come, regardless of what we find. Most of the knowledge found herein wasn’t meant to be known. Indeed, we’ll have to be careful not to pollute ourselves too much with our search.” “But there could be useful information, something in there that we could need to know later,” said Hermione. “Not worth ze price,” said Viktor. “Durmstrang taught some of ze Dark Arts… I know how zhis knowledge can corrupt, even in small amounts. He is right, Herm-oh-ninny. This place should be destroyed." Hermione nodded, looking troubled. “Well,” said Harry, “let’s get this over with.” He waved his wand, and with a great grinding sound, the stone gate slid open.
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