Begin to Hope

Orlando repeated it in a low voice, not looking up from his intent gaze on the floor.

"Farley is... dead."

The first one to talk was Greg.

"You're stupid." He turned his nose up in the air and crossed his arms over his chest. "Where is he really?"

"Dead. Gone. Passed on. No longer in this life. He's not here, with us, any longer." I sat snidely, pushing forward between Kimberly and Tally, whose mouths were both wide open. I started to walk toward my bedroom, but decided against it, standing in the doorway between the living room and front entrance room.

"How did he--what happened?!" Annabelle cried, falling backwards into a kitchen chair. She looked back and forth, from Orlando and me, looking for an answer in our eyes.

Orlando shook his head sadly.

"We went to check on the necklace...and we noticed some Death Eaters following us. We started to fly away. We thought we had lost them, but they managed to track us down. They caught Farley and me, and they killed him. Kerry only barely managed to save me, and we got away quickly. But we couldn't even find his body."

I gave the smallest of nods to Orlando, thanking him silently for not mentioning what Farley had called out before he died.

But it wasn't really my fault. I couldn't have done anything anyway.

I watched Klaus swallow hard before speaking.

"Did you manage to save the necklace?"

Orlando nodded and took it out of his pocket, putting it on the small side table next to the door.

"We thought that, because the Death Eaters now knew where it was, we should take it with us before they found out how to use it."

Klaus nodded several times, his mouth open as if he wanted to say something but nothing came out.

I heard Tally whimper and out of the corner of my eye I saw Annabelle take her hand and pat it soothingly.

"Five minutes," Klaus muttered, just loud enough for all of us to hear. "You get five minutes to compose yourselves, and then we meet in the library."

Immediately Greg and Princeton ran off, presumably to talk about what was going to happen to us. Annabelle took Penelope and Tally and led them off towards a deserted bedroom, probably to all have a good cry.

Kimberly wandered off by herself, mumbling things under her breath that nobody else could decipher.

Maverick started to question Orlando thoroughly about what had happened, and I just stood there, everything running through my mind.

After watching me for a moment, Klaus turned on his heels and started off down the hall.

"Wait!" I called for him, "Klaus, wait a second!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned slowly. "Yes?" He asked maliciously.

I stopped, taken aback. "Did anything--er--happen? While we were gone?"

He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. "You will find out at the meeting," he said, speaking slowly, glaring right through me.

He stomped away but I stayed where I was, quite crestfallen that he had so easily responded so coldly.

I felt a tap on the shoulder and I turned to see Orlando staring at me.

"Shall we head to the kitchen to get something to eat before the meeting?" he asked lightly, his eyes looking over my face. When he noticed I was avoiding meeting his gaze, his smile faded. "Something wrong?"

I was sure a look of guilt clouded my face, but I tried to push away and smile fakely, to show I was fine.

"No. It's okay. Let's go to the kitchen, then, shall we?"

Ten minutes later found the remaining eleven of us sitting uncomfortably in library chairs as Orlando retold the full story of what happened (minus the Farley crying out for me part), interrupted every now and then by a question from one of the group or a sob from one of the girls.

"--the car was in ruins, so we Apparated back to the field, picked up the necklace after some searching, and then Apparated back here, and here we are." Orlando gave a heave of relief after finishing the story and picked up a glass of water that was sitting nearby and finished it.

"But I don't get it." Maverick said, scratching his head with one hand, "Why would the Death Eaters be after you, if not for the necklace?"

I shrugged. "I guess we're just a threat in general."

"But it just seems so stupid--you'd think they would have seen you there holding the necklace, then dropping it, and then running off without it. Why wouldn't they have picked it up, at least just to see what it was?"

"Maybe they did, and they found it of no use to them. You have to remember that it is a rather ugly necklace. Maybe they just thought it was of no importance." Greg suggested.

Klaus shook his head. "I don't know. Your story makes no sense."

I scowled at him. "What? You think we're lying?"

"No, I just think your--"

"We're not lying, Klaus. God, you've been such a jerk lately! All you ever do is argue with everyone and I'm completely sick-"

"Stop fighting!" Annabelle cried, her hand covering her mouth as she tears tumbled down her cheeks. "Why, of all times, do you have to fight now? Can't you at least be civil to each other?"

I opened my mouth again, ready to argue back, when Princeton interrupted us.

"Yeah! And we didn't even tell you what happened while you were gone!"

Immediately I turned to him. "What happened? Something happened? What was it?"

"We had another...incident." Klaus said, glaring maliciously at Princeton.

Orlando narrowed his eyes at Klaus. "What happened?"

Maverick spoke up. "The old woman."

"Again?!" I cried out, slamming my open palm on the arm of the chair I was sitting. "Why were you allowed outside at all?" I asked, looking directly at Annabelle.

"I didn't let him out!" She cried, her voice shrilly. "He snuck out!"

"Maverick..." I said warningly.

"It wasn't my fault! I wanted to get out, so I snuck out last night."

"And?" Orlando prompted.

"The same old woman, she must have sought me out because I was going down roads I had never been before, but she warned me to get away--that they were going to find me soon. Very soon."

Orlando looked up, alarmed, from where we were all seated, to the door, then back again.

"We were going to leave tomorrow morning, if the three of you weren't back by then, but now, obviously, there's no need to..."

"No. We should still leave." Orlando said sharply, standing up, almost knocking his chair over in the process. "Everyone, go pack your bags. We've leaving."

"But where are we going to go?"

"Who knows? We have to get out of here, immediately."

"So soon?" Annabelle asked, her voice wobbly, tears filling her eyes again. "How about tomorrow morning?"

Orlando looked as if he'd like to tell her no, but then sighed and relented. "Fine. Early tomorrow morning. But pack your bags tonight. I want everyone to go to bed right now, so we have as much time as possible to get away from here. We might have to walk a good part of the distance."

Everyone except for Klaus and I dispersed from the room, wondering what made Orlando want to leave so quickly, but nobody wanted to ask him. He wandered slowly over to the mantle above the fireplace, gazing over the titles of some of the books we had stored there.

I glanced quickly from Orlando to Klaus and back, wondering who would be first to break the silence. I wondered if I should leave, if they wanted to talk privately, when finally Klaus spoke roughly.

"I just wanted to let you know that this doesn't change anything at all. And now that Farley's dead, that doesn't mean that you're now head of the household. I am." And before either of us could recover enough to retort something, Klaus pushed past Orlando roughly and sauntered down the hall.

I looked at Orlando, to see his reaction, but he just shook his head and turned away.

"He's just mourning. He'll get over himself in the morning." He moved to douse the fire with his wand but stopped. "And I won't be joining you tonight."

"Oh." I said lightly, trying not to let the disappointment show in my voice. "Well -- goodnight, then."

He grunted a reply and I shuffled out the door slowly, wondering why he wouldn't want to talk tonight, especially considering we hadn't had a real chance to talk since before all of this happened.

I struggled to push Orlando off my mind and think of tomorrow's events. Where were we going to go? I suppose we could wander around for a while, if need be, but eventually we'd need to find a new place to locate to...

I bumped into Greg, who was just standing in the middle of the hallway, his gaze fixed absentmindedly on the floor.

"What are you doing?" I asked, probably more harsh than I should have.

He beamed at me. "Klaus said I could stay out here all night, as a guard."

"All night?" I asked incredulously.

His smile faded. "Well -- until 2am, anyway. Klaus said he'd take over at that time. He just wants to take a rest until then."

"Why does he think someone needs to stand guard?"

He shrugged and yawned. "He thinks someone will break in, probably."

I laughed hollowly and continued down the hallway.

"Goodnight, Greg." I called behind me, and I heard him yawn in response.

As soon as I got in my room, I closed the door behind me. And after a minute of deliberation, I locked it as well.

Just in case. I thought.

I took off my clothes and got into something more comfortable to sleep in. I crawled underneath the covers and turned the light out, making sure my wand was on the night stand right next to my bed.

I lay in the darkness for some time, wondering when I'd fall asleep. I couldn't hear anything in any other parts of the house, but then again, the walls were pretty thick.

I wondered where Humphrey was, and what he was doing. I realized I hadn't talked to him tonight at all, and I hoped he wasn't feeling neglected.

I thought about Klaus, and why he was being such a jerk lately. It wasn't like he was the only one coping with loss, we all were. And as for the thought of Orlando being a Death Eater, why, that was simply preposterous. After all, Orlando was so smart and gentle and caring, and not to mention his wonderful body...

"Kerry, come save me! I know you're there. I know you're listening. Come save me, you cold, malicious, evil-hearted bitch --!"

I woke up in a cold sweat, shaking as my horrific dream ended. I sat up in bed, breathing hard, looking around the darkened room. I turned to the comforting blinking light of my alarm clock.

2:54am.

I swung my feet over the side of my bed, grabbed my wand, and hobbled toward the door, still feeling jittery and uneasy. I turned the doorknob and it creaked open slowly. I peeked out, and seeing nothing, I ventured into the enclosed darkness of the hall.

It was extremely silent. Almost too silent, I supposed.

I padded down the hallway softly in my bare feet, all of my senses alert to everything around me.

I made it to the kitchen, still seeing nothing, and got a glass and filled it to the brim with water. Turning my back to the window, I quickly emptied the glass. I glanced around as I drank, taking in everything in the kitchen. The table, the chairs, the cupboard, the closet, the pale hand coming out from the closet...

I dropped the glass and it shattered all over the floor. Jumping around to avoid stepping on the glass, I took a few hesitant steps forward. Fearing the absolute worst, I reached out with one shaking hand and slowly pulled open the closet door.

The sight of Greg's lifeless body greeted me on the other side. His pale black eyes stared blankly up at me as my breathing started to get heavier and I slowly moved backward, tripping over the broken glass.

My feet bloodied, I turned around to run and in a flash I saw in the reflection of the window the glint of an eye, the fabric of a dark hod, and the flash of the Dark Mark.

I screamed. Loudly.

I ran blindly down the hall, stumbling over various objects in my path. I had just seen two dead bodies in the course of two days and if they killed Greg while he was standing guard, who's to stop them from killing the rest of us?

I kept screaming until I got in the hallway of our bedrooms. I pounded on each door, crying for them all to come out as soon as possible.

"What is it?" Orlando asked, seeing the distressed state I was in. He came out of his bedroom and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight to him. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"No!" I shrieked, pushing him away from me. Everyone else had gathered around, asking questions and trying to soothe me. "Greg is dead! The Death Eaters are here, I saw one outside the window; we have to leave right now!" I tugged Orlando's shirt, trying to urge him to move along, but he wouldn't budge.

"Take me to Greg." he commanded.

"No! We have to do as she says! They'll find us in a second! Let's go!" Klaus roughly pulled Penelope off with him in the opposite direction.

Orlando shook his head firmly. "If they haven't gotten to us yet, then we still have enough time to figure out what happened. You guys can go on ahead, go outside and run. Here. Take this." He pulled something out of his coat pocket and threw it to Klaus. "It's pretty big. It should cover all of you."

"An Invisibility cloak?" Klaus asked reluctantly.

"More like an Invisibility blanket." Maverick grumbled, wrapping it around himself.

Orlando scowled at them and motioned for them to quickly sneak away.

We watched as they all gathered under the blanket, and it rippled and disappeared. We heard a few curse words muttered under somebody's breath as they made their way around the corner of the hall and out of sight.

"Now where is he?"

"Follow me." Quietly we made our way back through the house. I tread lightly to avoid worsening the pain in my terribly sore, bloodied feet.

Within another minute we arrived back in the dimly lit kitchen, the glass still all over the floor. I headed immediately for te closet, but to my surprise, when we peeked in the door, there was nothing in there save a mop and a half-filled bucket of cold water.

"Oh no. Oh no. This can't be happening. This can't be -- GODDAMMIT!" I swung my fist against the closet door, hard. It swung wildly shut and then burst open again, creaking loudly on its rusty hinges.

"Sh. It's okay. We have to go find the others." He spoke softly under his breath, ushering me out of the room as quickly as he could. He glanced down at my feet. "And perhaps some shoes."

"It doesn't make sense! Why would they take his body? Why?!"

"Keep your voice down." he warned, a single finger placed upon his lips.

I made a face but kept silent, following behind as he we made our way to my bedroom first.

I grabbed a jacket and a pair of socks and shoes, gently pulling them over my poor feet. I moaned in frustration as a wave of pain swept over me.

Orlando held me steady and I tried to stand again, and he helped me out the door. I made him let go of me and he took to leading the way again.

We made our way to the front door, where we had left the necklace. He scooped it up, placed it in his pocket, and carefully opened the door a crack, peering outside.

When he deemed it safe, he opened the door wider and we both stepped out into the dark cold night.