Brontide

Rae had begun having nightmares, horrible ones that terrified her out of her wits. We found out when she began screaming one night, the sound of it nearly making me fly off of my hammock. Fred bolted right up out of his sleep next to me, his eyes wide with fright. We shared a quick glance before we looked down to where George and Rae slept.

She was thrashing around in the hammock, the blankets going everywhere as George tried to calm her down. I quickly climbed down, Fred right behind me, and moved out of the way of George who was dodging her leg. She woke with a start and opened her eyes, looking at the three of us in terror. George opened his mouth to say something but I put up my hand to stop him, feeling my heart sink when her eyes began to well up with tears.

“Cassie,” she said barely above a whisper.

I went to her quickly and engulfed her in a hug. She buried her face in my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me tightly. I could tell from her breathing pattern she was trying hard not to cry. I gently stroked her hair, humming quietly and trying to settle her down. When we were in school and she was having a nightmare I would do this. Back then it'd always worked; this hadn't changed.

Rae let out a sniffle and wiped her face, sitting up straight and pulling away from me. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize,” I said quickly, trying to read her. “Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want.”

She shook her head, glancing over at the twins. “I'll be fine, that was just a really bad one.”

George reached over and wrapped his pinky finger around hers. She gave him the tiniest smile. “It's alright, you're awake now and, I must say, you're looking especially radiant this morning,” he grinned.

Her blotchy face turned slightly redder and she struggled not to laugh, yanking her hand away from his. “You're a filthy, bloody liar, George Weasley.”

“I am no such thing, Rae Turner, and I really meant it, contrary to what you may believe,” he replied, his smile unwavering.

She shot him a look, one that said it was too damn early for him to be such a giddy ponce, before turning to me again. “I've been meaning to ask you about something.”

I quirked an eyebrow up. “Ask away.”

“These nightmares I've been having... do you think I'd sleep better if I felt more...prepared? Every dream is different, but the one thing that remains the same about them is this feeling I have where I feel like I've forgotten every spell I know.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the twins exchange glances. “It's really frightening. What if the Order needs us to do a mission and we're utterly useless? I don't like feeling unsure of myself.” Rae turned to look at Fred and George. “Well?”

“I've been thinking the same thing myself,” George shrugged.

“No one ever got anywhere being miserable old sods, anyway,” Fred concurred, his sentence ending in a yawn and his arms stretching up over his head. He snuck one around my shoulders.

The three of them turned their eyes toward me. I took a moment to clear my throat. “Honestly, it's getting really bad out there. The other day when I went into town, the muggles were all talking about what they suspect are serial murders happening across the country, entire family kidnappings, nation-wide “gas leaks”, giant activity that they're mistaking for flash tornadoes...it feels like the world is falling apart. They're building an army while the Order wants us to hide away, but why?” Fred released me from his arm as I began to pace back and forth. “Where's our army? Are they all underground until they hear some whisper about Harry striking back? No offense to them, but I'll be damned if that isn't the stupidest plan I've ever heard. What if he's already dead? Would that mean that we're essentially dead in the water too, no matter how much we practice, no matter how much we fight?”

At this point, I was yelling out loud to no one in particular, so when Fred's voice poked it's way back into my thoughts I was a bit startled. “We know Harry isn't dead, so take a breath and calm down, alright?”

“How could you possibly know that?” I retorted with a bit more venom than necessary. I quickly caught this and looked away from him, rubbing my face. “I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I feel like I'm losing my mind down here.”

Fred took a moment before answering. “I know Harry isn't dead because if he were, You-Know-Who would want to broadcast it as loudly and as widespread as he possibly could. He'd want to cripple the Order's last shred of hope, to make them feel like all is finally lost. And I know it feels bloody awful now, but just imagine how quickly things would go down the drain if he knew he'd won.”

***

March came with slightly less snowfall and more rain. A certain air of determination came to exist down in the fallout shelter, because every single day, for hours upon hours, we practiced as much as was physically possible. Offensive and defensive spells, curses and counter-curses, I'd never been so motivated to perfect something in my entire life. I was quite proud of my progression with silent incantations in particular. It was something I'd struggled with at school and I hadn't given it much thought since then. However, it'd proved to be incredibly useful in surprising my opponents.

On this particular day, I was focusing on exactly that. The weather outside was loud with heavy downpours and rolling thunder. We normally would practice outside where there was more space but decided against it, choosing to do some one-on-ones instead.

“Expelliarmus!” Rae yelled, her wand pointed at Fred's face from a distance.

He dodged it. “Stupefy!” he shot back.

She ducked and rolled out of the way, the spell hitting the wall instead. “Impedimenta!”

Her spell missed him again, this time just barely. “Engorgio!”

She nearly tripped over her shoelace trying to get out of the way, but she did and his spell enlarged one of the chairs instead. This distracted Rae long enough for Fred to get her. With a yelp, her legs and arms snapped to her sides and she began to topple backward. George, who had been with me watching safely from the storage room, quickly grabbed her before her head could hit the floor. Though her mouth wasn't able to move, I could hear muffled, angry yelling coming from her stunned face.

I stifled a laugh, watching as Fred grinned cheekily over the scene. “She owes me five sickles.”

I flicked my wand in Rae's direction and her body relaxed. She looked at me, then up at George before glaring daggers at Fred. “You tricked me. I don't know why I fell for that.”

He shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. “Death Eaters will distract you to get what they want. All it would take is a second of diverted attention.” Her glare intensified.

“Hey, it's alright,” George said quietly, smoothing out her hair and helping her off the floor, “we'll be down here for Merlin knows how long, there's plenty of time to practice that.”

Without another word she shrugged him off and went over to her rucksack, fishing out a coat and slipping it on with a pair of shoes. I went see what she was doing when she turned around at the hatch ladder. “Just give me a few minutes, alright? I need some fresh air.” Quickly climbing up, she opened the hatch and heaved herself out, letting it close behind her with a slam.

I found myself standing there for a few minutes, concerned for her more than anything else. The weather outside was awful. I could've sworn the thunder was directly above us from how close it sounded, and only when I felt George's hand on my shoulder did I turn away from the ladder.

“Here, come practice for a bit. It'll take your mind off of things,” he encouraged, Fred agreeing with him in the background. I looked down at my wand, hoping that Rae hadn't gone too far. “She'll be back, I think she just needs some space, Cass.”

I spent some time dueling George, disarming him a few times and stunning him twice. He'd gotten me in return just about evenly. We switched after a bit and Fred took my spot, the two of them cracking jokes while they danced and dodged around each others' spells. I watched off to the side again, my arms crossed and my mouth set with worry. I couldn't take my mind off of Rae, no matter how hard I tried. I wasn't sure how much time had passed since she stormed out, I guessed approximately an hour or two. She had said she'd be gone only for a few minutes, but I forced myself not to go running out searching for her. She'd come back when she was ready, and treating her like a child was the last thing she wanted, this much I was certain of.

It wasn't too much later that we heard a noise above the sounds of the storm. The squeaking of the hatch caused all three of us to freeze where we were standing, our wands drawn and at the ready. I rushed over to the ladder as Rae descended down, my priority being to make sure it was really her.

She had her hands up defensively, her hair and clothes soaked and sticking to her face and body. “It's me, Rae Turner, unwillingly the only child of Leonard and Alicia Turner and proud member of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. My patronus takes the form of a chinchilla and I set your bed on fire in our first year at school, Cass.”

I lowered my wand, giving her a small smile. “If you hadn't done that who knows what our lives would be like. Where did you end up going?”

Before she could answer, a loud BOOM emitted from somewhere above ground, the entire room shaking, and then another one just as loud. The four of us looked up, my heart pounding out of my chest with fear. It definitely didn't sound like thunder, not any thunder that I recognized.

“Bloody hell,” Fred breathed out, “what in Merlin's name - ”

“Giants,” Rae cut him off, the look on her face showing just how scared she was, “I went for a walk to calm down when I saw them from a distance. They were a ways back on the other side of the river. I had a hard time seeing past the rain, but above the treeline I could see their heads, ripping trees out by their roots and pummeling each other. They must've moved closer. I...sort of just watched for a while. I was definitely too far for them to see me, it was just fascinating to see a giant in person. Well, two giants, really.”

“What should we do?” Fred and George asked at the same time, just as another BOOM sounded.

“We should wait it out, just stay in here until we're sure they've gone away,” I said with certainty. A large part of me was tempted to peek outside to catch a glimpse of one, but the more rational part of my brain concluded that was a very unsafe idea, as we were unsure of just how far away they might be.

“What d'you think they're doing all the way out here?” George inquired. “Don't they have civilizations and the like? I thought I heard somewhere that they don't normally stray too far from their own kind.”

“That's usually the case, but...well, they're likely under the control of You-Know-Who, aren't they?” Rae pointed out.

“Voldemort”, I corrected her quietly. She shot me a look, no one having said his name in a while. She definitely wasn't about to start using it after what was about to happen.

It was upon the word “Voldemort” being said aloud that we heard it. A loud noise that seemed suspiciously like apparition sounded from the clearing above us, followed by a group of voices yelling to each other over the giants and the rain.

I felt my heart pounding so strongly that chills ran the length of my spine. After months of being depressed and bored out of my wits, everything was happening all at once and I didn't know what to do. How did this happen? Was I actually going to meet my end in a metal hole? Was this a punishment from the universe, my parents or Devon for all of the wrongs I'd committed? It felt rightly unjust; I had so many things I still had to say and do, including blast the faces off of the unwelcome visitors that were surely about to notice the hatch planted in the ground.

I felt Fred shake me out of my trance, my wand gripped so tightly in my hand that my knuckles were turning white. “Come on, grab whatever you can!” he urged, rushing for our rucksacks.

I hurried after him, stuffing clothes inside of mine as fast as I could. George could be heard talking down Rae, who was near hysterical with panic. I was halfway through packing up her things when the hatch was blown off of its hinges all at once, the sound of it echoing around us and making everyone jump. The metal door bounced off of the floor and hit the wall with a CLANG, and quickly after they started jumping in one by one.

They weren't Death Eaters since they weren't wearing any masks, so I could've only assumed they were most likely Snatchers based on how they were dressed. There were seven of them in total, all wearing rain-soaked cloaks and looking very smug about the present situation, their wands aimed at four very cornered people.

“Well, well, this is sure to be a big haul tonight, 'ey boys?” the one in the front called out. He had long, dark tangled hair, a beard and dark eyes that pierced right through me. From the way the others cheered and jeered at his comment, I guessed he was their leader. When they settled down he continued. “Now, be good little kiddies and put down yer wands. We need to see if yer on the list.”

We were outnumbered, not terribly but with how small the shelter was I didn't want to risk any of us getting hurt. “What list?” I asked, trying to play stupid.

He wasn't buying it. “Don' act like ye don' know, the list! The Mudbloods and blood traitors, enemies of You-Know-Who, why the hell else would ye lot be hiding down 'ere? Now don' make me ask ye again, put down yer wands!”

I looked on either side of me, my friends slowly lowering their wands, and I found myself doing the same. At the sound of one of the giants roaring from somewhere above us, I suddenly had an idea. It was deranged and would likely only work if the four of us did it at the same time, but it would provide enough of a distraction for us to slip away.

Before the Snatchers reached us, I lowered my head and spoke in barely a whisper, “Summon one of the giants, on my mark. Ready...3...2...1...GO!”

“ACCIO GIANT!” we yelled in unison, pointing our wands above our heads, only to quickly bring them back down to shield ourselves from the oncoming spells being shot in response.

“Don' let 'em get away!” their leader yelled, shooting ropes and chains at us, but we were prepared and kept deflecting and deflecting, huddling close and backing up in unison.

It was then that a huge foot and leg thicker than a tree trunk smashed its way through the ceiling, crushing two of the Snatchers with it. The moment their eyes were averted was the moment that Rae chose to get us out, the crumbling ceiling being the last thing I saw before the crushing feeling of apparition consumed me, along with a yell that sounded an awful lot like Fred...

***

We landed in a dark carpeted room that was dusty and smelled damp. I hurriedly straightened myself out, lighting up my wand and following the sounds of coughing to get a look at the others. My heart was still pounding out of my chest, my eyes flitting to my friends in a panic. I saw George first, his hair a mess and his rucksack at his feet. I then found Rae not too far off, and she looked unscathed but severely shaken up. Before I could even go looking for Fred I heard a scuffling and a voice that sent my blood frigid, Fred growling “stay down!”

I looked around until I found Fred on the ground, and pinned underneath him was one of the Snatchers. I met Fred's eyes with my own gaze, wide-eyed and trying not to look terrified. He didn't seem the least bit happy, and when Rae and George came up next to me I heard Rae curse under her breath.

“I'm sorry,” Fred said with a strain in his voice, trying to keep the Snatcher still. George quickly went to help him. “He grabbed onto my rucksack just as we were leaving, there wasn't anything I could've done.”

“It's alright,” I muttered, “just...tie him up before he can apparate and take his wand.” My mind was whirring a thousand miles per minute. I knew exactly where we were now, having had a better look at the room. Rae had brought us to her family's home in Northumberland, a small town called Morpeth almost near the border of Scotland. From the look of the sitting room alone it seemed as though her parents hadn't been home in a while. However, there were papers scattered everywhere and the desk drawers were open, looking ransacked.

“Rae,” I said quietly, pointing to the mess. She turned to see what I was pointing at, and in the light of our wands, I watched her face turn even paler. “It looks like they've already been through here. I wonder if they know you're affiliated with the Order.”

She looked at me and glanced back at the Snatcher worriedly, who was calling the twins some choice names. “You're probably right, but I don't think we should be talking about that while he's still here.”

“Oh, I'm wiping his memory before he can do anything about that,” I muttered, “but first he's going to answer some questions.”

I strode over to where Fred and George had him tied up, sitting against the wall with his hands bound behind his back. Fred had taken his wand away and the man was glaring daggers at me. He had dark hair that was a mess and a bit of blood trickling out of his nose, his face covered in stubble. I got down to his level and glared right back at him, the wand light flickering across my face. The strength of my grandmother was coursing through my veins at that moment, and I wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away from me.

“First off, how did you lot find us so easily? Is the V-word taboo now?” I questioned, wanting to make sure they didn't somehow locate us through other means.

The man simply kept glaring, keeping his mouth shut. My brow furrowed.

“I don't think you quite understand the position you're in. You are outnumbered, wandless and tied up with no one to help you. Why you followed us is truly beyond me, what did you honestly think would happen?”

He continued his silence, perhaps plotting some way to escape or overpower us. I flicked my wand so the light bobbed over our heads and instead pointed my wand directly under his chin.

“I'm not afraid of scum like you who does dirty work for the Ministry. Are you really going to make me force answers from you?”

It was then that he spit at me, hitting me right under my eye. “Go to hell,” he growled.

I heard Fred and George yell from behind me, and Rae was ready to pounce, but I simply wiped my face with my sleeve. I'd never done what I was about to do, I'd only read about it in books and heard stories of people like Bellatrix Lestrange using it. I simply wanted answers, and if this was what I had to do to get them then so be it.

I stood up and channeled all of my anger, all of my hatred into the word, “Crucio!”

The man yelled like he was being ripped apart, writhing around on the floor in agony. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see George walking around the room and muttering a Silencing Charm to keep Rae's neighbors from hearing. I let this go on for nearly a minute before stopping, the face I had on proving much braver than how I really felt. I was terrified and I know Rae was too just from glancing at her.

“I'll ask you again,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, “is the V-word taboo now, and is that how you found us?”

The man groaned weakly and rolled over, looking at me with cold hatred in his eyes. “Yes,” he muttered.

“Alright, we're off to a better start.” I conjured up a chair and sat on it, looking down upon him with disgust. “I'll overlook the action of you following us as a moment of severe stupidity on your part because let's be honest here...there's no way this could've turned out well for you.”

I could see Fred looking at me with some combination of shock and admiration. This side of myself was as new to him as it was to me.

The man's silence left me time to think about how I wanted to word my next question. “You Snatchers...do you all know each other fairly well?”

When he saw that my wand was still pointed at him he decided to answer. “There's a lot of us, so no, not really.”

“But I assume you have leaders, right? Ones who are in charge of different groups?”

He nodded his head, trying to sit up with effort. “What the hell does this have to do with anything?”

I leaned forward in my chair, trying not to show that my wand hand was shaking. “You're all assigned different areas around Britain, yes? Is that how it works? That would make sense, your forces would be spread out evenly, covering the most ground...”

“Look, I just follow my orders – ”

“Who's in charge of Eastern Britain?” I cut him off. “In particular, who was around King's Lynn back in November?”

“I have no idea,” he answered a little too quickly. Being that the bomb shelter was also located in the east, and he was one of the Snatchers who came for us, I wasn't buying it.

“Crucio,” I growled.

His yells didn't bother me as much this time, as I was determined to find out who it was that killed my parents. I felt Fred put a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him, the admiration he felt replaced with concern.

I kept going a few seconds more before stopping, glancing down at the Snatcher, his breaths were ragged and choked. “If I tell you,” he sputtered, “will you let me go?”

“I think that's fair,” I said coolly, my knee bouncing with anticipation.

“The person you're looking for...it's most likely Maratross. He's one of the people in charge of us, mostly just tells us where to go and collects rewards, but he was around there during that time.”

Maratross...I wasn't going to forget that name anytime soon. “Your cooperation is appreciated. Now, before we let you go...” I leaned over him, pressing my wand to his forehead and turning it slowly. “Obliviate.”

His eyes went hazy and unfocused, his whole body slackening. I wasn't too sure how long I should do it for so I turned to Fred and George, letting the spell go on a bit longer.

“Would you two be able to apparate him somewhere? We should probably knock him out first,” I thought aloud.

George nodded in agreement, grabbing a paperweight from the sitting room desk. The moment I stepped away from the man he was whacked over the head with it, his eyes going from blank to shut.

I stood up and got rid of the chair. Fred pulled me into his arms as soon as I did, stroking my hair. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.

My arms were wrapped tightly around his midriff, my face buried in his shoulder. I wasn't sure I could look at him. “I'm better now, and I'll be even better once I find Maratross.”

He pulled away and tilted my chin up to look at him. Fred's eyes searched mine for something; whatever it was I wasn't sure. “We'll talk later when I get back, alright?”

I nodded my head and placed a small kiss on his jaw, watching with Rae as Fred and George lifted the Snatcher between themselves, disappearing with the usual cracking sound.