Okay, I have been trying to upload this chapter for like a week, and my computer hasn't been letting me. That's why this is so late. I hope you enjoy this chapter. There still isn't all that much action, but this chapter is progressive and does end up with them on the island facing the first of the beasts. Still can't really see an end for this, as I've been playing it by ear, but I'm still guessing at about another ten chapters or so. I don't know if I'll keep writing after that, but I've got a story that's been bugging me, so I might start working on that. It'll be a while though. I need a break before I burn out. But fear not, you haven't seen the last of me yet. Enjoy this chapter, and drop me a line to let me know what you think about it.
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Carys paced in the front yard, broom under her arm, wand clutched tightly in her hand. She was nervous. She didn't want to admit that she was nervous, but she was. Her stomach was tied into a knot, her heart was racing, and her palms were sweaty. It was a new feeling, and she didn't care for it in the slightest. But when she saw her father leaning against the porch railing watching her, she stopped and sent him what she hoped was a confident grin.
"Ready to save the world, Dad?"
Draco chuckled, walked to his daughter, and hugged her tightly. "I'm an old hand at saving the world, baby. I've done it before. And you wanna know something?"
"What?"
"The night before Harry, Ron, Hermione and I left, I didn't sleep for one single second. Of course, I was in the house of the Weasley's for the first time, and scared that someone was going to come in and curse me while I was asleep, but that's beside the point."
"Dad, how could we not know that she was related to us?"
"Because she isn't." Draco dropped a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "The sperm donor that is responsible for my birth was the same sperm donor responsible for hers. That doesn't make us related. That doesn't make us anything like her. It takes love, and care to make a family, Carys. In order to call someone a father, they have to do more than donate sperm. In order for someone to be a mother, they have to do more then give birth. We may share the same blood, but we're no more related to her than to your mother's apple tree in the back yard."
Carys snuggled into her father's arms. "I'm scared I am like her. What if I am destined to be evil? Dad, you know I struggle with it ten times more than the twins. More than you."
Draco didn't discount her fears as most parents would. "Our destiny doesn't have to be fulfilled, Carys. We can make anything out of life that we want. Some paths are easier than others, but the hard ones are the ones worth pursuing. It's always easier to be evil than to be good. It's a fact of life, unfortunately. And there isn't anything that we can do about it, baby. We just have to keep struggling and keep pursuing the path worthwhile."
"Is this one of those `life's tough, get a helmet' moments? Cause I really hate those moments."
Draco chuckled, flicked his daughter's nose. "Nope. This is a things don't always go the way they should, and sometimes we have to fight for the right thing more than we should, and sometimes doing the wrong thing looks damn appealing moments."
"Especially when doing the wrong thing is less likely to get me killed right now?"
Draco nodded. "Especially then. But Carys, you aren't alone here, baby. We're all here with you, fighting right along beside you. And even Harry had his moments when he wondered whether doing the right thing was worth it. It's no fun fighting what seems to be a losing battle, but we just have to be confident that even if it seems that we won't ever win, we eventually will. And even if we don't, that prolonging the good part of this world is worth the sacrifices we make. That even if we lose now, that it's worth it to keep fighting. Even when we know we'll never win. Because this, more than anything else, is our destiny."
Carys hugged her father quickly. "I love you, Dad. And I know all this, I really do. It's just that knowing doesn't make the choice an easier." She kissed her father's cheek, then turned and walked over to Sebastian, who was getting last minute instructions from Harry.
Harry noticed Carys, and laid a hand on her arm before walking away. He went to stand with Draco, allowing the two to talk for a moment and then say goodbye to Noah before they left.
"How're you doing?"
Carys lifted her shoulders. "Okay, I guess." she tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. "Scared to death. I keep thinking about what will happen tomorrow when we get there. And how we'll get through everything. Hell, I'm wondering if we'll get through everything. I'm terrified, Sebastian. And more than anything, I'm scared of myself."
Sebastian nodded, understanding as much as he possibly could. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and laid his hand on her cheek. "Do you remember our first kiss?"
Carys laughed, slightly confused. "It wasn't that long ago."
"No. The one when we were thirteen. We wanted to get it out of the way and kissed each other. It was awkward and silly and we both laughed about it after."
"Yeah. In the Common Room when no one was there. You'd just asked a girl to go to Hogsmeade with you, and I had a crush on a guy in fifth year. I came over to tell you about it cause there was no one to talk to in Slytherin and you were freaking out about having to kiss her."
"That's the one. I didn't like you before that moment. At least, not the way I did after that. You said `Merlin, Sebastian, just kiss me already and get it over with. It's better to kiss your cousin then miss when you go to kiss a girl for real.'"
"How do you remember that?"
Sebastian smiled, and she was again struck by how handsome he really was. "I remember it because I was thinking that you weren't my cousin and I didn't know why you always insisted that I was. Anyway, we kissed, and it was terrible. I was nervous, and you were nonchalant and couldn't have cared less. I think I almost did miss actually, and it was quick and awful. But the great thing about that moment is that I can trace my having been in love with you back to it. I didn't like you as anything more than an annoying older girl who happened to hang out with me before then. But after then, you were the girl I'd kissed. Carys Lane Malfoy. I broke up with the other girl and spent at least a month trying to plot to get you to let me kiss you again. It took me five years."
Carys giggled, amazed that he'd managed to lighten the mood when she'd thought it impossible to do. "It was terrible, wasn't it? But I wasn't nonchalant. I tried my hardest to look it, cause I was nervous too. It was my first kiss. What girl wouldn't be nervous? I don't know if I liked you then, Sebastian." she looked at him sadly. "I don't think I could ever pinpoint the exact moment my feelings changed. But I remember nothing was quite the same after that. We were a little further apart, doing things a little separately. And I was a little more nervous going into the Gryffindor common room."
"That isn't the point, Carys. The point is that I remember you were going through an awful time right then. One of our teachers refused to teach a Malfoy, claimed that they were all evil. That none of them were worth anything. And you wondered if he was right. Thought that maybe he was. But I also remember that our Quidditch teams played each other that weekend, and one of your Beaters attacked Noah. Tried to use an Unforgivable on him. And you threw yourself in front of it and cost your team the game. I knew right then that no matter how tempted by the Death Eaters and Dark Magic you were that you wouldn't ever go over."
Carys stepped closer to him, and he slipped his arms around her, drawing her close, into a hug. "How'd you know that? We were so young. Just children. We knew what was going on, but we'd never been faced with anyone evil. How did you know I was so different?"
"Because you threw yourself in front of that curse. I knew that you could never be evil because you loved too much. You loved too many people, and evil would destroy them. Maybe not kill them, or hurt them, but you being evil would kill them. You loved all of us too much to ever do anything to hurt us. As protective as you were toward all of us, we were your anchor. And you loved us all too much for that anchor to ever let go." He kissed the top of her head, summoned his broom with a quick look. "You still love us too much. You may be tempted, but you can't do it. You could never bring yourself to turn evil. You've got too much love in you."
Carys pulled from his grasp, rose onto her tiptoes to kiss him quickly. "Come give us a hug and wish us good luck Noah. We've gotta go." she looked at her mother, and they exchanged a look no one else could read. Carys nodded quickly, then blew a kiss at her father, who was still standing with Harry and Ron. Noah hugged his best friends tightly, wished them luck, and stepped back. Sebastian locked eyes with both his parents, more being said in the silence than could have ever been said in words. And then he reached for Carys' hand, grasped it in his and Apparated.
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The coordinates that Desdemona had given them were located somewhere in Africa. Kenya, if you wanted to get technical. It was hot, unforgiving and miserable. Both Carys and Sebastian got that impression in the five minutes they were there getting their bearings from that Apparition and mounting their brooms. With a silent consensus, they adjusted their wands so that they were being held instead of tucked into a pocket and took off. The flight would be long and difficult, but once they arrived, the hard part would begin.
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It took them close to an hour to reach the castle. And when they saw what appeared to be an island floating in the middle of the sky, both were shocked, despite the fact that they'd both known of it's existence. They'd half thought that Desdemona had been lying to them. It was disconcerting to find that she hadn't been.
The castle was black, and oozed evil. The woods surrounding it were thick and dark. Sebastian didn't want to even think about what was in them. They'd find that out soon enough. The island was large, and the forest covered every inch of it that wasn't castle or moat. They'd both been surprised to see a moat. The very concept was antiquated. Neither even bothered to speculate what was in it. They had more immediate matters to concentrate on.
Like where to land. They needed to soon or else they would most definitely be discovered. Spotting what seemed to be a patch of forest slightly less dense than the others near the edge of the island, Sebastian gestured. Carys followed his movement and nodded slightly. It was as good a place as any other.
So they landed. And they were in the thick, dark forest, alone, with only their wands. Their brooms were discarded, tossed over the edge into the black of the night, and they were suddenly very alone. Carys reached for Sebastian's hand, and sighed in relief when his fingers folded over hers. He could always make her feel a little safer than she was. And every little bit helped when she was literally shaking from fear.
"Ready for this?"
Carys shook her head. "No. But there isn't any turning back now unless we can fly without a broom. Let's get moving. We don't want to be attacked by any of those beasts Desdemona was talking about."
Sebastian tugged on her hand and she turned to see what he was looking at. And saw him looking up. She inclined her head and nearly screamed. What she saw was something even their parents hadn't ever had to deal with.
"Harpies. Any idea how to handle them?"
Sebastian nodded. "We run."
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