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The Second Strike by gti88
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The Second Strike

gti88

A/N: I have two chapters with the word `death' in the title...this needs to turn around.

Chapter XXI: Rila

The chill of the mountain air made Regulus shiver as he stood up and looked around. Majestic snow-capped peaks, lush valleys, the sound of a nearby stream and the rustling leaves met his senses; for a moment he was speechless.

"This way people, you can admire the scenery later," Charlie refocused the attention where it needed to be. He was supporting Esmeralda, who really did look unsettled from the apparition trip. On her other side, Draco moved in to lend additional support.

"Where are we going, Charlie?" Harry asked him.

"My friend lives just at the bottom of this path," came his reply.

Forming an Indian line, the entire company departed downward, with Charlie and Draco with Esmeralda between them in the front, everyone else in the middle and Harry and Ron bringing up the rear.

"It's a miracle Charlie and your dad got out safe," Andromeda told Regulus.

"I know," he said, "I still can't believe it, how close they were."

"Mate, this is it, unfortunately," Albus came up beside him. "I wish we got more of a role in this, I feel we're being babied through this whole thing."

"Babied?" Andromeda shot at him. "Do you really know how to go up against an Unspeakable? We've never seen one, and if our parents can barely handle them, imagine what's in store for us!"

"Calm down, honey," Regulus put a placating arm around her. "Nobody is going to do anything stupid, we're just talking ideas out loud."

"Yeah, well," Andromeda looked slightly abashed for her outburst, but the tension remained on her face. "I also wish we were more involved," she admitted.

This time Holly made an appearance. "But remember the centaurs? It was pure luck we didn't end arrowed to a tree back there."

"She has a point," Albus supported his girlfriend. "I mean, we're not exactly equipped to deal with anything beyond Defence class."

"That's not true," Regulus defended them collectively. "The fact we came out in one piece out of the Forbidden Forest means we were able to help ourselves too."

"Well, mostly, we did bring back a furry friend," Albus quipped.

"Well, that's why we're here," Regulus countered him edgily, "I don't want this furry friend any more than you do, and risking our lives to get the cure isn't my cup of tea either."

"Relax, mate," Otto came up on his other side, "we understand, but a little humour doesn't hurt to light up our otherwise dismal situation. I mean, who knows if there isn't another Unspeakable behind the next tree?"

"Don't joke about that," Regulus replied stiffly.

"You'd usually be the first to joke about it," Otto rejoined significantly.

"Look, my father almost died at the hands of one," Regulus snapped, "it's not exactly the time for jokes!"

"Too soon?" Otto whispered to Albus.

"Too soon," the latter affirmed with a nod.

"I'm sorry, Reg," Otto apologized. "Albus is sorry, too."

"I truly am," Albus echoed his friend.

"Where's Jane?" Andromeda turned around to find one, but not her other best friend.

"Up ahead, talking to Esmeralda's mother," Otto indicated.

They didn't say anything for the rest of the journey down the path, instead choosing to maintain a tense silence until they arrived at the house.

Charlie's friend lived in an unassuming two-storey dwelling, made of logs and covered in mossy tiles. The wood had darkened from many years of rain, snow and wind and the grime on the windows told them that they were most likely original too. The backyard hinted towards a vast open space and indeed, they could hear the roars of what sounded like a Hungarian Horntail in the distance.

"Well, we're here," Charlie turned to the rest, "let me call him."

He magnified his voice. "Boris!" Even the trees shook and even the Horntail's roar became louder.

Not a second later, a loud crack echoed and -

"How many times I tell you, Charlie, no scaring dragons when I work," came the reproaching, heavily accented voice of the man in question.

"Good to see you too, my friend," Charlie said. "How are you?"

"Busy, you can see that," Boris was still on edge, "why you here!"

Charlie indicated the company behind him. "We need your help," he stated simply.

Boris took in the rest of the party, and his demeanour changed almost diametrically. "Yes, yes, of course, I help you, I help you!"

"Excellent," the elation in Charlie's voice was evident, "thank you. We need a place to stay for a few days."

"Well, you know where the bedrooms are, show your people around. I have unsupervised Horntail in back, excuse me!"

"No Horntails in the bedrooms this time, aye?" Charlie called after him.

"No, no, no, not this time!" Boris turned around quickly before disappearing in thin air with a crack.

"Strange friend you have," Harry commented with a raised eyebrow.

"He's a little bit quirky, I will admit," Charlie said, "but also a good man. He taught me quite a few things about raising dragons that were not in the books at school. But then, he also does some work on the illegal side, but we keep that quiet, you know?"

"Yeah, of course," Harry agreed. "I reckon we have two days, maybe three before the Unspeakables track us down. We should get to Greece before putting your friend in jeopardy."

"I know, I know," Charlie said, "Which is why we need to find the edelweiss flower as soon as possible and get out here. Conveniently, it grows in these parts, so it shouldn't be a challenge."

"That's what you think," Hermione said, "the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic has it listed as a protected plant and removing it is a punishable offence."

"So?" Ron intervened, "We'll just take it, do some memory charms and voila!"

"Not that simple," Hermione shook her head. "Every flower is tracked with a spell that even I can't begin to figure out."

"That's not good," Ron commented. "If you're helpless, then what do we do?"

"I don't know," Hermione put a hand on her forehead, "maybe we can ask Boris, he is more likely to know a way around it."

While they were talking about this, Regulus was listening intently. An idea sprang to his mind that they could pull it off somehow before anyone found out. Yet, the rational side of his brain quickly put this idea to rest. Still, he resolved to suggest it to his best mates.

"Can we go through the authorities?" Ron suggested.

"No, there is no point," Draco offered his input, "you don't know the Bulgarian bureaucracy, even in their Ministry of Magic."

"And you do?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Believe me, I do, back in the day it's how my dad got shady connections here," Draco replied, "it's terribly slow. By the time we get the flower, we might have been killed two hundred times."

"It might have changed," the redhead told him.

"Not likely," Draco shook his head, "I read intelligence reports, too," he nodded at Hermione.

"He's right," she agreed. "Luna has that assignment, and she reports no progress either."

"Wait, you lost me," Harry complained, "how did we go from looking for a flower to discussing the administration here?"

"Because they might be the only way to get the flower," Draco told him with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Keep up, Potter."

"That's beside the point," Hermione was quick to parry any possible breakout of hostilities. "The point is that we need to find another way to get the edelweiss."

"We're Aurors for crying out loud!" Ron lost his patience. "We defeated Voldemort and picking a flower is this complicated! I can't believe it!"

"You have to rationalize it, Ron," Hermione was ever-patient with him, "we're in a foreign country with different kinds of magic and we're not the ones in power. They won't care who we are."

At this point, Regulus left the older generation to argue amongst themselves and decided to find his friends so they could brainstorm a way out of this.

Otto and Jane were sitting on the edge of the path and admiring the scenery of the ancient monastery below them. The black and white striped walls, forming arches along the perimeter of the monastery, with the red-tiled roof and the church in the center made them appreciate the ancient air of the surroundings, a mysterious land that spoke of its past if one sat down and listened quietly...

"Otto!"

His hand dropped from behind Jane and he turned around. "Reg? What's going on?"

"Where's Albus?"

"Somewhere in the bushes, I reckon," Otto cocked a smile.

"Albus!" Regulus shouted to the immediate surroundings.

"Oy!" a voice did come back.

"Where are you?"

"Coming, coming!"

Indeed, from behind a boulder not too far away, Albus emerged, somewhat dishevelled and with a dirt strip running down his pant.

"I assume you know where Holly is, mate," Otto could not resist taking advantage of Albus' current predicament.

"She's still - ah," he flustered for a moment, but recovered immediately, "why do you want me, mate?"

"Got a little idea," Regulus said. "I'll tell Andromeda later about it - "

"Tell me what?"

"Andy," Regulus turned around.

"Hi to you, too," she waved in expectation. "Now what were you going to tell me?"

"I hate when she does that," he mouthed to Otto, who nodded discreetly.

"He was just going to tell us about some idea he cooked up and then fill you in on it, apparently," Albus diplomatically saved the day just as he always did on such occasions.

"Exactly," Regulus picked up the word before Andromeda could intervene again. "I want us to go find the edelweiss flower and get it before our parents do. It's nothing too demanding and I'm sick of feeling I'm on the sidelines of this whole thing, of which we happen to be a part too."

"You've got a point," Otto agreed. "What do the girls think?"

"It grinds my gears real bad, I'll be honest," Andromeda emitted a few suppressed sparks. "We're being shepherded from place to place without any real idea what's going on, even if they tell us what's happening, supposedly."

Right at that moment, all heads turned as Holly emerged from behind the rock and it was really her state that caused the collective sharp intake of breath, the consequent gasp and -

She wore absolutely nothing, her face was smeared with dirt, blond hair in disarray, and this particularly dreamy gaze in her blue eyes...it must have been the mountain ear, a thought flashed through Regulus' mind, or not that even, maybe she listened a little too intently to the aforementioned mysterious land -

Albus ran towards her, more shocked than everyone else, and she nearly collapsed as she embraced him.

"You were incredible," she made sure to emphasize the word, "this time. Incredible! I'm in love with you all over again!" she chirped to a thoroughly crimson Albus...

"I - just - " he tried in vain to explain himself, looking between his naked girlfriend and the rest of his friends, skipping tomato and rushing past maroon in the process...

Andromeda was the first to gather her wits and whipping out her wand, conjured a dress from midair.

"Albus, please help her!" she was indeed scandalized, but a note did betray somewhat that a part of her was enjoying this unexpected turn of events.

Still in her half-delirium, Holly let Albus do all the work associated with putting the dress on - whether he deliberately took his time or it was indeed difficult for him was a matter that was up for debate, until Jane and Andromeda took it upon themselves to end his clumsy attempts and get her somewhat proper.

"Well - anyway," Albus tried to derail the current situation towards where Regulus had been going earlier, but Holly drifted by his side again.

"Anyway," Regulus gave him a quizzical glance, "I say we find the flower, bring it back and move on to Greece. On top of that, we'll have a nice day out in the mountain. Who knows when we'll get to do it again?"

"You're right, and I agree with you, with the small problem that unfortunately, we might be arrested on the spot if you even think about touching that flower," Andromeda brought his dreams crashing down to earth.

"They have a spell for that?" Jane inquired on the side.

"I wouldn't put it past them," Andromeda shrugged.

"Then do we just wait for the Unspeakables to come and do the job for us?"

"No," Regulus said forcefully. "I'd rather risk getting arrested with some chance of getting away than staying a werewolf for the rest of my life."

"We did say we were with him," Otto pointed out to general agreement.

"We're not going anywhere, but with you," Andromeda put her hand on his shoulder as a sign of solidarity. "Let's go find us a flower."

No other objections came from anyone else. "Let's keep going up the slope, maybe we'll find edelweiss there."

Holly was still a little bit unsettled, but under Albus' subtle guidance, she managed to follow in step. For safe measure, he took her by the hand and pulled her along, but she kept up.

As they went higher and the monastery in the valley became smaller to the eye, a more noticeable chill permeated the breeze. From up here, they could see snow caps on the neighbouring peaks. Yet, in the blue sky and brilliant sunshine, the scene was almost something out of a fairy tale.

The trees grew sparser too and more and more clearings began to appear. Now they were hoping to find the edelweiss in question, pick it up and go back before they could be noticed and caught. Strangely, the air was becoming much colder and despite the clear day, they were forced to keep performing warming spells on themselves.

"What's going on, guys?" Jane was the first to voice the question. "It's cold."

"I don't know," Regulus spoke over the strengthening breeze. "Keep going!"

They were nearly at the top of the path. By now the breeze had turned into a gale and was still gathering speed.

"Is this natural?" Otto asked Regulus, fighting over the noise of the wind.

"Definitely not!" Regulus shielded his eyes while trying to face Otto.

"Let's take cover there!" Albus shouted at the top of his voice, while pointing to an outcropping of boulders nearby. It was their only chance if they did not want to be blown off the top of the mountain. At a sprint, the six of them ran to the promised cover.

Holly was trying to keep up, Albus behind her, but she suddenly lost balance and fell to the ground -

"Holly!"

"My ankle!" her face contorted in pain.

"Hold on!"

The wind still kept up picking speed. Glancing down into the valley whilst helping up Holly, Albus noticed it was only the peak that was affected, and the trees down below were barely quivering.

Picking her up in his arms, Albus struggled to keep balanced as he ran to catch up.

"Come on, mate!" he heard Regulus shouting at him. He did run back from behind the boulders to meet him.

"Take her legs!" Albus shouted on his own turn. "Watch the ankle! On three!"

Both boys carefully ran in unison, Regulus cradling her ankle as best he could to prevent it from moving and she was doing her best to ignore the pain shooting up her leg.

They made it safely behind the rocks, as the wind began to send grasses, twigs, dirt and pebbles up in the air.

"Set her down, carefully," Andromeda said, "I'll fix the ankle."

"Be careful!" Holly said. "It hurts!"

"Hold on," Andromeda instructed, "Keep her leg straight - "

The wind died as quickly as it had picked up speed. The consequent quiet took everyone by surprise, as all looked around to find out why it had stopped. Even Holly temporarily forgot about her pain as the new uncertainty descended.

"Get your wands out," Regulus told Otto and Albus.

The three of them stood up, forming a circle around the girls and using the rock outcropping as their cover, faced three different directions.

"Jane I need your help to keep Holly's leg straight," Andromeda called out to her friend. "I have to immobilize it do it doesn't get any worse!"

"Can't you fix it?" Jane asked her forcefully.

"I never learned healing spells in detail," Andromeda objected, "now help me!"

The quiet that had descended had become even more ominously quiet. Regulus maintained a tight grip on his wand, his tongue teetering on the edge of a revelatory spell.

"Otto, form a shield around them!"

Without a word, he turned to the three girls, and placing himself inside the circle, used his wand to produce and maintain a silvery shield around all of them. Holly was still trying to deal with the pain and Andromeda was having her own troubles trying to think of a spell that would not damage her foot permanently. Jane in the meanwhile, was keeping Holly distracted from the waves of pain by comforting and talking soothingly to her.

"Reg, come back to back with me," Albus called out to Regulus on his own turn.

"Coming," Regulus said.

He looked around to no avail. The surroundings were as dead as they had suddenly become, only more ominously so.

"Hurry up!"

Seconds later they were back to back.

"Do you see anything?"

"No," Albus said. "But I feel something."

"What?" Regulus slightly turned his head. "You feel something?"

"I do."

"What?"

"Fear, mate," Albus told him as firmly as he could. "Fear."

As brave as he was, a chill also went up Regulus' spine. "I know."

The silence was growing heavier by the second and the temperature had significantly dropped.

"Something is coming. Can you hear it?"

"I can't hear anything, Albus," Regulus said. His wand was still trained at nothing.

"Holy - "

Immediately, Regulus whipped around. What met his eyes defied tangible explanation. Any words he had to say dropped from his lips to the ground.

The being Harry, Ron and Draco had told them about was standing right in front of them. Tall, thin, a faint glow to his skin, his face pale and eyes black as coals, staring at them, dressed in a long, black robe that framed his slim figure.

Regulus pointed his wand straight at him. "Who are you!"

An word projected itself into his mind. Anu.

His grip tightened as he stared right back into the endless coals. "What do you want?"

Yet, the reply was not stressed, not tense. To help you.

A spell was on the edge of Regulus' lips.

"Albus, on three," he muttered to his companion.

"Got it," the other replied significantly.

"One, two - "

"Expelliarmus!"

"Impedimenta!"

"Stupefy!"

"Imperius!"

Two spells shot from each wand on two consecutive occasions. Yet, nothing flew from the being's hand, he merely leaned back from the force of a spell that would have knocked a wizard off the mountain, there was no visible loss of consciousness and the mind control attempt merely bounced off his robe.

Are you quite finished?

"Should we give him a better taste?" Albus' voice was edgy, seemingly itching for a challenge...

"No," Regulus restrained him for the time being, but did not lower his wand either. "Where are you from!"

This is not important. You are looking for a plant.

"It's not your business what I'm looking for!" Regulus truly felt a fear in him now.

The being did not reply. Instead he held out his arm, the long sleeve dropping as he did so. Holding out his hand, out of thin air, a blue ball of energy appeared and a moment later was replaced by the edelweiss flower they were on a mission to find without being detected.

My desire is to help you.

The being turned his hand down and the edelweiss drifted slowly downward, settling on the ground.

It is yours.

Without waiting for a response, the being gradually became more transparent, until he disappeared completely and both boys were left aiming their wands at nothing once again.

"What, in the hell, was that?" Albus said, his voice visibly shaken. His hand was frozen, aiming at the same spot still...

"You know what it was," Regulus was no less shocked, "our enemy's ally. We just got introduced."

The air was noticeably warming up again and it picked up into a breeze. The flower flittered on the ground.

"Go get the edelweiss," Albus told him sternly. "I'll cover you."

Regulus found it difficult to lower his arm, but still managed to do it slowly. He ran over to where the being had dropped the flower, picked it up quickly, and reverted to his previous position, expecting some kind of assault from somewhere -

Nothing.

"I think he's gone, mate," Albus called out to him.

"Check on the others," Regulus told him. "I'll keep watch."

Albus lowered his own wand, looked around uneasily and ran back behind the rocks. Otto's shield was still glowing strong, Holly looked much more peaceful, Jane was still comforting her, and Andromeda was sitting against the rock, seething, after Otto had prevented her from leaving and joining Regulus and Albus.

"What happened?" Andromeda was the first to shoot up when Otto lowered the shield.

"I'll tell you when we get off this goddamned rock," Albus had yet to calm down. "But we've got the flower, which is what matters."

"You got the edelweiss?" Jane turned.

"Yeah," Albus nodded again. "How's Holly?"

"Good," Andromeda said. "I immobilized her ankle, so she will recover, but we need a doctor for her to walk again."

Albus kneeled down next to her. "You'll be ok, babe."

"I know," she smiled at him. "Now, help me up."

"Don't," Andromeda countered him. "Any weight she places on her ankle might undo the whole charm. We'll have to lift her down the mountain."

"Fine then," Albus agreed. "Let's get going before another surprise visit."

"Regulus!" Albus called out to his best friend.

"Oi!"

"All are safe and sound. Let's go!"

A/N: Who knew being a werewolf would lead to meeting aliens...I know not one story like this exists on PK. :D

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