Hell and Home

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They stood before the huge, thick gate, looking up at its great height. It was black and had spikes all around it.

Remus sighed. "Are you ready?"

Wesley sighed. "Not really."

Remus stepped forward and tapped on the gate twice with his wand. A huge guard opened it, and they walked in, met by three Dementors.

Remus held up a document to them. "We are here to see Sirius Black."

They stared for a moment before nodding and leading the war toward the huge, square fortress.

Remus followed.

Wesley followed.

Torianna and Evelyn followed.

Harry stayed stone still.

The two girls back-tracked and both grabbed a hand. He stared at both in turn and squeezed both of their hands.

They walked on.

**

Molly Weasley opened the Burrow door to find a surprise.

"Charlie? Fred? George? Ron?"

Charlie smiled broadly, brown eyes twinkling, arm around a busty brunette who was in Muggle clothing. Vinyl pants and a tank-top, to be exact.

Fred and George were looking quite nervous. Probably guilty of something.

Ron was looking worn and then with pale skin and deadened eyes.

"Hey, Mum," Charlie said. "We’ve come for a visit."

She let them in in a daze, and turned her stare on the brunette.

"Mum, this is Faith Morgan," Charlie announced. "She’s one of the physical defense teachers."

Faith offered her a hand. "Hi, Mrs. Weasley. Nice to meet you."

Molly gave her a suspicious look but shook her hand. "Yes, Dear. You, too."

Faith smiled.

"So...what brings all of you home?"

Charlie sighed. "We’d better wait till Dad gets home. You’ll want to hear this together."

Molly nodded. "All right." She turned her gaze on the twins. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," they said in perfect unison.

"They tossed mud at MacGonagall," Charlie said.

Molly fumed. "What?"

"Rainy Quidditch practice," Fred muttered. "Meant to hit a Slytherin."

Molly turned to Charlie. "Where were you when this happened?!"

"Making out with the Professor," George chimed in.

Molly glared, and turned to Ron. "And you?"

"Making out with Hermione Granger," Fred blurted out.

Ron rolled his eyes. "I was on the Pitch with you, you numbskull."

Molly gave Ron a shocked look. "Ron...Hermione?"

He sighed and walked away from them, climbing the stairs to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Charlie shook his head. "I’m gonna-"

"Leave him be for awhile," Faith said. "He could probably use some time alone."

Charlie sighed and nodded. "Yeah, alright."

Molly glared at the twins. "Gnome duty. Now."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "What’s gnome duty?"

Fred smiled. "We’ll show you!"

They dragged her away out to the garden.

Molly sighed. "So...you...and Faith."

"You don’t like her, do you?"

"Why would you say that?"

"You don’t, do you, Mum?"

"Now, Charlie. I only want what’s best for you. You know that...and Faith seems...like...uhm..."

"A hussy?" Charlie asked. He snickered "A scarlet woman?"

"Well..."

"It’s the vinyl pants, isn’t it?"

Molly sighed.

"She’s not bad, Mum. You’d really like. Giver her a chance, please?"

Molly gave another sigh and looked out the window to see Faith fling a gnome very far away. "How’s Ron? Really?"

Charlie sighed. "Holding up. He’s got Quidditch which is good for him."

"And Hermione?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied. "They get the cute award from the staff. She’s good for him."

"Hrm..."

Charlie snickered. "Mum, you don’t like any of Bill’s girlfriends. You don’t like Faith. You hate Penelope Clearwater. You don’t like Fred’s girlfriend, Angelina Johnson. And you don’t like Hermione. No woman will ever be good enough for your sons."

"Just you wait till Ginny starts dating," Molly said, shaking a finger. "Then you’ll know how I feel."

"The day Ginny brings home a boy is the day seven Muggle shotguns are displayed in the front hall," Charlie laughed.

"Eight," Molly corrected. "Don’t forget mine."

"One of them already is yours," Charlie replied. "Dad wouldn’t know what to do with one."

They snickered.

**

He couldn’t believe the screaming. There were no other noises inside the prison, just blood-curdling screams.

Harry held Evelyn and Torianna’s hands tightly as they walked through the huge fortress.

‘Have to be strong. Have to be brave. Can’t let them get to me.’

He was actually doing an alright job of keeping visions of his mother and Voldemort back.

The Dementors floated in front of them, leading them.

No one spoke. Just walked.

They stopped in front of a dark cell at the very end of the hall. It almost looked empty it was so dark. Harry squinted to see inside, but to no avail.

Remus slowly got closer to the bars. "Sirius?"

"R-Remus?"

"We’ve come to speak with you, Sirius."

"W-we?"

"Yeah," Evelyn spoke up. "We."

Suddenly, a pale hand with long, dirty fingernails shot out and snagged Remus by the collar.

Harry, Torianna and Evelyn jumped back a bit.

The Dementors moved forward, but Remus put a hand up and they stopped.

"You brought them here?!" Sirius snarled.

"Let him go, Sirius," Wesley said. "They wanted to come."

Nervously, Evelyn took her backpack off and held onto it. "I brought you some stuff, Dad. Tooth brush, tooth paste, razor and shaving cream, soap and shampoo, nail clippers and file, scissors for a haircut...you’re gonna wanna look nice for your trial."

He let got of Remus, his eyes huge. "Trial?"

Remus nodded. "Fudge finally broke down. It’s not much, but it’s a start. Dumbledore and I will be by Tuesday to pick you up for a Wednesday night trial."

"What about Petigrew?" Sirius asked.

"We’ll get him," Torianna replied.

"Hang in there, Sirius," Harry chimed in.

Evelyn stepped forward to hand the backpack to Sirius, but was stopped by a Dementor. It was obviously angry. It turned its nonexistent gaze on all three children and breathed in.

All of them stumbled back into each other.

Lily Potter’s screams filled Harry’s head, and he squeezed his eyes shut as the world went black.

**

At the Burrow, Lily’s screams and pain reached Ron Weasley. He stumbled to his knees, gripped his hair and screamed right along with her.

His screams did not fall upon deaf ears. Molly and Charlie came running. Charlie bust open the door.

Ron was on his knees, his forehead against the wall. He was crying openly, his skin even paler than before.

Molly slowly walked in and knelt behind her youngest son. She had barely touched his shoulder when he nearly jumped out of his skin, flipping around to face her, his back making a thud against the wall. His blue eyes held fear and seemed a bit crazed and unfocused.

"Ron?"

"S-she died."

"Ron, wha-"

He gripped his hair again. "She t-tried to protect him and he k-killed her...killed her...stop, stop, make it stop, please, make it stop..."

Molly got to her feet, and turned to Charlie. Tears filled her eyes. "Oh, Merlin...what now?"

Charlie, as helpless as his mother and Ron, could only shrug

**

His eyes opened slightly as he saw Remus standing angrily front of the Dementor that had attacked them. Remus’ eyes were narrowed, and he was yelling and snapping, trying to make the Dementor understand him. Harry had never seen him so angry.

Evelyn was already on her feet. While Remus yelled at the Dementor, she slipped her book bag through Sirius’ cell bars and then stepped away.

Torianna shook out her own head and got to her feet. She looked pale, but sufficiently angered. She rolled up her the long sleeves on her Yankees jersey and snarled, ready to make her way to try and teach the Dementor a lesson.

Harry grabbed her arm from his spot on the floor. She looked down at him, and he shook his head.

She grudgingly stayed where she was. She helped Harry to his feet, just as Remus walked over to them.

"This wasn’t a good idea," Remus said. "This was a bad idea. Dumbledore was right. You three shouldn’t have come. I’m taking you back to Hogwarts. Let’s go."

"No! Wait!" Evelyn insisted. "It was my fault with the bag. Can’t we try again, tomorrow?"

"Listen to Remus, Evelyn," Sirius said. "You three shouldn’t be here."

"Wasn’t asking you," Evelyn said. She turned back to Remus. "Please?"

Remus sighed. "Well...Torianna? Harry? What do you think?"

They glanced at each other, and shrugged at the same time.

"Guess we could try again," Harry said.

Torianna nodded. "We should."

Remus sighed. "Alright...let’s get off the island and find a place to stay. We’ll come back tomorrow."

Sirius groaned. "Fine. Risk your lives and get killed. Be my bloody guest."

**

Percy Weasley came home to a house that was nearly as quiet as death. "Hello? Mum? Anyone?" He walked into the kitchen to find Fred and George sitting in silence.

Percy rolled his eyes. "What did you two do, this time?"

George shook his head. "He just wouldn’t stop bloody crying and screaming. We even promised ‘im no more Canary Creams, and he wouldn’t stop screaming. Merlin, he just wouldn‘t stop."

Percy looked suspiciously at them. "What’re you on about?"

"Shh," Fred replied. "Charlie just got him to swallow a sleeping potion. Don’t wake him up."

"Who?" Percy asked. "This is ridiculous. Stop being so cryptic!"

"Sshh. I don’t know how reliable that potion is," Charlie said, coming down the stairs. "If you wake up Ron, I’ll-"

"What’s happened to Ron?"

Charlie sighed. "Really, really bad vision. He‘s been screaming for hours."

The door opened and closed, and Arthur Weasley entered the room, completely baffled at having so many sons inhabiting his kitchen in October. "Hello, boys. What’s going on?"

"Ssshhh."

It came from all four of them.

"Ron’s had a bad day," George said.

Arthur paled. "Oh...I see."

Charlie sighed. "I’m gonna go get Mum. I think you should all hear this."

**

The inn rooms were small, but cozy. It had been decided that Remus would have his own room, and the three children would share one.

"You need to be together," Remus told them. "I think it’s safe to say nothing will happen." He’d turned to Harry and smirked. "If they try and maul you, you can take to the floor in my room. Or Wesley‘s."

Harry smirked back, and they’d split up for the night.

Wesley cleared his throat. "Actually, I’m afraid I’ve gotten a rather strange and urgent owl. I’ve got to go back to Hogwarts."

"Oh?" Remus asked. "From who?"

"I’ll...I’ll fill you in, later. I hope all goes well here. Tell Sirius to hang in there for me."

They nodded, and said their goodbyes as Wesley walked off out of the inn.

Harry wasn’t worried about sharing a room with Evelyn and Torianna. He was coming to think of them as sisters, more than anything else.

Even though it was still quite early in the evening, they’d decided to get into their pajamas. They sat in silence on the bed, facing each other, until Torianna spoke up.

"What did you see?" she asked.

"When?" Evelyn asked.

"When the Dementor turned on us. What did you see?"

Evelyn sighed. "Dad getting hauled off to Azkaban for the first time...I don’t even remember that."

They sat in silence for a while, the girls staring at Harry.

"I see my Mum die."

Torianna didn’t give a reply. They sat in silence for a while before all three of them got under the covers of the small bed and fell asleep.

**

"So...the only way he’s going to live is if he’s made into a half-demon?"

Faith nodded. "Pretty much. No human has ever survived having visions. This is the only way. But...well...he kinda needs written permission from you guys."

Molly and Arthur stared at each other meaningfully, before Molly sighed.

"Alright. If it’s the only way, we agree."

"What?" Percy snapped, getting to his feet. "Dad...Dad what would the Ministry say?"

Charlie glared. "Percy..."

"You really are a prat, y’know that?" George asked.

"I can handle this, George," Arthur cut in, getting to his feet as well. "Percy...I don’t think you’ve fully understood what’s been going on with your brother. He’s dying. It’s very slow, but over the next three years, he will deteriorate until his mind completely shuts down."

"Actually," Faith cut in. "The last human with visions got her brains blown out the back of her head."

"You’re not helping, love," Charlie informed her, taking her hand.

Faith sighed. "Yeah. Sorry."

Arthur shook his head. "The point is, Percy, that the last thing your mother and I want is for any of our children to die. We love you all very much. If this is the only way to save Ron, then so be it. Sod the Ministry, they don’t even have to know. We have to do this."

"Think of it this way, Percy," Molly cut in. "If your son were dying, and there was one thing you could do for him, and it could possibly get you into trouble, but it was the only way, what would you do?"

Percy sighed and sat back down. "Yes. Fine."

**

Skip sat on Ron’s bed, looking over a piece of parchment with a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose. "Hmm..." he nodded at Ron, who was still lying in bad.

He felt helpless, and completely limp, even in his dream.

His room opened up on the far wall, showing his most recent vision of Lily Potter screaming at Voldemort to leave her son be.

"Everything seems to be in order, Ron," Skip told him, removing his glasses. "Both signatures."

"How?" Ron asked weakly. Even in his dreams he was drained from his vision. "I haven’t even asked yet."

"Your brother asked for you," Skip replied. "They said yes, and here we are. In your dream. Again."

Ron didn’t reply. His eyes were locked on the scene of Lily Potter versus Voldemort. "That’s how it happened, huh?"

Skip nodded. "Yeah. That’s it. She’s not happy Harry wound up with her freaky sister."

"You know Harry’s Mum?" Ron asked in disbelief.

Skip smiled. "She and James and Emily come and play poker with me Friday nights! Always talking about their kids."

Ron blinked. "Emily is Evelyn’s Mum, right?"

"Yep. Nice lady."

"W-What about Torianna’s Mum?"

Skip blinked. "Sarah? Sarah Lupin’s not dead. Now sit still."

Before Ron could protest, Skip placed his hands on the sides of Ron’s head and a bright glow engulfed.

Ron woke up on the floor of his room.

He must have made a rather loud thud when he hit the ground, because his family were standing at the door, his father in the lead. He shook his head. "Hi, Dad."

Arthur walked in knelt down to his son’s level. "Ron? Are you alright?"

Ron shook his head out again, his eye shut, and sighed. "Yeah. I think I’m good."

Arthur squinted at Ron, and took out his wand. "Lumos."

The tip of the wand lit up, illuminating Ron’s face. The light gleamed off his eyes and Arthur’s own became wide.

"What in Merlin’s name...?"

"What?" Ron asked.

His eyes were completely white, instead of the deep blue they’d once been.

The family stared in shock.

"What?"

**

They went back. Their hands held tighter together this time. Remus was not happy about taking them back, but there wasn’t anything he could say to make them change their minds.

Evelyn strode up to the cell bars and smiled into the darkness. "Morning Dad."

"I’m going to kill Remus," Sirius growled.

Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"He gave up trying to talk us out of coming back," Torianna said, standing next to Evelyn.

Sirius came into some semblance of view, and Evelyn laughed.

"You used the tooth brush and paste!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What, you honestly think I like being this grimy? Feels awful."

Torianna stood in-between Harry and Evelyn and shrugged. "Little paste goes a long way."

"Well, I brought you something else," Evelyn told him, reaching into the pocket of her baggy jeans. "I forgot to give them to you yesterday." She pulled out a small box that read "Altoids" on it in bold letters. "Thought you could use these." She tossed them to her father, and he caught them easily.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I’m sitting in prison and you bring me Muggle mints?"

"For the dog breath?" Torianna offered.

"Right," Sirius said sharply.

Remus sighed and stood next to Harry. "Hello, Sirius."

"Remus. How close are we to finding Petigrew?"

Remus cast his eyes down. "No word, yet. Dumbledore is in talks with Moody, trying to get him on it. It’s not easy convincing people."

"Isn’t there anyone else we could use?" Torianna asked. "Someone who saw Petigrew in action?"

Sirius sighed. "Your mother was the only one who really caught him in the act. She was there the day he blew up all those Muggles in the street...She was the only real survivor...‘cept she might as well be dead, anyway."

**