Periculum (Fred Weasley Love Story)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cameron and Ari finally returned with firewood stacked up to their chins. They rushed into the room and dropped it in the fire place like it was already on fire.

"What's up?" Roze asked, getting to her feet quickly.

"We found your uncles house" Ari exclaimed, waving about what looked like a newspaper article in her hand. She handed it to me when I neared her, and it turned out to be the local's wizarding newspaper.

On the front page was a smiling family in front of a house, a man and a woman holding a young baby. The headline read 'MUGGLES MOVE IN'.

"It's about how this muggle family moved into this house on the outskirts of town. It's warning the locals to be careful in that area, but the muggles have been magically convinced to not come into town, so no one need worry that much. Look here" Cam pointed to a sentence in the story.

I read aloud, "Margaret and Anthony Hale's old home sold to muggle family".

"Is that it? Is that your dad and uncles old house" Roze asked, looking at me.

"Yes, I think so" I nodded, features of the house feeling familiar to me. Not a remarkable house by any means - it was about thirty years old, squattest, squarish, made of brick, and had four windows set in the front that were always lit up from inside, illuminating the street below. It was modest, and just enough for my grandparents. They could have afforded more as my grandfather moved up in the ministry, but grandma had too many memories and a love for the old house.

"So, do you want to go now?" Ari asked, looking excited to have found something. A little glow shone in her eyes at the prospect of doing something.

"Well, waiting till morning would be smart" Roze voiced.

"But if we find out if Adam is there or has been there, we can work out our next step" Ari replied.

I looked back down at the newspaper. "This paper is almost 10 years old" I said, "Do these muggles even still live there?"

"One way to find out" Ari smiled, using her head to nod and indicate to the door.

"Don't be so quick to jump on this Ari, we have to scope it out. Make sure it's safe" Cam said in a calming voice, laying his hand gently on Ari arm.

"Yeah, but Char wants to find out, don't you Char? They're just muggles, and this way, we can be one step closer to finding your uncle" Ari nodded, her words full of conviction and eagerness.

"Char?" Roze asked, a little of the excitement Ari had in her voice present.

I looked to Cameron, who looked uncertain. We shared a long look, but eventually he just shrugged.

"Alright, we better take our bags though, I don't trust the housekeeping" I said, walking back to grab my backpack.

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I stood outside of the house, the windows lit up from the lights within. It was dark, but not too late. Cam said it was probably best we didn't scare the couple that lived here by all showing up on the doorstep, so only Ari stood beside me after we'd worked out the house seemed safe enough.

"Ready?" she whispered. I nodded, and lifted my hand to knock on the door.

Not long after, a petite, short and tired looking lady answered the door, "Can I help you?" she asked, a small but hesitant smile on her lips.

"Um, yes. Sorry for disturbing you, but I was wondering..." I hesitated, looking past her around the house. "Well, um, it's a bit of a weird question. But do you know of anyone named Adam Hale?"

The woman shook her head, "No, sorry. The owners before us last name was Hale, but no Adam that I can remember" she shrugged.

"I see" I nodded, biting my lip. I looked to Ari.

"Uh, has anything odd happened since you moved into this house?" Ari asked quickly.

The lady looked a bit confused, giving the pair of us a weird look. She held up a finger and then called over her shoulder "Honey!"

Ari and I waited nervously as a man approached, with greying hair and thin wired glasses. "What's this about?" the man asked, seeing the confused look on his wife's face.

"We're looking for someone" I explained before this guy decided to call the muggle cops on us. "He's a family member and he used to live here. He's very hard to find" I explained.

"Oh, well in that case..." the woman began, looking at her husband. They shared a look before the man finally explained that there was in fact a strange man that came by one day, soon after they'd just moved. He was rambling about his home; they were in his home.

"Did he say anything else?" I asked.

"Yes, in fact, he was quite put out. He blamed us for having to find something... What was it Harold?" she asked her husband.

He paused, thinking a moment. "Cliffs of some kind. I remember because they had an odd name. That of which I do not remember oddly enough. But he was yelling about finding the cliffs" I nodded. "I hope that helps girls" he said lastly, obviously ready for us to go.

"Yes, thank you very much" I smiled, taking a step back. They nodded, closing the dorr swiftly.

Ari and I turned, and Cam and Roze met us at the front gate. We began walking back towards town as I explained "Cliffs, they said. He was talking of finding cliffs."

Roze mentioned that 'cliffs' was very vague. "Well, it did happen ten years ago, lucky they remembered anything at all" Ari shrugged, and Roze nodded in agreement.

"Um, does it seem a little quiet to you guys?" Cam asked as we neared the centre of town. When we left, there were people everywhere. Now, not another person in sight.

In an instant, we all had our wands out.

"Char?" Roze said quietly. I looked at her, and her gaze was locked on something. I followed where she was looking, movement in the darkness just ahead of us caught my eye. I squinted into the darkness of the night, and a flash of silver caught the moonlight.

"Get down!" I yelled, just as one of the death eaters shot a curse straight at us the green bolt deflected by Cam just in time.

All three of the death eaters emerged from the shadows, Greyback in front. "Go! Go! Go!" Cam yelled, grabbing my arm and pushing me in the other direction. Roze was ahead of me and I looked back to see Cam clutching Ari's arm as they ran.

I shot a curse to slow them down over my shoulder, but Greyback barely noticed. Instead, it made him angrier. I watched in horror, almost tripping over my own feet as Greyback transformed into his true werewolf form, chasing us with speeds unimaginable to any normal person.

I reached out my hand, calling Roze's name. She shot a look over her shoulder, seeing my outstretched hand. She flailed her arm back, crushing my fingers with hers. I reached back for Cameron, willing him to reach for my hand and keep a hold of Ari.

I saw one of the other death eater turn into his black smoke form and hurtle towards us, and before I could even think about it, a golden bolt of light left my own outstretched hand and I watched in shock as it shot the death eater out of the sky. He fell to the ground and landed in a heap, attempting to stand, but he couldn't.

"Cam!" I yelled, reaching for him once more. Finally, his fingers enclosed around mine, and immediately I began to apparate.

A high-pitched scream filled my ears and just before the darkness enclosed around us, I saw Greyback's claws dig in to Ari's ankles, and everything slowed as I watched her hand fall from Cameron's. She fell away into the darkness, the sound of her screams piercing my ears.

"ARIANNA!"