InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I know. It explains so much."

Ernie Macmillan (lost_ernie) wrote in all_roads,
@ 2008-04-29 00:07:00

Entry tags:

*thread-completed, dominic abbott, ernie macmillan, hestia jones, miles stebbins

Kidnapping discovery; various [EM, DA, HJ, MS]
WHO: Miles, Ernie, Dominic, Hestia
WHERE: the Ministry Gala; the Abbott's
WHEN: Saturday, 15 January, 2000; evening
SUMMARY: The people closest to Hannah discover what's happened
RATING: PG-13

It was odd how it all happened. One moment Ernie was watching his girlfriend across the room, admiring as she danced so beautifully with some random man who had insisted on stealing her away for one dance, and the next he was so distracted with some joke that Miles was telling to the attractive redhead he was flirting with that he took his eyes off of Hannah for a matter of moments. When his gaze returned she was nowhere to be found.

His stomach churned, though he didn't think it anything to worry about. No doubt she was just getting some air in the garden or perhaps taking pity on the woefully average looking young man and giving him another dance, but something felt off. “Miles.” He said sharply. “Do you see Hannah in here?” he didn't care that Miles was likely very close to striking some sort of deal with the long legged woman, Hannah was nowhere to be found, and that was worrying him more than he knew how to express.

Dominic almost didn't read the note. The woman he had been talking to was hardly as distracting as his own Hestia was standing at his side, and he assumed that the parchment she pressed into his hand was just some sort of ministry memo that he was supposed to sign. When two people collided in front of him and he stooped to help one of them up, he nearly tucked it into his pocket, but something made him glance at it first.

And that one glance changed everything. Thrusting the offending paper into one of Hestia's hands and grabbing the other (because he absolutely refused to lose them both in one night) he began marching quickly toward Macmillan. As he crossed the room, Ernie looked up from Miles and his eyes met Dominic's. Dominic knew, in that moment, that this was not some sort of prank. This was very real, and Hannah had been taken.

“Damn it!” He swore, hoping that Hestia had read the note as he didn't have time to explain what was going on now. Lacing his fingers more tightly through hers, he walked very swiftly the rest of the way toward Ernie. “Come on.” He all but growled at the boy. It was his fault that Hannah had been taken. This was a celebration in the Minister's honor, and the one thing that was asked of an Auror trainee, an Order member for Merlin's sake, was to watch over the Minister's daughter. The girl who was his GIRLFRIEND, and yet again Macmillan had failed. “I'm going to find her.”

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

soddinghell
2008-04-29 07:20 am UTC (link)

It took Miles more than a moment to recover from the sheer shock of knowing some Death Eater bastard had Hannah. And as he couldn't speak about it, he was having to internalize all the strings of curses, but when Dominic issued orders to them, he did not even think twice. Smartass though he might be, he was still trained to be a good little soldier – well, good was relative, but still. "Yes, sir!" he said smartly, but there was determination to his normal air as he set off in the direction Dominic indicated.

Hestia didn't wait, simply went the moment Dominic did and searched right beside him, hand still in his except when it made doing something difficult. Yet, even as they searched, she knew it was futile. They had been had, this had been planned and executed flawlessly and Hannah could be in another country by now for all they knew. Hannah, the one who needed protected most of all, not because they had thought her in the most danger but because she had been the hardest hit by all of this, and she had slipped from their grasp without them even knowing it. She wanted, in the same breath she resisted doing so, to call in the Order and all the Aurors and scream it far and wide until everyone knew and was looking for her, but that could well be a death sentence. She knew, now that she herself had escaped their grasp, that the games were over, that the Lestranges had grown bored with being 'generous' and now Hannah was in their hands.

It was only when they had searched ever conceivable spot of the areas Dominic had indicated that Hestia stepped over to a hedge near the terrace and gave into the urge to throw up. It was either that, or fall to pieces, though that seemed not that far off.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lost_ernie
2008-04-29 08:04 am UTC (link)

Ernie just nodded, all but sprinting in the direction Dominic had indicated. He bumped into several important people on the way, people who likely weren't used to being bumped into, but he didn't care.

"Hannah!" he called the moment they were outside, hoping that he could hear something, even if it was just a muffled cry, but there was nothing.Looking harder, he made quick work of the area Dominic had told them to search.

"Fuck!' He hissed when he had covered every bit of the area with no clue as to Hannah's whereabouts. "Fuck!" It was Miles's curse of choice, and even it didn't sound furious enough. How had he been so stupid? How had he not realized what was going on? "Where the fuck is she?" He whirled to look desperately at his best friend, as though speaking in Miles's language would suddenly grant Miles knowledge he didn't have before.

Dominic's stomach was churning with dread as they searched the grounds. Part of him wanted to find Hannah, and part of him didn't, because he was afraid of the state he would find her in. Not that she would be frightened or upset, but that she would beyond all of that, that she would be laying there with an odd look of peace about her, with her blonde hair dirty and bloody in places as she laid there so motionless....

No, he told himself. Hannah was not Teaghan and he wasn't going to find her the same way he had found Teaghan. He was going to find her alive and they were going help her to feel better and things were going to go back to normal.

The sound of Hestia's retching drew him back to reality. He stood next to her, resting one hand protectively on her back and pulling back her hair with the other. He didn't bother telling her that it would all be alright because she knew as well as he did that it might very well NOT be alright. She had been with him the last time that hte Death Eaters stole someone away, she was an Auror and she knew what normally happened to those that Death Eaters kidnapped. Instead he just held her hair and rubbed her back absently and struggled to keep the contents of his own stomach (damn that birthday cake and the punch too) down. He hadn't given up, he wouldn't give up until he found her, one way or the other, but it felt as though the time for optimism and hope was over, and all that was left was the facts and the tasks at hand.

Hestia had been taken too, yes, but he had been able to converse frequently with her, she was an adult. Hannah, was, and always would be, his little girl. His baby was in their hands, and awaiting a fate similar to her mother's for all that he knew.

Teaghan, wherever you are, however this works, if you can, please protect her.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

soddinghell
2008-04-29 09:24 am UTC (link)

When she finally pulled herself, or rather, just her stomach back together somewhat, Hestia stood up again and turned to Dominic. They needed to make plans, to do something, but the flap of owl wings caught her attention momentarily, as the birds were coming straight to them. The first owl to swoop low dropped the box into her hands and, at first, she thought to ignore it, but a moment later realized with a twist of her stomach that nearly upset it again, that it might have something to do with Hannah. So she opened it.

"Oh, Christ, no," she said, the words no more than a whimper as she held up the blue and silver heels that Hannah had been wearing tonight. Hestia knew, as Hannah had needed to have Dominic repair the heel on the left one earlier when it had separated from the shoe. Hestia could still hear Hannah's giggles that had tried to hide her nervousness about tonight, the reason Hannah hadn't been able to repair her shoe herself properly, because that was Hannah's magical fault, lessened abilities when stressed.

Hannah was out there with Death Eaters, likely distraught beyond measure and even if Hannah still had her wand, the chances of her protecting herself were slim in that state. And she had no shoes to wear to try and escape on foot.

It was then that, despite all of her training, despite her years of experience as an Auror, despite the fact she normally kept a level head in a fight situation, Hestia completely and utterly lost it, turning quickly hysterical as she raved between sobs about 'her barefoot baby'.

Miles stared back at Ernie with something halfway between shock and disgust. It was the only reaction he could come up with after combing the whole bloody area assigned to them. "If I fucking knew, don't you think I would have fucking told you?" He gestured wildly and then pulled out his dress robes at the hip. "Yes, she's here! Right in my pocket!" He snorted. "You sodding arse."

He couldn't afford to cater to what he was feeling right now, even if it was better for Ernie to have some sympathy rather than Miles' typical mouth, as someone had to keep it together. Macmillan could fall apart with Jones or something, it was his place to anyhow as it was his girl they were all looking for.

"Let's go find the Minister and Jones," he said, turning on his heel to head in the direction the older two had been searching. "If we're doing this fucking rescue without any bloody backup whatsoever, we're going to need a fucking plan."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lost_ernie
2008-04-29 11:38 am UTC (link)

Ernie just gaped at Miles's back for a minute. While he wasn't looking for a shoulder to cry on, this was his best mate, he didn't think a little sympathy in his hour of need was asking too much. They had been through hell and back together and Miles knew how he felt about Hannah. He wasn't sure that Miles thought about things like that, about loving one woman alone, but he knew that Ernie had to feel deeply for Hannah if he was always going out with her alone instead of trying to balance ten women at a time as Miles himself did. The bastard had to know that this wasn't easy for him, and he was poking fun. "Go to hell," He growled, lunging himself at Stebbin's back so that they went flying toward the ground. Once they made contact with the hard, unyielding earth, Ernie thought for a moment that this wasn't the wisest course of action, but he aimed a good punch to Stebbin's nose none the less.

It wasn't the best course of action, or the most reasonable one, but it was the only one that Ernie saw in that moment. He was hurting and Miles had been and arse so he was going to make Miles hurt.

The owl swooped in, dropping a note beside them, and Ernie reached for it, not even bothering to defend himself for a moment.

Dominic opened his own note the same time that Hestia opened hers, and he gasped when he saw what was inside. Her hair...his Hannah's hair, and not just a small clipping but a piece the entire length of her hair. He pulled Hestia tightly to him. God knew what Hannah was going through, what these things were supposed to mean. Perhaps they had shaved Hannah's hair and had beaten her with the shoes, or, hopefully, these were just signs to authenticate the claim that she had been taken. Dominic just couldn't help but think the worse, because this was the worst possible situation imaginable, and if there ever was a time to become a pessimist, this was certainly it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

soddinghell
2008-04-29 11:53 am UTC (link)

That... was unexpected. Miles hit the ground still processing the fact he had been attacked by Ernie, not guarding his face in time to stop being punched full-on in the nose. The cracking sound only told him was the burning pain had already delivered to his brain and he held a hand to his nose as he howled in shocked outrage.

"MACMILLAN! What the fuck?! Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK." Shoving Ernie off of him, Miles scrambled to his feel, blood dripping on his fingers first and then down his face as his righted himself and faced Ernie's crouched form.

"You want to take shots at me rather than fucking find them?" he spat, quite literally, as he expelled the blood that had gotten into his throat. "Fine. Here's my face." He gestured with both hands, a clearly provocative gesture despite the pain. "Go at it, you fucking prat. See if it solves a fucking thing."

Though Dominic was thinking all manner of things, Hestia simply couldn't, not beyond that original thought of Hannah barefoot and magically defenseless. She had never experienced this before, at all. She had know the loss of loved ones both unknown and, in the case of her first child, unknown, she had known fear for those she cared about and even known the protective instincts for young charges, but having someone who was an amalgamation of little sister, friend and daughter torn from her like this was beyond anything she had ever comprehended. While part of her rationally tried to fight the hysteria, knowing that however she felt it was a thousand times worse for Dominic, a greater part was lost to that raving and hysterical sobbing that was threatening to make her faint from the degree to which she was no longer taking deep breaths.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lost_ernie
2008-04-29 12:37 pm UTC (link)

Ernie too managed to get quickly to his feet, already feeling a slight flush of embarrassment making its way to his face. He had been way out of line, but then so did Miles. However, damn him, Stebbins did have a point. "You're an arse, Stebbins." He growled. "But I'll wait until they start targeting people who YOU care about to tell you about it, because apparently you can't understand what it's like until then."

Resisting the urge to punch Miles again, he turned sharply, anger practically radiating off of him, and started in the direction that Dominic and Hestia should be.

Dominic held her tighter as she started to fall apart. He wanted to turn the place upside down, to call the Ministry in every country on the European continent, but it was pointless. Until they wanted him to know something more, there was nothing else he could do, other than hope that some break would allow him to save her as he had saved Hestia. Helping Hestia, however, he could manage. "I miss her too, but you have to keep breathing, Hestia." He looked pleading down at her, his eyes dark with concern. "Because we can't lose this baby too." Hestia had been through a lot recently, and Dominic wasn't about to lose her, and the baby, and Hannah all at once. He had to focus on keeping Hestia conscious and breathing at the very least to ensure that he could get Hannah back and offer her some sort of normalcy, and because he wasn't strong enough to suffer such a loss and keep the sort of focus that he needed to if he was to get his daughter back.

"We're going to find her, Hestia."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

soddinghell
2008-04-29 01:00 pm UTC (link)

Miles wasn't about to back off now, not at that parting shot. Waving his wand in front of his face to stem the flow of blood until he could fix his nose or have it fixed properly, he set off after Ernie, shouting the whole way.

"What, you think I don't fucking care about her?" he yelled. "Fuck you to fucking hell, Macmillan. Want me to fall to the fucking ground and sob like a nancy? Yeah, that'll help her and you, won't it? No one can afford to stand around crying on each other, not when we can't even put people on this. But fucking fine. You can't take me being who I always am? Fine. But you can bloody well go fuck yourself if you think you're doing this on you're own. So fuck you, because I'm still in the game!"

That said, he charged right on past Ernie to reach Hestia and Dominic first, throughly annoyed.

Looking up at him, Hestia felt on the verge of something, slipping further into dangerous hysteria or coming back from it and trying to pull herself together. It was a monumental battle, as she was fighting feeling more destroyed than she had ever felt as well as the crutches pregnancy provided in the way of changes to her emotional stability. But he was right, and she did know that giving in to this was only going to harm more people, not help. But, then, hysteria wasn't very rational.

Struggling, she tried, though it felt like forever before she had enough control to try and breath deeply, try and fight what was gripping her. That was when she found she couldn't, that stage of hyperventilation where one knows they are hyperventilating and struggles to stop it without yet being successful.

The raised voice nearing them made her turn slightly and when she did, still trying to get that deep breath, she spotted Miles and Ernie, a wave of shame rushing through her. She was falling apart, doing it when Dominic needed her, when she should be presenting a strong front to her trainees, to people she cared about.

Miles wasn't ashamed of her. Mostly, as he came to an abrupt halt, he was embarrassed to have come upon Hestia like this, whether he had predicted people falling apart or not. He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and then turned, glaring at Ernie. Well, what else was he supposed to do?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lost_ernie
2008-04-30 07:25 pm UTC (link)

Part of Ernie knew that Miles was right, that he was doing what he had to to find Hannah just the same as the rest of them, and part of him was still furious. Yes, people needed to be strong if they had any hope of finding her alive, but they also couldn't be expected to be unfeeling either. Ernie had never loved anyone the way that he loved Hannah, and it only made sense that he would be lost without her. He had not fallen apart, he had not given up, he had merely turned to a friend for support and his friend had snapped at him. Glaring, Ernie started marching next to Stebbins, saying nothing else.

And then he saw Hestia in such a state and grew even more furious with Miles. He silently dared Miles to say anything to Hestia about sobbing like a nancy or anything of the sort.

Dominic glared at the two as they approached. Hestia prided herself on the strong front that she presented to her trainees, and the last thing that she needed in this situation.

"Macmillan," He kept his voice steady, somehow, though he wanted to shake the two of them soundly. Though Hestia falling apart wasn't their fault, he didn't want them to stand here gawking at her and making her feel badly about her very understandable, very natural reaction. "I need you to go inside and inform my secretary that I am retiring a bit early for the night and that I won't be in the office tomorrow. Play it off as a joke if you can, something about the Minister getting senile and old and needing more rest, that will amuse her so that she doesn't ask too many questions. Stebbins, you are to go inside and thank the more important guests, such as department heads and such, for coming and give them my thanks. The last thing that I need is for authorities to think that something is going on and to get involved." His jaw clenched at the memory of what the note said would happen in that instance.

He squeezed Hestia's hand tightly. "We're going home. Someone might try to Floo call us, and when they do we need to be there." It was hard to admit defeat, that Hannah wasn't here any longer and that they had her, but he had to be practical, and think about what the next move of the Death Eaters might be. He waited on the boys to leave so that Hestia wouldn't be so ashamed anymore. He didn't want to risk apparation with her in such a state.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

soddinghell
2008-04-30 08:00 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, sir," Miles said, saluting briefly before making himself very scarce to do just that. It was better than watching Hestia, that was for certain, and he could handle the task easily enough. It was only as he set off on it that his thoughts fell to the 'authorities' and wondered where the guard that followed the Minister and his family were.

It took time, even once Ernie and Miles had gone, to get back deep breaths, but with Dominic's encouragement, Hestia finally stopped hyperventilating. Once she had, it was easier to get a grip on herself, enough to function instead of wailing on and on. Hannah needed rescued and she deserved better than one of the only people who knew falling apart uselessly. Their unborn child needed the best care and he or she too deserved better than being forced to suffer the consequences of Hestia not keeping it together. No matter what it took, she had to keep it together now.

Quiet footsteps approaching made her look up again, this time finding a veritable army of the Aurors and guards assigned to herself, Dominic and Hannah, the last group incomplete as no doubt the others were looking for Hannah at this very moment. She could see at least one detaining Ernie in the doorway leading inside. The rest had a very clear question in their eyes, one she knew they already suspected the answer to.

"She's gone," she said, the tone vaguely deadened, "and so help me, if any of you breathe a word of this, I'll kill you myself, as Hannah will be dead."

Pulling the crumpled note out of her dress robes, she looked to Dominic. They had more of a situation on their hands than they had even dreamed and it had to be contained. Handing him the note, she nodded to the Aurors and guard and then set off quickly after Ernie to bring back the rest. They had their work cut out for them.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -