InsaneJournal

Death Eater attack; St Mungos [HJ, HA, EM, DA]
WHO: Hestia, Hannah, Ernie, Dominic
WHERE: St Mungos; the Abbott's
WHEN: 27 November, 1999; mid-evening
SUMMARY: Hannah is unwittingly in the middle of a large-force Death Eater attack. PARTIAL LOG (split for character count)/IN-PROGRESS THREAD.
RATING: PG-13

PART ONE: "There isn't time to argue this, damn it! Fine, come on!"

PART TWO: Hestia's eyes widened at Ernie, a muffled snort escaping as she shook her head. If she'd apparently taught him that, then her total effectiveness as a teacher was in definite question. She readjusted in Dominic's arms as Ernie left then moved to an upright sitting position when he laid her on the bed.

“It's not me you should be apologizing to, it's Hannah,” she said, shrugging off his robes, “considering what you just said. And for as much as he gets on your last nerve, he protected your daughter today, tried to protect me yet again, and if Hannah wanted comfort from him when he was the one who was here, and chose a kiss as that comfort, then it's their business.”

Storming into her bedroom, Hannah dug in a drawer for her container of Muggle money. They still needed the extension cord and she needed some space right now. How could he say that? How could he even think it?

"I know..." Dominic said quietly, helping her with the robes none the less, because somehow he knew that if he went to Hannah now that with the catalyst of Ernie added it would only spell disaster, and he didn't want to make thing even worse than they already were. "I know that he did..." He gave a soft snort, his mind wondering what business he had to try this fathering thing again. Now that he had it all to do over again, perhaps there would be things that he would do differently, but being as protective of her as he was was not one of them. He expressed his love by his need to keep her safe, the solid protective force that he was in her life, and he didn't know how to change that now, not for Hannah, and not for the new baby. "She'll be back..." he said with a shaky breath, certain that Hannah wouldn't leave without knowing that Hestia was resting comfortably. "She'll be back and when she is is I'll apologize, I promise."

Ernie knocked once on the door before coming in, not sure what to say about the encounter so he didn't mention it at all. "Can I come too?" He didn't like the idea of Hannah alone in Muggle London any day, but especially today in her agitated state.

Moving to her side, Hestia shook her head. “Apologies or not, I don't think it's a good time to tell her, everyone is too affected by what happened today to talk about this reasonably.” She punched a pillow and lay down, not exactly a wise choice with only one arm to lever herself up with, but she felt tired, even more so now knowing Hannah was upset and she couldn't go to her without arguing about leaving the bed. Closing her eyes, she growled under her breath. “Wake me when she's back in the room,” she muttered.

Hannah paused with her hand in her drawer, looking up. When she saw it was Ernie, she nodded and pulled out the container. “Please,” she said as she beckoned him in, jamming several paper bills into her wallet before pushing it into a small purse.

She disappeared into her clothing closet, reemerging several minutes later dressed in distinctly Muggle clothing. In her hands were jeans, a long sleeved shirt and a jacket for him, which she tossed to him. “You can change in there,” she said, nodding to the bathroom before disappearing into her shoe closet. All was said and done with tense mannerisms, unlike Hannah.

Dominic sighed, sitting on the bed next to her though he personally had no intention of sleeping. He would sit there, and keep vigil, until she woke or Hannah returned, whichever came first as there would be no use in arguing now. He had no wish to upset her more.

Ernie nodded, taking the clothing from her in a very matter of fact way. He'd take his time dressing in the clothing, which would allow him to make certain that he didn't make any silly mistakes like put the Muggle shirt on backwards or something silly like that, as well as giving her the time that she so obviously needed to cool down after her father's remark.

When he emerged a few moments later from her bathroom he looked quite striking in the Muggle attire. He sat on her bed, waiting on her to emerge, wondering what sort of mood she would be in, and how quickly she could cool down from a remark which was, in his opinion at least, unforgivable.

Hestia wasn't quick to sleep, instead just resting fitfully. Her shoulder throbbed now that her body was at rest and there was little to take her mind off of it. Grousing under her breath, she shifted forward on her belly, then half on her back, trying to find a stage where her skin wasn't pulling yet her wound was also not touching anything.

After tossing around a dozen pairs of shoes, Hannah slid a pair of black ankle-length books on her feet and came out of the closet. She gathered up her purse and turned to him, as though to ask him if he was ready, but instead she slammed the purse to the floor in an uncharacteristic burst of temper.

“How could he? How could he say it let alone think it?” she demanded, her brow heavily furrowed with equal parts consternation and anger. “Of me, of you, of... ARGH!” She crossed the space between them, turned and flopped back on the bed, blonde hair splayed out around her. “He was... completely out of line!” She thumped the end of her bed with booted heels.

Dominic sighed softly, a worried frown forming on his face when he saw that she didn't find rest immediately. He wanted her to be comfortable, wanted to see her happy, and it seemed that right now he couldn't help her with any of the above. "Shhhh..." He said, one finger stroking her cheek gently. His eyes studied her for a long moment, but, afraid that his gaze might be a bit unnerving, he looked away, letting his thoughts carry him away. He couldn't believe he had botched things quite this badly, that he had managed to get both Hestia and Hannah in such such an upset state by one comment that came out without any sort of thought.

Damn it, Abbott, start thinking, he thought sternly.

Ernie's eyes widened, somewhat shocked at the unusual display of a temper. He had never seen her react in such a manner. "He didn't mean it." Ernie said with certainty. "No one could honestly think something like that about you, not really. He was just shooting off his mouth without thinking, which doesn't make it right by any means..." No, it certainly didn't, Ernie thought with a small growl. "But maybe it helps, knowing that he could never think that about you. I know that he loves you more than that, Hannah, he loves you more than anything."

Growing more restless rather than less, as though closing her eyes had somehow negated the need to be actually asleep, Hestia reached for him to pull him closer. “Hurts,” she grumbled unhappily, knowing it was pointless to whine about it, but tired and injured enough not to care. She wasn't particularly upset that Dominic had stuck his foot in his mouth, or at least she would not have been had they not had an important talk planned. Mostly she just felt cranky about everything.

Hannah sat back up, shaking her head at Ernie. She didn't really know why he was defending her father, considering what had been said was insulting to him too. “He wouldn't have said it unless he was thinking it,” she declared, plucking at the hem of her shirt. That the idea was even in his head enough to say it, even if it had been said in his usual temper about Ernie, was still... insulting. Insulting he didn't trust her enough to believe she wouldn't and thus the though never cross his mind, even when angry.

“Maybe I should do it,” she said, turning to look at him, hurt in her eyes but her chin set in an obvious and sour-dispositioned defiance that was unlike her, something that would have looked weak and fleeting on another but looked more on Hannah by virtue of the fact it wasn't a look she ever wore. “Then I'll be living right up to his expectations of me.”

Dominic wrapped his arms around her, being careful of her shoulder. "I know it does..." he sighed softly. He was tempted to offer her a pain potion, but he knew that even if she took it the anxiety would be there, and that if something WERE to happen to this child, she would blame herself more than she already would, that she would be in even more mental anguish then. He wouldn't have that, not unless she asked for it. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, you know..."

Ernie's eyes had been wide before, but now they were nearly the size of small saucers. "What?" He asked softly, shaking his head firmly no before continuing. "Hannah, he..." he raked a hand through his hair. He lowered his voice to little more than a whisper. "He doesn't think that, and even if he did, you're better than that and we both know it. You're not the sort of girl who has some sort of sordid one night stand or lets every other boy do that. Your father is a fool if he thinks otherwise."

Knowing how she might object under normal circumstances to him calling Dominic a fool and not wanting to make her feel guilty for not objecting later, he continued quickly. "Not that your father is a fool, he's just far too protective for his own damned good. He knows me well enough by now to know that I'm not that sort of man, the one who comes and all but rapes his daughter, but I think the thing that is supposed to censor his mouth from saying the most acerbic thing that he can think of is broken."

Hestia snuggled as close to him as she could with the awkwardness of the bandage and her arm being bound at her side. “Love you too,” she whispered, drawing her knees up to loop a leg over his. If she couldn't hold him near with her arms, she could try the next best thing and hold him close with her legs.

Some part of Hannah knew Ernie was right, but she hadn't felt this hurt in a long time, this upset by something her father had said about her in... well, ever. It was hard to shake it. It was even harder when it was all revolving around the status of how intimate she was or wasn't with Ernie.

“We're not talking about other boys or one night stands or,” she said with a flail of her arms, embarrassed and irritated, “or anything except you and me and what he must think we're doing. He didn't mean it like you were attacking me or like I was doing it with others, he meant it like he obviously thinks we are doing that, so maybe we should be. And if he doesn't like the thought of it when he realizes what's really going on, he never should have thought it to begin with!”

Dominic sighed quietly in relaxation when Hestia used her legs to hold him near. Never did he feel more calm and at peace than he did when he was with her, and even though he still didn't, couldn't relax until things between he and Hannah were resolved, this was as close as he could come.

Ernie resisted the very powerful urge to just take her up on the offer. They had been dating for some time, many couples have known each other for far less time before they consummated their relationship, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that this was Hannah and she wasn't like most people or even ANYONE else.

"No." He said quietly. "No. You didn't let his opinion of me stop you from getting into a relationship with me, and you won't let it force you to do something that you...that we aren't ready for." After all, if Hannah wasn't prepared for something, then he certainly wasn't either. "We're stronger than that."

It was only like this, resting close to Dominic with his unique scent and the warmth of his body and the sound of his breathing teasing her senses, that Hestia finally stopped moving so restlessly. While those things were no physical pain reliever, they were still soothing and soon her tiredness finally won over the throb of her shoulder. Heaving a heavy sigh, she slid into a deeper doze.

Staring at him a long time, Hannah's almost-defiant expression changed back to upset, this time purely hurt rather than a mixture of the feelings she had been having. Bottom lip trembling, she stared a moment more and then dropped her head to Ernie's shoulder with a sniffle. “I don't even know what to do,” she said sadly. “I'm so... angry and I've never been this angry at him, not really. Not... like this.”

Dominic smiled when he heard the heavy sigh and felt her breathing begin to even out. Even though he knew that it was hardly a balm for the physical pain she must be in, at least she was not awake anymore to actively feel it. He closed his eyes, not sleeping but resting, and sinking deeper into his thoughts.

Ernie pulled her closer, closing his own eyes, not out of a sense of relief as Dominic was, but out of a sense of exhaustion. Not exhaustion that needed sleep but exhaustion from the sheer emotional highs and lows of the day. "You need to talk to him, you need to tell him how angry you are, how he's hurt you...and that he can't keep doing this sort of stuff to you. You have to tell him that he can't keep hurting you. And he loves you, so I'm sure he'll try to do better next time."

Hannah knew Ernie was right. She needed to have this out with her father. She knew if she let it wait until after they had went to Muggle London and returned, she risked talking herself out of telling the Dominic the truth in straightforward terms. Time, however short, would only coax her to cushion her words.

“Okay, we'll go now,” she said, hugging him tightly before sliding out of his embrace and leaving the room. When she reached her father's, she paused in the doorway and then cleared her throat softly, assuming him simply sitting with Hestia, not resting or sleeping.

“You need to come here and talk to me... to us,” she added, voice still soft, looking over her shoulder for Ernie before looking back at Dominic.

Dominic nodded, slowly moving Hestia from him to a small mound of pillows. He paused only long enough to press a kiss to her lips before pulling away from her and rising from the bed.

Ernie was right behind Hannah, too close for Dominic's general comfort, but he recognized something there, something very protective and firm, that he knew was likely there to stay. Like it or not the boy seemed to care for her in his own way, and he doubted that he could do anything to change it.

"I'm sorry." Dominic whispered, taking a step closer to Hannah, voice low as to be mindful of Hestia. "I shouldn't have said what I did."

Just as mindful of Hestia, Hannah turned and exited the room, pausing in the corridor for both men to catch up with her. Only when Dominic was facing them did she speak.

“I'm hurt and I'm angry,” she said, cheeks flushing with the unaccustomed bluntness, but not backing down from the words. She did, however, fall back on a common habit of reinforcing and over-explaining, as though to justify her feelings. “It hurts because neither of us are like that at all and I'm angry because if you could say it, you must have thought it and there's no reason, none, that you should think that!”

Dominic's eyes turned dark. He had hurt her, something he knew from the moment he saw her react but to hear the words come from her mouth hurt. He hurt her and that was the one thing that he had never wanted to do. Ever.

"Oh Hannah..." he took one step closer, but stopped short of getting close enough to touch her. "Oh baby girl, that...that is something that I will regret until the end of my days, that I hurt you, that I made you so angry. I saw it and I just...reacted. I reacted after a long, tense day when I had been dreading the attack, then worried about you, and Hestia...I was a fool after a long stressful day and I made an ass of myself, and I regret it."

The apology should have been enough and some part of Hannah, a part left behind in the years since her mother had died and he had sent her away, wanted it to be enough because it was an apology and this was her father and those two things meeting in a bad situation should always be enough.

But it wasn't.

“You shouldn't have had to 'react' to anything,” she said, the stamp of her foot contrasting almost ridiculous with the force of the words to come. “This day was just as awful for me, for Ernie and Hestia, and none of us are jumping to ridiculous, hurtful conclusions! How could you? How could you think I'd do that? I've told you and reassured you over and over again. I've never done anything that would make you think that. For Merlin's sake, I'm not the one sleeping with my girlfriend down the hall from my daughter, how dare you take honest comfort, a moment to forget this horrible day, and make it sound so... so... so cheap!”

Ernie went closer behind Hannah, resting a hand in the small of her back, just daring Dominic to say anything, not in the taunting manner he had used earlier, but one that made his position clear. He was here to support Hannah, to love her, and he wouldn't stop doing that in the face of Dominic's fury.

Dominic visibly deflated under her words. If only there were some small measure of untruth to her words, he would argue with her, he would point out that she had been unfair or that she was jumping to conclusions.

But he couldn't.

There was nothing there to argue with, as everything she was saying was true. "Hannah..." He said, his voice soft and his eyes resigned as Ernie stepped closer to her and put his hand in the small of her back. "I've always told you that I am not the best father, and this is only evidence of it. I have made mistakes, things I regret when looking back at them and never want to think on again, mistakes that haunt me, and this will be one of them. I wasn't trying to justify it, I know the day has been awful for you as well, I just..." he raked a hand over his face, and when it was gone he looked years older. "I shouldn't have said what I did, and we both know I'd take it back if I could...but I can't. I was an ass, but I can't do more now than apologize."

Hannah listened, a play of conflicting emotions touching her face as Dominic spoke. It would be so much easier to accept the apology, to forgive and forget, and given all her father was saying and doing, it should have been easy. But this had hurt her and that hurt was not easily set aside. She wished it could be, felt it should be, and momentarily wondered what kind of horrible daughter she was that she couldn't just let this go.

“Okay,” she said quietly, but it was somewhat clear not all was neatly settled. Rather than embrace him and possibly even cry, she continued to stand where she was. “Ernie deserves an apology too.” She looked over her shoulder at Ernie then back once more to Dominic.

"It's alright, Hannah..." Ernie said quickly, somewhat unnerved by how odd it was to see them at odds. It just didn't happen, they weren't that sort of family, the kind that could be angry at one another for an extended period of time. He knew that Hannah was close to her Dad, had known it for as long as he knew her, and this made him feel as though he were watching some sort of twisted story that just...shouldn't be. He certainly didn't want to make it worse by making Dominic swallow his pride and apologize.

However, Dominic was in a mood to do anything to put things between he and Hannah to right. "I'm sorry." he said honestly, looking Ernie directly in the eyes. "I overstepped my bounds by far, Ernest. I hope that you will forgive me." Ernie could do nothing but gape, as the sincerity there had not been expected.

Dominic was sorry, though he still thought Ernie had more than his fair share of blame in the matter for snogging his daughter on a day when he knew Dominic would be on edge, indeed, in Dominic's own room...but he had made this mess himself, and that he was sorry for.

It was only at the apology to Ernie, one that Hannah saw and felt was absolutely sincere, that she walked forward and wrapped her arms around Dominic's waist. It still wasn't forgetting what had been said, but it was forgiving it. She could still feel hurt, yet understand what had been behind him saying what he did, could feel disappointment that her father no longer considered her completely innocent and thus above even the most unconscious thought concerning what he said, yet accept he had made a mistake.

Dominic closed his arms around her, holding her tightly. "I love you, sweetheart, I really do." A shudder ran through him, so completely angry at himself for being so foolish and jumping to conclusions and ruining things and...Had she changed clothing? Had Ernie? Were they going somewhere? He remembered seeing the television and DVD player in his room a room that he knew for a fact didn't have the appropriate outlets in it, and he frowned.

"If you're going somewhere...please don't." he said softly, pulling back just enough to look at her pleadingly. "If it's about the television Hestia and I can do without for one day, and I don't like the thought of you being out and about, wondering around in Muggle London alone. Hestia and I would really like it if you'd stay..." He paused, swallowing his pride. "Both of you."

“I love you too, Dad,” Hannah whispered, as that had never really been in doubt. She had been hurt by his words and found herself, for once, unable or unwilling to simply let something go the moment it occurred, but that had not changed that she loved her father very, very much. She looked up at him at his quiet request and then nodded.

“We were just going to get an extension cord, but we'll stay,” she said, looking over her shoulder a moment to make sure Ernie had no objection.

Ernie nodded, relief evident on his face. He might not get along very well with Dominic at times, but even he was quite relieved to see this resolution, as he knew what it meant to Hannah. It didn't erase his foolish remarks of the past, but nothing could do that, save time.

"Good." Dominic said, his face brightening considerably. "Let's go let Hestia know that I've not chased the two of you away for the rest of the day, I'm sure she'll be relieved." As much as he knew that Hestia needed sleep, he thought she might need this more...the resolution.

Tugging gently on her hand, Dominic made his way once more toward the bedroom where Hestia was.