Blurred Lines Mods (blurred_mods) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-06-07 17:02:00 |
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Group Log
Who: Marius, Severus, Lucius, Regulus, Georgina, Graley, Edgar, Rufus, Amelia, Elle, Mafalda, Marlene, Andromeda & Dora, npc!Lena & Children, npc!Ichabod
Where: Edgar's house
When: 7 June 1979
What: Tragedy strikes at a Bones birthday party
Rating: R
Status: Complete
PART TWO: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/blurre
If nothing else, the party had been a great success. People had come from far and wide, mostly to celebrate his son Francis' entrance into his teenage years, and partially to commiserate Edgar for losing his darling young boy and gaining a surly, unhelpful monster that would come to hate his evil parents for the next seven years or so. There had been presents abound, free-flowing drinks and a cake that was -Edgar hadn't lied when it came to Lena's aptitude with food- literally about the size of their study. An enormous towering thing that threatened more than once to topple over and kill Bernie Markham's cat, it dominated the party for the majority of the day.
Now, in the cool air of the evening, it seemed a rather sadder affair. Great gouges had been dug into its midriff, crumbs everywhere a testament to the feeding frenzy that had gone on approximately three seconds after the children had been told that they could finally, after all that waiting, have as much cake as their stomachs and consciences could hold. Indeed, his daughter Vesta lay sound asleep under the table, her dress almost coated in icing and her eyes fluttering with suger-induced dreams. Edgar watched her for a few moments, his arm around his wife Lena's shoulders -her head bobbed sleepily every now and then, which wasn't entirely surprising- and wondered what, precisely, he had done that meant he was rewarded with all of this.
There were few guests left now, after the sun had set and the great beach ball-sized lanterns had started to gently float across the lawns. Edgar and Lena's house was not enormous, by pureblood standards, but it was far homelier. A family of Plimpys made their home in the pond, and a number of Bowtruckles were chattering noisily, off in the oak trees at the bottom of the gardens. Even with the presence of albino peacock, however, quite how the Boneses had never been prosecuted over secrecy infringements was a mystery. The inhabitants of Ludlow, though, were a tolerant lot -- there was a long wizarding history in the village, and most of the Muggles had come to accept that odd things happened as a matter of course. One or two Muggle neighbours had even mingled in at the party, marvelling at various things and going home with their more fantastic memories of the event carefully suppressed.
"Well, wife..." said Edgar eventually. "I think it's fair to say that you've outdone yourself today. You're too good for me, I swear it." He kissed Lena gently, an astonishingly intimate gesture that the public Auror Bones would never have indulged in. Here, though...here, he was safe. Surrounded by the stragglers, all of whom were close enough to him to see his more human side, he could relax and be 'Eddie' for a rare moment. It also helped, of course, that he was more than a tiny bit tipsy -- but why shouldn't he be, on a day like today? Edgar smiled magnanimously at the remaining guests. "Who's for another round of drinks?"
"That'd be me," offered a surprisingly content Rufus Scrimgeour, who was lounging nearish enough to the cake that no one could have any doubts about why he'd stayed (you know, aside from general friendliness toward the family and an affinity for Amelia, who was also lingering), but not so far that he couldn't chime in for seconds, thirds, fifths when the chances came. It had been a regular hellish week, and spending time away from the office was an unexpected, but welcome, change. Here he didn't have to think about the war or murders or digging bodies out of burnt pieces of stadium. Here he didn't have to read Prophet articles calling out aurors on doing their jobs, or listen to people bitch constantly about what a shit job he, his underlings, his superiors, his mother were doing. It was nice. It was calm. Or as close to calm as a party could be with kids running rampant (particularly when a certain head of the auror office was helping them start food fights with random passersby).
"I'll have another," Elle raised her empty glass. She wasn't too far away from Rufus; she had been decently quiet for the last half an hour or so observing everyone as they enjoyed the party. This party had been so necessary after the hellish week they had all had, and she felt good with the cake and liquor settling neatly in her stomach. She might even go for thirds of cake, if she could just motivate enough to move toward the gloriously sugary concoction, "I'm a bit too full to move though, thanks to Lena's amazing cake," she tipped her empty glass to her, "but if you'll come over here and grab it, I would adore another." She gave Edgar a cheeky smile and held out her glass for him to take.
Andromeda had definitely enjoyed herself tonight and so did Dora. She relished every opportunity to get out of the house and mingle with people for a few hours. Most of the days were spent taking care or Dora and then by the time Ted got home from work all she felt like doing was spending time time with her husband, enjoying a family dinner and then resting. But, after she got the invitation from Edgar she felt like was the perfect thing for Dora and herself. She could mingle with some of her friends and fellow Order members she had grown closer to after having some of them at her home. But now it was late and mostly everyone was gone, but she was still there. Dora was still up and was forcing herself to stay up, despite how tired she was after all the running around and excitement she had experienced. Dora was now sipping on some juice and playing with the doll that Barty had gotten for her. Andromeda was sitting back and sipping on her almost empty glass of wine. When Edgar asked who wanted another round she smiled and held up her glass as well. "Me as well, if you please. The party was amazing, Edgar. Dora and I both really enjoyed ourselves." She said to him kindly, a warm smile on her face.
"I'm glad to hear it, Andromeda," Edgar replied indulgently. He was smiling too, an easy grin that seemed most out of place on Mr Serious Auror. His wand waved, the bottles of alcohol drifted lazily around the remaining group -- filling glasses, and then moving on, they moved around the guests like the quietest and most helpful waiters in history. Another flick of the wand, and there was a little slice of cake weaving its way towards him.
He took a few moments to enjoy the buttercream, before reluctantly swallowing. "I have to admit, I wasn't certain whether or not we should even have carried on with the whole thing. Given...recent events, I know that it's not exactly in the interest of the Department or my family to be seen having fun, but..." He trailed off; how could he ruin the atmosphere now, after they had all been having such fun? "Well, I couldn't stop my son from enjoying himself. Damn the Prophet, I say. Let them hang me out to dry, if they bedruge a boy his thirteenth birthday celebrations."
Edgar looked up, into the sky. The moon was fat, and low in the sky -- there would have been excellent light even without the lanterns, but it also meant that anyone approaching by broom would be easily spotted. With the wards in place (surely they were still adequate, even despite the compromises they'd made to accomodate so many people attending), Apparition was out, and a dozen people pouring out of the fireplace would run straight into the Bones' pet Fire Crab, Whumph. They were safe to enjoy the remainder of the evening.
Andromeda's past few days had been horrible, considering her father was murdered and if the Prophet was to be believed, by Edgar. But, despite all that she was here. She had been thinking of not going but now she was glad she did. It helped make her forget her pain for a few hours. It was great to just have a few drinks and socialize. She could pretend that everything was okay. "Well coming here helped me forget my troubles for a few hours. I was able to smile and have fun for a few hours. I am glad you still went along with it." she told Edgar as she sipped on her wine. She was angry and upset when she first found out what happened, but she respected Edgar and could not find it in her heart to hate him for killing her father. She just tried not to bring it up and hoped Edgar would do the same.
Fate did not smile kindly upon this idyllic setting, however, for Edgar Bones's card had been drawn, and his executioners chosen. As Edgar considered the moon, which even now glowed red upon its outskirts - as if in forewarning of the subsequent events - Amycus Carrows had done his dirty work. His leaving would mark the circumvention of already weak wards. His leaving would mark chaos and violence. In a few short seconds, cracks erupted from around the party ...
Severus Snape apparated with a loud crack. Once on the ground, he glanced around only for a moment and saw other Death Eaters arriving on the premises as well. So far his assignments had been not only feasible, but carried out well, and he intended on making certain that he continued this work. He stepped forward and noticed the younger Bones, Ichabod, stepping towards him, and he quickly stepped forward to meet whatever the man might throw his direction.
Lucius Malfoy had made sure his mask and cloak were firmly in place before apparating to the Bones residence. As expected, there was no difficulty apparating through the weakened wards, and Lucius appeared a couple of seconds later and only a few feet away from Severus. He had his wand ready, and held it in front of him as he looked around. As cloaked figures descended upon the once peaceful party, he ignored the panicked civilians, as there was only one person Lucius was looking for this evening - Auror Bones himself.
Marius was a few seconds behind the rest of the Death Eaters, and the screams from the yard greeted his ears immediately. People were already pairing off in duels, and he felt adrenaline surge through him and he lifted his wand. No one was paying any attention to him, and he was glad to keep it that way, since it gave him cause to notice two women running toward the house with a flock of children. He was willing to bet his inheritence that one of the women was Lena Bones. It only made sense, and so he followed.
"Get in the house! Francis, Lena, girls, inside, now," a pretty woman shouted above the din, grabbing ahold of another woman her own age and pushing her toward the back door.
"Where's Matthew?" the woman being dragged cried out hysterically. "Matthew! Matthew, baby!" she screamed, as hexes began to shoot across the yard.
Marius took several steps toward them, sticking to the shadows, and watched for another few seconds as the first woman literally ripped the second into the house. The children were clustered around their feet, all except for an older boy, whom Marius recognized as another target, Francis. The boy seemed to be torn between a desire to run back outside, and to stay with his mother to watch the younger ones. Seeing that his mother was having difficulty getting the second woman to come inside he moved forward to tug at her as well.
"Edgar will keep him safe," the first woman insisted, moving to shut the door, only seconds too late, as Marius had already lifted his wand. "We've got to get the kids upstairs and aler--"
"Avada Kedavra," he cast, and a thin green light shot from his wand, striking the first woman (Who he had been quite certain was Lena Bones from the minute he'd spotted her) and she dropped to the ground, causing the children behind her and the woman she'd been pulling along to begin screaming in hysterics. Francis scrambled forward to close the door, stepping over the body of his mother with a look of shock on his face but once again, Marius was faster.
"Avada Kedavra," he cast again, this time on the second woman, who had frozen in place when her friend had fallen. It was almost disappointing, how easy this was, but he supposed the women had other priorities than proper dueling technique. Francis tried again to close the door, but both bodies blocked the way and the boy grabbed the hand of his wailing younger sister and began pulling her away from the outside. He cast a knee-locking spell at Francis to trip the boy and then gestured at the other children in that direction.
With no adults to protect them, the children were easy targets and Marius moved forward with confidence, keeping his wand raised but not feeling the same urgency as he had felt with the adults. It was possible to kill them all with only one spell if the one he'd been practicing would work correctly. He'd done it with Walden when they'd been out together, and so he had no doubt it was possible, but in the moment, a cloud of doubt tugged at him. No, there was no room for doubt, he had cast it before and it had worked just as it would work now. It was a Sleeping Breath Hex, and as soon as he cast it, they would fall deep into sleep and their lungs would simply cease to work. It would be as if they fell asleep and never woke up... completely painless.
"Go over to him," he directed firmly. "I will not kill you, only put you to sleep, but you must stop crying and sit quietly next to that boy," he said. The two children who remained near their mother looked at him with frightened eyes, but obeyed, likely because Francis called out to them as well. The Bones boy met Marius's eye with a look of fear, but also a look of strength that took Marius by surprise.
"Only sleep," he said again, before casting the spell. All four children slumped against each other, and Marius could see no rise or fall from their chests. They would be dead within a minute or less.
Dora was six years old and six year old children have a tendency to need to use the bathroom a lot.This was no exception. Dora tugged at her mothers leg and told her she had to use the loo. Andromeda excused herself from everyone else and went looking for the bathroom. It was while Andromeda was in the loo that all the commotion started happening. She had no idea anything was amiss until after Dora was finished and she stepped out of the bathroom while Dora washed her hands.
It was then that she heard all the screaming and she couldn't help but hear someone shout Avada Kedavra. Her eyes then got panicked as she spotted the fallen bodies. She muffled a scream with her hand. Dora then tried to open the door but Andromeda held the door shut. "NYMPHADORA TONKS!! STAY INSIDE THE BATHROOM! That is a command!!" she shouted firmly, finding the need to shout given all the commotion going on around her. "MUMMY! What is going on! I don't want to stay in here!" she said back to her mother who was too preoccupied with her daughter to realize someone was coming towards her, wand raised.
Marius hadn't been expecting anyone else to be in the house, and when he heard the shouting he brought his wand back up in alert. The children were falling still one by one as their lives passed, and it was only when Francis ceased to breathe last that Marius turned his full attention to whomever was in the house. Taking a few steps deeper into the home he got his first look at the woman who was technically his aunt.
Damn. This was a decision that would need to be made quickly. He had not been instructed that he should kill anyone other than the Bones family, and it was best to leave quickly, and yet here he was, presented with a blood traitor and her halfblood daughter. It would be simple, the killing at least, but he wasn't certain that it was the sort of thing that would please Regulus, and his friend sprang to mind unbidden. Rather than risk her mounting an attack (she was a Black after all) while he quickly pondered his options, he cast a mild blasting spell in his best English accent, hoping to throw her back hard against the door and buy himself another few seconds.
Andromeda should have been paying attention. If she had been paying more attention to the people around her instead of her daughter who was hearing the commotion now through the door and was getting frightened and crying. Andromeda was trying to sooth her daughter and had her wand down when Marius saw her and made his way over to her.
One second she was trying to reassure her daughter that they would be okay and the next moment she heard someone with a French accent send a blasting hex at her. She didn't have time to prepare for it and was thrown back hard against the door. Her head hit the door and her feet gave way in the shock of what happened and she slid down the door. Dora now started screaming through the door as she heard her mother being thrown against the door. She was hysterical as her six year old fists pounded against the door. "MUMMY!!! MUMMY!!" She screamed out helplessly as she was on her knees, her hair mousy brown with flickers of jet black and blood red every now and again.
The screams from outside were still filling the air around him, so he knew he had at least a little more time, but indecision was unfamiliar to him and he did not like wavering. He should just kill her. No one would fault him, and he had no attachment to this one outside of the fact that she was family of his family. But then it wasn't just Regulus, was it? There was Narcissa as well, and hadn't she just lost her father? His decision was made. He would not kill the sister of his friends.
"Get out," he said, keeping his wand trained at her face. "Get up, step outside of the wards, and apparate home. Lift your wand and I will kill you where you stand," he said slowly, still trying to keep his accent in place. Speaking was always risky, but he had been practicing for months now and he was sure that the words coming from him would not be traced back to him. He could still hear the little one screaming, and she was nothing to any of the Blacks. He had every intention of killing Dora as Andromeda and her daughter made their way outside.
Marlene did have to admit that she'd been a bit surprised that Edgar and the Bones family had gone ahead with the party on Saturday, what with all the hullabaloo over Edgar's involvement with the death of one of the Black family members. ("Involvement" being the understatement of the decade.) Still though, Edgar wasn't stupid, and Marlene was sure that he wouldn't do anything that could potentially jeopardise his family's safety, no matter how much work went into making arrangements for the party. And after the whole thing was said and done, Marlene was glad that she'd went. Everything had gone well (well, as long as no one remembered her smooth move from earlier, accidentally stumbling down the front few steps after her fourth or possibly fifth drink), she'd gotten to catch up with some of the kids she'd helped tutor in Herbology during her seventh year (some of them had hit puberty. It was weird!), and as everyone else began filtering home for the night, there was that whole wonderful table of alcoholic beverage that hadn't been touched yet...
Having what is supposed to be a happy, fun situation descended upon by Death Eaters with a vengeance, though, is one of the quickest buzzkills in the universe. Marlene's immediate reaction was to grab whomever was next to her (some teenaged ginger kid she didn't recognise and whom was definitely too young to be hanging out at the table with the drinks, but she wasn't about to let him get hit either with any of the hexes being fired either.) and duck underneath the tablecloth. "Where're your parents?" she demanded from the boy over the sound of screams echoing over the area as the death eaters swept through the yard, seeming to ignore the table they were under in favour of their targets across the grounds. The boy stayed mute and wide-eyed, all colour drained from his pale, freckled face, looking as if he wasn't sure if staying frozen under the table or running for cover elsewhere would be the better plan. "Okay, nevermind. Get your wand out. It doesn't matter that you're not at school; if anyone comes this way, Stupefy them. Any bad guys. Can you do that for me?" Marlene clarified for him, (just in case he interpreted that as also shooting at civilians attempting to duck for cover), as the boy nodded frantically, eyes wide as saucers. "Okay. Stay here, promise me, okay?" she said, slowly peeking her head up from under the table, wand in hand -- ugh, headrush. Oh, she so should not have drunk that much -- and cast an enlarging charm on the tablecloth so that it would completely conceal the boy's hiding place while she ducked out to try to help.
Her immediate (and yes, rather intoxicated) reaction was to run into the midst of the fray, as that's where most of the action seemed to be taking place and where whatever help she could potentially offer would happen. Spotting one of the Death Eaters slip into the house, though, Marlene changed directions, running towards the back door after him. (Or her.) She wasn't, however, expecting to see Edgar's wife or another woman laying dead and unblinking right in the doorway of the house, nor the Bones children piled up, unmoving, not breathing only a few more feet inside of their home. She froze for a split second -- what the FUCK was she supposed to do? Holy shit, they were all dead -- when a young shriek caught Marlene's attention. Dora. With the death eater advancing on her, and Andie on the ground, and... Marlene didn't think. She grabbed the first thing she could find (an ugly and antique looking vase) and completely forgetting the fact that she was a witch and had this clever little thing called a WAND, ran up behind the Death Eater, leaping at him and bringing the vase down on top of his head as hard as she could.
Andromeda got the wind knocked out of her for a few moments but was not hit hard enough to completely knock her out. She looked up as Marius spoke, only seeing his mask. She listened to him speak and given that she had her daughter to protect, she was not about to test him and try anything. If it was only herself, maybe, but not this time. She put her wand away to show him she was not going to attack him. She then slowly got to her feet and opened the door so Dora could come out.
The second the door was opened, Dora, with bloodshot eyes from crying and a raspy voice from screaming, launched herself onto her mother. It was then that Marlene, noticing Marius advancing towards Dora and herself, grabbed a vase and hit him over the head. Andromeda took this as her chance to escape. She would thank Marlene later, right now she had Dora's safety to be concerned about. She picked Dora up in her arms and held her close as she ran outside. She ran past the wards and once in a safe location, she apparated away, back to her home and to safety. She hoped that Marlene would make it out alive. She had faith in her that she would get out of it alright. She had enough death to deal with to last a life time. She didn't want to add another one to the list.
Due to Dora's screaming, Marius had not heard Marlene coming up behind him, a mistake that was costly as the vase shattered hard over his head. He was lucky she was drunk, and therefore her full-force was merely enough to drop him to his knees in a daze instead of knock him out and get him caught.
"Merde," he swore loudly, turning on her and completely ignoring the fleeing Andromeda and Dora. "You bitch," he said, his French accent still apparent in his anger as he swung around to his feet, his head pounding but his Lestrange temper carrying him through the pain. He could have killed her easily, one spell, but he was seeing fireworks behind his eyes and the rage drove him to strike out at her as hard as he could. He needed to leave, to get outside and apparate away before things turned worse, but she could not go unpunished. The back of his hand caught her across the face and he kicked out toward her stomach to make absolutely certain the filth would go sprawling onto the floor.
Marlene would probably be thankful later that she had drunk as much as she had, as the pain of getting backhanded and kicked hard in the gut likely would've ached with even more immediacy, rather than the slightly numbed raging pain that rushed through her. She smacked back into the wall, laying dazed on the ground for a brief second as she struggled to gather her senses and catch her breath. Andie had gotten Dora out of there. That was fantastic. Marlene didn't know if this French-spewing, girl-hitting arsewipe had anything to do with what had happened to Lena and her children (although one could easily assume), but she was not going to let him do anything to Andie and Dora. Especially not Dora; in the month that Marlene and Dorcas had stayed with the Tonkses, she'd gotten very attached to that little spastic-haired girl, and she was not about to let another kid who she cared about get killed.
Fumbling around for her wand -- yeah, that was not working out very well -- Marlene scrambled to her feet as best she could and -- using the wall to push herself off of -- sprang out, diving for the Death Eater's legs to try to trip him up before he could make a run for it outside, where there were still dozens of party guests. "Mother fucker!" Marlene yelled at him in retaliation, hoping he'd go crashing into the opposite wall. He could see how he liked it. And by then hopefully she would've remembered the incantation for blasting spells, so she could break his fucking face.
The sounds from outside were beginning to quiet, and with Andromeda gone to possibly alert the authorities, Marius could only guess how long it would take the DMLE to show up officially. He would die by his own wand before allowing himself to be taken in, but of course, a hasty retreat was most preferable. He watched as Marlene crashed into the wall with a satisfying crunch and had turned to leave quickly when suddenly he heard another crash, and he could not believe his own eyes as the crazy thing launched herself from the wall at his legs. What was wrong with her? He moved to avoid her, unable to get off a spell in time to avoid her collision, and fell hard into the wall to his left. He felt his nose crush against his face and heard a sickening snap.
Hot blood spilled over his lips, but he would not be distracted again. He would have attempted an Avada Kedavra, but that required an amount of magic he wanted to be sure he had for apparating. A concussion and a surely broken nose could only increase his chances of splinching, and so instead of relenting to his deeper desires he cast a spell that he knew he would be able to do properly, even in his sleep.
"Incarcerous," he spat, and ropes sprang from the end of his wand and bound themselves tightly around her. "Silencio," he added spitefully, even if it wouldn't have been entirely necessary since she no longer had access to her wand.
He would have cast more, but it was well past time for him to no longer be in the house. Rushing outside, he made his way past the wards and lifted his wand toward the house. He cast a fire spell at the front door, watching as flames began to lick the house, before Apparating away, letting the cries from the yard and the party disappear behind him.
Marlene glared after the death eater as he fled from the house, leaving her bound and infuriated alone in the hallway, struggling furiously against the ropes. Her silent screams and protests fell only on dead ears and the lifeless room, echoing more poignant than any of her cries would have. Hot tears burned behind her eyes, threatening to fall as the gravity of the situation finally washed over Marlene, her face going white. She was the only one in that room still alive. Edgar's wife, his children, still and piled up like old toys cast aside, and Marlene stuck in there, unable to do a thing to help. There was nothing she could do; nothing could change what had happened. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that the image of the room would've faded along with the action, rather than stuck burned into her mind. Andie would tell someone, right? Andie knew she was in there; someone would come looking for her, and hopefully not a someone who was returning to finish the other death eater's job. She fell still for a few moments, swallowing hard, needing to get her emotions in check, knowing she was just on the edge of completely losing her shit against her will. There wasn't time for that; Marlene didn't know what was happening outside, more death eaters could come rushing in at any time, she needed to keep focused.
The distinct smell of something burning pulled her back into the moment and out of her head, a look of slow horror melting over Marlene's face. She watched with wide eyes as flames licked at the side of the house through the window, quickly flicking their way inside the house. Her struggles against her unyielding binding took on a new franticness as she desperately tried to escape, to pull free, to reach her wand. The ropes held tightly as her fingertips just barely brushed her wand, each time she nearly grazed its side rolling it further out of her grasp. Kicking against the wall in angry and terrified frustration, Marlene propelled herself forward the few inches she needed to grab hold of it finally, spinning the wand towards herself and wishing more than anything that that fucker hadn't felt the need to silence her as well. She didn't have time for this anyway, and trying to perform unspoken magic on top of everything? Things kept getting better and better. At least he'd left her wand somewhere that she could potentially reach it.
She knew how to perform the counter-spell to being Silencioed - she'd practiced that spell specifically after what had happened at Diagon - but never under this kind of pressure, never while tied up in a room that was on fucking fire, never while drunk. Come on come on come on Marlene mentally coached herself, hopelessly trying to stop panicking, stop shaking just long enough to make the spell work. She wasn't going to die like this, she refused to die like this, helpless and alone with the wide, unseeing eyes of the woman who'd fallen next to Lena Bones staring at her. Finally after what felt like the millionth time of screaming the incantation in her head the silencing spell lifted mid-cough while smoke flooded the room, fire creeping over the furniture closest to the door. Marlene immediately turned her wand on herself again, releasing herself from the binds, kicking the ropes away while scurrying back against the nearest wall. Escaping out the back room was no longer an option, and Marlene scrambled to her feet and out of the hallway into the nearest room, rushing towards the front door of the house. Her thoughts briefly went to the boy she'd left hiding under the table with the drinks, to running around the house out into the back yard to see if there was anything else she could to help, but Marlene's tiny semblance of logic kicked in. She was hurt, her nose was still trickling blood from when she'd been slapped, and she knew that if fighting was still going on, she'd only become more of a hindrance than a help to what was happening. Taking one last look back at the Bones' home (Merlin, poor Edgar; his entire family...), Marlene put all of her focus into apparating away, hoping that she'd make it home without splinching.
In his early twenties, Ichabod Bones was quite quick on his toes. He might not have his brother’s urgency, but he was fast, and he was above average in a duel. However, the sudden appearance of the Death Eaters was unexpected and he was momentarily caught off guard. Only slightly, though, for he sprang to his feet and turned towards the Death Eater nearest him. He could hear the screams of women, and his family around him, and he did not wait for the Death Eater to strike, but instead cast Levicorpus in the other man’s direction.
Although Ichabod was a few years older than Snape, and thus might have been more experienced, Severus had the distinct advantage, as he had known that he would be Apparating into the middle of a party, where Ichabod had not known the party would be interrupted. Therefore the hex shot from the other man was easily deflected, and Severus hissed Sectumsempra right back at him.
Snape had been very willing to be part of the party that raided the Bones’. To be honest he hadn’t forgotten the way the elder Bones had slighted him earlier in the year, telling Snape he was a “spoiled child”. The privileges that the Bones received simply by being born into the family that he had been born into, and the way he seemed to be utterly unaware of such privileges had truly angered Snape. Oh, not so much as he was angered by the way Sirius Black disregarded and completely threw away such privileges, but Ichabod had not gone out of his way to torture Snape during his tenure at Hogwarts, and of course Severus had not gone to school with Edgar at all. It made a difference, but it did not mean that it still did not anger Snape that he had to work extremely hard for the slightest bit of recognition while men like Ichabod and Edgar were handed recognition for what was – in Snape’s opinion – very little work.
His first spell failing to meet its target Ichabod dodged the Sectumsempra, and the curse went flying past him, slicing into the remainder of the cake, and causing crumbs and icing to fly everywhere. Ichabod ignored the sounds around him, his thoughts only on the Death Eater in front of him. If he were to allow himself to be distracted by the children he knew were here, he would be of no help to them. Spells flashed red and green around them, and he cast first a bat bogey hex at the Death Eater, and then a jelly fingers curse.
"Protego", Snape exclaimed, defending himself from the bat bogey hex, and as he moved the jelly fingers curse – aimed originally for his wand hand - hit his right hand and he could feel his fingers moving almost of their own accord, and certainly would have caused him to drop his wand, had it hit the wand hand. Furious, Snape dropped all pretense at being there for any reason other than killing the other man. The Avada Kedavra he cast sent a stream of green light towards Ichabod Bones, and Severus immediately hissed Finite Incantatem at his hand.
More than anything else, it was the fact that Snape was not strong enough to cast the killing curse silently that saved Ichabod Bones, whose fast reflexes reacted and he ducked, rolling so that he ended a metre to Severus’ right and suddenly much more serious. Gone were silly spells that might simply slow someone down, Ichabod cast Expelliarmus followed by a stupefy. It was impossible that the Death Eater should keep his wand and keep his faculties. He cast a shield charm around himself as he used a charm to move one of the overturned lawn chairs towards the Death Eater, to distract him while Ichabod moved him away from the children, women, and others that might get caught in the crossfire.
Snape’s shield kept either the disarming charm or the stunner from actually hitting him, but as Ichabod had expected, he was momentarily distracted by the chair suddenly flying towards him. He turned, his robes swirling behind him and managed to yell Confringo at the chair blasting it into a hundred pieces so that it rained debris and splinters into both him and Ichabod and anyone else that might be around.
The distraction had allowed Ichabod time to regroup, although the pieces of wood flying through the air had caused small tears in his robes as they had done in the Death Eaters’ robes as well. Incarcerous, Ichabod cast, at the same time the Death Eater slashed Sectumsempra at him again. The spells seemed to meet in between them, blasting off into opposite directions, so that ropes ended up binding a low garden table, and slashes were cut deep into a garden wall.
Snape was growing more irritated with every hex he cast, and once again he threw the killing curse at the other man. In places his arms stung where he knew small splinters of wood had embedded themselves from the chair. Snape did not want to leave without completing the task, but Ichabod was easily his match, and every advantage Snape had in being perfectly cleared to use dark magic and Unforgivables, Ichabod seemed to be countering with his knowledge of the grounds, and his quick motions.
Elle had gone into the kitchen, the kitchen to put things away and came out to utter chaos. She had heard the cracks of apparition, but had thought it was other partygoers leaving, not Death Eaters crashing the party. Her eyes jumped from one duelling group to the next, caught for a moment in complete shock. This night was supposed to have been safe and relaxing. She took a few steps into the yard and her breath caught in her throat. Lena. No... A fiery rage filled the Auror from head to toe, and she quickly looked around for her best angle, wand drawn.
Ichabod was darting around the yard, using furniture to distract his pursuer. Elle began to sprint across the yard; she came toward Ichabod's attacker from the right, and with strong will, she aimed and cast Expelliarmus. She didn't even stop to see if the spell hit. She cast a shield charm and continued to run toward the assailant. "Ichabod! Get inside!" Probably not the smartest move, two was obviously better than one, but this was Elle's job. She was sworn to protect. She continued to run; careful not to go in a straight line in case the attacker turned his attacks on her.
Snape heard the sound of her yelling before she reached them and he shot a spell towards Ichabod and turned quickly to cast a hex towards the person joining them. She was blonde and seemed to be very aware of what she was doing and he cast another shield spell on himself before flinging a blasting hex in her direction and half hoping that Ichabod would take her advise and turn to go inside and he could use the opportunity to cast the killing curse at him even if it was at his back - Snape didn't think it was likely however, and he was proven right when Ichabod shook his head and looking a little too triumphant with the new arrival Ichabod sent Confundo towards Snape, hoping that he would catch him off guard and create confusion.
"Protego," Snape snapped back towards Ichabod, following it quickly with a "tarantallegra!" He was now in a fight with two people, one of whom very well might be a trained Auror, and he didn't like those odds nearly as well.
Elle dove and somersaulted under the blasting hex and stopped her pursuit of the man. She was in good duelling range now, and with Ichabod involved, there was no way she was just going to run in and smash her fist into the assailants face. It would probably result in her getting in the middle of it. She caught Ichabod's eye and knew in a moment that he was not going anywhere unless forced to. She cast a finite incantatem toward him as his legs started flailing, and turned her attention back to her prey. She was still low, and cast incarcerous at him and then turned her wand into one of the party table that wasn't too far behind him.
The thought of expulso crossed her mind as she flicked her wand toward the table. She was probably too close for the violent spell, perhaps even Ichabod was too close - but their assailant was closer. If she could just stop him she could capture him and take him down to the Ministry. If that meant there had to be a trip to St. Mungo's first with him, sobeit.
Two against one were not odds that Severus liked, and although he was well aware that other places around the grounds were two Death Eaters against one Auror or one party goer, that knowledge did not serve to make him any less annoyed. The ropes hit his arm, thankfully his right one again, and Snape snapped finite incantatem at the ropes the blonde had conjured. He needed to get the odds more in his favour, and if he could distract one of them for long enough to get a killing curse at the other, it was his best bet. The finite was followed immediately by a shield charm to give himself a moment to glance around at his surroundings.
A doll was discarded at the edge of a table and he summoned it towards him, using engorgio to make it larger, and a second charm to mobilize it so that it moved towards Ichabod. The eyes were eerily blank, and although it was not as large as a human, it did have the effect of a small child attacking the man, which Severus hoped would distract him not only because he would need to fend the doll off, but with the look, it could only serve to remind Ichabod of the children at the party.
The combination had the desired effect of giving Severus had more time.The mobilised item itself, would have been less startling to Ichabod than the effect of the doll, like a toddler coming towards him, blank eyes staring at him. Everything the man had been trying - successfully up until that point - not to think about came crashing in around him. His brother, his nephew, the friends and family he knew were being attacked and possibly even killed. While the hesitation was not long before Ichabod began working to disable the charms causing the doll to move towards him, it was enough to give Severus time to focus on one attacker and not Ichabod.
Severus turned his attention to his blonde attacker, not remotely interested in messing around with her. She was not his quarry, and he had other matters to attend to if she wanted to put herself in the way, that was not his problem. "Incarcerous!" He exclaimed.
Elle ducked as shrapnel came flying toward her from the table, barely able to cast a shield charm in time. If the assailant had not turned his attention to Ichabod and the doll she never would have had the time. She managed to creep forward a few steps before she realized that Ichabod had stopped, if just for a second. Fuck. Now was not the time for distractions. They needed to act and quickly. Unfortunately this caused Elle to make her own mistake. Her focus pulled to Ichabod, "Come on! Ichabod!" She heard the spell cast and was able to turn just enough so that it hit only her left shoulder. Thank god he had said the spell outloud.
"Finite!" she aimed her wand at her shoulder and severed the ropes as best she could without distracting herself too much from her quarry, "c'mon, you bastard," she whispered more to herself than actually talking to the attacker, "is that the best you got?" She wasn't too far away from him and now was the time to use herself as an advantage. Obscuro! - she cast the blindfold spell at the attacker and moved into a sprint, ready to knock the bastard over and use her fists. Not very lady like, but this chaos wasn't either.
Dammit Severus, keep your mouth closed!, the thought flew through his head as she turned around and was able to undo the binding curse. "Sectumsempra," he hissed at her, but the annoyance at himself in forgetting to keep the spell quiet, had kept him from strengthening the shielding charm he'd cast and he found himself plunged into darkness as the blindfold slid over his eyes. His first reaction was shit, the second the realisation that he had not actually been blinded literally but merely blindfolded. Of course, that wasn't a good thing either, and his first instinct was to end the curse and remove the blindfold, but it was his second that he followed through with. "Protego", he cast a shield charm again hoping that if she tried to move towards him or hex him again, that the shield would blast the spell, her, or anything else she might fling at him away. He followed that by pointing his wand at his blindfold, and removing the blindfold so that he could actually see. The blindfold removed, he glanced quickly around to determine that he knew where both she and Ichabod were located before he would continue.
She didn't even feel the spell when it hit her at first. It cut across her left side and left arm and only caused her to stop because her arm fell limply against her side. She looked down and almost didn't even recognize that it was her own blood that spurted out of her side and arm. Her adreneline was running high, and she glared up at the attacker. The pain would come, but not yet. Not now. She saw out of the corner of her eye Ichabod come into range, away from the doll he had wrangled himself away from, and she gave him a nod. They both raised their wands, and while she had no idea what spell Ichabod would cast, she hoped at least one of them would break through the shield charm and make contact.
Stupefy! The beam of red light shot out of her wand and toward the assailant. "Protego!" She cast her own shield charm to protect herself if her spell came back, and she began to advance again. Slower, this time, due to her loss of strength on her left side, but still advancing. This was what she did. She got uncomfortably close. Most wizards preferred the distance of duelling. She preferred to completely invade their personal space.
Ichabod gained confidence with the two of them against the one Death Eater, surely the two of them would be able to overpower him. Angry at what was happening around him, and at the fact that his family was in danger and might very well be injured or - but he couldn't think that - he pointed his wand at the Death Eater, casting a shield charm for himself, he cast Furnunculus at the man, or he supposed it could be a woman.
As the two advanced on him, the woman encroaching into his space, Severus hoped that his shield charm would hold. There were still noises of battle around him, and he was angry at himself that he had not cast the killing curse from the very beginning before Ichabod had realised what was going on. All of the Bones' were supposed to die, not just the Bones that happened to be poor at dueling. Not that Snape imagined Edgar was poor at dueling, but he also was going to be surprised if the man lived. Lucius and Regulus were both out for blood. However, he had more immediate concerns, namely, making certain that he did not get caught. His shield charm reinforced, he raised his own wand, first at the blonde with a Levicorpus, Incarcerous, Protego - to hopefully blast her away from him, and then equally quickly, he pointed his wand at the Bones man. The killing curse would take a moment for recovery, but with the split second he had to decide, he wasn't certain it was worth it.
"Crucio," he cast at Ichabod. This was a spell that was very easy for him to mean, and it hit the other man square in the chest causing him to scream in agony. Severus knew that with Elle there, his shield charm would not hold forever. He let the spell linger long enough to ensure that Ichabod Bones felt the pain, and then he dropped his wand and cast Sectumsempra at the man before he Apparated away from the grounds and to safety. He might be scolded for allowing the man to live, but it had been two against one, and he honestly didn't feel that he could have done anything more.
She dodged the first spell, but in doing so she set herself up for the second. The ropes burned at her open wounds and she struggled with them given the lack of mobility available to her with her left arm. The ropes were staining a deep crimson, but she continued to writhe until she managed to get her wand turned around to the ropes and cast diffindo to sever them. She knew the assailant would have to move onto Ichabod, and so she didn't watch for him as she freed herself from the ropes. However, when she heard the Unforgivable, her head snapped up.
"NO!!!" Her own scream mixed with Ichabod's, and she stumbled to her feet. "Stupefy!" she shouted as she crossed the distance. But she was weak and her spell hit the ground 3 feet before the attacker's feet. Ichabod's screams died out, but there was another spell cast and his chest began to blossom red. Elle aimed her wand at the man, ready to cast an Unforgivable herself, ready to defend Ichabod even if it meant killing this person. But there was the crack of Apparition, and he was gone. "Damnit!"
She made her way to Ichabod, her right hand pressed against her left side, her own blood oozing through her fingers. She fell to her knees at his side, and her own wounds were forgotten, "Ichabod? Can you hear me?" He turned his head to her and said nothing, his eyes almost glassy. "Come on now," she whispered as she attempted to cast healing charms that didn't seem to do much of anything, "Stay with me, Ichabod. Stay with me." She pressed her hands to his chest and considered, for a moment, apparating them both to St. Mungo's. She was afraid of splinching either of them; she was too weak to do Side-Along. Instead she continued the pressure on his chest as long as she could, until help came or she lost all her strength. Whichever came first.
It didn't take Lucius long to spot his quarry. Auror Bones had murdered his father-in-law, and right now, Lucius was not interested in anyone else. Confidently he strode towards him, shooting a stupefy or two at those who were in the way. Briefly he allowed himself visions of triumph - killing Bones was likely to gain him great favour with the Dark Lord, and if there was anything that Lucius craved, it was climbing the Death Eater hierarchy. He would not rest until he had made his way right into the first tier. His dark robes whipped around his legs as he strode, and as it was a warm night, the mask was almost uncomfortably warm. But it did not matter. Raising his wand, he started the offensive by sending an Incarcerous toward the auror, every one of his senses on the alert for a retaliation. This would not be like the attack on Diagon Alley; he would not be sent limping home injured. Tonight they would be victorious. As the screams echoed around him, Lucius had murder in his heart.
Close behind was Regulus, a similar vengeance pulsing through him. His uncle, Cygnus Black, had been murdered by Edgar Bones, and whoever thought they could get away with killing his family was gravely mistaken. It had been upsetting to suffer questioning. It had been upsetting to see his grandfather incarcerated. It had been upsetting to listen to the slander and accusations (true or not), but taking the life of a Black? That was an unforgivable offense, and he could not stand to let the task fall to someone who could not appreciate it in the same way. His uncle. Black blood. Killed.
It was with a dark fury that he was approaching this evening, determined to do things right; perhaps the Dark Lord himself had sent them on this mission, but Regulus could not deny the personal agenda that drove him with an intensity at least equal to his desire to prove himself competent. Bones had tortured him at their last meeting, as well, and seeing him disappear was an eerily satisfying thought. Without waiting to see if Lucius's Incarcerous connected, Regulus shot a swift Incendio, watching the flames burst from his wand and move toward their target.
Edgar had jumped into action the moment that the scene had begun -- alcohol might have been impairing his judgment somewhat, but he was still one of the finest wizards that England had produced in recent memory. So quickly, everything around him had begun to change: from nothing more than a quiet, peaceful evening in the gardens, now the world seemed to be upside-down. Indeed, for a moment it seemed as though he had to be imagining what was going on; after all, the House was better protected than almost anywhere else that didn't have a thousand years of history behind it. As his wand swept upwards to deflect the Incarcerous hex (almost automatically, even in Bones' inebriated state), he couldn't help the nagging thought that his deliberate weakening of the protective enchantments around their home was at fault. They should never have held the party, but damn it if the enemy weren't going to stop him from enjoying himself.
PART TWO: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/blurre