WHO: Lumos Boot, Nora Cadwallder & Rhys Cadwallader feat. Nesta Boot & a snatcher WHAT: Dinner interruptus. WHEN: March 7, evening WHERE: Lumos's house! WARNINGS: Violence
Dinner, if Lumos said so herself, had turned out lovely. It had been really nice to treat Rhys and Nora to a meal they didn’t have to cook themselves after having to run their inn all day and save lives respectively. But that wasn’t really what was on her mind at the moment.
She kept turning nervous smiles on Rhys and Nora while a snatcher, who had rudely not introduced himself, wandered through her house in search of her missing mother.
He’d sent her back to her guests after she’d hovered behind him throughout the first floor of her house and then he’d gone upstairs. This was the most nerve-wracking game of Hot and Cold she’d ever played. Because she knew exactly where her mother was and if the snatcher thought to check the cellar — which of course he would, she’d seen him eye it when he was combing through the first floor — she was going to have to do something reckless.
“I’m really sorry about this,” Lumos said for the third time. Lowering her voice, she added, “They’ve never been this intrusive before.”
"Really, Lumos, it's all right. We're fine." Nora took a sip of her tea before asking, as casually as she could, "Have they searched at all before?" Her own nerves were crackling at the thought of snatchers doing thorough searches in their little corner of Wales and what she and Rhys would have to do if they decided to pay the Gentle Green a visit. That her own mother was safely away in Brazil was comforting, but it wouldn't help the half-dozen other Muggleborns staying at the inn right that moment.
“No!” Lumos cast another nervous glance over her shoulder, at the stairs. Why was it taking him so long? There was nothing up there! “Usually they just ask me if I know where she is and say something vaguely threatening and then leave.”
"They are good at vaguely threatening, aren't they," Nora said, thinking back to her first interaction with them all those months earlier. Then, in an attempt to calm the nerves in the room, she smiled and took her husband's hand with an encouraging squeeze. "Actually, Rhys has a good story about one who showed up at the Green once."
Rhys squeezed her hand and smiled at them both, trying his best not to look as nervous as he felt. “He was threatening me, so Carrot bit him and Pea, well... peed on him,” he said dutifully. “Too bad they’re not here right now.”
“Really?” Lumos asked with a very weak laugh. “Well done, Pea and Carrot.”
But heavy footsteps stomped down the stairs and what calm had managed to edge its way in vanished entirely when she heard the snatcher mutter to himself, “— ruddy door in the kitchen.” A vice seemed to clamp around Lumo’s ribcage and she couldn’t look at Rhys or Nora as her fingers crept towards her wand.
A moment passed, his footsteps heavier still on the stairs leading to the cellar. And then, a crash and a cry and soon the snatcher was dragging her mother into the room by her hair. Lumos flinched when he threw her mother at her feet.
“You don’t know where the bleeding hell she is, do you?” the snatcher asked.
“Oh,” Lumos said quietly, clutching her wand tightly by her leg, “you meant her.”
Rhys’ eyes lit up with recognition and horror as his eyes met Lumos’ mother's, but he remained calm, even as he instinctively reached for his wand.
“Now now, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this,” he said steadily, looking to Nora then Lumos as he tried to figure out their next move.
Nora's eyes stayed on Nesta, first startled by her appearance then to look for any obvious signs of injury. She fought the instinct to kneel by the woman's side and check on her; a sudden movement like that would draw the snatcher's attention.
But then, maybe that was exactly what she should do. They couldn't sit by and let this man take Lumos and her mother away, and she knew Rhys was ready if he needed to be.
She slipped out of her chair and down to Nesta's side, taking the woman's hand to look at the wrist she'd injured in the fall. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
The snatcher’s eyes narrowed on the scene before him and Lumos felt her heart lodge in her throat.
To Nora, Nesta said, her voice pitched low and quiet, “I’m fine. Sit down.” To the snatcher, though, “None of these kids had anything to do with my being here. I snuck in and —”
But the snatcher cut the mudblood off with a loud laugh. He’d seen the very tiny apartment set up for the woman in the cellar below and had trouble believing she’d managed to ‘sneak in’ and fly below the daughter’s radar for so long. “You expect me to bel—”
“Obliviate.” Lumos was on her feet now, her wand pointed at the now empty-eyed snatcher, a new version of events rapidly forming in both of their heads. He’d come to the house and found nothing out of the ordinary in the cellar, just a bag of potatoes. That was all he’d remember happening. It was rushed, but neat. She was used to working with time constraints.
And now Lumos turned to Rhys and Nora.
Realising what was happening, Rhys raised his hands defensively, his own wand still gripped tightly in his fingers. “Please. Lumos. You’re alright. We’re alright.” He turned to Nora and gave her a look before returning his attention to Lumos. “We can help.”
"Let's just get rid of him and talk, alright? Without wands." Nora looked between the two of them. She got to her feet and helped Nesta to hers. "You can always Obliviate us later if you feel like you need to. Okay?"
“But —” Lumos met Nesta’s eyes and her mother only shrugged, her injured wrist held protectively to her chest. They were both thinking the same thing — that they’d known Rhys Cadwallader since he was a boy and he wouldn’t betray them. The tip of Lumos’s wand listed downwards first and then she let her arm fall entirely. “Okay.”
“Thank you,” Rhys said, dropping his own wand immediately. He put it away so as not to seem as though he intended to threaten anyone other than the Snatcher that had now been disarmed. He nodded politely to Nesta, every bit as respectful as he had been when they’d known him as a young boy. “Hello, Mrs Boot.” Then, he looked from the stunned man to Lumos with a look of concern, “There’s no way he’ll be able to remember any of this, is there? Should we go into another room, or… ?”
“He’ll remember coming here, but he won’t remember finding my mother,” Lumos answered. “Mum just needs to step into the other room and when he comes to he’ll be ready to leave. I’ll —” She stepped forward and reached for Nesta’s arm to lead her back into the kitchen to hide.
When they were alone in the kitchen, Lumos murmured, “I’m sorry.”
“It would’ve been nice not to have been humiliated in front of the Cadwallader boy and his wife,” Nesta said crossly, rubbing at her head where her scalp was tender from manhandling. “But…” She shook her head and waved her daughter away.
The expression on Lumos’s face was unreadable when she joined Rhys and Nora and retook her seat. “I’m sorry,” she said again, for her friends’ sake this time.
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” Rhys assured her. Then, he looked to Nora and took her hand.
"Is she alright?" Nora asked, glancing back toward the kitchen. "I can take a look at her wrist before we go. We won't say anything, you have my word."
“I think she’d appreciate having her wrist looked at,” Lumos said with a nod, deciding not to mention Nesta’s embarrassment. Or that she herself didn’t think she could do this anymore. “I’m going to —” She gestured at the snatcher, still standing blankly where she’d left him.
When he came to, the snatcher eyed Lumos suspiciously still. He would’ve gotten a handsome reward if he’d found the mudblood, but what could he do? He shoved a tattered business card at Lumos, which said ‘Willie Lock, no relation to Willy Locke’. “You let me know if you hear from her.”
“Of course,” Lumos said, her face the picture of a practiced evenness. Her fingers were trembling where she had them pressed to her leg.
“You two, too,” Willie Lock, no relation to Willy Locke said to Nora and Rhys.
Rhys nodded quickly, his expression appropriately solemn. “Of course.” he said. He didn’t realise he’d been holding his breath until the Snatcher turned and walked away, letting the door slam behind him.
A few moments later, when they were sure he was gone, Nora glanced at Lumos, then headed into the kitchen to get Nesta. They were back just as quickly, and Nora began to examine the woman's wrist. "This doesn't look so bad," she said. She cleared her throat and asked, "So is it just the two of you, or…"
“It’s just the two of us,” Lumos murmured. Now that the snatcher was gone, she was having trouble holding it together and the trembling in her fingers was starting to travel up her arm. She wrapped her arms around herself. “No one else knows either.”
“Then why did that one look so hard?” Nesta asked, the grateful smile she’d given Nora fading the moment her eyes fell on her daughter.
“I don’t know!” Lumos wrapped her arms around herself even tighter. “I haven’t told anyone!”
“They must be getting desperate,” Rhys said, frowning. He crossed his own arms defensively as he wondered whether or not the Snatchers would also pay the Gentle Green another visit. “And maybe with all those anonymous Ministry leaks…” He trailed off and stopped himself, not wanting to upset anyone any further.
"Are you going to be alright here?" Nora asked. Her mind, too, was home; after seeing tonight's search, they would have to be even more careful.
Lumos couldn’t help the short, hysterical laugh that slipped out before she could stop it. She looked over at her mother, whose mouth had gone tight at the question and tighter still at that laugh. Lumos looked away and stared at her knees. “I don’t know. What if he comes back? I know that memory was airtight, but…” She trailed off. She didn’t have to look at Nesta to know which sharp look her mother was giving her.
Nora looked over to Rhys, but she already knew the look she would see. They had rules in place; none of their guests' families or friends knew where they were, but they could make an exception with Lumos, probably. Or at least, they could figure something out. "We … may know someplace you can stay, Nesta."
In unison, both Lumos and Nesta looked at Nora and then Rhys. “Do you?” the elder Boot asked slowly.
Rhys looked highly uncomfortable, unsure of how to reveal the secret they’d kept so hidden for so long. He hesitated before nodding. “We’ve been really safe so far.” he said nervously, looking to Nora for confirmation as to how much he should tell. “It’s well-warded, and comfortable.” He bit his lip, not quite certain as to whether to admit there were other people as well, so he simply added, “You’d have company.”
“I see,” Nesta said evenly, trying not to appear too eager. But months in her daughter’s cellar with only Lumos for occasional company left her desperate for human interaction.
There was a question on Lumos’s face, though. “What — whe — actually, nevermind. She’ll be safe there? You’re sure?”
Rhys nodded. “I'd bet my life on it,” he assured her confidently, not really letting on that he'd meant it quite literally.
“And you’re sure you’re okay with this?” Lumos asked, glancing between Rhys and Nora.
"Absolutely," said Nora, though as always, she was laced with concern. "We … you probably wouldn't be able to see each other regularly," she added. "We'll try to figure something out but … you should know that before we do anything."
Lumos exchanged a look with her mother before her eyes dropped to her mother’s wrist. Even though the snatcher was gone and everything was fine for the moment, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d failed Nesta. She twisted her mouth in thought before simply asking, “Mum?”
“Well, you heard them,” Nesta said. “They said we’ll try figuring something out.” Though she had never been much of a hugger, she watched her daughter for a moment before holding an arm open for her. “Come here.”
Lumos didn’t need to be asked twice. She moved to her mother’s side and enveloped her in a hug, careful to avoid her wrist. “All right,” she said quietly, after her mother pulled away.
Nora looked away to give mother and daughter a moment of privacy, but when it seemed that was over, she said, "Why don't I fix up that wrist, and then you can pack up some things and we can go tonight, if you'd like." Then, with another look at Lumos, she added, "Or we can in a few days, maybe, if that's easier…"
Both Boots took another step away from one another, smoothing their hands — hand, in Nesta’s case — over their clothes to tidy themselves. “Tonight,” Nesta said decisively.
Lumos didn’t say anything immediately, trying to quickly process everything that had happened, but then she nodded. “Thank you for your help.” She paused and scratched the side of her neck guiltily. “I’m really sorry for all of this.” She mostly meant that horrible moment during which she’d fully intended to obliviate her friends. “And if there’s ever anything I can do…”
“That’s what friends are for,” Rhys said firmly, beckoning to his childhood friend for a hug. “Besides, it’s the right thing to do. We’ll make sure you’re safe and comfortable, Mrs Boot.”
With a sniff, Lumos stepped forward and gladly accepted a hug while Nesta, her smile tight with an embarrassment from being the center of attention too long, said, “Thank you, Rhys. And you, too, Nora.” She held out her wrist to Nora.
“We’ll get this fixed up in no time,” Nora said with a comforting smile as she readied her wand. “You know, now that we’ll be seeing each other a bit more often, you’ll have to tell me some good stories about what Rhys was like as a child…”