InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Baby poop!"

When it was just the two of them at the flat, Fabian did his own cookery, which was much less fancy than what Nelly was capable of: bachelor breakfast fry-up, spag bol, Welsh rarebit, butter chicken and the like. Or occasionally cold meats and cheeses with crackers and fruit, like the toff Caradoc Dearborn had accused them (mostly Fabian) of being. He looked across the dining table at the remains of their meal, the crumbs and bits of summer sausage casing and slivers of cheese, and nodded at his twin. "So what's next on the neverending project list? I think it's going to be one of your action items."

Gideon pushed back from the table and carried the dishes to the sink. He'd've used magic but he didn't want to have to repair them again after they flew into each other. "About time. Now that we've crossed off 'camping holiday', I think we need to pop 'bird watching' back to the top of the list. Given that Peter knew about it, we've got to change it up a bit.

"I wonder if they were trying to set a trap for us at the Preserve?"

Fabian frowned. "Could be. Can't rule it out. I don't think I can ask Rabbit about this one. We have to produce before I can go back to that well." He spread his hands, turning them palm upwards in Gideon's general direction, knowing his twin could read the gesture exactly as he intended it. "If it was a trap, we need to go to the Hebrides, sooner rather than later."

Gideon closed his eyes, briefly. "Team of seven would be ideal, but with the recent troubles we might want to go in with five. Three chasers who will try to get the dragon to target them, a defender who will block the dragon's fire if we're about to get fried, and a seeker who puts the trap into the fire to catch it.

"Chasers need to be able to apparate if they're in trouble and need to be level headed enough to do it. Basic tactics are about as discussed. The Chasers pester the dragon from above, left, right, try to get it to breathe fire. Seeker gets it, and we all apparate to the pub closest to Cor Tewdws."

Fabian assigned himself the role of the five-year-old and began to poke holes in the plan. "Where are we stowing the device? Cor? And who are our flyers? Remember I never actually played quidditch. I can research the pub situation, assuming nobody is injured--which we'll need backup plans for, doubly if it's one of our medical people injured."

Gideon started ticking off Fabian's points on his fingers, "Half of us are ground team. I'm gonna let MG make position calls, but you seem more like the catcher than the defender. That'll play to your duelling strengths. If I'm also on the ground, I'll do my best to keep anyone from getting hurt." Or killed, if I can help it, Gideon didn't quite say out loud.

"It's not exactly something we want to keep in your flat, or at a school full of children. Or even at a pub. We can ask Lily where it goes, but Cor seems like a good choice. Not many people can get there, and one of them is a baby."

"As the librarian, I have to object to the idea of putting it in the library. I bet if we could talk to the elves, they'd know where it should go." Fabian scowled at their inability to communicate successfully with the keepers of Cor as he folded the napkins and put them back into their rings. Early medieval Welsh wasn't his strong suit, not for reading and certainly not for speaking. "But we'll figure something out. I think I'm on the ground and I expect Remus to be with me. And Lily if she comes. For flyers I'm betting MG and his sister, James and Sirius. You for utility infielder, since you can do either."

Gideon frowned. "The elves will probably just say 'we'll put it with all the rest', but in Latin or ancient Welsh. I wish I had a much simpler and less risky plan. I don't want to be responsible for Harry becoming an orphan. I tried to get your library to give me books on gathering dragonfire and I came up blank."

"If we go that way, I'll expect MG to direct the offense from the air. It sounds reasonable. I like the idea of having a medical emergency backup plan. Might need to keep Florrie in reserve for that." His face betrayed his lack of confidence in that option.

"We ready to set this in motion? How long did MG say we'd have to pull this off?"

Fabian wiped the smirk about Gideon's inability to get the library to hand out dragonfire-gathering books on command off his face. After a moment of consideration, he came up with, "I think MG said three hours, minus however long it takes to find an isolated dragon, which is harder in the Hebrides than it would have been in Wales. But we can do it," he told Gideon. "Contrary to the opinions of our elders and less-wisers, the ancients didn't know everything and didn't have a plan for everything. We're doing the best we can with what we've got, which is some of the most talented wizarding folk in Britain."

He stood up to join Gideon at the sink to take on his share of the washing-up. "Also, Lily is our backup healer-type, which gives her an excuse to be out of the immediate fray--which she'll be happy to take--and should leave Harry with one parent even if James and Sirius are in hot competition for stupidest and most daring devil."

Gideon tried not to wince. "I don't want to win the 'worst plan of the year' competition. I don't even want to compete." He started drying the dishes. That was wand work and steadied him.

"We'll arrange for two rally points, one on site so we can get to local safety, and one if that's not safe enough. And we'll have medical supplies ready there. I can't make it safe, but we can make it safer."

Fabian passed him a freshly-rinsed plate. "It'll be fine, Gid. Your Gryffindors are daredevils but they'll rally round and pull it off. And any plan that has any hope of succeeding is out of competition for the worst. More like competition for the best."

"Ha! This will be a footnote in the story. It always amazes me what the Order pulled together and accomplished, and will accomplish in the future, in order to win this war. If they keep this up, we'll end us as footnotes in this story. Which would be nice."

"Bugger being a footnote in someone else's story." Fabian rolled his eyes. "I intend to be the hero, or at least co-protagonist, in 'the discovery of lost Cor Tewdws', if nothing else. Still, the other one is a good story too. I like it much better than the one where the Death Eaters keep hunting us down one by one."

Gideon smiled. He'd poked him like that before, and it elicited the expected result. "I'll have a word with the Editor on your behalf."