It was half-past three in the morning. Zak lay on his back in his bed, completely awake, gazing at the ceiling, trying to think.
–Please, don’t -â€
Zak rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, trying to relax. He ran his hands through his hair and gently felt the back of his neck again.
Smooth skin.
When they’d finally got back to the flat at half past ten, Zak had collapsed into bed and fallen straight asleep, exhausted. But now he lay awake. There was too much in his head, he thought, too many things to think about. It was a fascinating as it was exhausting. And Eddie… quiet, unassuming, friendly Eddie…
It was impossible to fit in your head, Zak felt. However he turned it, it just wouldn’t quite work. Does that mean the idea is the wrong shape or my head is? he wondered absent-mindedly, his eyes wearily following the patterns of light that the streetlamp outside the window threw onto the ceiling.
And how did this even begin to become normal? How would the eight of them behave now; no wait - how would the seven of them behave - after what they’d seen?
~
The door slammed open.
A young man stepped into the room; he must have been around eighteen or nineteen. He was carrying a gun, which he raised in their direction.
–Please, don’t -†Emilia said, but fell silent sharply as he took a step forward, his face oddly blank.
There was a sharp click as he moved his fingers over the metal of the weapon. Zak could feel the hysteria he’d fought down when the glass had broken welling up inside him again. Ridiculous, impossible, that that one thing could make you - stop, die, finish, just like that. It looked so absurdly ordinary, but the sight evoked a menacing coldness that spread right through your skin. Zak barely registered when Eddie took a step forward.
–Hey,†Eddie said. A greeting. Calm, accepting; not quite comforting, but somehow reassuring. The man turned and looked at him. Eddie met his eyes carefully.
–I’m Eddie. What’s your name?†he asked. Again, his tone was perfectly judged, Zak realised. It didn’t interrupt, didn’t intrude, and above all it didn’t mess with the balance of power in the room - but it was clear, and pleasant, and unruffled.
–We were practising. It’s funny how things coincide, isn’t it?†Eddie continued. The small part of Zak’s mind that wasn’t running in circles spoke up. What?
–I mean, you never expect a situation to turn on a sixpence like that,†said Eddie. He took another small step forward as he spoke, almost casual enough to be attributed to a shift in position for comfort’s sake, but it took him closer to the gunman.
–You just hang around, doing nothing out of the ordinary, and then things are different and you look back and realise you didn’t see them change.†Another step. –It reminds me of when I was a little kid. I learnt all sorts of things that I never thought would be useful at the time. And then I find myself in a situation where they just might be, and you realise how thankful you are.†It wasn’t what Eddie was saying that mattered, Zak realised. That could be almost anything. It was the soft, almost coaxing tone that he said them in. Underneath what you heard, it said listen, listen, don’t you want to know? Isn’t it interesting? And after all, you’re in control, you’ve got the power, you can do what you like - so why not take a moment and listen, listen, listen! Don’t you want to know where it’ll end?
Eddie was several feet in front of the rest of them now, Zak realised, slightly to the gunman’s left. Not directly in front of him and not close enough to be a threat, but definitely closer. The young man was watching Eddie, watching him closely. They had eye contact and Eddie kept it steadily.
–You end up in the middle of some state of affairs or another, and you think back, and you know what to do and how to do it. It’s so reassuring, to know exactly where you stand.†He took another step, but something must have been uneven under his feet, because he stumbled forward slightly. The gunman jumped, startled, and swung the gun around until it was pointed directly at Eddie. Zak willed himself not to move an inch, terrified of making it worse.
Eddie had not lost eye contact, and spoke again.
–How impossible some things seem when you’re young. How unlikely events appear before you find yourself involved in them. But here we are.†He took one step further forward, and Zak forgot to breathe.
The tip of the gun was maybe and inch away from Eddie’s chest.
Eddie kept his eye contact with the gunman.
–And events have played out, in so many different ways, on different days and in different places; but this is how things are now, I suppose, and I -â€
There was a deafening bang and an explosion of dust Zak fell back a few steps, stunned, blinking furiously, trying to see if -
The dust cleared, and Eddie was still standing. Zak, looking around, struggled to take in -
The gun on the floor on the other side of the room.
The new hole in the ceiling.
The gunman lying on the floor by Eddie, unconscious.
–How - what - what did you do?†Zak stuttered out, bewildered. Eddie looked shaken, his black hair covered in dust. At any other time it would’ve been funny, Zak’s mind told him. It took a few moments before Eddie replied.
–I just knocked the gun up so it fired at the ceiling - he must have tripped and hit his head,†he said slowly, breathing hard. Amy ran forward and buried him in a hug.
~
Zak turned onto one side in bed, if only to gaze at the posters on the wall instead of the light on the ceiling. But you didn’t, did you, Eddie?
If only it had ended there.
~
After a few minutes of shocked relief, they decided to walk Zak to the toilets. Zak looked up when this was mentioned, surprised - he’d almost forgotten about the glass. Before they left the room, Eddie crouched down and took the unconscious man’s pulse, then got Adam to help shift him into what Zak recognised as the recovery position. Eddie then stood, walked over to the other side of the room, and picked up the gun. Sam cleared his throat.
–Ed, I’m not sure you should touch that,†he said, nervously. Eddie turned and gave him a faint nod.
–I know. Just want to put it out of reach so that he doesn’t have it if he wakes up before the heal- the ambulance gets here,†he corrected himself. Zak frowned. What had Eddie been about to say?
Webster stepped forward, and put it on top of one of the high cupboards, out of sight and reach of anyone shorter than Webster himself, which meant most of the population. Then, the eight of them left the room, Eddie last, and made their way down the corridor. When they were half-way there, they heard noises on the stairs. More than one person, it sounded like. The students, Amy in the lead, paused, looking at each other.
–Paramedics?†Emilia suggested quietly, uncertainly. The others didn’t answer.
The doors to the stairwell swung open. Zak almost burst out laughing for the second inappropriate time in an hour.
Standing several metres away, at the other end of the corridor, were three people. Two men and a woman, Zak guessed, though it wasn’t easy to tell from this angle. They all wore… cloaks? Not strictly black, but worn and nondescript, greyed and tired looking clothes that flowed loosely over their figures. Robes?
But it was their faces that really confused Zak. His eyes told him not to look, that there was nothing important there - but when he tried to stare at them, to follow the lines of their faces, he saw… a blur. He could barely see it past his mind screaming at him that there was nothing important to see, that there was nothing to worry about, that this was normal - but it wasn’t. He didn’t have any more time to contemplate this then, however.
The foremost of the group - a man with… brown hair? It was hard to judge, though Zak wasn’t sure why - the man started walking forwards, and the other two followed just behind him, flanking him on either side. They stopped about two metres away from Amy and observed the group in silence. Suddenly, startlingly, the man clapped his hands together and gave a short laugh.
–Well, well, well,†he said, and Zak got the impression he was grinning. –It seems we underestimated you.†Eddie stepped forward, and it wasn’t until Zak looked at him that he really started to feel scared again.
Eddie had gone white. His jaw was clenched and his hands had balled themselves into fists. He looked angry, but also afraid, and that scared Zak more than anything.
–What do you want.†It was more of a statement than a question. –What the hell do you want?â€
–Now, now,†said the man, his right hand sliding inside the outer layer of whatever it was he was wearing and slowly drawing out a slender, carved piece of wood. –Manners, Potter. We came here with a job to do. Now if we’ve got more loose ends to tidy up than expected,†here his eyes flashed across the group of eight, and he shrugged, –then so be it.â€
At this he raised the wooden thing. It looked oddly familiar, Zak thought, but where would he have seen something like that before?
Eddie was in front of Amy now, standing between the man and his friends, just like he had a few minutes ago. But something was different this time.
–It was you?†Eddie said. –You - you imperiused that kid -†he gestured back over his shoulder, towards the room they had come from, –and now you’re here to -â€
–To tidy up the loose ends,†said the man, repeating himself with a curt nod, –yes. By whatever means necessary.â€
There was a pause. The man pointed the wooden instrument at Eddie and Zak felt a thrill of foreboding, though he didn’t know why; it was just wood, it couldn’t do any damage -
–Stupefy!â€
–Protego!â€
Both the man and Eddie had shouted at the same time, Zak realised vaguely, most of his mind taken up once more by an impossible sight.
Eddie was standing in front of the other seven of them, holding his own piece of wood like a weapon, projecting some kind of… it looked like a force-field, Zak thought. Some kind of red light had burst from the man’s stick and Eddie had deflected it.
All this thought went past in the blink of an eye, as Eddie shouted over his shoulder.
–You lot! Get out! Stay behind me!â€
The urgency in his voice spurred Zak into movement. He grabbed Amy’s arm, as she was nearest, and started to run back along the corridor, ignoring the sharp little pains in his neck and back as the glass moved slightly. The others followed them, running hell for leather down the corridor, away from shouts and the impossible flashes of light, but Eddie was still back there -
WHAM! Zak slammed into something face-first and fell back to the ground, not immediately realising what it was he had hit. The others skidded to a halt behind him.
–What the -†Webster said.
It was another shield. Zak turned and looked back. The woman was leaning against the wall almost casually, not far away. She had another piece of carved wood, and it was raised, pointing just behind them. Another one, Zak thought, like Eddie’s. The woman pointed it at Emilia, who was nearest.
–Emilia! NO! Leave them alone!â€
Eddie’s voice echoed down the corridor, but he couldn’t get any closer to them to help. He and the first man were engaged in what Zak could only call a battle of sorts, though it seemed to be very one-sided. Eddie wasn’t attacking in return, only using that shield thing. As he shouted, he ducked to avoid a vivid green jet of light which ripped into the wall behind him.
Zak’s decision was made. He ran forwards suddenly, and must’ve taken the woman by surprise because she did nothing to stop him as he cannoned into her, knocking her to the ground, his back and neck burning at the movement. He reached wildly for the hand that held the piece of wood and got the wrist. She struggled furiously.
–Get off me, you stupid Muggle!â€
–Someone give me a hand!†he shouted. Almost immediately, someone was by his side. He felt rather than saw them wrestle the wood out of her hand and he let go, pushing himself away from her. She scrambled to her feet and beginning to run back towards her companions.
–Expelliarmus!†came from down the corridor. Zak turned to see the piece of wood Eddie was using fly out of his hand and land on the floor at the other end of the corridor. Zak grabbed the one they had stolen from Webster before he could react, and threw it as hard as he could in Eddie’s direction.
–Eddie!†he shouted. Eddie turned and caught it in his left hand, somehow managing to flash Zak a grin before turning back to his opponents. He was against two of them now, moving fast, dodging from one side to another as they shouted undecipherable words that echoed against the walls. The woman reached them but before she could do anything there was another huge bang, this time from the bottom of the stairwell.
–The Ministry,†the leader shouted, –get out, get out!†The woman grabbed his arm, and the three disappeared with a crack.
~
It was all rather strange and muddled after that. More cloaked people arrived, and the corridor was soon busy with them. Eddie was talking to someone, explaining, and then listening. After a while he nodded. The man that he was talking to gestured to another, who came over and, placing a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, started to escort him away. At this Zak jumped to his feet.
–Hey!†he said. –Eddie? What’s going on?â€
This drew everyone’s attention to them for the first time, but Zak didn’t regret it. Eddie himself turned, and after glancing at the man he’d been talking to as if for permission, he spoke.
–Zak, it’s fine. Really. Just a bit of admin, don’t worry about it,†he said easily. Zak hesitated, his head still swimming slightly. Eddie looked straight at him. –Really, Zak. It’s fine. I’ll see you a bit later, okay?â€
Slowly, unwillingly, Zak nodded and started to sit back down. Everyone went back to whatever it was they had been doing, but he watched carefully as Eddie was escorted down the corridor and into another classroom. The door was shut firmly behind him.
The next few hours they spent sitting in the corridor. Chairs were brought out for them, and a brisk, matronly woman talked to each one of them about what they had seen and noted it down, before checking them over for injuries. When she reached Zak, she had inspected the glass on his back, and did something he couldn’t turn his head to see. All he heard was some muttered words and all the pain seemed to go. She padded at the area with some gauze for a few seconds, and that was it. He reached backwards. Smooth skin.
–Ladies and gentlemen, sorry to keep you waiting,†a voice eventually said. The seven of them looked up. It was the same man that Eddie had been talking to earlier.
–What’s going on?â€
–Where’s Eddie, is he in trouble?â€
–Why did he go?â€
The man held up his hands for quiet.
–Your friend is in no trouble. We just wanted to talk to him, nothing to worry about,†he said reassuringly. –Now, I know you must have a lot of questions,†he continued, –but for now a simple explanation will have to suffice.â€
~
But it didn’t, Zak thought. It’s not nearly enough. And now they had seven days before their housemate was even allowed to talk to them.
They had made their way in silence back to their respective house, and everyone had just gone into their own rooms and shut the doors. Zak supposed they all wanted time to think; he could understand that.
~
–I’d be more than happy to explain everything in full right now,†the older man said, –but law is law. We have to wait for a minimum of seven days while the bureaucracy does its thing, and then Eddie will be able to sit and explain everything that’s been going on to you.†He looked around at their attentive faces as though he’d seen them before - and perhaps he had, Zak thought.
–Well, that’s all you’re needed for. I must remind you that you are bound not to convey any details regarding these events, but you are welcome to talk about them amongst yourselves. For now, you’d do well to head home and try and get some sleep. Any problems, and you can reach us at this address.†He handed them all a small slip of paper bearing the address of somewhere in London, nodded at them, and left. After another few moments of silence passed before they all moved. No one watched them go.
~
At about eleven, they all heard the door to the house open and soft footsteps make their way to Eddie’s room and enter. No one went to greet him.
1. Master of Instinct (Lightning Clan Trilogy) by HermitKnut
Chapter Notes: Apologies for the delay, everyone. The term has been manic and I'm just catching up now.