NOVEL FROG Chapter 155 – Brawl (End of Book IV)
The moment the door opened to the old Black residence, the trio in the kitchen shot to their feet, holding their wands and aiming toward the kitchen's entrance. Krum made the first move, placing a finger before his lips, signaling to them to stay quiet while he took a step forward, heading toward the door.
Before he could reach for the doorknob, they saw it already turning and opening, making the ex-Durmstrang student cast expelliarmus, sending the flash of red lightning through the thinnest of opening, causing a yell echo from the other side. It was followed by the door being almost kicked in and another spell flying toward the group, but Hermione had already erected a bubble-shaped shield charm around them, deflecting it; at the same time, Neville was using the knockback jinx to counter their enemy, sending it flying forward, blasting the door into dozens of pieces.
"Stop, you bastards!" shouted a voice that Neville recognized, making him raise a hand to halt Krum, who was about to levitate their enemies to immobilize them.
"Sirius?" He asked, and soon enough, the scruffy-looking, alcohol-smelling figure of Sirius Black appeared in the kitchen door, picking up his wand from the ground.
"Who else? Damn!" He groaned, holding himself back from spitting. "You good, kid?"
"Yeah..." Answered the second voice, which belonged to Ron Weasley, the one who managed to dodge the dozens of splinters flying towards him by jumping away at the last moment. "I'm fine."
"What are you doing here?" Neville questioned, still holding his wand. Although he wasn't pointing it at them, he wasn't going to lower his guard just because it was Sirius and Ron. Especially because it was them...
"That is our question! Who are these?" Ron sneered, looking at Hermione and Krum, especially at the latter.
"Why should I answer?" Neville countered, making the red-haired boy's face turn into the same shade as the top of his head, but Sirius held him back with a wave of a hand.
"Because I am your appointed guardian."
"Were. Right now, I am already counted as a fully-fledged member of the Order. I am on my own mission, authorized by the leadership. Go ask them if you are doubting my word."
"And do they know you are meeting with two outsiders?" Sirius asked, scoffing, looking at Hermione and Krum.
"Outsiders?" Krum questioned, raising an eyebrow. Although Hermione wanted to say something, she was smart enough to let Neville handle it and not throw oil into the fire.
"Yeah, big guy, none of you is part of the Order!" Ron answered, wanting to square up with Krum, who was bigger and taller than him. Yet at the moment, the young Weasley looked like the patronus of Hufflepuff—just as fearless and reckless.
"I didn't know we no longer had allies." Neville answered, letting his apparent anger show through his tone of voice. "Isn't Beauxbatons our close ally? Isn't Krum our best spy who made it possible for us to prepare for the tournament and give us intel on Karkaroff and Durmstrang?"
"Weren't you friends with those two bastards?" Ron asked, his aggressiveness on the same level that described his older brother very well while he lived, "Do I need to spell it out? We don't trust you!"
"That's why you followed me?" He asked with a smile, looking back and forth between them. "How petty. Are we being degraded this much? Resorting to and instigating infighting? The leadership won't be happy about it."
"Enough!" Sirius shouted, stopping the back and forth between them. "I know you found something. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here and especially wouldn't have brought two outsiders to this place. I don't know what you are planning, but you will explain it to me right now, right here."
"I don't think I will."
"Neville!" Sirius replied, raising his voice once again, and his breath smelled like cheap beer, making Hermione wrinkle her nose in disgust. "Dumbledore may have trusted you, but if they know you met up with outsiders secretly and brought them into my home without permission, they also won't be happy about it!"
"Your house?" Neville laughed sarcastically, "Weren't you thrown out from here? And... Isn't it Quincy's home?"
"Don't. Bring. Her. Name. Up. That father-killer is anything but the owner of this house!"
"..."
"What? Didn't know?" Sirius laughed, looking mad in the face, "Yeah, she killed my brother. She did it. Do you really think they were your friends, Neville?! Wake up already! Tell us if you managed to find them so we can bring justice to them!"
"Or are you a traitor?" Ron added, his chest heaving, riled up from the fact that they may have found their location and he could avenge the death of his brother.
"By justice, do you mean killing them?" Hermione asked, her voice barely able to remain calm, betraying her frustration and anger.
"Who are you?" Sirius asked, finally looking at her for more than a fleeting glance, "And what do you even know, girl?"
"More than you think." She answered bravely, making Ron scoff.
"Yeah, bet."
"I heard the same speech before." Hermione continued, ignoring the red-haired boy's attempt at riling her up, "Fleur Delacour said the same thing about bringing justice to the two. I was there when it happened and saw what kind of justice she meant, one that ignores the meaning of the word just as it ignores the consequences... and its allies."
"Like you know anything, girl!" Sirius sneered, but she wasn't backing down.
"I do know what it is like to have a backbone that you clearly discarded!"
"You-!"
"Yes, me!" she added, raising her head proudly. "Unlike you, I can distinguish between revenge and justice! I don't need to lie to myself to feel better about it, but you lost your spine and tried dressing up a dog as a man!"
What Hermione didn't realize was that her words meant a bit more than she intended. The moment they left her throat, Ron angrily raised his wand to punish her for her remarks. Of course, Krum was way faster than he, watching the two like a basilisk, without blinking once. He managed to quickly disarm Ron, who then tried jumping on him just to get physical and stop him from a follow-up spell. Neville didn't have much time to react as he was squaring off against Sirius, who was trying to disarm him. Their spells hit each other and bounced off, smashing the kitchen window and letting the wind and rain in, howling the same way as Ron was.
"Stop! Stop!" Hermione shouted, trying to halt them, making a great effort to pull off Krum from Ron, who had no chance against him, no matter how ferocious he was.
"Dumbledore will hear of this." Neville huffed, looking at Sirius, who said nothing but slowly lowered his wand, signaling he was no longer in a combative mood. "Stand aside. We are leaving, and you won't stop us."
For a brief moment, there was a tense silence in the room, only broken by Ron's painful moan on the ground. It seemed that it made Sirius finally decide on what to do. With a long breath, he stepped away from the kitchen's door, letting the trio leave, looking after them until they closed the front doors and disappeared into the night, teleporting away.
"Did you manage to do it?" He asked, opening his mouth finally and pulling Ron up from the ground.
"Yeah... Ugh... that big bastard can hit hard." He moaned, rubbing his jaw. "Are we sure it will work?"
"Your father was into those things." Sirius whispered, making Ron quickly close his mouth and listen as he always did when hearing about his parents. "He was the best when it came to muggle technologies and practices, giving us an edge over the Death Eaters by applying their inventions and transforming them for our use. It will work because it worked in the past."
"Won't it disappear?"
"Where did you stick it?" Sirius asked, watching Ron tap the side of his neck.
"I think he thought it was me scratching him when I pricked him." He answered, showing a little needle between his fingers, its tip glowing in a soft, blue light.
"Even if he bathes, it will stay; that little varmint lives under the skin and can't be seen by human eyes. It would need to be forced out, and if you don't know what you are looking for, you won't discover it." Sirius explained, shaking his head. "We tracked Death Eaters with it; three kids won't be a problem. Let's head back; we will keep an eye on where they are going and let them lead us to the two bastards..."
...
....
.....
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked after the trio returned to their motel room, watching Krum scratch his neck.
"Yeah, good. Its scratch, itches. That all."
"Let me check!" She hopped closer, making him lean forward and letting Hermione look at it. I'll get you disinfected and put a bandage on it. It is a bit red—he did scratch you—but it should be fine!"
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it!" She chuckled with a tinge of blush appearing on her face.
"You were good." Krum continued, sitting at the edge of his bed, letting Hermione play the nurse while Neville leaned against the wall, looking out into the night, watching the rain smash against their window.
"Hm? Ah... thanks. You too..."
"Trouble?" He asked, making Neville nod.
"Everything is going to shit." He murmured, speaking in a tone that was reminiscent of Conrad's way of speaking, but the two couldn't pick up on it, "I thought it was easy to know who are the good guys and bad guys, but everything became muddy. I don't know... I only see grey."
"Isn't this normal?" Hermione interjected, putting on the bandage and leaning against Krum's back. "The world is not black and white; it never was. You just need to make sure you remain light grey instead of becoming black as the night."
"Maybe... Maybe..." Neville nodded, feeling a bit lost, sighing again, wanting to escape, if even for just a little, back to a summer day when his most pressing issue was to win against Quincy and Conrad in a broom race.
