Twinsensibility Part Fifty Two

[dysonrules]

This next bit is basically for draykonis, whose characters I shamelessly stole .  :D  Muchly thanks to byaghro for pointing out many episodes of stupid that had to be corrected prior to posting.



Lorcan was in his room when the owl delivered the envelope.  He frowned when he noticed it only said “Scamander – Hogwarts” with no return address.

He tore it open, hoping it would reveal some clue to Lysander’s whereabouts, but he never expected to be confronted with a series of photos of his brother.  Ice cold shock overwhelmed him as he flipped through them with growing horror.

They were basically the same.  Lysander was chained to a wall with blood dripping down his chin, marring his beautiful chest.  His shirt had been shredded and a line of red on his shoulder also oozed blood.  His expression was baleful and defiant, but Lorcan could see the fear in their depths.  His brother’s only movement was the rise and fall of his chest—it was hard to tell where the photo loop began and ended.

Dead, Lorcan thought.  Whoever did this is dead dead dead dead.

His knees gave out and he sank onto the bed, holding the photos so tightly they warped.  Tears pricked at his eyes and threatened to spill down his cheeks, but he kept them back by not blinking.  Losing control would not help Lysander.  He had to find him.

Lorcan launched himself from the bed and went to find Lily.

xxx

 There was something comforting about a roomful of Potters, Lorcan discovered.  He included the Weasleys in that description, because they were all basically the same—driven and single-minded.  He supposed he should include Malfoy, as well, because there was no Scorpius Malfoy without Albus Potter.  They were basically one unit.

Like me and Lysander, he thought morosely and then scowled at himself and shoved the idea aside.  He needed to concentrate on the matter at hand.  He paced the short distance from one wall to the other, trying to look preoccupied instead of nervous.  The Room of Requirement was very utilitarian at the moment, containing only a large table, a desk, and several chairs.

“There isn’t much to go on,” Rose said from her position at the table wherein the photos had been spread.  Her wand provided brilliant illumination and a magnifying spell had allowed her to examine minute details.  Scorpius, at her elbow, nodded.

“The same general building materials of every other castle in Britain,” he said.

James Potter lounged in a nearby chair, twirling his wand in his fingers at speeds that made it seem little more than a blur.  Lorcan wasn’t certain why James was even present—he seemed mostly useless.  “So, we start searching every castle in Britain?” James asked and Lorcan retracted his earlier assessment.

Albus Potter snorted.  “Merlin, James, do you know how long that would take?  Hopefully someone has a more intelligent plan.  Scorpius?”

Al’s blond boyfriend nodded.  “I think it’s safe to say that it is a castle.  The mortar is consistent with edifices built in the fifteenth century.”

“We’ve cross-referenced castles built during that time period with the list of potential enemies of your parents,” Rose added.  “I think we’ve narrowed it down to five possible culprits.”

Lorcan’s head snapped up to stare at her.  “Five?”

She nodded.  “If we break into groups, we should be able to cover them all.”

“Abby and I will take one!” Lily piped up from her perch on the floor where she had been doodling with a piece of chalk.  Absinthe, for once, was awake, drawing pictures of decapitated fairies or something on the floor near Lily.

“I’ll go with Scorpius,” Albus offered, as if there were any other option.

Rose nodded.  “That leaves me with Hugo and James with Lorcan.  If the first four are dead ends, we will all meet at the last one.”

“Why am I stuck with you?” Hugo asked.  Lorcan had thought him asleep until he spoke—he had been lying atop a table holding his wand loosely while random patterns of multicoloured bubbles shot from the tip.  They floated around the room at just about head-level.

“Because I am your big sister and you are my responsibility,” Rose said matter-of factly.

“We have to forward the photos to dad,” James said, obviously attempting to be the voice of reason, which was a bit frightening, to be honest.

“Of course we do,” Albus said in a tone that always sounded reasonable, even when he was coaxing you to do something you knew you would regret.  Lorcan had spent hours practicing it, and still sounded less than convincing.  “But there isn’t any reason we can’t get a jump start on the search, yeah?”

“I can’t believe there was no message,” Absinthe said, looking up from her colouring.  “Who does that?  They didn’t even ask for ransom money.”

Lorcan traded a grim stare with Scorpius.  Rose hugged her arms around herself as if cold and gave Lorcan a worried look.  Trust the Ravenclaws to know the truth.

“What?” Absinthe asked, apparently catching the exchange.

Lorcan cleared his throat, finding it difficult to speak the words aloud.  “Whoever has Lysander doesn’t plan to send him back alive.”

Albus clapped his hands sharply.  “All the more reason to get moving.  Rosie, hand out those addresses, if you please.  Hugo, did you bring the coins?  We’ll need them to communicate.  Report your findings, good or bad.  Whoever locates Lysander should call the rest of us.”

Lily got to her feet and threw down her chalk, which exploded in a puff of coloured powder on the stone.  “Yeah, we’ll show them what happens when you mess with a friend of the Potters.”

“And Weasleys,” Rose added pointedly.

“And Parkinsons!” Absinthe added as she got up.  She tried the same manoeuvre with the chalk, but it bounced off the ground and pegged James on the upper thigh.

“Hey!” he cried with a yelp.

Absinthe blushed.  “Sorry.”

“Yes, yes,” said Lily, ignoring her brother as he rubbed at his leg.  “The Potter-Weasley-Parkinson-Scamander gang.  They will rue the day they crossed us.  Now, let’s go.”

Rose handed Lorcan a piece of paper with a bulleted list of five addresses.  Each but the last had a neat pair of letters next to it.  The fourth one down had LS-JP.  James walked over and peered at it.  “Nottingham?  Really?  Suppose we’ll run into Robin Hood?”

“Who?” Lorcan asked.

James snorted and took the paper.  “Never mind.  I know a spot in Nottingham to Apparate to.  Hugo, toss me a coin!”

Hugo sat up from his makeshift bed, reached into a pocket, and threw a coin at James, who caught it easily.

“Catch you losers later!” James said.  “Come on, Lorcan.”  With that, he marched through the door to the passage the led back to the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade.  Hugo had come up with the plot to smuggle the older kids back into the school for when he dubbed the “Reconnaissance Mission” and so far it was working well.

James didn’t wait to reach Hogsmeade.  Once he judged them beyond the spell protection of the school, he gripped Lorcan’s arm and Disapparated.  As Lorcan felt the disorienting wrench of Side-Along, he hoped the confidence of the Potter-Weasley-Parkinson gang wasn’t misplaced.

Merlin knew his certainty was running out.