ultraviolence

Allard wasn’t expecting something other than direct hits, and the fog that formed was successful in throwing him off-guard and, when he tried to move, off-balance. He could feel the heat of a couple balls of fire passing him, but the rest were all directly on target. He winced, gasped, and groaned with each hit, falling to the crowd when the pain made it impossible to muster a dousing charm. He rolled and patted out the flames before aiming his wand in the last direction he remember Charlie standing and breathlessly muttered a spell to hastily thin the air around a certain area. It wasn’t as visibly disorienting as a fog, but it created a sudden feeling of being at a high altitude that could cause dizziness of even nausea. It wasn’t a ferocious attack by any means, but Allard couldn’t muster better elemental magic at the moment. It looked as if nearly the entirety of his the clothing on his torso was singed and torn, freshly burnt skin visible on his arms and chest.

battle i/vi

Allard was looking in the opposite direction, trying to seek out Jon in the darkness that was illuminated only occasionally by hexes. He heard a remark behind him that seemed it could only be directed at him and turned in time to see the fireball light up it’s creators face before flying at him. Technically, it wasn’t flying directly at him, but Allard still leapt to the side and created a gust of air to tear through the ball to cause a fiery dissipation that singed his robes. It was a horrible display of his elemental abilities, but he quickly pushed past the minor embarrassment with the offensive. Clearly that was what this stranger was trying to get out of him, and who was Allard to disappoint a new acquaintance? “Petrificus totalus!” 

Charlie liked nothing less than people standing in his way and, without as much as knowing she was an auror - he had no interest recognizing faces and if he didn’t know it by heart, then it wasn’t a face worth protecting and lowering the wand for. A short woman with guts was generally something to appreciate, but not when she was shooting all of her targets first. Without counting alignment or worrying about hurting the wrong person, he decided it was time to get rid of her, throwing a large fireball her way, instead of many smaller ones, as usual. Charlie just decided he didn’t have time for her when Lawrence Frisk was still walking freely around with his cliche Speculo, as if he’d never hurt a fly.

Charlie was ready to go, with his two perfectly working hands, right for Lawrence Frisk, to make sure, under the pressure of his thumbs, that he wasn’t breathing anymore. Anything else could have been an illusion. He didn’t think faking his death was beneath him. Still, it took him half a battle to as much as spot him. It wasn’t too late and he warmed up to this point. Someone was shooting at him, but it didn’t matter. They could shoot at Charlie too if that meant he’d get to Lawrence. Hatred was growing stronger and stronger by the second waited. Although they were at different extremes, he was still making his way through people and smoke.

In front of Lawrence, a familiar person he wanted to bite the face off too, at that point. What was Scorpius Malfoy doing in Lawrence’s proximity? Perhaps Roxanne wasn’t too far off. ‘’Expulso,’’ he dismissed him cruelly, hoping the hex would make him vanish from Charlie’s way.

He drank, to the last drop, the champagne as the clock pointed to the beginning of the new year. Instead of fireworks, the gut-wrenching feeling of being instantly transported to a new place kicked in, before he even swallowed the bubbly drink, kicked in. He found himself on a field Roxanne hand-picked, perhaps mainly because he didn’t know any fields. Looking around for just one moment, to be quicker than the next confused person and take his advantage of knowing exactly what was going on, Charlie slid his wand inside his coat, not going to be needing it right that second, and eyed the first person he recognized. No Maytes were in his sight, but this young man he knew the face of caught his attention, this man he blindly associated as not one of their own — for he didn’t look like an auror just how he didn’t resemble Roxanne’s cousins. 

“I’m curious now, yes, because you changed your mind since the last time I came over. Is it because I didn’t bring wine?” She sighed as if it were a burden and walked to the bench. “I’ll have it my way next time. Be sure of that.”

“What part don’t you believe? You don’t think we’re better and that we deserve as much of this world as we can take? I think you do. It’s just spite that separates you from Lawrence.”

‘‘Wine could have helped, but it doesn’t do wonders either,’‘ he smirked under his breath, though his general tone was still cold enough. Hostility was coming mainly from the fact that, given new conditions, he didn’t like the sight of any of them near his house. He wasn’t afraid, rather than irritated. Though, at the back of his mind, the thought of something bad possible to happen in one moment of absence or unpreparedness was faintly haunting his brains.

‘‘I don’t believe in the execution and I don’t feel threatened by the current status of the society. Do I look like a fucking king of the world to you? What the fuck even is this stupid idea?’‘ His smile was sarcastic. ‘‘And don’t shoot me the smart response that I wouldn’t look like a king, but you smarties sure are would. You’re as peasants as I am. No. Lawrence is terrible and stupid. At least the terribleness separates us, aside from spite.’‘

Roxanne shook her head “no” when Charlie looked for her opinion. “No blood on the wall. You had a gash on your head but no blood on the wall.” It was a lie. There had been a smear, but she wanted to see Scorpius’s response.

The response came after too long a pause as if he’d had to think–and Scorpius had–but steadily. “Bullshit. You’d be terrible in forensics. And what would that prove anyway?” Then Scorpius looked to Charlie. “Word is right. I lost four months of my life to those assholes. You think I’d let one go on purpose?”

Roxanne had a quick response to that too, even if Charlie didn’t. She really did want to believe Scorpius, but she had to force the issue like she would with anyone she didn’t have selfish reasons to want to buy into. “Frisk let you go, didn’t he? Nobody knows why.” Her eyes flickered to Charlie as if asking for confirmation that he didn’t know why. Bellamy had said the experiment was over but that could mean a lot of things. “Maybe he had made sleeper agents and they were finally ready.”

Scorpius grew rigid and his eyes turned daggers for a moment. “Fun conspiracy theory. How are you going to test it out? You going to put me in the basement next and imperio me for information?”

‘‘A smash doesn’t have to result in blood,’’ Charlie rolled his eyes at Roxanne, not sensing the bluff to begin with. ‘‘But where are your bruises then?’‘ he then flashed his eyebrows, as if that was demonstration enough. Still, something wasn’t tying up. Until Roxanne spoke, at least.

Then, he acted like a rebellious child gossiping about his mother. ‘’I know why. Out of the goodness of his heart,’’ he recited mockingly, leaving a cold short laughter for afterwards. Granted, he didn’t believe the conspiracy or his own answer... until Scorpius turned all shady and cold. His eyes widened, suddenly pissed off. As if that was unheard of. As if that was something only Frisk could do. He laughed. ‘’Bellamy is naive. Stupid too, but firstly naive. We didn’t hurt her. You might not be as lucky.’’ Still, he knew it was impossible to do such a thing now. It was a headache Charlie didn’t want to be having. ‘’If I were you, I’d run. I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into.’’

“Fine. It was just an idea. We’ll burn snitches instead.” The second part only got a nod of agreement and, “Tomorrow come in early. We’ll get it out of the way before we open.”

‘‘There you go. That’s the simper, more reasonable solution. You can’t fuck with freedom of speech but you can fry the bitch.’‘ Charlie shrugged, flexible enough. ‘‘I don’t sleep much anyway.’‘

“Well, that explains a lot about why some of them were so uncooperative,” her tone only contained traces of disapproval, and her mind was already working on the puzzle of how to pass on the information to her fellow aurors without betraying how she came by it. Perhaps she didn’t have to though, on second thought. Getting Kai Zhao and Rhea Dunst on potions would only alienate them more, and neither seemed like too large of a risk, though she would play devil’s advocate to herself once again, and argue the other side that she didn’t want to wait until one of them proved her wrong, snapped, and the aurors were ruling them out as suspects because the crime had been committed by,say, an earth elemental to try and work in what she’d known for months. It was something that required more thought, enough thought that she failed to have a human reaction to the idea of the kidnapping victims as experiments, though she did have the excuse that it was a story told by Noah Sharpe and Scorpius Malfoy before.

“She escaped?” That had her full attention, though her eyes were more ringing alarms more a moment before assimilating the information than arrows. “Well, she can’t cause official trouble for you at least. She’s wanted in connection with Lawrence. She can’t show up at the auror’s office. On other fronts? We’ll have to be careful, increase the wards around our building, watch ourselves. You declared war. Hopefully you got enough information.”

‘‘No one’s that nice of a guy,’‘ he sighed, resigned, only afterwards realizing he was in a way suggesting that, to an extent, those kids deserved it. They did not. It didn’t compare with what the Maytes did. ‘‘She just didn’t really know how they could tell these kids were spirit elementals, while the Ministry didn’t. Bellamy wasn’t a top choice. Of course he wouldn’t share all information with her.’‘

‘‘Of course she escaped. Because when you count on other people, they inevitably fuck up everything and leave you with tons of problems,’‘ he snapped a little with a caustic smile, though that all didn’t mean as much as he wanted it to mean. They learned plenty from Bellamy. Everything else they could find out was probably not as important. As much as he hated to admit it, it perhaps was time to let go of her one way or another. But the fact that it wasn’t on his own terms was what pissed him off the most. ‘‘I don’t care about it legally. This isn’t against the aurors at all. If anything, we’re on the same side.’‘ Logically, it wasn’t false, but things were less simple than just good intentions. The thought of having declared war with the Maytes made him roll his eyeballs out of his skull. ‘’Somehow I don’t shudder at the thought. I actually hope they make an effort and come to kill me. But they won’t. They have to handle everyone else before getting to their own blood.’’

“Regroup after what point? A time or a number of enemies down? Regroup where?” There were several more questions that could have followed but the point had already been made that, as far as it went for Charlie at least, there had not been answers decided for everything. “I’ll talk to Teddy.” She’d already formed her opinion of Roxanne’s planning skills. Teddy would be the one to talk details with. “Larger group can regroup wherever it wants and we’ll meet them there afterwards. You and I should figure out our own meeting place first, one at the site. I’m not going to leave the field without knowing you’re with me. I’m allowed to make awful demands like that. I’m hormonal. Have you seen where we are going? Had it described to you? We pick a landmark and a signal. I don’t care whether I’m dragging eight prisoners with us, or you’re in the middle of burning Lawrence personally. We meet each other on the signal..though I’d be more conscientious than to give the signal for anything but marshmallows when Lawrence is on fire. ” Though she would be disappointed on that case, and she thought it better not examine why, and to just give a soft, teasing response to Charlie faux confused question. “Lethal force forgiven but not needed, simple man.”

‘‘I suppose there is a natural point at which you just feel it. Either your enemy is dead or faltering in power, either you’re starting to lose and don’t feel like you have the strength to turn the odds around. I mean, for you, at least. If you don’t feel well, you disappear. Forget about apparating me too. I’ll find my way eventually.’‘ He nodded firmly at her words, despite what he had just said. She was basically contradicting his previous point, but he didn’t see any stubbornness in that. If anything, it was making a valid point he couldn’t contradict back. Still, there were exceptions. ‘‘Ideally yes. But if you in any way feel bad, you go home and that’s where we regroup before meeting with a larger group - though I don’t feel that’s so necessary. I suppose we’ll see on spot what should happen.’’ 

He frowned, visualizing it, but being convinced that his own portrayal had more to do with imagination than with how Roxanne actually spoke about it. ‘’Empty field. For kilometers. Muddy. Slightly frozen this time of the year, so walk with caution. Let them slip. Few trees for hiding. We’ll try to orientate so that the trees could work as shields. I remember this as something Lupin said, now.’’ The signal was easy enough. He retorted naturally. ‘’Just shout my name. I’ll do the same. If all goes perfectly, we’ll get to each other as the battle closes and leave. I wouldn’t want to be last to leave the party, though not first either.’’ The latter remark was welcomed with a sigh, ‘’I’d really like some marshmallows now.’’

‘‘I’m not using lethal force for nothing. Why do you always take me for a mindless brute with no strategy? I know how to duel without Kedavra,’‘ he jumped to his own defense, though he very well saw Astrid’s point of view and it was mostly for comedic effect.

Charlie’s discomfort and guilt was obvious, but Nerissa naturally assumed he felt bad for not being there to protect her, which was silly but softened her, or for not checking on her after, which was all she wanted. “I’m fine and I’m stronger than before,” she parroted his words, now almost sounding like she was comforting him, taking pity as she was now more sure not less that he hadn’t known a whisper of what happened. “Yeah, okay, a normal conversation. I need to look for a new job? I started seeing a new guy…kind of…I’m not sure if I’ll keep seeing him, but he is awfully nice–though a lot of my friends don’t think so. I’m thinking about dying my hair,” she rattled off different conversation topics slash life updates. “I am pretty sure that I’m going to do decently on my exams thanks to my tutor. What’s new with you and Astrid?”

‘‘You could get a better paid one. You’re still going to school, are you not?’‘ Charlie engaged, thankful for the shift in topic. He wasn’t above admitting to the attack. It just hasn’t come up and it was a relieving loophole. He wasn’t proud of potentially hurting Nerissa, but what he did on his spare time with his own powers was entirely up to him. Next time, he would look around twice, he supposed. It was the most he owed her, not admitting to a truth he wasn’t even responsible for. The fact that she was there was a miscalculation and not his mistake. ‘‘Awfully nice still contains plenty of awful,’‘ he noted grumpily, more as a piece of advice than anything else. For a moment, he felt like a girl. ‘‘How do you plan to dye your hair? Purple?’‘ The color suggestion was added for mockery, so he wouldn’t feel like this was all chick-flick talk. 

‘‘New with me and Astrid...’‘ he mused, for a moment not even counting the elephant in the room, or the, otherwise put, babies in the belly. ‘‘Nothing new exactly. But, I guess, countable would be that we’re having twins.’‘ His tone was nothing if not neutral and matter-of-factly, though something inside him that Charlie wished to be suppressed, was beating in excitement as he spoke, again. To keep it on a characteristic note, he hadn’t stopped at the twin news, starting to list less relevant facts as if they were both the same kind of update. ‘‘Other than that, Astrid did cut my hair the other day. Hope it looks alright. I have also just started a book on a burned down library. It only inspires me to set the book itself on fire next.’‘ He had considered not telling Nerissa, due to how annoying she’d get afterwards, no matter if in a positive or negative manner, but Astrid was correct: she would only be worse if she finds out too late or from another source. He couldn’t afford to live through that sort of annoyance. 

“It is a good idea. Maybe one day we’ll steal it,” she tossed out a response to the unbreakable vows, only half serious, after having absorbed the rest silently. “It doesn’t matter how careful they are. They have to leave the castle sometime,” she concluded, brushing off worrying about the next step for the moment, instead casually calling herself and Charlie omnipresent and likely to just stumble into another opportunity. “As for Scorpius, I know where he lives, and he isn’t likely to be careful like your friends. I’ll just surprise him and ask for a chat.”

Charlie’s neck almost snapped, looking back at her sharply. ‘’It’s an awful idea. Snitches suck, but you can get tied up in your own vows  and the next thing you know is that you can’t speak your own mind, even if you’re innocent.’’ He then nodded along. ‘’We should. We shouldn’t wait for long, so we’ll get the authentic story.’’

“I’ll accept the timelessness only though I do also like the idea of leaving empty husks in my wake and of disappearing into a shadow. Fine, I shall be your vampire. I’ll play whatever role you want as long as you stop playing dull and just stand aside so we can have a conversation in more civilized surroundings than a doorway.”

“Yes, you know I have nothing but time to waste. Why even ask? If you’re not pretending than how can you act like Lawrence doesn’t have his clever moments at very least? Don’t sigh at me like a father and give me up as hopeless like one too. Have I ever been wholly charmed by anyone but myself? The lack of trust is understandable, but not to this degree, Charles, but fine, say the word and send me back to Father Frisk to be brainwashed like you already think I am. I’ll stop coming around– unless invited of course.”

‘‘I can step outside. I don’t see why I’d invite you inside my house since we don’t trust each other. Are you curious which silverware I have that you can steal? Don’t worry. There’s nothing valuable in there. It’s just principle. We can sit outside. After you. There’s a bench there. The fact that I’m accepting this is already courteous enough. Be grateful for that.’‘

‘‘You’re not brainwashed. You believe in it all. Don’t try to trick me. It’s not like me shutting the door changes anything. Letting you in wouldn’t have changed anything either. You’re already too aware if you try to make me feel bad about this evil I’d be doing. Lawrence has his clever moments. The conversation ends at that. I can’t make you see the truth. I’m not saying you’re charmed. I’m saying you’re convinced and it’s in your nature to believe him. So be it.’‘