Blood and Irises (Chapter 12)
Title: Blood and Irises
Characters/Pairings: George Weasley and Eve Blackmore (with possible appearances by other HP characters)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,666
Warnings: violence, torture, angst and partial nudity
Disclaimer: George Weasley and any other HP characters are the property of JK Rowling. I don’t own them. I only wish to play with them, for a little while (okay, so I’d like to play with Fred and George a lot, but can you blame me?). Eve Blackmore, her family, etc are the product of my brain. Some may remember her from Haunted Chambers. In fact, I’ve kept much of her background from HC, with only minor tweaks here and there (though she would probably argue the term “minor”, in some instances, but she’ll go along with them, like the good little warrior she is…)
Summary: In the five years after the war… One struggles to find his place in a world that’s no longer funny. The other struggles with her own actions, during the battles. Two who were once close must find their way back to each other…
December, 1996
It was, what the Muggles called, “The Witching Hour”, less than two weeks before Christmas, a large silver/blue dragon patronus slithered into the Burrow, rousing the entire house. “Death Eaters are attacking my house,” Eve’s voice had said, with only the slightest waiver. “Come quickly.”
Fred and George had been out of the house, within seconds. It was only Remus’s (who’d dropped by, earlier in the evening) calm advice that they not rush into battle without a plan that stalled the rescue effort. Knowing that Eve wouldn’t have called them, unless she was really in over her head, this didn’t sit well with either of the twins. After all, this was the girl who’d tossed Walden Macnair around like a rag doll; who’d walked straight into Professor Dumbledore’s office, on her last day at Hogwarts and asked to join his efforts against Voldemort.
Since then, she’d become an effective, but silent member of The Order of the Phoenix, taking on several covert assignments, that Dumbledore didn’t have the man power to spare on. Now, less than six months after joining the Order, she was in enough trouble that the two people who knew her best could hear it in her voice.
The rescue party, including Fred and George, arrived at Eve’s house within an hour. The house, from the outside, appeared to be perfectly normal… apart from the Dark Mark hanging over it. George’s heart sank. He wasn’t sure whether or not to be thankful that Eve lived out, in the middle of nowhere. At least there weren’t any crowds or worse, Ministry officials. He and Fred had to be restrained from charging into the house.
Remus led the way into to the house, pausing within several yards of the front door, to inform the rest that he smelled blood. It didn’t take long for them to find a source of blood. The party barely missed stepping in it, when Remus eased the door open.
They found - what once had been - a wiry woman in her mid-thirties hanging comically from the other side of the door. The woman had been pinned to the door by what looked like an oddly-made trident. The look of shock, on the woman’s face told the Order members that she had not been expecting this sort of death.
The inside of the house looked like a war zone. Everywhere they looked, furniture was overturned and/or destroyed. Blood was spattered all over the walls and floor. Bill came across a severed hand and it wasn’t until George noticed that it was too large to be Eve’s that he realized he’d been holding his breath.
A pair of Order members was sent to check upstairs, while the rest of the party fanned out through the house. Two other bodies were found further into the living room and kitchen area. The one that was lying in the kitchen appeared to have every knife in the room sticking out of its back. Hestia found a fourth and fifth body, upstairs. Eve’s wand lay, in pieces, in a doorway, which caused Fred and George, at least, to double their search efforts.
They finally found Eve, in a building across the yard, that served as her family’s private dojo. She was covered in blood, calmly arranging the folds of her father’s dressing gown, over his lifeless body. The body of her grandmother lay not far away, already covered.
She didn’t even look up, as the Order members entered the room, although whether it was from exhaustion, injury or simply because she knew who was in her house, George couldn’t have said.
Silence filled the slowly filling room, as the rest of the rescue party slowly filed in. Eve, who’d continued working finished her task, without a word, then turned to address Remus, as the appointed leader of the group.
“What happened here?” Remus asked, in a voice choked with sorrow and, possibly, nausea.
“It was Macnair,” Eve said in a quietly calm voice that made George’s blood run cold.
“Impossible,” Hestia whispered, in shock, “he’s still in Azkaban.”
Eve turned a dead calm gaze on Hestia. “It was Macnair,” she repeated. “He used my grandmother to get into the house. He was waiting for me, when I got home. He broke Gran’s neck and used the killing curse on my father. He said he wanted to… get me alone. Yet he brought… reinforcements. I fought them off… Hid long enough to call for help. My wand broke. I… killed… several; took Macnair’s hand. He fled, with several others.”
George could tell that that wasn’t enough for Remus. Hell, it wasn’t enough of an explanation for him. How many Death Eaters had Macnair brought with him? It was obvious that this was some sort of vengeance, on Macnair’s part, for losing that fight, two years ago… But this was… what would Eve have called it? “Overkill?”
Of course, that brought him back to the hard reality that this house had seen a lot of death, in the last few hours. As George looked around, he noticed several weapons were missing from racks in the room. What had Macnair been expecting? That Eve wouldn’t fight back? Or had he anticipated that and brought more people than he thought he’d need? Obviously, he underestimated Eve Blackmore… again.
Remus was questioning Eve some more. George hadn’t even noticed. He’d been too lost in his own thoughts. He exchanged a worried look with Fred. His twin had been at that fight, two years ago and George knew that Eve unnerved Fred, these days But even George’s twin seemed to think that Eve had been through enough tonight.
Eve refused to answer any more questions. Picking up the sword next to her - the one Fred had given her, she got to her feet. George noticed the slight waiver, as Eve stood and immediately stepped forward to help. That’s when he noticed that her robe had a long gash in it, from shoulder to the opposite hip.
“You’re hurt,” George blurted out, cursing himself for being so bloody obvious about it. If Eve had wanted to draw attention to her injuries, she would have said something. At least it stopped Remus from asking more questions… For now…
“I’ll live,” she informed them and started to leave the room.
Fred and George followed her, as she left the rest of the Order members behind. They didn’t even notice that Eve had walked into a shower room, until she started peeling off her bloody clothes. Fred blushed and looked down at the floor. George looked up at the ceiling.
He heard Eve grunt. He looked down at his small friend. She was struggling to get her arm out of one sleeve. Her back was to George, but he could see the beginnings of a long, bloody gash, on her shoulder. It neatly severed one leg of the blue dragon tattoo that wound up her arm and over her shoulder.
George started to go to her aid, but thought better of it. Sliding the door open, he called for one of the women, in the party to come and help Eve get cleaned up and see to her injuries. Hestia walked in and promptly shooed Fred and George out of the room.
There was no mention of the attack, the next day, in the Prophet. It was as if the attack had never happened. Several of the Order members, who were in the Ministry had tried to ask about a report of an attack or of another escape from Azkaban, only to be flatly denied.
Eve buried her grandmother was buried in a quiet ceremony, along side the rest of the Douglas family. Jason Blackmore’s body was taken to the Zen monastery Eve and her father often went to. George counted it as a blessing that the Death Eaters either didn’t know or didn’t care about a secluded compound of Zen monks.
The monks helped Eve clean and dress her father’s body, which was then laid out, for an abbreviated wake, before it could be cremated. When it came time to send her father to the Spirit World, Eve lit the funeral pyre herself and watched the flames without any outward sign of emotion. Jason Blackmore’s ashes were then laid to rest in a family tomb, with those of Eve’s mother.
The battle in her house, the death of her family and subsequent burials left Eve Blackmore noticeably changed. She grew serious… Emotionless… She no longer laughed, at anything, despite Fred and George’s best efforts to keep some levity, in the face of war.
She carried a sword, at all times now and two fingers of her right hand always appeared to be bandaged. At first, Remus was hesitant to give her any more assignments, since she was now considered “wandless”. But Eve was determined to go on, stating that she didn’t need a wand, to be… effective. And she must have been, because Moody and Remus kept sending her all over Britain and Ireland.
After Dumbledore’s death, things went from bad to worse. Not long after the attack on Bill and Fleur’s wedding, anyone suspected of being a muggleborn was dragged before Umbridge’s Muggle-born Registration Commission and, usually tossed into Azkaban, shortly after that. With her last connection to a pureblood line dead, Eve received notice that she was to appear before the tribunal, as well. To make matters worse, since Macnair (who was now walking about in the open) had managed to survive his last encounter with Eve Blackmore, advisories were issued, naming her as a dangerous and unstable individual.
Knowing that the summons was a farce, Eve ignored it all together and all but disappeared from normal wizarding society, taking on more and more difficult assignments, to help fight Voldemort. It wasn’t unusual for Fred and George to go weeks, without seeing their friend. Therefore, they thought nothing of it, when she disappeared well over a month before the Battle of Hogwarts.
Characters/Pairings: George Weasley and Eve Blackmore (with possible appearances by other HP characters)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,666
Warnings: violence, torture, angst and partial nudity
Disclaimer: George Weasley and any other HP characters are the property of JK Rowling. I don’t own them. I only wish to play with them, for a little while (okay, so I’d like to play with Fred and George a lot, but can you blame me?). Eve Blackmore, her family, etc are the product of my brain. Some may remember her from Haunted Chambers. In fact, I’ve kept much of her background from HC, with only minor tweaks here and there (though she would probably argue the term “minor”, in some instances, but she’ll go along with them, like the good little warrior she is…)
Summary: In the five years after the war… One struggles to find his place in a world that’s no longer funny. The other struggles with her own actions, during the battles. Two who were once close must find their way back to each other…
December, 1996
It was, what the Muggles called, “The Witching Hour”, less than two weeks before Christmas, a large silver/blue dragon patronus slithered into the Burrow, rousing the entire house. “Death Eaters are attacking my house,” Eve’s voice had said, with only the slightest waiver. “Come quickly.”
Fred and George had been out of the house, within seconds. It was only Remus’s (who’d dropped by, earlier in the evening) calm advice that they not rush into battle without a plan that stalled the rescue effort. Knowing that Eve wouldn’t have called them, unless she was really in over her head, this didn’t sit well with either of the twins. After all, this was the girl who’d tossed Walden Macnair around like a rag doll; who’d walked straight into Professor Dumbledore’s office, on her last day at Hogwarts and asked to join his efforts against Voldemort.
Since then, she’d become an effective, but silent member of The Order of the Phoenix, taking on several covert assignments, that Dumbledore didn’t have the man power to spare on. Now, less than six months after joining the Order, she was in enough trouble that the two people who knew her best could hear it in her voice.
The rescue party, including Fred and George, arrived at Eve’s house within an hour. The house, from the outside, appeared to be perfectly normal… apart from the Dark Mark hanging over it. George’s heart sank. He wasn’t sure whether or not to be thankful that Eve lived out, in the middle of nowhere. At least there weren’t any crowds or worse, Ministry officials. He and Fred had to be restrained from charging into the house.
Remus led the way into to the house, pausing within several yards of the front door, to inform the rest that he smelled blood. It didn’t take long for them to find a source of blood. The party barely missed stepping in it, when Remus eased the door open.
They found - what once had been - a wiry woman in her mid-thirties hanging comically from the other side of the door. The woman had been pinned to the door by what looked like an oddly-made trident. The look of shock, on the woman’s face told the Order members that she had not been expecting this sort of death.
The inside of the house looked like a war zone. Everywhere they looked, furniture was overturned and/or destroyed. Blood was spattered all over the walls and floor. Bill came across a severed hand and it wasn’t until George noticed that it was too large to be Eve’s that he realized he’d been holding his breath.
A pair of Order members was sent to check upstairs, while the rest of the party fanned out through the house. Two other bodies were found further into the living room and kitchen area. The one that was lying in the kitchen appeared to have every knife in the room sticking out of its back. Hestia found a fourth and fifth body, upstairs. Eve’s wand lay, in pieces, in a doorway, which caused Fred and George, at least, to double their search efforts.
They finally found Eve, in a building across the yard, that served as her family’s private dojo. She was covered in blood, calmly arranging the folds of her father’s dressing gown, over his lifeless body. The body of her grandmother lay not far away, already covered.
She didn’t even look up, as the Order members entered the room, although whether it was from exhaustion, injury or simply because she knew who was in her house, George couldn’t have said.
Silence filled the slowly filling room, as the rest of the rescue party slowly filed in. Eve, who’d continued working finished her task, without a word, then turned to address Remus, as the appointed leader of the group.
“What happened here?” Remus asked, in a voice choked with sorrow and, possibly, nausea.
“It was Macnair,” Eve said in a quietly calm voice that made George’s blood run cold.
“Impossible,” Hestia whispered, in shock, “he’s still in Azkaban.”
Eve turned a dead calm gaze on Hestia. “It was Macnair,” she repeated. “He used my grandmother to get into the house. He was waiting for me, when I got home. He broke Gran’s neck and used the killing curse on my father. He said he wanted to… get me alone. Yet he brought… reinforcements. I fought them off… Hid long enough to call for help. My wand broke. I… killed… several; took Macnair’s hand. He fled, with several others.”
George could tell that that wasn’t enough for Remus. Hell, it wasn’t enough of an explanation for him. How many Death Eaters had Macnair brought with him? It was obvious that this was some sort of vengeance, on Macnair’s part, for losing that fight, two years ago… But this was… what would Eve have called it? “Overkill?”
Of course, that brought him back to the hard reality that this house had seen a lot of death, in the last few hours. As George looked around, he noticed several weapons were missing from racks in the room. What had Macnair been expecting? That Eve wouldn’t fight back? Or had he anticipated that and brought more people than he thought he’d need? Obviously, he underestimated Eve Blackmore… again.
Remus was questioning Eve some more. George hadn’t even noticed. He’d been too lost in his own thoughts. He exchanged a worried look with Fred. His twin had been at that fight, two years ago and George knew that Eve unnerved Fred, these days But even George’s twin seemed to think that Eve had been through enough tonight.
Eve refused to answer any more questions. Picking up the sword next to her - the one Fred had given her, she got to her feet. George noticed the slight waiver, as Eve stood and immediately stepped forward to help. That’s when he noticed that her robe had a long gash in it, from shoulder to the opposite hip.
“You’re hurt,” George blurted out, cursing himself for being so bloody obvious about it. If Eve had wanted to draw attention to her injuries, she would have said something. At least it stopped Remus from asking more questions… For now…
“I’ll live,” she informed them and started to leave the room.
Fred and George followed her, as she left the rest of the Order members behind. They didn’t even notice that Eve had walked into a shower room, until she started peeling off her bloody clothes. Fred blushed and looked down at the floor. George looked up at the ceiling.
He heard Eve grunt. He looked down at his small friend. She was struggling to get her arm out of one sleeve. Her back was to George, but he could see the beginnings of a long, bloody gash, on her shoulder. It neatly severed one leg of the blue dragon tattoo that wound up her arm and over her shoulder.
George started to go to her aid, but thought better of it. Sliding the door open, he called for one of the women, in the party to come and help Eve get cleaned up and see to her injuries. Hestia walked in and promptly shooed Fred and George out of the room.
There was no mention of the attack, the next day, in the Prophet. It was as if the attack had never happened. Several of the Order members, who were in the Ministry had tried to ask about a report of an attack or of another escape from Azkaban, only to be flatly denied.
Eve buried her grandmother was buried in a quiet ceremony, along side the rest of the Douglas family. Jason Blackmore’s body was taken to the Zen monastery Eve and her father often went to. George counted it as a blessing that the Death Eaters either didn’t know or didn’t care about a secluded compound of Zen monks.
The monks helped Eve clean and dress her father’s body, which was then laid out, for an abbreviated wake, before it could be cremated. When it came time to send her father to the Spirit World, Eve lit the funeral pyre herself and watched the flames without any outward sign of emotion. Jason Blackmore’s ashes were then laid to rest in a family tomb, with those of Eve’s mother.
The battle in her house, the death of her family and subsequent burials left Eve Blackmore noticeably changed. She grew serious… Emotionless… She no longer laughed, at anything, despite Fred and George’s best efforts to keep some levity, in the face of war.
She carried a sword, at all times now and two fingers of her right hand always appeared to be bandaged. At first, Remus was hesitant to give her any more assignments, since she was now considered “wandless”. But Eve was determined to go on, stating that she didn’t need a wand, to be… effective. And she must have been, because Moody and Remus kept sending her all over Britain and Ireland.
After Dumbledore’s death, things went from bad to worse. Not long after the attack on Bill and Fleur’s wedding, anyone suspected of being a muggleborn was dragged before Umbridge’s Muggle-born Registration Commission and, usually tossed into Azkaban, shortly after that. With her last connection to a pureblood line dead, Eve received notice that she was to appear before the tribunal, as well. To make matters worse, since Macnair (who was now walking about in the open) had managed to survive his last encounter with Eve Blackmore, advisories were issued, naming her as a dangerous and unstable individual.
Knowing that the summons was a farce, Eve ignored it all together and all but disappeared from normal wizarding society, taking on more and more difficult assignments, to help fight Voldemort. It wasn’t unusual for Fred and George to go weeks, without seeing their friend. Therefore, they thought nothing of it, when she disappeared well over a month before the Battle of Hogwarts.