Treason
...
Gwen turned around to find Red and her moustached partner standing by Justus and the box. The man had her uncle in a tight grip. His wand was pressed against Justus' throat, and his eyes were filled with a great longing to harm him.
"You make my job much easier. I will give you that," Red spoke, laughing as she traced the box with her big hand.
Gwen felt her heartbeat quicken, overlooking the scene for every person possibly participating in the outcome. If there were more Aurors, their chances of getting out would become even slimmer than they already were.
"Maybe you're just not good at your job if you have to rely on two fifteen-year-olds to do it for you." The blonde commented, seemingly calm from an outside perspective.
"You're bold with your words considering the things we could do to your uncle," Red remarked. "Is it personal, or are all Rosiers so careless when it comes to protecting others?"
"It doesn't matter what I say. If you wanted to kill or harm him, you would've already. You could've easily gotten control over us and left with the box. But you didn't, and that means something is stopping you."
"Dorcas didn't lie when she said you were clever. She knows you very well. How you behave, who you trust, and where you keep your most important possessions," Red pulled out the file, skimming through it with a sinister grin. "Oh, you didn't know? My beloved Dorcas was a wonderful help. You even told her your plans for tonight, and all we needed to do was cast a quick spell to find you. She even provided me with hair from your brush to make the spell easier for me."
Gwen could feel her insides sinking at the ruinous confession. Her knees felt shaky and weak, wanting to sink to the ground from the weight stacking on her shoulders. Memories rattled through her head of her best friend, feeling the betrayal like poison through her veins, but she couldn't let go now, not when Justus and Remus were still in danger.
"We spent enough time talking." The blonde replied with a mere shoulder shrug. She glanced at Remus, who was much too quiet for her liking, but her silent pleas went unnoticed as his eyes were staring at the Aurors in high concentration. "How about we come to the point now?"
"Give us the key, and I will let all three of you go your ways,"
"What if we don't?"
"Then I fear at least one of you will not make it out of this forest," Red came closer to the girl, and it seemed it was this motion Remus had waited for.
He threw a smoke bomb onto the ground and disappeared in the thick white. He managed to free Justus by using a spell to throw the moustached Auror against the next tree but misjudged the time he had left until Red pointed her wand against him.
His entire body stiffened as the forbidden spell forced him to act under the woman's will. "Let me guess, the Gryffindor?"
"Let him go," Gwen begged, holding her wand out against Red. "Let him go, and I will give you what you want."
She could see the silent plea in the boy's eyes, telling her not to do it, but now it was her pulling her gaze to the Aurors. The man was slowly recovering, pain seething through his body, and she feared his angered response once he found hold of his wand again.
"I have the key," Gwen swore. She looked Red directly into her cold brown eyes while holding up one of her keys. "Let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"Let Justus apparate back home with Remus. That's all I want." The blonde directed her gaze to her uncle, who was merely a shadow of a man. Too drunk to be of help in a fight, but at least enough to save one of them. "Do we have a deal?"
Red nodded, watching with anticipation as Gwen pulled her uncle up to his feet. "Justus," She spoke sternly, gripping him tightly by the shoulders. "Make sure he doesn't come back."
"What about you?" Justus asked.
"You have to stop drinking so much. Your breath smells like decay," She smiled. "Now go,"
Justus went over to Remus, holding his arm tightly when Red lifted the curse off him. "Gwen, no!" The boy attempted to fight against the decision, but before he could free himself from Justus' grip, they disappeared in thin air.
"What a heartwarming scene," Red clapped. "Shakespeare would adore your sense of drama." She turned to the man. "Hey, Terry, were we all so dramatic at that age? I'm not sure anymore. Fifteen has been too long ago."
"Why did you let that boy go? Did you see what he did to me? I would love to return the favour." Terry roared, quickly silenced by a simple look from the woman.
"Excuse him, he forgets that no one cares about his words," Red laughed, walking close to the girl. "Now, the key, blondie."
Gwen gave the one she had to the woman. She watched as Terry attempted to push it into the hole only to be attacked by the protective enchantment of the box.
In a matter of seconds, Red took hold of the blonde. She gripped her tightly by the collar and lifted her until Gwen's feet were merely dangling over the ground. "I must have muddled them up."
"I'm sick of these children." The man shouted, once more picking himself up from the ground. His eyes were a promising threat. "We should kill her and then find that boy-"
"Terence, have you forgotten who this is?" Red hissed. The grip tightened around Gwen's collar. "We can't kill a Rosier. Let alone one of their heirs. It was a strict command from our master. Or do you want to find out what happens to people who disobey him?"
"But-" Terry tried to argue. He glared at the blonde who was kicking and fighting against the woman who didn't even flinch in the slightest.
"He didn't say we need to be gentle with her," Red threw Gwen to the ground, pointing her wand against her. "I'm sure you're familiar with this curse."
Gwen grabbed hold of her wand, directing it against the woman as she mumbled the only spell she could think of fast enough. "Expecto Patronum," She called out before the torturing curse could reach her. To her surprise, a powerful light appeared and defended the blonde.
But it wasn't her magic doing such wonders. Gwen heard a voice before being gripped by the arm and pulled along, out of reach and sight of Red and Terry. It was only after a couple of metres when they finally stopped to catch their breaths, and Gwen took a look at her saviour hidden under a coat and mask.
"Dorcas?" Gwen let out, ripping her arm from the girl's hold. She could feel an alarming amount of rage build up inside her, threatening to boil over at the sight of the brunette. "What are you doing here?"
"We have to go," Dorcas said, failing at the attempt to grab her friend's wrist again. "Look, I know I'm the last person you want to see right now-"
"Is this another trap? Are you here to gain some more information to give to Red?" She hissed.
"I just saved you from them."
"You're the reason they were here in the first place,"
"I know," Dorcas shouted, quickly looking around in panic. "You were right about Beulah. I never thought she would go this far," Her eyes watered slightly at the bitterness they faced. The one she called upon herself. She pulled out Justus' flu powder that they had left behind in Hogsmeade. "We have to go before they find us. Please just let us get out of here."
Gwen pressed her lips into a small line. She knew it was necessary to accept the help, but every part of her body, from her brain to the smallest cell, felt appalled at the thought. "Fine," She pressed out between her teeth, and Dorcas opened the bag so she could take some of the flu powder. Gwen disappeared into thin air, finding herself back in the room where the night had begun.
"Garg, did you see my uncle and Remus?" Gwen asked before even taking notice of the unnatural darkness that settled into the room. "Garg?"
She grabbed her wand when Dorcas appeared right next to her shortly after.
"I knew it," Gwen pushed her against the side of the chimney. "It was a trap all along, wasn't it?"
"I didn't do anything, Gwen, I swear," Dorcas argued, before getting frozen in place by a spell as light came back into the room.
"Technically, you could give her the blame, but she didn't know I was following her," Emmeline stood in the middle of the room.
Gwen let go of her frozen friend, finding Justus, Remus, and even Garg trapped in the same spell.
"I knew you'd come back here eventually, so I wasn't all too mad when Dorcas took the whole back flu powder with her." The black-haired girl went on. "You're little Gargoyle friend is very loyal, by the way. And smart, he knew right away that I was certainly not the long-awaited help trying to save any of you."
"What do you want?" Gwen raised her wand again. One too many times for one night.
"Give it up, Rosier," She laughed, not even bothering to raise her own. "We both know I'm much better at duels than you are. That's why I only had to freeze Dorcas. To answer your question, I'm here because I want the file."
"Too late," Gwen snarled. "I don't have it anymore. She gave it away to the bad guys."
"The bad guys? That would be you."
"Me?"
"You're the reason the ministry is after Mr. Bennett," Emmeline shouted lowly. "He was a threat to your family, and that's why he had to be driven out of the ministry. That's why his name is being deformed so that anything he brings up against the name Rosier will sound like a lie." She was furious by now. Her chest was heaving, and her eyes formed a glare. It was a rather unusual sight. "You may not have been the main culprit, but you're doing anything to make sure he won't recover from this."
"You knew Ivan Bennett?" Gwen let her wand sink, understanding the force behind the rage.
"He was my mentor during my internship at the ministry over the summer," Emmeline stated. "I know how much he hated your family. And I know that he was close to finding out something big."
"He did, but it wasn't about my family,"
"Then why would you out of all people be so interested in him?"
"Because I witnessed his murder,"
The sentence weighed heavy, thickening the air and causing a differing of emotions to replay on the girl's face. Gwen chose her words carefully for her explanations, noting every ever-so-small movement in the hand Emmeline used for her wand.
"How do I know you're not just lying to me?" The black-haired girl asked. "How do I know you're not just pretending like the killer is some unknown man? Maybe it's your father. Maybe you did it yourself."
"You have no reason to believe me," Gwen shrugged. "But why would I go out of my way to do all these things if I were lying? Why would I break into the archives and risk getting expelled for some stupid file? Why would I sneak out into some random forest in the middle of the night if I didn't care about Ivan's name and what they're doing to him?"
Emmeline stared at the blonde for a good while before lifting the spells she had cast on the other people in the room.
They all stumbled and moved their shoulders and legs, regaining the control they were deprived of for an excruciating amount of time. Garg was the first to move to Gwen. His wings were still unable to fly, but he was quick to crawl to her side.
"Are you okay?" The blonde asked the Gargoyle, hugging his stone body and caressing the horns on his head.
"I did my best, but she was too fast with her magic," Garg told her.
"This is the last time I will meet up with teenagers," Justus complained. He sat on the couch and sipped on his flask until even the last drop ran out of it.
"Do you know how dangerous it was to stay behind on your own?" Remus groused when he reached Gwen's side. "Imagine what they could've done to you,"
"Says the one with the most foolish plan seen in all of mankind. This isn't a stupid prank in the hallway, you idiot," She could see the aftermath of the forbidden curse stretched over his features. The first time was always the worst. "Are you alright?"
Remus nodded, looking from Emmeline to the silent figure of Dorcas, who stood still like the spell was never lifted. "I think there's a lot we all need to talk about."
"There is," Gwen shared the observation. Her uncle who was sinking into a drunken sleep, Dorcas who couldn't look into anyone's eyes, Emmeline who had to swallow the news of her mentor's death, and the sun beginning to rise outside the window. The night had ruined them all.
None of them noticed the entrance of another figure until the smell of old perfume and cinnamon cookies undergrew the words of the old lady who owned the infiltrated pension. "Finally, you found your way together. It was about time." The woman spoke cheerily. "It was a long night for all of you, and while you probably want to rest now, we have no time to waste. We must have a conversation."
...
A/N: Et tu Brute?
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Q: Do you play any instruments?
A: Guitar, piano, and ukulele (I'm kind of shit at it, tho 🫣)