Glory and Ashes

Sunshine

The sun is bright in his eyes, and with a bit of imagination this might be just another Quidditch match, lobbing the Bludger at the Snakes, with his brother laughing and whooping from the other side of the pitch.

But this is a more serious game. Gideon sends another hex at the Death Eater in front of him, hearing Black cursing and Marlene shouting from behind, and wonders where Fabian even is. He lost sight of him in the initial melee of the Death Eater ambush, and he hasn't seen or heard him since. He can hear Molly's voice in his head: "Take care of yourselves. And each other. I worry," and almost smiles. "I'm trying, Moll," he mutters, as his next curse hits his adversary full in the face, "but I don't know where the hell he is."

Moody yells, "Get out of here! We can't win this one!" and Gideon looks round frantically, the fear in his chest half choking him. With a fresh jolt of dread, he sees a familiar figure face down on the ground beyond where Moody is still battling two opponents at once, and launches himself past the fighters, half-flattening one of the Death Eaters in his desperate passage.

"Fabe…" His voice is a whisper, halfway to a sob, and the relief when he feels his brother's hand clasp his weakly as he grabs it nearly undoes him completely. He grasps Fabian roughly round the shoulders, pulling him up against himself and Apparating the pair of them back to Headquarters. He is dimly aware that Black and Marlene have retreated already, and that Moody, still sending curse after curse at the Death Eaters surrounding him, is waiting for him to leave before Disapparating himself.

The Death Eaters are left alone in the sunshine-filled clearing.