your eyes they tell me more [abigail]

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Few people had seen Royal Shacklebolt truly angry. Sure, he had been aggravated at times, or annoyed, or even pissy, but never furious. His blood had never boiled, he had never seen red, he had never been prepared to kill someone with a flick of his wand. Until now. If someone had told him that he was allowed to use the Killing Curse, Royal would have gladly accepted. No one, no one, attacked Hogwarts, especially not when his sisters were inside. He was sure that Abigail and Adelaide were giving these masked bozos a run for their money, but they had nothing on their big brother. He was ready for war.

It was easier than it should have been. The intruders were all wearing masks, which was stupid, because it made them easy to pick out in a crowd. He stunned as many as he could and blasted those that he couldn't, all the while bellowing for his sisters. Occasionally a student would point in the direction they had last been seen, and Royal ran faster than he ever had in his life. He had already failed to protect one person in his family, and he wasn't going to let it happen to him again. He stood fast in the middle of the chaos, a statue. He was marble, and his veins were gold. He was unbreakable.

@abigail

[Deleted]

Abby hadn't stopped running, at least not yet.

She had just left behind a possibly dead Theo and her sister had been taken by the crazy people in masks. People had been shredded alive by ice, electrocuted to death and she had lived through all of that. She was a wreck, to say the least. However, Abby was almost having a sort of crystallizing moment. When her father died, she completely cut off almost everyone and shut down, wrapped into her own mind and recklessness. Now that she lost Addie and Theo, the effect was the opposite. She felt a burning desire to not let anyone else get hurt or taken. She suddenly felt that caring, loving person she used to be burst back into her lungs, making her chest hurt.

Still, even with this newfound conviction, she wasn't expecting what happened when she turned the corner and saw her brother.

She felt an instant sob choke her and she took several steps back until her back slammed against a wall beside her. No, no. Royal could not be here right now. Not with all this chaos and... well, he was holding his own. That wasn't surprising.

"ROY!" she finally managed to call out as she forced herself to push off the wall. She didn't run toward him though. She had to hide she was no good to Addie as a prisoner. Her eyes finally began to fill with tears as she tried to get her brothers attention.

How was she supposed to tell him why Addie wasn't by her side?

@royal

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Royal had always heard that adrenaline could make you do things you didn’t think possible. Mothers would lift cars to save their children, and people would saw off their own legs and not feel a thing. Hell, he was a wizard – he wasn’t one to judge the definition of possible or impossible. It seemed impossible to him that he could hear his sister’s voice in the din that surrounded him; people were shouting curses and yelling insults and there were booms from blasts and stunned bodies hitting the floor. It seemed impossible, but he could hear it the same as he could have if they were the only two alone in a quiet room, and she was whispering in his ear.

Once he knew that Abigail was nearby, it didn’t take long for Royal to spot her. She was pasted against a wall, hiding, maybe. It was a strange day, Royal thought, when a Slytherin fought in the open while a Gryffindor stayed glued to a wall. There was something more if Abigail wasn’t fighting – Royal just had to find out what. He hadn’t listened all that well when the Order was summoned. He had been too focused on getting to the school so he could find his sisters.

He battled his way through a throng of people to finally reach her, joining her in putting his back to the wall. “Abigail.” He panted. “Are you okay?” He paused, stomach sinking through the floor. “Is – is Adelaide okay?” He had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn’t like the answer to his question, but maybe that was just pessimism. Adelaide had to be okay. She had to be.

@abigail

[Deleted]

Abigail stayed put as Royal made his way through the crowd to her side. As he flattened himself against the wall beside her, she reached over and clasped his wrist. He asked if she was okay, she didn't answer. He asked if Adelaide was okay and by the sound of his voice... he already knew. "She..." her eyes started to sting and she closed them, but only for a brief moment. She opened them again and looked straight ahead. "They took her," her voice was shaking now and her eyes stopped stinging.

No, it was a whole new sound. It was stern, clean and it was angry. She let go of his wrist in order to clench her fists. She cleared her throat, then turned to face Royal, finally. "They took Theo, too." Now her tone was changing again, as if she was stating a dull fact.

@royal

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

He should have known. He should have known. He wished that he knew what to say to his sister. She had lost her twin and her boyfriend in one fell swoop. Abigail didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve all the pain that life had thrown at her. She was so young. If Royal had a choice, he would lock his sister away in a tower somewhere, with a dragon to guard it and a moat around it. Somewhere where the world couldn’t touch her, couldn’t hurt her.

“I…should tell mom.” Royal finally said. As if that would somehow fix it. As if Adelaide would walk around the corner and tell him that he didn’t need to do that, because she was right there. The only other thing he could think to say was to ask if his sister was okay, and that was a stupid question. “Expecto Patronum.” He said dully. It was no surprise when barely a wisp of smoke came out of his wand. “Expecto Patronum!” He repeated, angrier now. The lynx’s shape wavered out of his wand before solidifying. He didn’t remember casting the spell to send it with a message, but he must have, because the feline leapt away. Some of the men in the masks turned to look at it, and Royal wondered what they were thinking. Oh. Right. “Do you think if I pretended to be dad they’d believe me?” Royal asked, only half considering the idea. He didn’t look anything like his father, but there were spells that could fix that…

@abigail

[Deleted]

Royal finally mentioned mum and how he would need to tell her. Abby's hand lifted her head forehead and she placed it there, hoping the cold skin would calm her down. It didn't. She nodded and waited for him to act. Then, he tried at his patronus, failed miserably, and then tried again. The lynx emerged and Abby had to look away. Today was not a good day to be thinking about her father. Then he asked if they would believe if he acted as his father. She shook her head, "I think they'd laugh right in your face," and if Royal got hurt... well, she couldn't bear to watch that happen to her father. Not that she didn't care for Royal, but there was only so much a girl could take right now. "I don't... I don't know if we should go back out there," she suggested, nodding her head toward the battle beside them.

@royal

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Royal nodded slowly when his sister gave her opinion of his only idea. He didn’t know how to protect her, and that was…maddening. He had already failed twice now, first with his father and then with Adelaide. He was supposed to be stronger than this. As much as he wished to agree with Abigail, and say that it would be foolish or ill-advised to head back into the fray, he wanted to. He wanted to so badly that his blood burned and it physically hurt him to stay still. “I know.” He replied calmly, an answer to her question. “We shouldn’t. But I have to.” Because Slytherins were not cowards, no matter how many times people said it. Because Kingsley Shacklebolt’s son was not going to cower against a wall and watch these people – these children – be hurt because he refused to move. “Protego.” A spell, at least, could do what he could not. It would keep her safe. Please, God, let it keep her safe. “Please…understand.” He did not do it because he loved her any less, but because he loved her more. He stepped back around the corner, wand raised defensively. However many times he had failed, he would not this time. He would keep his sister safe, if it was the last thing he did.

@abigail

[Deleted]

There was no way he was going back out into the fray and she was just going to stand there and watch. She glared for a moment as he cast a protection spell on her and ran off, like he expected her not to follow. She turned the corner behind him, lifting her own wand as well as she slipped beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder. She glanced over at him, "for Addie," she muttered before continuing forward and then whipping her wand to face the nearest mercenary. "Bombarda!" she shouted, aiming the wand at the ground beneath his feet.

She wasn't laughing now, no smile adorned her face like it had when she was fighting beside Theo and Addie only moments before. All within the span of a few short moments she had changed, at least momentarily. Addie was taken and Theo was... well, he could be dead and if he wasn't they would have taken him too. She actually hoped they would. He would try to get Addie out... right?

@royal
(we can go for as long as you want

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Royal really should have known what would happen. If he, a Slytherin, was doing something as boneheaded as charging back into a battle with little backup or knowledge of when it would be over, then of course he should have expected his lion-hearted little sister to follow. Shoulder to shoulder, the Shacklebolt siblings stood, and in that moment, Royal knew that his father, wherever he was, was smiling. Not because his children were warriors, but because they were standing up for what they believed in. No one needed to be a warrior to do that.

“Impedimenta!” Royal threw the spell lazily at a stampeding masked man. The easiest way to slip up in a battle was by rushing yourself. Too many spells flying at once were bad, even if they were all your own. He spared a glance towards Abigail, and Stunned a masked man that was trying to take her from the side. “Not my sister, you bastard.” He muttered under his breath. Not another one.

@abigail

[Deleted]

As they fought side by side Abby couldn't help but smile. She always loved a good fight, and who better to fight alongside than Royal? She heard him butter something about a 'bastard' and raised an eyebrow at him briefly before moving on to tackle the next guy with another spell. After a moment, she pushed away from warrior and used the momentum to bring her on top of one of the men. She pressed her knee into his neck and used her free hand to rip the mask off. Turned out it was a woman, "hi there." was all she said before punching her hard across the face, knocking her out. As much as Abby loved magic, she loved using her own two hands as well. Sometimes more so.

@royal

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Royal flushed the slightest bit when he realized his sister had heard him call the wizard a bastard. Oops. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Either way, there seemed to be no shortage of enemies to fight, and Royal began to worry. There were a lot of people fighting, between the older students and the reinforcements that the Order had brought, but the masked men seemed to be an endless stream. “Abigail, where are the younger children?” He called to her after she had apparently knocked someone out with her fists. Wonderful. Now his sister was more intimidating than he was. Either way, he needed his question answered – he had no doubt that the professors were protecting the students as best as they could, but more help would probably be appreciated. Royal certainly wasn’t going to let his talent (and his sister’s) go to waste.

@abigail

[Deleted]

She stood when she heard Royals question, her eyes shifting to him as she casually kicked the woman in the side real quick, just for good measure. "I don't know. I've only seen Abby and Theo, other than these people here," she called back, moving toward him again. "I'm assuming the professors have gotten to them by now," she said once she reached him, spinning around to cast a shield up beside them right before a spell of blue light almost reached them. "We should check the teachers lounge?" she suggested.

@royal

[Deleted]

don't talk, don't say a thing,
because your eyes, they tell me more than your words

Royal felt a pang travel through his chest when Abigail said she had only seen Adelaide and Theo. She had been alone, then, after they had been taken. He should have expected that, considering she had been alone when he had found her, but taking the time to internalize the fact hurt him. His sister didn’t deserve to be alone, much less in the middle of a battle. Royal had to resist the urge to draw Abigail up into a bone-crushing hug. He would have time for that later. “Teacher’s lounge, right.” He should have thought of that himself – he was the Slytherin. Still, he had defied pretty much every stereotype of his house in the last two hours, and was about to do it again.

Royal was going to save the day.

@abigail