Post by Casey Winslow on Nov 8, 2008 2:58:45 GMT -8
Sunday, December 21, 2008
12 p.m.
Enough! Enough. Again, their lives were left in shambles. Again, that bastard had got to his wife. It was time to end this all once and for all. This time they had to take the offensive instead of sitting around waiting for an attack. This time they would go in and slaughter them all. It was the only way. These evil men managed to avoid capture and/or imprisonment in Azkaban the last time their master fell, and simply put, Casey wanted them all dead since their own ‘justice system’ didn’t seem adequate enough, and he could only imagine that the Ministry would be even more easily persuaded against capturing the Death Eaters now that they’d been attacked. But, the Order had to take care of this and kill them all, and Casey didn’t care if the others viewed it as cold-blooded murder, it was the only way.
He couldn’t sit around anymore feeling sorry for himself and worrying Death Eaters would come back again anymore. He'd done enough of that already, and now that his fears had come true, it was time for action. Otherwise, nothing would be done. Trey would be left to his own devices and be free to run around and find her again or rally the troops again for another attack especially since Derrin’s body had been found dead and his attack on the school had accomplished little in regards to eliminating the Order.
Though some Order members had died that night at the Ministry and elsewhere, if anything, the attacks had added fuel to the dying fire. Those left who could fight now had incentive to keep fighting, especially those with families, whether soon to come or already existent. Casey wasn’t going to let Evie fight this time. Nothing new there, though at least in the past she had had a say. This time, however? She was pregnant again. That night would be her second and last battle. She would stay here in the Order HQ with the children whenever he wasn’t around. He hadn’t yet spoke to her, knowing that even if she was playing it strong, that night had to have had some effect on her.
He knew she’d probably want to fight anyway, and it might be an argument, but if he had to, he’d do anything to make sure she stayed whenever they fought. The children needed one parent to be there in the case that one was killed in action. Naturally, Casey believed he should be the one to fight and she the one to stay home. She was, after all, a woman and secondly his wife and the mother of his children and thirdly pregnant. He wouldn’t be a dictator and refuse any delegation with her, but in the end he feared he might have to be.
Part of him didn’t want her to fight out of fear of loving her, and the other part out of guilt for the last month and a half or so of making her life miserable. He had to make it up to her again somehow. She was too good to him—not in the way of her actions the past few months, for he still hated that and viewed it as absolutely unnecessary—but in the way of never leaving him. As many times in their lives as he had pushed her away for a variety of reasons, though the root of most were very similar, she had had opportunity enough to walk, but she hadn’t. Even when sticking around him meant pain and suffering because of Voldemort, she was there, and again she was there.
What more could a man want in a wife that his own didn’t have? She was supportive, caring, attentive, loved him and their children— Simply put, she was beautiful both inside and out, and for that he loved her and looked past her faults. She was perfect in his eyes. It was a shame how easily he seemed to have lost sight of that. It made him feel ill to think she could have so easily died without knowing all that, which was why he had made sure that in the day since the battle she and the children knew how much they meant to him.
That was the reason he’d given to Evie last night when she had asked him not to do this and to just get away while they could. It was over, she’d said, but he wouldn’t give in and had merely told her he had to do this because he cared too much about them to sit back and watch this happen over and over. Trevor would come again. He had to have his neck to be sure he didn’t get to her. However, hopefully, since Evie was in a ‘Let’s get away while we still can’ mood, he could manage to talk her into staying here in hiding with the kids with little resistance. Then again, he’d be out there and she’d probably want to go because of not getting her get away from all this gig. She was much too confusing even after thirteen, nearly fourteen, years of marriage.
But, whatever. First, he had to deal with the Order. They had been all but dismantled over the past eight years with only that meeting about a month or so again to talk about the Order and what it was with Kara. She had wanted to become part, and well, he didn’t see why not. No, not every Order member had been there, but what did it matter? The Order was not meeting or doing anything anymore, so it hadn’t mattered then. Now? Now, they had to fight. They had to make the deaths of the children worthwhile. Otherwise, they had died for nothing as well as the fellow staff members. At least the concern for what ends the “squib” janitor had met would be alleviated. William Travis had indeed been maverick Death Eater Trey Hunter, the very Death Eater who had raped and tried to kill Evie eight years ago.
“C’mon, Jules, out of bed. I’m not telling you again.” The twelve-year-old groaned, burying his face in his pillow. Casey grabbed it and yanked it out.
“Dad!” Julian exclaimed, sitting up and yanking it back before laying down and hugging it as his head rested on the edge. So, his father, grabbed the blankets and pulled them back. “Dad, it’s bloody cold!”
Casey rose a brow and shook his head. “Get out of bed. Your mum and sister are already ready to go. Throw some clothes on and take one of the muffins your mum made and let’s go. I sent the owl out an hour ago already. People are probably waiting.”
“Let them!” Julian exclaimed bitterly. “I hate the Order! It’s always been about the Order!”
Casey sighed quietly. “Listen, we have to do this one last thing, and then we can leave it behind, ok? If that’s what you want us to do. Your mum and I have been talking.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I can hear you through the walls.”
Casey didn’t answer for a few moments. That was a little disturbing. Poor boy. No wonder he’d been so uncomfortable when he’d teased him in the beginning of the year, but that thought process was for another time and place. “C’mon, let’s just get going. You and your sister can get more sleep at Headquarters. I promise.”
“Do you think I could sleep if I wanted to, Dad?”
The older man sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jules. I really am, but we thought they’d le—”
“Well, you thought wrong.”
Casey was taken aback by the coldness in Julian’s voice, but he had to worry about that later. “We’ll leave after this, Jules….” he said with an exhausted sigh. “Just get up. Please?”
“Fine.”
It took about another half hour before Julian was ready, and finally, Casey took his family to the headquarters, walking in and hoping no one else had been waiting all too long.
((And now I'm really off to bed. Just found this unfinished on my hard drive and decided to finish it. Was supposed to go on SF, but since we're here now.. Gives Evie a chance to be Evie pre-memory obliteration and the Order a chance to interact. So, if at any point you've had an Order member in this series, bring 'em in! NPCs welcome without the form for this thread.))