Chapter Twenty-four

A/N: This chapter was made possible through the kind help of excessivelyperky. The spelling is better as a result, and any mistakes that remain are entirely my own.

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Chapter twenty-four

Samuel's entire world was focused in his left ear, defined by the pop and hiss of static interrupted by a distant tinny ring. Then his breath caught in his throat as a far-away voice whispered his name like a plea. "Samuel?"

"John." Just as plaintive, just as desperate. "Merlin."

"I was worried all night when you didn't call." The relief in John's voice soothed Samuel's soul until he realized that he wasn't truly a free man.

"About that..."

"Bloody hell, what's gone wrong?"

Samuel found a warm satisfaction in telling of Yaxley's clumsy machinations in the idiot's bid for dominance. He savored the memory of the man's easy acceptance of the bait. He decided that John didn't need to know that the struggle took a violently physical turn, nor that the boy wonder's sidekick had almost tipped his hand. Before John could ask, he distracted the man with a careful description of Potter's mastery of politics and brilliance in the courtroom.

He tried to avoid scoffing or snorting when John expressed real pride in the boy's success, but before he could turn the topic, John was pressing for details of Samuel's own performance. He didn't concern himself with the number of follow up questions that John asked about each of them (two about Potter and four about Samuel), nor the fact that he could hear John smiling as he offered congratulations on outwitting the move to charge him again as a Death Eater. The sweetest moment was sharing the shocked silence in the chamber, when he threatened to reveal the greedy and the gullible who had bent to bribery, the true fear in the eyes of weak men in power. Fear of him and what he knew. All that remained to tell was Moody's treachery, but that made him think of John's own subterfuge.

"Clever charm you placed on Potter, John. " It would have been more satisfying had he not seen Mrs. Potter fawning all over her husband's phantom hurts. Of course, Kingsley claimed that the link was responsible for summoning help so quickly--Samuel thought, unkindly, that he wouldn't like to know how long it would have taken slow help to arrive.

The man was deeply upset by hearing of that betrayal, and John didn't deserve his anger, so he tried to allay his fear. "Shacklebolt tells me I have nothing to worry about when he challenges the charges tomorrow."

"Kingsley's a smart man, Samuel. You should listen to him." John's conviction drew Samuel's thoughts to his last conversation with the Minister of Magic.

He'd stopped the Minister on his way out of Hogwarts. Even as he turned, Kingsley was trying to tuck that bloody bottle of potion into his robes. Samuel cursed himself for a fool as words he'd sworn he wouldn't speak slid smoothly past his lips. "I gave you two days warning on your house. I told you about Thicknesse. All I've asked until now is to be left alone. I need to go home. Please."

"Kingsley, look at the moon. I'm almost out of time."

Samuel sighed as he admitted, "I would have more faith in him if I had not seen Slughorn slipping him a vial of Felix Felicis."

"Maybe it only looked like--"

"John."

"Sorry. What about Minerva?"

"That old bat will never forgive me, and perhaps she shouldn't. Albus was like a father to her, and I did escape the worst of the fighting."

"And if you'd died in June, no one would have guessed that Penelope Clearwater was selling us out, one at a time, to Bellatrix." John's words were becoming increasingly clipped as he leveled his anger at the wizarding world at large.

"John, reason doesn't factor into the grieving process. " Samuel cringed as he realized that he'd also given Minerva a piece of his mind.

"...strange that no one, not even Albus, wondered what it cost me to kill my friend," Samuel had calmly intoned before turning his back on the Headmistress.

"Are you still there, Samuel?"

"I'm still here, sitting on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, hoping they don't think to look here so they can drag me back to that thrice damned infirmary." He knew he'd made a grave error before he'd even closed his mouth.

"Twenty-four hours in the hospital wing?" John was clearly alarmed. "What aren't you telling me, Samuel?"

He thought of the uncomfortable conversation while Kingsley tried to asses his frame of mind, of how he'd chastised the man for over-dramatizing the situation, and of how he'd fled to the relative safety of Slughorn's dungeon lab, the healing that brewing had offered his wounded pride and shattered nerves. The tremor in his hand was hardly noticeable after a day of slicing and simmering.

"Pomfrey's just determined to punish me for escaping her clutches this afternoon. They seem to forget that I have more experience evaluating Acute Stress Disorder than all of them combined."

Of course, John could cut to the bleeding heart of the matter. "What did Jack have to say?"

"You would be over here by the first available Portkey, if I had called Jack before calling you. I know which side of my bread is buttered, John."

There was a terrifying moment of silence. Then a resigned sigh. "Samuel, out of concern for you, I'm putting you on notice. I won't be your enabler." Another pause. This time there was the faintest sound of rustling papers. "I'm looking through your office. You'd better pray that you can reach Jack before I find the number..."

"You win, I'll call him now. Just do me a favor and tell Troy--"

"I can't tell him anything if he keeps hanging up whenever I answer."

Samuel was shocked by that thought. "That's completely cowardly and rude. Troy wouldn't do that."

"Well, it has happened five times, and you've only been away for two days." John sounded so certain that Samuel took a few moments to ponder an appropriate threat that would marshal the brat back to civilized behavior. "Tell Kingsley to call me if his liquid luck runs out."

"Are you certain they won't throw you in a holding cell to wait out the full moon?"

"You're worth at least a week in lock-up, if it comes to that. Besides, this is more my fault than yours. Now I wish I'd been more interested in why she would betray us."

Samuel held his breath for a moment before admitting, "I never concerned myself with her motivation. Would a good reason save the Creeveys, or Granger's parents..."

"I suppose not. There is still the issue of how she gathered her information. I do hope that we can save Percy and Arthur the embarrassment of full disclosure."

"That was harsh, John. More in character for me than you."

"I already warned Harry, I have claws, every day of the month, if I need them. Don't threaten my--" Oh, Merlin, don't say it. "Someone I care about."

"I miss you too, Keats." He thought of the difference it made, having just one person believe the best of him. Maybe he could make that difference...

"Don't worry about the Wolfsbane. Bill helped me reinforce the root cellar under the barn. It will hold an angry werewolf."

"There is still time. I'll be home soon."

With the battery warning light flashing, Samuel called through to New York. "Jack, I think I need your help... I'm looking for the name of a good attorney in California... Right, family law..."