I'll Get Right On That

Brian heard apparating.   Someone was trying to escape. He was distracted for an instant, and one of the men picked him up and hurled him against the wall of the compartment.  He hit the wall and the window of the train with a loud bang. Well, that hurt. But--it gave him a full on view of the station they were leaving. And he saw one of the cloaked figures appear on the concrete walk alongside the tracks--without a child. The figures that were still fighting him were trying to level killing curses at him. He didn't want these boomeranging back on anyone else. He couldn't screw around with this anymore.


He fired a bit of wandless magic, a petrificus totalus.  One down.  He cast another spell, intending to simply transfigure two of them to turtles. The spells left his hand, and the instant it did, he felt it wasn't right.


"Oops," he muttered, now looking at the men-turned-rabbits.  "Buggar." Note to self. Don't try this again without a wand. The rabbits scampered away and down the passageway.


"Get the rabbits!" Brian shouted to whoever would listen. "Don't let 'em get away!"

More ropes from Kip, some other spells from Brian, and Jack managed to yank two men down to the ground before decking a woman around the throat, knocking the wind out of her before wrapping her in ropes. Another man came at her and Jack grappled with him, slowly leaning closer and closer... prepared the slam her elbow into his nose, her own eye throbbing from a large bruise, a bit of blood dripping from her cut lip. Minor battle scars. She would wear them with pride.

When Brian called for assistance with the rabbits, Kip was busy battling a Death Eater who had decided he was going to put up a fight for his paycheck. He glanced to Jack, watching a vein throb in her temple as she struggled with the man. He saw a smile break across he face as she suddenly jerked her arm free, landing a blow. The man wasn't done with her yet, though. Kip looked about, wondering how they were going to managed the rabbits.

Another little dash, and the girl from before was carrying the rabbits back onto the train by their ears, looking purposeful. She threw them into a compartment and bent at the waist, grabbing an unconscious man by the ankles and dragging him.

Kip finally stunned his partner and glanced about - there was no one else left, save for Jack's sparring partner. Kip rolled his eyes. "Stop toying with the mice, cat." Jack sighed and finally punched the man, knocking him out. Jack inspected her hand, which was bruised and bleeding. "I should start actually using my bleeding wand," Jack said.

Kip, however, stepped into the compartment he had seen the little girl disappear into. Inside were four Death Eaters, and the rabbits. She dropped the legs of one of the men, looking up at Kip.

"They gone?"

Kip nodded slowly. The girl nodded, glanced about. She picked up the rabbits and held them out. "These need to go the zoo."

Brian was glad the sparring was over. He caught up with Kip and Jack and saw a little girl holding up the rabbits, saying they needed to go to the zoo.


"Ah, well, they were meant to be turtles," Brian sighed.  "That's what I get for losing my wand.  Those two should certainly be caged, but if we change them back, they should go to Azkaban." 


He looked at Jack and Kip. "Brilliant work, both of you. You two alright?"


Now he started to see them. Children peeking out from their hiding places, little eyes trying to see if it was safe now that there was no more fighting and wand fire.


"You're safe now. You can come out," Brian called them, motioning to them.  The next stop for the train was Derby.  They had a bit of time to make sure the kidnappers were secure and to check on the kids.  Not to mention that he hoped to find his wand before one of the kids decided to play with it.

"If we have a word with the engineer, we might be able to get him to turn the train around and go back to Birmingham," he said.

Jack smirked down at the little girl, wiping her freely bleeding lip, tacking on to Brian's comment, "There will be bars, if that's any consolation."

Kip glanced at the woman's bleeding lip, saying, "Jack, I can-"

"I'm fine," she said, smiling on an exhale. She glanced at Brian, repeating the sentiment with an "I'm good." Kip nodded his own affirmation. He had gotten off fairly unscathed. A burn on his shoulder, and he was sure some bumps and bruises would show up. But he had a fairly evasive style of duelling that typically kept injuries at bay.

"Sounds good," Jack answered, turning to survey the mess. She held out her hands to the little girl, saying, "I'll take them." The girl handed the rabbits over, which struggled under Jack's grip. Jack glanced about and Kip indicated the compartment some men had already been dragged into. Jack tossed the rabbits inside and quickly locked the compartment with magic, before looking around. Children stood awkwardly between the bodies of fallen men and women, keeping a timid distance.

"Right," Jack said. "Why don't you get them all into a compartment and I'll work on these guys."

"Me with the kids?" Kip repeated.

Jack smirked, having never heard her sibling seem so unsettled by something. "I think you can handle it. Besides, I'm dreadful with expansion charms."

She immediately began enchanting the limp bodies and the bound ones so that they floated into another compartment. Kip sighed and turned, approaching the compartment that held the most kids. The little girl followed, reaching her hands out for the kids who seemed too petrified to move.

Kip stepped into the compartment, offering a gentle smile. He raised his wand and a few of the kids flinched. "No, no, I'm giving you more room. Watch." He whispered the incantation and the compartment doubled in size. He turned back and began coaxing the children not in the compartment to join.

The little Russian girl suddenly darted out and called something out in her tongue. A little boy, no older than two, reached out his hand and she took it. Leading him to Kip. She looked up at Kip and said, "This is Ivan. He's very afraid. Could you hold him?"

Kip looked at the little boy, who seemed to have lost his voice so terrible was his fear. Kip kneeled and looked at the boy in the eyes. "No one is going to hurt you. You're safe." He held out his arms and the boy fell into them, shaking. Kip held him tightly for a moment, his eyes closed, his breathing heavy in his ears.

This was so much worse than he had originally suspected.

Kip had never really had feelings about children, but he suspected that if anyone tried to tear the boy from his arms now and hurt him, Kip would be able to kill them. Without a doubt. He slowly opened his eyes to see the little Russian girl staring at him. He stood and looked into the compartment where all the kids seemed to have gathered.

The little girl began counting before looking up at Kip. "All here." She waved him in and he stepped inside.