*Two things are crossing Alice's mind: That whoever is at the door needs an Unforgivable, and that if they wake Neville, she may give them one.
*Rolling slowly up at Frank's voice, Alice manages to shuffle out of bed and down to the door.
But when she opens it, it's as though she's asleep again. She's had this dream before, many times. Only Frank isn't in bed upstairs, and the two men don't tell her it's Gideon and Fabian, and the dream always ends when she has to shut the door.
Now it's shut and she's numb. For a moment everything is gone, and she will never remember how she got back to their bedroom. Her next memory will always be wiping off her face and shaking Frank awake.*
*Looking back, these will stand out as the last moments when things were right in Frank's life for a long, long time. Before he opens his eyes, before he sees Alice's expression and understands without asking that someone has died, he rolls over and wraps an arm around one of her legs to press a sleepy kiss to her thigh.
It's only seconds, though. Because then he looks up at her, and it's possible he's never been more awake in his life. Dragging himself bolt upright, Frank stares at Alice for a long moment, trying to get up the courage to say the part that has to - always - comes next. If the Ministry sent people to the door at six in the morning, then this is a personal loss and not a professional one, and it's the most frightened Frank's been in a long, long time. His throat feels dry, shallow.*
*For a second everything reels violently out of kilter as he sits there staring up at Alice. It's all he can do, is sit, and stare, because what she just said is at once how he somehow knew things would one day go, and the thing in the shadows of his thoughts that he never let himself chase down.
And then before it can pull into focus, everything takes a hard left, and Frank's face goes from shock to shut down in the space of a heartbeat. Slipping past Alice, he's on his feet and tracking down his trousers, the lines of his body hard with tension as he shakes his head.*
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*Rolling slowly up at Frank's voice, Alice manages to shuffle out of bed and down to the door.
But when she opens it, it's as though she's asleep again. She's had this dream before, many times. Only Frank isn't in bed upstairs, and the two men don't tell her it's Gideon and Fabian, and the dream always ends when she has to shut the door.
Now it's shut and she's numb. For a moment everything is gone, and she will never remember how she got back to their bedroom. Her next memory will always be wiping off her face and shaking Frank awake.*
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It's only seconds, though. Because then he looks up at her, and it's possible he's never been more awake in his life. Dragging himself bolt upright, Frank stares at Alice for a long moment, trying to get up the courage to say the part that has to - always - comes next. If the Ministry sent people to the door at six in the morning, then this is a personal loss and not a professional one, and it's the most frightened Frank's been in a long, long time. His throat feels dry, shallow.*
- Who?
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Gideon and Fabian.
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And then before it can pull into focus, everything takes a hard left, and Frank's face goes from shock to shut down in the space of a heartbeat. Slipping past Alice, he's on his feet and tracking down his trousers, the lines of his body hard with tension as he shakes his head.*
No.
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