Fair Game | Foul Play : Chapter VI, Part ii

[qblackheart]

The War crept in like a tempest, dark and destructive, beginning with a lull, a brief respite from the havoc of the months prior, after the Order had thwarted several scattered skirmishes with the enemy, after they’d earned a few hard-fought near-victories; after they’d begun to have hope.

Jensen presumed it was different for different people.

For Harry, it’d probably started the day he’d managed to defeat the most powerful Dark wizard in the world, without even knowing it, back when he was just a baby.

For Jensen, it’d started in Aberdeen, when his team had suffered their worst casualties. For Jared, reality bit when Tonks and Remus Apparated into their kitchen one afternoon, Tonks in tears as she tried to hold herself together, one hand clutched in Remus’ as if she would never let go, and the other curled protectively over her belly and their unborn child.

“Tonks?” Jared asked, on his feet immediately, but Tonks only had eyes for Jensen.

“He’s gone,” she sobbed. “Vanished, Jensen. And even though we’ve had friends in the Order looking, no one’s seen or heard from him at all.”

Remus looked just as bleak when he spoke, his face pallid, his eyes bruised from exhaustion. “We think he’s been taken by Snatchers.”

“Who?” Jared asked impatiently, his harried gaze darting between the three of them.

“My dad,” Tonks said. “He’s a Muggle-born wizard, but he refused to register with the Ministry and now he’s on the run.” Her frantic gaze landed on Jensen once again. “I need your help. Please, Jensen.”

“Of course,” Jensen assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders - she was alarmingly thinner than before - and giving her a squeeze as he met Remus’ eyes over her head. “You know I will. I’ll get the team together and we’ll look into it straight away.”

“I’d go,” Remus told him, “but it’s nearing the full moon and I’m running out of Wolfsbane Potion. Fleur’s been kind enough to brew a batch for me, but it’s taking her longer than she first thought.”

“Don’t worry about it, Remus,” Jensen insisted. “Please, just get Tonks back home; this can’t be good for the baby. I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear something. I give you my word.”

Tonks hugged him then, clinging to him and stuttering her thanks before hugging Jared and apologizing for intruding, as if any of them could help the horrible things that were happening in the world around them. Tonks and Remus left as Jensen grabbed his robes, but something niggled at him like a burr, and he paused, a frightening sense of foreboding not letting him leave.

“Jared, what did you say about those strange people in the village market the other day?”

Jared blinked at the seeming non-sequitur. “You mean those blokes bothering that Muggle family? I almost pulled my wand on them before they took off.”

“Yeah, them.” Jensen gulped. “How many of them were there?”

“About five.”

“Have you seen them since?”

“No… Jensen, what’re you on about?”

“We’ve had reports of Snatchers being seen in and around Penzance. Troops of them tracking down Muggle-born witches and wizards and terrorizing Muggles themselves. I wonder…”

“Bollocks.” Jared scrubbed a shaky hand down his face. “They’re…they’re not that bad are they? I mean, I can handle myself, right? Jensen?”

“They’re as bad as Death Eaters sometimes, just without the fancy robes and wicked tattoo.” Jensen grabbed Jared by his shirt, his voice pleading. “Will you come with me? Let me take you somewhere safe?” Jensen shook his head when Jared tried to speak. “I know you can take care of yourself - I wasn’t implying that you can’t, but I’d do so much better if I didn’t have to worry, Jared…”

“Okay.”

Jensen paused mid-tirade. “Okay?”

“I want you focused out there, and you’re right, you can’t do that if you’re worrying about me.” He pressed a quick kiss to Jensen’s forehead. “What do you need me to do?”

“Come with me to Ackles Manor,” Jensen said, much to Jared’s surprise. “It’s the only place I know you’ll be safe.”



Months before Tonks had summoned Jensen to the Isle of Skye to fend off a serious Dementor attack and tossed him back into Jared’s life while she was at it, he and his team had faced their toughest battle yet. They weren’t quite sure what sort of Dark Magic had triggered it, but the Dementors were multiplying, and the very thought itself was terrifying, never mind the actuality of it, seeing the sky dotted with hundreds of them, far from the tethers of Azkaban.

They’d learnt a lot that battle, fought on the shores of Aberdeen, as wave after wave of Dementors had attacked them. They hadn’t been prepared, neither mentally nor physically, and they’d lost Samantha’s son and Lanette’s husband and brother. Three men - all of them strong, fierce wizards - fell that night, their souls sucked out of them with a ferocity that had left only their desiccated bodies behind as the others had watched helplessly.

They’d only escaped with the coming of the dawn, and Jensen and Julian had worked their fingers to the bone perfecting their shields after that and, after a little chat with Fred and George, Jensen had infused their Auror robes with a Shield Charm; it’d worked brilliantly. One small victory, Jensen thought, unable to crow about it when he saw Sam and Alona cling to one another in their grief, when he watched Lanette become a shadow of herself, going so far as to sometimes forget that she had an infant son to care for, a little boy who was now fatherless; one who reminded Jensen of Jared so much that his heart ached for the man that boy would become someday.

Such was life in dark times, he supposed, and the only way out was to win the bloody war.

He never forgot that sense of despair, though, and it returned in full force, bitter and bleak when his team found Ted Tonks a month after his daughter had reported him missing, his mangled body barely recognisable after the Snatchers had done away with him, but for whatever it was worth, Jensen still brought him home to his family for a proper burial.

Shortly thereafter, he and Jared attended his funeral, and a few weeks after that, they were also present as Tonks introduced them to her baby son, who she’d named Teddy, in honour of his late grandfather.

Full circle, Jensen thought; he wondered how much more any of them could take.

And, to think, he and Jared probably counted amongst the lucky ones.



“How’s Lanette?” Jensen asked Julian as soon as he returned to Ackles Manor and found Jonah Ware, Lanette’s six-month old son, once again cradled in Jared’s arms, Julian and Qualls doing their level best to entertain him and keep him giggling, which was a far sight better than usual, especially when the little mite decided to look around for his mum and bawled his eyes out when he didn’t find her.

Julian sighed as Jensen kissed Jared and Jonah and then collapsed on the sofa next to them, tickling Jonah’s little foot as the baby quietly sucked his thumb. “Not well. She keeps…blacking out. Can’t remember who or where she is. Barely remembers us. Or even Jonah.” The older man frowned. “The Mediwitch from St. Mungo’s didn’t fare any better than we did; she suggested warding her at the hospital. I fear the worst.”

Jensen buried his face in his hands as Jared gave the back of his neck a reassuring squeeze; he grabbed onto Jared's hand and held it, grounding himself. “We have to have hope. She’s a brilliant Auror, strong in mind and spirit; she has to get past this, and we can’t give up on her.”

“Who said anything about giving up?” Julian muttered, leaning over to pat Jonah’s head as Qualls took the now-drowsy baby from Jared, shushing him gently as he bade them goodnight and headed off towards the nursery. Julian steepled his hands and stared at Jensen and Jared from across the coffee table. “I’ve been at this job a long while, Jensen, you know that.” He explained for Jared’s benefit: “Ever since its inception, Azkaban has had Dementors guarding it for the Ministry. Foul, loathsome creatures, and untrustworthy, but what other choice was there? The Auror Office eventually decided that someone should police them, and that’s how the ADU came into existence. Just a wizard or two, usually. I was the only member of the ADU when I became an Auror; I got some assistance when Sirius Black escaped Azkaban a few years ago and the Dementors were let loose in the skies over Hogwarts, but our numbers only burgeoned to ten when they joined You-Know-Who’s ranks.”

“How did you police them?” Jared asked. “Wouldn’t you’ve had to be near them to do that?”

“Much of my life has been spent living in close proximity to the North Sea,” Julian explained, “and over the decades, I’ve learned a lot about them: how they feed; how they collect and keep the souls of their prisoners, either piece by piece, slowly driving them to madness, or all at once with the Kiss. Everything but how to kill them.”

Jared shook his head in disbelief. “You must’ve had an extraordinarily happy life.”

Julian chuckled. “Happiness is what you make of it. Family and friends are of the utmost importance, but also silly little things that serve no purpose but to make you smile. It all adds up.” He paused and looked at Jensen. “That’s why I worry for Lanette’s wellbeing. There is not a person alive who knows more about souls than I do. And hers is diminishing, Jensen. I can feel it but I have no idea how to stop it, or if it can be stopped at all, and she’s too stubborn to give up the fight, not when she’s already lost her only family to it.”

“But she hasn’t, has she?” Jensen argued. “She’s still got Jonah!”

“Who she can’t even remember some days,” Jared filled in sadly. “It’s unfathomable, but true.”

Jensen huffed. “There has to be something we can do, if not for Lanette, then at least to figure out how to prevent a recurrence of what happened at Aberdeen. Something’s got to be able to kill them, or at least stop them from multiplying!”

“Ending the war should do it,” Jared mumbled. Jensen and Julian stared at him in silence, blinking; he flushed. “It’s like basic Herbology; think about it. Dementors are thought to multiply when the conditions are favourable for them, right? So, generally, misery and despair everywhere is like succour for the soulless bastards. But if we win the war, the Light rises to power and their…umm…breeding grounds dry up, so eventually they’ll wither away and die, too.” He looked between Jensen and Julian. “It’s just that, well, easier said than done, innit? It is a war, after all. Still have to fend them off when they attack, and you lot are the experts at that, but like I said yesterday: you can’t ignore the more immediate issues, like Snatcher attacks.”

Jensen grinned at him, full of pride because this was Jared at his practical Hufflepuff best. He leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Speaking of Snatcher attacks, you’ll both be happy to know that my meeting with the ex-Hit Wizards went well.”

“Good.” Julian folded his arms and smiled, shooting a particularly fond look in Jared’s direction. “They weren’t averse to the idea of working out from under the Department of Magical Law Enforcement’s umbrella?”

“No. And not that the DMLE even really exists anymore; it’s just for show. Kingsley gave me the names of a few people he thought would be trustworthy and I met with them in Hyde Park,” Jensen informed them. “I told them to find a secure location and gather a team together, specifically to go after Snatcher troops, perhaps prevent a repeat of what happened to Ted Tonks. They know a number of members in the DMLE Patrol; they’re going to get them out in the general public, undercover, keep their noses to the ground and look out for hotspots of Dark activity. They were amenable; enthusiastic, even.”

“Excellent,” Julian said, that satisfied smile still playing about his lips. “You two make a formidable team.” Jensen smirked as Jared ducked his head, smiling shyly; Julian laughed. “It’s to be expected of a soul-bonded pair, I suppose.”

Jensen and Jared shot him identical startled looks, but Jared beat Jensen to the punch. “You what?”

Julian looked a bit taken aback. “I said…”

“Yeah, we heard what you said,” Jensen told him, “but Jared and I aren’t soul-bonded.”

“Please,” Julian scoffed. “What’d I just tell you, lad? I know my way around souls and how they function. And I also know, as do you by now, Jensen, that soul-bonded individuals are the ones best equipped to repel Dementors. Why do you think you’re so good at this job? It’s not just your shield and your wand. It’s you. Inherently. I’m sure if Jared was a trained Auror, he’d be just as strong fighting beside you.”

Jensen laughed, simply because he wasn’t quite sure what else to do, and Jared certainly wasn’t helping, gaping at Julian the way he was doing. “Soul-bonding is ancient magic. There are rites and rituals involved and it requires a very powerful third party to cast the Binding spells. Plural.” Jensen and Jared shared a look. “I think we would’ve remembered doing something like that.”

“Hmmph,” Julian muttered, scratching his chin. He shook his head and pulled out his wand. “Hold out your right hands.” They did, albeit with some reluctance. Julian said no words out loud, but his lips moved infinitesimally as he focused on their upturned palms, his wand hovering a few inches above them. A warm, tickling sort of tingle started in the centre of Jensen’s palm, and Jared’s little gasp of surprise indicated that he, perhaps, had felt some similar sensation. Then, suddenly, a little furl of bronzish flame appeared in Jensen’s hand, tiny whorls of smoke licking at the air and Jensen’s skin without burning it. When Jensen looked at Jared’s hand, it was to see a small, bright green flame in his palm. Julian looked at them and smirked. “Ever heard the expression that your eyes are the windows to your souls?”

Jensen looked at the flames he and Jared held and then back at Julian. “Yeah?”

“Well, this spell reveals Soul-Bonds,” he explained. “Since Jared is bound to you, his flame is green - the colour of your eyes. Yours is…well, the closest thing to thing to the hazel of Jared’s eyes. Ergo: Soul-Bonded.” Julian ended the charm and leaned back in his chair.

Both Jensen and Jared reflexively made fists as if to catch the elusive flames in their palms, but they disappeared; Jared sighed. “We’re not bonded, Julian. I mean, I may’ve wished - especially when I was younger - to bind myself to Jensen…”

“You too?” Jensen laughed. “I remember thinking that the first night I met you.” He looked at Julian as Jared smiled and bit his lip. “He was this pathetic little eleven-year-old, chubby and adorable, with no friends because he was too shy to make them… I had a moment of madness where I just wanted to bind myself to him and keep him safe forever.”

“Well, there you go. First step of the Binding ritual,” Julian said smugly. “Intent. You should look up the spell when you have the time. I’m sure your library here houses a copy of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes.”

Jensen blinked. “How about you give us the abridged version?”

Julian’s eyes narrowed. “This started at Hogwarts, eh? I’m not surprised. All manners of mischief begin betwixt those hallowed walls.” He tapped a thin finger against his chin as he studied them. “If it was done without your knowledge, then perhaps your wishes were made in the presence of someone who had the power to grant them. How well did you know Dumbledore?”

“Just as the Headmaster, not like a benevolent Cupid!” Jared chuckled. “I only spoke to him during the holidays, for Merlin’s sake!”

Jensen chuckled. “Except for that one time when we…”

“Crikey,” Jared groaned, “we agreed never to mention that again! I think I still have the scars from that detention he doled out to us!”

“Good times.”

“Idiot.”

“So, not Dumbledore, then,” Julian deduced, using logic that was beyond Jensen; the very notion that he and Jared had been soul-bonded - which, hello, lasted a bloody eternity - without their knowledge was ludicrous. “And I really can’t see any of the professors going to all the trouble to organize the rites and rituals for a couple of under-aged wizards. I’m sure that goes against the school’s mandate.”

“What exactly are these rites and rituals you keep referring to?” Jared asked. “Out of curiosity?”

Julian shrugged. “The declaration of intent begins it, of course. Then the intent must be sealed in blood. Yours and his.”

“Ridiculous,” Jensen scoffed. “Never happened. I think we’d remember if we exchanged body fluids.” Jared choked and Jensen groaned as his words registered. “Merlin! You know what I mean! Shut it, Julian!”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“I can hear you thinking, old man!”

“Jensen,” Jared said suddenly, “that fight in the boys bathroom. We were both bleeding… Do you think?”

Jensen bit his lip in thought. Shite. It was possible. “Maybe. Bloody hell. Pun and all.”

“Sweat,” Julian said, looking far too interested in their predicament.

“You what?”

“First blood, then sweat, then tears.”

Jensen rolled his eyes. “Merlin’s Bollocks. Yeah. Tons of sweat and tears. My sweat, his tears, the snivelling little snot.”

“Oi!” Jared elbowed him in the stomach. “Try not to revert to your idiot thirteen-year-old self. Remember that you love me…” The corner of Jared’s mouth quirked up smugly. “Now and then, obviously.” He looked at Julian excitedly. “What else?”

“I don’t recall the precise incantation, or the order of the rites, but I think it went to the effect of: something fair and something foul; something taken and something freely given; a sorrow lost and a pleasure found; a favour begged, a token borrowed, a memory stolen; muddied in earth and cleansed in water; sealed with a kiss beneath the blessed bough of an evergreen; begun and ended with a binding of your wands.”

Jensen and Jared were both rendered completely speechless; Jensen was pretty sure Jared, like Jensen himself, had mentally checked off every rite on that list: been there, done that. Multiple times.

Julian’s brows practically rose to his hairline. “Well. Your expressions speak volumes.” He blinked. “Really? Beneath the blessed bough of an evergreen and you still didn’t cotton on that you were being bound to each other?”

“No!” Jensen exclaimed, just as Jared sputtered and said, “It was a kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas! Everyone does that!”

“Does everyone also bind their wands?” Julian asked.

“Yeah, about that…” Jensen groaned as Jared turned to him in shock. “Don’t look at me like that! You were the one forever getting into trouble or getting lost in the bloody halls or…something or the other, like a sodding damsel in persistent distress.” Jared’s mouth quirked up at the corners, fond amusement in his eyes. “Shut up.”

“You loved me so much, Jensen. I wish I’d’ve known it then.”

“Merlin’s Beard, shut up, Jared. It was a fairly straightforward spell, all right? I was not bonkers over you in the beginning. Do you even know how annoying you were?” He sighed. “You remember that Weasley Clock at The Burrow? The one that tells Mrs. W. where everyone is at all times?”

“The one that had a mark for both ‘Dentist’ and ‘Mortal Peril’?” Jared asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one. How do you think it keeps track? Wand-binding, and a Plottable Charm on those that don't own a wand, like little children. We have one because Father doesn’t know the meaning of the word privacy,” Jensen lamented. “Except in our case, it’s a lot fancier and contained within a mirror, so it looks a bit like a Foe-Glass, only we call it a Family-Glass. Father kept it in his study, and instead of little hands with our pictures on them, our reflections alternate in the mirror as writing scrolls below it, like: Joshua’s at work, or Mackenzie’s at Marks and Spencer’s - I dunno why she loves that Muggle shop so much, but there you go - or Jensen’s at…shite!”

Jared chuckled. “What?”

“I bonded our wands to keep track of you at school,” Jensen said, his mind racing along with his pulse. “I did it back in your first bloody year! Do you remember?”

“When you told me about wandlore?”

“Yeah…and if the Soul-Binding Charm was sealed with a kiss… Fuck.”

Jared and Julian stared at each other before looking back at him, speaking in unison. “What?”

“The moment that spell was sealed, Jared - which happened in my seventh year,” Jensen said, biting his lip, “your face would’ve appeared in the Family-Glass.”

“What?”

Julian nodded in sudden understanding. “Of course. The spell makes Jared a bona fide member of your family.”

Jared gaped and Jensen groaned. “That’s why Father had Danneel all wrapped up in a pretty bow and waiting for me when I returned from Connemara. He knew!”

“How…odd,” Julian said while Jared tried to recover his wits. “Jensen, you mentioned you were both estranged for long periods of time in the past. Didn’t either of you ever think it strange that you never longed for the affection or companionship of another person? I mean, I recall bits of my own randy youth - how did you both go about your lives not being…er…intimate with other people and never wonder why?”

Jensen did a double take. “That’s why? Merlin! That’s why I could never…well, you know…with anyone else?”

“Yes, Jensen. Although, some people might call that being in love,” Jared said grumpily.

Julian laughed. “My dear boy, it is impossible to cast the Soul-Binding spell on two people who don’t share a soul-deep sort of love. No matter what Jensen claims, it’s moot without love. And not just any sort of love, Love at First Sight. It’s not just fodder for fairytales, you know.”

“Blimey,” Jared groaned, and yeah, Jensen sympathized.

“I feel like I’ve been stripped of every ounce of manhood I ever possessed,” Jensen grumbled, playfully pinching Jared’s side. “You never had much to begin with, so you’re alright.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“Small price to pay,” Julian mused, the smug bastard. “I would suggest, though, that if you two ever get ‘round to looking for the culprit who cast the spell, start with the hopeless romantics first.”



“Hello, Hufflepuff.”

“Can’t startle me, I saw you coming.”

“Somehow I knew you’d be here.” Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared’s waist from behind and rested his chin on Jared’s shoulder as they watched the reflections shift in the Family-Glass. At that moment in time, far away in Australia, he saw the austere reflection of his father, who was At Work, while his mother’s smiling reflection waved at him from where she was At Home. Mackenzie was Out with Friends, and Joshua and Danneel… Jensen blinked in disbelief. “What?”

Jared chuckled. “Yeah. It appears your big brother has finally made his move.” Too right, Jensen thought, watching Joshua and Danneel smile bashfully back at him; they were apparently At the Park. Jensen and Jared came next, a true reflection of them in the Family-Glass as it proclaimed that they were In Father’s Study, Ackles Manor.

“It’s eerie,” Jared commented. “But I s’pose it comes in handy in a pinch.”

“Father has one in our house in Sydney as well; I wish I’d known that you’d be in it, too,” Jensen told him. “It would’ve made my life a lot easier back then.”

“Mmm…” Jared traced his hand along Jensen’s bare forearm until he entwined his fingers with Jensen’s. “Does it worry you that someone Soul-Bonded us without our knowledge?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely bonkers,” Jensen admitted, “but in the grand scheme of things? I’m just really grateful. And happy.”

“Well, obviously.” They watched Joshua and Danneel grin goofily at each other; Jensen snorted and Jared laughed. “I know, right?”

“Took him long enough,” Jensen said fondly. “Give him another five years, he might even propose.”

“I was thinking ten,” Jared quipped.

“Speaking of proposals,” Jensen mentioned nonchalantly; Jared’s whole body froze. Jensen’s lips quirked but he held back his smile. “I was going to ask you, you know, but our mysterious Soul-Binder saved me the trouble.”

Jared sputtered indignantly. “I beg your pardon?”

“We’re bound to each other for an eternity, Jared,” Jensen drawled, taking the piss as usual; “marriage would just be overkill.”

“Kiss my arse, why don’t you?”

“Ooh, you have the best ideas, babe.” Jensen perked right up, goosing Jared, delighting in his affronted little squawk.

“Not in your father’s study of all places, Jensen! Merlin! The man hates me enough already,” Jared grumbled.

“He hates me, too,” Jensen said, glib as usual whenever Jared brought up his the subject of his sire. “You’re not as special as you think.” He grabbed Jared’s arm and dragged him out of the offending room and up the stairs, but their amorous escape took a detour into the nursery when they were thwarted by a panicked Fuller who’d apparently been trying - and failing spectacularly - to put Jonah to bed. As the baby turned up the volume from crying to outright bawling, Fuller dumped him into Jensen’s arms and made a run for it.

Jared rolled his eyes. “Coward.”

Jensen had to agree, and it may have been selfish of him but if he’d had a Time-Turner and the chance to relive that moment, which very possibly could’ve been his last opportunity to make love to Jared, he’d’ve gone back and forced Fuller to grow a pair and become a better babysitter.



When the final call to arms came, Jensen and Jared were in the midst of a fun but fierce duel.

They were in the basement chambers of the Manor, rooms that had once been used as dungeons, back when a member of the Ackles clan had always served as a Magical Magistrate for the region, long before the Ministry had ever come into existence; now they served as training rooms for the Aurors to practice their defensive spells, where Jensen had taken every spare moment he’d had to train Jared to the best of his ability.

It was Qualls who came bursting into the duelling chamber, in full Auror uniform, panting and wide-eyed. “It’s time,” he declared. “They’re on the move. The Hit Wizard Patrols from London all the way up north are reporting a massive influx of Dark Apparation, headed directly for Hogwarts. There’ve even been sightings of giants on the move.”

Jensen only spared a moment to glance at Jared before all three of them Apparated upstairs to the dining room, where they’d held all their tactical meetings. The rest of the team was already present, and Jensen joined them in putting on his ADU uniform, checking and rechecking the Shielding Charms as Jared watched in worried silence.

Julian strode in seconds later. “I’ve just gotten word from the Norwegian Auror Office. Their people in Stavenger have confirmed escalated Dementor activity over the North Sea. If they take to the skies now, they’ll probably be in Hogsmeade within in a couple of hours.”

“Fuck,” Jensen muttered. “If they get past the village and onto Hogwarts grounds, the spell-casting ability of anyone fighting for the Light will be greatly diminished.”

“Exactly,” Julian agreed. “We have to cut them off at the pass, before they can cross the Black Lake.”

“To Hogsmeade, then,” Qualls said, swallowing hard. “This is it.”

“It is,” Lanette said from where she’d come in behind Julian. “Count me in.”

“No,” Julian vetoed immediately. “No, Lanette. I cannot, with a clear conscience, allow it.”

“You have no choice, Julian,” she stated impassively, sounding a lot like she had when Jensen’d first met her, her singular focus on the job at hand. “Either I fight with you, or I fight alone; it matters not; I’m still fighting and you know very well that my Nudu is the strongest Patronus of all.”

“What about Jonah?” Jensen asked. Lanette looked at him quizzically, so Jensen reminded her. “Your son.”

Lanette blinked in confusion for a moment before her expression cleared. “If I have a son, then he is best protected if I fight.”

“Lanette…”

“I’m coming,” she insisted stubbornly, and Jensen huffed, turning to Jared as his last straw.

Jared pulled him aside angrily. “We don’t have time to argue about this, so I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen.” Jensen was rendered powerless to speak, by the ferocious gleam in Jared’s eyes alone. “If you think I’m not fighting this war, then you’re not worthy of your House! I may not be any good against Dementors but I can help against Dark wizards, and the villagers at Hogsmeade will need all the help they can get. I’m coming, too. Fowler is more than equipped to keep Jonah safe.”

Jensen didn’t like it, but Jared was right; he nodded reluctantly. The Order needed people like Jared out there on the battleground, those who were fighting for the greater good.

“Fowler!” he barked, and the stalwart house-elf - one who, along with his predecessors, had served the Ackles family for generations - appeared immediately. Jensen stooped to speak to him. “Guard Jonah with every power you possess. Please.”

“I will guard him with my life, Master Jensen,” Fowler replied, his face resolute. He reached out and held Jensen’s hand, blessing him, Jensen knew; he felt a shiver run through him at the clammy touch. “Be safe, young master. Return unto us.” The elf reached out to hold and shake Jared’s hand before he Apparated away.

A few minutes later, Jensen kissed Jared, told him he loved him, and Portkeyed out, refusing to say farewell, because he didn’t want that to be the last word he’d ever say.

A couple of hours later, a second before he fell to the ground, hit by a powerful Dark spell he didn’t even recognize, let alone shield himself against, he regretted his decision.

He really hadn’t meant to die without saying goodbye.