Blinded By The Light (Order/open)

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"Yes, she and Rigdon are quite healthy," Shayne replied with a smile. He glanced at the Prewett guy and shook his head. Shayne was sure from the start that the defense of Bari would be successful, but then again, he seemed to be the only one confident, unless it came to Mariella being in danger, and then he showed that he was pretty worried.

"Er," Harry responded, "It actually wasn't a happy visit really. I have reports of those who have already been sent to Azkaban because of their blood status, a list of those who have already been killed, mostly muggles though, and a report of those who are currently running." Yeah, that'd work. He did make up a list a little while ago of those things. He didn't want them to think they ruined his visit. Maybe he actually did care about what others thought of him. No, no it was just strategic... yeah, that would fool himself for awhile.

"It probably is... that's why creatures like me don't have kids, partly," Remus said shaking head, before looking back down at the ground, "I just don't know what to do or think. Harry called me a coward, but... but... I'm sorry... I probably should bother you with my problems, you have problems of your own."

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"Oh, grazie a Dio!" Al sighed, crossing himself. He'd been so worried about them, especially when months passed without any word from Abby. He hated that he was missing Rigdon growing up; he hoped that the war ended soon. "With your permission, I'd like to stop by Bari before I go to help my father out."

He winced at the news Prewett had. He hoped that Lisa and Jak weren't on any of those lists; he knew that both of the muggle-born sisters were in England at the time. Lisa had helped out a lot with Rigdon, and he thought she was a pretty nice person. He'd hate to see anything happen to her.

"No...not a happy visit at all," he agreed. "The lists are starting to get long, aren't they?"

"Fenrir Greyback has children, Remus; he's a creature, not you," she replied. "And my problems are one adult man that's here and handling his own issues and a niece that won't be totally alright until she works things out with you, so trust me, you're not bothering me. It's normal to be nervous; this is your first child, after all, but letting that nervousness ruin your marriage is cowardice. Harry was right."

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"Yes, that would fine," Shayne said with a small smile and a nod. He looked back at Aura's body and quickly looked away before looking around, "At least the mission was a success."

Harry nodded at Al's question. He had not really seen this before, as he was more worried about protecting himself. It was a little scary how long the lists were already and it wasn't that far into the war. He had a strong feeling that each day there would be several deaths to report on, mostly since he remembered the radio from way back in this time.

"Unfortunately they are," Harry said with a nod.


"We're not any different," Remus said shaking his head trying keep himself from running away again, the fear was so gripping it was hard to even bare talking about it, "It's not just nervousness. Just thinking about having a child, it almost makes me want to... I'm... really scared. Maybe, you're right and Harry's right... I probably am just a bloody coward."

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"Relatively," Al replied. "Success is measured by how many people get back alive."

It probably wasn't the best way to measure success during a war, but it had always been the way Al decided whether or not he was successful. He felt that it was more realistic. It wasn't a very successful mission if they drove off the enemy but most of them died, for example.

"And they're only going to keep getting longer, unfortunately," Al predicted somberly.

"No? Because Fenrir turned his younger daughter into a werewolf himself," she replied. "I don't see you doing that. And maybe you are scared, but so is your wife. Do you want to know how you fix being a coward?"

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"True," Shayne replied with a small nod. He kept thinking that if only he had been there it would have never happened. But he couldn't dwell on it now. They had to keep pushing forward because if they were to dwell on the casualties they would lose. He couldn't afford to lose Curia. He would protect it at all costs.

"Very true. Until the very end of this whole thing," Harry stated, "I don't think anyone on these lists you all know, besides maybe Ted Tonks who is on the run, a long with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

"I would never do that willingly," Remus sighed, trying to sort through everything that was going on in his head, "But who knows if I ever would. I might not be able to have Wolfsbane every month and I might... without knowing..." It had been his fear when he married Dora as well. "I guess it would be to face one's fears." But he didn't know if he was strong enough to do so. He didn't know if he would get cold feet once more and leave one day and never come back.

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"How will we word the report, anyway? I don't think my aunt would take it very well if we didn't give an explanation as to how Elena died," Al pointed out dryly.

They had all long-since learned to fear the wrath of Marisol della'Rosa. It wasn't for nothing that she was called the Demon of Rome; she'd definitely earned the title. The woman possessed a fearsome temper.

"Anelisa and Jaqueline Lafayette aren't on there, are they?" Al asked.

"Now you're making excuses," she pointed out. Her eye twitched a little at his response to her question. She would, apparently, have to use force. "No, by getting the fuck in here and fixing it!"

She grabbed the collar of Lupin's shirt and dragged-slash-shoved-slash-threw him into the house before positioning herself in the doorway to make sure he didn't try to run out.

[Lianna Lynn Marie]

Lianna sat there and, still crying, looked up at the stars. "She would've loved to see this. It's so clear out and....and I'm sure she's up there watching over all of us now." She tried to smile and moved so she could lay down on and watch the sky. It was a good thing to do when you needed to think or clear your head.

Tonks had crawled out of the cabinet and was trying to get out the door when Cassie had pushed Lupin in the house. She let out a squeak and crawled a bit faster. Bad idea, she hit her head on the wall. She let out a yelp of pain, why was it always her?
"Nymphadora... you shouldn't be crawling. Stand up." Molly called from the stairs.
Tonks shook her head and sat on her knees, now her head hurt. She could now see through her bangs the person she was avoiding.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"I suppose the report should say something about protecting Lianna and how she died in action," Shayne sighed. Why was it so hard to focus right now? He really needed to get a grip on things right now. It was a very odd feeling, because right now he was confident in himself, but not as confident as he would have been a few days ago.

"No, I double checked for those two for the Weasleys, one of the Weasley twins is dating Anelisa, I believe," Harry replied. He had been indeed waiting for the time when Anelisa would have to run. Maybe it wouldn't be until Fred had to run, or maybe it was that Anelisa had to run and so Fred went with her, or something like that.

"What the hell?" Remus said as Cassie forced him inside. He looked around and saw Dora nearby. He couldn't help but think a line of several curse words and something about Cassie just going through his head. "D-Dora," Remus said looking back, wanting to just get out of here, but Cassie was blocking the door.

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"Remember when we were kids and we played Connect The Dots with the stars?" he asked with a tiny smile. "The time that Ana said that she made a duck outside of Palazzo Salvatore?"

Al nodded his agreement to Shayne's statement with a sigh before glancing up when the door swung open. He'd barely had time to look when Rhys's mop of dark curls whizzed past him to check on Pyre. Stefan walked over more slowly, the eye that he hadn't lost rolling skyward. Al still felt a pang of guilt every time he saw his cousin with that eyepatch, even though Stefan had lost his eye when they were ten.

"Al. M'lord Shayne. Stranger," Stefan added, nodding politely to Prewett.

Cassie scowled at him and made a shooing motion.

"You two will thank me for this one day," she informed him.

[Lianna Lynn Marie]

Lianna chuckled, "Remember when I almost slid off that roof trying to get a better look to finish that dragon I was making?" They had a lot of good memories with the stars. Most of the time, when her parents were fighting, she'd climb out her window and walk to Rome. It was about a four hour walk but it was good for clearing her head. She'd go to Leo's house and it outside because she knew they liked their sleep. She'd knock, sit on the doorstep or lay in the grass out front and wait. She didn't like to intrude on them, but they always let her stay the night.

Tonks stood up and sat at the table. She stared at her hands and stomach. Why did she have to talk to him? She was upset with him and didn't even want to look at him. He'd left her, at her parents house in their living room, crying. He didn't even look back to check on her.
"Remus." she said to her hands.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"Stefan," Shayne greeted with a small nod as Stefan entered.

"My name is Harrison Prewett, however, you may just call me Harry," Harry replied to the young man that entered the Burrow. It was a good thing the house was used to many people because it seemed to be the hub for everyone today, especially a bunch of these Curia people. They didn't seem that bad. The only thing he really hated about them was the fact kids were allowed to fight. However, even that seemed to not be the case right now.


"I-I'm sorry, Dora," Remus said his throat getting a little dry right now, "I-I was scared. I didn't want to l-leave you. I-I have been wanting to come back ever since I left, but I've been too afraid... I'm sorry." Remus wasn't sure what he was going to do right now. He wasn't even sure if he was ready to come back. But, really, he wanted to apologize. He felt terrible for leaving.

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"One of your rare clutzy moments," Leo remembered with a laugh.

He remembered back before Draco was a huge prat and they would all sit on the roof of Ana's home and see what shapes they could make out of the stars. He missed those days, sometimes, when he had time to think about it.

"Dad sent Rhys and I to retrieve Aura," Stefan explained. "Said that he couldn't be pulled away at the moment."

Stefan nodded to Harry and smiled fleetingly. Ah, he seemed like an alright guy, and who was he to judge?

"Stefan Cavaliere," he introduced himself. "Nice to meet you Harry. Now, Al, what happened to my sister?"

Al sighed, glanced over his shoulder at Rhys to make sure she wasn't hug-strangling Angelina, and then launched back into his explanation.

Cassie watched Lupin and Dora to make sure that nothing went too horribly wrong. She fully expected Dora to be angry at him; she was fairly certain that Remus had expected as much, too. She just didn't want anything to get thrown and/or broken.

[Lianna Lynn Marie]

"The only time I dropped off a roof and almost cracked my chin open." she corrected. Lianna wasn't one to fall off the roof just because, she usually was doing something. She'd stepped back too far a step and ended up falling to where she was holding on by her fingertips. She really thought she might break a rib and puncture a lung. She was only really afraid of falling then.

"Then why didn't you?" Tonks asked rather loudly. "You could have turned around and supported me but you walked out on me. How am I supposed to forgive you for something like that? Do you know how long I cried after you left? I never stopped. I don't know how to forgive you."

She really wanted to pick up one of the plates and throw it at his head. She was still mad at him. Plus the emotional flares were horrible at the moment.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

Shayne nodded when Stefan told of his reason of being here. He had a feeling it was because of that. At the moment, Shayne kept going on and on inside his head about how he should've been there. He shouldn't have just stayed. He should've forced his way with them. Then... then all of this wouldn't have turned out this way.

"I don't know how you could either," Remus said looking back again, wanting to get the heck out of there, because not only was he afraid of the baby growing inside of Dora, he didn't know how to handle being with the one he loved and having her hate him. "I didn't because... I was so scared. I was scared to be a father, and I was a bloody coward. All I can do is ask for you to accept me back... I-I don't expect you to forgive me, ever. It hurt me to leave as well, because day, each step I took made me feel so lonely, and incomplete with out you there. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry for doing this to you, Dora."

[Pyre Maria della'Rosa]

"That'll teach you to not stand so close to the edge of a roof," he teased.

He remembered how she'd panicked and insisted that she was going to die. The fact that she'd been able to scream so loudly had reassured the rest of them that she hadn't punctured a lung, but Lia had refused to listen. The result had been Mich smacking her upside the head and telling her to "shut the hell up or we won't be able to bandage you."

"Oh...Elena," Stefan sighed, looking over at his dead little sister after Al finished his explanation. "Stupid brave kid..."

Cassie held up a fist as a promise that she'd punch him in the mouth if he tried to leave with Lupin looked at her. She wasn't above it! He wouldn't even be the first person she'd done it to!