‘‘I suppose there is a natural point at which you just feel it. Either your enemy is dead or faltering in power, either you’re starting to lose and don’t feel like you have the strength to turn the odds around. I mean, for you, at least. If you don’t feel well, you disappear. Forget about apparating me too. I’ll find my way eventually.’‘ He nodded firmly at her words, despite what he had just said. She was basically contradicting his previous point, but he didn’t see any stubbornness in that. If anything, it was making a valid point he couldn’t contradict back. Still, there were exceptions. ‘‘Ideally yes. But if you in any way feel bad, you go home and that’s where we regroup before meeting with a larger group - though I don’t feel that’s so necessary. I suppose we’ll see on spot what should happen.’’
He frowned, visualizing it, but being convinced that his own portrayal had more to do with imagination than with how Roxanne actually spoke about it. ‘’Empty field. For kilometers. Muddy. Slightly frozen this time of the year, so walk with caution. Let them slip. Few trees for hiding. We’ll try to orientate so that the trees could work as shields. I remember this as something Lupin said, now.’’ The signal was easy enough. He retorted naturally. ‘’Just shout my name. I’ll do the same. If all goes perfectly, we’ll get to each other as the battle closes and leave. I wouldn’t want to be last to leave the party, though not first either.’’ The latter remark was welcomed with a sigh, ‘’I’d really like some marshmallows now.’’
‘‘I’m not using lethal force for nothing. Why do you always take me for a mindless brute with no strategy? I know how to duel without Kedavra,’‘ he jumped to his own defense, though he very well saw Astrid’s point of view and it was mostly for comedic effect.
‘‘If it was just us, we could feel our way through, but involving other people gives you some responsibility toward those other people and making sure everyone makes a retreat.” There was the danger of talking around in circles, so she didn’t keep pressing and contradicting Charlie’s idea that they could just play things by ear. She didn’t argue over leaving, and leaving him behind if she felt bad either, protest she wasn’t fragile, or tease him that the same went for him too if a teenager stunned him again and he didn’t feel up to the rest of the battle. She wouldn’t leave without him, and likely wouldn’t leave unless she saw the others Charlie and Roxanne had involved in their little plan at least moving toward a safe retreat. She knew that, because if she was willing to retreat for her health, she wouldn’t be going in the first place. It just wasn’t something to argue, or to pretend that she wasn’t in a delicate enough condition that he shouldn’t be concerned and she shouldn’t be keeping in mind her own limitations.
“I’ll cast something for grip on my shoes. Orienting around the trees isn’t a bad idea,” though she said it with enough doubt that it was clear she didn’t think shields that obstruct your view and that can be brought down with force to crush you wasn’t exactly something you could call a good idea either, “but trees as shields isn’t a substitute for protego maxima. As long as everyone is thinking shields first it’s the right direction though, I guess.” Shouted names seemed like a weak signal when there was sure to be a massive amount of noise and confusion, especially when one of the last times they had been in a similar situation Charlie had ended up losing his hearing for months, though again she cut the argument out of it, just amending slightly, “Purple sparks with the shouted names, so we have a visual to pinpoint location.”
‘‘I didn’t say no strategy. You have a very clear strategy. It ends with marshmallows.”
