Chapter 111: 111. Cost of Blood and Tears
It was a normal day for Adam and Grace. They woke up like everyone else, had some cuddles and then got up to get ready.
It was an odd number of day of the month and it meant Adam would have to prepare the breakfast, while Grace would prepare their uniforms. This was how they managed their lifestyle.
"What would her highness like to eat today?" Adam asked as he got up.
Grace chuckled, "You're a good cook, anything will do. And since we started taking that potion given by Ragnar, we are healthier than ever."
"Yes, Ragnar is a good kid. Sad what happened to his family, but let's try to make him feel at home with us." Adam said.
"That we will. Okay, quick now, I have surgery to attend in 2 hours." Grace pushed him.
The two soon left their new big house in two cars. Adam reached his office to check what he had to do. Today, he was supposed to check up on a workshop at the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade. It was a small workshop inspection so he didn't take too many subordinates. Just one assistant and a driver. They got into the army issued range rover and reached the location in about an hour.
He hated this aspect of his job. He was a man of science, one who studied and created machines, but he knew it was important to do these inspections to make sure the army workshops are in good condition.
He got out of his car and immediately got on to work. But, while he was away, as his car was in the parking lot, some people did some things to it. After the inspection was done, they arrived back at the car with 20 other officers who were just sucking up to Adam as he was a senior ranking official.
After receiving some salutes, he went to the car. The driver went first to get in.
"Do I have anything else on my schedule for today?" Adam asked his assistant.
"No, sir. We're done for today."
"Good, I have some work to do back at the office. Let's head back, ah wait... let's grab something to eat first." Adam ordered.
Hearing him, the driver understood where he needed to drive to. He put the key in the ignition and turned it.
*BOOM*
...
Dumbledore apparated to the roof of the hospital building where Adam was brought in an emergency. Dumbledore changed his attire to a muggle suit with magic and stormed in.
Magnus and the rest followed close behind.
"I hope he had the charming items with him," Magnus muttered.
Soon, they arrived at the ICU unit. There were two soldiers standing guard outside the room. Dumbledore didn't even say anything and just entered unnoticed, maybe perks of magic.
But just before Dumbledore entered, Magnus passed by his side and ran in. The second he entered, he saw his mum, sitting beside the bed, while Adam was on the bed, covered in bandages from head to toe as many machines made noises around him. He was unconscious at the time.
"Mummy..." He called Grace.
She turned to him and teared up. She ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Sweetie, thank you for coming."
"How is dad?" He asked from her embrace.
Grace quickly controlled herself, "He's overall fine, broke a few bones and a lot of skin burns, but his mind went into shock during that explosion and it is unknown when he will wake up. I think the magical items you gave us saved his life. But his assistant and the driver immediately lost their lives."
Magnus nodded and slowly moved closer to his dad. He held his hand in his, "Who did it?"
He was still thinking that it was probably the royal family or maybe the Death Eaters. But bomb blasts are a muggle style of attack and wizards usually do direct attacks.
*Knock Knock*
Their talks stopped as a man came in. He was in a casual suit of an office worker.
"I am Henry, from Military Intelligence. I was ordered to bring this file to you and this letter." He said and handed a file to Grace. He looked at Magnus from the corner of his eyes and left the room as quickly as he came.
Grace immediately opened the file and read it. Magnus, on the other hand, read the letter as it was for him.
"To Magnus Grant Emrys Pendragon, I, Elizabeth II, writes this to clarify that what happened this morning is in no way related to me or my family. It was a crime committed by some people who have been a nuisance for a while now. The intel from Intelligence is passed on to you so you can make a sound judgement. I will pray for a speedy recovery of your father..."
Magnus read it and closed it soon after. "Mum, can you give me the file?"
She was already done reading it. As soon as Magnus started reading it, Severus and Ragnar also came close to him and read.
It turned out, this attack was planned not by the royal family and neither by the death eaters.
"WHO THE HELL IS IRA?" Ragnar immediately questioned as he was also very angry. Snape had questions all over his face too. But Dumbledore sighed behind him.
Magnus continued reading the report. The more he read the more he got angry. As it turned out, Adam wasn't even the primary target of the attack.
This bombing was actually done in retaliation to Bloody Sunday. A massacre that took place on January 30 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, when British soldiers shot 26 civilians during a protest march against internment without trial.
The place Adam went to was the headquarter of the 16th parachute brigade, the same brigade responsible for what happened in January.
The IRA terrorists were just looking for a high-value target, something that would make news. And unfortunately, Adam was there, in his full military uniform, looking all important because so many officers were roaming around him.
The terrorists chose him and planted a bomb on the car. In the whole incident, only two people lost their lives, it's considered a miracle how Adam survived. Other than this, there were 20 more officers present so see Adam off. All of them faced some level of injury with only one in critical condition.
Magnus didn't reply to Ragnar's question as even he didn't know much about the IRA and what was happening in Northern Ireland.
All he knew was that innocent people were losing their lives because a few can't seem to be able to tolerate people of another group that has an identical religion to them. But he knew he needed to know more as less information was dangerous.
But revenge was not his priority at the moment. Getting his dad to wake up was.
"Don't worry, mom. I will help him." Magnus said and moved closer to Adam's unconscious body.
He softly forced Adam's eyes open slightly.
"MAGNUS, WHAT ARE Y..." Grace wanted to reprimand him but was stopped by Dumbledore as he knew what Magnus was doing. Why did he have confidence in Magnus? Because he saw Magnus performing Legilimency on Thomas Shelby in Thomas' memory.
Magnus gently entered Adam's mind. He started seeing some memories, but what he was looking for was the ongoing things Adam was feeling in his mind. Was it a blank space or memory?
Soon enough, he came upon a memory where a little 5 years of Adam was sitting on the backseat of a big bicycle as another man rode it slowly.
They were riding on the roads passing through destroyed parts of the city from the bombings. World War 2 was at its peak at this point and life was not easy for Europe. Only the American economy was growing like no tomorrow because they sat in a safe location where only the Japanese dared to attack, though just once.
Magnus saw the memory unfold. Little Adam was cute, but he had messy hair and dirty clothes. He held onto his father's shirt tightly while looking around at the destroyed part of the city with big eyes.
Magnus was for the first time seeing his grandfather. He had only seen photos until now. Soon, he heard his grandpa talk to his father.
"Adam, son. You must be frustrated why your dad is so poor, why you can't buy candy like other kids. I'm sorry, I failed our family by being unable to earn more. You may not understand my words right now but always remember them.
"Being born poor is totally normal, but, dying poor is entirely your fault and nobody's to blame for it except you. For you, education is the way to a better life. Someday, this war is bound to come to an end, then this country will need young, smart men to carry the country on their back and return it to its past glory.
"Huh... What am I blabbering to a 5-year-old? Adam, I saved you a bar of chocolate today. Do you want it?" He asked lovingly.
Little Adam happily cheered, "YES, DAD. I love chocolates."
*AIR RAID SIRENS*
"AH! Those damn Nazis. We're close to home, hold on tight, Adam." He instructed and paddled home faster.
Magnus saw everything unfold. He realised that life was truly hell back then, and his dad had seen such bad days. He realised that he was lucky and privileged since his childhood, because he was born to two loving and successful parents.
As the memory was coming to an end, he found Adam going to his bed at night to sleep. The bombings had ended and luckily their house didn't collapse today. His bed was placed in the kitchen as there was no extra room, it was a folding bed they would place for him there every night.
Adam just stared at the ceiling. Nobody, even Magnus didn't know what was going on in the mind of the young child. Was it simple candies, or was it something more complex?
"Study hard?" Adam muttered to himself.
"I WILL!" He firmly decided a second later and covered himself under the sheet.
*WOOSH*
But, all of a sudden, Magnus found the little Adam taking off the blanket and turning his head towards where Magnus was seeing from.
Magnus felt as if he was really visible. But next, he felt goosebumps.
"Magnus?"
As soon as his name was called, he felt his consciousness getting pulled back.
As he was leaving, he only one more scene. One was from the second the bomb just blew off. There was fear, anger and regret in that memory as Adam tried to cover his face from the coming explosion of fire, while in his mind only one thought was going, "I CAN NOT DIE... NOT YET!"
The next scene Magnus saw was where Grace and Adam were talking to each other seriously. In front of them was baby Magnus, in the cradle.
"We will have to tell him someday..." Grace muttered.
"And that's the right thing, but, until then, let's shower him with love. Awww... My Magnus... Don't eat the wood... Here, this is honey..." Adam voiced and dotted on the baby Magnus.
*WOOSH*
Magnus found himself back in his own head. ~Tell me what?~
But he couldn't ponder on it as he saw Adam open his eyes slowly. His pupils turned to Magnus and a soft small smile appeared on his visible lips, surrounded by bandages.
Magnus quickly held Adam's hand, "Don't worry, you will be fine soon. Don't worry about the burn, magic can create miracles when it comes to medical magic."
There was a slight nod of acknowledgement by Adam. He was still in pain, as his whole body had received burns to some degree.
Grace also came forward with a crying face, "Magnus is right, honey. Don't worry. Everything will be alright. I will be here with you the whole time."
They talked to Adam for a while, it was only them speaking though. Soon, Adam fell asleep. Grace refused to go back to work or home so Magnus just shifted Adam to the most luxurious room where Grace would also get a comfortable couch to rest.
After that, he came out of the room. Ragnar and Severus were waiting for what Magnus would decide next. But he wasn't going to decide anything right now as Dumbledore was here.
But, one thing was certain, he would not let the criminals go.
"I can negotiate with anyone, but there is a red line they should never cross, and that is my family. I don't care who the terrorist was, or why he did it. All I know is that my dad is in hospital and my mummy is crying." he said.
But Magnus silently completed what he was saying, ~And for each drop of blood and tear my dad and mum lost, they will have to pay.~
[You can see Explosion and the Bombed London street from Adam's memory on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
______________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone