Warning: Language. Lots of language.
A/N: For the Reviews Lounge Halloween Challenge--will be posted under "Something Wicked This Way Comes" at the Reviews Lounge account, as well. Check it out! (And review!)
It was mild, for a Halloween night, the wind lazily picking up and replacing the leaves on the ground. She stood with her wand clutched tightly in her hand, a scarf round her neck.
"What the hell are you doing, Em? It's balmy today!" Caradoc would never understand.
"Fuck off, Dearborn…" she mumbled. She was in a bad mood tonight. "Has anyone seen Peter or Sirius?"
"No. You're going to have to patrol." Remus sounded weary, as he always did, and Caradoc nudged him.
"Cheer up, old chap!" he said happily. "It's balmy today!"
Remus Apparated away with no response, and Caradoc sighed. "He doesn't get it," he told her.
"I know. Neither do I." She was gone.
The last glimmers of daylight were fading from the sky as she paced in front of St. Mungo's, something inside her nervous. The fading lines of pale pink lipstick along the horizon slowly disappeared, and she sighed. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
She sent a Patronus to Caradoc. Everything all right by you?
It's good on my end, was the response. It's so balmy today!
She rolled her eyes, wondering if he was kidding. It would be like him to kid when he, too, knew something was wrong. His fearless boar was somehow different tonight, uneasy and unhappy as it faded into the rapidly darkening twilight. She heaved a long sigh, chewing on her lip and jumping at any movement around her.
A Healer-in-Training left St. Mungo's, and she snapped around quickly. "Who are you?" she demanded.
"N-Nancy. You know me, Em," she said, nerves clearly acting up.
"What curse did I use on you in Seventh Year when you accused me of being friends with Lucius Malfoy?"
"Body-Bind. Then, you lectured me for almost an hour." She shivered at the memory. Emmeline's thin lips twitched slightly.
"Correct."
"What's wrong, Em?" Nancy asked.
She shrugged. "I'm just…uneasy tonight. It's nothing, of course."
Nancy knew this was a lie. When she felt uneasy, it meant something bad would happen—her feelings were as reliable as anything.
"I've got to go. 'Bye—happy Halloween!" Her voice tried to be cheery, but changed into a strange, thin whisper, like an old parchment being turned over. She cleared her throat and hurried away, her eyes flickering around her.
"Something is not right," she murmured to herself.
And a moment later, the unthinkable happened.
What the hell are you talking about? Her Patronus hurried away from her as tears gathered in eyes that never cried. She paced some more, the echoing of her footsteps like a haunting repetition of Caradoc's message: Tragedy.
Lily and James Potter were murdered tonight by You-Know-Who. The boy survives. More information coming later.
The night air froze around her as she heard the message. She tightened the scarf, her limbs suddenly jelly about to be poured unceremoniously from the jar.
She could not pace a second longer. She collapsed in a heap. If a Death Eater were to come, she would be easy prey. She could not move an inch—only Caradoc's next message awoke her from the strange trance.
You-Know-Who has been defeated by Harry Potter! Happiness reigns! By the way, the night is still balmy.
He was joking again. Caradoc did not know what was good for him. She Apparated, the tears still hidden behind her eyelashes. Happiness does not reign.
She appeared in front of him, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and unshed tears. "What the fuck are you playing at?" she demanded. "What right do you have to joke when Lily and James Potter, two of the nicest people you will ever meet, have just died? Who cares if the night is fucking balmy? You bastard!"
He stared at her, a smile frozen into his features with tear-tracks down his face. "Do you get angry when you're grieving? Because I joke when I'm grieving."
And he gathered her in a hug as they collapsed, sobbing together, the fate of their friends mixed in cruelly with some sense of strange triumph.
Happy Halloween.