I'm back! I know its been a while but it'll be worth your wait. I've also recently updated my other fic - Things I Left Unsaid.

Disclaimer: As always I don't own anything but my OC's and ideas!

~Chapter 1. Something Blue~

The skies turn to fire as I watch helplessly from the ground. Everything is burning, flames of orange, white and blue set the air alight. The taste of sulphur and ash scorch my tongue but I try to ignore it. I can't think about that now. I can't think about anything. This is the end. I am going to die.

xxx

Ellie POV

I didn't realise where I was when I first came to. I was lying down in a stiff bed, my head rolled uncomfortably to one side. There were no windows in the room and the only door appeared to blur as I looked at it. Panicking slightly, I tried to push myself up but something straining against my wrist pushed me back down again. I didn't feel strong enough to use fire to burn it.

I tried to get a look of the room and realised that it was set up like a hospital—St. Mungos. There were two basket like objects in the room, each with an IV drip and monitor behind it. A cry rang out from one of the baskets, sharp and loud like...

"...Like a baby." I whispered, yanking my hands up and burning through the restraints with a flash of heat.

I crossed over to what was actually two incubators, my head spinning as I went. Using one hand as a balance I reached the first, where inside a beautiful baby boy was crying. I didn't try to pick him up, I knew I was too weak but I put out a hand to stroke his cheek and the wailing stopped instantly. I smiled and then turned to the other incubator.

This baby wasn't beautiful, it was clearly sick. She didn't cry—her eyes weren't even open and her chest was barely moving. When I touched her cheek her skin was ablaze, a white hot fever wracking through her body. I didn't have to be a healer to know that she was dying.

The click of an opening door diverted my attention but it wasn't George, Charlotte or Fred standing there. The figure was heavily cloaked with a pair of sunglasses hiding its eyes. In one hand it carried a wand and in the other a large bag. Without hesitation I put myself between the intruder and my children, holding my blazing fingers out as a warning.

"Oh my dear child." The intruder said in a woman's voice. It was familiar but I couldn't quite identify it. "You will never be able to harm me."

She raised her wand and muttered an incantation that I couldn't hear. A flash of white exploded outward and then my world faded to black.

xxx

George POV

Ellie had come back from surgery almost an hour ago but she still hadn't come round. Her hand in mine was dangerously hot but I didn't care, at least the heat meant she was alive. She always looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, so calm and free of pain. I'd always thought that I could achieve that look in the daylight hours, that my love could ease her mind like her dreams did. No amount of love was going to ease this pain though.

They hadn't let me see the baby and I'm not sure I would've have wanted to. I'm not sure I would've wanted to see that face, sick and pained, permanently etched onto my mind. Ellie would want to see her though, to hold her just once. She was going to be distraught. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, trying to muster up strength for when she woke up.

Ellie POV

The first thing that I was aware of was George's hand in my own, the second was the fact that I was burning up. With a conscious effort, I turned down the heat, determined not to burn my fiance.

"George." I whispered, opening my eyes.

He tried to smile at me but he couldn't commit to the expression. Tears lingered in his eyes as I put a hand to my stomach. It all came back in a rush. The pain, the bleeding, the deliria. Then the white halls of the hospital, the sedative, waking up in that room, the dying baby, being attacked. I listed the events off in my head, knowing by the look on George's face that the baby girl was now dead.

"But I was with her in the room. I thought she had longer." I murmured, trying to explain what had happened.

He looked down at me with sad eyes. "It was a dream, Ellie. The girl was never alive, she was stillborn."

A dream. The idea of being attacked in a hospital was a little far-fetched and yet I didn't believe my child was stillborn.

"Can I see her?" I asked, deciding not to continue talking about the attack for fear of upsetting George.

He shook his head, unable to speak. Then it hit me like a wave, the shock of it all giving way to the tears. I didn't want to cry—I hadn't in a long time—but I couldn't stop myself. I turned my head into the pillow, feeling it go damp beneath my face. George, who had been sitting by my side, eased himself onto the small bed and gathered me up into his arms.

Whether I had been dreaming or not, whether she had been stillborn or had died sometime after, didn't matter. She was dead now, her sickly face imprinted into my mind, ripping away at my heart.

xxx

Charlotte POV

I was tired and the beginnings of a headache were starting to appear. I could've gone home, George had insisted that Fred and I got some sleep but I didn't want to. Instead I stood in front if the nursery, watching their little baby with weary eyes. He was remarkably healthy, his face bright and alert. He hadn't suffered the same oxygen deprivation as his sister and aside from the fetal distress caused by the incident, he hadn't been affected at all.

Fred came up behind me, pressing a cup of coffee into my hand.

"You look exhausted."

"I'm fine. I can stay here as long as Ellie needs me to." I said, taking a long swig of the drink.

"Was it like this with Rizzo?" He asked.

"She left the hospital pretty quickly when Riz what born. She was sick quite a lot after, didn't give her body much of an opportunity to recover. Rizzo was sick a lot too, they didn't think she'd live past three." I shrugged. "But those Corems are fighters. I don't think I've seen an infant more determined to live."

Fred stared into the nursery, looking at the tiny faces as they slept. He had a sad look on his face.

"What I wouldn't give to be that blissfully unaware." He muttered bitterly whilst turning to look at me. "We have to tell them. I know they've been through a lot but they need to know sooner rather than later. It won't be safe for them here for much longer."

I sighed, my gaze still locked on the baby. "We'll tell George now. If I tell him you have to watch the baby. Once he knows he'll sign the baby out and we just have to hope that Ellie's strong enough to move."

"This last year has been perfect for them, hasn't it? Everyone was distracted either by Ellie's return or mine or Joreth's and Riley's. It gave them the chance to worm their way in."

I nodded. "That's how parasites work. You don't realise its there until you're almost dead." I finished the coffee and turned away from the nursery. "Its time to tell them."

Leaving Fred watching the baby, I made my way through the maternity unit to Ellie's room. I passed a woman cloaked in black, jumping out of her way as she barrelled blindly down the corridor, her gaze fixed on something in her bag.

When I got to the room I saw that Ellie was sitting up but leaning heavily against George's chest. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile.

"Hey, I didn't realise you were here."

I shrugged. "I'm your best friend and soon to be sister-in-law, I had to be here."

"Is everything okay?" George sounded worried.

"Everything's fine. Actually Ellie we were wondering if you wanted to see your son?"

Her smile grew a little brighter. "I'd like that, thanks."

George stood up, explaining that only parents could sign a child out of the nursery and followed me into the corridor.

"I need to tell you something." I said in a low voice.

"Okay."

"Whilst Ellie was in surgery we got a call from Emephile. Mella's taken over the Ministry and she's calling for a war against her enemies."

His eyes flickered back to where Ellie lay with her eyes closed. "She's too weak to move, she lost a lot of blood."

"She doesn't need to move far. I can apparate her back to the castle and then you and Fred can drive the baby back. If you look in my bag you'll find a travel seat—I've had it in there for weeks just in case."

He wiped a hand across his face tiredly. "You know we only just thought of a name for the baby." He sighed. "Timothy Tristain after her uncle...and she would've been Dakota Catherine." He shook his head. "I'll meet you back home."

I stepped back into the room and sat down by Ellie.

"You gonna explain that or am I just going to have to trust you?" She asked, her eyes still closed.

With a groan, I relayed the information back to her.

Her eyes snapped open, burning molten gold. "We can't apparate with the baby?"

I shook my head. "You know how dangerous that can be."

"Okay. Can I have a moment with him though? I just want to see his face."

"Of course."

xxx

Ellie POV

Timothy was a beautiful baby. His skin was a dark tan colour and his hair the same coppery auburn as Rizzo's. He had George's nose and mouth but my round eyes which opened to a brilliant blue. It was startling. Nearly every Corem—even Rizzo—had gold or flame coloured eyes but Timmy's were blue. They were rich like lapis lazuli and appeared to flicker like a flame. They were strange and alien but gorgeous.

"The two of you have some strange genetics going on there." Charlotte smiled, seeing the shocked expression on my face.

"He's going to be strong. Stronger than any Corem before him, I think."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Surely not stronger than his mother."

I smiled at him lovingly. "Even I can be bested."

So who is this mysterious woman in the hospital? Why did she attack Ellie? And what on earth will Mella do next? In the meantime you know what to do!

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Ella Bella xx