"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life" - Winston Churchill
Chapter 21: Chaos
"Pro-professor wait!" Albus managed to stammer despite his daze, but Blackwood had already left the room. Albus, realizing that acting on impulse had backfired tremendously today once already, sat still near the Veil, weighing his options. On one end, he was safe. On the other, he wouldn't be for long if it was indeed the Dark Alliance down there. And considering Blackwood's state of mind, they would probably mow through her. He didn't want his former professor to get hurt...
He dove over the bed as well, gripping his wand and breathing heavily as he did so. He left the room and turned down the corridor leading to the stairs, just in time to hear a shrill voice that was hardly more welcome than the Dark Alliance.
"Drop your wand! I am the Head Auror!"
Fischer Albus thought to himself, suddenly cold. He crept down the stairs, seeing Blackwood standing on the bottom most step, her wand raised. Albus shifted his head and saw Fischer standing alone, her robes completely back, her hair as ruffled as always. When she saw Albus walking down the stairs her lips curled into a smile.
"I spend weeks following yourTraceto see you out of bounds, and I'm finally rewarded!" she shrieked. "Out of bounds, during exams, in suspicious company-excellent-just excellent-"
Blackwood turned to Albus, her eyes swiveling crazily, her voice barely more than a whisper when she spoke.
"Who...is she...?" she said angrily, and Albus detected something similar to betrayal in her voice.
"Pro-professor-"
"Who is she San!" she barked, sounding close to tears. Fischer ignored their exchange.
"Over here, Potter, I'm taking you back to school-"
But Blackwood had rounded on her, flourishing her wand as she did so. There was a streak of red light, which Fischer dodged only just in time.
"How dare you!" she bellowed, removing her wand, and Albus instinctively leaped over the banister of the stairs to separate the two women.
"Ms. Fischer, wait!" he pleaded. "She's not right in the head!"
"Out of the way Potter, you're in enough trouble as it is-"
Before anything else could happen, however, an extremely unwelcome noise was heard; angry voices. At the next moment, the front door to the house had been blown off of its hinges, and Albus knew that it was not the Ministry this time...
"There, the Potter boy!"
It was a group of shadowy figures, all of them adorned in frightening red masks. Albus lost count after seven.
"Behind me!" both Fischer and Blackwood yelled to him, and they both, interestingly enough, moved in front of him, wands turned on the Dark Alliance members now instead. Some of them laughed however, and Albus understood why at once. They were quite outmatched.
Albus crouched low behind his two guardians, all the while feeling humiliated. He should not be hiding...
"Tell Warren you can't have him!" Blackwood screeched at the group. "San's done nothing wrong!"
Even with their masks on, it was easy to tell that the Dark Alliance members were bemused. Fischer too cast a sideways glance at her.
"Drop your wands!" Fischer said confidently, and Albus was forcibly reminded of Uncle Ron at Lisa Vincent's wedding. "Cooperating now will permit certain rights otherwise-"
"Stupefy!" one of them shouted, and Fischer whipped her wand upwards. The spell deflected itself back, hitting one of the other masked figures square in their red face. They fell to the ground in a heap of robes, and the other figures gave a cry of anger and all brandished their wands.
"Into the kitchen!" Fischer hissed at them, just as a variety of hexes and curses flew at them, and Albus dove towards the dining room, Blackwood trailing along behind him.
"No!" Albus yelled, looking back at Fischer; whatever his feelings towards her, he did not want her dead. He needn't have worried however. She deflected them all expertly, and Albus supposed that he should have expected this; she was the Co-Head Auror after all. Blackwood forced him along into the grimy kitchen, where they both took refuse behind the bar top.
Just as they were crouching down Blackwood turned to him, grabbing his chin and pulling his face around.
"Who is that woman!" she barked.
"Professor, now is really not the time, and I'm sorry, but you don't know what's going on-"
"Warren knows our location" she cut him off quickly. "The Hammer will be here any minute-"
"Professor!" he exclaimed, and just now did he realize that he had no reason to call her this. Still, he didn't feel right calling her anything else. "Professor, that's not WAR, it's the Dark-"
Fischer slid towards them, raising her wand high above the bar top and firing a canary yellow spell aimlessly. Albus heard a whelp and knew that it connected.
"Potter, listen to me-" she started.
"Who are you!" Blackwood cut her off immediately.
Fischer turned to Albus in confusion, speaking loudly to cover up the sounds of spells whizzing over their heads. "What is her problem?" she asked.
"It's a long story" Albus replied hurriedly. "She thinks I'm someone else-"
"Blow the damn kitchen up!" someone yelled, and Albus felt his heart miss a beat.
"Expluso!" someone shouted.
Blackwood stood up and aimed her own wand.
"Confringo!" she said unexpectedly, and from what Albus could hear, the two destructive spells had met in mid-air. The next thing that Albus knew debris was raining down on him, with people coughing and sputtering due to the smoke. Albus poked his head up and saw utter destruction in the dining room. The moldy table, for instance, was a pile of splinters.
"Potter, listen to me" Fischer said to him. "The enchantments around this house make it impossible to penetrate the actual exterior walls. I am going to rush in and attempt to garner their attention. You will head upstairs, and that is where you will stay!"
"Don't you have reinforcements?" he asked, eyes half closed because they were stinging from the dust in the air. Fischer shook her head furiously however, her spectacles almost sliding off of her nose as she did so.
"Following you was a personal ambition. But now that we have some free time-"
She waved her wand, and a silvery substance came out; a patronus. Albus knew this technique to have been used by Fairhart before, and could only assume that it was common Ministry practice now. The patronus molded itself into the shape of a small bird with a curved beak-a parakeet.
"Send word to the Ministry of Magic!" she told it. "Last records of Insta-Floo used is current location, we are under attack! Potter is with me!" she added urgently.
Just as the bird soared through the kitchen wall they heard the shuffle of footsteps. Albus watched as both Blackwood and Fischer stood up with their arms raised, simultaneously firing a stunning spell that merged in mid-air, knocking the unfortunate foe off of his feet and backwards onto the pile of wood in the dining room.
"Now, Potter!" Fischer exclaimed, and the three of them charged out of the kitchen and back into the sitting room, where there were still several more enemies, all of them firing lethal looking spells.
"No!" Albus shouted, his eyes catching a deadly looking purple curse that was aimed directly at Fischer from behind. He whipped his own wand upwardsand without time to articulate, said in his head Protego!
The spell worked perfectly, rebounding and hitting the same opponent, causing them to crumble and wail in agony. Albus was so surprised at his nonverbal proficiency that he didn't even notice the cloaked individual behind him, who had unleashed a fiery orange spell-
He felt Blackwood force his head down and fire her own spell, which knocked the cloaked figure off of his feet easily. They had little time to revel in their success however. Albus did not know how long it would take Ministry reinforcements to arrive, but the Dark Alliance ones were already here. More and more masked figures were shuffling themselves through the destroyed doorway.
"Potter, what are you doing!" Fischer roared, dodging a spell while simultaneously flinging her wand in a fluid motion. The television set, which had somehow remained in place this entire time, flew into the air and shot itself towards one of the masked figures extremely fast, catching him off guard and knocking him in the head with a horrible shattering noise. "Get out of here!"
Albus nodded and leapt over a body on the ground, running up the staircase two steps at a time as he did so.
"After him!" someone yelled, and at the next moment he saw a masked figure chasing after him.
Albus pointed his wand at the stairs, and thought of a spell once more-this time, the Trip-Jinx. The masked figure, unaware of this, fell forward and banged his head on the edge of one of the steps, his mask flying off to reveal a now bloody face. The body toppled down the staircase effortlessly, but it was leapt over by another masked figure, this one with his wand already raised-
There was a flash of green light, and this man too had fallen on the staircase, only this time, there was no mistaking the full impact of the curse. He was dead. At the foot of the stairs stood Blackwood, looking as stoic as she had all day; her ability to kill without thinking much of it reminded Albus forcibly of Fairhart. Albus watched as she returned to the battle, then ran for the hall.
He didn't know quite why he did it, but he instinctively returned to the master bedroom-the one with the Veil in front of it. Only when he was standing right next to the magnificent and haunting arch did he realize what his intentions were.
"Go gold, go gold, go gold-" he muttered to himself repeatedly, for the first time that he could recall, now wanting this strange power to possess him. He wanted to do anything to help, anything to contribute. Nothing happened however. Why couldn't he have more control over it?
The bangs and explosions from below him brought him agony with each and every instance, but it was these noises that kept him alive and on his toes. So long as there was struggle, he reasoned, his two unlikely guardians were putting up a fight. Fischer appeared to be much more skilled than Albus had given her credit for, and Blackwood-despite appearing to be downright delusional-had retained her magical skills as well. But would it be enough?
He heard thundering footsteps, and he braced himself immediately. He aimed his wand right at the doorway, and sure enough, a masked figure slid in front of it. Rather than raising their wand however, the figure stared through the holes in their mask in awe, and it took Albus a moment to register what it was that had him so surprised-
"The Veil!" he squealed, sounding delighted. "The boss was right, up here, the Executioner's Veil-"
"Silencio!" Albus cried, cutting him off at once. "Reducto!" he added, and the Dark Alliance member was blown back several feet, falling through the door on the opposite side of the hall, which appeared to be a horrendously dirty bathroom.
For a fraction of a second there was silence downstairs, and then he heard the rush of footsteps belonging to far more than one individual, but rather an entire group of duelists. Albus knew at once what was going on. The Dark Alliance was interested in more than just his cadaver-Darvy wanted the Veil as well. And Fischer too would be after it, as it belonged to the Ministry. It seemed as though Blackwood, interestingly enough, as she was in charge of its safety, was the only one who did not register the importance of the dark object. Unwilling to let the Dark Alliance anywhere near it, however, Albus hurried out of the bedroom and towards the staircase once again, where sure enough, there were five or six masked figures running up it-
"Glisseo!" he exclaimed, and they all looked up in surprise as the steps below them transformed into a straight sheet of carpet, completely void of indentations. They all toppled over due to the new slide like passageway, collapsing atop one another and tumbling down into a heap of angry robes and masks at the bottom of the stairs. Albus pointed his wand at the ceiling above them.
"Deprimo! Deprimo!" he shouted, and the ceiling began to fracture inwards, caving in and causing chunks of brick and cement to fall atop his victims.
He could not help but smile to himself as he stared down at the group of incapacitated foes; pleased with himself immensely, though still shaken. There was no time to marvel at his success however-a battle was still going on in the center of the room, with Blackwood and Fischer somehow cooperating extremely well together as they dueled with the few Dark Alliance members left. Their opposition was starting to dwindle...
There was a tremendous explosion in the doorway, and soon the room was shrouded in smoke once more. Albus peered into the ruin with obscured vision, and what he saw almost made him faint.
"You lot," The Hammer started, jerking his head at the renegades to the left that had followed him in, "get the Veil. The rest of you, help me clean this mess up..."
The battle between the few remained Dark Alliance members and Blackwood and Fischer ended abruptly, those wearing red masks turning their attention to the renegades instead. Albus watched as the Hammer, adorned in typical WAR garb and looking more intimidating than ever, flourished his wand with a powerful slashing motion. Two of the Dark Alliance members were lifted from the air and thrown backwards immediately. He next reached into the pile of muddled bodies that Albus had just created, using his bare hands to lift a dazed Dark Alliance member up like a rag doll. He tossed the man much like how Hagrid would, and he landed on top of his two companions.
Albus had no time to survey the new addition to the frenzy; WAR members seemed to have somehow deduced that the Veil was here, and what's more, they immediately went for the stairs-probably because that's where most of the groaning bodies were. Albus turned on his heel to run back to his hiding place, but not before he had witnessed something truly shocking. With the Dark Alliance members now preoccupied with WAR, Blackwood had turned on Fischer, firing a lethal looking spell at her.
"Professor, no!" Albus yelled, and this alerted Fischer to the stream of white light. She dodged it narrowly and spun around, flailing her own wand so that multiple blue hexes erupted from it in a staccato like pattern. Blackwood knocked them away each one at a time, but Albus forced himself to look away and return to the Veil.
Connections were going off in his head despite his dire state. Blackwood, now sure that Albus-who she believed to be Fairhart-was safe, was now fighting for something that only her wounded mind could comprehend. As for the combination of combatants, Albus realized that Fischer had answered that for him earlier; it was his Trace that had drawn them all here. A series of leaks that had all brought them to this one muggle residence from years ago, some of them after Albus, some after the Veil, and some after both...
Albus dove behind the bed once again, hoping that neither Fischer nor Blackwood were causing lasting damage to one another, and that the Ministry reinforcements would be here soon. He was too full of adrenaline to feel either completely frightened or hopeful; the only thoughts that could go through his head now was that once his father came with a team of Aurors, everything would be okay.
But the bangs from downstairs only served as proof that they were not there just yet, and the tumbling on the ruins of stairs were his reminder that he still had a Veil to protect until help arrived. He was not entirely sure why it bothered him if WAR had the object; it was preferable to the Dark Alliance having it anyway. All that he knew was that he felt strangely protective of the Veil, and that he wanted it safely back in the Ministry's hands, above all others...
Two WAR members appeared at the frame of the door. Albus instinctively brandished his wand and took aim. Concentrating as hard as he could on stunning, he fired a crimson spell towards them both, but it was deflected away easily.
"We're not here to hurt you Potter, that's over with!" the older looking one growled, and Albus saw spit flying from in between his teeth as he spoke. "Don't make us get nasty-"
The other renegade slashed his wand through the air and a jet of red light fired, but Albus, acting entirely on impulse, flung his wand upwards so that the mattress of the bed raised itself up like a shield, taking the blunt of the blast and landing smoking in the corner.
Albus, unsure of how best to battle two people from a cramped position behind a box spring, started firing disarming spells at random, hoping to catch at least one of them off guard, though it failed. He watched as the two of them raised their wands up menacingly-
Albus dove down low and felt the spells scorch the back of his neck, hitting the sides of the Veil, though it seemed to have no effect on the architecture. He saw the feet of his enemies from underneath the bed, and he knew that they would not be expecting such a juvenile attack-
He jerked his wand to the side, concentrating fiercely on the carpet yanking itself upwards. It worked; both of his foes staggered and fell over, and at the next moment, Albus had removed his head from underneath the box spring and leapt over it, banging his knee painfully as he did so and twisting himself into an offensive position.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" he shouted at the figures, who were trying to regain their balance, and they both crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
Albus breathed a sigh of relief, wondering when more renegades would make their way up, and, more importantly, if the Ministry had even received Fischer's message. With a pang he wondered about the safety of his only two, unlikely companions on this battle. He stepped over the bodies of the two renegades and went to the stairs, where his previous victims were still laying under rubble just a few feet below. The noise had lessened slightly. He slowly peeked downstairs...
The sitting room looked as though it had been despoliated. There was ashes and rubble everywhere, with either shaking or immobile bodies scattered across the dirty floor. The sofa was smoking as though it had at one point been set on fire, and the tables with photographs had all been overturned, the frames holding memories shattered and ruined. Albus also saw, with a pang in his gut, that the fireplace had been completely destroyed as well. For some strange reason, only the massive grandfather clock in the corner of the room seemed untouched.
Only two battles were still going on, with the Hammer and his team of renegades practically bullying the three or four Dark Alliance members who were still standing. The masked figures were merely dodging and squealing now as they had hex after hex thrown at them, completely outnumbered. The other duel was between Blackwood and Fischer.
His former professor was firing spells in a ferocious and malevolent manner, her teeth bared and her eyes bulging as each streak of light emitted from her wand. Fischer was mostly defending, deflecting them all with relative ease, though she appeared tired as well. Albus wanted to yell out, to stop them from fighting, but he didn't want to attract attention to himself. Something happened to cause this diversion anyway, however.
There was an explosion from somewhere else in the house, and Albus' heart leapt. It he had to pinpoint it, he would have thought it had come from the kitchen. Hadn't Fischer said that the enchantments around the house made it impossible to penetrate? It must have been someone extremely powerful then... like his father.
Albus hopped down the stairs, jumping over the group of moaning Dark Alliance members on the floor, and watched as all heads turned to the dining room, the one place separating the battle from the arrival in the grimy kitchen. He heard footsteps-
His jaw dropped. It was not his father at all. Standing instead in the frame of the door was a tall, gleaming figure, adorned in all silver, mask on securely and wand dangling by their side loosely. The Silver Wizard had arrived. There was yelling from everyone in the room, and only Albus watched the vigilante closely, looking for signs of whatever was going on inside of their mind.Their headturned downwards and to the floor, and though Albus could see no eyes, he was sure that they were focused on the broken picture frames scattered across the destroyed floor. Albus watched as the Silver Wizard began to shake, positive that they were, for some reason, infuriated.
The Silver Wizard raised their wand up high, and a bolt of green light soared through the air quickly, aimed directly, strangely, at the Hammer. Albus watched without breathing as Warren's right hand man grabbed one of his companions and forced him in front as a shield, causing him to take the force of the curse and crumble to the ground in a dead heap. Immediately, Albus watched as the members of both WAR and the Dark Alliance combined and turned to face their common threat, wands raised-
The Silver Wizard slashed their wand through the air a single time, and streams of red light flew throughout the house, bouncing off of the walls and striking two or three people in the middle of their incantations. Fischer, Albus noticed, had dodged the spell fired at her and had stopped paying attention to Blackwood, who strangely had been nowhere in the vicinity of a spell. The Co-Head Auror stared at the Silver Wizard hungrily for a moment, and Albus knew that, despite the heat of the battle, she was now mulling things over in her head meticulously, contemplating the best way to capture the prize that she'd sought all year.
Albus forced himself up against a wall as the Silver Wizard began walking forward in a slow manner, avoiding the curses and hexes thrown at them by merely twisting their body away from them. He slashed his wand through the air and what looked like a blast of wind issued, colliding with two Dark Alliance members and sending them backwards in something that resembled a cyclone; their heads banged together, knocking their masks off as they gave yells of terror.
Albus heard small, almost indistinct grunts, and he looked around rapidly in an attempt to find their origin. This was answered when he looked down. A few of the Dark Alliance members that he'd knocked out with the ceiling before were stirring, removing the large pieces of concrete from their frail bodies...
The Silver Wizard continued their decimation of the few remaining combatants, not pausing for a single moment as they slashed their wand through the air repeatedly. The Hammer, having repositioned himself so that he was behind the masked wizard, fired an icy blue spell clandestinely, but the Silver Wizard flipped their wand over the back of their head, creating a shield without even aiming. The bubble like substance repelled the cerulean spell away, and it connected with the Hammer's face, sending him to the ground in pain.
Only a few other threats remained in the way now, and they were all cowered behind pieces of obliterated furniture. Albus noticed that the Silver Wizard had a propensity for aiming their wand at the ground and firing killing curses as they walked, the jets of green light hitting already unmoving adversaries as if to ensure their deaths. He recognized the tactic from a scene that he'd witness just an hour or so ago. Could it be...?
The Silver Wizard slashed their wand through the air two more times, identical killing curses flying through the air and killing those attempting to crouch. Albus stood where he was numbly, not impressed at what he was seeing, but sickened by it. The last time he'd seen the Silver Wizard battle, they had been vicious. But they had not killed. Now, however, they looked too angry to care...
Albus was blasted off of his feet suddenly, and as he clutched his ribs he saw who had done it. Two of the Dark Alliance members that he'd rendered obsolete earlier had dug themselves out of the rubble, and were now heading for the stairs; Albus knew that they were trying to salvage something from their disaster of a trip.
He glanced into the center of the room and saw the Silver Wizard blast a hopeless WAR member to the ground. Realizing that he had no one to worry about in terms of being followed up, he chased after the two red masked figures, who were hobbling up the broken steps on injured legs.
He clutched his ribs as he moved, sure that there had been no lasting damage done, but still quite in pain. He fought through it however, wheezing as he chased after the two wizards who had been so weak that they hadn't even been able to muster a Killing Curse to throw at him when he was unsuspecting. He could take these two out, he was sure of it-
They staggered their way through the door to the room with the Veil in it, and Albus followed them in, wand raised, positive that if he could just stop these two he would guarantee the object's safety. One of the Dark Alliance members jabbed their wand at one of the white pillows on the floor.
"Portus!" he growled, and Albus saw that the man-who had beady eyes and dirty, long hair-was bleeding profusely from his nose. The pillow began to glow blue.
"Stupe-" Albus started, forgetting about nonverbal magic entirely, but the other Dark Alliance member was faster.
"Crucio!" he bellowed.
Albus felt pain course through his limbs like never before. It was as though every inch of his body was sizzling under fire; it was far worse than what he experienced during the moments before his inexplicable transformations. His skin was being pierced deeper and deeper every second, excruciating pain the only thought that he could truly register completely, and though he could only hear his own blood-curdling screams- which were entirely uncontrollable-he could still see what was happening from his writhing position. The first Dark Alliance member had one hand on the Veil and one on the pillow, ready to transport it out. The other had his wand aimed at Albus, smiling widely and showing off his crooked teeth as the torture commenced-
Though he could hear nothing but his own yells, he could feel footsteps approaching. As his body twisted and contorted to match the awful pain he was feeling, he saw the hem of silver robes at ground level, and then managed to twist his head up and glance at the most dangerous person in the house.
Get the one with the Veil! The Veil! Ignore me! he thought as loud as he could, as though it mattered. He watched as the Silver Wizard raised their wand-
There was a streak of green light, and the pain stopped; Albus felt the strange feeling of both relief and displeasure course through his body. The man who had been torturing him was on the floor, dead. But the other Dark Alliance member-along with the Veil-was gone. By stopping Albus' pain, the Silver Wizard had missed their opportunity to stop the Veil being taken away.
"No-" Albus sputtered out, feeling, for the first time since he'd foolishly flooed himself to this wretched battlefield, completely defeated.
Albus was still shaking with pain as the Silver Wizard grabbed him and heaved him upwards, but before anything else could happen, his freshly freed ears heard a whelp of pain. The Silver Wizard dashed downstairs, and Albus, now with much more than just his ribcage in complete agony, was forced to drag along behind him, using the mangled banister for what little support it could provide as he made his way down what could not longer actually be called a staircase.
The Silver Wizard had eliminated all who had served as opposition, but Albus noticed that the Hammer, and only the Hammer, it seemed, had fled during the ending of the massacre-his spot on the floor was vacant anyway. Only two duelists were still at it; Blackwood and Fischer.
"Confringo!" Blackwood bellowed, her robes torn and her wand hand bloody.
Fischer ducked just in time. "Come off it you crazy hag!" she shrieked, and Albus realized that Fischer still did not realize why Blackwood was attacking her; perhaps she thought her to simply be another WAR or Dark Alliance member. She dodged the next hex thrown at her as well, her glasses lopsided on her face and her own robes smoking as though they'd been scorched at some point.
The Silver Wizard was looking in between them, apparently contemplating the best way to stop them. Neither of them, Albus realized, were the usual victims of vigilantism-one was no longer a renegade, and the other was a Ministry member.
Albus ran towards them both however, intent on stopping the battle anyway that he could, though this proved to be a mistake. He was caught in the crossfire, and an orange jinx fired by Fischer hit him in his shoulder, causing him to stumble back and clutch it with his other arm, an intense stinging pain now added to his other problems. Blackwood gave a roar of rage and raised her wand up high.
"No!" Albus gasped towards her, sinking to the floor, but it was too late.
"Avada Kedavra!" Blackwood shrieked, and the jet of green light soared through the air; Fischer narrowly avoided it by leaping out of the way.
"How dare you!" the Auror spat, and she came out of her roll with her own wand brandished, a fiery purple, lethal looking hex streaking from her own wand. Blackwood, who had been watching Albus to make sure he was okay, was hit square in the chest, right above the collar bone.
"No!" Albus barked again, reaching out with his other hand now, as Blackwood staggered backwards, grabbing her neck and sputtering. The Silver Wizard had dove towards her now, but they were not quick enough. His former professor backed up and collided into the strangely still untouched grandfather clock, which fell over-
Blackwood gave a frail shriek as the towering pillar of wood and metal crashed down upon her, slamming her into the ground and causing her to choke up blood. Albus felt his insides writhe as the dark red liquid spilled out of her throat, no doubt a combination of both the curse and the weight of the clock.
Fischer looked on almost placidly, somewhat unnerved but making no attempt to interfere or help; she seemed to be relived that her own danger was over.
Then, without warning, Albus heard the Silver Wizard speak.
"Ida no!" yelled a man's familiar voice, and Albus' insides froze. I knew it.
The Silver Wizard slid over to Blackwood on his knees, removing his mask as he did so. Tears were streaming from Fairhart's face as he raised his wand and waved it through the air, sending the massive clock spiraling off of her body and into the corner of the room, now just another piece of broken decor.
"Ida! Ida! Look at me!" he roared, wrapping his arms around her body. Blood was still spilling out of her mouth. Fairhart was now waving his wand back and forth over her face and neck, muttering incantations that he knew were designed to heal. But Fairhart had told him a long time ago that he was less than proficient with healing spells...
Blackwood was still choking, her face chalk white. Albus heaved himself into a standing position, both surprised and terrified. The look on his face was nothing compared to Blackwood's however. She was looking nothing more than utterly perplexed, staring into Fairhart's face with wide eyes. And then, her ghost of a face turned to Albus, who she had been calling Fairhart this entire time.
"I-I-I-I don't-I-I don't under-"
More blood was spilling out of her mouth.
"Ida stay with me!" Fairhart growled, and he immediately went back to muttering his incantations, the tears now leaking from his face and onto her body. He was not the only one crying however. Blackwood too was shedding tears-they were mixed with the blood and mucus of her face. She looked both confused and pathetic as she uttered her next sentence in a frail breath.
"S-San" she choked out, looking back at him. "I'm so-I'm sor-I killed-"
"No, no, no no no no no!" Fairhart blurted, and Albus looked back at Fischer, who was looking quite unconcerned. Her wand was hanging loosely at her side, and Albus knew that she was still searching for the best opportunity to capture the Silver Wizard.
"Ida, stay with me-stay-Ida! Ida!" Fairhart was still spitting out, clutching her as though she were a treasure vanishing within his finger tips.
"I'm so sorry-I'm so-I'm so sorry-" Blackwood was wailing to him, and she reached up and attempted grab his face, all the while more murky red liquid spraying down her chin, her tears sliding down as well. "I'm sorry I-killed-you-" she finished, and she gave one final, rattling breath. Albus wasn't sure which one solidified it for him-this one shallow gasp for air or Fairhart's subsequent yell of pain-but he knew what had happened. Her suffering had finally ended. She was dead.
Fairhart collapsed on top of her, moaning louder and greater than Albus had ever heard anyone before, his hands running through her grimy, once beautiful golden hair, grasping it in anguish.