The cart pulled to a sudden stop, causing her to jerk forward the slightest bit no matter how long she had been using it.

Riptooth hopped off, the clangs in his hand sending the dragon skirting backward as they approached. Elia spared a moment to rub the blind dragon's snout, seeing a pale version of Iacomus in his place, before walking to the door.

The Potter vault required blood for identification, and she felt the tingle as the magic of the ring and the vault interacted, a slight stinging sensation that quickly faded as the door hissed open.

"I require an hour," she told the goblin, ignoring the slight sneer on his face as he turned back to his cart.

She entered alone, seeing the effects of their preparations on the vault itself. There were few piles of gold near the front, the rest having been converted to bars and placed in expanded trunks.

It was the jewellery she was here for today, the gems and the books being the last things that needed to be removed from the Potter vault.

Much like the Blacks, the Potters had kept any goblin-made items in their home, preventing accusations of theft on their part.

They had been packed away, and Elia shuffled through the remaining jewels, Maia and Teddy's inheritance – Aegon and Rhaenys as well, he had insisted – packaging them carefully as she worked. They were sure to garner envy, and this trunk would be warded almost as well as the one carrying their gold.

She took care with the books, most of them of the slightly darker variety or written in the handwriting of a former Potter; a thousand years of family history stored in the binds of well over a hundred journals, chronicling the rise of Hogwarts and the events that saw the family rise to prominence. The Potter portraits were the only things left to pack, the Peverells explaining how they had placed portraits in their parallel dimension. She had been relieved, glad that this one aspect of her new family would not remain lost to them.

In the quiet moments of their preparations, Elia felt the sadness at what they were doing; what they were forced into doing. Harry had been the only Potter for so long, and the return of his family to prominence had been marred by this latest complication.

The things people do for power, she thought.

"I don't care, you know," his voice said, forcing her to turn in surprise. He was leaning against a suit of armour, green eyes focused on her with a gentle look in them. "I could hear you brooding from the Black vault."

"I was not brooding," she denied, seeing the twitch of his lips and the raised brow.

There was a bag in his hand, the shrunken trunks within holding the last of the items they would remove from the Black vault. She walked over, adding the last of the trunks to the bag as his hand cupped her chin, earnest green eyes staring into hers.

"I meant it," he murmured softly.

"That you don't care about losing your home?" she asked rhetorically. Really, she'd have to make time before they left for a short visit to those Dursleys. Perhaps Narcissa would even join her.

"Have I lost you?" he questioned, sending a flutter through her at the unspoken words.

"Never," she replied quietly. "To the end of my days, Harry."

She sunk into the kiss, knowing they would face whatever came together. A house is not a home, he'd told her once, in the quiet of the night, and Elia knew this love was the anchor that held them together.

"Come, husband," she murmured, eyes glinting as she looked at him. "Beltane isn't a day for sad thoughts."

A startled laugh left her as he swiftly gathered her in his arms, grinning in delight as he said, "No, I'm sure I can think of happier thoughts."


The loud roar from the dragons was heard well before the mirror call came. Harry had sprinted outside to calm them, worried one of the children had gotten upset and the dragons were reacting to their loss of control. Elia reached for the mirror as she watched Harry hissing at Iacomus, arms raised in a soothing manner as Auriga shifted angrily. Rhaenys's worried face filled the mirror – an odd sight, considering they had spoken to the children after returning from the small ceremony to commemorate the end of the war – loud shouts in the background as Elia vaguely saw people running to and fro.

"Rhaenys, wh—"

"Egg's missing," Rhaenys interrupted, the words sending Elia reeling. Her heart stopped, fear and panic and a touch of rage swirling through her at the thought of her son – her Aegon whom she had nearly lost once before – missing in a place they had assumed would be safe.

She forced the panic down, pushing through the emotions as she saw the fear clearly written on her daughters face. "Where are you?"

"The hospital wing. There was a fire, something went wrong near the pitch, a-and I don't know. Teddy's here too – he's fine, just a little hurt – but we can't find Egg."

"We'll be there soon," she told Rhaenys, seeing her nod before she closed the connection. "Winky," she called, the elf popping in immediately. "We have to go to Hogwarts."

"Winky be taking Little Mistress Maia to Malfoy Manor," Winky said, popping away to Maia's room.

"Something's wrong with Aegon," Harry told her, cloaks flying into his hand as he wrapped his arm around her, spinning with a thunderous crack.

They reappeared in the midst of chaos in the Hogwarts Infirmary, their sudden presence causing a temporary lull in the conversations of those closest to them.

Elia veered away from the matron, moving straight to the curly head next to door, seeing the flashing badge before Teddy's face came into view.

"Mum," he said in worried relief, eyes glancing over her shoulder to see Harry right behind her. There was a large bandage on Teddy's shoulder, the smell of smoke clinging to his clothes as he brushed off her worry.

Rhaenys spun in surprise, eyes widening no doubt at their quick appearance.

"What happened?" she asked, gaze bouncing between the two.

"A fire," Teddy answered, eyes flashing in worry. "Near the quidditch pitch. Egg was with a friend last I knew. He borrowed the map, so I can't use it to find him."

"You're arm," Harry said.

"I'm fine. A small burn is all," he replied, brushing off their worry.

Her stomach clenched in fear as one of the professors walked over, a grim look in his grey eyes.

"Lord and Lady Potter-Black," he said, voice as dark as his expression. "I am Professor Birch."

"What the hell started a fire bad enough to have children missing?" Harry demanded as his green eyes darkened in fear and fury.

"It's fiendfyre," he said quietly, causing a sharp breath to leave Harry as he stared in horror at his friend.

"Fiendfyre," he said flatly. "Our son is missing and there's fiendfyre loose on Hogwarts grounds."

Professor Birch grimaced in sympathy, grey eyes dark and hesitant as he glanced at them.

"What is it?" Elia asked tightly.

"I understand it might not soothe your worries, but the Ministry sent Aurors to help with the fire once it spread to the forest," he told them, "and an Unspeakable team to help them. I'm certain they are doing their best to find Mr. Targaryen and the other students missing."

A cold feeling passed through her then, her worry for Aegon intensifying. A missing son was terrible enough; a missing son with elemental-coveting Unspeakables on the loose was something out of her worst nightmare, and Elia turned to her other children.

"Pack your bags," she told them quietly, wary of potential listeners. "Get Aegon's things from his dorm and head home immediately."

"Mum," Rhaenys began, eyes wide in surprise. "We can't leave. They've locked the wards and apparition is imp—supposed to be impossible right now."

"Now, Rhaenys," Elia insisted. "Floo Narcissa. Tell her Maia needs to come home."

Teddy tugged lightly on Rhaenys's arm, Elia's dark eyes looking at her from his face as he nodded. "We'll see the three of you at home."

She gave them a tight smile, waiting until they left for their dorms. She felt Harry's hand at the small of her back.

"The forest," she said lowly, leaning into his hold as they apparated once more, the hospital wing abuzz with what should have been impossible.


The Forbidden Forest was dark, foreboding, and lived up to the description of its name.

The smell of smoke and rot was strong, the fire blazing somewhere off to her left as ash filled the air, and Elia choked back the memories of her last encounter with fire and the rotting bodies.

"Point me Aegon," came the mutter, and she watched with baited breath as Harry's wand spun in hand, stopping at a point to her left. To the fire.

They moved swiftly, avoiding the tangling roots and the sounds of the many creatures she had been told inhabited the forest, skittering away in fear for their lives.

Shouts reached them, the noises coming from the Aurors battling the flames as well as the roar of the flames. There was a serpent – tall and large and glorious in its fiery manner – flames hissing as it carved a destructive path through the forest.

A wall of water rose to greet the fire, steam flowing outward as they were slowly being overwhelmed.

I should help them, she thought, fir wand raised to disguise her actions, but her mind turned to Aegon, turned to the Unspeakables who could have found her son before she did.

The wall thickened, the water rising in an attempt to smother the flames as his holly wand danced in the air, a quick glance at her before he nudged his head deeper into the forest. "I'll be right behind you," he promised, pushing more power into his spell. It was beginning to die down, magic crackling in the air as the flames were attacked from all sides, forcing it to slowly dwindle in size.

"Point me," she whispered, following the light tug as she moved away from Harry, a small prayer on her lips in hopes that they all made it out of here safely.

Don't think like that, she chided herself, weaving around aurors as she reached the edge of the forest.

The quidditch pitch was charred, the stands a smoking ruin as smoke filled the air and the fiendfyre continued to batter the land, Hogwarts glowing eerily in the light of the fire.

"Aegon!" she called, moving deeper inside, ignoring the cloying scent of ash and smoke and death. "Aegon!"

Mother have mercy, do not take my son from me, she prayed, calling his name as she moved further along the ruins of the quidditch pitch.

It was perhaps an hour later that Elia saw the odd shape of the fire, a dome-like structure raised and being battered by fiery demons.

"Aegon!" she called, her magic rising as a tide of water splashed against the fire, steam forming as Elia refused to let up.

The dome shifted, the fire growing in size as it folded outward, a dragon forming in the flames to attack the rest as she made out the shifting bodies hidden behind the wall of fire.

She breathed a sigh of relief, hurrying forward as she saw the ash-marked face of her son, a look of intense concentration on his face as focused on smothering the flames.

There were three students with him; two were unconscious, their breaths raspy and uneven as the third leaned over them, wand moving frantically in an attempt to wake them.

Elia grabbed the boy's wrist, stopping him even as the heat of the flame moved away. His clothes were tattered, holes showing where the flames had gotten to him. She threw her cloak over him, hearing the shouts from the Aurors as they took control of the flame, stretchers moving forward as the boys were levitated onto it.

She had Aegon in her arms as soon as the others were taken, face pressed against his as she held tightly to him. Aegon's hair was missing, the soft golden locks gone and his clothes barely held together before she felt Harry wrap his arms and cloak around the both of them.

"I couldn't leave them," Aegon rambled. "I-I don't know what happened. One minute we were playing quidditch, and the next thing I know…someone's pulling their wand out and starting a duel. And the fire…gods, it was so big. They would have died."

Aegon pulled his face back, purple eyes staring earnestly at them as he said, "I couldn't leave them to burn, Mum."

"You did the right thing," she told him, holding firmly onto his face.

Purple eyes darted to Harry's, and Elia saw his eyes widen and flash with fear, his voice shaky as he whispered, "Papa."

All colour left her as she glanced over at her husband, eyes darting past his shoulder to see grey robes moving quickly to the castle.

"Harry," she said, dread evident in her tone.

Relieved green eyes filled with worry as he saw the look on her face, his eyes glancing back and widening at the sight.

His arms tightened around them as he muttered, "We have to go."