Venkat was woken by a clawing, visceral fear. The wards were down. And they had been demolished with such violence that the minor alarm he had layered into the protections had left him gasping with fear. Instantly, the middle-aged potioneer knew who was knocking down his door.

After all, he had been agonising over his decision to stay in Britain for weeks now. And his hesitation had cost him. His nephew was here to visit his daughters and Venkat was the only wand in the house. For a moment he missed his wife.

Lizzie had married him despite her family's objections and the subsequent decade of marital bliss had been the best years of his life. Neither his blood status nor his Indian heritage were acceptable to The Yaxleys, who believed their Elizabeth deserved more than what he had to offer.

Her family had come around eventually, if only to meet their new-born heir. Tonight, she was visiting her parents, who had been dying to meet little Jay. Venkat froze as a thought entered his head. Had the Yaxleys enabled this attack? No, they wouldn't widow their only child. Right?

He shook the thought away as he ran to his guest room to grab a hold of his nephew and take him to the sisters' room. Isha had been woken up his running and her head poked out of the covers but Ananya slumbered on.

"Wake up, there's no time."

Venkat was surprised his voice wasn't shaking. Isha heard the urgency all the same. She was on her feet, silent as he extracted Ananya from her bed.

Venkat then heard the front door unlatch. They were inside and they were being quiet. He suspected the plan was to capture rather than murder. Good. The kids had now caught on to what was going on, their fear was written on their features.

His still sleeping daughter in his arms, Venkat told the two to grab him and once they had, he tried to summon the familiar sensation of being forced into a tube as he tried to apparate to safety, only to be spit out where he was.

"Oi! He's trying to escape!" The shout preceded footsteps thundering to his stairs.

Pretences lost, Venkat cursed under his breath and rushed back to the master bedroom- to the fireplace. The attackers drew closer. Venkat grabbed the box of Floo powder and set it on the ground.

"Yaxley House! Go!"

They were almost up the stairs. The father shot off a flurry of spells to lock the door and to strengthen the wall. His nephew wasted no time, immediately rushing into the emerald flames. Venkat stood Ananya up on her feet, she had been jostled awake by the run to the bedroom.

A curse shook the door. They didn't have much time.

"Isha, take your sister and go!"

Venkat started a flurry of movement, layering as much strength as he could into the wall between them and what were no doubt Death Eaters.

"Baba I-"

"Go!"

He didn't see it but Isha jumped. He heard her speak out the name of her destination and send her sister in.

The door was almost done for.

Venkat stopped his charms and readied a shield, the most powerful he knew. It would stop projectiles and curses alike.

The light in the room turned green again as Isha put some more Floo powder in.

Eyes, fixed on the door, Venkat felt his daughter hesitate.

"Go, beta. I'll be right behind you."

He couldn't tell if she believed him. She walked in the flames to be whisked off anyway. Not a moment before the door finally blew to smithereens. Two figures walked in, wands blasting the entire time. Each spell hit his shield like a cannon, staggering the man but he persevered and readied himself to endure a barrage.

And a barrage he received. At least for a few seconds. After the attackers had realised his shield wasn't deflecting spells but instead absorbing them. During the moment of respite, he tried to push in the box filled with Floo powder into the fire with his foot, missing the box the first few times. He couldn't afford to look away. He had almost succeeded when-

The offensive began anew. The spells were more powerful but only one of them was casting. Venkat knew none of the curses he was defending against but he didn't need to be told that every one of them would spell an extremely painful death for him.

"Incendio Maxima!"

The crazed shout widened Venkat's eyes. The caster had picked up on the one way to overcome his nigh-impenetrable shield.

His Krishna shield, an invention of his alma mater in Tamil Nadu was clever and powerful. When attacked by singular curses, it absorbed the spell to reinforce itself before dissipating the extra power after a while or to counter the next spell. Due to this, the caster could maintain it for a long time while reducing the strain on their strength, since they only had to put in power to stop every other spell. It was perfect for a battle of attrition and right now, for buying time.

Yet somehow, the Death Eater knew the best way to beat it, to overload it until he was no longer able to maintain it.

The flames bearing down on his shield were blue and iridescent and burst forth from the caster's wand in a torrent. Incendio was a destructive spell by itself but what had been cast would spell instant death if it even grazed him. Venkat could barely see the caster behind the inferno. Then another white-hot torrent of flames joined the first.

Venkat's legs buckled and he fell on his knees, arm held aloft only by the basest of instincts. He could feel his power depleting by the second against a two-wand onslaught. Within a few seconds, he neared exhaustion.

And then he knew. His blood froze in his veins despite the blistering heat. He was going to die here. A fear so great gripped him he almost lost the shield but he managed to hold on in the end. He hadn't been his academy's best graduate in decades for nothing.

He remembered the day he had been taught the Krishna shield. It had blown up in both his face and his friend face, who had been casting. His Guru had explained the delicate balance of the shield to him. The absorbing nature of the shield made it volatile. It was a tricky spell but Venkat had never made that mistake again. Suddenly, he had an idea.

Grunting, he pushed himself onto his feet. On his knees was no way to die.

Venkat was nearing the end of his rope. The shield was getting harder and harder to hold. He felt it waver more than once. He was, after all, one man. However, he did not worry. He wouldn't need to hold it much longer.

Roaring, he pushed all he had left into the spell. The shield glowed. He recognised the spectacle from decades ago.

In a moment of clarity, it struck him. He'd had enough time. He hadn't needed to wait. His protections would have bought him enough time to escape. Yet, he'd waited after Isha left.

Isha.

Venkat hoped she wouldn't blame herse-