31-Accident

Dylan was looking forward to the weekend. Although it was his busiest time as a vicar, it was time to relax with his family. His twins were already almost one year old and were so much fun to watch and to play with. He also enjoyed visiting his brother during the weekend. Although he could now see his nieces each day, on their way to school and back, and he also met them twice a week at the club, it was different when they met as family.

Both Daphne and Astoria loved their twin cousins. They liked to watch them grow and always tried to find the difference between the way a baby boy acted and a baby girl. They still had to find something.

\/\/\/

Harry also found that he was starting to like the weekends. With no Vernon around, the house seemed calmer, his aunt more prone to tell of her childhood, including tales about his mother, and she was treating the two boys more alike. While one could not doubt that she loved Dudley dearly, Harry was starting to feel just as loved. She was complimenting him just as much (or maybe even more, when Dudley didn't hear,) as her own son; she was giving both boys similar chores and was turning into a quite agreeable person.

Harry also found that his aunt had been aware of Hermione's visits for more than a year. Despite him silencing the room and casting 'notice-me-not' on the door, once Hermione left and he opened the door, her scent lingered for a while. She couldn't detect his visits with Hermione so easily, but she suspected it was going both ways.

Petunia seemed even a bit disturbed by this relationship. "What kind of relationship do you have?" she asked.

Harry shrugged. "We're just friends, right now, but we shall probably get married when we're old enough for that."

"Do you love her?" After suffering a loveless marriage, it was natural for her to ask.

Harry smiled hesitantly. "I don't know. I only know I'm happier at her side and I like to make her happy. We also have a kind of connection that makes us extremely aware of each other. I can't really keep a secret from her and she can't keep a secret from me. We even use that connection to talk to each other when we're not together. We can even show things that way."

That was good enough from such a young boy, although the details were a bit overwhelming for her. "But you like her, don't you?"

His smile could be answer enough. "I like her a lot. I think she's very beautiful and frightfully smart. She's also a very powerful witch."

She didn't think Hermione was really beautiful, but she'd already witnessed the rest.

\/\/\/

Dylan was relaxing at home, watching his babies and thinking of the New-Year and what he needed to do at church that day. Although a chore, it was also relaxing, in a way, since it was a festive day that he wanted to make more pleasurable.

His peace was shattered when a child appeared in front of him, practically shouting, "Luna's mother is badly hurt. Can you help her?"

It was Dudley and he was in a state of panic. Dylan had to grab him tightly and force him to calm a bit. "Where is she?"

"In her lab, at home."

Dylan had to think quickly. He couldn't leave his children alone but he couldn't leave Dudley with them either. The boy was in panic and certainly wanted to support Luna at this time. He wished he could call Lora back, but she was gone shopping and he had no way to contact her.

Another person materialized in front of him. It was Hermione. "Harry informed me. I'll stay with the babies. You go!"

It was weird to be ordered about by a child, but he had no time for that. He just told Dudley, "Take me there!"

They arrived into a room that was mostly devastated. Harry was standing near what looked like wreckage, keeping a heavy beam from falling down. Within the wreckage, Dylan could see Luna cradling Selena's head and saying, "Stay with me! I love you, Mum," over and over again.

Not sure what the best way to proceed, Dylan cast the stasis charm on Selena. Whatever was wrong with her, she would not get worse before he could take her away from danger.

"Harry, can you keep that beam up for a few more minutes?"

"No problem. I hope Dudley moved on time."

He turned his attention to Dudley, who still looked stunned, although he moved to Luna's side and put his arm around her shoulders. "Dudley, I need you to start removing all the debris covering Selena. I'll use the Floo to call for some help."

Dudley seemed to come back to his senses. He nodded, and Dylan could see some dust being moved away.

When he returned from the Floo, most of the debris had been moved away, revealing Selena, who seemed to have been hit by a curse at her chest, suffering great damage. Dylan was sure that no muggle treatment could heal her. He hoped that magic could.

He helped Dudley remove the rest of the debris. A bit was caught within the stasis limits but was of no importance. Dylan took out his wand. This was a crisis and he wasn't as confident with his wandless magic as he was with the wand. He carefully levitated Selena and floated her to the adjacent room, where the damage was minimal. He then heard a noise like something was crushing and saw Harry coming in and closing the door, looking apologetic. "When I stopped holding that beam, it fell down and the whole ceiling collapsed seconds later. Maybe I should have reinforced the ceiling first."

Dylan shook his head. "It was no use. That room needs to be demolished and rebuilt. Anything else would have left it unsafe."

Harry didn't seem to agree but didn't argue either. Dylan made sure that the stasis was holding and then crouched in front of Luna, who seemed almost catatonic. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Luna didn't even seem to hear him. Harry answered instead. "Luna stayed with her mother while her father left home. Her mother tried an experimental spell. It didn't work as expected and caused all that damage. Luna then shifted to me and asked me and Dudley to help her mother. We came here. When we saw what happened, I knew we needed more help. I held the beam and asked Dudley to go to you. I then asked Hermione to do the same, in case you needed a babysitter."

There was no time to elaborate. An emergency team from St. Mungos came through the Floo and took over. Dylan moved aside and used some glamours to make his clothing look more acceptable to magical people.

The healers didn't pay attention to the children, only talking to Dylan. "It's lucky you put her under stasis, or she would have died before we arrived. Now she has a much better chance, although she's still in great danger. Do you know what happened?"

"An experimental spell gone wrong. It destroyed the whole room," he told them.

"She's lucky you were near. We shall now take her to St. Mungos. You'll be able to see her later this evening. No need to come earlier."

"Will she live?"

The healer stopped tying the woman to the stretcher. "I'd like to say she will, but I can't promise. Her injuries are extensive. I can only promise that we'll do all we can to save her."

Luna spoke for the first time since they arrived. "She has a hole in her heart that must be closed and her lungs need to be regrown, mostly. Other organs seem not to be affected."

The healer looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"I just know," she answered in monotone.

"Why don't you take her along?" Dylan suggested. "She's in shock now. Seeing her mother treated can help her recover and she may have some more useful information later. I'm sure that what she told you is true."

The healer hesitated for a moment and then nodded his agreement. Soon enough, Dylan was left with only Harry and Dudley. "Does any of you know where her father may be?"

"Luna said he was at work. She thought he might panic worse than her, so she contacted us for help," Dudley said. "I think I should have gone with her now."

Dylan shook his head. "They barely agreed to take her, only due to her special gift. They would have not let you stay there. Now, before we go, I'd like to see that room again."

He opened the door. The adjacent room was in ruins. Most of the ceiling and one of the walls had collapsed. The beam that Harry had held was now lying on the floor in several big chunks, each heavy enough to kill a person by its weight only. It had probably been part of the ceiling, by the look of it. Luckily, there was no upper floor there. The room looked like it had been built as an annexe, long after the main building stood. Dylan really hoped that Selena would be well again. He liked the smart and fierce woman.

Harry was still looking at the shattered beam. It had originally been a long piece of rock and had been embedded in the ceiling for structural support. The explosion, or whatever force that spell had released, dislodged one end of the beam from its anchoring and allowed it to fall. "It was lucky I saw it start falling," he mumbled. Dylan had to agree.

"You should now return home," Dylan told the boys. "I'll inform Mr. Lovegood and go home too. I'm sure Hermione had other plans than babysit my children."

Harry smiled at that. "She doesn't mind, really, and Lora is already at home. Hermione just stayed to play with the babies."

\/\/\/

Dylan returned home much later. Xenophilius didn't react well to the news. Dylan almost needed to call a healer for the man. Luckily, he managed to calm him enough for Xeno to go to St. Mungos and comfort his daughter, or – more likely – get some comfort from her.

Lora was glad to see him back. She first let him tell her all that had happened and then had some more to tell. "I think Hermione is fantastic with children. By the time I arrived, she was changing diapers and singing to the kids. She may not be a great singer, but both seemed fascinated by her and made no fuss when changed. Can we make her our regular babysitter?"

Dylan had to smile at that. "I think she's too young for that. Besides, we can't take a babysitter who lives so far. What will people say if they find out?"

She nodded sadly. "I was also afraid of that. Well, I'm sure Harry would appreciate her motherly talents when the time comes."

\/\/\/

Hermione didn't hurry back home. As usual, her parents were busy with their clinic, leaving her alone. Instead, she shifted to Harry's room, where both cousins were still discussing the events.

"It was so frightening. I saw that beam starting to fall. It looked heavy and solid. It could crush me to a pulp. I knew I had to stop it, or it would have killed Luna and her mother. Me as well," Harry told her.

"Do you know how it all happened?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure. Luna let me read her memories, but they were all scrambled. She was watching her mother working on a new spell. Both had some shields for protection. Then something went wrong, causing a magical backlash. Luna's shield protected her well. Her mother was too close to the explosion. The shield collapsed, letting enough pass through to harm her. Luna said that her lungs were almost completely destroyed and her heart punctured. Luckily, Father Roberts cast the stasis charm and that saved her from immediate death."

"Why didn't any of you cast the stasis? Had it been cast earlier it could have prevented some more damage, I think."

Harry looked sorry. "I didn't think of that. We're still not thinking like wizards and witches, I assume. We're only using magic for fun or when nothing else would do. I also saw blood seeping under the debris. It frightened me badly. Why didn't you tell me to use stasis?"

Hermione blushed. "I didn't think of it either." She turned to Dudley. "Have you ever tried to communicate with Luna the way Harry and I do?"

Dudley shook his head.

"I suggest you try to concentrate and direct your magic to Luna. Try to make her feel your support and ask her how it goes there."

Dudley tried hard. One could see the concentration on his face and the perspiration starting to show.

"It's no use," he said after several minutes, slumping on his chair. "It feels like trying to penetrate Occlumency shields."

Hermione frowned. "That means you reached her. Maybe you should try to call to her, to plead, so she answers."

Dudley didn't seem to believe it would help. He still tried again. It took some time, but then his face lighted with a triumphant smile. "They closed the hole in Selena's heart and are growing her lungs now, giving her oxygen with a muggle machine directly into her blood." He then lifted his head questioningly. "Does it sound right?"

Hermione nodded. "If she agrees, I think she'd like you to stay at her side. Ask her."

Dudley concentrated some more and then smiled. "She'd like me to come. Tell Mum I don't know how long I'll be there. Bye."

Dudley vanished. Harry looked at Hermione with some admiration. "How did you know he could communicate this way?"

She shrugged. "I didn't know, but both are quite powerful, unless compared to us. I also thought that the stress would make Luna more responsive to it. I'm glad it worked. Now, let's tell your aunt."

Petunia didn't work during the holidays. She was in the kitchen, checking a cooking book.

"Hello Mrs. Evans," Hermione greeted her politely.

"Oh, I didn't notice you coming in," Petunia said, her surprise evident.

"I came directly into Harry's room. Sorry."

Petunia nodded. "I thought Dudley was with you," she noted.

"He was, but Luna needs him, so he went to be with her. He said he didn't know when he'd be back," Harry told her.

"Why? What happened?"

Harry sighed. "Her mother had an accident with an experimental spell. Luna saw it. She came here to get help. I managed to hold that room from collapsing and Dudley called for additional help. Now Luna is at the hospital, waiting for her mother to regain conscience. It looks like she's not going to die."

"When was all this?" Petunia thought the boys were just playing at home.

Harry checked his watch. "We went there about an hour or so ago. It really seemed like it was much longer," he said.

"And Harry told me to go help the vicar. His wife wasn't home and he couldn't go with Dudley without having someone stay with the babies."

Petunia was glad that she was already sitting. Lily had never had such stories. Well, Lily hadn't started her magical education until she passed eleven. These children… were formidable.