Chapter 12: Things Change

*****

            "Well, this has turned out to be a quieter evening than I'd originally imagined." George said, studying the cards in his hand intently, "Do you have any fours?"

            "Nope, go fish." Alinora replied with a smirk.  "Yeah, while dancing would've been fun, I'm quite happy to miss it considering the reason.  I can't believe that Dennis finally contacted Colin!  I do hope those two can work things out… Do you have any Kings?"

            George muttered something under his breath before reluctantly pulling two cards out of his hand and passing them over to her.  He'd found out earlier that lying did no good since all that had done was cause Alinora to cast a truth spell over them both so neither could cheat.

            "So, nothing explodes, moves or does anything interesting during this game?" he finally asked in confusion.  "Why do muggles play this game anyway?!?"

            "It's a card game, George, it's not supposed to be life threatening," Ali replied with a small grin.  "Once you get use to this one, we can branch out, but this one's better than 'War'.  There's no point, or strategy, at all to that one."

            They continued the game for a while longer until all the cards were gone.  At that point, George called a halt.

            "Whew, too much excitement for me for one night!" he said, wiping his brow with an exaggerated motion.  "I need to relax for a bit."

            Pulling Ali to her feet, he led her to the couch where the two collapsed.  She snuggled down into the crook of his arm, not at all loath to be home that evening.  As she had told her mom earlier in a letter, she was still recovering from being ill and much weaker than she should be.  The dancing lessons, while fun, had been taking a lot of her energy.  Besides, if there was any chance that Colin and Dennis could work out their difficulties, she definitely wouldn't complain about one missed night.

            The two snuggled in silence, the only noise from the crackling of the nearby fire.  All was peaceful and calm, until…

            "Aaaaaaaaaa!"

            Alinora felt a jabbing pain shoot through her neck and course through her body.  She curled up in agony, one hand reaching towards her neck and the location of the pain, and only a quick grab by George kept her from falling off the couch.

            Then, suddenly, the pain stopped and Ali was left grasping her neck and gasping for air as her body slowly relaxed.  When she could finally move, she sat up supported by George.

            Ali's eyes went wide with fear as she quickly uttered the charm that canceled the concealment charm for her necklace.  Reaching behind her head, she undid the clasp and removed it so she could better examine the necklace.  The sight of a scorched and fractured stone in the position where the pain had struck sent a chill of fear through her.

            "Whose is that?" George asked in a very controlled tone of voice.

            Ali opened her mouth to reply, but for a moment nothing came out.  She swallowed and tried again, this time managing to squeeze out, "It's… Colin and Anna's stone."

            Both sat there in stunned silence, while the meaning slowly sunk in.

            "No!  It can't be right!  They were all just going to dinner to talk for a while.  How could anything have happened to them doing that?!?"  Alinora jumped to her feet and began pacing the room, necklace clutched tightly in her hand.  She was silent for a moment; then suddenly, she stopped and spun around to face George who still sat, stunned, on the couch staring blindly at her.

            "I've got to find them.  If they're hurt, they'll need help."  Crossing the room, she knelt beside the coffee table and laid the necklace on the surface.  Placing her hand above the stone, Ali cast a general location charm.

            "I can't find them." she said finally, looking up at George, eyes scared.

            "Try going further back.  Adjust the spell to look for them… five minutes ago.  That should get us close enough to their current location." George suggested.

            Nodding slightly, she thought for a moment then cast the revised charm.  "That got something.  It's a street a kilometer or so away from their home… I'm going there.  I have to find them.  You should go to the Ministry, find your father.  What ever hurt them has to have been big and it might need to be covered up after they're found."

            Glancing at the darkened stone, George kept his private thoughts to himself as he stared at her.  The thought of letting her go off anywhere alone right now, considering her health and the circumstances, made him quite concerned, but he also knew her well enough by this point to know that she would be going, no matter what.  So, he simply nodded in agreement.

            "You be careful, please?"  He stood up and pulled her into a hug before releasing her and striding quickly to the fireplace.  The sooner he could find his father and get help, the sooner he could be back to help his wife.

            Alinora didn't notice George leaving.  She had focused on the street corner where her charm had said Colin and Anna had been recently and Apparated there.

*****

            The street was dark and empty when Alinora suddenly appeared.  Looking around, she couldn't see anything that gave her a hint as to the where abouts of Colin and Anna, but from up ahead, just around the corner, she could hear the sounds of raised voices and the faint, distant sound of sirens.  She began to run towards them.

            The voices got louder, as did the sirens, and the street was no longer as dark.  Alinora finally rounded the last corner and slid to a stunned halt, staring at the horrific scene before her.

            A car, the one they had been using to get to and from dance class, was bent around a pole and burning, flames shooting high up into the air.  A crowd of people surrounded it, at a safe distance, and firemen were working to make sure the fire didn't spread to anything close by.

            Shaking her head in denial, Alinora slowly began walking forward, tears rolling down her cheeks and blurring her vision.  Angrily, she brushed them away and walked faster.  Surely this had to be a mistake?  They were wizards, all but Dennis' wife, surely they had all been able to Apparate to safety before… her mind refused to go further with that thought.  They had to be okay!

            Her movement forward was abruptly stopped by a hand grabbing her arm.  Startled, Alinora turned to face the person, a fireman, who had halted her progress.

            "Miss, you need to stay back.  We can't put the fire out and you could be burned if you get too close."

            "You… you can't put it out?  But you got them out first, right?!?  They got out of the car okay, didn't they?"  Alinora stared up at the man, desperately hoping for him to agree that the four had escaped unharmed and had simply been taken away for treatment.

            He didn't say anything, just looked at her sadly, and shook his head.

            With an anguished cry, Ali broke from his grasp and went running back the way she'd came.  She had enough presence of mind to wait until she was out of sight of the gathered crowd before Apparating away.  The only remaining coherent thought in her head was to make sure that the twins were safe.

            Moments later, she was pounding on the door to the Creevy home, where she was very relieved to see a light shining through a gap in the curtains.  Not long after, the door opened slightly and she could see Camilla, the twin's usual babysitter, peeking through.  When she recognized who was outside, she opened the door wide.

            "Alinora!  What are you doing here at this time of the night?  Are you okay…?"  Camilla's voice trailed off as she finally noticed the expression on Ali's face.  "Something's happened, hasn't it?"

            Alinora pushed past her and walked into the house.  "The twins, are they okay?  I have to see them."  She hurried down the hallway and into the nursery where she came to an abrupt halt.  The twins were there, sleeping fitfully, but safe and alive.

            Camilla had followed her down the hall and now advanced to grip Alinora by the arm.  "What happened?  Where are Colin and Anna?"

            Alinora closed her eyes briefly before turning to face the other woman, keeping a firm grip on the closest crib, as if it would disappear if she let go of it.  "There was an accident.  The car… it burned…" she stopped and shook her head.

            Tears welled up in Camilla's eyes and Ali quickly stepped forward and embraced her as the tears began to fall.  They stood together for a while, until Camilla was able to stop crying.

            Still sniffling slightly, and wiping her eyes, Camilla looked around the nursery.  "You'll be wanting to take the twins with you, I suppose.  I know you're to be their guardian now…"  They both flinched at that; none of them had expected that agreement to ever go into effect.

            "Yes, I think that would be best.  I'll seal the house so it's not disturbed before the Ministry can take care of things."

            The two began packing up the twins' belongings and transferring them to their carriers.  Luckily, they were able to accomplish this without waking either of the two sleeping infants and soon everything had been transferred out to the living room fireplace.

            Alinora hugged Camilla once again as she let her out the door.  Ali swayed slightly as she stood in the doorway, waving goodbye, before closing the door and setting the locks and the house wards.  Reentering the living room, she cast a quick charm to lighten the weight of the bags and allow her to actually transport everything at once.  Then, picking up the bags and the babies she tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and was gone without a backwards glance.

*****

            The hour was late and the fire in the Burrow's fireplace was beginning to burn low.  Ron and Hermione had stopped by to talk with Molly earlier in the evening and they were now comfortably lazing about, trying to get up the energy to leave for home.

            Suddenly, their attention was caught by the glow of the fire, which had changed to green.  Moments later, a heavily burdened figure stumbled out of the fireplace and into the room.  Molly leapt to her feet in surprise, which quickly turned to concern as they all realized who it was who had arrived.

            Alinora stumbled a few feet further into the room before dropping the various bags to the floor around her feet.  She carefully placed the baby carriers down among them and glanced around at the three people staring at her. She opened her mouth to explain the situation, but all of a sudden her vision began going black and she crumpled to the floor unconscious.