The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
I Could Open Up the Sky
The chapter title is from the song:
Somebody to Die For by Hurts
Diagon Alley
It was hard to tell if it had been minutes or hours by the time help arrived.
Triage kept filling up, and everyone who could kept doing whatever they could to rescue or heal the survivors.
When the Reserve Aurors showed up with a squad full of ex-Aurors, it felt like the arrival of the cavalry.
They powered towards the entrance from Muggle London into the Leaky with purpose. When they got there, they set up permanent anti-muggle wards.
Then Harry stepped forward and sent out an obliviation pulse by slamming his staff against the ground. It made what Daphne was doing permanent and wiped the short-term memories of everyone in the vicinity of the breached area.
"Harry," Daphne breathed when she saw him.
It had been at least half an hour now, maybe longer, and even Bill was beginning to feel the effects of holding the ward up for so long.
The Reserves dispelled the Muggles, and Harry ran to Daphne, "It's okay," he said, reaching through the wind to grab her hand, "You can stop now!"
She did so, and when the wind dissipated, she practically collapsed into Harry's arms.
"Daphne!" Neville breathed, pulling her into an awkward half-hug around Harry, "Are you okay?"
"Just exhausted," Daphne said, forcing herself upright as her head pounded and her body ached like she had just recovered from the flu.
"Where's Lilly?" Neville murmured.
"Triage," Daphne said. She wiped the sweat from her brow, "She's…she's uh, running triage. The kids are in the Weasel's Den. Freddie evacuated them all there."
Neville breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded.
Harry was barking out orders. He had begun to do so the minute he released Daphne into Neville's arms.
"Sam, Liz, maintain the perimeter and look for survivors here. Rob, John, get down the alley and start scanning for life signs. I want to know how many people are still trapped in rubble or buildings. Ripley, Sullivan, there's going to be secondary fires; get them out so we can avoid any more explosions. Oliver, Evan, Aiden, Lux; get into the alley and see if the Healers need any help."
Jen stepped forward, "What can I do, Harry?"
"Help look for survivors in here, Jen," Harry replied.
Daphne and Bill both looked exhausted, Daphne more so than Bill, but they still wanted to make themselves useful.
"What can we do?"
"Not pass out," Harry replied in his typical short, sassy way. It was a surefire sign that he was stressed out.
"Neville, let's get these wards down so that the Healers can get in here," Harry said.
Neville nodded, and the two men crawled through the hole in the debris into Diagon Alley. Daphne and Bill followed them, and Bill wondered when Neville had gotten a staff like Harry's.
He must have said it out loud because Daphne replied, "Last week, he was jealous of Harry."
Bill supposed that made sense because Neville had been forced to use a cane for longer than Harry, after all.
Still, what they witnessed next was nothing short of amazing.
Harry and Neville stood together in front of the Leaky and locked their staffs together on the ground. Then they made eye contact and muttered an ancient, powerful spell under their breaths.
Two beams of blue magic shot upwards and converged in the air, weaving into each other as they made their way upwards. When they hit the invisible barrier that covered the alley, it shimmered for a moment, then the beams of light continued to overpower the shield, burning through it as fast as a horde of locusts ate through a field of crops.
When the light had enveloped the entire alley, creating the impression that it was covered by sparkling luminescent lights, the wards blew up, and harmless sparks of magic rained down over the alley.
Neville gasped and gripped his staff for support, but Harry took a breath then sent a Patronus into the air, "Wards destroyed! Send everything you've got!"
The stag split into two and dashed off in two different directions – one taking the message to St Mungo's and the other taking the message to the ministry
Whitehall
It had taken close to an hour, but they were finally close.
Hermione and Draco had both played a part in designing the new security protocols for the ministry. They had made them ironclad for a reason. They had wanted to prevent what Voldemort had done in 1997 from ever happening again.
But they hadn't expected someone to hack the ministry and turn their own protocols against them.
Still, having overridden security codes for the last 45 minutes, they were almost there when something distracted them. They were standing outside the main entrance into the atrium of the ministry, which was protected by anti-muggle wards.
All around them, muggles were milling around, living their lives and going about their day, with no idea that Draco and Hermione were even there.
When the muggles looked at the ministry, they saw an old building covered in scaffolding – not the grand building with its gold-lined doors that Draco and Hermione saw.
And those who had lived in London their whole lives sometimes had too much to drink at the pub. They swapped conspiracy theories about the building that had been covered in scaffolding for as long as they could remember. But people brushed them off, and the ministry's existence continued to be a secret.
Because that was how it had to be, Hermione thought to herself.
The distraction came when she saw a blast of magic in the distance. Draco's head spun around too, and they both looked up Whitehall, which they knew led to Charing Cross Road and, therefore, Diagon Alley.
People gasped, pointed and pulled out their cameras as the blue dome shimmered, then disappeared.
"How the hell are we going to explain that one?" Draco muttered.
"The same way we explain every magical accident," Hermione returned.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her, and Hermione replied, "I tell the Muggle minister to say it was a military experiment gone wrong."
Draco snorted half-heartedly, "That means someone brought the wards down, though."
Hermione pressed her wand into the gold-lined doors that led into the atrium, "I'm willing to bet it was Harry."
Draco pressed his hand against the door for the secondary lock and nodded, "No bet."
"Emergency protocols overridden."
The door swung open, and the ministry opened for business once more.
A stag flew past them, bounding through the bustling atrium towards the Auror office.
"Harry's calling for back-up," Draco said. He turned to look at Hermione, "And I know you need me for the political fall-out, but - "
Hermione met his eye and nodded, "Go."
He stepped forward, kissed her hard and then ran out of the ministry's wards, turning on his heel and apparating into the alley to make himself useful.
Diagon Alley
Theo and Sadie were rushing in via the collapsed Leaky when Draco arrived.
Theo patted him on the shoulder, "Glad you're okay. Ministry unlocked?"
Draco nodded, and Sadie glanced behind him, "Where's Hermione?"
"She's fine," Draco replied, answering the question behind the one Sadie had asked.
Theo sighed in relief, "She'll be handling this from a red-tape angle, right?"
Draco nodded and looked over Theo's shoulder. He waved a hand to get his former Auror partner's attention and asked, "Harry! Where can we help?"
"Sadie - triage!" Harry yelled as teams of Healers began to apparate into the alley, filling it with hope for the first time since the explosions had hit.
"Theo, Neville – search and rescue in Knockturn. A restaurant got hit pretty badly and a tearoom too."
Theo nodded and gripped Neville's arm, then the two of them took off in the direction of Knockturn Alley.
Harry turned to look at his partner of over a decade, "Draco, with me on search and rescue. The explosion on the west side hit the apothecary and the secondary explosions spread to the nearby flats. We have children as young as six-stranded up there."
Draco nodded and took off at a jog with Harry towards the west side of the alley, where the flames were rising higher than they were anywhere else.
Clara had told him to focus on the job at hand, not to think about the more personal nature of it.
But Michael couldn't.
When he got onto the alley, the first thing he did was run to triage and scan it for Linda and Grace. At first, his heart sank because he couldn't see them, but then he heard her.
"Look, I ain't no healer, but I've seen enough Holby City to know that's gonna get infected if you don't wash it out first."
"Mum," Grace's voice whined.
Michael grinned and turned around, jogging towards the green triage area.
"Dad!"
He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, "Hey Gracie."
Michael met Linda's eye over the top of Grace's head, "You okay?"
Linda nodded, "I've got a hard head."
Michael laughed weakly and leaned over to kiss her, "God, I was worried about you."
"Well, we're both fine," Linda said simply, "So get over there and help the folk who ain't."
She nudged her head in the direction of the red area.
Michael nodded and kissed her quickly again, "I love you," he murmured before he jogged away.
Linda smiled slightly and pulled Grace closer to her, "You don't actually think that little girl is healing that right, do you?"
Grace rolled her eyes, "That little girl is like 19, Mum. She's training to be a healer. She knows what she's doing."
The 'little girl' was Rosie from the ice cream parlour, and she shot Grace a grateful smile.
Linda sighed and looked over at the red area, where Michael now worked alongside Lilly.
Grace followed her line of sight and frowned when she saw Lilly wipe her sweaty brow, "Is Lilly okay?"
Linda nodded and squeezed Grace's shoulder, "Course she is. She's our Lil. She just keeps on going, don't she? Like the Duracell bunny."
Grace nodded, but she saw the look in her mother's eyes, and she knew that Linda wasn't entirely convinced that Lilly was okay.
Daphne was exhausted, emotionally and mentally. But she walked through the alley towards triage in a daze. There was activity around her, people shouting, Reserve Aurors running in and out of buildings with children in their arms or supporting unconscious or injured people.
The fires were out – apart from one on the west side, which was raging harder than any others had. Triage was slowly emptying; the most at-risk patients had all been evacuated to the hospital.
The kids who had been sheltering in the Weasel's Den had been floo-ed to the safety of the Hermione Granger School, which would act as a rendezvous point to reunite them with their families.
Daphne had assumed Thea was there too, then she saw her at the triage area. Thea was holding onto a clipboard and writing things down. And Daphne did a double-take when she realised who was standing with her.
"Mum?"
Thea looked up in surprise, "That's…Grandma?"
Daphne nodded, her eyes going from Thea to Lareina.
"I didn't tell her," Lareina said with a shake of her head, "That's not…my place."
"I thought you said Grandma died!" Thea exclaimed quietly.
"Everyone thought I had, sweetheart," Lareina said softly, "And now is not the time. We can talk about that later, okay?"
Daphne looked at her mother in disbelief, "Have you been… with her this entire time?"
Lareina nodded, "She didn't want to go into the shelter. She wanted to help. I didn't want her running into burning buildings, so I said she could help me with this."
"Reuniting people with their families," Thea said, motioning to the clipboard.
Daphne nodded and sought out her mother's gaze, "You watched over her, and you didn't even tell her who you were?"
Lareina shook her head, "It wasn't my place, sweetheart," she said again.
Maybe it was the exhaustion, but that hit Daphne hard. She didn't cry, but she did swallow a lump in her throat and nod, her eyes shifting to someone behind the triage area.
Harry ran in and out of the only building in the alley that was still on fire, and Draco was with him. They both had bubblehead charms on. They were clearing the building of children first and ferrying them over to triage.
And the thought flickered through her head that she never thought she would see the day that Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter worked side by side like that to save the world. In that one instant, she realised quite how much had really changed.
"Do you know you're bleeding, love?" Lareina asked, jarring Daphne from her thoughts.
Daphne frowned and looked down at her hand, which was coated in fresh blood.
"N…no."
Lareina raised her wand, "Can I?"
Daphne nodded, and Lareina cast a healing charm to seal the cut on Daphne's head. She winced, and Lareina squeezed her hand, then murmured a numbing spell.
"Thanks, Mum," Daphne said, casting her eyes past her mother towards Lilly, who was standing close to the ice cream parlour.
"I need to make sure she's okay," Daphne said, her words coming out before she really thought about them.
"Keep…. keep Thea close."
"Of course," Lareina promised.
Daphne moved towards Lilly, panic flooding her mind because of the tears rolling down Lilly's cheeks as she spoke to Sadie and Clara while she motioned at the wreckage behind her.
Daphne swallowed and made her way over as Sadie shook her head, and Clara brought her hand up to her mouth.
"No," Sadie choked, "Lilly, no…."
"Sorenson," Clara breathed.
Daphne realised what had happened quickly, and she gripped Sadie's shoulder.
"No," Sadie sobbed, turning to look at Daphne, "He can't be…no!"
Daphne pulled her old friend into her arms as Sadie sobbed loudly.
"Clara," Lilly choked, "I tried to get him out, I tried."
Clara nodded and swallowed, "I know, I know you would have done everything possible, Lilly."
"I didn't do enough," Lilly said, her throat tight, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Clara steeled herself and nodded, then she turned away from Lilly, her gaze hovering over Sadie for a moment.
"I need to work."
"Clara - "
"I need to work," Clara said simply, and she headed back to triage without another word.
Daphne shook her head at Lilly and whispered, "People unpack their trauma in different ways. That is how I would do it, and I wouldn't want anyone to follow me, not right away."
Lilly swallowed and nodded, her eyes moving from Daphne to Sadie, who was shaking in her arms.
Daphne looked at Lilly then, seeing her up close for the first time in a few hours, she realised how awful she looked. And while they were all exhausted, something seemed off with Lilly.
"Lilly," Daphne said firmly.
Lilly looked up at Daphne, her eyes a little unfocused, "Hm?"
"Are you okay?" Daphne asked, her gaze piercing Lilly's.
Lilly tried to formulate a reply, but she could feel the adrenaline beginning to wear off, and with it came the sharpest pain from her ankle yet.
She was about to lie and say she was okay. Then an involuntary cry of pain left her lips, and she fell to the ground, her knees slamming into the cobbles hard as the pain radiated through her body.
"Lilly!" Daphne cried, dropping down next to her friend.
Sadie pulled herself out of her own suffering for a moment, "Lilly, your foot!" she said, motioning to the injured ankle.
Daphne swore under her breath and pulled up Lilly's trouser leg. The ankle she had broken earlier was swollen and purple.
"Lilly!" Daphne exclaimed as she pried Lilly's shoe off, "How the hell have you been walking on this all afternoon?"
"I just pushed through the pain," Lilly gasped, suddenly breathing didn't feel like it came naturally.
"You idiot!" Daphne muttered, but she couldn't muster up the strength to glare at Lilly because she was too worried about her.
"Clara!" Sadie called.
Clara turned around, expecting Sadie to try and bring her over to talk about Sorenson. But when she realised that Sadie was motioning to Lilly, she rushed over in a hurry.
"Oh my god, Lilly," Clara breathed when she saw Lilly's foot.
It was twice the size it should have been, and it looked heavily bruised. The cut that Lilly had sealed earlier was seeping a yellow, foul-smelling liquid.
"How long ago did this happen?" Clara asked quickly.
"When the first explosion hit," Daphne replied because Lilly didn't seem able to.
Clara pressed her hand against Lilly's head and shook her head, "She's burning up, and this is seriously infected. Daphne, if I don't get her into an OR in the next five minutes…."
"Then let's go," Daphne said frantically.
Clara conjured a stretcher, placed a portkey on Lilly and grabbed Daphne's hand. The portkey activated, sweeping all three of them straight into the Trauma Ward of St Mungo's Hospital.
- TBC -
