Another chapter in honor of all THREE of my teams kicking A$$ this weekend! This will probably be it until next weekend as I work crazy hours this week!
Summer progressed into fall, and a day near the end of September started out like any other. James woke up, showered and dressed before he went to wake Harry. He sighed and grit his teeth as he realized the mood Harry was in today.
He and Harry argued about what outfit Harry would wear today; "I wanna wear my SHORTS" demanded Harry, as James insisted on a pair of jeans, "It's cold, Harry, it's not summer anymore!"
He and Harry argued about what toys Harry would be bringing to the Longbottom's house: "Shrink 'em all, daddy, I wanna bring them all!" Harry insisted. "You can bring what fits in your day bag regular sized, Harry. Neville has more toys then you play with anyway."
They argued about what Harry would eat for breakfast, "I want ICE CREAM, please daddy? I never get ice cream for breakfast!" Harry begged. "Ice cream is a special treat food, not breakfast. You may have oatmeal or pancakes, what'll it be?"
They argued about Harry brushing his teeth, "But they're just gonna get dirty again daddy, I eat lunch later!" Harry tried to reason.
When the clock finally signaled it was an appropriate time to leave for the Longbottoms, James was relieved. He was tired of fighting with his son over every single part of getting ready for the day.
They flooed to the Longbottoms, to find Frank, Alice, and Neville finishing their breakfast. Harry ran over to Alice, excited to show her the new Chuddley Cannon's seeker action figure his Godfather bought him. Alice examined it, telling Harry how lucky he was to have gotten such a neat gift.
"I wanna see!" Neville exclaimed.
"Look, but you can't touch. It's for Harry hands only," Harry told his friend, holding the toy out of his reach.
James sighed, "Harry if you didn't want to share it you shouldn't have brought it. You either share or I'll bring it to work with me and you can have it back tonight," he warned his son. It was fine that Harry had toys he didn't want to share, but he knew that the toys he brought with him to Neville's he was expected to share.
James sat down to have a cup of coffee with Frank and Alice before it was time to go to work, as the boys ran into the living room to play. He was pleased to hear happy voices from the other room and hoped that Harry's mood would quickly change now that he was with his best friend.
Checking the clock, James and Frank went to give their sons a hug and kiss goodbye before leaving. On their way through the kitchen James gave Alice a quick hug, "You can expect Remus, Sirius and I for dinner tonight Alice," he told her before going to the floo. "Good! I'll look forward to it!" Alice replied waving them off and heading back to the living room to play with the two preschoolers.
The morning went well; the team apprehended two wizards selling dark objects disguised as toys to children, they got a lead on several death eaters they were after.
It was during lunch that they got the alarm; fellow Aurors in urgent need of help! Kingsley's team rushed to the scene just as the three death eaters began to scatter, leaving four bodies on the ground. The team shot spells at them, and a battle began.
James tripped over one of the bodies as he dodged a curse thrown at him by Antonin Dolohov, and he recognized him as Fabian Prewett. He stole a glance at another, close by, and saw his brother Gideon, his eyes staring into nothingness. The two other bodies were death eaters, obviously taken out by the Prewitt brothers before their demise.
James jumped up and threw a curse at Dolohov, missing him by an inch. Dolohov threw a killing curse over his shoulder; James dodged it and it hit the death eater behind him, who fell to the ground and saw no more.
Sirius flew past him, seemingly blasted by the wand of the other remaining death eater, and right into the path of purple flames cast from Dolohov's wand. Sirius fell to the ground, unconscious, but James didn't think he was dead. But he couldn't stop, he couldn't be distracted even for a second or it would mean his life. There were now only two death eaters left, and Frank joined James in his battle against Dolohov, while Kingsley on his own tried to take down the other.
James tried to stupefy Dolohov, who blocked it and sent the same purple flames that had injured Sirius at James, which James rebound back to Dolohov, who blocked it. From the other side, Frank threw his own spells at Dolohov, who, practiced dueller as he was, blocked as well.
"James DUCK!" Frank yelled, and James followed his order without thinking as another killing curse soared over his head. In his moment of distraction, a well aimed nonverbal Crucio caught James before he had time to stop it, and he was thrown into the air, screaming in pain. As Dolohov had to release the curse to block another that Frank sent his way, James went crashing to the ground. He felt the bone in his leg shatter under the weight of his body.
Adrenaline at it's peak, James forced himself up despite his right leg, and supported himself fully on his left. He defected a curse sent at Frank, who threw one right back at Dolohov. James was blasted off his feet by a spell that hit him from behind; he could only assume by the death eater Kingsley was battling. He could feel what felt like his insides melting, the pain challenged that of the Cruciatus curse. He could barely breathe, could barely move, but he force himself up onto his arms.
He saw it happening before it did, and in a desperate attempt James used all his remaining energy to throw the full body bind at Dolohov just as Dolohov threw the killing curse at Frank.
Dolohov and Frank fell to the ground at the exact same time, both lay motionless, eyes open, a surprised look on their both their faces.
The other death eater's momentary distraction at what had just occurred gave Kingsley the opportunity he needed to stun him, and all death eaters were down.
James could hear a scream and was surprised when he realized it was coming from his own mouth, outside of his control. He could barely move, he was too badly injured, but he feared Sirius was worse. He couldn't peal his eyes off the man laying 20 feet from him; one of his dear friends.
Kingsley quickly bound and gagged the two living death eaters together, before assessing the situation in front of him. He tried with all his might to put all emotions aside.
One of his best men died today, and he couldn't be sure Sirius would pull through; he'd seen what that spell of Dolohov's could do, and knew it had potential to be lethal. As for James, he had no clue what the man had been hit with, or how dangerous the curse was.
He sent a patronus to St. Mungos, followed by one to Alastor Moody, to come assist urgently, before rushing to Sirius' side. He carefully turned the man to his back, and felt for a pulse. There was one, and Kingsley allowed himself a breath. Sirius seemed OK for now; unconscious, but nothing Kingsley could do would make a difference, so he turned his attention to James. He purposely knelt next to him between him and Frank, blocking James' view of his fallen friend.
Kingsley used his training to check James' vitals; his pulse was slow. Kingsley hoped the healers from St. Mungos would hurry, because he didn't think he could safely transport James, not knowing the extent of his injuries.
"You'll be just fine," he told the younger man, pulling off his outer robes and covering James, who was shivering.
"Frank," James said, and Kingsley simply nodded, he had no words. "Sirius," James inquired. "He's alive. Unconscious, he'll need St. Mungos, but his pulse is steady," Kingsley was happy he could reassure his friend on that, at least.
James felt slightly reassured that Sirius, at least would be alright. He was having trouble staying in consciousness, but he felt he had to. He was in pain, and he felt completely immobilized. He couldn't leave Harry. At last, James no longer had the control, and drifted into unconsciousness.
The healers arrived seconds later, and brought the young Aurors back to St. Mungos. Moody arrived to take care of the bound and gagged death eaters, and corners arrived to escort the bodies of Fabian, Gideon, Frank, and the 3 death eaters to the morgue of St. Mungos. Kingsley escorted the two injured of his team to the hospital, where was forced to wait in the waiting room for some word.
This was too much for him; somebody had to tell Alice that her husband was killed, and it had best come from someone close to the man, but he couldn't bring himself to do it; especially not when the other 2 men on his team where gravely injured. He made his way to the floo, thinking that Remus, at least, would want to be here.
Remus was in the bedroom when he heard a voice shouting to him from the floo, and hurried to respond. He was taken aback at seeing Kingsley Shacklebolt's distraught face poking out of the fire, which turned into shock at what he heard come out of Kingsley's mouth.
"I'm at St. Mungos, we got into a battle with some death eaters, Sirius and James were both severely injured, you should come through," the head said.
Remus jumped into action as Kingsley disappeared, and practically ran through the floo, into the waiting room of St. Mungos. "Where are they?" he asked the older man.
"With the healers; no word yet," Kingsley replied, impatient for the healers to come and tell them what was happening.
"What happened?" Remus asked. Kingsley told him everything, and the shock in Remus' arms grew.
"Franks…dead?" he asked in shock, "does Alice know? She has Harry…"
Kingsley shook his head. "I'll go tell her as soon as we get word on James and Sirius," he said.
"I'll go too, pick up Harry, and Neville too if she wants me to take him," Remus added.
At that moment, a healer came in and walked straight over to Kingsley and Remus. "How are they?" Remus asked.
"Sirius will be fine," the healer assured. "He'll need to stay here for a week or so for treatment, but there will be no long term affects."
Remus and Kingsley both breathed out huge sighs of relief. "What about James?" Kingsley asked
"We're not sure what he was hit with," the healer admitted, "you're sure you can't tell us?" Kingsley shook his head in answer, and the healer continued, "well, there was a great deal of internal damage, but he's been given a wide variety of healing potions that should mend him. He'll need to stay here, possibly for a few weeks. He'll make it as long as the curse he was hit with doesn't counteract the healing potions. It would help if we knew what he was hit with," the healer explained.
Remus nodded, "Can we see them," he asked.
"You may," the healer allowed, "but they've both been given sleeping potions. It'll be awhile before they're awake."
Kingsley thanked the healer and they both shook his hand, before the healer left to check on more patients.
Kingsley put his hand on Remus' shoulder, squeezing it in comfort. "They'll be alright," he told him, repeating the healer. Remus nodded, allowing a few tears of relief, and grief, fall from his face.
"We shouldn't keep Alice in the dark. We need to go tell her now," Remus told the Auror. Kingsley nodded, and the pair made their way to the floo.
Alice was just about to wake the boys up from their nap when the floo roared to life and her husband's boss, followed by Remus, stepped through. "Whats this?" she asked, expecting the other three members of the team, her husband included, step through the floo next.
"Where are the boys?" Remus asked, motioning for her to follow them to the living room when she told them the boys were still napping.
Kingsley told her as gently as he could what had happened that afternoon, in the span of just a few hours. How do you tell someone their husband is gone? This wasn't the first time Kingsley had to do it, but it was the first time he was as close as he was to the victim.
Remus held her close as Alice collapsed into his arms. How could it be? She'd just spoken to him before lunch! Just 4 hours ago! It couldn't be true! It was someone's idea of a horrible joke!
They sat like that for what seemed like hours, until a squeal was heard from upstairs. The boys were up, and she somehow had to tell her 3 year old son that daddy wasn't coming home.