Note: This turned out longer than I expected, so the fluff will have to wait until next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
9: Growing Up
The impact as she threw herself down onto the ground made her knees sting in protest, but Carrie barely noticed the sudden pain because the thudding of her heart against her ribcage felt consuming.
The panic was overwhelming as she reached to grasp hold of the lifeless witch by the shoulder, giving her a firm shake.
"Dora! Dora, wake up!"
Her pleading demands fell on deaf ears and when Dora failed to stir, Carrie forced herself to suck in a deep breath. And then she held it.
Calm down, she told herself firmly as a bird fluttered past amongst the trees, apparently oblivious to the terrible situation below. Calm down, stop panicking and calm down.
Slowly, she let the air seep back out from her lungs, and by the time she drew another breath she found herself feeling suddenly calmer.
Good, she thought, giving herself one last little shake just to be sure. Now think, Carrie. Think...
She tried to think of what one was supposed to do when somebody collapsed, but all she could really think of was calling an ambulance...
Well that's not going to do any good!
The panic was beginning to seep back into her mind, her racing heart was beginning to thud in her ears again, but then...
Her pulse! Check her pulse!
For a second, Carrie found herself pausing, fingers hovering above the Auror's neck as she asked herself a very troubling question indeed: What if she didn't find a pulse? What if Dora didn't have one?
"Shut up." the muggle told herself aloud. "Just shut up, she'll have one, she will...d'you hear, Dora? I'm warning you, I don't know how to do CPR so...so you better be messing around or...or something...you are, you must be, you were fine earlier...you...you were, you were just fine, you can't just..."
She hurriedly bit her tongue to silence herself and before she could think better of it reached forward to feel for a pulse...
There it was. Carrie allowed herself a small sigh of relief as the comfortingly steady beats pulsed against her fingers, and she very nearly laughed aloud at just how frightened she had felt because it seemed immediately daft, utterly stupid.
Because Dora Lupin couldn't just drop dead. She simply couldn't. Carrie couldn't quite explain to herself why this was a fact, but it was one, it was as simple as that.
It was at that moment that Carrie noticed something that made her stomach twist into tight knots and she had to admit to herself that despite her small victory she was still feeling frightened. The ends of Dora's hair had grown dull and pale, and Carrie watched as before her eyes the bright pink strands were sapped of their colour, the bleak, lifeless shade seeping steadily up towards the roots.
Carrie shuddered, and hastily forced herself into action. Reaching to push her arms underneath the witch, she struggled to roll her over onto her back.
At the movement and fresh air upon her face, Dora stirred a little, her brow creasing deeply as a soft groan escaped her lips. Carrie peered down at her hopefully. The witch's heart shaped face had grown deathly pale, and she appeared to have managed to split her lip upon something sharp upon the ground, it was a minor injury, and yet the smeared blood upon her lips seemed so bright in contrast to her skin that the sight made Carrie feel queasy.
"Dora?" Carrie said loudly, reaching uncertainly to tap her patient upon the cheek, and she was surprised when the seemingly semi-conscious Auror managed to mutter:
"Sto' that. 'S annoying."
"S...sorry..." Carrie mumbled as Dora's eyes fluttered open, only for her to groan and close them again. There was a sizeable pause and when Dora failed to stir again Carrie hurriedly reached to tap her on the face again.
"Dora!"
"'Said stop that." the witch insisted, and Carrie gave a little jump.
"Sorry..." she mumbled again as the groggy witch frowned deeply. "I thought...I thought you'd passed out again..."
"No such luck..." Dora whispered, screwing her eyes more firmly shut. "Bloody hell...I think I...I..."
"You what?" Carrie asked rather desperately. "What happened? What...what should I do?"
"B...bloody...hell..." Dora murmured thickly, sounding worryingly vague.
"Dora!" Despite herself, Carrie reached to tap her face again, but this time the witch didn't seem to notice. "Dora...stay awake! Please...I...I don't know what to...what to do! Tell...tell me..."
For a moment, Dora did little but groan again, but Carrie supposed this was better than nothing, at least she hadn't passed out. Determined to get some sense out of the witch, Carrie reached to take her face firmly in her hands, fingers grasping at her dull, pale hair.
"Dora, listen to me..." she began, only to pause a little, not sure how to carry on. She supposed it was because this wasn't the sort of situation she was used to finding herself in. Usually it was the other way around...
Carrie, listen to me...
What would Dora say? If it were the other way around...
"Listen carefully," Carrie decided, because that was a likely beginning. Because Dora always implored her to listen carefully, for all the good it did her. "You're going to be alright. I promise." She wasn't sure whether or not this was true, but it was what Dora always said so it would have to do. "But I need you to talk to me...to trust me. I'm going to...I'm going to help you, I promise I won't let anything bad happen but I need your help..." That wasn't right. Dora never needed Carrie's help, not ever...
Carrie's thoughts were interrupted by Dora managing to breathe:
"Move m...me...mm...sigh..."
"What? Move what?" Carrie leant forward until her ear was almost brushing the Auror's bloody lips.
Dora drew in a deep breath and, seemingly concentrating furiously, mumbled:
"Move me onto my...my side."
"Move you onto your side?"
"Mm..."
"Oh...right! Right then! Yes, I'll just...right..."
As the muggle set about rolling her sideways, the Auror let out another groan of protest.
"Oh...oh Merlin..." she complained. "Oh Merlin..."
"It's alright!" Carrie insisted. "There, you're on your side! Now...now what?"
Another deep breath later and Dora managed another reasonably coherent sentence:
"Now won't choke...if vomit..."
"Now you aren't going to choke if you vomit." Carrie agreed, shuddering a little at the accompanying mental image. "G...good! That's good...great, even! Now...now what do I do?"
"Help..."
"Yes, I'm helping, but how..."
"Get...help. Get Remus."
"Yes..." Carrie found herself looking wildly around as if she might simply spot Remus somewhere amongst the trees, but all she saw was empty woodland, an unfamiliar, unmarked trail...
"I...I don't know where we are!" she realised, "I...I don't know the way back on my own, Dora...tell me!"
But when her gaze snapped back down to look at the witch, she found to her dismay that Dora appeared to have passed out again.
Alone and left to her own devices, Carrie felt panic begin to seize hold of her again, and for a moment she simply collapsed forward, burying her face in Dora's cloak in despair.
She felt sick, she realised, so very, very sick...
Sick with worry, sick with nerves...
Or just plain sick?
Oh Merlin, the muggle thought in horror, what if she was truly sick? Like Dora was sick...what if Carrie was next? What if she was about to collapse herself? She'd drunk the berry juice too...
Because it was the berry juice. It had to be, Dora had been absolutely fine before Carrie had thrust that glass into her hands. At this thought, Carrie felt a horrible sense of guilt swelling up in her chest. It was silly, she thought furiously as she grasped fistfuls of Dora's cloak in horror, so very, very silly of her! If it had tasted that bad, why on earth would she give it to Dora in the first place? She should have tipped it into the bushes, or just told Kit Carter how ghastly it was...
Kit Carter. This was all his fault, it had to be! The villagers were right about him, he was wicked! And Carrie had been stupid enough to think otherwise. She felt so utterly wretched, so ashamed of herself that for a moment she contemplated simply curling herself up into a ball at Dora's side, waiting for whatever evil concoction Kit had fed her to take hold as it had Dora. Perhaps she'd feel better, falling into darkness...
But what about Dora?
No, Carrie told herself firmly, forcing herself up into a sitting position. She couldn't just give up, she had to do something, for Dora's sake at least. She had to try and get help from somewhere, and she had to do it quickly before she passed out herself.
I'm not going to pass out, she told herself defiantly as she scrambled to her feet. I won't do it, I refuse, you won't get me, Kit Carter, because Dora needs help...
For a moment, she found herself looking wildly around again in the vain hope that she might decide upon which way the village was, but the pathway before her forked left and right, and she had no idea which way to go. She couldn't risk getting any more lost, she realised, she needed to know precisely where Dora was, so that she could come back to her.
The only direction in which Carrie knew she could go with any real confidence was backwards, but that would lead her further away from the village.
Carrie let out a hiss of frustration, her gaze drifting skywards towards the treetops. If only she could climb trees like Samuel and Kit could, she thought dismally, then perhaps she would be able to gage exactly where she was, or even see the village from one of the highest branches...
It was then, whilst gazing up at the sky, that an idea struck the muggle and she gasped in a triumphant breath...
Reaching the highest branches might have been unthinkable for Carrie herself, but it sounded simple enough for others in the woods, more than easy in fact.
Winged horses could fly above the treetops. Even back to the village! And though she had seen nothing but trees what the past few hours, Carrie could recall hearing the distinct sound of a horse nearby back by Kit's tree...
And surely all horses in this valley had wings, surely normal horses just weren't magical enough!
With the briefest glance at Dora still out cold upon the ground, Carrie sprinted back through the trees, retracing their steps from just a short while earlier. The sickness in her gut seemed to fade a little now that she had something to focus on, a mission of sorts, and she ran all the way back to Kit's tree, where she paused, panting and out of breath, bent forward to lean her hands upon her knees.
Don't stop, she thought wildly, you might not have very long...
Breathless, Carrie staggered off in the vague direction in which she had heard the noise earlier, frustrated at her ragged breathing which seemed so loud that she thought it unlikely that she would hear another sound at all...
Or perhaps she would...
There it was again, the unmistakable whinnying of a horse, and at the sound of it Carrie forced herself into a brisk jog. She reached the edge of a large clearing, and failed to suppress a shout of triumph at the sight that met her eyes. It was a small, grassy paddock enclosed by a sturdy wooden fence, much like that which Carrie had been working in the previous day. A lone winged horse stood beside a water trough. The pale brown creature eyed the approaching muggle with mild interest, before tossing its head with a huff.
"Hello..." Carrie murmured in greeting as she reached the fence, and for a moment she stood, leaning against the wooden structure whilst eying the horse in consideration. As it gave its feathered wings a shake, Carrie stared the horse directly in the eye. To her surprise the horse paused in its fidgeting to stare straight back at her. It had been tethered to a nearby post by a long length of rope, and Carrie sucked in a deep, nervous breath as she willed herself to go and untie it.
"I don't much like flying." she admitted aloud, as if the horse might somehow be able to put her mind at ease. "I don't like heights and I'm scared I'll fall...and I've never ridden a horse before either...not even a normal one."
The winged horse merely gave another huff and tossed its head.
At the thought of Dora still lying motionlessly back amongst the trees, Carrie screwed her eyes firmly shut and silently commanded herself to summon some courage. She found herself recalling many years previously, the year that she had first met the Lupins, when Teddy had met her at the gates of her school and had lent her his red and gold striped Gryffindor scarf. He had told her that he was sure that had Carrie been a witch, the Hogwarts Sorting Hat would have made her a Gryffindor too. Recalling this notion, Carrie failed to suppress a despairing laugh. Soon after eleven year old Teddy had made that claim, Carrie had had her first major run-in with the less than pleasant aspects of the Wizarding world, and she had managed a succession of others, each more disastrous than the last. She'd coped somewhat pathetically with each and every one of them, in her own opinion, so much so that the notion that she had even a drop of Gryffindor courage in her was an utterly laughable idea. In fact, Carrie was having severe difficulty convincing herself that she was brave enough or even capable of doing anything slightly adventurous at all. She bit nervously down upon her bottom lip, grasping around for some sort of encouragement, some inspiration to launch her over the fence and into the paddock.
She found herself thinking of Remus. As she had told Teddy the previous day, Remus always seemed able to believe in Carrie, no matter what her failings. In fact, the muggle recalled, it had not been so terribly long ago since Remus had trusted Carrie with the most crucial of tasks; he'd gone as far as to betray the safety of his son, the entire Order and their children, because he had trusted Carrie to warn them, to keep them safe.
And she'd failed.
But that wasn't the point, Carrie told herself firmly, whether she had failed or not was irrelevant! She'd made up for it in the end, she'd gotten desperately needed help to the Order and without her they would all no doubt have perished. All that mattered was that Remus had trusted her then, even when Carrie had not entirely trusted herself, and she had little doubt that he'd be willing to trust her again now. He would trust her to get a grip on herself and climb over that fence. He'd trust her to ride a winged horse without managing to cause herself some sort of accident. Most importantly, he would trust her to get Dora to safety, to care for his wife who was undoubtably one of the most adored and precious people in Remus' life.
And with that final confidence bolstering though, Carrie vaulted over the fence and strode purposefully over to the winged horse. Without so much as a sideways glance at the creature, for fear that it would only make her more nervous, she went to untie the rope that was tethering the horse in its enclosure, and then, pausing to give the horse an experimental pat upon the side which it seemingly ignored, she set about tying the loose end of the rope tightly to the loop about its neck, creating a makeshift pair of reigns.
"Don't move." she told the horse firmly, though she was sure it wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention, and with that she threw her arms around its neck, pausing to establish that once again the animal was unconcerned by her intrusion of its personal space, before grasping hold of a fistful of its mane and throwing herself up onto its back, foot pushing against the base of a feathery wing in an attempt to keep herself from sliding back to the ground.
"There!" Carrie cried triumphantly, swinging her leg over until she was sat astride the horse, tucking her feet at the base of its wings and grasping firmly hold of the rope. "Piece of cake...now...let's just...ARGH!" The muggle was forced to throw her arms around the horse's neck in terror as suddenly it reared up on its back legs with a cry, and Carrie promptly screwed her eyes shut in terror as it bolted forwards, leaping gracefully over the fence and darting off into the trees. Carrie could do nothing but cling on for dear life, and as she felt the thunder of hooves beneath her she supposed she could only be grateful that the horse had for the meantime decided to remain upon the ground. After a moment she felt a distinct loss of momentum as the horse slowed to a brisk trot, and Carrie dared open her eyes and carefully edge her way back until she was sat upright again. She set about attempting to guide the horse through the trees, back towards where she had left Dora, and was relieved by just how cooperative the animal was. She had only to give it a nudge in the side with a foot to make it change direction, though she could not shake off the anxious thought that it might have a second sudden burst of energy, or rear up and throw her to the ground.
Carrie managed to come to a neat halt by Dora's feet some minutes later, and almost immediately a sickening, abrasive smell grasped at Carrie's nostrils, making her wrinkle her nose. The muggle hastily dismounted and rushed to the Auror's side. The witch had managed to curl her knees up towards her chest, and Carrie immediately spotted the source of the smell. True to her own prediction, Dora had vomited, leaving a sickening pool of bile upon the muddy ground, the remnants still upon the witch's bloodied lips and clinging to a few stray strands of mousy hair. Though apparently conscious, her dark, glazed eyes staring blankly off into the trees, Dora had made no effort to move away from the stench.
At the sound of Carrie's footsteps and the soft thud as she dropped down beside her, Dora's gaze darted briefly up to look at the muggle, only to drop back to stare blankly at nothing in particular.
"You're awake!" Carrie observed, reaching to lay a hand upon her arm.
"Mm..." Dora mumbled, frowning deeply.
Carrie wondered how on earth she could stand to lie there, face mere inches from the stench, and the muggle hastily reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled tissue.
"Here..." she mumbled rather uncertainly, gingerly mopping the sickening concoction of blood and bile from the witch's lips and chin. She rubbed feebly at a stubborn streak of encrusted blood and came away in meagre flakes. As she worked, Dora's gaze drifted back up to stare at her, and to the muggle's confusion, the witch let out a thick chuckle.
"Merlin," the Auror mumbled, swollen lip stretched towards a grin. "Would you look at me...ha!"
"Ha..." Carrie muttered, not amused in the slightest by what she saw, but Dora merely laughed harder, slumping backwards until she was sprawled upon her back, gazing up at the sky.
"I don't think this is very funny." Carrie admitted indigently as she discarded the tissue into the bushes, nose wrinkling in disgust, and when she turned back to look down at the witch, she found the Auror's gaze upon her surprisingly stern for one whose mind appeared so fuzzy.
"Could...cry, 'f you like." she offered, and Carrie felt her cheeks flush pink.
"No...no thank you." the muggle mumbled, feeling embarrassed though she wasn't entirely sure why, and she felt worse still when Dora let out snort, her eyes drifting closed with a frown.
"What would you do...if I did?" she asked, and before Carrie could swallow the lump that formed in her throat, the Auror gave another snigger.
"Stop...stop that!" Carrie mumbled, attempting to ignore the fact that she couldn't imagine how to answer the witch's question, but Dora ignored her.
"Should hurry..." she mumbled, sounding suddenly vague again, head lolling sleepily to one side.
"I know that, I'm not an idiot!" Carrie found herself snapping, and she felt utterly furious when Dora very unconvincingly agreed:
"'Course you're not."
Before she could quite fathom what she was doing, Carrie had reached forwards to grasp hold of the witch by the shoulders, giving her a firm shake until she opened her eyes again.
"Listen!" she cried, face flooded with furious colour. "I know you think I'm useless...but...but that's not fair! You don't know what you're talking about!"
"No?" Dora mumbled, not bothering to turn her head back to look up at the muggle, and Carrie struggled to resist the urge to make her do so.
"No!" the muggle exclaimed, feeling utterly livid. "You don't have a clue! I mean...LOOK!" She thrust a furious figure forward to point at the winged horse that was standing idly by Kit's tree.
Dora slowly moved until she could look over at the horse, and Carrie felt stung by her underwhelmed:
"Oh..."
"Yes, oh!" Carrie cried, reaching to slide her arms somewhat roughly underneath the witch. "So shut up and let me get on with it!"
As she was jerked up into a sitting position, Dora screwed her eyes shut against the world lurching about her, and Carrie felt a sudden wash of guilt when the witch groaned, her chin coming to rest upon the muggle's shoulder. But before Carrie could mumble something apologetic, Dora reached to sling a worryingly uncoordinated arm around her neck.
"Good girl." the Auror breathed, and as she tried to steady her, Carrie asked:
"What?"
"'Stand up to me, you can stand up to anything, love." the witch slurred, slumping further forward. "So go on, gimme the finger..." And with that, the nausea of movement finally overcame her, and she passed out.
For a moment, Carrie simply froze, hugging the limp figure to her, a swell of courage blossoming in her chest. It began to dawn on her that Dora slipping into darkness once again no longer frightened her, because without noticing Carrie had, in the last ten minutes or so, managed to emulate her guardian angels flawlessly.
It hadn't even taken much effort.
Over the years there had often been times where Carrie had wished for Remus' composure, or for Dora's fierce determination and dazzling confidence. She would concentrate furiously on the two of them in an attempt to copy them, with only marginal success.
And yet here she was, cooly riding a winged horse and mopping the vomit from Dora's deathly pale face as if it were ice cream off a toddler. Here she was telling Dora Lupin of all people to shut up and let me get on with it!
Carrie felt utterly invigorated. She wondered if that had been Dora's intention in the first place, if she had baited the muggle on purpose. But it didn't matter either way, Carrie reminded herself, because her furious outburst had left her confidence to soar.
And that was why dragged Dora over to the horse's side a minute later, no doubt giving her a graze or two along the way, didn't daunt Carrie, no matter how difficult it seemed.
"How about," the girl found herself telling the unconscious Auror as she struggled to drag her a few more steps, "losing a bit of weight before you ever do this again? Not difficult for you, is it? You could...you could morph yourself smaller...how in Merlin's name am I going to get you up on the horse?"
This was, Carrie discovered a moment later, a very good question indeed. But where before she would have very nearly burst into tears at this tricky situation, Carrie found it simply exasperating more than anything else. In her struggling she entirely forgot her panic at the thought that she herself might collapse too, indeed had she cared to notice she would have realised that she no longer felt sick in the slightest.
At long last, she managed to get Dora slumped precariously across the horse's back, and she hastily climbed up behind her, one hand gripping hold of the make-shift reigns and the other reaching to pin Dora in place to stop her from slipping back down towards the ground.
"Right, let's go then!" she told the horse impatiently, giving the reigns a rather uncertain shake. The horse didn't move a muscle. Gritting her teeth determinedly, Carrie gave it a firm nudge beneath the wings with her feet, and was promptly forced to abandon her hold upon the reigns so that she could throw herself forward, grabbing hold of Dora with both hands as the horse gave a huff, spreading it's wings. It bolted along the pathway, and Carrie thought they might run straight into a fast approaching tree, only for the creature to beat its wings and with that, they soared up into the air above the treetops.
The village became visible almost immediately, a large break in the trees with smoke drifting lazily up towards the sky from cottage chimneys. The horse swooped gracefully through the air, and yet Carrie didn't feel graceful in the slightest, struggling to keep Dora from falling to her death whilst attempting to guide the horse in the right direction.
Indeed, it was no surprise that they crashed.
They were dropping surprisingly neatly down beside Edwin's cottage when Carrie's grip upon Dora finally failed, and as she lurched sideways to grab at the front of the Auror's clothes with a shriek of panic, the horse panicked too at the sudden shift of weight upon its back, instantly dropping straight down towards the ground, veering wildly sideways until they struck the rickety wooden fence at the side of the house with an almighty crash. As wood splintered, tiny fragments shooting up into the air, the impact jolted Dora sideways, Carrie heard the distinct sound of ripping material and as a fistful of blouse came off in her hand, the muggle watched in panic as the Auror fell to the ground with an thud.
Still gripping hold of the material in her hand, Carrie simply froze, heart hammering in panic her her chest, her breathing ragged and gasping, and before she could utter something suitably horrified about their crash landing the door to the cottage had been flung wide open and she heard a rush of footsteps.
Shakily, Carrie turned, reaching to cling to the startled horse's mane as it tossed its head in alarm, shifting its feet uncomfortably. Numbly, the girl watched Edwin, Remus, Teddy and Samuel come bolting down the pathway towards her.
Edwin paused just short of the scene, apparently entirely missing Dora lying sprawled amongst the remains of the fence as he stared up at the muggle clinging to the horse with wide, horrified eyes.
"What the bloody hell...!" the man began, as if he had never seen such a shambolic display in all his life, only for him to be cut off by Remus darting past him, at a sight more urgent by far.
"Dora!" the werewolf threw himself to his knees beside the unconscious figure of his wife, and Carrie watched silently as he reached to cup her pale face in his hands, his usual calm badly shaken.
"Oh Merlin!" Edwin exclaimed, rushing forward with Teddy and Samuel so that they could cluster themselves around the casualty. "What...what happened?"
"Is...is she breathing?" Teddy asked, face growing as white as a sheet as Samuel glanced from Dora to Carrie in shock.
"She's bleeding." Remus murmured, fingers completing a hasty inspection of the back of the witch's head and coming up bloody. "Sweet Merlin...get...get her inside...some...some linen and blankets and...and..."
"Move over." Edwin instructed briskly, Remus' garbled attempt at action seemingly bringing him to his senses. "Here, I've got her..."
Carrie watched the burly man reach with surprising care to scoop Dora up into his arms, and the witch stirred every so slightly, a soft moan escaping her lips.
"Shh." Carrie heard Remus whisper as he reached to sweep the hair back from her face. "It's alright, you're alright Dora, we've got you."
"Let's get her a bed." Edwin muttered, eying the Auror worriedly, and with that he turned and set off back towards the house. "Get that horse seen to, Samuel!" he added as a vague afterthought, before disappearing inside.
Carrie slowly relinquished her vice-like grip upon the horse's mane, her hands trembling, and her mind felt sluggish as she watched Remus turn to her, wiping the blood from his fingers upon the front of his trousers before holding out his hands towards the muggle. For a moment, she simply stared blankly at them, before recognising the gesture and reaching to take hold of them, allowing him to slip her carefully down from the horse's back. For a moment, they simply stared at one another, her heart still thumping in her chest, before he gave her a gentle tug towards, enveloping her in his arms.
Carrie crumpled against him, burying her face in the front of his jumper, relief beginning to seep over her, chasing the paralysing shock from her bones that had struck her upon impact with the ground.
She'd done it, she realised as she heard Samuel stepping past them towards the horse. She'd really done it, she'd gotten Dora to safety, gotten her help. And despite a haphazard ending to her little mission she felt undoubtably proud of herself.
She felt Remus reach to rest his hands upon her shoulders, and when he prised her back from him so that he could gaze down at her, Carrie felt more elated by her triumph than ever when his grip upon her shoulders tightened and he told her:
"Thank you."
It was quiet, simple thanks but Carrie was sure that this gesture was one of those great milestones in life, one that she would look back on in years to come and realise: That was it. That was when everything changed.
That was when I finally did it. That was when I grew up.
"Are you alright?" the werewolf asked after a moment, but Carrie couldn't think to respond. "Let me see you, turn around..."
She allowed him to turn her slowly so that he could scrutinise every inch of her with a deep frown, before she finally managed to mumble:
"I'm...I'm fine, I'm just fine...go to Dora. Just...just go to her."
He ignored her for a long moment until he had finished his inspection, concluding:
"You'll live." And with that he turned and hurried back inside.
No sooner had one set of arms released her, Carrie found herself engulfed in another pair.
"Sweet Merlin, what's going on?" Teddy exclaimed, burying his face in her hair as he crushed her against his chest. "What happened?"
"I...we...she just collapsed..." Carrie mumbled as Samuel led the horse away from the wreckage and off down the road. "I think it's...I think it's poison..."
"Poison?"
"I...I think..."
"How? What...who?" When Carrie let out a groan at the relentless questions, Teddy drew in a deep breath in an attempt to squash them all. "Well it'll be alright." he insisted, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Mum'll be alright, thanks to you." he drew back to beam down at her for a moment, telling her: "You're wonderful, did you know that?" When she merely gave a rather weary chuckle he reached to take her by the hand, suggesting: "Come on, Sweetheart. Let's go inside."
They walked, hand in hand around the house and stepped inside, where they found Edwin and Neve darting around the kitchen, ransacking cupboards and muttering frantically to one another. Trying not to feel too alarmed, Carrie allowed Teddy to lead her to the doorway of his parents' room, where they found Dora lying upon the bed, one hand clutched tightly in both of Remus' as he sat at her side, her fingers pressed to his lips as he stared down at her anxiously.
Dora was still unconscious, a slip of linen pressed under her head to keep the blood from her pillow. Her skin had grown snowy white and her hair clung to her forehead in damp, sweat soaked clumps.
The sight made Carrie feel at first utterly despairing.
And then utterly livid.
Look at them, the muggle thought furiously as Remus reached to tuck the blanket more firmly around his wife. Just look at them...
She tried to suppress the sudden rage that was coursing through her like blood, but it wouldn't go away, she couldn't stop it, it was consuming...
This was supposed to be a holiday, she thought, pulling her hand free from Teddy's grasp so that she could ball it into a fist. It was supposed to be their holiday, their time together away from it all. Away from trouble and worry, away from drama like this...
And with that, before she could reason with herself, Carrie had turned on her heel and made a beeline for the front door, ignoring Teddy's calling after her she stomped outside, drawing in a deep, determined breath of fresh air, before making a beeline for the woods, heading straight for Carter Cottage.