Frank dove under a hedgerow, skidding to a stop in a squelch of mud and breaking twigs. He rolled as he landed, crushing the hedges but twitching just out of the way of the yellow bolt of a curse that had been aimed at his face. He shot a Stunner back into the darkness, then pushed himself to his feet and darted across the park path, nearly slipping on the loose pebbles as he made a bee-line for his partner.
Fabian was huddled behind a nearby fountain, right hand pressed against under his left armpit in a futile attempt to suppress the blood hemorrhaging in spurts from where a curse had hit him. The park lamps and glittering green light from the Dark Mark illuminated the red stain of blood leaking around Fabian's fingers and spreading darkly across the fabric of his robes. His left arm dangled uselessly, wand barely gripped by loose fingers.
Blood rushed in Frank's ears as he tried to figure out how it all had all gone so horribly wrong.
Frank skidded to a halt next to his partner, keeping his head below the broad lip of the fountain to avoid stray curses. The rough wind caught the spray of the fountain, and ice-cold droplets of water cascaded down on the two Aurors like a douse of rain. He could hear the Muggle victims screaming, the shouts of fellow Aurors as they bellowed spells toward the gaggle of Death Eaters facing off against them—and tried to keep calm.
Fabian was pale, far too pale, his blanched face appearing green under the light of the Dark Mark. Grimacing, Frank pressed his hand against Fabian's, lending his weight to try to stop the blood. Frank's panic abruptly faded, transitioning to almost out-of-body detachment. But at least he could think clearly now.
"We've got to get you out of here," Frank said, risking a look above the fountain. He could count three masked Death Eaters, hunkering down behind a pair of benches that sat along the shore of the park's lake. Behind them, two Muggle teenagers who had unfortunately been out for a late-night stroll lay flat on the ground, clinging to one another in fear. Another Muggle lay dead behind them, caught by an unexpected curse. For the moment the three Death Eaters were distracted by the barrage of curses being leveled at them by Gideon Prewett and Mad-Eye Moody, and Frank wasn't about to waste the opportunity to get Fabian out of the line of fire.
Frank waved, catching Moody's eye. He signaled toward Fabian and got a nod in return, permission to withdraw. Within three seconds, Frank scooped up Fabian's wand, pulled Fabian's weakening body tight against his, and Disapparated.
Frank felt an icy chill as Magic doused him, checking his identity, before allowing him to Apparate into the small Deployment room of the Auror Department.
"I need a mediwizard!" he shouted, hoisting Fabian over his shoulder and carrying him into the adjoining room, which had been set up for this type of an emergency. He laid Fabian down as gently as he could on a cot and ripped open Fabian's robes to expose the wound.
Jemma, one of the two young Mediwizards on this shift, ran into the room and knelt down next to Frank. She flicked out her wand and waved it over Fabian's body as she asked, "What type of curse?"
"I don't know, I didn't see it." Frank sat back, panting, trying to get out of Jemma's way as she leaned over Fabian, frowning, flicking her wand to and fro. A haze of color settled over his limp body as she worked the medical spells that were such a mystery to Frank.
Frank felt dizzy, but he managed to focus his eyes on Fabian's left hand, which dangled over the edge of the cot. A trickle of blood was dribbling down Fabian's arm to pool on the tiled floor. Frank reached out, gingerly, and took his friend's hand. It was clammy. Frank shifted his fingers, searching for a pulse in Fabian's wrist, but couldn't find one.
"Can't stabilize him," Jemma said through gritted teeth, tucking her wand into the pocket of her robes. "I'm taking him to St. Mungos." She rested a gentle hand on Fabian's slack face as though to comfort him, and took hold of his arm. Frank jerked his hand away before he was caught up in the Side-Along Apparition. They were gone in the blink of an eye.
Frank sat back, trying to catch his breath as he stared at the now-empty cot and the pool of blood on the floor. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, oblivious to the chaos raging elsewhere in the department as Aurors were brought up to speed on the current engagement and appropriately dispatched.
Someone coughed, and Frank glanced up. Emmeline Vance was edging into the doorway, looking out of place and slightly bewildered. Frank knew how she felt: as a new Auror-in-Training, she wasn't allowed out in the field, but no doubt her in-house training had been disturbed by the all-hand-on-deck alarm. The first time he'd seen a full-scale alarm, he'd been a little shocked too.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly, kneeling down next to Frank and tentatively reaching out to touch his arm. He let her look him over, if only so she could feel like she had something productive to do. "Are you hurt?"
"I… I think I'm fine." Frank glanced down, taking stock of his body. He didn't feel as though he'd taken a wound anywhere, though blood and mud stained his robes. "I think that's all Fabian's blood."
"Mmm." She said doubtfully, and reached out to help him up, heedless of the blood on his hands. "How is he?"
Frank shook his head, dislodging several leaves from his hair. He didn't want to think about how bad his injury was. "They took him to St. Mungo's. I have his wand—"
"Longbottom!" May-Eye Moody's voice roared across the offices. Frank drew in a breath, gestured that Emmeline should follow him, and obeyed Moody's summons. Moody was standing in the center of the department offices, systematically reigning in the chaos and sorting it into order. When he spotted Frank, he simply pointed, and Frank followed the direction of the finger into a spare room. He knew the drill: he stripped off his robes and allowed a Mediwizard to examine him without argument, even though he felt fine. It had all become so routine by this point that Frank was in an out of his exam in only a few moments, but by the time he'd been given the all-clear to be re-deployed, the engagement with the Death Eaters had ended.
Emmeline sat beside him during the following debriefing, practically vibrating with adrenaline as she listened to the details of what had unfolded. As he listened, he pulled Fabian's wand out of his pocket and stared down at the blood-stained Elm wood.
The last time Frank had fallen for a Death Eater trap, his partner had died. Trembling, fighting off nauseating despair, he clung to the wand as though it was a talisman. He wondered what was happening at St. Mungo's, and hoped history wasn't repeating itself.