Not necessarily canon, just my witterings.

The Last Ones Standing

Zeb was greeted by the sound of his wife playing the piano softly. When she'd been pregnant, she'd played classical tunes, but now that she was actually a mother, her most frequent performance piece was 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. Cat and Steve were both in their rockers next to the piano, watching her sleepily. Steve was clapping his hands together in delight at the tune, whilst Cat appeared to be dozing lightly.

Zeb crept quietly into the room, sneaking up behind her and suddenly pulling her into his arms covering her cheek with kisses. Mia squealed, the piano making a discordant noise.

"Zeb!" she gasped, turning around to glare up at him. "You scared me! I thought you were a Death Eater for a moment!"

"Death Eaters aren't this gorgeous," Zeb said with a smirk, before kissing her deeply.

He only pulled away when Steve starting grumbling, and released his wife to unclip his son from his rocker, and lift him up into the air. "What's wrong Steve?" he said, jiggling the baby. "Are you hungry? Or are you…the Lion King!"

He raised him high up above his head.

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sabanyaaaaaaa, nananasi babaaaaaaaa!"

"Zeb," Mia choked in between her giggles. "I don't think those are the words."

"I don't speak Swahili, sue me!"

"…Pretty sure it's Zulu, darling," Mia said, hiding her smile behind her hand. "Maybe I shouldn't have taken you to that film."

"Are you kidding? That was one of my favourite dates!" Zeb said, throwing an arm around her, holding Steve with the other.

"I never thought you'd get so into a Muggle film," she teased.

"I'm pretty sure me singing you 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' helped significantly in getting you into bed for the first time," Zeb said smugly.

Mia smirked. "It was a good rendition."

At that moment, Cat started grizzling, and Mia slipped out of Zeb's arms to pick her up and jiggle her gently. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "Daddy's home, look." She turned around so that Cat could see her father and brother. "See? Everything's alright."

It was then that the caterwauling charm went off.

For a split second, Mia and Zeb froze, staring at each other with wide eyes. Then Mia has snatched up a sling and buckled Cat into it, over her front, whilst Zeb was doing the same with Steve. Mia snatched her wand off the piano and Zeb drew his own. Together, they ran into the kitchen, just as the front door was blasted off its hinges.

"They're already in the house," Mia whispered, waving her wand and sealing the kitchen door. "How can they have moved so fast?" Their cottage was in the middle of nowhere, and the warning boundaries had been set wide enough to give them enough time to escape.

Zeb didn't answer. Instead, he unclipped Steve's sling and sun Mia around, securing it around her back. "I'll hold them off. You take the kids and go."

Mia turned back to him, her eyes wide. "No! Zeb, you can't! We're supposed to leave together, the escape plan-"

"Has gone wrong, Mia!" Zeb said, gripping her hands. "You need to get out of here, to somewhere you can apparate. You have to get our children somewhere safe."

A tear ran down Mia's cheek. "I can't leave you."

"You must," he said, wiping it away gently. He bent down and kissed her deeply for moment, ignoring the hammering on the door. Mia's spell was holding; she'd always been good at Charms.

He pulled away and gently kissed first Cat then Steve on the head. "Keep them safe, Mia," he whispered. "I'll…I'll find you when it's over."

They both knew it was a lie. One more kiss, then Mia was opening the cellar, and descending into the passage that ran beneath their land. The door was shut and bolted behind her. She heard shouts, and crashes above her as they broke through the door, heard her husband yelling spells and fighting for his life. Then, with tears streaming down her face, she was running through the passage, illuminated wand tip ahead of her, babies jiggling against her. Steve was whimpering on her back, and Cat was crying against her chest.

"Muffliato," she whispered, and the sound stopped. Nothing could give them away. Her wand illuminated the shine of metal, and she saw the rungs which lead to the exit. She climbed them carefully, raising a hand and pushing the trapdoor above her open, climbing out into the night. She shivered in the cold air; she hadn't had time to grab a jumper. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the glow of flying curses and hexes lighting up the windows of the house. He was alive. She took a deep breath, and began to head away, towards the road where the enchantments ended and where she could apparate to safety. A little further…just a little further…and they'd be safe.

Sudden silence.

She turned, her breath catching in her chest, and saw the dark empty windows of the house and knew, in her heart, that it was over.

She clapped her hands to her mouth to contain her howl of anguish, clamping them over her face as if she could force it back inside herself. No noise. Mustn't make any noise. She raised her wand and flicked her wrist. There was a swirl of silver which vanished into the night.

Cat was warm against her chest, Steve still whimpering on her back. The road.

She turned back, and stumbled forwards, heading towards her goal.

"Stupify!"

The jet of red light shot past her head, and she spun, wand raised, blocking the next spell sent at her.

"Protego!" she repeated the spell over and over, not daring to attack, not daring to drop her shield for one second in case his curses his her children. She moved backwards, further and further backwards as they fought. She stumbled over roots, thorns caught at her jeans, biting into her skin, but she remained upright, somehow, screaming spell after spell.

Her foot landed on something solid, and when she backed away a little further, her other foot joined it. Tarmac. The road.

Joy flooded through her, and she raised her wand, preparing to apparate.

Her shield charm dropped for a second.

"Sectumsempra!"

/

Sophia had come around for dinner with Blaze and Melinda, and had somehow ended up cooking it for them. This was mostly because Blaze was an appaling cook, albeit not as bad as Mia, and Melinda was an exhausted first time mother.

"I love him to pieces, Soph," she said, waving a rattle over Cillian's head. "But he never sleeps through the night, and Blaze doesn't exactly have the breasts to feed him."

"My breasts are glorious, thank you," Blaze said from the kitchen, where he was making tea.

"Yes, of course darling," Melinda said, rolling her eyes and smirking at Sophia. "They are marvellous knockers."

Blaze opened his mouth to reply, but froze as a silver fox suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.

"Blaze. Zeb is dead. They're after me. I have the children. Please, send help. Please."

The all stared as the fox disappeared into silver smoke, Mia's voice echoing around the room before vanishing as well. Then, everything was movement; Melinda was on her feet with her wand out, Blaze was yanking his out of his pocked and Sophia found a baby thrust into her arms.

"You can't both go!" she cried, holding Cillian tightly. "Cillian needs his parents!"

"But Mia-"

There was a flash outside, and suddenly there was chaos, Blaze had run to the door and practically ripped it off its hinges, charging out into the night, Melinda hot on his trail. Sophia set the sleepy Cillian down in his chair, before running out after them.

"Mia."

Sophia had never heard Blaze's voice so broken.

His sister was on her knees, covered in blood, her children still strapped to her front and back. Melinda was removing the slings, putting Cat around her own front, before passing Sophia Steve.

Mia fell forwards into Blaze's arms once she no longer had to worry about potentially hurting one of her children in the fall. Blaze helped turn her over onto her back, his entire body shaking as he clutched her close, and Sophia saw to her horror that Mia was covered in hundreds of little cuts all leaking blood at an alarming rate.

"Sophia…" Blazel gasped, not looking away from his sister. "Help her. Please."

"D-dittany," Sophia stuttered. "Do you have any dittany?"

"I..I don't know," Melinda said, her face white. "A-Accio dittany."

She waved her wand, and a few second later a little bottle flew into her hand. She handed it to Sophia, who began to dab it onto Mia's wounds, but it wasn't enough.

"Blaze," she said, her voice shaking and pitchy. "I…I can't stop the bleeding, I can't…"

"Blaze…" they all fell silent as Mia managed to speak, reaching out and weakly grasping Blaze's hand. "My…my children….Cat…Steve…please…"

"I'll keep them safe," Blaze said, his voice breaking. "I promise Mia. Fuck, I promise, but you, you have to look after them too, you have to stay awake, stay with me, stay…"

He kept rocking and whispering to her even after her eyes closed, blood soaking his shirt and the ground beneath her.

/

Melinda was woken by the familiar sound of a crying child. She screwed her eyes up for a moment, trying to work out which baby it was. It was slightly higher…Cat?

She swung her legs out of bed, and headed down to the children's room, pushing open the door. It was Steve who was leading the chorus, his face screwed up miserably. Melinda rolled her eyes and scooped him up, rocking him softly.

"What's upset you, hmm?" she said, stroking his head. "Why are you so grumbly?"

"Mel?" Blaze came in behind her, peering in at the children. "Are they alright?"

"Yes, Steve's just being a darling little shit, as usual," Melinda said, holding Steve up to her shoulder.

Blaze yawned, stretching his arms up above his head. "What time is it?"

"About five," she said, kissing the top of Steve's head.

"You want a cup of tea, love?" he asked, kissing her cheek.

"That would be amazing," she said, squeezing his arm.

He left the room, and she watched him go with anxiety in her eyes. He was holding up better, but he was still hardly sleeping. He spent most of the days staring out of the window or helping her with the babies. She knew he was trying to stay strong for the children, but it had only been a month since Mia-

She took a deep breath, holding Steve close.

They had to carry on. They had too. They had children to raise, to protect, a pyscho to bring down.

Down in the kitchen, a mug smashed.

"MEL!"

She put Steve back in the crib, pulling her wand from her pyjama pocket. She ran to the stairs, a curse on her lips.

Blaze was already fighting, jets of light shooting from his wand. Melinda sent a jet of green light shooting towards one of the death eaters, who fell like a puppet with cut strings. She spun and found herself embroiled in a duel with a masked figure. Jets of light bounced around the room, smashing the photos on the walls, shattering the mugs on the table. Tea stained the tablecloth, dripping onto the floor. With a well-placed hex, she sent her death eater opponent flying across the room. As she turned, she remembered Mia's fox, and with a wave of her wand, sent her own patrounus to Headquaters, hoping in vain that someone, anyone would see it. Then she had another opponent, their wands flying as they duelled, Melinda still blocking the staircase with her body. She was not going to let them get through to the children.

Blaze was duelling two death eaters at once, still in his pyjamas. One of his hexes hit the first death eater, sending him tumbling to the floor.

The second death eater's curse hit him in the chest.

Melinda screamed, blasting her own opponent back as her magic an rage mingled together, sending him flying through a window. She decended the stairs, bearing down on the remaining death eater, who took a step back as she raised her wand. They dodged and dived, both shooting curses hot enough to singe the carpet and blast holes in the walls. But then the other death eater reappeared and she was now duelling two at once, and Blaze was lying on the floor behind her, still, so still…

"Melinda!"

And there was another there, in the doorway, her blonde hair flying, her wand in her hand…

And one of Melinda's curses connected, and the death eater flew backwards, and her eyes met Sophia's, and for a moment she knew that she wasn't alone, and everything was going to be okay.

There was a flash of green light.

/

When he turned to her, Sophia saw it was Beltchly. She took a step back, not expecting it to be someone she knew.

He laughed, kicking Melinda's body aside as he stepped towards her. "Sophia Linton." He smirked at her tears. "Still as pathetic as always." He raised his wand, and Sophia could feel her entire body trembling. "Time to finish you off, little Hufflepuff," he said softly.

Sophia could hear the children crying upstairs. Melinda was still on the floor, Blaze behind her.

"Avada Kedavra."

There was a thump as the body hit the floor. Slowly, Sophia lowered her wand, her hands still shaking with rage. She took a deep breath. And then headed upstairs to comfort the living, even as her heart broke for the dead.

The house was a wreck. Aaron could only stand outside and stare for a moment before running inside, pushing aside the debris.

"MINHAE!" his voice echoed around the empty shell of the house. He didn't understand. The war had been over for four years. How had they not caught all of the death eaters? How could they have let them find Minhae? Minhae who was responsible for putting so many of their comrades in Azbakan? He searched all of the downstairs rooms before heading up the staircase, which creaked ominously under his weight. There were bodies on the landing. Masked and cloaked. He counted three death eaters. Slowly, he pushed her bedroom door open, and fell to his knees.

He had never been one for hugs, but now he held her, tears dribbling down his cheeks. It was only when his own sobs calmed slightly that he heard the whimpering. He slowly lowered Minhae's body to the floor and tried to locate its source. The bed. Under the bed. He drew his wand, and dropped back down to his knees. His gaze met a pair of scared grey eyes.

"Aislinn?" he said, staring at her.

She said nothing, her entire body trembling.

"You can came out," he whispered. "It's safe now."

"The bad men hurt Mummy," she said in a tiny voice.

"I know," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

"She's been sleeping with her eyes open all day," she whispered.

"Come out from under the bed, Aislinn."

"Mummy said to stay under the bed whatever happened."

"Mummy wants you to come with me now," he said, reaching out his hand. "I'm going to look after you. I promise. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"You promise?" Aislinn whispered.

"I promise."

Slowly, she reached out, and took his hand.