Chapter 44

Weeks later,

"Remind me why I have friends again?" Alicia asked after Warrington left to see the last of guests home. Maura smiled as she joined Alicia on the plump lounge as they sat in the 'women's saloon' area of her Grandfather's pub. The room was usually storage area but her Grandfather drew the line at a baby shower being held in his pub. Even if the party goers were unisex. So the saloon had been cleared, cleaned and rejuvenated with a few charms to look like it had been used in the last 50 years. Right now it was wall to wall in baby decorations and presents.

"Because they are useful and in your case highly entertaining" Maura said as she poured a glass of champagne. The surprise baby shower had been fun even a little wild but it was to be expected with Fred and George nominating themselves hosts of the party. It had been a small group even Montague and Flint showed up which was quite a surprise in itself as she would have figured Flint be someone who avoided such events like the plague.

"Here take a sip before my son comes back" Maura told her as she held out the glass of champagne.

"I can't drink alcohol" Alicia said as she adjusted her navy maxi dress.

"One sip won't do either of you harm" Maura promised her. Alicia tried to hold strong but couldn't resist.

"One sip" Alicia said caving in. She took the flute and took a sip enjoying the tangy yet sweet taste of the champagne. "Oh that is nice" she said handing it back.

"Yes, it is." Maura said taking the flute of champagne back and taking a sip herself.

"We have a lot of stuff" Alicia said looking at the presents of baby and Mum to be Paraphernalia.

"I think those Weasley men are avid learners" Maura said looking at the largest basket in the room wrapped in cellophane with a garish coloured ribbons tied on the top.

"Trust me they only learn things that they know will amuse them not because it's educational" Alicia said feeling her cheeks redden in mortification as the twins' gift. It was a large basket of products and potions to get her 'lady parts' and body back into shape and to keep the baby's milk bar a fully operating and well moisturised machines. Alicia had read the books and promptly decided it was best to forget everything she read as it only made her freak out. But the twins decided to make her baby shower an educational hour for her and Warrington related to giving birth and postpartum health topics. Even Montague put in his 'medical' advice. If it hadn't been related to her; she would have laughed but most of what they told her made her wish she had kept her legs closed.

At least Warrington enjoyed it but then like Alicia he had read all the books and felt well informed on the subject unlike Alicia who still believed ignorance would have been bliss. He found it all very interesting and liked to explore every new change of her body. She never picked him to be a man who would find a pregnant woman with ugly stretch marks a turn on but he did.

"Well it will help them down the road" Maura said.

"Uhuh"

"Relax, most of what they said might not happen at all"

"At least I will be prepared for anything" Alicia said as she and Warrington had indulged in some shopping but it looked like their friends had supplied everything else they would need except for furniture but then that was already covered.

"Exactly" Maura said.

"Thank you for today" Alicia told her.

"You're very welcome" Maura said smiling at her. "And know if you have any questions or just want to talk about womanly stuff in regards to being a mother I will be here for you" she told her, she placed her hand on top of Alicia's and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I appreciate it" Alicia said.

"Well, that was educational" Warrington said as he returned to the room. He had come home early from the office, so he looked dishevelled in a sexy manner with his hair slightly messy, his jacket was draped over a chair and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows and tie gone with the top buttons undone.

"I know, I really don't want to think about any of that stuff" Alicia said making a face and shaking her head.

"I agree, I think we should worry more about where we are going to put all of these things" Warrington said as he had moved to the pile of clothing Katie had given them lifting up the tiny red onesie. The thought that he was going to have to take care of something so fragile and small scared him but also made him excited for the future.

"I think you should Alicia home and relax. Cillian and I will get all this home for you later" Maura told him. Warrington folded the onesie bakc up placing it on the pile.

"Mother, I will take your advice." he said he moved to Alicia and held his hands out to her. At 32 weeks pregnant she was struggling to get up on her own volition, she had even started waddling, something Warrington knew better than to comment on it. "Shall we?" he asked Alicia.

"Please" Alicia said, she took his hands and was grateful for his strength as he pulled her to her feet with ease.

The man stood on the outer edge of the forest keeping in the shadows whilst he used magicked binoculars to look at the house in the distance. He had been watching the place for nearly three months noting who came and went from the house and sensing out the weak points of the wards. He had found a few weak spots and had been slowly grooming one of the soft spots to create a breach so when it tore it would delay the alarm. He couldn't believe how long it had taken him to get here. So many years, he had been tracking to find the bitch all because she thought she could be free of him. How wrong she was as she was his possession and to think of how close she had come to slipping his grasp leaving all but a minute trace of herself. But it was enough.

That trace and a lot of money had led him to Clara Velasquez. She had turned out to be very useful as she held the knowledge he needed; the only problem was that it was all random bits and pieces of information. So it had taken him time to fill in the gaps but it all paid off as he was here.

He looked through the binoculars at the pregnant woman in a navy dress and white cardigan walking with a man in a business suit. They walked hand in hand with another towards the house. She rubbed a hand over her protuding stomach and laughed as the man beside her said something to obviously amusing to her. A scowl grew on his lips in disgust. She had been a work of art but now she was an eye sore, one that needed to be rejuvenated back to her original beauty.

"They won't let it go until we decide on who will be the god parents" Warrington told her as they walked slowly up to the house. Alicia's stamina and breathing being impeded by her pregnancy, not that Warrington minded as it was a lovely afternoon for a walk.

"We should have let them duel it out" Alicia said as she interlaced her fingers with his and moved closer to his side. Warrington chuckled.

"Indeed but I feel our child will need both a male and female role model" he said as they made their way up the garden path to the back door of the house.

"Can we decide after we come up with a name? I'm too tired to think past having a nap on the lounge" Alicia said with a sigh.

"Well we do have a few more weeks"

"If I have my way I'm not letting this baby out until that educational hour today feels like a distant memory"

"I hope 10 weeks will be long enough as I doubt your body could handle our child getting any bigger in there" Warrington said as he stopped and turned to Alicia.

"I hope so too cause it's already crowded in there" Alicia said with a smile as she grabbed both of his hands and pressed it to her stomach. The baby that had already been kicking and punching continued it's activities. She watched as Warrington smiled feeling the baby move. It was one of her favourite things to do with him as he had such a look of tenderness and happiness at being able to connect with their child. There was something so incredibly content and satisfying about their life and it just shined in these moments.

"So active" He murmured. She moved her hands from his and trailed them up his arms to his shoulders. Still watching his face as he smiled.

"I love you" Alicia told him.

He watched from the forest edge as his wife kissed the man in the suit, his grip tightened on the binoculars as anger burned deep within him. But he kept his place, he would not ruin all of his hard work just because his wife was a deceitful slut defiling their vows. She would pay for it later. But right now he had to wait until dark and the anger only fuelled him with more energy as it intermingled with anticipation and excitement.

In the early hours of the morning, Warrington snapped awake when the room suddenly erupted with a blinding white light and searing heat. As soon as the light filled the room, it snapped out. The heat permeated the room as he sat up in the bed, groggy and pulled out his wand from the bedside table. He pushed out of the bed feeling hot and sickly as his body was slick with sweat. He moved to the bedroom window and took a look outside, there was nothing of note, he knew the wards weren't breached. An alarm would of sounded but it didn't explain the disturbance that had awoken him. He turned back to the bed and saw Alicia, she laid completely still. Too still for his liking, he rushed to the bed and sunk to his knees as he pushed the hair from her face. Her skin was hot and clammy to the touch.

"Alicia" he said as he gently shook her shoulder to wake her. "Alicia" he said louder but she didn't wake. He felt for her pulse and found it erratic, fear curled in his stomach as he tried to wake her up but she didn't respond. When the third attempt of rousing her had failed to even garner a murmur, Warrington's fear overwhelmed him. He pushed to his feet and ran for the fire place.

At exactly the same time at Shell Cottage,

Bill woke up to the sound of his daughter screaming and the house shaking. Dust and sand fell from the ceiling as the beams shook violently. He jumped out of bed and haphazardly made his way to his daughter's room to find Tori in the middle of her bed clutching a stuffed toy screaming. Tears streamed down her tiny face.

A blinding light flashed through the floorboards for a second if that and was followed by the a loud explosion sounded and a rush of heat. The house shook with the noise and then it was quiet and still with exception of his four year old daughter who was still crying.

When he reached the bed; his daughter clamoured into his arms wrapping his arms around tightly around her neck. He soothingly rubbed her back and murmured words of comfort before the smell of smoke reached his heightened senses. He smelt smoke but not fire but then if even an ember burning it was a chance for a fire to start. So he had to check it out.

"You guys alright?" Charlie asked, Bill turned to his brother who had dropped back into England looking after Clara's estate business. He was dressed in t-shirt and boxers, his wand at the ready in one hand while looking completely dishevelled but awake.

"Fine, we need to check downstairs" Bill said.

"No" Tori grumbled half cried as she tightened her arms around Bill's neck.

"I'll go ahead" Charlie told him, Bill nodded and turned his complete attention to Tori.

"Tori, I gotta go downstairs" he said in a soft and reassuring tone as he slowly tried to detach her tiny arms from his neck but she was stubborn and held on tight. His heart twisted in pain at her desperate need for comfort.

"No" Tori muffled into his neck.

"Honey, you smell the smoke?" he asked her when he finally pried her arms off. She sniffled and nodded as she had inherited his wolf heightened senses and he knew she could smell more than just the smoke now as he could smell the scent of burnt human flesh. A cold sick feeling unfurled inside him as it brought back memories he'd rather forget.

Luckily for Tori; she didn't know what that smell was. It was foreign to her, she knew something was burning but not what and he did not want her to learn it.

"It means I have to go downstairs. So I need you stay. Ok?" he asked her, Tori reluctantly nodded and he gave a smile as he cupped her face and brushed her tears away. "Good girl" he said, he kissed her on the forehead and left her room closing the door behind him before he picked up his wand and ran downstairs to join his brother.

When he reached the bottom step the smell of charred flesh, blood and smoke was overpowering but underneath all that he smelt an undertone note. A scent so familiar it had to be his imagination. It couldn't be there. He moved into the living area and scanned the area. The lounge area and dining area were completely fine but his kitchen looked a mess. The white wash walls were blackened with soot and bathed in reflected red glow. Charlie looked shell shocked as he stood in the kitchen area looking down at the space between the kitchen island and stove. Bill could only assume the fire was but couldn't understand why his brother was not doing anything.

He rushed to his brother's side and stopped in his tracks stunned as there was no fire but Clara Velasquez or what was left of her. She laid on her side, her arms and legs bent in a sickly fashion, her skin was charred, cracked and it seemed her flesh under the ash was the source of the red light as it glowed in a way he had never seen before.

He tried to near her but the heat radiating off her stopped him, so he used his heightened senses not believing anything before him as she was not dead, he could hear the faint rhythm of her heart beat but her body was as hot as an ember and still cooking.

He immediately knew he was out of depth and went to corkboard he had on the wall by the fridge and pulled the business card O'Callaghan had given him and started a flame in the dying embers of the fireplace and threw the card in. It burned bright and disappeared in a second before he turned his attention back to Clara.

"She's fevered and I can't wake her up, not even with a spell" Warrington said in a frantic manner as he practically raced up the stairs to his and Alicia's bedroom.

"You told me this already" Montague said as he raced up the stairs behind Warrington and into the bedroom. Alicia laid on the bed, looking incredibly pale with a heavy sheen of sweat covering her body. Montague pulled the sweat soaked bed linen off her and placed his hands a few centimetres from her body sensing the immense amount of heat radiating off her body. It wasn't anything he had seen or read about in his life.

"Carry her to the fireplace. We need to get her to St Mungo's immediately" Montague told him.

"What's wrong with her?" Warrington asked as he lifted Alicia up into his arms. Ignoring how her skin was practically scorching his own.

"I'm not sure but I'm not going to waste time wand waving. Come on" Montague told him as he ran back doen the stairs to prep the Floo channel.

"Oh my little phoenix" O'Callaghan cooed as he poured a white viscous liquid that smelt oddly like Pina Colada all over Clara's body. It sizzled as it touched her skin.

O'Callaghan had popped through the fireplace with a bowling bag in hand, barefoot wearing a well worn burgundy robe. He didn't even give any pleasantries as he opened his bag pulling out three large flagons of some white viscous liquid setting them on the kitchn island before pulling out a fourth flagon and proceeding to pour the contents over Clara's body.

"I've never seen anything like this before… How is she still alive?" Bill asked O'Callaghan, he had sent Charlie upstairs to check on Tori and to try and get her back to sleep as his brother was useless downstairs.

"Help me would you, open a bottle and pour" O'Callaghan told him, Bill picked up a flagon and pulled out the cork stopper. "Pour it over her legs make sure you get every inch of her skin" O'Callaghan told him.

"What is this stuff?" Bill asked him as he did as he was ordered. He hoped whatever it was helped Clara and was also easy to clean up as it was on his floor and his feet and pyjama pants.

"This puts out the fire within the core and heals the serious damage to the dermas." O'Callaghan said as he shook his near empty bottle of liquid making an attempt to pour out every drop onto Clara.

"But what about her broken bones and internal injuries?" Bill asked.

"One thing at a time, we can't heal anything until she ceases to burn from within" O'Callaghan said as he picked up the next bottle. Opening it and continuing his mission of pouring it over Clara.

"Why does it smell like a tropical holiday in here?" Charlie asked as he came into the kitchen. He moved around and looked at the huge puddle of white viscous liquid and Clara's body that was now steaming under all the muck.

"It's the potion, it's going to soothe the burns" O'Callaghan said.

"Finally a potion that smells good" Charlie said with a smile, Bill knew his brother well enough to know he was using humour to defuse the tension and confusion he felt at the situation. Something Bill felt himself.

"How's Tori?" Bill asked him. Charlie looked up from the floor to Bill.

"Out like a light, she really loves that Totoro story. I thought she'd never go to sleep considering the sun is nearly up" Charlie said. Bill gave a closed lip smile as he had been suffering through the same story and movie for the past 8 months. It was all Tori wanted to read about or watch, he couldn't understand why or even understand why his daughter was so fixated on it but it made her happy so he let it go.

"Blame Hermione, she magicked the manga to move. It's also not a bad story" Bill told him using the casual conversation to calm his raw nerves. At least the smell of the liquid was overpowering the smell of burnt flesh and blood. Not too mention the fact that Clara was alive and here of all places.

"It's a really creepy story" Charlie told him.

"Tales of Beedle Bard aren't exactly happy tales either" Bill said as he poured the last of the viscous liquid over Clara's feet. O'Callaghan poured the last of his flagon on Clara and opened the last one and proceeded to repeat the process of pouring over Clara.

"Good point, so what's going down here? Is she going to live?" Charlie asked.

"She will live, in 5 hours we'll peel her off the floor" O'Callaghan said as he stopped pouring and decided that it was enough of the potion even though there was still half a flagon last night.

"5 hours?" Bill asked in disbelief. How was he going to keep a four year old from seeing all of the mess. He groaned as he was sure his mother would flip her lid when Tori told her about the lady lying in white goo on the floor.

"She's fused to the stone, like a pancake to an unbuttered pan. She needs to be cooled down and slowly peeled off unless you want to scrape her flesh off your stone floors. We can try in 3 hours if it's so dire for you to have your precious floor back" O'Callaghan told him in an uppity manner.

"We'll wait 5 hours" Bill said in resignation, he would just have to take Tori to the Burrow and hope that his mother and father didn't ask too many questions. O'Callaghan seemed pleased with Bill's answer as he smiled and plugged the half full flagon.

"Good, then we'll talk about righting her bones. Don't eat the white stuff or touch her" O'Callaghan told him. He packed up all the flagons back into his bag and made white gooey foot tracks out of the kitchen to the lounge room fire place.

"Where are you going?" Bill asked.

"Home, I'll be back late" O'Callaghan told him, not even waiting for a reply the old man disappeared into a flash of green flames.

"Of course" Bill said throwing his hands up in surrender to thw whole situation. He gave an exhale and rubbed his face with both of his hands. He frowned as he felt something slither over his feet and lowered his hands looking at the ground and watched in fascination as the white liquid slithered towards Clara's body.

"That is so weird" Charlie said looking down at Clara, the large puddle of white viscous liquid retracted to cover just Clara's body and a small part of the floor where her body laid.

"I have a dead woman encased in Pina Coloda on my kitchen floor. I'm wondering at which part of this should be normal" Bill replied dryly. Charlie gave him a tight smile knowing Bill had a very temperamental disposition.

"Want help cleaning up the rest of the kitchen?" Charlie offered.

"Please" Bill said, knowing there was nothing he could do for the moment as it was too early to go to the Burrow and the downstairs did need to repaired.

Warrington paced the isolation room he had been forced into. Panic, fear and grief gripped him as he had no idea what was going on. By the time he arrived with Alicia, she had given him 2nd degree burns to his hands, forearms and parts of his body where he had had skin to skin contact with Alicia. She had been immediately labelled as high priority and taken away. Montague had gone with her promising to keep him updated but it had been hours. In reality only two but it felt like an eternity, his burns had been treated but due to the unknown nature of the source his skin wasn't healing properly. No magick could heal it which baffled the medical staff.

Hence he was in isolation. Merlin forbid if they couldn't heal a man's burns, but at least the pain potions worked as they numbed the pain but if he were honest he didn't give a damn about his burns. He only wanted to know about his wife and child. He moved to the window of his room that faced the hospital ward and pounded on it.

"Hello!?" he shouted, he had to admit he got a small sense of satisfaction when one of the nurses jumped in fright. They should pay attention he thought grimly. A female Healer appeared at the window and looked to have a no nonsense manner.

"Lord Warrington" she said.

"I want an update on my wife" He told her.

"When we have one you shall hear it. Now you should lie down and rest" She informed him in a curt and professional manner. Warrington was about to give the woman a dressing down for her lack of s bedside manner but stopped as he saw his mother running over towards his room.

"Cassius" She said as she neared the glass window. She looked like she just come from a date as she wore a fitted navy lace overlay dress with long sleeve dress with a pencil skirt that ended mid thigh. Years of Yoga showed that a woman her age and looks could wear whatever she wanted and still look good even if Warrington wished she wouldn't. Her hair was in loose curls and her make up suggested she had been at some trendy club. He was sure if he still read the Daily Profit he would know where but right now it wasn't important.

"Mother? what are you doing here?" Warrington asked.

"I was called, you haven't changed your next of kin. What has happened? Are you alright? Why are you in Isolation?" She asked pressing her hands to the window as if she could get a closer look at him by doing so.

"Something happened with Alicia. I can't explain it-" Warrington started but Maura cut him off.

"Try" she practically ordered him.

"I woke to a blinding white light and the room shot up by several degree. Alicia had a fever. I called Montague and then we came here. by the time we passed through the floo channels to get here- she was burning so hot she burnt me. The burns won't heal and these idiot healers have tossed me in here and won't tell me if my wife is alive or not" Warrington told her, he ran a hand through his hair and gave an agravated sigh.

"Ok, calm down" Maura told him.

"Calm down?" he asked incredulously.

"If she were dead they would tell you right away. Now, I will find out what is going on" Maura told him

"And how will you find out anything when they won't tell me anything?" he asked he didn't mean to snap at his mother so harshly but he felt so frustrated at not being able to do anything. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Have I taught you nothing? It's about the people know not how angry or loud you yell. Now do me a favour and try not to be a bully to the staff while I'm gone" Maura told him in a motherly manner before she walked off the elevators. Her confidence calmed him but only fractionally as he turned on his feet and started to pace yet again.

TBC- Cya all in the near future.