A/N: Sad again… This entire story is just sad…
I noticed that there are a lot fewer views for Ch. 14 than Ch. 15... Did some of you skip it by accident? I did post them at the same time, so it'd make sense if you just jumped to the last chapter by accident without realizing the double post. Ch. 15 doesn't make much sense without the one before it, so make sure you didn't skip over it!
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Chapter 17: Of Sacrifice in the Face of Fire
The New Year passed quietly, and the Order was grateful that the Death Eaters had left the holidays alone. Remus never mentioned their quiet Christmas Eve kiss again, and Rowan did her best to forget it, though the feeling of his lips against hers remained for some time after. She'd thrown herself back into her work with Belby after the holidays to distract herself, and they'd begun searching for research grants and test subjects, though the subjects would be easier to find once they'd procured some more funding.
Their manic hours of working had continued into January and passed into February almost seamlessly. Her missions with the Order had been small but successful, and her friendship with Remus had returned to normal. Overall, it had been a wonderful and happy month.
One evening early in February, Rowan was planning on spending another late night in the lab with Belby.
"Master Belby, I'm going to step out for a cup of coffee. Would you like some?" she asked, stretching her stiff limbs as she stood.
He grunted in response.
"Ok, one cream, right?" she asked.
He grunted again, and she snickered, pulling on her coat and walking up the stairs.
Alexander cooed at her softly in greeting. She rubbed him affectionately on the head before heading out of the shop and into the cold, relishing the cool air in her lungs. She looked up at the sky and noted happily that the moon was still in its waning phase. She hummed softly to herself as she headed down the street for Rosa Lee's, jingling a few Knuts in her pocket.
Damocles Belby continued to work diligently after his apprentice left. He stopped and pulled his glasses onto his forehead to rub his eyes blearily. He thought mildly that it was a good time for her to get coffee.
"Customer! Customer!" he heard Alexander squawk from above the lab. He grumbled to himself in annoyance and moved to the base of the stairs.
"We're closed! Come back tomorrow!" he shouted up the stairs, but no one responded. He waited to listen for the bell to ring again, indicating that they'd left, but he only heard muffled voices and faint shuffling.
"Hey! Didn't you hear me? We're closed!" he shouted again, starting to grow angry.
Suddenly, he heard a crash of glass bottles and panic seized him. He grabbed his wand and ran up the stairs. As soon as he turned the corner, he threw a Stunning Spell at the first figure he saw, hitting a dark-robed form, which grunted and fell into a shelf, sending another wave of bottles down to the ground in shatters.
Alexander began flapping his ragged wings wildly and shrieking with fear, "Intruder! Intruder!"
A flash of green light shot past Belby and hit the wall behind him, sending it into green flames. They singed his ears, and he cried out in pain. Alexander kept shrieking and thrashing, and the remaining Death Eater shouted at him in anger, "Shut up!" throwing another green beam of light at the bird. Alexander seized for a moment for dropping to the ground with a sickening thud.
Belby roared in anger at the sight of his dead shopkeeper and threw another hex at the Death Eater, but he dodged it and the spell hit another shelf of potions.
"Get the hell out of my shop!" he shouted, throwing spell after spell, but the dark figure ran across the room quickly, dodging and blocking the Potions Master's attacks.
"You're too slow, old man!" taunted the Death Eater gleefully. He pointed his wand at a wall and spouted green fire from his wand at the shelves there, which burst into flames.
Belby's throat constricted, and he realized that this insane man would burn his entire building down. He turned and ran down the stairs, slamming the door and locking it behind him magically. He stumbled down the stairs, tripping over the last few, and ran to his notes. He gathered up everything he could grab and began shoving all of it into boxes, muttering fireproofing charms on all of them. He heard the man pounding on the door above him.
"Come on out, you old bastard! You can't hide from me!" he jeered.
Damocles rushed around the room, grabbing test tubes and vials, notebooks and old texts. He whispered every protective charm he could possibly think of on the boxes, but before he could finish, the door burst open and a sea of green flames shot through. He felt the searing heat as the fire began to trickle down the wooden steps and scrambled to his feet.
"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted. A silvery elephant burst from his wand and stood its ground in front of him, stamping its feet wildly and forming a glowing shield in front of its master. He braced himself and pushed the boxes into the far corner, preparing to fight. He would protect those files with his life.
As Rowan stepped out of the teashop with two cups of coffee in her hands, she moved carefully into the snow so to not spill them, as she often did with hot drinks. She mentally patted herself on the back for thinking to buy a few chocolate biscuits for her and Master Belby, which were tucked under her arm in a small brown bag. But as she walked out onto the sidewalk, she saw green smoke billowing in the distance and realized it was coming from the street the apothecary was on. Panic squeezed her lungs, and she threw the coffee and biscuits to the side before sprinting towards the fire.
She pulled out her wand as she ran and pointed it to the sky. "Expecto Patronum!" she shouted. A series of wolves ran into the distance, and she prayed with all her heart that Master Belby was safe.
The apothecary was in flames. Rowan saw the roaring green fire and was seized with terror. All of the memories of the night Edgar died came rushing back, and she nearly lost her footing in the moment of nausea. Ministry fire officials and Healers were rushing onto the scene, but she knew that it would require serious magic to put out that fire.
"Master Belby!" she shouted. She couldn't spot him anywhere in the crowd, and terror settled into her blood. Before she could think, she'd rushed forward for the door but was pulled back violently by a red-robed official.
"Miss, you can't go in there!" he cried disbelievingly.
She kept pulling, desperate, hysterical. "My master in there! Somebody has to save him!" she screamed. She yanked her hand from his grasp and threw the door open.
The heat was overwhelming, and she felt her stomach hit her throat sickeningly as her body responded to the familiar burning. She summoned another Patronus, which formed a silvery field around her, pushing the flames out, and she ran inside of the shop.
"Master Belby!" she screamed, looking around desperately. She saw a Death Eater lying listlessly on the floor beneath a broken shelf then ran towards the stairs. She choked at the sight of Alexander's limp body on the ground but pushed the horror back to keep going. The heat was overwhelming, even with the Patronus' protection, and she felt sweat dripping down her back. Her arm stung at the proximity to the cursed fire. As she approached the stairs, she heard shouting from below.
"DELACROIX!" a rough voice shouted.
"MASTER BELBY, I'M HERE!" she screamed over the roaring flames, but just as she was about to take a step onto the stairs, a piece of it crumbled away. Her throat constricted and she couldn't move from the fear. How was she supposed to get him out of there?
She saw the silvery wolf in front of her begin to flicker, and the panic seized her again, but just as she'd lifted her arm to conjure another, she felt an arm yank her back by the shoulder. Her feet suddenly left the ground and an arm was digging into her stomach painfully. She realized with horror that she was being dragged from the shop.
"NO!" she screamed. "MASTER BELBY IS STILL IN THERE! LET ME GO!" She flailed and kicked as hard as she could, but her captor remained firm, running out the door and into the cold. A trio of men ran in past them. She recognized the wild mane of gray hair bolting past her as belonging to Alastor Moody. Her screaming increased, wanting desperately to help her comrade.
As their lungs hit the cold air, they both collapsed to the ground. Rowan kicked and punched at the man who had pulled her from the fire.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? MASTER BELBY IS STILL IN THERE! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!" she cried hysterically, beating at her captor's chest. Tears were streaming down her face.
All she could think about was the burning green flames and her master trapped in the basement. What if he got hurt? She couldn't let him get burn like she did! Why was this man keeping her from him?
He grabbed her wrists and wrestled her down. "Rowan! Rowan!" he shouted. "Rowan, you have to stop!"
But she kept fighting him. "You don't understand!" she cried. "He's hurt! I need to help him! I need to save him! Everything that I've worked for!" she screamed desperately, twisting her body violently and thrashing wildly.
Suddenly, there was a gasp from the crowd as two bodies burst from the window. One was Kingsley Shacklebolt, and the other was the collapsed Death Eater from the floor. Another man burst from the window with a large box of burning material – Fabian Prewett. The contents of the box spilled over as he collapsed on the ground, green flames trickling over them. He pulled off his dragon hide coat and stamped the fire out quickly, though some of the material was burnt.
But where was Moody?
An explosion burst from the shop, shattering what remained of the windows. Fabian and Kingsley threw themselves to the ground, narrowly dodging the flames. With the explosion came two more men flying through the door, crashing to the ground. Both were covered in green flames.
Belby was screaming.
Rowan took the opportunity to push her restrainer off and scrambled towards her master. She yanked off Moody's burning coat, luckily also dragon hide, and he scrambled away from it as fast as he could. She then wildly grabbed for Fabian's from his hands, covering Belby in the jacket and stamping out every inch she could reach. But he continued to scream.
As she tore the coat away from him, she saw that half of his face had been burnt away, chunks of his hair singed off and missing. His ear and part of his nose were gone. A large portion of his robes had been cooked into his skin. The flesh was raw and red and smelled like burning meat, and she could see his tendons where the skin had been burnt away completely. An overwhelming wave of nausea hit her, and she gasped, trying not to vomit. The sounds of his screaming shook her to the core, and her head swam as she felt the earth beneath her shift.
He continued to scream and writhe in agony, and she suddenly felt herself being pulled away again as a group of Healers rushed forward to help the Potions Master. Instead of fight this time though, she could only watch in terror as the men in white levitated her master up from the ground and onto a stretcher. He continued to scream. The shrill sound was horrifying – it didn't sound like him at all. She barely recognized his gnarled, burnt form. How had this happened to him? Why?
"Rowan! Rowan!" the man was shaking her again, and she had to refocus her gaze before looking up at him. It was Remus.
"Rowan, we have to get you out of here," he said fiercely. His eyes pierced her, and she suddenly felt incredibly weak.
"But," she protested weakly. "Master Belby… I have to go see him. He needs me!" she cried. She felt a fresh wave of tears spill over.
"No, I need to take you home!" he fought back angrily.
"Remus, you don't understand!" she argued, trying to push away from him, but he stood firmly. "I have to go to him! Please!"
Remus had opened his mouth to keep arguing, but a hand clapped on his shoulder roughly.
"Let her go, Remus. She needs to be with her master," Kingsley said to him gravely. "We'll take the Death Eater to the Ministry for questioning and the box back to Headquarters. She can get it there later."
Remus' mouth tightened in a serious line. He looked angry, but he didn't say anything and nodded slowly. He turned back to Rowan. "Come on," he said softly.
He took her hand and pulled her out of the crowd. Once they'd managed to get enough space, he pulled her against him possessively and looked down at her, grief stricken across his face, before Disapparating for St. Mungo's.