Thanks to: Colin Creevey, laceyownens50, HannahEscobedo and Bratwurst for reviewing!

Scorpius had hoped spending time with her family would help Molly, however after she got back she seemed miserable and even more withdrawn. He couldn't even finish internally debate whether it'd be better to ask her about it or continue to give her space because she went straight to bed early, not even having dinner as she claimed they'd had a big lunch. He'd supposed he'd just have to ask her tomorrow, maybe she'd like to go to the Embry's to visit Latimer with him or if that'd make her feel worse. Scorpius wasn't expecting him to wake up but… well, it was his birthday, ironically a birthday he shared with Harry Potter but his birthday all the same so Scorpius wanted to see him.

He tried to sleep on it but it was hard to think with Hogan's incessant counting, eventually he fell into an uneventful sleep and woke the next day still uncertain. He showered before going down for breakfast, Myriam had a few boxes of different cereals on the counter and was getting out bowls.

"Take your pick," she said to him as he entered and started helping her with the bowls, "Nothing fancy today, we're low on supplies."

"That's okay," Scorpius shrugged it off as Lamb came in.

"F- F- Flan's g- getting the k- kids to wash up before b- breakfast, they'll be d- down in a minute," Lamb informed Myriam who gave a nod of acknowledgement, "A- Are we having c- cereal? Th- That's nice."

"Yeah, take your pick," she offered and Scorpius also gestured for Lamb to go first as he looked hungrier than he was, Lamb smiled in gratitude as he started to help himself to some corn flakes, Hogan came in while he was doing that and Myriam gritted her teeth in a forced smile, "Morning Hogan, would you like some cereal for breakfast?"

"No, I'll have porridge for breakfast," Hogan complained irritably, glaring at Lamb pouring his milk like he was doing something abhorrent, "You all should be having porridge for breakfast."

"Seriously, what is with the porridge thing?" Scorpius sighed and Myriam gave him a grateful glance, she was usually the one stuck having this argument with him every morning, "Not everyone likes porridge, you don't even like porridge."

"It's the rules," he insisted while Lamb muttered a thanks and started off towards the door with his bowl, "You have to have porridge for breakfast."

"What rules? Life doesn't have rules, its just breakf-"

Scorpius started to object before being cut off by a loud shattering crash, they all turned in surprise to see it was Lamb, He'd dropped his bowl of cereal onto the hard tile floor, shards of ceramic littered his feet and milk spilled from the cornflakes like white blood. At first he thought Lamb's arm might've acted up and caused him to drop it but then he noticed Lamb's face had drained of all color, a look of dawning horror had replaced his smile from mere moments before.

"E- Elara," Lamb breathed, and then abruptly he bolted.

"Hey, Ephraim, wait up!" Scorpius called after him, racing out of the kitchen in pursuit.

Lamb either didn't hear him or didn't care as he ran through the front room, past Molly on her way to get breakfast then into the hall, Scorpius heard the front door and tore after him into the bright streaks of burning daylight that forced him to squint at the shock of light. The werewolf was spinning around wildly in panic, as if he was attempting to apparate but it wasn't working.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Lamb was saying to himself, looking frantic and squeezing his eyes shut as if to focus more.

"Ephraim, what's wrong?" Scorpius asked in concern and reached out to grab his arm when he yet again received no response, "Ephraim?"

Not a second too soon did Scorpius make contact with his arm before he found himself hurtling through space, he felt like he'd been yanked off his feet and dragged backwards through a too small tube. As a result of this likely unintended side-along apparation, when they re-emerged in reality Scorpius lost his balance and fell flat onto his back onto some soft grass that nonetheless adequately failed to cushion his fall. He groaned in discomfort because something disturbing struck him, the sunshine was gone and instead replaced by an eerie blue light.

"S- Sorry Sc- Scor- b- but m- my d- daughter!" Lamb's voice called out to him, already dimming from distance as his footsteps pounded away towards even more distant screaming.

Scorpius was momentarily distracted though by the dark sky above him, with a feeling of growing dread he pulled himself into a sitting position and took in his surroundings. Lamb had apparated them to a hillside overlooking some rural town that almost looked like a children's playset from this distance, except for the fact the buildings were lopsided and great swathes of flames cut through everything. He wasn't sure if the cause of the fire was the distant figure of a woman bathed in blue light, or if it was from the large dragon swooping low over the tormented town breathing death on its inhabitants. Above the dark sky burning with azure light as the Shadows' skeletal snake symbol writhed above it all, the hinges of his mouth hanging open in a mocking smile while it's forked tongue twisted out and lapped the smoke chugging up towards it.

And beyond even that, Scorpius noticed there was a dark ring of what at first he thought were some kind of giant ants congregating around the borders of the town. They could not be ants though and with a sinking feeling, Scorpius turned his head to look behind him and saw rows of dark shapes were similarly gathering. These were much close enough for Scorpius to confirm they were not ants and instead identify them as an army of rotting corpses, contorted so unnaturally they stood like puppets on strings awaiting guidance. Inferi.

Several thoughts flew threw his mind all at once, fear for the townsfolk, curiosity for how Lamb had known to come here, a strange jubilation at seeing a dragon that didn't even feel like his own thought, recognition that this was exactly the kind of scenario Alaric had wanted for his plan to stop Sal but most fiercely resolve. He whipped out his wand to send a Patronus to alert Varanian about the situation and ten promptly realized that he had no idea where the hell Lamb had taken him, that knowledge lay purely with Lamb who had ran off…

"EPHRAIM!" Scorpius yelled, leaping to his feet and hastily launching himself into a run after the werewolf, "EPHRAIM!"

Lamb had made a good head start and was sprinting rather rapidly towards the town, presumably the town where his daughter lived, Scorpius wasn't even sure Lamb could hear him. He wracked his brain trying to recall if Lamb had ever mentioned where his in-laws lived with his daughter, unfortunately he didn't think he had so he was forced to just try to catch up to him.

The bright grass soon gave way to dull gray road that was cut off by a large smoldering trench with a tow truck sticking its large butt out into the air. It seemed clearly designed to prevent cars from escaping and looked as if the road had been gorged by a giant, Scorpius barely made the long jump across it. On the other side was a graveyard of cars where people had evidently tried to escape but they were now shattered husks littering the ground, Scorpius tried not to think about the fact crimson was oozing from some of the wrecks and in one instance he saw a slender hand with brightly painted nails sticking out, twitching.

There were a lot of things Scorpius was trying not to think about it as he ran through the chaos, overturned cars with mangled people trapped under them begging for help, people engulfed in literal flames running past him screaming in agony, one time he saw a baby in a pram crying its eyes out with no sign of anyone in sight… not anyone living anyway. Everywhere he turned he saw sights like this, it was too much that he couldn't possibly stop to help them all, he couldn't even stop to help any of them or he'd lose sight of Lamb. And catching up to Lamb was the best course of action, calling for help would do more for them whatever Scorpius could accomplish individually.

Unfortunately Lamb was not slowing down, even though it was like navigating an obstacle course having to weave through broken cars or jump across rubble. He was clearly determined to get to his destination no matter what was thrown in his way and Scorpius' attempts to call out to him would be drowned out by the terrified screams and roaring flames, he just had to keep trying to close the gap. The dragon was still circling overhead and frequently swooping low to vomit vermillion streaks of fiery destruction, there wasn't much he could do against a dragon though unless he could get a shot at one of its eyes.

Wow, is that a real dragon? Calderon's awestruck voice appeared in his mind, I love dragons!

"M- MARK, WHERE IS E- ELARA?!"

Scorpius froze at the sound of Lamb's voice, unusually firm and shouting, he'd almost missed the fact the werewolf had stopped when momentarily distracted by Calderon in his mind. Lamb was talking to a plump older man with balding gray hair and broad-shoulders, the man was breathless with sweat stains in the pits of his polo shirt and Scorpius would've guessed he'd probably been running. He was looking very surprised but his expression flickered back to one of fear at the name of Lamb's daughter, he raised one of his plump fingers and pointed to one of the burning cottages on the street.

"… Was… try… trying to get… home…" the man- presumably Mark- panted but Lamb was already gone, tearing towards the house.

"Ephraim!" Scorpius tried again as he ran over towards them but Lamb had thrown himself into the burning building already, he felt Mark's eyes swivel to him as he sighed irritably he got out his wand and cast the spell on himself to protect himself from flames to go after him.

"You… you're a… wizard too…?"

Scorpius had opened his mouth to respond but the dragon swooped low and he instead pulled Mark down along with himself as it flew over them to breath fire onto the untouched houses on the other side of the street, as it did he finally caught a glimpse of its eyes. To his surprise- or maybe it shouldn't have surprised him- they were black, specter-possessed black…

Without hesitation, Scorpius leaped up and sprinted to the nearest car that was crashed in the street, jumped up onto the hood and just about managed to keep his balance to run onto the roof of the car to give himself more height. The great gray dragon was turning in the air, he jabbed his wand at it and summoned hope from despair.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The silvery effigy of a thestral sprang forth from the tip of his wand, galloping through the air on its skeletal legs and spreading its broad bat-like wings to glide towards the dragon. He saw the shadow leave its eyes as it the specter was repelled, his thestral circled protectively around the dragon occasionally kicking at the husk of darkness that attempted to return to its host before eventually seemingly giving up and vanishing. The dragon meanwhile simply shook itself, looking around as if confused then immediately shooting up into the sky and starting to fly away from this town.

Bye-bye dragon

And that was when Scorpius noticed it, the Inferi he'd seen circling the town from their initial hillside arrival were no longer there. Or rather they were still there, they were just closer, and quickly moving out of sight from his vantage point as they got close enough that the remains of the buildings obscured them. He thought he could already hear a fresh wave of screaming, Scorpius swore.

"Where are we?" he demanded of Mark as he jumped down from the car, the older man startled as he'd been staring frantically at the house Lamb had ran into.

"Devon," Mark answered unhelpfully, immediately turning back to watch for Lamb.

"Where in-"

"Elara!" Mark cried, running towards the house as Lamb was racing back out with a small body clutched to his chest.

Scorpius hurried after them and reached them as Lamb knelt, carefully laying down a little girl onto the lawn who only looked around Sol's age. Her eyes were closed but her chest was rising and falling, she had a head of light brown curls and milky white skin that almost made her look like a living doll. She was dressed for the summer in sandals, a frilly orange skirt and a unicorn t-shirt, miraculously she looked completely untouched by the flames. The only unusual thing about her was that the lower part of her arm seemed to be made of plastic, it was some kind of muggle prosthetic.

"I- Is... sh- sh- she o- ok-" Lamb tried to ask before breaking into a fit of coughs, Scorpius didn't even need to spare him a glance in order to tell he was in a much worse condition than his daughter because the acrid smell of his burnt flesh was already grating the insides of his nostrils.

"I- I don't know," Mark admitted, falling to his knees and scooping her into his arms. He swallowed and still looking afraid began, "Lamb… my wife is still-"

"I'll g- get her, d- don't worry," Lamb promised with a nod before launching himself back towards, Scorpius starting to run after him but Mark grabbed his ankle.

"Wait! Elara needs medical attention!" Mark yelled and Scorpius looked back to him, he looked desperate, "She's suffering from smoke inhalation or something, please apparate her to a hospital!"

"I can't apparate, only Ephraim can," Scorpius snapped irritably, "He's the one who brought us and I think there are anti-apparation wards in place anyway or he would've apparated closer so we need to leave here, which will be hard."

"Why? You scared off the dragon and I think the Shadow Master's gone off somewhere-"

"The Inferi are coming."

"The what? Aren't they like-"

Scorpius wouldn't find out what Mark thought they were like as if to tell him what they were like, there was an ear-splitting scream towards the far end of the street. They both turned and saw the grisly puppets had arrived, one was holding a torso in one hand and a pair of legs in the other like it had just ripped the person in half, the body that also seemed far too small to have belonged to adult… Another Inferi was ripping the head of the woman who seemed to have been the screamer, Scorpius felt so sick it was like someone had squished up his insides.

I don't like this, Calderon whimpered in his mind.

"We need to get out here, we need to get out of here now," Scorpius said, more to himself than to Mark as he wracked his brain.

His feet felt like they were on autopilot as he ran forwards, sweeping his wand in a wide arc and conjuring flames as high as the houses on the street in a semi-circle around them. Guilt gnawed at him for the people outside the semi-circle but there was nothing he could do for them, he wasn't even sure they'd be able to save themselves as his idea wouldn't be able to save many.

"What did you do that for?" Mark asked in confusion.

"They don't like fire, it'll slow them down."

"What use is slowing them down if we can't-"

"Just wait here, I need Ephraim!" Scorpius cut him off, sprinting towards the house.

Scorpius threw himself through the flames barring the hole where the door had burned off its hinges, the fire couldn't hurt him because of the spell he'd cast earlier but he could still feel the intense heat. He imagined that this must be what it felt like to be inside an oven, even the air felt like it was burning against his skin and within seconds the smoke seemed to be trying to seep through him by engulfing every part of him it could reach. It clogged up his nostrils, crawled across his tongue and down his throat so he could taste nothing but heat and smoke and ash, causing him to cough. It stung his eyes so hard they watered, his vision was a conflicting clash of blindingly bright flames viewed through a dark smoky veil. He was tempted to put on a bubble-head charm to help with the extreme discomfort but he didn't want to waste time, they needed to be gone, he was about to call out to Lamb before he realized he could hear him crying out in pain.

Scorpius stumbled through the house towards the sound, the wavering flames all around him making him feel disorientated and when he put a hand on a wall to steady himself, it came crashing down. He flinched a the bang and the tremor it caused under his feet but it gave him a clear shot to Lamb, he saw the werewolf was trying to lift something in flames off of the limp form of figure face down on the ground. Scorpius scrambled over the rubble to help him and levitated the thing up for him, Lamb gave him an exhausted look of gratitude, coughing too hard to speak.

He then started trying to lift the figure up, a thin older woman from what he could tell and Scorpius was about to help him when he heard a horrible creaking sound from above them. He looked up in time to see the ceiling trying to collapse above them, he jabbed his wand up at it and non-verbally cast a charm to hold in place.

"Hurry!" he urged Lamb, coughing himself at the smoke as he held the ceiling in place.

Lamb merely nodded and seemed to give up trying to just lift her up and instead crouched, slinging one of her arms over his shoulder while her head of curls lolled onto his other shoulder. It wasn't ideal as her feet kind of dragged but he didn't think Lamb could manage much else and Scorpius couldn't help because he had to keep the spell up, he actually had to recast it as he realized another section of the floor tried to collapse closer to the exit. Lamb then preceded to half-carry and half-drag her back towards the 'door' with Scorpius in his wake, wand still pointed at the ceiling to stop the whole place crumbling down around them.

The screams breached Scorpius' ears as soon as they left the muffled cocoon of the burning cottage, behind him he heard the crashing of the ceiling collapsing but didn't bother looking back as he gulped down the fresher outside air which at least wasn't burning. They didn't make it ten steps out of the house before Lamb's battered body seemed to give out, he felt to his knees and practically dropped the woman's body onto the grass then started to fall beside her but Scorpius caught him and knelt beside him to keep him kneeling.

"Hey Ephraim, I need you to stay with me, okay?" Scorpius urged him, trying to sound gentle rather than frantic to which he nodded weakly but his expression was one of great pain and his eyes were closed.

Lamb was really in bad shape, his clothes were charred and raw, red patches of blistering flesh were visible all over through holes where the fire had burned straight through. His arms were the worst, he couldn't tell where the sleeves ended and Lamb's skin began, it was a horrible mottled mess of black, yellow and red. Actually, Scorpius took it back, his hands were the worst as trying to lift the burning object off of Mark's wife had cost him dearly. They'd been scorched almost entirely black around his palms and fingers, so severely in places even pieces of flesh had been burned away to show off bones, bones that had been burned yellow. Scorpius was glad he hadn't had had breakfast.

"They're getting closer!" Mark yelled and Scorpius realized he had ran over to them carrying the still unconscious Elara, he looked terrified. His attention then turned to his- presumably- wife, trying to turn her over to see how she was doing.

"Wh- Wh- What-"

"Inferi," Scorpius answered what he guessed Lamb had been trying to ask as his chocolate brown eyes had flickered back open, bloodshot from the smoke and he saw them widen in fear, "It's okay, though I have a plan. I'm going to carry us out of here, as soon as you can you need to apparate us so we can get help. Think you can do that, Ephraim?"

"I- I- I d- don't… I d- don't think I c- can ap- apparate that m- many people at once r- right now."

"She has a pulse," Mark breathed out a sigh of relief and Scorpius spared the wife a glance, like Elara she wasn't conscious though unlike Elara she was sporting several burns, though none quite as severe as Ephraim's worst ones, "Now what are you talking about carrying us? Carrying Elara and Dorothea isn't the issue, those things kill everyone they find and we can't hide because they're searching buildings and cars-"

"Sc- Scorpius i- is an ani- animagus, a th- thestral," Lamb offered as a quick explanation, who immediately took on a frown as if trying to remember what that was, Scorpius didn't really care if he knew or not.

"Okay, I'll fly back to where we came in and then you can apparate us back to Hogan's one by one?" Scorpius said instead to Lamb, who nodded while beyond him Scorpius started to see dark shapes beyond his wall of flames.

"Who's Hogan?" Mark questioned while Scorpius jumped to his feet and twirled his wand again as he ran forward, blasting an even fiercer wall of flames around them.

"A- A Healer," Lamb answered weakly while Scorpius turned back to them.

"We need to move now!" Scorpius barked at them, their eyes both looked to him seriously and closed his eyes to focus on his transformation.

"W- W- Will you r- really be able to c- carry al- all of us?" Lamb asked and Scorpius opened his eyes again, guiltily, unable to help his eyes drifting to Mark who caught his gaze. While thestrals were strong, there was only so much they could physically fit onto their backs, carrying four people on your back was different to pulling four people in a carriage.

"I'll carry as much as I can."

Scorpius closed his eyes and transformed, putting an end to the questioning and trotted back over to them. Mark didn't hesitate to jump to his feet and he felt Mark placing the little girl on his back, wrapping her arms around her neck and even seemingly was able to make the prosthetic hold set into place holding her human hand so she was holding on. Scorpius then half-heard and half-saw him kiss his granddaughter's forehead.

"Grandad loves you very much," he whispered into her ear, "Don't forget that."

Mark then looked Scorpius in the eye again and he was quite sure Mark had realized that there wasn't enough space for all of them, he didn't say anything though and just went back for his wife. Scorpius tried to crouch a little to make it easier to put her onto his back behind Elara, Lamb had gotten shakily to his feet and Mark immediately started to guide him over when he was done with his wife. Scorpius glanced back over his shoulder, the dark shapes were becoming visible through the curtains of flames again, it wouldn't last forever or even or long as the one destroyed by the fire would become stepping stones for the ones further back.

"Come on," Mark was urging Lamb on but he had stopped, a look of recognition on his face.

"Th- There's not g- going to be en- enough room f- for a- all of us," Lamb breathed then coughed again, Mark's expression was one of resolution not surprise.

"So come on, the last place is for you."

"N- No," Lamb insisted, pulling away from Mark's attempts to help him get on, "Y- Y- You sh- should go, Mark, I- I c- can't leave you to…"

Lamb didn't seem able to finish that sentence. Scorpius glanced back to the flames and saw the first of the Inferi were starting to come through, their legs too burned to function they collapsed and started dragging themselves along the ground. Scorpius whinnied desperately to alert the others to the fact they needed to hurry up.

"You have to, come on!" Mark demanded, offering his hand to help again but Lamb remained recoiled.

"Y- You're her gr- grandfather, E- Elara needs y-"

"Ephraim," Mark snapped and Lamb froze mid-sentence at the mention of his first name, "You're the only one who can apparate, it has to be you."

Finally, resignedly, Lamb nodded and reluctantly allowed Mark to help him climb up onto Scorpius' back with the others. Scorpius looked over his shoulder for a final time and saw the Inferi had started using the fallen as stepping stones, they were now running towards them.

"Take care of them, Ephraim," Mark told him tearfully, pushing something that looked like a wallet into Lamb's ruined hand before stepping back, "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"M- Mark-"

Scorpius couldn't wait for them to say goodbye though, he kicked off from the ground and shot up into the sky before the Inferi could get them, Mark's screams however followed him into the sky. The screams were dying down he realized, probably because looking down the dark shifting mass of Inferi was flooding every street, his walls of flames had probably been the last bastion of safety in the town. It stank of death and fire now, it looked like a ruin. Lifting his head up he saw the Shadow Master did indeed seem to have gone as Mark had suspected but the Shadow Mark still laughing in the sky along with something that looked like words down by the houses over the outskirts of the town. However he lacked the curiosity to investigate, it also wasn't the easiest to fly with three people who weren't even holding on very well.

Very carefully, Scorpius navigated his way back towards the spot Lamb had apparated them in, the perfect direction of his thestral mind making it easy. He thought he saw some someone running up the ill towards them from the opposite direction to the town but could tell they weren't an Inferi as he could see the glow of their soul from here so he wasn't concerned. He landed gently on the grass and Lamb half-fell and half-climbed off him, immediately going for his daughter first. He looked similarly defeated and tears were damp on his face, his eyes were flickering like it was hard to keep them open and when he disapparated, it was with a loud crack like a whip was unusual for him.

Scorpius transformed back into a human and carefully rolled Mark's wife- Dorothea he thought he'd heard Mark call her- off him, she was still unconscious but also still breathing. He wondered what she'd say upon waking, upon learning her husband was dead. Beyond her, he caught sight of the figure running up the hill, it just looked like a teenage boy in muggle clothing. He stopped to gasp in horror at the town below, taking a few shaky steps back before starting to hurtle towards it.

"Hey!" Scorpius called out to him before another sharp crack announced Lamb's arrival, he looked like he was about ready to pass out now as he took Dorothea's hand and disapparated with her. The boy either hadn't heard him or hadn't stopped though, Scorpius could hardly let him run towards his death. He scrambled to his feet and ran after him, "Hey! Hey kid!"

The boy either didn't hear him or didn't care and not wanting to do this again, Scorpius transformed into a thestral once more and leaped into the air. He flew a circle around the boy and landed in front of him, the kid gasped and fell to his butt in shock even before Scorpius had transformed back. As he had suspected the boy was dressed in muggle clothing, sneakers, ripped up jeans with drawings all over them and a black t-shirt with a winged sword stabbed through a heart with the slogan 'BON JOVI FOREVER' on it, his wrists were filled with various black bangles, bracelets and charity wrist bands, he also had a silver ring pierced through his left ear. He recovered quickly and scrambled to his feet, he was tall but had a very gangly look to him like he hadn't finished growing and likewise when his spoke, his voice had an uneven childish quality to it like it wasn't done breaking yet but he was trying to sound older than he was, which Scorpius would guess was maybe fourteen.

"What are you doing?!" the boy complained at him, glaring with rainy gray eyes through his sheet of dark hair but his fear was poorly masked, "I have to get home!"

"The town was attacked-"

"I can see that!" the boy snapped before he could finish, "That's why I have to get home, my parents are down there! Don't you understand?! Now get out of my way!"

"You can't-" Scorpius tried to speak again but the boy tried to make a run for it anyway so Scorpius had to push him back, he fell again to the ground again, "It's too late! You can't go there or you'll die, do you understand? It's too late."

"I- It can't be too late," the boy insisted, getting to his feet again but this time he was desperately fighting back tears, "My p- parents are down there, I j- just snuck out to see my boyfriend, th- they can't have just… this c- can't just have h- happened while I was g- gone..."

"I'm sorry, ki- What's your name?" Scorpius changed his sentence, feeling like calling him 'kid' might undermine the sentiment while the boy swiped at his leaking eyes.

"T- Taran."

"I'm sorry, Taran," Scorpius offered gently, putting a hand on his shoulder as they started to shake.

"A- Aren't there any s- survivors?" Taran pleaded, determined wiping at his streaming eyes again, "Surely e- everyone in Ottery c- can't have died in just a few hours?"

Scorpius felt like Taran had slapped him in the face.

"What did you say?" Scorpius asked sharply as he moved his hand away, Taran lifted his head in confusion.

"I a- asked if there was a chance of any surv-"

"No, about Ottery."

"Well, the name of the town i- it's Ottery St Catchpole, s- sometimes we just call it Ottery for short. Does that matter?"

Scorpius could only nod as an icy feeling slid across his bones, that was where the Burrow was…