2001

The Order had seen many successful raids and even managed to track and corner Greyback on his way to Malfoy Manor. The cells of Azkaban were filling rapidly and the balance of forces had started to shift. Voldemort himself had taken up residence in the Manor and was hardly ever off the premises. He and his snake remained hidden from the world.

Narcissa and Draco Malfoy had become ghosts, fleeing their own home. The shift in power, along with the loss of Lucius, gave them the chance to slip from Voldemort's shadow. The Order didn't seek them out and they did not cause trouble in return.

Severus had become the only real confidant Voldemort had left and even he was not loyal. Shaylah continued to attend the meetings, though now it was only the three of them and they had become less frequent. However, a smoldering fire had been burning and would soon reignite.

The Order had continued to move houses every week, with Morgan scouting ahead. Though Voldemort's inner circle had depleted, lower ranking individuals still joined constantly hoping to gain some of the power that had become synonymous with his name. These individuals took pride in hunting the Order and had picked off several of them.

Morgan arrived at Headquarters one morning after scouting out more places, a smile plastered across her face. "I've got the next location." she said cheerfully, "and a man stopped me at a coffee shop and said Griffon invited him to join. I gave him our location."

Vex and Shaylah exchanged glances. "Who's Griffon?" Asked Shaylah. "Sorry, you know I'm atrocious with names."

"He joined about a week ago." Vex stated. "The guy with the scar down his cheek." Shaylah had seen him but she hadn't spoken to him. He was about her age and he did indeed have an awful scar that ran from above his left eyebrow down over his cheek. It looked as if it had healed horribly, the coloring of the healed skin was blotchy and uneven. If he had explained how he got it, she hadn't heard the story.

"If you told someone where to find us you put us all in danger, no matter who they said they might know." said Prix.

"Where's the next spot? We have to move." Shaylah said urgently. "Vex, go get the others."

Vex hurried from the room and Brawn who had been standing with his arms crossed waved his wand, the sound of clattering trunks coming from their resting places echoed through the tiny house. "How could you be so gullible?" He said gruffly toward Morgan.

"He said he knew one of us, I didn't question it." Morgan whined as she hid her face in her hands. The others filtered into the room and gathered around their trunks. Several pieces of furniture were turned over and bottles thrown and shattered. It was their calling card each time they left a place abandoned.

"It's fine, we just need to go. Where's the next spot?" Shaylah asked urgently. Before Morgan could answer the door was blown from its hinges, it flew across the small living room where they were gathered, narrowly missing Brawn's head.

"Griffon!" A voice bellowed from the other side of the haze. Several shadows stood in the doorway as the dust settled and the scar faced man came from behind Shaylah to join them.

As he took his place next to the newly arrived threat that dwelled in the doorway Griffon spoke, his wand pointed at Brawn. "I've been tracking you for a long time, you killed my brother in Hogsmeade." Shaylah opened her mouth to defend Brawn but Griffon turned his wand on her. "You were there too, you're just as guilty. I found a bunch of friends with grudges against the Order." His thumb flew over his shoulder at the silhouettes behind him, their features hidden by the harsh morning sun that filtered down on them.

Silence filled the room, the tension was suffocating. Shaylah's mouth twitched with the want to argue but the words died in her throat. Brawn cast the first spell, the crimson light hit the doorframe to the left of Griffon, bits of wood lobbed in all directions. Morgan shifted into her raven form and disappeared quickly out the door, none of the opposition was quick enough to catch her.

Shaylah grabbed Vex's hand as a fiery flare erupted from Griffon's wand, she yanked him away just in time but someone behind them was hit. The smell of burning flesh and hair was spliced with the horrendous yowl of the victim. Shaylah squeezed her eyes closed as Brawn and Prix sent green and red spells at their targets. Shaylah sent her own fire in response, a blazing snake emerged from her wand and slithered toward Griffon. He managed to evade its fiery fangs but the man behind him didn't. The burning snake disappeared down the thick man's throat and he fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

Brawn's wand was a frenzy of color and a cavalcade of spells. He focused all his energy on destroying their aggressors, no mercy in his eyes. The two brothers stood behind him deflecting the spells that were shot in their direction. The tiny house had become encased in dust and debris. The walls were shattering as spells crashed into them, the air was thick with the sound of splintering wood and painful cries.

Vex grabbed Shaylah by the elbow and almost knocked her down, blood dripped from the side of his mouth and his eyes were hazy. Shaylah scooped him up in her arms and moved him behind the overturned sofa. His face was pale and blood poured from a wound in his chest. Panic filled Shaylah's own chest as she cast a healing spell over the wound but her efforts were in vain. She tried another and then another, tears burned her eyes as she watched the life begin to bleed from his eyes. She shouted for Prix but her voice was in a whisper among the sound of war. She placed a hand on the side of Vex's face and placed a soft kiss on his forehead as the pain that traced through her turned to boiling fury.

When Shaylah emerged from behind the sofa the bodies of her friends and associates littered the ground. In the rubble she couldn't make out exactly who laid slain. Brawn still stood, his wand steadily bleeding spells. One of the brothers had fallen but the other remained. Several of the men from outside had made it into the house and Shaylah turned on them as they trained their attention on Brawn. She turned the same curse that had killed Cross on them, the one Severus had taught her in case she ever faced an enemy that called for it. Sectumsempra.

The closest man to her collapsed, his clothes shredded by the huge gashes that now marred his chest. Another look at Vex's lifeless body unleashed another curse, this one more laced with wrath than the last. The man next to the door was her next victim and the blood flew from him as if he had been squashed by a bus. Thick pools of crimson flowed out onto the floor as two loud thuds sounded behind her. She didn't have the strength to look, the sounds had become static and her blind fury held her attention on the door where Griffon stood. A wicked grin was plastered on his scarred face as two more men moved in around him.

The world had become quiet, except for the static ringing in her ears. No more spells sliced the air as Griffon approached her. Her heart clattered in her chest, the rage still pumped through her veins but Griffon disarmed her as she muttered the spell. Her wand fell useless across the room, among the bodies of her friends. Thick lines of morning sun fell through the now obliterated roof of the house. Dust shimmered as it began to settle. Griffon kept the arrogant look on his face as he placed his wand under Shaylah's chin and tilted her head to look at him. His cruel gray eyes took in the state of her before clutching a handful of her hair and pulling her up.

"Oh yes, I'll enjoy killing you." Griffon purred, but his chance was cut short. The men still darkening the doorway collapsed with a lifeless sound. Two sickening thuds. Griffon turned and was met with the end of Severus' wand. In that moment, the cruel look she had seen in Griffon's eyes seemed like that of tenderness. Severus' eyes were black and vicious, there was no soul to be seen in them. No signs of human emotion were present, no mercy. It was like looking into the eyes of death itself, and Griffon soon joined the rest of the souls in the room as Severus drove the tip of his wand into Griffon's throat and uttered Sectumsempra.

His grip tightened on Shaylah's hair as he was torn from the inside out as if a Hippogriff were clawing its way from inside him. Warm blood sprayed over Shaylah before she crumbled to the floor next to Griffon's lifeless body. Terror took the place of rage as she watched blood seep from his nose and mouth, gushing onto the floor. She placed her hand over her mouth to stifle the scream that grew in her throat.

Severus motioned for her to come to him and she buried herself in the fabric of his robes. Deep sobs escaped from her as he apparated them away from the carnage. He held her until her sobs subsided and she pulled her face from the confines of his robes. He wiped the wet stains from her cheeks and pressed his forehead to hers. His fingers wound through her hair, pulling the wet strands that had plastered themselves to her face away. He cupped her face in his hands. "I'm so sorry." He whispered. The monster that had struck Griffon down with such ferocity was gone. Severus cared for her as if she were the most fragile thing he had ever handled. "I'll make sure your friends are buried."

A flash of Vex's face appeared in her mind, forcing more tears to flow down her cheeks. "I want to help. Especially with Vex, he and Brawn meant a lot to me. They were the first ones I knew in the Order."

Severus nodded. "When you're ready."

In truth, she never thought she would be ready. The awful reality that her friends had been wiped out was gut wrenching. Severus was all she had left and they never even knew how integral he was to them. She gripped his robes in her hands and buried herself again, hoping that when she emerged it had all been a hellish nightmare. Her stomach cramped as she began to sob again. Severus rubbed his hand up and down her back, doing his best to soothe the ache that only continued to grow. He didn't try to fix her. He didn't attempt to quell the hurt. He only cradled her gently while she cursed into the void inside the abandoned house. Those walls had seen much and heard many secrets and now they dripped with the regret that seethed from her.

When the sun had set, Shaylah gathered all the strength she could muster and returned with Severus to retrieve and bury the bodies of her friends. There was a thick forest of trees not far from Headquarters. Shaylah dug the holes and filled them in, but it was Severus' job to bring the bodies from the house. Shaylah couldn't step over the threshold without bile coating her throat and a deep lurch of her stomach.

They buried Vex last and Shaylah sat beside the fresh mound of earth for quite some time. The stars shone down on them as she said her goodbyes. On each grave she grew a sunflower and on each flower she cast a stasis charm so that it would never wither. Only when she herself passed on, would the flowers wilt. Their memories would follow her to the grave.