Riptide ~ vance
Dear Emma
I hope you're doing well.
Thank you for your letter, I've been good. No, I still don't have a job but I'm staying in some muggle resident and managing.
How have you been doing? Are the nurses being too much trouble? I can come and speak with your Aunt if you want, she can't keep me away forever. Just remember not to lose your temper or get in too much trouble. How is Harry doing? Tell him Happy birthday from me. I've been in contact with Sirius, so don't worry, he's safe somewhere east and so is Buckbeak. Write me back if anything happens.
your's, Remus.
P.S.: when your Hogwarts letter comes in, just send me your Hogsmeade permission slip and I'll sign it, I've already cleared it with Professor McGonagall.
I took a bite of Harry's birthday cake As I started writing back to Remus. Hedwig just got several letters in this morning. I didn't go down for breakfast; I had been locked in my room ever since I picked up a fight with Aunt Petunia yesterday. I was taking a different tactic this time, if I pick fights with her she'll get mad and let me lock myself in my room as long as I want. It wasn't that effective though because every time we fought I found myself staying up at night thinking about the way she said things or the way she would spin the situation or remind me of things in the past. And then keep spinning all night about how that's exactly what I do when I argue, it's my techniques, my ways, my faulty accusations...or more accurately, hers.
But it still brought me a little peace to be locked in my room and not have to interact with them as much.
I told Remus that I was doing alright and promised to try not to get in trouble. Gladly, he doesn't know I'm profusely trying to get in trouble and it should stay that way.
The door suddenly burst open and Harry came in, "What are you doing?!" He asked, seemed slightly irritated.
"Not eating your birthday cake," I said through a mouthful of a birthday cake.
He groaned, taking the plate from me, "You just lock yourself in here and leave me facing the barrel"
"What else is new" I shrugged, "was Uncle Vernon mad about Mrs. Weasley's letter?"
"Of course he was, he yelled at me, then I had to...wait, how do you know Mrs Weasley sent a letter?"
"Ron sent you a letter that I totally didn't read," I said, handing him an open letter from the desk.
He snatched it from me. "For the last time. Stop. Doing. That" he snapped as he started reading the letter in turn.
I ignored him and finished my letter to Remus, telling him about the Quidditch World Cup and that the Weasleys picking us up. I attached the permission slip that came this morning with it and sealed the envelope.
"So are they okay with it or are we going to have to make up an escape plan?" I asked, knowing the answer already.
"No, I convinced them"
"You convinced them? How did you do that?!" I asked, surprised, then it dawned on me, "Oh, you used the whole 'my godfather is an escaped convict' thing again, didn't you?"
"What! It works doesn't it?"
"Yes, but you don't see me threatening to have Remus show up on a full moon every time someone slightly bothers me, now do I?"
I teased Harry but I was really grateful that we're going without too much trouble, I wasn't that invested in quidditch but I was really excited. Sarah had already sent telling me that Amber had gotten them tickets. So did Conan and his mom.
So it seemed like it would be so much fun. I knew I would have to spend most of it listening to Ginny yapping about it, but I wasn't the least bit disappointed about that.
Besides, leaving the Durselys this early in the summer is a blessing. My brain could take a break from its yearly torment by making me sure I'm my Aunt's younger version.
The next day, I stumbled out of the fireplace in the borrow, choking on ash; I couldn't stop laughing at the sight I glimpsed just before I was pulled into the fireplace line.
Fred pulled me to my feet with an excited look.
"You two had something to do with it, don't you?" I asked in a hoarse voice, coughing a couple more times.
"Of course we did, did it work?" Asked George.
"Yes, it did," I said, grinning, "but it was disgusting, we have no idea how many things went on that tongue, what was it?"
"Ton-Tongue Toffee," said Fred brightly. "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer. . . ."
Everyone started laughing just as Harry swooped in from the fireplace.
I looked around, Hermione was already there. There were two new redheads, they looked even older than Percy, who was nowhere to be seen.
Ginny pulled me in for a hug and then introduced me to her oldest brothers.
Bill, the oldest, was pretty handsome, I wondered what his mom thought about the earrings and the long hair, I myself admired them though. Charlie looked exactly how a person training dragons should, buff and has several scars, but it was hard to think of him as scary because he still had a genuine warm smile on his face that was perfectly Weaslyish.
Mr Weasley swooped out of the fireplace in turn, he assured us that he fixed it with Dudley, which for me was more of a disappointment than an assurance.
When Mrs Weasley came in and chaos started to unleash in the kitchen, Ginny pulled me away, up the stairs and into her bedroom.
"Is she that mad just because of the prank? Trust me, Dudley would be glad to have a ton tongue, it'll help him scoop more stuff in"
"It's not just because of that," said Ginny, closing the door carefully in a failed attempt to block Mrs. Weasley's voice, "it's about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.."
"Weasleys Wiz-what?"
She explained about their dream joke shop and Mrs. Weasley's objections.
"How could she want Fred and George to work in the ministry?! They'll wreck it!"
"That's what I said...well, not out loud. But anyway, never mind that, how was your summer? Did you hear from Black?"
"I did, I mean Remus did and he reassured us, and my summer was...unusually not drastic"
Ginny grinned as pressed her ear back on the door, "I think mum might've stopped yelling" she started saying, but then the door flew open. She tripped, I caught her arm just before she fell over.
Fred and George went in and closed the door hastily.
"What are you doing here!" Said Ginny indignantly, straightening up.
"Running away from mum" shrugged Fred.
"Run away in your own room!"
"That's too expected" retorted George, "besides, we need Emma's help"
I raised my eyebrows in confusion, "my help? For what?"
Fred and George sat on Ginny's bed, after making sure Mrs. Weasleys had given up on them for now.
"For the shop," said Fred, "we hit a milestone" finished George.
"A milestone that needs Emma's help?" Asked Ginny, taking a seat on Hermione's bed, I sat next to her as the twins started explaining.
"We need someone good at potions," said Fred "Some spells we're developing just simply can't encountered by spell work...not completely at least"
"Erm...I think you got it wrong, the one you're looking for has bushy brown hair..." I said with a confused smile.
"You reckon we didn't think of that?" Said George, "she's too stuck up to the rules, and she's terrified of Mum, refused to help us at all"
"And you think I am not terrified of your mum?"
"Pfft, of course, you are, but you would take the risk"
"Even if," I said with a short laugh, "who said I'm good at potions? I'm pretty sure Professor Snape doesn't even know my name"
"I mean you are the best in class in it though" offered Ginny
"Diaz is best in class...in everything," I said bitterly, "besides, you two are the sixth year, you think I know more than you do?"
"When have we ever struck you as someone who studies?" Said George with an amused smile. Ginny got up and opened the door a bit, peeking to see if Mrs. Weasley was still ranting downstairs.
"Never" I answered genuinely, "you know I'm more than happy to help if I can, after all, anything that caused Dudley distress is worth developing, but I doubt I'll be of any use"
"Alright, stop that talk before mum comes back, we should go help her before she starts yelling again," said Ginny.
We were having dinner outside because there were too many of us, which was alright with me given that the weather was pretty nice.
I sat observing the excessive chatter and chaos around me. It's one of the many reasons I like the borrow, it's seldom quiet in here.
Harry, Charlie and Ron seemed to be discussing the World Cup excitedly.
Mr. Weasley and Percy were talking about ministry affairs (given that the latter had just got a job there). Mrs. Weasley and Bill were arguing about his hair.
"I like it" said Ginny, weighing in on that argument. I know Ginny would always complain about her brothers and their annoying habit of dismissing her. But it seemed that with Bill and Charlie, she was less... hostile.
They moved on to discuss his job and how he was faring in Egypt.
"It's quite nice, although I'm glad I'm back home in August. I could swear summer there is like a preview of hell, especially in the south where we mostly work"
That's when I started asking him more about his job. I hadn't given much thought to what I wanted to do after I left Hogwarts, but it was starting to weigh on me, knowing that I was about to take some new subjects this year and I didn't know if my choices in those would be helpful.
Bill's job sounded cool. The idea of travelling abroad, breaking curses and dealing with dangerous spells seemed pretty appealing to me.
Up in Ginny's bedroom, it was starting to get pretty crowded with three beds, but I wasn't complaining.
Mrs. Weasley told us to go to sleep instantly and not tire ourselves out, which was wise, given that we were going to have a long day tomorrow. So, naturally, we stayed up till late at night.
Ginny, Hermione and I stayed up for no apparent reason. But it was one of the best fun I've ever had (but that's setting the bar pretty low). We talked our way through the night, stifling our laughs so as not to wake anyone or alert Mrs.Weasley to us still being up. There was really nothing important enough to keep us up. But we did, and it was a pretty weird talk.
Seeing how one moment, we'd be discussing the origins of dark magic, Hermione telling us the ancient myths about it being an inhumane form of power, that witches and wizards adopted it during their seek of power. But the next second, we'd be giggling about that time we watched Oliver Woods lose his temper because the twins had dyed a beetle gold and convinced Harry to follow it. Then another moment later, Ginny would be recounting to Hermione my dinner with the walkers last year while I turned redder by the second.
By the morning, I wished the World Cup would just be cancelled. Mrs. Weasley had to practically pull us off our beds. The trip was long and tiring, the sun was barely up so it was still a bit chilly, which fortunately woke me up a bit more.
I wish I could disappearate like Bill, Charlie and Percy are. I wonder how it feels like to disappearate anyway, like where does your body even go? Why do I only have those kinds of thoughts when I haven't slept?
What finally woke me up was Cedric Diggory showing up. Turns out, we're taking the same portkey there with him and his dad. Looking at him, I wondered if he knew there was a picture of him glued to a wall in the hallways in the Gryffindor girl's dormitories with plenty of hearts drawn around it. I'd say it's a long shot.
Remember a few minutes ago when I wondered about apparitions? Well if it's anything like using a portkey, I'd rather take a hike. We all had to crowd around, every single one of us touching at least one finger to some battered old boot. And suddenly, it's like a shock went through my body, my finger got impossibly stuck to the boot, and I was suddenly lifted up horizontally. Your whole body feels still like you're paralyzed.
We suddenly fell to the floor at once, feeling a shock similar to the one people get when they jump horizontally into a pool (Not that I would know).
We all gathered ourselves and started walking again. went through a few more security measures. I was tired, nauseous, had a bad headache and was seriously considering throwing away my wand and starting a new life as a muggle street food cook when we finally saw it.
A huge camp sight, wizards were camping all over the place, the noise was extreme, wizards and witches chattering, kids running around, playing with toy brooms, screams of excitement filled the place, all kinds of chants and songs were being sung by various groups, the Irish and Bulgarian flags we hung and being waved everywhere.
The genuine excitement was highly contagious, all trace of sleepiness and nauseousness was removed from my body. I started even listening to Harry and the twins' chatter, which I had toned out through the journey.
We started setting camp, Mr. Weasley wanted to do it the muggle way for security measures but Harry and I were no use in that matter. The Durselys ever taking us camping feels as probable as Dumbledore going skiing. Honestly, no, it's more improbable, Dumbledore is pretty unexpected.
Hermione showed us how to put the tents up, and we all helped until the two tents were almost good enough. Ginny had previously told me about the expansion spell put on the tents, but I didn't imagine it would be that big from the inside.
Our tent was like a little flat, with one bedroom and a kitchen and everything. The other one is even bigger, with three bedrooms. They were both completely furnished too, I made a note to ask Hermione about those kinds of spells later.
"Could you two find some wood? We have to try and light a fire" said Mr. Weasley to Ginny and me after sending Harry, Ron and Hermione to get water. Also, the twins were nowhere to be seen for the moment.
So Ginny and I went to look for some.
I was glad I got to discover the campsite more though. People all around were celebrating like they'd already gotten the cup. Or maybe they're just excited about being gathered like that. It seemed like there were people from all around the world. I could hear a whole lot of different languages and accents being spoken (or rather shouted) around.
"I think Sarah should be somewhere around here," said Ginny, inspecting the tents around us.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Her portkey was somewhere in London, so was the walkers', that's where they're supposed to be...I think...I don't know, why aren't there maps or anything"
Just as Ginny started to look more confused and were contemplating going back in our tracks, we heard Sarah's loud laugh from somewhere in the crowd. We shared a look.
"Well that's unmistakable," I said grinning as we looked in the sound's way.
We finally found a couple of tents, considerably distant from the others, or as distant as anything could be in such crowd.
"You're here!" Exclaimed Sarah happily as she pulled both of us into a hug. she looked even taller than the last time I saw her.
"We were looking all over for you," said Ginny.
"We had to keep as much space as we could from the others because of Jason," said Sarah.
"Jason?" I asked. She pointed at a man sitting by the fire next to their tents, he looked about twenty-three, and he was kind of langy. You could almost tell he was the kind of person that would trip on his own feet. Nevertheless, nice looking.
He was turning a wooden stick in his hand.
"Hey, Sarah, does that look like a wand?" He called, holding the stick up, "Oh, are those your friends?"
"Yes, they are, that's Emma and Ginny," said Sarah, approaching him, she pulled the stick out of his hand and threw it away.
"Hey!" He objected.
"Stop trying to make a wand, just act normal" said Sarah.
"I am acting normal!"
"Are you? Because I don't see real wizards asking if a stick looks like a wand"
"She's not wrong, you know..." said Amber, coming out of the slightly bigger tent, and dusting herself off. It looked like their tents were actual ones, not expanded like ours.
"Oh, hi, girls," said Amber as she noticed us, "that's Jason, my boyfriend"
"He's a muggle" clarified Sarah.
"So me waving a wand exposes me but you telling people doesn't?" Said Jason indignantly.
"It's not a wand! And those are just my friends, they're not going to tell anyone" said Sarah, then she looked back at us. "Seriously, you shouldn't tell anyone, Amber put so many counterspells on him, we're breaking like a hundred laws"
"Mr. Weasley is here, isn't he?" Asked Amber, "you can't tell him, he worked so hard on the muggle repellant charms, he might actually kill me"
Ginny grinned, "don't worry, our lips are sealed"
"Erm...Ginny said you guys caught a portkey with the walkers?" I prompted.
"Yes, we did, why do you ask," said Sarah with a smirk.
"Good question, why do you ask?" Said Ginny, you'd think they're sharing the smirk.
"You two are the worst, you know that?" I said, exasperated.
Amber grinned, "they're in the blue tent across," she said, pointing to a group of tents a few meters from theirs.
I ignored Ginny and Sarah's comments and headed over to the group of tents.
As I approached them, I could finally see him. Conan was standing next to a lit fire in front of their tent. He was holding what looked like a piece of chicken at the end of a wooden stick. Apparently trying to cook it. Mrs. Walker was standing next to him, holding a book open and looking between the food and the book in confusion.
"You know, it will never cook from that far," I said. Neither of them had noticed me approaching. Conan got so bewildered that he dropped the whole thing in the fire.
I chuckled and hurried to pull the stick out of the fire. I held it up, it was almost all black.
"It might still be edible from the inside" said Mrs Walker, grinning in turn as she took the stick from my hand, "it's nice to see you, Emma"
"It's nice to see you too, Mrs. Walker. I'm sorry if I sneaked up on you, I didn't mean it"
"Nonsense, it was a failed attempt to act like muggles anyway, I'm going to cook the rest in the oven," she said and bent down to enter the tent. Leaving me and Conan alone.
We stood in silence for a few seconds, his cheeks were slightly reddened from the previous embarrassment.
"You came" he finally said.
"Yes, the Weasleys managed to get us tickets," I said, smiling awkwardly
"I'm glad, it's nice in here, isn't it?"
"It is, everyone is excited, I never went camping or anywhere really so it's really nice"
"Well it's even nicer now that you're here..." He said, staring at me, it was my turn to blush. I tried to form a coherent thought, but I was saved the trouble by Ginny.
"Come on, Emma, we don't have all day, we still have to get the wood" she said, taking a step next to me, "oh, hello, Walker, you're here to see the World Cup? I'm afraid you might be shocked to see real quidditch for once"
Conan rolled his eyes, "seriously, Weasley? Again? Do I have to remind you that your precious little Harpies already lost the-"
"I'm sorry, what are you saying? I can't physically hear people who support mediocre teams" interrupted Ginny.
"Alright, stop, both of you, I'll see you later, Conan, we do have to get the wood," I said hastily before this whole argument started again.
Making a fire took us ages. Even with Hermione's help, it took forever to heat up enough to cook anything.
As we waited, Mr. Weasley introduced us to a few colleagues of his in the ministry.
Someone called Barty Crouch, I didn't completely understand what he did in the ministry, but he seemed important enough. He was also, apparently, Percy's head of department, I guess he had been talking about him since yesterday, but I just learned to tone him out too.
For some inexplicable reason, when I saw the wicked smiles on the twins faces after Crouch called him Weatherby, I actually felt bad for him. I was also bored of all the ministry talk so I went to help him boil water for the tea on the lit fire.
I stared at the distance, the tents, the flags, the cheering and singing. The crowd felt weirdly...united? Those people had barely anything in common, different lives, different countries, different languages. Yet they all seemed unbothered, sharing food, tradition and music. Kids from everywhere playing around, bet they didn't even exchange names before they started running around on fake brooms. All the different cultures and people and it wasn't even magic that united them, but rather something as trivial as a sport.
As I looked around I noticed what looked like an isolated campsite. Maybe not isolated per se but there was a pretty decent gap between those tents and the rest, there were only about a dozen or so tents there, with huge gaps between them. I squinted to try and see more but it was too far for me to interpret any details.
"Percy..." I asked tentatively, holding up a cup for him to pour the finally boiled water in, "What do you reckon those tents over there are for?"
"What tents? Oh, you mean the VIP section?" He asked, taking a look in the direction I was pointing at.
"VIP section?! Is that like for the teams or something?"
"Oh no, the teams have a private place for training and stuff like that, those tents are for...well, practically just rich people, people like the minister or like the Malfoys probably. They'd rather have a somewhat private residence during public events like those. Their places are usually more equipped than normal tents, it's practically a normal home or a fancy one. They pay a lot to have them that way. And in case the match extends to several days as it happened before, that means they get to have less inconvenience than other people"
"But...that doesn't always happen, the matches usually take less than a day, why would they pay so much for so short a stay when the tents here are perfectly comfortable?"
Percy smiled somewhat bitterly, "you see, people like that, always had money. They never learned how it is to live without it, or with little of it, so they don't know the real value of anything, or how their mere luxuries could greatly affect another person's life. You could say they're...spoiled" he said while he was refilling the water, "no offence or anything, though," he said hastily, meeting my eyes.
I smiled reassuringly. I wouldn't ever put myself in a category with people like the Malfoys, but I understood what he meant. Harry and I had fairly our share of inheritance, which might be considered a lot. I couldn't imagine us ever being that careless with it though. We didn't exactly grow up rich or anything. The Durslyes were middle class, somewhat comfortable. But that didn't mean we were. We practically lived on their scraps and were rarely handed any money in our hands. So I thought it pretty hard to find myself one day spending that carelessly. Not to say that our small fortune was in any way comparable to the abnormal amount of money the Malfoys owned. Which I had only heard of how great it might be.
After a couple more ministry employees dropped by, it was finally time for the match. We gathered and headed there.
I always thought of Hogwarts matches as pretty violent and chaotic. But I realized it was exactly what it is, child's play.
The before and after events were grand enough on their own, but the actual match was so thrilling that even I, who never cared that much about quidditch was on the edge of my seat (sometimes literally). I even forgot about the very important mission that I had assigned myself. Stopping Ginny from getting too excited and starting to produce inhumane squeals. I was pretty unsuccessful in that.
The after-match celebration made the pre-match excitement seem like a child's birthday party. I could swear even the Bulgarians were seen participating in it after their loss. Mr Weasley tried his best to stop people from causing too much commission with the fireworks and everything, but he was just glad he was not actually on duty. By the time we were back to our tents, I was so tired, with all the excitement of the day and having barely slept last night, I just couldn't stay up. Sometime through dinner I rested my head on the table and dozed off without warning. Ginny woke me and I kind of pushed myself to our tent to finally collapse on the bed.
I sunk into a tired dreamless sleep and and felt nothing at all until suddenly, I woke up at the sound of commission, the kind that makes your heart drop before your mind could catch up.
My mind was so hazy that all I could make up was some yelling and screams outside. I was starting to think that I was probably dreaming when someone burst into our tent.
"GET UP!" Bellowed Bill as he pulled Ginny off her bed, "all three of you, come on!"
"Why? Wha-" started Hermione.
"No time! Just put on a jacket and get out, NOW!"
I managed to clasp a jacket and get up unsteadily as we all rushed outside. The rest of the group were gathered outside.
By the light of the few fires that were still burning, I could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene. A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. They didn't seem to have faces...Then I realized that their heads were hooded and their faces masked. High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.
When the light of a fire finally illuminated the figures, I gasped with horror. They were the muggles responsible for the camp. A family of four, all elevated and are being tossed in midair while the faceless men laugh drunkenly. I felt a shiver go through me, my eyes glued to the horrific scene before me.
"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. I hadn't even seen him in the haze. "You lot get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"
Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; Mr. Weasley tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. The crowd beneath the muggle family was coming ever closer.
Instinctively, I tried to reach for Harry, but as Fred grabbed Ginny's hand, George grasped mine firmly, pulling me with them to the woods. I stumbled as I looked behind me to make sure Harry, Ron and Hermione were on our heels. We kept going deep into the woods, it seemed that a lot of people were also hiding in here. So we kept running until finally, Fred stopped, looking around us for any signs of danger.
"I think we should just wait here till it's safe, there's no one around," said Fred, out of breath. Which I was glad for because I could barely stand. I realized I was still shaking from the scene. The look of horror on the kid's face, their mother trying to hide herself as they flipped her over midair, it was all too terrible, too much for any sane human to take pleasure in. But as I tried to take my breath, I looked around and I felt my heart drop even more.
"Where are they?!" I asked, noticing it was only Ginny, the twins and myself in the small clearing.
"HARRY" I called in panic.
"Stop, you're going to draw attention to us!" Said George, hastily clasping his hand over my mouth, I shoved it away.
"HARRY!" I called again, starting to go back in our tracks.
"Stop, don't be stupid," said Fred as Ginny took hold of my wrist to stop me from going. "They probably just lost sight of us, calm down"
"But, what if something happened to them? We can't just leave them!" I protested.
"We can't go back! Just stop struggling, we'll find them, alright?"
I opened my mouth to argue again, but a scream breaking through air in the distance silenced me. It came from inside the woods, we stared at each other for a second. Another scream echoed through the air. It sounded like a little child's cry, a heartwrenching painful cry for help. And it seemed somewhat near.
Without a word, we exchanged terrified glances, then started walking very slowly towards the sound. I clenched my fist as the squeals and sobs got clearer and louder by the second. After a few minutes of walking, we glimpsed a few streaks of lights from behind a couple of trees, a crackling cold laughter echoed from just behind them. The sound sent s shiver down my spine, I recognized it, but it was too hard to put it in place in my mind right now with the constant sobs.
Fred signed for us to take shelter behind the trees, we stood there, huddled together as I peeked in.
One of the masked men was standing with his back to us, holding his wand in the air with a very small figure being tossed in the air above him, he was crackling maniacally.
Apparently, he had singled out one of the muggle children and brought him here just to torture him more. There was too little light to see the kid's face, but his sobs were painful enough. The man's laughter made me want to be sick. I looked around at the others.
"Should we go get someone from the ministry?" Whispered Fred.
"No way! This kid looks too young, he might be dead before we get back" I whispered back.
"She's right, we have to do something" whispered George.
"What can we do?!" Argued Fred.
"There's four of us and he's all alone and drunk" whispered Ginny.
Fred looked around in alarm, searching for anyone who might be around, but there was no one to be seen. Another gut-wrenching scream came from behind the kid and we were forced to stop hesitating. We exchanged a few words and decided to intervene.
"'ello, mate," said Fred loudly, emerging from behind the masked wizard, he spun around in alarm to face him. But Ginny and George emerged suddenly, casting both a stunning spell and a bat-boggy hex at the same time. The spells hit him square in the chest. The wizard fell unconscious at the same time, I ran under the muggle boy, catching him in my arms as he fell, then toppled over to the ground together.
I got up with great difficulty, the kid shaking violently in my arms. He looked no older than four, one of the twins illuminated his wand in my direction, the boy was still sobbing, his face contorted and wet with tears, his eyes red, his nose snotty, he was clinging to me, sobbing, I wasn't sure which of us was shaking more as I tried to hold him up.
"Th-the m-man...s-stop...e-enough.." he stuttered, his little terrified whisper weakening my resolve.
"He's gone, it's okay, just breathe, you're okay" I tried to whisper reassuringly, but he kept trembling.
"H-how...I was...i-in the air...I..."
I had heard about what happens to muggles who accidentally find out about magic, there were stories about people going crazy, and losing their grip, I couldn't let that little boy be scarred for the rest of a life that had barely started.
"Shhh...it wasn't real... it's just a dream" I whispered, trying my best to keep my voice steady.
"It wasn't?" The hopeful whisper made me clench my fist harder.
"No... it wasn't, none of this is...this is just a nightmare...a very bad nightmare" I whispered. The tremors in his body started to subside slightly, his sobbing easing. "Just close your eyes"
He stared at me for a moment, his little terrified eyes meeting mine, he hesitated slightly. Then slowly, his eyes fluttered shut.
"Stupefy" I whispered softly. The boy's frame sagged against me, going limb, his little hand still clinging to Ginny's blue jacket that I was wearing.
————————————
Author's note:
Sorry for the late update, I definitely was attending to some important life events and wasn't crocheting a small toy frog (it came out wonky and mismatched like this chapter).
I also had midterms but that doesn't count cause I didn't study...