and i'm locking up everyone that ever laid a finger on me

[Deleted]

(from and i built a little prison)

Her body was about to go slack, she was about to fall to her knees, but Nat knew that she couldn’t. If she didn’t do something now, then there would be no one to help Andy, no one to help Nik, and if they weren’t dead already, they’d be dead by the time morning came. Natalia flexed her fingers, feeling the slide of the wood against her bloody palms, and tried to calm down. Being totally calm was impossible, but she just needed enough focus to think of a memory. Any memory wouldn’t do, if she wanted to cast a Patronus. Nat wasn’t even sure she was capable of a Patronus, not when the two people she loved most in the world were in front of her, dead or dying –

Close your eyes. Neville’s voice was in her head, low and soothing. Nat obeyed, her eyes sliding closed, so she couldn’t see the gruesome picture before her. She could do that. She needed to think of something happy now. Before she could come up with anything resembling a memory, though, notes of a familiar song began to float into her head. Andy’s song, the one she had played before on Christmas Eve.

I love it, and you.

“Expecto Patronum.” Nat opened her eyes and watched the silver begin to blossom from her wand. The lioness shivered a little bit, and Nat was afraid it was going to dissolve for a moment. She closed her eyes again, letting out a quiet breath. “Dad. Please come.” Her voice sounded terrifying to her own ears, distant and cold and calm, more like an echo than any sort of voice at all. “The Lestrange house.” Natalia’s voice cracked, and she tightened her grip on her wand. “I’m scared.” Her voice was wobbling dangerously, and Nat didn’t trust herself to say anything more.

The message was done, but Natalia wasn’t sure if she ought to open her eyes to watch the Patronus walk away. She didn’t want it to disappear again, when she saw the bodies again. But now that she was thinking about the bodies anyways, she had to. The lioness was a blur of silver in the night, and then Natalia was left alone. Her palms were dripping blood, drops of crimson staining the white marble where she used to walk every day of her life. There ought to have been something poetic about the house being destroyed, but there wasn’t. There was nothing poetic about a life being ripped to shreds, nothing poetic about death, about dying.

There was nothing poetic about being alone.

posting order:
@philiplongbottom
@superluigi64
@philiplongbottom
@natalia
@nikolaj
@lestrange

(this is first round; Nik and Andy are doing two posts before passing out. the order will then be:
NEVILLE
PHIL
NATALIA
while they get to the hospital.)

[Deleted]

@superluigi64

Phil's bedroom was warm and inviting, his bed comforting, everything was familiar. But for some reason he couldn't shake his anxiety. He had tried breathing slowly, he had tried noticing things in the room, he had even tried some yoga. Eventually he found himself opening their journal. His and Andy's. He honestly hadn't looked at it since he got home, but something about Andy's handwriting soothed him. He flipped through the pages, running his fingers over the ridges in the writing. As he neared the end of the Brazil letters he paused, there was a new entry. He had had the journal open several times, a habit from Brazil.

Reading Andy's words brought a smile to his face. She mentioned a violin and he glaned in the corner at the instrument he had just purchased that afternoon. He frowned at it, where was Andy? She should be here. He stood up and moved to shut the book, but moevement on the page caught his eye.

A single word.

Help.

A surge of adrenaline raced through is body, panic rising in his throat. He grabbed a pen and scribbled her name, her full name and the words "Where are you?" He hoped she would answer, but he wouldn't wait for it. He tore from the bed and slammed the door open.

"DAD!" he called, panicked as he stumbled down the stairs, running into the wall at the bottom because of his haste. He regained his footing and glanced around frantically for Neville.

"DAD! ANDY'S IN TROUBLE!"

[Deleted]

Neville held an eye dropper steady, the plant salve within glowing a slight, forest green color. With the utmost care, he splashed tiny droplets across the wilting Moonblossom. The effect was instantaneous; the drooping white petals shivered and rose again, shimmering with silvery moonlight once more. The Longbottom patriarch sighed. Too much of this salve would have killed the plant as surely as doing nothing, and Moonblossoms are too useful. Losing one wouldn't have been a HUGE deal, but...well. He would dissolve another droplet into the sprinklers tonight, and hopefully that would keep this sickness from spreading.

But as he screwed the dropper back into its bottle, a bolt of silver dropped down from the ceiling. Neville was on his feet in an instant, leaving his gardening satchel on the ground beside him. He was expecting Harry's stag, or Hermione's otter. Maybe one of the other Order officers.

But the lioness was new. Neville blinked in surprise. Nat could use Patronus messages? Had James taught that to her?

“Dad. Please come. The Lestrange house. I'm scared.”

His mind went into overdrive. The Lestranges had kept well clear of their daughters since he'd adopted them, to his knowledge. What could possibly have happened that Nat would be there? He quickly whispered a message to his own wand and whipped it around, sending another silver streak toward the ceiling. It would find Hermione and inform her that he was heading for the Lestranges and that something was very, very wrong.

He turned and ghosted across the ground toward the flat. There was no time, but he needed to grab the emergency medical supplies before he went. Showing up unprepared wouldn't improve the situation.

As he stepped into the flat, he heard Phil scream for him. Oh Merlin, what now? “DAD! ANDY'S IN TROUBLE!” Andy too? Oh, this was so not good. There was no possible way this was coincidental. Phil was there, eyes wide in a panic, and Neville couldn't have that. He brought his arm up in a swinging motion and smacked his middle child soundly on the back of his head. “And panicking about it's not going to do her or you any good, boy. Calm down.” He made his way over to the wall, where the medical foldout Hannah kept was stationed. It was the size of a wallet, but it would unfold seven times into a full-size emergency medical kit with practically anything a trained Healer would need to keep a patient alive long enough to reach St. Mungo's. “I just got a message from Nat, she's calling for help. It can't be a coincidence. Here.” He tossed the medkit to his son and whistled. Percival looked up from his perch nearby as Neville scribbled a note hastily on a scrap of parchment, telling Hannah to be on standby with her two-way mirror necklace and that Neville would contact her as soon as possible. He handed the paper to Percival. “Hannah. Now.”

Without preamble, the bat took off.

He reached out and grabbed Phil by the shoulder. “Suck in,” he warned, giving his son half a second to respond before pulling him along with Side-Along Apparition. Phil would not have been his first choice to take into the unknown, but he was short on time and options, and going in alone wasn't ideal. Maybe if Natalia had sounded more panicked, but he didn't think they were joining a battle.

With the sound of a whipcrack, Neville and Phil appeared in front of what appeared to be a rather impressive pile of rubble. Neville had already released Phil's shoulder, hand swooping into his robes as he spun, wand up and tracking for threats. A handful of seeds hit the ground around his feet, sinking in and giving him weapons should they be needed.

But no masked enemies made their presence known. Just Nat, looking about as frail and fragile as he had ever seen her. And there, in the rubble, were two others...

Andy. And Nikolaj Lestrange.

Neville allowed himself half a second to suck in a breath of shock, but inaction was worthless. “Phil, tend to them. Natalia, I know Healers aren't asked to take care of relatives and you're not fully trained, but you have to make sure they're stable before we can try to move them to St. Mungo's. If your hands aren't steady enough, use Phil's instead, but he doesn't know healing like you do.” Neville was capable of some degree of first aid, more than Phil, but he was less trained than Natalia for certain, and the rubble still presented a threat to them. He squeezed her shoulder. “Just a little while. Just be strong for a little while. You can fall apart later, and I promise I'll help put you back together, but right now, they need you.”

He raised his right hand, and vines began to snake out in every direction, creeping over the pile of stone and wood, carefully locking the mess in place before any of it could fatally shift toward the brother and sister who had clearly had enough to do with gravity for one day.

@philiplongbottom
@natalia

[Deleted]

@natalia

Neville Longbottom was already on the move by the time Phil got to the bottom of the stairs, and Phil's exclamation didn't seem to alarm him anymore than he already was. Phil felt his breathing start to rapidly increase, if his dad already knew something was happening then it couldn't be anything good. He could feel his heartbeat rising when his head jerked forward. His heartbeat slowed slightly and his breathing became more regular.

"Right." He nodded in shocked agreement. "Panic won't help. Right." He looked up to his dad, steeling himself for whatever was going to come. Andy needed him. Freaking out wouldn't help her. It never helped her. Phil took another steadying breath and felt his stomach clench when Neville mentionied Nat.

"They are probably both in the same place!" Phil said, suddenly sure of his assumption. Why else would they both be calling for help at the same time? He caught the med kit his father had tossed him. During his time in Brazil he had become more familiar with the contents of such a kit, but that had only sparked his interest. He was no where near as proficient as his father, or especially Nat, but he felt he could hold his own with most minor injuries, and per haps even some major ones.

Phil glanced at his dad as he grabbed his shoulder and took a quick breath, his eyes catching on Jay's as his little brother stepped into the room before everything spiraled quickly into darkness.

The world rematerialized to reveal a collapsed building, Nat just outside, Andy and Nik under the rubble. Neville let go of Phil's shoulder then dropped several seeds onto the ground. He cursed himself, he could have thought of that had he not been paniking. He couldn't rely on his dad forever. He shook his head, he could berate himself later. Right now his sister's needed his help.

Per his father's instructions Phil rushed to Nat, offering his hand to help her up so they could make it over to where Andy and Nik were laying. He didn't let his panic set in again, but could feel it at the edges of his mind, and it got stronger the closer he got to Andy. This was what she had wanted to tell him. The reason why she was here, the reason she was so distant during their letters. He gritted his teeth and focused on getting over to Andy. Neville's vines began moving rubble, clearning the area around them. Once he got there, Phil knelt down and pulled out the wallet and opened it up.

He looked over Andy, not even knowing where to start. He glanced at Nat. "Tell me what to do, sis." He said with as much strength as he could.

[Deleted]

Nat didn’t know how long she had waited. Not long – the time would be numbered in seconds, not minutes, if she cared to number it at all. Neville’s voice was in her ear long before the man himself appeared, reminding her to breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Blood crashed in her ears like tidal waves, and those seconds seem to last eternities. This night was so long, and she felt so cold. A sound like a whip cracking split through the otherwise quiet night, but Nat didn’t jump. She had been waiting for it, after all, but she was too far in the throes of something akin to shock to be on edge. She had expected the world to slide into focus once Neville arrived, once everything was going to be okay, but that didn’t happen. Nat blinked at Neville, trying her hardest to hear her words but only catching a few shattered syllables over the sound of her own heart pumping. She was confused, really, because Neville had broken through the fog of fear before, when he was just a figment of her imagination, but now that he was here, for real, he was just another prop, another piece of rubble to be cleared. When Neville reached for her shoulder, Nat’s first instinct was to flinch away, but she was too slow, and his hand closed around her, warm and firm. His voice was clearer then, with his hand on her shoulder, and Nat nodded slowly. Falling apart wasn’t an option. It hadn’t been an option when she was alone and it wasn’t an option now that she was expected to help her brother and her sister.

To help her siblings though, first Natalia had to help herself. She reached past Phil to grab a few simple gauze strips, wrapping them around her own bloodied hands so she would be able to use the rest of the materials without fear of accidentally contaminating them. “Don’t bother checking for a pulse.” Natalia said, voice returned to the eerily steady echo it had been when she first messaged Neville. No one here wanted to know if Andy was dead, and even if Nat would be the only one to cry for Nik, she still didn’t want to know. Nik was on top of Andy, too, another detail that Natalia wasn’t going to let herself mull over for too long for fearing of stumbling into an answer she didn’t know.

“Splints.” She said quietly. Unsure if Phil had heard her, Natalia repeated the word louder. “Splints. I don’t know what’s broken, so just – just splint it all.” She gave Phil the best directions that she could. Her hands were probably steady enough that she could have done it herself, but Nat was afraid that the moment she touched either of her siblings, she would turn the rest of the way off. She was still hovering dangerously close to the brink of catatonia, but as long as she didn’t have to touch Nik or Andy, Nat thought that she could keep herself sane. After the splints had been put into place, Nat carefully pointed out a few of the larger cuts on both of her siblings’ bodies. “Those need to be bound in gauze.” She instructed. There were still quite a few cuts that weren’t going to be covered, but Nat wasn’t sure how much gauze they had. She was already beginning to curse her own wastefulness. She shouldn’t have covered her own hands, especially since she hadn’t ended up doing any of the actual medical work in the end. After that was done, Nat nodded to herself. “They can be moved now.” At least, that was Nat’s hope. If she had forgotten something… You didn’t forget anything. It was Andy’s voice now in her ear, warm and confident. It sent a shiver up her spine, to hear her sister’s voice in her head when her body was lying prone in front of her, but Natalia didn’t want to think about that. Andy, or at least the part of her own self that she associated with Andy, said that Natalia was done, so she was just going to have to trust that it was true.

@nikolaj

[Deleted]

@lestrange

voices. there were voices floating around in the air above him and andy and he needed to wake himself up encase they were voices there to cause more harm. he hurt and he knew andy was hurt. he couldn't put himself first, not tonight. he forced his eyes open with as much strength as he could gather and the fingers that had remained clasped around his wand tightened, sending shooting white pain up into his shoulder and through his chest but he needed to do it. he could only see the shadow of someone leaning over andy, just able to make out the shadow of someone laying next to him and he knew it had to be here. he didn't lift his arm off the ground, just the thought of it was too exhausting to think about but he raised the wooden wand slightly, trying to make enough sense in his head to cast a spell. the area around him was lit up with blue as the spell was cast.

it missed the target hovering over andy by an inch, it illuminated the face that was over his sister and he felt the wand drop out of his fingers. it was phil. the kid she had been with when they had spoken in hogsmeade. he closed his eyes again and swallowed, coughing against the metalic taste of the blood that was slowly running down the back of hit throat and he could only imagine andy was worse than he was. it took a moment for him to work up the courage and will power to move himself even an inch toward his baby sister but he did, somehow he found the energy to shift his broken body slightly, to reach out his hand to let his bloody fingers touch andy's cheek. "a-andy .. i'm s-so s-sorry" he rasped out, coughing again as the pain slowly started becoming too much.

[Deleted]

Andy heard a lot of voices around her, but she couldn't move or open her eyes. At first those voices were her parents, all the memories of the things they'd done and said to her. She heard Nat and Nik, too, as children and then as schoolmates and then as silence. She heard Phil somewhere in there, humming a song to her. She recognized the song, too. It was the song that played when he came back from Brazil, to surprise her at the ball. She tried to move, but there was something crushing her. Right, Nik had thrown his body on top of hers. She felt like she was completely conscious, but that she was trapped in her body, in a dark cage that she couldn't move in. She was suffocating in it. Then she heard someone scream.

Natalia.

She wanted to reach for her, to hold her and promise her everything would be okay. She didn't know if that was true, but she'd lie to Nat about this if it would make her stop screaming. The sound stopped and more came. Horrible sounds, flesh ripping against stone. She wanted to push Nik away and go to Natalia, but she couldn't do anything. Couldn't even move her lips, her eyelids, nothing. Eventually, she heard that voice again.

“Expecto Patronum.” It said. Andy couldn't help but wonder what her sister could possibly picture to conjure that right now and she was amazed.

“Dad. Please come.” Dad? Dad. Neville. Natalia had never called him that before, but Andy knew that was who she meant. Andy had that same pleading voice in her own mind, calling out to him.

“The Lestrange house.” Oh yeah, that's where she was. Her parents home. She had come to kill them.

“I’m scared.” No, no, don't be scared. Everything is going to be okay.

Then she heard another voice after a loud popping sound. Neville. He was here! She fought harder for real consciousness, but it was a strained effort. She wondered if they could see her trying, or if she was just laying there limp. She wasn't feeling any pain yet, which meant she wasn't fully awake. Then, finally, finally, as if from the gods, she heard another voice. "Tell me what to do, sis." Phil. Phil. He had brought Phil with him. She pushed even harder, internally screaming at herself for not being able to open her eyes. Natalia told them what to do, how to help and they got to work. After Natalia said they could be moved, Andy tried to reach her, to tell her that she'd done great, that she didn't forget anything. Then, finally, something touched her face, "A-Andy ... I'm s-so s-sorry," Nik said and her eyes shot open.

All the pain came rushing into her and she let out a loud, blood curdling scream before it was cut short by her whimpering and her body started to shake against her will. The bandages were reddening even more from her struggle, and she knew it'd just be better if she passed out again.

@superluigi64 next
THEN;
PHIL
NATALIA
NIK
ANDY

[Deleted]

He let the two of them work, partly tuning them out. He was vaguely aware of the orders Natalia was giving, but he filed that away while he worked to stabilize all the rubble and make sure nobody else was hurt. It was monotonous, slow work, requiring care and precision, but not a whole lot of attention thanks to the way he was doing it. It gave him time to consider the situation. Two Lestrange siblings, buried under the rubble of their family house, with the third calling him for help. This didn't look good by any measure. And Neville just knew it had something to do with the way Andy had been behaving lately, with why Hannah had found her covered in blood one night. He wasn't a paragon of intelligence like Hermione, nor was he able to make intuitive leaps of logic to solve mysteries the way Harry could, but Neville was far from stupid, and long experienced at being in the middle of strange situations.

This didn't look good for any of them. And their names would be thrown in their faces before it was all over.

A flash of blue light focused all of Neville's senses back on the scene. In an instant, his wand was trained on Nikolaj Lestrange, a lethal buildup of power raging through the instrument—

Had Nikolaj not dropped his wand, he would have died within the next second. Injured or not, taking a shot at Neville's son was intolerable.

He kept the wand trained on the Lestrange boy, cold fury etched on his face, waiting to see if he would go for the wand. Giving him a chance to go for it. But when he didn't, Neville let the storm calm itself, and instead flicked a Summoning charm out. Nikolaj's wand flew to his hand, and after a moment to consider, Neville summoned Andy's wand to him too, just in case she didn't realize she was being helped.

Besides...the Aurors would want to examine the wands. And Neville knew without asking that Hermione wouldn't take his testimony at face value. Not where his kids were concerned. He didn't blame her for it either. Even if that wasn't standard procedure to prevent corruption within the Aurors, she knew his sense of right and wrong took precedence over legal and illegal. She'd had to jump through hoops to keep him from facing the Wizengamot after he'd killed Alice's would-be kidnappers.

Phil's work under Natalia's orders had been completed, and Nikolaj was just barely able to say something to Andy. Whatever it was, it snapped her back to consciousness. The scream was horrible, the sound of someone forced to endure physical pain beyond anything they thought they could handle. Neville slipped a hand into his robes and pulled out a small vial of shimmering blue liquid. He held it out to Natalia. “Hermione gave me this. It's supposed to completely numb the body for about ten minutes. Split it between them. That should give us enough time to get an emergency Portkey to St. Mungo's approved and move them. Then the Healers can take over.”

He nodded at Nat. She would hand the bottle over to Phil if she thought she couldn't do it, but he didn't think this much would be beyond her. He stepped back from the group and turned away. Everyone here except Nikolaj knew about his and Hannah's interconnecting necklaces, but that didn't mean he intended to give the secret away to someone he suspected of being a Purifier. That was an important trump card. With his back to the group, he quietly pulled the necklace from his robes, knowing @jill11 was waiting to hear from him. “Hey. We're going to transport Andy to St. Mungo's within the next five minutes, even if I have to use my Auror authority to make an unapproved Portkey. Meet us there if you can. Her wounds look to be mostly physical, so fixing them shouldn't be a problem, but she's hurt. And I think it has to do with that night.”

He didn't wait for a reply—she knew he wouldn't right now—and pushed the small fireplace charm back into his robes, before turning back to the group. He walked over to stand behind where Phil was, So that Andy could see he was here for her if she needed him.

And so Nikolaj would know he was here if this was some kind of elaborate trap.

@philiplongbottom

[Deleted]

@natalia

Phil nodded to Natalia, they were both alive if she told him not to check for a pulse. He would trust her on that. So he knelt beside Andy and took out the splints and gauze. There was a lot of blood. He forced his breathing to remain calm, to stay steady, which in turn made his hands steady. He kept running his father's words mixed with Natalia's instructions in his head. Stay calm, splint everything, don't panic, stop the bleeding. He did exactly as Nat instructed, pretending this broken body he was patching up wasn't Andy.

A movement caught his eye, causing Phil to glance up. In an instant his eyes went wide and he let out a short yelp as he ducked. Luckily Nikolaj was injured or else he probably wouldn't have missed. As soon as the wand dropped from Nik's hand Phil went back to work, ignoring Andy's brother, not noticing his father's protective stance behind him.

He finished up with Andy and moved over to Nik, starting to splint and bandage everything, just like Nat had said. As much as he didn't like Nik, he had a feeling that the older Lestrange wasn't here to hurt Andy. So he tried to be gentle.

As soon as he was done, Nat checked over his work and announced that they could be moved. Phil felt a small sense of relief, now the professionals could take over.

An ear splitting scream came from Andy, causeing Phil to jump then rush back to her side. Her body shook, a small whimper sounding in his ears. He didn't know if it was the best course of action, but he couldn't just let her lie there. He gently repositioned her so he was cradeling her in his arms, holding her as tightly as he dared to stop her shaking.

What was even happening? Why was she here, why was the house destroyed, her awful brother lying next to her and Nat so distraught? This whole situation was so strange, so crazy. Why had Andy come here without telling him? He shook his head, this train of thought was for a time when people were safe.

Neville gave Nat a bottle of something, but Phil had been so lost in his own thought that he didn't hear what it was. He was thankful when his dad stepped up behind him. He felt a lot better knowing his dad was here. His dad always knew what to do. When was Phil going to stop relying on his dad to fix everything?

[Deleted]

Everyone reacted more quickly to Nikolaj moving his arm and shooting a bolt of blue at Phil than Natalia, but she blinked at Neville when she realized that her father – what a strange word that was, without the ‘adoptive’ stuck on the front like a shield – was prepared to obliterate her brother quite thoroughly. But he wasn’t going to, Nat hoped, because she already had enough to deal with from this night without adding that onto the list. Her parents were dead. What? Her parents were dead, Natalia realized. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did. They were dead. That seemed a poor thing to announce at this moment, but Nat glanced at Neville. She was going to need to tell him that. Her attention was drawn back to the bodies before her, though, when her brother spoke. What had Nikolaj done? Why was he apologizing to Andy? Was this…was this his fault? Natalia didn’t want to put any blame on anyone until she had an idea of what was going on, but if Nik had somehow dragged Andy into this, then Natalia was going to be livid. They were family, and they were supposed to protect each other, not drag each other into trouble. Especially Nikolaj! He was the oldest, and he had responsibilities, and – and she had told herself she wasn’t going to put any blame on anyone. Nat took a deep breath to calm herself. The momentary anger was actually a good thing, because the spike of adrenaline cleared some of the fog that had been lingering around her brain. She amended her statement that it was a good thing, though, because the fog clearing meant that Natalia heard Andromeda’s scream all too clearly. It settled in between her bones and twisted through her blood, because her sister was hurting, and that shouldn’t have been allowed.

Neville had something with him to dull Andy’s pain, and Natalia had never been more glad for a potion in her life. Her hands were shaking slightly, but not enough that she was unable to open the vial by herself. It was a good thing, too, because with the way Andy was clinging to Phil, Nat doubted that he would have been able to help her even if she needed it. The cork came off after a little coaxing, and Natalia immediately moved to Phil’s side, reaching out so she could trace her finger along Andy’s cheek. “Hush, my love.” Nat murmured. A selfish part of her wanted to give Andy the whole thing, because Andy had screamed and Nikolaj hadn’t, but Natalia never would have been able to do that. She loved her brother, no matter how confused she was by this situation and how angry she was that he could have led Andy into such a thing. He had tried to protect Andy, by throwing his body over hers. He deserved his half of the potion just as much as Andromeda did. Nat was worried that without some modicum of calm, Andy wouldn’t be able to swallow the potion. Being in Phil’s arms was one thing, but if Andy coughed the potion up, then things were going to get complicated. She needed to be as calm as possible.

Andromeda had sung to her once, Natalia remembered, over a year ago. The tune flew back into her head easily – it was the first time Natalia had considered to love her sister. “I won’t let nobody hurt you…” Natalia said, running her finger over Andy’s cheek again. “Won’t let no one break your heart…” Nat leaned close to her sister, handling the vial carefully so that the glass wouldn’t slide against her bandaged hands and shatter on the rocky ground. “No one will desert you…” Nat raised the vial to Andy’s lips and tipped it back so that around half of the potion would trickle out. “Just try to never grow up.” Hopefully whatever had happened that night hadn’t stolen what little innocence Andy had left.

Nat wanted so desperately to stay with Andromeda, to make sure that the potion had worked as Neville had said it would, but Nikolaj needed relief, too. After one last glance at Andy, Natalia took the step over to Nikolaj, kneeling by her brother’s head, too. “I don’t have a lullaby for you.” She murmured, just in case Nik had heard her sing to Andy and wondered if he was getting the same treatment. There wasn’t any malice in her voice, just a statement of a fact – she couldn’t remember any lullaby that Nikolaj would know. Nat tipped the rest of the potion down her brother’s throat, and then stood slowly, turning so she could look back at Neville. “Please.” She didn’t know what she was asking for, but the fog was descending again, and Natalia didn’t want to know what happened next.

@nikolaj

[Deleted]

@lestrange

the noise that emitted from his sisters mouth was enough to make nik draw his hand back. she had people she loved there to comfort and help her, even in his current state of mind he knew when he wasn't needed. he stared at the night sky and focused on ignoring the pain he was in. it was great, greater than anything he'd felt before and he'd thought that his father's punishments had been painful. he'd never known. he'd been conditioned to not react to it, to use it, to help in a situation but there was no helping now. there was nothing he could do but lay there, the thought of moving again was almost too much to bear and yet he couldn't try and drag himself away. he didn't want to listen to the pain andy was in. he'd caused it. he'd caused it years ago when he'd failed them as a big brother. he'd caused it because he'd let her drag him into this. though he hadn't needed much convincing.

he couldn't breathe. it was agony in his efforts to draw more than shallow and it was starting to take it's toll. he felt the world spinning around him, more than he had so after first waking up and the stars above them looked like they were turning circles and shining brighter than he had ever seen them. “I don’t have a lullaby for you.” he'd heard her singing to andy when her screams had died down but he had kept his eyes on the sky, focusing on them instead of what was happening around them. the only person he was really aware of was andy and he was listening for her screams again, desperate not to hear them but desperate to know she was still with them. "d-didn't t-think so" he tried to mutter out between the short and sharp breathes he was drawing. the metallic taste of the blood he could feel in his throat when he breathed was disgusting, he could hear it rattling in his chest as it moved in and out and he wondered for a second if this was how he was going to die.

he felt the liquid in his mouth before he could fully comprehend what she was doing and his eyes were dragged from the sky to his sister above him. it was a potion of some sort. what was .. he didn't have the chance to think anymore on it before it caught and he started coughing, a horrible cough that made him felt like his lungs were trying to burst from his chest and every part of his body screamed as his body jerked with the movement. the blood he had been tasting and the potion she had tipped down his throat made it's way from his body and out of his mouth, splattering onto the rocks next to his head. he kept coughing, the blood still coming out of his mouth as he turned his head slightly in an effort to stop the choking feeling. it didn't work though, the taste of blood and the sound of it dripping into the puddle that had formed under his head was the last thing he remembered before his mind dragged him toward the darkest place it could and his eyes closed against the darkness around him.

[Deleted]

Andy was glad her scream had subsided, that she was able to just make other horrible, painful sounds instead. She felt bad that she had screamed, remembering how terrible Natalias scream had been when she arrived. The first thing she realized was that Phil was moving her just a little so that he could hold her. It didn't hurt much more than she was already hurting, and even if it did she wouldn't have cared. This was a way better place to be then anywhere else she could think of. Instinctively, her hands clasped to whatever part of Phil was closest that she could reach. One arm was splinted at her side so she clutched his knee beside her, and the other hand was able to find his arm and squeeze it tightly. She tried to smile up at him, but her vision was blurry and she saw about three versions of his face swimming around her. She did stop shaking, a little. Not because the pain had stopped but just because he was there.

The second thing she registered was that Neville was handing Natalia some sort of potion. She heard the words 'numb' and 'emergency' and 'St. Mungos'. They all sounded like good words to be hearing, helpful words. Numb, especially.

The next sound that came to her was Niks labored breathing. She wanted to reach over to him, but she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to let go of Phil now that she had hold of him. Plus, it was probably better to stay still anyway. He sounded terrible, though, and she assumed worse than she sounded, considering he was on top of her when the house collapsed.

Then Natalia was there, like the voice of an angel. 'Hush, my love,' Andy didn't attempt to stop her soft whimpering, knowing it wouldn't be possible. Plus, she knew Natalia only said that by way of comforting, not really telling her to shut it. Then, Andy heard the words to the song. 'I won't let nobody hurt you...' Andy had sung this to her sister once. Last November or so, before they had been taken in by the Longbottoms. Andy was trying to recall where she'd heard it... but it was too hard to think. Especially with the song continuing, Nat stroking her cheek and then pressing the vial to her lips. Andy let out a sigh of relief before she even drank it, just knowing that it was coming, just listening to the sound and being in Phil's arms.

At the last second, before the pain started to subside enough that she could finally, peacefully, pass out again Andy looked up passed Phil's face. Neville was standing there, just behind him.

For that tiny moment she couldn't decide if she should feel sorry or glad that he was here, that any of them were. This was her fault, no one else should be blamed for it. No one else should have to see it, not even Nik. Not Neville, not Phil, and especially not Natalia. Right before her eyes closed again she managed one last phrase, "my idea," she confessed, eyes fixed on Neville before it all went black.

@superluigi64 next
@philiplongbottom
@natalia
(you guys can decide what else you need to do, but Natalia will end it when the time comes. So one round, two, whatever. Andy is happily unconscious again

[Deleted]

Neville mentally counted down the time in his mind. Hermione would have responded with force upon learning that Neville was rushing to an emergency at the Lestrange residence, because either something tremendously bad had already happened, or was all too likely to happen in short order, given the animosity that particularly pureblood family felt towards him. Neville did not fear Andy and Nat’s parents, but an enemy determined to win or die could be very difficult to stop nonlethally. Particularly in the case of people like Neville, who didn’t like to kill but understood the value of ending a threat permanently and decisively. But nobody had shown up yet, and he had two very injured people here. He couldn’t wait forever.

He watched Natalia administer half of the potion to Andy, while crooning a quiet song to her. Half of the potion wouldn’t leave her completely senseless to the pain like the full dose, but it ought to be enough for her to pass out at this point. As Nat moved over to her brother, Andy managed to look him right in the eye. “My idea.” Then she was out. Neville sighed. “I was afraid of that. You might not be of my blood, but you’re definitely my child.” Nikolaj wasn’t so lucky. He had a violent coughing fit and expelled the potion, along with a generous amount of blood. Neville winced. These wounds didn’t seem to be magical in nature, so they would be easily fixed by a Healer…but internal bleeding was still dangerous and could still kill you if you weren’t treated. Still, the coughing fit caused Nikolaj to pass out, and judging by the rise and fall of his chest, he wasn’t choking to death, so the end result was what Neville wanted anyway.

And now Natalia was looking at him, her eyes slowly slipping toward a vacant stare. “Please.” In an instant, he was in front of his daughter, right arm wrapping around her, followed by the left, so that he could still use his wand quickly if needed. He held her close, chin resting on her head. “They’re alright. You got them help. We’ll get them to St. Mungo’s. Mum will be there too.” He couldn’t promise everything would be alright. Neville knew too well how wrong things could go to make such an empty promise. But he could make sure she knew that even if the world did go to hell, she could still count on her family to be there for her when she needed them. “It’s been a hard night, I know. You can rest soon.”

And now whipcracks rent the air. Neville’s wand moved as quickly as his head, as he trained the weapon on the new arrivals, still cradling Nat with his right arm. Half a down Aurors and two field Healers, younger graduates of St. Mungo’s assigned to accompany Aurors as needed, had appeared. Neville didn’t lower his wand. “Anything to say?” he asked. The leader of the Auror group nodded. “An emergence of Sneaks shall not happen.”

That was the correct phrase Hermione would have passed on to guarantee the authenticity of her Aurors when responding to an emergency call. Neville nodded and lowered his wand, but didn’t quite stop watching them. “You two, there are two injured people over there, possibly more in the rubble. The rest of you, consider this a crime scene unless and until you’ve determined otherwise. It’s been untouched since I got here, save for the creeper vines I used to stabilize the rubble around the injured.” The Aurors nodded and moved to take over the crime scene, while the medics were already over by the Lestrange siblings. One of them pulled out a length of orange rope from their satchel and pressed their wand to it. The rope glowed blue briefly, signifying that it had been turned into a Portkey. “Thirty seconds to port!” he called.

Neville nodded and looked at Phil. “Take Andy’s hand and wrap it around the rope. Keep her holding it with one hand and hold it yourself with the other. Keep tight hold of her during the port. You’ll be ported to a room where you’re floating, so injured people don’t slam into the floor on arrival, but keep tight hold of her so she doesn’t bump into anyone. I’ll Apparate with Nat after.” The medic was already keeping Nikolaj’s hand gripping the rope; the other was standing back, staying in case there were others that needed to be transported, buried somewhere in the area.

Neville waited until the four of them vanished in a flash of blue light. Then he turned to the Aurors and held out the wands he’d confiscated earlier. “The wands of the two who just left. As I said…consider this a crime scene. I’m acting as h—…as their representative. While they’re recovering, any questions you need answered are to come to me first.” Much as he would like to distance himself from Nikolaj, it wouldn’t be fair to shield Andy during her time in St. Mungo’s, while leaving her brother out in the cold.

Damned sense of honor and justice.

Neville sighed and turned his attention back to Nat. “When you’re ready, I’ll Apparate us to St. Mungo’s.”

@philiplongbottom
@natalia

[Deleted]

@natalia

Andy seemed to relax, just a little, in his arms causing Phil's heart to beat a little slower. He held Andy as tightly as he dared, but it still wasn't as tightly as she clasped on to him. He was thankful for the pressure of her hands, reassuring him that she still had strength. Natalia poured the vial down Andy's throat, singing a soft song as she did so, a song Phil was sure he had heard Andy singing before. Maybe practicing it? Andy's grip lessed on his knee and arm then she made looked over Phil's shoulder and said two words "My idea." His breath left his lungs in a hurry, as a weight rested on his shoulders. Andy's fault? Was it an accident that she was blaming herself for, or was it on purpose ?

Nik started coughing causing Phil to look over at him with something that was distrubingly on the edge of worry. Perhaps he was right to be worried, maybe Nik really had helped Andy. An involuntarry wince shuddered through him at the light of Nik's violent coughing fit. Phil starting to think of the many plants that may be able to help when there was a loud CRACK. Phil's head snapped toward the sound, wishing he could reach for his wand but not daring to shift Andy to get it. Luckily, Neville was quicker on his feet than Phil could ever be and was ready for the intruders of friends, whichever they may be.

Once his dad relaxed, so did Phil, turning back to Andy. He stroked her cheek gently with his thumb, trying to tell himself that he could wait to hear what happened until later. A medic came over and kelt down on the other side of Andy. Phil knew he should let the medic do his job, he was trained for this, but he wasn't about to let Andy go. Not right now in the middle of ... this. Luckily, a portkey was made and Neville gave Phil firm instructions to hold onto Andy. That was something Phil was more than happy to do. Once the rope was wrapped around Andy's hand and Phil had a firm grasp of the now magical object, he shifted so he had a better grip of Andy, thankful for the warning about the floating room.

There was pull at his navel then suddenly they were in the air in a large white room. Phil's grip on Andy had loosened a bit, but as they reappeared he held her closer. A Healer entered the room, waving his wand. The air seemed to turn thick and Phil and Andy started sinking to the ground, Nik only a few feet away with both the healers around him. In just a moment, the healers had situated the beds to catch the gently falling injured. Finally, reluctantly, Phil let go of Andy, assuring the healer he wasn't injured in anyway. Not physically at least. The healers started to work and another took Phil's arm and pulled him out of the room. He didn't realize he was fighting it, his eyes glued on Andy. He must have been in shock, the stress too much.

"May angels lead you in, Andy." he whispered. "Come back to me." then he let the healer escort him from the room, the door closing with an echoing thud behind him.

--Phil out!--

[Deleted]

Natalia made a soft clicking noise with her tongue when Nikolaj said that he hadn’t been expecting the lullaby. Something in his voice and his words seemed to say that the lack of a song meant that she somehow loved him less. No, she didn’t. She didn’t. Andy was her baby sister, and Nik was her big brother, and even if Nat was angry for Nik making Andy go through hell for him, she wasn’t going to love him any less. Her siblings had stood by her when she had been wrong before, and now it was her turn to do the same for them. Nat let out a startled gasp when Nik coughed, and the potion returned, as did a mouthful of blood. Nat wasn’t shocked by blood, but something was shocking about seeing it come out of her brother, in a place blood was definitely not supposed to come from. It seemed painful, and since Nik had coughed up the potion, too, Nat couldn’t imagine what pain Nik was feeling. She had nothing left to offer him, though, and Nat couldn’t help but sigh in relief when Nik passed out.

My idea. No. Andy had to be lying, she had to be. This was supposed to be Nik’s idea and Nik’s fault, and Nat was supposed to be mad at him for leading their little sister into this death trap, for not being the good big brother, for not being there. This wasn’t Andy’s idea or Andy’s fault, because that would mean that it was Andy’s fault that their parents were dead, and how on earth was she supposed to just say that, especially when Neville seemed to have known that this was Andy’s idea? Announcing that anyone was dead, even two people that she absolutely loathed, wasn’t an easy task, especially when the blame was beginning to shift towards her sister. Death was scary, mostly because Natalia was staring it in the face. She had looked death in the eye before, but it was never like this. She had never felt like she was drowning before when she thought about death, and it was a scary and new sensation to care so much. The Aurors and Healers appeared, but Natalia felt like everything was moving too fast around her, too fast for her to tell them that they were looking for bodies and not threats, too fast for her to notice that her brother was being transported to the hospital. Even with Neville holding her, promising that Hannah would be there at the hospital, Natalia couldn’t get the world to slow down even a little bit. Her breaths were coming too fast and she was beginning to panic.

The world slowed down again suddenly, so suddenly that Nat was almost jarred by it despite the utter lack of physical difference, and she couldn’t figure out why until she heard Neville’s voice, saying that Phil had to hold onto Andy, that Nat would be Apparating with Neville after. “No!” Nat screamed, trying and failing to wrench herself out of Neville’s arms. “No, I have to go with her, I have to!” But it was too late – a blur of blue light was already engulfing the two of them. “Andy!” Nat shrieked, suddenly hysteric as she groped the air where her sister had been. She was gone and Natalia was afraid and she needed to be with Andy. Nat hadn’t thought that she was going to be able to fall apart, but it was amazingly easy without her siblings to hold her together. She assumed that Neville said something about going to the hospital, but Natalia couldn’t hear him over the sounds of her own sobs. She was tired and she was scared and she was sad and she was angry and she was guilty and none of those were pleasant to feel on their own, let alone with all of the other negativity that was swirling around her. She sobbed, and she sobbed, and she sobbed, wetting the front of Neville’s robes with her tears and unsure if she would ever be able to stop.

@superluigi64
(i think that we probably each need to do another post?)