Me. You. Us.

03. Sweet dreams

Eight-teen months after 'I do';

"I don't like this" Daphne said from the other side of the warehouse. She was positioned at the entrance, hidden in shadow, her wand drawn while she stared up at the sky. "We need to get out of here, quickly"

They were in Birmingham, taking cover in a derelict warehouse in the aftermath of their mission. It was the middle of the day, but it was dark outside, thick clouds from the explosion they'd created were rising high in the sky and blocking out the light.

"I can't see the others from here," she said. "The smoke is too thick. I wonder if Yaxley and Jones got crushed when the building collapsed" she paused for a moment, and he didn't have to turn around to hear the smile in her voice. "Is it terribly awful of me if I hope they were squished to death?"

A low humming sound started in the distance. It sounded like metallic blades spinning around fast overhead, and there was that god awful staticky noise that came from muggle machines.

There must have been helicopters near.

"Oh for Salazar-" Daphne hissed, "Those bloody heli-whatsits things are coming. I didn't think they would be able to get here so fast, but then I suppose the blast was bigger than we thought it would be"

Despite the urgency in her voice, Theo didn't respond.

"I can see them, they don't look like medical ones. They might just be on an evacuation mission, but we shouldn't risk it. We should go"

There was a buzzing in Theo's ears. A mixture of vibrations from the blast he and Daphne had created and the sound of the helicopter's propellers soaring loudly overhead. It was a deafening cocktail. He would surely find himself with a headache later, but it wasn't the reason he was ignoring his wife.

The noise of the muggle helicopter got louder. Amplified. That couldn't have been coming from one machine.

"Are you listening to me?" Daphne called again. "There are three of them now, and two of them have a gun attached to the side. If we get hit by one of those bullets, we're dead. We need to leave. Now"

Again, he didn't answer. Didn't even fucking move.

Through the noise of the propellers roaring in his ears, he could make out footsteps. He smelled her perfume before he heard her voice.

"Theo? Can you hear me? Are you hurt?"

Even though his back was still facing her, he could tell she was looking at him. Watching him. Could feel her eyes burning a hole into his back.

She called out to him again. He could hear her, but he couldn't respond, couldn't find his voice.

Because despite the roaring fires around him, despite the smell of burning bodies and the heat from fire hexes turning the air hot and putrid, Theo was frozen.

This mission was supposed to be easy. "It will be very straight forward", Voldemort had said. "Just fixing a few loose ends"

They had received word that this area in the centre of Bristol was being made into an Order stronghold. There were rows of empty warehouses near the docks, and one of the hostages he'd captured weeks before had told them that the Order had planned on utilising them.

In just a few days, they were going to stockpile each building with medical supplies, potions, muggle weapons and every magical advantage known to the wizarding world.

It was the perfect place, even Voldemort could see that. It was right near the docks, near open water, easily accessible to boats and air support. Smuggling weapons and medical supplies inside would be easy. Smuggling soldiers inside would be easier still.