Lemon Grass and Sleep

THE PHOENIX NEST IS BURNING

"Can you close the shutters?" Fred asked as I stepped inside, George already walking around restocking shelves.

"Yeah, sure," I replied, dropping my duffel by the door and bringing out my wand.

Everything in the shop slowly began to dull, decorations were turned off and lights were dimmed until the shop was dark. Not even the light from outside was allowed in as soon as I charmed the shutters closed.

Merlin, all I wanted in life was to walk upstairs and throw myself on the bed. The double shift had been no joke today, and all my muscles seemed to be crying and throwing a pity party.

"Fred, George," Glinda called from the flat, "You've got an owl from Molly, it looks important."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's just a slip of parchment saying the Phoenix nest is burning?"

My vision snapped over to see George's clipboard had been dropped to the ground loudly, and he immediately ran up the stairs to Glinda. Taking two stairs at a time, I could only stare, dumbfounded, as he burst into the flat.

"Grab your wand," he ordered, barely sounding like himself.

"What?" Glinda stammered, barely getting the word out before George was hassling her to grab her wand and hold his arm.

"Thomas, come here," Fred said in a similar tone, "We're apparating."

"What?" I said quietly, feeling some sort of suffocating feeling wrap around my lungs, "What for?"

"The Phoenix nest is on fire is code for-"

"Fred, go!" George shouted from the flat, the muffled sound of him and Glinda apparating was chased down by deafening silence.

"Fred?" My voice wobbled, and I looked up at him warily as he gently gripped my arm.

He didn't answer me before I felt a gust of wind, my eyes opening blearily to the fields outside of Hogwarts. My entire body froze as I looked up to see something I hadn't had the curse of seeing since the Quidditch World Cup.

The dark mark blossomed through the sky, a snake curling and twisting through the clouds. Fred pulled me into the castle through one of the back entrances, the sounds of combat nearby.

"We're backup forces," Fred quickly explained, "Spread out and defend any students you see and try to escort them to the Great Hall."

"Got it," Glinda replied, rushing down a separate corridor toward some shouts and yelling.

George seemed like he wanted to follow her, but he pushed on alongside us until we reached the Grand Staircase. There were so many black cloaks dotted along the building, casting deadly spells and illegal hexes that I'd only vaguely read about in books stored in the restricted section. The students of Hogwarts clearly had an adept D.A.D.A. professor this term, and were defending their home with defensive spells.

"Reducto!" Fred cast ahead of us, I couldn't even see the person he was casting at--but I heard the impact of a body hitting the stone wall.

George had separated from us in the madness, the sound of him casting spells ringing out in the Grand Staircase as we exited into another corridor. I noticed a head of stark blond hair rush past us in a parallel corridor, followed by a mass of blackness. Draco?

The courtyard was covered in death eaters and order members facing off, nonverbal spells being thrown around as if they were child's play. Some hulking man covered in black sneered toward us, his wand swirling around him to cast some sort of nonverbal attack

"Stupefy!" I cast, throwing the spell violently over Fred's shoulder, enraged someone would even think of hurting him while he was turned.

"Shit," Fred's back bumped into mine, the two of us facing opposite ways and searching for anyone who seemed like they were in trouble.

It felt like we were entirely surrounded somehow, the adrenaline of the makeshift battlefield filled me--mixing with my anxiety and creating some sort of fog around my brain. My body was moving of its own accord, my ears slowly going deaf as I watched something possess me to cast defensive spells.

Something similar to an out of body experience, watching myself jump into combat alongside McGonnagall and pummel death eaters into retreating or falling to the ground permanently. Molly and Arthur were somewhere nearby, their confident spellcasting being carried through the wind.

I hadn't realized it grew silent around me, as I hunched in a corner, casting a final hex before looking around and realizing everyone was still. The battle had finished, an unhinged laugh echoing overhead from the astronomy tower. My eyes followed the sound up to the clouds, where a fresh dark mark replaced the already fading insignia that had greeted us when we arrived.

A cold sweat clung to my back as I felt Fred's hand grip my arm, and my eyes shakily focused on him. The gathering wizards behind him slowly raised their wands, an echo of lumos surrounded the students who hadn't yet learned nonverbal spells. Small lights erupted from the raised wands, causing the dark mark to implode in a silent scream as it was overwhelmed by the spells.

"Fred, who's over there?" I mumbled, barely able to hear myself.

"Dumbledore," he didn't bother to sugarcoat it, and I felt my fingers brush against my lips as I covered my mouth in horror.

"Why?"

"He's gone," Fred pulled me from leaning against the wall, his voice raw and wobbly.

"No," I stumbled forward, pushing past Fred toward the group of people--determined to see for myself.

"Thomas," Fred warned, grabbing onto my arm tightly and holding me back, "You don't want to remember him like that. Trust me."

I felt my expression twist with pain, my grimace only growing as I felt tears run down my face. Something inexplicably terrible ripped through my chest, as if all my scars suddenly lit alight as fresh wounds. No sound could even leave my mouth as it opened slightly, at a loss for words.

"Thomas, let's go somewhere quiet," Fred whispered, standing in front of me and gripping my shoulders.

We went down some corridor, any of them--they all looked the same. Fred seemed to be leading me to a bathroom, and I stood numbly by the sink as he gingerly suggested something I didn't really hear or comprehend.

"Why does this keep happening?" I finally mumbled, "Why? Did I do something wrong?"

"You haven't done anything," Fred soothed, his hand grasping my waist as he held me gingerly.

"That's the problem, I haven't done anything. Maybe I could've saved him--if I'd just followed Draco when I saw him..."

"You were needed here, in the courtyard," Fred stated, hand pulling my fingers out of my hair. "You were listening to instructions, nothing is your fault."

"I-" tears pricked my eyes painfully once more, and the fact that Dumbledore's body lay out in the courtyard finally began setting in.