The day they had been preparing for had arrived during the late hours of the night. As soon as word had reached the Order that Harry was at Hogwarts again, Kingsley had written to Ashley, so she'd dragged everyone out of bed at quarter to eleven at night to get on their dragons and head over to Hogwarts.
Scrambling to get everything ready, Ashley, James and Jace all grabbed the bags they'd kept packed and ready to go as soon as they'd had approval from Ben, throwing every healer their own supplies bag and making sure they themselves had everything before climbing onto their respective dragons and taking flight.
Ashley had her arms tightly around Charlie's waist as he guided Mango through the clouds, trying to gain enough height that no muggles would be able to spot them. With Ben in front of them and James and Jace with their Rider Louise behind them, Ashley wondered which of them was going to make it through this. The odds were against them, not everyone would get through this. That thought made her hold on to Charlie even tighter, and he could sense her worry.
"It'll be fine, baby. Everything will be ok." He gripped tighter to Mango, doing his best to sounds comforting rather than afraid. His worst fear was losing Ashley, and now he was taking her to the eye of the storm, where the probability of them both making it out alive... He thought of his family, his younger brothers... He wondered how many of them would make it. He wondered if his parents would make it. And Ginny... dear Ginny. He would probably have to fight her in order for her to get herself to safety, and event hen she probably wouldn't listen, and it would kill him to see her covered by a white sheet-
He tore his mind away from that, unable to cope.
The flight was estimated to take an hour and a half, yet with each of the riders pushing their dragons to their limits, they managed it in just under an hour, flying in over the heads of everyone, as the battle had already started.
Ashley gritted her teeth, though this was what they'd prepared for, this was what her healers had been trained to do, so they ran inside the castle, dodging spells and curses left and right, throwing their own out at anyone with a dark mark. Ashley could barely comprehend what was happening, catching sight of red hair that didn't belong to Charlie, the feeling of being suffocated as they were forced back into the castle.
Casting curses under her breath, Ashley managed to fell a few Death Eaters as they entered the castle, and she ordered her Healers to get inside and find Poppy Pomfrey and help her with setting up some sort of hospital.
"Ashley! Go with them!" Charlie yelled over the noise and chaos, but Ashley wasn't in the mood to be listening right now; those Healers were her responsibility, she had to fend off as many Death Eaters as possible until they could get in and set up camp.
"Just-" Something caught her eye, a wall collapsing, potentially leaving students caught, crushed, injured or dying underneath it. "I need to get there!"
Charlie had no idea what she was talking about, but heard the urgency in her voice anyway, and nodded, stepping into the middle so he had a better chance of hitting more coming through the halls, fighting off everyone he could alongside too many people that he didn't know, some of them still in Hogwarts Uniforms. He tried to keep his mind off Ginny out there doing the same, fighting someone with twice her experience in her uniform, and it only made him cast quicker, fight harder. there was no way he was letting any of them get to his baby sister.
Meanwhile, Ashley had managed to make her way over to the collapsed wall, taking cover for a second to catch her breath.
"Don't tell me you're out of breath! What happened to all that cardio you used to do every morning?"
She looked up to see Pete already administering aid to one of the kids who's been caught by the wall, stitching up his head. "Oh, I'm glad you're not dead." She sighed, laughing a little, before spelling the debris of the wall out of the way and into a corner. her breath caught in her throat as she saw the injuries, but worked fast enough that whoever it was would possibly survive - if Death Eaters didn't get to her first.
She had to move on, leaving the girl behind, hoping that she would make it. With no way to get anyone up to the hospital, it was the best they could do: treat the patient and move on, and hope that they would make it.
Things were falling apart left right and centre, and too many people were hit with the killing curse for her to tell who was alive and who was a lost cause, with everything going on at once. Slowly, she managed to make her way through everything, shooting off stunning spells and curses here and there whenever someone on Voldemort's side of the war crossed into her line of sight, not holding anything back. This was not the time to be nice, not when there were people trying to kill them from all angles.
"Ashley!"
She turned as she heard someone screaming her name, only to see charlie being taken down by a group of six Death Eaters.
It seemed as though time slowed down, as Ashley felt the fear rising, feeling as though she was running through water trying to get to him, casting curse after curse at those who had Charlie, hoping to everything she held dear that he was still alive in the mess. Gritting her teeth, she murmured, "Avada kedavra" until they'd all fallen, the light and life leaving their eyes.
Charlie lay, gasping for breath, still too injured to stand after what was probably round after round of the cruciatus curse. Ashley threw him a bottle of potion to help with the pain and regain his strength, casting the killing curse at any Death Eater or creature against them that came too close. Outside, she could hear the cries of the dragons, and briefly worried about one of them dying - it hadn't crossed her mind until then that they were essentially trapping their dragons in the middle of a war, where Voldemort's followers would kill them without a second thought.
"Ashley." Charlie breathed deeply as he regained his strength after being tortured.
She turned as he grabbed her arm.
"Marry me."
Frozen in time, she could barely comprehend what he'd just asked, but less than a second later they were back to fighting off more Death Eaters out for blood. "What?" She screamed eventually, now realising what he was asking.
"Marry me! Please!" He took her free hand, pulling her out of the way of a killing curse, firing one right back at whoever had thrown it.
"Right fucking now?!" Ashley screamed, throwing her own killing curses at those coming for them still. "I'm not sure right now is a good time for either of us!"
Charlie grinned, even in the face of it all, "if we get out of here alive!"
Ashley barely had time to think, and yet she found herself answering anyway. "Ok."
"Really?" He stopped, making Ashley shriek and jump in to save him from a barrage of curses aimed directly at the newly-engaged couple.
"Yeah. Fuck it." Ashley took a breath, pulling him down a destroyed corridor, jumping over fallen walls and collapsed ceilings, stunning a Death eater as he tried to come at them through a shattered window. She'd never felt so alive and yet so aware of her own mortality at once, and she knew Charlie felt the same.
She could hear a dragon in distress outside as they got closer to the shattered window, and could feel Charlie's hesitation to go any further, wanting to go and help whichever one it was. "Go. Go, I'll be ok, I can handle myself."
Charlie looked torn, but nodded anyway, making his way through crowds of people duelling until he was out of sight, leaving Ashley to stumble across a girl laying on the floor with clear werewolf marks across her. "Oh shit." She whispered, crouching, double-checking that she was clear before getting to work on the girl, doing everything she could to make sure she would live through.
And then she heard Voldemort in her head.
Clutching at her temples, she tried not to completely lose her mind, doing her best to focus on the patient in front of her and not on the piercing voice in her head...
wait an hour to convene and gather the dead?
Ashley breathed a sigh of relief, stabilising the student, waving her wand and levitating the girl beside her, following everyone else to where they'd set up a hospital in the Great Hall. Taking a deep breath, she tried to smile at Lucy as she walked through the doors, but seeing the massacre laid out before her it was difficult to do anything but do her best to get to work.
And then she saw Charlie standing with his family, crying over someone lying on the floor partially covered with a white sheet. With her heart in her mouth, Ashley found a place for the girl, making sure someone knew she was there, before slowly making her way over.
"Ash-Ashley, I can't find Taylor or Katy, have you seen them?"
Ashley turned, feeling as though she was in a trance. "Sorry, Maya, no I haven't." Looking around, she couldn't quite meet the rider's eye as she said, "check the sheets. I hope to Merlin they're just out helping the inured get here."
Maya nodded, holding back tears as she left to check every unattended sheet.
The Weasley family seemed to be falling apart at the seams as Ashley approached them, immediately reaching out to Charlie, gasping as she saw one of the twins lying on the floor. "Oh- oh Merlin, I am so, so sorry." She managed to whisper to him. A tear rolled down his cheek, though he didn't say anything, and squeezed her hand. "I have to get to work. Any of you at all need anything, even if you need someone to sit with, I'm here, and I won't be leaving this room."
She wasn't sure anyone heard her as they were sobbing over the body of their dead son, brother, twin. But Charlie knew, and he'd make sure they got to her if they needed anything.
Turning, she took a deep breath as she saw the Hall full of people who needed treatment, and scanned the room looking for her Healers. Sure enough, she saw James and Lucy working away, as well as Poppy and a few others who'd been working in London when the call went out for the Healers to get to Hogwarts. Pete and Abi entered carrying a body wrapped carefully in a sheet, one that was too small to be anything other than a child that probably snuck back to fight before being evacuated. Ashley's heart almost stopped as she saw Maya sat on the floor between two bodies, head hung low.
Sure enough, as Ashley got closer, she could see Taylor and Katy lying there together, cuts and bruises covering their arms, necks and faces. Grimacing, she knew she had to move on, and grieve later, so she did. And then her heart stopped.
Jace.
No sooner had she thought that than he walked through the double doors supporting three people, a fourth trailing after him.
Breathing a small sigh of relief, she got back to work, making her way through patients, administering what medical aid she could for injuries, giving out too much painkiller potion to kids who should never have been caught in the middle of a massacre. She only hoped that they didn't suffer too much because of it.
"Ash-Ashley-Rae?"
She looked up into the eyes of a girl with red hair; Ginny. "Hey. Do you want to sit with me?"
Simply nodding, Ginny sat next to Ashley as she worked, occasionally sniffling. Ashley fought off the tears herself, choosing not to say anything. The girl just wanted company, someone who wasn't her family, Ash didn't want to cause her any more pain. Instead, she turned to her, bandaging her swollen and probably broken hand, giving her something for the pain. "This should help. With the physical pain."
Ginny took it, though, for a brief moment, Ashley wasn't sure if she would. It wouldn't be the first time someone had refused painkillers so that the physical pain would distract from the emotional pain.
"Come on, I have more patients, you can hand me bandages as we walk around."
The two of them moved around the Great Hall, Ashley quietly instructing one of the other Healers to take any cases where the patient just needed someone to sit through the rest of their life with them, comforting them. Ginny had seen enough, she didn't need to sit there and comfort anyone who was headed for the same fate as her brother.
Eventually, Ashley was able to move over to another section of the great hall, and Ginny went back to her family, feeling a little more stable.
"Ashley." James nodded as she sat by him. "Do you want a drink?" He offered her a flask, and momentarily, she was annoyed she hadn't thought of that before they'd left.
Taking it, she downed too much on an empty stomach, so James handed her a water bottle with a worn smile. "Sorry. Um... Charlie's younger brother died, one of the twins. I don't know which one, and I won't ask, but..." She couldn't say any more. She couldn't bring herself to tell him she was now engaged to Charlie, that after everything they'd been through, all of the misunderstandings and arguments about stupid things, they were getting married. And how James and Jace were mostly responsible for making it happen.
Jace joined them soon after, with everyone now either treated, dead, or dying with someone there comforting them, and Lucy wasn't far behind.
Sighing, Ashley said, "I don't know if you've all heard, but..." The words just refused to come, so she had to take a shaky breath and another drink before finishing her sentence. "Taylor and Katy didn't make it. Maya is with them if you want to pay your respects."
Lucy took the flask, taking a long sip. "I'll miss them. Taylor was always..." She didn't finish; she didn't have to.
Silence fell on them as they sat, watching everyone come together in their darkest times, leaning on each other for support and comfort. Ashley rested her head on Jace's shoulder, an arm around Lucy. "I don't want anyone leaving this room now. We're here and we do what we can in here, out there... it's off-limits. I can't risk losing one of you, especially not after..." Too many sentences were being left unfinished, too much was being left unsaid, but they all feared if any of them spoke about it too much, said their names too often, they'd all start falling apart, and no one wanted a Healer who was crying uncontrollably treating them. They'd find the time to break down after their work was done. For now, they'd drink, and keep an eye on everyone from their place on the teacher's platform until the hour passed.
"Please tell me there's firewhiskey in that." Pete groaned, taking the flask from Lucy, who simply nodded.
"Where's Abi?"
Pete pointed to the far side of the hall where Abi was sat with her back to the wall, holding a sobbing student. "Comforting someone who lost their older sibling. It's not easy going, this."
"I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this. It wasn't a bunch of kids-"
"Fifty," Ashley whispered softly, surprising herself. She hadn't known she was counting the dead bodies, but clearly, her mind was working to keep itself distracted from the intense trauma that would later set in and probably cause PTSD.
"It sure as hell wasn't fifty kids lying dead on a cold stone floor." James corrected himself. No one responded.
"I'm sorry about Mango and Mila. I know you took care of them when they were young." Pete murmured.
Ashley turned, wide-eyed. She hadn't known that neither Mila nor Mango had made it, and it felt as though her heart had been torn out and stamped on. Both of them? She turned, staring forward again, taking the flask and drinking a lot more, feeling hollow.
And then word spread that the Death Eaters were approaching the castle once more, this time with Hagrid, shoving her back into reality.
Everyone rushed out to see what was going on, and despite Ashley and James' protests, both Pete and Jace left with them to go and see what was happening.
The three left sat tight, wishing that it was over, that this was the end, but by the shouts that were unmistakably from Voldemort, it wasn't looking hopeful.
Abi joined them moments later, not saying anything, but taking a long drink from the flask. Ashley could see in her face that she was doing her best, but that if one more person leaned on her as the last girl had, she would fall apart.
"Take the easy cases. You look exhausted." Ashley whispered, leaning over James.
Abi didn't say anything, but nodded, and a small smile let Ash know she was grateful.
And then there were explosions from outside and they knew the war had started back up again, once again spilling into the castle, where everyone seemed to be back to duelling, fighting off killing curses left and right, and Molly went right for Bellatrix when she challenged her daughter.
Explosions made everyone flinch, and shattered glass made it worse, with Ashley holding her breath; neither Pete nor Jace had returned yet, and it was all she could do to not be imagining the worst possible scenarios. Glancing at James, she could see the clear worry in his face and hoped for his sake that even if they both didn't come back, Jace at least did.
It felt wrong, to be bargaining one life for another, to be hoping one person dead instead of another, especially when it was her job to save as many people as possible. But for James' sake, she hoped to Merlin for Jace to walk through those doors.
A few people stumbled in, and James called dibs. No one challenged him, knowing he had to keep his mind busy and off worrying about his boyfriend.
And then whispers spread that Voldemort had been defeated, and silence fell. All duelling stopped as everyone ran to find out if it was true, if the war was over and they'd reigned victorious.
And then people came back through, leaning on each other, and Ashley nodded to everyone to get back to work, taking some of those who'd walked in with more injuries, or reopened ones from before. This was the one time when she didn't hold any sort of resentment towards them for ripping stitches or re-breaking fragile bones.
She knelt next to her patient, instructing them not to do anything too strenuous otherwise they'd rip the stitches across their collarbone again, looking up and scanning the faces of everyone. She sighed, still not seeing Pete or Jace. "Ok, you should be fine, go talk to your friends or family."
Standing, she turned to her next patient, pulling out her potion to fix bones, when someone grabbed her arm from behind.
"Ashley!" Charlie looked frantic. "Ash, it's Jace."
Taking off towards James, Ashley could barely breathe, shoving Lucy out of the way. "Oh Merlin, Jace." She sighed, assessing his injuries. Crushed ribs, probably massive internal bleeding, and it looked as though he'd sustained a pretty bad concussion. "James, James I know you're scared out of your fucking mind but step away so we can fix him. Step-st- Charlie get him away." She yelled, and Charlie did as he was told, dragging James away from Jace's body, holding him in a vice-like grip to make sure he didn't interrupt Ashley, Lucy and Abi all working on him.
"Someone talk to me, where's Pete? Is he dead?" Ashley asked, shutting down her emotions, compartmentalizing and getting to work, casting spells over Jace's body until the cave in his chest had reformed into a ribcage.
"He's alive, I treated him for a concussion and a shattered ankle when he got in. It's a wonder he managed to walk here, never mind carrying Jace." Lucy informed her, casting her own spells, doing her best to clear up the internal bleeding they suspected in his abdomen. "God Jace, you gotta pull through. Hold on, hold on for us."
His eyelids fluttered, and Ashley's breath got caught in her throat.
Abi was feeding potions through an IV, giving him everything she could without killing him or hurting him any more than he already was.
"Jace, you have to pull through this. Goddamn it Jace!" Ashley punched his chest, trying to hear his heartbeat with her stethoscope, tears falling. "Come on- I have a heartbeat." She put it back around her neck, failing to wipe her eyes dry. "I need you to survive this." She sat back, knowing that now all they could do was monitor him and wait. "I need you at my wedding." She whispered, knowing that Abi and Lucy would be staring at her now, but not wanting to take her eyes off Jace. If she did, she was scared he'd die when she wasn't looking. "I need you to give me away. Please, you're the closest thing I have to family."
James appeared by his side as soon as Lucy had said they'd done everything. Now they had to play the waiting game.
"Can someone check that Poppy and the others have everyone else covered?" Ashley refused to take her eyes off Jace, feeling as though her heart was beating right out of her chest, waiting for Jace to start breathing again. Everything rested on whether Jace could breathe on his own now, they had no way of putting him on a ventilator in a school, and they had yet to discover a spell to make someone start breathing by themselves.
Everything was in the balance, the five of them all waiting for that moment that seemed to never be arriving. Ashley could hardly watch, could hardly wait. The clock was ticking on the time he could last now, and it was nearing the four-minute mark where he could sustain permanent brain damage or death.
And then his chest rose and fell, and Jace was breathing in a steady rhythm, his eyes slowly opening, squinting against the harsh light in the Hall.
"James- James, I'm here, I'm here." His voice was all croaky and horrible sounding, but the four of them had never heard anything better in that moment.
"Oh, fucking hell." Ashley laughed, wiping tears away only to have more appear on her cheeks.
"You really scared us for a second there, Jace." Abi leaned into Lucy, exhausted.
Jace blinked, trying to sit up despite everyone's protests that he'd just had his whole body healed and he shouldn't be moving at all. "Did I hear right?"
"Jace!" Pete rushed over, and Lucy muttered something about his shattered ankle. "Bloody hell man you had me seriously worried there."
Jace nodded with a smile, before turning back to Ashley and Charlie. "You're fucking engaged?"
Ashley blinked. "You heard that huh?"
"You're engaged?" James stared in shock, and Pete raised an eyebrow.
"So clearly I missed your entire relationship, when the hell did this happen?"
Lucy raised an eyebrow, "the engagement or the relationship, because the engagement is new to all of us."
Abi stared, mouth open. "It's only been a few months!"
Charlie blushed. "Sort of..."
Ashley laughed, "this moron proposed to me while we were out fighting Death Eaters."
James blinked, and everyone turned to stare at him.
"You proposed in the middle of the war?"
"Hey!" Charlie held his hands up in surrender, "realising your own mortality has its effects, and I realised how short life is and that I want to spend the rest of it with Ashley-Rae. And besides, she's the one that said yes in the middle of a war."