News soon came that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had turned up at Shell Cottage where Bill and Fleur had been living. From what Milena had been told, they had shown up with Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, Griphook from Gringotts, and Dobby who had been killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. They had all been captured by Death Eaters and were being held captive at Malfoy Manor and somehow they managed to all escape to Shell Cottage.
Of course the Malfoy's were involved, Milena had thought to herself. What else would she expect from them?
For the time being, Bill and Fleur had made their home as comfortable for everyone as possible until they knew for sure that they were safe. The cottage had been made into a safehouse a long time ago now, so it was best that they stayed for as long as possible.
That same morning, after Bill had left to return back to the cottage, Fred, George, and Milena hid themselves away in Milena's room so she could show George the potion she had used to heal Fred. She still wasn't entirely sure whether or not it would be able to do anything to help George's missing ear, but the worst that would happen is he drank a potion with no effect. She thought that maybe she would need George's ear to be able to heal him, but that wasn't exactly something they had.
Fred and George sat on Milena's bed as she shuffled through one of the drawers and again retrieved another full vial and her notebook. Fred seemed eager to see what the potion might do to George, she could tell he missed all of the experiments, inventing, and testing and this was as close as he was able to get to it right now. George, on the other hand, seemed lost at what the two of them wanted to do seeing as how no one had really explained to him what was happening.
"So, what is it you wanted to show me?" George asked, looking between the two others.
Milena turned back around, her vial and notebook in hand and bumped the drawer shut with her hip.
"Mills made something that we could never dream of coming up with!" Fred said pridefully.
"I'm sure you could have if you wanted to." Milena said.
She held up the vial to show the shiny, purple liquid as it swirled around.
"And what's that supposed to be?" George asked, watching the liquid dance in the light.
"This is Skele-Gro with... improvements." Milena responded.
George frowned.
"I don't exactly have a name for it yet." Milena added on. "But this is what got rid of the curse on Fred's ribs that were stopping them from healing."
"Aaaand healed them almost immediately!" Fred added too.
"You made a potion that can get rid of curses!?" George suddenly exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Well not every curse, that would be something, but it seems to be able to burn away the cruciatus curse anyway. I'm not sure what other curses it's able to reverse." Milena explained.
George looked between the two again as if the wheels had started turning in his head and he was starting to get what they wanted to ask.
"You want me to try it for my ear, don't you?" George asked.
"I've tested it now and I know that there are no negative effects, worst case scenario, you just wasted one of my potions." Milena assured him.
He looked to Fred who was looking back with pleading eyes. Milena could see just how excited he was.
"And you're alright?" George asked.
"Never been better!" Fred cheered.
"Alright fine, give me the bloody potion."
"Make sure you drink the entire thing and if anything does go wrong - which it won't - we will have to make you sick..."
George sighed as he held his hand out. Milena popped the cork from the vial and handed it to George. He hesitated a moment then downed the entire vial as if he were taking a shot at a party then handed the now empty vial back to Milena. He pursed his lips a little followed by a "hm" sound.
"Kinda tastes like- AGH!"
George suddenly grabbed at the side of his head where his ear had been missing and closed his eyes tight for a moment. Then, his eyes fluttered open and his face screwed up, a little confused. His hands began to grasp around where he had been holding his head, then he suddenly shot up from where he was sitting.
"BLOODY HELL, MILENA!" He shouted. "I need a mirror! I need to see!"
George rushed out of the room and Milena and Fred quickly followed behind him as he raced into the bathroom. He had moved so quickly that she hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of the outcome, but from his reaction, she thought it might be a safe bet that it had worked.
After a solid minute of George staring at himself and poking at the side of his head, Fred finally said, "Well? Are you going to show us or not?"
George finally broke his gaze from the mirror and turned to face Fred and Milena. Where his ear had been completely cursed off was now a new ear, identical to its opposite.
Milena gently grabbed his chin to turn his head and get a better look at the new ear. It was still a little red and irritated, but that was to be expected. She was just in awe that it had really worked. Never in a million years did she expect that this is what she would end up doing with her time.
"How's the hearing?" Milena asked, pulling her hand away from his chin.
"Honestly, still not completely there. It's still quite muffled, but it's an improvement considering I couldn't hear from this side at all." George said. "I can't believe you made this!"
"I told you she was bloody brilliant." Fred grinned.
"This is more than brilliant! This is- this is- I don't know! I can't think of a word good enough! I can't wait to show Lee this! I need to go show mum this!" George said, absolutely beaming.
He quickly ran past the two and once again, they both quickly followed after him back downstairs to where Molly and Arthur were sitting at the kitchen table, having some kind of conversation.
George held a hand over his new ear and with a huge grin, walked into the kitchen and stood in front of his parents. Milena and Fred stood just behind him and let him do the big reveal.
"Mum, dad! I have something absolutely brilliant to show you!" He said, eagerly.
Arthur and Molly both looked up at him and gave him slightly worried and confused looks, but paid him attention nonetheless. Then, he dropped his hand and slightly turned his head to show the newly replaced ear.
"Ta-da!"
At the same time, both Arthur and Molly's jaws dropped.
"How did you- when did you- oh my Godric!" Molly sputtered out in complete shock as she jumped up and ran towards him to examine the ear.
Arthur was completely dumbfounded. He didn't say a word, but just stared at his son.
"It was all Milena!" He said. "She did it!"
Molly immediately turned her head to Milena.
"How!?" She demanded.
"All the experimenting with potions the last two months." She shrugged with a little smile.
The rest of the day was spent with Molly doting on George out of excitement and Milena was just happy to let her smother him instead of her. Molly had decided that she was going to make the best dinner she could that night to celebrate Milena's new invention and George's new healing. She had put together roasted potatoes and chicken, baked yorkshire puddings, and made an assortment of steamed vegetables, it smelled delicious, mouthwatering - and it absolutely was.
Everyone was in the best mood she had seen them in in a long time, but during a war, that was never going to last.
Milena was getting ready for bed, pulling on the first pair of pajama pants and old t-shirt she found in her wardrobe. She debated on whether or not to wear a sweater to bed too, but decided against it for the time being. March hadn't been the warmest month and with how old Muriel's house was, it tended to get a little drafty at night so Milena often found herself throwing on a sweater halfway through the night.
Milena had been one of the last to go to bed as she often was and she tried her best to be quiet as she crept over to her bed and climbed into it. She liked that the bed was close to a window so she could see out into the night sky. It was still as cloudy as ever, but something about the sky seemed more ominous than it had. As if the stars had begun to slowly blink out of existence and the clouds continued to cover up the moon, Milena began to feel cold. It wasn't the usual cold she felt from a draft though or the cold breeze that would sweep into the living room when someone opened the front door. It was more like the cold of despair, the type of cold a dementor left you with, the type of cold that left you feeling empty.
She stayed sitting upright in her bed as her gaze pointed out the window though her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Then, her gaze was no longer looking out the window at all. She swore she hadn't moved or looked anywhere else. She was now looking at a forest? No, an island with trees surrounding it... There was a large statue? No, it was a grave... and it was cracked open. It felt as though she were floating above the scene, looking down from the sky. She could hear cracks of thunder blasting from the sky above her and saw the flashes from lightning shine over the ground below for a couple of seconds. She thought maybe she could see a figure - someone leaving the grave, but they were cloaked, hiding their face from her view.
"Mills?"
Suddenly, she was looking back at the night sky, in her bed. She quickly turned to look in the direction of the voice. Fred was crouched by her bed, the door left open as if he had rushed in.
"Mills? You alright?" He asked.
She shook her head as if to wake herself up.
"I- um... yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She assured him.
"I was just coming to see if you were still awake and then when you didn't respond to me, I thought maybe you were..."
"Seeing something?"
"Yeah... Were you?"
"I think so..."
Fred didn't say anything to her, instead he just climbed into her bed next to her and she scooted over to make room for him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her back, slowly rubbing his thumb up and down her arm.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" He asked quietly.
"All I really saw was Dumbledore's grave I think and maybe someone trying to grave rob it?"
She was even unsure of what she was saying. She felt like she had been floating so far away from the scene that she couldn't really be sure what she had seen.
"Grave robbing Dumbledore?" Fred repeated. "What would someone need in there for?"
"I don't know."
Milena pressed herself a little closer to Fred. Any cold feelings she had had before would be gone as long as he stayed by her side.
~~~
The next morning at breakfast, everyone was once again around the table, enjoying the eggs and toast Molly had put out. Milena and Arthur had started to be on better terms again, especially after Milena's recent breakthrough with her potion experiments. He even seemed to be slightly warming up to the idea of letting her at least attend the Order meetings again, though it still seemed to be up in the air.
They continued their breakfast and cheery conversations as Milena did what she could to ignore the scene that she had seen the night before.
There was a rapid knock at the front door and Milena stood first to answer it. She had grown rather used to being the one to answer the door since she seemed to be the only one that was always there. She opened it a crack to see Remus again and she did her usual check with a question which he answered in a hurry. Milena opened the door all the way again and he hurried past her to the kitchen table where everyone was still gathered.
Remus did not sit, nor did he waste any time with any greetings. Instead, he was right to business with news for them.
"Dumbledore's grave was broken into last night." He announced.
Everyone quickly went silent, all eyes on him except for Milena who slightly dropped her head.
"The only thing that was taken was Dumbledore's wand." He continued.
"It was you know who, wasn't it?" Milena interrupted.
"That's the assumption, though with Hogwarts being run by Death Eaters, we have no way of actually knowing." Remus explained.
"What does he need Dumbledore's wand for?" Fred asked.
"We're not sure." Remus shrugged.
No one was sure. No one was ever sure. There it was again - that unexplainable anger when no one knew anything, when no one had any answers.
She took another deep breath and pushed those feelings as far away as she possibly could. Things were starting to get just a little bit better with her again. She couldn't ruin it now.
"Do you think Harry might know?" Milena finally asked as calmly as possible. "I mean we know where he is now. He may know things we don't."
"Like he would tell any of us if he does." George said.
"Yeah, he wouldn't even tell any of us where he was going." Fred added.
Milena sighed.
"Well whatever he needs it for, I'm sure we'll know soon enough..." Arthur said.
Whatever it was that he needed the wand for, Milena never wanted it to get to that point. Honestly, she didn't want to know what he needed it for at all. If she never knew, then he never used it, but if he had had it since last night, he had surely already used it. Whatever it was that he had wanted it for, Milena didn't think she really wanted to know.
She knew one thing was for sure though. She hadn't lost her gift, but it sure as hell liked to nitpick what she got to see.