It took Orion a moment to register what Katriona had said. When he did, he felt the blood drain from his face. The noise of people screaming and fleeing faded, the only sound left the beat of his heart and the echo of Katriona's words.
That was by our camp, wasn't it? That's where Skye and Lizzie are.
Before Murphy and Katriona could stop him, Orion turned and ran. His steps were pounding on the trampled grass, his breath burning in his lungs from the smoke pervading the air, but he didn't so much as notice it. All but the fires shining in the distance were driven from his mind.
He didn't know if Lizzie and Skye had really returned to their tents - he prayed that they hadn't - but the possibility of it was enough to send his mind spiralling with fear. Where else would they have gone, after all? He didn't stop to consider the possibilities. He needed to know Lizzie wasn't there, was safe somewhere else. He needed to see.
A gnawing feeling of dread took over him as he reached the part of the campsite where they had set up their tents the day before. The smoke was heavier here, pieces of burning wood, canvas, and debris littering the way. A little further off, a group of wizards, whose faces were covered with black scarves, were being tackled by whom Orion assumed to be Ministry people. Leaving them to it, he turned a corner, ran past a burning tent of once-striped silk, and dashed toward their camping spot.
The fires hadn't spread to here yet. Small pieces of broken wood and ash were dotting the grass, but otherwise, the scene looked almost peaceful. Peaceful and deserted. No one was here.
"Lizzie?" Orion called out, his voice rough from both the smoke and fear. "Lizzie, are you here?"
His calls were met with silence. He turned on his axis, shouting her name again and again, but here, in the darkness beyond the fires, nothing stirred. Orion took a deep breath. Lizzie wasn't here - that was a good thing, right? But then, where was she? There had been chaos and fires all over, and now he didn't have a clue about where she might have gone. She might be safe in the woods, or where the hooded figures had been, or...
His eyes went to the Dark Mark shining eerily above the scene, pushing the unbidden thoughts away. No, the chances were too odd. It was a horrific sight, but the Dark Mark had nothing to do with her. Impossible. Lizzie was safe somewhere. She had to be. All he needed was to find her.
A crack coming from behind him had Orion spin around. For a moment, time seemed to stop, his mouth going dry as his heart began to beat twice as fast as it had before.
A few feet away from him, Lizzie had suddenly appeared. Skye was hanging limply by her side, her arm slung around Lizzie's shoulder for support. Staggering from her friend's weight, Lizzie's knees collapsed into the grass a moment later. Orion rushed forward, closing his arms around her, whispering her name over and over again. Lizzie slung her free arm around his neck, her fingers digging almost painfully into his back as she pressed against him. Her hand was icy, Orion noticed, and she was shivering all over.
"You're alright," he whispered, his voice shaky with relief. "Thank Godric, you're alright."
Only now did he see the blood on Lizzie's hands and shirt. There was a dark streak of it on her face, too, but Orion quickly realised that it wasn't hers but Skye's. There was a badly bleeding cut on the side of her forehead, her hair and clothes soaked with the blood oozing from it. When Skye heard him saying her name, she raised her face slightly, but her eyes were hazy. She mumbled something indiscernible and hung her head again.
"She got cursed," Lizzie said shakily, her eyes wide and dark. "We saw the fires going up and ran to help. People were running and screaming everywhere, and the people in their cloaks, and the masks, the Muggles, and even the children..."
She made a strangled sound that cut through Orion's heart. He ran his thumb over her soot-stained cheek, but Lizzie went on talking as if he wasn't there at all.
"We tried to help, we all did, but there were others who joined, some with masks, some without, I don't know. I don't know where they came from. They pulled their scarves up and blew up things and just burned everything. Skye and I went after them, and they ran and shot curses at us and when then... the..."
She glanced at the sky and shuddered.
"Skye looked up, only for a moment, but one of them shot a curse at her and hit her right in the head. I don't know what it did to her, but she collapsed, and now she won't stop bleeding, and I tried finding someone who could help, but I couldn't find anyone at all."
At last, she began to cry, her tears glistening trails on her dirty face. Orion helped her lean Skye against the pole of a tent before pulling her into his embrace once more. He cradled her head against his chest as she sobbed, running her hands over her hair in soothing motions. Tears were burning at the back of his eyes as well, as much from relief that Lizzie was safe as from knowing that he hadn't been there when she had needed help.
"It's fine, Liz," he whispered to himself as much as her. "You're safe now. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
***
It had taken them a while, but they eventually found one of the improvised Mediwizard tents that had shot from the ground after the attack. Orion waited while Lizzie and Skye were getting checked, briefly filling in Murphy and Katriona when they arrived at the scene. They were relieved their friends were safe, but not nearly as much as Orion.
Together, they helped manoeuvre Skye, who was still muddled from the Healing Potions she had gotten, into her tent, where she immediately passed out into her bed. After they had made sure that Lizzie was okay, Murphy and Katriona subtly retreated to their own tent, leaving Lizzie and Orion by the fire they had started. They sat next to each other in silence, but the scene couldn't be more different from the day before: Lizzie was leaning against Orion's side, his arm around her shoulder warm and comforting. She breathed in his familiar scent, more and more of the tension of the last couple of hours leaving her body. Feeling her shift, Orion pulled her closer.
"How do you feel?"
"Safe," Lizzie decided, nestling her head into the hollow between Orion's neck and shoulder. She studied the fire, peaceful and comforting, a stark contrast to the ones flaring around them earlier. Shuddering, she looked away. "I still can't believe what happened."
"No one can," Orion agreed. "Murphy said the Death Eaters fled when the Dark Mark showed up. If they were real Death Eaters to begin with."
"They can't be, right?" Lizzie raised her head away from his shoulder. "Real Death Eaters, that is. Everyone knows You-Know-Who is gone."
Orion shook his head darkly. "Only because the source has run dry doesn't mean the river springing from it has, too."
Lizzie hummed in agreement. To drive the sinister thoughts from her mind, she reached for Orion's hand, intertwining their fingers. They enjoyed the silence, comfortable for once. Presently, she asked:
"How did you know where to find us? Apparating to the camp was a wild guess." She sniffed. "You can't imagine how glad I was to see you."
"I do," Orion said quietly. "And I didn't know you'd be there. We saw the fire going up, and Katriona said you and Skye were headed back. Just the idea of you being there... There was the Dark Mark, and I didn't know where you were or whether you were safe, and..." He stopped, running his hand over his face. "Don't do that again, okay?"
Lizzie laughed weakly. "What, run headfirst into a riot? Don't worry, I don't mean to."
Orion's face was grave. "I mean it, Lizzie. That was dangerous."
"I know." Lizzie's smile had disappeared. Neither she nor Skye had stopped to think when they had seen the Muggles floating through the air. Lizzie didn't know whether or not she would've acted differently if she had, but it didn't matter now. She tried to imagine how she would have felt in Orion's stead, and the thought was like a fist closing around her heart.
"I'm sorry."
"I was so scared for you," Orion whispered. "I don't think I've ever been so scared before. When the Dark Mark appeared, for a horrible second I was convinced that..."
His voice trailed off and he turned his head away. Lizzie suppressed the urge to reach out to him, waiting until he was ready to continue on his own accord.
"The thought of something happening to you without knowing how much I love you..." he said eventually, his eyes finding hers. "I can't imagine it. Don't want to imagine it."
Lizzie felt the pain in his voice almost physically. She did reach out to him this time, gently placing her hand against his cheek. Orion covered it with his, leaning in to rest his forehead against hers. He made to say something else, swallowing heavily as his words failed him.
"I do know, though," she said tenderly. "Of course I do."
"I was ready to let you go, give up on everything we had because I was too scared - again," Orion went on as if Lizzie hadn't said anything at all. "I thought that if we hadn't figured out how to be together by now, it wasn't written in our stars to begin with."
Lizzie's heart beat painfully inside her chest. "What if that's true, though?"
"I don't care," Orion said firmly. "We forge our own destinies. Who cares if there's anything saying we can't be together. It's meaningless. What could be bigger than what is in my heart?"
Lizzie shook her head. "That's all very moving, but... how would this even work? The rules -"
"Don't you understand?" he cut her off. "I love you, more than any of this." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Remember what I told you, right in the beginning? Without balance between body, mind, and heart, there can never be peace. My heart always was with you, Lizzie, right where it should be. If Quidditch is what keeps me from finding my balance, I will happily let it go and not look back."
"Orion, no. Quidditch is you."
"My dear Chaser," Orion said softly, "our love is me, and it has always been. I've been running from this truth for so long, but I'm not afraid anymore. This is the fate I choose." He pulled her closer, and Lizzie could feel his words against her lips as he whispered, "My fate is you."
She raised her chin to close what little distance remained between them. Butterflies were swarming in her stomach, driving away all the fear and exhaustion of the day, of all the weeks, months, she had spent missing him. She smiled against his lips, which had never felt so soft before, a single tear running down her cheek.
"I love you," she said, the truth of it threatening to take her breath away. "You don't even know how much I love you."
"Yes, I do," Orion said, the backs of his fingers running along her temple as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before kissing her again. "And I promise you that we will find a way. Together."