22 : seer
I hadn't even thought before I was on my feet, running into the house. I barely heard James and Lily shout my name. Don't be her. Please be anyone else, not her.
Dad had soot on his face, and the small woman in his arms was bloodied, burnt and wore Muggle clothing. He helped her into the living room, where I moved the chair to catch her as she fell. Dad looked up at me, this look of gratefulness covering his face. I heard Mum come into the living room, gasping.
"Is that-"
"It's Marina," Dad said, and my jaw dropped. "She was attacked by Death Eaters."
"Marina? We haven't seen her in years," I said, beginning to feel an intense sense of dread. I tried to ignore the intense déjà vu. "Where was she?"
"She moved to France eight years ago to help her cousin take care of his orphaned nieces. She came back two months ago, and was volunteering at a Muggle orphanage - one where there were multiple Muggle-born witches and wizards," Dad explained as he tried to get Marina to sit back, but she kept trying to get back up. "I was driving past, and thought I should stop and say hello."
"I NEED TO SAVE THEM!" Marina yelled, pushing past Dad. She ran for the door, pushing Mum against the wall, and shoving past Sirius.
Without thinking, I shot a spell at the front door, preventing Marina from opening it. She hit the door, having expected it to open, before she began to pound on it.
"Dad!"
"They attacked the orphanage, Jemina, they heard of the two wizards, and attacked the orphanage," Dad explained as he rushed to Marina's side as she slid down the door, beginning to sob. "They set it on fire."
"Dad, no-"
"I barely got Marina out," He said as he pulled her to his chest. "I grabbed one of the boys, but he went back for his younger brother-"
"Oh my god."
I could feel my heart break, and I stumbled backwards. I felt Lily's hands holding me up, and I looked down at the floor. I felt an anger festering inside of me, slowly bubbling and brewing.
Regret, and guilt accompanied that anger, as well as an intense feeling of knowing exactly what to do.
"I don't think anyone else made it out."
As soon as Dad calmed Marina down enough, Mum took her to clean up as he asked if any of us wanted to go with him to check the orphanage.
I immediately volunteered, and was surprised to see that all four of us were raising our hands. We got into the car, me in the front seat next to Dad, and sat in silence as he drove us to the orphanage.
The fire was out by the time we got there, and the building was almost completely charred.
Dad warned me that there were twenty-seven children in the orphanage when he was there, six were out with a volunteer at the park.
Dad convinced one of the people there to let us through the tape, telling him that we were their best bet at finding, and reaching, survivors. The guy was skeptical, but when Dad showed him the end of his wand, the guy agreed.
"He's a wizard too, but he's one of the only ones in this town," Dad whispered as we walked through what was left of the front room. "Do any of you hear anything?"
"Dad," I grabbed his arm, dread building up in my stomach. My eyes were stinging, partially from the remains of smoke, and partially from tears. "Trust me, and follow me."
"Je-"
"Please."
Dad nodded, and I immediately set out for the kitchen. I stood in the doorway of what was a massive kitchen, and took a deep breath before I moved to the charred wall next to the refrigerator. I started knocking on each wooden panel until I heard the 5 panels where it was hollowed. I stepped back, somehow knowing how to get through, and pushed Sirius behind me.
"Trust me," I mumbled to Dad as I drew my wand and pointed it at the door.
I took multiple deep breaths before taking three steps forward, aligning myself with the center of the five boards. I raised my wand up, just a bit higher, and breathed.
"Descendio," I whispered, flinching the slightest bit when the five panels immediately started sinking into the ground.
I could hear the confusion behind me, but I ignored them as I went to the space and began to walk down the stairs. I went slow, looking back occasionally to see that all four of them were still following me.
"Who's there!?" I heard a terrified voice, immediately pocketing my wand and raising my hands in the air. I came to the bottom of the steps, and smiled. "Who are you, and how did you find us?"
The woman in front of me was burnt, badly, and had soot covering her face and neck. She, and a boy about my age, were standing in a defensive position, with their wands out, in front of a small group of children. There were six kids, varying in age, the oldest two holding small babies. That made eight total, ten when counting two with their wands trained on me.
"My name is Jemina, I had a dream about this place and the fire," I quickly said. My heart was thudding, and my stomach was in knots. I heard Dad start to speak, but I continued. "In my dream - or whatever it was - I saw someone leading a group of screaming children to a kitchen, to a wall, and then into a cellar area. There was a fire, and... I didn't think it was real."
"Is that what you were trying to tell me?" Lily whispered as she stepped forward, her hands just barely in the air like mine. I nodded as I watched the boy and woman, my eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you a Seer?" One of the older girls asked. She looked to be about thirteen, and she had white hair, and striking blue eyes.
"I -" My words fumbled. "I might be."
"I am too," She said quietly. She grabbed the woman's arm, pulling her down to her before whispering. When the girl was finished, the woman lowered her wand, leading the boy to do so too. "I had a vision about you a few nights ago. You were sunbathing."
I let out a small dry laugh, glancing to Lily.
Dad moved from the back of our group, forward, and shook the woman's hand before he started helping her to the stairs and up. He didn't look at me.
Sirius went to the older boy, and the girl with white hair as James went and squatted by the younger children. Lily and I looked at each other, before we both went to the older two, taking the babies from them and telling them the fire was out, and the bad guys were gone.
James picked up two of the smaller kids, both around 6 or 7, before he started to go upstairs. Sirius picked up a small girl, who looked only 3, and took the hand of an older boy. The boy grabbed the hand of a dark-haired boy who did the same to the girl with the white hair, as the two oldest kids followed me and Lily. When we got to the ground floor, and then outside, the kids were taken to the side by volunteers.
Lily and I handed the babies, who were actually twins, to an orphanage worker, she thanked the both of us, telling us to thank the boys for her too.
By the time Dad and I had checked the entire building, we found one more child, who was so badly burned, they were unrecognizable. My dad carried them down the stairs, trying to keep him from screaming.
I made the mistake of walking into one of the room, and barely stopped myself from screaming. At least four tiny bodies were on the floor near the door, burned beyond belief. I covered my mouth, guilt wracking my body, as I stumbled backwards.
I felt warm arms wrap around me, and I turned to Sirius, burying my face in his chest. I was taken back to when I saw my room splattered in my blood, and I bit down onto my finger.
Sirius helped me back towards the stairs. He put a hand on James' shoulder, stopping him from going further. James grabbed Lily's hand as she went to move past them. I started crying as Sirius told them it was awful.
He helped me down the stairs, and when we got to Dad, I pulled away.
"There's an entire room of bodies, burnt to the bone," I said as I cried. "I'm so, so sorry."
"You couldn't have known it was real, Jemina," Dad said as he grabbed my arms and pulled me to his chest. He held me as I cried. "You couldn't have known."
By the end of the week, I had another one. This time, I woke up so violently that Sirius, who'd been asleep next to me, woke up as well.
"I have to tell Dad," I coughed as I fumbled out of the bed, grabbing my wand and summoning a robe as I ran to the door. I jerked it open, and ran down the stairs. I didn't even bother turning the knob, using my wand to open my parent's door as I tried to breath. I heard Sirius running down the stairs after me, but I entered my parent's bedroom. "Dad?"
I approached the side of the bed, quietly, and shook his shoulder gently. He stirred, but didn't wake up. I shook him harder, but he still didn't wake up. He grumbled, and so I shook Mum. She opened her eyes, and asked what was wrong.
"He won't wake up," I complained. She snorted and started trying to wake Dad herself. When he finally woke up, rolling over and looking at me. He saw the terror in my face and sat up. He told Mum to go back to sleep, and she sleepily obeyed. "I had another... dream."
He quickly got dressed, and despite his protest, I insisted on coming.
"You need me to know where to go!"
So he relented, but when Sirius insisted on coming?
"No!" We both exclaimed.
After a few moments of Dad and Sirius bickering, I groaned.
"We don't have time! I don't know how long before it happens I have the vision," So, Dad relented, and Sirius and I followed him to the car.
We eventually got to where my vision was taking us, and escorted the entire group of orphans, explaining to the workers what I saw, and how I had a vision of the last orphanage attack. The workers loaded the 34 kids into 6 massive vans, all six of them going in opposite directions. They had a meeting point in case of this, having made a plan after the last one.
Dad, Sirius and I decided we should stay behind for a while, at least until the Death Eater's arrived. When we got to a good spot, behind a row of huge trees, and got a few disillusion charms up, we saw them arriving. Dad looked at his watch, at me, and then at the Death Eaters.
I sighed in relief, knowing that we had gotten there just in time, and that the vans had left with just enough time to get far enough away to not be expected.
"It took an hour and 26 minutes from when you woke me up."
"So a little over an hour and a half," I whispered sadly. We watched as they raided the orphanage, I felt my heartbreaking. When they didn't find anyone, one of them started yelling at the others. She suggested they try to search the area for them, and the other three told her that was an insane idea.
"That would draw too much attention! We barely made it out of the last attack!"
"He wants them burned," She growled. "The Dark Lord wants them burned."
"That's Bellatrix," Sirius' face was horrified. He looked at me, and then back at the orphanage. I furrowed my brows. "My cousin, Bellatrix."
"Lestrange?" Dad asked, his eyes wild and fearful. "She's known to be one of the most probable members, but it was never confirmed."
"It's her," Sirius whispered. "I would recognize that crazy voice anywhere."
"Crazy?" I asked, furrowing my brows further.
"She's known to be rather... off her rocker," Dad said. "She's regarded as an extremely powerful, insane, and therefore dangerous witch."
"It doesn't surprise me that she'd be a part of the burning of orphan children," Sirius grumbled. "Mother accidentally let slip, before I left, that Bellatrix was having extreme difficulty getting pregnant, and that it was making her extremely bitter."
"So she's willingly - happily, even - taking place in burning orphanages?"
We quieted down as they started searching the immediate area, checking behind and under things. They were looking for doors, or bunker openings. When they didn't find anything, they set fire to the building and left.
We left shortly after, but I couldn't shake the awful feeling, knowing that we barely managed to save those children.
The entire ride home, I sat in the very back of the car, my knees drawn to my chest.
I was beyond thankful we'd saved them, but I couldn't push away the nagging feeling of guilt after the last orphanage attack.
I couldn't forget the images of those dead children.
Was this my price?