Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

21 December, 1995 - Bite

Lavinia was fast asleep when the flash of light startled her from her rest and she bolted into a sitting position, her panicked, tired brain searching for the source of what she was certain had to have been a spell.

And she found it.

Sort of.

Perched serenely on the end of her bed was a creature of some sort, which was about all Lavinia registered before launching herself out of bed, away from whatever the hell it was and nearly crashing into her bedside table as she grabbed blindly for her wand before tripping over her tangled sheets and landing flat on her rear end on the floor, her heart pounding in her chest.

It took several long moments for Lavinia's brain to catch up to her panic, but when it did, she lit her wand, pointing it tentatively in the direction of the creature she had disturbed in her fearful tumble from the mattress. And when her wand light fell on the creature, the panic drained away.

He was beautiful. And, more importantly, familiar. Because this was a phoenix and the only one Lavinia had ever encountered before was Dumbledore's phoenix.

Shaking herself slightly to dislodge the fear still clutching at her chest, Lavinia pushed herself up from the floor, approaching the bird carefully as she tried to figure out why the hell he was here because... well because it made no sense. Why would Dumbledore's bird bother to wake her up in the middle of the night? Dumbledore must have sent it, but why?

Why?

And that was the all important question, wasn't it? Why would Dumbledore send a phoenix and not an owl? Why couldn't this wait? Why?

The terror Lavinia had pushed away slid back down her spine, pooling in her core and writhing there. Because of course, the only reason Lavinia could think that Dumbledore's pet would have appeared in the middle of the night was if something bad had happened. Something very bad. Something that required immediate attention.

Which was why she closed the rest of the distance between her and the bird rather quickly, now certain the creature must have appeared with some sort of a message. And indeed, tied to its leg, which it very helpful held out for her, was a note.

Lavinia practically yanked it from the creature's foot, taking only enough to time to make sure she didn't hurt the bird before slipping the tie off and tossing it aside, unrolling the enclosed parchment as quickly as she could to find a very short note that was indeed in Dumbledore's writing.

Arthur attacked on duty - get to hospital ASAP. He will be in creature induced injuries. Help as possible/needed and return to G. Place. Weasleys + Harry will be waiting.

Lavinia stared at the note, shock and some measure of confusion holding her still even as she was sure she ought to already be moving because.... Well because creature induced injuries were hardly her department. Not, she realized, rather slowly, her tired brain catching up a bit late, that this mattered in the slightest. Because for Dumbledore to be sending his bird and not an owl, to wake her up and tell her to get to the hospital... bad. It had to be really really bad and Dumbledore must want someone there to be able to report back to him. He wanted someone he trusted to throw off suspicion of why Arthur had been where he was and what exactly had hurt him and -

A string of very foul words left Lavinia's mouth as she crumbled up the note and shoved it in her pocket before twisting in circles, looking for her clean pair of healer's robes and her badge, which she found on her bedside table, exactly where she'd placed it.

She was shoving on the first pair of shoes she found when she realized the phoenix hadn't moved in the slightest. She stared at it. It blinked at her.