Almost

Chapter 60: Shed

"Thanks for sticking around with her today. It was a rough night."

Katherine could hear Ezra's voice, drifting up from the front porch, the warm late-June air too sticky against her face.

"Of course," Fleur's voice answered. "Victoire was going to come, but she couldn't get away. The Apothecary's had a run on Pepperup and she'll be brewing all day."

"I'm hopeful she'll sleep most of it, anyways. Ever since she took that Dreamless Sleep Potion, she's just been so sick. I'd stay myself, but she's adamant about working with MACUSA and we've finally got Eddie into the hospital ward at Illvermorny and—"

"It's not a bother," Fleur assured him. "Ginny said she'd come back after she got her column in at the Prophet, so I won't be alone long. And I was a Triwizard Champion, remember. And a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

Ezra's voice turned grim. "I'm not worried about an external attack. I'm worried about what's happening inside. At least she's talking about it, but I . . . she's barely doing any magic and she's still exhausted."

"Give it time, love," Fleur told him.

"Maybe Vander will find something. Maybe his grandfather knows something more."

"Maybe."

Her sympathetic tone clawed at Katherine—she knew better. This wasn't going away on its own.

She'd caved and taken the potion a few nights ago, when the house had started to tremor beneath them. Even magic that hadn't, before then, been swayed by her moods was starting to come back to her uncalled. Ezra had spent most of the previous weekend reinforcing her more vital spells around the house. With the initial shock of Mark and Shep's actions gone, the Weasley's had returned to their own homes. But there was always at least one of them there with her to make up for the absent MACUSA aurors, and Katherine was terrified that the home would collapse on them. So, she'd agreed to the potion while Ezra spent the hours trying to assuage her fears and patch the cabin. But when she'd woken up, her magic had begun to flicker more frequently, as if a simple breeze could blow it out. And the nightmares, angry they had been silenced, had gotten worse.

Katherine had pushed Ezra to return to his own room since the Weasley's were gone, weary of him losing sleep with her. But she should have known better—he ended up doing most of his sleeping the past few nights leaning against her door, giving her the shred of dignity she needed without going too far away.

Now, she could barely open her eyes. She'd crawled up to the Nest an hour ago in the hopes she wouldn't bother Ezra as he finally had a chance to get ready for work, but she couldn't get her silencing spells to stick. He'd come to roost her with his face half shaven only twenty minutes before, just as Fleur was arriving through the Floo.

Her head ached and her body couldn't stop shivering. She'd thought she'd gone through the worst of it before, but this . . . this was worse. As much as she tried not to let on, to just grin and bear it and push through, she knew it was only a matter of time before her magic would choose to heal or disappear entirely.

"She's up top," Crawley said with a sigh. "She couldn't manage any breakfast this morning, but she had some tea. I'm sure she's dehydrated—"

"I'll take her up some water in a bit. And Molly said she'd send some of her favorite scones later. You go on to work and leave her to me for a few hours."

"Okay. I'm going to try and sneak off as early as I can without raising suspicion. And I have to stop at the store—she needs tampons."

Katherine groaned. She was grateful that Ezra had agreed to get them for her when she'd realized she was almost out the night before, but she really didn't need that to be part of their already mortifying discussion about her.