Because Every Phoenix Needs a Flame

Chapter 2: The Threat

After being discharged from St Mungos, Alice just wanted to curl up on her bed and take her potions, like the healers prescribed, and let her body heal. But her mother-in-law had a different opinion. It seems the London apartment was not suitable for recovery, so Frank and Alice had temporarily moved to her husband's childhood bedroom in Longbottom Manor in Wetherby.

She was going mad. She could not take a step before Augusta was surrounding her, asking if she needed any help. Alice was an independent woman, and she had enough of being babied. She couldn't handle it even one minute longer.

Frank was at work, Augusta had left to shop at Diagon Alley, and her father-in-law was in his office. Alice picked Frank's old broom, and she moved as silently as she could down the stairs and into the back door that led to the backyard. She was almost out of the confinement of her prison when someone coughed.

"And tell me, my dear, what shall I tell my wife and my son when they arrive and see you gone?" Mr Longbottom asked.

Alice sighed, leaning her forehead against the door before turning to look at him. He had a teasing smile on his face, hands behind his back, as he waited for her reply. "I will be back before they get home."

"That seems unlikely. The sun will set soon." He said, a flick of his wand, and there was a cup of tea in his hand.

"Tell them that from the fading light I fly! I cannot stay inside these walls any longer, please Archie." Her father-in-law had always insisted that she would call him by the nickname.

Archibald Longbottom nodded. "Go child, Rise like a phoenix." He winked, dismissing her with a hand gesture.

Alice grinned and rushed through the door, feeling the cold air on her face. She tied her hair, and not for the first time she wished it was shorter, but Frank loved it so much that she was reticent about cutting it.

She had not been on top of Frank's teen broom since they joined the Auror office. It was strange to not have his body behind her, to not be engulfed by his arms. But none of that mattered at that moment. She just needed to fly, and for a moment forget what had happened a fortnight ago.

Alice wasn't sure for how long she flew. Casting a Disillusionment charm on herself and the broom, she flew to the little muggle town close by. One of their first dates out of Hogwarts was in the little cinema, watching a silly movie called The Go-Between. If the Slytherin was saying the truth, she remembered very little from the movie, she had been interested in other things, like her handsome boyfriend and the popcorn.

She flew until it was too dark to find her way back to Longbottom Keep. She pulled her wand, summoning her Patronus and whispering her husband's name. Alice followed the phoenix until she could feel herself crossing the Longbottom wards.

Someone was pacing outside, and Alice knew immediately it was her husband, walking circles, dangerously close to Gussie orchids. Alice landed a few meters from him, casting a Lumos with her wand and at that moment she could see the way his shoulders were set. She had not seen Frank angry in a long time.

"Darling..." Alice whispered. Frank sighed, his back still turned to her. "Darling, look at me, please. I'm alright."

"Tea." He said simply, marching inside the house.

It was Alice's turn to sigh, but she was freezing so a good cuppa would do her good. She followed him inside, hearing the cupboards' doors being slammed with more strength than necessary. If he broke or chipped any of Gussie's china, they would never hear the end of it.

She discarded her boots and her cloak, and moved into the kitchen, Frank was looking at the kettle with such intensity, his knuckles white on either side of the stove from the way he was holding into the marble countertop. She knew something was wrong when he made it the muggle way. He was mumbling something, but Alice was not close enough to understand.

The Slytherin moved swiftly and wrapped her arms around his middle from behind. She kissed his shoulder blades and then placed her forehead on the base of his neck. She said nothing, just stayed there.

The kettle whistled, but Frank did not move to turn off the flame. "Why did you leave the house, Lissie?" He asked. "When I arrived home and father told me you left to fly... Godric, Lissie, I was so worried."

"Darling, I was exhausted from feeling like a prisoner in your parent's... I want to go home, can't we go to our apartment, Frankie?" She asked.

The apartment in London had been a gift from her godparents. Blishwick Manor, in Norwich, belonged to her, but she had not put feet on her ancestral home since her parents' untimely death while she was at Hogwarts.

"It's not safe." He whispered. "We're safer here. There are blood wards here, from generations and generations of Longbottom's."

"Darling, Frank. We're Aurors. We knew that we could get hurt on the job, but we decided to do it either way. We wanted to fight prejudice, we wanted to show that not all purebloods are elitists, and think muggleborns and muggles are inferior..." She said, making him turn so she could look at him properly. "What are you hiding from me?"

He sighed, pulling her into a hug. A tight one. Alice stroked his hair gently. She should have noticed sooner that something was bothering her husband. She knew her moods and his quirks better than she knew herself. "You can tell me, please tell me."

"Howe's was home, recovering just like you, and received a threatening letter." He explained.

"Dark Wizards..." She whispered, and he nodded but didn't let go. The kettle still whistling in the background. "What did the letter say?"

"Oh, you know the usual... don't come after us or we will hurt you..." He said with a kiss on her nose, trying to distract her and dismiss the conversation.

"Don't lie to me, Frank Algernon Longbottom, I know you like the palm of my hand. Tell me what it said." She asked, so gently, barely a whisper against his chest. She could hear his heart beatings. Fast.

"To the Aurors who tried to defeat us.

Out of the ashes seeking rather than vengeance

Retribution you were warned

Stay out of our way."

Alice listened to his words very carefully. A very subdued threat, but a threat, nevertheless, promising to come after them. "This is not the first threat the Auror Office has received, and it will not be the last."

"That's not it, Lissie. They send those notes to Howe's home, to our home, to other Aurors' home. Not to the Ministry! They know where we live!" He was shaking, and there was nothing Alice could say. It didn't matter how much she wanted to go home, he would not feel safe there, not for some time. Not until they were caught.

"Let's go to bed, darling, tomorrow we will talk better." She said, kissing him so gently, it was like a feather touching his lips.

"But the tea..." He whispered, looking at the kettle.

"We don't need tea... I still have some chocolate and other sweets from the get better soon baskets." Alice explained, rubbing her nose against his. "Please, darling?"

When he nodded, Alice vanished the water from the kettle and pulled him up the stairs by the hand, ignoring the looks her in-laws threw at them.