Running AIAOY 7

Chapter 10

Molly had everything she thought she could laid out on the table around her.  Bandages, healing potions of various types, draughts, her wand.  Fleur was by her side, ready to help with whatever was necessary and Molly appreciated knowing that help was nearby should she need it.  No one, not a single member of the Order or resident of Shell Cottage, knew what sort of condition Rebecca would be in when returned.

Fred paced up and down the length of the kitchen, keeping his eyes turned towards the wood panels of the floor.  He traced their grains and let his mind wander while he did so.  

"Fred?"  Molly called gently, repeating herself.  "Love, we don't know the state of-"

"I'm not leaving."  Fred paused and looked to his mother, exhaustion and tension clear as ever.  "I'm not."

Remus stayed where he leaned against the door to the garden out front where the others had returned to Malfoy Manor.  He wasn't going to get between Fred again, not when so many brawls had broken out through the week.  "I think it might-"

"I'm going to be right here, I'm going to help.  And if I can't help-"  Fred shook his head.  "I won't get in the way."

Arthur's head shot up at the crack of a nearby apparation.  Sirius and Remus exited the cottage with their wands in front of them, both ready for the worst case scenario.

Harry and Hermione stood against one another, Rebecca limp in Harry's arms.  There was so much evidence of violence across her, dried blood from angry cuts, bruises stretching across continents of her body, personified agony.  Draco stood between Ron and Dobby, his shirt torn so that the inky darkness across his forearm was on display.

No one moved.

"DO YOU THINK THIS WILL STOP ME?"  Voldemort roared in Harry and Rebecca's heads.  Through the unconscious fog, Rebecca could see what Harry could--Voldemort cursing Scabior with crucio until he was limp and killed him as final punishment for allowing the two prisoners to escape.

Harry fell to the ground, covering Rebecca the best he could as their minds underwent the strain of intrusion.

"You have only delayed the inevitable.  I will have you both."

The others knew when Voldemort retreated because Harry's body straightened and he was able to sit up with Rebecca in his arms still.  Hermione murmured in his ear, guiding him back to his feet and into the house where Molly was directing them.  Nothing made sense to his ears, not yet.  All he could hear was the ringing of Scabior's screams for mercy.

"You, come too!"  Molly called to Draco, who had remained by Dobby's side in the garden.

Fred was on the opposite side of Fleur, almost frozen.  

"Lie her down."  Molly said as she tried not to think about how similar this need to triage an unconscious Rebecca was to the first night she spent in the Burrow.  "Fred!  Help me help her or-Thank you."

"Her shoulder."  Draco limped forward, ignoring the lingering stares and the still held wands of the Order members.  "That's the-the first-the longest."

Fred helped sit Rebecca up and held her head still as Fleur cut down the ratty, crusted layers Rebecca wore.  Arthur cleared the room of any non-helpers, leaving only Draco and the three travelers in the kitchen.

Molly peeled the layers of cloth back until she found the edge of the wound Draco referred to.  When she discovered just how raw and unattended the remnant of Bellatrix's stab was, she took a sharp breath and steeled herself.  "Gently, Fred..."  Molly had Fred lean her forward slightly more, enough to see the wound under the light entirely.  "Infection sanitatem."