founders - harry potter

CH1 . the running girl

"But — "

"Hel — "

"He's already injured," Helga hissed, throwing her hands in the hair. "If you fail, you could kill him."

"He'll die anyhow if he does not reach the infirmary in the next ten minutes. We are hours away. Is the arithmetic simple enough for you, Helga?" Rowena snapped, pulling the hood off of her hair with a huff.

Helga's honey eyes twitched so harshly under the minimal moonlight allowed through the canopy of trees above.

Rowena did not bother waiting for a response.

She turned her head, surveying the group before them. Five were their own, three were not. A mother, a father, and their daughter, each injured and disfigured in their own way. The father, however, was on the ground clutching his stomach, from which torrents of blood expelled and stained his tunic. One of their own, Art, was holding both the wailing daughter and weeping mother back, while two others pressed upon the father's wound.

"I cannot take all of you," she remarked, stepping toward the rest of them. "Helga is right, it is risky. Rein, you'll come with us. The — "

"His name is Jac," the weeping witch managed to sob, her knees giving out. Art's arm was the only thing holding her up. "Jac. Save my Jac, please."

Rowena swallowed, her dry throat protesting. "Alright. Rein, you'll carry Jac, and you'll come with Helga and I."

Helga stepped up beside her. "The rest of you keep walking. We'll make arrangements as soon as we reach to send you new horses. Lilla, you know the way, don't you?"

Lilla nodded, blue eyes wide.

A lull followed.

"Go. Now."

The six of them made haste to leave, though with some struggle to drag the mother and daughter with them. Rowena watched with sharp eyes until they could no longer be seen before turning to the remaining witches and wizards in the small, woody clearing.

Rein already had Jac over his shoulder, one hand on his back and the other on his leg. His dark eyes watched her carefully. She and Helga stepped up to him, both of them placing a hand on one of his arms. Rowena felt Helga slip her hand against hers, and she tightly twined their fingers together.

"I'm not very fond of this plan," Helga said softly while Rowena closed her eyes.

"It's our only plan."

"I know. I trust you."

She inhaled deeply, though shakily. It took a few moments for the sounds of Jac's pained groans to fade into the distance, spiking irritance in her chest that threatened to overtake her sympathy.

She had never been fully successful before. All twelve of her other attempts were failures to some degree. Sometimes those accompanying her were injured, and other times it was she who suffered an abandoned body part.

Rowena listened to the forest breathe. She listened to the forest inhale, filling its lungs with bitingly cold wind, and she listened to the forest exhale with such might that blew her long, dark hair off her shoulders. She tried to breathe with it, but the breath of a forest is not as predictable as that of a witch. She inhaled too soon and exhaled too late. She was a left foot that ran faster than the right at times and slower at others. Impatience brewed in her stomach, and she felt it raise the hairs on Rein's skin.

Perhaps it was only a minute that trickled away. Perhaps it was an hour. Perhaps not, considering Jac would have passed by then.

But suddenly Rowena was breathing with the forest. Push and pull, inhale and exhale, unpredictable, yet steady and strong. Suddenly, the blood rushing through her veins followed the quiet inhales and thunderous exhales of the forest.