August 31, 1977
11:21 pm
Malfoy Manor

All of Regulus's relief that Anneliese and his brother had gotten away evaporated in a harsh snap as he apparated back into Malfoy Manor, the sudden weight of their failure hitting him in a heavy mental blow even though he had planned it.

All of the Death Eaters shed their masks the second that they were in the cover of the huge meeting room, giving them a chance to finally breathe after the exhausting night.

No matter how easy the dark witches and wizards made it look to fend them off, those little Gryffindors were fighters, and fierce ones at that.

The second that they all caught their breaths, accusations started flying back and forth.

"This is all your fault!" Bellatrix shouted to Yaxley, fingers twisting around the hilt of the dagger in her belt. "How the hell did you not notice the wand falling out of your hand? And how the hell did you let her get it again?"

"Maybe it was while he was busy feeling her up," Regulus spat, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "We all know good and well that you could have found that wand much more quickly if you needed to."

"But I didn't need to," Yaxley snapped back, seeming to enjoy the memory. "And I bet it was that blonde little Gryffindor boy who sold us out or got the mudblood her wand. I don't trust him, I'm telling you-"

"And apparently we can't trust you around girls anymore either," Regulus retorted, irritation only rising in his chest. "Really, what the hell is wrong with you-"

Yaxley made a sudden move towards Regulus, but what was about to have become a fight within ranks came to an abrupt halt as a form of smoke blossomed in the center of the room.

All of them instantly formed a tighter clump in some form of unity, the atmosphere of the room tensing as Voldemort himself finally emerged from the smoke.

He scanned their faces with very critical eyes, realizing from their expressions that things had not gone as planned.

"Well?" the Dark Lord asked, slowly walking towards his followers with raised, dark brows and wand in hand and not wasting any time of pleasantries. "Where is she?"

There was only silence, no one wanting to be the one to answer the question that would surely only just provoke rage from Voldemort.

"Don't tell me that little mudblood got away," he hissed after a few seconds, hand gripping tighter around his wand. "After a month of waiting, did you all really manage to let that one little girl escape?"

"That one little girl is strong," Dolhov said in a low tone, head slightly bowed. "And she herself.. the wand is very powerful, my lord. It also appears that she made her own spells.. she disarmed everyone in the room at once."

Voldemort's nose wrinkled slightly with this reveal, and Regulus could sense his annoyance rising at all of their profuse, constant excuses.

"And she has friends," Yaxley added on. "Very fierce, protective friends that were much stronger than we expected, even with our numbers."

"She also saw us," Dolhov said. "I don't know how, but we didn't get to surprise them-"

"So you're telling me that you never even got a hold of the wand this whole time?" he interrupted, holding his hand up for silence. "Not even so much as touched it?"

All heads turned to Yaxley, who just bowed his head further. This in itself was enough indication to Voldemort of what had happened.

"I-I had it, but it.. it somehow..," he stammered pathetically, far from the Death Eater who had been all bravado and loose hands while holding Anneliese "It slipped from my grasp in time for her to get it, my lord-"

Regulus averted his gaze with a small wince as Voldemort drew closer to Yaxley until he was standing directly in his face.

"And where might she be now?" he asked in a lethally soft tone, staring directly in Yaxley's eyes with his reddish ones. "You do have a location, don't you?"

The Death Eater started to shake slightly, absolutely terrified to give the answer and even more terrified as he saw Nagini slinking across the floor from the corner of his eye.

"W-we aren't sure, my lord," Yaxley said after a few heart wrenching seconds. "The only reason that we knew where she was in the first place was because of Pettigrew. I doubt she went back to Ollivander's.. so she could have apparated virtually anywhere-"

He was cut off by his own whimpers as Nagini slowly slithered around his feet, winding higher and higher up his legs until her serpentine grip made Yaxley fall off balance to the floor with a heavy thump.

"You do know what this means, don't you?" Voldemort prompted the rest of the Death Eaters, carelessly stepping over Yaxley. "This means that the girl, if she has any common sense, has gone to Hogwarts."

Regulus tried to avoid looking at how steadily purple Yaxley was turning as Nagini slithered higher and squeezed tighter around his writhing body.

"And who is at Hogwarts besides Dumbledore?" Voldemort asked, pure disgust in his tone as he spoke the name of the revered wizard. "And that old man will surely try and get the secret out of her the second she steps into that castle."

"My lord, if I may," Regulus whispered, daring to bring his eyes up as the Dark Lord nodded for him to speak. "I know the girl, and I do not think she will give the wand to Dumbledore for his own uses of replicating it. She doesn't like him, and I doubt she would allow that to happen."

"What are you saying, Regulus?" Voldemort asked, tone almost daring.

"I'm saying that perhaps it isn't the worst thing that she got away," Regulus said in as clear of a voice as he could muster. "There is a large chance that the Order and aurors will still not get these wands."

The Dark Lord looked at Regulus, almost curiously for a few seconds before answering.

"Well, next time, that is not a chance I'm willing to take," he said coldly, flicking his wrist for Nagini to finally release Yaxley, who was gasping for air. "You have failed me."

"My lord?" Bellatrix prompted, eyes wide and hurt as the man she so respected essentially told them that he was disappointed. "Perhaps I could be of aid to you in this next time."

"Thank you for your loyalty, Bellatrix," the Dark Lord said, already halfway vanished back into the smoke. "It is greatly appreciated."

He paused for a moment, and Regulus got a sick feeling in his stomach from the way Voldemort was glaring at nothing in particular.

"But next time, I think I'll meet the girl myself."

September 1, 1977
12:03 am
A Highway

Lily was slowly becoming more and more grateful for her minivan the harder she pressed her foot against the gas, sending them flying down the freeway so fast that it was a miracle she hadn't caused a wreck yet.

James was sitting in the front next to her, doing his best to keep his eyes on the map so they knew somewhat where they were going and not the driver herself.

Remus, Leo, and Peter were taking up the next row, each of the boys looking out the window in silence as they whirred by billboards and speed limit signs.

Their exhales formed small clouds of moist condensation on the glass that they wiped away with their sleeves so they could see clearly.

Peter's vision was blurry anyways, but he could at least keep the window clear even if he couldn't stop the tears from welling up in his eyes.

It was raining outside, but not in a storm kind of way.

There was just the incessant, maddening patter of raindrops hitting the glass heavily as the repetitive orange shadows of the streetlights wiped in and out across all of their faces, a somber beat nothing like the music blasting from the car only hours earlier.

Alice, Frank, Dorcas, and Marlene had all stayed back at the theater, making sure that no stray muggles remembered what had happened and magically repairing the catastrophic damage done in hopes that it would somehow erase what had just happened.

The four of them were driving to Hogwarts as well in Dorcas' dad's car once they picked up trunks from all the houses. Everyone was already packed for school, and Alice had made it their job to get their things there.

All of the seventh years were cursing the stupid bylaws of the school, wishing that they could just apparate in instead of this painstaking process.

The train ride to Hogwarts usually took around nine or ten hours, and Lily was trying her best to go the approximate route of the Express with muggle roads along with going as fast as physically possible.

To Sirius, nothing was going to get them there fast enough.

There was a certain kind of paranoia in the car, one that was fully justified because of the attack. There was an uncertainty, an unease that was following them down the highway, one that they couldn't shake.

Because somehow, the Death Eaters had known where they were. Somehow, they had missed a spy, they had passed someone carelessly without a second thought and it had ended like this.

Or worse, someone within their group had said something. But no one wanted to think, let alone believe that. Unfortunately, what they wanted wasn't really happening much anymore.

"So how did they know?" Leo asked in a hard voice to no one in particular. "There's just no way that they have eyes everywhere and that attack force ready on demand."

"Actually, there is," James countered from the shotgun seat. "These people.. they're crazy. They do anything for power, their numbers are huge, they stop at nothing to claim every bit of strength from the world."

"We're not kids to them," Lily added on in a softer tone than James had used to the American, trying to be a bit lighter in her explanation. "We're threats, and apparently.. apparently A is a bigger threat than we thought, or at least that wand is."

Leo buried his face in his palms, wishing that he had tried a little harder to get her to stop with the magic that had caused this. Maybe if he had just talked to her a little longer..

"Leo, I know you feel like somehow this is your fault or you could have stopped it," Lily continued, turning on her blinker as she read thoughts. "But there's a lot of that going around right now, so just keep your head up."

"That's Lily for you with the tough love," James muttered, eyeing a pack of cigarettes but pushing them away. "Merlin, I can't even smoke right now."

Peter was silent as he listened to the mindless conversation.

This wasn't supposed to have happened. He thought that.. he didn't even know what he thought, only that this felt wrong. He didn't want his friends to be so hurt right now.

Peter wished that Lily's words to Leo applied to him or that she would speak them again as she drove, but he also knew that they would be lies, false comfort. This was his fault, not anyone else's.

Pettigrew turned his head back to look at the back row.

Sirius and Anneliese occupied the space, him slumped against one corner while Anneliese laid across the seat, head resting against his chest as she just tried to focus on staying conscious.

"Come on, A, hold on," Sirius whispered, eyes watering as he pushed a strand of hair from her sweating, clammy skin. "Just a little bit longer, darling. Everything's going to be okay."

It felt nothing like the usual tan, freckled warmth against his fingertips. There was no subtle blush or tinge of pink. It was like touching ice, ice that was halfway done melting and pooling into tears.

"You said just a little bit longer an hour ago," Anneliese choked out, barely able to speak from her current state of waking. "Stop lying to me, Sirius."

Black averted his eyes from hers to move to the blurred window, unable to look into the watery blue and also tell her that everything was going to be okay again when it so clearly wasn't.

It seemed impossible that only hours earlier he had been wiping blood off her face in this same backseat, something that could be fixed easily and with a few laughs and spells before they moved on.

Well, too much had happened since then to cause this.

Anneliese's mind was in sort of a half awake half asleep state. The adrenaline from the fight had long since worn off, leaving her with only pure exhaustion and the will to stay awake in his arms driving her to not pass out.

Which meant that Anneliese was living both her conscious and unconscious nightmares at the same time.

Her subconscious dream world had somehow grabbed elements from the movie theater and foster home to form some twisted, sick scene that had a new horror at every blink of her eyes.

The floors were dark and rich and wooden with soft carpets and woven rugs like they had been at the foster home, yet the lighting was dark and flickering just like the projector was right before the Death Eaters had cursed it.

Each time she moved in the dream, she felt a hand slide up her leg, but not in a comforting way like Sirius did. It was just cold and invasive and cruel and somehow familiar.

Anneliese could still hear the whir of traffic go by, but she could also detect the sounds of voices of boys. Not the ones in the car with her, though. These ones had American accents.

Something about that Death Eater's hands had sent her flying backwards into the past, and now that past was becoming vivid in her sleeping mind.

Callaway made the subconscious effort to pull herself closer to Black.

Trying to stop his tears, Sirius gently gathered all of her hair with his fingertips. He moved it away from her shoulders, off the back of her neck, and tied it up so that she could see more clearly with a tiny kiss on her forehead.

A shudder went through Anneliese's body as her torso was suddenly more exposed to the car air that was either far too hot or far too cold.

It didn't just feel like she had her hair removed from her shoulders, it felt like her whole body was suddenly vulnerable. It felt like a hand was going between her legs, it felt like she was blacking out again.

No, Anneliese thought desperately, her tongue refusing to oblige to the release of her shout. Get me out of here. I want to wake up. But I am awake. This is real. No it's not. But it was.

Black felt a warm, thin drop go across his hand. Looking down, he saw that a stream of tears had slithered from the corners of Anneliese's eyes, streaming down her face almost as much as the blood from her mouth.

What the hell? Sirius thought with sudden alarm as he sat up straighter against the seat. Why is she crying in her sleep?

And that was when Black realized something.

In all of their late nights spent together or common room run ins, he had never once actually gotten a straight answer from her of what her nightmares were about.

What if they change? Sirius thought, guilt rising through him. I know mine do. I never even know what to expect when I feel one coming.

Anneliese let out a tiny, heartbreaking whimper in her sleep, one that only Black heard and only he started to panic more from.

"A?" he whispered, eyes desperately scanning her features.

Callaway's legs squeezed tightly together all of the sudden, all of her muscles clenched as her knees crossed, pressing her thighs against one another so harshly that they began to shake from the pressure.

What the hell.. Sirius thought again, but this time the phrase was more of a statement than a question. Fucking hell, A.

Anneliese ran her tongue over her teeth as muffled talking sounded around her, trying to get rid of some of the blood but only succeeding in filling her mouth with the sharp taste of iron that made her gag.

Sirius looked down again as she coughed weakly, crimson droplets of blood filling the cracks of her desert dry lips like littles rivers of red.

He knew that she had lost far too much blood, even though they had managed to clean most of it up with scourgify every few minutes, the flow from the corners of her mouth just wasn't stopping.

They were all decent at healing spells, especially the Marauders from Remus and his injuries every full moon, but none of them knew how to deal with internal damage like this.

Werewolf scratches were only on the outside, and whatever had happened to Anneliese was without doubt much, much deeper.

Sirius scanned the car for something, anything, to keep the bleeding from stopping, but all any of them had were the clothes on their back and their wands.

Without a second of hesitation, Black took off his jacket and laid it over Anneliese, applying soft pressure to the skin where the blood was running onto.

Callaway could suddenly smell Sirius everywhere, and it comforted her from those invisible hands.

"What're the symptoms of major blood loss?" Sirius asked Remus as he dabbed at her lips, knowing he would know better than any of them. "Moony?"

"Rapid breathing, weakness or fatigue, confusion, rise or drop of skin temperature," Lupin started, thinking of what Pomfrey had told him years ago during his first full moon at Hogwarts. "Anxiety, unease, you can't fucking piss, and just being tired and feel like you were hit by a car."

Black visibly paled in the warm light, and Anneliese's head went heavy.

"Guys, we gotta get to a gas station or something right now," Black said urgently, even just the sight of her making him feel sick with dread and completely helpless. "Lily, just take the next exit you see."

"What, why?" Leo asked as panic at Black's previous question began to set in, turning back to look at Sirius and Anneliese. "Oh god, she looks awful-"

Despite what Sirius had been conditioned to believe since he was a very young child, he knew good and well that muggles were far from dumb.

Of half of the witches and wizards he had met, he was certain they had a smarter muggle counterpart somewhere in the world even if they didn't possess magic to add to the potential of their cleverness.

Just like the wizarding world, the muggle world knew how to heal and keep people alive very, very well. Sometimes Sirius thought they were even better at it without all the random herbs and potions and instead firm science to back up their treatments.

Which was why Black was confident that they could find something to help Anneliese when they didn't just have a Blood Replenishing Potion lying around.

"We just need to stop and get some more help than a bloody jacket and a few spells," Black replied, voice gradually growing more impatient as her head fell heavily into his shoulder. "It's bad."

"Mate, that's going to slow us down too much," James said, turning back as well. "We just need to get her to Pomfrey, no time for delays-"

"Yea, well, I hate to break it to you James, but I have a really bad feeling that if we wait another six hours, there isn't going to be much left of her to fucking help," Sirius snapped. "Lily, please just turn this damn car to a pharmacy or some shit, I don't fucking care."

Lily nodded, twisting the wheel violently and crossing three lanes at once to get off an exit.

James rolled down the window in case he needed to throw up from either nerves or her driving.

Peter was pretty much already there as he held his head out the window and his stomach turned, only further tangling his blonde hair and increasing