Just An Ordinary Week: Sunday
Title: Just An Ordinary Week: Sunday
Author: bratty_jedi (Rachael)
Format: Ficlet (just over 900 words)
Rating: Pre-teens (mild violence)
Prompt: 17 (July 2): Burn
Warning: None.
Summary: "She bolted up the stairs and into the heart of the fire."
Disclaimer: I own none of this. J. K. Rowling and assorted companies including but not limited to Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and Warner Brothers own everything. They also make all the money. I am just having fun and in no way seek financial profit from their property.
Author's Note: I am going to try to tell one continuous story over this week (Saturday to Friday). Each prompt will be one day in a week in the lives of Remus and Tonks. Don’t be fooled by the title. This will (hopefully) not be a boring week for our hero and heroine.
This story follows Just An Ordinary Week: Saturday.
The first thing Tonks noticed was the fire. Red, yellow, and orange flames mixed with blue, purple, and green ones to give testimony to the magical origins of the inferno. The fire was the only thing exerting control on the chaos surrounding it. Its flickering light illuminated Muggles as they ran about searching for loved ones, and wizards as they chased behind, ready to modify memories. Its roar drowned the general screams and the cries of "Obliviate!" Its smoke hid the men and women she hoped were fighting the blaze.
Somehow, through the pandemonium, she spotted a familiar bald skull rising above the crowd. She ran to where Kingsley Shacklebolt stood guarding a group of Muggles. "Kingsley, I got your message. What's the situation?"
"It appears the fire was started by Death Eaters though why they targeted these flats is unknown. The water from the Muggle firefighters was making it worse so I am keeping them back, but they are rather insistent. Last I knew, we had about thirty people up there fighting the blaze and they need all the help they can get."
"Right." Tonks turned and faced the fire. This was certainly not how she had planned to spend her day off. With a mental shrug and a quick bubble-head charm, she ran towards the building that was quickly becoming burned beyond recognition. Halfway there, she felt a sudden pain in her foot and found herself sprawled across the pavement. "Damned clumsiness," she thought as she levered herself to her feet. Through the smoke she could barely see an indistinct lump. She stepped closer and realized she had tripped over an unconscious woman. Shoulders still aching from her night on the couch, she grasped the woman and pulled her farther from the smoke and fire. She deposited her burden on a grass outcropping and sent a shower of green sparks floating over the body. Hopefully one of the fools wasting their time modifying the memories of Muggles before the situation was under control would notice and come to help the woman.
Tonks again turned to face the fire and again found herself sprawled on the ground. A hand had a weak grip on her ankle. She shook it off and looked into the now open eyes of the mystery woman. "My baby," she croaked. "My little girl is in there." The woman pointed towards the second story. Tonks wasn't sure but she almost thought she could see a child's face looking out a window.
"Right," Tonks muttered for the second time that evening. Could this day get any worse?
She turned and pelted towards the flames, a new sense of urgency pushing her faster. She stood under the window. Looking straight up at it, she was certain she could see a child coughing. No one else seemed to have noticed. "Jump!"
The child could not hear her over the roars of the flames. Tonks' desperation mounted. The girl only had a few minutes left.
With a snarl, Tonks ran towards the main entrance. She ignored the wizard yelling at her to stop. A part of her mind registered that he worked for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad and the Ministry must really be desperate to have him in there fighting a fire that was clearly not an accident, but the rest of her stayed focused on her task. She bolted up the stairs and into the heart of the fire.
Flames licked at her from every side. Heat burned her skin. She slowly picked a path to the stairs, leaping over holes in the ground and ducking to avoid falling bits of fiery wood. Every third or fourth step on the staircase was gone. The rest were encased in flames. Tonks knew she just had to make it up those stairs. Coming down would not be a problem. She could apparate herself and the child to safety if she could just find a way to the girl. Tonks was on the fifth step when the world gave way beneath her. Mindless of the flames surrounding her, she threw herself forward to keep from falling. She landed across several stairs, her stomach and chest in agony as flames burned through her clothes, her skin. She rolled over and murmured a spell to extinguish the flames. Shunting aside her pain, she crawled to the top of the stairs.
She glanced around, trying to get her bearings, but the smoke obscured everything. "Kid?" she called. Her only answer was the constant roar of the fire. Adrenaline helping her push past her burns, she aimed her wand at the nearest door and cried "Reducto!" The door, already weakened by the fire, easily blew apart, but there was no child inside the room. She moved on to the next door. And the next. She found the little girl on her fourth attempt. The child was curled in a ball near the window.
Tonks moved into the room just as fiery beam fell between herself and the child. She ducked, her arm reflexively covering her head while the child screamed. Tonks bit back a scream of her own as her body folded around then burns on her front. She hurriedly flicked her wand, sending the beam flying out of her way. She ran to the child, grabbed an arm, and disapparated.
She apparated on the ground at Kingsley's feet, her body sandwiched between the pavement and the child. She cried out from the pain of the burns across her front. She was dimly aware of Kingsley lifting the child, but everything seemed hazy. "Tell Remus," she whispered as her eyes fluttered closed. As her eyes opened again, she was sure she saw a misty, gray form fly from Kingsley's wand. Her last thought as the darkness claimed her was that her message had been sent.