Wild child

Fanny had never expected herself to think this way, but she wished she had listened to Sirius' advice.

The two had been having disagreements about where to stay, and the result of the debate was that Fanny's preference for lodging in a remote town prevailed.Sirius insisted that lively places are safer, but he also admitted that he didn't mind the increase in the probability of being attacked, and more importantly, the price of sleeping in people's homes and small hotels was much lower.

Unfortunately, EYE is as unprofitable as Fanny advertised to Rita.Mrs. Conwell's economy is not rich, and the living expenses are embarrassed to be borne by the twins or Mr. Field. Although the Black family left a large inheritance and Gringotts also provides wizards and Muggle currency exchange business, but in Sirius " All the gold was transferred to Harry's account during the "death" period in accordance with his will.Regarding the fact that he was worried about having no money for the first time in more than 30 years, Sirius was somewhat dumbfounded.

Neither of them is a gentleman, and the two quickly thought about it: if they have money, they will pay to stay in the hotel, and if they have no money, they will be cursed.For several years, sneaking into other people's homes or shops to steal was Fanny's main source of food and a major pastime, and she had no psychological barriers to it since she learned how to pick locks.Sirius agrees that this flaw is quite bearable, considering that the main business being pursued broadly boils down to saving the Muggle world.

It’s okay to spend the night at other people’s houses. To be honest, those small hotels are not much warmer than the outside.The doors and windows are often ventilated and the bedding is damp. Only when the heater is turned on to the maximum can I feel a little temperature.

That's why, on this cold Christmas Eve night, Fanny shivered in yet another chill, but didn't care, only fueling the flames a little more.

In order to keep warm, the two of them usually cast Muggle-repelling spells at the door, protect the poor pieces of furniture with water and fire spells, and light a few fires in the room to keep warm.They are already very proficient at this set, although it is always troublesome.

A hand suddenly grabbed her right arm with such force that it was about to break the bones.Fanny was startled. When she looked up, she found Sirius' eyes widened and his whole body trembling.

"What's wrong?" She asked as calmly as possible, ignoring the hand.

"...a dementor."

Immediately, Fanny also realized that although the temperature of the flame was higher, the chill had not decreased but increased, which was obviously abnormal.She stood up and walked to the window to check the situation, but was pulled back by Sirius.

"Trust me. I've been with these things for 12 years, and I can feel them from a mile away." Sirius looked calmer, but cold sweat was still dripping from his brow, "I wished they were just passing by... At least 30 of them, coming from the west, are about to invade the boundaries of the town."

Fanny gasped.

"We must leave immediately and notify Kingsley to deal with this matter," Sirius said.

"That's right...Call God's Guard!" The silver falcon flew out from the tip of Fanny's wand lightly, and Fanny waved the wand a few times with complex movements, letting it stop in front of her. "Mackenzie Town, dementors are attacking, the number is more than 30, come quickly."

When the silver falcon turned into smoke and disappeared, it also took away the heat, and the room suddenly became bone-chillingly cold.Sirius had already let go of Fanny, knowing that it was useless, she still hugged her arms to her chest, trying to keep herself warm: "How long do you think they will take..."

The street lights outside the window suddenly went out.

"Go!" Sirius said urgently.

At the same time, Fanny felt a warm corner of her heart return to its original position, knowing that the patron saint had sent the news.Now there is no doubt that she should leave immediately. She is very aware of the power of dementors. In the third year, at most seven or eight dementors made it almost impossible for her to leave the Forbidden Forest. If the delay continues, they may not even be able to apparate arrive.

There was the first scream in the distance.

"Fuck." Sirius' swear words seemed to be squeezed from the throat of a drowning man.

The room was suddenly plunged into darkness, and Fanny almost jumped up at the temperatureless touch on her arm, and then she realized it was Sirius.This time the force was even stronger, almost her entire hand sank into her arm, thanks to the numbness of her skin, she didn't feel any pain.

"Still... still go?" Fanny heard the sound of her teeth chattering.

"￥%*#$& you." Sirius panted heavily, "...the roof."

The apparition sound was eerily loud in the room that had become a black hole.

That's why the two were standing on the roof trembling hand in hand.Facts have proved that going up to the roof is never a good idea. Where dementors are rampant, there is no such thing as field of vision or visibility. Fanny quickly found it extremely difficult to stand in such a wide open space.

"Let me explain first," Fanny no longer intended to hide her voice that was about to turn into a scream, "This is not my fault alone."

It took Sirius a few seconds to respond, and it sounded dead.

"Fuck you."

"You are still here, you have no intention of running away."

"Do we have to discuss this now?"

"What else can you say at a time like this?"

It wasn't just one or two screams coming from the street below.

"Let's go and kick some ass," Sirius said, "count to three."

"That's old-fashioned," Fanny commented, trying to laugh but couldn't even move the corners of her mouth, and then mentally decided that the protagonists in those movies were either crazy or stupid. "three."

Silver hair, green light, and the Dark Mark.Someone had pulled the last beam and pressed the whole castle against her chest.

She knew Dumbledore was dead, even though she was in the library at the time and didn't see any part of that process.He didn't catch up with the battle, and didn't even have time to witness the scene that dozens of people saw with their own eyes: Dumbledore fell on the grass with broken limbs, and his once sharp blue eyes reflected the night sky with skulls and snakes hanging high.But she didn't have the slightest doubt, and decided that he was dead, as if she should.

Everything in her vision was as blurry as the mural across the Oval Office she'd been staring at for the last time as she turned away, Bill's battered face like the gorgeous sun in the center, and she was sure she wasn't crying, she felt sick.Don't spit.

Call God to protect.

The blood, the unknown smell, the smell of the werewolf's mouth left in the air, the rancid smell, the calm surface of the pool of blood gleaming with silver, gold, green, and black due to coagulation.There she was, trying to heal the boy with the long red hair, the magic of an ancient spell in the werewolf's teeth turbulent under her palm.She didn't see, didn't see, didn't see.

But the old man whispered in front of her, with the voice and lips that had softly called her "baby."

[You didn't stop it. 】

Call God to protect.

There's nothing I can do, she argued.You tell me that you are hopeless, you have made up your mind, you say you have made all the arrangements, and you say goodbye to me.

【You didn't even try, you let my death go, like you always do. 】

Call God to protect.

I'd rather be dead than me.

【You are alive, you will live until all others die.You'll stand over their graves and say the same thing because it makes your guilt absent. 】

Call God to protect.

It made no difference that Fanny had touched death, or that death had seized her.Cold, stiff, and still, the stiff hands and feet of the boy by the riverbank, the victim in the Forbidden Forest looking down at her through Dumbledore's eyes, the pupils dilated momentarily stretched to infinity, and that would be eternity.

She loathed death because there was nothing to do with it but endured it; she missed death because it was the only end she knew.If it was indeed death that awaited her, she would be grateful for it.

Call God to protect.

Call God to protect.

Call God to protect.

Fanny curled up abruptly, flipped her head off the bed, her feet were still entangled with the sheets.She felt like the light had a solid body piercing through her eyes and into her brain, and every breath seemed to squeeze her ribs out of her chest.

It took a few minutes for her to figure out that the nearby arms were human and stop the attack, and it took a few minutes for her to remember why she had to reopen her eyes, but she still couldn't remember how she was on this bed.Of course, this is easy to understand when combined with the previous events.

It looked like she was still in the small hotel from before, and it was the room they had originally booked.Sirius was lying on the bed next to him, and it was said that both the person and the soul were still there.It was Kingsley who freed her from the tangle of sheets and got her into bed and re-tucked her, and the man who examined her introduced himself as Owen Drake, St. Mungo's healer, now working for the Order of the Phoenix. .

Owen had long, graying, straw-colored hair cut like Bill's, with sprawling green eyes of varying shades and a nervous face beneath bangs.He didn't seem to need to blink very much, but he pursed his lips so hard every minute that his mouth was lined with the deepest wrinkles Fanny had ever seen.He belongs to the type whose age is difficult to judge just by looking at his appearance. In short, anyone who says a number between 30 and 60 will be believed, and Fanny will not be free to inquire about this.

After the examination was done with such care that the patient was impatient enough to jump up and turn around twice, Owen announced that Fanny was frightened but not out of her mind.The conclusion was so precise and professional, if it wasn't for her mouth full of chocolate, she would have said that I think so too.

Kingsley saw the roll of eyes that Fanny was trying to resist, and opened his mouth to bring the topic back on track.

"I also brought a few other colleagues, not all from this side, but they are all relatively reliable. They didn't see you."

The question about how those Aurors couldn't see herself and Sirius lasted for a while, before Fanny's brain started to work again and understood what Kingsley meant.Then came a dull pain behind her eyes, and she knew a severe headache was brewing.

"What's going on in town now?" she asked.

"The Contingency Reversal Team is here, and they're going to explain the whole thing as a sudden power outage and heating failure or something, as usual. Winter makes it easier." Kingsley added after a pause. "They don't even know you exist," even though he must be very clear that Fanny is not concerned with this.

"How do they account for those casualties?"

"Sequelae caused by excessive fright."

Enough bullshit, who would be scared like that by a power outage?

Although Kingsley clearly expressed that he wanted the topic to stop here, Fanny continued to ask.

"how many?"

"Judging from the current situation, there are five...or three. There are two people who are still reacting a little bit, and they may indeed be sequelae." Kingsley's steady voice was filled with well-controlled compassion, and he looked at Fan The way Annie would rub her hair like a comforting child if she allowed it. "It's all spread out on the western edge of town, which is much better than it could have been."

"You stopped the dementors from pushing east, damn it, maybe even drove them back," Owen broke in, waving his arms wildly. "What the hell are you two thinking? Climb up on the roof and intercept dozens of those things! That's fucking brave, but also fucking..."

"Courage." Kingsley cut off the conversation.Fanny, who was massaging her temples, wanted to thank him for that, the last thing she needed right now was a voice loud enough to shake her brain. "Take a good rest. I hope you can go to St. Mungo's for further confirmation, but I guess you don't have this plan."

"That's right." Fanny muttered, "Can you give me a copy of the basic information of the casualties? It's really not enough to have names."

"You know it's not your fault, right?"

"That's right, but I hope you haven't forgotten my current job. So will you give me the list?" The second half of the sentence was almost commanding, and she didn't have the energy to maintain politeness, and Kingsley wouldn't mind anyway.

"I suppose it's easy enough to do," said the dark-skinned Auror.

"Thank you."

The headache had caused white snowflakes to appear in front of Fanny's eyes. She fell on the bed and closed her eyes, falling into a sleepy and restless sleep.Sirius woke up a little later, and it was noon the next day when they both became conscious at the same time for the first time.Both the Auror and the healer had already left, and Owen had left both of them with a large pile of chocolate and the concentrated syrup-like drug that Fanny hated. The casualty list was pressed under the medicine bottle, and the names of the victims were clearly recorded on it , address and family status.

In theory it would not be wise to linger in the town when the Death Eaters already knew there were other wizards in the town at the time of the attack.But Fanny insisted on completing the report by herself. They didn't have the strength to run back and forth from another city, so they simply skipped the night watch during their stay and visiting the families of the victims.

Except for an old man living alone who was attacked in his house on the hillside, the other four were all found lying on the street after the terrible black mist cleared.The old man had no family members. Fanny and the impatient Sirius looked around the nearest place, and finally found the news in a dilapidated bar.

Adolph Jackson, who had been idle all his life, was aggressive and aggressive when he was young, and lived in poverty and alcoholism when he was old.It is said that he was once married and moved into a run-down house given up by relatives out of sympathy shortly after his wife finally couldn't bear the poverty and beatings and fled.He would have been the least part of a report on the matter, because he had no memorable part of his life--only elementary school, a few years with gangsters, due to a Field lung disease missed the draft.That relative is long gone, and no one misses his existence.The doctors and nurses wanted him to die quickly so that the bed in the welfare ward would be free.

"I now believe in your so-called 'special complex'." Sirius looked down upon Fanny's short biography that she had worked so hard to produce.

"Just because no one cried for him, doesn't mean he should be like this," Fanny replied.

"I'm just saying that anyone who cries is self-inflicted." Sirius said coldly.

Then there was John Hope, a sophomore at the local college, a cheerful, strong, blond youth with a habit of running at night.

Charlotte Jones and Martha Rand, both 16, had attended a birthday party for classmates.Martha's mother asked her to go home before 10 o'clock, and Charlotte, a good friend, accompanied her to leave early.Law and order at McKinsey has always been good, and no one thought anything could go wrong.

When Fanny and Sirius arrived at Jones' house, Charlotte had just come out of a hysterical fit, smashing everything in the room that could be broken, throwing pillows out the window, and slamming the door into her mother's face.They chatted briefly with her devastated parents, whose haggard looks made Fanny almost want to tell them how lucky they were—Charlotte was the only one of the victims who had a chance of getting well, despite the odds. I can't get rid of that shadow all my life.

About a week after the incident, the two visited the last family whose members were attacked by dementors as child counselors, and the interview on this matter finally came to an end.In a way, the visit ended fairly, if not peacefully.

Except for Charlotte, in the homes they visited before, the victims were lying on the bed or with their eyes closed or staring at the ceiling, but the 13-year-old boy in the Stevenson family "lived" with his family.

If that can be called life.

"Who am I, Franklin?"

"Mother."

"hug me."

Franklin stretched out his arms and wrapped his mother's waist accurately. Keeley Stevenson hugged his son back and told him to sit back in his seat, so he sat upright in his chair obediently.

Fanny stretched out her hand to Franklin who was opposite, and shook it.

no response.

"Look at my hands," she said softly.

Then Franklin's blue eyes followed her hand, faster as she was faster, slower as she was slower.Fanny withdrew her hand, and Franklin followed her to the dining table in front of her.

"Look straight ahead and don't forget to be polite, dear," Keely reminded.

Franklin looked up, his empty eyes fixed on Fanny.She stomped on herself hard under the table so as not to gasp, while Sirius next to her turned her head directly.

"After we told him a few times he was able to dress himself, take a bath, go to the bathroom, and he could have some conversations with us like just now." Keeley smiled sadly and lovingly, and turned to the two " Consultant" with a certain hope. "I think he understands what we're saying, and he picks up pretty fast when Tom and I teach him spelling with Alice's textbook..."

Fanny barely listened as Keeley went on rambling on about every little detail of the week that had made her feel hopeful.Franklin "watched" her, blinking in a terribly slow mechanical rhythm that she couldn't help but be distracted.

"...he did the dishes for me after breakfast this morning," Keely added emphatically to the last sentence, seeming to think it was quite important.

"He offered to help you?" Fanny pulled her attention back.

"...No, I think Tom sent him." Keely thwarted, but then added hastily: "But he didn't break a single plate."

"It's just that the action of washing the dishes is the same as yours, and the action of washing each one is the same." Sirius said darkly.

Before Gilly and Fanny could react, a little girl's crisp voice suddenly came from the restaurant door: "Fudge!"

Alice ran over with two chubby feet and showed her brother her masterpiece. The crooked paper looked like a castle she had copied from some fairy tale book.This is probably the normal state of the two brothers and sisters. Alice didn't get a reaction, and grabbed Franklin's hand and acted coquettishly.

Franklin fell on Alice while maintaining a sitting posture.

When he fell down, Fanny felt that something had collapsed on Keli's face. She leaned over and pulled up her little daughter, raising her hand.Then Killie staggered, and when Fanny came back from her shock, she found Sirius grabbing Killie's wrist and holding back the slap.

Alice didn't know what happened just now, and burst into tears in shock.

Franklin remained on his side until his mother told him to sit back in the seat.Kiri tried to appease Alice guiltily, and Fanny and Sirius looked at each other, feeling that they couldn't stay any longer.

Before leaving, Keeley told them that the couple was planning to get Franklin to play football again, and asked cautiously whether it would be beneficial to his son's recovery.During the whole process, Fanny hoped that Sirius would have something to say, but in the end she could only bite the bullet and tell Kiri that this was fine, and that safety measures should be taken at the beginning to prevent Franklin from being injured-but she would certainly not be more serious than Kiri. Think of this problem early.

They had seen Franklin's room before. Among the messy sundries, the only neat thing was the star posters carefully pasted on the wall. Judging from the photo at the head of the bed and the boy's strong muscles, it can be seen that he used to love football very much.

"Smile, Franklin, and say goodbye."

Standing beside his mom, Franklin waved goodbye to the guests, his face muscled into a toothy, perfect grin.

Fanny and Sirius left only a little slower than running away.

The author has something to say:

I found out that it has been so long since the last update [Wang Tian] I am very sorry that the three-dimensional element is so busy this semester that I vomit blood →_→ relax when I go to college, it is really a lie...