Azkaban Aftermath [Healers/Aurors]

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena rolled over sleepily, her body instinctively seeking out the warm comfort of Max’s body. She sighed happily she snuggled into his chest, sleep quickly returning to her. At least until a furious buzzing sound echoed in her room and she shot up, reaching over to switch on her light and jumping out of bed.

“Max! Emergency at Mungos. We have to go,” she said even as she moved, grabbing her robes and throwing them on. She didn’t wait for him knowing he’d be seconds behind her, turning on her heel and apparating to the Hospital.

Her mind was whirring away trying to figure out what had happened even as her stomach sank as a dark certainty appeared in her mind. She’d been trained to expect an emergency call, but had never actually had one. And for very good reason. There had never been an occasion serious enough that the staff at Mungos couldn’t deal with it until she got to work. The only reason for it to be happening now was because the Presence had struck again.

She was so absorbed in her feelings of dread, so focused on getting to the Emergency and helping that she didn’t notice she was missing something as she tried to stride to towards the Emergency Ward. Instead of her right foot taking the next step, she found herself falling as her leg gushed blood from above her knee… which was missing.

“FUCK!’ she swore as she landed on the floor her wand rolling just out of reach. How had she splinched herself now of all times?! She’d never done it before. Even in 7th year, learning to apparate, it had come so naturally. And now that there was a huge Emergency, she’d left her leg behind.

[Max Kameren]

A ring of blue-and-green sparks appeared and danced around Max’s head, shining through his eyelids with such intensity to make him shift away. It was the sparks: his spark code for emergencies at the hospital. Was he dreaming this? The sparks had never followed him outside the hospital before, and Merlin knew he’d been working enough that he wouldn’t be surprised if Milton Bonham still owned him in his unconscious hours too. The sparks followed him and he tried to shake them off, cuddling into his girlfriend to try to escape. What was that infernal buzzing? He still refused to open his eyes as Rowena pushed off him and jumped up.

“Max! Emergency at Mungos. We have to go,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah I got it now.” He groaned, finally dismissing the sparks with a wave of his hand and pushing himself up. It took him a moment longer to shake the weariness of his sleep off and throw on his muggle clothes. He was about to turn on his heel for Mungo’s when he spotted something somewhat important Rowena had left behind. Well, he was awake now!

“Oh, fuck!” Max jumped at the sight of his girlfriend’s leg on the bedroom floor, kicking and twitching as it cried out for its owner. Splinches were the worst in Max’s opinion: something so common in the Wizarding world, but always excessively gory. With shaking hands he gathered up Rowena’s unruly lower leg and apparated to Mungo’s, hoping he’d chosen the same apparition point she had.

“FUCK!’

“There she is,” Max spun around and ran to where he heard Rowena’s voice, seeking out her red pin in his mental Empath’s map. “I’ve got it!” He called down the hall, slowing to a stop and kneeling next to her.

His eyes lingered on Ro for a minute in concern before he focused on her leg, lining it up and mending the splinch with his wandless magic. “Before you rush to your ward let me get you a Blood Replenishing Potion from my office,” He ordered, cleaning up the blood from the floor with a wave of his hand and standing. He held out a hand to help her up on her newly reconnected knee, looking up and down the hallways. Everyone was on red alert, Max could feel it in his mind. He arched a brow when he felt a few familiar auras from outside the hospital on his radar: “The aurors are here. What’s happening?”

[Rowena Jones]

She was in the middle of doing a very good impression of a worm as she crawled on the floor trying to get to her wand to stop the damn bleeding that was very quickly making her dizzy when she heard Max's approach.

“I’ve got it!”

'Oh thank fuck!' she thought to herself, 'This is why people have boyfriends.' She gave up on her quest and rolled onto her back to survey the damage. It looked like she'd come straight out of a horror movie and she didn't know whether to be relieved or mortified that Max was coming at her with her leg held firmly in his hand. She'd seen a lot of weird shit in her time as a Healer, but that one moment rated very high up on the list.

Her boyfriend arrived at her attempt at a murder scene and she glanced at him for all of one second with her severed appendage before letting her head fall back with a firm "Nope." Reattaching other people's body parts was one thing but she was not watching her own.

She dimly felt Max working his magic and when she dared to look again, she would never have been able to tell anything had happened at all. He'd even cleaned up all the blood. Really what was all the fuss about Splinching about? The whole thing had been relatively harmless. She didn't even need that Blood Replenishing Potion Max was insisting on.

That nonchalance lasted all of the 3 seconds it took for her to stand and she let out a sharp curse as pins and needles rushed the length of her leg, making her stumble and clasp tightly onto her boyfriend. The wave of dizziness that followed almost made her throw up and she bit her lip sharply as she tried to work through the pain. She really did not have time for this. There was a damn emergency happening. Something that had not happened in her entire career at Mungos. 

“The aurors are here. What’s happening?”


She was about to suggest they go find out when Bryn came whizzing around the corner, his eyes wild. 

"Oh thank Merlin you both are here. There's been an attack. Azkaban. You need to get to the Emergency Ward. Now!" he said as he rushed by them.

And just like that, Rowena's pain disappeared, replaced by horror. Azkaban?! She snatched her wand from the floor, ignoring the wave of nausea at the quick movement and took off at a run... or an attempt at one. Apparently, her leg was still going through a process of shock as it failed to react in the way she demanded of it. 

"Oh for fuck's sake," she swore, pointing her wand at herself and muttering some quick Healing spells. Rowena wasn't expecting the jolt of electricity that ran through the handle of her wand and up her arm instead of fixing her slow moving leg. She started, almost falling again mid stride, her amber eyes wide but she quickly controlled it. Something was wrong with her magic. Shit timing but she'd figure it out later. No time now. She just hoped Max hadn't noticed. They couldn't afford distractions. 

'No,' Rowena thought as she rounded the corner and entered the Emergency Ward and took in the sight in front of her, 'they couldn't afford distractions at all.'

[Alecsander]

Alex Kameren was being wheeled in on a gurney, bleeding heavily. He had several sectrum sempra scars across his body, as well as a few burns along the left side of his face. As the gurney jolted over a bump he sat up--or tried to since the transporting wizards had strapped him down across the chest. Soon he slumped back into unconsciousness. The orderly with the gurney spotted the two healers.

"Thank Merlin you're here! We're backed up, we've got aurors and hitwizards lining the halls, and inmates in the warded rooms!"

[Elle Callahan]

Elle had been in the break room when the alarm had sounded. She'd just got a snack from the vending cart and had finally sank into a chair. She let out a groan when the lights began to flash. She put her head on the table for three seconds. She was so flipping tired. She'd already done an eight hour shift. Four more hours left. Highly unlikely now. Elle shoved the muffin in her mouth, eating it in two bites as she sprayed her hands with disinfectant from her wand and set off at a trot. She skidded to a halt near Max and Rowena just in time to hear the orderly talk about the line of patients. What the bloody hell happened?

Elle bit her lip when she spotted Alex on the gurney. Of course a bloody emergency had to include a Kameren. Elle ruthlessly shoved aside her feelings for the man on the gurney. He looked bloody awful. Her heart might have beat faster at the sight of the sectrum sempra wounds but it didn't show on her face. Elle jumped on the edge of the gurney, her feet balancing on the rung one arm looped through the guard rail.

"Go!" Elle shouted at the orderly as she began firing the counter spell "Vulnera Sanentur" at the wounds. The blood flow slowed to a trickle as Elle continued the counter spell, firing repeatedly at the wounds until they began to knit together. Elle worked as the orderly continued to push the gurney.

[Max Kameren]

"Oh thank Merlin you both are here. There's been an attack. Azkaban. You need to get to the Emergency Ward. Now!" he said as he rushed by them.

Max cursed under his breath; damn, this was serious then. An attack, not a random coincidence like a block fire or trouble on the Knight Bus, like he’d been called for in the past. This was another step on their long walk towards War. He took a step back, knocking a pattern into the blank off-white wall of the hallway until his hand glowed blue-and-green and a door faded into view. He opened to reveal his office closet door, his potions cart prepared for duty and his Mungo’s robes draped over the top with his daily vials of potion sewn into the breast.

He shrugged into his robes and pulled his cart out into the hallway. His fingers were searching the vials in his robes for a Blood-Replenishing Potion when his mind was jolted back into reality by Rowena’s aura. He glanced up in a double take, his brow furrowing in frustration at his girlfriend as she stumbled.

"Oh for fuck's sake," she swore.

“Ro, for Merlin’s sake slow down for a moment or you won’t be of use to anyone.” Max charmed his cart to follow and caught up with Rowena in a few strides, spinning her around by the shoulder to face him. He found the right vial and handed it over. With Rowena treated Max looked up to take in the scene around them for the first time: chaos. Whatever happened in Azkaban must have been a sight; inmates and aurors alike were lining the walls of the hospital in various states of injury. It seemed the entire Department of Law Enforcement rested on gurneys in St. Mungo’s Hallways…

As if on cue an orderly rolled by with Alex Kameren strapped to his gurney. Max’s heart stopped; his wide eyes focussed on the burned face of his uncle, reaching out to feel his aura. There was little he could sense. He unconsciously reached for Rowena’s hand, holding and squeezing it for only a second before he let go and turned to his cart. That moment was all he would allow himself to panic: it was time to get to work.

”Thank Merlin you're here! We're backed up, we've got aurors and hitwizards lining the halls, and inmates in the warded rooms!" 

"Go!" Elle shouted at the orderly as she began firing the counter spell "Vulnera Sanentur" at the wounds.

“Elle!” Max barked, making eye contact with the healer as the gurney flew by. He held three vials over his head of varying size and color, and when he opened his hand they floated along to catch up with the gurney. “Numbing Potion! Burn Paste! Blood Replenishing Potion!” Should’ve sent along a scar-fading draught too, he mused as he watched the gurney turn the corner. The old codger was marked-up enough.

“Kameren!” The voice of another healer calling out to him took Max’s attention and his head swung around to see Cutter rushing up to him. “Where have you been? Other PM’s looking for you, he’s run out of Red Sea Sand for blood replenishing potions.”

“Shit,” Max swore under his breath, taking that into account as he tried to form a brewing plan in his head for their emergency. With a deep breath Max suppressed his own aura and pushed emotions into the background; if he was going to get through this situation, he would have to turn himself off, instead functioning as a vessel for the auras in the room he couldn’t control. He shot Rowena one last concerned glance over his shoulder before he pushed his cart off to wherever he was needed.

[Rowena Jones]

“Ro, for Merlin’s sake slow down for a moment or you won’t be of use to anyone.” Max spun her round, passing her a vial which Rowena took even as she relaxed. It didn't look like he'd noticed her electrocuting herself, but she knew her boyfriend. He was observant and already worried about her, never mind how much she told him not to be. He didn't need to know of another 'symptom'.

She returned her gaze to the Ward wincing as she took in the numerous full beds, several with sheets stained red. Before she could take a step towards a patient an orderly rolled by with Alex Kameren strapped to his gurney and her heart stopped as she immediately looked up at Max. Of course his uncle would have been there, Alex was Head Auror. Rowena felt Max take her hand and she tried to send him as much support as she could before they both switched to work mode.

”Thank Merlin you're here! We're backed up, we've got Aurors and Hitwizards lining the halls, and inmates in the warded rooms!"

Rowena was about to take on Alex's case when and Elle sized blur jumped in and took charge. The other woman was an excellent Healer, she'd fix Alex up. Rowena had a feeling that Elle would ensure Alex survived just so that she could be the one to kill him if she decided that his latest slip up was too much.

With Alex taken care of, Rowena turned away towards the next incoming patient. Her wand swirled quickly in the air, complicated healing chants leaving her lips even as the woman was moved to one of the few empty beds. Cuts healed under Rowena's spellwork, colour returned to pale skin but still the Auror wouldn't wake. Rowena frowned. With the earlier problem with her magic she couldn't help but think maybe she was the cause but it seemed like her magic was stable again. The Healer paused then cast her own spell that revealed brain activity and swore. Nothing. Rowena could have cast spells until her face turned blue, could have kept the body working but it was as if whatever had been the essence of this woman had gone. Rowena sighed, pulling the sheet up to cover the Auror's face and turned to the next one.

She had no idea how much time passed as she moved from one patient to the next, some she saved, some she didn't. Rowena didn't even let herself stop to think about it but the realities of War were hitting her hard. She rarely lost patients. Magic could heal so many things but this past month they’d lost so many people despite it. It was a hard truth to face.

“Healer Covington, you’re needed in the Warded Rooms,” said a Healer she didn’t recognize as they rushed past her.

Rowena sighed, cleaning bloodied hands on a clean cloth before turning on her heel. She tried to catch Max’s eye as she left the Emergency Ward but couldn’t see him in the crowd of Healers and patients. She turned down the corridor, following the path Bryn had taken as he rushed by them earlier. How long ago had that been? Rowena supposed he’d been with the inmates the whole time. Reaching the secured area, she keyed in her access code, and walked in.

And froze.

Three Healers lay slumped to the ground, eyes wide but filled with black. There was no blood here, but from one room, the red liquid seeped from under the door. She should call for help. Why wasn’t she calling for help?! But instead her legs were moving, taking her closer to that door. She didn’t want to know what was behind it! And then her hand reached out and pushed and everything went numb.

Her breath caught even as she slid to the ground, amber eyes wide and fixed on the sight in front of her. A scream bubbled up in her throat but was unable to escape as the sheer horror of the body in front of her soaked into her brain. She’d never forget this sight as long as she lived.

It hadn’t been just a kill to escape, whoever had done this had taken their time. Hadn’t felt the need to rush despite the Aurors, Hitwizards and hospital security patrolling the halls.

Bryn's body had been artfully arranged, sitting on the bed, Runes decorating his skin and distracting her from the slit in his throat. Empty eye sockets stared at her accusingly and one hand pointed at her as if to say it was all her fault. Rowena's nightmare came rushing back. Her fault. 

Rowena’s gaze fell onto the floor and the message written in blood on the tile. Finally, tears escaped her eyes, running down her cheeks as she sent the Emergency Sparks that would alert all Staff.

[Max Kameren]

Time passed quickly for Max like this. In crowds where he couldn’t use numbing potions Max would do the opposite: he would shut his own aura out, letting the masses swarm into him. He could function on a sort of auto-pilot, performing the tasks he needed to and thinking critically but coldly. He didn’t speak with the same character to his voice. He looked different to those who knew him. Max was gone. He had absorbed himself so thoroughly in this way that he didn’t see Rowena disappear around the corner.

His calloused hands moved methodically, functioning with the precision he'd honed as a Potions Master. His green eyes were lost in a trance, half-focused on whatever potion was in front of him. Inside his mind was like the ambient sounds of the scene around them: chaos being countered with focus, pain being countered with healing. He felt the pained auras soothed one by one, or felt the painful ether pop when one was lost to him.

And then the call went out.

Emergency sparks buzzed around Max’s vacant senses, warning him of what was to come as a swell of fear surged through the room. Then he felt it: the small signature left behind in a spell cast by a witch or wizard. If he knew the aura well enough he could catch it in their magic, and he knew this aura too well to miss: Rowena.

Max brought himself gasping back into the world, throwing down the potions equipment in his hands and running down the hall. The others hadn’t yet figured out the danger, but Max had zeroed in: his red pin in his head. Rowena. When she moved through the halls of St. Mungo’s Rowena Covington’s aura always hummed: right now, it shrieked.

With shaky fingers Max keyed in his entry to the secure ward, leaving a crack in the door for Law Enforcement to make it through when they caught up to him. Max slowed only for a moment at the sight of the other healers. Whatever was happening, he knew couldn’t help them. They weren’t dead, but he couldn't feel their auras. They felt inverted, grasping at Max’s aura for strength as he passed by. He gave the bodies a wide berth, moving quickly to the room he felt Rowena in.

He stopped in the doorway, unable to cross the threshold into the scene before him. Suddenly Max felt like he couldn’t breathe, let alone process what he was looking at. After taking in the horrific sight Max stared at the ground to get through: he couldn’t see Bryn this way. It took conscious thought for Max to move himself into the room and get to Rowena; when he did he knelt in front of her and grasped her shoulders, urging her to move with him. When he couldn’t get her to respond he picked her up, throwing her dead weight haphazardly over his shoulder and taking her out into the hall.

When they were finally out of sight of Bryn and the three black-eyed healers Max collapsed in the hallway, sliding to the floor against the wall. His grip didn’t falter on Rowena and he held her tight, his own shock overtaking him. He nuzzled his head down into her shoulder, staring straight forward with her as the muscle spasms and hyperventilation of an old familiar panic attack overtook him.

Healers, aurors and hitwizards all rushed past them into the ward. Max felt their shock and disgust each time, but didn’t react. He only stared forward, thinking about the eyes: the black eyes. The hollow eyes.

[Rowena Jones]

Dimly she was aware of her boyfriend arriving, but those eyes were staring at her and she was falling into that hole from her nightmares, the arms reaching out to grab her, the voices calling out for her over and over and over again. Your fault. You let me die. You are the reason they chose me. Even as Max threw her over his shoulder and took her away from the nightmarish scene, she couldn’t stop it replaying in her mind.

The opening of the door, the blood on the floor, her gaze falling on the too still body of her Assistant. The slack face, devoid of the happiness that had always been present even when he’d fussed over her despite her being his senior. That slice across his neck that no one would be able to save him from, a sickening mockery of his usual smile. And those runes, desecrating his innocent body.

Anger warred with shock warred with despair warred with fear behind blank eyes as Max and Rowena slid to the floor and strangers ran past them to experience the horror behind those doors. It was only when she felt Max seizing up in his own panic attack that Rowena felt her numbness fading as concern shocked through her warring emotions. And with the beginnings of a return to reality came the feeling of wetness and she didn’t want to look but as before, her body didn’t obey her mind.

Her breathing sped up as she took in fingers covered in red. “Oh god, oh god, oh god,” she cried as the realization that she was covered in Bryn’s blood hit her. Bryn. Bryn who she’d just seen, alive and well and happy. Bryn full of laughter and potential and – and the image of empty sockets, accusing and dead, so dead flashed in her mind. No! That would not be how she remembered him. Not sweet innocent Bryn.

This war was already taking too much away from her, but she would be damned if it was going to take the good memories she had of her friend too. She tried to push those images away, focusing instead on her boyfriend who held her tightly in his grip and did something she never thought she'd do by choice. She slowed her panicked breathing, quietened her mind and pulled all her determined strength to the front. They'd promised each other they'd fight this thing together. And she would fight. However she could help, Rowena Covington was not going to let this thing get away with this. 

“Look after yourself little Rowena,” said the voice that haunted her sleeping hours and Rowena started. In her focused promise, the Healer hadn’t noticed the Hitwizards leading the three black-eyed Healers out. She’d thought they’d been dead, they’d been so still. But now they walked, skin pale, eyes still that impossible blackness, movements jerky and as they passed it felt like the little energy she had was pulled towards them. She scratched at her arm as her amber gaze met that endless hole that had replaced normal human eyes. He’d been one of the nurses, she realized as he stood there, looking right at her. “It isn’t over yet.”

And then they were being forced forward by tense wizards who gave Rowena odd looks and she shuddered as she realized she was going to have to relive this all again later when she was questioned by Ministry workers.

“Oh you poor things!” Mary was standing by them, holding clean blankets. “Come dears, let’s get you cleaned up. You've done enough today.”

[Max Kameren]

It was happening again. They were talking of war, preparing for it, and here it was. Max hadn’t had a panic attack in fifteen years, when he was dealing with the fallout of the last war. And here he was again. It was happening again. It was happening again. It was happening again. The phrase repeated in his mind to the rhythm of his heartbeat bursting in his chest. He held tight to Rowena to ground him in the real world. Her aura reached out to him, but he couldn’t reach her. He was trying desperately to escape the pressure crushing him, but this wasn’t Empathy. This was physical. This was him. It was happening again.

Bryn had been killed. Not just killed, mutilated. Max had seen people killed in the last war, lost loved ones and nearly his family. This was different; the way he’d been arranged, the sheer horror of what he’d gone through in the hour since they saw him alive and well was staggering. The killer had taken great pain - and joy - in arranging him to be found that way by Rowena specifically. Mosrael hadn’t been that way; she killed to push her power. This was somehow more cruel.

It was happening again. But this time, it was worse.

“Look after yourself little Rowena,” The voice pulled Max far enough out of his panic attack that his empathy shuddered through him, a haze of pain clouding his periphery and lingering in a way similar to the Morrison murders. His breathing finally slowed but he didn’t look up at the people walking by for fear of the presence lashing out. “It isn’t over yet.”

Suddenly hands descended upon them. “No, no no no…” One managed to get Rowena from him, his hands too slippery with Bryn’s blood that had transferred onto him to stop them. The haze left behind by the black-eyed healers lingered in Max’s senses, clouding them. He couldn’t recognize the people standing over him, couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. “Stop. Stop touching me. Stop!” Max put up his arms defensively and a shield projected off of him, pushing everyone backwards.

He took a deep breath and pushed himself up slowly on shaky legs, finally following the slumped form of his girlfriend down the hall flanked by wizards. They eventually caught up and Max caught Rowena’s hand, squeezing it and nudging her aura reassuringly.

“Oh you poor things!” Mary was standing by them, holding clean blankets. “Come dears, let’s get you cleaned up. You've done enough today.”

The cheeriness of Mary’s voice made Max cringe. Did she know what happened? Evidently she hadn’t seen, or her tone would be different. He shot the healer a hard look as he took the blanket. When he did his fingers stained it red with Bryn’s blood, making the idea of covering himself with it suddenly unappealing. He held it, looking around warily for where they would be herded to next.

[Alecsander]

Awareness came slowly, the rustling of movement in the room, flashes of light, snatches of noises he couldn't decipher. Alex woke to extreme pain. It took him a while to focus his vision, finding himself in a hospital room. He couldn't see out of his left eye, something heavy wrapped itself around that side of his head. The pain started to subside, but remained in a sharp throbbing, as if someone had stabbed him with a ice pick.

"Uuuhhh." He groaned, trying to sit up. He seemed to be alone. In a hospital gown. Great, he so loved hospital gowns. He propped himself up gingerly against the top of the bed. What had happened? His mind was all musty and fogged. Alex groaned again, lifting a hand to cradle his head. His whole body felt as though an elephant had sat on him.

Fire. He remembered fire.

[Rowena Jones]

She'd panicked when she'd been separated from Max but having him there again calmed her enough that she could give Mary a small smile in thanks and take the blanket. She glanced in concern at her boyfriend when she felt him cringe.

"Max...She doesn't know it was Bryn..." she whispered, shuddering when she noted all the blood she'd put on the blanket. There was no way she was putting that on her. She needed a shower. And she was not going to let herself think about whose blood covered her.

It was strange, she thought, that her mind was suddenly being so rational, when her body was starting to shake violently. Huh. Delayed shock. She didn't really want to be so visible for this. But her body wasn't responding. Great. Looked like the whole emergency ward was going to see this. Her eyes darted around anxiously, catching sight of Alex sitting up. He really shouldn't be doing that she thought, even as she tried to focus on her breathing and hide the tremors. Breathe...1..2..3...In...Out... Merlin her arm was itchy. In. Out. There was a Ministry worker approaching them. Not a good time she thought. The shaking was slowing but her body was still not responding to her overactive mind. It was as if she was trying to think of everything but what she had just seen.

She really didn't want to relive it all just yet. She wasn't ready. Surely they could understand that. She wanted Max. Needed to feel his touch. She let out a sigh of relief when her hand moved as she wanted to find his and latched onto it. A wave of exhaustion washed over her and the shock finally lost it's grip on her. Was it normal to be this tired after such trauma? She hadn't been like this after the Morrison attack. "You should check on your uncle," she said slowly. "Do you think they'll question us now? I can't do it Max." At that point Milton arrived, glancing around the Ward and Rowena suddenly darted up, pushed by a dim memory. Little Rowena... "I need to go home. I need to check on my parents."