Supply and Demand [Max]

[Rowena Jones]

It was 4:53am and the hospital was mostly quiet as patients slept, carefully watched over by the night shift. In an office at the end of the Spell Damage ward, a light shone dimly, illuminating the tired face of Rowena Covington as she attempted to scribble notes in thick folders at her desk. Dark circles ringed her eyes, her hair hanging limply to her shoulders, bones pushing sharply through her cheeks. She was sick. She’d been denying it for weeks, trying to hide it from those closest to her but she’d been living in a constant state of exhaustion. She’d been spending the past week hiding behind a glamour, making excuses to keep Max away from her to stop him from touching her and noticing bones sticking out where they hadn’t been just days ago. She was surviving on Wide Eye potions, Pepper Ups and a multitude of spells, and with all the trauma of the past month, it seemed people believed her when she waved away their concern over the lack of her usual demanding presence. There’d been the awful weekend that, the sob bubbled up despite her best attempts, the weekend that had cost them Bryn. She still couldn’t think about it without feeling her whole body freeze. Still found it hard to be here, at the place of work she’d always considered home. His sightless eyes still followed her in her dreams. Her fault. That weekend her magic had gone haywire for a few minutes, but she thought she’d gotten away with it, Max hadn’t even questioned her splinch. She had still thought maybe there was a simple Muggle explanation for it. Had almost managed to convince herself that it truly had been Early Onset Alzheimer’s like she’d originally thought. But that had been the beginning of the end. If she had thought she’d been tired before then, the exhaustion that had followed had only proved her wrong.

Now, less than two weeks later, as she examined fingers that could barely grip a quill she finally admitted that this was something far worse. She was dying. Her body was barely functioning. She’d done the tests herself. All signs were pointing towards certain organ failure as she lacked the energy to maintain proper function. There was only so much magic and potions could do when they didn’t know the cause. And lately anything she did felt like she was trying to put a plaster on a broken leg.

Rowena felt a wave of regret for not telling Max. She’d confided in his best friend instead. Both of them were keeping similar secrets from him. She knew he suspected. She’d gone from wanting to spend every possible moment with him to avoiding him like she used to do when they had hated each other. Done it even though she’d promised to fight this thing together. But she’d been so sure it wasn’t related, hadn’t wanted to bother him with it when they had this other threat hanging over them. Especially after the Azkaban Attack. It had shook them both. And now it felt like it was too late.

The thought made her heart crack. She didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t want to die. Not like this. This quiet pathetic death for no known reason. Sickened and weak in a way she had never been before, such a contrast to her loud, proud personality. Large fat tears escaped her eyes, splashing down on parchment marked with chicken scratches. Marks she’d made in her attempts to hold the quill steady enough to complete the paperwork her job demanded.

[Max Kameren]

"Max. Go home. Stop stalking your girlfriend, it's weird. They didn't rehire me for you to keep living here." Harper Wells arched an irritated brow from over her cauldron, glancing in the direction of the lump of a person hunched over the office desk.

It had been a week and things were moving quickly. At time, too quickly for Max to keep up; after the initial Watch meeting Max had been practicing more frequently on the dueling range, trying to get himself prepared for whatever was coming next. He followed that with his busy Mungo's schedule, finally somewhat lightened when Milton relented under Max's urging and rehired Harper as a full-time PM. Knowing how much her old master needed her help, Harper obliged.

The few remaining hours of his day weren't spent resting or relaxing, instead he followed. One of his last conversations with Bryn had been about his concern for Rowena's health, and they'd agreed to keep an eye on her. Whenever Max asked Ro how she felt, though, she brushed him off; when his insistence started to grate on her he gave up, instead keeping his distance and tracking her with his sixth sense. It was just him that saw her changing, now: if she wasn't going to let him help her he would simply follow until she would.

Which was what led to his early arrival for his morning shift in two hours, sitting at his desk, reaching out for the faint sense of the red pin in the Spell Damage Ward.

"Oh for god's sake, if you're going to be here at least talk to her. Here, I need her to sign off on these requests made by her residents anyway." Harper flung a clipboard with a stack of parchment towards the desk hitting Max square in the head. It started him upwards and he begrudgingly obliged.

Anxiety seeped into Max's heart with each step towards Rowena's office. His girlfriend hadn't let herself be in the same room as him since the funeral, and he didn't think it was that she was putting off breaking up with him. Something was wrong that she didn't want him to see, he could feel it. She'd been off since the Morrison murders, and whatever it was it was worse.

"Ro, I - " Max looked up and dropped the clipboard. He hurried around the desk to kneel next to Rowena. It was so much worse than he'd imagined.

Rowena's skin was paper-thin, letting Max see the blood vessels pulsing like bruises underneath. Now that he was closer he could finally feel her aura in better detail: she was fading, crumbling around whatever was taking her energy. She was weak because her body was eating itself. Unless something drastic was done she would waste away.

But Max knew something drastic he could do.

[Rowena Jones]

She heard him coming too late. Her hand automatically reaching for her wand to cast the necessary glamours regardless. He couldn’t see her like this. She didn’t want his last memories of her to be this living corpse. But the door opened even as her bony fingers missed their target and her wand fell to the floor instead.

"Ro, I - "

And then he was there, right next to her and her dulled eyes stared at him in horror. He couldn't see her like this! Bryn's death still haunted her despite every attempt to remember him the way she had known him. If she was going to die she wanted Max to remember the way she'd been when they'd first started dating. Happy. Nervous. Excited. Pretty. Her breathing came quickly as she panicked, looking away from him, trying to hide the horror of her wasted body.

"Max, no. Please. I don't want you to see this..." she said, her voice quiet and raspy. Her body sagged as even this small interaction took energy she didn't really have. "I'm sorry..." she said. At least she could tell him that. She'd been going to write a note, but as her earlier attempts showed, that would have proven difficult now.

Her arm itched and she scratched at it impatiently. It had been doing that all morning and now the skin was reddened and irritated. She pushed herself up from her desk to get the paste she'd been using to stop the itching lest she break through the paper thin skin.

There was no other warning for what was to come.

She'd taken two shuddering steps when it felt like darkness was rushing at her. She collapsed, her back arching and there was a crack as bones snapped, eyes scrunched up, one bony hand grabbing her wrist where a dim red glow was appearing. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she felt her energy leaving her, her very life force flowing through the rune on her arm.

“Maax…” she gasped out and then consciousness left her.

[Max Kameren]

"Max, no. Please. I don't want you to see this..." she said, her voice quiet and raspy. She tried to turn away but Max cupped her face in his hands, looking her over with fear in his eyes. How had she hidden this from him for this long? She was so fragile, it felt like one wrong move and she would turn to dust. Max was speechless, unsure what he could do to help her. Well, he knew what he could do, but he knew Rowena wouldn't let him do it. "I'm sorry..." she said.

"Ro, please, let me help you." She pushed herself up and Max followed her, trying to get her to slow down. When she held out her arm he took it gently in his hand, examining the scratches she'd made. Then suddenly her arm was wrenched from his hand as she seized backward. "Rowena!" Max caught her before she hit the floor, lowering to his knees and holding her in his arms.

Max cursed as her body writhed and bones cracked; there was nothing he could do here. This wasn't in any healing books. This was beyond his empathy. He watched in horror as the scratches on her wrist reformed and began to glow red, forming runes along her wrist. His eyes widened; he had to act fast. Max jumped up and searched the desk for the first sharp object he could find: a letter opener gleamed in the top right-hand drawer and he took it. He turned back and wrestled her arm into his hand with shaky fingers.

“Maax…” she gasped out and then consciousness left her.

"Sorry," He muttered, cringing as the letter opener cut into her flesh and pulled.

[Rowena Jones]

It was like the pain had opened up her mind and she was racing towards the light, a bright white blinding light that pulled her towards it.

---

She was standing in the conservatory in her home Nottingham, having lunch with her parents, the sun shining through the window with its coloured glass casting lovely hues of yellows and pinks into the room.

“Be safe darling,” said her mother and her father laughed as they once again teased their daughter about her new relationship. Their happy inane chatter was interrupted by a loud growl followed by a whimper that was cut off too suddenly.

The chill that ran over Rowena’s body caused goosebumps to appear all over her arms and she spun, her chair falling to the side as she grabbed her wand.

“What are yo-" her father said before also standing, moving to protect his wife as a cloaked figure entered the room.

“Daddy get out of here,” Rowena said putting herself in between the stranger and her parents. Her nightmare was at the forefront of her mind. She knew what came next. Death. She’d lost Max in that night teror, but she would not give her parents to whatever this monster was.

Her father protested as she knew he would, but she screamed at him to run, her wand pointing at the cloaked figure who was just standing there, it’s head tilted as if in amusement as it watched the scene unfold. This time, her parents listened but as they moved towards the other doors, they slammed shut and the figure laughed.

Rowena whimpered. That laugh, a voice filled with a thousand voices. Finally it moved walking closer to her, the cloak concealing any hope of revealing the person behind that bone chilling presence… if there was one.

“Oh little Rowena. All grown up. I’ve come to ask for your aid.”

Her help? What could she do? Why did it think she would help it, something so obviously dark and twisted and against everything her Healing had ever taught her? “No…” she said even as her mother, her poor sick brave Muggle mother pushed her father aside and charged at the darkness.

“What do you want with my daughter?!” Elizabeth demanded.

“She’s not yours. She never was.” The voices hissed whirling on the older woman, the shadows darkening, “She was always meant to be mine. Two ancient bloodlines joined so that I can cleanse our world.”

And before Rowena could do anything, her mother was in that things arms, and even without a visible wand, Rowena knew that one wrong move would be Elizabeth’s end.

“Now I need you to offer yourself for this, a sacrifice if you will. Your energy, willingly given… in exchange for your mother’s life.”

The angry refusal ready on Rowena’s lips disappeared in an instant. Energy? What kind of energy? There was a whimper of pain from her mother and suddenly it didn’t matter what kind of energy. Rowena would do anything to save her parents.

“I’ll do it. Whatever you need. Just let her go.”

“Clever girl. All I need is your arm.” The figure laughed, if that’s what she could call the dark echoing cackle, as Rowena threw out her arm with no hesitation. There was an echo of pain as the figure cut a runic shape into her arm chanting all the while, dimmed through this memory of an event that had been hidden from her until now.  “The Pure thank you for your service but we can’t have you running and telling that boyfriend of yours…”

---

Her eyes fluttered open just as she became aware of what Max was doing. “No…” she gasped out even as he sliced through the rune. It felt like a thunderclap echoing through her head and she cried out even as she swore she felt the last gasping breath of Elizabeth Covington. “NO!” Energy raced back into her body, her bones disappearing back under skin and muscle as her life force returned to her and Rowena frantically tried to grab the letter opener to trace the rune back into her skin. “No! No! Take me! He didn’t know! You made me forget! But not her! Not my mummy!”

But she knew it was too late.

[Max Kameren]

Ro's aura was coming dangerously close to the edge and Max held her tight. Her blood streamed over his fingers where he held her wrist. He pulled for Rowena's aura and tried to hold her here. But when he pulled the letter opener and broke the curse it all came roaring back at him.

“No… NO!” As Rowena surged back to life Max fell backward, holding his head. It was happening again; the pain from that day at Mungo's surged back worse than ever. Max's head felt like it was going to burst as pangs of pain went through him in waves, originating from his temples. He cursed as a chorus of voices screamed in his ears. He rolled over on his side to watch Rowena through squinted eyes he saw Rowena reach for the envelope and he lunged forward, snatching it away before she could. He pushed through the pain and pushed himself back up on his knees to help. 

"Ro - " Max tried to grab her but she slipped out of his bloody hands. She turned away, instead scratching at her wrist with her fingers to try to replace the runic symbols. "Rowena - stop - " Max tried to take her wrists and hold them apart but she kept slipping away.

“No! No! Take me! He didn’t know! You made me forget! But not her! Not my mummy!”

"Ro - Rowena - " Max finally got ahold of her and wrapped her in a bear hug, locking her arms to her torso and holding her there. "Rowena! Stop!" He held her that way until she calmed herself.It was his instinct to try to open himself up to send calm through her, but right now his head still hurt. She'd been through enough pain. "Tell me what's going on and I can help you. Please."

[Rowena Jones]

"Ro - Rowena - " Max finally got a hold of her and wrapped her in a bear hug, locking her arms to her torso and holding her there. "Rowena! Stop!"

"Let me go!" Rowena struggled. It didn't matter that she knew deep down it was too late. There was a furious energy inside her, pushing her to try, to move, to do anything but stay still. She had to fight. Had to do something or the despair would takeover and she'd be useless. But Max wouldn't let go and eventually all that had just happened took it's toll on her and she stilled enough to listen to Max.

"Tell me what's going on and I can help you. Please."

"What's going on is that thing is going to pay. I'm going to find it and fucking kill it," she seethed. She seized onto her anger. There'd been too much fear, too many tears shed already. She felt violated. It had come into her home and threatened her family. It had come into her work place and taken her friend. It had taken her memories, twisted them and made her push away her boyfriend. It had almost taken her life. And instead it had killed her mother.

For a second, the wave of sadness washed over her and threatened to drown her but Rowena pushed it away. She couldn't afford it. Maybe once this was all said and done and over, she could mourn properly but for now, she knew what happened when she let that despair take over. She'd had glimpses of it when her father had had his heart attack, gone comatose when she'd seen Bryn. She'd offered herself to save her mother, and her passivity had saved no one.

Before, all she'd wanted to do was survive. She was a Healer, she saved lives, she didn't take them. She wanted to learn to duel to defend herself against any attack. But being on the defensive had been a losing stance from the beginning. They were all just sitting around, being picked off. Max had promised her they'd fight it together but she had a feeling he'd meant it more as he would keep her safe. She'd meant it more as a promise to protect and stick with each other too. Not anymore. And if Max didn't agree well she'd do it alone.

But then, Rowena realised that Max didn't fully understand what had just happened. 

"It came to our house Max. It just walked in to my home and threatened my parents if I didn't help it. And now my mum's dead and it was all for nothing! It's taken everything and all we do is sit back and let it!"

[Max Kameren]

"Let me go!"

“Stop trying to hurt yourself and I’ll let go.” Max’s grip on her was strong despite her struggle. He felt the anger in her boil over and he set his jaw, trying to fight it from bleeding into him. One of them had to be level-headed right now, and his turn was up. "Tell me what's going on and I can help you. Please."

"What's going on is that thing is going to pay. I'm going to find it and fucking kill it," she seethed.

When he was confident she wouldn’t scratch at her arm again Max’s grip loosened and he let her move. He felt her anger morph and sharpen into a rage-fuelled focus, cutting through a sea of mourning in her aura like a ship on dark water. He took her arm and ran a thumb over her cut, wordlessly sealing it closed so no more blood would gush out. Max himself was covered; both the sleeves of his robes were stained up past the wrist in his girlfriend’s blood. He sighed, trying to wipe the coating of red on his fingers off on his robes with very little success.

“Okay, noted. What is it? What happened?” His emerald gaze was hard on his girlfriend, looking for answers. For weeks she’d been dodging his concern, using spells and distance to try to deceive him to keep him from worrying. Look where it had gotten them.

"It came to our house Max. It just walked in to my home and threatened my parents if I didn't help it. And now my mum's dead and it was all for nothing! It's taken everything and all we do is sit back and let it!"

“Your mum’s dead?” Surprise pushed Max to his feet. How? When? Now? There were too many questions for Max to ask Rowena in this state. His mind raced and he put his hands to his head, trying to clear space in his headache to make room for this new information. Rowena was right; they’d spent too long on their laurels looking to protect what they had. They needed to strike back.

Suddenly three patronuses appeared in the office from nowhere, lighting the room in their silvery glow. They circled them, but Max didn’t need to see their shapes to know who they were: The eagle was from the Black Watch’s surveillance round robin, the wolf was another Watch member, and the phoenix was Violet Kameren, sending him her patronus from Hogwarts.

They all spoke at once and disappeared in the same manner they’d entered. They’d all told him the same: There’s been an earthquake in the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade have been hit. Please, come.

As they disappeared Max watched his girlfriend through the mist of the fading patronuses. There was no possible way this was unrelated. Now they didn’t have time to wait, to defend. He needed to go. They needed to help.

[Rowena Jones]

“Your mum’s dead?” Surprise pushed Max to his feet but Rowena didn't answer pacing backwards and forwards in an attempt to control her newfound energy. Having someone else say it out loud caused her grief to momentarily wash over her and she struggled to keep the tears at bay. As she struggled to maintain her composure, a wave of dizziness also caused her to sway. She'd been so focused on her fury that she hadn't realised the amount of blood she'd lost but her body was quickly reminding her of the ordeal it had just gone through. 

Suddenly three patronuses appeared in the office from nowhere, lighting the room in their silvery glow giving their message as one before disappearing. 

There’s been an earthquake in the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade have been hit. Please, come.

"Who were they from Max?" she asked sitting down, biting her lip to try and keep focus as her head spun dangerously. Why was her boyfriend getting warnings from Hogwarts? She supposed one of those could have come from his sisters? But why three? An earthquake? What was going on?! Rowena growled in a mixture of frustration and anger. She hated this! All these unknowns! How had so much happened without them having anything to go on?! 

"It asked for my energy, said I was meant to help it. Do you- do you think I had something to do with the Earthquake?" Horror ran through her at the thought. In her mind it had always been her or her mum, an easy choice for her. And though a dark twisty part of her deep down was angry that Max had made the wrong choice by choosing her, her rational mind knew he hadn't known. Rowena would have done the same if the positions had been reversed. She'd have to address it at some point, they'd have to talk about what had happened properly, but she could see he wanted to go. He'd want to make sure his family was ok. 

Speaking of family... Rowena's amber gaze flashed to her phone sitting innocently on her desk. She didn't know what was going on back home, but she would do anything to spare her father any more pain. She bit her lip as she considered her options. "Max... I have to go. My dad..." she trailed off as sadness once again threatened to break through her determination. No! She had to be strong. And as much as she wanted Max with her after all that had happened, it felt like the Universe was pulling them apart for now. "Can we talk though? Soon? Properly?"

[Max Kameren]

The patronuses faded and Max’s mind raced with preparation. An earthquake meant his skills as a healer would be needed more than his skills as duelist. He made a mental list of what he would need from his office and how he would have to bribe Harper to cover his shift. He looked up from the fading mist to his girlfriend, swaying on her feet. He felt the grief run through her and her head spin, and he followed her to where she sat. He opened his robes and pulled a Blood Replenishing Potion out of his vial collection, handing it over to her. He’d been needing those for his girlfriend far too often lately, he realized.

"Who were they from Max?"

“The Watch.” The buzzing in his head calmed enough that Max kneeled next to Rowena in her chair and rested his hands on her shoulders, trying to transfer some of the adrenaline charging his aura into hers. “I’m helping out, with healing.” And fighting, if need be. But he wouldn’t tell her that, not yet. The pause was only a beat before he added his own question: “What did it ask of you, Ro? What did you do?”

"It asked for my energy, said I was meant to help it. Do you- do you think I had something to do with the Earthquake?" He felt the pang of terror go through her and bit his lip, deciding to stay quiet. He didn’t know for sure, it was only a feeling. He didn’t have an answer she would like. "Max... I have to go. My dad..."

“I know.” A thread of pain went through his heart as he felt hers break, and he pulled her in to kiss her softly. He wanted to reassure her, but he didn’t know what would happen anymore. They were at a precipice. “I need to go too, they wouldn’t call me if they didn’t need me. I’m sorry.”

"Can we talk though? Soon? Properly?"

“Of course. I – “ Max cut himself off. They weren’t ready, it was too early. He let his hands drop from her shoulders to her hands. He looked down at them, examining them in his. They were so small, compared to his they felt fragile. But they weren’t. They were healer’s hands. “Be careful, alright? Send me a patronus if you need me. I’ll come running.”

[Rowena Jones]

“Of course. I –"

Rowena frowned. I...? Urgh, people not finishing their sentences were the worst. But luckily for Max, she had enough on her plate for her to pester him about it. Like for instance, what the fuck this Watch thing was about? He'd just casually brought it up as if she should know about it, but it had just raised more questions. Rowena knew she'd been distant trying to hide her weight loss but that had been because she'd honestly believed it wasn't related, at least not until the past few days. But helping out with Healing...? She had a nagging feeling this was something Max should have actually talked to her about. He'd have a lot of explaining to do when they did have that talk. But for now, blood was thicker than water and she had something not quite legal to do. 

“Be careful, alright? Send me a patronus if you need me. I’ll come running.”

Careful hadn't been enough. Now that she remembered what had happened that weekend, she was actually nervous about going back to the Manor. It hadn't been safe the first time, and she wasn't sure the Wards she'd put up would be much better. Whatever they were fighting had managed to break into Azkaban after all. But she would not lose another parent to the Darkness. 

"I'll message you," she said finally. "I'm going to stay in Nottingham for a few days to sort things out, but I'll come back on Friday for a few hours? The cats will get fussy otherwise." Rowena tried to smile at the thought but it came out halfheartedly. "Let me know what's going on when you know more?" She tilted her head to kiss him goodbye, trying to convey her thanks. Then she grabbed her jacket, made a note to get her office cleaned, and with a quick glance at Max, left the room. 

[Max Kameren]

“Be careful, alright? Send me a patronus if you need me. I’ll come running.”

"I'll message you," she said finally. "I'm going to stay in Nottingham for a few days to sort things out, but I'll come back on Friday for a few hours? The cats will get fussy otherwise."

This time he hoped she would actually message him. He pulled her into an embrace, wishing he could tell her everything he was thinking but knowing they didn’t have time. He’d almost lost her, he couldn’t believe it.

"Let me know what's going on when you know more?”

“I will.” Her kiss wasn’t long enough for him; he wanted to hold her longer. Max had somehow just almost lost her without even realizing her decline; it would take longer for that shock to sink in. She left the room and he already missed her. There were still questions that needed to be answered, enough that he wouldn’t stop worrying about her until he heard from her again. If the presence had made it to Nottingham before, it could do it again. Max had just destroyed whatever ritual it was using Rowena for. He didn’t think this thing above retribution, whatever it was.

But in the meantime, there was work to be done.