Into Forever

The first killing curse exploded just a few inches away from my left ear. Immediately, Fred was out of his chair, shouting at the other while pushing me into the back of the cabin, keeping his body between the curses and me. He knelt down in the corner of the cabin as he pulled me to the floor, his body still shielding me.

“The Death Eaters found us! Get out of here, quickly!” Kingsley called across the room to us. The urge to say, ”No, really?” was almost overwhelming, but I figured now wasn’t the time to be a smartass.

“She can’t apparate,” Fred cried back, flinching as another killing curse blasted just over our heads. “She’s too far along!”

“Then run!” Kingsley hollered, hitting one of the Death Eaters square in the chest. “Run before they kill you!”

Another killing curse flew past Kingsley’s shoulder and shot into the transmitter as he was speaking, showering Fred and I with scraps of metal.

“No,” I cried, pulling my wand from my back pocket. “I’m not leaving you guys! I can fight-“

“I don’t give a bloody hell if you think you can fight,” Fred snarled so viciously I actually flinched away from him. His eyes were wide with fright, and I thought I saw a few tears streaking his cheeks. “You are nine months pregnant with my child. I’m getting you as bloody far away from here as I can.”

Tears pricked my eyes at the love Fred was showing me. Silently, I nodded, and he said,

“Stay in the shadows. We’ll try and clear a path for you. You’ll have to take the broom and run-“

The side of the cabin that we were crouched by exploded into chunks of wood all around us. Fred wrapped his arms around me and yanked me back, pushing me to the ground and shielding me again with his body and the bits of wall landed heavily around us.

“They’re attacking from behind,” Uncle Remus hollered, his voice growing closer as he rushed towards us. “Get my niece out of here, Fred!”

As Fred was helping me to my feet, I realized something was wrong. I felt a sudden large pop, almost like a balloon going off in my body. And suddenly, without warning, a gush of fluid rushed from my body, soaking my jeans and the floor around me.

Oh my god, I breathed, the realization of what had just happened hit me like a ton of bricks swung by God himself. My water just broke.

Fred was caught in a battle with a rather pudgy looking Death Eater; as a spell was fired towards me, I realized I had a few more important things going on than the fact that I was most likely going into labor.

“Finite Incantatem!” I cried, catching a masked Death Eater in the shoulder and sending him flying across the field behind the cabin. “Fred,” I gasped, just as he took out two more Death Eaters.

“What? What’s wrong?” he demanded, keeping his eyes on the Death Eater aiming spells for me. The moment the cloaked figure faltered in his spells, Fred caught him in the leg with a painful looking curse.

“I think my water just broke,” I gasped; as another Death Eater rounded the corner of the house, we both pointed out wands and cried, STUPEFY! In the brief pause in the battle, Fred turned to me, his eyes wide.

“Do we need to go to the hospital?”

“Eventually, yeah,” I breathed, glancing back when I heard Lee let out a cry, worried he’d been seriously hurt. He’d walked into the table, but was quickly recovering to hit a burly masked man with a rather powerful disarming charm. “The books I read all told me I don’t need to go right away. My contractions could take days to start up-“ I was cut short by a lanky wizard aiming a rather nasty jinx in our direction; Fred took him out with an irritable flick of his wand.

“Do you feel anything?”

“No, no,” I assured him, and he looked a bit more relieved.

“We’ll do our best, but until then…”

I nodded quickly, taking up the permanent position at his side. Behind us, Kingsley and Lupin were holding their own, with Lee and George in the middle of a duel with three Death Eaters who were at least twice the size of them.

Death Eaters came at us left and right, and even some from above. For every one we took down, three and a half more came to replace it. More than once the killing curse had cut it just a little too close. Rain sprayed into the cabin through the gap where one wall should have been, soaking the six of us thoroughly and making it bloody difficult to see.

A spell whizzed over my left shoulder, charring off bits of my hair, and I was thankful to realize that it had only been a simple disarming jinx. If it had been worse… Whirling around, I screamed EXPELLIARMUS! and my attacker dropped like a rock. George had joined us in the middle of the room; the three of us pressed our backs together and readied for the next wave of Death Eaters rushing at us from the field.

I’d lost track of time in the battle; one minute it was pouring rain and the sky was as dark as Lee, and then the next the sun was peaking up over the mountains in the horizon. We were all running out of steam; I could barely stand. It was only a few moments after I was sure I would pass out that I had way too close of a call.

I’d shot a rather vicious jinx in the direction of a way-too-persistent Death Eater; the spell had me take a stumble back, into the remains of the table. Right beneath my hand, the table exploded. The jet of green light was blinding, and the shards of wood in my arm felt like white-hot knives slicing through my skin.

Fred’s face paled faster than I could have ever thought possible. He sought out the Death Eater behind the curse- a large, burly man laughing maniacally at the horrified expression plastered on my face.

“EXPELLIARMUS!” Fred bellowed; his spell was so powerful it sent the Death Eater slamming a few inches into the ground nearly a hundred feet back. Instantly, Fred began to make his way over to me. I stood from the table, wincing at the shards, when a shockingly painful spasm shook my body, forcing me to draw in a deep breath and double over.

“Kelsey!” Fred cried, pile-driving another Death Eater to the ground as he rushed to my side. “What’s wrong, Kels, what happened?”

Eyes wide, I looked up at him and breathed,

“We’re in trouble now. My contractions just started.”

“Of course they did,” Fred sighed in exasperation, some of the horror fading from his face. Turning to his brother, he yelled,

“Kelsey’s in labor! We’re going to see the same doctor as before! Remember the address, Georgie?”

“Yeah, now get her out of here!” George bellowed, jinxing a cloaked figure that raced towards Fred.

“But what about St. Mungo’s-“ I began.

“Oh, right,” Fred muttered sarcastically, glancing around for a usable broom. “The best friends of Harry Potter shouldn’t worry about strolling through the most popular wizarding hospital where I’m sure more than a dozen Death Eaters are prepped and waiting for anyone even slightly suspicious to come through. That’s no problem at all…”

“I get your point,” I mumbled, still irked at his sarcasm, despite the scene around us.

“Alright, the broom is just over there,” Fred murmured to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “We’re making a break for it. Keep your wand ready, I may need to you kick some serious Death Eater ass for me, sweetheart.”

“Let’s do this,” I whispered back to him. In an instant, Fred had swung me up into his arms like I hadn’t doubled in weight. He sprinted for the broom, keeping me tucked to his chest.

“COVER FRED AND KELSEY! KEEP THEM SAFE!” Uncle Remus cried, falling into step beside Fred and I, casting spell after spell at the cloaked figures swarming on us. Kingsley fell in on the other side, doing the same as Uncle Remus. Fred reached the broom just as George and Lee joined Uncle Remus and Kingsley. They formed a tight semi-circle around us as Fred grabbed the broom, forcing me on in front of him.

“Keep each other safe,” Lee breathed, nodding to the two of us.

“Keep faith,” I told him softly as Fred kicked off. Spells erupted around us as Fred rushed out away from the half-standing cabin. From the ground, our friends and family came together and began knocking out the Death Eaters rushing after us. I knew the four of them would stay there as a distraction until we were safely out of sight. Two of the Death Eaters broke free of the spells from Lee, George, Uncle Remus, and Kingsley, but it was simply a matter of hitting them with a few powerful stunning spells to knock them back to the ground.

Fred leveled the broom up high in the clouds, the sunlight shining down on us. We locked eyes, and I realized,

This is it. I’m having a baby.