On the Turning Away

There was a knock at the door, a loud annoying knock that echoed throughout the house and woke its lone inhabitant. Her eyes narrowed in anger when she was taken from the sleep that she so desperately needed. It hadn’t even been an hour since she’d gone to bed and now she was awake, awake and cursing at whoever was standing on the front porch. Didn’t they know that she’d been up all night? That she slept during the day to be able to spend the night awake, keeping a watchful eye over two incredibly dangerous individuals? To her sleep deprived mind, it was ridiculous for that person to now know that. And as she lay there, furious and liable to curse someone, she resolved on simply laying in bed until they left. They’d eventually grow tired of knocking and just leave, and when that happened, she’d be able to drift back to sleep.

It was a brilliant plan, the best that she could come up with at the moment, but sadly, the knocking didn’t let up. If anything, it grew louder, more urgent and demanding. Realizing that the person knocking wasn’t about to go away, Gwen pulled on the pair of sweatpants that she’d worn at breakfast and grabbed her wand off her nightstand. With sleep filled eyes, she wandered through the house, on occasion bumping into tables and even missing a step as walked down the stairs. That nearly made her trip, it did, but thankfully for her, she grabbed a hold of the rail and managed to catch her balance. That simple act of nearly falling was enough to fully rouse Gwen. Her mind began working at full speed. It began wondering who was at the door, what they could be doing there, and if something had gone wrong.

Bloody hell, something had to have gone wrong. That was the only possible reason as to why they would’ve kept knocking. Oh. If only she’d been fully awake. If she had, she would’ve rushed down the stairs with proper clothes on, instead of sweatpants and slippers. She grumbled angrily at herself, reproaching her behavior and lack of action. She was meant to be on top of things! To be ready to go at a moments notice, but she’d behaved like some first year student at the Auror Academy. She’d just lain in bed, waiting for them to leave. But she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. The next time someone knocked on the door, she’d rush down, ready to apparate wherever she was needed.

“Who’s there?” she asked, as she peered through the peephole.

“Remus Lupin,” he replied.

“What were the guidelines set for me by Dumbledore?” she inquired.

Remus stepped closer to the door. “Discretion,” he said.

Satisfied with his response, Gwen lowered her wand and opened the door, stepping to the side to let him walk in. The door was promptly closed and she turned to look at him, her eyes settling on his. He looked exhausted, completely and utterly exhausted, but his exhaustion wasn’t the only thing she noticed, she also noticed the fresh scars on his face that were barely in the early stages of healing. She thought to ask him if he was doing alright, if he wanted a cream from her father’s personal invention, to help with the scarring, but before she had a chance to say anything, he spoke.

“There’s been an incident, out in the highlands.” He told her. “Dedalus and Evangeline are over there. Evangeline stopped at the Burrow to ask for back up, Bill told me and then went with her.”

“Wait.” Gwen said, curious as to how they knew about what was going on in the highlands. “How do you guys know about this?”

“Evangeline lives in the highlands over by Fortingall. Suits her, she’s not very keen on people, not truly. But that doesn’t matter,” he remembered why he was there. “Are you fit to go?”

“Yeah, of course, let me just put on some shoes.”

And with that, she closed her eyes and apparated to her bedroom. Where she threw off her pants, threw on a pair of jeans and trainers so that she could move comfortably in. She also grabbed a jacket from the pile of clean laundry that she’d yet to fold, and now that she was ready, she apparated back to the living room. Once there, she held her hand out for Remus to take, knowing very well that they would have to use side along apparition to get them to the highlands. Remus took her hand, holding it tightly so she wouldn’t be splinched during their travel, and after muttering that it was time, he apparated them both to Fortingall, Scotland.

They apparated just outside the small village, behind a cluster of trees, and from there they watched as the small village, with its thatched cottages and parish church, was attacked by Death Eaters. There were muggles running around the streets, some cried out for help, others cried in desperation. And as they stood there, observing, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe that the Death Eaters were attacking in broad daylight. Night was their preferred time of day. It was when they were most comfortable in committing their crimes, but there they were, in full get up, attacking innocent people that had never before crossed paths with them.

Sickened by the sight, Gwen took off in a sprint towards the village, abandoning the safety that the tree had so willingly provided. With every step she took, the more her resolve to make the Death Eaters pay, grow. She was not trained in the British fashion. Her combat style was not to disarm first. It was to injure. And if she had her way, every single Death Eater would be injured before the fight was up. As she approached the village, her hold on the wand tightened, just a few more feet and she would be in the thick of it, just a few more feet.

“Turn from here!” shouted an elderly man that was struggling to run. “Turn from here!” he repeated. “There are demons in this village! RUN!”

His words fueled her stride and she continued to run deep into the village, towards where the screams were loudest and the explosions emanated from. Her eyes widened when she saw hell that had been unleashed on the small village. The Death Eaters had not just gone there to frighten, to intimidate, to, injure a few muggles. They’d gone to destroy an entire village and its people. The destroyed cottages attested to that, as did the lifeless bodies that were, albeit scarce, but still there. Her shock only lasted a few seconds. She forced herself into Auror mode and when she spotted a Death Eater, the dueling began.

“EVERTE STATUM!” shouted Gwen, an orange light shot from the tip of her wand and struck the masked Death Eater directly in the chest, sending him hurling into a parked car.

For a moment, the Death Eater lay motionless on the ground, but that was only for a brief moment, because he soon forced himself onto his feet, and raised his wand at her. He’d not seen her before. Her face was not one that he could recognize, but now that he knew she was a witch, that she was in the Order, he would not forget it.

“INCENDIO!” bellowed the Death Eater, a steady stream of fire erupting from his wand and rushing towards her.

Quick to react, Gwen raised her wand and yelled. “AQUA ERUCTO!” a jet of icy blue water flew from her wand, hurling towards the stream of fire.

The two spells met in the middle, fire attempted to engulf the water, while the water fought to put out the fire. Neither let up in the intensity of their attack, just when fire seemed to overtake the water, water found a new surge of strength, it pushed against it, kept pushing, until finally, the fire receded. And the Death Eater was drenched to be bone, gasping for breath.

“ALARTE ASCENDARE!” shouted Gwen, pointing her wand directly at the Death Eater, whom was then thrown into the air. She coupled that spell with, “CARPE RETRACTUM!” and a magic rope shot from her wand, flying towards the airborne wizard, which it then latched onto.

With a swish of her wand, Gwen pulled the Death Eater towards her, knocking him onto the ground and earning a high pitched scream from him. She stepped towards him, her eyes never leaving his and her wand never faltering in its defensive stance.

“Won’t need that where you’re going,” she stepped on his wand, breaking it in half.

An audible hiss came from the Death Eater; her trainers had grazed his thumb. “You will pay for this.” He threatened.

“Don’t think I will.” With that, she pointed her wand at him. “Stupefy,” she said, and he fell unconscious on the hard ground.

By the back of his cloak, she grabbed him and dragged him over to an abandoned car, where he was then thrown in. His rigid body lay in the back seat, motionless and slightly bloodied. She was tempted to remove the mask from his face, to see which fiend was under the hood, but decided against it. There would be time for that after the fight was over. Once the fighting was over, she’d see who it was and take him along for questioning or to the Ministry, wherever she was directed to take him, but for now he would remain there. If things went well for him, the car would remain unscathed, if things went wrong, well, his fellow Death Eaters would blow it up.

Either was alright by Gwen. Though, to be honest, she would’ve preferred the latter. Had the Ministry not been infiltrated then she would’ve wanted him to be tried and taken to Azkaban, but seeing as how Voldemort’s minions were exerting their influence, the odds of them actually ending up in the magical prison and being tortured by dementors were slim, so being blow up was a decent alternative. It would’ve been a quick way to go, not at all suiting for a person that had made sport out of hunting down muggles and anyone deemed unworthy, but it would’ve done well enough.

She walked away from the car, making sure to magically lock it so that no muggle would be able to free him. Not that that would’ve been any help for him. He needed to be magically unbound, to be magically awoken. And there would be none of that for him, at least not yet. She walked on, eyes scanning the surroundings for any trace of the Death Eaters of for her fellow Order members and when she looked up ahead, she spotted Evangeline taking on three Death Eaters at once. She was struggling, but keeping up a better fight than most wizards or witches would have done in that situation.

“CONFRINGO!” exclaimed Gwen, directing the blasting curse at a nearby street lamp that was knocked over.

The blasting curse momentarily startled the Death Eaters, sending them stumbling backwards so as to avoid the falling street lamp. And as they stumbled backwards, she raced to Evangeline’s side, her muscles burning in protest to all the exercise they were sustaining, but she pushed through, there could be no resting, no chance to catch her breath.

“Gwen.” Evangeline shot her a grateful smile. “Nice to see you out,” she shot her a tired smile, her light brown hair dampened from what seemed to be a mixture of sweat and blood. “Remus here?” she asked, out of breath.

She meant to reply, but when she saw a Death Eater raising his wand, she pointed hers towards him and shouted, “EVERTE STATUM!”

That Death Eater was sent hurling into a nearby brick wall, his groan echoing throughout the destroyed street. The others soon found the strength to stand and what ensued was an epic duel in which both parties attempted to defeat the others. Evangeline, for her part, used lighter spells and charms, aiming to disarm and disable, not to injure. Gwen knew the use of a good curse and hex against such opponents, so she used them. She used them until two of the three Death Eaters had been struck unconscious and the third ran away. Those two Death Eaters were stored in cars for safe keeping, just like the other had been. And once they were quite certain that there would be no getting out, the two witches went off in search of the others.

It wasn’t long before they ran into Caroline McKinnon, whom was busy gathering muggles in a safe house to wait out the battle. Those were her orders from Dedalus, and when she saw Gwen rushing up to check on the status of those inside, she made a point to ask her if she would join her, just in case the Death Eaters thought to strike. Tempted as Gwen was, her adrenaline pushed her to think that her abilities would be better in actual combat, and since Evangeline had been pushed well past her limits, she volunteered to go out, while Evangeline tended to the injured and helped Caroline.

The plan, though initially met with opposition, was soon accepted. Evangeline began tending to the muggles. She had been a healer at St. Mungo’s before the war, and had left after her sister’s passing in order to devote herself to the cause. So her talents were of insurmountable use to both the members of the Order and to the muggles that were in desperate need of them. As Evangeline began to look after the others, Gwen refashioned her ponytail and walked out. She had to find Dedalus and Remus, see what they were up to, if there were any other muggles that needed to be taken to the safe house or if there were any more dark wizards to do battle with.

It wasn’t long until Gwen crossed paths with Dedalus, whom was helping muggles leave their burning home. He was holding onto an elderly woman, whose face was darkened by smoke and had tears streaming down her face.

“Gwen!” he shouted at her, relieved to find help. “There are more people inside, a pregnant woman and two children. Will you get them while I lead these people to the safe house?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you,” he shot her a grateful smile. “Be careful will you? There are Death Eaters up the road, not far from here. Bill and Remus are dueling to buy us time, but you know how things are.”

“Yes, yes of course.” Gwen nodded in understanding. “The bit of road to the safe house is clear.”

“I’ll be off then.” He gave her a nod and was soon on his way.

Gwen kept her wand at the ready as she maneuvered through the house. She strained her ears, searching for noise that would alert her as to where the people were. She heard a cry, a loud piercing cry. It was the wailing of an infant. Merlin’s beard, there was a baby involved. How could people attack children? How could they be so heartless? There had to be boundaries to cruelty, but dark wizards knew none. And so she moved as quickly as she could through the burning cottage, struggling to see clearly in all the smoke.

When she finally reached the spot from which the noise emanated, she discovered that the doorway was blocked by a massive bookcase that had fallen over. She cursed inwardly. Not because she’d be unable to do it, but because it would take time and in the current situation, time was not a commodity that could be wasted. The appropriate spell was quickly uttered, the bookcase was cast aside and she kicked the door open. Inside the room was the pregnant woman that Dedalus had spoken of, along with the small child that looked no older than four, and the wailing infant.

“Can you stand?” she asked the pregnant woman.

“How did you?” she whispered.

“That’s not important right now.” Gwen stepped closer. “Can you stand? Walk?”

“Y-yes,” she stuttered.

“Alright,” she offered the woman a hand. “Come on now, you’re gonna have to help me with the baby. Okay? Just carry her and I’ll carry the other. Hurry now. There’s no telling how much longer this place will stand. Come on,” she pulled her up. “Just follow me, alright?”

“But what if t-those things come out?” her eyes were wide with fear.

“No one’s gonna hurt you or your kids.” Gwen picked up the older child. “Hold on.”

The child wrapped her arms tightly around Gwen’s neck and buried her face in it, seeking comfort in the arms of the strange woman. With one arm, Gwen held onto the little girl, with the other she kept her wand raised. She hoped she’d be strong enough to pull this through. As soon as she felt comfortable enough to travel with the child, she shot the mother a look in which she hoped to reassure her that everything would be alright.

“Get behind me.” Gwen ordered.

The woman did as she was told, clutching her small baby close to her body as she rushed behind Gwen’s body. She didn’t know what was going on. If she was going to make it through whatever hell was taking place in her village, but she hoped that if she wouldn’t survive, that at least her daughters would.

“BOMBARDA MAXIMA!” cried Gwen, pointing her wand at the wall that enclosed them.

A jet of light rushed from the tip of her wand and upon touching the cottage’s wall, caused it to crumble before their very eyes. The muggle stumbled back, startled by what her eyes had witnessed, but her shock was short lived, for Gwen grabbed at her arm and forced her to follow her out. That short yank was enough to rouse her from the shock and she eagerly followed Gwen out, careful to stay behind her at all cost.

The crumbled wall gave way to an enclosed garden, whose wall was then also destroyed. Once that wall had been destroyed, Gwen motioned for the woman to stop; she could hear screaming in the near vicinity, explosions. There was a duel going on. Not to far from where they were. And as she stood there, silent and still, she contemplated whether or not she could just apparate them all to the safe house, it would be a challenge, to apparate four people somewhere was unheard of, that was why portkeys were invented. But her other options didn’t seem as attractive. The fighting was growing closer. The explosions and voices informed her of that, but to apparate would mean to risk the muggles losing limbs, their lives. It was the same as running.

She thought back to her training, wondering if there had ever been talk of apparating more than two people, but she could not think of such an instance, and so, she decided that they’d have to make a run for it. She’d have to be careful. She hoped that there would be no massive injuries.

“We’re gonna have to run into the street.” Gwen told the woman. “There are some people dueling nearby, some spells might fly past us, but you must . . .”

“Spells? As in, what you’ve done?” she asked.

“No. Those spells are gonna be more dangerous, life threatening, so you’re gonna have to listen to me. Do as I say, exactly as I say. There’s no room for you to interpret things. You do as you’re told and everything will be alright. Understood?”

Unable to speak, she nodded.

Gwen redirected her attention to the street, carefully taking in the surroundings to figure out what the best route would be. The noise was coming from the left. It was wise to move to the right, although, that would mean that the journey to the safe house would be longer. She wasn’t sure if the pregnant woman would be able to make the walk. And what if they were spotted? She’d be the easiest target. Bloody hell, Gwen was going to have to do something, but what could she . . . ah. She could do that.

“I'm gonna place a spell on you. It’ll keep you from being seen, but follow me, make sure to follow me.”

“I'm pregnant.”

“Won’t interfere with the pregnancy,” she reassured. “Now, I'm going to place it on you and your daughter. You hold her hand and run after me. Don’t say a word. Okay? Not a word.”

“What about Enid?” she referred to the baby.

“I’ll look after Enid.” That said, she lifted her wand and muttered the appropriate incantation for the disillusionment charm and before her very eyes, the woman and child disappeared. “Hand me, Enid.”

Hesitantly, she handed off her child. “Be careful.”

Shortly after, they stepped into the street, but just as they were beginning to move, the fighting spilled onto the cobblestone road that they were hoping to make a quick escape on. Gwen shot a look back, watching as Bill and Remus struggled against the Death Eaters. A part of her urged her to go back, to fight with them, but then the small baby began to wail, and she was reminded of her current task at hand.

“This way,” she said loud enough for the muggles to hear.

She led them up the street, first in a walk then in a slow jog that they’d be able to keep up with. It was difficult for her to not run faster. A sprint would’ve done much better than a jog, but she had to be mindful of the others.

“GET OFF THE ROAD!” shouted Bill from behind them.

She looked ahead, searching for some place to keep them safe. And when she spotted a small cottage that was relatively unscathed, she led them in.

“You’re gonna stay in here, alright? Just stay in here and don’t move until I come back to get you.”

“But what if they come in? What do we do then?”

“No one’s coming in. Not after I place the spell on it. So just stay. Here.” She lifted the disillusionment charm. “Play with your girls. Make them feel safe.”

Gwen ran outside and once she was on the front steps of the house, she began muttering incantation after incantation to ensure that no spell would penetrate the house, that no witch or wizard would enter. They were ancient spells that her mother had taught her over the years, spells that her parents had used to protect their home from Death Eaters during the first war. And now, she was using it to protect muggles, so that they could live their lives.

As soon as she finished casting the spells, she ran back onto the street, where Remus and Bill were still dueling against the five wizards. She ran to Remus side, her hair moistened by sweat and her eyes burning with unadulterated rage.

“Crucio!” cried one of the Death Eaters, his wand pointed at her.

Gwen jumped out of the spell’s path. “That’s how we’re playing then?!” she bellowed. “Alright, let’s play then.”