An unheard scream woke Cillian in a cold sweat. He sat bolt upright panting, blinking rapidly to clear the images from the back of his eyes. It had been a while since he had a dream. It had been quiet and comforting lately. He felt the spot on the bed next to him in the dark before remembering that there would be nothing to find. It had been a few weeks now since Penelope had moved out and he wasn't exactly sad to see her go. Although at times like these having a warm body next to you was much more comforting than the cold emptiness that greeted him.

He kicked off the covers and rose out of bed grabbing a pair of sweat pants off the floor and tossing them on. He crossed the cool floor and tore back the sashes covering the small window looking out onto Main Street. He calmed his racing heart long enough to focus again on the vision that had woken him. There were screams and fire and crying. He moved his hazel eyes away from the shop lights and towards the small cottages that made up the small wizarding village.

He took a deep shuddering breath as he focused on one house in particular, "I've gotta save her."

Neville stifled a yawn as he walked down main street. He had recently apparated into the city limits. He had finished a long day at the Auror Headquarters, attending meetings, doing paperwork and going out into the field for a bit to work on a case. He was tired and he was ready to crawl into his bed and pass out. He past the lights and laughter coming from the Three Broomsticks and was tempted to stop in for a pint but his bad knee was acting up and he knew rest was going to do him much better than alcohol.

He limped past more shops, closing up for the night, and headed towards the actual residential area of village, towards the Sleeping Dragon Tea Shoppe. His little shop was right on the edge of the commercial and residential part of the Village, it wasn't right on Main Street but it wasn't completely out of the way either. The little flat he called home was perched on top of the shop.

The closer he got, the more the voices from the still open pubs faded and a new sound caught his attention. There was a pair of voices shouting at each other and what sounded like a child crying. Neville picked up the pace, his instincts kicking in, adrenaline flooding into his veins working the exhaustion out of his system. He rounded a bend and headed into a side street of small cottages following the shouts.

It wasn't long before he found the source of the commotion. Outside one of the quaint little houses stood a man and a woman shouting at each other. The woman was in tears and looked near hysterical and the man didn't look much better, wearing nothing but a pair of sweat pants. His hair was tousled and his feet and chest were bare. As Neville rounded the garden gate he realized there was a shield charm separating the two and the man was cradling a small child to his chest.

The woman caught sight of Neville who was still in his work clothes and seized him, "Help me! You have to help me! He's trying to take my baby!"

"I'm trying to save her!" The man shouted back and Neville was shocked to realize he recognized that voice. Cillian Cuthbert was a fellow Hogsmeade resident and had spent enough nights in the Three Broomsticks to have become part of the furniture.

Neville held his hands up showing that he was wandless and turned to Cillian, "Cillian, I want you to calm down-"

"No! NO! You don't understand! She's in dan-"

Before Cillian could finish his warning there was an ear splitting bang. The ground shook and the house they stood in front front had been blown in two, the front still standing while the back was nothing but flaming shambles. The three of them hand been thrown to the ground from the force of the blast. Neville's head was spinning and his ears were ringing. He barely registered grabbing his wand and sending up a wave of red sparks.

Archer had been working late, a number of things scattered across his desk.  The office, for the most part, was quiet.  The normal, daily action had calmed and those left to the evening were fairing well in peace. 

He needed another coffee though, that much was certain and he pushed himself out of his chair, rubbing his face with his hands as he stood.  He shook his head, trying to wake himself up, but that seemed to be moot.  Just coffee.  That would do the trick. 

He ambled over to the home of his office best friend: the coffee and picked up the pot and one of the mugs already there (useful if one forgot one’s own mug) and began to pour.  He didn’t need to dally with things like milk or sugar – took up space in the cup, less coffee.   As he watched the liquid pour, he sort of forgot what he was doing – or where he was – just staring at the liquid before an alarm went off and Archer dropped the whole mug, shattering on the floor, with coffee (only at this moment was he thankful it was lukewarm), splashing his pants.  “Oh son of a banshee!” he scowled, whipping his wand out and casting two or three charms in quick succession, cleaning it up.

Red sparks were enough to wake him up, apparently, and Archer rushed back to his cube, grabbed his cloak and hurried to the scene, a large CRACK signifying he’d left the office and was on his way.  Whatever it was, someone had to get there, and he wasn’t sure who else was around. 

Arriving in Hogsmeade, there was a fire – that much was obvious and when he approached, Archer could make out three figures on the ground.  He picked up the pace, rushing forward to get them further from the blaze. There were other cottages around; they’d need to be evacuated.  The fire, he realized, would spread quickly if not kept in check. 

One of the three people, he realized was Neville Longbottom, fellow Auror and Archer rushed over, lifting him off the ground.  “Get those two away,” he motioned to the civilians he didn’t know, “and start on the fire.”  He didn’t even think that there could be possible problems, like an explosion impairing the other aurors hearing – they just needed to take action. 

Archer sent up another spray of red sparks before touching his wand to his cheek, an amplification charm raising his voice like a stadium announcer.  “Fire!  Fire!” It helped that whatever had caused it seemed to awake some residents of the village, already making their ways out, wrapped in robes and looking confused. 

The rest would come, but the fire had to be tackled.  He removed his wand from his cheek and pointed it at the blazing building, hoping that whatever had started it wasn’t going to be reactive to water, a strong spray emitting from the tip of his wand and headed straight for the blaze.   

What with all the fighting and chaos going on in the village, a call had gone out to any and all available Aurors. Rowan was ashamed to admit that when the call came out that night, she'd fallen asleep on her desk. In her defense, her case had been going nowhere. She'd gone over the same material over and over again, to no avail. Her eyes had eventually gotten heavy and next thing she knew, she'd fallen asleep on top of her files, her mouth hanging open.

The blaring Magical alarm made her jerk awake, sitting bolt upright at the noise. She sat rigid for a moment before relaxing and swearing. She yanked out her wand and flicked it up in the air, looking up the location from where the call was coming from. Hogsmeade lit up and Rowan sighed but stood up. She straightened out her robes and then disapparated  on the spot. A few brief moments later and she landed in Hogsmeade, to the sound of snapping and crackling flames.

She recognized Archer and Neville after a moment of peering through the dark. "Archer!" she yelled, as she jogged over. "Augamenti!" she directed the spray of water on the house, trying to put on the fire. "What happened?" she tried to put out the flames.

Monday evening and Niobe was eating dinner at her desk on the news floor of the Daily Prophet.  The last light of evening was coming in at a sharp angle from the former warehouse's high windows.  Her cubicle was otherwise lit by a green-shaded lamp.  Between bites, she was dictating to her Verbatis Quill. 

"...and reports from St Mungo's confirm another three in catatonic dementia caused by prolonged exposure to Dementor's Kiss.  The Ministry-"

She was cut off.  And owl had nearly collided with her and she dropped her sandwich.  As soon as she read the two words on the singed card, she Apparated in the process of putting on her coat.

HOGSMEADE FIRE

She hit the ground in the tiny but famous Wizarding town.  She looked around for any sign of life or danger, any sign of her friend from the Hogsmeade nightclub Signature who'd sent the owl.  There. Smoke.

She set off at a run down down the uneven cobbled street.  A crowd was gathering well away from the flames that were raging from a couple of rooftops.  She looked around.  Where were the Aurors? Who was attending to the blaze? Could she have been that early?  For all the smoke and the growing crowd, she couldn't see a thing.

But she reported anyway, again dictating to her quill witch danced above a levitating note pad.  Her trusty quill which rarely left her side, nearly as innate to her as her wand.

"Roughly eight-thirty.  High Street.  Residences on fire.  Three buildings. Crowd gathered, uh, nearly thirty.  Lots of smoke.  No Aurors on scene.  Wait-"

The dread-headed reporter shoved past an onlooker and finally spotted red coats.  "Two Aurors[1], and I see injured.  A dozen people down in the streets.  No healers."

Suddenly aware of what she just said, the reporter began trotting along the crowd.  "Are there any Healers! Is anyone here a Healer? There are injured.  People are hurt!"

 

1.	She doesn't recognize Neville without his robes.  She sees Tyren and Radley, who I presume are in uniform having come from Level Two?

The ringing in his ears had barely subsided when Neville climbed to his feet looking at Radley a little bewildered before his senses readjusted. He gave a quick nod and scrambled over to the three civilians at the center of the catastrophe. The woman had been knocked unconscious and Cuthbert was trying to regain his footing, awkwardly still clutching the now screaming child to his chest. Neville tugged his arm to finish the motion before taking the woman up in his own arms.

He looked to the blaze and cursed. It was spreading faster than he would have expected despite Radley and now Tyren's efforts. There was someone in the crowd calling for Healers. Others had already been hurt.  He carried the woman to a safe distance just short of the crowd that was now forming, aware that Cuthbert and the child were close behind him. He could hear the other man speaking but barely registered his words.

"-she was going to die, I had to get them out-"

Neville stared at the shorter man for a moment racking his brain, trying to make sense of the onslaught of words he was spewing. Finally he settled on the information he needed, Cuthbert wasn't just a local drunk, he worked at the Ministry, Department of Mysteries and if the rumors were true he was a Seer, "You saw this happen? You and I are going to need to have a long talk when all this is over."

Then he turned to the crowd, "Healers! Any Healers?!" He shifted the woman in his arms and slid out his wand conjuring a Patronus. He gave the silvery image instructions and sent it off with a message to St. Mungos.

At this point Casey wasn't worried about causing a scene at dinner.

The first warning was the faint echo of the boom. It made him pause in eating, glance towards the windows of the Great Hall. And then the Sneakescope went off in his pocket, the one linked to its brethern in his mother Darla's cottage in the village.

Plates and conversations at the Slytherin table were forgotten as Casey dashed to the window. The glow of fire and rising smoke could barely be seen from the direction of the village. The moment's confirmation was all he needed, he was already running out of the Great Hall and towards the passagways to the Kitchens, although he didn't need to reach that destination.

He called for Dingy, the elf's summoning prompt as hhe had been in the Kitchens this evening. "We need to get to the village now! But just the outskirts first, mother could be in danger!"

---

Disorientated from the side along apparation, Casey styimed feelings of sick wanting to vacate his stomach as he looked over the village. The fire had started from the village center, spreading to other houses. And looking to the far opposite of the village, heart sinking...

"Get buckets! Water! Whatever!" Dingy popped away set to the task. Casey was in no condition to sprint but he had no other real choice, having further apparation sickness right next to a burning building was not something he wanted. No, now he could only take the straightest route he could take to his mother's cottage.

Heaving, as he dodged through the crowd, Casey steeled his nerves towards what actions to take. It was paramount he keep his head clear. Flame Freezing Charms and Aguamenti would be the pivotal spells, smoke manipulation if needed.  Healers were being called for, there was a Patronus passing him before it disappeared in message. And currently in Casey's way one blazing infero before the next one, his goal beyond.

Maybe there was a shout of warning, Casey wasn't paying attention as his wand was in hand working magic. The moment the Flame Freezing charm had been cast Casey had leapt through the wall of flames.