Harry Potter And Bellatrix Lestrange

The whole song lasted only seconds, but to Harry, it felt almost like an eternity, and when it ended, he was snapped back to reality so suddenly he almost thought he'd imagined the whole experience, but Fawke's presence confirmed that it'd been real. He was confused as to what it meant, but considering the Phoenix's incredible healing abilities, he wouldn't put it past Fawkes to be able to heal Dumbledore.

"Harry!" Bella's voice came down the corridor, causing him to divert his attention from the Phoenix. The urgency in his wife's tone coupled with the fact that she'd just left caused a sinking feeling in Harry's gut - something he was rapidly becoming intimately familiar with.

The dark-haired witch came barreling around the corner and down into the room, barely sparing Fawkes a second glance, before tugging on Harry's sleeves. "We've got a problem, Harry. Someone tried to kill the Weasley twins right under all our noses."

The young lord of Polairix's eyes widened in shocked surprise. "What? What happened?"

"We're not sure, come on, we just found them in the library."

Harry gestured for Bella to lead the way and followed, only to stop and glance back at Fawkes. "Sorry, I've got to go." The bird looked up in understanding, and flew up to perch himself in the rafters, as if telling Harry that he'd still be there when he got back. Turning back to his wife, Harry rushed after Bella as she led him to the library, passing a number of healers and soldiers on the way. He ignored most of them until they reached the library, and skidded to a halt at the sight that presented itself to him.

Fred and George were stretched out on the ground, apparently having moved from wherever they'd been found so that the swarm of healers and nurses that were working on them could have an easier time. It wasn't too hard to figure out where the twins had been found, because two large puddles of blood stained the wooden floor halfway across the room, and Harry almost gagged at the sheer amount of blood that had half-dried on the ground.

Pushing their way through the throng of people working on the twins, Harry managed to get a good look at them before stepping back to allow a nurse to move in and place a bandage on George's head. Aside from the nasty headwound the nurse was in the process of dressing - a long gash that went well around from his forehead across his temple - George had a number of stab wounds that had mostly been mended, and that now were only indicated by holes in his shirt.

Fred was by far worse off than his brother. Where George's wounds were relatively easily healed by potions and skin-mending spells, Fred's skin was looking brittle and was discolored a sickly yellow, as a thick, ichory liquid oozed from breaks in the skin all over his arms and legs. Dark spots like bruises were visible on his exposed torso, and his left hand was completely missing up to halfway up his forearm. Harry felt positively sick when he saw the missing appendage sitting on a nearby table, with a nurse next to it, probably to keep it in good condition so that it could eventually be re-attached.

Then the smell hit him. The coppery scent of blood he was familiar with, but the stench coming off the pus leaking out of Fred's skin was worse than anything he'd ever smelled, including the smell of burning flesh Harry had experienced not an hour ago. He turned around and threw up, retching and heaving as his stomach protested. A few moments later, he could feel Bella's soothing hand on his back as she steadied him. She muttered a quick cleaning spell, causing the mess on the ground to vanish.

"Thanks," Harry muttered weakly.

"You're welcome." Bella managed a small smile as she turned him around and walked him out of the room. "Sorry, I should've warned you."

"It's all right. What… what the hell happened?"

"When Hermione and I left, we went to the library to keep looking for ways to break that ward. We found them like that, and called the medics. We have no idea who or what did this, but we've got more bad news while we're at it." Bella's expression turned grim.

"What is it?"

"Ginny went missing."