Emotional Connection

the Battle of Hogwarts

The day they had been preparing for had arrived during the late hours of the night. As soon as word had reached the Order that Harry was at Hogwarts again, Kingsley had written to Ashley, so she'd dragged everyone out of bed at quarter to eleven at night to get on their dragons and head over to Hogwarts.

Scrambling to get everything ready, Ashley, James and Jace all grabbed the bags they'd kept packed and ready to go as soon as they'd had approval from Ben, throwing every healer their own supplies bag and making sure they themselves had everything before climbing onto their respective dragons and taking flight.

Ashley had her arms tightly around Charlie's waist as he guided Mango through the clouds, trying to gain enough height that no muggles would be able to spot them. With Ben in front of them and James and Jace with their Rider Louise behind them, Ashley wondered which of them was going to make it through this. The odds were against them, not everyone would get through this. That thought made her hold on to Charlie even tighter, and he could sense her worry.

"It'll be fine, baby. Everything will be ok." He gripped tighter to Mango, doing his best to sounds comforting rather than afraid. His worst fear was losing Ashley, and now he was taking her to the eye of the storm, where the probability of them both making it out alive... He thought of his family, his younger brothers... He wondered how many of them would make it. He wondered if his parents would make it. And Ginny... dear Ginny. He would probably have to fight her in order for her to get herself to safety, and event hen she probably wouldn't listen, and it would kill him to see her covered by a white sheet-
He tore his mind away from that, unable to cope.

The flight was estimated to take an hour and a half, yet with each of the riders pushing their dragons to their limits, they managed it in just under an hour, flying in over the heads of everyone, as the battle had already started.

Ashley gritted her teeth, though this was what they'd prepared for, this was what her healers had been trained to do, so they ran inside the castle, dodging spells and curses left and right, throwing their own out at anyone with a dark mark. Ashley could barely comprehend what was happening, catching sight of red hair that didn't belong to Charlie, the feeling of being suffocated as they were forced back into the castle.

Casting curses under her breath, Ashley managed to fell a few Death Eaters as they entered the castle, and she ordered her Healers to get inside and find Poppy Pomfrey and help her with setting up some sort of hospital.

"Ashley! Go with them!" Charlie yelled over the noise and chaos, but Ashley wasn't in the mood to be listening right now; those Healers were her responsibility, she had to fend off as many Death Eaters as possible until they could get in and set up camp.

"Just-" Something caught her eye, a wall collapsing, potentially leaving students caught, crushed, injured or dying underneath it. "I need to get there!"

Charlie had no idea what she was talking about, but heard the urgency in her voice anyway, and nodded, stepping into the middle so he had a better chance of hitting more coming through the halls, fighting off everyone he could alongside too many people that he didn't know, some of them still in Hogwarts Uniforms. He tried to keep his mind off Ginny out there doing the same, fighting someone with twice her experience in her uniform, and it only made him cast quicker, fight harder. there was no way he was letting any of them get to his baby sister.

Meanwhile, Ashley had managed to make her way over to the collapsed wall, taking cover for a second to catch her breath.

"Don't tell me you're out of breath! What happened to all that cardio you used to do every morning?"

She looked up to see Pete already administering aid to one of the kids who's been caught by the wall, stitching up his head. "Oh, I'm glad you're not dead." She sighed, laughing a little, before spelling the debris of the wall out of the way and into a corner. her breath caught in her throat as she saw the injuries, but worked fast enough that whoever it was would possibly survive - if Death Eaters didn't get to her first.
She had to move on, leaving the girl behind, hoping that she would make it. With no way to get anyone up to the hospital, it was the best they could do: treat the patient and move on, and hope that they would make it.