What followed were several long hours of vanishing, heavy lifting and somber silence as they uncovered people from the rubble. Sirius worked until his limbs grew heavy from exhaustion, and then he worked some more. Once some Ministry workers finally organized a proper search and rescue, someone handed out Pepper-Ups. Sirius downed two and kept working. The tarps were repurposed as coverings for the rows of bodies they added to again and again and again.
It wasn't until around six or seven the next morning, when he'd nearly fallen face-first into a sharp bit of glass due to his exhaustion that he caved and apparated to Alabasandria's cottage. At his clumsy arrival, she dragged him inside the house and got him settled into the loveseat when an equally exhausted and frazzled Harry ran into the room, throwing his arms around him in a desperate hug.
"I got worried when you didn't come back. Charlie said you were okay but you never came home and -"
"Oh love, I'm sorry."
His blistered hands ran through Harry's hair, and he hummed under his breath to settle him just like he had when Harry was a baby. The boy curled into a ball in his lap, hiding his sniffles. Alabasandria joined them and put her hand on Harry's back. Sirius leaned against her, resting his head on her shoulder and they all curled together in heavy, contemplative silence.
"I thought we were all gonna die," Harry whispered. "It was so loud, and I could feel so many people dying and my magic was going crazy and then you left me!"
"Sweetheart, I'm here now. I'm sorry. You did great, I'm so proud of you. Even if it was scary, you did the right thing by listening to me and running."
A trio of steaming mugs hovered into the living room and Harry unfurled from his spot to drink. Sirius appreciated the dash of whiskey mixed into his own hot chocolate.
"Everyone would have been safe," Alabasandria reminded him in a gentle tone that made it clear she'd been repeating this many times throughout the night. "Your friends and Sirius all had their amulets. You did the right thing by retreating. Who knows what would have happened if they'd spotted you."
"I know, but it all happened so fast and Sirius left, so how was I supposed to know he was okay?" The boy whined, returning to clutch Sirius' shirt. The young teen may have started to reach a maturing age where he thought he was very adult-like and brave, but it was moments like this, where despite the heavy weight of the boy sprawled across their laps Sirius was reminded that his godson was so young. Much too young to have to experience something like this.
Slowly, the boy drifted off to sleep. Despite his own exhaustion, sleep felt beyond Sirius. Alabasandria turned toward him, absently running her fingers through her son's hair.
"About how many dead?"
"Well, they were still unearthing bodies when I left. A few hundred at least," he whispered.
"Hades guide them, that's… wow. I hadn't expected Voldemort's forces to be capable of that catastrophic of an attack. I was under the impression his forces were scattered and in hiding."
"They used an explosive of some sort. It was well planned out. Security had been taken care of while everyone was distracted with the match. They didn't need an army."
"They're cocky."
"They were right to be! They all got away!"
"Except for the one Ronald cursed. Harry nabbed some of his flesh, we'll be able to interrogate him tomorrow," she tried to assure him.
He sighed. "Will that amount to anything, though? Are we going to start hunting down the Death Eaters too?!"
"I want to as well, but Voldemort has a lot of connections with the Ministry. It would be so risky. As you've said, people are starting to get suspicious of Harry. If high-ranking politicians start disappearing, there will be questions." She said, in an unsatisfied tone. They knew it was safer to stay out of it, but it brought neither any joy in the notion that the terrorists would get away. It was all they could do to focus on Voldemort.
"Oh um, the Weasleys may have some questions, speaking of," he remembered.
"Great. Well, I'm not worried about them starting a witch hunt at least. I can always bribe Arthur with some muggle trinkets and he'll look the other way." She drew out the last word with a long yawn. "Right, to bed for all of us." She summoned a couple of blankets for him and levitated Harry out of the cuddle pile. She turned to Sirius and gave him a final, unfamiliar look.
"Thank you, by the way. For keeping him safe. I know he would have been fine, but… I'm glad you were there."
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