Life's like an hourglasses glued to the table, no one can find the rewind button now so breathe. Just breathe.

Cael doused his hands in the bowl of water that Theodore had found and wiped them off before throwing down the cloth and pointing his finger at the man who unflinchingly commanded his loyalty but did not inspire in Cael a desire to be totally ignorant of the events that had transpired. To his credit, Theodore remained stoic and unmoving, merely stared at Cael, his own hands and forearms coloured the rich scarlet of Hallie’s blood.

“What?” Theodore bit out impatiently, pulling the bowl and a sponge to him to cleanse his skin.

Cael didn’t imagine he could keep himself calm but his response was measured and somewhat strained yet completely stationed at normal volume. He knew that Theodore would raise his voice in response without remorse and the two would bicker like an old married couple but Cael didn’t want to provoke the man any more than the day’s events already had.

“What in Merlin’s name happened to her?” He burst. “And why on earth did you call me instead of taking her to St. Mungo’s?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you have a date or something? If you must know a family friend deemed it necessary to make his woeful pain felt.”

Cael’s ears reddened at Theodore’s first scolding but he stilled a little when another person entered into the fold: the aforementioned Toby who prevented Cael from biting back at Theodore. Cael straightened up, thoroughly embarrassed, and left a half-glare for the benefit of Theodore before fixing his gaze on the young man who he was sure belonged in Hogwarts but he’d never actually seen.

Theodore came to stand behind his friend and Cael glanced at him, pausing to listen the words that Theodore imparted.

“Because then I’d have to tell them what I did to him, wouldn’t I?”

Loyalty to Theodore and, in that instance, the Coopers made Cael think twice but the Healer in him that knew somewhat better was horrified at the idea that someone else was out there just as hurt as Hallie had been. Cael knew Theodore and the man could be a nasty, vindictive bastard. If someone had hurt Hallie, Cael didn’t imagine there had been much left. Or wouldn’t be, if he wasn’t finished yet.

The sound of her son made her jump slightly, feeling his hand pressed against her shoulder was soothing for her. It reminded her that although the family had been torn and ripped to shreds there were fragments of glue remaining to hold them together. Although the fact that Toby had seen the state Hallie was in didn't comfort the Mother for long.

Turning around Amelia clasped her arms around Henry, pulling his head towards her chest to shield him for the sight. No doubt the image would be photographed into his memory, set in his skull forever, but it was a natural instinct in Amelia to hide Hallie.

'She'll be fine.' Amelia said, kissing his head softly, 'I'll give you some money and you can go Ye-Olde-Cafe for lunch.' The cafe was in the village where they lived, growing up it had been their favourite place to go. The four of them that was. On rare occasions as a treat Robert Cooper would take the family for lunch. He would have done it more often, but being a huge tourist destination for hikers and holidaymakers it was rather pricey.

Not caring to listen to whatever Theodore and Ivanov were chatting about Amelia released Toby and attempted to usher him from the room, calling over her shoulder to Theodore: 'Could you help me take Hallie upstairs please?'

(OOC: Toby doesn't have to go it was just what she'd do)

Toby bit back a sigh, well aware of what Amelia was trying to do. She was trying to protect him, send him out of the house. The suggestion of Ye-Olde-Café made perfect sense for his mother to suggest, a place he'd missed, one where he'd find comfort, a treat of sorts after what he'd just seen. Toby didn't say it out loud, but the teenager had no intention of going. He would be staying right here, with his mother and Hallie.

Toby hadn't exactly been listening to the conversation between Hallie's husband a man who must have been a healer, but he hadn't exactly been not listening either. But after Theodore had said “Because then I’d have to tell them what I did to him, wouldn’t I?” Toby could no longer pretend that he hadn't heard.

The wizard's head turned so fast that it cracked, and he quickly managed to meet the eyes of his brother-in-law. Approval was clear on his face, and Toby was sure that the older male would be able to see it. The person who had dared to touch his sister would suffer. Toby broke the eye contact and turned his head to face the floor. The blonde was well aware that the look in his eyes was probably borderline feral. He needed to get that under control before his mother noticed and started to fret. The last thing his mum needed right then was to be worrying about him as well.

"Mum," he said, pulling out of Amelia's embrace with a smile, "I'll help take Hallie upstairs, I'm stronger than you now." Toby flexed a muscular bicep to emphasize his point. His mother had only gotten him back a few months ago, and the last time she'd seen him before that, he hadn't even been as tall as the witch's shoulder. Sometimes, the werewolf was positive that she still thought of him as far younger than he was.

There was still a painful distinction between the Coopers and Theodore Rookwood. No amount of time had endeared the latter to the former and the actions of Amelia, which were highly foreign to him to begin with, reminded him that he still wasn’t quite her daughter’s husband and regardless of that dotted line, Hallie was still a Cooper. The name meant nothing. He was about as much of a member of their family as he was of his now. It was a new and complete kind of exclusion without an ally in the world. Cael was as much good as a wet mop when it came to familial politics. Still, he was at least vaguely reassuring.

Theodore cleared his throat and looked about himself hesitantly before glancing down at his suit which was, needless to say, absolutely ruined. He exhaled and slid off the jacket but it did very little for the state of him. Theodore threw the jacket down on one of the chairs equally splattered with blood and brought his hands to his shirt, quickly unbuttoning it so he was left only in his undershirt which had thankfully avoided any mess. Cael’s eyebrows rose again and Theodore glared at him before moving over to the kettle which, after filling it, he quickly threw on.

“Cuppa anyone?” Theodore inquired idly, fully finished, over and done with what he had experienced.

And, unbeknownst to him, it was about to get a lot worse, too.

Amelia was about to object. She couldn't have her son carry his sister, his injured sister, up the stairs to the bathroom. She didn't know the ins and outs of what his life had been like away from home, a part of her didn't want to know, but she could imagine he'd been through a lot and the last thing he needed was to carry his mangled sister up stairs.

Opening her mouth no words came out. Closing it once more Amelia paused. 'Okay.' One simple word. There was nothing more to say than marvel at his bravery, he really was her husbands son through and through. Even though he had gone, moved onto the heavens, he still remained deep within her family. Had he been there to watch over Hallie, was that how they'd found Hallie just in time?

'I'll get the door for you.' She told her son, holding the door open for him to carry Hallie through. Seeing his muscles, his physique was rather surprising. Of course she had noticed a change in her son but never really taken it in, Toby was teenager now not the ten year old boy she remembered. He was stronger, physically and emotionally.

The sound of Theodore's voice distracted her. Glancing across the kitchen she noticed how on the edge of things he seemed. Here Amelia had been comforting Hallie, wanting to protect Toby from the drama and there was Theodore - Hallie's wife, her son-in-law - stood alone.

'That would be nice.' The Mother replied with a faint smile not really wanting a cup of tea at all. For starters the kitchen needed to be cleaned after Hallie was tidied up and tucked in her bed. None the less Amelia had accepted his offer. Hopefully make him feel useful, a part of the family. After all he had saved her daughters life along with Ivanov.

(OOC: Okay so I figured we could just have Hallie wake up in this thread? Unless you rather she didn't in that case I'll delete the post)


The six o clock sun was just about setting, although with the sky being the murky grey that it was nobody would have noticed. A light pitter patter of sleet could be heard against the aged cottage windows and the wind rattled the wooden frames.

Hallie was stirring, her eyelids lightly opening and closing in the dim candlelight. Expecting to feel pain Hallie clenched her jaw, her fingers tightly gripping the bed sheets. Nothing. She could feel nothing apart from the warmth and the soft bedsheet in her hand. Bedsheet? This was odd, surely Henry had decided to take her to a bed where she would be more comfortable?

Squinting in the light Hallie lifted herself up onto her elbows and took in the scene before her: photographs of her and Toby, her and Maura, her and her Mother, one of her cat and a group of Gryffindors were on the wall across from the single bed in which she lay. The ceiling was, like the attic roof where she had spent her past week, slopped but no wooden beams were visible and the wallpaper wasn't curled and damp. What was that scent? Strawberry? Vanilla? On the bedside table was a small vial of a beautiful liquid: amortentia. It was something her Mother used to brew when they were ill. Not because she wanted her children infatuated but so they could smell the things they love the most. Strawberries. Vanilla. A Crackling log fire and a new smell, could it be cologne? Or perhaps scott?

'Hallie!' It was her Mother, who had raised from a rocking chair that was no longer used. The chair was usually crammed in the corner next to the oak wardrobe. As a child her Father would sit and nurse her against her chest, tell her a story to send her sleep whilst their Mother did the same with Toby in the next room.

'Mum?' Hallie replied, her eyesbrows furrowing as her blue eyes finally adjusted to the light, which was soon smothered by the darkness as she felt Amelia pulling her into a tight hug before lightly kissing her forehead teary eyed. She never cried. The only times Hallie had seen her Mother cry was at Toby's memorial a year after he had vanished, since then, the tearducts had dried up.

'Are you okay?' She asked her Mum, who stepped back away from the bed.

'I'm fine.' She said softly a lined smile visible beneath the eyes that had experienced so much pain in their lifetime.

Not sure whether to believe her or not Hallie's attention was drawn to the opening of her bedroom door. A familar male figure entered with a tray home to a teapot and two teacups in her hand.

Outside, next to a bare bush that would swell up with gooseberry fruit come the summertime, a small pile of cigarettes had been growing in an empty plant pot. A few jets of water had been sent into the bottom to expunge a fire from setting within the ceramic and between each draught of smoke there was a hefty mug of tea to wash it down. The tea was, in turn, was followed by a few bottles of beer which were lined up next to the plant pot and then, when the frothy mixture got too much that was abandoned to dice with the water and the butts leftover when the young wizard returned back to the teapot constantly being filled and refilled in the kitchen for his consumption.

As if the events of the previous hours hadn’t happened at all, the kitchen had been wiped down and things had been set to rights. Winter snowdrops had even been sourced from the garden and put in a dainty, hand-painted vase. There, they had been set on the table top and along with the Evening Prophet and a few other tidbits that had come through the post. Normality had returned. Scones and cream had even been set out and a trifle had been found in the fridge which Cael had been enthusiastically tucking into ever since. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the entire inhabitants of Cooper cottage knew about the patient that was upstairs, conked out blissfully on pain relief potions, then it could’ve been just a regular day.

Only it wasn’t, of course, and Theodore was painfully reminded of that fact as he carefully padded up the stairs to Hallie’s room where Amelia had retired to, no longer seemingly being able to stick around the butchers that had both maimed irreparably (for the meantime) and saved her daughter’s life. Theodore wasn’t going to begrudge Cael for what the Ivanov man did. Cael had made it a simple decision. Theodore had already made the choice by calling him, too. There had been no other way to deal with what had happened. The only way was to try and save her and save her they had. Within a few hours, Cael pronounced she was out of danger and while he didn’t move to leave, they had all visibly relaxed.

Voices from behind the door changed Theodore’s countenance once he reached the landing and with a shaking hand he pushed open the door carefully and looked up, tray in hand, to see that his wife was, indeed, awake and most certainly alive. A weight that Theodore hadn’t realised he’d been harbouring and he immediately set down the tray on the nearest clear surface, shutting the door carefully behind him. However, before he let impulse overtake him entirely, Theodore stalled and stood semi-awkwardly in between Amelia and the door. He had to remember not to overstep. As ever, he felt.

“Hi there,” Theodore smiled, his lips quirking in a half-grin before deciding against propriety. Sod the mother-in-law. Sorry Amelia.

Throwing caution to the wind, Theodore moved to his wife’s bedside, crouching down onto the floor. His hand found hers and an absurd, full smile rose on his lips as he brought his head down to kiss at her bruised, splintered knuckles.

“I’m going to make you resign and buy you a puppy.” He chuckled. “Maybe that way the only trouble you’ll get into is losing the dog while it sniffs out birds or something. You’ve got to stop scaring me like this, blondie. You’re prematurely aging me, you know?”

Hallie couldn't help but surpass a smile as Theodore approached, kissing her hand lightly. It was warm, soothing. It was everything that she had missed the past week. Now she was surrounded by the people she loved, no doubt Toby was in the house somewhere, and here was her Mum and Theodore. Her Teddy. The Teddy she had thought she'd fell for then the next moment was being reined in by her hair and chained to in the upstairs of Borgin and Burkes.

Proping herself up with the pillows Hallie rolled her eyes, yet her smile still remained.

'I'm not going to resign, but I do like the idea of a puppy.' Hallie exlaimed. 'Oh, and what have I said about calling me Blondie?' She did attempt to hide the grin and put on a stern face, honestly, but the fact truth be told she'd missed it. Blondie. Raising herself up she grasped Theodore's face and pulled him in, kissing him softly on the lips whilst her forehead rested on his. For a moment of two her blue eyes locked onto her as she felt his warm breath. 'I've missed you.'

Taking this as her cue to leave Amelia smiled before stepping out of Hallie's room and closing the door behind her, 'I'll just be downstairs if you need me.' She said. The Mother hadn't wanted to leave but clearly her daughters relationship was more than she had first thought. Theodore was her daughter's husband and the two should have time alone, after all, Theodore had saved her life.

She felt as though she could melt away into Theodore's chocolate eyes. They were warm, character and familiar. Every night when she had been in Borgin and Burkes it was those eyes she'd seen in her dreams, the ones reassuring her that the auror would be okay.

'I need the toilet.' Hallie told Theodore, suddenly begrudging the fact her bladder had chose an inconvient time to want to empty. Swinging her leg round of the bed she pushed herself up, stepping her other foot to support her stand.

Thud. Her other leg wasn't there and Hallie found herself on the floor, her eyes zooming in on the missing limb. It felt as though the entire room was spinning, spinning out of control. Colours of light darted through each other, the sound seemed muffled and Hallie's chest was visibily increasing in volume with every breath she took.

Shaking in horror Hallie placed a hand to where her leg should be. The carpet was soft on her fingertips.

'W-where is my?' Hallie said shakily. 'Where is? W-what happened? Where's?'

'Everything okay?' Amelia had heard the thud and hurried straight up the stairs into Hallie's room.

'Where's my leg?' Hallie screamed staring wide-eyed from Theodore to the carpet where her fingers lay.

The rapid change in character was a reason why Theodore had been determined to remain a bachelor for life, or at least bump off a handful of wives for the very sake of enjoying a variety of women. One moment, Hallie’s lips were on his and it was as though the previous days, a thwarted Christmas, and that bastard had never even gotten to them. For a moment he allowed his fingers to curl around her jawline and preserve his mouth over hers. His utterances that he’d missed her - that he was terrified he’d lost her -- floated wantonly into the air as a soft smile alighted on his features. His thumb had smoothed over her cheekbone and his eyes had scoured her face, replacing the way she looked now to him with the image that had stained the back of his eyelids, leftover from when he’d found her. She was clean, smelt like lavender and something else uniquely Hallie. Everything had been righted. She looked like his wife again – as though none of it had ever happened.

Of course there is the other half of this scenario, too, and before Theodore could catch hold of her, stop her or do anything she had landed on the floor with a thud and Theodore was beside her in an instant, his hands taking hold of her shoulders as she came to realise exactly what he’d hoped he might be able to avoid for a few hours, perhaps even a couple of days, longer. A thought condemning Cael for not sedating her enough registered briefly in Theodore’s mind but then he remembered that he was never going to completely avoid the discussion. She would wake up one day and discover it was gone regardless of whether or not he had Cael keep her under for a week or more. He’d never get away with hacking off his wife’s leg – or, rather, getting someone else to do it. No, he was in the dog house, for sure. Sooner rather than later wasn’t helpful, either.

“Babe, babe, babe…” Theodore dropped his arm around Hallie’s waist and, cocking the other underneath her, well, leg (singular) he lifted her back up to sit on her bed.

Theodore remained on the floor before her, adopting a lesser position in the situation, bringing his hands down to rest either side of Hallie’s hips. His eyes fixed on her face, determined he wasn’t going to look at the skin that Cael had so carefully patched up and bandaged. It was clean. He knew that much. It had been an hour or so since they’d been changed but part of Theodore worried that her fall had exacerbated the restlessness of the stiches that Cael had put in. He hoped, regardless, that for now it would be fine. He had to soothe her first.

“Please, please, please – don’t, don’t be mad. You’re going to be livid. You are livid. Yeah, blondie, I know, but we did what we did – excluding your mum who was totally unimpressed with the idea so don’t be pissed at her – because we wanted to save your life. You would’ve died. For now… for now it’ll be a struggle but it is going to be alright in the end. Everything will go back to normal with time. This is a total blip and it’s fine. It’s all fine because you’re alive. I’d rather have you alive with no legs than dead with both intact. I can’t lose you and if that means we have to sacrifice a few bits temporarily to keep you alive then that’s fine by me. I couldn’t let you die, Hallie.”

Hallie felt Theodore lift her up and place her on the bed, although she wasn't paying him any attention it was all on her leg - or perhaps the leg that wasn't there. The sensation was odd. Hallie felt as though her leg should be there, nothing felt different apart from it felt wrong on so many levels. She was legless! 

How on earth was she mean't to become an auror without a leg? There had been Mad-eye Moody, he'd had prosthetics but not when he was in training. Would the ministry fire her? No surely not? Then again it would surprise her, things were changing and she wasn't keen on the new regime. That didn't mean she wanted to leave though. 

Staring up at Theodore the fear and shock in her blue eyes had been replaced, cast aside by anger. Pure anger.

'You Bastard!' Hallie screamed attempt to stand up to punch him, which resulted in her falling into him where teardrops were no fastly falling onto his t-shirt as she clung on to support herself.

'Hallie, watch your language!' Amelia cried, sweeping towards her daughter.

'Shut up!' Hallie yelled, her venomous eyes turning on her Mum as she pushed Theodore away from her falling back into a sitting position on the bed. 'You could have stopped them! YOU LET THEM CUT OFF MY LEG!' 

SMASH! The vase on the bedside table had narrowly missed Amelia's head. It was clear that, despite Theodore assuring her Mum wasn't guilty, Hallie hadn't listened. All she had heard was that they'd cut off her leg. The fact she could have died had gone in one ear and out of the other. They had cut off her leg!

'Hallie!' Amelia gasped, marching to the bed and ignoring the smashed glass and water that had splashed down the wall and onto the carpet. 'You do not-'

'GET OUT!' Hallie yelled, her entire body shaking with rage. Amelia paused. 

'Get. Out.' The shouting had been replaced with a breathy, stern tone. Air gushed over Hallie's front teeth and through her trembling lips. The blue eyes that were usually warm and friendly were empty and cold. They kept a glare of Amelia until she left the room, clutching her throat. 

The door quietly shut behind them leaving Hallie and Theodore alone. 

'SHUT UP! I'M THE ONE WITHOUT A LEG!' Hallie shouted towards the door as she heard a sob escape her Mother who hadn't left the landing. 

(OOC: Now Amelia is out of the way all I can say is... Poor Theodore)