We'll Always Be With You Solo Finished

July 14 2019
London 

"Mum!" Raine cheered happily as she jumped off the train and into her mother's awaiting arms. She missed her mother something terrible and though she had a rather...exciting time at school the last year, she was eager to return home. "I missed you so much. How's Lloyd and daddy? Are they waiting for us?" the young girl rattled off. 

Martel Sage would look down at her daughter, after giving her a long and tight hug and smile softly. "Yes, lovey. The two of them are waiting at the car. You'll be surprised at how much your brother has grown." 

Raine smiled brightly at that. She had read all of her mother's letters from home and was eager to see her baby brother. When she left he wasn't walking but over the year he apparently gained the motor skills to move his feet and get into everything. Raine was excited. She knew that she would have to lock her room down though. Mischievous toddler plus teenager's belongings did not equal a good time. 

Turning around, Raine waved at her friend and the two girls she rode the train home with before joining to help her mother with her trunk and other belongings. The two witches ran through the portal separating the Muggle train station and Platform 9 3/4, taking care to act casual as they made their way through the crowd. It was a good thing that muggles didn't see anything. They made their way through the train station, Raine skipping along at times as she was too giddy about seeing her family to walk normally, until they finally reached the doors leading to outside. The dimming light from the day made the polluted city of London look more bustling than it normally was, making the pre-teen eager to get into her father's car and back home. The quiet of her home  town beckoned her. Hogwarts was quiet, sure. What with the lake and the highlands in the distance, the forest off to the side of the castle and the many alcoves that were hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the main areas of the school. But nothing compared to the quiet of her town where she was raised and grew to love. 

The moment she saw her father leaning against the car with her brother sitting on the roof of the vehicle, the pre-teen squealed and raced toward them. Seymore Sage smiled wide as he grabbed his son and held out his other arm to his little girl, gathering both children into his arms as tightly as he could. Lloyd squealed as well, but it was more due to the fact that he was being squeezed by both his father and sister. Martel came up behind the group and chuckled at her family. "Alright you lot. Hun, help me with your daughter's things. Raine, could you put your brother in his seat and settle yourself in as well? We're going to go straight to your Grandpa Sage's house." 

"Really? I thought you saw all of our family two weeks ago?" Raine asked as she held her fidgeting brother. She put her face in his little neck and made little chomping noises against his skin, making the little boy laugh. 

"We...well I went to see my parents. You know how they feel about your dad." 

"You know how I feel about them as well." Seymore grumbled. 

"Hush, dear. Anyway, we'll be seeing your father's family this week. We should hurry and get a move on."  

Raine nodded and moved to put Lloyd in his car seat. The lad’s tiny and chubby fingers attempted to help her but the older girl managed to strap him in completely before settling herself into the seat next to him. She continued to play with her baby brother, using the toys he had in the car to entertain him, until her parents entered the vehicle and her father drove off. 

Raine started out of the window, answering any questions her parents had about her school year as best as she could without mentioning the trauma of the blossom ball and the small incident with trying to find that weird girl. She also avoided mentioning the end of term first year ball and the weird disco ball fiasco that came with it. She honestly tried hard to push those events to the far recesses of her mind. 

Raine listened as her mother began to energetically explain what the family would be doing for the rest of the summer until they had to go school shopping again. She smiled as she thought about how fun the rest of her summer would be with her family and her smiles broadened as she listened to her parents tease one another over how Mattel was much more excited than Raine was about the rest of their summer holiday plans. 

Raine knew that it would be great. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

It wasn't great. Her first day back with her family was spiraling out of control and turning on its side until it finally stilled with her looking at the world upside down. 

Literally. 

A wailing pushed through the ringing in her ears and the girl groggily looked over to where the sound was coming from. 

Lloyd was in his car seat, holding his head in his tiny hands and alternating between whimpering and wailing. Raine's vision was still blurry as she tried to see what was wrong with her baby brother. She vaguely remembered hearing another sound, followed by a very wet cough, and turned her head to see where the new sound came from. Pain immediately pounded against her cranium and her hands went to her head as she futilely tried to stop the aching with her hands. Her brother's crying didn't help the headache that had formed...or what she thought was a headache... but she knew she needed to get him to stop crying. Though she did wonder why her mother didn't reach back to calm her brother yet. Maybe she stepped out of the car? 

"Lloyd," Raine said softly as she reached for her brother weakly. "Lloyd, stop crying. Shh...what's the matter?" she asked. She felt so weak. Why was she so weak? And why wouldn't her brother stop crying? 

"L-Lloyd...shh." Her head hurt something fierce. Every movement she made just seemed to jostle her brain inside her skull and cause her cranium to throb uncontrollably. But she had to get to her brother. If her parents weren't in the car then it was up to Raine to tend to her baby brother, regardless of how much pain her head...and body...were currently in. The girl reached toward her brother again, whimpering as any movement she made wracked her entire body now with pain, and started to unbuckle the lad from his car seat. Lloyd turned toward his sister and reached out his small pudgy hands, and the moment that his seat was fully unbuckled, he leaned over to fall into his sister's arms. Raine held and shushed him again, running her hand up and down his back. Her vision was beginning to clear and she suddenly realized that her family’s car was not in the street or even on a road somewhere. But it was still unclear as to where Raine and her family were at so she slowly, as her head was still ringing and in pain, inched her way out of the car with her brother. 

Through the darkness and the dim lighting from the car’s headlights, Raine could see that the car was off on the side of the road facing the trees. Her brother still whimpering in her ear, Raine turned to the back of the car where the road was and saw another car sitting in the middle of the dark road. The door was to the driver’s side was open but that was all Raine could see. Her attention was pulled away from the street by the sound of coughing from behind her and she turned back to her parent’s car. Her mother was in the car; in the passenger seat. She was coughing and calling out for Raine. The twelve year old rushed over to her mother’s side and opened the door. 

Or tried to. 

It was jammed and her parents were locked inside. Her father was unresponsive and wouldn’t wake up no matter how many times the girl called for him, and Raine only took one look at her mother before she had to look away quickly from the sight that she saw. She had never seen her parents so vulnerable before and it was destroying the young child. 

“Raine,” the girl heard her name faintly and leaned into the car from the backseat. “M-mum? Mum, I can’t open the door.” 

“He-” Martel swallowed thickly before speaking again. “Get. Help.” She managed to get out of her throat before her coughing fit started again. 

Raine, with tears in her eyes at seeing her strong parents in such a state, nodded and put her brother back into his seat despite his protesting before taking out her wand. She knew that she shouldn’t...couldn’t...use her magic outside of Hogwarts and wasn’t supposed to use her magic outside of school, but her parents were in danger and hurt very badly and she didn’t see that she had a choice. She raised her wand in the air and yelled, “Periculum!” hoping beyond hope that there was a witch or wizard nearby, or even a Muggle, that would see the flare in the air and come to her family’s aid. 

It seemed as if help would never come, though it was only about a fifteen minute wait what with Raine constantly shooting red sparks into the sky. A group of wizards, who identified themselves as Aurors, came to the desolate and near abandoned area when the alert of an under-aged witch or wizard was conducting magic. It was the scene of a sobbing and snot-faced Raine, holding onto her equally snotty faced baby brother with her wand in the air, looking up at the adults with a look that begged them to help her family.

The last thing Raine remembered seeing before one of the Aurors apparated her and her brother away was a couple of Aurors pulling her father from the car and shaking their heads as they placed him on a conjured cot for transportation.