"Ex--cuse, me---move, move, move!"

Didn't people know how to act in a time of crisis? You didn't stand around screaming bloody murder, staring at the rays of hexes and jinxes while you waited to get hit by one of them. You moved, you hid, you did whatever you could to stop the bloody death eaters that were interrupting the peace. You didn't become a distraction or something that could cause even more harm. Emmeline jumped and twisted and forced herself through the crowd of people surging in every which direction. This was going to be such a disaster.

Emmeline wished she hadn't offered to take the package to Flourish and Blotts. The package was too delicate to let an owl deliver it, Patrick had to head home early because of his daughter, and seeing as it was only a five minute walk, hey! Get some sun, earn some brownie points from the cousin who was constantly harassing her to do stuff other than ogle at her nerdy boyfriend! Haa. She wished she'd just refused and taken on the extra paperwork, but that meant that Edward would have probably taken the walk to Flourish and Blotts and Emmeline knew for a fact that he would have either frozen in terror or with his bad luck been shot in the head once the first death eaters showed up.

Okay, stop the morbid thoughts.

The door of Calliope's jingled pleasantly, completely ignorant of the chaos that was going on just down the block. Emmeline knew it wouldn't be long before they reached the publisher. "Edward! We've got to go!" she shouted, trying to keep her voice from sounding too stressed. "Come on!"