A man looking like a living skeleton was lying down on a leather sofa in the Billius Weasley's household.
It's been already two years since Ross Forthinn and his wife came to the Shell Cottage, asking Bill for a shelter. Hard times had came for the members of the Order of the Phoenix. After the loss of the Headquarters at Grimmauld Place, the members- decimated and spread around the country - had to look for a safe place, each on their own.
Ross Forthinn has been almost fully immobilized for sixteen years. Shortly after the First Wizarding War, Ross- a prominent Order member and an active Auror- partook in a fight with a group of Death Eaters in their hideout. During the fight, he had been hit by an unknown, horrific curse, which made his muscle mass slowly disintegrate.
Ross started noticing the effect of the curse only about a week after the battle. After becoming noticeably weaker and losing a ton of weight over a short period of time for no reason, his wife Joanne decided to take him to St Mungo's Hospital.
Unfortunately, the couple's worst assumptions turned out to be true. The Healers, one-by-one, threw their hands up helplessly. The curse Ross had been hit with belonged to a Darkest branch of Magic. There was no cure. No counter-spell. No method of treatment.
Despite years of looking for help for Ross privately, outside of St Mungo's, Joanne was unsuccessful. The man became almost bed-ridden, walking only using Muggle crutches. No Magic was able to keep his weak, skeletal body upright; and even using crutches he was able to take only a few steps, because his stick-like muscle-less arms couldn't hold him any longer. He was unable to apparate; when he had attempted to use Apparition after being cursed, he splinched and almost bled out. Even Side-Along Apparition was too much of a risk. Using Floo was a last resort; this way of transport wasn't impossible for Ross's body to endure, but it still put a great pressure on it.
When Ross became disabled, the First War has already been over. The activities of the Order of the Phoenix has been suspended. Joanne has still been working as an active Auror, and Ross volunteered to do a large part of Aurors' paperwork from home.
Joanne was the most supportive, caring and compassionate person Ross knew. Helping him around and mentally comforting him, she made his bed-ridden life bearable.
Everything was acceptably normal, until the Second Wizarding War broke out. Joanne, as an Auror and an unbelievably skilled Witch, partook in the War effort and fought by the Order's side. Ross was left behind; each time Joanne went out to fight, his heart sunk in fear and anxiety.
The Order gave Ross an assignment to take care of the propaganda paperwork. Ross was basically putting together underground leaflets and newspapers rags with anti- Death Eaters and anti-Ministry contents. The man was eager to do his task; however, he constantly felt overwhelming helplessness. Seeing his comrades and wife gambling with their lives and fighting, he could do nothing but squeeze his stick-like thin fingers on a quill.
The most horryfing experience Ross had in his life, was waiting for Joanne to come back from the Battle of Hogwarts three years ago.
Joanne insisted on going, despite Ross's desperately begging her to stay. The entire Order of the Phoenix was supposed to partake in this Battle. Joanne obviously didn't want to be left behind and abandon her friends and comrades-in-arms. Ross understood this, nevertheless he didn't want to let her go. He had bad feelings about this battle.
As soon as he was informed by his friends that almost entire Order had been burned to the ground at Hogwarts, his heart sunk. Ross almost went insane; he started desperately crying and rolling around on the ground like a little boy.
Obviously, the joy of Joanne coming back home was boundless. He embraced her with his fading-away, boney arms, and didn't let go of her for a long time.
Joanne told him that she was one of the few Order's members, who managed to disapparate from Hogwarts, escaping the Cursed Flames, which took over the castle. Countless people were burned alive; she saw the fire consuming human beings like wooden sticks.
She also said that she had managed- despite the overwhelming mayhem- to take a glimpse of the Death Eater, who controlled Fiendfyre.
She claimed that the boy was not older than thirteen. And that she saw the fire reflecting in his bright, grey eyes.
The image of the young Death Eater with bright grey eyes surrounded by blazing flames stuck in Ross's memory. He hoped that his appearance was just a coincidence; nevertheless, over the last three years he kept pondering upon it from time to time.
The last three years were difficult for the Forthinn couple. After Lord Voldemort took over the entire British Wizarding world, Order of the Phoenix had to go underground. Ross and Joanne moved out of their flat to the Headquarters at Gimmould place, which at the time had been the safest hideout. The surviving Order's members were all involved in conspiracy fight against the regime. Joanne was still active member, partaking in undercover attacks and acts of sabotage against Death Eaters and their supporters. Ross kept his position as a propaganda worker; the Order established their own new press organ after "The Daily Prophet" bent to the Government.
Over two years later, an attack on the Headquarters took place. The Order members were forced to flee. Each person escaped on their own; running away as a group would have been too dangerous. During the attack, Joanne was forced to Side-Along apparate Ross on an emergency. She chose the Shell Cottage- a safe house on the Cornwall Sea side belonging to an Order member, Bill Weasley. Unfortunately, Ross splinched during the crash-apparition. For his terribly weak, unnaturally skinny body, splinching was a genuine disaster. It took a lot of effort from Joanne and Fleur Delacour to heal him, and still the accident made his case even more severe.
Compassion and support shown Ross by Bill and his wife Fleur was truly touching. They both provided him the best level of care. Because Shell Cottage was located in a beautiful place by the sea, Bill came up with an idea of rehabilitation for Ross- he started taking him on short walks on the beach. The young Weasley , along with Joanne, supported the disabled man from both sides, helping him to make slow progress in walking. Nevertheless, Ross still wasn't able to endure more than couple of minutes of such an exercise.
Lying on the couch in the Shell Cottage, Ross was thinking of a way to express his gratitude towards Bill and Fleur and repay them for their kindness.
He was roused from his thoughts as soon as Bill stormed into the room. The ginger-haired boy looked terrified.
'Ross, they're coming!' he whispered.
Ross's stomach froze.
'They...?'
'Death Eaters.'
Ross could feel all his blood running from his face. he lifted his skeletal arm towards Bill in a helpless gesture.
In this moment, the silver-haired young lady- Fleur Delacour Weasley- stepped in.
'They're looking for me and Bill. Nobody knows that you and Joanne live here.' she reassured him in an anxious voice.
'Ross, we'll hide you.' Bill added. 'You'll both go to the attic.'
'But... what about you?' Ross asked though clenched teeth.
'We'll manage. The ward detector showed me, that there are only two of them. They underestimated us. ' Bill replied.
'Don't worry, we'll chase them away.' Fleur smiled, visibly trying to comfort Ross.
'But your wards... Bill, Fleur... They have been protecting us for so long...' the disabled man muttered.
Bill gave him a sad look.
'It seems like they've fallen. That's what my detecting device says.' he said.
Joanne stormed into the room.
'What's up?!' she yelled.
'Shhhh!' Bill whispered. 'We're under attack; you two must hide in the attic. Apparate up there, and I'll take care of moving Ross.'
Joanne shot her husband a scared, worried look, but obediently disapparated.
'Levicorpus.' Bill whispered, aiming his wand at the disabled man. Ross could feel his body floating in the air, rising up towards the attic. Joanne gently caught him mid-air and laid carefully beside herself.
The attic in the Shell Cottage was old fashioned and half-open . It was basically a wooden loft as small as a cupboard. The couple had just enough place for themselves; if not for Ross being a size and weight of a toddler, squeezing in would have been more problematic. The man heard his wife muttering disguising Glamours upon both of them.
Then, the commotion outside the Cottage started. Loud voices and whooshing spells could be heard. Ross held his breath. Both him and Joanne had a clear view on the events downstairs, and stretched their necks out to see better.
'... and that your squad is on a furlough today, Nordi-boy. BOMBARDA!' a female voice yelled and the Cottage's door blasted apart in a small explosion.
'By the Dark Lord's name, Bella, I've almost forgotten your trademark.' an amused, young voice said and two Death Eaters in leather, shiny black robes stepped inside the house.
Ross gasped. Neither of the Death Eaters wore their infamous silver masks, they faces could be clearly seen. The woman was middle-aged, had curly black hair, full lips and a pleasant, heart-shaped face. Her comrade... Ross stretched his neck out to take a better look. He felt ice inside of his stomach. It couldn't be true...
The boy was definitely not older than sixteen. He had soft facial features , wavy brown hair and huge, bright grey eyes.
'That's because it's been a while since we were on a Raid together, Nordi-boy.' the woman said. 'I missed this greatly; now we have a chance to make up for the lost time.'
Both Death Eaters felt visibly comfortable in each other's company. They also didn't seem to acknowledge that they have just stormed inside a house of their enemies. They were both at ease. The boy hasn't even pulled his wand out.
Bill stepped outside of the kitchen and faced the couple, aiming his wand at them. Fleur stood by his side.
'Oh, little Wesley!' the black-haired woman said in a condescending voice and burst into laughter.
'What do you guys want?!' Bill snarled. 'Get out of my house!'
'We have just found your house, Weasley, after seeking its location for months. Why would we want to leave now?' the boy asked. He had a surprisingly mature, soft voice, that made Ross's heart bleed.
'Good thing that Nordi-boy here is quite good at working disguising wards out.' the woman said, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder.
Bill and Fleur started shooting powerful hexes simulously. The Female Death Eater conjured a shield in a surprising speed. Her young comrade still didn't even reach for his wand.
'Save your breaths, both of you!' the boy snarled.
After a minute of a non-stop fire , Bill must have understood that none of the hexes and curses he and Fleur casted made a dent in the black-haired woman's shields. They stopped the cannonade for a while, both sweaty and out of breath.
That was the moment when the bright-eyed young man stretched his hand out towards the Weasleys and... the genuine hell started.
The fire took over the Shell Cottage in no-time. Ross could feel Joanne's hand squeezing on his skinny arm, getting ready for an emergency Side-Along Apparition (better be splinched than burned alive), but- much to Ross's surprise- the flames formed themselves into a tight ring around Bill and Fleur. The boy controlled them; he didn't let the fire spread all over the wooden house.
Ross felt Joanne's mouth right next to his ear.
'This is... the one who burned down so many our people at Hogwarts...' she whispered, horrifed.
Ross had figured that much out. Now he looked at the boy's eyes; the fire reflected inside them. He prayed and begged to be mistaken about this boy, but if not...
Bill embraced shaking Fleur when the cursed ring of flames reached their feet. He looked into the girl's eyes and silently took her wand from her. The Death Eater boy stretched his hand out to take the wands from Weasley. As soon as he took them, he snapped his fingers to put the fire down.
'INCANCEROUS!' the curly-haired woman yelled, immobilizing Bill's and Fleur's bodies by invisible Magical ties. 'Nice fire, Nord-boy... Wasn't it the same trick that you used during the Battle of Hogwarts to catch the stupid Potty?'
'Yeah, that was this one, Bella.' the boy answered eagerly. 'Battle of Hogwarts, by the Dark Lord... It's been three years, I've almost forgotten!'
The woman called Bella giggled.
'You weren't taller than me at the time, and now- look at you! You've grown almost a foot!' she said.
They talked freely; seemed to forget about the Weasley couple's presence. Ross was most hurt by the female Dearth Earter's tone towards the boy. She seemed protective and supportive of him. Was she his mother figure? He turned his head to looked worriedly at Joanne.
The boy moved towards Bill, seemingly intending to grab his arm to side-along apparate him, but Bella stopped him.
'Wait a minute, Nordi-boy. Let's drag those two outside and burn this filthy hovel down before we leave.' she said.
'You've got the point, Bella.' the young man nodded and placed his hand upon Bill. 'Levicorpus.'
As they levitated the Weasley couple outside, Joanne drew her wand and muttered protective spells upon her husband. That was a mean to ease the effects of the forthcoming emergency Side-Along Apparition she was going to perform with Ross. Ross had already accepted the fact that he was going to splinch in a few seconds, and it honestly didn't bother him so much. Nothing could possibly cause him greater suffering, than the scene he has just witnessed.
