"Honestly, Molly, I couldn't eat another bite." The voice of Gideon Prewett responded to his sister's urgings for him to eat more dessert.
"Always were a softie, Gid. Give it here, Molly, I can manage more!" Fabian chimed in eagerly, playfully shoving his twin, and grinning at his elder sister as their nephews giggled, watching their uncles from perches ranging from kitchen chairs to high chairs.
"Are you sure, Fabian? You've had four helpings already." Arthur Weasley asked rather concernedly, causing the younger of the two twins to laugh.
"Oh, Artie, you need to learn something," Fabian grinned at his brother-in-law.
"And that is that my brother is a bottomless pit." Gideon concluded teasingly, elbowing Fabian, prompting his younger sibling to elbow back as their eldest nephew, Bill, stared at them from across the table.
"Uncle Gid, why are you attacking Uncle Fab?" Bill Weasley was eleven years old, and was getting ready to go off to his first year at Hogwarts in a couple months, having been born after 1 September, 1970. His red hair was cut religiously by his mother, who seemed determined to quash his desire to wear it long, and so always kept it less than two inches long with her pair of kitchen scissors.
"'Cause your Uncle Fab is being a berk." Gideon responded, before being swatted, hard, on the back of the head by his eldest sibling.
"GIDEON GEORGE PREWETT!" She erupted at him, "How DARE you use language like that in front of my children!" She smacked his head again, causing Gideon to duck his red-headed profile down and cover it with his hands as Fabian and the nephews erupted in laughter. Charlie, the second-oldest of their nephews at the age of eight, almost nine, was giggling so hard his face was slowly turning pink. Percy, the third eldest, almost six years old, was quite entertained by watching their mother attack someone aside from his siblings, and was giggling as Fabian launched into commentary for the sake of his nephews.
"Now watch closely as the infamous Mum Weasley closes in for the game-winning attack!" Fabian cheered, applauding, and grinning as the children began doing the same. Arthur raised his teacup to his lips to hide his broad smile at the effect Fabian was having on his children. He had always thought, since he met Molly's brothers, that Gideon was the more mature of them, while Fabian was more fun-loving and childish at heart, not above getting down on the floor and wrestling with his nephews, as he had already done several times that evening.
"And you, Fabian, stop making a mockery of this!" Molly snapped, causing the younger twin to raise his hands in a gesture of innocence, and to smile at his older sister.
"Not making a mockery of anything, Mol." He said in his most innocent voice, batting his eyelashes in a play of innocence, which prompted Gideon to snort with laughter, a noise repeated around the table by Charlie, Bill, and the three-year old twins, Fred and George. Molly fixed her youngest brother with a look before scoffing slightly, and turning to Arthur.
"More Meringue, dear?"
"No thank you, Molly love." Arthur smiled to her, setting down his cup again, and adjusting his glasses a bit on the bridge of his nose before turning towards the older pair of twins.
"And dare I ask how … it … goes?" He raised his red eyebrows slightly.
"Arthur, not in front of the children!" Molly warned, scanning her brood of red-heads, including one-year old Ron, perched in his highchair beside her place at the table.
"Why not, mum?" Charlie whined.
"Yeah, we want to hear what Uncle Gid and Fab are up to!" Bill huffed slightly, crossing his arms.
"Now, now, boys, this is nothing to do with any of you. Off you go, into the Living Room, and play with the toys your uncles brought you." The children's faces light up at the mention of the new toys that they had very nearly forgotten about, and they raced off. Fabian smiled after them, and looked at Molly.
"Mol, love, you've got to sit down. You're eight months along, you can't go bustling around like you normally do."
"Of course I can, Fabian, I've managed fine six times before now, I can manage once more."
"I've had this argument," Arthur cut in, "seven times actually, and she never listens. Spare your breath, Fabian." He shrugged at his brother-in-law, who chuckled slightly.
"Mol, honestly, we're worried about you."
"And I'm worried about you two!" She cut in, looking severely at her brothers. "Both of you are Aurors, both of you are in Dumbledore's Order. Every single day, you two put yourselves in terrible danger without worrying about who you might hurt by doing it!" Her eyes were moist, as she sniffed slightly. "I stay up nights worrying about you two, and what might happen to you if you got attacked."
"Molly, love, we've been attacked before, nothing came of it." Gideon said soothingly, standing up to embrace her in a hug. "See, we're both here. You're both here, the children are all here."
"But that's not to say something won't happen!" She snapped back, wrapping the older twin in a close hug. "And I don't think I could bear it if anything happened to you, to either of you."
"We'll be fine, Molly." Fabian assured her, smiling towards her as Gideon hugged her. "We're too slippery for any of those masked lunatics to catch."
The kitchen was quiet for a moment or two, except the noises of the children playing in the next room.
"Anything tonight?" Arthur asked at last. Fabian nodded to him as Gideon still held Molly, who was crying softly into his shoulder.
"Yeah, we're keeping an eye on a flat in Colchester. Couple Death Eaters seen coming and going recently." He drew out his watch, and looked at the face, whose planets were ticking around the rim of the little gold disc. "Blimey, Gid, we're late." Fabian exclaimed, looking at his older brother as he rocketed to his feet, stuffing the watch into his waistcoat pocket. He picked his coat off the peg by the door – its black wool faded and thinned at the elbows, and patches on the lapels.
"Got to dash, Molly love. We'll floo once we're home so you can stop fretting." Gideon teased slightly, kissing his sister on her cheek.
"Be careful!" She said sternly, placing her hands on her hips.
"Always the souls of caution, Molly love!" Fabian grinned before both twins were gone, and the back door was thudding closed.
hr
The twins appeared with the familiar crack of apparition in an alleyway facing the flat they were to watch. Standing at the mouth of the alley, looking as irascible and bad-tempered as ever was Alastor Moody.
"It's about time!" He growled as the twins approached him.
"Oh, hush it, boss." Gideon teased slightly, patting the Head Auror's shoulder. "We got held up by Molly."
"How's she doing?" Moody asked, "expecting number seven, isn't she?"
"August." Fabian answered.
"Good, give her my best when you see her." Moody nodded slightly, and began limping down the alley towards the edge of the apparition charm.
"See you tomorrow morning, boss!" Gideon called after him, causing Moody to grump irritably before he vanished with a crack, leaving the twins all alone as the darkness of night thickened.
"When are we done here again?" Fabian asked quietly, his eyes fixed on the second floor windows of the building across the road.
"Two AM, we're relieved by Doge. "
"Doge? That old geezer?"
"He's Professor Dumbledore's friend."
"Doesn't stop him being an old geezer."
"Fabian, you're just grumpy you couldn't play with Bill and Charlie some more."
"While that may be true, you great git, that's no reason that Doge isn't an old geezer."
"Is it too late to have you traded in for another twin?"
"Yes."
"Damn."
Both twins laughed to themselves, stuffing their hands into their pockets, and whiling away the hours watching the windows for any sign of movement. Slowly, time dragged.
The clock in the city center could be heard booming eleven before something caught their attention. It was a flicker of movement in an alley across the street.
"Gideon?"
"Yeah?"
"You see that?"
"Alley by the building?"
"Mhm."
"Yeah. Couple of shapes. Get ready, just in case."
Both twins drew their wands, and watched the alleyway now. They didn't notice the whisper of a cloak behind them as someone entered the alleyway behind them. What they did notice, however, was the sudden flash of bright green light that just barely missed Fabian, crashing into the alley wall beside him.
"FUCK!" Yelled Fabian, leaping away from the wall a bit late, spinning around.
"How many?" Gideon asked, inhaling slowly.
"Four behind us." Fabian exhaled irritatedly.
"And at least five across the street, probably more coming down one direction of the street."
"Which way?"
"Doesn't matter. They're trying to trap us."
"Run?" Fabian asked.
"Run." Gideon answered, and both twins took off together, running down the street at breakneck pace, making towards the city center. The streets were devoid of traffic as their trainers thudded rhythmically off the pavement, their breaths coming in heaves as they rounded a corner, another jet of green light slamming into a window of a brownstone they passed, causing the window to shatter, and the people inside the room scream in terror. They could hear the thundering footsteps of the Death Eaters in hot pursuit as more spells shot over their heads, into automobiles parked around them, and crumbled walls and smashed windows. The twins shot spells behind them as they ran – stunning spells and stinging hexes, and were rewarded for their efforts with the noises of men falling.
They reached the center of the town, and stood back to back by the bottom of the clock tower – one twin facing the road they had run down, the other facing the center of the city itself, both with their wands drawn, and both panting.
Slowly, shapes began to emerge from the darkness around them.
"Avada Kedavera!" Yelled a man's voice, gruff and hoarse. Gideon ducked, and the spell shot over his head, slamming into a house across the street, blowing in the front door.
"Stupefy!" Gideon screamed, and a jet of red light caught the man in the chest.
"Expulso!" Yelled another Death Eater, and the side of the clock tower several feet above them exploded out, bricks and debris raining down. Fabian felt a hard impact, and a wetness. A falling brick had gashed his forehead, and the blood was leaking down his face, smearing into his eyebrows. A Death Eater fired the killing curse at his head, but Fabian had enough of his mental capacity left, despite the stun from the impact of the brick, to duck, and the spell impacted in the brick wall, causing dust and tiny shards of shrapnel to explode out, cutting gashes into the twin's cheeks and foreheads, coating their exposed skin and hair with grime. Gideon, enraged at his brother's injuries, fired the killing curse at another Death Eater, and watched him crumple. Fabian lashed out, feeling his brother's anger, and fired a blasting curse at two Death Eaters, watching with satisfaction as they were both blown backwards and slammed into a building. Three down , more than a dozen left surrounding them.
"Gideon, do you trust me?" Fabian asked quietly.
"Absolutely." His brother responded.
"Hold on to something." Fabian warned, just before aiming his wand down, and blasting the street apart at the feet of the Death Eaters. Debris and pavement went flying through the air, striking Death Eaters hard , causing a couple to crumple, blood leaking from wounds.
The grime on the twin's foreheads was being washed away slightly by their sweat.
And then the world seemed to freeze to Gideon as he heard Fabian yell in pain. A Death Eater had seized a shard of brick, and thrown it using magic, so that it was pierced through Fabian's neck. The younger twin was swaying, and Gideon grabbed him as Fabian started to fall, the sparkle of laughter vanished from his blue eyes as he gasped and gurgled, blood flowing from the puncture in the throat.
"No…" Gideon's eyes were misting as Fabian gasped a bit more, his hand blindly feeling on the ground before it found Gideon's, seizing it tightly just as it had when he was a little boy, and he'd been frightened by thunder storms. "No, Fabian please… please!" Gideon sobbed as his brother's chest shook slightly and then was still. "No, no, no, please. Wake up! WAKE UP!" Gideon screamed, shaking Fabian's shoulders hard, before he felt a curse catch him in the small of the back, and he was sent skittering along the street, the sounds of the Death Eater's laughter echoing in his ears.
"Aw, ickle little Prewett lost his brother?" Jeered one of them.
"Filthy bloodtraitor got what he deserved." Commented another, and Gideon raised his head just in time, to see through his leaking eyes, the Death Eater spit on Fabian's body, and slam his foot down on the corpse's face. With a roar of anger, Gideon found his feet, and charged the man, seizing his head with his bare hands, and slamming it into the side of the building, yelling in anger with each slam.
He never even felt the killing curse hit him.
And he crumpled to the ground beside Fabian.
hr
The knock to the back door of The Burrow was quiet, and would have gone unheard if Bill hadn't been downstairs trying to swipe a cookie from the jar on the counter. He blinked at the door before sliding along the floor quietly, and opening the door. A man with grizzled gray hair, brown eyes, and a large brown leather overcoat was leaning on a walking staff in the door. He looked down at Bill, and it seemed to the young boy that he looked right through him.
"Are your parents at home?" The man asked in a serious tone that worried Bill slightly. He nodded, and crossed to the stairs, taking them two at a time before he reached the door of his parent's bedroom, and flung it open.
"Mum, Dad, there's a man at the kitchen door asking for you. Looks kinda scary." He said, clambering onto the end of their bed. Arthur sat up first, running a hand through his red head as he shoved on his glasses.
"Molly, Bill, stay here." He said, taking his wand, and heading downstairs. As he reached the kitchen, he recognized the man. "Oh, Alastor, I'm sorry, Bill nearly gave me a heart attack when he said someone was at the door. Molly," he called up the stairs, "it's only Alastor."
"Alastor MOODY, the Head Auror?" She demanded, almost flying down the stairs to put on a pot of tea, laying out biscuits, and ushering Moody into a chair, repeating emphatically that he must be exhausted.
"What brings you to us at this time in the morning, Alastor? I thought our meeting wasn't until later." Arthur said, sitting opposite the older man.
"No, thank you." He said to Molly as she offered him tea, instead pulling out his flask and taking a deep drink. "I've come to speak to Mrs. Weasley, actually." Molly seemed to freeze in place, her knuckles whitening as her grip on the handle of the teapot tightened.
"What's happened?" She asked simply.
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm very sorry to inform you…" He was cut off by the sound of the tea pot hitting the kitchen floor and shattering, its contents pooling as she erupted into deep sobs, tears rushing from her eyes as Arthur leapt to his feet to embrace her. "that your brothers, Gideon and Fabian Prewett," Moody continued, swallowing the lump in his own throat, "were found dead this morning by Aurors responding to reports of spells fired in the presence of Muggles." Molly, still crying deeply, was guided to a chair by Arthur, and gently coaxed to sitting down before he started cleaning up the tea.
"Oh, Merlin!" She sobbed, wiping at her eyes with a kitchen towel as her shoulders shook.
"They died fighting, Mrs. Weasley. They killed at least five Death Eaters, and injured many more." Moody tried to comfort in only the way that a man of his caliber can, and it only served to increase Molly Weasley's anguish as her sobs got louder, and her shoulders shook more. Arthur quietly thanked Alastor for telling them.
"I'll need someone, family, to come to the Ministry and positively identify the bodies." He said quietly to Arthur, where Molly could not hear them.
"I'll do it." The tall red-head said, his own eyes damp.
"Alright, be there at nine." Moody nodded, before awkwardly patting Arthur's shoulder in a show of sympathy. As he left, Arthur reentered the kitchen, and dropped to his knees, wrapping Molly in a hug.
"I t…t…told them." She sobbed. "I t…t…told them th…that something l…l…like this would h…h…happen!" She cried into Arthur's shoulder as he hugged her.
Neither of them noticed five of their six children standing in the entrance to the kitchen watching them.
"Mummy," Percy finally spoke up, "what's happened?" Arthur looked over, and the boys saw that their father's eyes were swimming with tears behind their eyes.
"Arthur… you go." She said, swallowing slightly, in an effort to stop crying. "I need a moment." He nodded, and herded the boys, ranging in age from 11 to 3, to the living room.
"Boys," he said softly as they sat on the floor around him in his armchair, "do you know what it means to die?"
Bill nodded, he remembered when Arthur's mother had died some years before, but all the rest of them shook their heads.
"Well, dying is part of life." Arthur said carefully, "everything eventually dies, and it's sort of like… being asleep, but you don't wake up." They looked as if they were keeping up with him. "And it means you've gone away forever, and can't come back." He saw the boys nod again, and so he swallowed nervously. "Boys, your uncles died last night."
They looked confusedly at him.
"But that can't be, daddy." Percy said, looking confusedly at him. "Uncles were here for dinner last night. They brought us toys." Arthur slid off his chair, and crouched down by the boys.
"I know, Percy. I know. But they left here last night, and… they died." He swallowed nervously again, as Percy looked at him as if he still didn't comprehend.
"How did they die?" Charlie asked, still looking confused.
"Some very mean men killed them, Charlie. Some very mean and nasty men, who are bad, bad people."
"They killed them?" Percy asked.
"Yes, Percy. They killed your uncles, and now mummy's very very sad about that." Percy gave him a sort of look that was almost 'Are you daft? Of course she is sad!' "So," Arthur continued, ignoring the look, "we're all going to be on our very best behavior for mummy, and we're going to do anything she asks us to, aren't we?"
"Yes, daddy." Chorused the voices of the majority of his red-haired brood.
FABIAN FREDERICK PREWETT
MARCH 27, 1958 – JULY 21, 1981
GIDEON GEORGE PREWETT
MARCH 27, 1958 – JULY 21, 1981
"I have always held those political opinions which point to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter in what rank of life he may have taken his origin."