It had been two years since the new Minister had been put in charge and things couldn't possibly get any worse.
Despite Voldemort's defeat in 1998, the amount of followers only grew from then on. It had all started when Percy had been attacked in his office and announced dead. The papers had claimed that it was a death eater that had been on the run that wanted revenge and was caught, but none of the Weasleys were stupid. They knew the numbers were growing. The Muggleborns knew the numbers were growing. The only people who couldn't see it were the Purebloods and some Half Bloods.
First, the new Minister of Magic, Minister Nott Sr. had slowly and carefully evicted all Muggleborns from their positions, using small, almost stupid reasons, as excuses to have them thrown out. The Purebloods and Half Bloods couldn't see it.
Then the Longbottoms had passed. Neville, his grandmother, his wife and his new born child had died suspiciously. The Daily Prophet had claimed they had died in their sleep, but everyone knew that perhaps that would be believable for one person, but not an entire household.
That's when more people began to see the Ministry for what it was becoming. Laws forbidding Blood Traitors from owning a business, for having high ranking positions and even on who they could marry were put in place without anyone seeing them happen.
Arthur Weasley was out of a job, Fred and George had been forced to disband their company, thought they still ran it incognito to bring in money. The Ministry had attempted to shove Bill from his job with the bank, though thankfully, the Goblins couldn't care less what the Ministry wanted and promptly threw them out, keeping Bill in his position. Charlie, living in Romania, was forced to come home, on grounds that he didn't have proper paperwork to be abroad.
Bill had quickly informed his brother of the new Ministry policies that spoke of international travel becoming illegal for them, prompting Charlie to seek refuge in North America, away from Europe after being found a few times by the British ministry. Even the Romanian government were trying to send him home. Contacts from Durmstrang had gotten a Portkey for Charlie for an escape, sending him directly to the Wizarding school of Ilvermorny in the United States.
Ron had lost his position as an Auror and was no longer allowed to work in law enforcement. The Quidditch team that Ginny played for had attempted to kick her off, yet she fought back and kept her place by force, greatly displeasing the manager but the players silently thanked her and were proud they had such a great and dedicated player with them.
While it seemed hard and they struggled to get by, it hadn't been the end yet. The Weasleys had yet to forget what had happened to Percy weeks before and knew there was something going on, deeper within the connections of the Ministry. And it was about to get much, much worse.
Muggleborn students that had taken part of the large battle of 1998 had quickly begun to go missing, something that was becoming more and more evident to Hermione and Dean.
It had not taken long for someone, the majority being Muggles, to report to the police that they had found a corpse. The moment the Aurors arrived, they knew exactly what had happened. Crucio and Avada Kedavra.
Then Dean disappeared and Hermione was forced into hiding. It didn't take long for Ron to be found in an alleyway, covered in bruises and what seemed to be slashes across his body, ones identical to Sectumsempra.
It had been the last straw for the Weasleys.
They had contacted Bill and arranged for a Portkey to America, to the home of the second Weasley son who resided in the eastern portion of the United States.
But things didn't go as planned that night. Far from it.
"Clothes boys?" the men nodded all together. "Wands?" Everyone nodded. "Toothbrushes? Hair brushes? Ju-" Arthur stopped his wife from asking more.
"Molly dear, we have everything. We just need to wait 15 more minutes before the portkey leaves. It won't leave before then." Molly nodded in understanding as her family, those who were left, Harry and Hermione included, all sat near where the Portkey would appear.
5 minutes prior to the Portkey's given time to disappear, it would appear in the middle of the room for them to grab and disappear at the given time.
Though they had ever imagined what happened next.
The Weasley family wards had been broken through. And by many people at that. Every person present pulled out their wand and got ready, everyone covering each other's blind spots in case a battle broke out. And one did in full force.
There had been many Death Eaters to enter and it didn't take long for them to burn the Burrow. They had actually needed to evacuate during the battle, the flames becoming too unbearable and hot, eventually trapping Arthur and Molly within the confines of the intense flames and falling beams.
The familiar CRACK of the Portkey appearing had made everyone dread the outcome of the battle. They had narrowly escaped the burning house full of falling beams, the exception being their parents, and now the Portkey was in the very middle of it, most likely crushed by the flames.
By then, the Death Eaters had surrounded the remaining adults: Bill, Fred, George, Harry, Hermione and Ginny.
"When you escape this, leave the wards and apparate away." Bill quietly commanded to them. Everyone nodded in sync. "We'll meet at Location A tomorrow at sunrise." Their opponents began throwing dozens of hexes, the group needing to separate to maintain their survival. "If no one is there, get to safety. We'll send a Patronus."
Every one of them had been thankful for the darkness around them and their knowledge of the land.
Ginny and Harry had dashed for the Tree line, and it had been Ginny who had reached the shadows of safety first. Harry, being injured already, had been hit to the back with a violent spell that sent him to the ground with a cry. Ginny had somehow pulled him into the shadows and out of sight as the Death Eaters searched for her and the ex-Auror.
On the other hand, the twins and Hermione had gotten the same idea. They had dashed straight for the brooms in the shed, seeing as they were on the way in the direction of the road. Hermione was following closely behind the twins on her own broom, a flurry of bright different coloured spells flying past them.
George, being the slightly faster flyer, was leading the way, until it seemed like life had slowed down significantly. For Fred and Hermione, they had grown paler when a familiar green light hit him in the back and sent him to the ground. Fred let out a strangled cry as he slowed down for his fallen twin.
"George!" Fred shouted as he watched his brother crash to the ground, unmoving in the darkness.
"GO FRED! DON T STOP! WE LL BOTH DIE IF WE SLOW DOWN!" Hermione forced herself to shout as more lights passed them. She knew she was being insensitive, but it had to be done if they both wanted to live. She watched Fred shake his head and speed up to their destination, finally in sight as they pushed even harder.
Narrowly missing the spells, they quickly hopped off their brooms and ran the few meters away. That is, until Fred was hit with a spell hitting his leg and sending him flying across the floor, blood seeping through his pants.
Hermione quickly grabbed his arms and dragged him, and with help from his pushing efforts, they reached the apparition point and Hermione apparated the two away to an obscure area of Muggle London.
"Hermione, where are we?" Fred asked, gritting his teeth as he held his leg in pain.
Hermione looked around, stepping out and peeking out to the deserted road before heading back to Fred. "We're in Muggle London." She told him as she peaked at the blood on his leg. "We can apparate closer to my apartment, but your injury looks bad. It would be a bad idea." Hermione mumbled as she recovered it.
"Apparate away." He told her as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and apparated to the alley beside her apartment building. She looked around to see if there was anyone before swinging Fred's arm around her shoulder and helping him stand, using her as support.
From there, she helped him up the stairs to her apartment and opened the door, leading him inside and kicking the door shut. She sat him on the couch as she went to search for a first aid kit.
It had taken a few minutes to properly clean the wound before she could continue healing it with her wand.
Once finished tending to Fred's leg, Hermione took out a sheet of paper and a pen and began to write out a letter.
"Who're you writing to?" He asked her from the couch
"Just a acquaintance of mine." she told him as she read over the letter ad sealed it shut. "He's going to know what to do."
"Ooh, it's a he?" Fred teased. "A lover, perhaps?" He winked at her, causing her to look at him shocked.
Hermione immediately shot back at his insinuation. "Of course not! He's married, for Merlin's sake!"
He lifted his hands in defeat. "I didn't know if you were into that or not." Hermione shook her head tiredly. Fred was still smirking and teasing her about this acquaintance of hers.
"You should get some sleep. We need to get to the location tomorrow morning before sunrise." She told him, throwing him a blanket and a pillow.
"You won't play mediwitch for me any longer?" He called out teasingly as she left for her bedroom.
"Go to bed!"
"Oh alright..."
It was still dark when Fred was woken up by a sound he desperately wanted to blow up right then and there. As quickly as it had woken him up, it had stopped. Seconds later, Hermione emerged form her bedroom and came into view.
"Sleep well?"
"Very comfy couch." Hermione narrowed her eyes as Fred smiled.
"Can you stand on your own?" Fred shrugged before throwing off the blanket and stood up testing his leg by shifting his weight before smiling and nodding. "Right. Let's go." she picked up her jacket and bag as Fred picked up his backpack.
Hermione took Fred's arm as he apparated them away to a forest with a cave.
"It is almost sunrise, right?" he asked her, looking up to the trees to the dark sky. "What time was it when we left?"
"Right before six." answered Hermione. She took a seat on one of the rocks and leaned back again a tree. "Now, we wait. If no one shows up by the time the sun is out, we leave."