4

CHARLIE

Screams. Wine glasses shattered as a mass of feet moved across the shining wooden dance floor. Shouts of "PROTEGO!" came from no less than six wands, and in a split second, Charlie Weasley had gone from sipping red wine, admiring one of Fleur's cousins in a very flattering, backless, deep blue dress, to spitting out his last sip and drawing his wand. From the vantage point of the bridal table he could see four redheaded siblings- Bill, pulling Fleur behind him and waving his wand in intricate figure eights to try to reset the wards, his father, who was pushing Auntie Muriel and the rest of the crowd behind two tables he'd just set on their sides for cover, and the twins, who had unceremoniously shoved their hands in their pockets and were firing bright purple spheres at two black-robed figures from behind a third table. Tonks and Remus held shining shield charms, backing away from the fifteen figures to push the crowd behind the tables. Everywhere, the flurry of movement was thickened with dread and fear hanging in the air. Charlie jumped over the table and slid across the wet floor through wine and broken shards. The band had apparated immediately, and the golden-suited servers were following their lead after dropping their trays. Charlie skirted two older ladies who were fumbling for wands and shot a pair of stunners at the two figures who had edged past the side of the tables. Relief filled him when both dropped, and he began scanning the crowds for Ginny and his mother.

"GINNY! GINNY!"

Cries arose from behind him. The last ten of what had once been a huge crowd of friends and French cousins were panicking, having found they could no longer apparate. His mother, dress torn and with her wand aimed at the black robes, was firing quick, silent curses while Fleur herded the guests into the Burrow's basement through the storm door. "CHARLIE! FIND GINNY!" Molly screamed, turning to duel two figures who had knocked out Remus and were sending rapid hexes at Fred and George's position. The purple balls left a blaze of smoke and flashes of bright, blinding light, and Charlie rushed to pull Bill out of the way of a curse. Hunkering behind a table, the two brothers exchanged a determined glance and then jumped to opposite sides of their cover, throwing stunners and incarcerous towards the fog-encased Death Eaters. Charlie heard a distinct thump behind him; Bill had been taken out. He glanced over to see Fred trying to enervate a bleeding George as five more figures advanced, the purple balls forgotten. The purple fog was clearing, his father was clearly fighting wounded, and only Kingsley and Tonks remained in full action. His mother was firing curses from the storm door, her hair glinting as she swung it out of her face in the sun. Still, there was no sign of Ginny. Charlie crawled to Bill, pulling him behind the table, and summoned the wand of an oncoming Death Eater.

Three punches later, the disarmed opponent was knocked out cold and bound, and Charlie whirled around, jumping from his own cover to Fred's side. "JUST KEEP HIM UNCONSCIOUS- GET YOURSELF TO THE BASEMENT! NOW!" he roared, pulling a protego and then throwing cutting hexes at the four Death Eaters who were still firing at his father, mother, and a Kingsley who could not seem to stand, blood pouring from a knife imbedded on his upper thigh. He'd overturned the refreshment table and several broken spindly chairs were circling his body, diving in to take the blasts from curses that three Death Eaters fired at him.

"GINNY!" his mother screamed from behind him, and suddenly Charlie saw his sister's lithe form spring from the front door, a shining shield charm glistening as four stunners rebounded off it, one taking out the Death Eater he'd been firing at. The punch bowl Kingsley had upended over a Death Eater shattered from a stray curse, and all eyes suddenly moved to the black cloak writhing under steam and flames below, emitting a horrible scream before he fell to the floor. His companions threw violent sickly yellow spells at Kingsley, who yelled as his own chairs began to attack him, knocking him unconscious. Tonks was crawling toward Remus, who Ginny was trying to revive while levitating towards the house. Charlie sent more stunners towards the three remaining black robes that billowed, throwing curses, and dug into Fred's dropped bag, hoping to find more stun balls. Suddenly Remus and Tonks were gone, and Ginny had pulled their father back behind her, yelling something in his ear. To Charlie's surprise his father flicked his wand, sending Fleur, Tonks and Molly back into the house with a bang of locking doors, and then Ginny sent a golden spell that shot around the house, splintering into a million tiny golden lines that covered the walls, wrapping around the house. The Death Eaters had revived some of their own, and now stood nine strong, rapidly gaining on his father and sister. Charlie looked around as he dueled three, panicked, but they were the only ones still able to fight- Kingsley was out, his brothers and Remus had been pulled inside by Molly and Tonks, and the guests had all either vanished or lay on the ground, hopefully just stunned. The golden glow flashed white, and suddenly the house disappeared as Ginny dropped her wand, looking exhausted. A cry of fierce anger erupted from behind two silvery masks just as four Death Eaters disarmed them all and sent their father crashing into the table.

Suddenly, all was quiet. Charlie put his wand hand in the air, knowing they would have to deal with whatever happened. The lucky part was that the rest of his family was inside, and he prayed that whatever crazy spell Ginny had cast on the house that had enraged the Death Eaters would keep. A single tall black robed man stepped forward, crunching the broken glass into the destroyed dance floor. He whipped his wand twice, and silvery ropes wound their way up the captives' arms, digging tightly into their skin. Her father cried out, pulling himself up to reach Ginny, who stood, defiant, chin jutting out at the front Death Eater who smacked their father back into the table, where he stuck to the surface. Charlie felt a shiver of fear course through him again. Ginny's eyes glittered angrily and the wizard backhanded her.

"How dare you come into this wedding! How dare you threaten my family!" She spat as blood ran down her lower lip.

"I come because I can, because the Dark Lord does not care for your family's privacy or their lives. I come because you have no way to stop me. I could kill you with a single flick of my wrist, little girl," he sneered, and Charlie felt red-hot anger course through his veins, reddening his face.

"LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE! SHE'S UNDERAGE, YOU PRICK! YOU WANT TO PLAY? BEAT UP SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" he bellowed. Ginny kicked at the man who petrified her as she fell and then roared "CRUCIO!"

White hot knives pierced his skin, digging into his flesh, tearing his muscles from his bones. He screamed, his eyes rolling back into his head, feeling his skin licked by flames and his scalp ripped off his head. After what felt like hours, it was gone, and he was shaking and gasping on the ground, the ache filling his arms and legs. Suddenly Ginny screamed, and it was unearthly- the worst sound he had ever heard- and Charlie pulled his head up and strained, crying, tried to stand, but the ropes tied him to the ground, and he could only scream with his father, pleading for him to stop, watching as his sister writhed on the ground in her dirtied gold dress.

Ginny's screams ended, and he heard her whimper from the ground. The wizard was standing over her, surrounded by his cronies, who were laughing. Some sent flames at the trees, burning the old oaks to a crisp.

"Now, whore- where is Harry Potter?!" he yelled, before hitting her with a second Crucio.

"I D-DON'T KNOW!" Ginny yelled back from between clenched teeth. A second Death Eater sent a flame at her dress, and she rolled, putting it out, before he kicked her in the stomach.

"What have you done with your hovel? WHO IS THE SECRET KEEPER?"

"I AM!" she screamed

"LIES! IT IS YOUR FATHER! I WILL TORTURE THEM BOTH IF YOU DO NOT TELL ME WHERE POTTER IS!"

"HE'S NOT HERE! HE LEFT ME! I AM THE SECRET KEEPER!"

The Death Eater sent another Crucio at her, and Ginny twitched but did not scream. He motioned to two others, who began to send burning spells at his father. Tears rolled down Charlie's face; for once in his life, when it mattered most, he was powerless. He had failed, and they were all going to die.

"I AM NOT THE SECRET KEEPER! THE POTTER BOY HAS NOT BEEN HERE! WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE HE STAYS!" His father's voice was strained, pleading, and weaker than Charlie had ever heard.

"Do not think you fool me with your drivel, Weasley. Your brat is not old enough to cast a Fidelius. She dated the Potter scum in her fifth year, Snape has told us!"

Another Crucio followed, and Charlie watched through tear-blurred eyes as his father screamed. More screams, now from Ginny, and this time, he knew that surely, she would go mad, she would faint- anything was better than this, to hear her scream as though she was being ripped apart.

"I SEALED IT! I CAN SHOW YOU! POTTER IS NOT THERE!"

"Tell me the truth! You are hiding your cowardly lover, he is with the girl and your brother! The Dark Lord will find them, and then you will watch them die! Tell me, and I will spare you!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS! HE'S NOT HERE!"

More screams, from both his father and Ginny. The man paused, kicking her again and pulling his wand from his pocket.

"You will prove it to me. Summon the names you sealed. If you cast it, you will know how to do it. If you try to escape or cannot, I will kill them both."

He cut the cords around her with a dagger, slicing into her side as he did so. Blood ran down her arm, and Charlie felt his vision start to darken; the cords must be slowly constricting his blood flow. His father yelled for the man to release him as Charlie slumped over, and suddenly he could hear, but his vision was gone.

A sound like the wind cutting through a row of skyscrapers filled his ears, deafening him, and he struggled to sit up. Bright light made his eyelids glow, and the red of the inside of his eyelids was warm, comforting. He heard a yell and more screams, and then the pops of many Apparating. Someone was cutting the ropes around him, and he felt their pressure release at last. It was like air had not filled his lungs in hours, and the sweet breath he took expanded his chest, filling his lungs, restoring his vision and his strength. He opened his eyes, blinking as the darkness lifted, to see Ginny struggling to cut their father out of his ropes.

"Diffindo! Oh, sorry Dad! I can't stop shaking! Diffindo!"

Charlie stumbled to their sides and began conjuring bandages for Ginny's side and arm. She collapsed to the floor, a puff of dust rising around her, and Arthur began aiming his wand at her bruises and tearing her dress off to find the cuts on her side that leaked crimson blood through her dress.

"Gin-Gin, honey, drink some of this . . ." his father's strong but shaken voice coaxed. "That's right . . . now I need you to lift it, don't worry, Daddy's got you. Just lift it, and we can get you in bed, sweet pea. You did perfectly."

A rushing sound filled his ears, and gold light washed over where the house had sat. Before the light could fade, his mother's form rushed out with a shriek, followed by Fleur and Bill. Bill scooped Ginny up like a rag doll and strode into the house, while Molly enveloped them each with crushing hugs and set to healing the cuts in Charlie's arms from the ropes. With a loping arch of her wand, the trash and cut glass melted, seeming to glide across the yard to reform in a heap by the Burrow's back door, and the tent and dance floor vanished. All that was left was grass. Charlie felt Fleur gently pulling him to his feet and into the house.

The guests had gone, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry were nowhere to be seen. Fred and a bloodied but standing George were behind Molly, who was washing Ginny's belly with a wash cloth and whispering to her quietly.

"How is she?" came Bill's concerned voice from behind him. Fleur was scourgifying them all and pulling George out of the room, presumably to make him change and shower after she checked his wounds again. Arthur sat down in his chair as though his legs were about to give out, and Molly nodded at him, sending a few spells at the kitchen, before a pot of tea, a glass, and oddly enough, Charlie thought, what was clearly his father's hidden brandy stash. After washing a glass down a coughing Ginny's throat, Molly seemed to relax. "You're going to be fine, my little Gin-Gin, just fine. But don't you DARE seal us in there again! Not even for a minute!"

Charlie walked to his father and Bill, tapping him on the shoulder. "Reset the wards? Or should we make other plans?" At his words, Molly lifted her head and shook it. "We can't move her yet, and Tonks . . . Tonks is pregnant, she can't be moved either. She took some heavy hits, and I want her in bed for the next week. It's not safe to Apparate either of them. Remus is tending to her." His father mended his shirt after healing his own cuts and bruises, and followed Bill outside to reset the wards they could for the night. "I want a Fidelius for the next forty-eight hours, until we can decide what we want to do," he told Bill and Charlie. "Decide between you two who'll be Secret Keeper; Charlie, reset the Muggle Repellers if you can, and Bill, I'd like you to set up some intruder charms and a blood line. I don't want anyone getting in here without being attached to a family member."

"Dad, what did Gin do to Seal everyone in?"

Charlie's father paused, looking over to see that his wife was not listening.

"I let Gin write everyone's name down for a Fidelius and then charm the Burrow to hold them until those attempting to break her Fidelius left the grounds." Bill nodded. "It's what I'd have done, if I'd thought of it," he admitted quietly to his brother. "Meet me out at the broom shed to find the map of the grounds," Bill added.

He swayed into the sitting room where Ginny and her mother seemed to have finished a silent disagreement. As Charlie hugged his mother, Ginny stirred, opening her eyes blearily. He reached down to kiss her on the forehead. "Don't ask for more pain, next time, Gin-Gin. You gave us a scare. Egging them on is only good if you have to bide for time. Take your anger out when it's to your advantage."

"Charlie?" Gin murmured, looking up at him.

"Yes?" he paused, grabbing the doorframe.

"You sound . . . old. Should I tell Fred and George to remind you just how young you really are?"

Charlie chuckled, holding back the tears he'd wanted to let fall when he saw how beaten up she was firsthand. Molly had come back from the kitchen loaded down with what looked like an entire Thanksgiving feast on a bed tray.

"Gin, I work with dragons. You never bait something that could roast you."

"Unless it's the only way you can fight," Ginny responded quietly. Their eyes met, and he read a mix of emotions: confusion, relief, exhaustion, and the tiniest prickle of worry.

"You'll figure out other ways, Gin. Just because it's the Gryffindor way doesn't mean it's the only way. And I rather thing Mum would be pissed if you died because you couldn't keep your mouth shut; you are her only girl after all. Fred and George, on the other hand, would kill you too- but only because you went out without escaping and sending Bat-Bogeys at them. Me, I'd just die from missing you. You wouldn't want to do that to your favorite brother, would you?" Charlie asked with a trademark grin that didn't quite make it to his eyes. He was still shaken, and they both knew it.

Ginny was silent, tapping her knee that was exposed from the rips in her dress and watching their mother come back down the stairs with an empty brandy bottle, the family clock, and a load of bloody laundry.

"No, I suppose you're right," she said quietly. Then she turned her head to him.

"Which is why you're going to help me."