Warnings: violence, bad language

Disclaimer: Just borrowing

Chapter 10 – Unexpected

There was nothing Bill could do but watch as his three year old son raced up to the masked man, shrieking at the top of his lungs. James grabbed the man's robes and tugged furiously. Startled, the man looked down, his wand still raised. With a sudden rush of realization, Bill became aware that the man intended to kill his child.

He shoved himself up, ignoring the pain in his wounded arm, and raced forward. The redhead was nearly there, inches from the man's face, when he was blown off his feet by something behind him. He rolled over in the grass, his eyes refocusing just in time to see the reason.

No more than two feet behind him stood Ava. She looked livid, wand drawn at arm's length, but somewhat disheveled in a borrowed jacket and boots that were too big. It was a shock to see her so, the calm, pleasant demeanor Bill had come to know cast aside completely.

The masked man was shoved back before he could make another move. Ava battled with unrivaled ferocity, sliced the air and dodged spells with a kind of feline grace. She and her opponent sent bolts of light flying in all directions, and in the end, it was Ava who won. She let loose with a Stunning Spell that Bill felt whoosh by him even though he was many yards away. The man fell backwards and landed with a resounding thud. As his mask flew in a different direction entirely, the sheaf of white blonde hair that slipped from beneath it revealed his identity.

Bill wasn't sure if Ava noticed this, though. She was shrinking back into her usual self, running toward James and scooping him up in her arms, whispering a mixture of chastisement and relief.

The scene around them changed once more as the sky was lit up with an eerie green light. Shrieks and cries filled the air as everyone at the campground looked up and saw the skull in the sky, and then heard the cracks and pops of many people Disapparating simultaneously. All of the Ministry wizards and those who had come to help them turned around and were surprised to find the people they had been dueling had vanished, seemingly frightened away by the glowing Mark in the sky. It was as though they hadn't been fighting anyone at all.

Up above, the Muggle family was beginning to fall, the Levitation Charm having disappeared with its creators. More cries filled the air as the Ministry wizards moved en masse toward the family with wands raised, and caught them before they hit the ground.

"Bill, what in the name of You-Know-Who's You-Know-What are you doing down there?"

The eldest Weasley boy looked up to see Charlie, now sporting only a half a shirt, running over to him.

"Having a lie in," Bill replied, heaving himself up as his arm protested sharply. The younger sibling noticed the gash, and made a low whistle.

"You should get that checked out," he announced, and his brother glared.

"Really?" he snapped, uncharacteristically irritated. "Because I was just going to leave it. I've always wanted an infected battle scar."

"Don't get your pants in a knot, mate," Charlie said evenly, looking around for the rest of their family. "Where's everyone else?"

"I don't know," Bill said. In his fear for James, he had almost forgotten that his younger brothers and father had joined in the fray as well.

Almost.

"Holy shit! Ava, what are you . . . ?"

Charlie looked behind him, having followed Bill's preoccupied gaze, and now saw the brunette sitting on the ground, cradling her son. For a split second, he feared the worst, and raced over, kneeling beside her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

James, however, was nowhere near dead. He beamed when he saw his uncle and father. It was as though he hadn't just been in a battle for his very life.

"Daddy, daddy, did you see me?" he asked excitedly.

"James, you mustn't ever run away from mummy again!" Ava said exasperatedly, standing now with him on her hip. "You could have been . . . "

Killed.

She wasn't able to finish, so Bill did instead.

"Those people could have really hurt you, James," he said sternly. "You will never do that again, do you understand?"

The little boy's smile faltered, and he nodded meekly, hiding his face in his mother's hair with a sniffle.

His grandfather and Percy caught up with them then, the latter having apparently been struck in the face because his nose was like a hosepipe for blood. They all shuffled back to the tent, which was suspiciously empty.

Mr. Weasley went pale.

"You all stay here, I'm going to find the others," he said, turning around and making to leave the tent. This order was met with a fair amount of resistance.

"Like hell!" Charlie said, following his father to the opening of the tent.

"They're my family as well, I want to help," Percy demanded, standing. Charlie stared at him in amazement, shocked at this sudden show of emotion from the usually stoic annoyance that was his sibling, but nodded and took it in stride.

Bill wanted to speak up too, but before he could say anything, his father had whirled around and was saying,

"You will all stay here until I get back."

"But dad-"

"That's not-"

Arthur Weasley was out of sight before they even finished. Charlie sat down at the table, sighing heavily.

"Shit," he said idly, and James giggled.

"Don't you say it," Ava warned, sitting down as well. She had yet to let go of her son since she had defeated Malfoy in the duel, and Bill suspected this had just as much to do with her fear of losing him again as it did with her anger at him for running off.

James smiled wickedly, though, and was about to say the word anyway when he caught sight of his father's arm.

"Daddy, daddy!" he shrieked, pointing wildly at the gash. "You have a cut!"

Bill looked down, and was mildly surprised as he saw the wound. The bleeding hadn't slowed very much, and it occurred to him that he should probably do something about it. He grabbed the top sheet from his bed and ripped off a large strip, winding it tightly around his arm to stem the blood flow.

"How'd you get that?" Charlie asked casually, not bothering to do anything about his own ripped shirt.

"I don't remember," Bill replied. "I think I was trying to block something but it hit me dead on."

"You tried to block something?" Charlie said skeptically. "With your arm? When your wand was right there in your hand?"

Bill nodded, and his brother rolled his eyes.

"You're right stupid," he said.

"It'll be fine, I just have to get it to stop bleeding," Bill replied, taking a seat beside Ava and James.

"The important thing is you believe that," his brother scoffed, then turned to address James, who was squirming against his mother's death grip. "And what did you do to get in trouble?" He obviously had meant this in a joking manner, but James grinned and replied,

"I runned away from mummy."

It was like someone had attached a weight to Charlie's bottom lip, his jaw dropped so fast.

"What?" he said, dumbfounded.

"I runned away from mummy so I could help daddy," James repeated, and everyone in the tent stared at him. "I was gonna help daddy and be brave like a Giff-indor, jus' like you."

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Bill and Charlie both stared shouting at each other.

"Why would you tell him shit like that?" Bill roared, pointing accusingly at his younger brother.

"What? So now this is all my fault?" he yelled.

"You made him-"

"I didn't make him do anything!" Charlie cut in angrily before his brother could finish. "Don't you dare blame me because you're-"

"Would the two of you just be quiet?" Ava said, bouncing a now-crying James on her knee to calm him. "You're upsetting James."

Bill and Charlie were still glaring at each other as they sat down, but managed not to shout again.

"May I please hold him? Bill asked, reaching for his son. Ava looked torn for a minute, but handed him over anyway.

"I didn't want to make you mad, daddy," the little boy said. "I jus' wanted to be brave, like you and Uncle Charlie."

"Looking for danger doesn't make you brave," Bill said, and James crumpled. "Your mum and I were scared you would get hurt, and it was very irresponsible to run away from your mum like that."

"What does ir'sponsible mean?"

"It means you didn't do the right thing," Ava replied sharply. "You should have stayed with mummy like she told you."

Before anyone else could say a word, Fred, George and Ginny came tearing into the tent, looking like they were being chased by the devil himself.

"Where's everyone else?" Charlie asked, getting up to help them to the table. Fred went slightly pale as he replied,

"We . . . We thought they were with you."

"Where's dad?" George asked weakly.

"He went out looking for you and the others," Bill said. James waved shyly at Fred and George, who were his favorite uncles after Charlie. They both smiled back at him, but it was clear that they were distracted.

Ava stood and immediately went to the small kitchen and started brewing tea. Bill found it strange as she handed him a cup that this shy woman was the same one who, just minutes before, had knocked a grown man unconscious without breaking a sweat.

Time ticked by slowly, impatience and worry thick in the atmosphere of the room. Everyone stared blankly at each other without really seeing anything, lost in their own thoughts. Bill was watching Ava distractedly as she remained the only person up and moving, buzzing around the room and compulsively tidying things or refilling teacups.

Fred was the one who broke the silence.

"You know what I heard?" he said quietly. "I heard they found Lucius Malfoy in with the people who were Levitating the Muggles."

Ava didn't make any sign that it had been she who was responsible for his capture.

"Seems like him," George said bitterly.

"He'll probably worm his way out of it somehow," Charlie spat. "That git has more money and connections than I have freckles."

James giggled at this, and it made everyone smile, despite the serious situation they found themselves in.

"My mummy broke someone!" he said happily, pointing unnecessarily at Ava.

"She broke someone?" Charlie repeated, thoroughly amused. "Who?"

"James, honey, be quiet," Ava said quickly, scooping up her baby from Bill's lap.

"No, out with it," Charlie said. "Who'd you break?"

"It's nothing," she murmured, fussing with James distractedly.

"She doesn't want to tell you, just drop it," Bill said quickly, and Charlie glared, but didn't pursue the subject any further.

The door to the tent opened once more, and in filed Harry, Ron, Hermione and Mr. Weasley.

Everyone began pressing Mr. Weasley for information, which he supplied haltingly. Percy was stricken out of his stupor at the news that Mr. Crouch's house elf had been found with the wand that set the Dark Mark, and his indignation about it started an argument with Hermione. Ron pestered everyone to know what was so important about the "that skull thing," which Mr. Weasley and Hermione had to then explain in excruciating detail.

"It's getting late, and we have to leave early tomorrow, so everyone get to bed!" Mr. Weasley finally said, quite exasperated. There was a loud collective sigh and then the shuffling of many feet as the eight Weasleys, one Potter and one Granger retreated to their respective beds. Bill followed Ava over to the girl's tent to tuck James in and say goodnight.

"That was quite an evening," he said as he sat on Ava's bed while she dressed James in his pajamas.

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose," she replied quietly. Once he was dressed, James curled up on his father's lap, stuffed cat under his arm.

"Why . . . Why did you go after Malfoy?" Bill asked cautiously. "I didn't think you had it in you."

Ava smiled humorlessly and pulled on her nightshirt. She took James from Bill and laid down, pulling the covers over both of them before simply saying,

"He went after my baby."

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Epic writer's block and all that. I'm starting to love Ava, she's a little more kick-ass than she lets on. And with Tom Servo-Charlie, this is one awesome group of people.

I channeled "The Lion King" a little bit there in the middle, but yeah. Bill watched it when he was little, mkay?

Reviews are love.