"What if he's in danger?" said Hermione, the anger of earlier replaced with worry. Mrs. Weasley stood over her, frowning. Hermione had called him on the Muggle cell phone three times in a row with no answer.

"Surely not," Mrs. Weasley said.

"But this isn't like him. He always answers when I use this phone. He knows if I resort to it, there must be something really important."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Mrs. Weasley replied, attempting to sound self-assured. "Why don't we get back to the party. You're parents have to go soon and they'll want to see you open your parcels." Hermione sighed. She wanted to wait for Ron, but she knew she couldn't stall any longer. They both left the kitchen, not noticing that Harry had yet to return from "the bathroom." They returned to the party, looking grim and Mrs. Granger pulled her daughter to her, trying to cheer her.

"Let's do presents," said George. He pushed the pushed the presents towards Hermione and urged her to sit down.

"Wait, where's Harry?" she asked.

"Oh, I'll go get him," said Ginny. "Be right back." She went inside and climbed the stairs. He should really have been back by now. How long did it take to fill Ron in and then come back? Maybe Ron wasn't letting him leave. Maybe he was getting cold feet. Well, she'd have to go retrieve them both. Ginny thought it was just about time for the finale of the plan to commence. Safe inside her room, she Apparated to Shell Cottage. She found the cottage empty. "Ron? Harry?" she called. No answer. She checked the kitchen, the living room, then headed upstairs. She knocked on the bathroom door, checked the bedrooms, but there was no sign of either her brother or her boyfriend. Coming back down to the living room, she noticed Ron's suit coat slung across the back of a chair and saw that the back door, the one that led to the sea was opened. They must have taken some fresh air, she thought. She moved to the screen door and pulled it wider.

"Ginny, No, what are you doing?" Came Harry's voice in a panic and she was thrust backward by the force of a spell.

"What the.." then she saw. Ron and Harry were in the thick of battle with three cloaked wizards and they did not appear to be winning.

"Harry Potter, you arse, you let me out of here!" she shrieked. He'd put wards around her and she couldn't get through. It was as though there was a brick wall in front of her, only she could see everything happening in front of her and was helpless to do anything. She didn't have her wand. Determined to remain calm, she thought for a moment and decided that Bill and Fleur must have spares. Bill had encountered numerous snatchers in his day and he'd kept spares before. She pulled open every drawer in the house, at the same time trying to summon her own wand, knowing it was too far away. Finally she found what she was looking for. It was a ten inch birch wand, no telling the core. She didn't have time to contemplate. Before letting herself out of Harry's protective cage, she sent a Patronus to the Burrow.

"Cloaked men, danger at Shell Cottage," she said quickly and then she released herself into the fray, both men greeting her angrily as she sent hexes at the intruders.

"I told you to stay back!" said Harry.

"Don't you dare, Harry, you need my help."

"She's right, mate," said Ron. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but at least now we're three on three."

"I've sent a Patronus home. So everyone will know where to find us."

"They asked for Bill," said Ron.

"Bill?"

"Lovely chat, but no time for questions," said Harry. All three of them ducked spells and water and sand, running back and forth, not even clear which spells were going where.

"Grab my hands, we'll Apprate back!" said Ginny.

"We can't," said Harry, "they'll follow.

"How would they...?"

"Later!" Harry shot a hex at the three raiders and they went flying back into the water. Finally, he Ron, and Ginny could breathe.

"Aquarium Levitas!" Harry shouted. A large ball of water rose from the sea with their adversaries trapped inside.

"Bloody Brilliant!" exclaimed Ron.

"Impressive," said Ginny. "Let's leave now, while we can. Before anyone from the Burrow arrives."

"I told you, we can't," said Harry.

"But, we've got them held," Ginny argued.

"They're Raiders. They've put a lock on us. They can't get out of that ball of water, but if we try to Apparate we'll all get splinched into a million pieces."

"I've never heard of such a thing," said Ron.

"We'd better start walking, then," said Ginny.

"But if anyone else comes, they'll be trapped too." Ron looked shaken. He was clearly thinking of Hermione.

"Not Bill," said Harry seriously. "He's who their after. He's the only one who can take the lock off."

"What do they want with him?" asked Ron.

"His knowledge," Harry said. "It was them who tried to break into Gringotts, only they weren't after gold or treasure, or anything from a vault. They were luring him there. As a Cursebreaker, he has something more valuable to them than anything material."

"Why him? There are other Cursebreakers." Ginny looked positively livid that anyone would consider harming her family.

"He's meant to be the first in a string of of attacks, I think," said Harry carefully. He didn't want to set her off.

"How come you didn't know this last week?" she yelled, her voice reaching a high pitch that rivaled Mrs. Weasley's.

"Because I only pieced it together now. I'll have to go back to the Ministry to go over everyone's case notes, but my theory is that they Imperiusd the Goblins, then left it untraceable. That we did know about them. That they've been working towards untraceable curses. Raiders have been toiling with darker magic than we've seen in a long time, and their coming up with new ways of defending themselves."

"Hence the bloody Apparition lock," said Ginny.

"So what do we do now, just wait for Bill to come to the danger?"

"I'm afraid so," said Harry. "He'll have heard of them of course. He'll know exactly who they are and what to do, though he won't be pleased to know it's come to this."

"That's an understatement," said Ron.

"He'll be angry that we couldn't catch them sooner. The Cursebreakers and Aurors have been working together to investigate them, but as I said they've done everything they can to become..."

"Untraceable."

"So this is what you have to look forward to as an Auror, Ron," said Ginny.

"Well, hopefully not every instance will be an attack on my loved ones," he replied.

"Yes. Hopefully not," echoed Harry.