See I said I'd prewritten two chapters ;) Hope you enjoy this one :D
Chapter Ten
Romania
Roars echoed around the Romanian hills. They were unheard by Muggles, but in a wizarding village nestled in the lowlands of these hills, they were all too loud.
"I 'ate those sounds." Fleur grumbled as she washed a plate in the sink under the kitchen window. "Zey remind me zat Bill ees always in danger. I 'ate et!"
Fred Weasley looked up from where he was tinkering with a product that he and his brother had invented. He hadn't changed too much except a scar that ran across his right eye and the orb was cloudy.
"Relax Fleur, Bill's working with Charlie. They both know what they are doing." He assured her with a grin.
"Yeah." George said from the other side of the product. "Charlie's been doing this for years and Bill's not a newbie. It's been four years since he started as a Dragon Keeper."
Fleur turned to face them and the French woman wrapped her arms around herself. Her sad eyes looked at the twins. It was easy to tell them apart now with Fred's blind eye and George's missing left ear.
"We 'ave lost so much. I can't 'andle losing Bill too." She whispered.
The door to the cottage opened and Bill entered. He had heard the last part of Fleur's sentence and wrapped his arms around her. He had filled out during his time as a dragon keeper and his large, muscular arms combined with his scarred face had lent him a dangerous, rugged appearance.
"You won't lose me. I promise."
Fleur turned in his arms and cupped his cheek. "You can't know zat."
Bill placed a kiss on her lips. "We stand a better chance here than we do back home."
A tear rolled down Fleur's cheek and she kissed him again. They ignored the gagging and mocking shouts from the twins. The door to the cottage opened again and Charlie froze, a grin on his face.
"Am I interrupting something?" He said teasingly.
"Nah, Fleur and Bill decided they were going to try and give us a niece or nephew right in front of us." George called.
"Now that would be a story to tell the kid." Fred chuckled.
Fleur rolled her eyes with a small smile and buried her face in her husband's chest.
The fireplace flared green and the Weasleys jumped up, their wands pointed at it. They heard the voices before they saw them.
"What were you thinking? You could have been found out."
"Relax, I know what I'm doing. It's a secure network and the wand can't be traced."
Their eyes widened as the owners of the voices stepped out of the flames. They raised their wands a little higher and gave them suspicious looks. The fireplace flared green again and again until four more people joined them all. They were all met by the Weasleys glaring at them.
"Who are you?" Charlie demanded.
Hermione gave him a smile. "Charlie, it's me. Hermione."
Bill stepped forward. "Prove it."
"In second year I worked out that the creature was a Basilisk and it was using the pipes to get around Hogwarts. In fourth year I went to the yule ball with Viktor Krum. He became my pen pal and was also my first kiss. I only told Fleur and Ginny about that. I gave my half-kneazle cat to Hagrid before Harry, Ron and I went on the run. His name is Crookshanks. Anything else you want me to say?" Hermione looked at them all.
Bill turned to Fleur. "Well? Is that thing with Krum true?"
Fleur nodded. "Et iz. But what about him?"
Severus glanced at each of them in turn. "I'm a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. I know that it was revealed before Minerva was killed at a meeting at Grimmauld Place. I had confessed to her that me killing Dumbledore in Draco's stead was part of a plan between us both just before Mister Potter died."
Slowly the group lowered the wands.
"Is that Luna Lovegood?" Fred asked, looking at the blonde.
"And that's Sienna Stowe. She was in our year at Hogwarts, and she was in Hufflepuff." George added.
"Actually it's Penelope now." Penelope cleared her throat awkwardly.
Estella giggled. "So Sienna Stowe, you were a Hufflepuff."
Penelope narrowed her eyes. "Shut up. Hufflepuff was a good house. It was filled with nice people."
Fleur pushed forward and enveloped Hermione in a tight hug, tears leaking from her eyes. "'ermione! Et iz lovely to see you."
Hermione clung to her. She smelt like Mrs Weasley had done. She smelt like home. She had found those who were just like her family after she had sent her own away.
"Where's Arthur and Percy?" The curly haired witch whispered.
Fleur's sobs grew and she hugged Hermione tighter. "Arthur died just before we escaped England and Percy was captured."
Hermione fought her own tears and pulled away from Fleur. One by one she hugged the remaining Weasleys. She held onto the twins just a little bit tighter. She had bonded with him while hiding out at Grimmauld Place just after Harry's death. They had attempted to cheer her and themselves up by showing off some little tricks. Ron had sought comfort, however, in firewhiskey. The couple had only come together for physical comfort.
After Ron died, Hermione had turned to them for more than laughter. They had spent some wonderful nights together before her capture, and she had found herself thinking back to them often over her years as a prostitute. Now they were together again and those nights seemed like such a long time ago. They had all changed so much, but their cheeky grins instantly made her feel at ease; just as looking into Harry's green eyes and being close to Ron had once done.
"What brings you here after so long anyway?" Charlie asked.
Hermione's appearance suddenly changed. She became a lot more serious and her eyes that had shone with joy became darker.
"I've not come for a reunion, not a proper one anyway, I've come with a proposition."
She sank into a spare seat at the mahogany table and looked around at the Weasley family memebers.
"I'm starting up a new order." Hermione began. "Voldemort has ruled for far too long and it's time for him to fall. We know exactly how to do it, but we need help. So?"
Fleur shook her head. "No! No! I won't let Bill do et!"
Bill took her hand. "Fleur, we could save everyone. We could save Percy. If there's any chance that he's alive then we have to try."
Fleur stormed off and Bill raced after her, leaving the twins, Charlie and Hermione's little group alone. They sat rather awkwardly as Bill and Fleur's furious argument filled the air, Fleur's shouting punctuated with bouts of French.
"So, a new order?" Charlie said.
Hermione nodded. "It's time we took back our world. Harry and Ron might be gone, but I'm not. So many of the Deatheaters have grown lazy without us fighting them and Voldemort has grown cocky as he believes he's immortal. Now is the perfect time to start taking them down."
The Weasleys considered her words quietly. If they fought back then they could finally have revenge for the loss of over half their family. They could save everyone from suffering and save the Muggles from the storm they didn't know was coming.
Finally Bill entered the room again with a sulking Fleur. "We'll join you. For our family's sake."
Charlie summoned some parchment from Bill's desk and scrawled a note to their employer. They didn't have very much in the cottage anyway so it didn't take them long to pack. When they stepped through the flames it took them a while to adjust to the change in lighting. It wasn't surprising that that, in the dark, they didn't recognise Gryffindor tower at first.
"Where are we?" Bill asked once Hermione and the girls stepped out of the fire.
Severus had flooed straight to his office as he had been missing for a while and he couldn't risk being caught away from his desk.
"Don't you recognise it?" Hermione asked in a hushed tone.
The twins let out a low whistle.
"Bloody hell. Is this…?" George hissed.
"Gryffindor tower." Fred nodded.
Hermione closed and locked the floo before turning to them. "Bill, Fleur, you can use the seventh year dorm. The beds are bigger in there. You'll have to use the boys' as the girls' dorm had a charm on it. Charlie, Fred, George, you can use whichever one you want. If you leave your wands down here then I can put an anti-tracing charm on them.
The Weasleys had to admit that they were impressed with how organised Hermione was. They had already known she was organised when it came to her studies, but planning a rebellion was a whole other level. The girls were impressed, but also concerned. This had been why Hermione hadn't slept the night before. Luna couldn't help but think that this was her way of fighting sleep so she didn't have to face the memories of her rape swirling around in her mind. Hermione would have to face them soon and Luna hoped that she could be there for her.
Hermione smiled brightly at the Weasleys "Welcome home."
Please Read and Review. I hope you liked this chapter. I have a good idea of what I want to happen next, I just need to write it XD
