Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter.

Chapter Fourteen: The Fire

"How is that even legal?" Ginny fumed.

She was sitting cross-legged on Ron and Hermione's couch only having just learned that the twins' shop had been closed due to a Ministry investigation.

"From what I could discover someone gave an anonymous tip that the shop is being used as a front for the manufacturing dangerous cursed objects," Ron explained. "It's been pretty hush hush, Gin. This new Investigation Unit doesn't even report to Scrimgeour because they're not technically Aurors although they've been given the same level clearance, if not more."

She sank back into her seat. They all knew that the twins "experimented", but how many knew and were any of them outside of the Order? If not, someone was leaking information, and that was a horrible thought on its own. "What's is going to happen to Fred and George? They're flat is attached to the shop."

"They have separate entrances so they're able to stay but from the sounds of it they're going to bunk with Lee." Ginny realized how hard it would be for them to watch Fudge's goons tear apart their life's work.

"Merlin, what a mess."

"That's putting it lightly," Hermione agreed, passing her a cup of tea and sinking down beside her. Her pregnancy had not yet started to show, but she did look tired. Ron had told her that the soon-to-be mother of his child was working more hours now than ever. He couldn't say what on, but if she was this absorbed and this driven, he had to believe it wouldn't be anything less than world changing.

"I'd hate to be the one who has to inspect the back room," Ron said and they all shared a knowing chuckle. Ginny didn't even trust going back there without at least one of them in the building lest her hair get turned green for a month. Something that had legitimately happened, much to her employer's dismay.

Ron and Hermione shared some similar anecdotes between themselves. Ginny sat mesmerized by the soft steam of her cup, their voices fading to the background.

The two of them shared concerned glances. Earlier Ron had offered her a beer and she simply grimaced at the suggestion. She seemed to focus in and out of their conversations and barely added anything herself. They both noticed that something was off about his sister but neither felt comfortable enough to bring it up. Ron was certain it had to do with what happened at Hogsmeade and the events immediately following, but Hermione sensed something in her demeanor which suggested that that wasn't all. Ron was hesitant to tell her the other bit of information he'd found out but he wasn't one to keep things from his sister.

"Kingsley told me something else this week," he started, letting her shake herself out of her reverie.

"What?"

"Donoghue has recently been granted visitor's access for family and close friends." He watched her closely to gauge her reaction but other than basic consideration he could not get a good read.

"Do you know how lucid he is? Has he started talking?"

"I'm sorry, Gin. I don't know any more."

She looked back down at her tea and took a slow sip.

"Do you think you'll go see him?" He didn't want to push her, but she had been dating the man for over a year and from what anyone could tell it had been fairly serious. After his abduction she'd refused to talk to anyone about him and locked herself in her office for days at a time. It got to the point where Kingsley even asked Ron to reach out to her. And now he found himself in exactly the same position, only this time the walls she had up weren't physical.

"I may," was all she said and Ron knew that was as far as he was going to get. By that point he'd run out of things to talk about and looked to his smarter half for help.

"Have you seen much of Dean or Luna lately?" Hermione asked, attempting to veer the conversation into more neutral waters. From Ginny's expression they all knew it hadn't worked.

"Luna, no. I saw Dean a few weeks ago," she paused but Ron already knew where this was going. "I broke it off. I'm not exactly in a very good place to be with someone in any intimate capacity. He wanted more than I was giving but I knew he was never going to ask and it wasn't fair." She hadn't needed to explain to them but it did feel a bit better to get it out. She knew she'd done the right thing as soon as she finished it, but Hermione's reassurance was a real comfort. She really had been trying of late to let others in, even if that included letting them go.

It was a trial to work on resolving her self-centered habits of late. There were so few people in her life who actually called her out on her bullshit that she was usually able to isolate herself in denial. Dean had never been able to, instead he just absorbed her crappy attitude until she cut him off out of guilt. In looking back she was actually thankful he'd brought it up this time because she may have simply let it go on indefinitely.

On the other hand, if there was anyone in this world who knew how to call her out, it was Remus.

After how impetuous she'd been, on nearly every occasion, he'd still managed to care enough to go check on her. Ginny knew then it was time to stop being so self-pitying. She hated it when others pitied her. So stop being pathetic, she told herself. She even went to the Burrow to visit her parents this week who completely smothered her in food and comfort and encouragement. Her mother even managed to convince her to stay the night in her old bedroom, something she hadn't done since she was a teenage, and once after when she got too drunk after a family holiday to Apparate and her parents refused to let her floo on her own.

At one point her father took her aside to tell her how proud he was of her and that she may very well be the most resilient of all his children. Being the only daughter, and the youngest of seven, she couldn't help get a little choked up. She didn't even think he knew about her presence in Hogsmeade because Fudge was keeping the details of that night pretty well hushed up.

She used to always tell herself that she was alone, but she was reminded again and again that this was a choice she made. There were people in her life who thought so highly of her that she thought it was about time she worked to deserve it.

But there was still one person who she hadn't had the courage to make it up to. Every time she tried the memory of his exasperation and disappointment stopped her in her place. Which happened many times a day, every day since she'd decided to try and make amends with him. It was one thing to take on a group of Death Eaters single-handed, but a complete other to face that disappointment again.

Now that Edward was released from the quarantined ward at St. Mungo's she had another fear to overcome, and it made her sick to her stomach. He knew he wasn't to blame; there was no way to imagine what such prolonged physical and psychological torture could do a person, even a trained and experienced Auror. But the fact remained that he'd stalked, imprisoned, and threatened her life and she didn't know if she could ever see him again as the man he used to be. In spite of that she had gotten away in one relatively whole piece. And whatever her suffering had been, his was infinitely worse and almost certainly irreversible. Plus, she still felt she owed it to him.

She caught Hermione stifling a small yawn and knew it was time to go. Finishing her tea, she hugged them both farewell and Apparated home. She felt a familiar tug in her chest pulling her towards Remus' but for the third time that day she resisted the urge.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we've asked you here today, Mister Lupin."

He was not. He received an owl yesterday morning carrying an official summons from the Ministry requesting his "voluntary" presence in the Auror Bureau. Less than a week after the connection between the kidnapped Pureblood children and Werewolves, it wasn't exactly a surprise.

As it were, he made no move to answer. He'd never seen the woman who sat across from him before, or the two men standing behind, but none wore Auror robes. It's an interrogation in all but name.

"We understand that you've just recently returned to the country, it that correct?" You know it is.

"Yes."

"What were you doing for the three years that you were gone?"

"Travelling," he replied coolly. The accusation in her voice was unmistakable. He watched her shuffle the papers on the desk, of what he assumed was a history of his entire life.

"Travelling for three years? That must have been a challenge considering our records indicate that you have not held full-time employment since you taught Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts over a decade ago, is that correct?"

"It is," he replied curtly. Her hard gaze suggested he ought to elaborate. "I live frugally. I spend most of my time out of doors." For what it was worth, that was the truth. They don't need to know that it was because of Albus that I had left and that I was moving between packs. But hell, he thought, they probably already know that too.

She made a quick note on the top paper. Remus had to resist the urge to lean in to try and read her script upside down.

"What was it that made you decide to come back to London when you did?"

"I wanted to be closer to friends. I'd heard there had been an increase in the number of attacks lately."

Her quill scratching was the only interruption to the silence between questions.

"You'd only been back in London for only a month before you were present for one of the attacks in Diagon Alley. That's quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"That's exactly what I would say. As I'm sure any of the hundreds of people who had been present too would say." It wasn't hard to see that they were trying to establish a connection between him and the Death Eaters' pursuits. Other than having had the misfortune of being bitten by a Werewolf when he was a child, which basically qualified him as guilty for simply existing.

"What were you doing in Diagon Alley that day, Mister Lupin?"

"I was visiting acquaintances. Some old students of mine." He'd considered fabricating another reason for his being in the vicinity but the truth was innocent enough, no matter how hard they'd try to make him feel otherwise.

"Witnesses at the scene claimed they saw you leaving—" she paused in visible displeasure, "—Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes minutes before the attack."

"Yes." And?

"Were you aware that Fred and George Weasley are currently under investigation for the fabrication and weaponization of Dark artifacts?"

That one did catch him by surprise. The woman studied his reaction carefully.

"No, I was not." He knew personally how resourceful and creative the twins' capacity for ingenuity was, Merlin, he even contributed whenever he could. Dark Magic? he would have scoffed if the reality of the situation wasn't so bleak.

"There's a full moon rising in a week's time. It would do well for you not to travel out of town." His interrogator rose abruptly. Remus belatedly followed suit, taken aback by the sudden dismissal.

The woman left without a backwards glance but the two men remained until Remus followed after. By the time he got out to the main corridor she was gone. Presumably to report her substantial findings to her superior. Maybe even to the Minister directly. But Remus knew the purpose of the questioning hadn't been to learn anything from him, rather to demonstrate Fudge's growing power and resources. It would have been hard to miss the scathing objection he had shown Albus when Remus had accompanied him to St. Mungo's.

Remus left the premises without any detours, knowing full well that his path was being followed at every step.

I could use a drink.

I could use a drink, Ginny thought as she returned home. But she knew she would not find one inside her flat. One of the first things she did after deciding to improve herself was to rid her home of all its alcohol. Instead she bought an extensive library of teas that would have made her grandmother proud. And Ginny had been drinking it like such a fiend that the next thing someone was going to have to save her from was over-hydration.

The sun was just starting to set and she had absolutely nothing to do. Even her flat had been cleaned which just went to show how much you could accomplish when you didn't consistently feel like shit for the first two thirds of every day.

She decided to unroll her yoga mat and do one of the videos Hermione had lent her. Within minutes of the "flow" routine, she had broken out in a sweat.

By the end of the video she felt limber and out of breath. Napoleon had initially splayed himself in the middle of her mat while she tried to begin, but he now rested on the back of her couch, watching her with feline indifference.

She took a quick bath to get rid of the sweat and then curled up on the couch to watch television. As soon as her eyes began to drift closed she decided it was time for bed. She turned off the television, checked the doors were locked and then shut the lights before crawling into bed. Another uneventful evening survived.

Something startled her awake. She sat up in the darkness unsure of what she sensed. She could feel Napoleon asleep and unconcerned at the foot of the bed so she slipped out from under the covers without disturbing him. She knew there was no one in the flat because her wards had been thoroughly upgraded but she took her wand nonetheless. She'd been surprised before.

She opened the door to her bedroom and peered out, shocked by what she saw. Atop her kitchen table it looked as if that day's copy of the Daily Prophet had simply caught fire. Nothing else but the paper appeared to be effected. The orange light flickered across her entire flat quite prettily but she was not about to appreciate it.

"Aguamenti!" She cast a simple water-making charm at the small fire but realized immediately what a mistake that was.

As soon as the water touched the flames there was some sort of reaction and it exploded. Huge sparks flew from the table to land everywhere around her belongings: on the counter, on the couch, the floors, and the walls. Everywhere one would land a new fire would spread. Ginny yelped as she just barely dodged one. What had been a small manageable flame just moments ago was now an uncontrolled threat. The flat began to fill with smoke.

She didn't dare use any more water. She lunged back into the room when she realized that one of the sparks that had missed her had caught on the carpet in there. It was spreading fast to the bed so she snatched Napoleon in her arms. She went to the window of the bedroom quickly to see if she could get them out that way. Napoleon was thrashing in her arms, digging his claws in as he noticed the flames and began to panic. When Ginny got to the window she was flabbergasted to see that all the latches had disappeared. Next she tried to break the glass but the clear pane was as solid as cement. She was able to slip out past the growing blaze in her room to reenter the main part of her flat only to see the entire place was almost engulfed. She had no access to the door but even through the flames she noticed that the knob on the inside had vanished as well.

The room was getting sweltering hot and Ginny was struggling to keep her eyes open through the smoke. Since everything was sealed, it had nowhere to go. Ginny heard a loud sound of glass breaking as a glass half full of water she'd drank before bed shattered under the heat of the flames around the counter. To Ginny's surprise whatever was left in the glass seemed to have doused a small area within the flames.

Her throat was starting to burn. She retreated to the only room left in her flat, throwing Napoleon in the bathtub as she slammed the door shut. She wasn't even trying to make sense of how the night had taken such a turn, but she trusted in her intuition that she was right about one thing. She turned her sink on as high as it would go, pushing the plug down so that it would fill. Smoke was beginning to enter the small room from the unsealed bottom and sides of her door so she wet one of her towels and covered the largest hole at the bottom. Napoleon was cowering in the bottom of the bathtub and Ginny didn't blame him. Her front side was covered in scratches from all four sets of claws but she was just happy she managed to get him in there with her. She slipped in beside him unable to do anything else. The sink was almost full by that point but Ginny wanted it to overfill and start covering the tiled floor with water. The flame reacted explosively to the water she summoned with her wand, but not to the water from her tap. It reacts only to the magical variety. Or at least that was the hope, otherwise she and Napoleon were in for an unpleasant end.

Soon she was coughing and she was unable to stop. The fire had yet to enter the bathroom but the air was hot and thin and the smoke irritated her lungs with every gasp. She tried to cover herself and Napoleon with a damp towel, but it only did so much. She was getting lightheaded and starting to see stars. Ginny tried to come up with some last prayers, but she seemed to have used them all up as of late. She could tell she was becoming delirious by how funny she found it when she thought about how worse things could have been if she hadn't gotten rid of her alcohol.

She hugged Napoleon tight to her chest and kissed his soft head, wishing above all else that he didn't have to suffer through this with her.

Ginny didn't even know she was still conscious when she heard a loud crash from the living room followed by intense hissing. She couldn't even keep her eyes open but she swore someone was shouting her name.

She definitively lost consciousness for a few minutes and woke up in someone's arms. She opened her eyes to a man in a strange yellow hat who was taking her down the stairs of her building.

"You're doing alright, Miss Wellesley. You've had an outbreak of fire in your flat and you're suffering from a good deal of smoke inhalation but we're going to get you on oxygen once we get you to the ambulance."

Ginny had trouble understanding some of the words. Her eyes felt as if they themselves had been on fire so she didn't exactly trust what she was seeing.

The only thing she could think to say was "Muggles."

And someone replied behind them. "Yes, we have Muggles here too. He's going to be fine." Ginny wondered if she was actually just dying and this was some bizarre pre-mortem hallucination. The alarms weren't helping.

Ginny knew they were outside by the sudden change in temperature. She chanced another attempt to open her eyes and regretted it. Lights. So many flashing lights. She was sat down at the back of a large yellow cubic vehicle and wrapped in a blanket. Someone strapped a mask to her face and she tried to fight against it but as she breathed in that wonderful gas she went limp. Sweet, sweet oxygen. Ginny began to become more aware of her surroundings. Many men in black coats and yellow hats were directing the crowds of people who seemed to be watching events unfold. Ginny spotted a number of individuals standing around in their pyjamas. She even spotted her detested neighbour who lived below her, Miss Rota, and her sausage of a dog Dumpkin.

"Jenny!" Someone cried from across the lot. "Jenny, are you okay?" She saw her next door neighbour Michael running towards her. She remembered that Jenny was her.

"Bloody hell! Are you a heavy sleeper or what?" Ginny didn't reply because she was too busy sucking down oxygen while watching a rather large man try and wrestle with an angry Napoleon.

"I woke up in the middle of the night because the wall next to my bed was absolutely cooking! I couldn't figure out what was going on so I left my flat and went to your place since we shared that wall. I tried knocking but didn't hear anything and when I reached for your knob it burnt my hand." He showed her his palm and she winced at the angry circular blister that had started to form. Ginny would have been happy to heal it for him if she had her wand. She patted herself down remembering she'd had it in her hand up until she'd lost conscious. Please don't be burned up. Her eyes were drawn once more to the man attempting to restrain Napoleon and she saw the tip of it poking out of his jacket pocket.

"Here I'll take him," she called, extending her arms. He looked awash with relief and passed Napoleon to her like he was an explosive ready to go off. As she reached out to take him she adeptly snatched the wand from him without being noticed and in the same motion wrapped her arms around her furious feline.

"That's when I called the fire brigade." Michael finished and she realized that the only reason she was alive was because of the Ministry's utter lack of regard for Muggles. The disregard which prevented their even being included in the wards meant to prevent individuals from entering a witch or wizard's home. Ginny had never been so grateful for prejudice in her life.

It was at that moment when men in navy blue robes seemed to appear from thin air wielding wands that Ginny's heart sank.

Oh good. Here come the authorities.

Remus decided to drop in on the twins and see how they were faring with the shop's closure. He spotted the light on up in their flat and took the stairs up to knock at their back door.

He heard some shuffling and murmurs before one of their heads popped round the corner and spotted him through the window. He could never distinguish them from each other and he made no secret of the fact, but whoever it was grinned at the sight of him.

The door swung open and Remus was greeted by a cheerful roar. "Moony, old man!" he gave Remus a jovial pat on the back and welcomed him in. "Fred, it's okay, it's just Moony!"

Fred, he deduced, also popped his head round the corner and grinned. Sometimes the two of them made his head spin. "Well that's a relief. We thought we were about to be evicted!"

"How's it going, catch any good rabbits lately?" Remus shook his head but couldn't stop the grin. Despite their never ending jokes, those two men were some of the most progressive and accepting wizards he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. It certainly runs in the family, he thought, Molly and Arthur must be proud. The two of them reminded him so strongly of James and Sirius when they were younger; they were the only other people he'd ever met who would make jokes about his second nature. He considered them the Marauders of their own generation.

"No, they aren't as common in the city," he replied eliciting two identical laughs. "I heard about your shop while I was taking up an invite to the Ministry today." The two of them were intrigued. "I was heading over to the Cauldron for a brew if you too weren't busy."

Their flat did have signs that they were packing, but Fred, who Remus now saw was holding a number of folder shirts, tossed them in the air behind him where they fell in an unorganized pile.

"We've just cleared our schedule!"

The walked together to the Leaky Cauldron sharing tales of their recent run-ins with the Ministry's new Investigation Unit. A number of pints later and they were calling it quits for the night.

"You just need to see what we're leaving in the shop before we head out," George implored and Fred could hardly contain his laughter. There was no way Remus was going to head home with that cliffhanger.

They marched up the stairs, much less steady than they had marched down hours before. They reentered the flat and Remus followed them to their living room. On the coffee table he spotted a medium sized wooden crate with the word "DANGER" printed in lurid red. Underneath in smaller font he read the words "Prototype, Do Not Open."

"Merlin. Are you going to end up in Azkaban?" Remus knew they weren't reckless, but sometimes their ideas of a good gag were outside of the definition of others'.

"Gods no, Remus. What do you take us for?" He looked at their identical mischievous grins and decided not to answer.

"So what will happen to whoever opens it?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Nothing?" that was most certainly a lie.

"Nothing." Fred reassured.

"That is unless they put on the glasses inside." George added.

"Why would they put on the glasses?"

"Because they say 'Put Me On'," Fred explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And then what happens?"

"Then the glasses disappear and they will be stuck with an unremovable, unconcealable pig's nose for seventy two hours afterward." Remus almost cried with laughter. It was so innocent and yet so utterly diabolical.

"The punishment matches the crime," Remus agreed.

Suddenly a familiar voice called from the other room. "Boys? Is anyone home?"

Fred went to check. Remus heard him reply to what he presumed was the fireplace. "Hey dad, what's going on?"

"It's your sister. Her flat caught fire and they brought her to St. Mungo's. She seems to be alright but your mother and I are going to see her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it if you came with us." Remus sobered up quickly when he heard what had happened. George went to join his brother but he decided to stay out of the way. After all it was family business. No matter his own concern.

"We're on our way. You're sure she's alright?"

"Yes, they're checking her over now but she has lost almost all of her belongings and we'll have to figure out where she'll want to stay. We'll meet you there,"

"See you soon."

The soft pop of the floo call signaled that Arthur had left.

"Remus," one of them called and he joined them, "Ginny's in the hospital, seems to be alright. We're going to see her, did you want to come with us? We know you guys are pretty close." He was a little surprised at the inclusion but he took them up on it. Even if he didn't see her face to face he could at least reassure himself that she truly was alright otherwise he'd be up all night worrying.

He was also beginning to wonder if she really was cursed.

George went through first, Fred followed, and lastly Remus.

TBC