Chapter 10

Holly did not know how much longer she'd be able to lie to herself. Something had gone wrong between her and Charlie. Ever since that one time Charlie had come to see her at the house in Windsor things had been left unsaid between them. Of course Holly knew that he was shocked by what she had done to Barnaby. But he had seen the necessity of it. And then when they had seen each other again later on that week he had been so detached. They hadn't spoken much but he had made love to her with an intensity that bordered on desperation. And that was how it had been for the past six months or so. Holly had no idea how she could get things back to how they used to be. Maybe it was too late.

"After you." A darkly dressed wizard said to her.

Holly stepped into the house, Dolohov and Greyback following closely behind. It was a small, shabby house on the outskirts of London. Holly could not understand how a ministry official lived like that. She pulled her robes tighter, the death eater's mask hiding her face. Dolohov was also wearing one, but Greyback did not care whether he'd recognised or not. Holly tried her best not to accidentally end up too close to the werewolf. She did not care for how he looked at her.

"Why are we bothering with a morsel like him?" Greyback growled somewhere to the left of her.

"He is close to the minister. He will know his schedule." Dolohov picked up a picture from a side table.

Holly froze when she recognised the people in the picture. "Who is it again?" She asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. The dark lord had only summoned her half an hour ago and told her to go with Dolohov and Greyback. He did not think it necessary for her to know where they were going or why.

"That Weasley boy. Percy, I think." Dolohov said and carelessly dropped the picture.

"And we are just to get the minister's schedule off him?" Holly probed further. Surely that must just be laying around somewhere. There wouldn't be any need to hurt the boy.

"Yeah. Like Greyback said, he's not important enough to put under the imperius curse. But we need to know who the minister is meeting with. Those people are who we need to control."

Dolohov made his way up the stairs, closely followed by Greyback. Holly braced herself and went upstairs as well. The three death eaters entered Percy Weasley's bedroom. The young wizard was fast asleep next to a pretty witch.

"Crucio!" Dolohov shouted and the wizard started screaming. The witch next to him jumped up and Greyback grabbed her tightly.

"Who is the minister meeting with?" Dolohov asked once Percy Weasley had stopped screaming. Holly could hear the young witch sobbing quietly.

"I don't know." Percy said, his voice shaking with fear and pain.

"Maybe this will jog your memory." Dolohov nodded at Holly and without hesitation Holly pointed her wand at the witch in Greyback's arms. Greyback let go off her but before the witch could move away Holly shouted "Sanguefor!" The young witch screamed and blood started dripping out of her nose, mouth and ears.

Percy's eyes widened and he made a move towards his wand. Dolohov punched him before he could get anywhere close.

"Okay, okay! I will tell you, but please stop hurting her!" Percy shouted. Dolohov nodded at Holly again and Holly stopped the hex with a flick of her wand. They young witch dropped to the floor unconscious.

In the meantime, Percy had started to write down names on a piece of parchment. Dolohov kept a steady eye on him.

"She looks rather tasty." Greyback remarked, his eyes on the young witch on the floor.

"We are not to leave a trace." Dolohov said sharply, but not taking his eyes of Percy who was still writing furiously, but his hand was shaking so much, Holly wondered whether they'd be able to read it anything at all.

Greyback had moved closer to the young witch. Holly raised her wand at him. "Leave her be, Greyback." She said, surprised by how steady her voice sounded. Greyback turned towards her. "Oh yes, little bird? And what will you do if I won't?" Holly waved her wand and Greyback was thrown into the wardrobe behind him. Instantly the werewolf was up again and rushed towards her, but Holly had expected this. "Stupefy!" Holly shouted and Greyback collapsed.

"Stop it!" Dolohov shouted, turning towards Holly and Greyback. Percy took his chance and dived for his wand. But before he could reach it, Holly pointed her wand at him and shouted "Crucio!" Percy screamed and crumbled to the floor.

Dolohov looked around the room. "What a shit show." He grabbed the piece of parchment. "Clean up this mess." Dolohov disapparated with the stupefied Greyback.

Holly took a deep breath. Percy was still whimpering on the floor. Holly kneeled down next to the witch and pointed her wand at the younger witch's forehead and whispered "Memoria mutata". She did the same to Percy Weasley and the two of them laid back down on their bed with a dazed look on their faces. Holly cleared up the blood from the witch's face and healed the bruise where Dolohov had punched Percy. She repaired the wardrobe with a flick of her wand. Then she disapparated.

"Things have started to turn so much darker." Charlie said quietly.

Holly pressed herself closer to him. They were in her house in Windsor.

"They have." Holly whispered back.

The past few months had gone by in a blur. Charlie had been back in Rumania for the majority of the time, only coming back once for Dumbledore's funeral back in June. Holly had seen him only briefly then and they only argued. Charlie had at first not believed her that she hadn't known about the plan to kill Dumbledore. And she truly hadn't. Yes, she knew that the dark lord was planning for it to happen eventually but nobody had known about the Malfoy boy but his innermost circle which Holly was not part of. Even though it didn't really feel resolved, Holly was glad when he left again as it had fallen to her to hide Snape for the first few weeks after he had killed Dumbledore. And now it was almost the end of July and Charlie had returned for his brother's wedding.

"Bill getting married is something to break through the darkness at least." Charlie looked at her and Holly knew straight away what was coming. "You should come too. I want you to be there."

Holly kissed his forehead lightly. "You know that's not possible."

Charlie frowned. "I know. Well, but Potter will be there. He's going to use a polyjuice potion to look like a distant cousin of ours. You could do the same?"

"So you'd want me there looking like your cousin?" Holly smiled at him blushing. Oh, how she had missed that. Just them being together and being happy.

"Maybe not." Charlie grinned and kissed her fiercely.

Holly hoped he'd give up on trying to get her to come to the wedding. It was the day the dark lord had planned on taking over the ministry. She had debated a million times with herself whether or not to tell Charlie about it. In the end she decided that he would be safer being at the wedding than part of some suicide mission to try and safe the ministry. In truth, the ministry had fallen months ago. Everyone around Scrimgeour was either under the imperius curse or a death eater. And the first of August had been marked as the day that the dark lord would officially take over the ministry.

"Have you ever thought of leaving the country?" Holly said when they parted for air.

"Leave the country?" Charlie placed little kisses down her neck. It tickled.

"Yes. Like my family. They've been with relatives in Italy since Christmas."

Charlie stopped kissing her. "Leave the country with you?"

"Yes. We could stay with my family. Wait for all of this to be over." Holly did not dare look at him.

"I can't leave my family. And I want to fight. I want to help win this war so we can be together after." Charlie said fiercely. "And you should fight too. If your family is safe, why don't you join our side?"

Holly lowered her eyes. "I don't think your side trusts me very much. After…after Snape."

Charlie pulled her close again. "I trust you. And I know that you are working against him." He kissed the top of her head. "And Snape is a vile traitor. I don't know why I believed a word he said about you."

Holly froze. "What do you mean?"

"Well, at the beginning of November, I ran into him at the order. He was drunk. Anyway, he told me that you'd been learning some dark spells from you know who himself. And that you were using them in his name." Charlie kissed her forehead again. "That's why things were different for a while. And then after Dumbledore's death I was so angry and confused. But I thought about it. Snape was lying. He just did it to sow mistrust."

Holly swallowed. For a moment she considered telling Charlie the truth. But she knew that it would break him. Using the cruciatus curse on his younger brother was nothing against the long list of things she had done since. And apart from leaving the country she did not know how to protect him. And even if she left, who was to say that they would not hunt her down and make her spill the truth about the order, where her family was and, worst of all, her love for Charlie.

"But I know it's not true. Because I know you, Holly. I know and love every last bit of you. And when this is over, I want us to be together." Charlie pulled away from her and got out from the bed. He rummaged threw his clothes and when he came back he was holding something carefully in his hand. Holly sat up, suddenly struggling to breathe properly. "Holly, will you marry me?" He grabbed her left hand and looked at her questioningly. Holly had never felt such a mixture of pain and happiness. She was glad that she never bothered to wear Barnaby's ring when she wasn't leaving the house and nodded. Charlie grinned at her and slid a modest ring with a small diamond on her finger. Holly thought it was the most beautiful ring she'd ever seen. Charlie kissed her and for at least tonight Holly allowed herself to dream of a future in which they could be together.

Holly rushed after the darkly dressed witches and wizards in front of her. Her wand was stretched out in front of her, stupefying aurors and ministry workers alike. The dark lord was way ahead of her, killing anyone who dared to stand in his way. She could hear Bellatrix Lestrange's mad cackling laughter echoing and mixing with the curses that were cast all around her. Only a few death eaters chose to stun, most, like the dark lord, killed. Holly flinched when she heard a blood curdling scream and Greyback howling in triumph shortly after. She dared to look back and her eyes were met with chaos. Witches and wizards were screaming and running, trampling over their own in their mad dash to safety.

When she turned back to the front she almost fell trying to stop herself from bumping into another death eater. The death eater had stopped and was pointing his wand at a terrified looking witch. Holly recognised him instantly by the light blonde hair peaking out from underneath his hood.

"Stupefy!" Lucius Malfoy growled. The wand, a much more slender one than Holly would have expected, shot off some sparks but nothing more happened. The ministry worker, who could not believe her luck, quickly raised her wand, but before she could say anything, Holly yelled "Stupefy!" and the witch collapsed.

Lucius Malfoy turned towards her and swore. "Holly Burr, is it?" He looked at his wand frustratedly, before pocketing it. Holly nodded. She didn't know how he had recognised her, but did not let it bother her. "It's my wife's wand." He said almost sheepishly. Now Holly remembered Snape saying that the dark lord had taken Malfoy's wand for an attack on Potter. Holly did not know why, nor did she care. She was more confused as to why Lucius Malfoy was going for the stunning spell also.

"I thought you'd be right at the front with him?" She asked instead.

Malfoy regarded her for a moment. "Well you may have heard that my family has slightly fallen from grace. I thought I'd better keep to the back, where the chances of me being hit by a stray curse from the dark lord are slightly lower."

Suddenly there was a loud bang and the fountain at the bottom of the atrium exploded. She raised her arms to shield her head from the falling debris and then Malfoy was pulling her behind one of the fireplaces lining both walls of the hallway. They sunk to the floor next to each other.

"I might as well stay here before my wife's wand backfires and kills me." Malfoy said matter of factly.

"It'd only stun you, seeing as you've not been using the killing curse." Holly dared to say.

"So have you Miss Burr. Why don't we both keep this to ourselves?"

Holly nodded. She played with her wand. Charlie would be dancing at the wedding now.

"Oh I forgot. I keep calling you Miss Burr, but you've been Mrs Lee for a while now, haven't you?" Malfoy frowned when he looked at the ring on her finger. "That ring looks different. Much smaller." The older wizard said.

Holly flinched. She'd forgotten to exchange the ring that Charlie had given her for Barnaby's.

"I didn't want to risk losing my ring." She said brusquely.

"Of course. Where is your husband anyway? Shouldn't he be fighting by your side?"

Holly continued playing with her wand. "He's further at the front." It had taken Holly a lot of time to get her and Barnaby to the ministry when the dark lord had summoned them. Lately Barnaby had become more and more irritated and short tempered. Holly had meticulously kept a diary of all the times she had altered his memory and which false memories she had planted in his mind. But with everything that had been going on she couldn't help but think that she may have made a mistake somewhere along the line and Barnaby was now going insane.

Suddenly the dark lord's voice could be heard around them, announcing that the ministry had fallen and that Scrimgeour was dead. Holly and Malfoy hurried to their feet.

"Right, I better get going. The protective spells around the place where they are keeping the Potter boy hidden will have fallen with the minister's death. He'll want to go after the boy straight away."

With a nod at her, Malfoy briskly walked towards the elevators behind the now destroyed fountain. Holly stood frozen in place. What should she do now? And then she saw Kingsley Shacklebolt ushering a terrified looking group of ministry workers towards one of the last working fireplaces. She rushed towards him, taking off her death eater's mask as she walked.

"Kingsley, you must warn the people at the wedding. The protective spells are gone. He will go after Harry Potter now!" Holly shouted panicky.

For a moment Shacklebolt just stared at her in pure shock but then he produced a silver light with his wand that flew up the fireplace.

"I have warned them." He said in his deep voice. "I do not want to think too much about what you are doing here, but I would recommend for you to leave. Now." The tall auror looked at her intently before following the crowd out through the fireplace.

Holly paced up and down the living room of her home in Windsor. She had hardly slept upon returning from the ministry and had send Wanda to look for Charlie straight away. When Holly woke the elf still hadn't returned. Holly knew what that meant. The Weasley family had gone into hiding and wherever they were had probably had the fidelius charm cast upon it. Wanda would not be able to find them. She would not be able to know what happened at the wedding until Charlie choose to contact her. If he still could.

Holly flinched when Snape apparated straight into her living room.

"What is going on? Has he been found?" Holly asked, desperate to hear any news.

"No. The Potter boy fled. The order is either dead or in hiding."

For a moment Holly thought that Snape sounded relieved. He had never shared with her why he had betrayed the order and killed Dumbledore but Holly did not believe that he had gone over to the dark lord's side completely. He was her last hope that someone could do dark things but still be good inside. And she was not ready to give up on that yet.

"Who is dead?" Holly dreaded the answer, but needed to know.

Snape regarded her for a moment. "Not the Weasley boy. I know you don't care about any of the others."

Holly felt overwhelmed with relief. He was alive. Her Charlie was alive.

"I need to see him." She said.

"Are you out of your mind? You need to focus on not getting yourself killed!" Snape snapped at her.

"I don't care about myself getting killed. But I need to see him. These past couple of hours of not knowing whether he is dead or alive have been the worst hours of my life. I don't care about any of this anymore. I just want to be with him." Holly shouted, all the frustration venting out of her.

"Holly?" Barnaby asked. He had entered the living room with neither of them noticing.

Holly did not hesitate for one moment. "Memoria mutata!" she shouted, her wand pointing at Barnaby. Barnaby's eyes glazed over and he left again. Snape looked at her, almost shocked.

"How often have you been doing that?" He asked sharply.

"I don't know. However often it's been necessary." Holly said defensively.

"Have you used it since I gave you that book?" Holly nodded. "So you have been manipulating his mind for almost a year now?" Holly nodded again. "You may as well had killed him. He's well on his way to going insane. If he isn't already."

Holly did not know what to say to that. She felt no guilt at all when it came to Barnaby. She had only done what was necessary.

"I see." Snape cleared his throat. "Anyway. You cannot stop now. If you want to keep yourself and that silly boy alive you must continue doing the dark lord's bidding."

Holly shut her eyes for a moment. Deep down she knew that Snape was right, that she had to keep going until the dark lord was defeated.

"But I have not just come here to gossip, Miss Burr. The dark lord himself has selected you to join the department of mystery task force. You and some other gifted wizards are to take the department apart and find out its secrets for him."

She raised her eyebrows at that. "Why me?"

"Because you have been seen only stunning ministry workers. Everyone who has not killed has been assigned tasks that will most likely get them killed. And if you do find something that's useful to the dark lord, all the better for him. But make no mistake, your name has been marked. You better try very hard to get back into his good graces."

Holly swallowed. She'd been lucky then that nobody had seen her talking to Shacklebolt. Or she'd probably be dead already.