Chapter Seventy-Seven

Prewett Problems

Amelia Bones made her way to the Prewett Castle in Carmarthenshire which had stood in its location since before Hogwarts had been founded. Amelia found it very suspicious that Lady Isolde Prewett had disowned her Heir merely a week after younger sons had been killed. Yet, Amelia couldn't find any evidence of an interview with Lady Isolde being interviewed. The fact that the lead investigator was Alastor Moody made Amelia even more suspicious that the investigation had not been properly conducted.

'Gerald Prewett died in 1991,' Scrimgeour said.

And from all reports Lady Isolde was not a well woman given the fact that Elaine Prewett, her only surviving child had been operating as the Prewett for the last three years. Amelia wondered what if anything Lady Isolde would remember. And Elaine would have only been nineteen when her older brothers were killed so she might not know anything.

Still, they were admitted and invited to the main drawing room. Lady Isolde Prewett was a thin woman with wiry grey hair covered by a thick red and grey blanket. She looked a lot older than her seventy-nine years of age belied, but her brown eyes were bright with intelligence (and pain). Amelia remembered that this woman had buried half of her children due to her other child's actions which she probably knew about and had then lost her husband too.

To her side was thirty-six-year-old Elaine Prewett who had strawberry-blonde hair, serious looking brown eyes and skin that seemed to have not seen enough sunlight. It was she who had greeted Amelia and Scrimgeour and offered them refreshments (that they turned down as was procedure).

'Lady Prewett, Regent Prewett,' greeted Scrimgeour said. 'We are sorry to bring up this painful topic, but we are re-opening your sons' deaths.'

Lady Isolde snorted, 'at last. I told the Auror who came to my house that it wasn't Death Eaters – it was Molly. But nothing was done!'

'The Auror you told would that be Alastor Moody?' asked Scrimgeour.

Lady Isolde nodded, 'that was his name.'

'We are sorry to inform you that there are no records that Auror Moody spoke to you,' Scrimgeour said.

'We are, of course, looking into his involvement in this matter,' Amelia added. 'But as he is … missing … it will be hard to find if it is a case of misfiling or corruption. So, could you please tell us everything you remember?'

Elaine nodded, 'I remember when Auntie Muriel first told us about the prophecy. I must have been about twelve, so the twins were sixteen and Molly was twenty-two. Fabian, Gideon and I found it a funny story. The kind of thing that Aunt Muriel would believe.'

'Like gossiping about more likely,' interjected Lady Isolde. 'My aunt liked causing strife and chaos.'

Elaine nodded, 'but Molly didn't find it funny. She was … worried about it. Kept begging Fabian and Gideon to break their twin bond – but they wouldn't.'

'Of course, not,' Lady Isolde said sounding sad. 'The twin bond is a natural bond that is a gift to those who have it. Having it broken … even just the wound of the break … it hurts!'

'You were a Prewett twin?' asked Scrimgeour.

Lady Isolde let out a choking sound, 'I was.'

'Lady Isolde, may I ask how your bond was broken?' Amelia asked gently.

'What do you know about twin bonds?' asked Lady Isolde.

'If you could tell us everything you know,' Amelia said.

She had requested that the unspeakables submit a report about the magical theory behind twin bonds. However, it would probably be a couple days before she got that report. And Amelia wanted to start investigating the Prewett murders long before that. After all they were already almost two decades late.

'Well, first I should say I am talking about an identical twin bond,' Lady Isolde said. 'Identical twins come about when a zygote, a fertilised egg, divides into two separate embryos. Because they are nearly genetically identical, they are near identical. What people don't realise that magic develops very early on. In the case of identical twins, they have the same magic that has essentially split into two and then grown separately.

'Then you have to remember that 60-70% of identical twins share a placenta. The shared a placenta allows identical twins to directly share their magic, especially as the foetuses cannot see a difference between their magic and their twin's magic. This means as twins' magic evolve their magic grows as one separate unit.

'Then when they are born, and they are physically separated, and their magic is no longer shared in same way. A child's magic continues to grow with them, for their whole life. If the twin bond is not broken twins magic will grow with them. So much so that some magical tests will be unable to identify twins magic as separate units. It's the reason that twins seem to be able to telepathically communicate amongst themselves, that they are far more powerful together, can sense each other even if they are miles apart.

'Now, if you wish to break a twin bond the easiest way to is to physically separate twins when their magic is still immature, i.e., when their magic is still developing in early childhood, the earlier the better. The only other way is for the twins themselves to voluntarily break their bond. To literally shatter it – it is said to be horrifically painfully and usually only happens if one has betrayed the other. Often ends up with one or both twins squibs due their magic being damaged so violently.

'Anyway, my family did the former, thinking it to be kinder, for us to never know what we could be' Lady Isolde's face twisted whether in bitterness, anger, pain or something else Amelia couldn't tell. 'The eldest twin was kept and the other one was sent to another family member. I know from my parents and Aunt Muriel that I and my younger sister, Igraine, spent our first few months screaming after being torn from each other.'

'So, do for the twin bond to exist do twins have to be around each other almost constantly?' asked Amelia.

'When their magic is maturing up to the age of about eight, yes,' Lady Isolde explained. 'After that twins will find it easier to separate from themselves until they are fully matured. Of course, they wind maintain a strong bond … from those I have spoken to they described it as a pleasant hum at the back of their mind no matter where they go and it only when they are together does it fully activate. Although, they did admit that they do tend to seek out each other's company more in adulthood than they think other siblings might.'

'What happens if when it is broken?' asked Scrimgeour frowning.

A fleeting expression passed over the old witches' face,'growing up as a child I always felt … an emptiness … like I was missing something. I never understood why – my parents didn't even mention Igraine. I as the Heir went to Hogwarts but Igraine was sent to Ilvermorny so we couldn't reforge the bond before our magic matured.

'It wasn't until we were both twenty-one and properly bonded, were we told the truth. I can't tell you how betrayed I felt – Igraine felt the same … shocked … confused … hurt … betrayed …. My relationship with my parents was permanently damaged knowing that they had torn me from my sister … that they were to reason for the incompleteness I always felt. And Igraine treated them as the strangers that were to her, strangers who had abandoned her!

'But it was also as though everything suddenly made so much sense. We had found the missing piece, but it was too late to repair our magical bond, but we were able to form a close relationship. We still are close.

'We researched the incidents of identical twins in our family – which seems to date right back to Melehan and Melou; long before the prophecy,' Lady Isolde's face twisted in disbelief, 'before we even called ourselves the Prewetts. Merlin sometimes there have been multiple sets of twins in one family.

'Some have been good, some have been bad, and every variation of. Some of the most powerful and influential Prewetts have been twins. Yet just because on so called prophet was said to have foretold doom if a Prewett twin bond should survive does not make it true. Both Igraine and I swore if it were either of us were to have twins, we would not separate them in the way we had been!

'Then Fabian and Gideon were born, perfect and precious,' Lady Isolde smiled sadly. 'My parents and other family members were angry that we were risking our doom by doing so. So, when the war was brewing, they blamed our choice. Naturally, I chose to keep my four children away from the majority of the family. Not wanting them to encounter just hateful rhetoric. I should have told them about it myself, about how imbecilic it is … maybe then Molly wouldn't …' Lady Isolde chose this time to take a drink of water.

Heiress Elaine shook her head, 'you didn't tell any of us and when we did here about it Fabian, Gideon and I thought like you that it was ridiculous that we should ever be defined by some probably drunk seer. And I was twelve. Molly at twenty-two should have known better than to listen to Aunt Muriel!'

'Why did you re-connect with your family?' asked Amelia.

'Mother didn't have a choice,' Elaine said softly. 'My grandparents' health were declining, and mother had to take over as Regent which meant taking over as Head of the Family. Anyway, Molly spent the next five years trying to convince Fabian and Gideon to break their bond. Then the day before the twins' birthday …' Elaine had to stop '… well you know what happened.'

'I knew,' Lady Isolde said. 'As soon as Auror Moody delivered me the news. It couldn't have been anyone else … not on that day. I should have taken Molly's fearmongering more into account.'

'We could never have thought … ' Elaine trailed off, '…that she would have done something so awful. They loved her … we all did …'

'We reported my suspicions to Auror Moody,' Lady Isolde said. 'I though they would have arrested her for what she had done to my sons. Fabian had just got married to a nice young witch from Spain. Gideon was just a year off qualifying as an Auror. They had their whole lives … and Molly took it from them. She was no daughter of mine! Not anymore.

'Then a week later Auror Moody returned and said that there was concrete proof that it was Death Eaters. Like I wanted my first born to have been responsible for murdering my sons!' spat Lady Isolde, 'I even wrote to Lord Crouch, who was the Head of the DMLE at the time. He never even wrote back. My only recourse was to disown Molly.'

'Father never really recovered from the loss and Molly's betrayal,' Elaine added softly.

'How did you feel when you heard that Molly had given birth to twins?' asked Rufus.

'We were surprised that she didn't physically separate them,' Elaine admitted. 'We thought perhaps Arthur overruled her on that.'

'That worried me more,' Lady Isolde said creakily.

'I spoke to Arthur,' Elaine said. 'But he became angry and defensive of his wife and didn't listen to a word I said. I was planning to warn the boys themselves when they graduated.'

'But thankfully they escaped from her on their own,' Lady Isolde said proudly.

Scrimgeour nodded, 'would you be willing to testify against Molly Weasley when it goes to court.'

Lady Isolde nodded eyes bright, 'if it will finally get justice for my sons.'

Elaine nodded, 'yes, of course.'

.

.

.

Percy Morant had just arrived to work when he was informed that the DMLE had requested his presence. Percy sighed wondering what his family the Weasleys had done now. He did wisht that the DMLE would have waited until his break to talk to him. He was trying to escape the Weasleys name, not have their shit dragged into his working life. Still, he made his way to the DMLE where he was greeted by Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour.

'Mr Morant,' greeted Scrimgeour promptly. 'I am sorry to pull you out of your work, but we really must speak to your brothers Mr Frederick and George Morant, urgently, and as they are currently addressed in Egypt it will take us a few weeks to reach them by OWL or a very expensive Floo call.'

Percy nodded knowing that all too well. Fortunately, he had a monthly international pass. They were still searching for a permanent British residence. They had managed to get a viewing for an old manor house in Lancashire on the weekend that from the brochure looked promising.

They would all be in England anyway to see Harry who they were all worried about. After the attack and revelation about his relationship with Lucius Malfoy and his pregnancy they had a lot to ask him. Fred and George naturally wanted to hex Lord Malfoy. Bill had convinced them to lay off until they had spoken to Harry which they had done so with little grace.

'May I ask what it is about?' asked Percy.

Bones and Scrimgeour shared a look.

'We cannot discuss it without your brothers' permission,' Scrimgeour said.

'But if they allow it you, or your family members are more than welcome to be there,' Bones said.

Percy nodded, 'thanks. I can get them now.'

Percy Flooed back to Egypt where Fred and George were in the middle of adding details to their business plan. They were going to present their finished plan in two and a half weeks. They looked up when Percy came in.

'What's happened?' asked Fred.

Percy sniffed, 'I don't know. Madam Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour requested to speak to you two. Said they couldn't tell me anything without your permission. They did say you were welcome to invite your brothers if you wished.'

Fred snorted, 'we're not-'

'-kids,' George continued. '-we don't-'

'-need you to hold,' Fred continued.

'-our hands,' George continued.

'We'll be-'Fred said.

'-fine,' George finished.

'I didn't think you did,' Percy retorted. 'I just thought it would cut out the middleman … and if it's something to do with Mu-the Weasleys I would like to know.'

'Well, why didn't-'began Fred began.

'-say so,' grinned George.

-dear brother,' finished Fred.

'I just did,' Percy said crossly.

Fred and George just grinned.

'Well are we-'Fred started.

'-going?' asked George.

'-or what?' concluded Fred.

Percy sighed at his brothers, antics but they did indeed leave and found themselves back in the DMLE about fifteen minutes later. They were invited to Madam Bones' office with both she and Scrimgeour looking very grim. Percy was getting more and more worried by the second – the question was what had their former family done this time? Had Ginny's potential line theft finally been uncovered?

'Thank you for seeing us Mr Weasleys,' Scrimgeour.

'Well, Percy-'George began.

'-didn't make-'

'-it seem-'

'-like we had-'

'-much choice,' finished George.

'You are not here by force,' Scrimgeour said. 'You could have elected not to come.'

Percy frowned, 'just tell us why you wanted to speak to my brothers?'

'I know this may be a difficult question,' Bones said voice gentle but eyes steely. 'May we ask how your mother treated you growing up?'

'She never liked us,' George fidgeting slightly.

Fred looked angry, snorted, 'nothing we ever did was good enough!'

George nodded, 'and she hated-'

'-our-'

'-twiness-'

Percy nodded in agreement, 'when you two were toddlers mum tried to make you sleep on different floors. George used to sleep in Ron's attack room. One of them always snuck into the others room. Dad finally said that if it made them happy what was the harm in letting them share a bedroom. Mum actually threatened to send one of you to Aunt Muriel's. Dad refused to hear of it. It's one of the few times I've heard Mum and Dad properly fight.'

'We don't remember that,' Fred and George said speaking as one.

'No, you wouldn't,' Percy said. 'You were three when that ended.'

'She kept trying-' George.

'-to split us-'

'-up-'

'-even last summer-'

'-she said that-'

'-our inability to-'

'-think for ourselves-'

'-would make-'

'-exams hard-'

'But, we've never-'

'-not had each-'

'-other-'

'-and it's not like-'

'-we don't think-'

'-independently-'

'-we just can-'

'-feel what-'

'-the other-'

'-is thinking,'

'-and it's not like-'

'-we can't tune-'

'-each other out-'

'-because we do!' George.

'Yeah, I don't want to feel what George feels when he's with Angie,' Fred said pretending to gag. 'And we are-'

'-quite capable of-'

'-doing things-'

'-on our own-'

'We just-'

'-don't want to!' finished George.

Percy frowned, 'I didn't know that your … bond was so powerful. I always thought you had to work at talking at once.'

Fred snorted eyes flashing dangerously, 'it just happens.'

'If we're alone-'

'-we don't even-'

'-need to talk-'

'-we just-'

'-know what we're-'

'-thinking,' finished Fred.

'Did you mother ever mention the concept of twin bonds?' asked Scrimgeour.

Fred and George shook their heads, 'no.'

'Right from what we understand it operates exactly as you describe,' Bones said. 'You share … or have the same magic … that allows you communicate telepathically with one another, sense each other, and combine your magic together.'

'Actually, the Auror office is always on lookout for talented individuals like yourself if you were ever interested in a career in law enforcement,' interjected Scrimgeour.

Fred snorted.

'I don't think a career in law enforcement is exactly in our future,' George said.

'And not the time,' Percy said. 'You wouldn't have called us here just to discuss twin bonds.'

'No,' agreed Scrimgeour. 'From what we understand in the nineteenth century there was a prophecy proclaiming that the Prewetts would have a set of twins every generation. If a set of twins from the Prewett bloodline reach the age of twenty-one with their twin bond undamaged, they would see the victory of the Dark.'

Percy froze and saw Fred and George do the same. It was impossible, how could something so natural as a twin bond have anything to do with the rise of the Dark side. Fred and George seemed to be doing their silent communication thing looking as shocked.

'Naturally, the Prewetts began to separate their new-born twins so that the twin bond would never properly form,' continued Scrimgeour.

Fred and George clutched at each other as they heard that,

'Until Isolde and Gerald Prewett who did not believe in the prophecy. Molly, however, did and tried to encourage them to break it themselves,' Scrimgeour continued.

Fred and George shuddered but seemed to have been rendered mute.

Scrimgeour nodded, 'the day before they turned twenty-one, they were found dead under the Dark Mark. Naturally, given the times we were living at they were believed to be killed by Death Eaters. However, we have interviewed Molly Weasley under veritserum and she has confessed to the murder.'

Percy frowned, 'why are you telling us this? Molly Weasley has nothing to do with us anymore.'

'Because she was going to kill us if we refused to break the bond,' Fred said hollowly.

'Yes,' Bones said softly. 'I am sorry to have to tell you this, but you deserved to know.'

'Yes,' Percy said. 'Thank you.'

Percy steered Fred and George out of the Ministry (after sending a missive to his boss asking for a day for family reasons). He had never seen Fred and George usually so loud and boisterous like this even when they toddlers they were trouble. This worried Percy enough that he was willing to take the day off work despite the knock it might take to his reputation. Once they arrived back in Egypt, he immediately sent Hermes to Bill requesting him back immediately.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bill was about to go into the tombs when Percy's owl came from him demanding he come home now. To see Percy's usually obsessively neat writing obviously written in a rush, and the fact that he was not at work, really emphasised that this was an emergency. He turned to the Head Cursebreaker said that he had to go home, family emergency, and Apparated back to the Appartment.

Percy was pacing the room looking more agitated than Bill had ever seen him. Fred and George, on the other hand, were holding their hands, pale and completely still. Bill didn't think he had ever seen the twins be still. Something was really wrong!

'What happened?'

Percy began speaking, ears red and face angrier than Bill had ever seen him. As Percy spoke Bill found himself having to sit. Their mother had murdered their uncles, the uncles she had always spoke with such fondness and grief. She had been planning on killing Fred and George. It seemed to Bill that whenever he thought his family could sink no lower, they found a way to.

And what could Bill say to make this anywhere near better? Their mother had been plotting their deaths? Yes, they knew that their mother had never been exactly kind to them … but there was a long difference between being unkind and plotting to murder your own children! It was sickening, is what it was!

'I'm sorry,' Bill said. 'You know that what she was planning, what she thinks, it doesn't change who you are! And we love you.'

Fred smiled weakly, 'yeah, us too.'

'Do you think it's true?' asked George softly.

Percy snorted, 'of course not! I took Divination for about two weeks. It's absolute drivel. Don't listen to it.'

'And if it is that's not necessarily a bad thing,' Bill said gently. 'Dark does not mean evil, and Light does not mean good. I know Dark wizards and witches, trust them even. Then, look at Dumbledore, look at Mum. I know who I would trust to have my back!'

George nodded, 'it's just …'

George trailed off with a look from Fred. There again was that guilty look that they sometimes got when talking about Lord Slytherin. And there again was Bill's suspicions that Dumbledore's accusations weren't baseless.

Was Lord Slytherin really You Know Who?

And if he was, did it matter? It didn't change the atrocities mum and Dumbledore had committed. And given that at least two of the Dark Lord's murders were committed by the Light side, couldn't there be more?

No, the question was – if it was true … what was he planning? Was he planning to change things politically? Or was he just biding his time until Dumbledore was out of the way to show his true colours?

But Fred and George would never go along with anything like that. And he couldn't imagine that Harry would either. But the Dark Lord was said to be a master of lies so he could be tricking the three teenagers!

Bill didn't want to do anything that would put the family he had in danger. But he didn't want to live in the worst kind of dictatorship that the Dark Lord was rumoured to want. There was only one thing for it – he would have to ask Lord Slytherin himself.

They were going there on the weekend anyway. He would just remain behind to speak to Lord Slytherin. Surely, if You Know Who was trying to fly under the radar, he wouldn't kill him when people knew he was supposed to be there. And Bill would make sure to spell a letter that would be sent to the DMLE should he not make it out alive.

Bill swallowed feeling like he had just signed his own death warrant. But looking at the distressed faces of his little brothers he resolved himself to go through with it. And Bill Weasley may be many things, but he was also a Gryffindor through and through – fear never stopped them from doing something when they had decided it was the right course of action.

AN: I hope the explanation for the twin-bond makes sense and isn't too out there. And for those who want to know how Harry is getting on we'll probably be back to him in the chapter after next. I already have pretty much that whole chapter written. And we'll see our favourite Dark Lord next chapter.