If the Ministry had fallen, then that meant a great deal of our protection around the Burrow had also been broken, proven when people began to disapparate in the panic. Tugging back my skirts, I pulled my wand from my leg and immediately started to shout. "Ginny! Ginny! Luna! Harry, Ron, Hermione!" Viktor looked confused but also drew his wand, recognising that something was wrong and as the mass of people rushed to escape, masked figures began to appear and before we knew it, curses and hexes where being thrown into the crowd. "Protego Maxima!" Bellowing with all the force I could muster, I formed a protective shield and traced my wand in a long line to make it spread, shielding some of the party guests as they were too drunk to understand what was happening or raise their wands to defend themselves.
The spells rebounded back at their casters as I continued to yell. I caught a flash of red and in the crowd, I pushed my way forwards and broke through in time to see Ron reach Harry and Hermione, though they now looked at me so I screamed for them to run. Hermione disapparated with them and the spot they had been standing in was now vacant. I ploughed further into the dance floor and seized hold of Luna and Ginny who had grouped together, their wands in their hands in order to pull them out of the fray as Molly came running. "Get them out of here! Take them to the hill!" I shouted over the noise and she too disappeared with them before Ginny could protest.
Then I joined my dad and Remus, fighting with them as we lay down cover for the rest of the guests to disapparate, those who were sober having the sense to grab as many of the drunks ones as they could, though someone had set fire to the marquee. The crystal chandelier dropped and smashed so I raised the crystals and fired them at the Death Eaters, hitting them with a bombardment before then dousing the flames with Charlie who had immediately snapped back to his senses. I heard someone sobbing and looked down to see little Gabrielle cowering under a table so I quickly reached for her. "Gabrielle! Come, come on, come with me!"
Frightened and trembling I anchored an arm around her as I pulled her out, practically lifting her off her feet as I wheeled her around and raced with her away from the fire and whistled sharply, where Fawkes, Orion and Hedwig answered, even little Pigwidgeon shooting out of Ron's open window to fly down. Fawkes screeched with a terrifying sound, spreading his wings and slashing his talons at one Death Eater's face which raked through the mask and made him scream as Hedwig and Orion pecked at another, Orion smartly grabbing the wand out of his hand as Fawkes soared in circles overhead, diving repeatedly at the Death Eaters as I charmed the birds that before now, had been singing sweetly to also dive at the enemies to attack.
Spotting Madame Delacour and Fleur fighting but also shouting for Gabrielle, I raced over to them, flipping a table out our way and launching it at the Death Eaters, forcing them to scatter which allowed Fred and George to pick them off as they came running back into the fray, the veela cousins cowering behind them. "Gabrielle!" Madame Delacour shrieked as she then clutched her youngest daughter to her and I grabbed them both before disapparating, depositing them on the hill with Molly, Luna and Ginny before leaving again to return. I flit around the marquee, grabbing all the left over guests who were either too drunk, too old or too young to be able to fight, taking them to the hill where Molly calmed them all down and promised they were safe.
I took handfuls at a time, the younger children throwing up as they experienced apparation for the first time but I never stayed more than a second, returning instantly in order to join the fight. "Mum! Dad! Dad!" Searching for them, I found them fighting side by side and back to back, much to my relief. My mother was like a whirlwind of fury, displaying wand-work as quick and nimble as anything whilst Leo rather cleverly whipped up the robes on the Death Eaters to make them strangle their wearers.
Starting towards them, a powerful curse suddenly blew up in front of me, sending crystal, chinaware, tables and chairs flying at me so I slashed my wand and they all split perfectly with a line before me, parting around me as I then turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange grinning at me. "Hello girly."
"Ugh, you again." And then we duelled. We fought so furiously and so hard against one another that soon, everyone else had to stop and back up in order to get out of range, Bellatrix trying to set me on fire but Fawkes cried out and rushed towards me as I made the flames become heatless, creating a flurry of silver arrows which Bellatrix deflected.
"Mia! Mia we have to run! They're not going to stop until they kill us!" Dad roared at me, fighting his way over so with a grunt, I powered a spell at Bellatrix which launched her off her feet and knocked her out altogether as I then ran to dad, Remus and Tonks rushing to us also and when the four of us met, we disapparated together and got ourselves far away. We knew it was too dangerous for the moment to go to anyone's house, so when we appeared in an unfamiliar forest, Remus quickly informed me that it was close to his childhood home.
"We'll be safe here. For now." Already I was starting to pace, worrying about Harry and the others, about everyone we'd left behind. "Don't worry Mia, it appears they were after Harry. Most of them left after he disappeared and they won't stay not that we've gone."
"Well, Bellatrix had a damn good go at trying to kill us all. I think she has it out for us." I said to dad and Tonks, looking at them both. "What do we do now? We can't go back there anytime soon, at least, not without revealing ourselves. All of our stuff…I left Fawkes and Orion behind…"
"They'll be safe there Mia. Arthur and Molly will look after them. Besides, you can call Fawkes to you anytime, he always answers." Dad reassured me, taking off his jacket in order to place it around my shoulders since I was still only wearing a dress and it was getting much colder now.
"We need to figure out what we're going to do." Tonks stated calmly and confidently, her hand resting over her stomach. "You two will have to go into hiding. There's no way You-Know-Who won't let you both go about in broad daylight. Especially not you, Mia. He'll be after you just as much as Harry considering the amount of times you've stood up to him."
"We'll be fine. I've been on the run before and Mia spent all of last year in hiding whilst travelling. They won't find us." Dad said assuredly and I nodded in agreement, now looking at the hand that Tonks was holding her belly with. That's when it hit me.
"Sweet Merlin! Are you pregnant?" She beamed at me, despite everything, though Remus suddenly looked rather ill. "Congratulations! Oh, you're going to have a baby! Can I be aunty? Can I please? I swear I'll spoil them rotten and teach them every trick in the book, it'll be a thorough education. When is it due? How far along are you? Tell me everything!" And in the wake of the danger and dance with death, we found that glimmer of light which gave us all hope for a better tomorrow. A better future for the children yet to be born. Dad beamed as he clapped Remus on the shoulder, congratulating him, though he seemed to be the only one not sharing in our joy, but I made no comment for now as Tonks looked radiant enough for the both of them, and as we talked quickly and excitedly together, I saw no reason to ruin this beautiful moment.