Rose didn't know what she was expecting from her first mission; mild danger perhaps, after all the wizarding world was at war, but not enough for her to worry too much about. A small challenge maybe, something to put her intelligent mind to use but nothing too strenuous on her part. Efficient and clever wandwork yes, but only in small amounts. She thought she would get her task done in a matter of hours, and be home in time to enjoy some of Mrs Weasley's home cooking.
What she had of course forgotten was how outnumbered the Order was now, there was no training period for new recruits, no breaking you in gently to the realities of the situation. It was already dire and it had only just begun.
This harsh reality had been brought to her yesterday at Kingley's meeting. Charlie and Rose arrived at that weeks safe house to find him in deep discussion with Remus. A few moments later and Bill arrived with Fleur, and Kingsley confirmed that this was everyone before giving out the details of their mission. They all left later that evening, apparating to their destination and finding chaos.
Rose was brought out of her musings by Remus shaking her shoulder and whispering "Rose, we have to move. Now." She nodded her head, her now lank hair falling in front of her eyes. She brushed it to the side of her face with one hand, and gripped her wand tightly in front of her with the other. The ceiling above them groaned as she moved from sitting underneath the windowsill, and with a nervous look upwards, began crouching out of the room after him. As she reached the door the whole house shook from the impact of a spell hitting the now unstable wards, their last defense against the death eaters. This proved too much for the building, and with one last groan the ceiling collapsed in the room they had just left. They made their way to the dining room where they found the rest of the team, as well as their charges. Seeing them brought Rose's mind back to the meeting where Kingsley had told them the nature of their mission.
"The muggle prime minister and his government have been on damage control for a while now. The death and destruction caused by wizards has been covered up and put down to natural disasters. They are trusting us to keep them safe. If their prime minister falls, nothing stands in His way from controlling both magic and non-magic people alike" Kingsley explained, pausing to allow everyone to take it in before continuing. "When the ministry fell, I acted quickly to seal the floo entrance in No. 10, they can't open it again from their side. I've also placed wards along the street to keep both the death eaters and muggles away, but they won't last much longer. I need to get the prime minister and his family out to a safe house" he finished.
"So what do you need us to do?" Bill asked calmly.
"Keep the death eaters out" Kingsley replied, eyeing them all carefully.
Charlie pulled Rose over to him, drawing her into a hug. She leaned into him before drawing away, aware of how much she ached and how tired she felt, knowing that if she got too comfortable then her body would give in to the sleep she very much wanted.
"That's everyone else out. I'm going to have to bring down most of the wards for the portkey to work. Once I'm gone, the other wards will begin to fall. You need to apparate yourselves out. Ready? Now!" with that Kingsley, the prime minister and his family were gone.
Rose felt a rush of relief knowing that if knowing else, those they had promised to protect would be safe. This relief was short lived when she noticed the others had begun to disappear. "Rose!" Bill yelled, his eyes wide. She looked at him and noticed Fleur had her arm through his, preparing to apparate together. Just as she raised her own wand, there was an almighty crash that pulled her off her feet.
"No!" came Bill's voice before the tell-tale crack signalled his departure. She jumped when someone pulled her up, but relaxed slightly when she looked into Fleur's determined dark blue eyes.
"Come on, we 'ave to go!" Rose gripped onto Fleur's arm and waited for the pull at her navel, but it never came. She glanced at Fleur and watched as she tapped her wand against her hand "It eez not working!"
"They must have put up anti-apparition wards! We'll have to find a way out so we can get past them" Rose replied, her own mind whirring with how they could do this, trying to forget how slim their chances were. The house continued to shake and groan around them as the death eaters fought against the last remaining defences. "We'll move into the kitchen, there might be an exit there." Or at least somewhere to hide, she thought.
The two women crept quietly, before reaching their destination. A quick glance around them filled them with a flicker of hope. An exit. They turned to look at one another, and seemed to reach an unspoken agreement as Rose advanced on the door, closely followed by Fleur. A quick alohomora and they were out in the cool night air, locking the door behind them to create another barrier between them and the dark wizards.
Rose let the breeze wash over her; never had fresh air felt so good after being trapped in a collapsing building for over 24 hours. A light brush against her shoulder let her know Fleur was on the move again, and she followed her to the end of the garden, her moonlit silvery hair guiding the way.
Before long they reached a fence marking the end of the garden. "'Ow will we know when ze wards run out?" breathed Fleur anxiously. A bang from the other end of the garden told the women they weren't alone. Rose tapped her wand on Fleur's head before doing the same to herself, hoping the cool trickle of disillusion would buy them more time to make their escape.
"There's no one else here. They must have all left" came a voice, startling the women.
"It's our job to check. If we're lucky we'll find a few filthy muggles hiding in the bushes. Homenum Revelio!" came a second repulsive voice.
"Anything?" asked the first.
"Knew it! There's two of them, you go that way. I'll go this way" the second voice replied. Rose knew they didn't have long before they were found, disillusion charm or not. She continued feeling along the fence hoping for a gap, silently cursing the minister for keeping his garden in such good repair.
"Rose...Rose, keep moving. They're close" Jacob's voice sounded clearly in her head.
"Jacob! Where are you? Are you safe? What about mum and dad?" Rose thought back.
"We're all fine, just focus on yourself. There's a loose panel to your right, both of you should be able to slip through. The anti-apparition wards end just after the fence. You can do this…" With that, Rose felt Jacob's presence leave her mind and found the loose panel, giving it a push. It fell with a loud thud.
"What was that?" came one of the voices.
"I don't know, you're closer, go check it out. It might be them muggles trying to give us the slip!"was the reply.
Rose quickly grabbed Fleur's arm and one after the other they slipped through the gap.
"Now!" Fleur yelled and they both turned onto the spot, finally leaving the garden and its unpleasant occupants behind them.