Chapter 25

Dangerous Territory

Ginny straightened up from where she'd just finished tying her line to a dockside cleat, and then looked over at Emily, who promptly gave her a thumbs up from her position at the stern; she'd just done the same. The girl had taken to boat handling like a duck to water. Though it wasn't their intent when they took her in, they were certainly thrilled to have another crewman.

In the background she heard one of the massive diesel engines shudder to a halt. Harry would keep the other one running to supply power until they got the services connected up. Ginny headed over to the big box that would provide that for them, while Emily scurried away to lug the large cables and conduits over.

Ten minutes later, the other engine shut down, and all was silent save the movement of the water, a plethora of seabirds, and the distant murmur of people going about their lives.

They would have some things to do before they set sail again, most notably refueling. This was their first transatlantic crossing, and those engines were extremely thirsty. Ginny was half-tempted to suggest an enlargement charm on the fuel tanks, but figured it would be rather difficult to pass various inspections if they started magicking up their boat.

At a railing perhaps fifteen feet overhead, lookie-loos peered out at them, some of them pointing and even laughing at her.

Ginny just rolled her eyes; it was was like this in every public port. It wasn't like she was wearing one of those teeny bikinis that the beach bunnies so adored, but people just couldn't keep their eyes off her when she did this sort of thing. It was odd in her book, but as long as they kept their distance, she really didn't care.

Normally it would have been Harry and Emily; Ginny usually ran the helm when they were docking. Today, however, was different. She had no doubt that Harry was in the fully enclosed pilothouse rather than up on the flybridge, too; he was taking no chances because he didn't want to be seen.

Neither of them were comfortable with being docked this far inland on the Thames, but Harry was an outright basketcase.

She really owed him for this.

===[~]===

The Burrow had a much more sedate atmosphere since their mother was carted away to the Long Term Care Ward. It was honestly hard to decide if that was a good thing or not. They weren't unhappy, they were just calmer. Though there was also that ever-present hole where a sister had once been, and that was a significant drag.

It had been two years since her disappearance, and there wasn't so much as a single peep from her. Bill and Fleur kept their eyes open in their travels for work just in case they might spot her somewhere, but it was all for naught. They never got as far as America, and they were both fairly certain that she would have gone there.

It simply made too much sense, and Ginny was always a sharp one.

Her absence was wearing on their father, but he was somehow managing. Arthur Weasley was very different than she would remember, but he was still a good man, and Bill actually liked this version better. The old Arthur was an absent-minded bumbling fool much of the time, where this one was much smarter.

The summer was particularly difficult for him, and Bill and Fleur had come to keep him company. It was important that his dad would not be alone at such a difficult time. Bill suspected that he partly blamed himself for her departure, though he was just as much a victim as she was, if not even more so.

Right now Fleur was preparing to cook dinner, with Bill occasionally helping out. They hadn't bothered to announce that they were coming, and he looked forward to seeing his dad's eyes light up as they so often did when his children returned. That, at least, was a relief: he truly did love them, even if his choices had been stolen from him.

"Well, 'ello there," he heard Fleur smile. "Aren't you just a pretty little thing?"

He looked to see who she was talking to, and his heart just about stopped beating in his chest.

She had her arm out and was being examined by the owl that was perched there. A white snowy owl that he had actually seen before when Harry visited the Burrow. They hadn't seen the creature since!

"Fleur?" he breathed, even as he moved closer, causing Hedwig — and he was certain it was Hedwig — to turn her head and stare curiously at him.

"There is a letter," she shrugged. "It is addressed to you mon amour."

"Hedwig?" he asked softly, reaching up to scratch the owl in just the right place.

She hooted a soft greeting, seeming to confirm his suspicions. Suddenly feeling much more animated, he had to restrain himself while he untied the letter. He didn't want to hurt the poor thing.

"It's good to see you, Hedwig," he smiled.

"You know this owl?" frowned Fleur.

"Oh yes," he nodded. "Give me a minute."

Fleur raised one perfect eyebrow at him, but for once he ignored her. He was staring at his name on the front. In his sister's handwriting! Quickly unsticking himself, he opened it and read:

Dear Bill,

I've been informed that you weren't ignoring me, and that you listened and handled things. Thank you for that. That's not for a letter though, so we'll talk more about it in person.

All is well with me, I promise.

If you want to meet, head for Canary Wharf. I should be here for a week or so. And remember, I escaped a terrible fate. I'm sure you can find me. The big brother I remember is a big bad curse breaker; surely he can find one tiny redhead in the crowd?

Love,

Ginny (still your sister! Yay!)

"Merlin," he breathed quietly.

"What is it?" frowned Fleur.

Bill handed her the letter and tried to decide exactly how to handle things. His impulse was to gather the whole family immediately and go hunting, but something told him that would be a bad idea. That she had vanished so thoroughly — and so easily — told him that she could do it again in a blink.

He couldn't take that risk.

Fleur finished reading, and looked up at him wide-eyed. "Where is this… Canary Wharf?" she asked.

"London," he said absently as he checked the time. His Dad wouldn't be home from work for hours yet. "I have to follow this up."

"Of course you do," she said with a soft smile, "and I will accompany you."

It took perhaps ten minutes — ten long minutes — to clean up the mess they'd made, and then they were off. Bill was chomping at the bit. He had been deeply worried ever since he received that letter two years ago, and desperately wanted to see for himself that his sister was safe!

She had long been his favorite sibling.

They arrived at Canary Wharf about forty minutes later, and Bill quickly realized that he had made a mistake. He should have kept Hedwig around instead of sending her off. He could have sent her with a letter and simply watched her for a hint of where to go (he wouldn't be so crass as to hit her with a tracking charm). Now, though, they were on their own.

An hour after that, they were both somewhat dispirited.

The place was a great deal larger than he expected, and there was no sign of his sister amongst the throngs of people. He figured that he was missing something — she wasn't cruel, and wouldn't yank his chain too terribly — but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out. And he had no magic that would help him here; people were hard to track unless you tagged them directly.

"There is a possibility," came Fleur's sexy voice.

He glanced at her, and she nodded into the distance. They were currently standing at a railing overlooking the water, and he followed her gaze to a distant yacht — and a very large one. At first he didn't understand what she was trying to point out.

And then he registered the name that was scrawled across the back in massive black letters.

Escape Artist.

Bill quickly flashed back to the underlined word in the letter, and he figured that was his hint. He had no idea what she would be doing on a boat like that one, but he had to find out if she was there. Giving Fleur's hand the gentlest of tugs, he started off toward the path that would lead down to the dock, and she fell in beside him.

Neither spoke.

The yacht was facing away from them, and at the stern he could see a thin blonde girl sitting in a chair, apparently reading a book. She was young, somewhere around Ginny's age, and pretty. On the surface she seemed to be absorbed in her book, and was ignoring everything else around her.

A tall glass sat on the table next to her with a straw and a little umbrella in it.

Apparently much more alert than she appeared, she looked up at them as they approached, and her brow furrowed. Oddly, while she did look him over, her attention seemed to be more on Fleur. It wasn't an attraction thing either, but rather that she was wary, which was very odd.

"Hi there!" he called in a friendly tone. "I don't suppose you've seen a tiny redhead around here somewhere? I'm Bill, by the way, and this is Fleur."

Fleur snorted in amusement, and he knew it would be coming through in her smile; that was one of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place. She found his antics entertaining, and she was very, very cute when she was amused.

The girl's eyes returned to him and she studied him for a long moment, and then briefly held up a single finger to tell them to wait. Not having anything better to do, they simply stood there and watched as she slid a glass door open and leaned in to deposit her book. Then she closed it, picked up her drink, and carefully jumped from the stern of the boat up to the dock.

She looked at him again for a moment, and then motioned for them to follow her. And she spoke not a single word, which was strange. Maybe she was mute?

He exchanged a bemused look with Fleur, but they followed her just the same. She led them over to and up the gangway, without once looking back at them — but the tension in her shoulders told him that she was very much aware of their presence, and discomfited by it. When they finally stepped on board, Bill was hardly surprised to see that the deck was in perfect condition.

Gringotts had him traveling extensively, and while Egypt was a frequent destination, it was hardly the only one. He was also not even remotely ignorant of the muggles. He had seen many a motor yacht, including some of the larger ones, and the larger ones like this were almost invariably impeccably maintained.

He also suspected that they were rarely actually used — more status symbols than anything else — but he couldn't prove that.

Their impromptu guide led them into a well-appointed salon and looked around, but seemed nettled at not finding what she was looking for. Instead she signaled for them to wait and disappeared down a hall at the back of the room. Bill took the opportunity to look around.

"This is very expensive," noted Fleur.

"Understatement," nodded Bill, "but look around. It's also lived in. Whoever owns this boat actually uses it, and I'd bet they live on it full time."

"Good guess," a voice returned, easily recognizable even for the unusual softness of it.

Bill turned, and was greeted by the sight of his sister standing there.

"Ginny," he breathed.

His sister looked good. She was wearing blue jeans and a colorful blouse that looked to be much more expensive than any of the clothes they had while growing up. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her freckles, previously so obvious, blended nicely on her tanned face. She wore a soft smile, and potent emotion swam behind her eyes.

The blonde stood behind her looking extremely tense, her eyes once more fixed on Fleur.

Ginny moved up and gave him a gentle hug. "It's good to see you, Bill," she smiled. "Though you took a bit longer than I expected. Hedwig got back half an hour ago."

He couldn't help his snort. "You didn't exactly spell it out, sis," he noted.

"Where would be the fun in that?" she grinned. And then she fixed Fleur with a quizzical look, though it was still friendly — unlike the blonde, who looked like she was expecting Fleur to attack them.

"I'm not sure if you remember Fleur Delacour?" he offered.

Ginny snorted in obvious amusement. "Because she's just so difficult to remember," she grinned, waggling her eyebrows at the woman in question.

Fleur just chuckled back at her.

Then she sobered, though, and turned a raised eyebrow on him. "Although I don't know why she's here," she frowned. "That's a bit of a surprise, honestly."

"She's my fiancée," he smiled.

Ginny blinked, and then smiled at her again. "Well congratulations and welcome to the family," she offered with obvious sincerity, even as she hugged his favorite veela. "I hope you can handle the madhouse, though, Weasleys are not exactly a tame lot. How long have you been engaged?"

"I think I will manage," grinned Fleur. "And 'e asked me last month. We are to be married next year."

"Congratulations," she offered sincerely. Her smile dimmed a little when she added, "Seems I have a lot to catch up on."

But then she shook herself out of it, and reached back without looking to draw the blonde up beside her. The girl had relaxed a little on hearing that Fleur was his fiancée, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He still hadn't heard her speak, either.

"This is Emily Park," Ginny introduced her. "She's part of the family these days, which is a very long story I won't get into right now." Turning to Emily she added, "Bill is of course the oldest brother I told you about, and Fleur was one of the legitimate Champions in a certain obnoxious tournament."

"It's nice to meet you, Emily," smiled Bill, even as Fleur nodded and smiled her own silent greeting.

The girl offered them a brief tremulous smile and a bob of her head, but her silence continued.

"You're welcome to stay if you want, but you don't have to, sweetie," Ginny smiled up at her. "I'll be fine. They don't bite."

The girl seemed to study them hard for a long moment, before nodding and giving Ginny a quick hug. Then she offered them a small wave and scurried off deeper into the ship, and was quickly lost to sight. He couldn't help the concerned furrow that developed on his brow; there was something wrong there.

Which Ginny caught of course; she was still as observant as ever.

"Don't mind her," she smiled sadly. "She's just very shy is all. It takes a while for her to to warm up to new people."

"Who is she?" he frowned.

Ginny sighed and waved them into seats on the couch, while she took up one of the cushy armchairs. She also called for a house elf and arranged refreshments. The elf was as efficient as they usually were.

Fleur had gone wide-eyed at one point and was now looking deeply thoughtful, but he had no idea why.

"She started out as a friend at school," Ginny finally said. "She had a very hard life growing up because her parents are jealous of magic. It came to a head about a year ago, and she had no choice but to run. We took her in, and legally we're her guardians. She's family now."

"Is she able to speak?" asked Fleur quietly.

"She can," nodded Ginny, "but she stutters, and the more nervous she is, the worse it gets, so she rarely speaks around new people." She speared Bill with a serious look. "Please backchannel this to certain people before they visit," she said seriously. "We are completely and utterly intolerant of people mocking her for it. She's a treasure, and a lot of fun when she's comfortable enough to show it."

"Will do," replied Bill, nodding his understanding of her obviously serious warning. "I take it that means you're up to seeing the family?"

She fixed him with a sad look, and he could see her need reflected clearly in her eyes. "That's the whole reason we're here, Bill," she said softly. "I miss you all, and we wouldn't have come back here for anything less."

"We've missed you too, Ginny," he said with heartfelt honesty. "I'm just sorry you had to run. We've been worried about you. If you want to come to the Burrow, Dad especially would love to see you."

But Bill was worried when Ginny winced at that.

"It would be best if they came here instead," she sighed. "It's highly unlikely I'll even set foot off this boat, and I certainly won't be entering the magical side of things."

"I don't understand," frowned Bill. "They've really cleaned things up, sis, it's perfectly safe."

"For me, certainly," she nodded. "But anyone with a brain could trace me back here, and that would be a problem."

"Why?" asked Bill.

"Because there's someone else on this boat, Bill," she told him seriously. "And nobody can know he even exists or it will ruin everything."

===[~]===

A/N: If it isn't clear, this is about a year after the previous scene. One day maybe I'll do an "extended edition" that covers the years between their escape and this chapter, but my muse just wasn't cooperating with it.

jojotastic777: I hadn't really thought about it, but yes, they're few and far between. Thank you for the compliment!

PunksterNL: Aye, it's one of my favorites, and the entire reason my House Elves still speak manglish in this story. =)

GinnyPotter6891: And here you go! Bill gets to know his sister is okay! To be clear, Amelia did not pass anything on; the Potters are still to cagey about that, and decided to do it in person.

EmlynMara: Yup, Dumbledore is most definitely a behind-the-scenes ruiner of many lives in this one, and we probably don't know the half of it since the story's scope is limited. Not terribly surprising, really; it's very easy to send him off in that direction if you want to make him a bad guy.

Pillager61: I tend to start randomly writing, then go back and outline, and then finish the story. This one is an exception; there was never an outline for it, it all just came rushing out. Always good when my muse provides me with entertainment, though. Now if I can just get AM un-stalled... ::sigh::

Thanks again for your reviews everyone! More coming tomorrow! I would post more tonight, but I have a birthday dinner to attend, so it is unlikely I will have the time. :(