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Warning for character death and mentions of past character death. Also, this is a Nightmare on Elm Street!AU and thus there might be a slight bit out of character in this story. The word count is 1,202 words. I hope you all enjoy A Nightmare in The Burrow.
The street she is on is dark and full of thick grey mist that obscures her sight as she carefully walks down it. The street is one that she is familiar with. One that should feel safe. But here in this dream, it feels a bit off. She hasn't felt this much anxiety since the Battle of Hogwarts when she was staring down Bellatrix Lestrange's wand.
Screech!
The sound behind her causes her heart to beat faster and her breath to come out in shorter more panicked gasps. She doesn't know what is behind her but she knows that whatever or whoever it is is meant to kill her. Her feet slip on the cold cobblestones of Diagon Alley. She falls to her knees but is quickly up again. Ignoring the pain in her scrapped knees she makes her way more quickly down the alley.
A cold familiar chuckle sounds making her hair stand up on the back of her neck. Her heart is pounding against her ribs as though it wishes to break through and free of her body.
"It can't be," she whispered to herself, pinching her arm in order to wake herself from this horrible nightmare. "She's been dead for a year now."
"Is ickle Ginnykins scared?" came the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, making Ginny quicken her pace.
"It's not real," Ginny whispered, shaking her head as she slammed into the wall of Olivander's wand shop.
She looks away from the window because standing there staring out her is the owner of the shop. His eyes were a dull lifeless shade of the brilliant brown they'd once been. His skin was greying and horrifying.
Ginny stifled the scream she felt building up in her throat. This wasn't real. This wasn't real. This was just a very bad nightmare. She'd wake up in her own bed and everything would be alright. If only she could just wake up and be done with it.
She skirted around the corner and the scream she'd been stifling escaped her finally. Bellatrix Lestrange in her all her deranged glory was standing on the path Ginny was going to take. She quickly tried to backtrack causing her to fall sharply on her backside and cry out in pain.
Bellatrix gave a delighted cackle of glee as she walked down the street to her fallen prey. Anyone could see that the girl's ankle was broken and there would be no way for her to escape what was coming.
"Tell Mummy I said hello," Bellatrix said, casting the killing curse at Ginny and laughing in glee as she started to work on her calling card.
Hermione had only just Apparated to the street that led to the Weasley house when she sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong. It wasn't just the presence of the numerous Aurors that told her this. She could hear the wails of Mrs. Weasley even from this distance. She couldn't help but wonder if this was because they'd just celebrated Fred and George's birthday a few weeks ago.
It had been a hard time after the war. They'd lost a lot of people that were close to them all. But the closest deaths that hit her, Harry, and the Weasleys were the deaths of Fred, Tonks, and Remus.
"Did you hear what happened last night?" Harry asked, making her jump nearly out of her skin as joined her on the road.
"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "I was visiting my parents and just got back. What happened?"
"No one's sure," Luna said dreamily, walking towards them. "My father said that the Ministry wizards showed up sometime before dawn and haven't left yet."
Hermione led the way to the stacked-up-looking house with trepidation. The feeling that something was wrong intensified with every step that she took toward the Burrow. It wasn't helped much when Ron met them at the gate looking like he'd cried.
"Ron, what's wrong?" she asked, putting her arms around Ron's neck in a warm embrace.
"It's horrible," Ron said, wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. "We only thought Gin was having a nightmare. She's been having them ever since the Battle of Hogwarts. But when she didn't come down for breakfast this morning Mum got a little worried."
"Ron, what are you saying?" Harry asked, looking towards the doorway of the Burrow as though hoping to see a glimpse of Ginny Weasley peeking out at them. "Is Ginny alright? Why were the Aurors called in for a nightmare?"
"Well, Mum got even more worried when she didn't come down after a few more times of being called," Ron told them, making Hermione's heart start racing with fear. "So, she decided to go and check on her and see if everything was alright."
"Make way!" a strange-looking man that Hermione had never seen at the Ministry before called, shooing them out of the way.
Hermione watched in shock as a body covered by a sheet was levitated out of the Burrow. Surely that couldn't be….
Mrs. Weasley's wails filled the air once more confirming Hermione's fears of who the body was under the sheet. She could hear Fleur trying to comfort her mother-in-law in vain.
"What happened?" Hermione asked the nearest Auror.
"We are not at liberty to say at the moment," the man whose nametag read Harper answered, looking over at his boss who only nodded curtly and walked away.
"Harry, Hermione, Luna," Bill greeted them with a wearily sad smile, "Mum wants to see you all inside."
The three non-Weasleys shared a frightened look as they followed Bill and Ron back into the Burrow.
"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione began to say but her voice trailed off when she spotted the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt standing in the living room waiting for them.
"Minister Shacklebolt, what's going on?" Harry asked, looking from Mr. Weasley to the Minister and then back to Mr. Weasley.
"There was an attack on Ginny Weasley last night," Kingsley said, not holding back with the information. "No one thought any different of it seeing as Miss Weasley had been prone to nightmares since The Battle of Hogwarts. But when Mrs. Weasley came into her room and found Miss Weasley dead she also found something else." He held out a photo of the crime scene to Harry who took it. "Do those words mean anything to any of you?"
Hermione moved to Harry's shoulder and looked at the picture that was in his hands. The sight made her want to be sick. She'd seen dead people before. Anyone who fought at The Battle of Hogwarts had. But this was different. Ginny wasn't just murdered from the message that was left Ginny Weasley was meant to be a message to the rest of the combatants that were on the side of the defenders of Hogwarts.
I'm coming to collect you all.
The words sent a chill down Hermione's entire body. Someone had done this to Ginny and they were flat out telling them that they were next. But who? Who could possibly be killing off members of Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Phoenix and who would be their next target?
I hope you all enjoyed A Nightmare in The Burrow as much as I enjoyed writing it.