Someone screamed.
At first, Fleur had no idea what was happening. It always took her one extra second when translating to make sense of what people were saying, but this one particular extra second seemed more like an hour. Especially once she saw people's faces start to shift from joy to fear.
'The Ministry had fallen' wasn't an entirely clear statement. 'Scrimgeour was dead' certainly was. 'They are coming'…? Who are they? What was happening?
Fear quickly engulfed her; she could sense that something was terribly wrong. From beside her, Gabrielle had grabbed onto her arm, immediately asking what was happening. She sounded terrified.
Fleur pulled out her wand out of reflex and turned to Bill, who was evidently several steps ahead and also looking a mixture of worried and highly alert. He'd also pulled out his own wand, just as people all over the dance floor and the tent began to scatter in different directions.
Everyone looked scared.
"Bill," she said urgently. "What is—?"
But she never got a chance to finish that sentence because dark hooded figures suddenly began to appear all around the tent, somehow having infiltrated all of the safety measures that the Burrow had put into place to prevent this from happening. Fleur didn't even understand how that was possible, but there was no time to work that out. All around her people were screaming; she watched several Apparate away, which—that wasn't supposed to be able to happen. Where had all the protections gone?
Bill yelled "Protego!" from beside her, so she did the same. Spells, whether good or bad, began flying across the room from unknown sources. From beside her, Gabrielle screamed and started to cry.
She yelled at her sister to get down and hide, but Gabrielle refused to let go of her arm. Fleur scanned the room for her parents, but there was too much chaos to pick them out of the crowd. Everything was a blur; it was as if the world was going in slow motion.
A spell suddenly came zipping right past her head, missing Gabrielle by inches.
"You need to get her out of here!" Bill shouted, having moved in front of her just as she'd moved in front of Gabrielle. He was shooting off spells toward a Death Eater who had just appeared only feet away. "Take her to the cottage!"
"I cannot leave you!" she shouted back, just as another Death Eater appeared entirely too close for comfort with their wand raised at her face. She immediately fired off a Stunning Spell that seemed to surprise the cloaked figure. Perhaps they didn't think the bride could move as quickly as she did.
Gabrielle was sobbing now, screaming, "Maman! Papa!" while clutching onto Fleur for dear life. Fleur choked back her own small sob at the sight of her absolutely defenseless little sister. She didn't even have a wand yet. Her parents were planning on buying her one when they got back to France for when she started Beauxbatons in a few weeks.
If they got back to France…
What had she done? There were Death Eaters everywhere now, people were being stunned indiscriminately. She'd promised her parents they would be safe here and they'd trusted her. They'd trusted her to keep Gabrielle safe, but instead she was here in the middle of the crossfire. And for what purpose? It wasn't as if Fleur could properly fight these monsters with her sister attached to her side anyway.
She needed to get her out of here.
"I will come back!" she shouted to Bill, who was fully involved in the fight right now and may not have even heard her. She immediately grabbed her sister's hand and Apparated on the spot; moments later, finding herself no longer in the middle of a war zone, but right outside of her quiet cottage. The sounds of waves crashing in the distance the only noise for miles.
Gabrielle continued to sob, and it took a great deal of work for Fleur to get her to unclutch her arm so that she could hug her.
"Tu es en sécurité maintenant," she repeated to her over and over again. "You are safe now."
"Où sont maman et papa?!" Gabrielle yelled, her voice carrying loudly over the silence as she pleaded for answers as to where their parents were.
Fleur didn't have the answer, but she could only hope they were safe. If they found Bill, he would tell them where she'd taken Gabrielle; they would come here. She couldn't see a scenario in which they would have ever left the Burrow without knowing where Gabrielle was, which only meant two things if they didn't turn up soon. Either they'd been hurt in the attack and unable to speak to Bill, or…Bill had been unable to relay the message for the same reasons.
She brushed Gabrielle's hair out of her red, tear-stained face. All she knew was that she needed to get back to the Burrow as fast as possible, but there was no way she could lead her sister back into that mess. She also could not leave her sister here alone—not after what had just happened. If the Ministry had fallen, which she'd come to realize meant the Death Eaters had taken over, then there was no telling what they knew. They clearly knew enough to dismantle all the security measures the Ministry had helped lend to the Burrow.
They could easily turn up here next.
Fleur sighed heavily, fighting off frustrated tears that were ready to come easily given just how emotional she'd been all day. Everyone she cared about was at the Burrow fighting and under duress, and she was stuck here in the dark without a clue as to what was going on. And as long as she had Gabrielle, what could she do? Someone needed to protect her.
"Viendront-ils ici?" Gabrielle suddenly asked through a sniffle.
Will they come here? Fleur shook her head, even if she couldn't be sure of that answer. "Non."
"Sont-ils venus pour Harry?"
Did they come for Harry? Truthfully, until her sister had spoken those words, she hadn't considered Harry's part in all of this, but…obviously they had come for Harry. The more important question: Did they find him?
"Oui," she said, nodding her head solemnly.
Gabrielle sniffled again while Fleur let herself turn to look out at the ocean. The moon was reflecting itself on the glassy surface; it actually looked quite peaceful tonight.
That didn't feel right at all.. How peaceful things could be in one place and how upside down they could be in another.
When Bill looked behind him, Fleur and Gabrielle were gone. He hoped with everything he had in him that Fleur had heeded his request to get her sister out of here; that she'd taken her to the safety of Shell Cottage.
But he needed to focus on the chaos in front him, which was difficult with all the spells and curses flying around. He'd found his father had flipped a table, using it as a barrier of sorts to crouch behind while he hurled curses at Death Eaters. Bill dived down beside him, allowing himself a few seconds to evaluate the scene now that he had a moment to catch his breath.
There were at least ten Death Eaters, none of whom Bill could immediately identify given their masks. Most of the wedding guests had vanished to safety, though one lay either stunned or immobilized on the dance floor. At least…Bill hoped they were only immobilized. He'd yet to hear or see a Killing Curse, but that didn't mean it hadn't happened.
Tonks had taken out two of the Death Eaters straight away and was currently dueling a third. Remus had just blasted another back, while Bill saw both of the twins and Lee Jordan on the other side of the tent, also using a table as a shield and sending out curses like he and his father had been. Hagrid was chucking several chairs at an unsuspecting Death Eater who'd been too busy trying to blast the twins. The man under the cloak crumbled to the ground on impact, but it didn't stop another pair of Death Eaters from immediately setting their sights on Hagrid.
Bill sent a series of quick curses in their direction, though unfortunately not quick enough because one of them had managed to strike Hagrid with something powerful enough to knock him to his knees. His howl echoed under the entire tent, though he still managed to grab a nearby guitar from the stage where the band had been playing and start swinging it like a club.
Charlie, his mother, and Ginny were nowhere to be seen. Neither were Ron, Hermione, or Harry. Bill could only hope Harry had the forethought to escape instead of staying to fight, but it was still hard to know what was happening. There were flashes of light just outside the tent that indicated that there was fighting happening out there as well. It could have been anyone.
Then suddenly, just as Hagrid had let out another loud bellow as he'd been struck again, the Death Eaters vanished from sight and everything grew oddly quiet.
Bill looked over at his father, who looked back at him as if he had no idea what was happening. Death Eaters didn't just leave halfway through a battle.
Unless they got what they came for…
A gravelly voice that Bill had never heard before suddenly carried over the silence.
"I'm going to need every one of you to put down your wands. And I would be quick about it. Or else."
Bill slowly let his head poke around the corner of the table to see what was happening and who was speaking, though the sight that met his eyes immediately made his stomach drop.
Standing there was a man with blunt features and a long blond braid down his back. He currently had one arm wrapped around Ginny, as if to trap her to his side; his wand was pointed directly at her head. Even from where he was across the room, Bill could see Ginny struggling to get away.
"Ginny," Bill whispered to his father, who was also taking in the scene. "Who is that man?"
"Yaxley," his father whispered to Bill, his jaw clenched with anger. "Always been rumored he was in deep with You-Know-Who. Seems this proves it."
"Put down your wands," Yaxley repeated, stepping further into the room and forcing Ginny with him. "Or else you won't like what I do to this one. While I'm under instructions to avoid spilling magical blood, sometimes exceptions are necessary."
He suddenly tightened his chokehold around Ginny and caused her to whimper out in pain. It caused everyone to jump up and emerge from their respective hiding places and barricades, all with their wands pointed directly at Yaxley. No one dared take a shot with Ginny being used as a human shield.
"There's a good lot," said Yaxley, seemingly happy he'd drawn everyone into the open. He was currently smiling at Bill's father. "And there you are, Arthur. For a moment I thought you were a coward who abandoned his family." He laughed at his own comment.
"What do you want, Yaxley?"
"What do I want?" he asked, laughing again for some reason as he stepped forward and again forced a squirming Ginny along with him. "I thought I was clear about what I wanted? I want you to put down your wands."
"And why would we do that?" George called out.
"Because otherwise…"
Yaxley tightened his grip around Ginny and again caused her to yell out in pain. Bill immediately gripped his wand tighter and started aiming for Yaxley's head.
Tonks and Remus suddenly appeared, rushing to the tent and looking as if they'd been fighting outside. Both of their wands were at attention, ready to strike at a moment's notice. If anyone had the accuracy to take out Yaxley without harming Ginny, it was Tonks. Bill could remember how she'd told him how high her marks in aim and accuracy had been during training. He'd seen her precision accuracy before.
"Why are you here, Yaxley?" Tonks shouted.
"Nymphadora Tonks," said Yaxley, his tone laced with fake sincerity. "Of course you're here." He glanced over at Remus; his face flinched in a disgusted manner. "As is your…husband."
He turned that disgust onto her. "Perhaps you haven't heard the news. The Ministry is under new control, and as an Auror who is meant to serve and protect the Ministry, you are now committing a treasonous act by pointing your wand at the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." He smiled at her. "And as your superior, I order you to stand down."
Tonks' wand didn't budge. She was glaring at him as if she refused to believe that. "My superior? You? What happened to Thicknesse? Is he dead too?"
Yaxley laughed. "Dead? Don't be ridiculous. In fact, he's been promoted." He smiled that ugly sneer of a smile at her again. "To our new Minister of Magic."
Tonks and Remus both looked shocked to hear that. Bill's father let out a sharp intake of breath from beside him. His expression screamed that none of that made any sense; that he never would have suspected this Thicknesse character to be a traitor too.
"So I'll ask you again," Yaxley said to Tonks. "Fall in line or I'll see to it that your punishment will be the worst of all."
"Aurors will never fall in line with dark wizards," said Tonks.
"They will if they know what's good for them," Yaxley said. "And trust me, the ones that resisted earlier this evening have already been dealt with. They're likely on their way to Azkaban as we speak."
Bill wasn't entirely sure what happened next. A spell was shot off—by either Tonks or Remus—that skirted by Yaxley and instead opened up a world of chaos in which both Tonks and Remus were suddenly struck down from behind by a curse that completely debilitated the pair of them. They both immediately crumbled to the ground, Tonks' screams echoing in the tent.
Bill and the rest of them moved to help, but Yaxley said, "I wouldn't if I were you."
It was then that it became clear as to where all of those earlier Death Eaters disappeared to. Two had stepped into the light from the outside of the tent from just behind where Tonks and Remus were still being tortured, their wands directly on the pair. Four more appeared flanking the first two, all looking ready to strike the first person who stepped out of line.
"Leave them alone!" Bill yelled.
Yaxley didn't immediately listen. In fact, he stood there, amused, watching for another moment and even turning Ginny so that she could watch too. When he seemed to have his fill, he did wave his Death Eaters off to stop. They did as they were told; both Tonks and Remus both laid on the floor, groaning and barely moving.
"I did warn her," Yaxley said, sounding bored as he poked his wand hard into Ginny's head. "As for the rest of you—"
Bill's wand suddenly shot straight out of his hand, as did his father's and everyone else's. Someone had disarmed the lot of them, and one of the stray Death Eaters had collected every single one of them. Another one was collecting Tonks and Lupin's wands. It wasn't until that moment that Bill realized he hadn't heard a thing from Hagrid in minutes, and when he turned, he saw the half-giant unconscious at the back of the tent, both his hands and his feet being bound by a Death Eater..
Fred and George started screaming out of anger; for the first time, a real sense of panic swept over Bill. He and everyone he cared about here was now wandless and at the mercy of whatever the fuck was happening here.
"What do you want from us, Yaxley?!" Arthur suddenly shouted, sounding far more aggressive that Bill had ever heard him. "If you wanted us dead, you would have killed us already. So what is it you want?!"
Yaxley seemed surprised by his tone. He smiled at him. "To talk, Arthur. Just to talk."
"That's talking!?" Bill snapped, gesturing to Tonks and Remus.
"It is when I'm not getting the answers I want," Yaxley replied. "If you help me get what I'm looking for, none of this has to be painful. Believe it or not, I'm not looking to hurt any of you."
"Could have fooled me!" Ginny said, now wildly attempting to wriggle out of Yaxley's grasp.
Yaxley violently tightened his grip, causing Ginny to cry out in pain again as her knees buckled.
"And I won't have to hurt you!" he hissed into Ginny's ear, "If we all follow instructions!" He looked back over at the rest of them. "If we don't follow instructions. I will happily lighten this load—" He squeezed Ginny to the point of her screaming loudest yet, "by ridding myself of bad rubbish! Believe me, I have no issue with fewer blood traitors in the world!"
He suddenly released Ginny, but in the process threw her to the ground. Both Bill and his father stepped forward toward her, but Yaxley immediately directed his wand onto both of them.
"No. You don't move." He suddenly turned to where the handful of Death Eaters were standing nearby, telling the one with the wands to make sure he held onto them because "she'll probably want to check them when she gets here." He then demanded the others to bound and restrain everyone left so that the interrogation could begin.
"Don't forget to bring in the others from outside," Yaxley barked as the Death Eaters immediately went about their instructions. "And no one dies unless I say so!"
"That's reassuring," Fred mumbled, just as a Death Eater grabbed him from behind and aggressively forced him into a row of chairs that had been assembled. The same was done to both Lee and George.
Bill knew he was next, but his mind was still on what Yaxley had just said. Others? Who else did they have out there? He had to assume his mother; Charlie too because neither of them would have ever run. But he was hoping none of them were Harry. If anything good could have happened tonight, please let Harry have escaped.
A Death Eater who seemed to be assuming the role of Yaxley's right-hand called out that they'd searched the grounds and performed revealing charms to make sure no one was hiding and waiting to ambush them; they'd put up a patrol to keep undesirables out. Yaxley seemed satisfied to hear this, turning to watch as Bill was practically punched into his seat by a particularly large Death Eater.
His hands were immediately magically bound by invisible forces to the sides of the chair, and Fred, George and Lee were put to his right; his father and Ginny to his left. Tonks and Remus had been propped up back-to-back into a sitting position on the floor, bound together from behind. Remus looked as if he was groggily coming to, but Tonks head was still slumped to one side.
Then, from outside, several people were being marched inside at wand point—his mother, Charlie, both of Fleur's parents, one of her aunts, a couple of cousins, Uncle Ollie, Viktor Krum, a waiter…
Each was also bound to a chair. The latter group all looked dazed, as if they were just coming too after perhaps being stunned. He watched as his mother and father exchanged expressions that were a mix of both relief at seeing the other was alright, before immediately slipping into concern.
"I want them separated for questioning," Yaxley barked. "Keep all the Weasleys here. We're going to have a private chat." He gestured to the back of the tent. "Take the rest to the back."
With that, the chairs started levitating around and a few people cried out in fear. From beside the twins, Lee Jordan suddenly shouted out as his chair was dragged away to the back. After the shuffle, Bill was left with only his parents and his siblings sitting around him in a sad sort of semi-circle.
"None of this was necessary, you know," Yaxley muttered, smoothing out his robes that he looked annoyed to see acquired wrinkles during his hostage situation. "All of this could have been avoided if you'd just agreed to comply with some questioning from the start."
"Psychos in hoods and masks invaded our party and immediately started cursing people," Fred snapped. "When exactly was anyone given the chance to answer questions?"
Yaxley laughed, but it was humorless. "Mouthy lot of kids you got, Arthur. You could stand to teach them some manners."
"I think their manners are fine," he countered.
"Well, you would," Yaxley said. "You're a scourge on our society. The Weasley name used to have some respect on it, you know. One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Families; yours listed directly next above mine. Not all families can claim to have that honor, yet you all insist on pissing it away."
He glanced around the room with his nose wrinkled. "Fraternizing with half-breeds and Mudbloods." He shook his head. "Disgusting company you keep. Truly disgusting."
He started pacing up and down the line of them, observing them all with an obvious distaste. "Which brings me to the most disgusting company of them all." He crouched down in front of Bill's father and looked him in the eyes. "Where's Harry Potter?"
"Why do you think I know where Harry Potter is?"
Yaxley didn't budge. "It's public information that you've aided and abetted that fugitive many times in the past. You're all listed as known associates and accomplices of him. He's been missing for nearly a week and our sources have it on excellent authority that he would have come here. So I'll ask you again, Arthur. Where is Harry Potter?"
His father looked completely unmoved. "I have not seen nor heard from Harry Potter in ages. I have no idea where he is or what he's mixed up in, but he has not been here. You're barking up the wrong tree, Yaxley."
Yaxley rolled his eyes, looking unconvinced. He stood back and shouted the same question to the rest of them, though no one answered. That seemed to frustrate Yaxley more.
"You all must love torture and pain," he mumbled as he pulled out his wand. "You're certainly begging for it—"
Suddenly, a Death Eater appeared from across the room, obviously seeking a word with Yaxley. While they spoke in low voices, Bill could just make out the Death Eater saying that none of the other people currently being restrained claimed to have known or seen Potter recently; that he most definitely had not been present at the party this evening.
"Some don't even speak English," the Death Eater said.
"What do they speak?"
"French."
"Why do they speak French?"
"They are apparently from France, sir," he said, which made Bill immediately remember that his poor in-laws were over there in the thick of this, and they were apparently pretending to not understand English to avoid having to say too much. Because, while most of the people there would genuinely not have a clue about Harry or anything having to do with him, his in-laws did. They had seen him and they knew he was in attendance tonight.
But they hadn't said anything. They'd kept their mouths shut. Fleur truly did come from very brave stock.
"The one who could manage a few words of broken English," continued the Death Eater, "said they knew nothing of Potter. Asked if he was a criminal."
"He is a criminal!" Yaxley shouted loudly in the direction of the people at the back of the tent, demanding that the Death Eater go back and keep interrogating everyone; that he should use, "Whatever means necessary to get them to talk!"
"Because I refuse to accept that no one here knows Potter's whereabouts!" Yaxley continued to shout to no one in particular. "We have agents all over the country right now at every possible location you all could think of to hide Potter. He will be found!"
Yaxley then left them alone for several minutes, now conversing with some of the other Death Eaters, some of whom had removed their masks. He was instructing them to go and check in on "the other locations" to see if they've had any luck.
"Report any and all finding back here to me immediately. I can't leave until she shows up."
The Death Eaters had nodded and disappeared out of the tent at their orders. Yaxley—who seemed to have forgotten his desire to torture them—was now looking around the tent as if finally realizing that he crashed a large event. He picked up a half shattered champagne flute and examined it.
"What kind of party was this?"
"A wedding," his mother said, her voice shaky.
"My wedding," Bill added coldly.
Yaxley hummed as if that made sense, though he was just as suddenly making a tsking noise as if to offer faux pity. "Awful day for a wedding." He glanced around again as if something suddenly occurred to him. "If this is a wedding, then where is the bride?"
No one said anything.
Yaxley stopped directly in front of Bill to lean down and look him in the eyes. "Did she abandon you the second things got a bit tough?" He smiled. "Not a good sign for the future if when the going gets tough, the bride gets going."
He laughed at his own joke as he stood back up straight. "Though, who could blame her? Maybe she wised up and realized she didn't want to spend her life married to your ugly mug?"
Again, no one said anything, though Bill could feel Fred beside him wriggle against his invisible restraints as if he could somehow undo them.
"I do hope it was a proper marriage," Yaxley continued, pacing up and down the line of Weasleys before stopping to look back at Bill. "It was a proper marriage, wasn't it?"
Bill just stared at him. What the fuck did that mean?
"A magical marriage," Yaxley continued. "A true, magical marriage. Someone from our kind. None of this Mudblood shit or combining magical blood with dirty Muggle blood."
He smirked at Bill. "Because if it was one of those, then you should have just saved your time. The Ministry's soon-to-be stance on those unions is that they're illegal. They won't be recognized and you'll be fined—perhaps even imprisoned—for knowingly entering into one."
"What?" Arthur muttered.
"You heard me," Yaxley said, kicking Bill's father in the shins as he passed him. "The Ministry will no longer tolerate the dilution of our kind by allowing the combining of magical blood with non-magical peoples. The new laws will be widely available to you soon enough once the Muggleborn Registration Committee is officially up and running."
"The Muggleborn…what?" Charlie spluttered out, sounding a lot more sober than he had been a half an hour earlier.
Yaxley repeated himself as if he was speaking to a five-year-old. "The Ministry's new way of flushing out the liars and the thieves in our society; the Mudblood scum who have stolen magic from proper wizards and witches."
"Stolen magic? That's not how any of that works," Bill said, earning him a very hard slap across the face courtesy of Yaxley. He heard his mother gasp as the sting of it made him clench his face tightly.
"Oh, but it is," he said coldly. "And you will all be made very well aware of it soon enough."
He stepped back and observed the group of them. "The only thing any of you have going for you is a name on the Sacred Twenty-Eight and a blood status that happens to be pure. It's something we're trying to preserve. Don't think I wouldn't have you all dead otherwise for your rubbish loyalties."
He continued pacing back and forth. "But you will come to understand the importance of preserving that bloodline of yours."
Yaxley walked over and gave Ginny a once over with his eyes, reaching out to gently touch the tips of her hair. Bill felt his skin crawl, but Ginny stood her ground and glared at him.
"We have ways of seeing to it."
"Piece of shit," George mumbled under his breath, which somehow caught Yaxley's attention. He immediately turned on the spot and walked down to the last chair where George was sitting.
"You have something to say?"
"Not to you," George countered.
Yaxley studied him, his eyes now on the hole on the side of George's head. In a repulsed sort of way, he asked, "Where did your ear go?"
George stared at him for a long moment; Bill assumed he wasn't going to answer. However, after a brief pause, he suddenly clears his throat.
"Have you ever heard the old witch's tale that if you wank too much, you'll go blind?"
Bill's eyes shot to where his brother was sitting. What the hell did he just say?
Yaxley pulled a face, just as George continued, "Well, it's not true. Turns out you don't go blind, your ear just falls off." He shrugged. "Now you know."
Bill's gaped. Beside him, tired noises of either fear or amusement crept down the line from the rest of his family. Fred just snorted a laugh into his chest, mumbling, "I love you."
Yaxley, however, looked disgusted. Even too disgusted to even physically harm George because he backed away looking entirely put off by the lot of them. He walked several paces toward the outside of the tent, checking his watch before yelling out, "Where the hell is she?!"
"Who is 'she'?" Fred muttered.
"Who knows, but be thankful he didn't say 'he'," Bill whispered back. It not being Voldemort was a slight silver lining.
On the other end of the tent, someone suddenly screamed in pain for nearly a minute straight. The entire group of them attempted to turn to see what was happening, but their chairs were as bound to their spots as their bodies were to the chairs. Someone else—Lee, by the sounds of things—screamed, "Stop it!" but that just caused him to be met with the same fate as the first person. His screams were now filling the air.
"That will be us next," their mother said to the line of them, tears in her eyes and worry lines etched deep into her face. "Especially with all the cheek you're giving."
That last bit had been aimed at Fred and George, the latter of whom clearly knew she was addressing him. He leaned forward as far as he could in his chair to look at her.
"It doesn't matter what we say, they're going to do it anyway." He sat back in his seat. "May as well give them a good reason."
It was true. Bill assumed this "pureblood" protection they seemed to have been momentarily granted due to Yaxley's orders not to "spill" pure blood likely only extended to a point. When he felt irritated enough, he'd forget all about that and have the Cruciatus Curse on them so fast…
And perhaps that was the plan all along; he was just saving their torture until he'd exhausted all other resources.
"How are Tonks and Remus?" their father asked, trying to get a look in their direction.
They were just out of Bill's direct line of sight, but by the looks of things, Remus was more alert now while Tonks was coming to. He was whispering something to her, his arms looking as if they were unsuccessfully trying to free themselves from their restraints.
"Stirring," Bill called back, watching the Death Eaters out of the corner of her eyes. "How long do you reckon they're going to stay here getting no answers?"
His father frowned. "Until they get answers."
"But none of us have answers," Charlie whispered, looking around at everyone as if daring them to contradict him. "Or does someone…?"
Everyone was shaking their heads. Bill didn't doubt for a second that none of them had the faintest idea where Harry had gone; that the only people who might, Ron and Hermione, had apparently escaped with him. By some chance of luck—or perhaps all that planning their mother had attempted to disrupt—all three of them had got away from this.
The screaming from behind him kicked up again, and Bill closed his eyes and let his chin hit his chest. The sounds were horrific, and he couldn't shake the feeling that they were starting with those people and working their way up to him and his family. While he knew the Delacours were brave, loyal people, he had to wonder how much of an Unforgivable Curse could they take if they found themselves on the end of one? Their loyalties to Harry could not be that deep. They had a young daughter to think of.
He thought of Fleur and Gabrielle. She had at least got her sister out of this. The idea of Death Eaters torturing a little girl, trying to get her to break, made him want to rage. Because they would.
Not only would they, they'd likely do her first.
The screaming stopped, but it was replaced by the sounds of a commotion—of people arriving. Before Bill could even open his eyes, he already heard Fred muttering, "Oh, you've got to be fucking joking."
It was followed by George's equally quiet, "Fuck me, I'd have rather taken my chances with You-Know-Who…"