Ten minutes. Then fifteen. Twenty. Thirty. Time felt as if it was going backwards.
Fleur paced and paced and paced the front porch of Shell Cottage, wand in hand and still in her wedding dress. Every thirty seconds or so, she would glance around the darkness for any signs of life or visitors. Good or bad, she needed to see them coming. Her heart had not stopped racing since she and her sister had arrived.
Gabrielle was sitting in a rickety old rocking chair, her knees pulled up to her chest as she hugged them tightly. She'd stopped crying, but she'd also stopped speaking. Her eyes seemed permanently glued to the horizon line of the sea, though Fleur suspected she wasn't actually looking at anything. Occasionally, one of her sniffles would cut through the silence.
Where was everyone? What was happening? Was her entire family now dead or being tortured somewhere? Perhaps they'd gained the upper hand and were now holding the Death Eaters hostage? They had outnumbered them; perhaps they'd come out on top?
But if that were true, then where were they? Surely, one of them would have come by now.
That told Fleur all she needed to know about who had the upper hand.
She continued to pace. This was the most frustrated and helpless that she'd ever felt in her life. She knew exactly where she should be, but she could not leave her sister. She could not even go back to assess the situation because that would require her bringing her sister with her and putting her in harm's way.
But she also could not stay here a moment longer without knowing what was happening.
"Ça fait longtemps," Gabrielle said in a faraway voice.
It had been a long time. Fleur agreed. Far too long.
She kept hoping that it would only be five more minutes. Someone will come. Five more minutes. Someone will tell them it was safe and everyone was alright, but at what point was she to accept that that person may not come? What if they couldn't come? What if they needed help?
She never had such a difficult decision to make in her life. She knew she had to go back, but what about Gabrielle? If she somehow put her sister in a situation to be hurt, she would never forgive herself.
But if something happened to Bill, or her parents, or the Weasleys because she hadn't gone, she also would never forgive herself.
She let out a frustrated groan. If only she could get eyes on the situation without getting too close…
Her mind drifted then to the long walks she and Bill used to take, back when life was simpler and they could leave the Burrow freely. They would stroll along the countryside, hand-in-hand, talking and laughing in the nice weather, all before returning to the stuffy Burrow where privacy was impossible and people were always around.
But she wasn't thinking of these memories to be nostalgic. Rather she was trying to remember where exactly she could Apparate back to that would get her within a comfortable distance of the Burrow, while also keeping her far enough away to avoid any immediate detection. She felt she knew of a spot…
She looked back at her sister. "On doit y retourner."
They had to go back. They had to find their parents, find Bill, and help everyone else.
Gabrielle looked terrified, but Fleur assured her that she would protect her. If she had to hide her, she would. She would not let anything happen to her and she needed to be brave, but they had to go back to see what had happened. Something in her gut told her they had to do this.
"Et si les méchants étaient toujours là?" Gabrielle asked, wondering what if the Death Eaters were still there. What were they to do?
Fleur wasn't entirely sure what her answer to that was, only that she would figure something out. Because she would. She would have to.
She walked inside of Shell Cottage, looking around at the meager furnishing and still packed boxes that she and Bill had moved thus far. There was so much left to do. She and Bill had planned to spend their honeymoon finishing it, seeing as it wasn't a particularly good time to take a holiday. They had planned to spend their first night as a married couple here that evening, so she'd brought much of her clothes over already. This was especially helpful now, considering that if she was planning to fight anyone tonight, it wasn't practical to do in a wedding dress.
She changed into a much darker outfit—the blackest clothes she could find—and then proceeded to use a Shrinking Charm on other items of hers in order to provide Gabrielle something more sensible to wear as well. When they both were dressed, she nodded to her sister. It was time to go.
She Apparated the pair of them roughly a Quidditch pitch's distance away from where she knew the protective perimeter charms of the house should have been. There was a dense patch of woods that came right upon the road that led to the Burrow, which is where she and Gabrielle were currently obscured from view.
Fleur immediately saw that all was quiet; no one was lurking about. It was also dark, but she didn't dare use her wand for light. She didn't want to attract any excess attention. She knelt down beside Gabrielle and explained to her that she needed to be as quiet as possible; that she needed to stay directly behind her and even watch to make sure her steps were quiet.
They walked through the edge of the woods toward the Burrow, still everything feeling as quiet and as normal as ever. If Fleur didn't know any better, she would assume Molly was busy charming dishes clean in the kitchen; that Arthur was busy working in his shed. She half expected to see Molly's head in the kitchen window once the Burrow properly came into view.
The first scream that Fleur heard completely rattled her. They had been within twenty yards of the outer perimeter, where the woods would shortly disappear into the cleared land of the Burrow's property, but the scream had cut through the silence like a knife. Fleur froze and Gabrielle inhaled sharply.
She wasn't aware a human could make that sound.
Her chest clenched in the most awful way; her worst suspicion now confirmed. Something terrible was happening here tonight.
A part of her had wanted to run toward the sound straight away, her wand firing off every defensive and destructive spell she knew, but she had to fight that and be clever about this. Gabrielle was still here, and if Fleur ran into a room full of Death Eaters, chances are they would overpower her in an instant. They had done it to everyone else she knew already.
She stood and waited, trying to think, until she saw the movement of a person near the house. "Descendre dans le sol!" she told her sister, telling her to get down. Fleur also crouched, watching and trying to assess the situation. It looked like a Death Eater—another had appeared now, so there were two—and they seemed to be patrolling.
They seemed to be keeping an eye out for people like her…
"Shit," she said at barely a whisper, crouching all the way down beside Gabrielle. There was far too much empty, open space between where she currently was and where the Death Eaters were in front of the house for her to manage to sneak up on them. If there was only one, she may have taken her chances and gone in; if Gabrielle wasn't here she would have taken her chances…
"Maintenant qu'est-ce qu'on fait?" Gabrielle whispered. What do they do now?
She didn't know; she had to think. She could leave Gabrielle here in the shadows and protection of the woods. It would be far safer than bringing her any closer. But what if there were more of these Death Eaters on patrol? What if they decided to sweep the woods?
And what if she left her here and couldn't make it back to her?
The dull clucking of a chicken made Fleur gaze at the chicken coop. It was probably thirty yards away, just inside the perimeter and still a good distance from the house. Arthur's work shed was roughly ten yards from it, followed by the small broom shed where everyone stored their Quidditch equipment.
If she could just get to one of them…
She looked back at the Death Eaters. They were well by the house, talking among themselves. If she and Gabrielle stayed low and slowly made their way to the chicken coop—
A small pop, as if someone had Apparated nearby, caught her attention. She immediately swung her wand toward the source of sound, seeing that coming down the road—within shouting distance—Kingsley Shalklebolt was walking toward the Burrow with a case in his hand. He seemed to be moving with a purpose, as if he was meant to be here and certainly not afraid of what he was walking into.
She'd never been so happy, and yet so anxious to see someone in her life.
And while he was well within shouting distance, shouting was not an option right now. She glanced over to the Death Eaters to see if they had seen him coming, but they hadn't seemed to notice yet. If she didn't act now, Kingsley was going to walk right past her.
Without a word, she pointed her wand at him and summoned the hat off of his head. It flew into her hand.
Kingsley stopped in his tracks, his eyes scanning the woods and the darkness to understand what was going on. He had his wand out in a flash; Fleur was likely to find herself on the end of some powerful Auror business if she didn't say something straight away.
"Kingsley, it is Fleur," she said in the loudest volume that one could still consider it a whisper.
"Fleur?" he said, his voice equally quiet, but skeptical. He waved his wand and muttered a quick incantation, moving off the road, though keeping his eyes on the Burrow. Within seconds, he was beside her in the trees.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes falling on Gabrielle. "What is she…?"
"What is happening?" she asked urgently, needing to know everything he knew.
They both took turns trading stories. How she escaped with her sister, but had returned when she hadn't got word from anyone. How she'd heard screams coming from the direction of the orchard. How she knew something horrible was happening.
He listened intently before telling her his own version of events. How his colleague had come running into the Auror office earlier that evening, screaming that someone had tortured and killed Scrimgeour. There had been a coup; the Death Eaters were in the Ministry and they had taken over.
"That was when my superior—Pius Thicknesse—emerged from his office as calm as could be, as if the world wasn't falling apart around us, and told us not to worry. This was all part of the plan."
"The plan?" Fleur asked.
"The plan," he repeated. "He told us he would be the next Minister and that we had nothing to worry about—no reason to fight this, so we should put down our wands. That this was a good thing. His first order of business was to have several homes raided that evening in search of Potter. That we should offer our assistance in any way necessary. Potter was our enemy, not these new faces. He said in no uncertain terms that resistance would get us thrown in Azkaban."
He frowned. "Yaxley and his cronies came marching in after that, confirming what Thicknesse said. Yaxley's apparently the new head of Magical Law Enforcement, and told us that we either get on board with this new change or we go to Azkaban. That the Auror department was to be decommissioned soon—they had no use for us anymore—but if we proved our worth and our allegiance to the new Ministry, they would find us new positions."
He glanced up toward the Burrow, his eyes never leaving it. "I pretended to go along with things, but Yaxley and I have been at odds for ages. I was there the last time he was thrown in Azkaban, so I know he doesn't trust me. I'm likely under heavy watch now, but I'll pretend for as long as I can to buy myself time. It's why I'm here now."
He then gestured to his suitcase, explaining that a request for additional Veritaserum had come in from this location to assist with the interrogations going on, and he'd been sure to jump on it. Apparently, he'd dumped all of the truth-telling potion out and replaced it with plain still water. He had no idea what was happening up at the house, but seeing as he'd had no word from the Weasleys, Tonks, Remus, or Hagrid he assumed they were all currently being held.
As soon as he finished speaking, another horrible scream echoed through the darkness. It caused Gabrielle to yelp like a wounded animal.
"I need to get up there with this," Kingsley said. "Hopefully once they get their potion, they'll be less inclined to torture people for information." He looked back at Fleur. "I can assess the situation and—"
"I can help," Fleur said. "Let me come with you."
Kingsley was shaking his head. "There are too many of them and I can't afford to blow my cover yet. Let me get in there and see what we're up against. Then I—"
"Kingsley, I cannot sit back and listen to this! That is my family!"
He seemed to consider that, almost looking as if he was trying to quickly think of a way to make this work. He suddenly looked down at Gabrielle. "What about her?"
"If I could somehow hide her—"
"With a Disillusionment Charm?" he said, as if he'd been trying to finish her sentence, even though that hadn't been what she was going to say. She'd been thinking more along the lines of "...in Arthur's shed" or "...in the chicken coop."
His suggestion made far more sense.
But she didn't know how to perform a Disillusionment Charm given how complicated the magic behind it was. That seemed like a major oversight now and something she would make a point to rectify in the future.
"Do you know how to perform one?" she asked.
Kingsley looked at her as if that was a silly question, which…it was. It made sense that was likely one of the very first things they taught in Auror training. The more she thought about it, those qualified to be Aurors probably knew how to do it before even leaving school.
"I can hide her," Kingsley said, already casting the spell that made Gabrielle vanish from sight. It wasn't so much that she became invisible, but rather she took on the appearance of everything around her like a chameleon. It was as if she was suddenly walking darkness, which seemed to both amuse and terrify her.
"But you should also make sure she's put somewhere safe," Kingsley suggested. "Perhaps the shed over there. Or the chicken coop."
Fleur was happy to hear her original idea hadn't been so dumb after all, readily agreeing to do that as Kingsley told her he was going to go ahead and distract the Death Eaters at the front. He managed to convince her to let him play his part and stay back until he could give her a better explanation as to what was happening; that with him present, no one else would getting tortured so she didn't have to worry about that.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I won't let it happen."
"And if things go—as the twins say—'to shit," she asked, 'then what? What if they take you as well?"
"Then I'm going to need you to come in and save us all," Kingsley said plainly, cracking a rare smile. "You can do that, right?"
She stared at him. She didn't know what to say to that.
"Yaxley won't want me to stick around for long," Kingsley said before he readied himself to go. "He'll make it a point to send me off straight away. I'll meet you back behind the Burrow as soon as he does and finalize a plan. Keep your ears open for trouble or a struggle. If someone turns up while you're there, take them out before they take you."
When he put it that way, it sounded so easy…
"I heard you did some damage the night we moved Harry," he said, his tone reassuring. "Remember, those were some of the better Death Eaters. The ones here tonight…" He made a funny sort of face. "Well, let's just say, outside of Yaxley, they're not the cream of the crop. Curse-happy dolts. You can handle them."
Fleur let herself crack a smile. She didn't know why that made her feel better to hear, but it did. It calmed her in a strange way to know that someone as capable as Kingsley had faith in her.
"Hide your sister as soon as you can," he said, moving then back out into the open. "Remember the plan."
And with that he was gone, walking straight up the road the rest of the short distance to the Burrow. He'd nearly reached the house undetected before one of the Death Eaters on patrol finally took notice, his wand raised and already demanding that Kingsley stop.
Kingsley's story must have been solid because after only a couple of minutes of being interrogated, he wasn't cursed or harmed—rather he was now being escorted at wand point by both Death Eaters; around the house and back toward the orchard. They all disappeared from view.
"Gabrielle," Fleur said, having lost sight of her sister in the darkness and immediately panicking, even though she knew her sister would have never left her side. Sure enough, just by saying her name, her sister suddenly took her hand and told her she was right here.
They made a mad dash for Arthur's shed, which Fleur immediately noticed had been searched and ransacked. So many of Arthur's gadgets and collectibles had been smashed and destroyed. His table had been flipped; there was broken metal and glass everywhere. It was such a mess, she couldn't have stuck Gabrielle in there if she wanted.
She immediately turned to the chicken coop, which would likely smell much worse, but it looked hardly touched by comparison. The gate had been broken, which meant most of the chickens had escaped and were likely wandering the property, but there were a few stragglers left behind. Fleur pulled Gabrielle to the corner that was most obscured from view. She even dragged a large feed bag over to block her further, even though she was practically invisible.
Gabrielle had started to sniffle, begging with Fleur not to leave her. All Fleur could do was reassure her that no one could see her; that she needed to go and help maman and papa.
"Et si vous ne revenez pas?" Gabrielle asked.
What if you don't come back?
Fleur leaned down and gave her sister the biggest hug she could. "Je reviendrai."
She would be back. She had to come back.
Though, if she didn't…
"J'ai besoin que tu fasses ça…" she began to tell her, making sure her sister understood every word she was telling her. If I do not come back and you find yourself on your own, or if someone comes for you, I need you to run and hide. You are to take the road just out front for about a kilometer, and go to the first house you come across. The people that live there are called the Diggorys and you are to tell them your name, my name, Bill's name, and that you need help. Do not forget that. They will help you. They are nice people. Say that phrase, "I need help."
"I need 'elp,'' Gabrielle repeated shakily. She seemed so small.
Fleur hugged her again, feeling terrible that she'd got her involved in any of this. If only she'd heeded the signs and just not had a wedding. The universe had been telling her over and over again, she had just refused to listen.
"Je t'aime," Gabrielle barely squeaked out.
Fleur kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too."
After making sure her sister was tucked away and the coast was clear, Fleur made the trek to the back end of the Burrow from the chicken coop. It was almost bizarre how many times she'd made this exact walk, only for everything to feel so foreign and strange now. Even the Burrow itself looked different under all of this stress, as if she barely recognized it as the home she'd lived in for the last year.
She didn't like that she was letting someone take away her feelings of comfort and security. She did not want to give anyone that power.
With no idea how long Kingsley would be, she decided to actually let herself inside of the Burrow. Her plan was to go up to her and Bill's room and watch out the window for Kingsley to return, hoping to spot any patrolling Death Eaters along the way. His window offered a view of the back orchard in the distance and she would be able to see all the comings and goings.
She allowed herself to slip inside the house through the kitchen door, finding the place unsurprisingly ransacked. Much like Arthur's shed, it was clear people had come through with the sole intention of destruction. Flipped chairs, broken plates, shattered glass from picture frames, ripped sofa cushions…Everywhere she looked, something was out of place and in pieces.
Poor Molly would be beside herself.
Fleur let herself cast a Revealing Spell to identify if any humans were present in the house, only for it to have alerted her that she was currently alone. Whoever had done all this damage and since evacuated, which calmed her a bit. She ducked down low and made her way to the stairs, up to the first floor landing where she quickly entered the room she shared with Bill.
The mattresses had been flipped and drawers and wardrobes were turned over and opened, but most of their remaining things were still in one piece. She didn't care much of material objects at the moment, instead moving over the window and ducking down low so that she could see. In the distance, the tent glowed peacefully. If she didn't have a vague idea as to the horrors happening inside, it otherwise looked warm and inviting.
So she waited…and waited. There was much waiting to be done this evening. She didn't think Kingsley would be quick, but now that she considered it, she hadn't expected him to take a particularly long time either. Hadn't he said something about being sent away quickly?
She considered going to get Gabrielle—she felt awful about leaving her in the chicken coop—but that was a bad idea. Anyone could return and come inside the Burrow at any point; perhaps they wanted to wreck some more things. It was safer to leave things be.
Another fifteen minutes passed before anything actually happened. A small group of people that Fleur didn't know walked out of the orchard. She couldn't quite make them out, but some were certainly Death Eaters in their masks. Two—a man and a woman—were dressed in plain clothes and had stopped to talk. After a few moments, they both Apparated away, the Death Eaters following behind shortly after.
Not even five minutes later, someone she recognized as Kingsley had appeared, followed by a Death Eater who had his wand at attention. In front of Kingsley was a…body? He was levitating what clearly looked like a man, but she could not make out a face.
Had someone died? Were they making Kingsley dispose of the body?
She immediately rushed down the back stairs, slowing once she reached the kitchen to make sure no one was there. She ducked to pass the window and, with her wand raised, slowly crept out the kitchen door and scanned the area at high alert for intruders. No one was there, but Kingsley would be coming around the corner soon. As would his Death Eater escort. She flattened herself against the house, aiming her wand in the direction they would soon appear.
"We can Apparate here, Shacklebolt," barked the Death Eater. "There's no need to take the bloody thing way over here. Just—"
It was then that Kingsley and the body had come into view; steps behind, so had the Death Eater. As soon as Fleur saw the latter, she immediately sent as powerful a Stunning Spell as she could cast at him.
He never saw it coming and collapsed immediately.
Kingsley threw her an appreciative nod, as if that had gone exactly the way he'd planned. "I was hoping you'd be there. Would have stunned him myself, but that would have required dropping my friend here."
He had set the lifeless man down on the ground and Fleur observed that he was in waiter's robes. He had been one of the waiters at the reception that evening.
"Is he…dead?"
"Unconscious," Kingsley said. "Stunned, just like…" He paused and walked over to the Death Eater, pulling off his mask to reveal someone he must have known because he mumbled, "Slater from the Department of Transportation." He hummed. "I always knew something was off about you."
"What about everyone else?" Fleur asked. "Are they alive? Is anyone hurt?'
Kingsley tossed the mask down onto the Death Eater's limp body. "No casualties as far as I could tell, though there's definitely been some injuries. Tonks and Remus didn't look good, I know they've been tortured. Hagrid was unconscious—how, I don't know—but they got to him somehow. Everyone else looks badly shaken, but they're alive."
"Bill's alive," Fleur said, more to remind herself than for any other reason. "And my parents."
Kingsley nodded, having come to examine the unconscious waiter. "Then there's this one. I suspect he's endured some heavy torture tonight. I have no idea what he's called, just that he's a Muggleborn and that I'm supposed to be taking him to Azkaban."
"What did he do?"
"Be a Muggleborn," Kingsley said, sighing. "That's apparently a crime now."
Fleur looked at him, expecting him to say he was joking; perhaps explain more, but he didn't. Truthfully, he didn't have to. The whispers of pureblood supremacy had been blowing in the winds for ages now. It was why she wasn't quick to share her Veela heritage much these days. She wasn't entirely sure where she fit in this new hierarchy and she wasn't in a hurry to find out.
Kingsley proceeded to move the waiter a good distance away from the house and hide him in some tall grass, promising to revive him after they'd dealt with everything else that evening.
"I'd do it now, but he won't have a wand to Disapparate and will likely scream and draw attention to us when he comes to, so it's best we just keep him somewhere safe for now."
He then proceeded to drag the fallen Death Eater around the corner so he was out of the way, dropping him down near the kitchen door. Fleur noticed he was far less gentle with him than he'd been with the waiter.
"There's four more Death Eaters in the tent," Kingsley told her, giving her the rundown of what they were facing. "Three in masks and Yaxley. They've got the room split, with the Weasleys, Tonks, and Remus back near the entrance of the tent, where you would have come down the aisle—"
That made Fleur remember she'd got married a few hours ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then.
"And Yaxley was next to them when I left," he continued. "At the other side of the tent, that's where the others, like your parents were. They separated them for some reason. Everyone's wands were taken."
Fleur was nodding. She could barely stand to remain there listening to his explanation; all she wanted to do was get in there and…do something. But wanting to do something wasn't enough, which was why it was good that Kingsley was here to help keep her in check. He was so collected and level-headed, as if he'd done this sort of thing a countless amount of times before. She needed that sort of experienced energy right now because she was running fully on fear and adrenaline.
"Four on two," Kingsley said. "I like those odds. I say we split up, and you go around the back of the tent and get to the Death Eaters that are there with your parents' group. I'll go around the front and deal with Yaxley—"
"But what if he sees you?" she asked.
Kingsley looked at her as if he didn't understand the question.
"If he sees you and identifies you, you will be exposed," she said. "You will…lose your job. Lose any connections you have at the Ministry. You will need to run or go into hiding."
He shrugged. "It's a risk I'll need to take."
"Or you let me deal with this Yaxley," she said, immediately pulling her hair up into the tightest bun that she could manage in order to make her hair less immediately recognizable. In fact…
She suddenly turned and went into the Burrow's kitchen, where just by the door were some hooks for cloaks and hats. She knew Molly had a large sun hat that she used for gardening hanging there, but that didn't quite work. Behind it though was a blue knit cap that either belonged to Arthur or Bill—she didn't know because she'd seen them both wear it—but it was exactly what she'd been looking for. She grabbed it and immediately pulled in on to attempt and cover as much as possible of her head.
"This Yaxley does not know who I am," she continued once she'd returned to Kingsley.
"Fleur, Yaxley's the dangerous one—"
"Good, because so am I," she said without skipping a beat. "I can handle one wizard when I have the element of surprise. Let me distract him. That will allow you the opportunity to come in behind and take out some of the others with speed." She looked him in the eye. "If his eyes are on me, they are not on you. It will allow you to keep your anonymity and access to the Ministry. That is vital, Kingsley."
He couldn't deny that, and she knew it. "And if Yaxley manages to get you before—?"
"Then you better come in and save us all," Fleur said with a small smile. "You can do that, right?"
She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Kingsley laugh before—he was always so serious—but he let himself chuckle. "Right." He nodded. "Fine. I'll take the back then, you take the front. If you can get the jump on Yaxley and distract him, then I will—"
"When I get the jump on Yaxley," she corrected.
"When," he repeated back to her, "I'll clear out the rest."
He further began to explain how they should both take opposite sides of the house in order to make sure the coast was clear and that no one would sneak up on them once they neared the tent. Kingsley would go straight to the back of the tent, she would go to the front. She would get Yaxley's attention, while Kingsley took everyone else out. It all seemed easy enough.
But nearly the moment they'd split up, before Fleur had even come around the corner of the Burrow toward the back garden, she'd been forced to act far more quickly than she'd anticipated.
Not even fifteen feet away was a Death Eater, his wand pointed up at the Burrow. Flames had suddenly shot out of the tip of his wand, jumping straight onto the side of the house and slowly igniting an awning over one of the windows. She watched as the Death Eater continued to shower the Burrow's side with flames, as if he was trying to set it on fire.
Or not trying…He was very much setting the Burrow on fire.
Before she knew better, she'd made a horrified sound—this strange nightmare just getting stranger—and the startled Death Eater bellowed out, "Who the fuck—?" before aiming his flames directly at her, immediately amplifying the intensity to swallow her.
A wave of flames nearly engulfed her—she could feel the intense heat on her skin; her eyebrows were likely singed—but after only a few stumbled steps backwards, she found her footing and managed to aim her wand at the man even with the fire still trying to blast her.
It was a quirk she had, one she didn't speak much about because it didn't come up often. While she was not immune to fire by any means, she could handle it more than the average person, even without magic. While steam and hot surfaces would burn her instantly, plain fire took its time with her. She could remember sitting with friends at Beauxbatons, each trying to see who could hold their hand over a candle flame the longest. Most of her friends would last a few seconds at most, but she could go upwards of a minute. It didn't feel good, but it didn't hurt until well after it should have.
The way her mother always explained it, it was the Veela in her. Fire was part of their nature.
It bought her some extra time as she fiddled with gripping her wand and managed to finally cast a Stunning Spell through the flames. It completely caught the Death Eater by surprise—he likely assumed he'd fried her—but he collapsed to the ground with a soft thud. His fire had extinguished immediately.
The Burrow unfortunately had not.
In a panic, she began fighting the fire with a water spell, increasing the power behind the stream with all the energy and concentration she could muster in order to reach the flames that had moved up the side of the house.
Kingsley must have sensed trouble at some point, because he'd come rushing over to help straight away. Only instead of the house, it was she who found herself immediately sprayed.
Fleur blinked and made a face as water dripped down chin now. She'd had about to chide him for his poor aim when he blurted out, "You were on fire!"
She looked down at herself and her clothes. So she had been. Her jumper had obvious burn marks on it, but she could worry about that later. They needed to get the Burrow under control.
With the two of them, they managed to get the blaze stopped within a minute. It thankfully had remained controlled and hadn't enough time to spread or cause any real damage. Fleur stepped back and assumed most of the damage was cosmetic. It could be fixed easily enough.
Kingsley was looking down at the Death Eater, but before he could speak, Fleur said, "That is one. Three to go."
"Are you alright?" he asked, gesturing to her charred clothes.
She nodded. She felt fine. Another minute of being on fire, she wouldn't have been. That was the problem with fire taking its time with her. By the time she would have realized she was in danger, it could have already spread to the point where it engulfed her.
It was a strange blessing and a curse. Thankfully, she rarely ever found herself on fire.
They luckily had not drawn any attention from their firefighting antics, and she and Kingsley proceeded to move silently across the rest of the garden and toward the orchard. The plan had been to split, but Kingsley waved for her to follow him; apparently it was now better if they went together. She followed closely as they moved quietly into the orchard, just off the path that led down toward the tent.
She couldn't help but make the connection that she'd made nearly the same nervous walk down that very path earlier that day. These nerves weren't anywhere near as exhilarating, however. Her heart was still racing, though in an entirely different way. This time she was not nearly as excited to see what was waiting at the end.
By far, this was the most important thing she'd ever had to do in her life and she could not afford to mess it up. The last time she'd needed to "save" someone, it had been Gabrielle in a dark lake—the haunting subject of so many of her nightmares—but she hadn't been able to do it. She'd failed after being attacked by Grindylows and she'd needed Harry to get her out of trouble.
But that instance hadn't been real danger. This was. There were no do-overs and there were no fake scenarios for judges to dissect. They had one chance here and it had to count.