Fleur and Kingsley moved through the apple trees that offered them cover until they got eyes on the tent. What Fleur saw nearly made her want to…well, she wasn't sure which action to pick. Cry, rage, scream? The open air of the tent allowed her to see straight in, where everyone looked to be restrained to either chairs or other people. She could see her parents, looking pale and visibly upset as two Death Eaters pushed them, her Aunt Marie, three of crying cousins, and Viktor up and away from where they'd been held. He looked like he was planning to move them somewhere.
Bill and his family didn't look much better. They were all seated; Molly was sobbing and the others looked as distraught as Fleur had ever seen them. Bill's face was as blank as a slate. It looked as if someone had knocked all the fight out of them. They looked helpless; like they'd had no choice but to give up.
"What are they doing to my family?" Fleur whispered. "Are they taking them somewhere?
"To the Ministry to keep them in a holding cell," Kingsley whispered back. "We have cells where criminals are kept prior to trials."
Fleur looked at him sideways. "But they are not criminals or on trial. Unless you have neglected to tell me—?"
He shook his head. "It's because they're not from here and people like Dolores Umbridge don't want to deal with them." He looked back at her. "And she definitely doesn't want them running their mouths about what happened here tonight, so they'll likely have their memories modified and be deported by Portkey back to where they came from. Banned from returning to the country."
Deported? Banned? Fleur turned to look back into the tent where one of the Death Eaters was yelling loudly for everyone to move. Her family couldn't be banned from returning! They'd never be able visit her or the family she and Bill eventually hoped to have once this awful war was finally over. This was madness.
"What is taking so long?" yelled the man who looked to be in charge; the one without a mask who Fleur assumed to be Yaxley. His gaze was looking in her and Kingsley's general direction, but more toward the actual path. "I should see smoke and flames by now!"
He paced a bit before pointing toward the two Death Eaters moving her parents and their group. "You! Yes, you! Go see what is taking so long."
Fleur immediately took slow steps backwards and further into the trees. A Death Eater was jogging out of the tent and moving toward the path. He was inevitably going to find his fallen friends and a Burrow that was currently not on fire…
"I'll handle him," Kingsley whispered, moving with a quickness back toward the house as silently as he could. He'd disappeared within seconds, leaving her anxious and antsy. It was hard to be so close, yet left standing here to wait.
"And don't forget to also take mummy dearest over there with you!" Yaxley snapped to the other Death Eater.
Fleur watched as he went and pulled Tonks up off the floor. She hadn't noticed her before, but she looked absolutely dreadful. Pale as a ghost and limp as a ragdoll as the Death Eater attempted to get her to stand on her own.
"If you want to go to the Ministry instead of Azkaban," Yaxley said, "I suggest you cooperate. I swear, you give people what they want and they still fight you…"
Fleur didn't understand why Tonks was going to the Ministry, but she certainly did not seem happy about it. She looked more checked out than any of them did; her expression utterly lost and vacant.
"Get that one out of my sight," Yaxley muttered, gesturing to Tonks. "Take her first."
"Right now?" the Death Eater asked.
"No, next week," Yaxley replied, his face scrunched up in annoyance. "Yes, right now! Go! I'll have the others right behind you." He looked back up at the Burrow. "Where are the bloody flames!? How hard is this!?"
He suddenly walked over and kicked Hagrid, who may have been stirring, but Fleur couldn't be sure. "You better not be waking up. They should be back from Azkaban any minute, and you're next."
The Death Eater started trying to pull Tonks along, but she suddenly thrashed against him—fighting with all she had to not go. Fleur turned around and looked for Kingsley. Where was he? They needed to do this already. Once people left this tent, who knew what would happen to them. She didn't trust them to merely be placed gently in a holding cell in a Death Eater controlled Ministry.
She clutched her wand tighter, watching as Tonks fought. The Death Eater threatened to curse her if she didn't stop. "Just like I did that Mudblood!"
Fleur couldn't take it anymore. That urge to simply run in with every defensive and destructive spell she knew was taking over again, except there was no Kingsley to use his rational, calm voice to talk her out of it this time. She'd taken on dragons, Grindylows, giant spiders, Blast-Ended Skrewts, and creatures and spells of a most horrible nature inside that maze once. She'd lived to tell the tale. She could handle some unsuspecting wizards.
She could do this.
With a deep breath, she suddenly dashed out of the orchard, her wand raised and her only thought on what Kingsley had said about Yaxley being the dangerous one. She needed to use her advantage of surprise to take him on. She could deal with the distracted Death Eater next. Kingsley had told her she could take them, and she chose to believe that.
Everything happened so fast then. She'd cast a Shield Charm to protect herself while rushing into the tent and knocked off two Stunning Spells before Yaxley or the Death Eater even knew what was happening. She heard people yelling and someone screamed, though she focused entirely on these two and how they needed to go.
Her first two spells missed and gave this Yaxley the chance to fire off a curse at her, which had it not been for her Shield Charm would have hit her straight in the chest. He was fast and his aim was accurate, but she was quick as well. She fired off a third spell, and while Yaxley did dodge it, it did hit the Death Eater who only just now joined the fight. He crumpled to the floor, leaving just her and Yaxley.
He shot; she ducked. She shot; he dodged. Neither seemed to connect at this point, though Yaxley did grab the first person he could get his hands on—which was Tonks—and point his wand at her head.
"Drop your wand!" he yelled.
She didn't drop her wand and had no intention of doing so. In fact, she stared at him and decided to play dumb in the hopes of confusing him.
"Je ne parle pas anglais."
He immediately made a face, still pointing his wand at Tonks before looking over at Fleur's family. "Hold on. French? You're here for the French ones, not the traitors?"
She smiled at him, only because she saw that Kingsley had appeared on the opposite end of the tent and proceeded to immediately stun Yaxley before he knew what hit him. He toppled over and nearly pulled Tonks down with him, but she'd managed to keep her balance. Tonks looked over at Fleur with wide and surprised eyes, as if she couldn't believe that had just happened.
"Fleur!" screamed her mother, looking just as surprised, but equally as terrified. "Gabrielle—?!"
"Is safe," she told her, watching as Kingsley appeared to check out Yaxley. "I have her protected and hidden."
She turned to Kingsley, who was already freeing Tonks restraints. "You could not have come at a better time."
"I see you didn't feel like waiting for me," he said, though it sounded mostly good-natured.
She shrugged. "You asked me to distract Yaxley. Did I not do that?"
He smirked as if to say, "Well done," just as Tonks said, "Fleur. Kingsley. Thank you." She was rubbing her wrists and immediately looking around the vicinity in search of something. "Where did they leave the wands? If there are more of them—"
"We took care of them," Fleur said, just as Kingsley added, "They've all been stunned and piled up outside the Burrow. You should have seen Fleur take out the one trying to burn the Burrow down." He let out a low whistle. "He tried to set her on fire—well, he did set her on fire, but she fought straight through it and got him."
He looked back at her. "I still don't know how you did that. How did you resist the fire?"
She would save the in depth explanation for another day—one where there still weren't a hundred, far more important questions to answer first. She instead said, "I have always had a way with fire."
She glanced over at the Weasleys, who were staring back at her a bit slack jawed, even Bill. It was as if they didn't even know who she was or, apparently, what she was capable of. That was fine. She'd grown very used to constantly exceeding their expectations. She would just keep doing that.
"Bloody hell," said Fred. "Fleur, where did you come from?"
"Puts a whole new meaning on 'here comes the bride'," George said. "Here she comes to put you on your arse."
She smiled at them all, happy to see that they were all in one piece. She let her gaze land on Bill, who looked nothing short of awestruck. She enjoyed that look, but she could relish that later. It was time to get everyone out of these chairs.
Tonks continued to search for the wands that had been taken, while Kingsley and Fleur split up to release everyone from their restraints. She'd never felt her parents hug her so tightly once they were free, both of them in tears as she explained to them both where Gabrielle was and that it should be safe to retrieve her. Her cousins and aunts all hugged her as well, though immediately declared that as soon as they had their wands, they were Apparating as far away and as they could.
Bill's Uncle Ollie was on the same page, mumbling something about skipping Weasley functions from here on out.
Bill had come rushing over to her the moment he was free, grabbing her in a hug so tight that he picked her up off the ground. She let herself return it just as tightly.
"You are amazing," he said into her ear, his arms practically cutting the blood flow off in her body. "Thank you for coming back. And for saving the house. And for being you."
She laughed a little. The first time she'd laughed in hours. "We are past the point of 'thank you' in our relationship. You can always count on me to come back."
He hugged her tighter. "Doesn't mean I should ever stop thanking you for it."
When Bill had imagined Fleur on top of him on their wedding night, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
None of this had been what he'd had in mind for his wedding night.
He was on the sofa in the Burrow—the thankfully still standing Burrow—with Fleur leaning up against him and resting her head on his shoulder. He had his arms around her and was mindlessly stroking her hair with one hand, neither of them speaking. No one in the room, which included his entire family, his in-laws, and Lee Jordan, was speaking. The sun was coming up now, its light growing brighter and brighter as the minutes passed. He assumed most of the people present hadn't even noticed.
Everyone was either half awake or trapped in their own thoughts, with half-drank, cold tea cups either in their hands or resting nearby. No one outside of Gabrielle had slept, and she'd only just drifted off about an hour ago. She was currently resting her head in her mother's lap on the other end of the sofa. Apolline had one hand on Gabrielle's back while the other was on Fleur's nearby foot. She seemed calmer when they were both within reach.
There had been loads of talking earlier, but it had come to a point where they'd all simply run out of steam. It was as if the insanity of what had happened was now fully resonating; the adrenaline having worn off.
If it could have been possible at the time, Bill would have fallen off his chair when Fleur came charging into that tent to take on Yaxley and that Death Eater. He hadn't even recognized her at first—she'd changed and had her hair hidden up in a knit cap—and had just assumed someone from the Ministry or the Order had turned up to help. Kingsley had likely got the word out; someone had come.
But when he realized that someone was Fleur, and she was ducking curses and firing them off just as quickly, he'd felt many mixed emotions. On one hand, his wife was fucking amazing. Seriously, people never gave her enough credit for how quick she could be with her wand work since she rarely used it outside of everyday spells, but he'd always thought she rivaled the speed of many of the Aurors he knew. Even Tonks had mentioned once that Fleur could have crushed many of her cohorts in their speed trials; that if she properly trained, she could be a top notch dueler.
On the other hand, he was terrified that he'd been married for less than a few hours, but Yaxley or one of these Death Eaters was going to make him a widower. As the spells flew across the room, he'd never watched anything with more anxiety in his life. Once Yaxley took Tonks as a human hostage, he was terrified Fleur would soon be at the end of a Cruciatus Curse.
But that hadn't happened. She and Kingsley had a plan, they'd pulled it off. The Death Eaters were now unconscious and all waiting to be dealt with, and he, his family, and friends were finally freed from their chair prisons.
Immediately afterwards, Fleur had gone with her parents to retrieve her sister from her hiding spot while the rest of them searched for the wands. It was Lee Jordan who found the bag tucked under a table, eagerly distributing everyone's back to them. For some, it was as if they'd been reunited with a lost child—Fred actually kissed his before giving it a hug—and Bill had to admit, he'd never been so happy to see an object in his life. It wasn't the longest he'd ever been separated from his wand, but it sure as hell felt like it.
Viktor Krum appeared at Bill's side then, moments after getting his wand back. "I must go, but please tell Fleur goodbye. Thank her for…" He made a waving gesture with his hand around the tent, which Bill could have inferred to mean the wedding, but also for saving their arses. He'd go ahead and assume he meant both.
"I will," he said. "I'm really sorry for all this, but—"
"I am used to coming to this country and finding myself in trouble ven I am here," Viktor said, almost sounding as if he was trying to make a joke. "I vill need to make less trips here."
Bill smiled a little. "Just know Fleur really appreciates you coming all this way. So many people couldn't."
He nodded. "Fleur has alvays been remarkable," Viktor added. "Underestimated, but remarkable." He suddenly reached out to shake Bill's hand and offer him one last congratulations. Once they said their goodbyes, Viktor was gone with a pop.
Nearby, Tonks was being checked on by Bill's mother, insisting she sit down and get a drink of water. She was in a "delicate condition" and all this stress, the torture, was not good for the baby.
"I appreciate your concern, Molly," Tonks said, her tone anxious. "But I can't sit. I need to go."
"After what you've been through, you can't—"
"I have to—"
"Molly's right, Dora," Remus said, still looking terrible, but mustering the energy to come over and put a hand on his wife's back in an attempt to calm her down. However, as soon as he touched her, she pulled away.
"No, I have to go!" Tonks snapped at him, catching everyone's attention. "Did you not hear that they went after my parents? They're hunting Muggleborns right now, Remus, which is what my father is. I need to get to him!"
Bill's mother backed away. It seemed clear by Tonks' tone something was happening between the two of them that she did not want to be in the middle of.
Remus nodded slowly, still very much recovering from the double dose of curses he got that night, but trying to put on a stronger face than he felt. "Yes. I know. We can both go—"
"I don't need you to go," Tonks said, her tone cold. "You're the one who looks like they're in a 'delicate condition'. You should sit. I'll be fine." She glared at him, "I'll just take my and Charlie's baby—"
"It's not really mine," Charlie offered, looking around at the rest of the group as if feeling the need to clarify this to anyone who may not be following.
"—and be on my way!" Tonks said.
Remus blinked at her. "You cannot possibly be angry…" He let his gaze zero in on hers. "Dora, that lie saved you. It saved the baby's life!"
"I understand that," she said, turning to Charlie and softening her expression slightly. "Which, thank you, Charlie. That was quick thinking."
"Any time," he said. "Here's hoping that's as close as I come to being a dad."
"But you," Tonks said, rounding back on Remus, "chose to admit you weren't the father entirely too readily. They didn't even ask you! But you jumped at the chance to deny it was yours."
"I was trying to help convince them! To save you!"
She shook her head. "Since the moment I told you I was pregnant, you've been acting—"
"Because…" He looked around as if he wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation in front of all these people. "We've talked about this…"
"And I've told you I don't care!" she yelled. "This baby will be loved no matter what they come out as! I don't care what those people think—!"
"Which is easy for you to say because you've never had to deal with the life I'm forced to live!" Remus said. "The life our child will likely have to live!" He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, but letting people believe that the baby is Charlie's is the only way to keep the two of you from being killed. And you should stick to that story and tell everyone he's the father."
"I won't because he's not the father, you are!"
Apparently, that was all she had to say on the matter because a moment later, she'd Disapparated; presumably to check on her parents. Everyone looked around at each other, almost as if avoiding Remus' eyes.
From beside Bill, Fleur had reappeared, having returned with her family—the latter of whom were currently crying across the tent and rejoicing with Gabrielle that they were all reunited. She caught his eye curiously, asking, "What iz zis about Tonks, a baby, and Charlie…?"
"I'll tell you later," Bill said.
His mother could be heard telling Remus, "It is an emotional night for us all, let alone her being pregnant…" but either Remus didn't want to hear it or he was in a hurry to chase after Tonks, because he barely stuck around after that. He mumbled something about being in touch soon before Disapparating.
"He wasn't in any shape to do that," Arthur muttered.
"Do what?" Ginny asked. "Apparate or fight with his pregnant Auror wife?"
"Both," said his parents in unison, causing them to smile at each other.
"Hey, who's wand is this?" Lee called out, holding one last remaining wand and looking around to see who'd yet to claim theirs. "Who's missing theirs?"
No one stepped forward, which didn't make any sense. Someone had to be missing their wand.
"It's the waiter's," Kingsley said from nearby, where he and Charlie were now kneeling beside Hagrid, attempting to rouse him. The only response they kept getting was Hagrid grunting and stirring slightly. Whatever they'd hit him with, it had really knocked him out.
"Speaking of," Arthur said. "What happened with the waiter?"
Kingsley stood up, addressing the crowd around him that now only consisted of Bill, his family, his in-laws, and Lee.
"He's safe for now, but obviously as we learned tonight, he's not safe for long." He looked around. "This is bad and you need to warn every Muggleborn you know to get out and escape as quickly as they can. This is only the beginning."
He then went on to explain that they needed to immediately get Protective Spells up around the Burrow since the Ministry's obviously not going to help any longer; that it was less about protecting Harry in the day-to-day and more about protecting themselves. As a prominent pureblood family, the Death Eaters won't come for them yet—especially if they thought they could bring them to Harry—but that didn't mean they didn't have ways of making their lives hell. They needed to be on constant alert.
"Bill, you should do it," George said, looking over at him. "You're the master of a protective spell."
He shrugged. "I'll happily do it, but I'm not a master—"
"Yes, you are," Fred countered. "Ask me how many shops in Diagon Alley have yet to be attacked or destroyed? The answer is ours and the beauty supply store that belongs to Fleur's friend—the two stores you put your intricate security spells on."
"I'd bet money that if we popped over to the store right now," George said, "we'd find evidence of Death Eaters trying to get in tonight, only for it to be perfectly fine."
"Which begs the question," Ginny said, "why hasn't Bill been the one protecting us all along?"
"Because we had the Ministry doing it," said their father, "which—when they were on our side—was the best protection around."
"Until they're not on your side," Charlie muttered.
Fred was already shaking his head. "Sorry, but no one's ever claimed the Ministry to have the best protection around. That honor had always gone to…" he looked at Bill, "Gringotts. And who do we know that works there who is a top security…whatever-it-is-you-do-there—?"
"I said I'd do it," Bill said, wondering why it felt like they were trying to talk him into something he'd already agreed to. "But for the record, I'm not the one coming up with the protections at the bank. I'm the one who's breaking them down and exposing their flaws. Sometimes I think you all don't understand what I do…"
"Right, and if you understand them well enough to deconstruct them," Fred said, "that just means you're clever enough to—"
"The charms need to go up as soon as possible," Kingsley reminded them, looking specifically at Bill. "They could return any moment, likely looking for Yaxley—"
Bill got the message. He nodded and, along with his parents' assistance, went to put up the strongest and most powerful protective spells he knew. He'd never quite done something as large as the Burrow before; the storefronts in Diagon Alley and the vaults in Gringotts were much smaller than an entire large house. But he'd yet to find a puzzle he couldn't figure out.
"The Fidelius Charm would likely be easier," his father muttered later on, watching Bill cast—what felt like—his twentieth spell in a row over the Burrow.
"Are you already planning on going into hiding full time?" Bill asked, half joking as he lowered his wand.
"Not today," he replied with a weak smile. "But…I'd assume soon if this keeps up." They looked at each other. "You heard what they said. It's only a matter of time. They're coming for us soon enough. You should start thinking about it as well. Putting a plan in place."
Bill sighed, stepping back to look up at the house and wondering if that was enough to protect it. Would it ever be enough? Or would they actually have to properly go into hiding?
His father reached over and patted him on the back. "I'm only saying that perhaps we should all start considering who we'd make our Secret Keepers."
"I'll be my own Secret Keeper."
His father laughed at that. "Wouldn't that be nice. But it's not possible."
Bill didn't like the phrase 'not possible'. As far as he was concerned, everything was possible when magic was involved.
"Says who?" he asked.
"Says…" his father mused, "the magic behind the spell."
Bill shrugged. While he knew that was technically true, all magic could be changed; modified and updated. Magic was constantly improving its ways.
Plus, he'd heard whispers over the years among his social circle of curse breakers of attempts being made to alter the Fidelius Charm. Its biggest gripe had always been that one couldn't be their own Secret Keeper, seeing as loose lips had got people killed in the past. He had a colleague in Egypt once claim to have associates in Japan who'd been working on altering the spell years ago.
Bill suddenly considered owling him and attempting to see if any more headway had been made. Perhaps he could have a look at their progress and see if he could add anything to it. He had always liked a good puzzle…
It took him over a half an hour, but the charms had gone up to the best of his ability—something George reminded him was better than any average wizard's ability. Meanwhile, Kingley had gone to rouse the waiter, who woke up screaming and begging for his life once more, all while trying to punch and kick Kingsley. When they'd finally got him to calm down, he'd seemed very confused as to why Kingsley was not bringing him to Azkaban; instead calmly explaining to him that he needed to leave as soon as he could and not look back. The next time he caught the Death Eaters' attention, he wouldn't be so lucky.
The twins and Lee had been recruited to help Kingsley move unconscious Death Eater bodies off the Burrow's property so they could be dropped off somewhere far away. Apparently, Fred, George, and Lee also took it upon themselves to leave them wandless in the process, having bragged about taking them once they'd returned.
"Eye for an eye," Fred said, holding up five wands as trophies. "They take mine, I take theirs."
"We left them deep in some random forest up north," George said. "Perhaps teach them a thing or two about Muggle appreciation now that they have to hoof it home without magic."
As the night progressed, try as they may, they could not get Hagrid to wake. He was breathing and still very much alive, but it was as if was in a very deep slumber. Kingsley said that if he hadn't woken by morning, there were potions that could do the trick. In the meantime, it was best to keep him somewhere safe.
The twins and Bill levitated Hagrid close to the house and well within the Burrow's enchantments, while Charlie retrieved all of Hagrid's camp gear and set it up around him so he was comfortable in the garden. He'd hopefully rise in the morning.
Kingsley had needed to go after disposing of the Death Eaters. He wanted to go and check in back at the Ministry and see what he could do; see who he could help. He was certain there were fires to put out, both literal and figurative, though he did make a joke about how he could use Fleur to speed up the process.
"I don't know when I'll be in touch," Kingsley said before he left. "But I will, and likely under an alias. Look out for that. We're being watched closely now, so gathering here for Order meetings is now out of the question." He turned to Bill's father. "We will work something out, I just need time to think. Forgive me if I act like I don't know you or can't speak to you at the Ministry."
His father nodded. "Of course. Be careful."
"You as well," Kinglsey said, glancing over at the group of them. "Be safe everyone."
They'd all retreated back to the Burrow after that, where people did their best to quickly mend torn sofa cushions and broken items so as to not have glass shards lying about. The Death Eaters who came through had wrecked everything; it would take hours, likely days, to properly clean the place, but now that the adrenaline had worn off, no one was much in the mood to do anything more than sit and drink the tea that Bill's mother made—if they were even in the mood to do that.
Bill had felt like he was finally about to drift off to sleep on the sofa, still in his formal dress robes with Fleur nestled comfortably beside him, when George spoke and broke the silence for the first time in ages.
"Where do we think they went?"
Everyone looked over at him. At first, Bill didn't understand who 'they' were in his question—his brain simply wasn't working fast enough right now—but it became clear just who 'they' were the moment his father said, "Hopefully somewhere safe where You-Know-Who can't find them."
Ron, Harry, and Hermione. They hadn't really talked about those three in a specific sense that evening—where they'd gone or what they were doing. It was the obvious question, yet one that until this moment, no one had really brought up.
"I'm only happy they had the sense to get out of there and not stick around to fight," Bill muttered. "That Polyjuice would have worn off and Harry would have been right there."
People were nodding, with Fred offering up, "They left straight away. It was as if they knew—"
"They didn't know," Ginny said. "They were just prepared. Hermione had been packing for days, just in case something like this happened. She was afraid someone would attack—I mean, we all were, weren't we? It's why Harry got Polyjuice in the first place; why we had so many protective charms up."
"But even if she'd been packing," her mother said. "She didn't have a case or a bag tonight at the wedding, so it didn't—"
"She did have a bag," Ginny said. "This extendable bag that could hold loads but it was no bigger than a clutch purse." She threw her mother a look. "She had it on her at all times. She had it on her tonight."
Bill mulled on that thought. If that were true, that truly was some excellent thinking ahead on Hermione's part. A go-bag that was easy to manage and always ready to go. Despite their mother's best efforts to keep them from planning and preparing, it seems they still managed right under her nose.
"And I know they were packed because I was just upstairs," Ginny continued, "and all of Hermione's important things and clothes were gone. Ron and Harry's too. They were ready."
"That's good to know," Charlie mumbled lazily, which earned him a few responsive nods.
Speculation about their whereabouts filled the next few minutes—from campsites, to hidden lodgings they may have arranged, to Grimmauld Place. The last one seemed far-fetched, seeing as Snape had access, which meant the Death Eaters did as well.
They could only hope Harry didn't walk straight into a trap, but who knew? As Bill's father pointed out, wherever anyone thought they were, it was best not to investigate or look for them; especially right now.
"Kingsley said we are all being watching and they're hoping we lead them to Harry," he reiterated. "We cannot lead them to Harry."
"What are we supposed to do?" George asked, his head resting on the wall as he sat on the floor. "And not just about Harry, but…everything. Are we just supposed to go to work tomorrow as if nothing's changed?"
"I personally feel you both should be closing up the shop until further notice," he mother muttered. "You're safest here…"
"Am I?!" Fred asked. "Because this is the only place I've ever had an Unforgivable Curse used on me, so—"
"The shop is our livelihood, Mum," George protested. "We can't just abandon it."
"George is right," his father said. "We have to—as strangely as it sounds—keep up appearances and carry on as normal. I'll have to go to work—"
His mother's eyes widened. "You cannot be serious, Arthur."
"I am," he said. "If I don't show up, it'll look suspicious. They'll be here that day looking for me, wondering what we're hiding."
"Wondering if it's Harry…" Bill mumbled.
"Exactly," his father said. "Just like Kingsley is doing, we have to keep doing what we've always done. I'll go to work. Bill, you need to go to the bank."
Bill felt Fleur stir uncomfortably beside him.
"The twins will have to keep the shop open as long as it's safe. Charlie will need to go back to Romania—"
"If they even let me," he muttered. "I have a sneaking suspicion that getting my return Portkey will be a problem."
"Why do you zink zat?" asked Fleur's father, whose interest was suddenly piqued at the idea of being stuck in the country now.
"They'll be monitoring everything now," Arthur said. "Trying to make sure Muggleborns aren't escaping. Trying to…" He sighed. "I don't even know."
He looked at Charlie. "When was your Portkey back to Romania?"
"This afternoon."
He nodded, looking over at the Delacours. "And yours?'
"Zis evening."
"Right," said Arthur. "Well, we'll know soon enough if you can leave. Worse comes to worst, you can always take a Muggle train across the border to France and Apparate home once you're there. You should contact your family members if they're still here and make a backup plan." He looked at Charlie. "Romania is a bit trickier, but there are also Muggle options you could also take—"
"I'll figure it out," Charlie muttered, looking too tired to think about that right now. "I've flown a broomstick from here to Romania before with a baby dragon in tow, so I'll make it back one way or another."
Everyone stared at him as if expecting him to drop a 'just taking the piss'' after that comment like he always did. He did not.
"I take it I have to go back to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked, her arms crossed and looking annoyed.
Her father was nodding, though her mother wasn't nearly as receptive to that idea. She was already staring at her husband. "And if it's run by Death Eaters? I'm not sending her back if it–"
"Molly, do you think we have a choice?" he responded, looking directly at her. "That's what everyone needs to understand, we have no choice anymore. None. They'll likely make Hogwarts compulsory now to keep an eye on all magical children. To attempt to brainwash them."
He looked around the room at everyone else. "This is about survival now. They will hurt us and burn down our house without a second thought. They will torture us for information if we even breathe Harry's name—if we even pretend for a second that we're not all about this pureblood ideology."
"But we're not about pureblood ideology," Fred muttered.
"I know we're not, but until things get settled, we keep things quiet and survive. We organize and plan because this fight has just begun, but we can't fight if we're all murdered in our beds. Yaxley revealed we have two things going for us for now: being purebloods and having a connection to Harry. That's what's keeping us alive for now. We have to use this opportunity to figure out the next step—whatever that may be."
Whatever that may be...That was the question now, wasn't it?
"Everytime I zink zat everyzing 'as changed, somezing else still finds a way to change," Fleur said to Bill once the pair had a quiet moment together, both too exhausted to do anything more than lay side-by-side next to each other up in the Burrow bedroom they'd shared for so many months; both too awake to sleep.
"And yet every time," Fleur continued, "It still always feels like just the beginning." She looked over at him. "I truly wonder if zere iz an end in sight."
Bill took a heavy breath, understanding her feelings completely. At the back of his mind, he couldn't help but remember that the first war lasted a decade. At best they'd been at it for a few years, at worst they'd just properly begun. A quick ending would only come with a cost—their deaths or Harry's death—but even then, a world in which Voldemort was in control was by no means the end of any of this.
Even Voldemort's "death" wouldn't apparently end things, seeing as he came back the last time they thought he was gone. Bill wondered if he could even be killed; if the rumors were true and Harry was only one capable of doing it. Was Harry their only hope? Or was hope all they had left at this point and they'd just put it all on Harry because he'd beat Voldemort once? Beating him once didn't mean beating him twice…
What if this never ended? He was starting to wonder.
He looked over at Fleur, who was still staring up at him. He couldn't voice any of his doubts out loud; it needed to stay in his head. If hope was all they had, they had to hold onto it.
"It'll end," he said to her. "It has to. And we'll do everything in our power to make that happen."