Bill's Bill
Chapter 2: Consequences
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter. All characters and ideas are solely the property of JK Rowling (Long live the Queen) and all that stuff.
The apparition took so long Bill thought he was actually being torn physically apart. The loud voices and swirling colors that accompanied apparition made him nauseous on a good day and going a short distance. Wherever they were going was far and heavily warded. When they finally arrived at their apparition point he dropped to his knees a vomited. He was mid vomit when he heard a familiar female voice screaming. He straightened up immediately to see Ginny on the ground beside him. Her robe was torn open and her long ginger hair was matted with blood. He crawled over the wet ground towards her calling her name gently over her screams. At the site of the chunks of flesh missing all over his little sister's exposed body, he finished vomiting beside her. When he was done he was able to lift his head properly see all the blood surrounding them, there were small chunks of her littered around them.
She had been splinched.
"Ginny!" Father and son shouted. His father had been tossed further from them and was stumbling over to his children. They both whipped out their wands each casting diagnostic and blood replenishing spells. Bill cast a numbing and a mild calming spell for her while his father cast several different healing charms and protective wards around them. Ginny's eyes had gone wide and her mouth opened but no sound came out. Bill felt his insides clench. He gripped one of her hands tightly and ran the other through her hair. He had seen Harry do it to calm her down. She started to breath slower and he murmured in her ear that he was there and that she would be okay. He would give his arm for a calming draught and a team if MediWitches right about now.
"Bill! Help me get Ginny into the cottage. Now!" He cast a levitating spell on Ginny and she floated towards a cottage in front of them. He looked over her and murmured assurances to her, her wild eyes briefly made contact with him and then fluttered close her whimpers stopping abruptly. He walked faster and followed his father up the path taking notice of his surroundings. They were surrounded by wild forest. He could feel powerful shielding charms all around him and he had to physically force himself to go up the pebble path ahead of him. His father opened a brown gate that surrounded the little cabin and the small garden that surrounded the front of it. The back of the Cottage looked to have empty space within the gate but he couldn't be sure. There were dim lights along that path that greeted them as they stumbled up to the door and crashed through it into the small brown cottage.
Their crash was accompanied by a flare of bright light, the smell of Weasley Cottage pie, and a storm of cursing in French that he knew too well. He looked up to see Fleur with Victoire on her left hip and her wand pointed at them. He shuffled his feet on a warm dark red rug in the doorway. The cottage had one main big room with a massive archway at the back of the main room that peeked five or six doors that were likely bedrooms and a bathroom. There were paintings along that hallway of his parents and of his Prewett relatives. The main room was filled with dark comfortable furniture. To his right were three sofas and a dark wooden coffee table surrounding a roaring fire with a big hunter green fluffy rug. North of that was a large Oak table with three large candlesticks and food in the center of the table. There was a small kitchenette on the left side of him and empty space in between the table and the wall behind the kitchen. All in all, it was a cozy cabin.
He took several steps forward to go to one of the bedrooms but Fleur held up a hand for him to stop. She took in the situation and he saw her face pale as she turned her wand on the large oak table that was set up for dinner. She flicked her wrist clearing most of the contents of the table onto the floor. The candles hovered above the table now giving extra light to clear workstation. She plopped Victoire onto the green rug in front of the roaring fireplace and rushed back to the table just as Bill was lowering Ginny onto the table.
He placed her as gently as he could on the table as items flew from the kitchen into Fleur's hands. He recognized a small jar of Dittany and several other potions. She had passed out completely from when he had lifted her. He rushed to pick up his daughter from the potentially dangerous fire and turned back to watch as his wife began her diagnostics and healing spells. Her younger sister, Gabrielle and her maternal aunt were both skilled MediWitches in France. Fleur knew more than most beginning Mediwitches just from her family alone. During the war she had done a lot of the Order's healing work, she was actually a greater target then he was. They had gone out for their weekly lunch date and had been talking about her going to school for a Healership once Victoire was a little older.
"She 'as splinched?" She asked. He nodded not trusting himself to speak. He turned to ask his Dad what the hell was going on when he saw him walk back out the front door. He nodded to Fleur and put Victoire down on the rug again but charmed a small baby fence around her to protect her from the pretty but unsafe cottage. Fleur had already begun to lean over his unconscious baby sister. His father was standing in front of the gate aside a small cabbage patch muttering spells. He watched as blue lights left his wands and enveloped the house. He was putting up serious wards around the house. Bill stood beside him and after recognizing the spell he was using he joined in adding to the strength of the wards.
Father and son stood side by side for a little over a half an hour until the additional wards were up and complete. He did not think Grimmauld Place, the Burrow, or even the Shell Cottage had this many wards. He looked around at the woods trying to glean where exactly they were. The trees looked foreign as did the random animals he saw flutter by in the half hour they were outside. It was pretty cold for August so he guessed they were somewhere up North. He stood silently next to his father looking at him for guidance. His father put a comforting arm on his shoulder and squeezed. His shoulders were tense and his face contorted with anxiety.
"I don't know what's going on but you need to calm down. Whatever it is it can't be that bad and these stress levels are not good for your heart." He whispered. His Dad looked at him and smiled, pulling him into a bear crushing hug.
"Let's go check on your sister." They walked back into the house arm in arm. When they walked back in, Fleur had charmed the table into a cot and Ginny was wrapped in a ton of bandages. She was quickly closing her robe as they walked through the door. Bill spared a quick glance at Victoire who was chewing her knuckles while watching the fire.
They both walked over to Ginny each on opposite sides of the cot.
"How is she Fleur?" His dad asked.
"I got her bleeding under ze control and cleaned and bandages all the wounds. She will be Okay. She needs to rest now."
"Bill can you bring her to a room? The second to last one in the hallway, please. She'll be closest to the bathroom." Bill nodded and levitated his sister again. He walked towards the archway and stepped unto the carpeted hallway. The hallway was filled with his parents wedding pictures and pictures of his mom in her youth with her twin brothers. They really looked like Fred and George, the similarities were uncanny. He opened the second to last room door to see a large black four poster bed with colored quilts. He gently laid Ginny on the bed covering her toes and casting several warming charms on her. She was always freezing. He noticed a broom in the corner next to a dresser with mirrors on the doors. He opened the dresser to find men's clothing inside. He lifted a Gryffindor jersey from the second shelf with the name Prewett on the back. Where the hell did his father take them too?
He closed the door gently behind him and made his way back to the living room. Fleur had re-transfigured the table and was in the middle of fixing the dinnerware when he came up behind her and hugged her smelling her hair deeply. She leaned back into him and kissed his cheek careful to avoid his scar. He sat down by the table as Fleur massaged his shoulders.
"I love you Fleur."
"I love you to mon amour." His Dad slumped into a chair by the table running his hand through his hair.
"Dad," He said softly. "What is this place?"
"A safe house your mother, her brothers, and I created when we were first engaged. Your mother and I kept it a secret just in case a secret of ours ever came to light and we had to hide from the Wizarding World. It was originally her brother's safe house though. He had a muggle wife and son. The three of them had planned on moving here, but he was killed several days before he could flee. He had left instructions for his wife to flee England and go to America. He had managed to get passports for the both of them hiding any ties to him. He did a good job because we were never able to find them." He spoke solemnly his eyes dark with regret. He stood up and paced the carpet murmuring to himself.
"We had not been officially engaged yet but your father had agreed to let me court your mother for marriage. It was put on hold because of their deaths." He turned and looked at Bill his eyes shining.
"Bill I don't want you to thin-" His father jolted up as Victoire's wails broke the silence in the room. He ran over to pick up his granddaughter from the carpet. Victoire was just fussing; Bill knew her cries by now. She was probably very tired. He lifted her singing softly to her while Bill and Fleur watched. He rocked her gently back and forth as if to dissipate the tension growing in the room. He handed a quiet Victoire to Fleur and went to check on Ginny. Fleur held one arm firmly on Bill's shoulder willing him to calm down. She flicked her wand and repaired the partially damaged front door while Victoire giggled in her arms.
Bill stared at his father's back in fury. He was in hiding with his family, his sister was in the next room in a coma, his mother was in Saint Mungos, and today his father learned how to be coy. No amount of Fleur was going to calm him that much. He waited silently as his father closed the door to Ginny's room quietly. He walked over to the chair next to Bill and sat down.
"Bill, my son. We have little time. I have to return to England and you have to stay here with Fleur and Ginny until it is safe for you to return."
"Dad. What the hell is going on? You're freaking me out." His father ran his hand through his thinning hair.
"I'm so sorry Bill. I never wanted you to find out. Not like this. Not at all, not ever if I could have helped it. The Ministry they-" He was cut off abruptly by Kingsley's Patronus bursting through the house his voice booming angrily.
"ARTHUR WEASLEY YOU RETURN TO THE MINISTRY IMMEDIATELY. I HAD TO PULL HARRY AND RON AND HALF OF MY AURORS OFF THE SERVICE AFTER THEY STARTED DUELING AMONGST EACH OTHER WITH HEALERS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT! THERE ARE PEOPLE RIOTING IN FRONT OF THE MINISTRY DEMANDING AN ANSWER! YOU KNOW WHAT I SPEAK OF! I EXPECT YOU TO FLOO INTO MY OFFICE NOW!"
Bill rose to his feet in shock, while Fleur hissed and Victoire started crying again. His father hadn't even flinched. It was like he was expecting it. The last time he had seen a Patronus from Kingsley was before the battle of Hogwarts and in all the time that they had known each other, he had never heard him yell, or even raise his voice.
"Dad what in the blooding hell-" His dad shushed him and sent two more Patronuses whispering so quietly that he didn't hear what was said. Fleur moved to stand by her husband's side shushing their now whimpering baby.
"What eez going on Meester Weezley? I demand to know an answer! You are horrifying my family."
"I know, Fleur." He sighed at his daughter in law wearily and added additional wards to the cottage.
"I don't have time to explain, I'm afraid. I need you to stay here Bill. I will come for you when this all blows over but it is imperative that you stay here. There is a muggle village several miles south. It's a University town so no one will question your sudden appearance. Please be careful. I need to go so that the Ministry doesn't start arresting your brothers."
"Arresting?! Why is anyone being arrested?! And where is here?" He shouted and instantly regretted it when Victoire began to scream.
"Alberta." He said distractedly.
"Alberta, where the bloody hell is Alberta?"
"Az in Canada?" Gaped Fleur. His father nodded sheepishly.
"Mum has been arrested for treason and whatever random bullocks they can throw at her. I need to get our family solicitor and to check on her. Please, Bill, stay here. I will send Andy to explain everything." His father grabbed his shoulders and hugged him tightly before turning around a running out the door.
"Dad!" He shouted after his father. The scream woke up a previously sleeping Victoire who promptly began to scream. Knowing Fleur would tend to her, he took off after his father.
"I'll send Andy. She'll explain everything. Speak to no one and don't tell anyone you are here. Andy is the secret keeper so no one knows where you are." He was sprinting past the cabbage patch.
"Dad!" He was shouting desperately over Victoire's screams. His father raised his wand over his head and as their eyes met his eyes softened.
"I love you, Bill. Always have and I always will and you will always be my son. My first born. Ignore everything else. I love you." With that, he apparated leaving a stunned son and his sobbing family behind. Fleur flung her arms around his neck and wept.
"What iz happening, Bill? What iz happening?" She sobbed. He lifted her gently into his arms and walked back into the house. He walked over to the first room in the hallway and kicked the door open. The room was identical to Ginny's except the furniture was all a warm cream color and the linen was a light blue. He laid Fleur down on the bed gently kissing her head. She opened her arms to let Victoire snuggle up to her.
"Rest Fleur."
"I love you, Bill."
"I love you too."
"Lul Usssee" Mumbled Victoire as she nodded off in Fleur's arms. Both parents swooped down and kissed her little blonde head. He walked out of the room closing the door quietly behind him. He peeked into Ginny's room, she was sleeping soundly. After closing her door he padded over to the fireplace and yanked a bottle of Firewhiskey off of the mantel. He didn't bother with a glass and drank straight from the bottle.
"It's going to be a long night." He sighed and sank back into one of the armchairs watching the fire.
Molly woke up in Saint Mungos with an odd red-headed man holding her hand and stroking it. She had immediately yanked her hand back and screamed. She yelled for her family when the wizard looked at her in confusion. Several Healers tried to calm her down and when that failed, they tried to restrain her. They claimed she had been injured and that they were helping her. Injured? She would have remembered if she was injured. Where was her father?!
She kicked and screamed at the Healer's who were all starting to back off and call for backup. That was when she noticed the armed guard in the room. Why would there be an armed guard for a potion's accident? She stopped listening and fought with every fiber of her being. Something was not right and she was not going to be a victim. She was god damn Prewett. She had managed to make it off of the bed when she saw a familiar face standing guard by the door. She immediately forgot everything else and honed in on the familiar messy hair and glasses.
"James! James! Don't let them take me! They want my baby. Mine and Lucy's baby. Don't let Abraxas take him. You and Lily swore. You both swore you would protect my baby!" She felt two pairs of arms yank her backward as James stared at her in shock. Where was her father? Had he abandoned her when he found out she was pregnant with a Death Eater's child? Were they trying to take her baby from her? She screamed and kicked and choked as she tasted a calming draught being forced down her throat. She felt her body go slack in the arms of the furious healers.
She felt calm and floaty. There were so many soft lovely colors in the room. Red and yellow and ooh, look some blue! She felt herself be lifted onto a soft bed. There was murmuring and shouting around her. James was standing in front of her bed next to another redhead. She could only see their back but they looked furious. They had their wands out and was dueling the men who had grabbed her arms. The room was so bright and colorful. The man who had been stroking her hand had used the distraction of the fight to dash out of the room. Serves him right the git. She smiled pleasantly to herself. She wished she had nice music to listen to. Something with Violins, she loved violins.
What was she so worried about anyway? She was being a baby really-
Her body froze. Baby. The healers were trying to take her baby. Abraxas Malfoy had found out about her and Lucy's baby and they were going to kill it. She forced her traveling eyes to zone in on the fight in front of her. James and his companion were shouting at the lone opposing wizard. She could see people passed out all around the room. She could also hear heavy footfalls in the hallway. If she was going to move she needed to do it now.
"Move Weasley and Potter! I will put you down." Weasley? Her father had come! She smiled happily to herself and then she remembered why she was here. She needed to get her baby to safety. Andy and Ted would help her. She would go to them, they would help her. She could hear footsteps pounding outside the door. All three were distracted and she used that to slip off the bed and into the curtain that was behind her bed separating it from another patient's. The patient to the right of her was sleeping and she could no longer hear the commotion in her room. They must have put up a silencing spell She darted across the room to another set of curtains. She reached up to move another curtain when she noticed her hands were wrapped heavily in bandages. She shrugged the thought for later and quickly followed the curtain until she reached a hallway. She could now hear the commotion going on down the hallway in front of her room. They had found her missing. She had to move quickly.
She shook her head to try and regain focus. After checking the coast was clear she darted towards a door the directed itself to be stairs. She achingly began to descend the stairs two at a time careful not trip and harm her baby.
"Thank Merlin" She murmured to herself as she made it down the third flight of stairs. She needed a wand, if only she had grabbed a wand from the other patient-
"Mrs. Weasley?" She turned to see a black haired pale witch looking at her jaw slacked. She wheeled behind her looking for who the woman she was addressing. She turned back and looked at the girl with alarm. She then noticed that she was wearing a Healer's robes. The girl took a step towards her with one hand out in a submissive gesture.
"I am Molly Prewett." She said.
"No..." At her irritated looked she simply nodded her head. "Yes... Molly. Can I call you Molly?"
She nodded stiffly.
"I'm Tracey. Molly, What are you doing here?"
"On the stair's landing?"
"That too but also in the hospital?" She felt tears flood her eyes.
"They want to take my baby. I had to run." She grabbed the front of the girl's robes and sobbed into her jumper. "Please don't let them take my baby. Please."
The girl froze in shock and then put comforting arms around her back rubbing her back in a soothing and nurturing way.
"It's okay Molly. I won't let anyone take your baby. Can we call your family? Who can I call to come to sneak you away?"
"Lucius. It's Lucius's baby. I don't trust anyone else." She nodded firmly.
"Lucius?" She looked at Tracey daftly. Honestly, this girl wasn't terribly bright. How was she a healer?
"Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy. Really, how many Lucius's are there? Could you fetch him?" The girl's jaw dropped. She spluttered in response and when she wasn't able to give one she pointed to the stairs.
"I don't understand what you're saying, Tracey." Using the girl's name seemed to have shocked her out of whatever state she was in.
"I can bring you to the main floor and you can Floo to Malfoy Manor from there." She said smiling kindly at her. She lifted her hand to help her with the stairs.
"I'm pregnant, not disabled. I can walk." She said as she waved Tracey away.
"No, I mean the burns. You are covered in them, Molly." Her hands flew to her face that was, as Tracey had said was covered in bandages.
"What happened to me?" She whispered. Tracey froze. She moved over to the door on the landing she had just come out of and peeked through.
"I can pull your file Molly. If you'd like. You would have to be quiet though. It seems there is a hunt on for you." She nodded and crept behind her. There was a short hallway from the door to the Healers Station. The entire floor was empty.
"Quickly Molly, go behind the desk." Molly ran behind her as the woman opened several drawers looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" She whispered. She was sitting on the floor next to her.
"A blue notebook. It's charmed so that if I write your name with my wand I can pull up your medical history. It's impossible to falsify or-" A streak of red light hit Tracey and she drops like a stone onto the floor. Molly shrieked and moved to stand behind the glass wall the separated the Healer's station from the Floo Station.
Three Wizards were standing in front of her with their wands raised. There was a tall blonde man, a short brunette woman, and equally short and round male. The short roundish one had his wand pointed at Tracey.
"You stunned a Healer!" She gasped.
"She was an accomplice! Surrender to the authority of the Aurors." He spat.
"An accomplice to what? Seeking medical records?" She cried. She wanted so badly to check on Tracey but she knew if she moved she would be in clear sight of Aurors.
"Never! I will-"
She heard a door banging behind them and accompanied by several shouts. The other two Aurors turned around. She watched as two redheads burst into the hall. One was barreling towards them wand out and the other was dueling another Auror fiercely and was too far to make out any details. The first one was short and stocky with long hair in a ponytail. Molly thought idly about how he should cut it shorter, it would look more becoming that flying everywhere in a loose pony. He had his wand pointed at them.
"Oy! Don't you point your wand at my M-"
"Charlie! You need to calm down!" The brunette witch shot back. Her wand was at the ready. "Please don't make me stupify you."
"Like you did that poor Healer?"
"That wasn't me. Everyone's a little jumpy. Charlie, please calm-" Before she had a chance to calm down 'Charlie' the Auror in front of her had moved two steps toward Molly his wand mid swish when Charlie's face grew red with fury and he flicked his wrist; sending the Auror smashing into the middle of the glass. There was a huge cracking noise and blood stained the glass as she also felt a shield surrounding her from this Charlie person. It was a good thing he sent it because there was shattered glass raining everywhere.
"Charlie!" Shrieked the female Auror.
"I handle dragons!" He shouted "You think I can't take a couple of rookie Aurors? Back the hell away from my-" There was another flash of red from the blond Auror and Charlie hit the floor. Molly felt a deep pang in her heart that was reflected on the brunette girl's face.
"That was unnecessary! I will report you!" She admonished the blonde Auror. Mrs. Weasley. Please come with me." A short brunette woman asked kindly.
"No! I don't know you!" She yelled and took off in a run. Another redhead appeared behind the man.
"Mrs. Weasley. You need to calm down. You have violated section B of art-" She looked at him wildly.
"I am Miss Prewett. I don't know a Mrs. Weasley! Stop calling me Mrs. Weasley." She yelled back shrilly. She stepped further back behind the glass that separated her from the Aurors. The Brunette Auror was leaning over Charlie and murmuring to him. She heard a shout from her left and whipped her head around. The second red-headed boy had joined up with them. Where were all these red-headed boys from?
"Mum! It's me, George. You know me. Come on Mum." She felt the air leave her lungs and her heart stop.
"Fabian?" She gasped. "You're dead. I saw you die. You died to save me." She choked out. The boy who looked like Fabian froze all the blood draining from his face. The tall blonde wizard took a step forward brandishing his wand. The first redhead boy yelled something she couldn't catch as she stumbled backward as she was hit in the chest by something heavy. She heard a roar of anger and more shouts of stupefy from both of the redhead boys.
"Can't you see she's ill?!" yelled the boy who looked like Fabian. She struggled to hold onto something and she screamed out for Fabian as she was plunged into darkness.
Molly woke up shivering on the cold hard floor. She huddled her body into a small ball in case anyone tried to 'kick her baby out.' The room was drafty and cold and very very dark. She could see the outline of something across and to the left of her but she wasn't sure what it was.
She held herself tightly in her arms and wept. She wasn't really sure who she was weeping for, Fabian? Prewett? Lucius? Her abominable father who was forcing her to marry a fellow dull ginger. She squeezed her arms and sniffled again. She stopped when she heard the scurrying of feet.
"Hello?" She croaked. "Is anyone there?"
The dark room was silent and held no reply. She suspected someone cast a silencing charm, probably Death Eaters. Maybe it was Lucy's father, she felt panic rise in her throat as she remembered the positive pregnancy test. Her hands went immediately to her stomach to protect her unborn child. Would Abraxas Malfoy really kill an unborn child? Lucy would never allow this if he knew. Which meant he didn't know and no one knew where she was. She was probably in the cells Lucy had told were below Malfoy Manor.
Fearing for her unborn child she retreated to the corner and held herself tightly rocking back and forth sobbing for herself and for her child. Her father had been right no good would come from her and Lucy's union.
Only death.