Chapter 4

"You're sure this is the place?" Remus whispered.

"Positive." Moody growled back.

"But we can't get in until Dolohov comes back?" Arthur questioned nervously. It was just after 9:00pm the next day, or rather-night, and the four that had met were hidden in the shadow of the looming trees on Occultus Street, waiting for their target to return. In response to Arthur's question, Moody looked at Lupin, who had been tracking Dolohov all day. He nodded

"The house doesn't appear until he's in front of it and vanishes the second he's in it." He said in his quiet, faltering way.

"So how-?" Arthur began, but he was interrupted by Dumbledore,

"Don't worry, I will make sure the house does not vanish." He reassured the ginger man "It will work."

"There he is!" Remus hissed softly, pointing to a man striding through the dim streetlight. Like the Weasley's descriptions, he was tall, burly, and had the beginnings of a beard. However the hat he wore on his head shadowed the rest of his face so they couldn't see if it was the twisted shape. The man looked both left and right, but didn't look behind him at the trees, before pulling a pale brown and sharp-looking wand out of his sleeve. Arthur saw Dumbledore raising his own wand at the same time out of the corner of his eye. Then Dolohov swooped his wand in a sort of trail that left a glow in the air in front of him and out of no-where, a tall black forboding house seemingly shot up out of the ground and Dumbledore muttered something while slashing his wand in a downwards motion. As Dolohov entered the house and slammed the door, it glowed pure white and the house seemed to flicker, but remained solid.

"Brilliant, Albus." Moody shook his head "Absolutely brilliant. Now, let's see what we can, well, see!" he led them forward to the house and they soon found that they could position themselves just under the front right-hand window without being seen.

"Won't any muggles think this a bit, um, queer?" Arthur whispered.

"I doubt they can see the house, none of them seemed to notice a thing when I saw this before." Remus replied, also in a whisper.

"Albus, you're the tallest." Moody gave something near a grin at the excitement and tension surrounding them. "What d'you see?"

Dumbledore straightened up slightly and looked in.

"He's pacing." He said "He keeps looking at the clock as if waiting for something."

Arthur clenched his fists to try and stop them from shaking. He hadn't told any of them about the second letter he'd received earlier that day, or it's content. All he had done was insist, almost plead, that they be there before 10:00pm. Now Lupin stood on his tiptoes and also peeked in, pushing his slightly tangled hair out of his eyes in order to see better.

"He's waiting for something...and hoping it won't happen." He murmured. Suddenly, the night's silence was sharply broken as the nearby church bell began to toll. 10:00pm.

"Hey, that's exited him!" Moody pointed. Dolohov had leapt to his feet, looking at his clock as though Christmas had come early.

"We need to go in. Now!" Arthur fought to keep his voice calm, yet urgent.

"Too right." Dumbledore pointed his wand at the door as they approached it, and it flew open with a CRASH!

"No!" Dolohov came charging through as they pushed through the entranced and shot spell after spell at them, the first few only blocked by Moody's lightning-fast shield spell. Remus was the first to retaliate, shooting a stunning spell which Dolohov flicked away with a lazy air, sending it smashing into the wall behind him. Then his icy eyes fell on Arthur and his twisted face contorted further as he sneered. "Should've known I'd be seeing you!" he spat "Come to save your twins, hey? How...PATHETIC!" on his last word, he shot a jet of green light straight towards Arthur, but the force of the protective spell Dumbledore threw up in the nick of time nearly knocked everyone off their feet. Then with a snarl, Dolohov spun his wand to Dumbledore, but before he could utter a word, Moody roared,

"OH NO YOU DON'T, S**M!" his spell caught the Death Eater off guard, sending him toppling backwards, and within seconds, both Remus and Arthur had fired ropes from their wands that wrapped around Dolohov and trapped him. His wand clattered from his hand and through he struggled, it was no use. Moody kicked the man's wand away and dragged him to the main room, the one the four had been looking into, and flung him into a chair, pointing his own wand right at Dolohov's face. "One move." He breathed "And I will not hesitate."

"You think my game's up, don't you?" Dolohov's eyes glittered dangerously "You think it's all over for us, all of us. But it's not. The Dark Lord will come again-"

"Spare us your ravings." Dumbledore glared down at him. "Where. Are. They?"

"Why don't you find them yourselves?" Dolohov did not look pleased at having been interrupted in his little speech. Dumbledore glanced at Remus and Arthur, who understood the silent order and went through the stained door on the right, which led into an equally dark corridor.

"Lumos." Remus murmured and light flooded the narrow corridor.

"Look!" Arthur rested his hand on a barely visible door that was almost perfectly moulded with the wall. In fact, if Remus hadn't been facing in that direction when his wand had illuminated, they would have missed it altogether. "How do we get in to this?" Arthur muttered, tapping the door with his wand. He tried Alohomora, to no avail.

"Hang on. Arthur, can you hold a light so I can try something please?" Lupin moved towards the door as the other man cast the lumos charm and pointed it at the door. Then, raising his wand, Remus copied the pattern Dolohov had used to get into the house and, sure enough, the door sprang out and solidified with a sucking sound. He turned the handle, the door swung open, and a rush of freezing air hit them from this inside.

And there, huddled in the corner and holding to each other in fear, were Fred and George.

"Boys!" Arthur ran in and flung his arms around them.

"Daddy!" they cried as they hugged him back and burst into tears, tears which had obviously been held back for a while. Arthur had dropped his wand, so Remus lifted his high and filled the room with light as the twins were assured by their father they were safe.

"It's ok, it's ok." Arthur kept saying "Daddy's here. You'll be ok." Then he turned to his companion and Lupin could see the immense relief in his face. "Remus, I don't think I can carry them both and we need to get them out of this cold." When Remus nodded, Arthur hugged his twins again, then asked softly "George, I can't carry both of you at once. Do you mind if Lupin takes you?" the twin rubbed his eyes and shook his head, so Remus gently picked him up, letting the toddler's tired head fall onto his shoulder as his tiny tears fell. When Arthur lifted Fred up, the twins reached out and grasped the other's hand, as if seeking reassurance they were together.

"I bet they've been doing that all this time." Lupin said softly, looking down at little George and Fred.

"Thank goodness they were together, though." Arthur murmured as they left the room and re-entered the corridor. "If they weren't...who knows?" he broke off to re-tell his sons that they were safe as they whimpered at the -what was to them- harsh light of the main room. Dolohov growled in anger at seeing them and the twins cried out, though Fred more in mingled anger and fear, and George just in plain terror as he tried to twist away from their captor, dropping his brother's hand in the process.

"Hey hey, it's ok; we've got you." Remus reassured him, tilting his chin up to wipe away his tears. He partly listened to the other three confronting Dolohov on his motives, but when George turned his head to look at Fred again, something caught Remus' eye. "George...what's this?" the boy turned to look at Lupin again.

"W-What's what?" he asked. Lupin gingerly brushed a finger over his left cheek, but George still winced and his twin reached for his hand again, calling his name.

"Wo-What is it, Freddie?" his father looked down at the toddler he was holding.

"Arthur..." Remus had moved slightly more into the light and could see clearly now what he had seen before "You might want to take a look at this..." Confused, Arthur moved closer to look, but when he saw the dark, hand-shaped bruises on George's cheek, his expression changed to pure fury. He turned back to the smirking Dolohov, shaking in anger.

"You. Hit. My. Son!" he yelled, more as a statement than anything else.

"Something you obviously don't do enough!" the Death Eater retorted, but Moody swished his wand and robbed the man of his voice. Dumbledore, meanwhile, placed a hand on Arthur's wrist.

"Contain yourself." He said sternly "Anger never healed anything. This man will get all he deserves in Azkaban, we know that. Now, may I suggest you and Remus take these two home? I will come as well, and Alastor-"

"I'll take care of this." Moody jerked a thumb at Dolohov.

"Good." Dumbledore nodded when Arthur suddenly said,

"Dumbledore, if you wouldn't mind...I mean, if its convenient..." he trailed off as he looked at Fred and George again, then said quietly "I-I don't want them growing up with this in their memories, so..." Dumbledore held up a hand.

"Of course." He nodded "Of course. I should have thought of it myself." He gently tapped the twins on their foreheads, and within seconds, they were asleep. Then he pointed his wand at them and murmured, "Obliviate"

Fred and George's eyelids fluttered slightly, but they didn't wake up, and Arthur looked even more relieved.

"Thank you so much." He said, hugging Fred closer and kissing George's forehead. "Thank you."


It was late. And Molly was worried. Glancing again and again at the clock, which still showed Arthur as being at work, but now the twins were with him. Suddenly, there were two loud cracks from outside, and Molly rushed out to see Arthur and Remus Lupin coming towards the house, each carrying a twin. Behind them was Dumbledore

"Fred! George!" she cried rushing out. Then with a mother's eyes, she immediately noticed George's cheek and took him from Remus. Arthur put a finger to his lips, but he was smiling.

"They're asleep." He said softly "And won't wake up until morning, hopefully."

"Thank Merlin..." Molly gently kissed Fred's forehead, so so glad that they were safe. "And thank you so much." She said, addressing Lupin and Dumbledore.

"No problem." Remus replied, looking around as if unsure of what to do.

"Molly, all that matters is that they are safe." Dumbledore smiled and went on to tell her about the memory charm. "The last thing they will remember is going on the walk with you."

"They won't remember meeting that man?" she asked anxiously.

"No." Dumbledore reassured her "And I think it may be better for them that way. I confess, I do not know if time may cause the charm to waver, but their childhood will not be marred with this."

"Thank you, Dumbledore." Molly gently ran a finger over the bruises on George's cheek, wondering which spell would be the most effective. "And thank you, Remus." She added, glancing up at him. Lupin gave a little shake of the head, as if to say it was nothing, then both he and Dumbledore waved goodbye before turning on the spot and dissaparating away. Molly and Arthur brought their sons inside and carried them up to bed, Molly staying for a while to heal George's cheek. Then, just before she left the room, the twins stirred and without waking, reached out for each other's hands, which they grasped tightly. Molly just smiled and whispered, "Sleep well."


A/N :3 ...I love sweet endings. Can you tell?