Fred and Sarah both jolted sitting up straight as possible no longer facing each other. Both of them feeling mortified by being found in this situation by Fred's twin brother George do to the fact that neither had expected to be interrupted like that. Sarah's face was a bright shade of red that matched the twins' hair perfectly, but Fred on the other hand was playing it cooler than she was able to pull off.
"Hey bro," he said acting like he was fixing his shirt for no apparent reason. "How did things go in the store tonight?"
"Not as interesting as things going on up here I'd say," he teased his brother with a bit of smirk. He noticing Sarah not looking him in the eyes and avoiding any eye contact with him that was possible, which meant she was most likely embarrassed being caught making out with Fred, but he knew it was because she was more shy than she let on most of the time.
"Yeah it was getting pretty interesting up here till you had to come in and ruin it," he said jokingly to his brother as he put a hand on Sarah's shoulder to comfort her a little as she was looking at him with the 'Just hex me now' look on her face. He gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.
"Sorry about that bro, but I gave you enough time or so I thought," George replied as the walked into the kitchen. "It's five minutes till midnight, I figured Sarah would have left by now."
"Five minutes till midnight?!" Fred and Sarah both said at the same time as Sarah jerked her head around to look at George in complete shock of the time. She looked at her watch. "Oh bloody hell Sirius will go bloody mental if I'm not home in five minutes. I told him I'd be home no later than midnight." She looked at Fred sadly, not really wanting to go again. "I need to get back or I'll have the whole Order out looking for me the moment it turns even a second after midnight."
"Yeah I need to get some rest anyway," replied Fred and then sat back and looked over at her, deciding it might be okay to tease her just a little, in a playful way, as he always liked to do. "All that kissing made me a little tired."
"Yeah I bet that would tire anyone out," teased George openly, snickering a little as Sarah's face turned bright red yet again.
"Why don't you go jump in the lake bro," replied Fred throwing a cushion at his head, but missing when George dunked so it wouldn't hit him; instead, the cushion hit the wall behind him.
"I think you're the one that needs do to that," he replied. "It might cool you down." They all three started to laugh now and Sarah smiled at Fred; nothing had really changed between the three friends other than Sarah and Fred now being a couple. This made Sarah a lot happier to know that the strong bond of friendship was still there between all three of them.
"I really do have to go," she stated looking at her watch again. "Though I really don't want to leave." She stood up and smiled sweetly at Fred, knowing he understood exactly how she felt.
"Look on the bright side," Fred replied as he stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You'll get to see me tomorrow when you come here to have lunch with me."
Sarah smiled at Fred's words; that was the bright side she needed to hear. "I'll be here that's for sure," she replied and kissed his lips quickly and then smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow then." It was with those words that Fred let go of her and pick up her cloak helping her to put it on.
"I'll walk you down stairs," he said to her, knowing he couldn't give her the goodnight kiss he would like with George in the room.
"Goodnight George," Sarah said as she and Fred walked over to the stairs. "It'd tell you to not give Fred a hard time over this but you wouldn't listen to me anyway."
"You got that right," George said with a laugh. "I'll be giving you both a hard time over this for awhile." He smiled and added, "Goodnight Sarah and owl Fred when you get home that way we know you made it there safe." He, like everyone else, worried about her as well since her mother's murderer had escaped Azkaban.
"Will do George," she said as she and Fred walked down stairs. Both quite silent till they got to the storeroom when Fred finally broke the silence.
"I want you to Apparate right to Sirius'," he said looking concernedly at her. "I could never handle it if anything bad ever happened to you."
Sarah was very touched by Fred's level of concern and smiled lovingly at him. "Don't worry," she replied. "I better go now before Sirius throws a fit." Though she would have given anything to stay there with him. It wasn't often that she felt this level of happiness with all the bad she had dealt with in her life.
"Yeah," Fred said almost awkwardly. Then he leaned in, kissed her softly on the lips, and smiled to himself when she kissed him back. He wrapped his arms around her in a loving embrace, not wanting to let her go.
After a few moments, Sarah pulled away. "I'd better go now or I'll never leave," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Then turned opening the door to exit through the storage room's backdoor. "Goodnight Fred."
"Goodnight Sarah," he said as he watched her leaving then with a pop, she was gone and he closed the door back making sure it was locked.
Sarah arrived back at Grimmuald Place just moments later, trying her best to sneak in without anyone hearing, but the screaming pictures weren't helping her. Closing the front door silently behind her as she walked softly yet swiftly up the stairs to her room, unknown to her what awaited for her there.
Opening her door quietly and making sure, she closed the door behind her softly as to not wake anyone up, though she was sure most already were with the shrieking photos on the wall until screaming words loudly that she could care less to hear.
"It's about bloody time," a voice said coolly from behind her as she faced her dresser in the dark, causing her to jerk around only to see Sirius lying on her bed as a light came on shinning the with just a enough light for her to see him. "I was about to come looking for you myself."
She smiled and shook her head. "Sirius you worry to much."
"So you going to tell me who the bloody hell you went out on a date with or not?" he said looking at her as he sat up.
She walked into her bathroom as she answered him. "I told you it was with someone you know," she teased him a little.
"Bloody hell just tell me," sounding a bit more irritated than usual, probably from worrying all night.
"Fine I'll tell you," she answered back rolling her eyes. "After I've changed." She closed her bathroom door and changed into her nightclothes.
She looked in the mirror and smiled happily. My life seems to finally being good, for the first time in a long time, she thought to herself as she looked at the happy person staring back at her in the mirror. She tightened her robe before turning and opening the bathroom door, walking back into her room.
"Well?" said Sirius as soon as the door opened. He was not going to give up so easily and was determined to get his questions answered no matter what excuse she came up with to not tell him.
"I went out with Fred okay?" replied Sarah finally, knowing there was no way around this conversation. "You have to swear not to say anything to my dad. You know how he feels about the Weasley's and I need to break this news to him personally."
A smile spread across Sirius' face, perhaps because he was happy for Sarah or maybe because he knew this news would send Snape over the edge. "I'm happy for you," he said with a bit of a smug look in his eyes. "It's about time really and don't worry you know I won't say anything to him if you don't want me too." He was now standing with his hands at his sides, trying hard not to look so smug.
"Thanks Sirius," she said as she threw her arms around him hugging him tightly and he returned her hug as the smug feeling of what this would do to Severus faded and a warm feeling took its place. "I just need to figure out when and how to tell him." She pulled away then smiled up at him.
"Now get to sleep you have work tomorrow remember?" he said to her as he smiled back. Part of him had always wanted her and his son Ricky to get together but he was…well no one really knew where he was. The last time they had heard he had gone to Egypt for the Ministry of Magic.
"I'll go to sleep as soon as you leave," replied Sarah with a smile, trying to hide a yawn that had finally made its way out of her.
"I'm going," he said as he walked towards the door. "Goodnight little Paws." Though she wasn't so 'little' anymore and he hated to admit that she was growing up.
"Goodnight," she said with a smile from being called 'little Paws'. Paws was a nickname given to her by Lupin and Sirius because she could transform into a white wolf cause of her Guardian powers but she also was an Animagus which meant she could transform into an animal, from her being a witch, and her animal was a white tiger. She had become an Animagus before she had gotten her Guardian power of transformation. Actually, the power to change into the white wolf was still very new to her and she was still having some trouble with it. It seemed she could do it only a few times when she wasn't trying, but when she tried to do it on purpose, it was more of a disaster than anything else.
The next morning when Sarah awoke, she seemed to have a weird feeling that something wasn't right about today, but what it was or would be she didn't know. It was almost as if something inside her was warning her, but she didn't think much of it. She ate her breakfast kind of faster than usual so she wouldn't be late for work (though she had not overslept at all). She didn't say much to Sirius or anyone else, thought she was sure they could sense something was wrong with her.
It was at work that the feeling grew stronger inside her. Kingsley had told her that they had to go quickly for the Minister (of Magic) had told him that a source told the Ministry about suspicious activity in an old abandoned building not far away; they had to leave at once.
"Sarah," Kingsley began. "I tried to get the Minister to find someone else to go on this, but he assured me that it wasn't needed. I didn't want you to go on this to be quite honest. Truthfully until Bellatrix is caught I think you should do paperwork in the office to be more safe."
"Kingsley, I'll be fine," she stated calmly. "I am an Auror and I don't want to 'hide' in the Ministry like a spineless coward doing paperwork. You know me better than that! I would rather be out here kicking Death Eater ass and you bloody well know it!"
Kingsley couldn't help but laugh a little at Sarah's reaction, though he hadn't expected any other reaction from her. "I know," he chuckled and changed to a more serious tone. "but there are some of us who worry about you, like Sirius and myself. I talked to your father about him trying to talk you into taking it easy, but he said you would never agree and even if you did, you wouldn't be impossible to live with. I know he's right, but promise me if things get to dangerous you will get out of there at once?"
"Kingsley! No, I won't promise that," she said in a very stern voice, trying to keep her tone low and calm. "My job is dangerous at times and I will not run away with my tail between my legs! I'm sorry, but I can't promise you that." Seeing the look in Kingsley's eyes, she sighed. "Look I'll be careful okay? I promise that much at least."
"Alright," he agreed, knowing there was no winning with her. Then mumbled something that sounded like "stubborn" and something else she couldn't understand. "Just be careful. We should go now."
Sarah nodded in agreement and they both Apparated to just outside the abandoned building, far enough so they would not be heard. "I have a bad feeling about this place," she whispered lowly to Kingsley.
"Me too," he said as they walked clear to the building that was all boarded up to the point there was no way of looking in. "We need to get a peek at what's going on can you use your Guardian powers and get us in there without being heard?" He know if they Apparated inside, that they might be heard.
"Maybe," she said. "I can use my transportation power to get us in there, but I'm not that good at it yet." She hoped she could do this just this once without messing up. She closed her eyes to focus on sensing what was going on inside the building. All she was able to feel was movement from a few people, and what she assumed to be some shipping crates perhaps inside the building. She crabbed Kingsley's arm and transported them behind some tall wooden crates where she had sensed no movement. They could hear voices talking; maybe three people, two for sure.
"I think I should use my telepathic powers to talk with you so we're not heard." she whispered to him; low enough no one else could hear or so she prayed. He nodded his head once. "I'm going to peek around through the crack between these two crates to see if I can see anything," she said telepathically to him.
She saw someone a masked Death Eater talking to another one. So there is at least two of them for sure then, but then where did the other one go? she thought to herself. "There's two, but I don't see anyone else," she said to Kingsley telepathically for a second time. "I think there's one more, but I don't see…" before she could say another word a voice spoke from behind them, as they were both facing the crates. Sarah quickly jerked her head around, her wand tight in her hand.
"Bellatrix," Sarah said in somewhat shock of the women standing there with her wand pointed at them. For a moment, a not so distant memory flashed through her mind. She was somewhat amused to be facing her here and now.
"Looks like they sent the wrong Auror… or for me, I should say the right one," Bellatrix snickered evilly glaring, almost happily, into Sarah's eyes.
Kingsley was standing next to her with his want raised and held tightly in his hand. "Sarah get out of here now!" he demanded furiously.
"No, I won't!" Sarah replied not taking her eyes of the women that had been her mother's end, a fire of hatred burning deep within her eyes shinning brighter and brighter with every passing second. "I have a plan, well part of one. On the count of three blast the boxes behind me," she said telepathically to Kingsley, her eyes still fixed on the murderer in front of her. "The other two Death Eaters are headed over in this direction. One of the crates should hit at least one of them and you can take the other out while I distract this bitch."
"Always the brave one aren't you?" Bellatrix snorted, asking Sarah with an evil glint in her eyes. "Daddy won't be here to save you this time."
"One……..two….." Sarah was counting to Kingsley telepathically while listening to the women who had killed her mother and almost killed her not to long ago.
"Yes that's right," Bellatrix said with an evil smile on her face. "Daddy's far away under the Dark Lord's orders. And now the Ministry has sent his little girl to the one place he doesn't want her to be, right in front of the women who will be her end."
Bellatrix's words seemed to push Sarah father into a burning, almost out-of-control, sense of rage. "I don't need my father to save me," she said aloud to Bellatrix, hatred feeling every word. "I can protect myself!" She glared at Bellatrix and then spoke to Kingsley telepathically again, "Get ready." she said just a second before speaking aloud again, "I hate to break it to you but today's not going to be my end! Now Kingsley!"
Kingsley, with his wand pointed towards the boxes behind them (unnoticed to Bellatrix until now), took his queue, and sent the crates flying and just like Sarah had predicted one of the crates knocked the Death Eater on the left to the ground just in time. The other however, pointed his wand at Kingsley, whom was now on his feet, Sarah beside him still glaring at Bellatrix not daring to take her eyes away from her even for a moment.
"You little bitch," Bellatrix shouted just before sending a spell flying at Sarah who dodged it by just a few inches.
"I'm not the same little girl you knew before," Sarah stated just after she sent a stunning spell flying at Bellatrix. "I'm the youngest Auror ever that's been excepted as an Auror at the Ministry. I won't be taken down so easily anymore!" Bellatrix blocked the spell, which caused it to hit a crate nearby. "You escaped Azkaban once before and caught, you will be again………by me!" Sarah shot another spell at her.
"Oh yes and I almost killed you that time as I recall," Bellatrix pointed out, in what Sarah felt was an almost gloating sounding voice that made the rage inside her burn even hotter than before as the hatred grew stronger.
"The Dementors should have given you a little kiss this time," Sarah replied blocking Bellatrix's spell. "They let you off to easy the first time, if you ask me; thinking you would give them Sirius. Then again they think he's guilty of a crime he never committed!" She shot another spell at Bellatrix while Kingsley and the other Death Eater were still dueling. Though Sarah worked for the Ministry of Magic she often despised their way of doing things; they could be so dense sometimes.
Bellatrix gave an evil laugh before blocking the spell. "They thought I would break if they just put me back in Azkaban," she replied. "I just strung them along to by myself enough time to escape again to finish what I started." Bellatrix sent a green stream of light at Sarah.
"I don't think so!" Sarah dodged it before it could get close enough, but fell over a crate behind her, landing on her back as she sent a blocking shield in front of her.
Just then about a dozen Auror's Apparated into the building. Bellatrix and the Death Eater that had been dueling Kingsley both saw and Disapparated out of there instantly before anyone could stop them.
Kingsley quickly ran over to Sarah making sure she was hurt, part of him fearing she was…no he couldn't even think the word. What would he tell Snape? The Ministry would have hell on there hands… "Are you okay?" he asked, as he looked down at her, praying she was alive. Sure enough she was fine and he retch out his hand to help her up. A few sighs of relief had come from the newly arrived Aurors once Sarah was on her feet.
"No, I am not okay!" she shouted sounding more than a little irritated. "Bellatrix got away!"
"We'll get her next time don't worry," Kingsley stated, knowing sadly there would be a 'next time' something he didn't like. "I just need to know that you're not hurt."
"I'm physically fine," she said as she jerked away from him and stepped over the crate she had fallen over and mumbling something about her plan failing because she fell; calling the crate 'a stupid piece of crap'. She walked over to the Death Eater still unconscious under the wooden crates that Kingsley had blasted over.
"At least we got one of them," Kingsley said, trying to make Sarah feel a little better, though in his heart he knew that was a long shot.
"Yeah, but not the one I would have like," she said still sounding irritated as she kicked some of the broken crates away from the Death Eater's body, not really caring if she kicked him or not.
"What I don't understand is how you all knew to come here," Kingsley said looking at Tonks, a fellow Auror and friend, as he looked around at the eleven other Aurors standing in the room. "I mean the Minister said the two of us was all that was needed."
"That's what he thought too," Tonks replied, almost cheerfully, smiling brightly and adding, "That is before Sarah called to me telepathically telling me she thought there was going to be trouble. I went straight to the Minister and we gathered up who we could at a moments notice and got here as soon as we could."
Kingsley smiled looking over at Sarah. "And when were you going to tell me that? After I had a bloody heart attack thinking I was going to get us both killed?!" he asked her feeling a bit shocked that she had kept this little bit of information from him. "For that matter when did you do that? I thought we were both going to get our bloody asses kicked to death!"
This caused Sarah to laugh a little as she stopped moving the broken pieces of the wooden crates off the Death Eater's body. "Oh around the moment I sensed more than two Death Eaters," she answered nonchalantly as she looked up at him with a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Sorry I left that part out, but you know me. I only tell the parts of the plan that I feel needs to be known at the time."
This was all to true and anyone that every worked with Sarah knew that. Kingsley was never sure if he should be angry with her for doing stuff like that or impressed since it always seemed to work in the end. "Yes, I know," he said to her as the other Aurors all started helping to remove the broken crate pieces.
Sarah leaned down to remove the mask from the unconscious Death Eater, to find out who the Death Eater was. "He's still unconscious," she stated to the others. "Now lets see who we have." She picked up his wand with one hand, then handed it to Kingsley and then pulled the Death Eater's mask off. "Albert Westins." She shook her head as she said his name. I should have known or at least sensed it was him." She stood up and looked at Kingsley, then pulled him away from the others. She spoke in a voice that only he could hear her. "I've seen him before at the house. He visited my father a few weeks ago while I was there. He told my father that he was joining Voldemort. I'm thinking that the suspicious goings on here, whatever they might have been, that was told to the Minister had something to do with Albert proving to Voldemort that he was loyal to him."
"Most likely," Kingsley replied after a moment of silent thoughts. "Well have to tell Dumbledore about this. Also the Minister, but I don't think you should tell him the full story, you know why."
"I know just what to tell him," she said just as lowly as she had before. With the Minister of Magic living in the land of denial about Voldemort being back it was best to 'edit' a lot of things that happened.
"You two," Kingsley said pointing towards two of the Aurors nearest the Death Eater's body. "Apparate Mr. Westin right away to the Ministry. I'm sure the Minister will want to have him taken to Azkaban very soon. The rest of us should get back to the Ministry quickly."
They nodded and each grabbed an arm and Disapparated with him. The others followed quickly leaving just Tonks, Kingsley, and Sarah behind, as Kingsley had planned it.
"Tonks could you inform Dumbledore about what happened?" Sarah asked her. Tonks' hair was a bright shade of red, short, and spiky today. Like Sarah she was a Metamorphmagus as well, being able to change her appearance without a wand or potion. "I know I won't get a chance once I get to the Ministry and he needs to know right away what has happened."
"Of course," she answered with a smile. "I'll go at once." She Disaparated just as Sarah said "Thank you Tonks."
After talking over what they would 'say' to the Minister Kingsley said, "We should get back," as he looked at her. She nodded and they both Apparated back at the Ministry of Magic building, prepared to tell.
The meeting the Minister didn't go as well or as shortly as Sarah would have liked, but she patiently answered all his questions, only lying when she had no other choice. Though explaining what the Death Eaters were doing there was more of a challenge than one would have thought; trying to leave out any word or hinting at all, to Voldemort being back.
After the Minister had spoken to Kingsley alone, he called her into his office to get her side of the events. She explained word for word that there had been three Death Eaters there and one was Bellatrix, which made the Minister give her a non-believing glance since he had been saying they were no longer in London. Sarah reassured him that it was her, but she was probably far away as possible and he agreed, which was good on her half. After going over the 'edited' version of the details that happened, the Minister asked her some other questions that took her by surprise, well somewhat by surprise.
After speaking with the Minister about everything, he wanted to know, she was allowed to leave. She knew he did not believe Voldemort was back so some things were better left unsaid and that made her sad for the wizarding world she loved. The 'interrogation" she had gotten from the Minister had made her somewhat tired. It felt like it was never going to end, but it finally did not a moment to soon.
It wasn't until she and Kingsley were back in her office talking, about what had happened and the Minister's stupidity, that she noticed what time it was. "Oh bloody hell!" she said in an almost exasperated voice, her brain feeling a mix of worried, panic, and somewhat of a freak out mode. "This is bad!"