I'm going to Wales! So this might be the last update for the week but don't worry, I'm still writing. Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I own my OCs.

~Chapter 2. I steal something precious~

Magenta POV

I couldn't sleep. We received a call from Emephile in the early hours of the morning that the Ministry had been taken over. It was at that point I realised that Ellie wasn't back yet and when we'd gotten through to George we found out that she was in the hospital. The last news we had gotten was that Ellie was unconscious and one baby didn't make it. All of that made it difficult for me to get any rest.

The rest of the house was quiet—everyone decided to get some sleep when it was clear that they wouldn't be home for a while. Grabbing a blanket from the corner of the room, I stepped out into the hall and cocooned myself in the soft material. My chest still felt a little sore from a few months ago and I got short of breath a lot quicker so by the time that I got to the bottom of the stairs I was winded and aching.

With a groan I stumbled forward and would have fallen if someone hadn't caught me.

"Easy there." Albus said softly, guiding me to the sofa.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, sitting down heavily.

"It's almost morning and I wasn't really up that late."

I looked around and saw that the first sign of dawn was shining through the heavy curtains. Rizzo, who had gone late night shopping for baby things, would be back any minute now and hopefully so would Ellie and George.

Al sat close to me on the sofa. "You really shouldn't be exerting yourself so much. You had a long night and you're still recovering from the attack."

"I know. I just couldn't sleep with everything that's going on with Ellie. She's going to need a lot of help and support but obviously we can't make it apparent to her because she doesn't like the fuss."

"She's strong, Gen. You know my dad used to tell me stories about Aunt Charlotte's friend Ellie? Lily loves those stories."

"What stories?" I turned and was suddenly aware of how close he was to me.

"Well stories about the DA and about the time she stood up to Umbridge in the middle of a class. Or about the time she stood up to Draco at the Quidditch World Cup. Or about the time she got hit by a bludger during a match but play to the end anyway."

I laughed. "She actually told me about that one. She ended up in the medical bay for a week."

He smiled at me, his eyes sparkling like he knew something I didn't. "Your mum is going to be fine, Gen, and she knows she's got her family supporting her."

I didn't really have to move much to give him a hug so I moved over and wrapped the blanket around the both of us. The two of us sat like that, huddled in a blanket and talking until Rizzo came back levitating a crib and other baby accessories through the room. She stopped quickly when she noticed us and smiled.

"Gen, you're awake! Want to help me fix up the room?" It never ceased to amaze me how she could keep up a smile no matter what the situation. "Al can help too if that influences your decision."

"Are you sure you don't want to get some sleep? We can set up by ourselves—I'm able to read an instruction manual."

"I'll sleep when mum gets home. Now, are you coming or not?"

xxx

Ellie POV

By the time I woke up the sun was up and shining brightly through the open window. For a second I thought that I'd only slept a few hours but memories started to come back to me in patches and I realised that I'd actually slept right through the previous day. George wasn't in the room but he had left a few painkillers and a cup of water on the bedside table for me. I swallowed them quickly before poking my head next door to see if George was there with the baby.

"Oh, you're up." Rizzo glanced up at me from where she was sitting holding the baby.

"Did you do this?" I said, gesturing to the room. Overnight it had been transformed into a nursery, complete with a crib and a mobile.

"Partially—I fell asleep." She smiled sheepishly. "Al and Gen did a good job though."

I sat down next to her and she passed baby Timmy to me. I gently stroked his head, my hand smoothing down the fine wisps of coppery hair. His tiny hands tried to wrap around my fingers, his blue eyes locked on mine.

"I'm sorry about the second baby." She rested her head on my shoulder. "I know it must hurt."

"It does but you don't have to worry about me. It's my responsibility to worry about you and I promise no matter what happens with Mella, I'm not going to let her touch you."

"I know, Mum, after all you've never let us down before."

xxx

I left Timothy in the safe hands of his older sister and went down to find George and the others. Unsurprisingly they were sitting in the dining room, deep in conversation. I took a steadying breath and walked inside, taking my usual seat beside George.

"Nice of you to join us." Korakov slid a file over to my side of the table. "That's all the information we have so far."

I appreciated the fact that nobody was treating me like I was fragile or breakable—somehow that made things easier, normal.

I thumbed through the file. "This is useless. I know all this."

"Which is exactly the problem." Freya sighed. "Mella has too many secret weapons. The spies she had in the Ministry were probably there for years and we didn't even know about Mum, err, Sofia's true intentions until about a few months ago. They are ten steps ahead in every situation."

"I don't see why we can't call on the help of the other Ministries or at least call your friends down at Naorta?" Harry asked, skimming through another file that was being passed around the table.

"We have, in fact that was the first suggestion that Naorta made when I contacted them but apparently Mella is very interested in foreign affairs. She's got some sort of pack with all the closest Ministries in Europe."

Charlotte groaned. "So we're alone, us against an unimaginable force."

I shook my head. "No, me against my mother, like it was always going to be."

xxx

Anonymous POV

I was surprised that Charlotte hadn't recognised me in the hospital or that she didn't find my disguise suspicious. I guess Mum was right about one thing—the others were blind when they were worried about Ellie.

I peered into my bag to check on my collection. It had been a risky mission, one that would have ended in my death if I had been caught. But you weren't caught. I stood by the bus station and pulled the thing from the bag, holding it to my chest as the Night Bus came to a jolting stop and I stepped inside. Nobody here would recognise, nobody would pay any attention to the person sitting at the back of the bus.

As the Night Bus started to move, I felt another heart beat against my own, tiny and fluttering. I moved the blanket aside and stared down at the sickly, almost death-like face. So Mum was right about another thing too—the child would survive.

Ooooh, a twist! Anyway, I'm leaving for Wales now so I'll update when possible. In the meantime:

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Ella Bells xx