Bridget spent the remaining time they had before the move practicing, hanging out with Ron and Hermione, and spending nights with George. Despite the laughter and levity that often filled the Burrow and the shop, things were beginning to feel real, they knew soon they were going to be on a dangerous mission but they were going to be helping keep one of their closest friends safe. The night before they were to depart for Surrey, George slept with his arms tight around her, head buried into her chest, fearing what may happen the next night.
Everyone who was taking part in the mission met at the Burrow the next day, Molly making them all dinner for good luck and when they walked outside Hermione gave her a nod, "Nobody's been able to catch you. Light up the sky for them."
"I will." She smiled back faking some confidence, everything before this was a controlled environment.
George came up to her taking her hand in his, "You can do this Bridg, I'll be waiting for you back here."
"I know." She looked up at him, gaining more confidence. He leaned down and kissed her, holding her there before slowly pulling away.
"Be safe." He whispered, trying not to show how worried about her he was.
"You too." She stroked the side of his face, "Give them hell."
"I will." He said not letting go of her hand until they were on Harrys front lawn.
When Harry opened the front door Ron came in and hugged him. She came up to him after Hermione had finished hugging him, Harry hugged her tight, "Missed you."
"Missed you too Harry." Bridget squeezed him before they were all rushed inside by Mad-Eye.
Harry got reacquainted with everyone before he heard what was going to happen. As Mad-Eye explained Bridget saw Hermione slowly and awkwardly moving to be behind Harry and she suppressed a laugh, both of them had said Harry would hate this plan but he was the youngest so he didn't have any say. She laughed at Fred and George when they tried to help calm Harry down about it. He still protested and Hermione ripped some hair out of the back of his head, causing a smile to form on hers and the twins faces. Those who would be taking the potion lined up and she watched as they passed the flask down the line, all of their bodies starting to change. Once they had changed Fred and George looked at each other, "Wow, we're identical."
Fred looked to her trying to make it seem like he was George, something he'd always wanted to do since she could tell them apart, "Bridg, whaddya think, love?"
"You're short. I don't like it. And don't call me love Fred." She smirked as Mad-Eye dumped a bag of clothes on the ground.
"How'd ya know it was me?" he asked.
"You should have waited til you changed clothes." She pointed at what he was taking off, "You prefer yellows and oranges, George likes purples and reds."
"Try telling us apart once we get changed." Fred smirked.
"I won't even look at any of you until you're back to normal." She rolled her eyes with a smirk.
"Haven't got anything more sporting, have you?" George asked.
"Yeah, seems Bridget is right, I don't really fancy this color." Fred followed up with.
"Well you're not you. So shut it and strip." Mad-Eye almost growled.
George muttered, "Not the person I want to hear that phrase from."
"Just change would you?" Bridget laughed at them all.
The real Harry came up to her while changing, "So are you paired up with George or something?"
"No, I'm a free agent." She sighed, "We're hoping they see me and leave most of you all alone."
"What?" He almost yelled, "What if they get you?"
"They won't." Remus smiled, putting an arm around her shoulders, "She's trained all summer and can out fly all of us and dodge spells. She's going to be just fine."
"Be careful." Harry looked at her.
"Don't worry, you won't get rid of me that easy." She smiled, "We're in this together remember, I'm sticking around to see it through."
Harry smiled at her as Mad-Eye finished explaining the plan. Once everyone was ready they all went outside and mounted either a broom or Thestral and prepared. Bridget pulled out her wings and stretched them out, the brooms were to be ahead of her unless they got into a battle so that she could keep an eye on all directions. Harry and Hagrid were behind her on the motorcycle and she turned to Harry with a smirk and a wink. He laughed at her and then his smile went away as she was in the air and they were right behind her.
Bridget focused on the sky in front of her, watching for any sign of an attack. The pairs on brooms in front of her disappeared into the clouds and she saw what looked like lightning flashes right before she passed into the clouds. She almost stopped flying for a moment from sheer panic and being overwhelmed but she pushed it from her head, cutting across a Death Eater on his broom, catching his attention. She shot fire at others and they began to chase her, shooting curses at her and she avoided them. Unable to even see anything of her companions other than flashes of them as they passed each other. She had about twenty Death Eaters on her now but she was able to keep them at a distance. She noticed in her peripheral a Death Eater aiming at Mr. Weasley and shot a stream of fire at him, knocking him off of his broom before he could curse him.
George only saw Bridget in brilliant red and orange flashes, but it meant she was still there and still alive, which comforted him. He could hear the Death Eaters screaming about how great of a reward they would get for bringing her to Voldemort and that made him fight harder, just to keep her safe.
She could tell they were getting angrier at the fact no one had been able to touch her in any way as the battle went on. Drawing most of the attention now as some of the Order had been able to make it through. The Death Eaters were becoming more reckless on their pursuit and began running into each other in an effort to cut her off. They changed their tactics and split up, half of them coming around in front of her. She had to shoot up into the sky. As she turned her wings up she felt a sting as a spell hit her feathers. Bridget let out a yell but didn't stop, she kept flying through the pain, it stung, hell it even burned but she couldn't stop. As she flew, narrowing her body to create some distance between all of them she looked around. None of the Order members were there. Had they made it? Had they been killed? She had been so busy trying to keep the massive amount of Death Eaters away she hadn't been able to see anything but them.
Deciding it was time to get out of there she looked to make sure none of the Death Eaters were near her and as she moved to a clear spot to apparate she heard a spell being cast behind her and an immense pain coursed through her right wing as she began to fall from the sky.
Harry ran up to Ron and Hermione in a hug and when he pulled away he looked at them, "Bridget?"
"Bloody brilliant she was. Had at least forty Death Eaters on her tail, out flying and attacking them all." Ron smiled.
"She should be here soon." Hermione hoped trying to reassure Harry. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her because she was protecting him.
Fred and Mr. Weasley arrived and when they didn't get an answer about where George was they ran to the house, the others following them. Remus felt horrible looking at George as he joked with his brother. He was supposed to keep him safe and yet he had almost died while they were together. George looked around the room and he saw pretty much everyone was there. He looked to Remus, "Bridget?"
"She'll…She'll be here soon I'm sure." Remus was nervous. She shouldn't have been far behind Tonks and Ron or Arthur and Fred. Remus asked, "Can you tell if she's close?"
"No." George answered, "She's learned to control her energy withdraw so I can barely feel it now, can't tell how far she is."
Bill told them all about Mad-Eyes death and the room was silent, most of them now fearing the worst for Bridget. No one knew what to say. The sound of a pop happened outside and they heard whimpering and pained cries. Hagrid was the first one out, followed by Remus. Hagrid came and lifted her up, "Bridget, what's wrong?"
"Expluso I think. Right into my wing." She whimpered, "Caught me right as I was about to leave. I fell from the sky.
Remus came around to the other side, he saw her right wing was blackened, singed and scarred. He was afraid to touch it. He didn't want to hurt her, "How did you get away then?"
"I apparated before one of them could get me." She looked at him, "Lucky I had enough strength to slow my speed."
"Let's get you inside." Hagrid began picking her up, making sure to avoid her injured wings.
"George, get me to George." She muttered and Hagrid did as she said.
Everyone moved out of the way of the man and George tried to sit up to go to her but his head wouldn't let him. As soon as she got into arms length of George she reached out her arm, taking his hand as Hagrid set her down. She was on her knees, head rested on his shoulder, and he felt her taking some of her stored energy from him. The pain subsided slightly and she looked to his ear, running her finger down the skin in front of the cut. She smiled, trying to help him not be worried, "Now we can qualify you as devilishly handsome."
"Thanks." He laughed, putting an arm around her waist as they laid there. Everyone began to disperse to recover from the night except Fred as Molly and Remus began taking care of their wounds. They were quiet as Molly cleaned the blood from his face and Remus put a salve gently on her wings after using a numbing spell. George was holding her head to his chest, his thumb stroking her hair both of them glad the other was alive at least. Fred sat on the floor his back against the couch and looked at Bridget, "I should have called to you when we were leaving, to let you know…it's how you got surrounded."
"Shut up." She muttered, "It would have distracted me then they might have gotten to close."
George pipped in, "Freddie there was so much going on you didn't even know I'd been hit. There was no way you could have been able to call for her, you didn't even know you were the last ones there."
"I let my guard down the second I thought I was home-free." She opened her eyes to look at Fred, "That's on me not you."
"No it's on the bastard that sent a curse at you." George rubbed her head, "Same with the one that got me."
"Yeah I guess you're right." Bridget responded and Fred followed with an agreeing sound.
Remus and Molly listened to the three of them, glad that they weren't blaming each other or themselves. Molly was finished with George before Remus was done and she looked at the two of them, "Do you want me to make space for the two of you to rest together? You need to remain close to him to help you heal faster right Bridget?"
"Yeah I do. I don't want to make things difficult though." Bridget answered.
"Nonsense." Fred stood up, "If you two need to stay close we can push mine and Georges old beds together and they can sleep there and I can take the couch or something."
"Hermione could take Bridgets bed in hers and Ginnys room and you could take Percys old room, we cleared it out for the wedding." Molly replied.
"That works." Fred answered and George and Bridget smiled, they weren't going to be given any options. Fred began to stand, "I'll help you get the bedrooms settled mum."
George poked her, "Don't complain or say they don't need to do that, love. Mum won't have it any other way."
"Alright." She sighed. Remus smiled at her.
"You were brilliant out there Bridget. I was very impressed and proud of you." He told her, "And I was pleasantly surprised at how focused George remained with you flying about. He did a very good job too. You should be proud of him."
"I'm always proud of him." She squeezed George's side and he smiled, "I'm glad you both kept each other safe. And Remus, there's nothing you could have done so if you feel bad about his ear stop it. As I said it makes him devilishly handsome now."
Remus couldn't help but laugh a little at her, "If you insist."
Once he was done treating her wings Remus put her on his back and carried her up the stairs to the bedroom, moving slowly not to hit her wings on anything, while Fred helped George with Molly following them. Once they were in the room they laid down on the bed, her leaving her wings out. Remus looked at her, "We'll contact MacRose about your wings tomorrow to find out if there's anything more we should do for them and if they're safe to put back. Get some rest. Both of you."
"Okay." They both mumbled, their eyes already closed.
Fred, Molly, and Remus left the room, lowering the lights and George slid an arm under Bridget, who had to sleep on her stomach because of her wings, pulling her over to lay on his chest. He opened his eyes enough to be able to see her and lifted her chin to kiss her. He separated their lips, "You scared me."
"I scared me." She replied honestly, "I felt the sting and started to drop and all I could think was to get back to you and it worked."
"I'm glad." He kissed her again, feeling relief that he had somehow helped her, "I'm glad all those hours of practicing paid off, that you weren't captured, that you're here and not somewhere lying alone in pain, glad that I'm your bondmate so that I can have you in my arms tonight, I'm-"
"I'm glad you're alive." She cut him off, "I didn't know which Harry you were and I couldn't even look around enough to try and figure it out. When I realized everyone was gone and I was all alone, I tried to keep the worst thoughts from coming into my head. I'm glad it wasn't true."
"Me too, for both of us." A tear slipped out of his eye, he'd been so scared when she didn't show up and there was nothing he could have done to find her.
"And then to get here and see you covered in blood…" Her hand gripped his shirt and her voice shook, "I was so scared I was going to lose you and then to see that I almost thought I had for a moment before you reached out to me." He held her tighter as she began crying into his chest. "I've never been so scared in my life."
George took her chin and kissed her deeply. He had been so worried about her that he forgot how worried she was about him. Wiping her tears away as he kissed her he truly realized why he couldn't go with her to hunt the horcruxes. She cared too much for him and she would worry about him so much he would just be a distraction to her. As much as they loved each other, her mission would be easier without him around. As hard as it would be for him to not be with her, it would be better that way, probably for both of them. He whispered, "I'm not going anywhere, you don't have to be scared for me anymore."
"I'll be scared for you until he's gone." She said back to him, her eyes sad.
George kissed her again, "You don't need to be scared tonight, nothing's going to happen. So rest so that wing will heal."
"Okay." She nuzzled up to his chest, "It shouldn't be too hard with my favorite pillow."
"Always happy to help." He smiled as they both drifted off to sleep.