It was late at night by the time Harry had arrived at the Burrow, but everyone was still awake. Their Christmas break from Hogwarts was coming to an end so he was happy he was going to get to spend the remaining time with the Weasley's. However, the moment he arrived he could tell something was off. No one said anything to him, but simple greetings and Harry was afraid to even ask what was going on. Once he inside the bedroom of Ron he watched as his best friend was finishing putting away some clothes in his dresser before shutting the drawer shut with more force than was necessary. Harry had seen Ron look angry and upset and just about every emotion under the sun, but at the moment he just looked exhausted. It was if Ron had just finished running a marathon.

"Have you heard from Hermione?" Ron suddenly asked Harry.

"No, no I haven't." Hermione had been spending this Christmas break with her parents this year instead of them. "I decided not to bother her. I figured she could use a break without having to think about everything that's been going on."

"Yeah." Ron simply responded.

Harry then bit his bottom lip for a second before finally deciding to ask.

"Ron, why do you seem so upset?"

Ron heavily sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "I really don't want to talk about it right now." He finally met Harry's eyes, not knowing that his very own were silently begging. "I promise I'll tell you some other time, just not now."

The message was received. "Alright." Harry agreed.

He then got up from where he was sitting and went back downstairs, deciding to visit with the rest of the family. Bill, the oldest of the Weasley siblings was here, whom Harry really didn't know all that well. He did know that Bill was going to be getting married soon, to a girl that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny didn't seem to like that much as they never talked about her in very flattering terms. Maybe Harry could distract himself and the others if he could get Bill to talk about his soon-to-be wife.

However, as he was halfway down one of the staircase Harry just happened to look out the window and that's when he saw it. Or rather, saw who it was when the smoke-like blackness of the apparation cleared.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry's eyes locked with hers as Bellatrix smiled a sick grin before quickly casting a massive fire around herself which slowly began to circle around the Burrow. Bellatrix began cackling which got the attention of everyone downstairs. Arthur opened the front door and he and Molly both looked out to see what was going on. Before they could even remotely decide on what to do, Harry ran right past them out the door and began to give chase to the woman who had killed his godfather. Revenge was now the only thing that was on his mind.

"Harry, no!" Arthur shouted but he was ignored.

Just then, Ginny too ran out from the house and continued going despite hearing the sound of her mother yelling for to come back. Ginny was wearing her bedtime clothes and a robe but she wasn't about to let Harry go after Bellatrix on his own. For all she knew, Bellatrix could be leading Harry into a trap. Ginny managed to make it through right before the ring of fire around the Burrow completed itself.

By this time, Fred, George, and Ron had all come out of the house and were doing everything they could to fight the flames while Bill managed to get his parents into the living room, telling them that he was going after Ginny himself. Bill then ran out the house and through a path his brothers managed to clear, yelling at them to stay there and keep working on putting out the fire. Meanwhile, running through the tall weeds of grass, Harry ran as fast as his legs could go as he heard the deranged woman chant;

"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black! You coming to get me? Get me! He's trying to get me!"

He finally came to a stop to catch his breath before jumping as someone suddenly ran into him. "Ginny!" He yelled, angry to discover that she had come running after him. "What do you think you're doing!"

"What do you think you're doing!?" Ginny demanded. "Running out here alone!?"

"Come on, stay close to me."

He then took her hand and they began quietly moving forward. It was almost too dark to really see anything. The two of them jumped when they heard the sound of someone apparating nearby, then again, then again. For a moment, Harry began to wonder if there could be a dozen Death Eaters laying in wait to attack them. They kept moving forward until Harry and Ginny now stood side by side on a small piece of grassy land that sat on a small pond of water. Harry gritted his teeth as he now realized what a dangerous situation he had gotten the two of them into. Once he saw Bellatrix, he was blinded by rage and couldn't stop himself from chasing after her.

More sounds of apparating. It now sounded like they were being surrounded.

Unbeknownst to Harry and Ginny, Bill was running his way through the tall grass but in a different direction. He stopped for a moment, so desperately looking around for his sister that he didn't realize someone had been silently stalking him. Bill was then suddenly hit very hard across the back. It was so hard that it knocked him clean off his feet, causing his face to slam right into the ground.

Bill groaned as he slowly rolled over but he was grabbed by the throat and pulled back up. He now found himself staring into the eyes of Fenrir Greyback. He tried to swing a punch but his wrist was tightly caught. Greyback then gave the young man a sick smile before lifting Bill up by the throat as high as the beast possibly could before slamming him back down on the ground. The impact caused Bill to lose a hold of his wand. The wind was completely knocked out of him, Bill's sight was blurry and he could just make out Greyback drawing back a hand and suddenly slashing Bill across the face.

Harry and Ginny both jumped when they heard the sound of a young man's anguished scream.

Drips of blood ran from Bill's mouth and dark red blood now streamed down his face from four long, deep cuts. Greyback stood over him, making a move to finish Bill off when suddenly he was hit in from two spells from behind. Greyback roared as he spun around, seeing Harry and Ginny coming at him, ready to fire more. Deciding that he had done enough damage for the time being, Greyback apparated away.

Both Harry and Ginny ran to Bill's side and gently rolled him over, laying him on his back. That's when Ginny let out a piercing scream of horror when she saw the state of her oldest brother. Bill's face was so bloody that Ginny could barely even tell that it was him.

"Harry!" Ginny screamed as tears streamed from her eyes. "Go get the others!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Percy had arrived back at his apartment. He was currently gathering together all the supplies that he had collected and placing them inside of a sack. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, knotgrass, the powdered horn of a Bicorn, and the shredded skin of a Boomslang. The next part would be the hardest; find someone to take the appearance of. It had to be somebody that people weren't going to exactly miss or like very much because Percy knew he couldn't let that person live. He willed himself to get ready and was about to head out the door when suddenly a snowy white owl he didn't recognize flew through his open window carrying a letter. It then flew over to Percy.

"What in the world?" Percy said to himself.

Hedwig then began to rapidly poke at Percy's hand, showing him that it wouldn't stop until he took the letter. Irritated, Percy snatched the letter away.

'EMERGENCY.'

The words were written in big block letters. Percy quickly opened it up and from the writing he could tell that it had been written by his father.

Percy, please come to St. Mungo's. There was an attack at the house and Bill has been badly hurt. Hurry, please.

His eyes widened in shock. This was something he never would have expected. A big smile then came to his face. This had been the holiday season, maybe somebody had given him a gift and done the work for him.

Once Percy arrived at the hospital, his heart was beating very fast as he was helped up to the floor where Bill was being treated. Down the hallway, on the last room on the left he could see his family along with Harry Potter waiting outside of the room. Fortunately for Percy his father was the first person to noticed he was approaching them all and Arthur moved forward to greet him. His father hugged him tightly, however the others were less the kind as they looked at Percy as if they had just smelled something foul.

"How dare you show your face here!" Ginny then yelled. Percy then looked closer upon the angry faces of his siblings and suddenly realized that his father must have told them all about the discussion they had in Percy's office.

"Now is not the time or the place for this!" Arthur snapped at his daughter then looked back to Percy. "Bill was attacked by a werewolf."

"Like he cares," Ron muttered. Harry looked to all of the younger Weasley's and was bewildered by their reaction to Percy now being here. Of course, Harry was well aware of Percy's estrangement but right now Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny's expressions all had new levels of anger and hurt.

"Is it bad?" Percy had to keep the hope out of his voice. Maybe his oldest brother would die. Maybe this would be one he didn't have to do himself.

"It's pretty bad. Your mother is in there."

"Can I go in?"

Arthur nodded. Percy ignored the dirty looks of his younger siblings as he walked inside the room. He instantly saw Bill lying in the hospital bed, half of his face was heavily bandaged. Molly was sitting in a chair right next to the bed, clutching at her oldest son's hand. "Please don't leave us, Bill. I can't lose another child." She then muttered that last part at least five more times as Percy slowly made his way over to her.

"Mum?"

Molly saw who it was and quickly jumped up, throwing her arms around Percy's neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. Percy returned the hug and the two of them stayed that way for the longest time before Percy finally helped his mother sit back down.

"Bill is going to be fine, Mum, he's strong." Percy knew he had to say that for his mother's sake. "Look, he's breathing normally." Percy then gave Bill a closer look and saw that was true, he was breathing normally. In that moment, if Percy could have let out a string of swear words, he would have because for some reason Percy knew, he just knew that Bill was going to make it through this. Percy placed a hand on Molly's shoulder as they both continued to watch Bill's chest go up and down.

"Bill was so handsome." Molly then spoke. "He was going to get married in the spring." She then shook her head. "Fleur is definitely going to leave him now. She never truly loved him. She was only interested in him because of his looks."

Percy cocked his head as he looked down at this mother, wondering why she would say that. She had spoken Fleur's name with such contempt. Before he could ask what she meant by that the door opened and a healer walked in. Percy slightly frowned and he dug his fingernails into the palms of his hand...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About a minute in a half later, Percy walked out of the room. He only tried to look at his father. The others temporarily put any feelings of disdain they may have had for Percy as they waited for him to give them the news. "You all can relax. Bill is going to be fine. He'll have a few scars, but he'll be alive." They all breathed a huge sigh of relief, grabbing each other in big hugs. Percy slowly approached his father who seemed like he was uncomfortable to be around him now. But his father had wanted to know why he was acting they way he was, so Percy told him.

"Dad, can I ask you a question?" Arthur blinked in surprise as Percy had rarely referred to him as 'Dad'. For some reason, that alone seemed to ease the unspoken tension between them. "Does Mum not like Fleur?"

Arthur sighed as he rubbed his left shoulder.

"Well...she's not exactly your mother's favorite person in the world." Arthur admitted before slapping his hand against his forehead as he realized something. "Oh sweet Merlin. I forgot to send an Owl to Fleur." He then went to move forward but Percy quickly stepped in front of his father.

"No, wait. I'll go tell her. I think that she should be told about this in person, not by a letter."

Arthur relaxed a little. His son had a good point, and also a trip to Egypt would be hard for any owl.

"Yes, yes you're right. Bill and Fleur share a place together."

The smallest smile then came to Percy's face as he was quickly putting together a slight change in his plan. "I just need their address."

Arthur gave it to him.

"Okay, I need to go so I can use Gringotts Floo Network."

"Can you do that at this time of night?" Arthur questioned.

Percy gave his father a look. "I can do anything, I'm the Minister's Junior Assistant."

Arthur bit his tongue and nodded as Percy walked around him. The rest of them all glared at Percy's retreating back.

"Percy's not sticking around. What a surprise," Fred said loud enough for him to hear.

"He graced us with about three minutes of his presence, give him a break." George responded to his twin. Ginny was the next to say something, followed by Ron, though at that moment every single sound to Percy had become white noise.