Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

77.

The Order members sat at the kitchen table while still in the silence they had been in when the memory had begun. Tonks was twisted in her chair to watch the three men with their faces plunged into the Pensieve, biting her lip nervously as they didn't move or even change postures throughout the whole process. The light that reflected from the Pensieve's surface lit up the ceiling of the kitchen right from when the memory had started, but Tonks watched as it suddenly started to fade and leave the kitchen in it's natural lighting. She stood from her chair when she saw Albus, Fred and Remus slowly pull their faces up from the basin. Kingsley, George, Mad-Eye, Arthur and Molly looked up at Tonks' movement and watched for any form of reaction from the three men.

Tonks was glad she had stood up from her chair because Remus stumbled backwards and would have fallen to the floor in a heap if she hadn't caught him. His face was pale and slick with sweat, hands shaking as he held them out in front of him to steady himself. Tonks grabbed his elbows to guide him into the chair she was occupying before placing a comforting hand on his back with a concerned expression.

"What is it Remus? What did you see?" she couldn't hide her panic but wanted to sound calm and comforting. She didn't want to overwhelm him but he didn't seem to be listening. He only stared down at the floor between his dress shoes. Tonks looked up to Dumbledore and Fred who stood around the Pensieve for some sort of explanation.

"Freddie, what is it?" Molly called and stepped forward while wiping her hands on her apron.

Fred had nearly fallen to the floor too but had been able to keep his posture before he had crumbled like Remus had. He gripped the doorknob behind him that led into the hallway and clenched on to it like it was his life source. The tears that had fallen down his face while in the memory had been real, meaning they were on fall display for his family and the Order to see. He made the move to wipe them away with his sleeve but the damage had already been done with Molly rushing over, worried to death at the state of her son who usually never cried.

"I-I'm fine..." his voice cracked almost childishly as his mother approached him with her handkerchief. George decided to stand also and came up behind Molly, looking at his twin with a confused yet just as concerned expression to his mother's.

"It is as we suspected," Albus spoke up with a grave tone. The Order focused their attention on the man who wasn't smiling or displaying any kind nature that was notorious for Albus Dumbledore.

"They wanted the map?" Mad-Eye confirmed and Dumbledore nodded in answer.

"But Sophia didn't falter," Dumbledore with a small sense of admiration in his voice. "She stayed true until the very end. Remus, if you can find it, you should be proud of-"

"H-How can I be..." Remus glanced up at Dumbledore but couldn't finish, resulting in him burying his face into his hands. His hair hung limply over his fingertips and Tonks pushed it back with her fingers, rubbing her hand in circles against his back.

"What was the mental torture they used?" Mad-Eye demanded again but no one had the strength to scold him for his abrupt tone. Not even Molly who was standing in front of Fred while fiddling with her handkerchief nervously, wanting badly to rub away the tear stains that still covered her son's face.

"I'm not sure..." Dumbledore shook his head as he stared back into the basin of the Pensieve. "It was something I'd never seen before. Miss. Lestrange mentioned that Voldemort taught them this technique. But whatever it was, Mr. Malfoy was the one to perform it on Sophia. And I'm afraid it is... too painful to describe."

Fred stayed silent during Dumbledore's brief explanation and found his knees were starting to weaken once more. He could feel George's hopeful gaze that Fred would maybe pull him aside and tell him what he saw, but he would never be able to bring himself to. In fact, all three of the men who watched felt as if they couldn't explain what they had witnessed. Dumbledore was the only one who had the slightest bit of will power to look over the memory in order to assess the situation, but Fred and Remus doubted they'd ever to be able to talk about it. They had personal attachments to Sophia making it considerably more painful and heart-wrenching. Dumbledore had experience with these sorts of things but even he couldn't fully explain the memory. It was a good decision to have Dumbledore be the third person to watch. They doubted any of the others would be different from Fred and Remus.