Triggering content, viewer discretion advised.
It was mid-November and things weren't looking too good for the Order but they still had enough hope. The werewolves were now joining Voldemort, the amount of Death Eaters on the streets was increasing and overall the wizarding world was the unsafest it had been in fifteen years. Madeleine was sure that the Death Eaters were slightly noticing that muggle-borns, especially children, were vanishing into thin air and to say they were angry was an understatement.
Meanwhile at the Ministry, Madeleine had fully gained Scrimgeour's trust and next to Percy, she was the Minister's right hand so he suspected nothing. The one who did was Umbridge, who Maddie and even Percy found trying to break into the blonde's office multiple times but her magic was too powerful to be taken down by the old hag. Fred hadn't questioned her late night returns nor her unexpected disappearances in the middle of the night anymore but everytime she went out he couldn't push away the feeling of anguish that took over him.
"Fred darling you know I absolutely adore you but get out of my kitchen because you and mess always come hand in hand," she laughed when he went inside while she was cooking dinner in his flat.
"Technically it's my kitchen," he raised a brow and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed.
"I'm the one who cooks for you and George and Liz so it's basically my kitchen, now get out before I hex you," she said sweetly and he scurried away to join George in the living room knowing that a Madeleine hex was no joke.
Lizzie came inside dragging her feet through the front door, her healer uniform covered in blood and by the look on her face she had been crying. George immediately stood and helped her sit down on the couch where Fred and Maddie sat down as well.
"So I lost a patient today and it was all my fault," she sighed and burried her face into her hands as George stroked her back soothingly.
"I'm sorry Liz, want some wine? That usually makes me feel better," Maddie said.
"Something stronger, do we still have tequila or fire whiskey?" she asked and the blonde nodding, going to the kitchen to take an almost empty bottle of fire whiskey.
"What was it?" George asked her.
"Lacerating curse but it was darker than the normal one, we couldn't get the wounds to close," Lizzie answered.
"Do you think it was Death Eaters?" Fred inquired.
"If it was a darker curse, more than the Lacerating Curse already is, then most likely," Maddie said handing Liz the glass with amber liquid.
That night, Madeleine had to go to another meeting with the Order of Fawkes. Dumbledore looked rather ill and his hand was looking worse than last time but he didn't answer her questions regarding the story behind his injury. Remus was still with the werewolves and Sirius was now back from spending almost a month in Germany to give a report from his mission, so thankfully she didn't feel as alone as in the meetings when he wasn't there.
"Madeleine, what is the report with the children?" Dumbledore asked the girl from his seat at the head of the table.
"Everything is going like planned, in total I've already moved seventy-eight from the ages of five through nine but it'll be more complicated with the younger kids since their parents are more protective of course," she explained.
"Very well, keep up the good work," Dumbledore smiled.
"Another thing sir, I believe the Death Eaters are getting suspicious," she said lowly, the other six men around the table looking back at her.
"Yes, yes, you are correct but we must not stop," said Dumbledore calmly. "The children that you are moving Madeleine, are the future of the wizarding world and they are just as valuable as any other witch or wizard whose lineage is pure, they must be saved from enduring a terrible fate by the hands of Lord Voldemort and the death eaters."
"Yes sir, I'll keep moving them Professor," she said and the meeting was dismissed.
Maddie returned to the twins flat and went straight to Fred's room where the redhead was sleeping peacefully. After putting on one of his jumpers and a pair of fresh underwear she got into bed with him which made him stir awake. The blonde laid on her side and instantly he turned around and wrapped his arm around her waist, his hand going underneath her jumper to hold one of her boobs as his face rested on the crook of her neck, legs tangled together under the sheets.
"What are you doing?" she chuckled when his large hand squeezed her breast gently.
"Getting comfy so I can sleep," he yawned and nuzzled his face closer to her neck.
"Why is your hand in between my boobs then?" she raised a brow.
"Because they're soft and squishy and warm and I like holding your boobs," he smiled against her skin.
"Whatever helps you sleep cause I'm tired and I don't want to hear another word coming from your mouth," she shook her head and pressed her back closer to his chest.
Time was flying by as the eleventh month of the year was coming to an end which meant that Madeleine's birthday was around the corner. Besides the fact of not being excited about turning nineteen, everything going on with the war and her increasing worry for both Clotilde and Harry only soured her mood. Work and both of the Orders were driving her crazy and the only thing she wished for her birthday was a day of peace, but Fred of course had other plans.
The morning of November 27th, Fred woke up first with the blonde wrapped in his arms. "Wake up love, happy birthday," he smiled and peppered her face with kisses.
"No, it's too early and it's Saturday," she grumbled.
"You're nineteen, you've gotten old," he chuckled and poked her face with his finger until she opened her eyes.
"Shut up, I don't wanna be nineteen," she whined and buried her head on his chest again.
"So I had this dream and it was pretty weird," he trailed off.
"What was it about?" her eyes opened again, sparkling with curiosity.
"Well, you were pregnant and we already had one baby so that one was our second one," he mumbled not expecting the reaction that she had had.
"Really?" she grinned.
"So are you pregnant?" he teased.
"No Freddie, I can assure you I'm not pregnant," she chortled and melted into his touch as he cupped one of her cheeks with his hand.
"It was a nice dream," he said quietly, staring deep into her eyes.
"I bet it was, maybe in a future when the war is all over we can you know, have one," she smiled softly.
"Do you mean that?" his eyed lit up like a kid's in Christmas morning.
"I do, but we'll keep using the charms meanwhile," she laughed.
"You looked pretty with your baby bump and all, we were happy," he beamed.
"We will be happy and one day we'll have a family, but not now," Maddie said tracing his features with her fingertip. "I just think it's a bit unfair to bring a baby to the world under the circumstances we're living in."
"I know, you're right but I'll hold on to that 'in a future,'" he said solemnly.
"Not to gloat or anything but we will have the prettiest babies in the entire world," she winked.
"That would be an putting it lightly, they will be absolutely perfect love," he smirked and in a swift motion he switched his position to hover on top of her. "What do you think if we start practicing now huh? Take it as an early gift considering that you'll get more tonight."
"Practicing you say, I like where this is going then," she bit her lip, her breath hitching as he began to trail kisses down her neck but before he could lift off her jumper the door opened making the two of them groan at the interruption.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" George, Alicia, Liz and Lee yelled as they came inside.
"Go away, we're in the middle of something here," Fred groused.
"I came all the way from Scotland to be greeted like this? Unbelievable," Lee huffed.
"You two can shag later, let's have some cake now!" Alicia squealed and led the rest out of the room.
"You know, if we apparate to your place now we can skip all of this and I can get to eat something that the two of us will enjoy more than cake," his lips ghosted over her ear making her shiver.
"As much as I would like to, Alicia and Liz will kill us and I don't fancy dying on my birthday so let's go have some cake and then we can spend the entire day together at my place," she pressed a soft kiss on his lips and got out of bed.
"Fine but you're getting punished tonight for leaving me all riled up," he winked at her as they were getting out of the room.
"Why am I being punished if it's my birthday?"
"I don't hear you complaining when we're at it," Fred smirked,
"You're in public now and we have no interest in knowing your depraved plans for this evening," Alicia fake gagged.
"You're all too boring in the sack," Fred joked.
"That's what you think," George smirked.
"George," Lizzie hissed and swatted his arm.
"Well at least you're getting any, the only thing that has been keeping me from losing my mind is that vibrator you got me for my birthday," Ali said to Madeleine.
"That is information I really could have died happily without knowing," Fred shook his head and sat on the couch.
The rest followed and sat either on the couch or on the floor holding presents as Lizzie placed a cake on the middle of the coffee table. "Did you make the cake?" Maddie asked eyeing the messy frosting handwriting.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lizzie scoffed and sat on George's lap.
"Well, last week I tried your attempt of pancakes and got food poisoning so-"
"We bought it Madeleine," Liz rolled her eyes.
"After you burnt the one we tried to home bake," George snickered.
Madeleine was curled up with Fred on the longer couch as she opened the gifts they all got for her. Liz and George had gotten her a new pair of earrings, Lee came up with the usual weed and liquor stash and at last was Ali since Fred wanted to give her his present privately.
"This is a brilliant gift Ali, thank you," Madeleine laughed pulling out a dildo from a black box.
"They didn't have orange so red was the closer I could get," Alicia laughed.
"She won't have to use that you know, I keep my girl more than satisfied," Fred gloated.
"Fred, I would really appreciate if you could stop exposing details about our sex life to our friends," Madeleine shook her head.
"Well I rather hear about it this way than when you don't use a silencing charm," Lizzie said.
"George and I have already seen you two at it so nothing can surprise me by this point," Lee shrugged.
Molly insisted on having a small party for Maddie that afternoon in the Burrow and despite Fred's attempts to get off the hook from going, they ended up in his childhood home that evening. Molly had prepared a small feast with Madeleine's favorite dishes including her famous chicken and ham pie and her strawberry ice cream. The small party was delightful even though there were only a few people and the Weasley Matriarch was more than glad to see Fred and Madeleine on good terms again.
When they were allowed to leave, George and Lizzie gave the older twin and Maddie a knowing look before they disapparated back to the twins' flat while the other two went straight to Madeleine's. Once their feet were on the ground, Fred picked Maddie up bridal style and carried her over to her bedroom, gently setting her on the bed before kissing her lips tenderly and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well now that's just the two of us, I thought it was time you get your first gift of the night," he smiled and pulled out a small box from his pocket.
"I've told you a million times that you don't need to get me anything Freddie," she chuckled as he handed her the box.
"I know but I like getting you things love, now go ahead and open it," he beamed. She opened the small red box and inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was a dainty white gold necklace with small diamonds encrusted into the petite north star that stood on the middle of the thin chain.
"Fred this must have costed you a fortune, this is too much," she whispered still admiring the delicate piece of jewlery.
"Nonsense, let me put it on for you," he said softly and clasped the necklace around her neck, pressing a gentle kiss on her shoulder before cupping her cheek with his hand. "Now we have matching stars," he beamed.
"I love it, thank you," her lips brushed against his, "thank you for making every day extraordinary."
Fred finally connected their lips together, both his hands cupping her cheeks pulling her closer to him, kissing her so passionately as if it would be the last kiss they would ever share. They started taking the other's clothes off and throwing them around the room, the kiss becoming hungry and lustful but the love laced with it never leaving the other's lips. Once their clothes were gone, Fred couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate Madeleine's naked body on the white silk sheets, her hair scattered on the pillows like a halo.
"You are the most beautiful woman on the planet," he said as his eyes roamed over her dainty figure, leaning down to hover on top of her and trailing kisses all over her skin, "no one could ever begin to compare with you, let me show you how much you mean to me."
They spent the rest of the night tangled under the sheets, sweaty bodies moaning the other's name repeatedly like a symphony. The sex that night was different than what it usually was between Fred and Madeleine. It was passionate, tender and loving as they relished in the love that they shared, their souls becoming one under the faint glow of the moonlight.
*****
The crisp December air arrived accompanied by below zero temperatures and plenty of snow that Madeleine was not enjoying at all, but she couldn't deny that the streets actually looked pretty all covered in white. After her birthday, something in Fred and her's relationship changed and even thought they kept repeating to everyone else that they weren't a "thing", the two of them knew differently.
Things took an unexpected twist the afternoon of December 6th when the blonde left the Ministry later than usual. It was a almost nine o'clock when she left the store that was near the Ministry after getting some much needed essentials before heading to an Order meeting in the Burrow. When she left the store, she began looking for a dark empty alleyway so that she could apparate when someone seized her from the back and pulled her into one, pressing her against the cold brick wall and restraining her arms.
"You know that a pretty thing like you shouldn't be walking the streets alone these days," said a masked death eater with his wand pointed at her heart. "Your aunt will be very happy to see you and so will the Dark Lord, great plans await you, but maybe, we should play a little before I deliver you to them."
"Get off of me," she tried screaming but the man moved one of his arms to cover her mouth.
Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through her veins, maybe it was fear but with her now free hand, Madeleine was able to reach into her pocket where she kept her wand hidden as the man in front of her tried to fumble with the button of her pants. She couldn't think clearly, her brain was completely clouded with a mixture of emotions and the only thing that came into her mind was an old transfiguration spell her father had taught her when she first got her wand.
She thought of the spell and without thinking it twice, she stabbed the man on the heart with her wand whose end had transfigured into a knife. The mask of the man came off and she couldn't recognize him, looking into his eyes she pulled her wand out of his chest and with one wave of her hand, his body camouflaged with the color and texture of the alley making him almost invisible as he bled to death alone since she had already disapparated from the scene.
"Wands out it can be an intruder," Moody growled and took out his wand, the rest of the Order doing the same but Fred and George.
"That's not an intruder you can literally hear the heels clicking," Fred rolled his eyes, "I doubt Bellatrix will come and kill us all wearing four inch heals."
"You're late," Sirius said without looking from the document he was reading but moved his gaze when no one said a single word only to see everyone staring at Madeleine in shock, the latter who was pale and covered in blood.
"Mads, love are you hurt?" Fred was the one to snap out of the shock first and hurried over to examine if she was injured but she only pushed his hands away from the crimson stained blouse.
"It's not my blood, I did something bad, really bad," she whispered and looked back at the rest, "I think I killed someone."
"What?" George's eyes widened.
"A death eater, I don't know who he was I had never seen him before but her seized me from behind and pulled me into an alley and he said that Bellatrix had sent him to get me and then he said he wanted to "play" with me but all of you know what that means and I panicked and didn't know what to do so I conjured a knife with my wand and stabbed him and then I panicked again and put a disillusionment charm on him and left him there and I think he's dead," she said rapidly.
"Where did-"
"Heart," she looked back at her godfather, "I killed someone and I don't regret it, what the fuck is wrong with me?"
"What were you even doing on the street by yourself Maddibear?" Sirius asked, "you could have apparated straight from the Ministry."
"Because I needed tampons so I had to stop by after work to the shop to get that and a couple more of things and when I was leaving the store before I could look for an alley to apparate he pulled me into one!"
"We need to get rid of the body, I never thought I would ever say that if I'm honest," George mumbled.
"It's my mess so I'll clean it up," she nodded
"I'm not letting you go there on your own, I'm coming with you and we'll bury it somewhere," Fred whispered.
"It's better if we set it on fire, that way there's no evidence of what I did," she blurted and all eyes went back to gaze at her quizzically. "What? I don't want to go to Azkaban!"
"Let's go," Fred muttered and took her hand, the two of them leaving the house and apparating to the alley where the crime was previously held.
"Can I just ask why are we all so calm about this?" Timothée said.
"I have no clue, did something happen that all of you are not telling us?" Bill asked.
"During the first war," Sirius cleared his throat, "some members of the Order were in favor of using dark magic to fight dark magic, like the use of unforgivables-"
"I still think that Philippe was right," Moody growled, "you can't fight a fiendfyre with water and what the girl did was self defense."
"It is still morally wrong Moody, when you take a person's life something changes in you," Kingsley retorted.
"Well, I don't particularly agree with using dark magic but if Madeleine hadn't done it You-Know-Who and Bellatrix would be torturing her to instanity right now, and not to add the part where that disgusting pig tried to touch her," Molly said before standing up to put a large kettle on the stove.
"I would have done the same thing if I'm honest," Cressida spoke for the first time that night. "My sister is not one to play fair, she never was and by getting rid of the source there is no way of Bella knowing the whole story of what happened."
"Your Black genes are shining through Cress," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Shut it Sirius, you know deep down that what she did to defend herself was the only way and let's not act as if all of us in here are innocent to hurting people for self defense. Maybe not as far as shedding blood in that way but if it comes to keeping my children safe I will gladly do it and I know that Molly thinks the same thing. None of you in here are mothers-"
"You have a hard time acting like one-" Timothée said under his breath only loud enough for George to hear.
"- and if I have to kill my sister myself to keep her away from Madeleine, I will do it."
"C'mon, I'll get you home," Fred sighed as he and Madeleine finished getting rid of the man's bloodied body in complete and utter silence.
"I want to be alone actually, if you don't mind of course," she let out a breath she had been holding.
"I don't want to leave you alone but if that's what you want-"
"Should I be feeling guilty about this?" she asked turning around to meet his eyes.
"I don't know, it was self defense after all but I don't know."
"Do you hate me?"
"I could never hate you, it was self defense and he tried to touch you so he had it coming. I would have done the same thing if I was there and anyone tried to touch you without your consent," Fred said softly, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead.
"I never thought myself capable of physically hurting a person in that way, I don't know what took over me," she muttered against his chest. "And now everyone in the Order probably thinks that I'm a psychopath or something."
"They don't think that, I'm gonna head back to the meeting and you need some rest," he said and waited until she had disapparated to do the same thing.
Madeleine arrived to her living room with a loud crack and before doing anything else, she walked to the cuboard to take out a half empty bottle of tequila and taking a swing from it, welcoming the unpleasant burn into her throat. She went into the bathroom, still with the bottle in hand, took off all of her blood stained clothes and tossed them in the bin as steaming hot water filled the bathtub. She got into the hot water and downed the remaining liquor from the bottle, her eyes closing relieving the memory over and over again and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't feel the slightest amount of guilt about it.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked as he and Maddie sorted through some Ministry papers in her office a couple of days later.
"I'm doing just great," she said sarcastically, well knowing that she in fact wasn't since she had been ignoring both Fred and George and everyone else in the Order since what happened.
"You don't look great," Percy looked at her and noticed the dark bags under her eyes.
"Percy do you know if we can drink during work hours?"
"I'm pretty sure you can not," he huffed. "Are you coming to the Minister's New Year's dinner?"
"We don't have a choice do we?" she rolled her eyes.
"You have to bring a date you know," Percy said.
"I know, Fred's coming with me," she shrugged.
"I still do not understand how you can keep up with him, Frederick and George have the mental ages of five year olds," he said.
"You haven't talked to any of them in two years, people change Percy," Madeleine snapped.
"I doubt they have-"
"Why do you have such a hard time admitting that you miss your family?"
"I do not miss any of them," he scoffed.
"You'll regret it one day, pushing them away for that long."
"It's none of your business you know," he looked back at her.
"I know it isn't, but you don't have friends who will tell you things straight to your face so that's what I'm doing."
"So are we friends then?" he raised his brows, "I don't think my brother will be happy about that."
"Contrary to your beliefs, Fred doesn't hate you. None of them actually do, they just miss you and your big head," she smiled. "Well, I'm all done with these so I'm gonna go get lunch and you can join me if you want."
"Fine," he said hesitantly, "but no talking because you talk too much and it annoys me."
"Alright, I'll be as quiet as a bowtruckle then," she grinned.
For the next couple of days, Madeleine couldn't stop thinking about that night. The night when she took someone's life. The night when she took the light from someone's eyes and even though she tried to feel sorry she simply couldn't. The feeling of the knife's blade slowly digging into the man's chest and the surprised look on his face as he fell to the ground, blood puddling on the pavement. It felt almost exciting and that is what scared her the most, knowing that if given the chance and the circumstances she would probably do it again with no remorse.
She arrived to the next Order meeting and sat next to Fred, taking his hand into hers under the table. Maddie could tell that all eyes were on her since everyone knew that she felt no remorse whatsoever about taking a life. Cressida could see the evident resemblance between her oldest sister and her daughter in that moment but unlike in any other circumstances, she didn't feel afraid. After getting tired of the stares, the blonde cleared her throat an crossed her arms and looked at everyone around the table.
"Look, I've been doing some thinking about what I did and let's get one thing straight before I say anything else, I don't regret it. He was about to not only abuse me but also take me to Bellatrix and You-Know-Who and that made me as good as dead. And now to my second point of the evening, if we want to win this thing we have to get our hands dirty, like it or not. It's the only way and subconsciously you all know it, you are all just too naive to admit it out loud. Do you think they are not going to kill us at any given chance? Because they will and we have to kill them before they get the chance to do us," she said bluntly and exchanged looks for the first time in a long time with her mother, knowing that she was also thinking the same thing even if the rest but Moody weren't in favor of doing so.
AN: sorry for robbing y'all of smut again but it usually takes me a while to write and i didn't have as much time. three more weeks and i'll be done with school so expect plenty of chapter coming once i'm done with my last final! the reason why i wanted to write this is because Madeleine will have an epiphany later on so her hurting someone is important for that. hope you're all doing well and remember to tpwk <3