**Maddie’s POV**
A few days after New Year, Ron, Harry and Ginny return to Hogwarts and George and I go home.
“It’s nice to have some space,” I sigh, setting Alithea down on the couch.
“Mmm,” George agrees, falling into an armchair. I sit down on his lap and throw my legs over the arm of the chair.
“It’ll be nice to have some us time, too,” I say, lying my head on his shoulder. He leans down to kiss me. After a few minutes of making out an owl swoops in a drops a letter on my head.
“It can wait,” George mutters, throwing it aside and kissing me again.
“Ouch!” I jump and hit my lip against George’s teeth as another owl drops a letter on my head.
“This is ridiculous,” he groans, rubbing his teeth.
“Let’s put Alithea in bed,” I suggest, picking up the sleepy bundle. We tuck her into her cradle and pause, looking down at her. She’s lying on her back with her light red curls spread over the pillow.
“She’s so beautiful,” I whisper.
“You’re so beautiful,” George says, twisting his arm around my waist.
I kick off my shoes as George and I tumble onto our bed. I feel his lips against mine and tangle one hand in his hair. His hand runs down my thigh, drawing it up around him.
“I hate to break up this party-”
“DAD!” I scream scrambling away from George and blushing deeply.
“George,” Dad says, nodding to George who is looking completely mortified as he does his belt up again.
“Dad, what’re you doing here?” I ask loudly.
“Mad-Eye has sent you at least five urgent letters!” Dad retorts, “we need you, now!”
“Why, what’s going on?” I ask, still not over the embarrassment. In the next room Alithea starts to cry and George, looking grateful, sprints out.
“Greyback has happened,” Dad tells me, “he went wild in a muggle town. The damage is… Catastrophic! Mad-Eye has called for all hands on deck.”
“When you say a muggle town…”
“So far we’ve found fifty dead and sixty children infected,” Dad says quietly.
“Let’s go,” I say. He nods briefly.
“George!” I yell, grabbing my wand off the dresser.
“What’s up?” he says, deliberately not looking at Dad.
“Werewolf attacks,” I reply briefly. He looks shocked.
“Not Lupin?”
“No,” Dad shakes his head, “Greyback.”
“See you later,” I say, kissing his cheek. Dad grabs my arm and we disapparate.
“Finally,” Mad-Eye growls, limping over. I look around and feel sick to my stomach. All around are muggles, crying over mutilated bodies.
“This can’t have just been Greyback,” I breathe, “there’s too many for one…”
“He wasn’t alone,” Remus says, approaching, looking exhausted, “he had at least three others with him.”
“We need to get the bodies out of here and modify the memories,” Mad-Eye says, “as quickly as possible.”
“What of those who survived?” Dad asks. Mad-Eye sighs.
“None of them are here,” he says, “while you were away a dozen death eaters came and took the survivors.”
“No!” I gasp, “that means…”
“He has the werewolves on side,” Remus confirms, “well, most of them.”
“We came as fast as we could,” Charlie says, appearing at my elbow. I glance around to see Fred and Bill running over, looking pale.
“Let’s get to work,” Mad-Eye says.
Without another word we spread out, taking the bodies away from the muggle families and modifying their memories so that they don’t remember the person or people they lost.
“How could someone do this?” I ask Fred as we move the body of a small girl.
“They’re werewolves,” he says, his voice thick with disgust.
“Thanks, Fred,” Remus calls sarcastically. Fred’s expression lightens slightly.
“No offence, mate.”
“Do you think they’ll do this again?” I ask Mad-Eye as we walk through the town, repairing houses that had suffered damage.
“Not likely,” he grunts, “he won’t want the army to be too big in case they revolt.”
“They’re already revolting,” I joke feebly. Mad-Eye glares at me, but doesn’t reply.
“I got the joke,” Fred says comfortingly.
“Thanks Fred.”
**George’s POV**
I sit up with Alithea, waiting for Maddie to come home. Eventually, Alithea nods off in my arms, but I feel completely awake.
“Not Lupin?”
“No… Greyback.”
I shiver at the memory of the look on Sirius’ face. He looked so serious. No pun intended.
“I should be out there,” I say softly.
“There’s not much to do now,” Maddie’s tired voice floats in through the darkness. I gently lie Alithea down next to me and jump to my feet. Maddie walks in, covered in blood and dirt and looking sad and tired.
“Are you-”
“Hold me,” she says, swaying slightly on the spot. I wrap my arms around her tightly. I feel her lean into me. She’s trembling softly.
“It’s alright,” I say soothingly.
“There was so much blood…”
She pulls back, angry tears welling in her eyes.
“It’s not fair!” she yells, “they were so young! They were innocent! This is a wizards’ war! Why can’t He leave them out of this? This is just so STUPID!”
As she yells the last word she lashes out, hitting the photo Fred gave her for her birthday and causing it to shatter on the ground. At the same time Alithea wakes up and begins to cry.
“Why, George?” Maddie asks as I cradle Alithea against my chest, “why does it have to be like this?”
“Come here,” I say, pulling her into a tight hug, “I don’t know why it’s like this, but it is. I know it’s hard, but we’ve just got to fight for what’s right and keep believing everything will turn out OK.”
I feel her head move as she nods.
“Just gotta be strong, huh?” she asks, pulling out her wand, “reparo.”
The picture flies back together and Maddie pick it up and looks at it.
“This is what we’re fighting for.”