We're at war.
It was surreal to think it, and it felt even more foreign saying it out loud. But it was real, and it was happening before our very eyes. Across the country, Voldemort's army of supporters grew larger every day, with report after report of people going missing or turning up dead. Fudge had been sacked, very unceremoniously, and replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour, who had the full support of the corrupt Ministry of Magic, namely Dolores Umbridge. They had begun rounding up Muggleborn witches and wizards for questioning, claiming that they were imposters who had stolen their wands from "real witches and wizards". Snape had been named Headmaster of Hogwarts, a move that enraged everyone, especially when we knew the truth of who had killed Dumbledore.
And in the middle of all of this, we were having a wedding.
The Burrow was alive with activity these days as preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding really began to get underway. I had stayed with Hermione after the term ended, and joined her on the mission to move Harry from the Dursley's home, which went horribly wrong. Even now, weeks later, I can still see the fear in Harry's eyes when he talks about seeing Voldemort flying on thin air, and Bill's flat voice saying "Mad-Eye's dead" echoed in my head. That night, when I was afraid for the life of my brother and the lives of my friends, that was the night that I knew the war had truly begun. And now, as I ascended to the top landing of the Burrow and watched Harry packing things into his rucksack, I knew that he was preparing himself to fight this war on the front lines.
"You're going to leave, aren't you? You and Ron and Hermione?" I said softly, standing in the doorway of Ron's bedroom. Harry looked up at me from his cot and hesitated for a moment before nodding. "We have to find the rest of the Horcruxes, Isa. I have to finish what Dumbledore started." He said, and it almost sounded like he was begging me to believe him.
I walked over and sat down next to my brother, looking up into his face. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Harry. This is what you need to do. You've always done the right thing, and it isn't any different now. Just...promise me you'll come home to us, okay?" I said, my voice shaking. Harry nodded and hugged me tightly, smoothing my hair down.
"I'm counting on you to help Ginny and Seamus and Neville keep things under control at Hogwarts. Snape's been appointed Headmaster over McGonagall, but I still don't know how safe you'll be there." Harry said, looking at me seriously. "Snape disavowed me as his daughter the minute I referred to James Potter as my Dad. I doubt I'll have any form of protection at school this year." I said, shaking my head and leaning it on Harry's shoulder.
Through the window, I could see Ron and his brothers raising the tent that would be the marquee for the wedding in a days' time. "Can you believe we're having a wedding in the middle of all this?" I said, letting out a breathy laugh. Harry rubbed my shoulder, gazing out the window too. "I think we need it now more than ever. Something to be happy about." When we were so uncertain of what was to come, and if we would even be alive tomorrow, Harry had never been more right.
Laying in Ginny's room that night, having gone off to bed early, I heard a faint scratching under my cot. I thought it was a mouse for a moment but when I realized it was coming from my bag, I scrambled for it. Ripping the piece of parchment from the confines of my bag, I hurried over to Ginny's desk, grateful for the moonlight illuminating it. A smile spread across my face when I saw Draco's familiar handwriting appearing on the paper.
"I miss you every day, Isabelle. I want you here beside me. Better yet, I want to run away with you, somewhere where they can't find us."
I grabbed the ink and quill that sat on the desk and began writing, sadness and joy both gripping my heart. "I think about you all the time, Draco. It's so dangerous now. There are days where I wonder if I'll wake up to see the sunrise. But I know you won't let anything happen to me, and I won't let anything happen to you. Also, I hear Majorca is wonderful this time of year, let's go, yeah?" I wrote, giggling a little at the idea of Draco and I running off to a tropical island, leaving behind the Wizarding World and just being together. The more I thought about it, honestly, the more attractive the idea became. A scratching noise brought me out of my thoughts and I watched as Draco's words scrawled across the parchment. "I'll fetch you in the morning. Be safe, love. Just a few more weeks and I'll see you again. I love you, Isabelle."
I heard footsteps on the stairs outside the door and it was all I could do to scribble out a quick "I love you, Draco" before stuffing the paper in my bag as the door opened to reveal a yawning Ginny and Hermione. "Merlin, you're still up Isa?" Ginny said, coming in and quickly changing into her pajamas.
"Too excited about the wedding, I suppose," I said in what I hoped was convincing excitement. The girls began to chat about the fast approaching ceremony as I settled back into my cot, wishing that it would come a little slower. There was a nagging feeling in my chest that this wedding would be the last happy event we would have in our lives for a very long time.
If only I had known how right I was.
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I walked around the crowded marquee, smiling softly at the couples waltzing across the dance floor. At the center were Bill and Fleur, looking newly married and so very in love. It had been a beautiful ceremony, the first wizarding wedding I had been to in my life and there wasn't a dry eye in the room when Bill and Fleur sealed their union. It was inspiring to see two people who could not have been more different fall so deeply and truly in love. In all honesty, it reminded me of Draco and me on some level, and it gave me a little hope for us. If two people like Bill and Fleur, who were practically opposites, could find a home within each other, maybe Draco and I could find the same.
Ron caught my eye, standing at the edge of the dance floor with a scowl on his face. Confused, I followed his eyes and had to hold back a laugh when I saw Hermione dancing with Krum. "These two..." I sighed, walking over to Ron, tapping him on the shoulder. "Feel like dancing?" I asked, letting out a small giggle when Ron looked at me in surprise. "I...yeah, sure. Let's dance." He said, taking my hand and leading me onto the dance floor. We swayed along to the slow waltz and I smiled inwardly, thinking how much Ron's dance skills had improved since the Yule Ball. It was hard to believe that was only three years ago - it seemed like a lifetime.
"You nice tonight." Ron offered, and I smiled at him, glancing down at the light blue tea-length dress I had chosen for the ceremony. "Thank you, Ron. You don't look half bad yourself." I offered, and Ron's cheeks turned a similar color to his hair.
We danced in silence for a few more moments, before Ron spoke up again. "That was a nice wedding, yeah?" He said awkwardly, and I sighed. "Ron, you can cut the small talk. I know why you're nervous around me." Ron stared at me and I continued talking. "I know you lot are going on a Horcrux hunt after this wedding business is finished. Harry told me everything." I said, and Ron looked a little panicked.
"It was his idea, Isa, I swear. We're just going along with his crazy scheme because-" Ron tried to explain, but I cut him off. "Because you're his best friends, and you'd follow him to the ends of the Earth if he asked you to. I know, Ron. I didn't expect you two to try and stop him because when have we ever been able to stop Harry from doing anything?" I said, making Ron chuckle lightly.
"I'm not worried about you three venturing off into the great unknown. You're smart, and if you're not, Hermione is smart enough for all three of you. You're braver than you believe, Ron, sometimes braver than my brother, I think. Just...please come home alive. And in one piece." I added, and Ron looked at me seriously. "I promise you, Isabelle, we're all coming home."
I gave him a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes, nodding at him. I wanted desperately to believe Ron, but in the world that we were now living in, promises meant absolutely nothing to me. Promises were empty words, meant to pacify and not fulfill.
The song ended and Ron and I stepped away from each other, clapping politely for the band as we drifted in opposite directions. Another lively song began to play and the wedding guests began to dance, but suddenly everyone stopped. A silvery blur had flown into the tent, causing everyone to grab their wands. It settled in the middle of the dance floor, taking the form of a lynx. It was a Patronus. The lynx opened its mouth, and Kingsley's voice rang throughout the tent, deep and somber. "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
For a moment, there was silence as Kingsley's Patronus evaporated into thin air, and then the panic started. Guests began to run, disapparating away from the Burrow as fast as they could. Bill and Fleur grabbed each other and disapparated from the tent, following the terrified guests.
I reached under my dress and pulled out my wand, searching around the tent desperately for my brother, and soon I spotted him running towards Ginny. Before they could reach each other, the tent was swarmed by dark masses of smoke that swirled and weaved between the guests - the Death Eaters had arrived. How they had broken through the wards was beyond me, but I didn't have time to dwell on that. I caught Harry's eye from where he stood with Hermione and Ron and I screamed "GO!" before a Death Eater materialized in front of me. "Stupefy!" I cried, pointing my wand at him and watching him drop to the ground.
As the masked murderers appeared from the smoke, the remaining guests quickly disapparated from the party while the Weasleys and Delacours and Order members fought back to defend the Burrow. I was firing spells left and right, disarming anyone I saw in a mask. Then, just as suddenly as they came, the Death Eaters disappeared. We stood there in stunned silence, still on edge as the adrenaline raced through our veins. Fred and George began to lead their stunned parents away from the marquee and back to the safety of the house, and the Delacours followed.
I stared at the destruction around me for a moment, not really able to comprehend what just happened. As I walked through the tattered remains of the wedding in a state of shock I was caught off guard by an abandoned champagne glass exploding next to me. I looked up from the shattered glass and saw Ginny standing in the entrance of the tent, her eyes alight with anger as he pointed her wand at me.
"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" I yelled. "You did this," Ginny whispered, her voice filled with venom as she advanced on me. "You and your Death Eater boyfriend you fucking traitor! You almost got my family killed!" Ginny screeched and I pointed my wand at her. "Ginny, think about what you're saying, and what you're about to do. Don't do something you'll regret." I said as I backed away from her, my wand held firmly in my hand.
"Reducto!" She cried, and I barely had time to jump out of harm's way as her curse hit a table instead of me, turning it into sawdust. "Ginny! For the love of Merlin!" I yelled, and when Ginny didn't halt, I had no choice but to stop her. "Petrificus Totalus!" I cast quickly, wincing as Ginny fell to the ground with a dull thud. I walked over to her, her eyes positively on fire with rage.
"Draco didn't do this, Ginny. The Ministry did. They're under the control of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. I haven't said a word to Draco about where I am in case the wrong people are listening, and he would never put me or the people I love in harm's way - that includes you. Now, if I unbind you, are you going to try and kill me again?" Ginny grunted what sounded like "no" so I quickly cast the counter-curse and helped her up, still wary of her. "I'm sorry, Isabelle. It's just-" Ginny said, but I cut her off, hugging her.
"I know," I said gently. "Things aren't going to be the same anymore. Probably ever again." And I knew that Ginny knew I was right. This was just the beginning of the war and all we could do from now on was do our best to survive - something we needed to be united for, not divided. I knew that the coming months would test our strength and resolve like never before, but I had no idea just how far our limits would be pushed.
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I kept my head low, sitting close to Ginny and Rosie at the Gryffindor table, trying to hold back my tears. The Start of Term Feast was usually a joyous night, full of friends catching up with each other and getting excited about the new school year. This year, however, conversations were quiet and fearful.
On the train ride to school, we had been stopped along the route by a gang of Snatchers and Death Eaters, who boarded the train under mysterious orders. They were taking Muggle-borns off the train and doing god knows what to them. We had all huddled in a compartment together, our eyes squeezed shut and trying our best to conceal ourselves from them. But it was in vain; they had stormed our carriage and taken Elinor.
Rosie let out a choked sob and dropped her fork, covering her face with her hands. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to calm her as best as I could while still holding myself together. "Shh, Rosie, please don't cry. Please..." I said, looking around to make sure none of the new "teachers" had noticed her display. Seamus reached across the table and grabbed her hand, trying to calm her as well. "You know she fought back, Rosie. Elinor wouldn't have gone down easy." Rosie sniffed and looked up at Seamus, wiping at her eyes. "I know. Thanks, Shay. I just keep hearing her screaming in my head."
I buried my face in Rosie's shoulder, trying to hide the tears flowing down my cheeks. I felt a hand on my back and looked up to see Neville sitting next to me. Elinor had always been sweet to him even when others teased her for it, so it was no surprise that his eyes were rimmed red from crying. I laid my head on his shoulder, wiping my eyes with a napkin. "What are we going to do, Nev..." I said, my voice shaking. Neville wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me close. "We're going to fight."
Everyone in the group looked up at Neville, their eyes wide. Not in incredulity at his suggestion, but in fear that the wrong people would hear him. "We're not going to let them scare us into submission. We're not going to let Harry down. I fucking refuse to bow down to You-Know-Who." Neville said in a quiet but firm voice. Everyone at the table nodded, and I smiled at them. "It's time to rally the army."
(A/n: This is it, folks. We made it. The Deathly Hallows. Let the games begin. Thank you so much for reading, y'all! I hope you liked this chapter and if you did, make sure you subscribe to me/add OLS to your reading list/library to get notified every time I update - Sundays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays! Love y'all!! - H xx)