Almost a week had passed since the incident and there was no sign of death eaters coming to get me. I had dropped Bella off at the joke shop so that Fred and George were around her, I was too paranoid to leaver her alone at home.
Bella was upset that I couldn't trust her to be safe on her own but she was only thirteen, she was still a kid and as her older sister, I had to be responsible. Especially after I went to The Burrow undisguised.
Harry, Hermione and Ron had gone missing. No one knew where they had gone off to. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley worried for them but we didn't know where to find them. Besides, the three of them were of age.
"These are mad times we live in" I heard Elias say from his usual seat behind the counter.
"You're right, it won't be long before the death eaters start shutting down all the shops here at Diagon Alley" I said, dusting off an old pile of books.
"And we will be here to fight against them if they do" said Elias.
"But they're death eaters, they're quite strong Mr. Obscurus" I said.
"They're twits is what they are. Each and every one of them. Let them come, I'm not shutting my shop down anytime soon"
Elias was a brave wizard although he was weakening with age. If I wasn't wrong, he was about 115 years old, almost the same age as Dumbledore when he died.
I lifted the pile of books and stacked them in the bookshelf before dusting my hands together.
"Well I'm done for today, anything else you need me to do?" I asked.
"No no, you can go. Good bye" he said without looking away from his newspaper.
I walked out of the store and made my way to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Their's seemed to be the only shop which was still booming with customers. All the other shops had begun to shut down.
I pushed the door open to see George standing behind the counter.
"Hey George, where's Fred?" I asked.
"He's upstairs with Bella" George said.
I walked up the spiral stairs, the door of the flat was open. Fred and Bella were sitting in the living room on the couch, talking to each other. I leaned against the doorframe and listened to their conversation.
"And then, the prince finally finds the girl whose foot fits the glass slipper. And so they get married and live happily ever after" said Bella to Fred.
"That's it?" he asked, looking intrigued.
Bella nodded.
"That's rubbish!" said Fred.
"What do you mean?"
"Well for starters, how can there be a whole kingdom of people and only one person in it who has a different shoe size than the rest? Secondly, what kind of a prince calls himself in love if he can't even recognise her face?"
"Well it's a Disney story, these things are allowed to happen" reasoned Bella.
"Well they shouldn't! And the one you told me about before? Who falls in love with a hairy beast? That's disgusting, it's like me falling in love with a troll" exclaimed Fred.
"You have no imagination" said Bella, crossing her arms.
"It's not me, it's the muggles. They really do come up with terrible stories"
"Well you yourself told me how cool you thought Mulan was" shrugged Bella.
"Yea, her, and Pocahontas and the frog lady-"
"Tiana"
"Yea Tiana"
I coughed to grab their attention. They looked up at me.
"Oh Alice thank god you're here! Fred just begged me to tell him fifteen Disney stories, I can't sit through another one" Bella sighed in relief as she saw me.
"I didn't know Fred was into princesses" I chuckled, sitting between the two of them and pecking Fred on the cheek.
"Well some of them are cool. But my least favourite one is Aurora. All she does is sleep" said Fred.
"I'm going to George, he's the more sane of you too" Bella said, before getting up from the sofa.
"Excuse me?" Fred reached his hand to his heart in mock horror, his mouth wide open.
Bella grinned at him and then went down the stairs, leaving Fred and I alone. Fred and Bella were very fond of each other, and they were alike in many ways.
"Bonding with my sister eh Weasley?"
"She's just like you" he said.
I leaned my head back and raised my arms over me for a stretch, today was a tiring day at work.
After easing my joints a bit, I looked at Fred who was staring at me, a prominent blush on his cheeks.
"What?" I said.
"N-nothing" he replied, looking away.
Before I had the chance to question him further, an owl bumped into our window. I went over and took the letter from it. I looked at the address and my eyes widened.
"Who's it from?" asked Fred.
"Draco"
"What?"
I opened the letter and my eyes began to widen as I read it. I checked the date to see when it had been sent.
Last week.
That meant that the death eaters were going to be here today.
Possibly any moment.
As if on cue, George, Emma and Bella bounded up the stairs.
"What's going on?" asked Fred.
"Death eaters. Here. Emma and Bella are muggle borns so you can't use your real names. And Alice, we have to disguise the three of you" George panted.
"On it" said Fred.
Fred and George pointed their wands at our faces and soon, I began to feel my features shift around. Just as Fred was done with my face, two death eaters, who I recognised as Greyback and Rowle, apparated at the entrance of the flat. I quickly tucked Draco's letter into the pocket of my jeans and made sure that I had used the charm to hide my dark mark.
"Any of you know an Alice Aster/ Malvolio around here?" asked Fenrir, looking hungrily at the five of us.
"No, never heard of her" shrugged Fred.
"You're two of the Weasleys aren't you? You were at the wedding" Rowle pointed out.
"Well why wouldn't we be? It was our brother's wedding after all" said George.
"And who are these three girls?"
"I'm Nora Earnheart" I said stepping forward, "And this is my sister Be-Bridget Earnheart" I said.
"Blood-status?"
"Pure-blood. Daughters of Merlyn and Ben Earnheart"
"Oh I've heard of them. Died didn't they?" Fenrir smiled his toothy, yellowing smile.
"And what about this one?" Rowle pointed to Emma.
"That's..um..Millicent Bulstrode" George said, thinking of the first Slytherin girl who came to his mind.
"So pure-blood then" said Rowle.
Emma and George nodded.
Rowle and Greyback looked at all of us, as if trying to see if we were hiding anything.
"You ought to shut the shop soon" said Rowle.
Fred and George didn't say anything.
Fenrir kept looking at me, as if something about me looked familiar to him.
"Lovely green eyes you've got there, has your hair always been blonde?" Fenrir asked.
I hadn't realised that Fred had changed my hair colour.
"Yes, I was born with blonde hair"
"Then why doesn't your sister have blond hair?" he asked.
Didn't the fool understand genetics?
"Because my dad was a brunette" I said.
But Greyback didn't look convinced.
"C'mon Greyback, Alice isn't here. I don't know who it was you saw at The Burrow" Rowle said and the two of them disapparated from the flat.
There was a huge sigh of relief as the tension in the air finally dropped.
"Oh Merlin" I said, falling on to the couch.
"Hopefully they don't suspect anything" said Fred.
"Draco sent me a letter warning me about them, but it must have gotten lost on the way because it was supposed to get here a week ago" I said.
"Who's Draco?" asked Bella.
"Your cousin" I said "Fred, I don't think it's safe for me and Bella to be at Diagon Alley anymore"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"We're going to stay at Atlantes, it's safer. And it's the only way" I said, getting up from the sofa and grabbing Bella's arm.
"So when am I going to see you next?" Fred asked walking towards me.
"I don't know. But for now, I have to keep Bella safe and Diagon Alley isn't the place to do that" I said.
From the window, I could see the death eaters, looking up at the flat. I could swear that Fenrir was staring at me.
"I have to go. Now" And with that, I disapparated from the twins' flat.
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