Charlie stumbled back in shock, shielding his face from the roaring flames. There had been no need to Apparate in the designated spot; all the protective enchantments around the safe house were gone. The house itself was a smoldering pile of wood and ash and dead bodies.
He knew that Ginny was dead even before he saw her body. How could she not be? He knelt beside her tiny body. There was a long, deep wound on her left arm. Dirt and ash covered her face. Her left hand was holding onto a torn piece of fabric as if it was important. Charlie pried it from between her cold fingers and examined it, his tears falling thick and fast.
There were two letters embroidered into the fabric, a T and an N. Looking around for some kind of explanation Charlie saw two young men lying dead nearby. One of them was a handsome looking Black boy she had complained about last year and the other one was a pale, stringy boy with a torn sleeve. His face looked somewhat familiar. He must be Nott’s son, Charlie thought. Nott had killed Ted Tonks a few weeks ago.
Ginny had not died without putting up a pretty good fight. He could see no Order Members or friends here, no sign that anyone had come to his sister’s aid, but there were so many dead Death Eaters.
Suddenly, Charlie heard a loud pop. He performed a quick disillusionment charm, but he stayed next to his sister’s body, his large hand grasping her tiny one.
They were three hooded figures. They roamed through the battle site, sidestepping the bodies of Death Eaters, sometimes even pushing them aside with their feet. “Bloody Hell!” one of them yelled in awe, “One little girl did all this?”
“She must have had help,” another man said in denial.
“We were there, Parkinson, you know she didn’t have any help. Xavier’s down, the Dark Lord’s not going to be happy.”
Charlie realized, as they drew closer that the third, silent, figure was a woman in stylish robes, unlike the other two who wore the usual Death Eater garb. Parkinson took out a camera and began snapping photos.
“We can’t publish this in the Daily Prophet you idiot!” the other, taller, man said. “It’s a bloody disgrace.”
“No one needs to know it was one girl…” the camera clicked and clicked and clicked, taking shots of bodies that Parkinson thought were important.
“Which idiot burned the house with five of us in there and the girl?” Parkinson said almost conversationally. “You know the Dark Lord wanted the Weasley girl alive.”
“She was the one who did it!” the other man replied, that awed tone still present in his voice. I saw her leaning out of the bloody window, thought she was going to fling herself out to escape Greyback, but she just shot a load of flames down out of her wand an-”
The woman suddenly gasped and began to run towards Charlie. Charlie drew back a little, but she did not seem to have seen him. She dropped to her knees beside the body of the black boy and pulled him into a hug. “Oh my son,” she whispered, “I’m so sorry. Oh my son…”
“Leave him!” Parkinson said harshly, snapping a photograph and moving on to snap a picture of Nott. “The Dark Lord said to leave the bodies to the animals.”
The woman glared at Parkinson in a frightening manner. He stepped back a little nervously and made no further comments about her or her son. Charlie crept back a little, allowing Parkinson to snap a picture of his sister’s body and move on. He could have killed them all, but more would have arrived and if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had really wanted Ginny alive then it was better that he should see the evidence of her death and stop hunting them.
Parkinson and the other man moved on and Charlie soon heard two loud pops as they Disapparated. He crept back to Ginny’s body and raised his wand to send a Patronus message to Bill. His eyes connected with those of the grieving mother, and he was sure that she had noticed his movements.
“They won’t be back,” she said in an empty voice, staring at a point near Charlie’s ear. “They got what they wanted.”
As Charlie waited for Bill he watched the mother dry her tears. He remembered her pictures from the papers years ago… she had been a very famous witch, he remembered, who had disposed of about seven rich husbands. She muttered “Portus!” at a nearby piece of wood and used the Portkey to take herself and her son’s body away.
Bill did not arrive alone. In a sudden scream of despair his mother threw herself at Ginny’s body.
“No,” Arthur whispered repeatedly. “No, no, no.”
Charlie removed his disillusionment charm and stepped away, allowing the twins and Bill to come closer and say goodbye.
…
Mahmoud led them silently through the alleyways. The only person speaking was little Millie, who was very cheerful now that the danger had passed. She chattered on about the new friends she had made at the Hospital, filling the dark emptiness with her small voice.
Finally, the gas lamp swung to a stop and Mahmoud opened a door for them, indicating that they should go in ahead of him. It was a miserable looking old building and many of the apartments had been destroyed in recent attacks, rubble strewn all over the hallways and some doors swinging open on their hinges.
“It’s not…great,” Mahmoud said, “But it’ll do until you find a better place.”
“It’ll be fine,” Hannah said almost encouragingly, wondering how she was going to pay the rent when all she had in her pocket was a wand she refused to use and a single silver sickle.
Malaika did not seem so sure. “Umm… listen is it even legal for anyone to be staying here?” she asked. “I heard about this place in the news-”
“Yeah,” Mahmoud turned around and held the lamp higher so that it illuminated his face. “I’m sure you saw me on the news too. I can’t exactly stroll into a fancy apartment building and ask for a place to stay, and neither can he!” he gestured towards the tall, wide-shouldered Jeremiah, who had stepped out of an apartment at their voices.
Malaika spent a few moments silently looking from one man to the other. “You’re supposed to be dead,” she finally said to Jeremiah.
“Yeah,” Jeremiah said. “Listen, the owner of this place disappeared a few weeks back. My roommate Emmett was handling the rent until then so that we didn’t have to talk to the owner face to face. Anyway, now we’re just fixing the place up as best we can to make up for the rent and… I’m sure no one will mind if you need a place to stay, not these days. You can pay the owner when things get back to normal and he shows up again.”
Malaika frowned and gripped her sister’s hand more firmly, but she allowed herself to be led further down the darkened hall and into a dirty, but roomy apartment.
“There are three bedrooms here, but there are other empty apartments if you’d rather stay alone, Hannah.”
Malaika rounded on Hannah a little angrily, muttering something about “Susan” and “knew you weren’t telling me the truth” and “trusting men.” Millie did not allow her to remain angry; she was pulling excitedly on her arm and demanding to know if she would be allowed her own room now.
Hannah stood near the doorway, not allowing herself to go in. The place was filthy now, but she knew that it could become nice and homey if they lived in it. “So,” Mahmoud said, “will you be staying with the other girls or should I show you a different place?”
“She’ll be staying here!” Malaika shouted from one of the bedrooms. “I have a lot of questions for her!”
Hannah laughed nervously and stepped a little further in. She could help fix the place up and she could take the First Aid courses and help at the Hospital like Malaika had suggested. She had always wanted to do something that would allow her to help people. This place could become bright and warm. She would be surrounded by the people who had been kind to her and helped her. She knew they would help her find her place in the Muggle world.
But the first thing she would do would be to make the young man that had saved her life a warm cloak to wear when he went out to save lives.
…
Charlie laid Ginny’s body down gently. Mum and Dad were arguing loudly about whether they should tell Percy. Bill and the twins were already digging her grave in a field near the burrow. He should go out and help. “Goodbye little broom-thief,” he said, fighting the lump at the back of his throat and smoothing her mud and ash-stained robes.
He was turning to leave when something caught his eye. Charlie turned back to the body and stared down at the freckled face. Just like Charlie, Ginny had a large freckle right under her left eye. It wasn’t there. He scanned her face in rising panic, but nothing else was out of place. Bending down a little Charlie loosened her robes and uncovered her left shoulder.
The Dark Mark scar that Ginny had tried desperately to conceal from her family, the one they all knew was there; stared back up at him from her shoulder, but it was somehow less real and raw than it should be. Like a weak imitation of itself, it looked up at him deceptively. Charlie was not an expert at detecting concealment, but he knew there was something very wrong here.
He put the robes back over the mark and fished around in the pockets. There was a wand in there, but it was completely unfamiliar. Charlie pocketed it and straightened the robes again quickly. The twins’ voices were drawing closer.
He hastily preformed the best revealing spell he knew before the twins burst into the room.
“Thanks a lot, Charlie,” George said, sweating and walking a little lopsidedly. He had been a little unbalanced ever since he lost his ear.
“No, don’t wear yourself out too much, brother,” Fred said, pushing him aside. “I’ll carry her out.”
The twins received a quelling look from Bill, who picked the body up himself. Charlie followed at a little distance and stood watching as what appeared to be his sister’s body was buried deep in the ground. Dad had his arm around Mum, the twins shoulders were pressed against each other, and Bill’s beautiful wife was holding him comfortingly in her arms. Charlie stood alone, apart from everyone else, looking down at his own hands and wondering if he could ask Bill about body-concealing enchantments without arousing his suspicion.
Finally, he decided that he needed to know more before opening up this distressing topic. He waited until everyone was safe inside Shell Cottage before Apparating back to the safe house.
