Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

Battle

"You're not coming!"

"You are being ridiculous!"

"I am not — you and Isla are staying here!"

"If you think for one moment that I am letting you go by yourself—"

"I won't be by myself!"

"But I will, Charlie!" Isabelle's shouting. A very rare occurrence to say the least. "I will be by myself, sitting at home, waiting and wondering for hours if you will return! That is torture, Charlie, and I am not having it!"

Charlie clenches his jaw, as if trying to restrain himself from what he was about to say. "It's a battle, love." He's trying to keep his voice steady. "Fred and George told me that not only are there Death Eaters, but giants and spiders and dementors and—"

"I do not care, Charlie!" Isabelle snaps. "I have fought dragons before. DRAGONS! I can handle a few stupid giants and spiders and whatever else he decides to throw at us. I do not care. I am staying with you."

Charlie doesn't speak for a moment. He stares at her. He seems to realise that she's not swaying. "Ok, fine," he says quietly. "But what are we going to do with Isla — she's just a baby so don't you even dare suggest we bring her with us too."

"I was not going to suggest that," Isabelle huffs, but she's calmed down considerably. "I say we leave her with Elena."

"What if Elena's fighting?"

"She is not. She said she could not bear to leave Henry."

"You've already spoken to her?"

"The second I heard Fred and George on that radio speaking about Harry and the battle, I reached out," Isabelle admits. "She says Daniel is willing to fight, but she is going to stay at home and take care of Henry. I am sure she can handle one more."

"Ok — ask her then, will you?"

"I already have," Isabelle says, somewhat guiltily, somewhat defiantly.

Charlie clenches his jaw. "Right. Where's Daniel, then?"

"He is off recruiting Dragon Tamers from the Sanctuary. He has left his apprentice in charge while everyone else is joining us to fight," Isabelle says. "And, Charlie, I think we should do the same."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that the two of us rushing off to fight might help them a bit, but just a bit. We need to reach out to our old Hogwarts friends, our old Ministry friends. I need to reach out to my touring friends and the friends we made along the way. We need to recruit our own army, Charlie," Isabelle says. "We need to storm Hogwarts and give Voldemort not even a standing chance."

The passion in her eyes is the only thing that makes Charlie stop and listen to her words. He weighs them up in his head. On one hand, he knows the battle has already starting, is already waging — they're running out of time. But on the other hand, arriving with a fully-fledged army, even if it is a little late, would be far more impactful.

"Alright," Charlie says. "Alright. I'll contact Maisie and the rest of our Hogwarts friends, and I'll contact Seb and the other Ministry folk. You reach out to the models and the international wizards and witches that you know. Let's make this as quick as possible."

Writing letters will take too long, they instantly decide, and so Isabelle and Charlie start apparating away. First, Isabelle drops Isla off with Elena, explaining their plan. Her best friend is more than happy to look after Isla while they recruit and fight. And then Isabelle apparates further, out of Romania and into Singapore, where she picks up Madeline and her girlfriend, who are instantly willing to join. She tells them to meet at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, where they will go from there. Then Isabelle recruits Annika, Ruby, Sarah and Josie, all of whom are also eager.