Sweet Revenge

The Burrow Gets Burned

At precisely 4:21, a large horde of sleepy Death Eaters apparated around the Burrow. Inside, the Weasleys and Dumbledore (who had decided to stay the night, convinced by Snape's subtle encouraging) slept peacefully. 

Tom wordlessly instructed the Death Eaters to form the inner and outer rings. Dolohov promptly set the outer ring on constructing anti-Apparition wards, while Rabastan handed out little pieces of multicolored parchment to each Death Eater under his charge, on which was written the name of the person that Death Eater was to kidnap. Avery was rather put-out when he realized that Alex Potter was instead going to be abducted by Rowle but he was quick to refuse the offer to work together with Rowle. Yaxley and Mulciber were to stand inside the Floo and create a sort of magical seal above their heads which worked like a trampoline--it sent the person coming through back the way they came. 

Tom caught Rabastan's eye and raised his eyebrows. Rabastan waved guilelessly and looked rather taken aback when Tom pointed his yew wand toward Rabastan (and the house). A jet of dancing, black flame shot out of Tom's wand and encircled the house. Despite the flames making a loud crackling noise all around the Burrow, nobody woke up. It was only once Rabastan cried in delight that,

          "My robes must be fire resistant!"

that a light in the second story of the Burrow turned on, and Arthur Weasley poked his head out of the window only to exclaim,

          "Death Eaters!"

Outside, Rabastan received some incredulous glares. Feeling rather sheepish, he walked through the flames to the front door and paused with his hand almost touching the doorknob. The Death Eaters fell silent, and everyone (even the death eaters charged with putting up the wards) turned and stared intensely at Rabastan's hand. He gave one last look around and turned the doorknob. The door slid open with a little click that might as well have been heard far and wide because as the door opened wide, the Death Eaters gave an enormous roar of triumph.

Then, the light on the second story popped on, and suddenly, everyone was deathly silent again as the masked figures watched the silhouette of Molly Weasley come to the window. She tiredly opened the window, saw a bunch of peaky-looking people and screamed. Arthur was immediately by her side and fumbled to put on his spectacles after which he, too, gave a start and said something about fetching Dumbledore. 

Tom stared at the stupid Death Eaters who were looking with amazement at the architecture. He rubbed his temples and then yelled,

          "What are you doing, you idiots? Move!"

Rabastan and his little gang bolted in through the open front door, and Dolohov whacked the nearest minion on the head with a newly-conjured piece of parchment, screaming,

          "You heard what our Lord said, yeah? Move!"

----------

Inside, the Weasleys & Co were finally starting to panic after realizing that they were trapped in anti-Apparition wards and a ring of fire. As the Death Eaters entered, the living room was in disarray as Molly Weasley tried to pack some corned beef sandwiches, save the spoon clock, and account for all the children who were running around screaming their heads off. 

She was so disoriented that it was almost too easy to stun her and throw her to Rosier, who would put her through the Floo to Hogwarts.

          "Yaxley, is there anyone on the other side of your trampoline seal?" Rabastan called to one of the two Death Eaters standing in the fireplace and whose shins were the only parts of their bodies visible (they were maintaining the seal preventing Order members from Flooing in). 

          "Sorry, what? I didn't catch that. Would you repeat it?"

Rabastan complied.

          "Sorry, it's really very echoey in here. Did you say something?" Mulciber shouted.

Rabastan left up the stairs and found Dumbledore in the first room he tried with his back to the door, staring out the window at the night sky. The old man began to turn around and started,

          "My dear boy--"

Rabastan stunned him and tossed him down the stairs where he bounced twice on the third and eleventh steps and landed with a thud in front of Rosier, who sprinkled a bit of Floo powder on Dumbledore's face and slid the immobilised man into the Floo. 

Rabastan let out a contented breath and peacefully ignored the Alex Potter's screams of indignation as Rowle hauled him around. 

Suddenly, the air beside Rabastan blurred, and a disgruntled Harry shifted beside Rabastan with a stack of white paper beneath his arm. 

          "Why is there a heap of Order members in front of my fireplace?" He demanded. 

Rabastan rotated to look at Rosier. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fred and George walk out of the back door. 

----------

Harry marched up the grand staircase at Slytherin Castle, pulling Tom along by the arm. He kicked open the bedroom door and flung out his arm to show Tom and some of the Death Eaters a cage directly in front of his fireplace housing all of those who had been send through the Floo at the Burrow only a few minutes ago. 

Arthur Weasley sat in the corner of the cage with his arms wrapped around his knees, looking forlorn. Ron stood with his back to the far edge of the cage, shaking the bars futilely like he'd been doing for the past 10 minutes. Alex was pressed against the side looking slightly repulsed as Ginny bawled to him about how she had lost all her makeup in the fire, squeezing her bursting purse full of lipgloss. 

Dumbledore was the first to notice that the door to the room had swung open, and he jumped up, adopting a grandfatherly expression and starting,

          "My dear boy--"

He was almost instantly interrupted by Alex Potter who clutched the bars until his hands were drained of blood.

          "Which one of you seized me?"

Harry looked at Tom. Tom looked at Rabastan. Rabastan looked around for Rosier and then came back to meet Harry's gaze and shrugged. 

          "He's absent," Harry stated. 

Bella pulled out the attendance list gleefully. 

          "Well, why?" Alex demanded.

          "Probably because he wasn't Elite," Harry intoned. "Now, getting on to other subjects--"

          "Do it again!"

Harry stopped and looked skeptically at Alex.

          "Redo it! I should be seized by an Elite, shouldn't I, Professor Dumbledore?"

There was silence in the room until Mulciber suggested,

          "Maybe we should get him a mind healer."

          "Nah, too expensive," Tom smiled widely. "Luckily, Harry knows a certified mind healer who will come here for free, no?"

Harry narrowed his eyes.

          "Sure. That can be arranged, but, Mulciber? Wasn't it you and Yaxley who were in the fireplace with that redirecting ward?"

----------

Pansy was leaning back calmly in her armchair in the Slytherin Common Room, getting toasty beside the fire when Harry's face appeared in it. Pansy rubbed her eyes and looked again. Harry's face was still there. Then, it spoke.

          "You know about mind healing, don't you, Pansy? Come to Slytherin Castle right now, we have need of your services."

The face disappeared and Pansy slowly sipped her tea. She must surely have been hallucinating. 

Suddenly, Draco burst into the room with a panicked expression on his pointy face and skidded across the floor, throwing a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace and pushing her in. The last thing she saw was the sheepish wave her dear friend sent her as she was zipped along to Slytherin Castle.