ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀ 4

the terror of knowing what this world is about

"My name is Lila, by the way," I told her. "You're Mr. Roberts' daughter?"

"Yes," she said softly. "My name's Rose." She swallowed. "T-those men, t-they took my family. They attacked our house and l-lifted them all up into the air using some kind of magic. I don't know w-where they took them. I was able to jump out of my window in time to get away, but my brothers—"

I frowned. She'd already seen too much. "Your family is going to be alright. We'll take care of it. Let's go see Mr. Weasley, I'm sure he'll know what to do."

There was a sudden explosion from the path between the tents beside us. I gasped. At least two dozen marchers in black cloaks and masks were walking through the smoke, laughing drunkenly. Above them were four figures, and I immediately covered Rose's eyes. One of them, the smallest, was spinning like a top, clearly unconscious with his head falling from side to side. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Don't look, don't look," I told her quickly. "Let's hurry."

Breaking into a sprint, I lead Rose far enough away from the marchers to begin to look for Mr. Weasley again. Instead, running towards me on the path behind the tents, I saw Bill and Charlie Weasley. Their determined expressions both broke into surprise when they saw me.

"Lila! Where have you been?" Bill asked, looking slightly relieved. "Everyone was worried about you."

"Never mind that," I said. "This is Rose. I was able to rescue her from two of the marchers. Er — a branch fell on them and they were knocked unconscious in the forest that way," I pointed behind me, and the boys exchanged knowing looks. "We need to get her somewhere safe and save the rest of her family. Hopefully you can apprehend the men before they disappear."

"Dad's over there with the Ministry right now," Charlie explained. "Everyone else went into the woods that way," he pointed behind him to the left. "If you take her in there until this all gets sorted out you'll be okay."

I nodded. "Thanks, good luck."

Bill nodded back. "You too."

Pulling Rose along gently, we broke into a run toward the forest again. This time, we angled slightly to the left. I could hear the sound of screams around me, but there weren't any explosions.

"Who were they?" Rose asked me.

"Those are my friend's brothers, Bill and Charlie," I told her. "They're going to help save your family."

"Have you all got magic powers?" She asked me.

I nodded. Rose looked at me with wonder.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I feel safe now."

"Of course," I told her, my heart growing warm for her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

I didn't want to break it to her that her memory would probably be wiped from this experience.

"How old are you, Rose?" I asked.

"Ten," she replied proudly. "I'm the oldest. My brothers are five and seven." She looked over her shoulder, even though we were now deep enough not to be able to see anything. "I was supposed to take care of them."

"They're going to be okay," I reassured her. "I promise."

"You're really brave," she told me suddenly. I raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well you made that branch fall, didn't you? I might be ten but I'm not stupid," she looked at me indignantly.

I chuckled. She reminded me a bit of myself. "I might have. But I just couldn't sit there and let them hurt you — anybody would have done that in my position."