Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who, just the plot to this story.

Chapter 33: An Army Divided

~ FRED ~

Hundreds of wedding guests shuffled around the tent, trying to find a way out; people were disapparating left and right. People moved around so quickly that Fred could barely make out anyone's face. Kingsley Shacklebolt's message kept replaying, over and over, in Fred's head:

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Almost as soon as the message had concluded, the Death Eaters arrived. They all wore their masks and shot from their wands as soon as they had apparated in. Fred and George both had their wands drawn and were quick to cast Protego's when a spell was fired at them.

Fred scanned the room, trying to find Amy, hoping she was safe. He had just seen Harry, Ron, and Hermione group together disapparate on the spot. Only Merlin knew where they would be heading or when Fred would see them next.

Fred heard a loud 'Depulso' from across the room; he recognized the voice as belonging to Amy. Fred grabbed George by the arm and forced his way through the crowd over to where his girlfriend was fighting, back-to-back with Draco Malfoy, against a hoard of Death Eaters.

"Amy!" Fred yelled, still running towards her with George at his side. He reached her, clutched her hand and disapparated on the spot, taking them away from the madness, having no clue where they would end up.

Fred woke with a start. It was cold, dark, and wet and he was lying on the ground.

"Shh. Shh, it's okay," he heard someone whisper from some distance away. "You're going to be alright."

Fred opened his eyes and saw Amy sitting over George, attending to a stomach wound. But they weren't alone.

Next to Amy sat Draco Malfoy. Fred hadn't meant to bring him along, but he supposed it would have to do.

Fred crawled over to where his brother lay on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Hey..." George cried out, running out of breath, "how come I'm the only one that seems to get hit with these 'life-threatening curses' around here? First my ear and now this." He scoffed through his tears. "Unbelievable."

"George—just stop moving—I can fix this! I need… I need..." Amy searched through her bag, throwing unnecessary items out of the way and, eventually, taking out a bottle of what Fred believed was dittany. Her hands shaking, Amy released drops of the potion onto George's skin.

"Amy, what happened to him?"

"I don't know… someone must've got him before we got away… I've never seen anything like this before."

"It's called Sectumsempra," Malfoy gulped. He looked disgusted. "Potter used it on me a few months ago and I had scars all over my body." He looked Fred in the eyes. "I can fix it."

Malfoy took out his wand and began muttering an incantation under his breath. Amy crawled over to Fred and held onto him, his brother's blood all over her hands.

Fred saw the wounds beginning to heal themselves as they knit closed. He had never seen his brother cry so much. He didn't like this at all. It was all so much. Too much.

"I'm sorry..." Amy whispered as tears fell down her face. "I'm so sorry, Fred. I was supposed to protect him." She shuddered. "I was supposed to protect everyone."

"Hey." He pulled her close and held her in his arms. "No one's safety should be a burden to you, except for your own." He looked over to Malfoy, who seemed to have finished up mending George's wounds, though some scars still remained.

Fred stood, helping Amy to stand along with him. George tried to stand with the rest of the group, but he fell back to the ground; Fred and Malfoy had to prop him up on their shoulders.

He saw Malfoy look around, taking in their surroundings. The four teenagers stood in the middle of a small, dark street. "Where are we? Does anyone recognize this place?" Malfoy asked.

Amy smiled sadly, turning to the rest of the group. She wiped away her tears which, in turn, smeared blood across her face. "I know exactly where we are," she answered. "I'm sorry. I must have brought us here by mistake."

"What do you mean, Amy?" Malfoy eyed the red-headed witch. "What is this place?"

"This is Leadworth," she said. "This is where I lived before Grimmauld Place. Merlin," she breathed out. "I haven't been here in two years." She began walking towards the door and the boys followed.

Amy approached the door. She hesitated, slightly, before placing her hand on the silver handle. As she opened the door, that didn't seem to be locked, a piece of paper fell from the door frame. Amy reached down, picked it up, and read it out loud:

Amelia. If you ever do find yourself back here, at any time in the future, the house is yours. Don't worry about the money. It's all taken care of. I will have been away for a while before you find this, I suppose. Good luck in everything you do. Aunt Sharon xo.

"I guess that means we can go inside," Malfoy stated, before walking through the threshold with Fred, the two of them dragging George along.

Amy led them into the living area, where they laid George down to rest. After telling the group to help themselves to anything in the house, Amy excused herself to clean up her face and hands. Fred watched as she walked away and went up the steps. Something wasn't right.

"Malfoy, look after George, I'll be right back." As he walked away, he heard his brother saying that he could take care of himself.

Fred walked quickly up the stairs and searched for Amy. He found her standing in front of the bathroom mirror, her hands resting on the sink, but they were still shaking.

He frowned. Fred had never seen her this way. She had never gone on any dangerous Order missions before and had never seen anyone as hurt as George.

Fred walked towards his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's going to be alright. George'll be fine, he's strong."

"I know that. But I… I don't think I am."

"You don't think you're what?"

She turned and faced him. "I don't think I'm alright, Fred." She looked down at her feet, then to her hands. She held them up for him to see. "His blood is on my hands, Fred."

"He's not dead, Amy—"

"I'm not talking about George. I mean, literally speaking, his blood is on my hands, but I'm not talking about him." She got very quiet as she sat down on the side of the bathtub.

"I killed him, Fred."

Her voice was so low, he could barely hear it. "I killed someone. Someone that loved me, someone that cared about me." She looked up into his eyes, as tears fell from hers, and whispered: "I killed Dumbledore."

Fred walked through the streets of the small town of Leadworth. It was dark and the town seemed empty. He only saw one person, who was sitting on a park bench across the street, reading a book that he couldn't make out the name of.

Fred searched for a store that was still open. He had taken some Muggle money from Amy's purse in hopes to buy some food for the group. From what he could see, the only lights on were the streetlights, which were dim. He wondered how that man on the bench was reading in this low light. Seeing as he didn't want to head back to the house yet, he made his way over to the bench, hoping the man wasn't a Death Eater in disguise.

As he got closer, he realized that that man sitting on the bench couldn't have been any older than he was. He plopped himself down, but not too close where it seemed like he was a stalker. He could now see that he was reading something called the Fundamentals of Nursing.

"You alright there, mate?" The boy asked. He eyed Fred suspiciously. "A bit late to be out in Leadworth, isn't it?"

"Well… you're here."

"Yeah, well… that's what happens when your parents don't want you to pursue a certain career and you've only got one friend, who just so happens to be out of town on the day that you need her."

"Girlfriend trouble?"

"Wha—! Oh, god, no! No, we are not dating." The boy laughed. "We could not be any more different."

"Alright, then..."

"So, what are you doing out this late, um..."

"Fred."

"Fred… nice to meet you."

"You as well. I guess I'm hiding, you could say. Hiding from my problems."

"What's wrong? Have you got girlfriend trouble?"

Fred scoffed. "I guess you could say that." He didn't even know where to start. "She, um, she did something bad. Or, at least, she thinks she did. She, um, didn't actually do the thing, but she played a part in letting it happen."

"How bad was it?" The book boy asked. Fred had yet to ask him his name.

"Pretty bad, I mean… I can't exactly say it, because I don't know the full story and I don't want to speak ill of her, but… " He sighed. "Now, I don't know what to think."

"I honestly don't think I can give you any sound advice because… I only ever loved one girl and she… she left me a while ago. But, Fred, I think that, if you ever loved this girl, at any point in time: don't let her get away. Take care of her, and make sure she knows that you won't ever leave her."

"I have to go." Fred jumped up from his seat and the book boy followed in his stead. He then shook the hand of the other boy. "Thank you. You have no idea how much you've helped me… I'm sorry, I realized I never caught your name."

"It's, uh, Rory. Rory Williams. And I'm happy to help."

Fred smiled. "Thank you, Rory."

Fred ran back in the direction of the house and didn't stop until he got there.

"Amy!" He ran into the living room. She was sitting on the sofa where George was asleep, dabbing his forehead with a wet towel. She jumped up as he entered.

"Fred, are you alright, I've been worried si—"

Fred cut her off with a hug. For a while, it seemed like she didn't know what to do with her arms; they stayed, for a few moments, suspended in the air. It wasn't until he whispered into her ear that she sunk into his arms and accepted his embrace. "I love you… no matter what," he said to her.

"Malfoy, you can't just leave!"

It was the fifth day in Leadworth and everyone in the group was starting to get restless. Malfoy had been trying to leave for a couple of days now, without notice. Amy had been the one to catch him in the past but, this time, Fred had the pleasure of seeing him try to sneak out in the middle of the night.

"What makes you think you can tell me what to do, Weasley? I'm my own person. I can do what I want."

"Not if what you want to do is leave!"

"Why do you care whether I stay or not?"

"Because Amy cares. And I'm not going to let you hurt Amy, Malfoy. I love her and I won't let her get hurt again."

"Weasley..." His voice seemed to lower in volume. "I have to get out of here. I can get to the Death Eaters. I can take them out, I know I can."

"I know you can, too, Malfoy, but I… I can't let you leave. We're all in danger, alright. I mean, just by living in this town, we're putting all of these people in danger. I presume you know about Amy? About her parents."

"Of course, I do..."

"Then you know they'll be after her. And you, don't even get me started on how much they want you dead. No offense."

Malfoy folded his arms. "None taken. And, I suppose, the three of you could all use someone like me around while you're on the run."

"You make it sound like you're better than us."

"Well, then, I said it correctly."

Fred let out a small laugh. "You know, Malfoy… I despise you. I despise everything about you. Your parents, the way you were raised, the way you've treated my family and friends for the past six years. You were a spoiled little git, born into the world of Pure-blood supremacy and Dark Marks. You think you're above everyone else and you don't even try to act competently, even though you're dating Hermione. And I don't know why, but Amy seems to think you're one of us now. And you could be. You really could. But the thing is…" He sighed. "You still act like you're one of them."

Fred was now threateningly close to the younger wizard. He towered over him and hoped that this would scare him enough to stay. Not for him, but for—

"What's going on?" Amy stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the two wizards standing by the front door. She tied her robe around her as she descended the stairs.

"He's trying to leave again."

"Draco, please go back upstairs to bed. This can't keep happening."

"Yes, mum." He muttered mockingly as he trudged up the stairs.

Once Malfoy was gone and out of ear-shot, Amy pulled Fred into the kitchen and sat him down while she started to make some tea, which was unusual because Amy only ever drank tea when she was either sick or worried about something.

"Amy, what's wrong?"

He could still see her hands shaking. What happened to George had had a strong effect on Amy; not to mention the fact that she had revealed one of her darkest secrets to Fred, just a few nights ago. Fred was still unsure of how to take that news. She had helped to kill Dumbledore. He knew it wasn't her fault. He knew she was only doing what was asked of her. But he couldn't help but picture what had happened that night, with Amy pointing her wand at Dumbledore, and uttering those two terrible words. Avada…

"Nothing's wrong. I just want tea."

"Yeah, and that's what makes me worried." He stood from his chair and joined her in front of the stove. "We're a team, Amy. You need to know that. If something's bothering you, you need to tell me." He took her hand in his. "You can't leave it all bottled up inside of you."

"Fine. You want me to share my feelings. Fred, you proposed to me." She pulled herself away from the man standing in front of her and avoided his eyes. "Why? You know we can't get married. Too much is going on in the world that I don't even know how to handle and—"

"You have this thing about you where you'll put everyone else's needs before your own. You care so much. So much that when someone tries to care for you, you don't know how to deal with it. You have so many people that love you, Amelia, and you can't just ignore that. Especially when something like a proposal comes along."

"But why now? When everything else is happening?" She stared into his eyes, almost pleading for an answer. But the truth was: he loved her and he wanted to be with her until it was too late. He didn't know what the war was going to bring. He didn't know who was going to make it through alive.

He thought Lupin & Tonks and Bill & Fleur did the smart thing; they knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other and they acted on it. When Fred proposed to Amy before his brothers' wedding, he meant every word that he said, but when he saw Amy's reaction, he decided to just play it off as a joke. He had no idea what she would say if he told her that he was serious about something.

Fred must have been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that Amy had left the kitchen and headed into the living room, where she sat herself down on a chair adjacent to where his brother lay on the couch.

"Amy, you know I love you—"

"I want to leave."

"You want to… what?"

"I can't stay here. I have to go out and I have to help Harry and Ron and Hermione."

"Amy, no—"

"I can't just sit here and do nothing, Fred. So many people are out there, risking their lives, every damn day and I should be out there with them. I—"

"I won't let you go!" he jumped to his feet.

"Let me?" She stood to look him in the eyes. "Fred, I," she took a deep breath. "I'm a member of the Order. Do you remember why I joined in the first place? To protect my friends and my family. To protect you, and Ron, and Ginny, and George, and Tonks. I didn't join to just sit around and wait for the others to take down You-Know-Who."

"Amy, I know how determined you are to end this, but you can't just charge head-first into fire."

"He killed my parents, Fred!"

"Don't you think I know that!"

Before they knew it they were yelling at each other; Fred didn't even realize it at first until he saw a few tears fall from Amy's eyes.

"Then why won't you let me go?" Her voice cracked.

"Amy," he moved towards her, carefully, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I don't want to lose you the way you lost your parents. I just… I don't think I'd be able to survive without you in my life. I lost you once at Malfoy Manor and I… can't do it again."

Just as he thought Amy was about to respond, they were interrupted by rapid knocking on the front door.

"What the hell was that?" Amy whispered.

"I don't know." He drew his wand. "But it can't be good, this late at night."

Amy had drawn her wand as well. "I'll wake Draco, try to prop George up." She stared into his eyes. "Try not to make any noise." She apparated upstairs.

Fred began to shake his brother awake. "George," he whispered. "George!"

The knocking continued.

"George, mate, come on..."

"Wha..." George was still half asleep.

"Come on, we have to leave. Something's wrong."

The knocking came again, which seemed like a wake-up call for George.

"Where's Amy?"

"I'm here." Amy and Malfoy appeared.

The group all locked eyes with one another, joined hands and apparated away as they heard the door burst open.