Princess Sunburst

In all honesty, she didn’t know how it happened. She didn’t know how anyone was even capable of discovering that the snake pendant that hung from her neck protected Apollonia from all torture methods. But, lo and behold, Augustus Rookwood stormed into the room, a tight grip on Draco and forced him – well, Imperiused him was more like it – to remove the necklace. It was never his choice to take the necklace off; he wanted the pendant around her neck about as much as Harry did. But, it was gone and Apollonia was now suffering the after-effects from the Cruciatus, only the second time in her lifetime, which was an achievement considering that it was the Carrows’ preferred method of torture.

As George – of all people – apparated her to the Burrow, Apollonia’s fingers traced over the broken snake pendant she held in her hand. She had to grab it. Even if it was destroyed, crushed under the weight of Rookwood’s foot, she still needed to keep it. For the last eighteen months, it was that pendant that kept her safe, kept her from the fate that most Hogwarts students befell during this past year. Apollonia was not about to let the pendant go after all it did to protect her during the war. The remnants of the pendant were clenched tightly in her hand; she was not about to let them go, not for anything.

When George brought them to the Burrow, Apollonia could only faintly make out the silhouettes of Charlie, Ron, Ginny, Molly, and Arthur. The sight of George carrying her in seemed to frighten Molly, for Apollonia could feel herself being handed over to the Weasley matriarch. In the background, Ron could be heard yelling about the decision to bring a Death Eater into the Weasley family home. Apollonia had not the strength to dispute the claim, but George did. “Use your head, Ron!” George yelled. “Why the hell would a Death Eater be Crucioed by anyone other than Voldemort, who by the way, is dead? She’s not a Death Eater, so get that through your thick skull. She’s your best friend’s sister! Hell, how would you have felt if Harry started badmouthing Ginny? You—along with everyone else in this family—would have defended her with your life. That’s what Harry’s doing; that’s what you need to understand before you lose Harry’s friendship!”

While George’s retort did not shut Ron up, it did subdue the magnitude of Ron’s yelling. It was far less vocal as Apollonia was led to the couch and forced to lie down. “A part of me wishes that Fred and I were never caught trying to trick Ron into making that Unbreakable Vow,” George muttered. “Maybe then, I wouldn’t have this much of a problem trying to convince him to do what I wanted, not pick on you for simply being a Slytherin.”

“George!” his mother scolded.

“What?” he defended. “It would have worked.”

“That is neither here nor there,” Molly reminded him from where she was working in the kitchen. “Trying to trick your brother into an Unbreakable Vow would not have been the right thing to do. It would surely have backfired in the both of you. Now come over here and help me with this. Your brothers and sister have made it very clear that they have no intention of helping Apollonia. I can’t do this alone and you seem to be the only person even remotely willing to help the poor girl after the ordeal she’s been through.”

“Yes, Mum,” George nodded.

Apollonia heard nothing more after that. She was much too weak from the bouts of the Cruciatus, and had already strained herself too much to listen to anything at all, and passed out.

***

Coming to the Burrow for his mother’s help was probably not the best idea George had that day, especially considering Ron’s intense hatred of Apollonia, but he truly thought it was for the best. Going to St. Mungo’s would mean the news of Apollonia’s title would come out. As good of an idea as it was, George wanted to see her title come out a few years down the line, when it would hit Ron the hardest. It was probably for the best that he came to the Burrow, at least for right now. The Prophet was still not as reliable as it should be.

While George was busy helping his mother collect the potions needed to help lessen the effects of the Cruciatus, he couldn’t help but look over at Harry’s sister. Some time within the last few minutes she had fallen unconscious. He couldn’t blame her. She was weak, not used to dealing with torture. That pendant of hers protected her from all that. It kept her safe. But, now that her secret was discovered; well, George could only imagine the torture the Death Eaters would go through for harming the sister of the man-who-conquered. Even though Apollonia was now out of harm’s way, George doubted that Harry would even consider letting them off. She was subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, probably on more than one occasion; of course Harry would do whatever he needed in order to keep his sister safe, just as George would have done the same for Fred.

Several vials were thrust into George’s hands. “Here, George; why don’t you take these over to Apollonia? Make sure she drinks all of them, would you?” Mum asked him.

“She’s unconscious, Mum,” George warned.

“Oh dear!” Mum exclaimed.

“I’ll take them over and make sure she takes them,” George assured his mother, taking the vials over to the table and setting them down just about the young Snape’s head. He already planned on doing as his mother asked anyway; there was no need for George to be reminded. “But, she needs to rest first. She might not even need them after she sleeps.” His mother was an overbearing sort. She spent the last seven years trying to make sure that Harry was taken care of. The same was sure to be done with Apollonia, especially seeing as she was Harry’s sister.

“Just make sure that she’s okay,” Mum said.

George had no intention of letting anything happen to Apollonia. He knew how much she meant to Harry; it was as close to how he was with Fred, maybe even more because they didn’t grow up together. “Of course, Mum,” George nodded. “I’ll watch over her.”

His mother’s request was pointless, however; he would have done this without prodding, for a set of twins who never knew they were even siblings, let alone twins. They deserved to have the opportunity to know one another after everything the two siblings went through over the years. So, George was going to help them. He would make sure that Harry and Apollonia were able to create something similar to the twin bond that he and Fred had. He knew that his life would never be the same without Fred around, but that didn’t mean that Harry and Apollonia couldn’t have what George and Fred did.

Apollonia was resting on the couch for only a few minutes before Ron came storming over. “You have no idea what you’re doing, George!” Ron shouted. “Protecting Death Eater spawn will only get you in trouble. Eventually, there will come a time when she’ll only betray you and Harry. She’s only looking to destroy our lives, to destroy the world!” Ron shouted at him. “Why am I the only one who can see what she’s trying to do?”

“You’re seeing something that isn’t there,” George warned.

“We’ll see,” Ron scoffed.

After that, George took Apollonia upstairs and placed her on the bed that once belonged to Fred. It was safe keeping her in here; the chances of anyone other than him walking into this room – which was once used as the area where he and Fred experimented to create their products – were slim to none. No one – not even George himself – knew what might be found in his room. Therefore, it was the best place for Apollonia to rest and not be disturbed.

In fact, it was the only place in the house that Apollonia would be able to rest in peace. George was the only person even remotely willing to go in there, because this room once belonged to Fred as well. Only George could even handle being this room and even that was on a tentative basis. It was a room that he shared with Fred during his childhood, so it was insanely difficult for George to walk into this room and not think of his twin. Bringing Apollonia up here was for the best. It felt like Fred was back with Apollonia in this room. Now to wait for Harry, George thought as he settled down on his bed to wait.

***

Now that his sister was under the care of George – whom he would trust with his life, especially when it came to Apollonia – Harry could focus on catching the Death Eaters found in this farmhouse. Already, there were at least four down; Avery, Yaxley, Parkinson, and the nameless one. But, there were far more Death Eaters than just them; there was the Death Eater who cursed Apollonia, Dolohov, and Rookwood. He was sure they were here, and he would do whatever it took to find them. “Bill, have you found anything?”

Bill shook his head. “No. Nothing.”

“Damn it!” he growled. “We need to find them.”

“Who?” he asked.

Emerald and blue eyes connected. Harry would need some help from some of the others to catch some of the Death Eaters; couldn’t do on his own. “There are at least four other Death Eaters down here. I don’t know who and I don’t know where they are, but I know that there are several Death Eaters still on the loose,” Harry informed him. Any help he could get in locating these Death Eaters would be extremely appreciated, especially seeing as he was the only Auror involved in the search. And this close to the Burrow, too, Harry thought. That was the weirdest part; that a Death Eater hideout was so close to Burrow, hidden under the guise of a Muggle farmhouse. In fact, for all he knew, that hideout was there for the length of the war, without anyone realizing the truth.

Alicia had been sent out to St. Mungo’s to deal with the injury sustained from Dolohov, so she was out. So was George; he was busy watching over Apollonia to make sure that she was okay after her ordeal. That left Angelina, Fleur, Lee, and Bill to help Harry capture the remaining Death Eaters and make sure that nothing like this would ever happen again. It was five against…well, definitely more than five. Harry and his team were at a disadvantage, even if Harry was the one who killed Voldemort. Hell, even that was a fluke; because Harry was the master of the Elder Wand at the time, there was no way Voldemort could use it against its master. It was his own stupidity that cost him his life.

It was difficult to say if Harry’s luck would continue even after Voldemort’s destruction. Not only that, but he was working with people that he very rarely saw fight. He helped teach Lee and Angelina during their final year, but did not know how good of fighters they were. As for Bill and Fleur, he knew they were decent fighters, just not if they could go up against the Death Eaters while outnumbered. Harry needed to rely on the fighting capabilities of people he hadn’t seen fight during the last nine months.

As much as Harry wanted to catch the bastards who did this to his sister, it wasn’t clear as to whether or not his plan would work. He wanted to see all the Death Eaters locked away in Azkaban for the crimes they committed against the entirety of the Wizarding World. Many of the Death Eaters did immediate harm to people Harry cared about. Selwyn, Greyback, Dolohov, and Rookwood; those were the four people that Harry wanted brought to justice for all that they did to Apollonia and her cousins, Remus, Bill, Hermione, and Fred.

“This is just getting out of control,” Bill murmured.

“You can say that again,” Harry growled.

A few minutes went by before Fleur and Angelina appeared before the two wizards. Both were panting. “Zere are too many Death Eaters,” Fleur grumbled. “We cannot catch zem all.”

“We’re going to try,” Harry said. “Who has already been dealt with?” The young hero needed to know who would be shipped off to Azkaban and who the Aurors still needed to focus on. “Avery, Parkinson, some nameless Death Eater, and Yaxley are awaiting transport. Did you get anyone else?”

“Nott and Flint,” Angelina replied.

“Damn it!” Harry swore. “No sign of Selwyn or Rookwood.”

“Selwyn and Rookwood; what do you want zem for?” Fleur asked.

Harry did not wish to explain this to either one of the girls. Bill already heard it, and even that was dangerous. Selwyn had Apollonia’s remaining family killed two years ago and was the one to kidnap Apollonia herself while Rookwood caused the explosion that killed Fred. It was not the type of information that could simply be handed out willy-nilly. “It’s complicated and will probably come out during the trial,” Harry answered, hoping to avoid any more questions. Their focus needed to be on catching the others. “And, now that I think about it, they should probably be taken down to the Ministry before they remain consciousness. Could someone go do that? Avery, Parkinson, the nameless one, and Yaxley are back there.” Harry jerked his thumb behind him so as to make Angelina and Fleur aware of their locations should one of them be the one to do this for him.

“I will do zat,” Fleur volunteered. “Anyzing to get out of ‘ere.”

As Fleur hurried out of sight to transport all the captured Death Eaters off to the Ministry holding cells to await the cursory questioning – and Harry silently rejoiced in the fact that the subject of Selwyn and Rookwood was dropped so easily – the trio continued combing the farmhouse in search of anyone else. Harry began chanting in his head. Selwyn and Rookwood. Selwyn and Rookwood. It was like a mantra, one he refused to let up until they were behind bars. The same went for Dolohov and Greyback; Harry refused to stop searching for them after everything they did to him and the people he cared about.

It didn’t matter that Apollonia was safely ensconced at the Burrow, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Weasley and George. All that mattered was the fact that his twin sister was kidnapped and put through torture she never should have suffered through. It was the fact that this was being done to a person that he only recently realized was his sister infuriated Harry even further. He had known for only a month that Apollonia was his half-sister before she was kidnapped; they were trying to take away the one thing in the world that he cared about the most; and, it was the one thing he simply couldn’t stand for, not after having spent so little time with his sister. Thanks to all that Ron had done to keep him away from Apollonia – believing her to be in league with the Death Eaters, based simply on the fact that she was a Slytherin – the Death Eaters trying to kidnap her was the last straw; he refused to let anything happen to Apollonia, not now and not ever.

Ten minutes went by and the trio had not found any sign of the other Death Eaters. It was also at that point in which a patronus came barreling over. The patronus, of which was an octopus – Lee’s – came to a stop just in front of Harry. “George left me with the task of dealing with the Malfoys after he left with Apollonia. I’m busy dealing with that now, but I thought you ought to know that there are still a few Death Eaters down in the cellar. Might be a good idea to come get them before they disappear. At least two are stunned, but I’m not sure how many others retreated down here for safety.”

As the patronus disappeared from sight, Harry started down towards the cellar to begin his search of the place. Lee did not say who was down there, so Harry would have to do it himself. He left Bill and Angelina to tend to the rest of the farmhouse while the boy hero scoured the basement for any sign of the monsters he was looking for. Selwyn and Rookwood, he chanted. Selwyn and Rookwood. Finding them was all that mattered; for those two were the Death Eaters that Harry could not trust Ron or Neville to go after. Selwyn destroyed Apollonia’s chance to know her cousins as well as attacking him and Hagrid in the Battle over Little Whinging. Meanwhile, Rookwood caused the explosion that killed Fred.

When Harry reached the cellar, he found a maze of corridors, which made it extremely difficult in trying to maneuver. He got lost at least twice before locating one of the cells he was looking for. The young hero was thrilled by the fact that he would find one of them so soon; he doubted that it would take very long to find all the Death Eaters hidden behind the farmhouse if things continued as they were. Looking down at the stunned man, it took Harry all of two minutes to realize who this was. The man who was lying crumpled in a heap was a stocky, squared-jaw man; he looked a bit like a toad, which could only mean that it was Gabriel Selwyn. After binding Selwyn, Harry knelt down to find a silver chain; it was the chain that held the snake pendant. Immediately, Harry knew that he had George to thank for this capture. “Now, there’s just Rookwood.”

Harry chose to drag Selwyn with him as he went in search of Rookwood and the other Death Eaters that might be down here. Lee mentioned that there was at least one more stunned Death Eater down here. And, while he didn’t know who it was, Harry was determined to find out. Selwyn was now in custody—thanks to George—and the only thing that would please Harry even more was to see Rookwood in custody as well. Four corridors and three wrong turns later, Harry was happy to have found the second stunned Death Eater. To his utter disappointment, it was not Rookwood, but rather a young man – possibly one of the recruits from the last year – he found in the cell. This Death Eater was bound and dragged along with Selwyn as he continued searching the maze of corridors.

Thanks to this rescue mission, the Ministry was able to capture at least eight Death Eaters so far. His sister’s kidnapping gave Harry ample opportunity to go chasing after Voldemort’s followers. As bothered by it as he initially was, Apollonia was to thanks for this grand-scale capture; Harry couldn’t have done this without her help. It was because of his sister that all of this was even remotely possible. In fact, there was no other person in the world could have compelled Harry to create this intensive of a search party. Only his sister was even remotely capable of such a task. Apollonia was the most important person in his life, and he would have done anything to protect her.

***

Apollonia was weak. It had been the first time in nine months since she felt the effects of a Crucio. She was in a little bit of a stupor, although not quite unconscious. In fact, she still had some sense of awareness of what was happening, like the fact that George was sitting five feet from her. How she knew that it was George rather than anyone else, she really didn’t know. All she knew was that he was there, keeping watch over her in this injured state. She wasn’t sure where Harry was, but it didn’t really matter at the moment. Harry would be around soon enough so she could figure out the result of his rescue mission.

It was not clear as to when she regained consciousness, but she knew that it was definitely sometime in the afternoon, more likely late afternoon. She did not immediately get up, but rather lay there for a few more minutes, causing her to hear George talking to himself. George’s despondency over what happened during the war was just so heartbreaking. He was suffering in a way that no person in the world should ever have to go through. After all the losses that Harry went through since fourth year, Apollonia never wanted to see that happen to anyone else. But, what she wanted was never going to happen; that much was clear. And, it seemed as if George was suffering far more than anyone else in the Weasley family, which she doubted would ever change. “Why did this have to happen to me?” he wondered. “I lose an ear; my twin brother is dead; and the only girl I ever loved…I lost her before I ever really had her. Why did it have to be me?”

There was something just so tragic about the way George was talking about the events of his life. He barely had any happiness in his life anymore. And, it was up to Apollonia to make sure that the tragedies of George’s life did not affect him so much that he didn’t move on with his life. But, how was she supposed to even begin accomplishing this task of hers? How was she supposed help George when his younger brother refused to let her anywhere near the Burrow? In fact, it was a miracle that Apollonia even had any support from the Weasley family with the way that Ron treated her.

Still weak from what happened while she was being held captive by her cousins’ murderer, Apollonia decided to sleep for awhile, just a few hours. Maybe by the time she woke up, Harry would be finished scouring the place where she and the Malfoys were held and she could figure out what happened back there after George rescued her.

***

Dragging two Death Eaters around as he searched for Rookwood hindered Harry’s progress. He was not in any mood to do this, but it wasn’t as if he had much of a choice; if he went to the Ministry to drop Selwyn and this young recruit off, he might not be able to get back. So, he was not about to take that chance. And, given that Harry had no intention of leaving the captured Death Eaters on their own, he didn’t have much of a choice but to take them right along with him. It was getting annoying, however, and he wished that some of the other Aurors were around. If they were, Harry would be free to chase Rookwood and see to it that he was placed in Azkaban for the rest of his life.

While he was busy searching the corridors for Rookwood, Harry heard a noise coming from a ways down. Unsure of what made the noise, Harry had his wand out as he made his way through the corridor. Dragging Selwyn and the young recruit off to in the direction of noise; Harry grew anxious – and nervous. There was a possibility of him finding Rookwood, of giving the Weasleys – George especially – justice for Fred’s death. Maybe the discovery of Rookwood’s capture would keep George’s mind off his grief.

The clunking noise grew louder, almost as if it was right in front of him. Lumos, he thought. A bright white light appeared at the tip of his wand and the whole corridor lit up. Harry began looking for any sign of Rookwood, of any indication that Fred’s murderer was around. “Come on, Rookwood. Show yourself!” Harry yelled. “Surely, you’d like to kill the boy-who-defeated-Voldemort!” There was no way that Rookwood would ever pass up the opportunity to try and kill him; that was why Harry suggested it in the first place.

“You want to die, Potter!”

There you go, Harry thought. Take the bait. You know you want to. My death would surely make you a hero among the other Death Eaters. And, the sooner Rookwood came after him; the sooner Fred’s death would be avenged, for George’s sake. Wand ready, Harry awaited Rookwood’s arrival; it was time for Fred to be avenged.

However, things did not quite go as planned. A spell was uttered—one that the young hero did not hear—and, just as before when Rookwood attacked someone, an explosion occurred. Stone collapsed around him and Harry immediately knew that Rookwood was no longer there.