You activate the portkey

“I will never join you!” you state and activate the portkey. The familiar pull of magic surrounds you, and in moments you find yourself in a dark room.

A handful of people rush into the room and surround you with their wands.

“Wait!” someone calls out. You know him. Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, the Order member who had tried to recruit you. “I know him. I tried to recruit him a few days back.”

“Malfoy,” you spit in disgust. “Malfoy was trying to **** me to join the Dark Lord.”

You notice a change in everyone’s attitude. From wariness, it shifted to dread and terror. And then realisation comes to you as a crushing blow. Malfoy must have expected him to do this, the whole thing was a ruse to make him run to the Order’s hideout and track him. You had just signed your own **** warrant along with everyone else’s.

Just then someone enters the room.

“Charlie, Ron, Tonks,” the newcomer says anxiously. For a moment, you stare at her with an open mouth. Of course, you recognise her. She’s that half-veela who had taken part in the Triwizard Tournament five years ago. He couldn’t believe how her beauty could have grown more than then, but it had.

“We have to leave,” says Charlie, clearly a Weasley by his red hair and freckles. “Fleur, take the newbie and go to Safe House 3. We’ll hold them back.”

“I can fight!” she argues.

“We know you can,” Nymphadora speak slowly, as if trying to explain something to a child. “But someone needs to take him to the safe house.”

You observe the situation with interest, despite the circumstances. Fleur is not happy at being prevented from taking part in the fight. She ignores Nymphadora and waits for the others to speak, whereas Nymphadora smirks from behind her. Clearly, she is pleased by that decision. The others in the room – Charlie Weasley, Ron Weasley, Rubeus Hagrid and Filius Flitwick, all of them are oblivious to the byplay between the two girls.

You find Fleur’s eyes on you, and she silently communicates a message to you. The message is clear. She wants to stay and fight, and for her to do that, you’d have to volunteer as well. Just then, you find Nymphadora’s stern gaze on you, as if she’s waiting to see how you’ll respond.

Part of you desperately wants to do anything for Fleur. You’d do anything to see her smile, and that is a fact. You know she lost her husband in the battle. She is ****. Perhaps, if you do her a kind turn now and show her that you’re firmly on her side, you’ll sow the seeds of something developing between you.

But you respect Nymphadora. She was a few years above you in Hogwarts when you started, and you’ve always had a little crush on the cute shape-shifter. You can tell that she’s a better warrior, due to her Auror training, and that she knows what she’s doing. There has to be a reason why she doesn’t want Fleur there.