Stumble - A Fred Weasley Fanfiction

Chapter 22: 253 Days Before

"Hands up in the air!" a deep voice commanded, and Addie and Fred had no choice but to do as they were told. They were surrounded by at least ten men. At least ten wands were pointed in their direction, and the expressions on each and every wizard showed that they would feel no regret at having to use them. Some of them, the younger of the group, looked quite pleased with the thought of having to incapacitate the intruders.

The man who had given the orders stepped forward. He was almost a foot taller than any of the other aurors. He was as pale as a ghost, with cruel black eyes and a crueler smile. "Thought you could steal Ministry secrets, did you?" he drawled, his eyes glinting in delight at how helpless Addie and Fred were. "Thought we wouldn't catch you? Well, you're ours now. Minister Thicknesse doesn't appreciate intruders, not one bit."

"Please, we didn't mean any harm," Addie begged, but it was useless.

The man raised his wand at the two of them, and said, "Petrificus Totalus." Addie's body froze in place, and she fell face forward onto the hard cement. She felt the bones of her nose crunch and the warm dripping of blood pool under her. She couldn't move her head away from the spurting liquid, so every breath she dragged into her lungs also brought in the warm, coppery taste of her own blood. The man came forward and rummaged in the pockets of Addie's robes, removing her wand. "You won't be needing that," he commented, before walking over to Fred and extracting his wand as well.

"Wingardium Leviosa," the man said, and Addie's body was lifted into the air, Fred's also floating right beside her. The aurors made their way out of the room, Addie and Fred floating behind them. The man who had cast the spell made no attempt to watch where his prisoners were going, and Addie and Fred continually bumped into walls and the corners of door frames. They reached the main room of the Department of Mysteries, the circular room containing the twelve black doors. The men were not confused. They strode through the one to their left without question, out into the hallway beyond. Addie floated in behind them, but the man wasn't paying any attention, and she was rammed headfirst into the doorframe. She felt the skin split.

Her head pounded painfully, and blood dripped from the wound into her eyes. She could feel the welt growing as she was transported down the hallway and to a staircase off to the side, down to the tenth level of the Ministry. From there, they were taken even lower, down into the holding cells of the Ministry.

They were thrown in without care, the body-binding curse placed on them removed with a casual wave of a wand. They left as a group, laughing and jeering at their luck of finding the intruders, making bets on whether they would be sent to Azkaban or just killed on the spot. Addie lay still until their echoing voices disappeared up the steps. She rolled sideways, clutching her aching head and wiping the blood from her eyes and mouth.

"Let me see," Fred said quietly. Addie turned to face him and Fred gently lifted his hands to her face, feeling along the lines of her nose. "Its definitely broken," he murmured quietly, continuing his examination.

"Just great," Addie muttered. "It hurts like hell."

"I can fix it if you want," he offered.

"You can fix it?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Fred, they took our wands."

He gave her a wink, reaching into his robes to pull out the familiar black wand. "They took a wand, yes," he said matter-of-factly. "Although if they try and take a closer look at it, they will get quite the surprise."

"How many of those stupid trick wands did you bring?"

Fred reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of the fake wands. "I may have made a bet with George that I could find at least three good ways to use them in the real world. So far I'm at two."