Blair, Fred and George planned to leave for their mission on September 1st; when the Hogwarts semester started. This would hopefully mean that with the Ministry now taken over by You Know Who, they'd be prioritising on finding Harry and terrorising anyone who returned and didn't return to the castle. Severus Snape was said to be headmaster and had made some major, terrifying changes. Alecto and Amycus Carrow had been made Defence Against the Dark Arts professors and the other professors that had chosen to say were terrified to do anything about them.

The Order could do nothing about Hogwarts with Dumbledore gone and poor Ginny had to leave on the Hogwarts Express to the nightmare waiting ahead. Blair didn't go to see Ginny off as the platform was littered with Snatchers. Snatchers, the Order had found, were bounty hunters. They searched for those who were on You Know Who's elimination list. There was no doubt the entire Order was on this and would be snatched up almost immediately and killed. These bounty hunters would also head to the houses of students who were too afraid to attend Hogwarts this year and threaten the parents with imprisonment in Azkaban, another place which had been taken over by the Dark Lord.

The entire Wizarding world was now unsafe for those who believed the good could win.

While Molly, Arthur and Charlie headed to Kings' Cross station with Ginny, Fred and George packed their bags for their mission that was bound to go over a week or two. Bill and Fleur had already left on their honeymoon at Shell Cottage; an adorable place on the seafront that they may even buy to build their own family in. This meant that the twins and Blair had The Burrow to themselves for the morning. This would give them time to grab what they needed and leave a note for their soon to be hysterical mother who already has one of her sons on the loose and her daughter under the watch of Death Eaters.

The only good news that seemed to be around currently was George's wound finallyhealing. Blair unrolled the bandages from around his head earlier that week and found that even though his ear couldn't be reformed in anyway, the additions of her healing potion had been able to smooth over the hole and make the injury a lot less gruesome. Smooth skin covered the area and the growth of his hair was able to cover most of the lost cartilage that once formed his ear. He of course wouldn't be able to hear from one side for the rest of his life, but at least bacteria wouldn't be able to infect the wound any longer and would make life a bit more bearable for George.

Packing her bags, Blair was in Ginny's room with her trunk open and sorting out what would be essential for their mission. The Weasley's room felt empty with her clothes taken out of her wardrobe and her presence gone; now festering in the place that everyone once called home. It wasn't home now. It was as if Dumbledore had taken that with him into the afterlife. All that was left at Hogwarts was a very distant memory of his kindness and the leering figure of Severus Snape; the biggest traitor in Wizarding history.

Blair sighed and zipped up the backpack that would be her home for the next couple of days. It was daunting to leave the safety of The Burrow. Once the barrier was restored, the home had still somehow managed to stay timeless throughout all the chaos. The living room was still cosy and Molly still made her home-cooking that was impossible to turn down. Leaving its walls was definitely something that Blair didn't want to do, but she needed to step out of her literal comfort zone.

The glittering of the diamond on her finger made the girl stop and look down at it in all its beauty. She had to remind herself that she was still engaged. At least with all that's happened, her future with George had a light at the end of its tunnel. If everything somehow turned out how they wanted, they could have a grand wedding that wouldn't be interrupted by gatecrashing Death Eaters and they'd live a happy life together. She couldn't see any children in their future, but maybe a cat would be in the picture. Maybe three cats, actually. Seven? Twenty-eight?

"You alright, love?"

Sucking in a rush of air, Blair raised her head from the ring and looked to the door. George was poking his head around the door frame, his singular ear being the furthest into the room while his hair had been smoothed over the skin on the other side of his head. Blair assumed that he had attempted to cover the odd looking portion of flesh, but it made the rest of his hair look messy and selectively swept in the wind.

"What did you do to your hair?" she let out in a laugh. Walking across the room, Blair pulled George into the room by his shoulders before reaching up to ruffle the portion of his hair he had purposely flattened. He pressed his lips together when he saw her eyes glancing at the space where his ear should be and suddenly felt self-conscious. When it had been in the bandage and too gruesome to have on display, he wasn't too worried about people seeing it. But now that it was on show for everyone to see, he couldn't help but feel shy about it. Especially around his fiancé.

"That's better," she exclaimed after making his hair all one style; thus exposing the lopsidedness of his head.

"Thanks," he mumbled and took hold of her hand, pulling it out of his ginger locks. The silver ring was cold against the pads of his fingers and made him think of the future that could be waiting for them after this war. He pressed his lips against the diamond and looked at Blair through his lashes, seeing her smiling warmly at him. It made leaving The Burrow and stepping out into the cold, evil Wizarding world even more of a challenge.

"You sure you want to do this?" he couldn't help but make sure.

"I do. I have to."

George nodded, smiling lightly at the girl he loved. They heard Fred call from downstairs and they grabbed their bags. Sitting down for a moment, George wrote the letter explaining where they would be for the next few days. He made sure to express to not look for them as this was strictly Blair's past family business. Fred and George would only be there for protection and support. If the Order were to interfere, they might lose the trail altogether. Snatchers would likely be looking around for them in all parts of England. A smaller group would hopefully get the job done quicker and with less causalities.

Putting the letter on the dining table, the three hiked their backpacks over their shoulders and left the house. They had a few minutes until they'd reach the barrier surrounding The Burrow, so they walked through the long grass and reminisced in its lasting solitude. After this would be cheap bnbs' and hiding in the shadows of corners. It wouldn't be a pleasant affair, but it would hopefully be progressive.

Walking through the barrier brought a moment of coldness before the autumn air hit them without its protection. They now stood in plain sight and were vulnerable. But they had a lot of travelling and searching to do before they could lose that feeling. The tall additions of The Burrow made by Mr Weasley could be seen over the top of the long grass that separated the three from the house. They took it in as it would be the last time they'd feel somewhat secure.

"Mum's gonna be livid," Fred huffed. "You think she'll be as mad as the time we turned Ronnie-kins' teddy bear into a spider? Or when we stole Dad's car back in fourth year?"

"I think this'll be a whole new madness of Molly," Blair replied, the twins shivering simultaneously at the thought of the howler they were bound to receive.

Taking one final look at The Burrow, Fred and George each grabbed one of Blair's hands. George threaded through his fingers with hers and brought out his wand, thinking of the only place he that came to mind with the word Barnton. With a flick, they disappeared with a 'pop!' and were sucked into the whirl of apparition.

---

Fortunately for the three, the place George had been able to think of had been a field that was a few miles off of the village centre of Cheshire. He said that he had seen the field in a Muggle Studies textbook once and had remembered that the label underneath it had been the same place they needed to get to. They made it into the streets that had a mixture of modern Muggle housing and cottages, to which were ogled at by both of the twins, before Blair was able to spot a bed and breakfast they should be able to stay in.

Blair chose to handle the exchanging of money and talking to the lady behind the counter. It wouldn't be wise to let the two pureblood wizards behind her try and figure out how to book themselves into a Muggle hotel. Blair wasn't overly confident herself, but she had lived in a Muggle orphanage for a portion of her life and knew how to small talk with them. She had learnt that when they're not suspecting you're a witch and cursing those who dared to look her way, they were actually pleasant people.

"Here's your key," the lady handed her a blue tag that held the silver key. "Your room is up those stairs to the left."

"How is that lamp working?" Fred tugged on Blair's sleeve and pointed to the electric light behind the lady's head. "Where's the candle?"

"Shoosh, Fred," Blair said over her shoulder when they started to get odd looks from those sitting in the lobby. The Weasley stood back like a child who had just been told off and stared down at his hands with a pout.

They headed up to their room and found that the room had a double bed and one pull-out bed from the sofa in the corner. This had caused a minor problem as Fred 'dibbs'ed the double bed.

"You can't take the double for yourself, Fred. Two people can't be on that small thing."

"That's a rude thing to call your fiancé, Georgie."

"Fred!"

George and Blair took the double bed and Fred was sent grumbling to his pull-out bed. They decided it would be wise to find where the town of Barnton resided in the village as it would be their sample space. Blair's childhood home was somewhere within this area and there was no way its appearance would spark recognition in her mind. She was far too young and was never told where her parents once lived. They could at least start scouting out the area. That is if the bald Death Eater who had tipped them off about this place was even telling the truth. But they didn't want to doubt the situation too much.

"It's cute," Blair stated, looking around at all the cottages and small homes. "I wouldn't mind living around here."

"Weren't your parents literally murdered here?" Fred gasped.

"Yeah, but..." she trailed off and pouted. "I guess you're right."

"Wait," George suddenly stopped walking. Fred and Blair looked over their shoulders and raised their eyebrows at his actions. Glancing at each other unsurely, they watched as George stared down at his shoes with his eyebrows pinched tightly together. They hoped that he was only in deep thought and hadn't just had a stroke while standing upright.

"Your mum, do you think she talked with the neighbours?"

"Are you mad?" Fred's eyes were wide as he looked at his twin. "What kind of question is that, Georgie?!"

"If Blair's mum was known by the neighbours, then they'd surely know where she lived. You know her name, right, Blair?" George glared at Fred before looking at Blair next to him.

"Yeah. Jesse Yaxley," she answered. "But we can't go knocking on doors for the next few days. There's bound to be hundreds of them in this place."

"Well when she was murdered, surely the neighbours would have realised that she wasn't there anymore. Maybe they put it in the newspaper. Or flyers were put around asking where she'd gone. The Ministry would have cleaned up any sign of a murder scene. Someone around here's bound to know."

"It's all we've got at this point," Blair sighed and shrugged. "We'll have to find a library. Merlin, I sound like Granger."