My Eldest Weasley

EXPECTO PATRONUM!

Bill

My face stung with cold as I ran across the park, but it was nothing compared to the cold coursing inside my chest... My whole body. How could I do it? How could I forget Tonks? The reason we were there.... everything? There was no excuse to my selfishness. So lost was I in fleur that I didn't even notice when the chill of the air turned ice cold.

Whipping my wand out I neared the place I last saw Tonks and instead found the cloaked backs of dementors, dark as pure misery, advancing on her. Usually tonks with a wand in hand and that expression looked intimidating, but today she looked small, fragile. Like the little girl I used to know from Hogwarts. No matter how she looked though, her expression was one of a warrior in a battle. Brave and focused. "Expecto patronum!" I uttered, causing a thin, sheen of Patronus shield appear at the tip of my wand. Blimey! There were atleast 10 or so dementors around us.. But why? As I thought about it my eyes flickered to ministry of magic. Ofcourse. Ministry had dementors stationed around perimeter of the building.
That's why we were told not to roam around for long. Mad eye's warnings rang in my head. "Constant vigilance!" he'd barked. "try spending as less time outside the ministry as possible if you want to avoid attracting attention of more things than what you bargained for." he had curtly told us.

My mind unfocused with fear as it was, the partonus I casted wasn't strong enough to drive them away, but it was strong enough to cause the diversion I needed and few of them turned towards me.
Finding a gap between three dementors circling closest to Tonks, I pounced and managed to land close to her. "Tonks! You alright?" I asked getting to my feet and going back-to-back with her. Having her back, like I should've had since the beginning.
"Don't worry about me, worry about them." Patronus was only way to get rid of them. So in unison we yelled, "Expecto patronum!" My shield transformed from just a thin sliver of barrier to a roaring lion. The silvery, glowing lion chased across the park scattering and driving dementors away as he went. It's roar didn't have a sound, but it was enough to pierce through the darkness these filthy creatures were spreading. As I focused my mind completely on driving my Patronus as farther as possible, something caught my eye. It was only a second, maybe even less, that my focus shifted to Tonks as she produced her Patronus, a wolf. A very ill looking wolf.
The weak, sliver of glow emitting off it was giving it faint, sickly look. It wasn't enough for the four dementors charging towards her.

I was about to turn my wand towards her to help but a third Patronus appeared between Tonks and the dementors.
A bird of some kind with pointy beak flew right in cutting off an advancing cloaked figure.

It was in that moment that I lost focus, and when the attack came, it came viciously.

Fleur

I saw Bill run across the park and couldn't help but run after him. Knowing he was heading towards danger, I couldn't hold myself back and rushed across the park after him. His long legs carried him faster than I could follow so when I reached there panting, I saw Bill and Tonks were back-to-back, surrounded by dementors from all sides, their wands out and glowing silvery in the dark. He was intently focused on his Patronus, silver lion chasing dementors across the grounds.

Pride filled me at the sight of him. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I respected him just as much as I loved him. Now filled with awe, I acknowledged how much in love I was with Bill, whole of him. His bravery, courage, tenderness, love.. even his secrets. His running towards the danger to save someone, instead of away from it. My heart felt light, and heavy all at the same time. There was nothing I wanted more than to keep him safe with me. But there wasn't anything less I'd love him for than to be who he was.

Speaking of saving, I glanced at Tonks and saw she wasn't doing so well. Her patronus looked like very faint, sick dog that wasn't even strong enough to stand straight much less drive about 4 dementors gliding towards her with clawed hands. Whipping my wand out, I closed my eyes for a second and remembered the day my little sister was born. Filled with immeasurable love and happiness, I casted my patronus, a veela in its bird form that glided towards Tonks.
Being third generation veela, my bird was the size of a large crow or a small eagle. Nevertheless, it did the trick and cut through one advancing dementor, making him cringe and change direction. Tonks shot me a thankful look before turning back towards her attackers. As I went to cut off path of another dementor, I suddenly felt something off.

Before I could blink, the first dementor I had warded off changed direction suddenly and sweeped towards Bill unnoticed, who's eyes met mine for fraction of a second, before he roared and fell on his knees.
Pain like nothing I've felt ever before sliced through me. My bill was hurt, the thought circled me as I ran towards him. He picked up his wand and produced another lion but even from my distance I could tell it won't do much good. It was barely visible, his arm that welded wand was shaking as dementors circled him from all sides.

My eyes searched for Tonks, but she was lying down few feet away, wand out of her hand trying to reach it. Confused, I realized Bill had physically pushed her out of the way and was now holding the attention of all the creatures.
I could tell he was drained, getting even more tired as I watched, while directing his Patronus around him keeping dementors at bay. It wasn't enough. They would attack him. I lifted my wand and produced veela again, but two dementors blocked me from reaching him. Try as I might to penetrate them and reach Bill, but my divided attention wasn't doing my Patronous any good.

Just as I saw another dementors swooping behind Bill, catching him unaware and making him roar with agony again; making his Patronus dim to barely a wisp of light now, something in me snapped.

Stopping in my tracks, I felt a trickle of tear slip my eye as his declaration of love to me from just few minutes ago replayed in my head. That feeling, unlike anything I'd ever felt, seemed to reach out of my heart, like an entity of its own.
I wasn't quite sure what happened next, but one minute my veela was flying towards two dementors who were deftly dodging it, and another minute it turned into huge ball of silver emitting glow that could've rivaled the full moon on a darkest night. Suddenly the wings of my bird dissolved in a shimmer of light and its claws became huge, pointed.. more lethal. They hit the ground with a seemingly heavy thud, and grew until it was big. Almost as big as me. I shield my eyes for a second, unable to keep them open and when I looked back, my small veela bird had changed. Turned into a huge, majestic lioness.
She stood, shaking her head and hunching down ready to pounce, tensing its stance and growling at the cloaks of darkness who has now glided a few feet away from the scene. Tonks paused mid-crawl on her way to her wand, and watched as Patronous growled, gnashing it's silvery teeth at the ones who tried harming its mate. With a roar of her own, she charged ahead, reaching all around, circling Bill who now lay on his back, his lion hunched at his feet, watching in awe but unable to move.

As the charging lioness, guided by the tip of my wand, drove the last of cloaked figures out of the park, Bill took a deep sighing breath and closed his eyes. My heart stopped and I ran to him, falling to my knees beside his body.

It was then that I noticed two things; first, that though he had a faint smile playing on his lips, he shook with violent shivers that wracked throughout his body. And second, his eyes weren't closed. They were tiny slits as he watched my Patronus walk up and nuzzle the silvery lion's glowing mane that rested near his feet, their glow chasing away the last of the darkness that had spread tonight.