Seeing this, Mrs. Weasley handed a Sickle and Knut over to Percy. Since Charlie was not home, Percy was currently the eldest of the Weasley children present.
After instructing him to take care of little Ginny, all the Weasley children—except for Bill, who had just returned home and stayed behind to rest—left The Burrow under Percy's leadership, Ginny included.
Once all the children had gone, Mrs. Weasley told Bill to prepare some tea before heading upstairs.
Just as Bill was getting the tea ready, a knock sounded at the front door of The Burrow.
Startled by the sudden noise, Bill's hand trembled, spilling a good amount of tea leaves onto the table. He quickly scrambled to gather them back up, but before he could fully regain his composure, his mother's voice called down from the stairs:
"Bill, answer the door!"
Bill turned around and was momentarily stunned. Mrs. Weasley had changed into a different outfit—one he recognized as her newest dress, a gift from his father about two years ago.
Clearly, she didn't want their visitors to see the Weasleys as shabby.
As Bill hesitated, the knock came again. This time, a voice drifted through the door:
"The Grindelwald family is here to visit the Weasleys. Is anyone home?"
The visitor was none other than Wentworth, flanked by Rosier and Auston Greengrass.
Bill Weasley had returned from Egypt because of a letter from Wentworth.
In the letter, Wentworth had revealed his identity, stating that he would soon visit The Burrow and hoped to meet Bill when he did.
Inside the house, Bill took a deep breath at the sound of the voice outside. Then, without further delay, he strode to the door and opened it.
Seeing that the one leading the group was just a boy, Bill was momentarily taken aback—until he noticed Auston standing behind him.
As a fellow member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and being close in age, Bill had known Auston from their time at Hogwarts.
Auston smiled and greeted him warmly.
"Bill, it's been a while! Allow me to introduce you—this is Wentworth Grindelwald, heir to the Grindelwald family and leader of the Alliance."
He paused briefly before adding,
"And also, my master."
Bill couldn't help but exclaim,
"Auston, I can't believe you actually joined the Alliance?!"
Auston's smile didn't falter as he replied,
"I didn't choose the Alliance. The Greengrass family did."
Just as Bill was about to respond, his mother's voice rang out from behind him:
"Bill, don't leave our guests standing outside—invite them in!"
At his mother's urging, Bill hurriedly stepped aside.
Wentworth gave Bill a slight nod before stepping into The Burrow.
As soon as he entered, Wentworth saw a short, slightly plump woman standing before him.
Without hesitation, he extended his hand politely and greeted her with great respect.
"Mrs. Weasley, it's a pleasure to meet you."
If one were to compare Molly Weasley and Rosier side by side, despite Rosier being the elder of the two, she was undoubtedly the more refined and elegant one. Standing together, they would appear as a noblewoman and a countrywoman.
Yet, Wentworth harbored no disdain for Mrs. Weasley.
For one, she was an exceptional mother—under her guidance, none of the Weasley children had gone astray. Even Percy, despite his missteps, had ultimately seen the light.
More importantly, Wentworth knew very well that the woman before him, who appeared to be an ordinary housewife, was in fact a formidable witch.
After all, when Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix, he did not recruit members based on sentiment alone. Molly Weasley had not joined merely because of her husband.
The greatest proof of her strength was in the original story—during the Battle of Hogwarts, she single-handedly defeated Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort's most loyal and formidable lieutenant.
As Wentworth was recalling what he knew about Mrs. Weasley, she suddenly let out a small gasp and pointed at him.
"I remember now—I know who you are! You're Wentworth! A student at Hogwarts! Dumbledore's favorite pupil!"
Wentworth was caught off guard by her exclamation, but Mrs. Weasley hurried off to rummage through a pile of old newspapers.
Moments later, she returned with a copy of the Daily Prophet, holding it up to show him.
"I thought you looked familiar. It really is you!"
Following her gesture, Wentworth glanced at the paper and realized it was an old issue of the Daily Prophet from his first year, when he had once appeared on the front page. At the time, the paper had tried to use him as a pawn in their attacks on Dumbledore.
Now that Mrs. Weasley had confirmed he was a Hogwarts student and even one of Dumbledore's protégés, her demeanor became noticeably warmer.
She invited Wentworth and his companions to sit down and instructed Bill to serve tea.
Once they had all taken a sip, Mrs. Weasley got straight to the point.
"Wentworth Grindelwald," she said, not bothering to hide her curiosity, "why would the leader of the Alliance summon my son back from Egypt?"
Wentworth set down his teacup and replied calmly,
"There is something I need Bill's help with."
At this, Mrs. Weasley's brows furrowed instinctively, and she didn't hesitate to respond.
"Wentworth, you're about the same age as Ron—do you mind if I call you that?"
Wentworth smiled and nodded.
Seeing this, Mrs. Weasley continued,
"Wentworth, you are the heir to the Grindelwald family, the leader of the Alliance, and Dumbledore's prized student. If there's something even you cannot accomplish, I doubt there is anything my Bill could do."
Her outright refusal—before even hearing what Wentworth had to ask—momentarily stunned him.
A sudden tension filled the room.
-------
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]