One Of A Kind ||A Fred Weasley Fanfiction||

39. The Seven Potters

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It felt like ages. Astrid was upstairs trying to calm the twins. You, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were downstairs, trying not to panic in your seats. But that's when a light came into view revealing Harry. One of you screamed. Harry stood up, swaying slightly, and saw you, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny running down the steps by the back door as Hagrid, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to his feet.

"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" cried Mrs. Weasley.

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry panted.

The answer was clearly etched in Mrs. Weasley's pale face.

"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Harry told her. "We were surrounded the moment we took off - they knew it was tonight - I don't know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us -"

You could hear the self-justifying note in his voice, the plea for her to understand why he did not know what had happened to her sons, but -

"Thank goodness you're all right," she said, pulling him into a hug.

"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" Asked Hagrid a little shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, You knew that she wanted to hide her face. Harry turned to Ginny and she answered his unspoken plea for information at once.

"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," she said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should
have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second." You felt your heart drop at the sound of Fred. "You and Hagrid were third and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."

Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to
Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.

"Molly!" You shouted, pointing to a spot several feet away.

A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Remus and George appeared, spinning and then falling. You knew immediately that there was something wrong: Remus was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.

Harry ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, he and Remus carried
George into the house and through the kitchen to the sitting room, where they
laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and your stomach lurched: One of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

No sooner had Mrs. Weasley bent over her son than Remus grabbed by the upper arm and dragged him, none too gently, to the wall near the fireplace, where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.

"Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly. "Le' go of him! Le' go of Harry!"

Remus ignored him. "What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" he said, giving Harry a small shake. "Answer me!"