Through All the Pain // N. Longbottom

Seventh Year // Chapter 2

July 27th, 1997

"She will not be going!" Mum shouted at Moody. "How could you even ask that of a child!" Moody along with Remus, Sirius, Tonks, Kingsley, and Mundungus arrived on the doorstep of the Burrow to pick up Ron, Hermione, Dad, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, and myself to go and pick up Harry from Privet Drive. 

"She is not a child Molly," Remus said from behind. "She is seventeen and can make her own decisions."

"No! She shall not be leaving this house!"

"You, fortunately, can no longer make that call, Mother." I spat coldly from behind her as I walked over to join my twin who was standing by Hermione.

"It's not safe!"

"Mum, I can literally block the killing curse. I think I will be okay."

"No! It's too dangerous! You have no idea if anyone will be out there waiting for you, and if they are what you will be facing ... it's not safe for a child!"

"Well, I'm going and that's final!" I spat grabbing onto not only Ron's hand but Fred's. Mum looked like she was going to lose her cool again but, Dad quickly went by her side and calmed her down. Luckily while he did that, Moody started giving us all the rundown on what the evening held for us, and then he asked us a question that I did not expect.

"Now, which of you will turn into Harry?" We all stared at each other for a few moments before Fred, George, and Ron all raised their hands. Leaving at least one more spot open for either Hermione or myself. As Fleur had already agreed, so Bill was in charge of protecting her. Moody already had his person, so all that was left was for one of us to become Harry. 

"Alastor!" Dad came rushing over and whispered something into his ear. Moody grumbled before pointing a finger at both Hermione and myself. 

"Both of you are taking the potion. Bloody Serenity, unreliable, irresponsible." Moody grumbled before walking away. I was shocked as both Hermione and I shivered in our shoes. Taking the polyjuice potion to become another gender was something neither of us had on our bucket lists for this war, but Moody just added it to our doing list. 

"Let's go!" Moody's voice shouted gruffly from the kitchen. We all filed out of the living room and out of the kitchen and into the lawn where Tonks, Charlie, Sirius, and Remus all seemed to be floating in thin air. After a few seconds, I remembered that Thestrals exist in our world and that it was not possible for me to see them yet, as I have never seen someone killed in front of me directly. 

"Took you all long enough! Thought Molly had talked you out of it by now." Sirius called from his spot on the Thestral.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get going!" Moody spat as he summoned brooms for us. As the wooden broom handles smacked against our palms I suddenly remember this would probably be the last time I'm on a broom for a long time. I pushed the sadness down in my body and climbed onto the broom and waited for Moody to give the signal for us to take off. As we zoomed through the sky, I just happened to catch the eye of Ron and he started zooming around like we were playing Quidditch. 

"Weasley! Stop playing around! We are almost there!" Moody's gruff voice shouted from the front of the group. Ron stopped being a child but zoomed over to glide beside me. 

"You okay, Lori? You're not seeming happy on the broom-like normal." I could barely hear his voice over the whooshing of the wind, however, I could tell he was genuinely worried. 

"It's nothing, Ron," I shouted over the wind. 

"Yeah, not buying it!" he shouted back in reply. "Twin Talk when we get back to the Burrow??" I sighed and rolled my eyes, why of all the times did he now have to be the "overly concerned" twin?"